Goodbye Nebraska

Well, just one more day until we hit the road. First stop will be Cheyenne, WY. Can you believe a hotel wanted to charge me a 70 dollar pet deposit! Next Provo, UT, and finally Vegas baby. Tomorrow will be lots of last minute loose ends and cleaning.

Today was kinda of a limbo day for me. I did manage to get in a run this afternoon though. Most likely my last run in this state, it was a really good one too. Felt strong and fast throughout the run with the weather reminding me of the beginning of fall. Strange, but I'll take it.

I played with some trumpets today too. Muhuhahahahaha.

SOLD

Ahhh yah, I like seeing that big bold SOLD sign in my front yard. Now I just cross my fingers that the VA appraisal in Aug doesn't sink the boat.

Was a hot and humid day outside. Went to Liz's work picnic today and loaded up on all sorts of food. After being so stuffed , I went for a run when the sun was setting. Started off tired but by the end I was feeling good. Love it when exercise can perk you up for the night. Beats feeling sluggy and grumpy.

So my house is emmmmppppttyyyy. The movers came early on Wednesday, instead of today and not just packed , but took away all my stuff. Ahhhh I got no washing machine, no vacuum, no chairs. What the hell was I thinking?!! Thank God for good neighbors hookin us up.

I freecycled my small bbq gril and half a bag of charcoal today. I tell ya, I dig freecycle. It's a great way to get rid of weird shit that you can't sell , but seems kinda wasteful to throw away.

Speaking of weird! Guess what my "I want" radar is tweaked on now? Nooo not that 500 dollar knife I've been eyeing for a long time, but a ......trumpet! Can you see me blowing a trumpet?! We shall see, but I was in Borders today and picked up a Miles Davis cd, so who knows.

Packers

They come tomorrow! AHHHHHHH!!

Housing Inspector came today. Nice guy. Talked about Spicoli , tornados, mold, and how it cost 175 bucks to fedex a surfboard.

I just want to sleep.

I will dream of this. It's not strawberry ice cream or marshmellows either.

Boom Boom

The weather has been pretty intense the past week. We've been lucky in avoiding the tornado stuff. There has been plenty of thunder and lightning though. My dog will not miss it in Vegas I'm sure. It's so strange though that he's scared of thunder here, when in Maryland, storms didn't phase him at all. I'm not sure what made the storms scary.

Our house is technically sold. I say technically, since we still have the house inspection and VA appraisal to get through, and the appraisal won't happen for over a month.

Here are a couple of pics. If I weren't so lazy these days, I could have at least stitched a 180 for the first pic. To the left was a subtle long continuation of the lighter bands. I just really liked the one lit cloud tip and resulting ray.

The next pic is not about the lightning, but that it's a single bolt coming straight down on the new hospital here. With the cloud set above that reminds me of Fright Night, I just thought it was cool.


The lightning was so exquisite the other night. You'd see a bolt go down, and immediately five forked fingers would go up and outward almost 270 degreess around you. The sky was lit green, revealing the sinister swirls hovering like Independence Day ships amidst the sheets of curvy rain in the backdrop. I would've taken more pics, but the ole lithiums aren't what they used to be.

Lunarglides

Here are my newest running shoes, the Nike Lunarglides. I still run with my Free 5.0s when I'm running longer or faster on the treadmill, or at the gym. I also still run with the VFFs on the treadmill. I tried just walking around the block a few times in the VFFs with a little jog here and there. OW! Gotta build up to that slow for which I don't have the patience right now.

Funny sidenote... Liz had a woman come see her complaining of foot pain on the balls of her feet. This woman wore here VFFs to the clinic even. I think she expected Liz to give her the crazy eye, but she was comforted to know that Liz knew all about VFFs. This woman ran all winter on a treadmill in them and then hit the pavement a little too quick me thinks.

Anyway, I started looking for new shoes cuz honestly, I just wanted to buy something new. But it was kinda odd that suddenly I got blisters running in the VFFs and my Free's seemed not as comfortable, as if they were pinching the top of my arch. I really think my feet got a tad smaller with weight loss making these slight changes more evident.

