Clearance Rack

Ok, so here's a few things I've been meaning to write a little about over the past few months, but never did...

1. Passion
I have a lot of passion, but nowhere to put it. I have music, but I can't put it all there. Good thing I'm back into running. Now I just have to figure out my blister problem and I can put my passion into two things at least...

2. Job
I need to find a job I really, really like. My job right now (albeit temporary) is not bad, it would just be better to find something I really enjoy doing. Right? Kind of goes with #1 up there. If I could do something I love, something I'm really passionate about, that would be so cool. Obviously.

3. Loneliness
Something that may be cured once I move out to Ann Arbor. I don't do anything besides work and come home. Once I move I can get involved in things, like church choir, a running club, etc. Then I can meet people and maybe not be such a loser ;)

4. Pack Rat
I'm a pack rat. I collect everything. I hold on to everything. Even feelings.

5. Learning
I've learned that I like to learn. It just needs to be something I'm at least relatively interested in, and at my own pace. Except then it would have taken me like 8 years to get through college for Electrical Engineering! Hah

This year I learned a lot, and will post later about it.

Hymne a l'Amour

Until now I have not, for some reason, ever sought a translation of the songs Josh Groban sings in other languages. Hymne a l'Amour is a beautiful song and surpassed even that beauty once I learned the English translation.

If one day life tears you from me
If you die that you be far from me
It doesn't matter, if you love me
Because, me, I will die also

Merry Christmas!

A little late, but if you celebrate Christmas, I hope you all had a good one! :)

Do you use a Nalgene?

Bad Drivers

Ok, so one of my pet peeves is bad drivers, and within that people who don't use their blinker. So I did a study on my boring long drive to work and back on Friday. The results? About 70% of people use their blinker when switching lanes, turning and merging onto the highway.

The Feast

Had "The Feast" at Subway for lunch this afternoon. It was too much meat, believe it or not. Therefore, it wasn't all that great. Not bad, but not great. I won't be getting it again.

You learn something new every day

So the talk of the table this morning is that apparently Pat played basketball with MSU "Diaper Dandy" Kalin Lucas when he was 8 in the Sterling Heights Parks & Rec league. That's pretty sweet.

Hey Rock, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!

Pretty sweet. I want to do THIS! Assuming it's approved safety-wise and all :)

Vegas Recap

Alright, here's a quick recap of our trip to Las Vegas for the Marathon (Nov. 31 - Dec. 4) - pictures to follow later:

Friday 11/31
I rushed home from work so I could go out and run a mile and shower before heading off to the airport for our flight out to Vegas. I found out when I got home that our flight had been delayed. By the time I was back from my quick run, it had been canceled. Not due to weather, surprisingly, but a mechanical failure, which I found out later. In a way that was a good thing, packing-wise, as I didn't have to rush to finish packing before we could eat and fly. Luckily we found a flight out Saturday morning.

Saturday 12/1
We got up super early (4:45) to get to the airport. Vicki called to say she got to Vegas (drove), so we sang "Happy Birthday" to her over the phone in the middle of the airport. We got on the plane and made it to Vegas a little before lunchtime. I had a window seat this time, so it was more exciting. We actually got the handicapped seats since that was all that was left on the flight. So that was good too - more leg room! We checked in (Excalibur) and dropped our stuff off. On the way down to eat we ran into some cute Irish (?) girls who told us where some good food is, and so we ate. Vicki and Alberto came down to meet us for food. After a quick shower we headed off to the expo at Mandalay Bay. On the way we took a few pictures with a bunch of Elvi that had gathered outside the expo (Rick was one of them). I got some info about cool places in California/Tahoe area. I asked if they made special toe spacers for six toes (they don't).
We stopped at the LVM21 Club pre-race dinner to talk to everyone for about an hour and a half. Dinner was at some Italian restaurant at Sahara (?). It was pretty good, actually. Mom, Vicki & Alberto went "out" to celebrate Vicki's birthday, but I was zonked, and Dad & I hit the sack.

