I recall the first time I won an installation-level award and someone who knew me from my first week in the squadron stated “You’ve come a long way from the quiet person who would walk the halls during lunch”.
During my TDY to San Antonio, I found myself walking the halls during lunch. Maybe it’s where I’m most comfortable, maybe I just needed some exercise. But here’s an indicator you can always find me walking the halls.
probably not the quiet person though
But if I hadn’t been walking, I wouldn’t have found a local coffee shop inside the building!
Midweek, the whole group, all 12ish of us, went to dinner. At 6:30pm. Approximately 30 mins before my bedtime. Brutal. As I wanted around the hotel to leave for the restaurant, I really wanted to go to bed. In fact, I would have rather done nearly anything except go to dinner with a group of not-really-strangers. I don’t like eating in front of people. Weird. Yeah yeah yeah. In fact, eating with people ranks up there with pumping my own gas, going into convenience stores, and being near dumpsters. I just don’t like it.
Yes, I recognize these are so odd but it’s just my roots.
Gray, to be perfectly clear.
_________________
I ask you –
How often do you walk for exercise?
How late is too late for dinner?
What’s your natural hair color?
(The post Roots first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)
Disclaimer: I’m fine being a homebody. It’s where I’m comfortable. It has my favorite coffee. My favorite people. It’s mine. On occasion, however, I’m forced (mostly willingly) to go out and do things.
Like these things –
Granted, they were fun people so it wasn’t a hardship. Loved making new friends, putting faces to names, and fighting the good fight.
Followed by really really really hot things –
There’s no words for how hot it was. Maybe even Hotter ‘n Hell. A week in San Antonio working on a handbook followed by a mad dash home to lead the yearly rest stop. Definitely missing my wingwoman. It was a whirlwind – and it’s not over yet! Back to San Antonio today!
_________________
I ask you –
Are you a homebody?
How far have you ever ridden a bike?
Tell me what you have going on this week!
(The post Hom(ies) first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)
I want to watch Olympic curling. In Italy. In 2026. A PhD celebration trip. Also near my 40th birthday.
Credit: Google
…originally this post was titled in the plural sense. Bucket List Additions. However, at the time of this posting, I am TDY to a location with somehow even more humidity than I’m accustomed to yet also slightly (maybe 1 degree) cooler. I can’t tell you anything about this location because I must use it as fodder for future posts otherwise I would have nothing to share here.
On the bright side, since I turned in my manuscript last week in a rushed attempt to capture everything I had planned to incorporate this week, I have a little time on my hands to brainstorm more bucket list items. In the meantime…I’ll return soon with adventure stories!
_________________
I ask you –
Have you ever watched the Olympics live?
Would you be more likely to go watch the summer or winter Olympics?
For my fellow bloggers, tell me about your idea-generating endeavors!
Congratulations, loyal, kind readers! With your readership, emotional support, and massive grace, Running on Fumes is now 5 years old!
In true celebratory fashion, I’m choosing to celebrate as any 5 yr old might: by saying (writing) what I want to write!
First, in response to a prevalent post I’ve seen on multiple social media platforms but which I choose not to share here for obvious reasons, I have this to say: What’s more interesting is the fact these “startling stats” are only available from Jan 2023. Therefore, to be truly valuable to the disconcerting citizen, and even more so to the average citizen who won’t investigate these stats and chooses to take them out of context, a quick recap that pits one presidency against another is not the definition of unified, citizen, or, dare I say, Christian.
Second, I’ve been listening to The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast with increasing insight into society’s challenges and how to be an overcomer despite the issues. Might I recommend episode 467. Plagiarized by Harvard’s President. Not only was it enlightening but also provoked me to reconsider some of my own opinions.
Finally, I owe you a few weeks of exercise totals versus page count. Wk 11 includes about 12 hours of drive time to my favorite vacation spot. Somehow, I experienced no motion sickness and was able to write to my heart’s content.
Wk 11: additional 36 pages!
However, the drive back was less productive. I was sick fairly consistently so only added maybe 1 page. My goal was 60 min per day, but, again, I wasn’t as productive as I had planned. Instead, I ate gelato, cookies, and ran nearly daily! Good tradeoff.
Wk 12: additional 6 pages
The semester is winding down and I’m frantically finishing up last minute details to hopefully get approval to start the actual research portion of this dissertation in the fall. Whilst on vacation, our group was approached by a researcher from the local university. At first, I stated no thanks to completing her survey, then I had a change of heart. Alas, if I was doing survey research, arguably the most difficult type, then I would want kind people to help me. We spent maybe 10 minutes with her, patiently answering her questions (marketing-related), then went on our way. It provides a different perspective when you realize all the surveys and such actually might be influencing someone’s education.
Regardless, one more day of laundry and grocery shopping then it’s back to the work grind.
_________________
I ask you –
If you’re a fellow blogger, how many years have you been writing?
Do you have any podcast recommendations?
Share what you’ve been up to this past week!
