Posts Tagged ‘financial marathon’

I moved.  My standard of living just did a 180° and I keep thinking there’s some glitch, that it’s not real.  But it is.  I went from this:

Bye bye Funeral Home, I'll miss you.

To this:

Instead of hearing the upstairs neighbor clomping above my head, the other tenants slamming the front door and constant radio blaring/car noise from 4 lanes of traffic, I hear birds and cicadas.  Instead of strewn garbage and cracked concrete ugliness, I see tons of flowers, trees and gorgeous historic buildings.  I even saw lightening bugs yesterday!

It turns out I have 7 windows which is just amazing to me and even though the building is between two others, I somehow have a corner of windows in the bedroom, one facing the city.

Southern view

Note the big brown high-rise, that’s the one that wouldn’t check my credit rating or rent to me because of my 1040.  If I’d have taken it, my only view would be the gas station that ripped me off for about $500 every time I got my car inspected, which also happens to be on my old ugly street but on an even more depressing section.  Also of note, I’m next door to what used to be Vince Fumo’s fancy-schmancy house (corrupt politician, now in jail), so their back patio is really pretty and you can see they also have a major sunroom which should be fun for spying.  Lastly, the black rectangle at the top right is the Peco building, the black thing is a huge ticker that usually has kooky crap scrolling across (as well as current time and temp).  I guess they turn it off on Sunday morning (and the Lord rested his neon ticker tape…).

Here are a couple shots from inside the turret, my new beautiful sewing area.

There was this small piece of wood that had been nailed into the round part, right under the window (gotta love that curved window) making a little shelf that just happens to fit my sewing machine perfectly! I thought I was going to have to buy a sewing table (I had been using the dining room table) but nope, it’s as if it was made for it, exactly the right height and since I’m only sewing headbands, I don’t need any space behind it.  The little room is even large enough to keep my ironing board out all the time, so it’s about as perfect a sewing space as can be.  And here’s a cool bonus: when I’m sitting there, if I look to the left, I can see the museum!  (top left building)

I’ll post interior shots when I’m set up.  I ordered a big comfy chair (I have room for a big comfy chair!  Two of ‘em if I wanted!) and some various furniturey stuff.  Meanwhile, there are so many things that excite me about this place:

1. I used to have to have a fan pointed on me all the time in my old apartment (except in the winter).  This place has so much fresh air circulation, I actually had to sleep with a blanket the last couple nights even though the temps haven’t changed.  The window situation is better than sex.  Well, almost.

2. There are lights in the ceiling and ceiling fans, too!  Wow, living the high life for sure.

3. There’s a fantastic little grocery store in the neighborhood that I had no idea about. It’s in the base of a high-rise apartment building and I’ve passed it a zillion times, I always thought it was one of those tiny corner store delis but it turns out they have all the stuff I used to have to rent a Zipcar to drive to the big grocery store for.  And they have fresh pickles in a bin!  I walked down the street yesterday eating a giant pickle.

4. I have a dishwasher and a much bigger, better refrigerator.  Heaven.

5. No mice so I can keep my bread on the counter instead of an upper cabinet.

And now, for the money thing, because it’s been a journey to get here with my Financial Marathon (can you believe it?  It worked!) so while it’s nobody’s business what I pay in rent, I think it’s fun to share since the Blue Hovel was such a complete dump and this place is so so so much better.  So OK, I used to pay $850 and now I’m paying $1200.  Needless to say, I’m getting a ton more for the extra money, the high-rises in the area are more expensive than this and this is a much better scenario anyway.  Even the movers (who turned out to be the cutest trio of long-haired hippy guys, carrying all my stuff on their backs like Sherpas) commented on what a tony block I managed to land on and how cool the apartment was.

So it’s official: I’m in the best living situation I’ve ever been in.  Funny how life keeps getting better and better.  I hope you youngsters take this to heart, that it really doesn’t matter what sort of timeframe you think you’re on, be open to changes, experiences and exploring different routes within your life and watch it unfold for you over and over again.

The week’s runs including an injury
Monday: apres-Irene, huge swaths of extremely slippery mud, part run, part tip-toeing obstacle course.

Tuesday, tired.

Wednesday, the tempo run from my last post.

Thursday, something troublesome.  The day before I’d started to feel a little twinge at my peroneal tendon (directly behind that knobby ankle bone) but it was very intermittent and I forgot about it.  Thursday, it piped up a little more but disappeared during the run.  However, during the day, while packing and moving stuff, it began to hurt in a very concerning manner, like electric shock sharp pain.  Not all the time but when I stepped a certain way. Very concerning.

