Well, the bike is here. We picked it up this morning and it is now in my garage (as is S), meaning that for now, my car is sitting outside.  Boo.

I know that I complained about the cost of this toy yesterday, but S really did get a good deal on the bike.  It is a 2004, and the guy selling it had gotten a raw deal.  He had co-signed on a loan with his friend who was buying the bike a few years ago.  The friend ended up not paying the loan off, so the guy was responsible as a co-signer.  He took the bike back, paid off the loan, and now was desperate to sell it.

His asking price was $4,400 originally (already below the blue book price for this bike.)  Then, after we went to see the bike the first time, he told us that the registration was behind and back-payments were due.  $400 was owed in registration fees.  So he said he would give S the bike for $4,000 if S paid the back registration fees.  When S went to get his temp license, he checked that the $400 owed was accurate, and it was.  However… the mileage that the guy had given us was not.  The bike had the odometer replaced a little while ago, so only has about 300 miles on it.  The guy told us that he thought the bike had around 5,000 miles total.  But the DMV said that the last time the bike had been registered there, it had 17,000 miles.  When S heard that, he was really pissed.  When he got home, he immediately emailed the guy and told him, and asked if they could come to an agreement on a lower price since the mileage was so much higher than he had originally thought.  Luckily, the guy was nice, desperate to get rid of it, and willing to negotiate.  S ended up paying $3,500 for the bike (and then the $400 in back registration).  So overall a really good deal.  I do feel bad for this guy selling it, because he got a raw deal overall from his “friend” (who he says is definitely no longer his friend.)  But I guess you live and you learn.  I doubt he will be cosigning on any loans in the future.

So yeah.  The bike is S’s.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I had a pretty good workout on my treadmill that I got from Oxygen magazine’s website.   S took my car to work, because his is leaking coolant and keeps overheating, so I wasn’t able to get out of the house and go to the gym.  I decided to do an interval workout with running and some incline.  And of course I watched Oprah at the same time

Interval treadmill workout:

This was a pretty good workout, and wasn’t too long.  Convenient for a day when I am stuck at home without a car and don’t have a lot of time to take a break from work.

On Oprah, they had James Cameron on and were talking about Avatar.  That guy must have the most incredible imagination.  I would like to just get into his head for a few minutes to see what it’s like!  They made Oprah into an avatar, it was pretty cool

But James Cameron and Oprah were talking about the underlying theme of the movie and the spiritual aspect.  They were talking about how the Na’vi greeting “I see you” is a phrase with a deeper meaning more akin to “I understand who you are.”  I love, love, love that concept.  And Oprah was saying about how when she started her talk show, she realized that all people really want is to be heard.  To talk about their situation and have others “see” them… to understand who they are and what they are trying to say.  James Cameron also said that he wanted the movie to highlight the idea that we are all connected to each other as human beings.

That is a message that I truly believe.  I know that on the surface we all seem so different.  We have completely different personalities, likes, dislikes, and life situations.  But underneath we are all the same.  We are all connected.  We have the same basic wants and needs.  We all have problems and difficulties.  It’s very easy to look in from the outside at someone else’s situation and make comments or say that you would do something different.  But the bottom line is that you never know until you are actually in that situation.  We all have to deal with things in our own way and we have to respect that others might choose to deal in a different way than you would.  But it’s all surface differences.  Underneath, we are all the same and are all connected.

I leave you with that thought, and some pictures I took in my rearview mirror on the drive home.  This is S behind me on the bike.  I didn’t take any of him with the bike directly and am not going to tell him I took these, because I don’t want to encourage him.

And don’t try this at home.  Taking a picture while driving = not smart.

Do as I say, not as I do.

Now I’m off to take my mind off of everything either with a beer or a nap.  Haven’t decided which yet.

I am totally torn right now.  I am really happy it is the weekend.  This week was long and busy, and I am really needing a break from work (although I still have some things that I have to do before my first meeting on Monday morning at 7am…)  However, I wish it was any weekend but this weekend.  Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we are driving north to pick up S’s motorbike.  And I’m NOT happy about it.

This morning I woke up to a cinnamon raisin bagel with nutella, and some giant golden raisins.

Those raisins are so good.

Lunch?  You guessed it.  Hugh Jass.

Romaine, broccoli, carrots, chicken breast, egg whites, mozzarella and edamame.

Mid-afternoon I snacked on some swiss chocolate with hazelnuts.

I don’t think that S and I have fought about anything as frequently and as furiously as this stupid motorbike.  First and foremost, it just scares me.  Period.  He drives very aggressively, and I think it will be even worse on a motorbike.  He tends to think he is invincible and that nothing will happen to him.  And then there is the racetrack, which is where he really wants to ride it.  At ridiculously high speeds.  Enough said.

