Firehouse Dog Movie Review

On the bus ride to New York City this weekend, we watched a few movies. The first was Firehouse Dog.

For some reason we loaded onto the bus about half an hour before departure (we were so eager to sit and do nothing!). During this time, the title menu sequence for Firehouse Dog played on repeat about 180 times. A ten second sound byte played on repeat and the menu was framed by two dog images. The first was a scruffy old mutt, and the second was the same dog but all pampered up with a little hair do, wearing sunglasses.

I turned to the guy behind me.

Me: Oh boy! Firehouse dog! I think it was a Disney straight to DVD! I can't wait!
Him: heh.

Me: I hope the dogs talk! In cute voices!
Him: heh.

Me: Look! Sunglasses! This is hilarious and adorable!
Him: I'm not sure if you're joking or not...

The fact of the matter, freader, is that I was not sure either. Is this a movie I would love to hate or hate to love?

Turns out I loved loving it. Note please: the volume was very low, so I couldn't follow the movie TOO closely. You'd only hear the exclamatory parts like, "I HATE YOU, DAD" or [spoiler warning] "YOU FOUND MY DOG!"

It was the classic tale of a pampered movie star canine (famous for hits like Jurassic Bark and Fast and the Furriest) who somehow falls out of an airplane so his owner thinks he's dead. The little curly toupee gets blown off so now he just looks like a regular dirty dog. He meets up with the boy, who is obviously a good kid but having trouble (he skips school and sits at the lunch table for people with glasses who like math) who is parented only by his dad, the chief of the local firehouse.

Local firehouse? But what about the other nearby firehouse in the region? Why that is chiefed by a hot single mom. Mom to a pretty girl who happens to also sit at the lunch table for people with glasses who like math. Oh, and that the other firehouse has a dalmatian who always wins the firehouse dog contests.

Then the boy bonds with the ex-movie star dog, and he is really good at all sorts of stuff like knowing where exactly to dig when somebody gets buried under the rubble. And then he falls in love with the dalmatian. So basically we've got like, a triple date with the single dad and single mom, uncool but cool boy and uncool but cool girl, and dalmatian and ex movie star dog.

So everything is great except there's also an arsonist on the lose but don't worry they [spoiler alert] catch him on account of the boy and the dog's cleverness, bravery, and teamwork.

Oh and then the actual owner finds the dog and tries to take him back to his old life, but the dog [spoiler alert] leaves because he's found where he belongs and it is in a firehouse. I guess they wanted the movie to be about 10 minutes longer.

Overall I give this movie 9/10 and I suggest you watch it with somebody you love.

Interested in:

On my facebook profile, right at the top you will see the following information:

Networks: Waterloo '10
Sex: Female
Interested in: Men
Birthday: May 6
Hometown: <hometown>

You will not see my relationship status. Though it was definitely a conscious choice not to share that information, it's sort of hard to explain why. In three points:

1. I guess I just don't think that whether or not I'm single is a big defining point of who I am.
2. Or maybe because there are so many blurry lines between single and not single (though who am I kidding: I'm usually as single as they come. No blurry lines there!) that I don't feel like defining every my every interaction with males.
3. Maybe if one day they let me link to other important people in that spot, too. You know? I'd rather link to sisters or best friends or favourite ex-roommates or lab partners or cousins or improv partners or best freaders than any hypothetical boyfriend because those are people that matter more and get higher priority anyway.
   

Anyway so I don't put my relationship status. And I'm considering taking down "interested in".

Reasons why I feel like I should share which sex I'm interested in:

1. Somebody told me if you didn't, that people would think you're a lesbian

Wow. Reasons why that reason sucks:

1. That's pretty offensive if you think about it for even 5 seconds. It implies that I think being thought a lesbian is undesirable. Right? Like it always bothers me when movie stars are asked if they're gay and they're like "OH GOD NO! But... I have no problems with the gay community". You know? Like if on my resume I wrote "NOTE: I AM WHITE" wouldn't that be racist? Because it would imply that I think being white is a favourable characteristic? Is that a fair parallel?

