2021 Ragnar Sunset NoVA Recap

In the beginning...

I'm not sure the first time I heard about Ragnar races, but I remember it was soon after I fully accepted and embraced the runner life.  I decided I wanted to do a Ragnar, I told everyone I knew about it.  It's a 200 mile relay completed by a team of 12 people.  Each person runs 3 legs (of varying distance) and ultimately the team will cover 200 miles.  Insane, right?  I KNOW.  

I told myself that I needed to wait until I could recruit 12 people to run with me and that never happened.  I couldn't even get one other person to commit to doing a Ragnar with me.  I think Teh Bestie only committed out of sympathy for me and having listened to me talk about it for YEARS.  But then, there was a glimmer of hope, as Ragnar announced a new variation of the race, the trail version that started and ended at the same point instead of different start/end points with a team of 8.  The trail race included camping in the woods and running laps on the trails around the camping area.  Cool, except that I don't camp.  Or run on trails.  One of these I was more willing to budge on.  Then, Ragnar announced a Carolinas trail run and I was tempted mightily.  Could I gather 8 people to camp in the woods and run in the dark?  No, no I could not.. and I was disappointed, but I knew my day would eventually come.

Then Ragnar announced a NEW race: a team of 4 who run 8 consecutive laps (so 2 laps each) of 4.3 miles to "beat the sunset".  This, this might just be my chance.  I asked Teh Bestie if she was serious about running that Ragnar with me and she said yes, so I purchased a team entry on March 3, 2020 for the October 3, 2020 event.  Unless you live under a rock, you know where this story is headed.  The race was cancelled for 2020 because Covid literally ruined everything.  This probably wasn't the worst thing to happen, because if you were around for my October 2020, it was kinda chaos, so it was for the best that my schedule was free for other activities, like... packing.. and migrating.. 

Would Covid ruin another good plan?

In May 2021, I received an email that the NoVA Sunset Race was a go for October 2, 2021.  Teh Bestie and I managed to trick con find 2 more teammates over the summer.  Then there was the Delta variant and I was confident the race would be cancelled, but I also had faith that VA would continue to be the red state they usually are, which would allow the race to be held.  When we were 30 days out, I expected the cancellation email, but it never came!  We were on!  

The week of the race, I hit the internet searching for Ragnar Sunset reviews to see what to expect/what we should prepare.  There were only a few not-official Ragnar pages talking about the Sunset race and those that did discuss it, were from several years ago, which meant not affected by Covid protocols.  Nonetheless, I gleaned what I could from the reviews and did my captain planning thing.

Night Prior

Friday night, we met for dinner to discuss race day (we were all Ragnar virgins, but I tried hard to prepare the team as best as possible to what they could expect) and to go to the store to buy decorations for our tent.  We took advantage of the option to rent a tent that was already set up, which you had to jump on quick because tents sold out fast.  It was worth the $50.  After dinner and shopping, I headed home and stayed up late making decorations that I kept top secret from the team until their reveal.  

Race Day

We were assigned a 10:30 start time, which was calculated by our estimated pace the month before the race.  We arrived to the site at 0900 because we knew we needed to get checked in and pick up our bib/stuff and to get our tent set up.  Teh Bestie had some anxiety about the traffic/parking situation, but we managed to power through her the excitement induced anxiety.  

Team 4.5mph Couch Potatoes

Things we brought:

• a wagon.  Ain't nobody got time for hefting all that shit to the car before the race and I definitely wasn't going to feel like carrying it all back to the car after the race.  We also half joked that we could use the wagon to carry any injured individuals back to the car.  (I brought our gorilla cart which has a 1500lb tow capacity, so I knew whatever we threw at it would work, it was just awkward to load/unload, but SOOOOOO worth it.)
• a table.  Know what else I don't feel like doing?  Bending over to reach things all day long or worrying about bottles/cups toppling over when sat on the ground.
• a cooler with sodas/sports drink/gallons of water.  We weren't sure what amenities would be offered because Covid is really the cockblock of all great things so we made sure to take care of our business accordingly.
• snacks/food since Ragnar had informed us that no food would be offered but there would be food trucks.
• decorations for our tent.  We needed people to know how fun we are.  These decorations included garland and some fun dangly things and poster board and a white board for marking off our laps (although I saw some people that were using plain cardboard, which was clever).
• quilts for laying on the ground for stretching/rolling/napping.  My body itches all over after I roll in the grass, no thank you.
• camping chairs
• foam roller/attaday roller/lacrosse ball, if there had been electricity, I'd have brought my percussion massager.  
• popup changing tent (last minute, TOTALLY worth it, splurge)
• extra outfits since we endured multiple seasons throughout the day (I thought it was excessive to have 2 running outfits and only packed one and then ended up borrowing capris from Abi because my leggings were warm, we didn't end up changing into not-running clothes after the race because we had embraced the smell by that point)
• non-running shoes for between laps
• 2 pairs of running shoes and socks (maybe less necessary if it's not raining, but I wasn't sad about having a fresh pair for my 2nd lap).
• any normal run things (earbuds/gels/etc)
• toilet/face wipes.  I wish I had known what a satisfactory feeling it is to wipe the crusty sweat off your face after a run many years ago.  I'll be packing face wipes in my post-race recovery bag from now on.
  
• deodorant 
• emergency supplies: first aid kid, extra hair ties, itch cream

Getting set up

The first thing I did was get our tent situation sorted out.  Super easy process.  Once we had our tent number, I went and grabbed our race bib/stuffs while everyone else headed to the tent to get set up.

Our team name was the 4.5mph Couch Potatoes as a nod to our greyhound connected friendship.  So one side of our tent had the 4.5mph Couch Potatoes and the other side had photos of our 45mph couch potatoes (photos of all our (current) greyhounds).  Not many people understood until we explained that greyhounds are called 45mph couch potatoes and our greyhound group is what brought us all into each other's lives.

The Race

We had debated who should go first, me (the fastest) or the slower runners.  It was decided I would go first so I could scope out the trail for everyone so they would know what to expect.  I was glad to do this because I knew that sitting around waiting to start would ramp me up even more and I was reaching obnoxious excitement levels.  

Lap #1

Ok so, I don't do trail running.  I'm a road runner.  I'm good with fairly flat, smooth surfaces.  Trail running is a different beast.  I don't actually remember much of the course because I spent the whole time watching the ground making sure that I didn't trip and bash my skull open on a rock and die from a brain bleed.  Thankfully, our walkers got some photos along the way.  Due to a shitty volunteer situation, at the first water station, I ended up going the wrong way (towards the very smooth, very beckoning road) and 3 other women followed me and we ended up going about a quarter of a mile out of our way.  We lost the flags and eventually turned around and when we got to the water station the (teenagers who had been scrolling on their phones when we'd all come through the first time) volunteers were like, you're coming from the wrong way.  YES BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T FUCKING TELL ME TO TURN WHILE I WAS GUZZLING DOWN THIS LIFE GIVING WATER WHICH WAS IMPEDING MY ABILITY TO DEDUCT THAT YOUR STUPID FLAG WAS INDICATING A DIRECTION.  I did actually say something to the volunteers about having to DIRECT people if there were options.  The 4 of us who had went the wrong way were super pissed.  There ended up being a lot of super pissed people because I heard other people complaining about the same issue.  

For the NoVA race, there were lots of hills (very reminiscent of my first half marathon in "wine country" VA), lots of gravel on said hills, and plenty o roots along the fairly well packed trail.  Other runners who had done other Sunset Ragnars said that NoVA was a difficult course, so I'm going to take their word on that.  It wasn't for the faint of heart, that's for certain.

Teh Bestie and Jess went down and there were scraped up knees and a gnarly twisted ankle.  

Photos from the trail (taken by not me):

Accurate representation of feelings going on here.

What 85% of the trail was like but add roots.