Now, Friday was moving day and my original plan was to get up early to run, go to a voiceover job at 9:00, come home and finish packing, movers were due in the early afternoon.  But the tendon thing freaked me out, so instead of running, at 7am I got a Zipcar and moved some fragile stuff to the new place.  The tendon didn’t hurt at all when I woke up but as I carried the stuff up the stairs, with each trip, it made itself known.  At this point I was really worried about it and expected to take Saturday off too because peroneal tendonitis is not something to mess around with.

But here’s what I did: as soon as I got home from carting stuff, I put on an ankle brace and wore it for the entire day, even to the voiceover gig.  I had stuff still to pack but I didn’t lift anything heavy from that point on and much to my happiness, it disappeared!  So I’m going to call it a moving injury rather than a running one.

Saturday I wake up and am so relieved because my ankle feels normal and I can’t replicate the hurt so I figure I’ll run but if it barks again, I’ll stop (you guys know I’m not going to put anything on the line at this stage of the game).  Not a peep, so I ended up with 14.72mi – I’ve not yet figured out where to turn around now to get nice, pretty, even numbers.

While the ankle felt fine, I was truly exhausted the rest of the day and my big plans to unpack everything turned into a few hours of internet shopping for furniture and apartment stuff.  I was simply too pooped from the whole moving upheaval to do much more then laundry and hang some hangers.

Which brings us to today.  I didn’t get a speed session this week and today was my last day to get something in.  Last night I was thinking to do an abbreviated set of fartleks, like 6x(3min on/1 off) because after the stresses of this week, a full session was not gonna happen, especially after such a depleted Saturday.  But you know what?  I thought a little more and said nah, screw the workout, an easy run is all I’m gonna do – no pressure, just run and enjoy it.  Turned out to be a pretty great run, the last 5 miles all 7:3x-7:4xs.

No regret at all about the lost quality session either, it was absolutely the right decision.  Better to go into my last full training week strong which is, incidentally a planned mileage cutback.  This works out great – not that I’m into a big taper, especially for a Half, but a few less miles won’t hurt and the quality sessions will still be full-on 100%.  Win win.

Moving week in review
Monday: 13.1@8:40
Tuesday: 12@8:42
Wednesday: 17.25@7:46 (2wu,3@7:00, 7.75@8:05, 3.25@6:58, 1.25cd)
Thursday: 12@8:32
Friday: rest (peroneal ouchy + moving)
Saturday: 14.72@8:28
Sunday: 15.12@8:01
Total: 84.19 mi

And now I leave this overly long post wishing a Happy Labor Day for my US friends and to my international pals, have a great finish to your weekend.

Thank you all for such adorably cute replies to that last post, you truly know how to warm a gal’s cockles (and I have it on good authority that mine were not the only cockles affected).

While I’m on a happy roll, here’s something else going great.  Remember last year’s Financial Marathon?  My big plan to double my income by June 30th?  Well, the due date came and went and I was a bit embarrassed for having stated such a goal publicly and coming up short.  Then in December, it was back on thanks to that big voiceover project.

I didn’t expect to hit my goal so quickly but as it turned out, only 2 weeks after posting that entry, my monthly income had indeed doubled and hasn’t gone down since…a major moolah PR!!  Being a pragmatic soul, however, I kept it under wraps because I figured this was just a tease and that once the job was over (it’s winding down right now), my finances would revert pretty close to what they were before the big job.

Not that I’d be the poor church mouse again, voiceovers are coming in from other sources and my websites and headbands are doing ok, but when you’re self-employed you just never know when the next dry spell will be.  I was bracing myself for the end of the party.

So what an unexpected and wonderful surprise when on Monday, I go to narrate some ophthalmology thing and discover that it’s only the first in another huge multi-session project!  It’s like a gift; the timing couldn’t be better. Life is pretty kick-ass right now.

My Cool New iPhone Dock
I’m loving my new iPhone like crazy and the TuneIn Radio app has me once again listening to new music, something I had let go in the past couple years.  There are so many wonderful alt and indie stations (my favorite at the moment is NME – New Music Express) but of course, the iPhone speaker is pretty lame.  So check out this great dock I got last week.

