Special Sunday edition

Wow we lucked out with Katrina. It went from an “oh by the way” storm to a Cat 5 killer that could literally sink New Orleans. It isn’t going to be pretty.

I am dropping this entry today because I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a hell day at work. Our PDC for the domain is down. This server runs on one of the few NCR servers we have left. I hate NCR servers. The box is around 5 years old and has been plagued with drive problems. When a drive fails, NCR doesn’t give us new drives, we get refurbs which fail in short order as well. It’s really frustrating. Well apparently there is some sort of drive/controller issue with the box now that prevents the server from booting at all. I can’t even boot a Win 2K cd to try to do a repair, it just hangs. We placed an emergency call and indicated we needed someone there right at 8am. I place the over under at when someone shows up at 2pm. I really do not like NCR. All the Dell servers I replaced the NCR boxes with have been bulletproof.

On Saturday night we decided to make it casino night. After I told Ali how Troy and I had a decent time and how they were giving away a new vehicle that night, I talked her into going. The car didn’t go off till midnight and we got there around 7 so we had a lot of time to kill. We played primarily video poker. We had a modicum of success. My highlight was when I hit for 4 aces which was a 400 credit (nickels) payoff. We ate dinner at the restaurant there and had a surprisingly good meal. I had a voucher to get one meal free so it was a nice deal. Every 2 hours leading up to the car drawing they gave away 500 dollars cash. It seemed like almost every name drawn was hispanic. We played some other games that sucked down cash faster than video poker so Ali tapped MAC for another 40 bucks. Finally the big moment came, it was time for the car drawing. It was another hispanic name that was drawn, but wait, the 5 minute timer expired, evidently that person wasn’t there, they were drawing another name. Ali and I were excited to have another shot. They draw again, the winner is Concepcion Blahdeeblah… wait a minute, that bitch won the 10 o’clock 500 dollar drawing as well??!!! There was a lot of rumbling and mumbling going throughout the place. That was total bullshit. How random could the drawing be if the same person wins 2 prizes within minutes of each other and there are thousands of entries? I was really pissed and was grumbling all the way out to the parking lot. I smelled like an ashtray, dropped 100 bucks and then had to witness one person win 500 dollars AND a 40,000 dollar vehicle the same night. As I grumpily opened Ali’s door to let her in the car, I noticed that in the car next to me there was an ordinary looking guy in the back seat of a car. He had an odd look on his face. As I came around to my side, I saw the top of a head in his lap. I tried to not look directly at the guy but I could tell he was trying to act like nothing was going on. When I got in our car I told Ali I was 95% sure the guy in the backseat of the car next to us was getting a blowjob. She wasn’t impressed when I told her that I felt like I should be giving the guy a thumbs up or something. Ali didn’t understand my logic and I didn’t bother trying to explain it much. I was envious of that ordinary man for at least 5 minutes.

Ali had to work today so I went to do the morning run solo. On my way there I set a mental goal of 3 miles. I wanted to run 3 miles straight. Never mind the fact that when I run with Ali, we never run more than a mile and a half straight. I based my goal on the fact that normally when I run with Ali, at the mile and a half mark I feel like I can do more so 3 miles should not be a problem. I walked two laps to warm up, got a drink of gatorade and started. Right from the get go I didn’t feel very energetic. I think since I didn’t have Ali to pace me and I forgot my watch to time my laps, I believe I ran the early laps at a faster pace than when I run with Ali, which made me feel pretty tired already at the mile mark. Matters weren’t helped by the strong SW wind (Katrina) that was smacking me in the face down the entire back stretch. When I would turn into the wind I could feel my pace slow as I had to push into the wind with each stride. Between mile one and two I had thoughts of quitting early, maybe just running 2 miles straight. But then the goal oriented task master part of me would chime in “If you can run 2 miles you are 2/3 of the way to 3, don’t be a puss…” Every lap I would do the math to come up with a new percentage of the total goal I had acheived, 1/3 there, half way there, 3/4 there… Laps 9 thru 12 were slow grueling laps. After I started, there were a couple that walked onto the track and were walking in the opposite direction I was running. On the first lap I said good morning but after that I was too damn winded to even bother to talk anymore. The sun was out making me sweat like a pig. The last 2 laps were mind over matter, my legs felt like shit, I was hot, the windy backstretch made me want to stop dead in my tracks but I kept pushing on. When I was on the final lap and reached the last few yards I tried to accelerate to the finish but did little more than increase my stride a few inches. I crossed the line and swore loudly. I rip open the lunch box to drink more gatorade and swear again when I see that the one I opened leaked all over the box. I felt dizzy and weak as I walked 2 of the slowest laps in history. I walked so slow I was almost walking backwards. I walked so slow that an adult Haitian woman could have passed me. I was that tired. I was proud to have reached my goal but surprised it was as difficult as it was. Running pushes you mentally and if you manage to push through the overwhelming desire to quit, you accomplish a little something that sticks with you throughout the day.