Full Metal Lunchbox

 
Sorry my blog posts have been so limited lately.  Work has kept me super busy.  I'm usually too distracted to blog at home and I can't access Blogger on the job.  Oh, and my trusty old Dell laptop finaly died (in Chisago Lake, Minnesota of all places).  So recently I've only been able to post from my cellphone.

Now I'm enjoying a leisurely morning in bed with my work laptop, and I have a little time before I have to get up and see if I have any clothing to wear for a wedding later.

Here's a brief update on my goings on..

Last weekend Denise and I spent some time visiting her family up in Minnesota.  We also got to join in the celebration of Danielle's birthday, as well as spend a night in Denise's mom's awesome house on Chisago Lake.  Unfortuantely we were so pressed for time that we missed out on a lot of things we meant to do, including the 5K we had signed up for.

But the highlight of the weekend was getting to hang around with Denise's kids Brandon and Eva.  Here we are at the Super Target.  These guys are easily amused; we had lots of fun making mini-movies on my cellphone (which I'll post later) and making up funny jingles.  My personal favorite: "Happy Birthday to Ham!"







We also had ice cream at Izzy's.  Yum!







Now, let's talk about running--something I have not posted much about on my blog lately.  The reason for that is simple: I've been sucking.  From February through much of May I've slowed down by a lack of motivation and poor performance in general.  Every race I've run these past few months has been terrible, and my training runs have all been a struggle.  Many days I didn't know which felt worse: my inflamed leg muscles or my deep embarassment.  I just could not get it together.  (As you might have guessed from my lack of a race report, Indy was a huge fiasco, my worst race ever.  Let us not speak of it again.)

But things are starting to turn around.

I've been doing lots of speed work at the track, and though these workouts have been painful they are starting to pay off.  My longer runs along the lakefront are still a struggle, but I am finaly starting to put on some speed and distance.  At last, I can feel myself falling back into line.

Yesterday morning was my first really good medium-distance workout since January.

Distance:   6 miles
Time:   53:52
Pace:   8:59/mile!

As usual, I started out slow, leg muscles groaning.  But as I progressed down my favorite gravel path by Montrose Harbor I began to really enjoy myself, and going faster and faster became a wonderful game.

(Incidently, during mile 4, and for only the second time in my running carear, I was hit with a massive runner's high.  I felt so giddy and dizzy that I lost track of the world around me as I passsed one runner after another at breakneck speed.  For half a mile I was clocking speeds in excess of 7:30/mile pace.  I eventually stopped not because I was tired, but because I was a bit frightened!)

I had almost forgotten why I run.  Now I remember again.

Time to Great Midwest Relay:   2 weeks
Time to Marathon Training:   3 weeks

I plan on continuing to hit it hard right through to GMR, where I'll get a chance to see what my muscles can realy do.

My goal for the summer is to run the intermediate distances in the 9:30/mile pace group during CARA marathon training.

See you out on the path.  I'll be smiling for a change.

Mainframe went down last night. On conf call w/ 30 grumpy people. I'm used to these hours. But normally I don't get to talk to anyone my first three hours of work.

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UPDATE: Work sure was busy today, but it had a happy ending: I discovered a defect in the application I support.  If confirmed, I'm hoping they'll name it "the Josh Defect."

The hospital is safe (at least during the day shift) with my girlfriend in charge of security.

 
It's about 2AM Friday night and I've been on a conference call with work for the past 2 1/2 hours working a systems migration.  My part in this process is small, but I have to constantly pay attention so I'm ready when they call my name.  Hopefully I'll be done before sunrise.  I've started dialing back my caffeine intake just in case.

So here I sit in my livingroom; two laptops open in front of me and two pugs asleep next to me (with a third staring at me from across the room).  My video has been paused for nearly an hour because I keep thinking they are going to say my name on the conference call and I don't want to appear to be sleepy (which I'm not) or distracted (which I am).  My next task is step #16, but these folks have been on step #15 for freaking forever.  "C'mon, people!" I want to say.  "I've got TV I want to watch."

While I'm waiting, I'm going to do something here that I never, ever do.  I'm going to answer a blog "tag."  (Only because it was you who asked, Denise.)

My ABC's.....

A- Attached or Single?  Attached

B- Best Friend:  My imaginary friend Cletus

C- Cake or Pie:  raw cookie dough

D- Drink of Choice:  Who's buying?

E- Essential Item:  sense of humor (I keep losing it)

F- Favorite Color:  Red 'cus I'm a commie

G- Gummi Bears or Worms? Years ago in the Newark airport I enjoyed a "Gummi Rat."

H- Hometown:  Sweet Home Chicago(tm).  Escape is impossible.  Believe me, I've tried three times already.

I- Indulgence:  Minding my own business

J- January or February:  Fuck January and February.

K- Kids:  One full-time pug and two loaners

L- Life is incomplete without: dim sum

M- Marriage Date:  What's the temperature in hell?

N- Number of Siblings:  One younger brother who doesn't like me very much.  But that's OK because I still have my imaginary friend Cletus.

O- Oranges or Apples?  I don't see how I can compare them.

P- Phobias/Fears:  Bland food.  Seriously, it gives me nightmares.

Q- Favorite Quote:  "Do good things and good things will happen." -Mick Gley

R- Reasons to smile:  Wonderful girlfriend who moved here to be with me, snoring pugs, deep dish pizza, Cantillon sour muscat lambic beer, decent Chinese food, my close friends, and many other people and things.

S- Season:  Fall

T- Tag Three:  Dick, Condi, and Rumsfeld.

U- Unknown Fact About Me:  I was a professional actor at age 10, but I never got to do drugs with Drew Barrymore.

V-Vegetarian or Not:  I love cows but eat them anyway.  I hate soybeans but eat them even more.  (I also hate the dumbass preppy war criminals who got us into the stupid billion dollar-wasting 100,000 civilian death-causing Iraq embarassment, but I don't want to eat them.  I do love America but can't eat it because Wisconsin gives me gas.)

W- Worst Habit:  Biting the heads off of live chickens

X – X-rays or Ultrasounds?  My HMO only covers Etch-a-Sketch.

Y- Your Favorite Foods:  General Tso's Chicken, Harold's Fried Chicken, a good vegetarian black bean burger with avocado, raw pizza from Karyn's Raw Foods, decent sushi (hard to find in Chicago), good bloody mary (even harder to find), my mom's chocolate matzo crisps, grilled eggplant, and many other things

Z- Zodiac:  sign of the Pug

That's it now.  Never tag me again.


Just completed step #16 at last.  Now I can put my call on mute and go back to watching old episodes of Gilmore Girls until we reach step #22.

Don't you all just want my life?

A bike ride to Hot Doug's for dinner turns into an unscheduled diversion to Ethel's Chocolates in Roscoe Village.

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Update:  Sorry I haven't gotten around to posting my race report from Indy yet.  I'm several weeks into the 4:30AM schedule and I've also been on 24 hour call this past week.  Barely getting enough sleep.  So bear with me, please.

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Update #2:  We never did make it to Hot Doug's because they were closed.  (What kind of restaurant closes at 4PM?)  So we went to Brauhaus for sausages and pilsner.  Yum!

Jay and I enjoy pasta at Pallomino, downtown Indianapolis