Luxury Automobiles

The Blue Bandit is healed. She's healed! I wonder if her life flashed before her eyes on Sunday night as she was being towed into the white light. But the doctor said that all she needed was a new radiator hose. Dr. Mike fixed it quickly and for not much at all. She is now cool and filled with coolant.


Two days without a car surely made me appreciate having one at all. It felt so luxurious driving to a meeting tonight in my fancy automobile. Thanks God for my car.

Fighting the white light

So yeah, I'm currently carless. Here's the fun story of my adventures this evening.

I was driving home from church tonight when my car started to overheat for the second time today. I blasted the heat, as I was taught, in hopes that the temperature would go down. No luck. In fact, the heat never got hot, it just blew out cold air. Hmmm...it must not just be coolant related. I pulled off of 75 to a not-so-friendly-looking gas station to add more coolant. I peeked under the car and noticed that something was dripping. Great. I got back on the highway and prayed that I wouldn't overheat and get stuck on the side of the road. As I gunned it moving northward, the temp stayed steady. But then began to rise again. Like a good helpless girl, I called my dad to ask what the heck I should do. After I explained everything, he said I should pull over and he'd come get me. I made it to a gas station at 11 Mile and 75, pulled into a parking spot backwards, preparing to be towed. :(

My dad came a short while later. We decided to get our yearly money's worth of our AAA membership by calling in for some road side service. The friendly operator asked the purpose of my tow, and kindly replied (surely according to their empathetic customer satisfaction scrip) "I'm sorry to hear that." The wait was estimated to be 45 minutes. Ugh. We scampered across the street for some Canadian culture and a place to wait- Tim Hortons. We both got a donut and sat down. I love donuts. We sat for a while talking about folk music, Iowa, and hypothesized about what I should do if my car is really expensive to fix. Buy a new-used one? Lease a new one? American? As we talked we watched the moon rise over the gas station, keeping our eye out for the tow truck.

One sour cream glazed and one Boston cream donut later we re-scampered across 11 Mile to meet my tow truck. As my car was being loaded on the truck bed, I started to snap some pictures on my phone. The tow truck driver, Daniel, said "Are you taking pictures?!", I replied with a big proud grin, slightly shivering from the cold, "Yes, they're for my blog!" My dad and the driver burst out laughing. They're kind of hard to make out, but here they are just for you. :)




I had a moment of sadness as I watched my good old Saturn slowly being raised on her 'gurney', in what looks like in these photos, towards a white light. I focused on her tires which have carried me so far for so long, and I gazed at my City of Los Angeles parking permit on my bumper, that is fading more and more every day. Oh the memories. I will find out the prognosis tomorrow. I hope she makes it. I hope it's not too expensive.

Hang in there my good and faithful companion.

They want me to move back to LA

The past two nights I was blessed to be able to spend them with my old boss from my last job in Los Angeles who was in town for a meeting and conference in Dearborn. An equally delightful blessing was to meet someone from the village that I practically knew already, but never met in person. He is actually the first person from the village that I've gotten to meet in person. I can't tell you how excited I was to finally meet him. When I was picking them up at their hotel I ran from the parking lot to the lobby because I was so excited and walking was not getting me there fast enough!

On Thursday we went down to Greektown for dinner and I gave the world's worst tour of Detroit. How am I ever suppose to fulfill my dream of being a tour guide if I can't even give some attractive details about Detroit? Where was my Detroit Almanac or DEGC employee when I needed them? Oh well. I think it was still fun.

Last night I got to spend the evening out again with both my boss Deanna and Ahmad from the village. I accompanied them to dinner in Dearborn at a very famous and extremely delicious restaurant. Also at dinner was the board of directors from my old job. It was pretty neat to get to hang out with them all. The president of the board semi-seriously offered me my job back a few times. They apparently liked having me around! I actually loved working there, especially because of the cause and because I worked for a pretty amazing boss who is now my good friend.