(The post 5 Years with RoF! first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)
(I haven’t yet figured out why the above photos are upside down and I don’t have the patience to troubleshoot at the moment. So, if you have a quick fix I’m unaware of, send it my way!)
The things we were forced to do as children are now the things we enjoy doing as adults. World spins around. Not saying thrifting is really something I’m into, but it was fun to recently visit Bowie Trade Days. I could hear my grandmother’s laugh in the trinkets and knickknacks. I could taste the cold, sweet lemonade. And I could smell my grandfather’s house amidst the booths and areas selling all kinds of treasures. I’m no haggler but it was nice to see it from an adult’s point of view.
Beyond haggling, farmer’s markets are really more my speed. Less haggling, more browsing. For example, Parts bought a bucket of peaches for $30. That’s roughly $1/peach. Seems reasonable. Considering the peaches were someone else’s labor of love and all I (she) had to do was buy them, sounds like a win to me! She’s no haggler either but I think she could hold her own.
Update – I fixed the photos but only from the app.
Alas, a haggler, master or otherwise, I am not.
It was quite the week! Wk 9 Tracker:
Additional pages: 16
_________________
I ask you –
Thoughts on haggling?
Would you prefer a flea market or a farmer’s market?
Photo rotation advice, please. Word Press is giving me a headache.
(The post Master Haggler first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)
Introducing Blue Bell Creameries, headquartered in beautiful Brenham, TX. Since I was a very young girl, I’ve always wanted to visit the place where my favorite ice cream is made. It really is a lovely community with a proper downtown, a few coffee options (Mescalito was fantastic!), and some amazing BBQ!
The tour of the ice cream facility ends with $1 scoops of Blue Bell. Life is so good. As we visited first thing in the day, ice cream was more of a breakfast option, which I think is perfect! Blue Bell is actually the name of a flower, which the founders of Blue Bell Ice Cream chose to name their business after.
(L) Buttered Pecan (R) Salted Caramel Brownie
We toured banks-turned-boutiques, museums, and even made a quick stop in Waco, TX, to check out the much loved Magnolia Market and Silos.
As the weekend capped off the return from VA and seeing my best friend, it was a whirlwind of sights and sounds. But the ice cream made it worth it.
It can be so difficult to make time outside of your home and work to reconnect with those friends who hold special pieces of your heart. But we did it!
My best friend, Sam
on the boardwalk where I almost died once
Just a few…a lot…of photos where we ate and drank our way through Ocean View.
There’s tons of other photos but we genuinely had the best time together. Beach in the morning, beer and shopping in the afternoon, and copious amounts of shenanigans in the evening!
I caught a crab!
_________________
I ask you –
Have you visited the beaches at Norfolk, VA?
Do you have a vacation planned?
Tell me your thoughts about seafood! Love it? Hate it?
We traveled a lot of hours together recently to move her storage unit contents closer to home. Travel, sort, load = 10 hours. Travel, unload = 1.25 hrs. Well worth it. Considering we’d both been dreading this for nearly 3 yrs, I think we did a great job and had a lot of laughs along the way!
It’s apparent we should have our own podcast. If you think I’m funny…haHA! Parts is a riot.
Except when she made me drive myself, like a peasant, to work 2 days in a row. And, the first day, it hailed resulting in numerous dents. To be fair, she got a cracked windshield out of it so I’m not truly complaining about my dents. Inside the fitness center, it sounded like WWIII. Alas, no major injuries were reported, just lots of broken windows.
Golfball-sized hail
Now that I’ve returned to my chauffeured-lifesyle, I’m sure I’ll never see hail again. One can only hope.
____________
I ask you –
How many times have you moved?
Have you ever suffered hail damage?
Tell me your thoughts on carpooling! Big fan, as long as it’s with Parts.
(The post Daily Driver first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)
I’ll do my best at this analogy – a PhD is somewhere between childbirth and the stomach bug…very exciting but makes you very nauseous. In keeping (mostly) with my tradition of not looking ahead at courses because hello, nauseous I realized some time ago that I wasn’t doing myself any favors and probably should plan more for what’s ahead. Control the controllables and all that. And it worked out.
Taking my new bag from The Note Bags with me!
Then, it came to a point where I needed to repeat the looking ahead process and I got a little shocked when I believed I would be completing the actual fieldwork part of this research next Spring (a year from now). Instead, I will spend the summer writing the lit review (which is actually great timing) and the fall is dedicated to the research and methods portion. Great, I was an entire season off in my calculations. Sure, it sounds like no big deal, why stress when we haven’t even made it through spring yet much less summer. But that’s what I do. I stress!
I know for sure I’m going to the border. Despite some who have attempted to talk me out of it, that’s where my research will take me. Surely my limited, rusty Spanish, sarcasm, and wit will keep me out of trouble and prevent inadvertent kidnappings. I talk too much to be a valuable asset. This is why…border communities are stigmatized. Much to my point of going there!
Running on Fumes 
You must be logged in to post a comment.