Another fact that kills me is just the principle of it.  The very fact that this stupid, dangerous, material possession means SO FREAKING MUCH to him that he would it above my feelings, and what I feel is rationality.  The fights that we have had over this subject is absolutely unreal.  But still, it’s all that he wants.

The third thing is money.  Plain and simple.  S has promised that he will get rid of the bike when we have kids.  We have made a plan, which includes kids within the next three years.  So that means he will have this bike for a maximum of 3 years (and likely less.)  So… he’s paying a LOT of money to buy it, plus about $350 a pop each time he goes to the racetrack (which he says he will do approximately 2-4 times a year.)  He promises to ride it on the street only when I am with me (which first of all, I’m not sure I believe is going to happen.  And second of all, at this point I have no desire to get on the back of the bike with him driving.)  So if this is the case, his racetrack riding will be the majority of his riding.  So the amount of money he will be paying overall for this bike and the racetrack for the next 2 1/2 years will be ridiculous.  And if you divide the total sum out by the number of times he will actually ride it (assuming he keeps his promise and doesn’t ride it on the street) then the amount of money he will be paying for each race track trip will be ridiculous too.

ARGHHHH!  I feel like just shaking him.

On a positive note, he did come home from work early today which was a nice surprise.

We made a trip to Target because he has been complaining that he feels sooo dried out.  His eyes hurt and his skin, and he always feels dehydrated.  I tell him to use moisturizing lotion and eye drops, but he wanted to get a humidifier to put in the bedroom at night.  So we picked one up.  I’m not looking forward to sleeping with it in our room tonight – I really dislike humidity and it is also very loud.  So now I will have to deal with a loud humidifier on top of S’s snoring.  Yippee.

Dinner was a mozzarella and sundried tomato pizza.  Not too bad.  I was starving and ate the whole thing.

Sugar cookie ice cream for dessert!  One of the few things that brought a smile to my face tonight.

And a chocolate marzipan bar from Switzerland.

Right now, we are watching a TV show on CNBC about Nike.  Background on the company, how it started, and how it achieved it’s success.  It is so interesting.  Do you know how much Nike paid for their signature Swoosh symbol when it was created for them?  $35!!!! No joke.  That’s incredible.

So… wish me luck tomorrow.

Have you ever tried to give a cat a bath?  Well, my suggestion is, DON’T.  For some reason, S has been on a “we need to give the cats a bath” kick for the past couple of weeks.  I did not agree.  The whole point is that cats are supposed to clean themselves, right?  That, combined with the fact that they go APE SHIT when they are even too close to the sink and I turn it on, led me to believe this was not a good idea.

I woke up a little later than usual today because S was working at home.  He wanted to go to the DMV in the afternoon to get his temporary motorbike license.

And that’s what I think about THAT.  Scared out of my mind.  Still haven’t decided whether I want to try to get my temp license or not.

What better way to deal with this fear than eating breakfast?  None that I can think of.  I totally needed a sweet, close-to-a-candy-bar tasting breakfast.

Don’t you worry, I followed that up with two clementines.

Work was insane today.  I literally had back-to-back meetings from 8am – 1. Why is it that the days that S works at home are always the busiest?

Lunch was same old, a monster salad.

Romaine, broccoli, carrots, egg whites, turkey, edamame, cheddar cheese.  And olive oil/vinegar for dressing.

Did you ever wonder what I use to get my incredible, almost-professional natural light pics like the one above?  Come on, I know that you want to know.  Well, let me show you.

It’s the kitty hotel!  Which is located right in front of the sliding door.  Perfect.

I also ate an apple.

Mid-afternoon, while S was at the dmv, I had two more clementines.

He came back home and of course he had passed the test.  So he now has his temp license.  I will not celebrate nor will I cry… I will just keep my mouth shut.

We went to the gym together (I love it when I have a gym buddy!) and I did 30 min on the stepper.  Then we came home and it was bath time.  Let’s just say it was not pretty. But it was kinda funny.

JB went first.

He was pretty well behaved,

But definitely didn’t love it.

Then it was Mendy’s turn.  I only have one picture of Mendy getting her bath because she went completely NUTSO.  So here ya go:

After that, I was starving and basically grabbed the closest thing I could find.  This was upstairs in our room, somehow.

I actually like the taste of all the Atkins bars I have ever tried.  I know they are junk, but tasty junk

It was kind of a rough day all around – crazy at work, emotional because of the motorbike thing, touch-and-go as we talk a lot about our careers and our future.  So we decided to go out for dinner to relax a little bit.  We went to downtown San Jose.  Neither of us were all that hungry (nor did we want to get an expensive meal… the thought of the money he is about to spend on the frickin motorbike makes me feel like my head is going to explode) so we just went to Johnny Rocket’s.

