Will the Real Courtney Kelly Please Sit Down? Good Girl.

As mentioned previously, my dear aunt Vicki has recently acquired a new baby girl Jack Russell Puppy and I have been informed that she has been named Courtney Kelly. She is clearly the more charming of the two and CKs and fetches much faster than I do. It is a matter of time before she is a better project manager. I think she is just adorable and I am quite smitten with her. See?
You’ll remember my Aunt Vicki from being the sole preserver of my sanity when I toured around Victoria, Australia with my parents, me driving the 5 of us down the left side of the Great ocean Road in a Minivan. John takes great pictures and I suspect I may have him to thank for the sweet one above.

Let’s take a moment (with only 72 days remaining in our poll) to note according to the current tally that 50% of you, dear readers, are Internet stalkers. None of you, however, are my mother, which is quite curious and quite frankly casts doubt on the validity of the entire poll.

Let’s also take a quick status check on some of the promises and declarations I’ve made here on ‘Spondence for 2009:

• My commitment to review a book a month is ahead of schedule but significantly stymied with my current assignment. Look for the next review soon.
  
• The month off drinking was pretty easy. Maybe I should do that again soon. July?


• The 100 push-up project ended because it was taking up a lot of time and I couldn’t remember why I had ever wanted to be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups, except to prove some kind of point I had forgotten. 2 out of 3 isn’t terrible.

Next up, is an idea I’m still working through: Fruit Monday. For the last few Mondays I’ve been eating only raw fruit with no preparation or preservatives. The thinking isn’t gelled yet, but it has to do with how much I admire people I’ve known like Hussey and Emily who commit to being vegetarian. I do think being a vegetarian is the only ethical choice, if you care about the carbon load of your food or about how animals are treated on factory farms. I also know that eating meat leads to heart disease and obesity. I probably wouldn’t be willing to shoot deer for venison. Unfortunately I love steak. And buffalo chicken wings. And probably most of all Tuna sushi. Bacon is in there somewhere too.

So the idea of Fruit Monday, is not to leap into eating ethically or healthily all the time, but for just 1 day a week, for my food to have a lower than usual carbon load (local produce is best if possible) for it to be low cruelty, for it to be fresh and nutrient rich with no preparation or preservative. I’ve generally found so far that on Fruit Mondays I don’t get as tired as I usually during the day and I have a bit more energy than usual. I know it’s the only day a week when I get my recommended 5 servings of fruit and vegetables.

You might point out that I’m still eating unethically and unhealthily 6 days a week, but at least I’m, putting my toe in the pool here, and so far this seems like something I can actually stick to without feeling cheated. You might point out that I could have vegetables or grains. First off then it wouldn't be Fruit Monday and furthermore I need very clear bright lines and if I could have carrots, then the slippery slope to potatoes, to pizza combos to lobster would be sled right now. Fruit is simple enough to keep me focused. (Tomatoes are in). I let you know how this goes.

Want to give it a try? If you do, I want to hear about it. I think you know I'm not a dietitian. I hope this doesn't make you sick. I realize this is only 1/7th of the time, so for me to make any meaningful difference I need to keep this up for a good long while. The goal is a sustainable life change I can keep up. We'll see.

In other news, since my last post, NYC ultimate is starting to heat up for spring and I’ve already had an obligatory ankle roll. I’ve been scrimmaging with some of the women from the new team, Bent and it seems pretty cool. I’ll let you know how tryouts go. I’m off to Fools Fest in Virginia with the gals from Flash Taco as well, so that should be a good time.

I’ve been back to the animal shelter a few more times as well. The last time I was there some genius in a white Mercedes SUV rolled in to ‘drop off’ a dog. She was an adorable white Pitt puppy, maybe 8 months old. Very sweet and obedient. Sit. Roll over. The whole deal. He just ‘dropped her off.’ I hope his SUV gets Repossessed. I also walked a stray Pitt that was all ribs and spine and was as sweet as he could be. It was heart breaking. I do think a couple agreed to adopt a cat while I was there, so that was nice. I will try to remember to take some pictures while I am there next weekend.

Have you given blood lately? Accenture actually had a blood drive a work a few Fridays back, which was great. I was a bit sluggish at the first Bent scrimmage as a result, but I think a lot of us were just getting into shape anyway, so hopefully that will not be too big a factor. Giving blood is free and a huge way to give to people in need. You should probably open a new tab and click this link and make an appointment right now. RIGHT NOW.