I tried on several other Nike shoes which were not very comfortable at all. The Asics like I had before my Frees are all too cushy. I tried on a pair of Brooks Glycerines I think, and they were nice feeling, but expensive and heavy. I tried on a pair of Mizuno's as well and they felt odd to me. But the lunarglides felt very nice the minute I put them on. I was pretty wow'ed by how good they felt.

After running in them a few times, I was a bit concerned. The rear of the shoes almost felt as if something were pushing into my foot at first, but after more runs I have not noticed this. Outside on the pavement, especially going up and down hills, I think they really give me an extra 'spring' in my step, or better push off maybe. It's not so much cushion as it is bounce, if that makes any sense.

Anyway, I most always run with them outside now, and am very happy with them. One aspect of them that they share with the Frees is they are incredibly light. They aren't as flexible and the toe box is completely different, but it doesn't seem to bother me. Along with the lightness, when the shoes bends on top of your feet, I think it's more comfortable than the Frees. That's probably a personal foot thing though.

I was trying to up my speed last week and tweaked my thigh a bit. So I rested a couple of days, and then got in a couple of days on the bike. I can't tell you how excited I will be when I finally get around to getting a new bike. Maybe one of these years I will ride with my friend Dave in the Iowa Ragbrai. That's a 7 day ride across the state of Iowa. I'd prolly do it this year if we weren't moving! But small moves Ellie, small moves.

Funnels

Cakes are better than clouds.

Went for a bike ride today while we were under a tornado watch! I checked the radar and felt I'd be fine. It's not like I'm one of those guys that go surfing during a hurricane. Or am I?

Was a good ride. Road west to east so I was in a constant crosswind. Going north in some spots was treacherous! At one point I was going down an under pass and saw some kids smoking and lighting something on fire. Riding by I thought, that's odd because I smell funnel cakes. As I rode up the underpass there was a huge carnival right next to me hidden in the trees. Ahhhh those are real funnel cakes I smell! Mmmmmmm! I'd have to ride for a couple of hours though to burn one of those bad boys off.

At my turn around point, Liz texts me and says bad storms are on the way. I look up and don't really see anything too crazy. With that said, the sky was simply awesome. Full of color, and various clouds, and sunlight patterns all over the place. As I made my way back, the wind started to pick up. I could make out just the faintest mammatus clouds forming. I could see a darkness behind me and to the south that would correlate to what I saw on the radar earlier. Bahhh I was gunna be fine.

The wind continued to pick up as I rode back. Today was supposed to be a slow ride, but secretly I was getting anxious and pushing it. With about 10 min left to return to the truck ,I stopped to look back. The sky was just so busy. It had the dark menace on the left, bright radiant red sun in the middle, and rain sheets glowing on the left.In front, glowing white clouds with an occasional flash of lightning in them moved quickly against a deep gray blue sky. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blew threw. You could see the prairie grass sit down and hear a slight howl. I wish I had my camera with me to take a pic of that sky.

Anyway, I made it back fine and watched the storm roll in. It dumped a massive amount of rain on us pretty quick. Good thing I decided not to bbq.

4th quarter

There's only a few more minutes left in the game. Can we get in field goal range?
Two showings today and an offer! A decent offer even. But a counter will be made tomorrow so we'll see what happens.

Other than that, today was pretty dang miserable! aaaaachhhhhooooooooooooooooooooo!!

Sneeezeee

Ohhh man! Sinuses are not happy! Didn't help that I had to mow the lawn today.

here's a pic from Ponce De Leon sometime ago in what seems like another world. It was nice and tranquil at the springs. It was a chilly winter day , the company was great, and we had all the time in the world. (cue Louis Armstrong!)

Today some crazy kat I know sent me this clip. It's quotes are destined to stick around in my circle for a few weeks.

Inches

Spent the day scraping up river rocks to lay down plastic underneath them. Landscape fabric is wimpy! Got 3/4 done. After 4 hours, Liz and I were worn out.