I've checked out the profiles of some of my favourite feminists (Hi Mems, Peter, Rosie get a blog) and discovered that they didn't list an "interested in:", and because I'm only about 60% of the way between a follower and a free thinker, I'll just follow the free thinkers.

Oh, except now is it going to show up in my mini feed, "Lisa is no longer listed as being interested in men." Great. Actually, is that a big deal? Oh, decisions. Stephanie recently loaned me the book Cunt and I'm about a third of the way through. It's great. I feel like this is the right thing to do. Okay. Profile edited. (I just live blogged a profile edit?)

This has been a weird post.

Worst Triathlon Ever

Saturday was my first triathlon of the season. I had trained really hard and I felt really optimistic and prepared.

Guys, it was terrible.

SWIM:

The gun went for the swim and all the excitement of dashing into the water and kicking and splashing and not being able to see when my head was submerged (really murky water) and the sudden coldness (even though I did a warm up swim) and the pressure of big dreams (I'm totally going to win!) was just too much for my little lungs and I started freaking out. I swam on my side for a while to catch my breath, but wasn't able to get composed enough to front crawl until over half way, so I breast stroked most of it. Breast stroke is slower and more energy exhaustive than crawl.

My swim goal time was 20, with a secret goal of 18 minutes. It took me 24:10. (22/23 for my age group). I'm not too upset with this time because I know what I need to work on (open water swimming) and I've never swam that far before. I did it, and I've never done it before. So. Good one, I guess.

BIKE:

The bike was actually pretty good. After a decent transition time I took off, determined to make the most of the terrific bike I was borrowing (thanks Laura!) I asked a friend how I looked while riding. The answer was, "intense". See for yourself:Around the 15k mark or so I noticed I wasn't sweating, even though I was working pretty hard. I also felt really thirsty so I drank a lot of Powerade. I started to feel really sloshy in the stomache, and still thirsty... like I wasn't absorbing the liquid or something.

My goal time was 47 with a secret goal time of 45. I finished in 45:15 and it's about the only part of the race I feel good about. The hills were tough and I feel like I really showed them who was boss. My bike time was 17/23 for my age group. Bike has always been my worst in the triathlon and duathlon I did last year, so I'm glad to see an improvement. In last year's duathlon I did that distance in 46:45.
RUN:

Oh no. Well at least I had a really fast T2. But before the 1km mark I knew it was going to be a rough time. I was passing people and setting a good pace. My legs were tight but that's what biking will do to them, and it wasn't unexpected. But then the sloshing. Then I guess I didn't barf, but more like burped up a bunch of Powerade. It got a little bit in my nose and left a terrible taste in my mouth. And then I was just drained.

Running is my favourite of the three, and the one that I am best at. I trained hardest for the run portion. I was most excited to see what I could do on race day for the run. And I just couldn't do it. I walked a few times (there were really steep uphills). A girl in my age group passed and I had nothing left in my to catch her with.

My goal time was 29 and my secret goal time was 27. In last year's duathlon I did that distance in 29:02. It took me 34:01. I don't think I have ever run that slow. That time put me 21/23 for my age group.

At least I looked as bad as I felt (is that a good thing or a bad thing?)The caption for this picture is: "Hiya boys. Still single. Call me. xoxo"

Actually, that picture looks remarkably similar to my driver's license photo. I have my mouth open in that one, too.

All in all I'm upset with the race. I can't chalk it up to bad luck or poor conditions. Worse still, I can't blame it on poor training or preparation. I feel like I did everything I knew how to do. I don't really know how to make sure next time goes better.

My race number is still marked on my arm, so lots of people have asked how the race went. When I reply, "ah, not that well, actually" they all shower me with "oh but you finished!" and "still, you did it!" etc. The thing is... finishing was more of a decision than an ability. I mean I guess I'm glad I did the swim, but I don't feel proud of finishing, or that it's really even an accomplishment for me and for where I am in training and dedication.