As a heads up that a runner was almost to the transition zone, we made sure to message our group text so everyone would be aware and we could go to the transfer tent and be there to cheer on our incoming/outgoing runner.

Coming in hot...

There are transition tents for swapping runners.  They are labeled with numbers, so if your bib/team number falls within the range posted on that tent, that is your transition zone.  We were team 155 and we happened to be directly beside the start/finish line inflatable.  This was optimal for extended cheering.

I might have been holding back tears a little bit as I finished my first lap.

When a ridiculous cheering captain (me) gets in the way of your photo of the dressed up staff.

Dressed up staff and Teh Bestie comin' in hot (and EXTREMELY disgruntled about a scraped up knee).

The joy was a mask for the scraped up knee and sprained ankle....

HALFWAY!!!

While you're not running...

During the not running portion, you just get to hang out, which was actually way cooler than it sounds.  I figured I'd be doing some scrolling, but also stretching and snacking and rolling.  But instead, I chatted with my peeps as well as our neighbors, who happened to be experienced Ragnarians who were excited for our upcoming New England Ragnar race.

For my not running shoes, I brought my Clawz because they are hilarious and also good meh shoes.  They got so much attention.  People wanted photos of the shoes, of me wearing the shoes, photos of me, photos with me.  It was bizarre.  Is this what it's like to be a celebrity?  I shared the shoe fame with Teh Sister who informed me that our "lazy" shoes can no longer be purchased online and if you do find them, they are $90 used.  NINETY DOLLARS FOR CROCS WITH TOENAILS.  Sweet christ.  I have 3 pairs.  I'm sitting on a gold mine.. and I leave a pair outside for poop scooping!

"Fancy" charcuterie board

Thanks to the GLCK, I was prepared to cheer with my clappers from my graduation ceremony!

MEDALLLLLSS!!

Lap #2

I was concerned about timing so we switched up the order/situation for lap 2.  Teh Bestie went first, I went second, and then Abi and Jess went at the same time (referred to as "doubling up").  To beat the sunset, the last runner had to leave the transition zone by 5:45 and I was fearful our 2nd to last runner wouldn't make it back in time for our last runner to leave by 5:45.  There isn't really a penalty for doubling up, your team still gets the medal and glory, but your time is counted as an "unofficial" time, which was fine since we are participators not winners.

There she goes!

I had to borrow britches and I got so hot that I took off my shirt for Lap 2.  #YOLO

Look at that FOCUS!

Thankfully, no one went down on the 2nd lap.  As Jess came in, she tossed on her "uniform" and we all crossed the finish line together!  For our team "costume" we purchased greyhound "silk" shirts while we were at Greyhounds in Gettysburg, after I'd made a comment about what an awesome group halloween costume the shirts would make.  Since we were the slow couch potatoes, we chose 5, 6, 7, and 8 as our "silk" numbers.

In the end....

WE MADE IT!!!  We beat sunset!!!  We actually had a gorgeous sunset as we were packing up and taking medal selfies and trying not to collapse.

All done!!!

MEDALS!!!!

For all the times I talked about running a Ragnar over all those years, I almost cried at the sheer joy and excitement and feeling of satisfaction/completion of a goal as many times on Saturday.  It might have also been a tinge of PMS, but also, joy.  The best part though?  This was just the WARM UP!  In 2 weeks, Teh Bestie and I will be headed to New England to complete an original Ragnar race (the 200 mile relay) in New England, from Groton, CT to Boston, MA.

To completely acknowledge all my feelz though...

I have to give a shout out to Teh Bestie for helping me make this long-time dream come true, as well as Abi and Jess who were really good sports and joined us even though neither of them really felt prepared (although I'm not sure any of us really felt prepared for what we did).  Also, it was AWESOME to be the El Captian.  It wasn't 12 people, but I feel like I did my best to prepare my little team and ensure that we had all the equipment we needed to spend a day in a field with strangers while we intermittently ran around in the woods kicking up dust.  Also gotta give a shoutout to the home support team, Husband, who manages the children dogs while I'm out traipsing around in the woods/going random places to run for a silly medal.