Sunday 12/2
We got up early to go cheer Dad and others on at the start of the Marathon. Well, technically the 1/2 mile or so. We drove around to different points of the race to cheer. Somewhere around 6.5 miles near Fremont Street. They had some cool shoes there. Then we cheered Alberto to a PR finish in the 1/2. After that we stopped at Denny's for breakfast. It was kind of weird. I'm not used to watching, I'm used to running! It seemed like it went so slow. So after realizing the race was still going on, we headed to the 21-mile. We couldn't find the LVM21 cowbell, so we had to yell loudly and obnoxiously as if we were the cowbell. Good times. Lastly we went to the finish. We had lunch at Dick's. Let's just say that was...interesting. After a nap we headed back to the Mandalay Bay for the LVM21 Club post-race party. No one was there, and we learned it had been moved, so we made our way to Eye Candy. Lots of people, lots of talking. Dad tried to hook me up with a hot girl, but she was married. Tegla was there. I showed my toes. Vicki and Alberto left early so they could drive back to catch Alberto's flight back to Detroit. After the party we went to dinner and walked around a bit. Then beddy-bye.

Monday 12/3
We did a little shopping and walking around. We stood in line to get tickets to a show. I lost some money. We did some more walking around. Dad and I went to dinner at Diablo's while Mom napped. They had some good ribs. We capped the night with a show called "Ice" - which is basically like a Cirque show...on ice. It was pretty neat. Then we collapsed back at the hotel.

Tuesday 12/4
We hopped on the afternoon flight and headed home. I had a window seat again. It was cold when we got back to Detroit. It was also kind of eerie because the airport was empty. Like, nobody was there. But we made it safely back home. And our (checked) luggage* made it safely to Phoenix. And that's that!

*The luggage then took a red eye to Detroit and was delivered to our house Wednesday, so that was good.

I'll post some pictures in the next post, although most of my pictures were taken out the plane window :-p

Holy Offense, Batman!

Ok, I'm nearly convinced that the VMI men's basketball team does not play defense. That they just let the other team have open shots so they can play offense. I swear every time I look at a score from their game they have over 100 points. Yesterday they beat some non-D1 school 156-91. Yikes!

Never EVER Give Up

Shoes

It's amazing how important shoe choice is, especially for running. I got the regular size rather than extra wide, and I end up with foot/toe problems. I'm convinced that my running shoes were at least part of the reason I am developing a slight Hallux Valgus (bunion). One stupid decision because I liked the colors and was sick of the same old shoe for the last two or three years, and it could end up in surgery (hopefully I can avoid it getting that bad). It sure took a toll on my running for the year. If I do have to get the surgery, it will probably sideline me for a year :( Ahh! That would suck even more! So make sure you choose your shoes wisely...

In better news, though, I went out for my first run since October 6th (in new shoes, the "same old" style). It was the first time in a long time I felt like I was running normally. It was 28 degrees with a wind chill of 18, but I was happy anyways. Time to slowly build back up. Big Sur in April?

Waste of Space

I didn't do a whole heck of a lot today and have just been in kind of a gloomy, lonely mood. So, in order to not feel so much a waste of space, I decided to work on the website a little tonight. There's a link on the left there...it's not much but it's a start. Or a continuance, I guess, since I had already started it.

Oh, and if anyone knows of some cool blog templates, let me know!

Template

I'm in the process of finding a new template for the blog. Be patient :)

Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! (I know it's a little late...)

Things I'm thankful for (not a complete list):

• my family and friends
• athletic ability
• health
• musical talent
• semi-intelligence
• sense of "humor" ;)
• food, water, shelter
• CALVIN & HOBBES
• moose
• electricity

Musical Tesla Coils!

Found this through a friend - so sweet! Go science! :)

Beautiful Songs

My previous post, with the lyrics to Billy Joel's And So It Goes, left me thinking about beautiful songs - beautiful or beautifully sad. So, I'm going to try and make a list of some beautiful songs (from my collection, so it's gonna be long...) - feel free to comment and add your own!

The List (it would have been much too long, so I just made a link)

And So It Goes

(Billy Joel)

In every heart there is a room
A sanctuary safe and strong
To heal the wounds from lovers past
Until a new one comes along

I spoke to you in cautious tones
You answered me with no pretense
And still I feel I said too much
My silence is my self defense

And every time I've held a rose
It seems I only felt the thorns
And so it goes, and so it goes
And so will you soon I suppose

But if my silence made you leave
Then that would be my worst mistake
So I will share this room with you
And you can have this heart to break

And this is why my eyes are closed
It's just as well for all I've seen
And so it goes, and so it goes
And you're the only one who knows

So I would choose to be with you
That's if the choice were mine to make
But you can make decisions too
And you can have this heart to break

And so it goes, and so it goes
And you're the only one who knows


Beautiful song.

'Ray Bucknell!

Time to get in the college basketball spirit!


Listening to Bucknell playing at home against Albany right now. GO BISON!

Fire Safety Tip

Don't play with matches!