Had two showings this weekend. No bites. One looker chose to spend 10 grand more on a new house that they could choose the paint colors on. Doh!

Went for a walk to our neighborhood park later in the day. Suddenly, out of my peripheral shoot two speeding objects. A brown short and stocky german sheperd followed by a small black and white pit bull mix. My initial alarm faded quickly as these dogs were in full sprint, but not even interested in us or our dog. My dog even lunged to join this chase, but they just ignored him. It was the classic big dog ,little dog from the cartoons, and they were just sprinting around like electrons set free.

Then they came hauling by again this time chasing a rabbit. This rabbit was at top speed. You could see the little bubble above his head that said something like... "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

The agile tuft of brown fur dove into some bushes in someones yard. The dogs just ravaged that garden tearing around ,dirt flying, noses like guided missiles. Liz and I said 'damn those dogs are tearing that yard up!' ( we said that like rednecks too!)

We watched them come around again chasing another rabbit which dove through a fence. Without a lick of exhaustion, these dogs proceeded to run through and check systematically each heavily grassed area. We watched and waited with anticipation for another chase to happen. Asa and Finley were very excited by all the commotion.

Then out of nowhere a small bunny popped out of the grass and the sheperd was on him. They were coming right at us and just like 20 feet away the sheperd overan the bunny. You could hear the dog's chest violently puffing air and the weight of dirt being kicked as he slammed around hard.

Normally the rabbit's awesome juking abilities would give it another good head start, but the small dog was also in pursuit and was making a second strafe. The rabbit saw the small dog and instinctively spun round only to get trampled by the sheperd. The little bunny rolled upside down and over trying to get back on its feet just as the small black dog's jaws lunged at it. The fence was inches away for it's escape, but the sheperd was too quick.

That's when you hear that squeal come from the rabbit as if everything innocent, cute, and fuzzy was squeezed out of it. The chase was over. The dogs grabbed each end of the rabbit and began pulling it apart until it was over twice it's length. Fuzzy brown was replaced with a dark red meat color. Then the dogs dropped it and sprinted off as if nothing had happened.

Liz and I just stood there giving each other that No F'in way look!

Later, coming back home, we saw an old man out there looking for the rabbit carcass with a plastic bag in his hand. I said , "are you looking for the rabbit?" The old man said, "yup, hope dem dogs git more of em."

Finally, almost home a car pulls up and the driver asks if we've seen two dogs. We explain where we saw them. 40 minutes later, we were driving to dinner and this guy was still out there looking for them. I felt bad for him. I've stopped 3 strays in my neighborhood to return to their owners, but these dogs were on a hunt and there was no stopping them. I hope he finds them. I also wonder how many rabbits they got? Certainly not enough.

Smell my apple

Reading my current book, A Brain That Changes Itself. The first two chapters were what I expected as far as neuroscience wonders and oddities. Some of the first chapter tells the story about a woman who for 5 years felt as if every waking minute was spent falling. Later you meet another woman who can tell time but couldn't tell you why or what time was. Mother's daughter and daughter's mother meant the same thing to her. She was also called a 'piler'. She had to keep all her drawers open and everything important in a big pile, because if she didn't see it, it did not exist.

This third chapter deals with sexual behavior and takes a very abrupt turn. Suddenly I'm visualizing about a kids foot stuck in a drunk masturbating mother's vagina, men who only sleep with certain races, and how porn can cause a lot of problems in one's responses to sexuality. It's potent reading that I'm having to absorb in small chunks.

One small portion talked about how our culture is all about covering up 'smells' or natural body odors. You know, those smells coming from THAT guy who was standing next to you at the grocery store in the bread aisle. Phew!

Well imagine a few hundred years back when natural body odors were considered arousing. A lover supposedly would take a chunk of apple, because it's kinda sweet in it's odor and put it in the armpit for a while so it can soak up some of your sweaty hot yum yum juju. You would then slip this warm and moist love biscuit to your lover for them to inhale over and over so they could shudder at the thought of being in your arms.

That's pretty nasty no?

