Archives September 2008

Watching a lot of football yesterday meant watching a lot of commercials as well.  Two stuck out in my head, maybe because I saw a lot of them. First was Hyundai and it’s new flagship car, the Genesis.  The commercials were cool and the car seemed pretty intense with looks like a Mercedes Benz and a 370 HP motor to boot.  It seems to me though the car is coming out 4 years too late.  Um with $4 a gallon gas most consumers are running towards fuel efficient vehicles instead of horsepower monsters that are ready for the race track.  It looks like a nice car though.

The other ad is the vaunted Jerry Seinfield/Bill Gates Microsoft spot.  Jerry signing on to promote MSFT was big news since he is being paid roughly 10 MILLION dollars for the work.  When I saw the commercial, both Ali and I turned to each other and said “WTF?”  The ad campaign is designed to combat the ultra-smart Apple ads where two guys representing the Mac (cool young hip guy) and the PC (chubby middle aged nerd) face off in skits where PC always comes off looking like a dope. Well the Jerry ad is funny just because it makes no sense.  I have no idea how it is supposed to make a consumer interested in Microsoft.  Don’t get me wrong, I am firmly in bed with Microsoft products, it’s how I make a living, but at least in the ad world, Apple’s tv spot’s are waaaaay better.

Video: Shoe Circus

This weekend I had yet another project scheduled, to redo the border around the orchard.  I hadn’t really thought about it until Ali mentioned that we have been doing projects every weekend in the sweltering heat for the last month or so.  It’s true, going back to the door installation when my brother and brother-in-law were down.  After that I had the outside door/stucco trim painting project, the screen replacement project, the painting the office project and now the rip out the border around the orchard and replace it with a 2″x6″ border project. It’s been a bit much.  If I was smart I would put off many of the outdoor projects until the pleasant winter weather arrives.

The broiler was turned up to high once again for this project.  I completely sweated through my first t-shirt in not time at all.  The area around the one side of the orchard just recently had the standing water dry up, leaving a nice muddy mess in it’s wake.  I got nice and dirty as I ripped up the old landscape timbers that were badly rotted.  I threw them in the back of the truck and dumped them in the ditch towards the back of the property.  I also ripped out the border by the shed where the mums were.  The latest flooding killed everything in there.  Ali and I decided to just rip the entire area out.  It never looked great and we got sick of it flooding out during wet season.

So I started on the orchard.  Initially I had this great idea to dig out along the entire border to sink it slightly below ground level to prevent weeds/grass from growing under it.  Trying to dig out the soppy, heavy turf in 90/90 conditions was just miserable.  It didn’t take me long to reconsider my plan.  I wound up just digging out the higher side of the border.  I used the fancy aluminum corners and connectors that I bought for use in the garden border.  I wound up not using them for the garden because the composite lumber didn’t fit them well. 

With Ali’s assistance I assembled the lumber into the connectors with care and then shifted the assembled box around a bit until it was where I wanted it.  It turned out that the border was even further up the hill than I anticipated so I had to dig out a trench for the top edge a second time.  The orchard border actually overlapped the buried sprinkler pipe at this point so I had to make sure to not crack the pipe during the excavation.  Finally I had the new border in place but now I needed more stuff.

My plan was to put sections of weed block under the border and staple it to the bottom to again prevent weeds from creeping underneath.  I needed more weed block.  Originally I had planned to not bother to get the mulch for the area because of the threat of Ike but the revised forecast track and my desire to have the project done changed my mind.  I headed off to HD and grabbed the block and 30 bags of red mulch.  The back of the mud covered Tacoma was filled to the brim with mulch goodness.  I drove slowly on the way home on I-75.  I had nightmares of a bag of mulch flying off on the highway and causing a 10 car pile up.

Once I got home I crawled around on my hands and knees and attached the weed block to the border, again with Ali’s help.  Then I dumped the bags of mulch as Ali spread it around.  30 bags wasn’t enough to cover everything, I’ll need to pick up another 10 bags or so this week. We did our first application of Preen to see if it delivers on it’s promise of a less weedy existence.  I finished off my work on the area for the day by driving a piece of 4 foot rebar into each corner to keep the border in place in the event of hurricanes or the occasional bump with the tractor.  I like the way it turned out although I was very exhausted by the end of it.  Even my finger nails hurt from using my hands as a poor man’s garden tool to rip out clumps of sod. I’ll take some pictures later.

