Goodbye 2011

Why are my neighbors shooting off fireworks? Oh yah it's New Years Eve! They must be wondering why I'm painting my dining room. Well, so I can put up curtains! Ok OK, enough of that. This New Years is just another number to me. That might seem like a negative thing, but it's really just an indicator that I've got way more things to think about. 2012...this year is going to be insane. The apocolypse and another presidential loss for the Republican party. Whaaaaa!!!

2011 has been an odd year. The beginning was an emotional rollercaoster with my mind so focused on death. Luckily no death happened. Then the middle was just this stressball of not having a house, quickly followed by stressball of having a house and working on it everyday nonstop. We've still got a ton to do, but it's less stressful now. Things have settled down a little I spose.

I finished the year with 937 miles. 60% of my runs were outside. I'm not sure what it was for 2010, but I'm guessing about double which is good. I enjoy running outside more now. I miss running in Vegas...I guess I just miss the desert and the mountains.

Anyway, Happy New Year to all of you. There are fresh baked chocolate chip cookies emanating from the kitchen. (insert Ming The Merciless laugh!!!)

Prometheous

It seems I fell off the blogging wagon. Hope everyones holidays are going well.

Watched a bunch of movies lately.

The Town - very cool!

The Adjustment Bureau - was decent. Lets face it, Emily Blunt is good reason to stand up to the Agents of Fate.

Hall Pass - WTH was I thinking. Just painful enough for me to keep watching.

Bridemaids - was ok. I thought it would be funnier for me, but I found many of the scenes just made me anxious.

The Help - Bryce Dallas Howard and Emma Stone? Double red headed amazinginity! haha Seriously though, it was good.

And..thats it!

Now, theres something thats been brewing in my head last few days and I have to spit it out.

If you read my blog, then you know I'm a fanboy for the movie Alien. Even though it's really just a slasher film, it's done so in such a stylized way that for me it steps into the Venn circle of art. So in my little movie vault in my head, it has a top shelf spot. I was showing my dad my ipad the other day ( I fixed it by dropping it on the floor!) and was looking up the new Batman movie trailer. What's this Prometheous movie about? I read the tagline, "The search for our beginning cold lead to our end" I thought WTH is that crap, bah let's watch the trailer.

As soon as I saw the space craft engines, my name this movie in one note instincts flared up. Then the letter segments came on and I knew this was Ridley Scott's Alien prequel....finally after all these years. Holy Crap!!! Turns out it's not really a prequel, but a separate movie that has elements from the Alien movie. So I watched the trailer about 20 times that day and began scouring the corners of the interent for information. Scifi forums, imdb, youtube, ..heck I even googled script leak. I found some detailed plot synopsis too. For me, there's none of this I wanna be surprised when I see BS. I read both Aliens and Alien 3 novels before I saw the movies. With Aliens I was a super nerd and after seeing it 10 times in a row, I swear I could recite the movie's entire dialogue with minimal error. With Alien 3, I threw the book down and yelled No F'in way when I finished. I thought Alien 3 was a big disappointment too.

So Prometheous is coming next summer. How exciting! Lets look at some of the details of this movie. And while I'm thinking here, if you want to have no spoilers in your head, then just bookmark this badboy for another day. I may have to mention some spoilers here and there. But watch out, Fox is already putting out disinformation, so who knows.

Who better to make this movie? I had high hope for Tron 2.0 and still kinda hope Kazinski (is that his name?) cna do justice to The Black Hole, but he really dropped the ball I thought. So instead of a new upcoming director, we have the original director himself Sir Ridely Scott coming back into the mix. Scott has made some killer movies. Heres a list of them I liked:

Alien
BladeRunner
Legend
Black Rain
Thelma & Louise
GI Jane
Blackhawk Down
Gladiator

Alien, Bladerunner,Legend, Blackhawk, and Gladiator I think all kinda set the bar in some way for their Genre. They are movies that are used as reference points. Like someone will say oh District 9 is like BlackHawk Down meets whatever. So Scott has some potent cred to his name. He's made some "not so good" movies too. And some would say, he hasn't made anything good in a while. So i think he's due for some awesomeness.

The cast seems pretty good too. Thank Gawd Russell Crowe is not in it! They all seem capable of delivering strong performances. One thing I loved about the first Alien movie is how rough they all looked. Cartwright and Weaver had like zero makeup. Harry Dean Stanton as a mechanic is the real deal. Yaphet..dude what have you been up to. But they were miners right, whereas this crew is corporate scientists? It just always rubs me when the cast looks so clean. Small nit pick perhaps.

So good director- check good cast - check, but what about writers? One writer has hardly any cred and the movie Darkest Hour which he wrote for is getting horrible reviews. Lindelof seems to have passion for the material ,but his effort for Cowboys & Aliens doesn't really inspire. So this is kind of a scary part. Thw writing could really suck for this movie. So much of what made Alien good was the dialogue. Scott seems to be really pumped about Lindelof's work though when watching the Comic Con video so that is hopeful.

Finally, the plot synopsis I have read online have seemed ..well like they could easily be stupid. But then again if one read the plot for Alien, before it was released, you might think...really? Thats it? That's stupid. Ahhh but it wasn't was it. So here's hoping some magic happens with this movie.

Mashed Borg

Went to a 6 yr old birthday party on Saturday. The cake had some blue icing that was industrial strength. It turned everything..you know..EVERYTHING blue! The party was at a Putt Putt type place and they had a bunch of older video games there. These are video games that came out at the dying end of arcade gaming. One of them was a sit in the booth 3 token game for Star Trek Voyager. A really basic 3d shooter with a pistol. All you do is shoot borg while the crew of the Voyager runs around like morons and you hear "you will be assimilated" over and over. I couldn't help but laugh at the huge picture of Jeri Ryan on the side of the game with her busty silver borg boobs placed ever so strategically to lure young males into the game. Oh Jeri..resistance is futile!

Today I tricked my daughter into eating mashed potatoes from a mixer beater. I excitedly asked her if she wanted some ice cream and in a moment of unusual food trust, she licked some off. Then I laughed and said surprise it's mashed potatoes! What do you think she did? Screamed ewwwww , yucky? Maybe spit it out and ask for a drink? Maybe demand some real ice cream? Nope, she vomitted in her hand and then proceeded to continue to vomit in the trash can. I suddenly became the "bad" daddy. Really, I just have to roll my eyes on that one.

Make Peace with the Pantry

Sometimes my day can be consumed with inconveniences that act like they may be the end of the world. Hopefully, I don't go too long before gaining some perspective on what really matters. So my cabinet hardware is uneven....cry me a river mister.

But seriously, I am just so ocd somtimes about things being level or lining up. You can't have everything flush and centered, but you try. I had what seemed like a disaster when my pantry cabinet handles were about an 8th of an inch off, one higher than the other. It took me all day to come up with a solution and test it out on spare wood before redoing my cabinet. And when I finally went for it, it was looking bad. It was as if a football team had been making a long tedious drive downfield, but when 20 yards to goal, they throw an interception. Somehow they stopped the drive or recovered the ball and made a field goal. Bottom line my pantry cabinet handles are good, not perfect mind you, but acceptable.

Anyway, not too bore you with the tedious details of my cabinet adventures, but it just consumed my day. So much so, I didn't even get a run. Damn I needed one too.

On the way home tonight, my conversation with my daughter:

"Dad, I want to skip being married. I want to live with you and mom forever."

Ok I say.

Yayyy! You know I'll end up growing old and the dogs will die. Then we will die. Why do we die?

Well, you'll find the answer to that question someday, but as it is everything dies, it's only a matter of time.

Yahh (said in an I give up sort of way)

Pickles

Connie Nielsen is an actress most notably for me from Gladiator as Phoenix's sister Lucilla. The beauty of IMDB and WIKI together really. Did you know she hooked up with Metallica's drummer Lars Ulrich. According to wiki, she can speak 8 languages. Wow! She looks so amazing in Gladiator too.

Good input =

Since getting a sink and cooking appliances back in the kitchen, my eating habits have already improved. In combination with the cool weather, my runs and my body definitely feel better. (its really just those chia seeds!)

I had a stroke of luck today. Our ovens came with a trim piece that was metal and white. It was a floor model from Tampa, so I thought we just got suckered into a white piece since it needed to be black or stainless. So I spray painted it gloss black, but there was a crack in the paint. I thought, ughhh I really should have put some primer on it first. So to heck with it, I began to peel the paint off and lo and behold...it pulled the white paint off perfectly revealing a perfect stainless finish. Awesome!

Off to get my flu shot tomorrow and do some xmas shopping. Yo ho ho!

A chilly day

Put my legs in the pool today. Temp was about 57 degrees or so according to the pool thermometer. Ooof man that seemed cold! I couldn't keep my legs in for very long before I had to let them out. When it felt like blood flow did return to my legs a few seconds later though, howww refreshing. I did this a few times before deciding I'd had enough. This is of course after running. Was quite chilly outside today. I prolly just got warmed up by the time I was done at 40 minutes. The whole run I felt slow and out of breath. Not the best run ever, but it's prolly just the cold messing with my brain. I gotta dig up my fleece sleeves for a windy cold run that soon to come.

