SWF’s Story

I cannot believe I have not posted once in the entire month of May!

I have started a brand new challenge for myself – - I will be running a full marathon in October.  Yep, 26.2 miles.  Approximately 4.5 – 5 hours straight of running.  I am training and raising money for Team in Training.  They raise funds for cancer research related to leukemia and lymphoma cancers.  I am nervous about raising the most amount of money I have ever attempted to raise – - $2500.  This is a lot of money, especially in an economy where people are losing jobs and homes.  In addition, a lot of my friends are still trying to break in to the business known as employment.  I compound the problem by living far away from most of my family and friends.  This should be challenging…Anyone who reads this that would like to support a good cause, please donate at:http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/nikesf10/kdikos.  I will also be updating the ticker on the top left of my blog webpage with my fundraising progress.

In the month of May, I traveled a lot for work.  Some places were cool (La Jolla, CA) and others were not (Long Beach, CA and Washington DC).  La Jolla and the general San Diego area are just as beautiful as everyone says it is, plenty of sunshine, the ocean, and dolphins The zoo is crazy cool too.  Long Beach was terrible mostly because I had to deal with the rental car getting broken into by some idiots that felt a Kia screamed money…or maybe they were just bored adolescents who felt the need to jumpstart their criminal careers.  Either way, fun times.  Washington DC would have been cooler if I had the time to see friends, but I was only there for one day.  Plus, I stayed out inVirginia which meant I was far away from my favorite running place, the Mall

The major upside from all this traveling was that I hit 2 more baseball parks while traveling for work.  I am trying to hit the MLB parks as I travel.  I was able to experience Petco Park in San Diego and the Angels of Anaheim stadium.  The Angels stadium was pretty nice, but the Padres’ Petco Park was disappointing.  The team is in one of the prettiest places I have yet to travel and their stadium was unremarkable.  I think Comerica Park in Detroit is far more beautiful. I am really bummed because I have training for work in Chicago this July, but it is during the week of the All Star game in Anaheim.  I was looking forward to hitting either the White Sox or the Cubs or both as I have not been to either park L

In May I also ran the Bay to Breakers 12k in San Francisco.  This crazy run includes all sorts of costumes, floats, and naked people traversing the city of San Francisco from the bay side to the ocean side.  It is a pretty old race – - this was the 99^th running.  I had a lot of fun and even saw Sparty running I was a little perplexed by all sorts of beige disks being thrown through the air prior to the race starting. Turns out that people throw these all over the place before the race (I found this out after being hit in the back of the head with one).  I have no idea where this tradition originated from, but it was pretty fun.  They don’t hurt when you get hit and they are biodegradable I guess. Leave it to San Franciscans to be environmentally conscious with their mischievousness.  I had one of my best times for that distance finishing in 1:16:26 and placing around 6,000.  I was looking forward to training more and running in the 100^th running next year, but unfortunately, that may be the last Bay to Breakers race as ING has pulled their sponsorship.  There has been some bad press due to all the stupid, drunk people that don’t know to use either their own toilet or the portapotties throughout the course and instead like to take care of business on peoples’ lawns.  Idiots ruin it for us all…

In a couple of days I will check another thing off my to-do list.  I will be skydiving (if the weather cooperates).  I am generally terrified of heights, but feel the need to tackle the phobia head on.  I will be jumping out of a perfectly good working airplane.  I keep saying this to myself over and over but it won’t really feel real until I am actually up there and feel like I might wet my pants.

In addition, I will be running the Dipsea race in a couple of weeks.  I am nervous about running this race that is only approximately 8 miles long.  The distance is not really the daunting part.  It’s the 600+ stairs within the first mile and running up the huge hills (1300 feet high that is) that are freaking me out.  When I signed up for this race, I had every intention of training for the hills and the stairs…then, I had all that travel for work.  Ugh. I just hope to survive.  It will make the “big” Third Street hill in the Bay to Breakers look like a molehill!

I recently went to visit a good friend in Oklahoma and run her first half marathon with her.  I had never been to Oklahoma and I wanted to experience everything I could in the short span of four days.