 Like I mentioned, the Ike forecast track has become much more favorable for our area which is a big relief.  We will probably still get rain and some wind as it passes by but nothing all that significant.  I feel bad for wherever it hits up in the northern gulf coast.  Man I would hate to live in Cuba, it seems it has been hit by almost every single storm of the season.  That place has to be a mess.

Yesterday was the first time I got to watch an Eagles game in HD on my 73 inch monster.  It was fantastic in every way.  The picture looked great, the sound on my repaired Bose surround system was flawless and the Eagles performance on the field was pretty much perfect.  Despite missing their two top receivers, the Eagles ripped it up.  They dominated the Rams in pretty much every way imaginable.  I don’t think I could have asked for a better way for the season to start.

I also hopped on the computer and checked out another feature of the NFL Superfan package that I added on to my Sunday Ticket, Supercast.  Supercast allows you to watch all of the games you get with the Sunday Ticket on your computer.  After some initial problems connecting to the service I got it working and watched the Cowboys/Browns game online.  It was pretty damn cool.  The interface is chock full of info and is easy to use.  It’s definitely tailored for the fantasy football player, offering up fantasy stats at the click of a button. 

Speaking of fantasy football, my team if it stays healthy could be quite the powerhouse.  I have already won my game this week while still having one player to play yet tonight.  I also have a good shot to have the most points of any team this week which translates into $50 each week it happens.  This could be my year, finally.  On paper, I have the strongest team in the league. The injury bug already bit me a bit with Marion Barber going out with bruised ribs.  However I made a smart move and drafted Felix Jones as well so if it is a serious injury my ass is covered nicely.

I spent the second half of Sunday just watching football and f’ing off on the computer.  Even though I spent 2/3 of the weekend busting my ass, the afternoon of f’ing off made me feel like a loser. I again have that feeling that there are a lot of little things that I need to do.  I spent some time working some more on the vball video.  Man this is going to be tedious.  I am still in the process where I watch each and every play and decide if it is vball movie worthy or not.  If it is worthy then I trim it to cut out the dead action and label it so I know what it is when I start sticking clips together.  So far after watching the action again from the tourney I would best describe our play as “uninspired”.

I forgot to mention that I am just on a circling pattern, waiting to get an Iphone to replace my Treo. My contract with Sprint ran out at the end of last month.  My experience with the Touch sold me on getting an Iphone.  I’m not sure if I want to spend the extra $100 for the 16 gig model, I probably should but I know they are more difficult to get.  I am waiting for purely financial reasons.  All of these projects cost money plus we have some big bills coming up in the near future, namely the 30,000 mile Camry dealer service and the anniversary trip to Georgia.

The last thing we need is a big nasty storm ripping through our backyard.  The panic has not begun in earnest yet but you can bet if this track does not change significantly over the weekend things are going to get crazy.

My blog entry was already done last night, inadvertently.  One of the readers of my blog strongly disagrees with my position on the election.  He let me know in no uncertain terms with a long email yesterday.  I won’t reveal his identity or post his original email because I didn’t ask permission to do so.  In reading the email exchange I would say that this reader would actually be in the 20 odd percent of people that still APPROVE of George W. Bush, pretty scary.  His MAJOR gripe about Obama is the possibility of more taxes, he is just hell bent against it since it could mean more money out of his pocket.  Below is my reply, somewhat edited for public consumption.

This is something that only has come to me as I have grown older and maybe it will come to you as well.  I started looking at the BIG picture and not just how things are just within my white picket fence.  Trust me I know it is very easy to simplify things down to “ this might affect me in a negative manner so I must be against it”

 So let me establish a few things.  Nobody wants to pay more taxes, NOBODY.  Now if you looked closely at what Obama is proposing tax wise, it is basically returning the tax laws to what they were during Clinton’s administration, some of the 8 most productive years ever.   Also, the tax breaks when looked at in the BIG picture are actually giving far more Americans a tax break than what McCain is endorsing. In fact if you look at the OVERALL picture, McCain’s tax plan is supposed to save Americans about 3% on their taxes on average by 2012, Obama’s proposal  5%.

 I am definitely not a supporter of welfare mentality and you know how I feel about illegals, the 21^st century cockroach.  People definitely should work hard to support themselves and not sneak into other countries to whore their infrastructure.  However the reality is whenever there is money to be handed out for free, scumbags will always be lining up for it or working the system to get more than their fair share.  That truth doesn’t change no matter who is in the White House.