Hawk Attack!

Spent 5 hours with the electrician today. It was an interesting time for sure. We went to the local electric supply store to pick up some parts where he knew everyone there and kidded around with them like old friends. Then we had to go to Home Depot to pick up some more parts and turns out, he used to be manager at this Home Depot. Everywhere in the store, employees would come up to him and greet him as a long lost friend. He told me a story about how a hawk got in the store for a while and hunted all the small Starlings in the store. He also said that there was a lot of theft in the store and that often crooks would get homeless people to steal stuff for them and then pay them for their theft right across the street at Wal Greens. My electrician was also in the 82 airborne in Vietnam and manager of a plant of GM. Wow!

We also managed to get my appliances installed. Gotta get a impact dril! but yah, I can actually cook in the kitchen now. It's like ...a real kitchen! Time to make some soup damn it! Hmm well as soon as I find the stock pot anyway.

NImsod

Scoopin the glush and floppin the leafy grittle

Yikes, not as bad as a busted water main, but 4 levels of excrement is pretty bad.

Clean, clean, clean and load, load , load

Go back you can't wear crocs here silly man.
Stop at the red light _ WE SEE YOU!
Green Light, go weigh yourself, check in, spin around, yell Mo-Chaka

Behold the 2 story mountain of cardboard and plastic. I fling my cardboard like giant killer saltines.

I suck down my fish tacos watching two guys who just make me squirm.

Later I recall the image of floating above bodies as if watching in on a warm place

Think Think Think ... hmmm, how about the term Halogen Snuggles?

Serisouly, 2 eagles screeching and then a thump of squirrel body, a flash out of my peripheral( whoosh)

What!! Really an Owl? Get inside Dory, quick.

127 Hours of VD

So I actually had some alone time today since Liz and Asa went shopping with the family. What to do?!! Maybe watch 127 Hours? Maybe go run till my legs fall off? It was so nice outside today though, and what better way to feel that then to drive my old car with the sunroof down and listen to some freshly downloaded music.

I went to the BX to do some Xmas gift checking as well. It was very crowded, with what seemed like a lot of extra perfume sprayed everywhere. Ughhh! The BX just left me feeling blaahhh. I didn't find anything cool, and it just seemed to make me tired. So I went to the commissary and bought some fruit. These past couple of weeks I have barely eaten any fruit. I keep seeing pomegranates on sale too. I finally have a sink now to eat me some POM!! I think my body misses fruit....though I must admit Fudge sounds pretty dang good.

Man....that Virgin Diaries show is on right now. I can't blog anymore. This is just too distracting!

Frito Bake Man

I wrastled...you gotta say that like a snarly cowpoke.. some sprinklers today. Well I fixed one and then another one exploded, so I had to snap that guy into shape too. Got plenty wet in the process which made it a bit nippy. Earlier I went to Ace Hardware and bought these small plastic washers for the sink plumbing. Somehow I lost them and had to go back and buy them again. Grrrrrrr!!

Watched a documentary on Superheroes today. Was interesting to see how these different people with different skills and backgrounds all came into being Superheroes. It's one thing to wear a costume, but to patrol the night streets as someone not in costume, but as a Superhero? It's interesting to me how philanthropy, having fun, and personal demons fuel these passions.

Finally ate at this small cafe next to my parents house. It used to be a hair salon for years when I was growing up. The special of the day.....Frito Bake! Ha! I haven't eaten frito bake in yyeeeeaaarrrrss! They were slammed and I had to wait a while for the food, but it was worth the wait. Lots of cheese and sour creme. Yum!

I like watching my dogs sleep. Usually about this time at night (1030) , they both are just crashed and often have dreams. They look so comfy and so peaceful too. I just want to sneak up on them and squish them. hahahahaha

Bamboo Has Arrived

My parents brought me some Joe & Eddie's food tonight. Mmmm hit the spot it did! Lima beans, turnip greens, and some catfish were an excellent 'home cookin' kind of meal. It won't be long before I can actually cook that in my house though. The countertops came today rather than yesterday. After the installers left, I just stood there with this huge grin on my face. So much of what we have done has been such a slow process. Getting the countertops is perhaps the most dramatic change yet. I am just so pleased with how they look. It's fantastic.

I tried to go in the pool yesterday after my run, but it was about 55 and windy outside, and I just didn't have the nerve to jump in. I placed my legs in for a bit , but it just felt kinda painful. haha Maybe next time I say.

Brita Sports

Cold and wet today. Lots of leaves in my pool. I gotta clean that sucker proper this week and get a new water sample taken in.

Asa says to me on the way to school in calm voice. "Dad, I'm tired, I want to go back to bed!" Ahhhhhh!!! It has begun.

House Reno on hold today, spent my time do regular house chores. Went to the commissary and the cashier asked if I was the guy who walked off with a bunch of sport drink from last week while she was working. Why would I admit that?

Do I want a Brita water filter?

Counter tops come tomorrow, but they never called, so I have no idea when.

Was going to run today, but then I ate two pieces of pumpkin pie. Ooops..tomorrow then!

Sucky Sucky

Had a gathering of my longtime friends since junior high last night. It's been a couple of years since our last gathering. It's always good to see my friends and laugh about stupid stuff. The night was not unusual in its activities, but yet it was kinda chilled out more so than last time or the previous time. Older or wiser or a combo of both, I'm not sure. Next year we are looking at going to Atlanta for the event called DragonCon. The question is though, who will I dress up as?!!

Woke up today in a condo bed, a bit sore, and feeling like I had drank more than usual and had less sleep. I was quite stinky too. Had some coffee and a donut with the Beezer as we talked about the previous night. Soon I was off back home driving in what would be a completely rainy day. That didn't stop the wind surfers though.

Once home it was back to house renovation with light installs, garbage disposal install, and general cleaning. Ahhh what's a day if it doesn't have some kind of home repair right!

Countertops come on Tuesday. The sink has to set for 24hrs before I can hook it up to the plumbing. Still have to figure out how to get that 250 pound double oven installed. OMG!! The tv is on in the background right now and they had a commercial for a show called the Virgin Diaries.

Ok so i found a clip. For some reason they have no sound, so heres the gist (oops sound is just really low). They have never kissed. Saving their first kiss for the wedding. See what their first kiss looks like!

Dissin The Pumpkin

Well, the last cabinet was screwed into the wall this evening. The last two were no easier than the others though. There's always some sort of wackiness to overcome. Drilling, cutting, shimming, changing bits..over and over.

Drove up to the sister in laws yesterday and the ladies cooked up a fine Thanksgiving meal. So many pies to choose from though. The pumpkin pie was givin the cold shoulder though. Poor guy. Don't worry...we'll eat you yet.

Ate Mary's Kitchen this evening. Had some white acre peas which were kinda interesting. They reminded me of a cross between corn and black eyed peas.

And the really funny thing today that happened while in Lowes. I was looking at lightbulbs and put my cart at the end of the section so I could walk back and scan the bulbs. My cart was empty. I turn around to see where Liz may be and I spot who I'm pretty sure was Mr. McSheehee walking by holding two 5 foot flourescent light fixtures. Mr. McSheehee is an endurance athlete, has been for years, and is prolly in his 80s now fit as ever I'm sure. Anyway, he sits his lights on my cart while he's looking for some bulbs. Then a few minutes later he's taken my cart pushing it right past me and then he winks at me. That sly devil! hahaha That just cracked me up.

Ughhh

Note- this post is a bit gross.

I don't usually get headaches. They rarely ever get to the point where I feel like I need pain reliever. I'll consider myself lucky that I got allergy issues over migrane headaches. Last night though I got a headache and it did not leave me until about an hour ago. A nasty throbbing from back top to bottom of lower neck that felt like it was pushing my painful eyes out through my nose.

So about 2am I woke up in a sweat and felt extremely nauseous. Rewind to early in the evening when I ate extremely spicy thai food. I love the red curry beef panang. I really didn't want to vomit because that usually kills my desire to eat something for a while. I was just too uncomfortable though. In the distant past, I've spent hours fighting the urge to vomit only to end up vomiting and it just seems like I could've FF through all that by sticking my finger down my throat. So that's what I did.

Normally I don't vomit up much which is harsh cuz 'dry heaves' can be painful, but last night was like someone had 5 large ziplock bags full of rice and beef and just busted each one right after another. I could feel the rice scraping the sides of my throat and cheeks. Also I was laying on the bathroom floor prior and in the dark. Puking in the dark is a strange sensory event as well. I must have stuck my head too far into the toilet because at one point it felt like a lot of the vomit was just coming back into my face. The really nasty part was that the "super spicy" came back to my whole mouth and even nose. That was a nasty feeling!

