Too Slow

Concerning my goal of 45 minutes....









To describe the race in it's entirety... It was wet. I started out entirely too fast for the first two miles, hit the wall so hard that I actually had to walk for a little while to keep from hurling everywhere, then finished the race with a monkey on my back (for those that dont know, this means that it felt as if I were carrying a lot of extra weight....like a monkey on my back). Not a good race. It was fun for the most part, but not good. I fell more than 2 minutes behind my goal pace. bah!

Enough of the negative though. On a happy note I did improve my time from last year by over two minutes. I'm happy about that part and intend to do even better next time. Now it's time to start preparing for the Cooper River Bridge Run. I hope to be a few pounds lighter by then and in better shape. I cant wait!

Lexington Race Against Hunger

This morning is the Lexington Race Against Hunger. It's pouring rain outside, but the race is a go. I guess the weather will test who is really in to running and who is not. Stacy and I are, we're awaiting the sitter and we're ready to go.

I have a tough goal today. I'd like to break 45 minutes, which would mean a 7:14 pace. I'll post my results after the race. Wish me luck!

American Idol, group 2

I have to say that group 2 started off pretty poorly. Fortunately the show progressively got better finishing up with Adam Lambert, who totally rocked it.

To start the night, I had high hopes for Jasmine Murray and Matt Giraud. Both were extremely good in their previous face time. Both totally bombed last night and do not even deserve mention for making it through unless they make the wildcard show.

Nick Mitchell (aka Norman Gentle) was hilarious. Should he go through? Absolutely not. I was shocked he was invited to the top 36, but he is entertaining so I guess that is why he made it. What gets me though, is that before making the final 36 he commented about wanted to use the Norman character to perform. The judges loved the idea and said they expected it. Then last night they bashed him for doing just that. Maybe that is what they wanted; someone to bash. Who knows? He was entertaining, so kudos for that.

16 year old Allison Iraheta had a good night singing 'Alone', by Heart. She can really sing and showed it last night. Megan Corkrey gave a great performance as well with Corinne Bailey Rae's 'Put Your Records On'. She has a really cool vibe. To me, these two will be vying for the top female spot of the night.

The top male performer was definitely Adam Lambert rocking The Rolling Stones 'Satisfaction'. As Simon said, he did have some parts that were not good, but for the majority of his song he was in a different league that most of the group.

I did disagree with the judges for one performer. Matt Breitzke (the welder) sang well doing Tonic's 'If You Can Only See'. The judges didn't think he was good enough, but he was at least honorable mention in my book. Kris Alan's rendition of Michael Jackson's 'Man in the Mirror' was much better than I expected. He and Breitzke are arguably fighting for the number 2 spot for the guys (beating out Kai Kalama, who wasn't bad but didn't perform as well as he had in the previous shows). Unfortunately for Breitzke and Alan, I think the three that advance should be 1 guy and 2 girls.

For the record, my prediction is: Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta and Megan Corkrey

Being a Coach

Back at the point in time that I was choosing a career I considered teaching and coaching. It can be very rewarding making a difference in kids lives in the classroom and on the field. Not to mention, the though of staying involved in athletics on a personal level was very appealing. I think the job would have been enjoyable. Not to mention the perk of vacations, but that is another topic altogether.

In the end, I passed up what I thought would have been a fun job, for what I deemed to be a more lucrative path. I’m happy with the decision I made and I do enjoy what I’m doing now. That being said, I do miss involvement in athletics. Luckily for me, Jackson just completed his first sports league, which opened up a new door of involvement for me. I happily volunteered to coach the 5 and 6 year old Upward (church league) team - the Lions.

It was trying at times; making it to practice every Monday night and games every Saturday morning, keeping the kids in line during both practices and games, and attempting to teach at least a little basketball along the way. Trying? Yes, but so fully worth the time and effort In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I intend to coach again next year. Throughout the season we saw the team come a long way. They grew by leaps and bounds, showing improvemnets every week and they had a great time along the way. In addition, Jackson told me multiple times every week how happy he was that I was his coach. That meant a lot... to him and to me.