 K more big picture here, the environment.  Is global warming or the idea of it viable?  Well most scientists will say yes but even if they are wrong, common sense would dictate that the earth’s resources are finite and the world’s population is exploding exponentially.  No matter how you look at it, conservation, making the effort to be a green as possible, can not possibly be seen as a negative thing.  In my experience, people that don’t give a f about the environment also don’t give a f about much more than themselves.  There are certainly tons of people like that, it certainly doesn’t make it a smart way to exist on the planet.  More drilling means absolutely nothing.  It’s a pimple on a fat lady’s ass.  New ideas have to be pursued passionately instead of being bought out and squashed by big oil and auto manufacturers.

 Health care – only the people that can afford health care should have it? The rest can die.  It’s an easy stance to take when you can afford it yourself.  To me it seems reasonable that people should have the right to healthcare.  Implementation of that is another story, a government based plan could easily spin into yet another huge mess, sort of like Homeland Security.  But once again, I have health care yet I think the biggest, most modern country in the world should be able to provide healthcare for it’s CITIZENS. (not f’in illegals)

 I could throw everything else out and just not vote McCain because of the old fart’s stance on Iraq.  Anyone that thinks Iraq was/is a good idea has very bad judgment in my opinion.  Saying we almost have “won” the war is like stamping a “dumb ass” stamp on your forehead.

 The vast majority of your objections seem all wrapped up in MORE TAXES.   However the reality is the Bush administration cut taxes recklessly while spending more money that any administration before it and loaning more money than ALL OF THE PREVIOIUS PRESIDENTS COMBINED. Think about that.  You don’t get out of a hole like that without biting the bullet.  It’s like saying “I’m going to work on paying off my credit card debt by getting another credit card”  Yea it would be nice if all of these problems could be fixed without paying for them but that isn’t living in reality.

 I certainly don’t agree with everything Obama supports but I am excited about getting someone in there that isn’t a typical, lobbyist controlled, Washington DC veteran that has been corrupted by two decades in that cesspool.  Having a half black guy elected president would be a pretty awesome thing if you ask me. Although I think the US still has a lot of racism in it.  It’s just below the surface instead out in the open. If anything, I think that is Barrack’s biggest obstacle of all.

 Nah dude I’m not mad.  Your opinion is your opinion and you certainly aren’t alone in your thinking.  It’s all a matter of perspective. Everyone has to decide what is important to them.

I didn’t think my little blurb this morning was all that hard to figure out but evidently it was.  Heck, I even got a call from Ali asking what the hell I was talking about.  I was somewhat amazed that it needed explanation.  When I explained to her the analogy to George Bush and John McCain she said it was a “horrible” analogy.  Well of course I thought she was just mad because it went over her head.  I think it is quite a good analogy actually, if you take second to think about what roughly 45% of the population is considering to do, dump a proven loser for someone that wants to continue many (not all) of the past loser’s policies.  I told Ali if she wants to make her own analogies she can start her own blog.

I watched/listen to the Sarah Palin speech last night at the RNC.  Good God it was beyond annoying.  First the constant applause after every few syllables is just maddening.  At one point she says ” I was a hockey mom” and that simple, pointless statement drew thunderous applause.  F’in A, YEA! Hockey mom for president!!! Kick ass! I mean really, WTF?  Now of course the democratic convention had the same problem, too many zombies clapping constantly. 

But then Sarah got into the meat of her speech which a good part of it was throwing out skewed vague references to downright falsehoods about Obama, relying on tired, repetitious, attempts to scare people of him.  He’s going to “raise” taxes. (yea to the levels of the Clinton administration and not on 95% of Americans) He doesn’t have experience.  (She does?) And of course the biggest unsaid criticism (he’s BLAAAAAAACK).    As she droned on I found myself shaking my head more and more, disappointed she couldn’t say something more positive about McCain instead of fear mongering against Obama.  It makes me laugh that the republicans are acting like they have nothing to do with the last 8 years of their administration and the dire results of it’s policies.  They want people to magically forget about what reality is and instead look at the pretty pink elephant in the corner.  More misdirection and card tricks to fool America into four more years of lobbyist control.

If I hear one more republican say we are “close to WINNING the war in Iraq” I am going to puke.  The SECOND we leave the country en masse it will fall right back into civil war, guaranteed.  Any politician that calls such a situation a “victory” needs to have their sanity and judgement seriously questioned.  The only victorious group from this conflict are the war and oil profiteers.    