I've been running for a while now and I might just be a Ragnar convert (I'll research this and get back to you in a few weeks).  There is a huge feeling of accomplishment after I finish a half marathon or a 10k (or shorter distance) I probably didn't really train for (it's been over half a decade of running, at this point my body is just like, mkay we're doing this? Alright, Sparky).  There was a feeling of accomplishment after this race (what with the trail and the roots and the hills and the loose gravel and getting lost that one fucking time, oh and did I mention that right before you got back to the transition area was this super steep ass 70+° hill?  No? Oh well, there was a steep ass fucking hill that made me feel like I was going to die and then you get to the top and everyone can see you gasping for breath and wanting to die but you CANNOT let those strangers see you struggling so you have to just pretend like you aren't fucking dying by smiling and being cool, when you definitely are NOT cool, as you run back into the transition area) but there was also a feeling of community.  You're near other people all day long and you're likely to interact with them and that was awesome.

When I run a half marathon, it's just me running.. and maybe yakking to someone along the way if I'm not interested in my music/audiobook and the person near me is also suffering and not listening to anything.  It's boring, to be honest.  It's challenging.  It's lonely.  With a Ragnar, you're suffering on a TEAM and your team is suffering with other teams along the way.  I enjoy the running part (weird, I know), but I also enjoy the social part.  It's why we go on runcations and why I pulled Matilda (who will be doing NE Ragnar with us!) into our run club.  Ok, that was kinda an accident, but I've never regretted it.  You never know who you'll meet when you're on the run and THAT is why I keep doing it... oh and the medals.

PS those holes in the medal are for the challenge medals you can earn if you do multiple Ragnars in a calendar year.  So for our NE Ragnar, we'll be getting the 2x medal plus our race medal.  :D

The Catch-Up of Catch Ups.

So I popped in on May 4th to let my Gentle Readers know that I was alive and promised to catch you up on life since a LOT of shit has went down since April 13th, the date of my last real post.  I think that happened for many reasons.  The primary reason being, quarantine life has me all jacked up, then add to that it being the end of the semester and I just wasn't willing to make blogging the priority, #SorryNotSorry.  But here we are.  I'm back, you're reading.  Maybe you missed me, maybe you didn't, either way.. I'm about to come at ya like a spider monkey with all the things that have transpired since April 13th.  Expect this post to be quite random and maybe out of timeline order and probably pretty long, like I do.

Let's begin, shall we?

NEW DOG.

Yep.  You read that right.  We got a new dog.  It was accidentally on purpose.  You see, what had happened was.... Teh German had agreed to foster.  Granted, he agreed to fostering a track greyhound, butttttt when I put in my foster application with GPA-Charleston they said, thanks but no thanks, since Corona virus we aren't accepting new fosters.  Rude.  And also, fuck you, dumbasses.  

Sooooo, when Teh Florida Greyhound Wife discovered an Irish Wolfhound on Craigslist, Sighthound Underground (SHUG) came to the rescue and the dog was retrieved from the home.  When the SHUG Director posted a video of this older Wolfie girl, my heart shattered into a million pieces.  She was 7.5 years old and malnourished and wobbled and knuckled and I wanted to love her for the rest of her days RIGHT THEN.  I messaged the Director and inquired about where she would be fostered.  Director informed me that she had considered keeping Sandy, but due to some personal reasons, knew it was best to let her go to another home.  I explained that she was EXACTLY what I was looking for; an old dog that needed a soft place to land and to be loved and cared for and doted on.  Director explained that those who had been interested in her revoked their interest after they found out how old Sandy was and it was the opposite for me.  I knew that Teh German wasn't really set on fostering and definitely didn't want to adopt a 3rd dog.  Yet this was a grey area since it was a long term foster situation.  

This may end up being more of a hospice foster situation, which will ultimately lead me to formally adopt Sandy because let's face it, after we get this old lady fixed up, I'd probably fight someone if they tried to pry her from my loving yet forceful grip.  I believe that Teh German has accepted this.

