Thursday, April 30, 2009

Farewell Boston

On Tuesday, we were happy to sleep in, but sad to depart and end our vacation. We were also happy to not have to ride the subway everywhere around town. And here's one last pic of the subway: )



We were able to have lunch with Larry and Gloria before we left. They were our gracious bed and breakfast hotel, and we look forward to visiting them again.
Here's a picture of them:



Thanks again!! Until next time, Boston-farewell!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Work

This is the President of OSU learning about where I work.

OSU Link

Our FIRST Marathon

Ok, so we did not actually RUN this marathon, but by the time the day was over, I think we walked at LEAST a half marathon!

We were up bright and early, working on a way to ensure that we would get to cheer on Heath and see him at least a couple of times across the course. The marathon began at 10:00 am. Lovely Kristine, Chris, and I headed to the bus/subway to start migrating toward the proper stop. Unfortunately, the bus we were wanting did not come : ( But that actually ended up being a good thing, as with the massive number of onlookers, we would never have gotten where we wanted to go. SO we made a quick back up plan and hopped on another bus to the subway system.

We were fortunate enough to get on the first sardine-packed subway train. phew! It was seriously WALL-TO-WALL with people-I mean there were around 23,000 individuals competing in the marathon, not to mention the THOUSANDS of onlookers and locals who were there that day too. It took about an hour for us to get to our first viewing point, but we were thinking of Heath right as the marathon was getting ready to start:

(pic of Chris' watch about 5 til the start of the race)




We arrived at our destination, cow bells and camera's at hand. Chris had signed up for a text message update for when Heath crossed certain checkpoints in the race. This message would tell us Heath's pace at the 6 mile point. We would also receive updates at the 10K, 1/2 way, 30 K and Finish line. Unfortunately, we did not receive Heath's first update, so we were not 100 % sure where he was at on the course or what his mile time was.

These are pictures of the "power gel" the runners would eat for energy along the course. Check out that TUB of it!



And all the flavors!




BUT it was not too long before we saw him trotting up the hill, running past us.

Heath (the blond, lanky fellow) was suited up in his unforgettable "America Shorts" and a red t-shirt/tank top. Chris took a video of when we saw Heath run by:



He looked like he was determined and going strong. YAY! but there were SO many people, that he did not see us at that stop. "Oh just you wait"-I thought- He will hear us at the next stop!! And he did : )

Here's another video-this one is actually really good- he had around 1/2 a mile or less (I think) left-so he was doing all he could just to make it to the finish.




AND with a final time of 3:03:05 Heath finished his FIRST BOSTON MARATHON! Here's his final stats:
Pace: 6:58 minute miles
Place: 1673rd OVERALL!
**23,162 total individuals started the race.**

That's a sweet finish-especially for a 1st timer!
(I would like to take a special time to note that Heath was just UNDER an hour behind the 1st place winner-the Ethiopian, Deriba Merga, whose time was 2:08:32 )
CLOSE but no cigar! : )

Chris was reading an article about the marathon as we were waiting on Heath to recover, and the article stated that this year's marathon was slower than the pace of the past years. IN FACT- we are impressed with Heath's finish, as he made a NEW personal best...AND he qualified for NEXT YEAR'S BOSTON MARATHON by his time at this year's race! GO HEATH! Who knows, maybe we will be back there next year...?!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Here we are before the day started, waiting for the bus.



Here we are on the train going between stops after the first time we saw Heath



And of course the runner himself with his fan club.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Hello Boston!

We arrived in Boston Saturday afternoon to be picked up by some family/friends. I jokingly said that we stayed at the "Gosier Suites." : o )

We enjoyed Saturday evening as it was nice to sit on a couch (instead of an airport or in the back of an airplane-man I never really realized how uncomfortable the back seat of an airplane was...I definitely want to sit up front next time!! heehe!) We enjoyed visiting with their family. Sunday, Chris got a "bird's eye view" of boston on top of a hill near the city. I went to church at the Basilica and took the camera with me, but Chris did snap a few pics with his phone.

Church:








Hilltop:



I was thrilled to see that Heath made it to Boston too. Heath works for a regional airline, and was going to "jump seat" to Boston. (aka ride in an unsold seat on any airline that was flying to Boston) There was some closures last week in the Denver airport, but fortunately, Heath made it safely to Boston...as he was the one we were coming to watch-I'm glad he made it!

That afternoon, Heath, Lovely Kristine, Chris, and I walked most of the "Freedom Trail." This trail is about 2 miles long and has several historical sites around Boston. See link below:

Freedom Trail






Sam Adams Tomb:




State House where the Declaration of Independence was read. The Boston Massacre occurred where the stop light is in the middle of the street right above our heads.