Last night was the Upward awards night. They announced all the kids individually, they got something for participating (a cool Upward book bag), and they had entrainment (a magician; a magician with a Christian message). The kids loved it. It was a nice end to a great season. When we returned home and got ready for bed, the boys reaffirmed how much fun this season had been and how they intend to play next year. Then before I left the room, Jackson told Alex that "Dad can still be my coach". I asked if he was referring to next season, to which he replied, “No. The season is over, but you’re still my coach in my heart.”.
How awesome is that?! Kids can really bring you happiness with the smallest comments. Having both Jackson and I involved in basketball this season meant a lot to both of us and his comments like that one make me even happier about it all. Before I left the room, I reaffirmed his belief and extended that comment to include Alex as well, telling them that I can always coach and help them.

Next year Jackson intends to play again, and Alex is preparing to step onto the court as well. This paste season, during the preseason and even mid-season Alex had no interest at all, but by the end of the season I think he enjoyed it almost as much as the team. Not to mention that he practiced at home with Jackson and improved just as much as the team did. He is so ready and plans to play, and he told me last night that when he plays he “want(s) mom to be my coach”. I thought that was cool, but asked “so you don’t want me to be your coach?” He thought for a second before telling me that he wants us both to coach. We’ll see how that goes, but we’ll definitely be involved in both teams. I cant wait.

Idol

Since I've been lacking inspiration to blog, I'll give my take on Idol last night.

I like the new format of only 3 advancing from the 12 that sang last night (top male, top female and the next person with the most votes). That being said, the contestants made it easy to have that perspective. In my opinion 7 of them eliminated themselves before voting ever started, leaving only 5 to compete for the 3 spots. Of course, as in the past, there could be a fan base out there to push someone through despite a terrible performance. We will see.

Highs and Lows of the night:

Lows:
- If any of these three make it through, I'm going to assume that friends and family put them through by repeated voting. They were absolutely dreadful.
Stevie Wright
Brent Keith
Casey Carlson


Highs:

To me, these two were on the bubble.
Ann Marie Boskovich
Michael Sarver

Both are likable and can really sing as we've seen in the past, but just didn't do it justice last night.


The hands down best three (to me):
(1) Danny Gokey - last performance of the night. He was the best male, so he should advance. I usually agree with Simon, but this time I thought Randy, Paula, and Cara nailed it. Danny blew everyone off the stage.

(2) Tatiana Nicole Del Toro - As much as it pains me to say it, she was by far the best female, which should advance her to the next round. Her downfall could be her personality in Hollywood. People may not vote for her for that reason alone, but she was the best female performer last night.

(3) Anoop Desai - Anoop has been great every time they've shown him. Although last night was not the best that we've seen from him, it was still better than the rest of the bunch (besides Danny and Tiatiana).


Take my opinions with a grain of salt, but that is how I see it. Michael or Ann Marie could sneak in and I'd not be upset about it, but Danny, Tatiana, and Anoop should advance.

Helping those in need

You never know when you will be down on your luck and may need help. One day it may be me with the broken down vehicle and I'll be the one needing help. I hope others will offer assistance. Likewise, I tend to offer help when I think it's needed. If nothing else, maybe I'm creating some positive karma.

A situation presented itself last week.
I was filling up my truck at one of the local gas stations. As I was finishing up, I saw a guy that looked pretty upset on his phone. He walked over to a girl that I assumed he knew, spoke for a moment, then walked away. Then as I was finishing up, he walked over to me and hung up the phone. He gave a sob story about his vehicle being on fumes, the computer inside warned it was 2 miles to empty, him being 20 miles from home and his wallet being left at home. He swore that he wasn't one of "those people" that beg and he said that he was a hard worker. He was actually fairly distraught. Anyway, I dont usually carry cash, but I did have three bucks on me. I gave it to him. He seemed so grateful. Either he was really happy for the kindness of a stranger, or he was a conman that just scored three bucks. Either way, I didn't mind taking that risk of $3.