Luckily I felt much better after that and was able to get some sleep to escape the headache till morning.

Ughh I wonder if I should run today?

Dooble

Just under the wire here for a dooble post! Yes dooble. Ate a a place called Stewbys tonight. Had Fish tacos and dey was goood.

Ughhh more frustration in the kitchen drilling through tile and concrete to set anchors. However, the problems were solved as best they could and from this chair I'm in, the cabinets are ready for counter top measuring! Booom! Notice I did not say the cabinets were done though.

Got a quick run today on the treadmill, but had no time to jump in the icy pool. Maybe tomorrow.

Bits and Bits

This past Saturday I was pleased that I didn't have to get up at 7am for soccer. My stomach was not pleased with the absence of the usual Waffle House afterwards. So I had to please my stomach and it's a good thing we went. The food that day was peaked! You know of this phenomenon, that sometimes food at a usual place will just taste better, wayyyy better than usual. I was not alone in my "this taste crazy good" so it wasn't just my brain saying thank you. It was the old dude cooking that day!

Sat was a hard day in the kitchen. 4 broken drill bits, a broken wrench ( a mutherfrakkin broken wrench I tell ya), and what seemed like the worst cut made yet on the most expensive cabinet. I was none to happy. Remember that dremel trio we bought. Just about broke that too. It was not the right tool for the job.

Sunday made me much happier with the new blades installed in the jigsaw which made everything much better. BTW, do you know why WD40 is called that? I couldn't remember the 40 part, so I didn't quite pass the quiz show at Lowes.

Turkey Day is upon us!!!

Sploshing in Blue

I was fishing leaves out the pool today and found a dead mouse floating. He was really dead, unlike the frog which seemed belly up a day ago. When I pulled him up from the bottom of the shallow end, he sprang to life out of the water. I just never know what I'll find in my pool.

Not 5 minutes into a run yesterday, and the sky opened up and unleashed a drenching upon me. Sure there were some rain clouds, sure there was a tornado watch, ... but there was no thunder or lighting. So if you see someone running in a rainstorm with wind and sploshing through puddles, and getting sprayed from cars passing by, what do you think? It's not something I really ever do, but next time I do see someone doing that, I will wonder if they find it as pleasant as I do. Although having a hat to keep the rain from pelting your eyes makes a big difference. Having a shoe that drained a little better would've been nicer too. In periods of no rain, I found my "squish - squish - squish - squish" from my shoes kinda comical.

The absence of foliage in the Veegus has left me noticing the subtle color change going on in my neighborhood. Nothing brings out the color like diffuse light from clouds and some water. I really enjoyed running around looking at all the reds, yellows, and even occasional orange that seemed to glow. Makes me miss the colors in West VA.

Earlier this week, I mixed it up even more with a quick nighttime run. I got a cheapo headlamp at Home Depot and decided to use its blinky red function. Wearing a headlamp while running though is almost uncomfortable for me. Wrigging up an arm band solution might be the ticket.

After my rain run I decided to go stand in the pool. The water is soo cold, but it feels kinda good too. I've been contemplating the whole cold water swimming thing lately, even taking cold showers too. Maybe a Polar Bear Club swim is in my future? Anyway, standing in the water and the rain started pouring down again. Again not too many times I've ever been in a pool while raining. I would however, highly suggest it. Standing still and just meditating on a small area out in front of me, it was as if I was in a blue glassy room and the rain drops didn't really exist, only this glassy surface which was chaotically transforming in a uniform and yet random way. Maybe it's more my imagination, but I found it to be mesmerizing. Then I heard thunder which ended the experience.

Enigma

The electrician told me a about a guy who had a lot of cash and decided to buy a 1 bladed fan called the Enigma. He thought surely it would be hard to adjust so as to not wobble, but then he found out it weighed like 50 lbs. Better make sure that baby is secure. Here's a pic of it. It costs about $1800 btw.




The full trailer for The Hunger Games was released today. I considered buying the first book a while back. The fan base for this series seems quite large too. Trailer looks interesting. The female lead looks like a decent strong female heroine. Donald Sutherland as an evil President. hehe Sutherland makes a good bad guy in anything.

Marsha Marsha Marsha

Three day weekend is gone. Like that..as my daughter says "quick as a jiff!" Her soccer ended and they had a nice little awards ceremony at Godfathers. I had a slice of taco pizza which came out late in the buffet, and while it was decent, the buffalo chicken pizza was actually pretty stellar. I may have to get me some more of that when the pizza train comes back.

Got some stuff done on the kitchen, but not as much as we would've liked. Liz got called back to work both Sat and Sun leaving me with no task master and when I have no task master, I can get sidetracked. Electricians should be back tomorrow or Tuesday and by the end of the week, the kitchen should be ready for some counter top measuring! I swear , when that counter top and sink get installed I'm going to lay on top of it and hug it.

This has not been a stellar week of running which does not go well with the massive amount of food I've eaten this week. Luckily my body has not been too upset by the calorie fests I've been having. I guess the renovation must be burning some calories too. My shoulders were actually sore from drilling holes the other day. Didn't seem like it would be that intense. Go figure.

Most people wouldn't admit this next thing, but in winding down last night with a beer before bed, I found myself unable to stop watching The Brady Movie. I mean Marsha ..shes married to Ben Stiller. The dad was that guy from Office Space. And Jan Brady, so funny and strangely attractive at the same time. Anyway, I guess it helps that I was a fan of the original series back in the day.

And before that, what was on..Coccoon The Return. My immediate thought was WTH is Steve Guttenburg doing now. It seems he's been busy doing charity work which is very cool. It also seems he's going to be in Three Men and A Bride with Danson and Selleck. Ooof I'll pass on that, but Danson btw has never been funnier than the pot smoking magazine editor in HBO's Bored to Death. I gotta catch back up with that show at some point.

11 Month 11 Day 11 Hour Remember

Double Post Day!

Is it wrong that it took 5 hours to install one cabinet? Well not if you consider that we had to cut holes for an exhaust vent in it, holes for wiring to go through it, and then have it fit/connect to a range hood which required having to obtain tin snips to cut the existing exhaust vent to get the length just right. Bottom line was it was a big pain in the butt.

Asa's last day of soccer is tomorrow. The team meets up later at Godfather's pizza for an award ceremony. I haven't eaten Godfathers in a looong time. I don't remember it being that good.

After that it's off to Lowes for the 37th time in the past two months. Really, I should've kept count. We have to buy copper tubing to run through the bottom cabinets to get water to the ice maker, a recessed water faucet so the fridge can be flush to the wall, and more plastic with tape built in for when i do the ceiling texture in the kitchen.

Sears currently says they're delivering my ovens tomorrow. If I get a call at 6:30am telling me they're NOT coming, you may hear about me on CNN when I go down to Sears with a Superbar!

I have a can of Spam on my microwave. It's saying in a little mini voice to me , "eat me eat me!" It's so cute, but I'm too full. Don't you worry little can of Spam. I will eat you soon enough.

Trio

Ughhh I've started this post 3 times and I just keep bitching about stuff. We'll just put it at Sears continues to fail.

The Emergency Broadcast System conducted a national test this week. They said it had never been done before and was needed because regional tests failed. I can't help but think Scully and Mulder should get a call.

Russia failed in the launch of their new Mars probe. I hate to see such scientific efforts mucked up, but maybe its pay back for all those dogs you sent into space. Seriously, I hope they can fire the secondary rockets.

No one rents a router here, so we bought a Dremel Trio. At least it does a few more things than route.



She looks so happy doing that. Marketing is a silly thing sometimes.

15%

Somehow I went all morning without coffee. This gave me a larger headache than I anticipated which left me feeling pretty crappy for most of the day. Coffees got a hold of me!

Returned a microwave at Sears today after deciding that a range hood would be a better option. Unfortunately, we opened the box to look at the instructions. But just that opening of the box cost us a 15% restocking fee. Somewhat annoying process, but I can understand it too. It may sound silly, but I really liked that microwave too. It's the only microwave that I've come across that its beeps sound like elevator-ish chimes. It was novel, and I dug it. Maybe I can find it on a non venting model. ( at Lowes!)

Ate beef brisket at Firehouse tonight. Gooooooooood! Oh and if you need a 5 gallon bucket, go to Firehouse and buy their pickle bucket for only 2 bucks which is really a donation. Win win!

Our kitchen plans are slowly reforming. It's been a couple of days off from working on it which is prolly needed. But the three day weekend will have plenty of work cut out for us, ha! in which we will be cutting out things like the oven cabinet and the sink cabinet.

I'm a zombie

This weekend went by fast. Saturday I got to visit my good friend as he finished his second Ironman FL event. He finished about 50 minutes faster than last year, and so I missed him finishing. Doooh! Good Job Marcro! We hung out afterwords with him and his bro watching the LSU -AL game. They also told me about a 5K event in Atlanta next year where you run on an unmarked course, but heres the thing..you are being chased by Zombies! hahahahahaha sounds kinda fun. If the zombies catch you, you don't really finish.