I tried a lot of new food.  I ate turnip greens homemade by my host, which were delicious.  I also ate lamb fries.  For those who do not know what these are, they are fried lamb testicles.  These were a specialty of Cattlemen’s Steakhouse where we ate after the race.  They tasted like fried shrimp to me, especially since the restaurant served them with cocktail sauce.  I really could only taste the horseradish and breading, but did try a bit without the sauce.  I did not notice a distinctive flavor and certainly no taste that made me gag.  They were good and I can say I have tried them (and know what they are), but I would likely forgo them in the future.  This restaurant is listed in the 1,000 places to see before you die book and was visited by Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.  The steak was amazing and the house dressing on their salad was delicious.

I also had my first Sonic experience.  I have seen the commercials for this place for years, but have never been close enough to one to actually try eating there.  I still have not tried their food.  They do, however, have fantastic Cherry Limeade J The servers do roller skate out to your car and everything!

I stayed most of the time in Durant with my friend and was able to see the world’s largest peanut, which I was amazed to find out she had never had her picture taken with before I visited and insisted, despite growing up with it right there by City Hall.  A tragedy! J

What struck me the most were the little things…things I used to take for granted when living in Michigan.  It got really dark at night – - no light pollution or ambient light there.  I also heard crickets and frogs at night which I don’t hear in Foster City.  Also, I got to feel a little humidity.  It was enough to make me a little homesick L

Just in case someone reading this blog is interested, I have decided to review races I run J

San Francisco Marathon (July, First Half Marathon course):

Cool weather, great scenery, and a chance to run across the Golden Gate Bridge!  This was my first and, after running four others, most challenging course.  After runners go through Fisherman’s Wharf and run by Crissy Field, a steep but short hill welcomes them to Fort Mason.  The Golden Gate Bridge is super cool to run across, but at the end of July, SF tends to be foggy and cool (in the 50’s and 60’s). When I ran, you could not see much in the bay, but I found it cool nonetheless.  After running across the bridge and back, I thought it would all be downhill.  I was wrong.  Right after the bridge, you run further and longer uphill than the first incline by Fort Mason.  However, runners are then rewarded to a nice, relaxing decline with seaside scenery.  There are some ups and downs through some of the streets of SF, but nothing that would be too challenging – - if it were earlier in the course.  By the time I was running in the 9^th and 10^th miles, even a curb looked huge J The course ends in Golden Gate park which is nice.

The race was fairly well organized, with staggered starting times and different waves which prevented runners from waiting 45 minutes after gun time to cross the starting line.  However, this race had some HUGE organizational failures.  First, they were completely out of water by the time I finished.  I finished fairly early for my wave start.  In fact, I passed and finished before people who started in earlier waves AND THERE STILL WAS NO WATER FOR RUNNERS.  My husband who waited for me at the finish line said that volunteers were handing out water to spectators.  REALLY??!!  Did they pay the registration fee that helped pay for that water? Did they run the 13.1 or 26.2 mile long course?  I don’t think so and they sure as hell don’t deserve the water.

Secondly, with this course at least, runners end at a different location than where they started.  You start by the bay side of the city and end up fairly close to the ocean side.  For those with enough stamina, a nice 7.5 mile walk might seem not so bad.  However, this was my first half marathon and I was in no condition to do that, so my husband figured out which bus route to take to get back to where we started and the hotel where we were staying.  My husband and I had quite an adventure getting back to the hotel since our driver, halfway through the route, decided his shift was over and just let everybody off.  Yeah, you read that right.  Everyone had to get off the bus and figure out how to get to where they thought they had paid to get to.  Stupid public transit system.  Not entirely the race organizers fault, but still.