So, for now, we're working through her health issues.  She's severely underweight and she enjoys 4 meals a day at Teh Ville, in addition to snacks and bully sticks.  She is also undergoing acupuncture treatments to see if this helps with her backend weakness, which we aren't sure what is causing this problem.  Based on her progress from just getting 8 cups of food per day + treats, being malnourished was the biggest cause of the problem.  

Sandra Dee is now correcting her knuckling, demanding attention, and is VERY insistent about going on walks, even though I don't love it.  Not that I don't want her to go on walks, but with her knuckling and dragging her rear feet, she bloodies up her knux (knuckles, let me have my temporary thugness, mkay?) and then comes in my house bleeding and I have to wrap her knux and no one likes that.  I try to walk her in the grass as much as possible, but this old lady does not take kindly to my mothering and does whatever the fuck she damn well pleases.  Today, that meant GALLOPING from 6 houses down back to our house, with me being dragged at the end of the leash because her stride is quite a big longer than mine!  So I mean.. she's doing FANTASTIC.

As for Teh German, it was a battle to get him to agree to letting me foster her.  A literal battle.  There was the not talking about it, then me bringing it back up, and the not talking about it, and his 'no', and ultimately my having to initiate the conversation, despite neither of us wanting to deal with the problem.  

I was pissed off because when I showed him the photo of Sandy and said, "I think this is our foster dog."  He immediately replied, "No."  I'm not sure how well you know me, Gentle Readers, but I feel like we all know that my reaction to being told "no" was visceral and I was livid about his lack of consideration to the situation.  

Ultimately, we ended up on the same page but there were tears and my argument was essentially something along the lines of: 

"Fostering dogs is something I did before we met and I loved it.  It hasn't been possible for me to foster since I moved to SC other than Meri's brother, so it was something you never saw.  But I believe it is completely unfair for you to say, 'no,' without even considering my side of this.  ANNDDD, I was supportive and said ok when you said you wanted to get a salt water fish tank as "our" anniversary present.  I was supportive and said ok when you said you wanted to get a project motorcycle.  I was supportive and said ok and helped you arrange the money when you told me you'd found your dream motorcycle and you wanted to buy it.  I've supported you through all these things and didn't ask for anything in return.  THIS is what I'm asking for.  I want to foster.  I want to foster THIS dog.  I want to love her through her old age and be her family until she passes or someone adopts her*.  This is my hill.  But I cannot click the checkbox on the foster application that says everyone in the household is aware and happy with the arrangement until everyone in the house IS aware AND happy about this arrangement.  I can't deal with a potential special needs dog AND deal with a passive-aggressive pissed off husband who refuses to accept this.  I won't do it.  You know that if it comes to me having to decide between a dog and you, I'll always pick you, but I haven't asked for anything in a very long time, and this is something I want to do.  It shouldn't affect you other than there being another dog in the house.  I'm not asking you to pay for her vet bills.  In fact, I haven't asked you for money for the vet bills in years.  I would just ask that you love her like you love our dogs and feed her with our dogs when you do feeding time and let her out just like you would our dogs... and maybe let her snuggle with you on your couch."

*Ok, so the "someone adopts her" part was kind of a lie because, let's be honest.. I knew as soon as she got to my house she wasn't leaving, but in the heat of the moment, I had momentum!

Eventually, Teh German did come around, but it took some coaxing and some stubbornness and hard truths.  Now that's Sandy is here, Teh German has no issues with her.  He is just as much of a helicopter parent as I am and had all sorts of questions for me to ask the vet when we went for her first acupuncture appointment (Are we feeding her too much?  (nope) Are there things we aren't doing that we should be doing? (not that the vet could think of)).  Teh German lets Sandy up on his couch and then lets her take over 2/3rd of the couch, leaving him curled up on a single cushion, moderately uncomfortable.