And please if you EVEN utter a word about Obama being bad for the country simply because of his name I can’t help but immediately dismiss you as clueless.  I can’t tell you how man anti-Obama emails I have seen circulated that focus on his name and the secret terrorist agenda associated with it.  It just seems impossible to me that people actually put any merit in such crap but apparently many do.  I hear references to it frequently around here, a republican stronghold and it makes me pause and mentally sigh every time.  

So much of what Sarah Palin said was just unadulterated bullshit, plain and simple. The sheep at the convention bought it hook, line and sinker.  

When Todd was down, Ali told him about how much of a pain in the ass it is to keep our various landscape beds weed free.  When I installed the beds I went through the trouble of laying weed block under the mulch to make the areas “weed free”.  Well over the years they have been anything but that.  I came to discover the weeds grow just fine in the mulch itself, they could care less about the weed block underneath.  Well Todd told Ali about how he uses Preen in his mulch and it takes care of the problem.  I’ve heard of the stuff before but never knew anything about it.  So since Todd gave Ali the low down I have been looking for it.  I struck out at both Home Depot and Lowes but managed to find the product at Walmart so I bought two jugs.  It doesn’t kill existing weeds but blocks new ones from coming up while fertilizing the existing plants, trees or vegetables. It sounds almost too good to be true but I’ll give it a shot.  We need to remulch all of our stuff so the Preen application will be coordinated with that project I guess.

Just imagine you finally were able to get out of a disaterous eight year marriage.  During your marriage your wife gained 100 pounds, cheated on you, maxed out all of your credit cards, gave you a veneral disease and made just about every aspect of your existence MISERABLE. After finally ridding yourself of this woman you immediately marry her sister. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it?

I love my Tivo’s, I really do.  Tivo added yet another feature to make me love them more.  Now I can browse YouTube videos through the Tivo!  Unfortunately this feature is apparently limited to Tivo Series 3 and Tivo HD dvr’s.  Of course the first thing I checked out was my YouTube collection.  It was damn sweet being able to watch my clips on the tv.  The only problem was since YouTube compresses the videos to save space, the video quality is pretty low, especially when stretched to fit on a 73 inch tv.  Still, it is yet another great feature of Tivo.

Watching some of my volleyball videos again inspired me to at least start the process of making the 2008 Rumble video.  I got as far as ripping the video off the two camcorders and having it sit on my network.  I have a problem though.  In all of my other videos I relied heavily on the included Sony Vaio video editing app, DVGATE to assist in cutting out the video clips that I used in the movies.  I no longer have that tool at my disposal and I’m sort of lost at this point on how I am going to cut the flick up in a manner that won’t be super tedious.  I’ll have to do some scouting around for what I can use.

I have the pictures I took of the painting project online.  Feel free to peruse them at your leisure.

Wow, what a shitstorm the Sarah Palin VP choice has stirred up.  It seems every few hours there is a new revelation that makes the choice look sillier and sillier.  Yesterday I saw the pictures of her underage daughter boozing it up and a pic of Sarah in her college days wearing a t-shirt that says, “I may be broke, but I’m not flat busted”  Now of course as a laid back, open sort of person I could care less about either of these things.  However when this woman is supposed to be one of the figureheads for the right wing, conservative faction that McCain was trying to appease, it isn’t such a good thing.

I wanted to start by expanding on my claim that McCain picking Sarah Palin was a “smart” move.  The reason that it is smart is because it preys on stupidity.  McCain will be appealing to shallow thinkers that liked Hilary Clinton.  These people will go no further than noticing that Sarah also has breasts and a vagina so that will qualify her as a suitable replacement for Hilary.  Ali’s comment on the selection is valid, yes people with a brain wouldn’t flip their vote based on such a simple ploy.  On the local news Friday they were interviewing women that supported Hilary about Palin, asking if the selection would influence their vote.  Of course the first woman they show said she would indeed be voting for McCain now because of Sarah Palin, scary but true.  It will be interesting to see how all of her personal situations getting thrown out into the spotlight will affect public opinion.  Personally I could care less if her daughter is pregnant and I would prefer if the story never hit the press.  I mean who cares really? I care that she is anti-gay, anti-abortion and has no issues with ripping up Alaska for more oil.