Even after these faults, I have a soft spot for this race, most likely because it was my first half marathon.  I look forward to running it again to see if I can better my time after more than 18 weeks of training.  Unfortunately, I cannot run it this year due to something more important – - Foster’s Party J

San Jose Rock n’ Roll (October, Half Marathon only):

This race was awesome.  There were great bands along the route, a flat course, and warm temperatures.  I cannot say much for the scenery.  It is not that San Jose is an ugly town; it just can’t boast about ocean or mountain views.  Runners go through different neighborhoods, generally all with nice houses.  This is a very well-organized race with plenty of water, free parking, and great volunteers. This race is where I made my current personal record of 2:25:29.  I hope to run it again this year, but I should be realistic – - I am unlikely to better this time despite more training and experience since I will have recently returned from Oktoberfest in Germany J

Las Vegas Rock n’ Roll (December):

In theory, this race would be AWESOME.  Who wouldn’t want to run down the Las Vegas strip and see all the casinos all lit up?  I doubled traveling to this race with celebrating my 29^th birthday, but was extremely disappointed.  First, contrary to popular belief, it is not always warm in the desert.  It was SOOOOO cold!  Secondly, the race started super early (I believe a 6:15 am start), but because of how they organized the start, it was light out by the time I got to a stretch with casinos so they were not all cool looking.  It is also really hard to get to sleep in a city that never sleeps L

There were some entertaining aspects of the race.  The course allowed for runners to (1) see casinos on the north end of the strip (where I had never been before); (2) run with plenty of Elvi (multiple runners dress up as Elvis); (3) watch people get married at mile 4/5 in front of the Paris hotel; and (4) see extremely drunk people still drinking out of bottles in paper bags at 6:30 am stumble through runners to cross the street.

Personally, I don’t really like Vegas.  It is an extremely expensive town.  The only way I would run this race again is if they moved it to a night start (maybe on Sunday night) so that I could run it with all the casino lights still alight.

Pescadero Artichoke Half Marathon (April, Half Marathon or 10k):

I was super excited about this race.  Not only did all finishers receive a T-shirt and a medal, they also received produce, a real artichoke J  I will never run this race again.  The race was advertised as flat and fast with great, ocean front scenery.  They lie.  None of the race route is along the ocean.  Also, the first 5.5 miles was almost all uphill.  It was not steep, but uphill nonetheless.

It also didn’t help that the weather was so freakin’ awful.  It was rainy with winds from 20-25 mph. (Don’t believe me, read this).  The winds were in my face as I went UP the first 5.5 miles.  Great.  I walked the last 2 miles – - but still finished in 2:35:00. No bathrooms along the route and the fact that all runners have to run on the shoulder since they don’t close roads are two more reasons I will not be running this race again.

Oklahoma City Memorial Half Marathon (April):

I ran this race with a good friend who was running her first half marathon and I would run it again in a heartbeat.  Not only was it well organized, but it was for a great cause – - to remember the awful bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in April 1995 that killed 168 people.  The volunteers for the pasta dinner the night before the race were either in the building at the time of the explosion or lost someone in the blast.  As if that wasn’t touching enough, runners could opt to dedicate their run to one of the victims.  I selected one of the children, Jaci Rae Coyne.  Both full and half marathon courses had banners with the name of one of the victims attached to the light posts.  All participants observed 168 seconds prior to the race start.  The memorial part of the race title is extremely well executed.

The half marathon course was a blast!  It was a fairly flat course with only one real substantial hill.  Each water station had a theme and runners could vote for their favorite following the race.  Most water stops had music and some went as far as handing out sponges filled with water, orange slices, and pretzels.  Everyone was very supportive and chipper.  I was also very impressed with how many of the people who live along the route were outside cheering on participants.  Not that they could sleep with the music and goings-on outside their homes, but it was nice of them to come out and cheer with smiles on their faces J  There was plenty of refreshments at the finish line, including water and my personal favorite, chocolate milk.

Half Marathon races that are on my to-run list:  The Crim, The Nike Women’s Half Marathon in SF, Detroit, Traverse City, Disney Princess, and the Marine Corp.

I have also recently identified three full marathons I would like to run: ING New York Marathon, Dublin Marathon, and the Athens Marathon.

