Changing My Life Perspective

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about the quote, "Five years from now, you’re the same person except for the people you’ve met and the books you’ve read."  I first heard this when listening to Dave Ramsey, but I'm not exactly sure who was the first to say it (maybe John Wooden, an American basketball player and coach, according to a quick Google search).  I believe this quote is spot-on.


Although there are definite advantages to living in one place during one's lifetime, moving to another state has pushed Micah and I to branch out and make new friends.  Often we are drawn to people who had a similar upbringing to us, but sometimes we befriend those who came from a completely different background.  We are both introverts so I'm pretty confident we would not be meeting many new people if we had stayed in Holland, MI our whole lives, and I am loving the fact we have met many new people over the years who have taught us different things about life.


One of my newest friendships is with a co-worker named Araceli.  She lived in Mexico for ten years as a child and she still speaks Spanish with her husband and family.  Although she is practically fluent in English, per her request I correct her when I hear her use the wrong tense or gender (he for she and vice versa).  Araceli started running in high school and became pretty fast in college.  Since college she has not been as consistent with her running but right before we met each other she had decided she wanted to start running regularly again.  We have been training together for the La Luz Trail Run (after much persuasion she convinced me to train with her), and I have really enjoyed getting to know her and learning more about her past.  She definitely has put my life into perspective.  As I learn more about her childhood I am astounded that even though she did not have the same opportunities I did growing up, she does not let that get in the way of her success.  She is almost done with her MBA and has high aspirations for her future.  I have a lot of respect for Araceli and I am so happy that she convinced me to train with her.

At the tram on top of Sandia Peak during a run

I have also been reading a lot of great books lately.  I highly recommend them all!  And if you have any to recommend please let me know :).

• Signs of Life by Natalie Taylor
• Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
• Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall & Denver Moore
• Love Wins by Rob Bell
• A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
• Untouchables by Narendra Jadhav

It isn't easy changing who we are as we all get stuck in a rut at times, but right now I am enjoying this process.

  

Speedsters & Whippers & Weavers. Oh My!

I truly cannot believe how many bad drivers reside in ABQ.  Daily, I fear for my life and the lives of those around me.  Not even kidding.  It is so bad that I am actually contemplating buying a SUV for safety reasons.  Well, more than contemplating as we already test drove some vehicles and we have been doing plenty of research on the best one to buy.

There are all types of ABQ drivers:

1. Sneaksters.  Some ABQ drivers must think the rest of us are psychic as they never use their blinkers, whether turning corners or changing lanes.  This drives me bananas.
2. Speedsters.  They must not teach ABQ drivers that the speed LIMIT is actually the maximum speed you are allowed to travel on the road.  Of course we all go slightly over this at times, but the general rule is about 5 over, not 15.
3. Creepers.  Contrary to what some ABQ drivers may think, driving extremely slow, such as 55 MPH on the highway where the speed limit is 70 MPH, is actually quite dangerous.  It is just as scary to quickly approach a creeper as it is to be passed by a speedster.
4. Drifters.  There are two types of "lane changers" in ABQ: drifters and whippers.  There are those that believe they should be very cautious when changing lanes and they slowly inch over from one lane to the next - drifters.  
5. Whippers. On the other hand, there are those that must jerk their steering wheel as they practically flip their car when changing lanes - whippers.  Doesn't matter if you are a drifter or a whipper, you are both dangerous.  Even more scary - a drifter and whipper changing into the same lane.
6. S.P.I.L.L.s.  This is actually an acronym Micah and I came up with in Colorado as we were very annoyed with this type of driver: Slow Poke In Left Lane, or SPILL for short.  This is the person poking along in the left lane of they highway while they're on their cell phone, talking to someone else in the car, or just not paying attention for whatever reason (believe it or not, Colorado actually has a law against being in the left lane unless passing now).  Surprisingly, SPILLs are even more abundant in ABQ.  This is awful on a four lane highway since ABQ drivers obviously don't understand that the right lane is the slowest and the left lane is the fastest.  Which leads to the next problem.
7. Weavers.  I swear some people think morning rush hour is a great time to practice their Nascar skills.  I am often yelling at people for this very reason on my way to work.  Not a great way to start the day.
8. Red Light Racers.  When we first moved to CO Micah and I were shocked by how many people sped up when they saw yellow lights.  We soon caught on that this was necessary to avoid being rear-ended since this was the common driving style in CO.  However, we will not follow suit with the Red Light Racers in ABQ.  It is scary how many people see a light turn red and step on the gas.  It is so bad that when you are the first person stopped at a red light that turns green you actually must pause and look both ways to make sure everyone has stopped before proceeding.  Just awful.
9. Emergency Vehicle Ignorers.  I thought it was common knowledge that you should pull over to the right and stop when an emergency vehicle is behind you.  This simply does not happen in ABQ.  Still not really sure why.
10. Chicken Players.  This is a daily occurrence.  Tramway is a road by our house that I drive on with many short merge lanes.  For some reason ABQ drivers think we should be playing chicken so they just move into my lane, instead of yielding, when in the merge lane.  Since I drive such a small vehicle I am generally the chicken.  Yes, I do have to hold my fingers down as I speed ahead of the Chicken Player and get ahead of them again (the Subaru may not be big but at least it's quick).    
11. Last Second Stoppers. These are the people who wait until the last second to stop at a stop sign.  I try to be a defensive driver so they usually cause me to slam on the brakes and or swerve as I am anticipating an accident.  These guys really fool me.
12. Nose Pokers.  I do acknowledge the fact that ABQ has an abundance of blind corners, but seriously, can't you stop behind the stop sign first and then move forward slowly to see if it is safe to turn?  Quite often I have to swerve around ABQ drivers who have their nose poked out into the crossroad.
13. Crunchers.  A dented or crunched up car is not a sign of honor like a battle wound.  When I see a crunched up car I get away as quickly as possible to avoid being the car's next victim.
14. Drunk Drivers.  Unfortunately, drunk drivers are quite a problem here.  I know this is a problem everywhere but I hear about them a lot more often in ABQ than I did living in CO.

