I Love Packages On My Doorstep!

Saturday night, when I got home from work, I was surprised to see a package laying against my door. I LOVE packages on my doorstep, but I was not expecting anything from anyone at this time. Matt, my boyfriend, had told me he had sent one out, but I assumed it was still a week away at least. Then, I looked at the return address. There was no name, but it was from a familiar town in Rhode Island and I knew it had to be one of three people.

I initially assumed Aisha, a really good friend from college, had mailed the package. And I hoped with all hope that it was not a Christmas present from her because I TOTALLY didn't even think about getting her a present...like a dope! Next, I thought it was from my friend, Rand, who I do not know very well but talk to every now and again through the Interweb! He said he wanted to make me a couple of mixed CDs, but this box was far too big for CDs even though whatever was inside obviously did not take up the whole thing.

The package ended up being from the last source from Rhode Island, Aisha's little brother, Naseer! I found out after I opened the present, took out a large foil bundle of cookies, and pulled out a small note that read:

Zach,
I'm sad to report that my hot cookies
of seduction were not successful. They were
indeed hot and seductive, however their target
wanted nothing of them. How sad. But I thought
of you - the person who always appreciates my
efforts. These cookies are for you. Of course this is
a fresh batch, free of the bitter taste of unrequited love.
I hope you enjoy them. I also hope to see you soon.
All the best.
Love,
Naseer

Hot Cookies of Seduction! :oD I remembered seeing these words written on Naseer's away message one day and I wrote some smartass thing in response to that message. However, I never thought I would get a batch in the mail!! They were delicious! And, if I can ever get the recipe from Naseer (you know, if it is not a secret or anything) I will post it here for you to try at home! To behonest, I gave almost all of them away. It is true, they were delicious - and I would have eaten them all myself - but it was a BATCH of cookies and I am trying to train my way into San Diego through my crew team!! So, I did what I had to do...and regifted them. I was on my way to my friend's birthday party, so I threw those suckers on a plate, covered them in aluminum foil, and out the door I went.

Now, I know this is not from my mom (although in a subconscious way maybe), so it is either from Martha or from my gay DNA - but when you go to someone's house for a party, it is polite to bring the host something and have something interesting to talk about. (Ooh...maybe it's from Bridget Jones' Diary) Boy, were these cookies IT! Because when you bring something called Hot Cookies of Seduction, nobody's talking about anything else for a while! Thank you, Naseer, I was a HIT!

San Diego Here I Come!

This is an ergometer, or erg for short:

It looks innocent enough, but believe me when I tell you that it is a creation by the devil. It also happens to be my best friend right now. You see, my rowing team (StationL Rowing Club) has decided to enter a boat into the San Diego Crew Classic 2008 and I want to be in it! The boat will only hold 8 rowers and one coxswain and there are more rowers than 8 on our team - and I ain't no coxswain!! This means I have to really bump up my winter training to be faster and stronger than my teammates. The erg will help me get there!!

Workouts consist of 2 long aerobic pieces (one of which I usually do on the erg, the other I do as a run), 2 sprint pieces at 70%-90% of maximum heart rate (done on the erg) and 2 lifting pieces (which I am creative with - doing one at the gym and one at my pilates studio!!) with a day off if you would like. So far, my training has been going well and I have stuck to the workout plan. Definitely more like work than it was in the first week and a half, but my new mantra of "I want to go to San Diego, I want to go to San Diego" is keeping me going.

Stay tuned to see how much progress is made with the workouts as well as for new posts. I have to make up for last November and December being practically post-less and I have lots of knitting to update you on - with pictures!