With my new gym membership, I received two sessions with a trainer.  I was excited about this since I have ceased losing weight from the running, swimming, and biking and I still have 25 pounds I want to lose.  Unfortunately, I dreaded the words he was most likely to utter in our first session: weight training.  Sure enough, he says the pounds will just “melt off” with some weight training since he feels I do plenty of cardio. *UGH*

Why do I hate weight training? My husband asked me this question and I find it hard to pin point exactly.  It is more likely a mix of a couple of different reasons.   My husband was probably a little right (even though I strongly denied it at the time. No comments necessary Dilcos) – - my arms are so weak that it is a little embarrassing that on some machines I add no weight whatsoever AND still feel the burn L However, I get over that quickly since I have never had strong arms.  I played sports that focused more on legs: soccer, basketball, even volleyball.  I did not play front row very often due to my shorter height than my teammates, so I didn’t even need the arm strength to spike the ball, just strong legs and quickness to receive serves and hits.   Also, my arms have gotten stronger from the swimming three days a week Dilcos and I have been doing for the past month.  I already see more definition in my arms.  Chicken wings are still there…but more definition tooJ

I really did try the lifting thing when I was in high school.  For awhile, I lifted some weights in the same gym as the wrestlers and basketball players.  So, you would think if I didn’t have a problem lifting with them around at a time in my life when having a boyfriend and popularity consumed most of my thoughts in a day, that I wouldn’t have a problem now.  After all, most of the people I see in our gym are old…like senior citizen old.  I am more worried their arms or legs are going to snap under so much weight than whether they are laughing inside at my paltry amount of weight.

So I am forced to consider more deeply where my aversion to weight training comes from.  I think it is because I never really feel like I really worked out.  Yeah, I get a little sore the next day (which is uncomfortable and annoying and generally distracts me from my cardio), but I barely break a sweat.  What kind of work out is that really? I like something more rewarding, more worked for than just lifting some weights. Not to mention, I don’t want to bulk up and have veins sticking out which means that I lift even less weights and do more repetitions which means I lift for even longer and prolong the whole stupid exercise.  I know, I have A LONG way to go before I start developing the veins popping out, but still….I like running and swimming because at the end of one of those work outs, I can say “I ran 8 miles in X amount of minutes” or “I swam for 45 minutes straight” (and at some point, I will be able to calculate how many laps equal a yard and quantify that distance too).  With weight training, I would be forced to say something along the lines of “I did bicep curls with 15 pound weights for so many repetitions or for X amount of minutes.” It just sounds stupid to me.

I suppose I should have a more positive outlook.  I am more than a little motivated to lose weight and having plateau-ed (is that even a word?) after only doing cardio, weight training may be my only option.  *Sigh* It will give me something to focus on in the hotel gyms while I spend a little time traveling in the next few months for work.  Most hotels don’t have a pool for swimming laps, so it will be running and *gulp* lifting weights. I have my second meeting with him next Wednesday where he will walk me through a work out.  Should be interesting…

I have not always been a runner, and certainly not a distance runner.  Some would not even classify me as a “true runner” since I run merehalf marathons, not full marathons or ultra-marathons.  In high school, I scoffed at the track runners, laughed at how they chose to just run in circles.  I ran, but in a competitive, contact sport: soccer.  I knew that it would be difficult as I embarked on my training for my first half marathon last July, but felt that the running involved in soccer would blunt the full impact of long distance running.  I was wrong.

Sadly enough, my blog post on my first run almost a year ago, is just two posts away from this one.  Have I been too busy running to post? Or was it because I did not keep up with it and didn’t want anyone to ask or notice?

Answer:  I am addicted to the long distance running.  I have run four half marathons so far:  San Francisco (July 2009), San Jose Rock n’ Roll (October 2009), Las Vegas Rock n’ Roll (December 2009), and the Pescadero Artichoke Half Marathon (April 2010).  I will be running another one in a little over a week in Oklahoma City with my friend who will be running her first.  She, like me, was never a runner until recently.  I look forward to sharing that experience with her – - the optimistic start, thinking you can tackle anything, wanting to take down any distance and own it.  About ½ or ¾ of the way through, it starts to hit you that it’s tough.  The last 2 or 3 miles left in a race where you tell yourself only one more mile, only one more mile – - for the last three or four miles.  Finally, the best, the moment where you cross the finish line and think “Oh my God, I made it. I really made it.”  I look forward to running more, either by myself, with my husband (who I am proud to say has run 9 miles with me ) or with other friends.  I have really upped my training and on most weeks I go to spinning twice a week, get up before work three times a week to swim for 45-60 minutes, and try to fit in 12 miles a week of running.  Maybe someday I will run a marathon.  I was considering running one for my 30^th birthday, but the placement of my trip for Oktoberfest makes training and running one a little bit difficult and anyone who knows me knows that Oktoberfest comes first on my list of priorities

