radio, television, & newspaper

was listening to a radio preacher recently, and he said -- faith is not about perfection, it's about performance. that's something to think about.

last week they showed the season finale of october road. that would be on television. didn't even know there'd been a season to finalize.

the newspaper reported yesterday that the titans chose chris henry in the draft -- a running back. the titans had a running back chris brown and one travis henry, and now they have a running back chris henry. just sayin'.

5:18... 5:18... 5:18....

doesn't matter how many times i say to myself that finishing at all is an accomplishment, and there were people that didn't finish, and so on & so forth. it's still disappointing to feel i didn't do everything i could. although i remember feeling like it's all i could do, i look back on it from the perspective of today, and i say oh, really?? was that really all you could do?

perspective is a funny thing. and, memories created during a stressful time, well... it's not like you're gonna get an accurate picture of what happened. everyone who witnesses an event sees something different, based on filters. we all have filters - it not something we do on purpose. it's natural. unless you'd like to experience the world every day from scratch like a newborn baby, you've got to establish some filters. unless you want to eat towels and dry your hands with fig newtons, you've got to establish some filters so you can distinguish linens from food.

so, combine memory [notoriously unreliable] with filters [notoriously personal], and you get perspective. then, take the event that was witnessed. even if there were thousands of other people there, you are still the only one who witnessed what you witnessed b/c it's an experience of what is inside your head. you're the only witness to your thoughts -- even if you share your thoughts, the person you share with will hear things through their filters and absorb your thoughts into their perspective.

when you get right down to it, we're each alone with our experiences & memories. we are isolated by our perspective. we can reach out all day long and even imagine we've made a connection, but if you got to see the world for a second from the perspective of another person, you'd be very surprised how different that perspective is from yours and from what you think their perspective would be.

enough existentialism.

time to cut my old man's hair.

5:18 -- oh well, it was very hot

remember what we've learned about goals: goals are an invention of the man -- an artificial measuring stick designed to keep us compliant & productive, suppressing spontaneity through a continual disappointment feedback loop, and distracting us from the truth: life is not given us to measure; life is given us to live. evaluate the multitude of daily opportunities against a philosophy, not a list.

i don't need no stinkin' goals. just run!

went to bed a little after 17:00, woke up at 01:30... 02:30... 03:30...

at 01:30, my old man woke me up b/c i was screaming in my sleep, but it wasn't really screaming, it was more like hollering b/c i'm no soprano. hollering caused by a dream about a box of books falling down the stairs towards me. at 02:30, i was awokenized by a great deal of pain in my leg. yes, this is one of the two legs i'll be relying on today to carry me 26.2 miles. doesn't hurt so much right now, but still is hurting, and i'm guessing it's psychosomatic. in other words, my leg is psycho. woke up at 3:30 b/c that's when i get up. eat the poptarts, drink the coffee, shower, dress, pick up speedy, drive to town, pit stop at the office, drive to the start, stand, sit, stand, portapottie, walk around, stand, GO, run, run, jogjogjog, run, walk, stand, walk, run, jogjogjogjog, walk, jog, jog, and save a wee little something for running across the finish line, smile for the camera, lay down on the pavement and force tiny speedy to carry me to the car.

how did you sleep, and what are your plans for the morning?

for decoration, i googled "running gif animated", and look what came up. cool, eh? that's what i look like when i am running.

even though the menu said they'd have baked potatoes today - & they make the great kind w/ salt all on the skin - well, they did not have any at all!!

still looking for luck,
despite the potato famine.

c'mon... be lucky for me!

why foodstuffs don't make good building materials

pockets? no pockets?

the weather today's gorgeous - clear, 56º. tomorrow's forecast calls for rain, and as much a fan as i am of rain... i'm not really a fan of running marathons in the rain.

can't decide whether to wear the shorts with pockets or without.

with. without. with. without. with. without. with. without. with. without. with. without. with. without.

hey, you can shut up. gotta stress over something. with. without.

had the blue coast salad & chips fix last night, and ate it all. all of it. ate it all. other participants in sodium load '07 did not eat their entire salads or chips. okay, there was only one other participant, and it was tiny speedy who never eats the whole of anything. darn tiny people!!

with. without. with. out.

tonight is honey hunt '07 followed by traditional jersey mike's marathon eve meal. not sure what difference it makes to follow some marathon tradition meal when one is a runner of the caliber of which i am. that is, a super runner. when one is a super runner, what possible difference could it make what one eats before one wipes up the streets with one's competition? that's what i am sayin'!

