Interviewing is like Racing

I've been pretty quiet on the job-front lately. Mainly because things on the job-front have been quiet, but I did have an interview recently. I didn't want to make a big fuss about it because it could just be the first of many, as those who are/have been unemployed may know!

In prepping for the interview I came to realize something: prepping for an interview is very much like preparing for a race.

If you are like me, in the nights leading up to the race you are busy studying the race course, memorizing the water stops and analyzing any specifics about the course. The night before my interview I was also busy studying, this time learning about the company, memorizing the directions to the office and analyzing the LinkedIn profiles of my interviewers.

Not similar... in interviews you don't need to obsessively turn off your Garmin. (I hope.)

Another important race tip is to lay out your gear the night before. I make sure I have my top, skirt/shorts, shoes, bib, etc.. all ready to go to alleviate any extra pre-race stress. I did the same thing with my interview! I made sure to iron my shirt and skirt the night before, and hung them up on the front of my closet. I also made sure my portfolio was ready to go and I had a game plan for getting ready.

And, of course, the cardinal rule of racing: don't try anything new. The night before the race is not the time to try the new triple bean burrito at El Burrito Yummo and the night before an interview isn't a good time either. You'll have enough nerves making your tummy tender without the help of new, potentially distressing food. I stuck to grilled chicken, a sweet potato and yellow squash.

The big difference between an interview and a race is after a race you know how you did! With an interview you have The Big Wait. I also seem to be the worst judge of interviews; every time I think I did horrible I get a call. When I think I did great, I don't hear anything! :)

QotD: What is your best interview tip?

My 7 Links

Fun fact: did you know that weather.com has a Fitness Forecast "app" that you can add to your saved Weather Locations page? Neither did I, until it showed up today when I went to check the temperature. It's pretty neat; it gives you a comfort rating for various times of day and even a "what to wear today" based on the weather! Just a little tip for those of you like me who check the weather forecast once (or several times) a day before heading out to run.

My friend Heather over at Running with Sass tagged me to participate in "My 7 Links" challenge that's been floating around the blogisphere. Thanks, Heather!

Most Beautiful Post: Our Anniversary This one tripped me up a little because I wasn't quite sure what made a blog post "beautiful". I decided on this one, not just because I think my wedding was beautiful but because the reminder of the day J and I promised our lives to each other with vows that referenced Shark Week and LOLCats is just beautiful to me.

Most Popular Post: Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes This my most popular post by miles and miles and miles. Not that I can argue, those cupcakes were mad delicious!

Most Controversial Post: I haven't really had a controversial post yet. I guess I need to start talking smack. ;)

Most Helpful Post: Unemployed & Fabulous I love, love, love that so many people found my blog about being unemployed helpful. I was so happy to be able to help and inspire so many people with the guidelines I had set up for myself.

Post Whose Success Surprised Me: Beating Myself Up It seemed like a lot of you can related to beating yourself up over a missed workout or run. Glad to know I am not alone!

Post That Didn’t Get the Attention it Deserved: Road Runners Had this one received more attention it might have ended up my most controversial! I think the issue of "sharing the road" is an important one, but the question is does it/should it extend to runners? As a road runner, I say yes (within reason).

Post You are Most Proud of: Struggling with the Cycle I was really scared to get so personal in a post and it took some courage from me to post it. I am usually rather hidden with my emotions so I am proud of myself for being pretty open with this post.

I am excited to see the answers from other bloggers... including:

Rebecca at Thru Thin and Thick

Kayla at Running Through Life

Alicia at Poise in Parma

Heather at Mile 26 and More

Taste of Tremont

I have a new item to add to my "baking bucket list": sweet potato tots as good as these:

These will seriously change your life.

Jeff and I visited the Taste of Tremont this past weekend. It was really, really hot. That definitely impacted our ability to taste as much as possible.

We started off at Edison's Pub for a pint, which in hindsight probably wasn't the best idea with the heat. However, I finally had a chance to try the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. It definitely had that rich, roasty taste of bourbon. Jeff aptly described it as "a shot and beer in one cup".

Then we braved the heat and sun in search of food. I started off with the aformentioned life altering sweet potato tots from the Dim and Den Sum food truck (look for their sister truck, the Hodge Podge Truck on The Great Food Truck Race: Season 2 on Food Network!). I am convinced that the sprinkling of cilantro on the tots is pure genius.