Sunday, had it's nice moments, but ultimately was one kitchen cabinet problem after another. The end of the day left us frazzled with still several big unsolved problems. I'm going to try and start solving those issues today, but the harsh reality is that the 'finished kitchen" date of just in time for Thanksgiving, is getting thrown out the window. Ughhh thinking about it just makes me want to sleep.

Bikila in da house

Busted out the Bikilas today and hit the treadmill. It's been since June that I ran in five fingers. Felt just fine. In fact, the easy pace and treadmill steadiness left me feeling recharged. It could've been the ice cold pool afterwards too. There's no need to use ice packs when I can just stand in the pool. Holy Crackamoly that water is cold. I was impressed that Asa decided to join me and got in up to her waist. Of course I think splashing me and making me cringe in agony was added motivation.

I have one bucket of crushed up tile left in my garage. That makes me soooooooo happy. It's almost all gone!! Someday I'll be able to park the car in the garage again.

It's been a painting bonanza lately for me. All primer for the kitchen as we prepare for the installing of the new cabinets. I put up the colored paint tomorrow. It's a coffee with creamer kinda of color if you're wondering. The house is overun with the smell of primer and cabinets which is kinda of a cool smell.

Asa got to play at soccer practice in the rain tonight. All the kids had a blast running around in the rain. Even the extra falling and slipping didn't phase them. Afterwards we picked up some Thai food from our favorite thai place. Ate some nimsod. mmmmmm good.

Now I'm off to spackle. Goodnight!

Whose in the basket?

Electrical contractors came today. 3 guys to install recessed kitchen lighting, do various breaker addition/subtractions, move outlets, and add an exhaust for the new range top that will be on the opposite side of the kitchen. This time the exhaust is going through the roof rather than the floor. I expected them to be a couple of days, but they got most everything done today. I'll see them again when they connect the appliances and secure the exhaust to the microwave vent. The recessed lighting looks great too.

What happens when you vacuum up a bunch of earthworms out of your pool? Do their bodies stay in tact? Nope. So many spiders in my pool today. I feel like I come out each day to skim the pool just to free insects from their demise. I found a baby turtle in my skimmer basket a while back. I thought he was toast, but my wife's sister took him home and he is doing well in their aquarium. The baby lizard I found today was not so lucky. He looked so sad too. Poor guy.

Speaking of backyard insects, a few days back I noticed all these little bugs taking flight in one portion of my yard. I was outside fixing a fence board that my small dog had pushed through. She was in the neighbors yard hunting rats probably. Anyway, I found a swarm of these bugs come out of the ground and grouping onto the concrete before lifting off in the morning sun rays. I thought, it must be some type of fly that only lives for a few hours. You know, they fly up, mate, and then die. I leaned closer though and saw other bugs with them that looked like..... like termites. Then the thought of flying termites came into my head. So what if my house had no evidence of termites? With one swipe of my blue croc I mushed probably about 80 of those insects. They were either ants or termites, neither of which I have much compassion for. Yet, I still felt a little bad. It's a wonder I eat meat. Anyway, even minutes later many were still coming out of the ground. I systematically destroyed them all. Is that a line from The Matrix?

Grinding Rats

I dropped Rapunzel off to school and headed to Lowes. I went to the Sunbelt tool rental office wearing a large green winter vest and hat to hide my rats nest. You have to respect the vest no? All puffed up and olive drab, says I need my arms free to do some serious arm stuff. I need a tool to grind on some concrete I tell two puffy jacket guys working there. After some chewing and discussion, the two men working begin my contract. They both have diamond studs in their ears. One has it in the left ear, the other in the right. I found it to be an odd contrast.

Grinding concrete is manly work indeed. Sparks, smoke, tons of dust, an element of serious bodily harm if you don't pay attention, and heavy. Next cutting PVC with a dremel releases a smell that is foul and hopefully will not cause some caustic random tissue damage to my lungs. And lastly, mixing and pouring of concrete.

My dogs brought me a fairly big rat today. I think they wanted me to bbq it since they left it by the grill. At least they thoroughly deaded him.

Halloween is over for another year. I got to see my Rapunzel fall on her face on the grass luckily. Candy flying everywhere in the dark it did. There was plenty of crying too, but candy patched things up. Nothing like watching your kid stuff their mouth with a tootsie roll, a smear of wet brown around the lips, a big smile with what looks like a missing tooth, but is just tootsie on a tooth. The whole time they are singing some non sensical song about what else, but candy of course.

We left a bowl of candy out. When we got back, it was all gone. Must've went out quick because someone/s left me a few chewed up juicy fruits stuck in the bowl. I got a nice neighborhood to get just chewed gum no? This is a dark neighborhood though. It's really dark out here. I felt like we were just walking past a bunch of black silhouettes all night.

Double Dental

Had a double dentist visit today. I lucked out and found a sane Dentist. The best news, no cavities or gum disease for anyone. Yay!

Got our new front door installed today. It's very nice and the installers did a good job. I had a good time talking with Floyd. He seems like a real down to earth guy and answered a lot of questions I had about our other renovation tasks. He was pretty shocked to learn I was 40. So that was cool that a 27 yr old said I was doing good for my age. hahaha

My ipad fell from about 4 ft. It wasn't even a hard fall as the case opened and my pants were involved with the fall. That doesn't make any sense does it. Anyway, it didn't hit that hard, so I was shocked when I went to turn it on later and the screen was black. You could tell it's lit, but still black. Ughhh is it even worth it to fix it I wonder.

I know a couple of my readers enjoy wearing all black when running. I only like to wear dark colors when it's cooler and now is the time. I have a Soloman black t shirt that I splurged on at REI before I left the Veegus. I have to admit that even though Soloman is pricey, they make some killer clothing. There are lots of little details that take it far beyond the regular shirt.

So I was running my usual route by my parents house today. I picked this route since it took me right by a house we were going to buy , but turned out to be a disaster. Anyway, there is one house at the end of the street that definitely has some crazy going on. You know, lots of odd things in the yard, a semi ice cream van with lots of wood paneling, and odd signs. Today the owner was in the backyard on a riding lawnmower, parked with it running and the lights on. All around him was nothing but a huge cloud of dirt. I think he was mowing his dirt! The thing that really got me though was that his probably auction bought white Chevy Caprice had large pvc angle pipes mounted on his trunk as if they were jets and the word "lucifer' was painted in red quite poorly on his rear bumper.

Halloween 3

This movie still creeps me out a bit. Maybe it's the music. Maybe it's Dan O'Herlihy. Maybe it's the scene where that kid gets his head nuked by the mask!!! You know not too many movies will show kids getting killed, especially in a gruesome way. I think the Blob remake also did this. The original Blob scarred my young brain a long time ago. Ughhhh Anyway, most people think Halloween III is junk. I thought as an adult it would seem silly to me, but it still creeps me out a little. Weird.

Magnetic Goats

Forgot to post this for yesterday. Was waiting in Lowes for them to bring up our new super awesome induction range. Oh some day I will boil water on you in the blink of an eye. Anyway, while waiting for what seemed like forever, I was perusing the book section. Of course I had to look in the bathroom design books. All of our bathrooms are in serious need of renovation. However, those won't be touched till next year. ughhh More OCD pain ....flowing...gahhhh!!

But then after seeing, kitchen, bathroom, deck, framing, grilling,electrical books, I came across a book with a crazy looking goat on the cover. Raising Goats! Right in the middle of the home reno books. Would you look at it?

I did and was suddenly whisked away into the world of goats. So many terms I had never heard, pictures of goats giving birth and being dehorned, playing with dogs. Maybe I should get a goat? Goats get along well with horses. Maybe I should get a horse? hahaha Where is my damn range!

I gotta bust up more tile today or tomorrow. I must have the foyer clear of tile before Floyd comes on Wed. I must impress Floyd with my DIY manliness. (cough) meh whatever..

Sonic Crack

Today started off really ugly. I was in a supremely grumpy mood. But then one thing slowly turned it around....a hot fudge milkshake from Sonic. Wow!!! I'm not even a big milkshake fan, but these Sonic shakes are PREEEMOOOH! It should not be that good. I think they are doping their shakes or something. Go get one, so you can worship me for telling you about such yumminess.

Hackin Cramp

I got the truck back today. Hoorah! It's like driving a semi after driving that little 01 Altima around.

I Freecycled 2 things today. One guy showed up in total camo hunting gear. He was picking up a bunch of my packing paper to bring to his mother who is moving her Hummel figurines all the way up in Florala. The next guy was picking up my scrap wood, which I have an S-ton of. This guy was cracking me up though. He wore this big steel anchor necklace and had a massive belly. I mean this guy was like a 350 lb Scotty from Star Trek. But we got talking bout pools and old jobs and man his stories were colorful. I coulda talked with him for a while.

