Bday, Apprentice, Stern is coming, HV Man, Driveway marathon, Running Man, Cammed for the holidays

Today I’m officially 38. Nowadays when my birthday rolls around I normally do a brief inventory of my life. In some ways, my path has strayed off where I thought it may be. In other ways, I have exceeded expectations and am proud of some the things I have accomplished. I am probably in better shape now then I was 15 years ago. I think the area of my appearance that has been the most affected by time is my face. If I have no expression on my face it isn’t obvious, but if I smile, there are lines and creases that spring to life that never existed in the past. Overall I realize that in most ways I am very fortunate to be in the position I am. I still have the moments when I stress out about not having a definitive idea of what is next down the road for myself. I insulate myself from these moments the best I can by keeping myself busy for most seconds of the day. We are going to go to one of my favorite restaurant’s tonight for my birthday, Carraba’s. I’m gonna drink a little bit.

The Aprrentice wrapped up last night. I think the final two were the best final two since the show has aired. Randall won which was a pretty obvious pick. The guy was as sharp as a tack. I found it very interesting at the end when Trump basically offered up to hire both of the final two since they were so good and he asked Randal’s opinion on it. Randall was good friends with the girl he was in the finals with, yet he held his ground and told Trump that he thought the Apprentice was all about finding ONE winner, not two. Rebecca was obviously pissed with his actions, but hey, he won, he was the better candidate and he felt that she shouldn’t slide in as a consoloation prize. If that was me, I would have taken her along but that is why I am not on the Apprentice.

Today is the last day for Howard on regular radio. I bought my Sirius satellite radio over a year ago, waiting for this time to come. Since then, I fell in love with satellite radio for tons of reasons besides the fact that Howard was coming. The music choices are endless, I love the NFL and other sports broadcasts they offer and they have talk content to fit most any taste. Stern will air January 9th. I can’t wait. I am sure he will go a bit overboard initially with the swearing and sex related content. I look forward to when he settles down a bit and can just have conversations without having to worry about chosing his words carefully. Actually my favorite part of his show is when the different people on the show rip into each other. I could care less if he had another stripper on the show ever.

At the gym Wednesday I saw a character that I had seen a few times before, whom annoyed me then and annoyed me even more now. Both times I saw the guy he was wearing a tight, plain, white t-shirt, the type that old men normally wear underneath a button down dress shirt. This guy constantly breathes like he just got done holding his breath for 5 minutes, he inhales and exhales loudly, ALL the time, even when he is just walking around the gym. When he actually gets onto a piece of equipment it is amplified, the noises get louder and are accompanied by hideous looking grimacing. It’s very distracting. Plus he likes to slam the weights onto and off of the bar, perhaps to punctuate just how hard he is working. I mean this guy is over the top, you can hear him breathing from 30 feet away. He will be forever identified by me as Hyperventilation Man.

Across the street from us there is a hispanic family that we have never really spoken to. I believe the husband is in the landscape business, like many Mexicans in SW Florida. Most mornings when I am leaving for work I see what I belive is the wife walking to the end of the driveway, turning around and walking back up it and then back again. She uses the driveway as her own personal track, walking up and down, up and down. It’s an interesting way to get some walking exercise but at least she is trying.

Tomorrow evening we are running in yet another 5k, this time it is on Marco Island. We are running right before the Marco Christmas parade, along the parade route. There may be people lining the streets waiting for the parade that could double as race supporters. We hope to watch the parade after the run. It should be a good time. Since my strenuous weekend, my lower back has been hurting all week. I hope it clears up before tomorrow, otherwise I will require some advil to assist my performance.

I turned my cam back on so all could see my decorated office. I’ve had occasional issues with it blue screening my pc so I have had it off for awhile. But the holiday season is cam season so enjoy the holiday show.