Ahmad, Deanna, and me

I absolutely positively adored hanging out with the two of them. My insatiable curiosity about Ahmad, the village, and the region he's from caused a never ending amount of questions to pour out of my little self. After the board members left, the three of us hopped over to a cozy little booth for some delicious Arabic coffee and sweets. Being a coffee lover, I was wide-eyed and inquisitive about the Middle Eastern way of coffee making. He's some visuals for you:


They grind the coffee beans to a fine powder and boil the grinds in water over an open flame. No filters or anything. They you sip on it from little tiny cups. It seems to really emphasize the socialization of coffee drinking, which of course I completely revel in.

Ahmad asked me when I was going to make my pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I said, when someone hands me a wad of cash for my plane ticket. I ache to go there to see those sites, but also to visit the village. My plan was always to stay in the village at their little hotel, but now I've got free housing :).

Ahhhh....it was so great to spend time with Deanna and make a new friend from a place that is near and dear to my heart. My 'quality time' tank is feeling full and it feels so good!

California burning

Saw this on Google Maps today, thought it was kinda nice of Google.

Detroit 1/2!

This past Sunday was my big run, the Detroit 1/2 Marathon. 13.1 miles through the streets of Detroit and Windsor, Canada. The starting gun went off promptly at 7:15am, early enough to still see stars in the sky and not a lick of sunlight even attempting to peek from the horizon. The air was cool, but warm enough to manage in shorts and a t-shirt. In my well designed running shorts, I was able to carry my little cell phone to snap some pictures of my run.

The early miles of the race took us through some interesting parts of Detroit- by the old Tiger's Stadium (see image below) and Mexican Town (the smell of Mexican food was so strong, even before 8am on a Sunday!).
Then the course took us over one of the highlights of the race- the Ambassador Bridge- one of the bridges that link the United States and Canada over the Detroit River. It was breathtaking to approach as the sun started to rise, and the blue waters below allowed for a nice breeze. Seeing runners ahead of me as I winded up the road to the bridge was quite a site- their silhouettes looked like little robots from a distance...





Once over the bridge the Canadians were there to greet us in their oh so foreign way. The police people there seem so much more friendly then ours, yet not quite as tough at the same time. They were watching their border with goofy Canadian smiles and silly accents. They had a nice path for us along the other side of the Detroit River (see image below), where it seemed all the spectators were holding cups from Tim Hortons (seriously there were), do they not have Starbucks in Canada? Geez, how do they function? I had that thought during my quick trip to Canada.


To get back to America, we ran underwater- below the Detroit River through the Detroit-Windsor (or if you're Canadian- Windsor-Detroit) Tunnel. That was pretty sweet. The tunnel initially had a downward slope- so I "opened her up" and flew into a natural sprint. But eventually slowed down because the tunnel began to feel like a sauna due to the thousands of sweaty, panting runners around me. It was steamy in there! Finally reaching the opening on the US side felt so great- the cool air was invigorating.

entering the tunnel...

Crossing the border...

Freshly out of the sweaty tunnel to meet my paparazzi (aka, my sister Emily)

Family cheering squad- Todd, Stacey, Fritz, and Molly

Overall the race was great! Lots of cheers from friends and family, beautiful weather, and a new personal record set (by a mere 45 seconds or so- thanks to that sprint in the tunnel!). One more race down...maybe the full marathon next year?

Hey, two last things, check out my race stats here (search for me by hitting ctrl-F and type Geib- or I think for macs you do an apple-F) and check this out- you can watch me finish- my gun time was around 2:27:45...look for me just as the announcer says something about Michigan State- I'm in a lime green top and black shorts with a yellow head band as seen above. :)

Vive le corset!

-The Detroit 1/2 Marathon is 5 days 19 hours 20 minutes and an decreasing amount of seconds away. I'm about to do my last big training run of 10 miles (3.1 away from the full 1/2 marathon length). Check out their website that is so simply motivating with their countdown clock and the powerful phrase "You can do this"...