I nagged Jesse until he finally got renters insurance. Don't think I won't nag you.

I am just back from a week in St. Charles, Illinois for ‘training’. I will not color outside of the lines any more and the accidents are pretty much under control as well. Actually, it was a week of client sales simulations and I guess I like my simulated work as much as I like my actual work. It was a long week. By pure chance, I did happen to run into a colleague who had been faculty with me at back in August, Patrick Warburton who has an unnatural attachment to Andy Murray.

As for my bracket, I have 11 of the sweet 16, which is not great, but has me in 5th place out of 12 in my pool. If UNC wins out I should finish up 3rd or 4th which is still just losing in the winner takes all format. Go Cards! The Big East is looking great, BTW. Mercifully the GU season is final over, with another lost lead late in the second half to Baylor in round one of the NIT. We’ll see if there is still a team next year or if they just dissolve the program. Maybe they will form a touring checkers team.

Of course you know my buddy Chip . His baby brother Michael is actually in Melbourne these days and playing disc with my favorite open team, the Heads of State. Do check out his blog of events which reminds me a lot of my first few months there so far (minus detailed recounts of dramatic layouts.)

Okay. Gotta run. It snowed in Minneapolis today. This weekend. Chip's wife Jen will be in town. I have dinner with Danielle planned. Saturday is another Bent Scrimmage and then off to the Animal Shelter. After that I'm scheduled at a W - Bachelor Party: White Castle, Whiskey and Wii. I CAN'T WAIT. Sunday is a hat tournament for Ultimate for Peace. I am prematurely exhausted.

Oh yeah, LSF was a pajama party. It was nuts. See?

March Lion

Sorry it’s been a while. It’s been mostly work anyway, so you haven’t missed much. It is negative 2 today in Minneapolis. And snowing.

I got a chance to see the CEO speak last week. He was a piece of work. He blamed the current economic troubles on the Obama administration and the fact that they have done nothing to instill confidence in the market (over the last 50 days). He said his adopted Korean daughter should be good at math because of her genes (and shouldn’t waste time on subjects like sociology.) He asked if females in the workplace prefer to be called ladies, women or girls. He is steering the ship that I am riding on.

The past few weekends I have been volunteering at an animal shelter in Brooklyn. The animals are great but the people are a nightmare (the public, not the staff). I walk dogs that spend 23 hours a day in their cages. The shelter is under-funded, so the animals get food and water, but very limited socialization opportunities. Most of the dogs are pit bulls or pit mixes and they are so sweet. When I walk past their cages with the leash they all get up and wiggle and whine to tell me that they want to go for a walk and I can only take one at a time. Most of the dogs are great, but have not really been properly trained to walk on a leash and they are so excited from being stressed and pent up all the time that most of the dogs pull a good deal. My arms were quite sore the last time I left there.

I also help the public identify which cats are available for adoption and help them to try and find a match. People show up in this place with 2 or 3 children that they don’t watch and ask me where the little kittens are. Meanwhile the kids are sticking their fingers in the cages and rattling the cages and I have to try to explain that all the tiny kittens will grow up to be big cats just like the many available adult cats quite soon. Then potential adopters ask me questions like, “Why isn’t this cat more friendly?”Um. Well, it could be that her owner abandoned her, and she had to fend for herself in the streets until an animal control officer caught her and brought her to this place with 50 pit bulls that bark night and day and she is scared and lonely. That could be it. Or another favorite, “Can I see that cat hunkered down in the back of his cage, hissing? Will you pick him up for me?” Usually followed again, by “Where are the baby kittens?” I try to stay positive and my goal is to help with one adoption each time I volunteer.

The Hoyas are done for the year. I’m not as excited as usual for March Madness this year. Pitt looks pretty good. As does the perennial threat UNC.

I’m off to “Chicago” to have the key in my back wound for a week next week. I wish Amy & Simon were there, instead of Fiji so I could stop by and see them. Maybe I should stop by and see them in Fiji instead.

I am told I have a new namesake and that my beloved Aunt Vicki named her new Jack Russell puppy Courtney Kelly after me. She is MUCH cuter than me. I am working on some pics of her for you.

I’m going to see Les Savy Fav again on Friday and scrimmaging with the gals from Bent on Saturday.

The first weekend in April, Flash Taco is going to Fools Fest again and that should be a fun time. I think we are going to be secret service agents. I am looking fwd to playing in a suit and dark glasses I’ll try to grab some digi-snaps for you.

Happy Ides of March