The hard part, I think, of doing triathlons isn't finishing on race day. The hard part is going on a training run in the cold, cold rain. It's turning down freshly baked muffins from your roommate because you have swim training in half an hour and don't want to be slowed down by cramps. The hard part is going to spin class even though your prof is there and he sweats and grunts a lot and pretends not to know you. The hard part is having to do laundry more frequently so you can have clean running clothes, and not being able to sit through a movie without having to sit on the ground and stretch your hamstrings. The hard part is your grocery bill going up because you eat more and you eat healthier when you train a lot. The hard part is taking your bike in to get the front wheel checked out even though you have a midterm in a few hours that you need to study for.

The hard part is feeling like all your efforts were in vain. But, I think the hardEST part of triathlons is getting back in the pool, back on the bike, or back on the road for a run after a really terrible race. That's what I did today. So despite the fact that I pretty much suck, I think I've still come out ahead.

My next race is August 3rd. And I'm totally going to bring it.

Jack gets an email address

Email from Lisa to Jack:

Hi Jack

Guess what? I have a triathlon on Saturday. Do you think I will be fast?

Love Lisa

Reply from Jack to Lisa:

yes go go.

The "how hard should I study?" equation

So you have a midterm coming up? Wondering if you should study? Take this quiz!

All variables on a scale of 1-10

a= Is the subject interesting?
b= If you fail, can you still make up marks later in the term?
c= Does the course build up on the same material, so you might as well learn it now?
d= Did you just discover a great new TV series and it's really suspenseful and you're halfway through the first season and come on, you should just watch it now because if you studied you wouldn't even be able to focus anyway?
e= Does the prof know your name?
f= Is the TA cute?
g= How likely is it that everybody is also going to fail, so they'll have to bell it, won't they?

Now
H= a - (0.5)b +(0.8) c - (0.1)d + (0.3)e + (0.2)f - (0.7)g

For H>=20
Yeah, check your adding, because if you were that intense you wouldn't be reading blogs right now.

For 20>H>=10
You'll regret it if you don't. Just go study.

For 10>H>=0
There's some ice cream in the freezer with your name on it. Plus some celebrity gossip that's not going to read itself! There's still time tomorrow. Study then.

For H<0>
Holla Holla! If you've got matches around, you might as well burn your textbook. Actually, maybe don't because you'll need it again next term when you re-take the course!

I should seriously be featured in the Cosmogirl quiz section or something. So much more practical than "what kind of kisser are you?" type quizzes, hey?

(For the record, I would have gotten about 10% higher last term if it weren't for heroes. Mista Eesak? I needed to know what was going to happen!)

Hypothetical temporary relocation

Hyyyypothetically,

Let's say you were interviewed for a super awesome job, but that job is located in a metropolis so conservative that the interviewer joked that "people there think George W is too liberal."

You'd only be there for four months (hypothetically). What do you think, would it be interesting in an experience-a-different-culture sort of way? Or would it be just too much to handle?

Triathlon training update

With only 4 days to go until my first triathlon of the season, I thought I'd give a training update.

While my May training was still pretty rigourous, I didn't follow a schedule. Starting June 1st, I made this schedule and have only once missed a scheduled work out (and it was because I was doing a lab during the only time the pool was open that day)
(More legible size: click here)

I'm really proud of myself for following it so closely. It was really hard to follow for the first week since sessions were a higher frequency and intensity than I was used to. I was hungry and sore pretty much all day. Last week things started getting busy with school. I had a lab report due on the 11th so you see that 5k run on the 10th scheduled for 8pm? I ended up doing that one at the gym about 11:45pm. And yesterday's 6mile was in cold drizzly rain. And both were so so so satisfying.

I've only got 2 hard workout left this week, but I might add in a spin class on Wednesday depending on how well my midterm studying is going.