Ughhh my credit card got hacked again. Someone tried to buy 300 bucks of groceries over in Tuscon,AZ. I found this out when my card kept getting declined this morning. You could've called me you know. But, at least they stopped the transaction and killed the card before they could go elsewhere.

I had an ugly run today too. Nothing but constant cramps in my stomach and lots of aches all over. It was an effort to concentrate through it. Luckily, I don't have many days like that.

Had an electrician come to the house today. He opens my subpanel in the garage and says, "Uh Oh!!" Not what you want to hear. hahaha Going to have to add another subpanel outside which means mo money. Before he leaves, he saw this little pen like device I have that you can hold up to wires or outlets and it's supposed to blink and beep if it's hot. He says, "Pretty neat aren't these? Don't trust em!" Noooooo that's my magic wand dude. Don't tell me it's not true. To be honest I'd trust it more if it talked to me in a little nerdy voice that would say "SAFE!"

Anudda Day

No power
Snapping carpet tack strips
Carrying buckets of cinderblock chunks
Eating 4 chocolate krispy kremes
Buying a saw blade to cut tile
Watching Sears take away furniture ( oh yah its all gone)
Watching my pool filter leaking after cleaning my pool
Running
Showering
Watching soccer
Eating more bad food
Blow drying screaming child
Emailing
Blogging
Washing Dishes
Drinking
Sleeping

GaDay Mate!

The home insurance rep came by the house the other day to 'check it over'. He was an older guy, kinda ruff looking and had an awesome Aussie accent. I was outside talking the talk with him and had to fight the urge to start speaking in an Australian accent. I had to catch myself twice.

I used to telemarket in college for the Pensacola Police. I would get so bored doing that job that I would often just start altering my voice as the night went on. I may even have whipped out Arnie on one occasion. I just remember loosing my accent on more than once occasion. Shakes head ( man that was baaad)

My pool has been losing water now for a couple of weeks. I had a home warranty guy come by and he explained that the drain on the bottom of my pool is disconnected from the system , but they didn't cap it off. He forced water through a pipe and you could see dirt distortion coming from the drain. So the idea is that the leak could be in that pipe that leads away from the drain.

So he says, you need to dive to the bottom, take the 2 philips screws off the drain cover and then install the plug, maybe two. He suggested that some people use a garden hose as a make shift breathing tube. I'm not a good swimmer by any stretch and holding my breath under 8 feet of water for a few minutes? I'm almost better off trying to run a sub 6 mile. Anyway, I tried my hardest, but only got a couple of turns on one screw. And breathing through a garden hose is hard on land!

I called the pool company and they sent this really big walrus looking guy to dive into my pool....with scuba gear. The pool company said their dive guy has been backed up with jobs for a while. WTF is going on with pools here?!! Anyway, cross my fingers that the leak was in that drain pipe and not in some other pipe or worse yet hidden in my pool structure.

King Burger

Well I almost trapped myself in a cabinet today. Liz would have come home in a frantic rush to find only my legs sticking out. it was a tight fit ,but I had no other way to reach a screw. The good news is ALL the kitchen cabinets are removed awaiting pickup by Habitat for Humanity tomorrow. Bad news is I have a six inch diameter pvc pipe sticking out of my floor along with a large whip of wires for the old range top that vented through the floor. I forsee a concrete sander rental in my future as the concrete is built up around the pipe too. It will also be a challenge to figure out how to kill the wires in the floor ,but keep the nearby outlet active.

Asa has finally mastered eating an ice cream cone. She's got her cone skills! Always a good time at King Burger.

Bedroom furniture arrived today. The smaller dresser came destroyed though, so its in my garage awaiting swap which who knows how long will take. The furniture also marked up the carpet pretty bad. We just cleaned that carpet too. At least it's not new carpet. Still...calls for a tactical customer service phone call. Maybe Jerky Boys?!!

PTrap Trap!

Today we had a lot of difficulty removing the dishwasher from the kitchen. Amazing how much havoc a well placed screw can cause. Once that was done it was on to the sink and garbage disposal. Whew , having sludge from the P-trap drain pipes and sewer gas blast you in the face is pretty nasty. I just kinda sat there in disgust for a few moments, not really knowing what the heck I would do. Anyway, I have no kitchen sink now and probably wont for a couple of weeks. That's a painful thought if I hover around it too long.

The Thing

The 1982 version of The Thing is a great horror movie. It's a movie I watch today and think, here's what someone can do without CGI and it's still potent. They released a 'prequel' this weekend which is really just the same movie so the reviewers say. As Mathew Dekinder from Suburban Journals says in his review...

It's actually kind of unfair that this movie has to live up to the expectations of Kurt Russell with a flamethrower because in reality most of life can't live up to Kurt Russell with a flamethrower.

I have low expectations for this film as I would with any 80s remake.

Even if Ridley Scott is behind it, the idea of prequels to Blade Runner and Alien, just make me ill. Just leave the shit alone! I was trying to think, has there even been a good 80s remake? If you know of one let me know.

Take a lever to my module

Not the sweat wrenching day I thought it was going to be. I got a call from the mechanic though and it looks like the 900 dollar estimate will come true. The silly thing is that per Ford's problem solving notes, replacing this 'module' may NOT fix the power steering issue. In fact, it says you may have to also replace the 1800 dollar steering column. Good job numbnuts! The horror story online is that you get both these things done and it still happens. I'll just have to hope for the best right now.

Later was running in the afternoon, almost done. This younger guy maybe 15 to 20 was holding a weird skateboard, the kind that I usually see little kids using. He walks by me smoking and smiles and says " are you tired?" I was walking and I said," yah Kinda." I could smell that marlboro as he walked by. I'm really not sure if he was just being friendly or talking smack. Go figure.

Finally, so far this item has been the most helpful in taking stuff apart in the house. My wife says behold "the power of the lever!" It's true, you can tear some stuff apart with this thing!!

Lino

I spent a couple of hours scraping really old linoleum off of concrete today. I have to wonder what it looked like when it was brand new in say 1985 perhaps. Did someone take some Mop N Glow to it and think, "This floor is awesome!"

My truck is still in the garage. Hopefully, I'll get a call tomorrow. I'm going to expect a 900 dollar repair bill based on the internet reading I did. Maybe I'll be surprised.

Pulled the wall oven out today. Just a couple of screws holding that thing in too. Who wants a black whirlpool wall oven? It's cheap! Maybe free!

Well I'm off the vitamin M ( motrin), so this is good. My back is feeling 100% again. Now to just keep using the dolly rather than pretending I'm 25.

Apparently I have a mushroom head according to my wife. My hair is out of control I tell you. I was running a couple of days ago with a bandana on. I prolly looked like some 80s workout reject from a weird Al video. Should I shave it ? That's always the question.

Hellllo?

If someone had said to me on July 7 that I wouldn't see my furniture or all our stuff until Oct 7th, I would've looked at them like they were insane. In fact, I am the one who is insane.

So I guess I'll try to post more. It could easily turn into me venting ( whining) about how my ocd self does not like the home renovation mountain that we've taken on. Most of our furniture and stuff is compressed into two rooms and the garage as we prepare to rip up all the remaining tile and carpet and lay down new tile and wood flooring. If only it were just that! If only.

My daughter spends 90 percent of her soccer games watching the dirt, but to her credit she actually scored a goal this evening. It was one of those slow motion goals that just barely made its way in. Liz and I were pretty excited.

The last couple of months have not been good for running. I was hoping to really have my weekly mileage back up at this point in the year, but I just don't have the time. So I just try to sneak in a small run here or there. Interestingly I have my treadmill back, but I have no desire to run on it. I miss running in Vegas a lot. I've even been thinking about how I could sneak away for a weekend and fly out there to run my ass off in Red Rock Canyon. At least it's getting cooler here.

Haiku Faiku

I found a dead frog in my pool filter today. Then I went swimming for just a bit. Then I had to run back to the realtors office. The chimney people came to clean the chimney the day before and they found &750 dollars worth of repair needed. Ughhh this was supposed to be fixed earlier. We'll see if the seller owns up or not.

Otherwise today was just really annoying on so many levels. I ate 5 hot dogs throughout the day, and it was still annoying. Guhhhh!!

I saw a man driving an old red pick up. He was smoking and had a huge mustache. Then it hit me, he looks just like Wilford Brimley. Wilford Wilford Wilford!

An 80 yr old woman was flirting with me today. She even tried to give me her friends change purse for some reason. I wasn't sure what was going on, but it was kinda cute.

I'm am off to Orlando tomorrow, and then later to West Palm Beach. Been years since I've been that far south. There's gunna be some bad eating. Fo'sure!

Bad Estimations

You ever have a task for the day and think "oh I can get this done in a couple of hours". Last week Liz and I went crazy trimming branches in my parents front yard. Two days worth of trimming all piled up on the corner of the lot. Well, Waste Management left me a note saying, we'd love to help but you can't just leave a big clump for us to pick up. I thought someone said they has this claw thing that just comes and scoops the shit up. This is hurricane land after all, seemed plausible.

