Puddle Jumping in DC
In 1967 Syracuse University student Kathy Switzer challenged the Boston Marathon's men-only rule. Officials tried to pull her from the course but with the aid of fellow runners she completed the race. Women were finally allowed to race in 1971.
This is who our AIDS Marathon Training Program pace group is named for.
This morning I completed the time-trial course in an average of a 10:15 minute mile. I was assigned to the Kathy Switzer group and we will run 11:30 minute miles as a group all summer.
That's what I predicted so I think it will be the right pace. (I got drafted as pace group leader again.)
Well, this particular Sunday, I went to an early yoga class. Upon returning, I began picking up the clutter in the living room and then, at about 11:30 am, went looking for the broom and mop. Mac had them in the basement and he wasn't done with them, he said. So, I went back upstairs and found more clutter to eradicate (it never ends, but you know that too). Twenty or thirty minutes later, I go back downstairs. This is what I found:
Notice how the shower walls are all missing from the bathroom and are stacked up in the hall way while Mac is working on the drywall behind the seal that has been leaking (and we've been periodically re-sealing) for months. Note too, that the guests are scheduled to arrive in two hours.
I told him "I'm going to take the broom now. I think I'll probably be done with it before you are actually ready for it."
Me: "I started another blog."
Bug Blog Personified: "What? I'm hurt. Is Bug no longer cute?'
M: "That's a silly question. She's just as cute as ever."
BBP: "Then what's the matter? Am I not good enough?"
M: "No, no, it's not that either. It's that I'm planning to run the AIDS Marathon this summer and I've created a blog for the fundraising effort. The entries are going to be more about running, marathon training, injuries, and why folks should sponsor my run. I didn't think you'd be interested."
BBP: "Now, I'm really hurt. Why wouldn't I be interested in your life?"
M: "Ok. That's fair. I still don't know if I want to post everything from the AIDS Marathon Blog here. What if I just post marathon entries that I really like?'
BBP: "I suppose I could live with that."
M: "Good."
*Editor's Note: It is entirely reasonable to question Jen's sanity at this point. Grad school can be taxing.
"A leading Senate Republican warned Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) yesterday that a move to recognize gay marriages in the nation's capital would trigger a sharp backlash from Congress, and the mayor acknowledged that the District could jeopardize its budget agenda and domestic partner benefits if it mishandles the issue." - Washington Post, 4/21/05
Good thing the Senate is looking out for us here in DC because who knows what would happen if we started making our own decisions . . . . A slightly more just and equitable world, maybe.
We had been moving the cage away from the wall, radiator, china cabinet, etc. but, as far as we can tell, these are the Indiana Jones's of the rodent world and they don't let mere 12 inch gaps get between them and their midnight snacks. They like the pellets so much, that they have been avoiding the traps (baited with peanut butter and birdseed) in the kitchen.
The problem (besides the "eww, that's not sanitary" factor) is they keep Bug up at night. She's very cranky if she doesn't get a full nights sleep.
While I read Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and The Motorcycle just like most 10 year olds and have qualms with the brutality of spring traps, the mouse crossed the line.
So, the other night I carefully locked all of the doors to the cage, covered it, and surrounded it with mousetraps. Tom said it was birdie-Alcatraz. One mouse down, ? to go.
. . . but only the fair trade organic kind. 
My reasons are self-serving. The only dessert I've ever cared about is chocolate. The good stuff is more satisfying in smaller quantities than the cheap stuff. The student co-op in the basement of the union sells lots of chocolate. I'm picky and only like Divine and only buy the 45g bar ($1 and I can't be trusted with 100g bar all at once). That my chocolate choices do not encourage childhood slavery in West Africa makes my conscience happy too.
I started drinking coffee when I was 14 and started getting up for high school at the same time as my Dad got up to go to work. He had a carpool arrangement where he was in charge of the coffee so there was always a fresh pot at 6:15 am. I've gone from drinking Folgers automatic drip with non-dairy creamer to french press, fair trade, organic medium roast.