with. out. without. with. without. with. out. with.
with. without. with.
with. without. with.
with. with. with. without. with.
without. without. with. with. with. out.

forecast: 30% chance of rain with an 80% chance of pockets.

several things to read & something to look at, too, and if it doesn't amuse you, that's really not my concern, is it now? i am not here to entertain.

jerky mcjerkleheimer managed to make a funny joke today. went somewhat thusly:
* passenger t -- running a sprint and running a marathon is like drag racing versus indy cars.
* jerky -- if i was to run that marathon, it'd be a drag race because you'd be dragging me around the course.
thought for a min there he was humanoid, but he quickly turned it around with a series of remarks that were a fascinating combination of sexism & xenophobia. ah, jerky... you are reliably... jerky.

a funny, yet profoundly troubling, picture.

in other local news:

* eddy george is running the cmm half, as is the daughter of my roommate from college. the daughter will be running with a group headed up by her cross country coach who is married to the sister of a man that rides my vanpool. that's, like, 4 degrees of separation from ol' eddie, but i saw eddie w/ my own 2 eyes running one day in the park, so i don't need no stinkin' dah-grees! i got yer dah-grees right here, buddy!

* a local mom was arrested after she purchased alcohol for her underage son's birthday party, then left the house while the son & his compadres consumed the beverages. brilliant!

* there's a retail place featured in the paper today -- a small place in a small town a small ways down the road i live on -- this store specializes in converse shoes, specifically chuck taylors in sizes 3 to 17. they have 10,000 pair. who knew?

* flat stanley from a local elementary school made it all the way to the white house, and another flat stanley made it to the set of the adventures of zack & cody. if you don't know what a flat stanley is, well just go google it & stop bothering me with all your silly questions. the first graders who made the flat stanleys were more excited about the nick visit than the prez visit. go figure!

* when my old man gets home we're going to blue coast for a little premarathon salt loading via tortilla. that's what i'm talking 'bout!

beginning to see a relentless pattern forming

nosey

parked in a parking garage last night. sign in the garage: nose-in parking only. begs the question... why?

at supper last night, junior told a funny story about waking up with cat poo. you had to be there, but it was funny. trust me.

with no apologies to sir elton 'cause he's filthy rich -- he don't need no stinkin' 'pologies!

"i guess that's why they call it taper madness"

don't wish it away
don't look at it like it's forever
between you and me i could honestly say
that things can only get better

so taper today
dust out the demons inside
and it won't be long before you and me run
across that finish line with pride

and i guess that's why they call it taper madness
time on our hands could be time spent out running
laughing like insane people, unable to focus on anything
posting too many messages on the message board
and i guess that's why they call it the taper madness

just stare into space
picture the race in your mind
live for each second without hesitation
and never forget the cmm is this saturday

wait on me pace group leader!
cry in metrocenter if it helps
but more than ever, simply go run
and never forget to have fun

and i guess that's why they call it taper madness
time on our hands could be time spent out running
laughing like insane people, unable to focus on anything
posting too many messages on the message board
and i guess that's why they call it the taper madness

pretty countdown pix

looking for good omens in the numbers while trying to decide whether to wear the shorts with the pockets or the shorts without the pockets.

title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title title

had to redo the taxes last night. quite the pain, but as luck would have it, i know a smart guy who could help me out. also checked on the health care forms, did laundry, charged up the ipod, read my book [lemony snicket #6], and played the harmonica. very productive.

perhaps at work today i shall also be productive. focus. despite the office movings, focus. despite the taper madness, focus. despite the workplace ennui, focus. despite the pretty rain, the noontime fundraiser, the lovely ipod, the ginger snaps & tootsie roll pops, the email, the message board, the gtalk popups -- FOCUS PEOPLE!

ready or not... here it comes

t-4 and counting

saturday morning, 07:00.... it's almost like waiting for christmas with the suspense and excitement. just can't be sure at all what will happen and very much looking forward to some sesame chicken later on in the day.

did you see 24 last night? bill is out. nadia is in charge. jack's in custody. doyle totally blew jack's mission. the chinese got away with the control panel. audrey is a babbling nutcase. the vice president is smarmy and not to be trusted.

also watched heroes, and it may sound weird to say, but it would be good if that show wrapped up and was complete this season. one & done. like an overly-extended mini-series. it would just be refreshing to have a show not drag on and on. they could wrap it up, and it would be good - very satisfying. if they leave it hanging, i'm not likely to return.