Well some part of me actually thought it would take me around 2 hours to bundle and bag all this stuff up. Nope. Try about 6.5 hours. Holy yard work batman! I almost didn't finish it, but I was determined. Afterwards, I said screw it, so what if I only got 5 hours of sleep last night, I'm running! Ooof, my quads are like dude, you did like 100 squats today, wtf!

Anyway, I got no guilt for all the Thai Food I ate today.

New House

I texted my friend today, "I got keys!" And so closing went without issue. So Liz and I went to the house and took a dip in our pool. I've never owned a pool. Will be interesting to see how that plays out. Will I think it's a complete PIA a year from now? Anyway, I'm glad I can finally spend more time in the water and ensure my little girl gets comfortable with the water earlier than I ever did.

At the same time, I still have no furniture and what right now seems like a never ending mountain of renovation/cleaning projects to do. Sometimes my 'need to have things just so' can overwhelm me mentally. I miss the house in Vegas in so many ways right now. Ughhh, but in a few months, it will be much better. It will be awesome! Insert cheesy grin.

US Open and more

Well I have continued my tradition of poor tennis championship predictions. Not good for Nadal and Serena. However, I'm very happy to see Sam Stosur finally put it all together. I hope she can unleash herself now. She also needs to put out a training video on how to get those hot triceps of hers.

Mens tennis has really changed this year. I think many fans were still expecting another year of Nadal vs Federer. I know I did after the year Nadal had in 2010. Djokovic has really altered the landscape and in a good way I believe.

I ate a 7 inch hot baked philly cheese steak from a place called Roccos today. Had some Jala Penoes on it that were very nice. Later, we decided to have our "yay we finally bought a house meal!" It was off to Coach N Four for some mega always delicious steaks. The family went and got thoroughly stuffed. I even drank 2 Heinekens. I don't drink Heinekens, wth! I like to think my 4.5 mile run helped with all that food! You think ?

So tomorrow we finally close on a house. Then the renovations begin!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

But first, we have to go down south to Orlando and then West Palm for a few days. Such is the timing of things.

Sink Lub

I spent 3.5 hours in Home Depot today. While a new kitchen is always exciting, I think the element that sticks out most to me is the sink. Here's a pic of it.



It looks a little bland without the counter top around it. After going back and forth in my head over whether I wanted a split sink, the single sink won out! I gots the sink luv!

I finished reading a book by Mitch Albom called "the five people you meet in heaven". It doesn't take much to make me cry ( so my wife says), and I'm not one to figure out stuff ahead of time. This book gets a lot of praise it seems, but it just didn't move me or surprise me. In all fairness, perhaps the book didn't meet whatever religious expectations I had, but overall the ending just seemed too sweet for me.

As much as I want to read an Arthur C. Clarke or Asimov book, I think I will have to go back into the war machine and read Lone Survivor. I got it for my father and he read it in like 3 days. So my curiosity is pretty peaked.

US Open is almost over. I'm horrible at predicting outcomes on tennis slams, but here goes. I think Serena will win the women's and Nadal the men's. With that said, I'd love to see Wozniacki and Murray win. Yoiks scoob!

I hate you Hillshire Faaaarrrrrrmmmmmssssszzzz

This commercial is evil.

Wasps and Lizards

The weather has been cool! The mornings and evenings have shed their humid sweat inducing blankets of stickiness. Feels soooo gooood. So my wife and I spent the last two days doing a lot of front yard work on my parents house. Luckily while taming the palm tree out front, we weren't attacked by wasps.

Liz was on a ladder with a cutting pole when I noticed 3 wasps flying right near her back. I got my serious voice on...Honey, get down now, be quick, be caaaalllmmmm. Maybe I said ,"don't panic?" ooof, I hope not.

I went to the store and got some black flag wasp killer. Their nest was built in a tough spot though protected within a palm frond. I had to lay on the ground to even spot the darn thing. So I went out with goggles, hat, a big thick jacket and sprayed UP. The instructions say don't spray up even, because it doesn't work very well at all. It just kinda sprays all over instead of the nice stream. Somehow I managed to kill them and not get stung. The were two nests and a bunch of lizards too. There was no Jake Sully to save this little world of wasps and lizards.

The yard looks much nicer now. I can actually see the house from the road.

In other news, my time living at my folks house may soon come to a close. Supposedly we'll be closing on our house next Tuesday. With all the crazy that's gone on though, I won't believe it until I have a key in my hand.

Go away UPS man!

Tropical Storm Lee is bearing down on us. Maybe it's time to go to the beach!! Or maybe it's time to whip out my Brooks LSD windbreaker/rain jacket. Maybe it's time to take a fat nap!

While running today I was watching a woman walk 7 large dogs into her house. That's when a car whipped by me and the passenger yelled, "Hey YOU dropped something!" I guess I was supposed to look down, but I just pointed my finger at him like yahh funny. Later a young black girl on roller blades ( who uses roller blades anymore) rolled past me and said .."burnin the calories huh?!!" I laughed and said, "Yahhhh!" Such a funny thing to say really. The insecure committee member in my head was like..how did she know we ate a Whataburger and banana shake last night? Damn psychics!

Happy Birthday to one of my readers. You sir,join the ranks of us 40 year olds now. :) I'm going to show up to your party tomorrow drunk wearing a Guy Fawkes mask talking in latin!

GATTACA

I still dig this movie. The set design is timeless. Uma Thurman looks fantastic. Love this scene too.

Go Long

Signs that I'm old....

America's Funniest Home Videos is actually funny to me now.

Whenever I run in the neighorhood, kids and teens say "Hi or hey Mister!" to me.

Today these two kids were tossing their football and pleaded for me to catch a pass, so I gave'em the sign to throw it. I scooped it up and threw a beauty spiral back to the them. They got a kick out it. It was after this burst energy I decided that hey, it's a good time to start some intervals!

Chicken booty

Zaxby's strawberry cream cheese milkshake is guuuuuuuuudddddddd.

Two old naked guys both bent over in the locker room as I turn the corner inhaling a strong blast of cologne is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaddddddd.

Numb Chuck

I was finishing out my run today walking down the street I grew up on. Half way down I saw that Mr. J was coming out of his house. When he was younger he was a local police officer and in my young memories..kinda of a hard ass. When I was about 10 or so his daughter was dating a martial arts expert. My friend on the street was learning how to use nunchucks from him. We called them numb chucks back then. I can remember my friend whipping them out and doing a routine. He missed my forehead by millimeters. Luckily all my Bruce Lee movie watching gave me some uber reflexes.

Anyway, Mr. J wasn't sure I was who he thought I was. So I decided to say hello. He asked about my folks, and I told him about my mother being in the hospital, but that she was doing fine. Then he told me how his wife had gone through a lot recently, but that she is rejecting the lung from her transplant. He said in a slow indifferent tone, "They said there's nothing else they could do. It's really hard." We just both kinda looked down. Here I am dripping in sweat, feeling really sad for him, and I just couldn't say much of anything. Then in that strange way people do, our voices went back to cordial or cursory and we said our good day to each other.

Captain Wasp

The other day a wasp bumped smack into my forehead while I was standing still. Three times now bees have run into my noggin.

I made 2 kids cry yesterday. One was mad that I threw my plate in the trash. Go figure. The other got scared when she realized I really wasn't her daddy. She kept aggressively insisting too that I was her daddy, until her mother came. I met her daddy later, and he was not a happy camper.

Driving on base the other day, a security guard was not paying attention apparently, because he said to me, "Have a nice day Captain." Cool! I've been promoted.

Bacooon

I woke up everyday this week at 6:10am. Today I woke up at 7:30 which would've felt luxurious perhaps, had I not stayed up making a salad so evil that I dare not eat more than a bite at a time. This thing has 2 packs of bacon in it for starters. I'll leave it at that.

Three Strikes

Apparently electrical wires can emit a certain frequency of noise that male squirrels can confuse with mating signals. This is when I think of scrat from Ice Age looking at a wire all puppy dog eyed. The squirrels will for some reason eat the housing off the wires. They will eat large portions if given the chance say in an attic. Maybe the squirrels are pissed once they find out it's not the real deal? Anyway, that's what I learned from our housing inspector today.

Long long story short, this is the third house we've tried to buy and things just have not gone in our favor. Big sigh.....eyes forward....move on.

Focus

Running outside now, often in the afternoon. It's a new level of discomfort, being so sweaty,sticky, and hot. Feeling my blood right under my skin working as fast as it can to dispel the heat from inside. Seems one can hardly concentrate on anything else other than the discomfort. Maybe that's a good thing.