We also stopped for some food at the "Cheers" restaurant. This was not the original Cheers, but hey-it sure looked authentic to me!




About this time, Heath realized that they needed something else for the race, so they had to run back to the convention center and get tickets. All was well, though, as we had a Lacrosse game to be heading towards. The people we were staying with have a son named Tim. Tim played college Lacrosse for the University North Carolina. Needless to say, he knows what he's doing and he is not shy when those players start smacking their sticks at each other, trying to get the ball and score a goal.

Check out this video of him playing. He is # 6 in the gray jersey:




Heath and Kristine met us at the game and we all had dinner after that. We ate at an "authentic" restaurant on Hanover Street--in the North side or shore area...I'm not a local-I don't remember the name exactly! The restaurant looked like it was called "spaghetti's" or something like that. The streets were PACKED with marathoners and their families all trying to find some place to eat. This location was not nearly as packed. In fact, we walked in and got a table right away. Nice! Well-kinda. W were tired from walking all day and did not mind the slow service. You could tell that the workers were all family and had not had a break all day. We all decided what we wanted to eat rather quickly, as we wanted to make sure that when our server came, we got our order right in.

Needless to say, things were a bit discombobulated, but we enjoyed the meal and service nonetheless. We snickered to ourselves at the way the restaurant was obviously being run-because we were getting dinner and a show. The two servers were "auctioning" off the food (as I liked to call it when I worked at a restaurant)-you know when the server can't remember which table ordered what-and they say "who ordered spaghetti and meatballs?" to the whole restaurant? That kind of thing. There was a table in the corner that must have been locals-as they got our attention and said that this is just the way this place is-it's 'real italian' and if we gave our server a hard time, we would get good service. We laughed a little, but really just enjoyed the slightly crazy atmosphere, as we were all happy to have our orders in and a table to sit and catch up at.

When our food came, we all had different glasses and plates. Well, actually, we Heath and I had plates-Chris and Kristine did not-they ordered pizza and plates were brought over a bit after our server realized they did not have any plates. We were all just hungry, so plate or no plate, we were eating : )

About the time we had finished our food, I noticed the entire family had stopped cooking and serving, and were singing Happy Birthday to one of the family members. They had a cake and all. I was wondering if they were going to share the cake with the whole place!? Sadly-they did not, but we were all pretty full from the "authentic" Italian food. YUM!

Even if it was a bit discombobulated, we enjoyed feeling "right at home" at this little Italian restaurant. It was a good meal, we had good company, and also a good experience. I wonder if we will get the opportunity to go back next time we are there...?

And one final picture to close off the long day:

Monday, April 27, 2009

A Marathon Vacation

Last Thursday, I took off work that afternoon to drive to Wichita, KS for a wedding rehearsal for a K-State friend of ours. I was selected to do the first reading and whatever else they needed me to do, so I got to go to rehearsal and hang out with the bridal party. I forgot how much fun it is to "just" be a reader. Not that readers don't have important jobs, but I don't have the paparazzi following me around snapping my picture every minute. I enjoyed watching the ceremony rehearsal and also meeting and re-meeting the families (which I had forgotten some of their names!).

Here is a picture of the couple that night. No, he is not trying to get away! He's just buttoning his shirt cuffs:




Tricia, the bride, and I competed in the Women's Annual Air Race Classic in the summer of 2006. Ah the memories! We had a lot of fun and gained a LOT of great flying experiences. Clayton, (her husband now-!) started school at K-State Salina with me in the fall of 2004, so it was such a wonderful chance to go and see some old friends and also lots of Wildcats!! Clayton is a "computer stud" as I liked to call the computer-guru's. Unfortunately, the computer studs still aren't much a fan of MAC computers : (

And some quick pics from the wedding:

The Happy Couple:



Tricia, giving Clint and Adam a bottle of Crown Royal:



The next morning, Chris and I headed to the airport with our friend, Lovely Kristine (I have called her "lovely kristine" since I met her, as my family know a LOT of "kris" "Cristina's","Chris'", etc...). We all departed the ICT (Wichita Airport) bright and early, heading up to Boston, MA for THE Boston Marathon, which Lovely Kristine's fiance, Heath (also another K-Stater and friend of ours) was going to compete in !!!!

We were so awake that morning, check out our enthusiasm:

Friday, April 24, 2009

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Administrative Appreciation Week

This week (I guess it takes a WHOLE week to appreciate us now!) is marked as something to the affect of Administrative Appreciation Week. Little did I know, that yesterday was Secretary Appreciation Day-or something like that! Needless to say, my wonderful husband surprised me : )

He sent me flowers.