-I have successfully killed the crimson colored mum on my doorstep by over-zealously watering it.

-I have also successfully wasted an embarrassing amount of time watching multiple seasons of one of my favorite shows Felicity over the past week (I own all 4 seasons on DVD- a dangerous yet delightful thing).

-I found an entire roll of stamps on the ground behind my car this morning. (I thought it was planted there, so I picked them up and stood there looking around for a while...look for me on the 6:00 news)

-None of the leaves on any of the trees in 'my' yard have changed yet. What the heck?

-In about 2 weeks I will have been in Michigan for a full year...stay tuned for a thorough reflection on such a milestone.

-I went to see the new movie Elizabeth: The Golden Age this weekend with my sister. It is actually a sequel to the 1998 film simply titled Elizabeth. Both I adore. I love the time period they take place in, I love the costumes desperately, but most of all I love the history of it all. I secretly wish I had all of her dresses and that it wouldn't be incredibly odd if I went, say, to go grocery shopping at Trader Joe's in one of them or to church on Sunday. Bring back the corset!!

Off to run.

Your bed-side manner is so clingy

This morning started my incredibly early tutoring sessions with one of my ESL students. I meet her at her office at Ford at 7am for an hour. This means that I'm up before 6 now three days a week. Hurray! No, but really it wasn't that bad this morning. I was so very blessed to not get lost in the mess of all the Ford buildings in Dearborn and to actually find the random lobby my student was waiting for me in on time and without making any wrong turns, frustration perspiration (I often break out into a sweat when I'm lost and late), or desperate phone calls. An hour later, the sun was finally up and I was on my way. We spent the hour in a different way than I had planned. She and her daughter were very sick last week and both ended up in the hospital. They had a frustrating experience because of a very rude doctor, a common situation for her sadly. As a result, she asked if I could help her write a letter to complain. I'm all for good customer service and customer rights, so this was fun even at 7am. In the process she learned words and phrases like 'bed-side manner' and 'ailment'. Hopefully we'll get that letter off to the right folks so that she can feel heard and the guilty physician can be identified and called out.

This evening I headed back down to Dearborn to teach her daughter, who is the cutest thing- a spitting image of her mother- all smiles and giggles- she's 17 and a senior in high school. Tonight was our first class. We identified some goals for her such as preparing for the ACT and grammar practice. We worked on some vocab and pronunciation for the second half of class- we learned words like 'cling' (I of course taught her what a clingy girlfriend is), bluff, and blade. We practiced the 'd' in blade a lot- this was tricky for her- but I think I trained her tongue to stay in the right place behind her teeth!

Overall, despite the drive and odd hours, it's been great- I'm really enjoying this time teaching my one and only language (besides my love language of course, which is...all of them- acts of service, quality time, gifts, physical touch, and words of encouragement- sorry tangent). Maybe I'll get a free Ford car out of this. Sorry Jodi. Free is free.

Icy hot Chicago

Wow, what a contrast from last year when I ran the Chicago Marathon (it was below freezing and flurries were in the air).....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-marathon_weboct08,0,5378660.story

The same thing happened one year at the LA Marathon while I was living there- the heat was too much and one person also perished...

I run because I can't stop and because I can

People often ask me why I run. This question is difficult for me to answer. 90% of the time it's not fun- it hurts, I'm too tired, the weather isn't ideal, it's too dark out too soon, and the list of excuses goes on and on. But on occasion the 10% fun shows up in a major way.