jericho turned out to be a disappointment. started as a thriller and turned into a soap opera. studio 60 still hasn't returned. very much missing that show.

it's raining today, so i'm sure to get wet b/c jerky can't be bothered to get any closer to the building even in bad weather. yesterday, he literally stopped in traffic on the opposite side of the intersection than where he usually stops, with cars honking, for me to walk across an intersection to get on the van.

later, i shall post some pix of the cars for which i am now shopping with renewed intesity.

deedle-dee--deedle-dee--deedle-deedle-deedle-deeeee!!!!

i hear the music of the popsicle truck going by outside my office... awwww.... popsicles... ... .... stupid job! stupid work! what is the point of working for money if you can't spend the money on popsicles!!

planning a trip to the liberry this afternoon b/c i done read all them books i had to read and now i want to get some more

finished lemony snicket 1 - 5 and hoping to get 6 - 13 this afternoon. also looking for titles by katherine kurtz, andrew greeley, jasper fford, helen fielding, and nick hornby. got any other suggestions for me?

hey, guess what happened? registered for the marathon last night and woke up this morning to knee & hip pain. karma - you are a female dog! this week is hereby dedicated to short, slow runs and long, boring, boring, boring sessions of stretching. did i mention that stretching bores me? mayhaps that is part of the problem, eh?

found some great capris at the golf store. they were on clearance, and they fit, and i've been looking for black capris or pants i can wear to work, so there ya have it - perfection. clothing from the golf store is great for work b/c it's athletic clothing so the fabric is soft & breathable & stretchy, but golf's a very classy sport with classy clothes, so you're not heading to work in sweatpants.

crappy green team wins b/c the opponent was the actually very crappy blue & white team, and i'm not afraid to say it - so there!

didn't get hurt today at soccer which means i now have to register for the marathon like i said i would. hrmph.

add to the list of possible careers for when i make that magical career change and build the treehouse -- bicycle messenger. ups has a fleet of bicycle messengers in other cities, but not in my city -- criminy, people, why not? let's get this party started!

so... when i grow up, i wanna be a --
* forest ranger
* barrel rider
* bicycle messenger
* ballerina
* astronaut
* canoe guide
* fbi agent
* disc jockey

if the situation cannot accommodate all of us, then it should be arranged to accommodate me.

it's been a productive day so far -- slept in for a good rest, did some laundry, paid a couple bills, made banana bread.... the weather is nice, and there's soccer later. life is good.

let's eat banana bread now.

yesterday was a four poster day, and that's just too many posts in one day, but i'll post a couple right now b/c that may be it for the day.

what today may or may not hold, for ace:
* raking
* watching kids jump rope
* moving a refrigerator
* eating
* reading
* listening to the nextdoor dog bark. bark. bark. bark. bark.
* laundry
* showering
* posting bloated & blathering pontifications purposefully posed to edify & enlighten [this refers to the lovely philosophical post -- the post appearing below this post -- which i have now heavy-handedly pointed to, because it's a lovely & pontifical princess post which desires attention.]

vehicle wish list:
1. motorcycle [pictured below, triumph bonneville]
2. jeep cj5 - they don't actually make these anymore, might have to settle for other soft-top model
3. old volkswagen beetle
4. toyota tundra or other small pickup truck
4. pontiac vibe or other 4-door hatchback

posturing philosophical pontification for edification & enlightenment

goals are an invention of the man -- an artificial measuring stick designed to keep us compliant & productive, suppressing spontaneity through a continual disappointment feedback loop, and distracting us from the truth: life is not given us to measure; life is given us to live.

the higher power i recognize, while generally existing as an amorphous energy source, is capable of myriad animate manifestations. "higher" and "power" are the clue words to our relative importance. i attempt to live each day within a rough philosophy of appeasement and peaceful coexistence with the hp. be prepared. be open. be willing. be grateful. accept fate. accept my role. be responsible. fulfill my role. keep things moving because it's not about me anyway.

the hp will throw a series of curve balls, sliders, fast balls, change ups. if i don't pay attention, if i drift into the zone, the hp will brush me back or just throw the dang freakin' ball right at me. with such a large portion life's vagaries outside my control, wherefore goals? worthwhile goals, by their very nature, are unattainable. goals motivate through persistent, relentless disappointment... which by its very nature doesn't motivate me.

evaluate the multitude of daily opportunities against a philosophy, not a list.

i told you about this the other day, and now it's been confirmed by bestselling author helen fielding.