According to Global Exchange, "The United States consumes one-fifth of all the world's coffee, making it the largest consumer in the world. But few Americans realize that agriculture workers in the coffee industry often toil in what can be described as "sweatshops in the fields." Many small coffee farmers receive prices for their coffee that are less than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt." [1]
So what is this Fair Trade thing?
"Fair trade means that farmers, workers, and artisans:
1. receive a sufficient price under direct long-term contracts,
2. are small-scale producers in democratic co-ops (coffee, cocoa, bananas, fruits, crafts) or workers on larger farms who receive a living wage and can bargain collectively (tea, bananas, fruits),
3. don't use abusive child labor or forced labor, and
4. use ecologically sustainable methods. " [2]
Fair trade coffee is even available in my grocery store now! But Dean's Beans roasts some nice stuff too.
The co-op sells nice coffee too but I have to stop buying it there. I stopped drinking coffee nearly two years ago because it messes with my digestion. 
But it's hard to break a 15 year pattern. A few weeks ago, a friend made a lovely pot of premium french press coffee. I had a little sip - it was so very good. A couple weeks later, we went on a "camping trip" (sleepover + hiking) and he did it again. This time I cracked and had my own cup. I have since bought my very own one-cup french press and have given myself permission to drink coffee once a day. Even though an early afternoon cup with a little chocolate bar is very lovely, the second cup of coffee pushes me over the edge.
Some Choice Tea, also fair trade, organic and available at the co-op, especially Earl Gray, goes very well with chocolate too.
If you're not from Washington, DC, you may not be aware that Washington does not actually have the right to elect Senators or Congressional Representatives. Honest to goodness. According to the Census Bureau, we have more residents than Wyoming. They get a senator and two reps. We get a non-voting delegate.
There are all sorts of arguments that the founding fathers wanted it that way - but the founding fathers never thought anyone would live in DC year round - heck, it was a swamp. The bottom line is that the U.S., the self-appointed defender of democracy worldwide, denies more than 500,000 of its citizens voting representation in Congress, didn't even grant them the right to vote in presidential elections until 1964, and continues to override their local government decisions by maintaining budget oversight in Congress (have I mentioned that we're not represented there?).
Because we are a "world class city", we are following the lead of states and cities all over the country and subsidizing major league baseball. A creative grassroots movement is taking pledges to buy naming rights to the ball field which they proposed as "Taxation without Representation Stadium". I pledged.
Want more info? Check out DC Vote.
I got an email this morning with photographs from the little blond kid's prom.
Refinancing the mortgage and renovating the basement (still trying to line up a contractor and architect) also make me feel old.
It's spring. She's a year old next week. Tom lets her chew on his hair and pets her through the cage bars. He's really cool and is the current object of Bug's infatuation.
All I get is snarky teenage parrotlet. "Go away, Mom. You're so embarassing."
Even though I signed up with the AIDS Marathon Training Program weeks ago, I consider today the begining of marathon training. Up until today, I 
was training for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler (check out the 2004 race day report where Jim Hage uses the word "polyglot")
10,000 people got up at the crack of dawn this morning to go out into 40 degree weather when weather forcasts promised 25 mile per hour gusts of wind to run 10 miles. Runners are nuts.
I enjoy road races. Among the things that kept me entertained today:
. . . and according to Runners World, I burned 1250 calories this morning.
This is Tom. He's one of our housemates. Until very recently, he was evil. That seems to have changed. Let's take a closer look.
Guess he's not so evil afterall.
I've gotten behind in the blog. This is why:
We're renovating the basement. In order to renovate it, we have to waterproof it. So these guys came and dug up the yard.
But before they filled the holes and poured the contcrete, the skies opened and we had this:
Yuk.
They came back and finished. Last week made renting looking pretty good.