Puuuuush

She would take a file about 2 feet long and file his toenails like she was sawing a log in half. He was bald, blind, and in a wheel chair. Yet he would squirm a lot during this ordeal. So she would smack him on the head with a fly swatter. He would guff and spit. She would then return to filing the dragon teeth off his feet.

Buzzy Sluggy

Busted out my last Veegus miles this morning round 6am. I feel kinda buzzed after running in the am, though during I feel really tired. I'll prolly have to continue my runs in the am for a while, so we'll see how that whole buzzy thing develops.

I came real close to opening a can of stupid white man rage on the refrigerator today. I'm just trying to clean the dang thing!!

Anyway, just getting in a quick post before the phone modem gets reclaimed. Must eat bad food, must clean, must pack, must sleep!!!

Good bye Veeeegus!!

T minus 10 seconds

Out the door by 5:47am today. After a decent workout, I went to evil Walmart. Then I went to Dee's Donuts since a friend recommended it. Not the best donuts ever, but certainly premium. More bad food today. I don't even care right now.

More cleaning of course. Gunna be more tomorrow. Will lose my internet sometime tomorrow night. Almost outta dis place.

I've been thinking about the ultramarathon runners at Badwater running today. As I type this, some of them have been running for 37 hours. Some of them way older than me! It's a fascinating item to wrap my brain around.

Glorkoooo

5 days in a row of high calorie super bad dinners!! Ughhhh So good, and so baaaaaaad. We ate at Great Links tonight. I had a Philly dog with grilled green peppers, melted cheese and onions. It was ok. The Las Vegas chilli dog was very good though. I'll post pictures when I get a chance. Also had grill master fries which is thousand island, grilled onions, buncha melted cheedar, and some spices mixed all on the fries. They were ok, prolly not worth the cals.

Later I went to the market and got bananas and oranges. Gotta eat something healthy.

There was a fire in the mountains today. It looked big, but the news said it wasn't that large and was contained. Curious as to how it started. That would've freaked me out had I been up there.

Ughhhhh didn't run today. Decided to let my leg rest. I should just stop until I get to FL, but I don't think that will happen.

Anyway, this post is lame so I'll wrap it up. I'm just ready to get this show on the road.

What is this...sunrise?

I actually got up today at 5:30am and was out the door for an hour run by 6am. When was the last time I was up that early for exercising? Does golf count? And yet my left quad (the other one) is acting all offended that I decided to exercise.

Funny to see all the Sunday cyclists zipping around at the interesections. I even saw a lone runner trucking along the powerlines in the desert. He looked to be really moving too whereas I felt incredibly slow. It was a high effort/low return kinda day. It was a nice change of pace though.

I tried on the New Balance minimus trail shoes again at the BX. They even had a muted grey color I've never seen before. But after much putting on and taking off and scratching my head, I decided that they still didn't feel very good. The toe box is too big for me, and the strap that goes over the forefoot is just too strange feeling. For kicks I tried on NB MR890s too. No love for those either.

Anyway, I'm going to get up again tomorrow maybe at 5am this time. Once that sun gets up, it gets hot fast.

Empty House

The movers came yesterday and loaded up all the boxes. Took two of them about 7 hours to load up the truck. The whole thing was so much less stressful than last year. The beauty of renting most likely.

I never know what to tip movers. There's no set rate like other tipping. I always give them water and sports drink, but I think next time I'll put out more healthy carb stuff, like energy bars and fruit. I gave them what fruit I had, and they munched it down. But yeah after seeing them sweat their butts off, I always tip them what I feel is pretty big. Especially when it's the driver taking your stuff across the country. With the packers and loaders it was 190 bucks in tips. Sounds like a wild night I had back in...oh never mind.

The driver said the worst state to drive in is New York and New Jersey. Then he recalled some scary ghettos he drove through in DC. He also told me about a truck he saw drive off a cliff. I love those crazy trucker stories!

Later that night, we went over to a friend's house for dinner. I ended up swimming in the pool with my daughter while it was raining because she HAD to go in the pool. It was a bit chilly to say the least.

Myrna is Filipino though, so I unleashed the beast and ate 6 trillion tons of food; egg rolls, pancit, chicken adobo, fried rice, lechon, filipino mac&cheese? haha, mojitos, velvet cake, watermelon, mango cake, some sort of corn cream dip, a pineapple salad, and corn chips!! And I got to meet my first ever person named Ghengis.

I haven't run in 4 days though. Seems like a long time. I'm getting new shoe fever again. It's making me crazy.

Packing Day

Waiting at the vet this morning to have my dogs boarded for a couple of days while the movers get it on - girl behind counter says Finley?!! We've had three dogs named Finley in the past couple of days. She says that's strange since it's an unusual name. I think Dory is jealous.

Packers are happy that our garage is not a blastimus of utter disaster.

All the packing tape being used in the house has a weird burning smell to it.

Smelling the smoke from the packers smoke breaks outside. It smells good and reminds me of last year.

I sit in my car with the windows down, sweating, hot wind coming through the window eating a slice of pizza from the convenience store. Mmmmmm peeeeettttssahhhh.

6 hrs later the packers are done packing, off to do another job they say.

A good bit of cleaning follows.

The family goes to see Kung Fu Panda 2. I am pleased with the Po squared!!

I find myself in Joann's Fabrics sternly telling my child that the water fountain is not a place to wash her head.

The caloric evils of Olive Garden have descended upon my digestive system. The tour of Italy is consumed quickly.

I despise my ipad. It locks up way too much when sending email. It's hit or miss with flash, and typing on it reminds me of using windows.

To think I almost could have been driving to Alaska next week. Whoah!

Seven Five

Packing Packing Packing. Still got more to do. Only a couple more days and my primary computer will be gone for a lonnnng time. Sniff!

Rode around the desert on my bike today for just a little bit. Might be the last time. Sad to see how trashy people are in the desert. Just loads of fireworks, especially the big box ones just laying around all over the place, along with beer bottles, and some new tossed out tvs. Humans are trashy.

The fireworks activity was much more than last year when we arrived. Several close neighbors had lots of big fireworks booming all around. All the neighborhoods here are fenced with not fence but brick walls. Walking around outside, hearing all the reverb was kinda crazy. It's not the fireshow that Omaha was though.

Happy 4th

I finally got around to visiting Great Links Grille last week. This is the Chicago dog with the peppers and a New York dog with the kraut. Each dog is 7.5 inches long and is 1/6 of a pound. I did not expect the tater tots to be so much either, I downed ALL of that though and still had room for ice cream after. It was so good!!! I swear I was on some sorta hot dog high afterwards. I don't think I've eaten a hot dog in roughly a year. I may have to go back before we leave because the hamburgers here looked equally scrumjuicimus!

Hope everyone is having/had a good 4th of July though. Time to take a break, enjoy some family, and be grateful for the ole US of A.

I'll probably post a recap of my trek up the mountain, including the weird ordeals of pain and discomfort I had in the following days. Today I feel fine however and will hopefully get out on the bike for a bit. It's time to get the house in order though, so that's top priority.

Mission Accomplished!!

I made it to the top of Mt. Charleston!

The Cracked Egg

Had breakfast the other morning with Liz at The Cracked Egg. It's a local place that gets some good press. It was decent. Liz's raspberry stuffed french toast was much more interesting than my polish sausage and eggs.

Rather than toast, you can choose Coffee Cake. Fairly tasty.








Some decor -

Enough Coffee?

So you think I got enough or what? And for the record, I rarely drink Powerade!

Headbutting Birds

Just about the end of the month. Leaving the Veegus is coming sooner than later for sure.

I am all into Wimbledon this year. It's been some great tennis with lots of surprises on the women's side. Both sides are very tight, and I have no gut feelings about who will win. I think it'd be a kick in the royal pants however, if Lisicki and Murray could pull it off.

Another season of True Blood is on. It's only the first episode, and while I know it can't just be the same stuff over and over, some of the new material is kinda silly to me. Tara finding herself in cage fighting though? That's pretty cool.

So last week I only ran twice; a 7 mile run and an 8 mile run. But they were really hard on my legs. All that downhill stuff especially on the south loop just kills my quads. I broke out ice and nsaid this weekend with plenty of foam roller. It worked well though as I've run the last two days without issue. That was just roughly half way though. I may have to walk much more coming down to reduce the possibility of injury. Also maybe not wear such bright clothing because the humming birds were hunting me. One actually bumped into my forehead!

The other issue is snow. There's still plenty of it. In fact, my Friday outing was stopped because I could not find the trail. I was so close to the changing point (Griffith Peak) to where the next 4 miles are not so steep. I talked with other hikers who could not find the trail either. I was glad I turned around when I did because trying to come back down in 'no trail' land, I slipped several times in the mud - my hands coming down like spikes in the snow or dirt to keep from sliding down the hill. Those trekking poles would've came in handy then had I brought them.

How fast will the snow melt? How long will it take me? There is a fair chance that I might not make it to the top of Mt. Charleston before I leave. Honestly, after I came down last Friday, my hunger for it was kinda lukewarm. But it still tasks me!