p 237 she'd rejected the brooch with the hand-ejected tranquilizer dart on the grounds that anyone under sixty wearing a brooch would immediately look suspicious.

boox '07 update

night work - laurie r. king
glass castle - jeannette walls
cross - james patterson
the kite runner - khaled hosseini
with child - laurie r. king
the bookseller of kabul - åsne seierstad
bridget jones's diary - helen fielding
bridget jones: the edge of reason - helen fielding
how to be good - nick hornby
about a boy - nick hornby
olivia joules & the overactive imagination - helen fielding

when i say "how are you?" what in the hula makes you say "it's friday."? that answer goes with "what day is it?" not with "how are you?". criminy.

have we not gone over the heavy-heeled shoe issue enough for you to know that if you are going to wear the freakin' li'l dutch boy wooden shoes, you are required to pick up your feet. criminy.

that's good: it's only 14:46. time for more coffee! and, nip down to level 3 & check to see if any of that yummy homemade wheat loaf remains. ah! yes!

that's bad: my old man suggests we can rake the yard tomorrow. there's only one we left at the ranchero, and that we involves me. raking. criminy.

that's all for now kiddies.

it's not that we don't know the simple past tense of the verb drink - it's that we can't remember what the terminology "simple past tense" means

are you smarter than a 5th grader? well, that's really relative, isn't it? i mean, these crazy little facts from school that we all memorized by rote - the 5th graders are likely to clean up in a contest based on those because they know the vocabulary used to describe them.

* the simple past tense of drink is drank.
* the most prevalent element in the earth's atmosphere is nitrogen.
* if march 1 falls on a wednesday, april first falls on a saturday.
* the first secretary of the us treasury was alexander hamilton.

google for clinton 93 and you will find more news articles on this topic. note that "u.s. attorneys...are presidential appointees ". also note that "midterm firings are unusual" with "five instances over 25 years in which u.s. attorneys were fired or resigned in the middle of a presidential term". unusual, but not unheard of. and, the article goes on to explain only 2 of the five instances. that is assuming the 5 are individuals -- any one of the "five instances" could have involved more than one individual. it's not as simple as they'd have us believe, and it is important to dig deeper.

cbs didn't care what don imus said until the advertisers withdrew their money. but, there's not time to go into all that now.

suffice it to say that nothing is as simple as they'd have us believe.

hokie hope day -- tomorrow, 20 april 2007

from a news story in the charlotte news & observer:


"Borrowing from a football tradition, members of the Virginia Tech community are inviting everyone around the country to wear orange and maroon, the school colors, on Friday to show support for the families of the victims and the school."


google hokie hope day and see more about this.

last night, i looked at the clock at 9:11, and then at 9:22, and then at 9:33.

sometimes i'll address current events in this space -- sports, lite news, entertainment -- but this virginia tech thing is too big. don't want you to think i don't realize it's going on. i'm not an eejit. but, this is simply not the place for that sort of serious discussion.

the preds are down now 3 games to 1 in the first round of the stanley cup playoffs. doesn't look real promising at this point, but they are back on home ice friday night.

luke wilson's got a new movie out, and it's a horror movie, not a comedy - but really those 2 genres are not that far apart. compare & contrast: comedy & horror. 350 lines, by tomorrow noon.

grocery list: bottled water, clif bars, bananas, grapes, bread, peanut butter. need anything?

had a chance to work late, & maybe you think that's bad, but see, it's good b/c there's lots of work, & it's easier to focus when nobody else is here.

my coworker has her desk trays labeled as follows:
* ancient runes
* defenese against the dark arts
* transfiguration
* potions.

i'm as big a harry potter fan as any average officeworker, but criminy, that labeling is simply ridiculous somehow. playfulness is one thing, but that's... it's simply ridiculous in an office environment where you expect your coworkers to take you seriously. not sure why exactly that this is carrying things too far, but it is. it's carrying things too far. it simply is. too. far.

overslept til 05:53 & let me tell you there was a time not long ago when there is no possible way that 05:anything would be considered oversleeping

okay, maybe that time was... like... 25 years ago. so what. who's counting. jeezumpete.

for the record, acts 9:6 tells us -- but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. if you can't figure that out for yourself, let me explain it to you. get off yer butoxie. that's it. see? that's all that's required from our end. [get it? end? butoxie? do i have to explain everything to you people?] ah-hrm & anyhooo -- all we are asked to do is get up & participate. the tasks will be given as we go along. you may not get an explanation - but if you put yourself out there, you'll definitely get a task.