Altec Lansing iMT620 iPhone & iPod dock

The sound on it is fab, especially for such a small, light thing and it simultaneously charges the phone when on AC power.  But the neatest feature is that it has its own rechargeable battery so it can amplify the iPhone (or an iPod) for about 5 hours without electricity.  This is cool!  I love being able to plop it in another room without having to unplug and replug the power cord.  The remote is handy, too.

Some of the reviews said that when playing streaming music (ie TuneIn Radio or Pandora), it’d turn off after 5 minutes because it wasn’t sensing the iPhone working but they’ve apparently fixed the firmware because I haven’t had a single erroneous auto-shutdown.  Worth the dosh, even at $89. Edit: just noticed the price went down to $82 w/shipping…oh well, I got to use mine a week earlier.

I winterized The Blue Hovel yesterday, which consisted of standing precariously on the arm of my couch to slap packing tape on a top window pane that constantly slides down 1/8″, mocking me with the cold air it draws.  Being a make-do kind of gal, I can usually find a solution to most essential problems with the help of packing tape, foil, cardboard or some other type of refuse.

An Anniversary
Exactly a year ago, I wrote a post about increasing my income, the Financial Marathon, where I was going to apply the same tenacity and planning skills I use for running to make more money; doubling my income was the goal.  This was going to be enough to get me out of the Hovel into a high-rise by the museum, plus a new car and a couple small objects of desire.

While I actually did end up doing an immense amount of work for a few months, creating new websites and moving my t-shirt sites from Cafepress to Zazzle (a horrifically tedious process), it took longer for the new sites to start making a profit than I’d originally hoped.  I also O.D.d on all that work so I basically sat on my ass after that.  And as always, I didn’t lift a finger to get voiceover jobs, just took what came in, because I despise marketing and self-promotion.

So the timeframe for this “marathon” came and went.   In August I signed another year lease on the Hovel, got rid of the dead car (though I’m love with Zipcars so that worked out for the better) and was feeling pretty shitty about my financial situation, thinking it was my destiny to have “just enough”.

But things were cooking behind the scenes and in September, my income made a leap.  A couple of the websites started doing well, I started the headband business, and best of all without any help from me, the voiceover biz started popping.  I’m now the darling of a handful of producers (so I’ve been told) and am getting wonderful recommendations and more work than ever – this month is a record for VO bookings and it’s not over yet.  Then yesterday I got word that I’m narrator for a new 8-course drug module (mucho sessions) which means 2011 is already off to a beautiful start.

So I’m hereby reopening the dream factory, the one I closed when I thought the Financial Marathon was a DNF.  I will now dare to imagine windows that do not require packing tape to keep cold air out, floors that aren’t covered in grungy blue office carpet with mysterious gross holes, ceilings that don’t announce exactly where the girl upstairs is standing or make me wake up when she does, and no mice, or if there is a mouse, it doesn’t just eat the peanut butter off the trap and scamper away. In my dreams, mouse traps work.

I really don’t need much but that would make me happy, and gosh darn it, I’m beginning to think I can have it.

Technically, a day early but because Philly got its second heaviest snowfall yesterday ever with 23.2″ reported, the season has officially begun.

I woke up on Saturday to a glistening white morning with a lot of wind.  The winds calmed down a bit by the time I got out, though a windchill of 11 with blowing snow required all my cold-weather accessories; glasses with the clear lenses snapped in, homemade neck gaiter from the leg of a pair of stretch pants, 2 pairs of socks and my headband with a billed hat instead of the knit hat so the snow wouldn’t pelt my face too badly.  Clothes-wise, I wore my UA mock, a shortsleeve over that and my Asics storm jacket with thick tights below.  Fabu.

The parks commission is the greatest, they had already plowed the path, so I was running on mostly packed snow.  I had intended to go 5 or 6 but it was so astoundingly beautiful and I figured Sunday would be a real mess, that I extended the run to 12 miles to get the weekend’s LR out of the way.  It stayed lovely until the last 1/2 mile when the winds got nasty, so I was happy to get home when I did.

Today, as expected, was a total mess of ice and snow.  The mile getting to the park required tip-toeing, jumping and sliding.  Once there though, it was even better than yesterday, they plowed it so well I was running directly on the asphalt.  I just went 6, finishing off a second week of 53 miles, all easy.

Meanwhile, my car is behind a 5′ wall of snow thanks to the plows.  I attempted to clear some off, but lacking a shovel, I used my plastic kitchen trash can which was working pretty well, but then some funny old guy who was shoveling halfway down the block came over laughing saying, “I’ve been shoveling snow since 1958 and have never seen anyone use a bucket.  Here, use my shovel for awhile.”  Honestly, the trash can worked better than the shovel, but it was so sweet of him, I used it for about 20 minutes.  Then I got tired and bored and said screw it.