To go and get Sandy, I made a stealth mission to DC/Baltimore.  I wasn't sad about needing to make this trip since it meant I also got to visit Teh Bestie for a few days, despite both of us still having to work.  Just being in the same house was heart soothing for both of us since we'd had to cancel the March race-cation weekend, my graduation went virtual so no reason for her to come down for that, and the GEGR picnic was cancelled so Teh German and I weren't travelling up to MD for that.

The evening of the day I drove up, I was notified by the Director that she'd been advised that she needed to quarantine herself for 2-3 days until her COVID test results came back... and I was almost heart broken.  Because I'm a horrible liar and because I don't keep secrets well and because I don't purposely lie to Husband, I explained the situation to Teh German who was VERY adamant about me NOT picking up a dog who had been loved (and coughed) all over by someone who had the virus.  I was disappointed, but understood and agreed.  Thankfully, the results were negative, so I was still able to pick up Sandy without issue.

Teh Bestie and I made a trip to SHUG HQ to pick up Sandy in the evening and since everything is closed down, traffic in DC was fantastic!  When we got back, we had dinner, I gave Sandy a bath, and it was bedtime.

Since Sandy has been in Charleston, she has continued to progress!  Her rear weakness is improving day by day.  I personally believe that it has a lot to do with just how much food she is getting per day.  Her body can actually rejuvenate what it will.  She likes to leave toys she's played with all over the house and on her bed in the bedroom.  For the first week, she was not using dog beds, but the bed I ordered for her finally arrived and she's started using it and Sandy actually tricked Meri out of her slumber ball and took her spot when Meri came up to me for jealous pettins the other night.

At 7.5 years old, Sandy is an old lady, especially for her breed.  I'm not sure how long she has left, but I'm willing to spend it feeding her and loving her and letting her pull me down the sidewalk while she gallops.

SCHOOL

It's over.  Officially.  Thursday was my last day of school related tasking/events with the exception of the online commencement ceremony.  Truthfully, COVID-19 was a blessing and a curse.  I appreciated not having to live the harried life of going to classes and having to be in the office.  But at the same time, this doesn't feel like closure.  It almost just feels like I quit.  I mean, I quit because it's over, but it doesn't feel as big as it would if things had been normal.

This is not even a humble brag, but a straight up brag:

I will graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a minor in Cybersecurity after only 3 years (instead of the traditional 4 years that it usually takes to obtain a Bachelor degree; having a degree already help satisfy all the English/history requirements, which helped immensely).  I had to drop the German minor due to a crammed schedule in the Fall and a lack of offerings in the Spring.  I didn't think of it, but I probably could have talked to them about offering an independent study type of situation to get the credit to get the minor since I was only one class away, but it wasn't SO important to me.  AKA, not worth the stress.

I earned the following awards/honors:

• Cum Laude honors with a 3.656 overall GPA
• I made Dean's List 6/6 semesters (summer courses don't count apparently, but if they did, then it would have been 7/8, because fucking Calc 2, which is also the reason I graduated with only Cum Laude (3.5-3.69) instead of Magna Cum Laude (3.7-3.9)).
• I made the Gold Star list (4.0 GPA for the semester/straight As) 3/6 semesters (again with summer classes not counting).
• I was named the Swain College of Science and Mathematics 2020 Outstanding Veteran Student.
• I was named the Department of Cyber and Computer Science 2020 Outstanding Veteran Student.

I'm gonna be honest, I never EVER thought I'd obtain a Bachelor of Science degree ever.  It's why I have a Bachelor of Arts degree.  I was afraid of math and science... and I do not know why that was ever the case.  I am GOOD at both math AND science, despite the fact that they are difficult subjects.  I suppose maybe I was afraid of both because it took a little more effort for me to be good at math and science the way I am good at English/languages/humanities/social sciences.  

To me, a 2nd Bachelor degree feels like I got a Masters degree.  Maybe it's not exactly the same, but proportionally considering time/workload, it seems pretty much the same to me.  Maybe the classes aren't quite as demanding at an undergraduate level, but it takes longer to get a bachelor degree than a Masters.. so trade-offs.