be prepared, boy scout! get out there! participate!

with apologies to ol' will, although i am sure he'd understand.

to run, or not to run: that is the question:
whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous distance,
or to take legs against a sea of faddists,
and by opposing best them? to run: to walk;
no more; and by a walk to say we end
the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
that knees are heir to, 'tis a consummation
devoutly to be wish'd. to run, to walk;
to walk: perchance to chafe: ay, there's the rub;
for in that marathon what dreams may come
when we have shuffled off that distant hill,
must give us pause: there's the respect
that makes calamity of such long runs;
for who would bear the blisters borne of time,
the achilles' wrong, the hamstring's contumely,
the pangs of i.t. band, the rainy day,
the insolence of sub-elites, the spurns
that patient plodding with the ipod brings.
when a runner pause, a thirst to slake
with accelerade? who would be there,
to grunt and sweat over a weary course,
but that the dread of something afterwards,
the spenco shoe from which a smell emits
no traveller desires, but force the will
and make us rather bear those ills we have
than to face the morning knowing that
karmaphobes and cowards are we all;
and thus the native hue of resolution
appears at every turn, at every thought.
oh, enterprise of great pith and moment,
we accept the challenge laid by you.
hold tight the name of action. - run you now!
when the distance is at last complete
be memories of all your pain forgot.

you have to be careful what you wear, but if you can wear it when you're 25, you can probably wear it again when you're 55, but not when you're 45.

the sweater jacket, hood & buttons optional.

the brooch, any brooch.



when worn by a woman under 30, these items look chic.

when worn by a woman in her 30s... well, it could go either way.

a woman over 40 in these items will resemble a dowdy grandmother.

a woman over 50 can wear these items and look dignified.

same items, different result.

this is not my opinion.

this is simple truth.

4/15 is not tax day since it's sunday. in honor of the tedium that is tax filing, i will deliver henceforth a blather of words with only one picture.

started the day's activities with a 12-mile run. decided to do this run on a wooded trail. trail looked good, looked inviting. maybe a little muddy, but no big deal. it was raining, snowing, 36º.

set off along the trail and quickly learned that trails are quite different one from another, and they are all different from roads. speedy was a good sport but doesn't like woods, rain, having wet feet, or really anything much about what was going on. the only redeeming factor speedy found about the woods was the absence of birds. not sure that the woods actually contained no birds - more likely the birds were smart enough to stay inside when it was raining, snowing, 36º.
anyhooo - the run was a fabulous high-paced rainy day hike. the trail was a nonlooping straightshot 4 miles, so we went out & back, and that was all for speedy b/c she was running more later. i went back for 2-in-2-out, for a total of 12. i can testify to the necessity of different shoes for running on muddy trails. the traction and stability weren't great, and the shoes are of course now totally mudcovered.

we discovered creeks, bridges, mud holes, wetlands, large wet rocks, myriad roots, and the more plain type trail paved with small gravel. the route was through the woods near the lake. it really was fabulous, and even speedy admitted to having a good time.

the later event was the bike->canoe->run triathlon. i did the bike - speedy & i both canoed - and speedy ran. that was her 4 more miles on that trail. the biking was a 9-mile ride, 3x over a 3-mile loop through the park roads & parking lots. the highlight was a killer downhill to a hairpin turn around and back up the steep hill from a virtual standstill b/c you couldn't hit the turn too hard b/c it was a hairpin - you'd wipe out. there were other turns and a stellar straightaway.

the canoe portion... now, that was a challenge. we won't go into complete detail here, b/c there are many aspects of attempting to keep speedy's feet dry that would be boring to the general blogreading public. here's the thing, though... canoeing on a lake in 20+ mph winds is a challenge.

the course was modified from a 2-mile course to a 1/4-mile course, which was a good thing b/c it took about as long to go 1/4 mile as it would have to go 2 in normal conditions. in case you don't know anything about canoeing & wind -- you really can't afford to let your canoe get sideways to the wind. if the wind is fairly strong, you've got to actually head directly into it or have it directly at your back. there's no cutting across the wind in a canoe. if the bouys for which you are aiming aren't placed precisely with the wind, or if the wind, say, changes -- you are up the proverbial creek. [haha]

and, now for a little bit about lakes. lakes have copious shoreline. when the winds are up, waves are driven at every shoreline. and... now for a bit about waves - they will bounce off and reverb around in a smallish area. imagine a pot of water, you blow on it from one direction, causing waves, but look at how the waves bounce around and reverb off the sides.