I'm 2.5 weeks away from running my 5th half marathon. I'm running in the Detroit Half Marathon on October 21st. It is almost one year to the day from when I completed the Chicago Marathon- one of the most life changing experiences I've ever had. Since then, running has meant so much more to me. Completing the Chicago Marathon was a total God thing. My weak little mind and body could have never done it without him. That's why it was so moving for me. As I recall some of the precious moments of that race- my favorite one comes to mind:
(besides my dad joining me for a few seconds to cheer me on like in this photo at mile 25- I can't believe I had the energy to smile and wave! click to see a bigger version) The best moment for me was the last quarter of a mile of the whole race. There was one last little hill to cross over a bridge in downtown Chicago. The crowd was getting thicker and thicker along the sidelines of the course. At the same time they were getting quieter than the previous 26 miles- they all seemed to be watching each of us carefully as we were feeling and showed signs of being the most exhausted we've ever felt in our lives. I took off my ipod ear buds to take it all in. The sight of the thousands of spectators was almost too much for me and I began to tear up, but quickly stopped because I could barely breath. I managed my way over the hill and made the last turn from Michigan Ave. onto Columbus. My heart nearly stopped because there in the near distance was the glorious, most spectacular finish line. Suddenly I heard the crowd again- they were so supportive, it was almost like they were all my dear friends and family shouting out my name (I had my name stuck on my chest on a piece of duct tape- a common marathoner practice- people call you out by name- so very helpful during those last painful miles). I couldn't believe it was over. I had been running for 5 hours and 3 minutes, stopping only to use a port-a-john 2 times and slowed down to drink water at a few water stations.

Here is a great photo of me crossing the finish line (the time is 17 minutes off because it took me and my friends that long to even reach the starting line because of the massive crowds of runners). I'm not going to begin to go into detail about the amount of instantaneous pain I was in the very moment I stopped running. I eventually healed though.

My point is all this- I do love to run. As I ran one of my training runs last night, I hit a point where it felt soooooooooo good, I was cruising along. I was about half way through a 5 mile run. I could feel myself going faster and faster without even trying. Near the 4.5 mile mark I suddenly noticed I was almost in a full on sprint. Suddenly I was home and realized I ran 5 miles in record time. Wow. How does my body do what it does? Again, a God thing.

I can't wait until the Detroit race. I can't wait to run through the streets of downtown and all the little neighborhoods around it. I can't wait to see the crowds. I can't wait to be a part of that again. Chicago is such a special place to me now- but running in Detroit? Mmmmmm. The city is already so special to me...it's going to be such a treat.

Now here's an invitation. Come cheer me on. Come watch people achieve their goals- it's a guaranteed inspiring event for all. As I study the course map I think one of the best places to be as a spectator is just outside of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel on the US side. We race across the Ambassador Bridge into Canada and come back over via the tunnel at about mile 9. Waiting outside the tunnel is a good spot because then you've got about 30-40 minutes until I'm nearing the finish line right in the heart of downtown at Campus Martius- a short walk from the tunnel.

Knowing that friends and family are in the crowd somewhere makes the run even more fantastic! Please come! I'll send out more info as the day approaches, but it's on Sunday, October 21st. The race starts at 7:15am and I expect to finish between 9:45 and 10am.

Until then, I'm still training with a heart of excitement and true appreciation for being blessed with the ability to run and run and run and run and run.

I'd rather be at a Neil Diamond concert

I just saw that on a bumper sticker. It made me snicker out loud after having the rainy day blahs complete with being tired, hungry, and feeling an overall gloominess. I'm glad it's raining though at the same time. Month after month of blue skies in LA got so old. I appreciate this rain. What I don't appreciate is the fact that my local coffee shop didn't "have" any ceramic mugs for my coffee, which totally ruins the whole dining-in experience. The coffee just wasn't as good. It seemed like everyone around me had a mug. I guess I could have just stayed home and used my own mug, but them I miss out on being out.

On another note, Jennifer Granholm must feel stressed. How does she do it? I wonder what her Myers-Briggs type code is. I hope and pray that things get better in Michigan soon. I think they will. I'm praying they will.

On another even more random note, check out these photos I took a week or two ago while exploring the soon (May I think?) to be great running/biking/walking path the Dequindre Cut in Detroit- also a famous graffiti artist spot. These folks were doing a photo shoot for "Trash it" or something of the like. Not my idea of historical preservation or celebrating sentimentalism, but interesting none the less.