Happy tot face!

We wandered around surveying all of the booths before my mood started to turn sour. Heat + crowds + dehydration = crabby Morgan. Smartly, Jeff veered me up a few streets to a coffee shop where I downed a large bottle of water and soaked up some free A/C.

Don't I look so much happier?

Back at the fest we sampled some lobster and watermelon gaspacho from The South Side. Delicious and refreshing! I loved the big pieces of lobster, peppers and cucumbers. I hate it when gaspacho is too blended; I feel like I am just eating pico de gallo instead of gaspacho. This was perfect.

We were soon called by the siren song of the mother country.. namely the pierogies and sailsbury steak at Sokolowski's University Inn. While tasty, not the best idea. The copious amounts of gravy and butter did us in.

Do pierogies really need that much butter? I mean really, folks, they are tasty enough without the two sticks of melted butter for three pierogi.

Despite the heat, and not getting to sample nearly enough food because it was so gosh dang hot, we had a good time. I very much enjoyed coming home and lying on the floor under the a/c vent as well.

Now, to make those tots....

QotD: What is your favorite thing to eat when it's hot outside?

Edited at the request of my husband...

The Boy Who Lived

I remember it more clearly than I remember the day before yesterday. It was the summer of 2000, I had come home to Ohio after my freshman year of college in Baltimore. I was taking a Spanish class over the summer at the local community college and had taken up study for class while sitting in a lawn chair outside.

One day my mom came home with three hard cover books.

Image from weheartit

"You have to read these! Everyone is talking about them, they are supposed to be great."

I looked down skeptically at the first book, the one with the scrawny boy and the broom. Why I would want to read a kids book about a boy wizard?

But the next day, I pulled out my lawn chair and worked on my Spanish homework. When it was over, I reached for the golden colored book. The spine crackled as I opened it for the first time and read:

The Boy Who Lived

From that first day in the lawn chair, to sitting impatiently on my future in-laws steps in my Ravenclaw tie waiting for the final book to arrive via UPS, to sitting in a theater this past Tuesday night watching an advanced screening of Deathly Hallows Part 2, Harry, Ron and Hermione have lived in my heart and imagination.

A Ravenclaw at Harry Potter Fest in 2007

This isn't a review of the final movie. I want everyone to experience the movie free from my input; after all, if you've read the book you probably already have the film playing out in your head.

Instead, this is kind of my love letter to J.K. Rowling. Just a small thanks for sharing these characters with us; showing us the power of love, the magic of friendship and the beauty of imagination.

QotD: Are you a Potterhead? Who is your favorite character in the series?

From her first small mention in Sorcerer's Stone, I knew Ginny Weasley was going to be my favorite character. I also love the twins, Fred and George.

Fun fact: My car is named Molly, after Molly Weasley. I bought the car shortly after Deathly Hallows came out and found Molly a fitting name because, like Molly, my car is little, red and feisty.

P.S. - If you are looking for something to help with your post-Potter fix, I highly, highly recommend The Hunger Games series!

Run for the Pierogies 5k and Blogger Meetup!

I've come to the conclusion that I am not a good racer. Maybe I just don't race enough, but I usually find myself 500 feet into the race thinking "Oh God, what did I get myself into?" Am I the only one that does this?

Saturday's Run for the Pierogies 5k was my first race in a long time but I didn't really experience any pre-race nerves. It also happened to be a meet-up for both the Ohio Blogging Association and Fitbloggin' Local. Despite my previously mentioned minor social anxiety, I was feeling good; ready to meet new friends and make new PRs.

Setting up at the starting line.

I had expected the race start to be kind of coolish, but it was warm, sunny and super humid with little breeze. After checking in and collecting our race packets, J and I met up with the other bloggers. We chit-chatted and snapped a quick group shot before heading to the starting line.

CLEgal, me, Courtney, Alicia, Jess, Kali and Stephanie.

It wasn't long before the buzzer went off and we shuffled our way across the starting line. I was not too enthusiastic about the course, which had only been released a week prior. We were basically running around parking lots on the local community college campus with little-to-no shade. We were to do an out and back and then loop around and do it again.

Our first .10 mile took us around a lake on campus, and of course I immediately thought to myself "Ugh, what did I get myself into?"