okay, now you've got a little bit of an idea of what was going on out on the lake. throw in a couple dozen canoers with varying levels of expertise and high levels of excitement, and you've got a recipe for disaster.

but, there was no disaster. just a bunch of canoes going literally every whichaway and a bunch of people paddling madly, pushing off from rocks & shorelines, using paddles to pole through sand, laughing, yelling, and getting very wet.

not a single canoe tumped, and that just goes to show you. not sure what it goes to show you, but it must go to show you something.

the last leg was speedy's 4 miles in the woods - the 2-in-2-out i'd finished with earlier. she did it fast, of course, because she is speedy. while she was in the woods, i put the bike back in the car and put on some dry clothes. speedy came out of the woods. i cheered for her. she had a banana, and i had a piece of pizza. all of the extremely glorious oatmeal cookies, of which we had split one earlier, were gone. boohoo.

that's it. we stuck around a while, then headed on home. we were not travelling in a cattle truck, alas, but a good time was had by all.

bowling is a super swell sport!

tomorrow, speedy & i are supposed to put in 12 miles and then do this bike->canoe->run triathlon. lots of excitement! lots of excitement! the weather forecast holds 40º, snow, and 17mph winds. you can't have any kind of real snow at 40º, but you can have annoying wet snowstuff and winds. yee. haw.

does this ever happen to you? sometimes when i'm out riding around in the car, looking around, la la la la, right there in a place i've gone by a bazillion times, i'll see a house that's clearly well established, but i'll be like - well, would you look at that? cause i never noticed it before and can't explain why i never noticed it before, cause it's been there all along.

i no longer speak calculus. 2 years of high school and 1 year of college calc. i became quite proficient & fluent back in the day. but, i recently opened the college calc book and saw right away that i no longer speak calc. use it or lose it, eh? and, who uses calc in everyday life. nobody, that's who.

vandy commodores are national champs! in... bowling. so, yay for the 'dores b/c a national championship is a great accomplishment, and if the ncaa's gonna recognize bowling as a sport, then there's no reason not to go out and win it, eh?

so i'm sitting there eating ginger snaps and lo&behold, there's my old man, arriving to pick me up. will wonders never cease.

if someone professes to be an expert, and you ask that person a question pertaining to their field of professed expertise, you would expect that person to (firstly) answer the freakin' question and #b - they would be flattered you'd asked them something on which they could proudly expound.

if this someone reacts as if you have attacked them... says things like: what did i ever do to you? why are you angry at me? well, gosh, wouldn't you be confused?

now, say that you're being disingenuous. you don't really think the person is an expert, and you're trying to expose the person as a fraud. do you think it's enough to provoke them this way - will others see this as an inappropriate reaction? or, do you need to point out all this stuff about how if people are expert, they are flattered by questions, not defensive.

is it obvious only to me?

the weather forecast for today is for 22mph winds, and for once, the weatherpeople didn't have a bit of wardrobe advice for us, as they are befuddled.

tonight - hoping for a quick trip to the grocery b/c we are out of clif bars. disaster!

tomorrow night, shhh! - surprise party for junior who is older than he looks.

saturday - rain all day. my old man's got golf. maybe cleaning out the little house in town, but haven't quite got a handle on that one yet.

sunday - rain, rain go away! planning a 12 mile run and the lost loon triathlon with speedy.

that's a quick overview of my plans. what's up with you?

il y a une raison de tout - mais parfois on ne vous permet pas de le savoir.

p 47 no wonder he was a weirdo. if you had a mum who spoke french for no reason, you were more or less bound to end up singing out loud in a newsagents' without meaning to.

time to pack it in, man

pacman suspended for the entire year, with a review after 10 wks. 10 wks for pac without football to distract him even just a tiny wee bit? i predict trouble. he said he'd choose his friends over football, so the nfl made that choice for him, but you know what happens now, don't you? ol' pacman gets to find out who his friends really are. could be surpriso bel grande for him when he finds that they become disenchanted with someone who no longer has $81,000 to stuff in a trash bag and haul into a strip club in vegas.

maybe he will surprise me and get it together. it's sort of like a fresh start -- here are your 10 weeks - let's see what you do with them. maybe he will manage to pull it together and come through this thing.

eddie george said on the news he thinks the titans will draft a cornerback between the 2nd & 4th rounds. i hope not. i hope they get a free agent corner who's got some experience. starting over with rookies all the time is wearing me out, and i am a mere fan. imagine being a coach or teammate of these guys.

