Marathon Update

I have bad news for myself.....I have shin splints and can't run anymore! Isn't that awful? I now have to take it easy and I will never make it to my September 15th marathon because I am behind schedule on training.

The good news is that before I stopped running, I did get in a full 10 mile run, where I actually ran the entire 10 miles. This was extremely encouraging and good for my self esteem. I won't stop running, just have to slow down and go back to 3 milers for the next few months.....

Review my review!

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Here is my review:

I must start by making a terribly embarrassing admission - I am a 27 year old who loves ridiculously designed and easy to play and beat mini-games. I can't help it. I believe it stems from early childhood memories of the Nintendo NES and hours upon hours spent playing Mario Brothers and being entranced and awed by the fabulous world in which those lovable Nintendo characters lived.

Now that we have 3D graphics (The Wii is incredible) and the user experience of actually being the characters (Wii remotes rock), mixed in with a new breed of Nintendo characters to love (what could be more lovable than rabid rabbits?), I have reverted to acting like a ten year old. My seventeen year reversion is furthered by the fact that Rayman offers delectably funny games like a cow toss, eating contests, bunnies on toilets, and rhythm/time keeping dancing games where bunnies hop around the screen clad in disco balls and flashy lights.

If you were a fan of the first Rayman Raving Rabids like I was, then you are probably already wetting your pants in excitement for number two. If you aren't, you should be. Nintendo promises even more ridiculous, laugh until you cry games in their second installment of Raving Rabids, where you play as the bunnies rather than Rayman, the lovable hero. Reviews are out where players speak of a game in which you help the Rabids scrub their undies in a wash bin until they are clean. Player beware - if you scrub too long, the drawers will disintegrate and you lose, if you don?t scrub long enough, your bunnies will have skid marks left in their shorts.

Aside from offering great new games, Rabids allows for all the original hilarity. You can dress your Rabids as your favorite heroes and characters, or give them outfits that would embarrass your grandma. The game is also multi-player, which creates the perfect scenario for a LAN-party game to play in between intense sessions of Halo 3. If you still aren't convinced that you need to buy this game when it's released, go pick up a copy of the original Rayman Raving Rabids. If you make it through the entire game without laughing, call me so I go over with you what it means to have a personality.

SAVE THE PLANET!

Here are some interesting facts I found regarding our environment:

• If you throw away 2 aluminum cans, you waste more energy than 1,000,000,000 (one billion) of the world's poorest people use a day.

• Making a new can from scratch uses the uses the energy equal to half a can of gasoline.

• About one third of what an average American throws out is packaging.

• More than 1,000,000,000 (one billion) trees are used to make disposable diapers every year.

• In one minute, 50 acres of rainforest are destroyed.

• Some rain has a pH of 3 or 4. (which is pretty acidic, considering 7 is neutral, not acidic, and battery acid has a pH of 1). Some fish, such as lake trout and smallmouth bass, have trouble reproducing at a pH of 6, which is only slightly acidic. Some clams and snails can't survive at all. Most crayfish are dead at a pH of 5. You can see how bad this is for the environment.

• On average, a person in the US uses energy two times more than a person in Japan or West Germany does, and 50 times more than a person in India.

• About 90% of the energy used in lighting a standard (incandescent) light bulb is lost as heat.

• Air conditioning uses 10 times more energy than a fan, therefore, it creates 10 times the pollutants.

• It takes half the output of the Alaskan pipeline to heat the air that escapes from all the homes in the US during a year.

• Cars and pick-up trucks are responsible for about 20% of the carbon dioxide released into the air.

• There are about 500 million automobiles on the planet, burning an average of 2 gallons of fuel a day. Each gallon releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.

• About 80% of our trash goes to landfills, 10% is incinerated, and 10% is recycled.

• Since there is little oxygen underground, where we bury our garbage, to help bacteria eat the garbage, almost nothing happens to it. Scientists have dug into landfills and found ears of corn still intact after 20 years, and newspapers still readable after 30.

• The average American makes about 3.5 pounds of trash a day.

• In a year, the average American uses as much wood in the form of paper as the average resident of the developing world burns as fuel.

Want to know how you can help?? Check out this link: http://www.earthshare.org/

Brady: "chuckle, chuckle, chuckle"
Brady: "hehe.....hehe...."
Brittany (to herself): "Is he laughing at me over there? If so, why? If not, what the Hell is so funny? I'm missing out on some awesome jokes!"

So...if you are at all close to me, you know that I have been on a diet for the past 3 months and I have now lost a total of 20 pounds. I feel quite accomplished about this, but it is nothing compared to my latest endeavor.....running a marathon.

I was first warmed up to the idea by my friend Melissa. I figured that with a proper training schedule and the proper gear (note: I bought myself $200 worth of gear) I could turn myself into a distance runner. Unfortunately, a cool outfit does not a runner make.

I ran my first significant distnace this past weekend. It totaled 8 miles. That is not a typo, friends. Brittany ran 8 miles....okay....I didn't actually run the full 8. I probably ran 6 and walked 2. This is still good, because I did finish the entire distance. Here is my fear: 8 miles is just under 1/3 the distance of a marathon. I was more than 1/3 of the way to losing consiousness after finishing.

The training book stresses that attitude is 90% of the battle, though. So, in an effort to obey the book, here are my affirmations for the day.

1. I am a marathon runner.
2. I love to run.
3. I love running up hills.
4. I love running long distances.
5. Everyone who doesn't think I will do this can kiss my ass.

I will keep everyone (okay, both of you who actually read this and give a damn) apprised of my progress.

School is Cool

If you are thinking about going back to school, check out this one! I wish I could have gotten my degree online....that would have been a lot easier.

I'm here, I'm nerdy, and I accept that

YES. I did it. I started a blog. Why not, I say? Probably because no one wants to read my thoughts. It's a scary, scary place to go. If you are brave.....and have no life.....have fun reading.

Woes of Old Age

I used to think that people who didn't want to live to a wise old age were crazy. Why deny yourself an extended existence on this over-populated, over-utilized, under-valued planet when there are so many great things to live for? But seriously, I can't imagine dying at 50. I want to see what the year 2080 looks like. I want to be around when those scientology nut-jobs finally crack and throw themselves into a volcano. I want to know how hot the planet gets and how many natural disasters we have to experience and how much farther the ice caps have to melt down before certain unnamed politicians finally admit that global warming is a serious problem.

Then I stumbled across this picture of Sylvester Stallone today. My first thought was what the HELL happened? I mean, he was never Brad Pitt or David Beckham good looking, but at least his face wasn't melting the last time I saw him. Then I started thinking....OMG.....what if I look like that when I'm 60? Is it possible? Could my chin touch my boobs, touch my knees by 60? Will my cheeks droop like the jawls of a Bulldog and my back look like that of a Shar-Pei in another 30 years?

Maybe dying at 50 is the answer- if being 60 has anything to do with looking like the above-referenced photograph. Or, maybe the answer is to take care of yourself. I'm sure that years and years of alcohol abuse, steroid usage, and his recent stint with human-growth hormone hasn't helped much with keeping Sly looking svelte. I just pray that he doesn't decide to make Rocky XXVIIII - Return of the Crypt-Keeper.

I gotta go eat some vegetables and lotion my skin now. Pray for me to keep some sense of my 27 year old self when I'm 60, please.