The 5k was the kickoff of the annual Relay for Life event, so we passed all of the fun Relay for Life tents. They must have known I was coming because one of the first tents I spotted a big Cars/Lightning McQueen sign; the next had a big Goofy cut out and some other Disney memorabilia. This snapped me out of my "OMG" moment and I started feeling good. We crested a small incline and I spotted a former co-worker and I shouted hello. We talked a bit and then J and passed her to cruise through our first mile.

Around 1.25mi I started to drain. The constant sun and humidity was starting to get to me, my form faltered and my back started aching. Around the finish of our out and back/first loop, I slowed J to a walk to catch my breath and relax my back. We walked about 500 feet and started back up again. We made it past the mile 2 marker before J needed a breath to work out a side stitch. Everywhere I looked, runners once happy faces looked tired and defeated. We picked it back up and were determined to keep running until the finish.

Sweaty and red faced, but done!

J crested the finish line a few seconds before me, but my Garmin read 33:17, a new PR for us! Official times haven't been posted, but it wasn't chip timed so it's likely to be a few seconds higher. I'll stick with my Garmin time, if that's okay with everyone! Overall, I am pretty proud that we managed to PR given how hideously uncomfortable the weather was!

Me and Alicia - Parma girls!

We cheered other runners in and then the blogger meet up headed to a local diner for brunch. We were all so tired and hungry we forgot to take any pictures! But we definitely had a great time!

QotD: Would you avoid signing up for a race if you didn't like the course?

Making buns

There are those of us who do not live in the near vicinity of a Whole Foods or a Trader Joes. I know, right? Sometimes I feel like a pariah for not having those magical bulk bins or tiki torches illuminating my shopping trip.

I'm only half kidding. :)

Truth is, we do have those stores in NEO, just not close enough for them to viable grocery shopping resources for me. What I do have is Mega Grocery Chain, and Mega Grocery Chain's healthy selections are a bit.... eh. I give them major props for dedicating an entire 1/4 of an aisle to gluten-free foods, but in my search for 100% whole wheat hamburger buns I am left with either a wheat/white flour blend or some sketchy ingredients. (If your buns include HFCS, you've pretty much negated any health benefit of 100% whole wheat flour in my mind.)

So I decided to make my own! I have also discovered that I have an unnatural love for working with dough. I used to think making cupcakes was le bomb but that has been replaced with the absolute glee of returning to the kitchen to find a huge bowl of doubled dough just waiting to be kneaded back into submission. (Insert evil laugh here.)

Yes, those are tater tots. Oh tots, why can't I ignore your siren song?

This recipe was my first time working with 100% whole wheat, no split of wheat and white. I used this recipe at Heavenly Homemakers. My only change to the recipe was the addition of one heaping tablespoon of vital wheat gluten in hopes of a more tender bun.

That looks like a massive amount of cheese, does it not? It was only half a slice.

The result was crumpet-like. Denser than an English muffin, not as fluffy as a biscuit, but not at all soft like your typical hamburger bun. They were still tasty, and a nice vessel for our turkey burgers. They were really awesome toasted and used for faux Egg McMuffin type sammies.

Guess what? I'm racing this weekend! It's time for the Run for the Pierogi's 5k! I realized the other day that this is my first 5k race since 2009. Eek!

QotD: What is your favorite thing to bake?

Pork prep

Happy Friday!! Yay, long weekend! (I know, every weekend is a long weekend for me but I happy to have J home for a long weekend.)

We kick started off the holiday weekend right with a morning run. You know that 5 miler I skipped out on last week? Consider it done.

Our training plan called for 5mi in 12:10 but our pace ended up a little faster than that. I felt really good and comfortable through the run so I am okay with that.

This totally isn't from today's run. It's from yesterdays elliptical/strength workout.

Otherwise this day has been cray-zay. We bought 17lbs of pork shoulder and 21lbs of pork spare ribs to smoke up for a BBQ we are hosting on Sunday. It's been a busy day of buying pig, marinating/dry rubbing said pig and playing "refrigerator Tetris" (as my friend Mary Lou would say) trying to fit all of that in our fridge. Tiring!

Soo... I'm totally coping out on the rest of this post with a cute picture of July 4ths gone by. Do kids still ride in the parades with American flags?

QotD: What's your favorite 4th of July tradition?

Have a fun (and safe) holiday everyone!!