So I hope the snow magically disappears in the next couple days because I have a job on Wednesday that I have to drive to, but with the forecast remaining cold, I think I’ll be out there with my trash can on Tuesday, only then it’ll be iced.  Fun.

Speaking of jobs, I just found an odd one online that I did for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  I’m the brown dog. Then, at the end, if you click the link for the Gallery, there are links on the left under Galleries and Activities that say “Watch a story” – I’m in those, too (though they’ve switched our voices to opposite dogs, lol).  ‘Twas an odd character piece, but a nice change from the usual dry stuff I do.

In other work news, I just completed my first week of the aforementioned Financial Marathon cycle and LOVED it!  My usual method of working is 12-14 hour days until a project is finished, then I take way too much time off to regroup.  No more, now I’m steady as she goes. Parceling my time out in smaller increments is a lot more appealing  and will ultimately be way more sustainable.  I did 31 hours of hard-core work, plus more that I’m not counting because it’s research and reading and I find that to be purely fun.

And my boss (who is at this moment stunningly beautiful in her uniform of PJs, robe and fuzzy booties) is turning out to be a real gem.  She’s already mulling over bonuses of a high-quality graphics monitor and an iPhone but hasn’t decided yet how to implement it.  Maybe for a string of 40-hour weeks for the iPhone and if the June 30 goal comes in a month early, the monitor.

It’s all hugely fun, but also a major life change that couldn’t have come at a better time.  Running consumed me this past year and while it was meaningful and so rewarding, there’s been a serious lack of balance.  Now that I’m headed toward some non-running goals, I can see how much room I have to grow in other areas of my life.  Though it all goes back to running, because without its impact, I’d never dream of the plans I have now or know I could achieve them without question.

I could go on about the discoveries I’m making and my magic motivational notebook which is becoming a life force unto itself, but I’ll save it for another time…or not.  This is, after all, a running blog and motivational stuff might be a yawn to most of you out there.  If you feel one way or the other, let me know in a comment, I’m happy to oblige either way.

Have a happy Monday, kids.

So my plan to increase my income by a few hundred bucks has evolved into something bigger.  New plan is to double my income by June 30.  And I can do it.

I was thinking about what running has brought into my life;  structure, determination, acquiring of goals, self-esteem – all things that can be transferred to anything you want to motivate yourself to do!  So the last couple days I’ve been devising a plan and getting as motivated as I would for any new training cycle, only this time, it’s for life stuff.

I’ve often said that the reason training plans appeal to me is that I have little structure in my days.  Being free and easy is fab, but knowing I waste copious amounts of time is not something that brings me happiness.  There is something soul-infecting when you’ve finished reading all your pertinent news sites, forums and checked all your stats 10 times, only to end up on TMZ or People.com.  I can do better.

With this in mind, I’ve devised a 28-week Financial marathon cycle.  While it doesn’t have much in the way of LT runs or VO2 sessions, it does have checkmarks each month for where I want my financial “fitness” to be.  I believe it’ll only require a mere 30 hours of solid work a week to achieve – though I’m not including voiceover work in this (currently, more than half my income) – this is all for the stuff I can do without anyone else’s intervention: my t-shirt sites and affiliate sales sites.

A major realization moving forward  is that I could never get motivated when the goal was “to have more money”.  I’ve tried that before, but money without a reason is meaningless to me, so this apartment situation is like a gift because suddenly, I have a pressing goal with a timeframe attached.   I also have a car goal, but that’s secondary since my ugly car still works, though if all goes as planned, I’ll be able to have both, anyway.

So I’ve got a beautiful picture on my computer desktop now with the apartment I want and the car I want along with June’s monetary goal written across.  It’s beautiful!!  I’ve also got a fancy notebook where I’ve written out my plan and motivational thoughts to keep me on the steady.  I could write the plan and motivational bon mots in the computer, but I think there’s something to be said about writing goals by hand, it feels warmer and more immediate. Add to this a little visualization and I am pumped!

And that’s the scoop.   I’ll keep you guys posted when anything worth mentioning arises, and maybe some of you can think about ways to incorporate your own dedication to running into something tangible for 2010.  We’re strong people, us runners – we know how to follow through.  And I firmly believe this sport can bring us more than fun in the sun, medals and PRs, it has the power to change our lives.