fuel shenanigans

I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but the gas stations could be up to something...

never have i ever, had a fill up of more than 14.7 gallons. Even when running on fumes and a prayer the maximum fill up has been 14.7.

But lately, I've had to fill up to 14.8 and 14.9. Last night, my tank required 15.1 gallons.

I wonder what the explanation for this is. Could it be that my gas tank has spontaneously grown?

Ring Bling - Part Duex

So I swear I wasn't dropping hints before. But either way, my boyfriend fiancee picked up on the hint, that I didn't drop, and so now instead of this being some random pretty ring, this is my engagement ring...



is it tacky to post a picture of my engagement ring. probably. but blogging in general can be a bit narcissistic so you'll have to forgive me this one time...

he hasn't made the announcement to all of his friends and family yet, so hopefully they don't see this before he gets a chance to tell them. or my facebook status. which is how i made the general announcement.

you know you're too web 2.0 when you blog about the ring you want, knowing your boyfriend will one day look at it, and then announce the successful execution of your plan, i mean your engagement, on facebook.

could have been worse. i could have tweeted it. really, the only reason why i didn't is none of my friends have bought in to twitter so, it would have been pointless.

For those of you that think California is ridiculous...

I'm about to prove you right.

Going to the movies last nite in redwood city, a start-up epicenter, I see this...


A solar powered parking meter. Wow, it's like the holy trinity of Bay-Area values...a networked device allowing tech companies to control yet one more aspect of your day, paying too much for things (who pays for parking in the 'burbs...only us baby, only us), and green. What's greener than a solar-powered parking meter? A mechanical one from circa 1994, however you can't raise $10M in VC funds for that so of course that's out...

anyhow, in honor of this discovery, i'm changing the tag line on my blog.

Ring Bling

So...this is what an $80,000 size 6.5 ring looks like on my hand.


---UPDATE---

whoa, i am not engaged, nor am I dropping hints. wow. it's just a pretty ring, that's all!

but if were dropping hints, size 6.

UVAS Triathlon

Finish Line, originally uploaded by aliseyawright.

So I finished my first tri with a respectable time of 2:25:09.

The first part of each segment was the hardest. After the first 50 meters of the swim I remember thinking, crap I'm tired (since I wasn't warmed up), what have I gotten myself into!

2 hours and 25 minutes later, this is me crossing the finish line!

The rest of the pictures are here - I'll add the official ones when I get them.

Never say Never

So, when it comes to biking, I've learned to never say "I'd never do that" when it comes to a hill....

So, I live in the Oakland hills...well to be more precise, as my ex-boyfriends sister so kindly pointed out...i live on the incline, not the hills. Which means, that to do a bike ride from my house, no matter which way i go, there is a serious hill.

So around 4th of july last year, we were driving around looking for a good spot to watch the show. And during this drive, I remember saying, OMG it takes 5 minutes to drive up this hill, I would never ride this on a bike.

Well, as fate would have it. I did. I'm training for a triathlon right now, and I have a friend who is a serious rider. So he agreed to train with me as long as i agreed not to complain to much about the rides he picked. So, for our first ride, he tricked me! He came over to my house and i thought we were going to drive somewhere flat. Nope, for the next 45 minutes I was riding uphill. up that hill i said i'd never ride.

So then a few weeks back, my friend and I decide to go to Stinson beach. And the ride there includes a 15 mile mountain. Large hill if you will. And since it was late in the afternoon, there were only a few lone bikers taming the mountain. And i remember again saying....OMG, its taking us 30 minutes just to drive up this hill, i would never bike this!!

uh-huh. You know what's coming.

Fast forward two weeks. Since i didn't learn my lesson the first time, I agree to go on a nice 2 hour **flat** ride. Never trust competition riders when they say they're taking you on an easy ride. Easy is relative.

So we start out on our easy ride, and 6 hours later, we had ridden from SF, across golden gate bridge, thru Marin, up Mt. Tam (16 miles of non-stop redwood surrounded hill hell) and back. If a biker passes out in the forest and no one is around does she make a sound?

Am I glad I did it? Heck ya! Now, not only can I say Mt. Tam has been conquered, I've learned that with biking as in life, when i feel the urge to say I'd never do something because i'm too ~~lazy~~ to do it I'll probably end up being forced to do it in the near future. Lesson learned -- Even with physical things, life is mental. Get your mind in check and, just do it.

its all about the timing

so, the other day, a friend asked me

aliseya why are you still single?

and it wasn't so much the question that was interesting. it was the way it was prefaced...before she asked it, she said, i don't mean for this to sound offensive, but you're successful, brilliant, easy on the eyes, not a total b!tch (j/k she didn't say the last three, she just said successful) - why are you still single?

as a short answer, since this was on instant messenger, i just said timing. it just hasn't been time. however, given that a lot of my friends male and female have started to settle down (i'm 27), i'd like to shed some light on why it hasn't been time.

thanks to the many cultural strides that have been made in the last few decades, i, as a mixed race woman, have the choice to pursue any career i want. awesome. and i have taken advantage of this opportunity.

now whether it was harder for me (institutionalized discrimination, challenges of perception, george bush hating black people, etc) or easier for me (special programs to help women and minorities) is really out of scope for this blog - like how i dodged that one.

however what is in scope is that since i made the *choice* to pursue the career of my liking (software engineering), i also had the responsibility to learn the ins-and-outs of said field and do the necessary work. and this, took a lot of focus.

so, while i'm not anti-marriage by any means, i am only a few years out of grad school, which means that i have been paying dues, learning the field, and working hard. was i forced to choose between career and a relationship? not at all. not even implicitly. however, i only had so many hours outside of work/school to do something else. and for me, plotting on a man, some finger bling and a baby just wasn't all that interesting. sounds like something to do when i'm 30.

so, the point is, my being single right now shouldn't be all that surprising. its just a matter of timing and choice. and i've always felt that before i get married, i need to figure out my life as an individual first. and that's what i've been doing. in the two years after school, i've been doing me.

i suspect, were i a man, just 2 years out of school, it would have been assumed that at this point in my career it just wasn't time to prioritize starting a family.

so, long story short, why am i still single?

it's all about the timing.