by the by... my coach & teammates are expecting me to show up today. mayhaps i shall go to work now.

intra-office memogram

to: guy down the cubby-row
from: ace
re: tympanic performance

repeatedly slamming your mouse on the desk -- although quite rhythmic and perhaps even cathartic [for you] -- is not going to make the software any more responsive nor is it going to increase your coworkers' admiration & respect for you. the reality is that it's likely to force us to hit you with a shoe. mayhaps your own shoe. repeatedly, rhythmically... perhaps even catharticly.

willkommen zum kindergarten

not far from here, sometime late last week, a kindygarden teacher became upset with a student for slinging his backpack. she grabbed his hand, bent back his thumb, and broke it.

i'd like to go on record right now saying that sometimes i become impatient at work, but as of this point, i have not broken the bones of a 5-year old.

put my contact lenses in today before going for a run & they stung like they were dipped in rubbing alcohol. wtf??

guess who's on old christine - that guy that i can't remember his name. sort of looks like andy dick and sort of like james spader, but he's neither of them, so who is he? hrm....

finished nick hornby's how to be good and started his about a boy. so far so good. here's a bit of it: "marcus wasn't surprised that she couldn't explain what had happened. he'd heard more or less the whole argument, and he hadn't understood a word of it; there seemed to be a piece missing somewhere. when marcus and his mum argued, you could hear the important bits: too much, too expensive, too late, too young, bad for your teeth, the other channel, homework, fruit. but when his mum and her boyfriends argued, you could listen for hours and miss the point, the thing, the fruit and homework part of it. it was like they'd been told to argue and just came out with anything they could think of." not bad, eh?

dave foley. his name is dave foley.

60-minutes guy just now said "a myriad" & unless he meant "a mermaid", whereby he said the wrong word, what he has done is to say that word wrongly

there's this big debate around here about letting school out on good friday. some schools, mostly private schools, get the day off. some county systems are on spring break, thereby avoiding the issue altogether. but, the local county was neither on spring break nor closed for the day. thus, myriad folks are up in arms about their religious liberties being trampoolated by the government. [hey, kids -- do you remember from our previous discussions - who is the government? that's right! the govt is us!] anyhoo - religious liberties. right. okay. here are some facts about school attendance around here on friday:

- the elementary & middle schools had much higher attendance levels than the high schools: the lower schools had up around 75% attendance, and the high schools had below 50%.
- the bowling alley was so crowded they had to call in more workers.

what do these facts say? these facts say it's not about religious liberty, it's about personal freedom -- high school students with transportation can choose to go to the bowling alley instead of coming to school. the newspapers quoted teachers who said they could not accomplish anything because the students weren't there. that's just bullfrogs. the teachers aren't controlled by the students. the schools aren't controlled by the students. if the teachers teach, more of the students would not play hookey. but, what has happened is that the teachers have quit teaching because the students aren't there, and the students don't show up because the teachers aren't teaching. it's just a load bullfrogs. someone has to stop the circle, and it's got to be the teachers, administrators, and parents because for hula's sake... the grown-ups are the ones in charge... aren't they?

the plan is to go there & back again - an out & back, yes? - although the modes of transportation differ

here i am again - up too early to run too far. saw these pretty numbers first-thing-right-away, all in a line, and hoping they came to greet me as a sign of good things to come -- that it's not too far - i.e., not further than i can go. there's a certain apprehension brewing. can you feel it? perhaps it's a force that can be used for the good - something to energize me, something to build on or to draw from. perhaps it is a force that will stalk me, separate me from the pack, and down me.

outcome remains to be determined.

more provocative words for you from nick hornby while i listen to the oven click & hum as it expands with the heat of cooking the banana bread

p. 129 let's face it: these houses belong to people like me, so there is a peculiar circularity in all this. maybe if we all forgot about being good and saving the world, and stayed at home and cleaned our own houses, then people like mrs cortenza wouldn't need doctors. maybe mrs cortenza, thus liberated from her pain and her domestic drugery, could have got on with something socially useful. maybe she would have spent her life teaching adult literacy, or working with teenage runaways, if i hadn't been so hell-bent on curing her, and thus never having time to scrub my own floors.

p. 138 it seems to me now that the plain state of being human is dramatic enough for anyone; you don't need to be a heroin addict or a performance poet to experience extremity. you just have to love someone.