People ask me why.  The truth is, there are many reasons why.  More superficially, I really enjoy the traveling for races and the different landscapes and scenery with each new race route I run.  I hope to get my husband into the running so that we can plan long weekends to travel for a race and a baseball game and see all the stadiums, maybe then moving to hockey or basketball.  Either way, I love to travel and running races is an excuse to travel.

Secondly, it boosts my confidence.  There is nothing like looking at a distance on paper (pretty much anything in double digits now) and thinking, no way that is possible and then proving yourself wrong.  It truly is a test of willpower and I love seeing how far I can push myself. My latest half marathon, the Pescadero Artichoke Half Marathon was the toughest test by far, even more so than the first one I ran in San Francisco.  It was rainy and cold AND WINDY.  When I got back from the race I looked up the wind speeds and apparently I was running into gusts of up to 20 – 25 mph….uphill….for the first 5.5 miles.  I really did just want to give up, Lord knows I did walk a little bit, but I crossed that finish line, grabbed my artichokes and drove home so very proud of myself J  It constantly proves to myself that I am physically AND mentally strong.  I would like to say that I have lost weight and this adds to my boost in self confidence, but sadly, I have not lost much weight in the process.  I am certainly not gaining any and my clothes are fitting a little looser, which proves that weight is not all there it, but I am still weighing in a little heavier than I would like L

Ultimately though, weight loss and traveling and a self confidence boost are not the main reasons I love running.   To me distance running is a blend of emotional and physical venting.  It is not just a parallel to physical pain since running is just as much a mental test as physical. I think back to a break up with a boyfriend, or was in a fight with a friend, or in general going through inner turmoil.  While this did not result in physical pain, it hurt me emotionally.  I can think back to how it felt to pick myself back up and keep going, the sense of accomplishment I felt in moving forward in life.  More than not, I tap into those feelings of hurt, anger, mental pain and feed off of that while running.  It is hard to describe, but it feels energizing to harness all that anguish and think about pushing forward in life, and in the race.  During every run there is a part of me that listens to the music on my iPod and watches the other people running the race and sometimes even shouting encouragement to other runners who look like they are having a difficult time.  The larger part of my brain, however, is busy.  I think about all the times in my life where I thought, “this is tough, I just want to give up” or “it hurts so bad,” how I kept pushing forward then, knowing that I made it through that, and certain I can make it through this race.  That is what I love most about distance running.

Then again, there is also all enormous amount of guilt-free calories I consume post-race

I have recently been inspired to get back into the blogging, so here I go…

I wish that when my last name legally changed, it had changed itself everywhere.   I did cover all the basics after getting married- – the SSA, my credit cards, my employer, my bank, the state bar association, my passport.  However, almost a year and a half later, my old last name still pops up.  This either happens because I did not remember, was too lazy, or don’t know how.

One example would be my name on my diplomas from undergraduate and law school (and high school where I graduated as theValedictorian for that matter!).  Paying for new diplomas with my married name irritates me, so I will not get it done.

Another example, my Yahoo account profile.  I realized this when I signed up to follow my friend Michelle’s blog today.  I use my Yahoo email everyday yet I had no idea that somewhere within that I should change my last name.  Added bonus, I am too lazy to go through changing it in the profile.  Really no one notices, so why put forth the effort?

Another example:  my voicemail still has me using my maiden name in the introduction.  Um, I set up this voicemail when I was somewhere around the age of 18.  I have no idea how to maneuver my way through the automated system to record a new one.  Again, I am too lazy to figure it out.  I really should though since anyone calling me that are not friends of mine from my maiden name days (i.e., doctors, potential employers) will have no idea that they have reached the current me.