I got a chicken club salad.

It was pretty good.  But our conversation was great, and was really what we needed.  But the treat came afterward, when we went to Bijan Bakery for dessert and a coffee.

Look what I got:

Yay for cute little cakes shaped like animals!  I chose the yellow fishie.  It was delicious… moist and sweet with layers of cake and icing inside.  Sorry for the blurry blackberry pic.

That little guy totally made my night.

So off to bed I am, I am.

Check out these giveaways:

Morgan is having a waterpik giveaway!

Brandi is having a one year blogiversary contest!

And Shelley is having her first giveaway!

cuz a Monday morning don’t stop!  That’s pretty much what my Monday morning was like.  Non-stop at work.  Which is a-ok with me, you know that’s how I like it.

Breaky was a nutella sandwich and some canned peaches left over from my backwards dinner .

I didn’t get a second to think until lunchtime.  Hugh Jass with romaine, carrots, avocado, egg whites, turkey sausage, mozzarella, and balsamic vinaigrette.

Mendy worked hard all day too.  When I went upstairs, I caught her lounging in my favorite chair.

Lazy bones!  She’s so tiny, it made me think of a pic I saw the other day.

source

I love, love love that site.  Mendy looks like she is getting NOMed by my favorite chair

Also on the exciting news front for today (come on, you know Mendy getting NOMed by the chair is exciting news….)

My new water belt arrived!

Yep, now I have no excuse for not racking up the mileage again.  I read good reviews about this one, and wanted to try the two bigger bottles as opposed to the four smaller ones that I currently have and don’t really like.  They are a huge pain to wash and remove, and I usually only end up wearing two of the four bottles anyways.  Also, this one has two pouches to hold things, not just one.  So more room for Gus, cell phone, whatever.  I can’t wait to try it!  (although I CAN wait for a run long enough to try it!)

Speaking of running, I had to do my “long run” (I say that in quotes, as it was only 8 miles) today because I slacked off yesterday and skipped it in order to go look at S’s motorbike.  It was sooo hard to drag myself out there this afternoon.  I was tired after a slammed day at work, feeling totally lazy, and it was COLD.  California cold, of course.  But cold nonetheless.

I finally made myself get out there.  I am trying to increase my speed and get a better time in my next marathon than I did in Lausanne, so I picked it up a little.  Miles 1-5 I averaged an 8:28 min/mile pace.  I’ll take that!  But then… around mile 5 my stupid long sleeved shirt touched my stupid Garmin touch wheel, and put it on some stupid menu so I couldn’t get back my stupid training view.  And I started pressing buttons trying to get it back (while trying to run, of course) and stopped it from recording my run!  I couldn’t figure out how to get it to start back up again, so I just kept running and waited until it went back into power-save mode and thus I could start from the beginning.  I was finally able to restart it at about mile 6.3, so I got the last 1.71 miles logged and averaged 8:23 min/mile.  I think I was running faster because I was so pissed at my Garmin.

I was really happy about my times, but was totally exhausted when I got back.  Literally, for the rest of the day and tonight, I felt so tired I could barely move around!  Not sore or tired legs, but just completely drained.  It’s weird.  I can’t wait to go to bed tonight.

When I got home, I had some mango slices waiting for me that had just finished in the Excalibur!  I downed a huge plate of those very quickly.

Still hungry, I dove into the trail mix.  I may or may not have picked out the chocolate chips and yogurt chips and eaten primarily those…

When S got home, we were totally psyched to watch “The Biggest Loser”.  Except it wasn’t on!  And then we remembered that it was on Tuesday nights when in fact today is Monday.  Great googly moogly.

Know that one??  Come on… only one of the greatest commercials of all time, people!

So my weekly eat-a-big-dinner-and-dessert-while-watching-the-biggest-loser-contestants-work-their-butts-off fest will have to wait until tomorrow night.  Ah well.

Dinner was a quick mish-mash thrown in the pan with some olive oil.

Spinach, mushrooms, ham and some artichoke dip.  All together now:

With some breadsticks on the side.

And dessert was my favorite part.  I got some more sugar cookie ice cream!  I actually got TWO containers, because it is a limited edition so they won’t be getting more in now that Christmas is over.  Plus, since it is technically a Christmas flavor, it was on sale!!  Total score.

I might have had this x2.  I ran 8 miles today, people!

I cannot wait, wait, wait to hit my bed tonight.  G’night ya’ll!

PS:  Check out Rosey Rebecca’s Dove giveaway!