I could probably go on forever describing the variety of ABQ drivers that I battle each day.  It's ridiculous.  Thanks for letting me vent :).

Lately

I just read my friend Joy's post about how time flies and I couldn't agree more.  I can hardly believe it is already late May!  We have been having a lot of fun this year, but sometimes I wonder if we are staying TOO busy.  Lately we have been:

Climbing:  We have gotten back into rock climbing since we moved to ABQ and we have been happy to discover numerous outdoor climbing spots within a 2 hour radius of ABQ.  As an added bonus, my upper body is the strongest it's ever been :).

Running: Micah and I both entered a lottery to run in the La Luz Trail Run (9 miles up a trail to the Sandia Crest in ABQ).  We were both selected to run the race so we have been spending time running on the trails, which are actually only about a mile from our new house!  I have never been much of a trail runner since I easily turn my ankles and going up is just hard, but I am actually having a lot of fun with it.  The race is August 7 so we need to get in a lot of good training between now and then!

Settling In: We are 99% moved into our new place.  We really love the location and the house suits us much better than the house we were in for our first six months in ABQ.

WFR Course: Micah and I both signed up for a Wilderness First Responder course.  I am still a bit apprehensive as we have to go to class Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00-9:00 p.m. for the next six weeks, plus attend three day long Saturday sessions, but so far I have been learning a lot.  Yesterday we learned how to take each other's blood pressure, this weekend we will be learning splinting, and eventually we will even learn how to deliver a baby in case of emergency!  The course is intense, but I think we will both feel safer in the wilderness after we have proper training.

Celebrating Micah's Birthday:  Okay, this hasn't actually taken as much time as the other things we have been doing, but Micah's 29th birthday was this past Monday.  He doesn't really like to celebrate his birthday, but I decided it would be a great excuse to have new friends over to the house.  On Sunday evening we grilled and enjoyed great company!  Crazy that I have been around for 13 of Micah's birthdays!  That makes us feel like we are getting old...

We are really enjoying life in ABQ.  We have been blessed with jobs, great friends, a good church, and mountains in close proximity so that we can get out and enjoy the activities that we love. 

Driving Us Crazy

The song "This is the Stuff" by Francesca Battistelli has been our theme song for the last week.  If you aren't familiar with the song, here are the first few lines:

I lost my keys in the great unknown
And call me please 'Cuz I can't find my phone

This is the stuff that drives me crazy
This is the stuff that's getting to me lately


Micah and I had a week of mishaps after moving into a new rental house last Saturday.  We knew it was going to be stressful and exhausting as moving always is, but we didn't count on having so many problems.

On Sunday night I decided to cook again since we had been spending a lot of money on take-out with the move.  We decided to make quesadillas, which fortunately can also be made in a microwave, because we quickly found out that the stove didn't work.  The landlord came over the next day and determined that they had plugged the stove into the wrong outlet so it wasn't getting enough voltage, so it now works.

On Monday evening Micah decided to try to raise the shower rod while taking a shower.  Usually shower rods are easy to move, but this one snapped in half!  Since I take a shower in the morning and the other shower did not yet have a rod, this mishap resulted in a late night trip to Target for a replacement rod.

On Tuesday we went back to the old house to load up a trailer with more of our stuff and to start cleaning the house.  We left the old house around 9:00 pm and Micah drove his motorcycle to the new house and I drove the car pulling the trailer.  I do not know how to back up a trailer, so when I got to the new house Micah ran out and hopped in the driver's seat.  I brought my purse into the house and came back out to direct Micah.  When we tried to bring a load of stuff into the house, though, we realized the house was locked and we didn't have the house keys or our phones!  The front door has two doors and one is a self-locking security door.  You can flip a switch so it doesn't automatically lock, which I thought Micah had done when he ran out to back up the trailer, but he actually just propped the door open which I didn't realize in the dark.  Fortunately, I have been to our landlord's house so we decided our best option was to knock on their door and ask to borrow a key.  By the time we got to their house it was 9:45 pm, and all of their lights were out.  I felt horrible waking them up, but we didn't have any other option!  We finally got home a little after 10 pm to unload the trailer.