Friday I had a little present waiting for me, well a big box actually.  My repaired Bose system arrived back from the repair center.  I hooked it up Friday evening to put it to a quick test.  When the 15-20 minute mark hit I was nervous that it would once again cut out.  I was very pleased when it sailed past the sticking spot without issue.  It sounded as good as ever. 

During the day Ali had done more work on the office, pulling more stuff out and patching nail holes in preparation for painting the office over the weekend.  I was looking forward to the office getting painted, I wasn’t looking forward to doing the actual work.

We were up before the birds Saturday morning as the alarm went off at 4am.  I had the truck all packed up with the race timing equipment the night before so we could get out and to the site as early as possible.  I was a bit concerned when we got there to see the road was damp from some rain that came down overnight.  The duct tape I use to hold down the timing lines would not work if the road is wet obviously.  Luckily by the time I was ready to put the lines down the roadway had dried.  Our set up went well, I had everything set up and ready to go a half hour before the race started.  Again we had a large increase in runners over the prior year.  Last year we had about 370 people finish, this year the number was just under 500.

So the race starts and the waiting game begins.  I double and triple check the equipment to make sure all is in order as I nervously await the first runner crossing which happens about 16:30 after the start.  I hold my breath waiting for the confirmation beep.  I get to breathe after hearing the much anticipated BEEP! Yes!  This is the first race that we didn’t hand out finish cards, it was all on me.  The person that used to hand out cards was given a new responsibility, beep confirmer.  Basically if someone came across the line and did not beep, his job was to call out the bib number so I could quickly punch it into the system, it worked out well.  However as the number of people that came across without a beep kept increasing I found myself getting increasingly annoyed with how so many runners lack the common sense to be able to properly utilize a zip tie.  We had a number of people come across without a chip.  Some of them simply didn’t pick one up but a number of them had them fall off.  The reason they fell off was because they secured the zip tie backwards, in the manner that allows it to slip loose.  I never thought we would have to go to the degree where you are explaining to runners that a “zip” tie is attached correctly when you hear the “ZIP”, but apparently we do.  Either that or I need to find a zip tie that locks in place no matter which way you thread it. 

Even with the zip tie problems, I don’t think I had to manually enter more than 20 runners out of 500.  However once I started producing results, the second wave of problems start, the runners coming up saying “I am missing from the results or something is wrong with my results…”   I found this process even more annoying because again more often than not, the issues or problems were caused by the runner either not completely or accurately filling out their entry form or because they did something wrong with the chip.  For example we had a woman come up distraught that her daughter was the overall winner but wasn’t on the results.  Well, her chip was found on the starting line, another zip tie novice casualty.  We had family members that didn’t pay attention whose chip went on whose foot causing times to be mismatched with runners.  We also had a number of people with incorrect age’s because the runner did not enter a birth date on their form.  Now part of this problem has to do with our race volunteers.  They are supposed to be confirming that entries handed in are legible and complete as well as instructing runners on how to attach the chips.  Unfortunately with the hectic scene around the registration table, that responsibility seems to go out the window sometimes.

Even with the bumps in the road, overall the timing went very, very well. It seems each time the process gets a little smoother.  The biggest hurdle we seem to have at this point is coming up with a way of getting the chips attached to people’s sneakers that is FOOL PROOF.  We had everything cleaned up and pulled out about 9:30.  On the way home we stopped at Lowe’s to grab the paint for the office and a few extra supplies for the job.

So after we ate lunch I started doing more prep in the office by patching up a few holes Ali couldn’t reach, sanding the patches down and pulling down the blinds.  While I did this Ali hopped on the tractor and mowed down some formally wet areas on the property where the water had receded a bit.  We wanted to take the opportunity to do this now since we were supposed to be getting more rain from Gustav later in the day and most of Sunday. By the time Ali got in I had just finished wiping down the baseboards and was starting the taping process.

So after taping I get out the paint and away we go.  It didn’t take me long at all to remember how much I dislike painting.  Painting the office was more of a pain than the other rooms because we had more furniture left in the room to paint around and it has a high vaulted ceiling.  Using a paint roller on a textured wall is quite the workout.  It was an unwelcomed one considering I was still quite sore from my week of solid 300’s I just finished up.  It is a great core workout as much of the time I had both hands on the roller overhead and to the side as I pressed hard to push the paint thoroughly onto the uneven wall surface.