Simply amazing that this could have started such a huge fire.

A New Beginning

That's what I'm looking for. A new beginning. I need to find something to drive me, some purpose, some motivation. I've noticed that I've been walking around with my head down recently, especially this past week, during which I've just felt kind of crappy. My problem, I think, is that now that school is done, I don't feel like I have any purpose, that I'm not really working towards anything. Sure, I have a job (although temporary), and it's a good one, and kind of an important one since it's a medical related field. I don't see anything happening because of my work, though. I want to be doing something that has a direct impact and I can see people happier or having better lives because of something I did. I want to change people's lives. Perhaps that is also one of my downfalls.

A few St. George Marathon Trip Pics

Enjoy!

Zion

Runners rest on rocks

Bellagio front desk...


The Mirage volcano show fire

Overlooking St. George

Zion

Where's the Love?

Okay...

Oak Park middle school bans hugs

This isn't the only school to do this... WHY?? People need hugs! That way, like they said on the radio this morning, we don't have Paris Hiltons and other messed up people. Seriously, though, what's the big deal? It causes "bottlenecks" in the hallways, making kids late for class, apparently. Yeah, I'm sure that's the main cause for those anyways. The principal called hugs "handshakes from the heart" - what's wrong with that? Can people not be friendly? Oh my, boys and girls hugging? What a concept! High-fives in the hallway are also apparently frowned upon.

She should be fired.

Or hugged.

Running Lessons

This year I've learned two pretty important lessons about running, especially if you are in marathon training or run a lot. One would apply to anyone, runner or not, though.

1) Surfaces. Try to run on softer surfaces, such as asphalt, to protect your bones from all the pounding. I kind of took this for granted the last few years because most of my running was at school, which, for the majority of the mileage, was on asphalt. So, in coming back from my fractured toe to train for marathons last year, the softer surface probably helped keep it from fracturing again or something. I now look to run on asphalt, or grass/dirt if it's just concrete. I can now feel the difference.

2) Sleep. You need it. That's about all that needs to be said. But, I will go on! Sleep helps heal your body and keeps you healthy. It is especially important in marathon training because you are putting so much stress on your body and working it really hard. It needs time to recover. It can't recover very well if you don't rest! And of course, sleep is the best way to rest! I realized that this week, finally. I had trouble sleeping Sunday night, and got only about 4 hours (if that) and felt crappy and sick all day Monday. Monday night I went to bed earlier than I have ever gone to bed in a long time, definitely since starting work...10:30. That gave me about 7.5 hours of sleep, and I felt a little better Tuesday. I had a great run too, as my toe felt pretty good and didn't bother me. I went to bed early again Tuesday and felt a little better again yesterday (sore throat had progressed to stuffiness - which now is transitioning to the cough phase). I got 7 hours last night and felt a little better today as well. My run today went well too. I am convinced that sleep has improved the healing to my toe. Not only that, I feel much more energized, and therefore, generally happier.

So...get that sleep!

Coco, Some Mad Hope, and...sleep

So I think I'm a little sick as of Monday morning. Monday wasn't a great day at work either. So, I stopped on my way home at Borders (I had a nice little coupon too) and bought two CDs.

- Colbie Caillat, "Coco"
- Matt Nathanson, "Some Mad Hope"

I had planned on getting Coco, but was pleasantly surprised to see Matt Nathanson had a new one out, so I bought that one too! I have enjoyed listening to both.

Colbie Caillat is kind of a folk/acoustic/R&B type person with a refreshing voice and sound. I recommend you check her out, especially if you like Matt Nathanson - and then I'm just going by similar artists according to sources, here... - Amy Winehouse, Sara Bareilles (and even Kelly Clarkson), etc.

Matt Nathanson is one of my favorite artists, and I have tons of his songs from like five of his other CDs. It was cool to see him when he came to Bucknell, and there weren't too many people there, so that was cool too.

Lastly, I went to bed around 10:30 last night, which is the earliest I've gone to bed since starting work. I did that because of how I felt yesterday. It seemed to help a little, as I feel a little better today (and had a good run - the toe felt good!), so I'm thinking maybe I need to sleep a little more. 6 hours and sometimes less is just not cutting it.

Laughter is the best medicine

When you laugh, you're smiling and happy, so laugh! I love to read the comics in the newspaper and some stuff online, and I just don't know how they come up with some of this stuff. But, that's why they're comic writers, isn't it?
There are a few more on the Borders website there, featuring Brevity.

Zombieeees

The world's Wackiest Holidays according to TIME.