Race day looks good! Last week they were predicting an afternoon at about 18-20 Celsius which is a little cold for my liking. It'd be fine for a run, but not a bike ride when you're already soaking wet. However, now they're saying more like 24C (75F) which sounds just about right.

I PRed on my most recent 5k, and at swimming last week my coach pointed out that I let my hips sink a lot. Focusing on keeping them up has really improved my swim technique, I think. I'm most worried for the swim because I've never swam 750m straight (and last time I did a triathlon, the rescue boat thought I was drowning during the swim portion, so they came to save me. But I've improved since then. Don't worry.)

As we get closer to the date, I'll start gathering up my gear (What colour shirt should I wear!!! Which flavour Gu!? So many fun decisions!) (Note: this one and chocolate, of course) and making healthier eating choices. (The diet coke stops on Thursday!)

I'm super excited! I don't think I've ever been this ready for a race. I'm also excited to write up a Phase 2 training plan for my 2nd tri of the season (July 20). But that can wait.

To end the post, a picture of my world championship sister:

It's called black gold in my house

When grocery shopping this weekend, I picked up a 12 can case of diet Coke (of the "with lime" variety, of course).

This week I have 5 midterms in 5 days. I honestly won't make it past Wednesday if I don't buy more DC. I've done 2 today and it's hardly noon.

Imagine if your middle name was Einstein

I really hope the father of my future children is as nerdy as I am so he will agree to smart person middle names.

While some parents are happy simply giving normal names (Marie) that are shout outs to cool people (holla, Currie) that is simply not enough for me. I keep an ongoing list in my head of mathematicians and scientists who discovered neat things and who also have cool names.

And I don't just mean like, Newton, or Joule or lame-o things like that. I kind of envision my future child sitting in math class learning about series expansion and being like "Maclaurin. That's my middle name. My parents are the funnest."

Some good options: Tesla, Laplace, Descartes, Faraday, Rutherford, Pascal, Archimedes, Fibonacci, Bernoulli, Bessel, Gibbs, Ampere, Hypatia (mainly because she's a girl), Avagadro, Edison (too commonly known?), and Ptolemy.

Some bad options: Kirchoff, Bohr, Planck, Hertz, Fermat, Euclid, Frobenius, Runge, Kutta, Lagrange, Cauchy, Euler, Poisson, Gauss, l'Hopita,l Hermite, Mach, Arrhenius, Nernst, Snell (aren't those all awful sounding despite people cool people?) and de Broglie because I remember hating learning that stuff.

However, I've moved beyond just middle names. What if they were named Brooke Taylor LastName. Or Sadie Carnot LastName. HM? How hilarious would that be. They think their name is normal and then come their first thermodynamics course... ! Come on, how fun would that be if your name was Sadi(e) Carnot?

(Dear future children. It's okay if you never take a thermodynamics course but also? Why not? Math is fun! Science is cool! But whatever, I love you anyway. Now eat your broccoli and go practice for sports.)

Best Music Ever

If you download one song ever in your life, let it be this one:

Infatuated Girl by Jillian Lubow

She's pretty much the most musically talented human ever. And that song is SUPER TERRIFIC. Trust. Her voice is amazing, the tune is catchy, and the lyrics remind me of me. And they will remind you of you, too.

As of today, she's available on iTunes. It's also her birthday coming up, and how great would it be if on her very first day her download numbers are through the roof? So great.

If you download it, I'll even email you a musically themed present!

Here is that song live:


Also, if you only download two songs in your life, let the second be "My Little Secret", also by Jillian Lubow.

Seriously, she's that amazing. Go do it!

On being a girl in engineering

Being a female in an engineering program rocks and also sucks.

Rocks: When people ask what you are studying and you answer, they say, "Oh wow! Good for you!"
Sucks: My male classmates, after answer that question, receive a "oh, cool."