The work was tedious but we made good progress.  Even though the project didn’t start until after noon we were finished putting two coats of paint on the room by Saturday evening.  I was pleased with the results.  The color just makes the room look more “refined” and “warm”.  By Saturday night we had started putting stuff back in place. We celebrated getting another room done by ordering out for pizza even though we had our traditional Friday night pizza the night before already.  I collapsed into bed around 11, exhausted from a day that started some 19 hours ago.

Sunday morning I “slept in” until 7 am.  It wasn’t long until I was once again engaged in more work.  One of the changes I was making in the office was moving my computer from on top of a stand next to my desk to a spot underneath on the left side behind a door to continue the new “clean” theme of the room.  Getting it down there and everything hooked up was quite the pain in the ass.  I also had some mysterious audio problem that only surfaced once I put the system down there that mysteriously fixed itself.  I was a bit concerned that I would tire quickly from the difficult accessibility of the puter in it’s new spot as well as thermal issues from it being in a more enclosed area.  I did like the look though so at least for now, I’m going to try to work with it.

While Ali was at the gym I went outside during the morning and mowed and weed whacked the rest of “dry” land during an unexpected break in the precipitation.  Once she got back we worked in earnest in getting more stuff back in the office.  We had a lot of junk in the office, junk meaning stuff you have but don’t use or need.  Sorting through the items to determine their worth is a long process.  We spent a good chunk of Sunday afternoon just bringing in bins of stuff and sorting them.  As a result our trash and recycle can got fuller and we also started new bins for yard sale or ebay items.  We burned out on the process and stopped with a few bins to go which are still in the living room.  The office will be much less full than it was when we are done.  Many times throughout the day we commented on how we liked the color in the room. Sunday night we mostly vegged out and watched one of my favorite shows, Wife Swap.

So I had been pushing all weekend to get stuff done so my Monday could be a day of mostly leisure and that plan had come to fruition.  Ali had a shopping trip planned with my mom and then afterward she was bringing mom back for a bare bones Labor day cookout.  There were a few light chores I knocked out in the morning but while the girls were shopping I was mostly relaxing.  I played some WoW and watched a couple movies, Beowulf and Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. 

Beowulf was an animated action film. The animation was very realistic, at certain points you would swear you were looking at real people.  Actually much of the animation was digitized real actors. I found the film entertaining throughout.  There is even some digitized T&A which was funny.  I was a bit surprised to see the mother of all demons was a naked Angelina Jolie, sans nipples and other visible genitalia.  I came into the film thinking it was going to be on the lame side, I left it thinking I would recommend it to others. If you like Lord of the Rings stuff, you’ll like this.  B+

I knew little about Harold and Kumar except I remember hearing somewhere they were funny.  It doesn’t take long to laugh at the simple premise that “Harold” is an asian guy.  Kumar and he are best friends that love to smoke weed.  The movie is about them smoking weed, getting a craving for White Castle burgers and a boatload of crazy things that happen on their way to White Castle.  The plot sounds simple and stupid.  In reality the movie was very funny and had me laughing throughout, out loud at times even though I was by myself.  It made me excited that I also have “Harold and Kumar go to Guantanomo Bay” to watch.  I think Ali may have even liked this one enough to overlook that there are some bare boobs in it.  Maybe I can get her to watch the next one. Another B+.

Once Ali and mom got back Ali showed me her clothes she got as well as some stuff which she snagged for me which I liked.  It didn’t take long till we hit the pool for a bit for a Labor Day swim.  Mom said the 87 degree water felt a bit cool which I snickered at.  It was too “cold” for Ali to go in past her knees.  While mom was over we showed her the newly painted room, the repaired screens and the newly painted front door and stucco trim.  Since my mom follows my blog religiously there isn’t much new to tell her when she sees me in person, she already knows what is going on.

We had burgers and beans shortly after 5 and after that mom was anxious to get home, she was pooped from a day of shopping.  She acted like it was such a huge deal that I had to drive her ALL the way back to her house.  It took less than a half hour, I reiterated to her that it is never a big deal.  We brought Nicki along for the ride back to mom’s.  After I got home the rest of the night was low key.  We watched Sunday’s Big Brother and then got ready for bed.

So after completing the epic 1500 last week I gave thought to what I wanted to do with my workout routine.  The 1500 was sort of the top of the mountain for me.  I’m going to be scaling my 300 workouts back, maybe only doing it twice a month just to ensure I maintain that fitness level.  I want to resume my conventional workouts as well as dialing regular running back into my program. I am hoping to run several 5k’s over the winter.  We’ll have to see if my knees will agree with what my mind desires.