Some really strange "holidays" around the world. I especially like the monkey one in Thailand (check out slide 9). And that Naked Festival in Japan is just a little weird...where's Waldo? Oh. Uh. There he is... I think the Cheese Rolling Festival looks fun :-p The Chap & Hendrick's Olympics might be funny to watch. Heck, they even have a triathlon on slide 19!

Wandering Mind

It's been too often lately that I've been wanting to be back at school. It is really weird not being in college anymore. All I do now is go to work, come home and do nothing and go to bed. I haven't been able to run much because of a foot/toe injury. That might not fully heal this year either since I'm running the St. George Marathon in just over 2 weeks, and then Vegas in December (1/2 if the toe bothers me after St. George). Lately I've just been missing my friends above all. It's a bit lonely without them.

Cuz I'm walking down this road alone
And figured all I'm thinking 'bout is you

Colbie Caillat/Jason Reeves - Droplets

Safety First?

On the news Monday I saw a preview for a story (I didn't actually see the whole story) about the possibility of allowing teachers to carry guns. Is it me or is that just a terrible idea? Yeah, it's good to be protected, but this seems to be a little overkill...

Go Red Sox...!

Never Forget

Don't Expect. Live.

Today has been a little weird, starting with a dream I was in as I was woken this morning.

Don't expect things out of life. No, I'm not being negative, I'm just trying to reason things out and I figure this might be the way to go. Expecting things, certain things especially, can lead to disappointment, taking things for granted and lack of motivation. Not "expecting" things to happen or be a certain way can open you to surprise and satisfaction and happiness when something wonderful, or even something seemingly mundane, happens. Sometimes things you never imagined you would remember in years to come you will cherish forever. These little moments that might even seem insignificant at the time. I know I often miss the littlest things and can never forget the memories.

This is not to say that you shouldn't dream or aspire. In fact, that is part of my point (the lack of motivation part). If you expect things to happen, your drive will be weaker, even perhaps you'll end up sitting there waiting for things to happen. Dream. Dream big. Just don't expect. Dreaming is different from expecting. You have to make things happen yourself sometimes.

Don't take things in your life for granted. Enjoy them as much as you can and be really happy about them - you're often lucky to have them.

Sorry I rambled.

They Have Layers

Must have been a slow day at The Onion:
Loser Friend Sort of Doing Better
Glad he's getting his life back together...

But it's all good, because there are still ones of the type I'm used to reading:
Historic Pretzels-for-Little Debbie Swap Sparks Heavy Lunchtime Trading
Oh man, just imagine if they had my mom's cookies!

The High Cs

Luciano Pavarotti died yesterday (9/6) of pancreatic cancer. He was one of the greatest opera singers, arguably the best of his era and likely the best I've ever heard. It's unfortunate to lose such a great voice and man, but I guess people don't live forever, do they!? I'm not a huge opera fan, but I love music and singing and, therefore, appreciate it. When I think of an opera singer, I think of Pavarotti. He kind of exemplifies my image (visually and vocally) of an opera singer. RIP LP.

Is It Over Yet?

I'm ready for summer to be over. It was near 90 again today. How about Fall? Fall and Spring are really nice. Summer is nice if you have a beach or something, but I'm just going to work and coming home. I wouldn't be able to live somewhere where it was warm all year. Warm is nice, but maybe you have to have cold to appreciate the warm? This has been a fairly warm summer, and it's been especially hot in some places. Is this the whole global warming thing at work?

Dropped Like A Rock

So, in case you don't live in Michigan or follow sports or have been under a rock all weekend, UofM lost to Appalachian State (Div-1AA) on Saturday at home 34-32. They had a field goal blocked on the last play of the game. It was madness (not Sparta). The new rankings came out today, and Michigan has dropped out of the Top 25 completely. That is the first time a top-5 team has dropped out in one week since 1968! They have a lot to prove throughout the rest of the season here. I'm a Michigan State fan (in fact, I was at the MSU game...they won 55-18...Saturday and cheered with everyone else in the stadium when the Michigan score appeared on the scoreboard, and the game was mostly fun) but I usually don't really root against UofM. It was quite nice to see the Wolverines eating some humble pie, though. Notre Dame also got beat up pretty good at home. They have been down for a while now. I think it's time they got better...