the monster song

skidda-ma-rinkie-dink
waddle-ee-a-cha
yippity-boom-de-boom
zippity-doo-dah

oh-olee-oxen-free
loop-dee-loop-dee-lye
shooppity-shoop-shoobop
fah-funi-cue-lye

ittle-bee-beetle-bee
zoomdee-zoomdee-zoh
there is no way to tell
where this thing might go

you can switch off the light,
hop into the bed.
you can pull up the sheets
right above your head.

they will not go away.
they will be right there.
monsters beneath the bed,
and behind the chair.

you think you are too old?
and now they will leave?
monsters are even there,
if you don't believe.

skidda-ma-rinkie-dink
waddle-ee-a-cha
yippity-boom-de-boom
zippity-doo-dah

oh-olee-oxen-free
loop-dee-loop-dee-lye
shooppity-shoop-shoobop
fah-funi-cue-lye

feeling better

cautiously, like a turtle or a hermit crab... stick that head out of that shell. feeling better? not quite sure. don't want to come out to play too soon and end up sick again, 'cause bein' sick ain't no fun -- ain't no fun at all, at all!

to run
or not to run
that is the question
whether 'tis nobler
in the body to suffer
the pains and sorrows
of outrageous
recumbance
or to risk the chance
of returning
all too soon.

no apologies to shakespeare. he's been done worse by many.

where are those hidey eggs you promised me, eh?

time to go catch the mcjerkleheimer train.

got bronchitis and too tired to post anything so here is a pretty picture for you because that's the best i can do right now

what could be more beautiful than fig newtons, eh?

when people say long story short you know it's already too late, and what they mean is after blathering on & on, now i will finally get to the point

my old man thought it was allergies, but since i now have the very same symptoms, one could conclude it's a cold. or viroos. the icks. the crud. upper respiratory infection. me no feel good.

there's this big deal right now about bush having fired 8 u.s. attorneys, but what you may not know is that clinton fired 93 in '93. that's right ninety-three. bush "fired" them. clinton "replaced" them. cbs & abc didn't cover the clinton thing at all, and nbc gave it 20 seconds. now they are all three up in arms over bush doing the same thing clinton did, only to a lesser extent, and how is that fair or balanced at all, at all? do a little reading, maybe check out sayanythingblog.com for march 26. google for clinton fires u.s. attorneys. attorney generals get badges. cool, eh? they also serve at the pleasure of the president, which means they can get fired for nothing. wonder if they have to turn in their badges.

did i mention i've got a cold?

saturday's the k2k. that's kroger-2-kroger. the bestest training run of the whole training series, even for those of us paralyzed by karmaphobia, unable to register for the event. the k2k is still funner than fun. what's the run this morning? the family asks... eh? you say, we're running from our town to the next town. we're running from here to there, and it's further than you'd drive for groceries, that's for sure. what could be more fun than that?

don't want to miss the k2k. got to get over this cold.

tonight -- ohio state v. florida for the national championship. and so, maybe sleeping in front of the tv.

reading another book, currently on page 64, so far so good, & here are a couple lines from it that struck me although i'm not quite sure why they did.

p. 48 - next morning tom spends his breakfast time staring at me and david, and after a little while i begin to find it disconcerting. he is a disconcerting child, tom -- he's quiet, quick on the uptake, direct to the point of being rude. he has the personality of a child prodigy, but no discernable talent.

p. 60 - i'm a good person. in most ways. but i'm beginning to think that being a good person in most ways doesn't count for anything very much, if you're a bad person in one way.

happy new month

* april fool's day. be on the lookout, although the novelty of the whole foolish experience wore off at an earlier age, upon realizing that foolishness is a large part of my everyday life.

* no foolin' -- florida beat ucla last night 76-66 to head to the championship game against ohio state tomorrow night. florida beat ohio state in football last fall, with the ever-dyslexical score of 41-14, to take the football national championship. now, they meet in basketball.

* no foolin' -- finished the first five lemony snickets. don't have any more handy. need to plan another trip to the liberry.

* no foolin' -- the kia optima is not a fun car to drive. takes too much focus and concentration simply to keep it between the lines. seemed like fun at first, but the long stretches of interstate revealed its true self.

* no foolin' -- going to run 6 or so miles this morning and later pretend to play a soccer game. here's hoping the games aren't cancelled due to the rain that passed through last night. will take the kia, despite its faults.

* no foolin' -- here's a cartoon from the website toothpaste for dinner, for your amusement.