Fooo- Fooo-ooood

I eat this prolly once a week at least.

Tunafish
Red & Yellow Peppers
Spinach
Onions
Cumin
Tarragon
Reg Mayo
Hot Sauce (not on it yet)




I've been lovin the pig restaurant lately before we leave! Here we have a Half a Rack of Hogs Heaven BBQ ribs, some skillet beans and collard greens. The sides are not always the same in their making, but still good. Gunna miss these ribs!



I was driving around central Veegus, and gasped when I saw a drive through sign for this place. My last memory of it was being violently ill in the Phillipines driving down the Mayon Volcano, after which I re tasted everything I had eaten at this place.

I'm almost compelled to go in and eat something just to move past it! So I can say if it's really just McDonalds from the Bizarro universe or something harmless. Course, any US restaurant over in the PI is a bit off anyway. It's prolly fine.

But you see the bee man out front right? I guess he seems innocent next to the likes of the hamburgler.



Goodness I gotta clean my windshield!

D Cells please!

There was a time when I would buy cassette tapes for 9.99 at Camelot music. I would just pick something that had a cool looking cover. This was my death metal phase. I bought a lot of bad music that way. I still have some of that stored deep in the parents house.

I can remember the first time I was able to go into a music store and actually listen to certain, not any, just certain cds. Often you couldn't fast forward though which was really frustrating.

My music tastes were always weird, so it was a huge treat to go to Tower Records in New Orleans or Atlanta. Sometimes my friends and I would make a road trip just for Tower Records. We'd spend from 1 to 2 hours in there looking at cds. Then the trip back would be listening to cds the whole way.

One time, the car we were driving only had a tape player. So we brought a huge boom box and a tape player adapter. This would plug into the boom box's audio out port, and the adapter would go into the car's tape player. We used it driving up though and after only 20 minutes of our 5 hour drive back the boom box died. We barely had any money left, so we stopped at some rinky dink gas station in the middle of nowhere and paid what seemed like a ridiculous amount of money for 8 D cell batteries. There may have been a large bag of change in that transaction. All was saved though and the trip home was full of sonic wonderment!

These trips to Tower records though were often full of pressure to buy extra. Finding a new band with a cool sound was a super find! However, you just had to pay for it and hope for the best! There was no pre listen yet.

I've been carrying around 2 huge boxes of cds with me now for a few years. I am finally trimming them down. These 6 cds are the worst cds I've ever purchased. They still sound absolutely wretched! I can't believe I bought an album with the word 'Poodle' in it! Maybe I should keep them. Maybe not.

Smoking Death Weed

Have you seen the recent news bits about cigarette companies having to put graphic images of smoking related nastiness on the packaging? The social discussion is full of oh what's next, will banks have to put up pictures of empty wallets? or will Twinkies have to have pictures of overweight diabetic adults on the box?

I guess they're banking on the results such marketing has done in other countries. Will it really affect anything or as a smoking friend said, now is the time to make cigarette cases hip! Interesting too that there's a new political movement for the deregulation of marijuana. I think it will happen in the next decade. Which state will be the first?!!!

Here's a rare picture of me smoking from 1998. The original exif said Dec 31st, but dang!! Was I crazy enough to be in New Orleans on New Years? It must not have been very memorable. I look at this pic and think ahh man, my humvee watch! That thing was cool. Anyone recognize the shirt?



Anyway, back in 08 or so I quit smoking for a little over a year. Then it was about 6 months of buy a pack,quit, buy a pack, quit, repeat over and over. I would get so irrational and difficult to be around. It was not pretty. So today is finally another whole year of no nicotine whatsoever. I have no urges or desire to smoke either. I just have to be careful not to get too buzzed while eating Mexican, and I'll be good to go for another year!

Random Tbone 221047

If I knew my Pat Tillman post was going to receive so much traffic, I might have wrote a bit more to it. However, most people are prolly just coming by way of the picture on it.

It's officially hot here. It was on broil as early as 9am this morning. I prolly could've ran today, but I found myself on the couch watching some Wimbleton and it suddenly went dark. I needed that dark I'm pretty sure. My run at Bristlecone on Monday was good, but 3 miles of downhill worked my quads good enough to last a few days.

I played with the Black Diamond Z Poles today at REI. These are trekking poles that are stupid light and collapse and fold out very quickly. They are pretty awesome I think, but I haven't decided if I like the whole pole thing yet. I used the REI poles we already had at Bristlecone and decided that I just found them annoying. However, Bristlecone is not nearly as steep as the South Trail, nor does it have any snow. I think Friday if all is well, I will go up the South Trail with no poles. Let it swang natural!

Spyderco finally released their Sprint Run for the Bob Lum Tanto folder. If there was one thing that would've been perfect in the universe of knives for me, it was a spydie hole and a tanto blade. There just weren't any being made. I saw the sprint posted on Knifecenter.com in the am and knew that in an hour it would be gone ( it was). I paced and thought about it intensely for like ten minutes. This was a knife I could buy and easily sell back later at what I paid if not more. Alas, I said nope. If this knife could not urge me to click the Add to Cart button, then I don't know what could. I haven't purchased a knife since late January. I think it's official, I am done with knives!

Severator is done.

MULE

Oh the joy of watching your player emerge from the round in the lead. Oh the excitement of a meteor strike. Oh the excitement of a 'collusion'. Oh the annoyance of pest infestation! The list goes on and on.

Redstander

Once upon a time in a program called 3D Studio Max I would sit and spend hours mutating and adjusting and randomizing and doing other things equivalent to poking fingers into the dark. 97% of the time the shapes I would get would be just junk. Course you might see this and think that, but I happen to like it. Whatever it's orientation, I can always come back to the Redstander and find some interest in it. I would often use it as a displacement map while altering layers in photoshop.

Tick Tock

Time is running out for our stay in the Veegus! A month from today, if all goes as planned, we should be in Colorado Springs. The first stop in the long path back to humid Florida. I'm sure I will miss the 10% humidity here.

Last couple of days have been non stop cleanathon for me. We had a family come look at the house today, so I had a TUUN of stuff to clean. It was a good thing, a stressful thing, but hey it helped me look everything over for packing. Seems that we gotta get rid of some stuff... again! Freecycle time!

Been quite a few days since I've eaten super bad, so there was no way I was going to get my kitchen dirty tonight. Off to the Pig Restaurant as my daughter calls it. It's a local bbq joint. This is another item from the Veegus I will miss, Hogs Heaven BBQ. I love coming in this place, where I can get a half rack of the tastiest melt in my mouth ribs, listen to some great jazz music, see guys in tank tops and jail house tattoos cooking the food, while loud aggressive women whip on them and love up the customers, and wash it all down with insanely sweet tea. Mmmm good! The collard greens were awesome too!

Rewind to two days ago, and I came moments from getting seriously hurt. It was really a crazy merging of events. I guess many accidents are in retrospect. Let's see if I can explain.

Imagine riding on your bike on a wide two lane road. I'm coming from a direction that hardly any traffic ever comes from. In fact, this whole area is pretty low traffic. That's why I ride here. Anyway, I'm also coming behind a woman whose just out for a cruise on her bike. She's going at a moderate clip though, and I feel like a weirdo just hanging behind her, so I start to pass her. She looks back and is a bit startled. We exchange some friendly talk, and I speed up to pass her. So now I'm moving much quicker. There are 3 cars bunched up coming down towards me with a white BMW leading. I'm approaching an outlet to a subdivision that is longer across than usual. There's a median which is kinda odd, but hey Veegus has some odd stuff.

At this point the BMW sees me, but hasn't committed to turning in front of me yet. I feel at this point, I should just go faster so this guy can make his turn since he's got 2 other cars right up his butt. So I speed up more. Then the 'oh shit' alarm comes on when a silver VW Beetle comes from the subdivision to pull out in the same direction I'm going. The driver is a teenage girl. She sees the BMW slowing down, but since I'm not a car, the BMW is beginning to move over since the street is wide giving the illusion that he's going to make a turn. I'm staring at the driver of the VW, kinda in awe that she hasn't looked in my direction at all.

So you can see the dilemma. I have a BMW making his turn at a rate of speed that if I was clear, would be fine, but I've stopped peddling and am on the verge of full stop at prolly 20+ mph. Going in front of the VW would not be prudent. If only the VW driver would look at me. The VW driver has 2 other girls in the car. Her passenger I'm pretty sure said something like Look Out!! That's what the look on her face said anyway. The VW driver finally turns her head which is immediately full of apology and embarrassment. At this point I'm already braking, just a nano second from 'omg, squeeze the brakes with everything in your power and then hope to somehow flip over their car braking', while the BMW is moving ever closer to my back wheel. And in that next half second as my hands released their tense grips on the brakes and my feet fired through the pedals, I kept going as the VW driver waved me along. Accident avoided!! But whooooooooo...kinda close!