Good ol' America

National Strategy Needed To Fight Fat

Ok, so America is a large country with a large population. And it also has a lot of land area and a lot of people. The numbers presented in this article are simply unbelievable. I'm rather skinny and often have trouble gaining weight because of my metabolism and insanity (running). Maybe that is partly why I don't understand how people can let this be such a problem. I understand that some people can't help it (genetics, bones, etc), and there are people who try really hard, but come on (some) people! Ditch Mickey D's and walk to Subway. Or just be smarter. That works too. Or, like my dad says - running cures everything!

Apparently 30% of adults in Mississippi are obese. Yikes. The article goes on to say that Mississippi also is the state with the highest rates of adult hypertension and physical inactivity, is tied with DC for poverty, and is second in adult diabetes. Somehow I don't think some of these (I'm not too sure about the whole poverty issue there) are coincidence.

If I read this right, 60% of American adults in 32 of the 50 states are either overweight or obese... A little overweight is fine, but this number is WAY too high. This results in an increase in health care costs and work inefficiency (184 work days lost per 100 to 14 for healthy weight people).

The environment we live in sure doesn't help. Some places aren't conducive to exercise (think certain parts of inner cities where it's not safe to walk, etc). Fast food, soft drinks and junk food are quite prevalent. I don't really know if the government can do anything about it. I think it's more the person's choice - BUT - if people had more opportunities to choose healthier options, it seems like it sure wouldn't hurt.

On the other hand, if people start being all healthier, might that create an overpopulation problem?

In all seriousness, though, be healthy!

There's A Hole in the Universe

I came across this while taking a quick break (of course it was quick...wink) at work:
Astronomers Find Enormous Hole in the Universe
So what does this mean? Who knows - a bunch of stuff I'm too lazy to understand right now... I just find it such an amazing concept that there's a hole in the universe that is a billion light-years across! That's a whole lot of nothing (pun intended)! Just imagine how many condos and strip malls we could build in that space...

Working Before Another Work Week

Today I actually got some things done. I cleaned some stuff up in my room and did a few things I've been meaning to do for a while now. Why do I always cram things into one day or a few hours before I leave somewhere or Sunday before the week starts? Who knows. Time management... yeah... Tomorrow starts another week of work. Hope it was a good weekend for everyone!

Pei Wei

We went out for dinner tonight at a place that just opened down at 12 & Mound. It's a Chinese restaurant called Pei Wei, run by the people who run P.F. Chang's. It was pretty good.

It's a small restaurant fashioned with modern decorations, some like those you would see in a coffee shop or bistro. I guess it is a bistro in a sort of way, just an Asian bistro. The grill is out in the open, rather than behind closed doors and in the back. That's always kind of nice, though sometimes noisy (seemed like they dropped several things back there, though probably just putting them down). Other than the grill, the rest of the kitchen was in back. It was a little chilly in there, but lots of places seem to have the air cranked up during the summer. I'm sure they keep the temperature down for the chefs too - it probably gets quite hot working at those grills all day/night.

One of the coolest things at Pei Wei was the menu. It doesn't have a whole lot of variety, but the food itself was good and there were enough choices at least to satisfy. You basically order when you walk in and before you sit down. They have these three tall...I don't know what you would really call them...screens with the menus. Never seen that before. Once you've decided what you want, you go to the counter to order, take a numbered disc and go sit down. You put the disc in a little clip and they find you and bring out your food when it's ready. The staff is pretty friendly as well, but I guess that could vary, so who really knows?

I had the Honey Seared w/Crispy Chicken entrée. It was sort of similar to almond chicken, which is what I had a little craving for when we were deciding where to eat tonight. It comes on rice sticks, which were like those fried noodles, except white and not quite as crunchy.

So, that's my little review of Pei Wei. It was pretty good! And definitely a good deal, as I got a decent-sized dinner for $7.50 - the prices are rather affordable for a dinner. It's hard to judge a restaurant on one meal, but I'd say this would be a recommendation to try it out.

Talk About A Rain Delay

Surprisingly, there is a decent crowd at the Tiger game tonight against the Yankees. Why is that surprising? Well, the game was originally scheduled for 7:05 pm, and it started at 11:05 pm. Apparently, they couldn't have done the usual thing and played a doubleheader one of the next three days. The severe thunderstorms created a 4-hour rain delay. I don't know why they just didn't cancel it. Maggs hit a 2-run homer in the first and the Tigers lead 2-1 so far, so I can't complain yet. Maybe it's past Rocket's bedtime?

Introducing...

Here I am! I would like to figure out a cool template for this thing. Learning some scripting will probably help, which I'm working on doing. So, until I figure it out, it's going to look like this, I guess.

I suppose I will be writing quite random things on here. Enjoy!