On Wednesday morning one of the toilets clogged.  When this happened in our old house, we let the toilet sit for several hours and then we could usually flush it without a problem.  When Micah came home from work he flushed the toilet, and the water rose higher and higher until it started pouring out all over the floor!  I ran around getting towels and buckets, and we finally propped up the bar in the back of the toilet with a ruler to make the running water stop.  Our plunger was still at the old house so we went back to finish cleaning and get our last trailer full of items.  Micah tried to plunge the toilet when we got home without success.  This resulted in an embarrassing phone call to the landlord Thursday morning explaining what happened.  They were able to fix the clog but we are a little weary of using the toilet.

Thursday and Friday were without mishap, mostly because we were off having fun running and climbing instead of doing stuff around the house.  We thought this meant that our mishaps were behind us...

On Saturday we decided to go to Lowe's to get items we need for the house and make copies of our keys to hide outside so we don't get locked out again.  After we went out to the car we remembered we wanted to bring the old bread maker along to donate if we saw a drop-off place.  Micah went back in the house and grabbed the bread maker and tried to lock the inside front door but realized he needed both hands to lock the bolt.  He set the bread maker down and by the time he turned around the self-locking door had slammed shut with the house key and car key inside!  This time we at least had my cell phone, so we were able to call our landlord and ask them to bring over the key.  We are lucky they are really understanding and gracious people!  The irony of it was that we were really on our way to make copies of the keys!

All week I have had Francesca Battistelli's song in my head since our mishaps would be nice additions to her lyrics.  But I have to pause and remember the rest of the chorus:


In the middle of my little mess
I forget how big I'm blessed
This is the stuff that gets under my skin
But I gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing
It might not be what I would choose
But this is the stuff You use


She is right.  Although we had a very frustrating week, we are VERY blessed as these mishaps are minor in the grand scheme of life.

Moving AGAIN!

Yes, that's right, for the THIRD time since we moved to ABQ less than six months ago we are moving.  Our current lease is up at the end of April and we had the option to continue month to month, but we were motivated to find a less expensive house closer to the mountains and we succeeded!  Originally we thought we would want to live in Nob Hill in ABQ, which is an older neighborhood with a newly revitalized shopping and restaurant area, but we quickly discovered it is not really our style.  We like to get outside and go for runs and hikes or go climbing, not stroll down a street poking in random stores.  Luckily, we did not have the funds to buy right away so we've been renting, otherwise we would be stuck in Nob Hill!

My commute will go from 7 minutes to 25 minutes, but I do believe it will be worth it.  The new rental has the same number of rooms as this house (3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms), although the rooms are slightly smaller, but well worth the location and savings.  We are mostly excited for the background as it has a great patio for grilling, right off of the kitchen, and beautiful views of the city below.

At first I was dreading the thought of moving again, and then I remembered how much I LOVE to get rid of things and get organized.  Yesterday we received our copy of the fully executed lease and today I began going through our closets to prepare for the move!  We will have a two week overlap between houses, so I probably don't need to prepare this much, but I just love to fill up bags for Goodwill.  Even though we went through this routine last summer when we moved from Colorado, we have already managed to fill up 6 bags with stuff we don't really need!  Understandably, Micah gets a bit nervous when I start looking through his things....

It's funny that we were so ready to get into a routine when we moved to ABQ, but now I feel exhilarated by this upcoming change.

Lizard

I am not a fan of reptiles, but as long as they are small they usually don't bother me much....until today. This morning Micah and I went climbing outside. At the start of my second climb I noticed two lizards on the wall right in my path. I flicked the rope at them to try to get them to move and I accidentally hit one of the lizards with the rope. I was SHOCKED that the lizard's tail came off and jumped around on the ground for awhile! Meanwhile, the lizards, one of them with only a tail stump left, did not move out of the way and I was too freaked out to climb (do lizards bite!?)! It turns out that lizards actually release their tails as a defense mechanism, but I felt so bad that I had knocked his tail off. Guess I have a lot to learn about desert creatures!

Here is a video I found on You Tube - pretty creapy...

It's beginning to feel a lot like....SUMMER!

Technically it is not even spring until Sunday, but it feels like summer in ABQ!  The ABQ forecast shows mid to high 70's for the rest of the week and I am thinking I will need to invest in many more short sleeve shirts for work as I will definitely be tired of the ones I have by next October.  At work women have been wearing skirts, dresses and sandals and I am about ready to join in.  After all, my office gets quite hot in the afternoon with the sun beating in through my window.  I honestly have to keep reminding myself that it is only March as it feels like May!

Beautiful! 

Wed
Mar 16

Sunny

78°
45°

0%

0%

Windy Driving Tips

Thu
Mar 17

Mostly Sunny

78°
48°

0%

0%

Fri
Mar 18

Mostly Sunny

75°
45°

10%

10%

Sat
Mar 19

Mostly Sunny

75°
46°

10%

10%

I know I shouldn't brag as I realize my Michigan friends and relatives are very tired of winter, but I guess I couldn't help myself ;).