Teh German and I were discussing all my new found free time and we joked that I had Stockholm's Syndrome because I kinda missed the busyness of my life and felt afloat without a tether having nothing I HAD to do in my evenings/non work time.

(College) Student AF (hoodie, sweet tea, blue hair (well, kinda), selfie).

In the distance, the building with the big window is where I spent my time on campus.

Final Assignments

Research Class

I had to write a research paper for my data science research class and that was fine and dandy... until my research partner kinda sketched out during the beginning of April and wasn't doing the tasks assigned to her and then she dropped a bomb on me about potentially dropping the class on the last day of the semester but she'd help if she could... YALL.. I lost it on her.  

I straight up told her, if you're going to drop this class, do it RIGHT NAOW.  Don't lead me to believe I can rely on you to help me and then fuck me over at the end of the semester when I have to pull your weight.  I can handle it all if I know RIGHT NOW that is what I need to do.. but don't wait until I've really checked out to drop the class and be like, sorry I couldn't help more.  Additionally, if you're going to stay in this class, then DO THE WORK ASSIGNED TO YOU.  She was assigned the introduction and related works section of our paper.  That was it.  The instructor also wanted her to contribute some graphics to the paper to show she'd done something over the semester.

The instructor and I had numerous conversations about the situation, so she knew where I was with it (I don't want my partner to fuck me over) and I knew where she was with it (I'd be getting an A as long as I submitted something for a final paper, even if my partner's sections were missing).

The very last week of class, the department head announced that those doing research would be presenting their research during a virtual meeting on Zoom and I was pretty stabby about it because I do not generally accept new tasking during the final week of classes.  Sorry not sorry.  But, honestly, we were supposed to have presented our research at the end of March during the Research Symposium, so this is something that should have been simple, but since the presentations had been cancelled, we hadn't bothered to come up with any type of presentation at all, so it was a weird situation.

In addition to presenting during the virtual computer science symposium, the School of Science and Math also decided to do a virtual awards ceremony since they had had to cancel the awards banquet award recipients were supposed to have presented at in March.  Le siiiiiiigh.  Since I already had to create a presentation for the other virtual ceremony, this wasn't difficult so much as it was annoying because the virtual ceremony was 3 days after my final final exam and I was 100% checked out by that point and wasn't overly interested in much of anything.

Despite all my bitching and moaning, both virtual ceremonies were pretty cool.  The computer science one was awesome because I got to hang out with my homies, who I oddly miss very much.  The school one was also pretty cool and I received some pretty significant visibility since General Walters (The Citadel's #1 dude) was on the line, as well as other Citadel leadership, School of Science and Math leaders, plenty of science and math faculty and staff, plenty of alumni, and the 3 award recipients (of which I was one).  

My presentation was first so I jumped right into it.  Honestly, I didn't practice at all since I had 7-10 minute to talk about it, which was way better than the 2-4 minutes I had to talk about my research for the CS meeting.  I was able to fully explain all the things that happened during our research (sans the partner issues) and people actually had question to ask afterward, and more importantly, questions that I could answer.  And the MOST important part of my presentation was after I was done, when one of the alumni/special guests was messaging me about employment potential for a job that was related to data science and intelligence work.  We exchanged information and I hope that once being within 6ft of another person won't get me killed/sick, we can sit down and have lunch and discuss possibilities.  Unfortunately, the specific job that he asked me about is located in DC, but with enough perks, I'm willing to make that DC sacrifice... annnnd is it reallllly a sacrifice if I'm within an hour of Teh Bestie?  I think... NO!

Database/PITA Professor

I completed my final project for my database class WEEKS in advance and PITA Professor never graded it until everyone's projects were in.  THEN, I refused to do my course evals until the very last day because the emails annoy me and because I didn't do them when PITA Professor wanted them done, even though he's not actually allowed to do this, he withheld my grade by not posting it to our class site.  I waited a week to call him out after he still didn't post it.  His response: "Sorry.  Your grade is there now.  I had intended to update this the next time I went into CitLearn, but there was never an occasion to go back to CitLearn."  THE OCCASION WAS TO PUT IN MY FUCKING GRADE, ASSHOLE.  