*Audible sigh* It seems to never end.  My ultimate goal in life is to find every instance of my old name and change it.  At this rate, I do not see this happening in my lifetime.

It also makes me wonder what possesses other people to change their name when not associated with a change in personal status like a marriage or divorce.  Chad Ocho Cinco for instance.  But, I am sure he has a full staff of assistants and/or lawyers to take care of the tedious details that the average person deals with through a name change.

This past Sunday I ran my first half marathon. I ran the 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 35 minutes. I ran in the San Francisco First Half Marathon which routed me all along the piers on Fisherman’s Wharf, past Fort Mason and Crissy Field, over the Golden Gate bridge and back, with the finish line in Golden Gate park.

It sounds crazy, but I can honestly say that I have never experienced anything so wonderful! Part of it was just accomplishing this goal that seemed so unattainable. I had never run a distance longer than a 5k before I started training in March and even the 4 mile distance on the training schedule seemed daunting. I could barely believe it when I ran 7 miles for the first time. Then came the disappointment when I got sick a month before the race and missed all the longer runs on the schedule. I frantically tried two weeks before the race to make up for the lost time, but the last three weeks a runner is supposed to taper their distance and rest up. So, it was amazing to me when I crossed the finish line 15 minutes before the time I declared it would take me on my registration form. 

The other part that made the whole experience enjoyable is that I kept the same pace throughout the race. I ran an 11:53 mile consistently from beginning to end. I am really proud that I did not slow down as the race went on and despite the hills on the course There were people that sped up and passed me to have me pass them a mile later which was very satisfying. 

I would also be lying if I said the few days after did not rock my world too. I was relatively sore for the rest of race day on Sunday, but not so bad on Monday. The biggest benefit was that I let myself eat or drink anything I wanted without regard for calorie content. My ipod said I burned 1675 calories before breakfast on Sunday, so I was able to eat a 1100 calorie piece of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory without any guilt

I am now pondering which half marathon to run next. I am determined to get a 2 hour and 15 minute time. I think this is definitely an attainable goal considering how hilly the San Francisco course was and given the setbacks with my training. Before getting sick in June, I was running 9 miles in an hour and a half. I look forward to besting my time in the next race. A couple possibilities are the Rock n’ Roll half marathon in San Jose in October. In this one, there are 16 local bands lined up along the course playing while we run which I think sounds pretty cool. Plus, it is local, so there is very little travel required. The other one is the Disney Princess half marathon in Disneyworld in Orlando. The inaugural Princess half marathon was last year, so it is relatively new, but I think it would be super cool to run one in a tiara…maybe a tutu around my shorts Chad’s family may be planning a trip to Disneyworld next year and it would be really sweet if it happened to be on the same weekend as this race!

Race results: https://www.runraceresults.com/secure/raceresults.cfm?ID=RCLF2009

If this link does not work, you can go to http://www.runsfm.com/home.html and search the First Half Marathon for bib #23351.

Things I love about living in California:

1. No humidity
2. No winter and/or snow. Bonus points for living within 3 hours of Lake Tahoe where I can experience snow and ski if I want to
3. I forget what “season” it is because it is either rainy or dry, but always somewhat warm.
4. I can run outside year-round
5. I sleep with my window open 10 months out of the year
6. Breathtaking scenery
7. THE OCEAN
8. Wine country
9. There is a big city nearby complete with plays, museums, etc.
10. NO BUGS, not even mosquitoes
11. I absolutely LOVE the wildlife. I can go to the beach and watch the sea lions jump and birds dive into the water to catch fish. This also means I run into the occasional large snake on my runs in the mountains, but nothing that freaks me out too badly…
12. Everyone is so laid back and life is a lot more relaxed

 …it was the one armed man! So, when I was home this weekend I heard THE FUNNIEST story I have heard in a long time. She is working as a law clerk/court officer for a different judge at the same court where I used to work. Part of the job (as many of you have heard me complain about before) is escorting prisoners from the city jail on the third floor up to the courtrooms on the sixth floor. There is no requirement that a new law clerk/court officer have a law enforcement background, but part of the new employee training is in how to use the handcuffs. No self-defense training though…

My job was made easier by the fact that my judge’s courtroom was right by the elevator, so I did not have to escort any prisoners through hallways with the public present. Christina, however, is not so lucky and actually walks a long way through the hallways past family, friends, and enemies of the defendants. 