**And he even wrote a nice note.**
(but his spelling got the best of him. hehe...the little card that came with the flowers said: For a Great Secretary. He wrote a little note on it, but at the bottom, he said "Hope you have a great secetary's day." -but I knew what he meant : ) I guess that is how I know it was really Chris who sent me flowers)

: )

What a nice surprise after my first day back in the office after vacation. The past several days, we have been in Boston, Massachusetts to watch a friend of ours run the Boston Marathon. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing some family/friends while we were there. It may be a few days before we get some pictures up from the trip, but until then, I'll leave you with a pic of me and the beautiful flowers Chris sent me:

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Perfect Proposals Contest Submission

Today is the last day to submit a "perfect proposal" under this competition my sister came across...click the link below to see ours!

Who knows...maybe we will win :o )


Perfect Proposals Contest

Take My Voice

Today will be a quiet day around campus. A program that (I believe) our building is putting on is called "Take My Voice." Students will be wearing a black shirt that says: "Today I am silent for __________." (in the blank, there is a reason written-like cancer or whatever the person wants to be silent for that day)

I think this is a cool cause, but how can I be silent when I am a secretary? Am I supposed to NOT answer the phone? or what if I were flying.
"Cleared for takeoff...." not such a good idea for that huh?

SO I have decided to make my own version of Take My Voice. Today I am not going to talk about flying. This may sound like an easy task, but it is BEAUTIFUL outside! So when I hear that sweet hum of airplanes flying overhead, I will remember that today I am not talking about flying and this silence is for those that have been in airplane accidents.

~Robin

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Wind

Today like most days here in Oklahoma it is windy. I was supposed to have a student fly to Oklahoma City to take is CFI (flight instructor) test today. With the winds as high as they are it did not happen. This is the forth day this week we have had over 30 kts (34 mph). Today they are 33 Kts (38mph) with gust over 41 kts (47 mph). It is hard to fly airplane in this kind of wind. Hopefully it will go away. At least we did not get snow last night like Kansas did.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Hanging out in Ardmore, OK

On Monday night, my student and I took a flight to Ardmore, OK to eat some BBQ : D

We arrive just after dinner time, ready for some delicious food, only to discover that the restaraunt is CLOSED. Bummer.I knew I should have checked the "$100 Hamburger" book I gave Chris a couple years ago...that book is amazing! It has hundreds of restaurants across the country and often includes times and ratings for the restaurants from people who have flown into the airports. But I did not consult this restaurant bible : (

So, we say hi to the local fire-station that is based on the field and the fire fighters stated that the restaurant is only open on Friday and Saturday nights : ( if Monday were Only Friday. SO we hopped back in the plane and I gave Chris a call to let him know not to head south because he was going to take a flight too. He said that there were some thunderstorms kicking up and pretty colored thunderstorms that were building on the radar between where I was and Stillwater, OK.

uh oh.

Yup. Pretty colors on the radar mean that I am stuck on the ground. So-we manage to get our mean, green, fighting machine of a C172 tied down and go back to visit our firefighting friends. Needless to say, we hung out with them until about 10:30pm until the weather passed. Not exactly how I planned to spend the evening, but it was a good trip. We munched on some rice crispy treats that my student made-Good thinking on my student's part! I was extremely thankful for the snack.

To help the time pass, I asked one of the fire fighters to give us a tour of their fire truck-it's that green-color and looked like a huge caterpillar. It was called something like an "E-1 Arff" or something like that. Needless to say it was an awesome truck! The tires were like $8,000 A PIECE and were up to my shoulder! I had taken a picture, but it didn't turn out very well. My student and I enjoyed the tour and learning about what the fire fighters do and how their truck works/what it does.

When we took off, I felt like a kernel of popcorn with all the turbulence ! We finally got to about 3,500 feet when the air smoothed out. If it had not smoothed out, I was thinking we were going to be landing again and camping out at an airport terminal. Fortunately, it was nice and smoothe for most of the flight home.

We crawled in late, but had a good flight. I went through the drive through to grab a quick bite before I passed out. I have never been so thrilled to get my happy meal. While it may not be the healthiest, it was food and i was hungry. Although, as i was munching away, i was thinking-what toy did i get, and who am i going to give it to?- BUT there was no toy, so I didn't have to worry about who i was going to give it to. I guess they don't think that i needed a toy : ( oh well, i was going to tell them to keep it anyway.

Then I came home and had a short, but sound night of sleep.