Running Part I

A long time ago in an elementary school named Ocean City, there was a day at the end of the year called 'field day', where students from each classroom per grade would compete against one another. 4th ? 5th? 6th ? grade. I can't remember when these pics were taken. I'm going to guess 6th grade because I vaguely remember the shoes.

So at some point, like around 4th grade. We had to start each day of recess or PE with one mile around the track. 4 laps of most kids groaning in agony. On Fridays we would run while being timed. It was this big nerve racking thing to me. Everyone lining up, jockying for position, and then taking off as fast as you could. Depending on how fast you ran, you could skip days of running the following week. If you ran under some number minutes you only had to run the following Monday and Wednesday. Something like that.

I hated running everyday. A mile was just a waste of time. It was hot, and I had other things to do man! I would get so nervous and wound up about running for time on Fridays, I would sometimes puke my food up while running. I recall once my buddy Shane applauding me for so strategically and artfully even, bombing the tires lining the track with my beef and rice vomit. It was like natural.

At field day tho, things were different. No one was faster than me when it came to running 100yards. Kids would tease me and say why do your feet hit your butt when you run. I won that dang race just about every year since 1st grade too. My 5th grade teacher wouldn't let me run in it, because he was boxed into his 'fair' choosing methods. I still hold that against you Mr. McCloud!

When 6th grade came around, everyone said that I couldn't beat Karlos Rhodes. He was such a cocky dude, but we got along really well. He was a nice kid, and I respected him. On race day, I made the mistake of lining up in gravel, thinking I was off to the side and wouldn't have to knock elbows. That didn't work out so well when my foot went right out from under me, and I stared in absolute horror as the pack left me with Karlos in the lead. I ran my ass off and came in second, just a stride away from beating Karlos. Not bad for giving them a 20 yard head start. I want to say Karlos congratulated me and put his arm around me as if to say good run son. He still had that charming smirk in his eye too, that said nana nana poopoo stick your head in doodoo! (tosh.0 ref)

But I was a sprinter, not a runner. And once I moved on to middle school, running or sprinting was lost to other things like cycling and tennis.

Running in the relay race. Jeez, such pressure at an early age to help your team win.

Me and Scott Robertson in the 3 legged race.

The classic tug of war!! And to think I did that with a military belt buckle on! Gawd that is hilarious!

1 year ago in the Mobile

Once upon a time 3 white boys got lost in the ghetto in southern Alabama. We did not take pictures of that incident. Wait, no that's not true. I did not because I was trying to drive our ass out of there! But I did take some others.

Doctors Orders

Apparently, I am not one to follow the doctor's orders! I guess that makes me super stubborn doesn't it?

Since the beginning of this year, I have been immersing myself in all that is running. I try to be conservative and mindful of not over doing it. Even my workouts are always fairly bland for intensity sake. It's ridiculous that of all the things that would keep me from running it's my stupid shoulder. It's not like I run with my arms waving in the air (Pheobe style). Maybe I should?

My shoulder or impingement syndrome came on strong again this past Sunday. It's basically inflammation of the tendons in my left shoulder. Monday morning, I got a call from our realtor (whoah deja vu) and had a couple of hours to get the house ready. It was really hard to clean that morning. The pain from my shoulder radiates all the way across my collar bone and into my neck. In certain positions, it is difficult to breath. Sometimes, it even feels like my chest is going to snap and my ribs will break. There's sharp pain of some level no matter my body position, and of course raising the arm above my shoulder is near impossible. One also has to 'wipe' with the other hand. Try that sometime. It's funny.

So yah apparently, I'm not following through on 3 things.
Ibuprofen 3x a day for 6 to 8 weeks. Soon to be naproxen 2x a day
Doing my rubber band exercises every day (not every 4 days)
Icing after every run ( I know I know wheres the heat right J :p)

Well by golly ( wagging finger) I'm going to commit without deviation I tell ya.

Anyway, all that aside people are still looking at the house. There's still hope!