Rocks: There's a club called "Women in Engineering" that is meant to address the issues that surround females in engineering programs
Sucks: When we get together, we feel the need to watch movies like Sleepover (especially watching Steve Carell in a role he is way too good for) and paint toenails.

Rocks: At a party if you see two other girls from your class, you can say "50% representation!"
Sucks: Yeah, because there are only 6 girls in your class.

Rocks: Engineers have cheers and chants and secrets and symbols
Sucks: Right except the songs are really misogynistic and homophobic, like Godiva's Hymn. And lots of people feel that The Tool is a pretty sexist mascot, too. And while I'm usually more than willing to call people out on that sort of stuff, when the attitude of ERTW (engineers rule the world) is so institutionalized, you feel way more helpless. So when people make sexist "jokes", instead of pointing out that it was offensive and lame, you give them a furrowed brow look but then laugh it off because it feels like nobody at all is on your side. I definitely encounter more sexism and WAY more homophobia within the engineering world than I do ANYWHERE else.

Rocks: You have an automatic bond with all other female engineers
Sucks: Even if they're annoying. Just because we both studied the same thing we have to be friends?

Rocks: You know a lot about a lot
Sucks: Say, theoretically, at a party, somebody wonders why pop bottles are shaped the way they are, and you start talking about longitudinal and hoop stress, they call you cute. I mean, call me a nerd or something. There's nothing cute about thin walled pressure vessels.

Rocks: The TAs learn your name first
Sucks: ... alright, that one is just a Rocks.

Window Proppers

Today I realized that of all the books in the world that I could have chosen to prop my window open (yes! It only opens that much! I know!), that I probably chose the three that most pithily sum me up.What three books is your window propped open with?

My World Champion Sister

My sister is racing in the triathlon World Championship today!

I'm going to be out and about (lab reports, farmers market, etc) but I'm going to try to live blog her results! GO LIN!

10:03: They start in waves, and I'm sort of confused but I think her age group hasn't gone yet (25-29f). Right now the 20-24f are stretching up. Conditions don't look as bad as they did on the video of the Juniors from earlier in the week. It's not raining, at least. People who aren't in wet suits (like coaches or whatever) are wearing full pants and sweaters. So I bet it's still pretty chilly.

10:06: Ah, it was announced. 25-29f starts at 7:25 Vancouver time (10:25 here in Ontario). The Weather Network says its only 11 degrees in Vancouver. Yikes! Swim fast, Lin!

10:09: AWAD (athletes with a disability) are coming in. Three women have come in and first place is German with the next two American. That's okay, Canada! Wait till you see how we clean up in the 25-29f category. My sister is going to run a 45 minute 10k! SUCKERS.

10:11: Just announced (well I'm sure they announced it way earlier, but it's news to me). Athletes are only swimming 1100m this morning. The race is supposed to be 1500m, and Lin told me yesterday that they were cutting in down to 700m because it's so cold. But I guess conditions have improved enough to bring it back up to 1100m. Good! That's our favourite distance! Go Lin!

10:17: I have to go write a stupid lab report, but HANG TIGHT. I'm going to try to convince my group members to either split it up, or let me watch/blog. Or at least watch. (Or follow by yourself!) Ps. 8 minutes to go until 25-29f. There are 15 Canadians. Yellow caps? LOOKING HOT, LIN.

10:18: I think I just saw her in a crowd scan. She was stretching her tricep. And she looked FAST.

10:22 They just showed the start list. There is my sister! Number 281. GO GO GO!

11:00: Okay so at 27:03 into the race, she exited T1, in 83rd place. It looks like she exited the swim at 21:29 NICE TIME! She's onto the first bike lap (4 10k loops). GO FOR IT!

11:32: She's done the second lap of the bike. During the second lap, she passed two people! She finished the second lap at 1:05:25 on the race clock. Impressive!

11:37: Finishing up the third lap, we've got Canadians in 5th and 7th!

12:10: And she's off the bike at 1:43:33. She passed 4 people in that last lap! Into transition!