In addition to that conundrum, PITA Professor refused to let us take our exam earlier than the scheduled date/time.  This was annoying for several reasons, #1 being that I could have been done with my exams more than week prior to graduation if he had let us take it early.  Another reason this was annoying is because my life at home is much different than my life if I was going to class in person and it is unreasonable to expect that of people.  

It's over now, but Jesus had to take the wheel for a bit there because I almost lost my fucking mind.

German Things

German was the class where I straight up didn't do some homework assignments.  I was so over it and the idea of watching an entire movie to answer a simple discussion board question was not something I was interested in.  I did have a final project to work on with a partner and we unintentionally waited until pretty close to the due date to finish it.

This is by far the best thing I ever did for any of my German classes:

You see, we were supposed to watch this 1960s performance of a Faust play and this creepy guy was in it.. sooo I made him the creepy Erlkönig, who was the main topic of our project.  My partner wrote the info for the slides and I made the images since we did a modern retelling of a story.  He admitted when he got to this slide he actually laughed out loud because we all agreed this dude was super fucking creepy.  #MeganWin

Stats

LOOOOOOOL.  Stats was my easiest class of my entire degree program, easier than even Photoshop since that guy was an asshole grader.  

RUNNING

I'm super glad to have an accountability partner in Teh Running Advisor because other than the week that I was in Baltimore, we have run every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday consistently.  AND, Teh PT Wife and I have been Sunday Runday accountability partners, so I'm running Sun, Mon, Weds, and Fri and loving it.  I'm working towards some high distance virtual medals and it's a nice change from long distance races.  Being able to do it at my pace and doing varied distances isn't hurting my heart.. or my body.

That said, I would really like for my races to stop getting cancelled and rescheduled because the fall is started to look rather cluster-fucky and that's no bueno.

ETC THINGS

Random Shiznit

-My laptop is still kickin.  Despite Best Buy saying they would send me the packing stuffs and label to ship my computer to Geek Squad, I've never received it.  I'm not surprised.

-I've started tutoring Teh PT Kid and it makes me feel supah smart to still remember these things that he's learning AND to be able to teach him how to take tests and learn things.

 Tutoring AND snuggles.

-To celebrate finishing all my school work tasks, sans that final final exam, I switched it up on Teh German and went on a ride with he and his motorcycle gang.  Despite some difficulties, it was enjoyable.

Eating pizza curbside is now a thing. /shrug

That's 1.35 for regular unleaded.
This is starting to feel like high school again.

This is what my windshield looked like after paying $9 for a car wash.
FML.

Is there a more Megan soap?
No, no there is not.
See also: a few of my favorite things.

I missed out on the strawberry Krispy Kreme doughnuts, but made sure NOT to miss the key lime doughnuts.
ZERO REGRETS.

Cooking

I am still working, so I don't have all the free time ever, but I have been motivated to cook some decent things, so I'm considering it a win.

Mushroom pork chops in gravy.

Tuna casserole

Not pictured: Creamy chicken with mushrooms, pork enchiladas 

DOGS FOR DAYSSSSS

Meri being ridiculous about her butt scratches needs

Secret snuggles

Baby in the corner.. with Dash and Secret

Secret and Olive

Tug with Dash and Secret

Olive is always listening

PUPPAHSSS at SHUG HQ!!

Treat time!

Sandy is a BIG girl!

Monkey sammich!

The muppets. <3

When it's hot AF outside (90°F) and your mom takes too long to open the door to let you in...

/swoooooon

If it fits, I sits. -Sandy

FINALLY using a bed after a week of sleeping on the floor.

This goofs. /love

Beast mode?

The new toy from Teh Bestie has gotten SO much love that it already needs to have it's butthole sewn up!

Sandy sitting on the ottoman, as she will.

So with that.. I think you're caught up.
And maybe now that I'm not overwhelmed with the idea of writing this catch up post, we can get back to regular programming next week???