And lastly, today at the park, I met a man named Tim that was in 9th grade while living on Clark Air Base when I was born. He's here in Omaha visiting his mother and has been living in Seattle the last 25yrs. A real nice guy. One of those people you meet, and the conversation just flows. He told me in vivid detail about his young adventures in the PI when he was young. Kinda makes ya think of the Celestine Prophecy! hahahahaha ok not really.

Ok let me just back in here for a sec. It's now 1:34am. Heard a noise outside my back porch. Thought to myself, "another storm?" since we had a big one last night, but oh no no no no. I opened the blinds and hit the lights and saw............

a orange kitten mauling some small rodent. The tussel had knocked over the watering can. The small cat just picked up his dinner and blazed out like lightning. All that was left was a big spattering of thick blood all over my porch! The look in that cat's eyes! More where that came from little guy. Stick around I say!

Chaf

From a Runners World forum post.. cracked me up!

"I'm lactating red now. Wednesday's run started this whole nipple thing. Thursday I body-glided my nips up. Below average performance, they still burned afterwards. Today I cut out some little pieces of moleskin and slapped them on my nipples. Technically they worked. I had no nipple chaf***e. However, I just yanked that moleskin off my nips and the old scabs came off too! I could nurse a baby vampire right now. argh."

As it were....
There in the dibble dibble daaaawwwwp
is a sandwich as big as I can see
with a grassy bottom and ashen top
waving and undulating as I try to float
along this white line
gotta go , gotta go!
Press my chin into THE nothing
fierce in my susurration
There in the dibble dibble daaaaawwwwp

As it was...

He walked in little circles at the corner of the road. He looked angry and hot. Overweight, with clothes that didn't match his face. Was he a stupid man? Was he happy? Or did he just really have to shit?

I sat there waiting for my tuscan herbified cornstarch scowling at him. Inverted with constant pain I guess I felt the need to pad my mental state with lofty and yet cliched questions of morality. Just slap me with some sense of vague reality like that diesel fuel screamer inside a coconut mustard fat butt.

Ok that made no sense.I will agree with you on that.

(said in a bright shiny [yet fake and sarcastic] tone with wiggles on top)
Heres my new book!

Pollen

The grasses must be happy. Pollen is surely in the air, and is kicking my ass right now. Today has been pretty bad.

Shake Keane

Have been watching Treme on HBO. Some of the music has inspired me to think about jazz. I remember growing up and listening to my father's records. He had a bunch of jazzy brass albums, moog records, and some country. I think the moog stuck the most as it would explain my love of many purely electronic bands. There was one album though that had a lot of trumpet as I recall. Man!!! I loved that record! I'd play it backwards, at super slow speed, and fast speed. And of course, I would just build legos and listen to it. hahahahaha that's a funny scene.

So I asked my father to look it up for me in his vast collection, and the title is the artist. Looks like I might be buying a record player to hear me some Shake!

Here's the only youtube vid I could find with his work.

Tornadurz

I found two dead mice outside today. Good! Poison is working.

The baby rabbits have left their hole. They are pretty cute and will let you pick them up to pet them.

Was going to run on the trail today, but after driving for a bit decided that the mammatus clouds were kinda scary ( they mean bad shit is a brew). I was pretty sure the storm would stay north, but I decided not to take a chance. Especially after the wacky weather change the other day riding my bike. One minute sun, the next min cloudy with solid 30mph winds. Toughest 20 min ride for me eva!

Anyway, I ended up at the base gym. This gym is inside a converted airplane hanger. It has a soccer field, 2 basketball courts, 2 tennis courts, a .4 mile track around all of that and enough gym equipment to train a small army.

On my last lap of my run, they announced that everyone had to go to the bottom locker rooms. The tornado sirens were going off outside.

So I sat in that locker room for 50 min with 60 sweaty men and 1 baby. One young guy declared that no one was to go poop while we were all stuck in there. yah no shittin in here man! It was very hot and cramped in there.

I was glad I decided to bring my phone and put it in the locker. I was texting Liz back and forth about the storm. Lots of hail and a confirmed tornado about 20 miles south of us. Our area got hit with power outages, 3 in of rain in 30 min, and some pretty big trees split in half. I was very glad I played the conservative card this day.