12:21: She's out of T2 at 1:45:41. Now it's time to run like the wind! I'd go through each of her bike lap times but my lab partners think I'm typing my part of the report, so I better get back to work!

12:36: Holy mac! At 2:01:48 she reached the 3.6km mark of the run, and has passed TWELVE people since the start of the run! I told you that girl had legs of speed! At less than 15 minutes, she is more than a third done the run. Do you think she can pull of a 45 minute 10k? I SURE DO!

12:39: Wind has picked up, so all AG waves that hadn't started yet have turned into Duathlons. Their swim portions are canceled! That sucks for them, but also shows just how crazy the conditions are. If Lin can pull off a 45 minute 10k, she's insane!

1:48: Okay, BACK. So that whole "passing x people" thing? I was misreading the chart. It wasn't listing what position she was in for the race, just for that portion. So at 7.2 km it said she was in 49th, and that meant she had the 49th fastest run during that portion, not that she was in 49th place. TRICKY.

Her final finish time is 2:30:12 which is so fast. By my math, wouldn't that mean she got a 44:29 10k? Listen, when I do 10ks I am happy when they are under an hour. She is so fast. The results also show that she beat the girl behind her by only 6 seconds, so I hope it was one of those "I pass you, you pass me" fights and in the end my sister was the victor.

Here's the coolest thing about Lin. She had never done under 45 in a 10k portion of a triathlon. (She had done that fast in just plain running, though). And so she made it her goal, and her strategy was basically "run fast". No excuses, just do it. And she did it. You just take the pain and go fast. That's so inspiring. I really can't wait until my next race (2 weeks exactly!) so I can just punish the pavement during the run portion.

Lin, you're my hero. And you are SO FAST.

Swim Time- 21:29
T1- (5:34) 27:03
Bike Lap 1- (19:27) 46:30
Bike Lap 2- (18:55) 1:05:25
Bike Lap 3- (18:35) 1:24:00
Bike Lap 4- (19:33) 1:43:33
T2- (2:09) 1:45:42
Run [3.6km]- (15:06) 2:01:48
Run [7.2km]- (15:58) 2:17:46
Finish Time: 2:30:12

Bike shorts AND wristbands

With only 17 days until my first triathlon of the season, I've been really sticking to my training plan. So yesterday I went to a weight lifting class, and then this yoga/tai-chi/pilates blend class that I probably won't attend again.

Anyway about that weight lifting class. I usually go Thursdays, but because I was going with a friend and her schedule is tight, we went yesterday, Wednesday. So it was a different instructor from usual. It was a male instructor AND HOLD ON---

Was I about to start talking about the class without first mentioning who was in the class? Priorities. MY PROF. He took a spot RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. WEARING TIGHT, SWEATY BIKE SHORTS. And I tried to make a friendly "haha oh hi" wave/smile but he was pretending not to recognize me. And lets face it, there are only 6 girls in my entire class. Just saying. And he's been teaching us for a month now. Come on. Surely he recognized me. Awkward parade, am I right?

...WEARING BIKE SHORTS.

So the instructor of the class was cute for a minute in a "cowboy accent!" sort of way, until I realized he was wearing a popped collar polo... to instruct a weight lifting class. Also wristbands with a skull and cross bones on them. And was probably about 150% older than me.

All in all, he was basically Dane Cook. And while I will not deny that I once could crack up at any time of the day if I even so much as thought "want me to put honey on your thighs?" I've definitely grown out of my Dane Cook stage (and moved on to the biggerbetter of Jake and Amir and Picnicface).

Also nearing the end of the class he started to lose his accent. HE WAS FAKING BEING SOUTHERN!

What I'm saying is: I will avoid the Wednesday weight lifting class from now on.

Word Time on a picnic

(See last week's Word Time in the tent)

Week 5 Words from Lisa on Vimeo.

And yes, Jack still had a moustache. It's just harder to see.