Christina was telling me that awhile back she had the most unusual handcuffing experience at work. She said she requested the defendant and jail personnel escorted him from the cells to the holding area where she was to handcuff him before taking him upstairs. One problem…he only had one hand. How do you handcuff a one-handed person? Do you attach it to his arm above the elbow? She said she asked the jail for assistance and they just gave her dumb looks and/or laughed at her. 

She ended up putting belly chains on him (which law clerk/court officers are NOT trained to use. Jail personnel are supposed to put those on).  However, after she chained up his ankles and wound the chains around his waist, she still ran into the same problem – - where to attach the one handcuff. It should not be left hanging because it will swing around and can be used as a weapon, but there was no place to attach it. The defendant ended up seeing her predicament and told her it was no problem and he seemed nice enough, so she just left it hanging. 

However, when they went to leave the holding area, he put up his arm without a hand (it cannot be PC to call it a stump right?) and tried to hold the door open for her.  While this was a nice gesture, she could get in trouble for it, so she told him he had to keep his arms by his side. He then proceeded to loop the handcuff over the end of his hand without an arm and up above his elbow and then held it to his side. How does one react to that? It is so difficult to tell when someone has a good attitude toward a debilitation like that or whether they have no patience in dealing with people trying to make accommodations for them, especially in a situation involving the criminal justice system, like being handcuffed to be transported to a courtroom. 

Her situation ended all right, but I thought the story in general was worth sharing. I found both hilarious and frustrating. She is, like me, a law school graduate with no law enforcement background. It is not really all that safe for us to be handcuffing and transporting potentially dangerous criminals all on our own, yet the jail personnel just laughed at her. Granted their response MAY have been different if the guy had given them a hard time but not always. That job was awful exactly for that reason alone – - your safety and health lay in jail personnel and defendants’ hands.  I say health because I had an experience where I was in a room with multiple defendants taking information down for court appointed attorney applications when someone mentioned they had MRSA.  Just so people reading this know, MRSA is a antibiotic resistant staph infection.  If you get it, you have it for life and it may require hospital stays for weeks at a time for treatment.  So, for $27,000 a year, this single mother of three, as well as all the other court officers, put their health at risk? Luckily, I did not exhibit signs of it and still haven’t, but it is ridiculous that no one mentioned this BEFORE I entered the room. I have to say that besides the nice weather in California, I LOVE this new job a million times more than the job at the court.  I do, however, sacrifice some really funny stories  

I just got back from watching the Lady Spartans play basketball in Berkeley. I am disappointed they didn’t win, but I could get over that if Iowa State actually earned their win. I am sick and tired of refs dictating who wins games, especially when MSU is involved.  

I think this only came to mind because of the men’s game on Friday and then the women’s game today.  Friday night Kansas came real close to winning when the ref called a foul on MSU for tripping when the Kansas player clearly tripped over his own feet. The ref on the sideline should have had a clear view of this. What was he looking at?

Tonight the women played Iowa State who was higher ranked, but MSU still should have won the game.  The refs again called a tripping foul when the Iowa State player clearly tripped over her own feet. Not to mention the fact that the ref called a foul with less than ten seconds to go in the first half, the buzzer sounded, and he called off the foul because it was half? The Spartans were in one and one and very well could have made a difference not only momentum wise, but also since they only ended up losing by two points. I am also quite bitter about the fact that no foul was called in the last 15 seconds of the game when an MSU player was getting hacked to death trying to shoot under the basket. 

What is it with the referees? Is it too much to ask for competence in that profession? I am sure this is not limited to MSU, but being a Spartan fan I tend to remember the examples where MSU gets royally screwed.