I had nearly forgot about that encounter, when I was filling up again. This time I was at the station directly across the street from the one the previous week. I noticed the guy across from me looked kind of like that other guy. He was better dressed and not upset. Maybe it was the same guy. Maybe not. I continued to fill the tank. This guy pops his hood and leaves it popped after checking the oil. He walks over and says , "excuse me sir, I'm having a bit of trouble." He looks at the car and says, "oh, not that. I'm just checking the oil". He is not at all distraught. He calmly tells me that his light is on that says 2 miles to empty, that he is like 20 miles from home and he left his wallet at home.

I never broke eye contact, pointed to the station across the street and said, "that's funny because you told me that exact story at that station just last week." I didn't look away, but he did. He said, "uh, I dont remember that." Then he looked at his feet and walked away talking to himself. "I swear. I really dont remember that. I just dont remember...". He closed the hood, hopped in the car and drove off in the blink of an eye. Question answered. He was a conman. I assume he worked one station for a day, then moved on. Only he moved to the other station that I use. People like him are truly pathetic. I have mixed feelings about him. I feel kind of sorry for the guy, however I also hope somebody else catches him in scheme and breaks his nose. :-) I guess I'm too nice and composed to do so myself, but I wouldn't upset to know someone else did it.

or⋅gan⋅i⋅za⋅tion

Over the past few years we've attempted to organize our lives, or at least our house. One place that has been missed in the move toward an organized house is my closet. It started with one shelf with some clothes stacked upon it. Before it was over, I had tons of shoes piled on dirty clothes, with random crap all on the floor. Among the shoes were my last three pair of black work shoes. That's right; my current black shoes, the one's those replaces and even the pair from before that pair. Ridiculous. Then there was the single shelf, which consisted of a mix of clean and dirty clothes, cds (most are years old), a few movies, and a random can of chicken (not sure how that got in there. It was a total disaster. I wish I had taken a picture. The best description of the closet was, well...it was a shit-hole. A mess or a disaster doesn't do it justice, so we'll go with shit-hole.
After months of putting off the project, I found a little time on Saturday to remedy the problem. I took some scrap wood from our basement and made some shelves in the closet (of course this was after removing clothes, balls, shoes, cds, movies, and that can of chicken). I moved the one shelf down for more shoe storage and added two for clothes. I'm happy with the result. Have a look. It may still be a hole, but now it's an organized hole. :-)

Terror or Fashion? (what a distinction!)

Some pictures are worth a worth a thousand words. What about these pictures? What do these three make you think of?


# 1


Undoubtedly, you know this first face. It is not uncommon to surface on any news segment on terrorism. Of course this is Osama Bin Ladin.


# 2


This second picture is the standard guy in a mask holding a gun. We've all seen such pictures and/or videos. He must be a terrorist, right? I really have no idea. The picture just fit the mold, so I grabbed it from a google search, but we'll assume he is until I'm corrected.


# 3


What about this third and final picture? What kind of terrorist wears a head lamp? Perhaps a coal mining terrorist? hmmm...lol.
This is no coal miner or terrorist! This is my wife before one of her early morning cold runs. Every time I look at this pic I have to laugh.
Functional? yes.
Terror invoking? maybe.
Fashionable? Well, definitely more fashionable than anyone I've ever seen wearing a balaclava. :-)

Here is the full picture. Awesome! And yes, funny.

Busy and Tired

I haven't posted much lately. It's not that I have nothing to talk about. It just that I've been busy. When I haven't been busy, I've been to lazy and tired to post. So there you have it. This is a post of less than 10 sentences about the fact that I'm too tired and busy to post. More posts to come in the near future, but right now I'm too tired...