turned 34 yesterday — usually i don’t mind these milemarkers, but with my newly crowned tooth still aching, it just adds insult to injury and makes me feel a bit crickety…

friday night birthday party at the house was nice — being surrounded by friends is always a good thing — and got the good news that another friend is pregnant (no, i can’t tell you which one!) — axl defiled the carpet in our bedroom — dogs that do that should be forced to do the cleaning, but since i didn’t have to clean it up, i didn’t push my point too hard 🙂

went thru the locks on saturday with steve mckenney, linda, laura porco, karen, and zach, and then just floated beside UW stadium… awesome day… then left the boat at blackburn’s dock — assumed that penn state would get whooped by nebraska today, but they ended up winning 40-7 — wonders never cease!

spent sunday reading and studying… excited about the new associates position/the whole opportunity… read about the founding of the Internet/ARPAnet most of the day today… very interesting learning about how it all started, why it was developed, how many people contributed different, radical ideas to its creation, and how new of a project it really is (launched in the late 60’s…)

went on a bit of a consumer binge over the last few days. bought an exercise machine. is an elliptical cross-trainer machine, or something along those lines. the movement combines running/walking/climbing with arm involvement for a supposedly great workout. can’t wait for it to arrive. also, i bought a laptop at the amazon company store — is a refurbed sony vaio — and then… most exciting… i bought and set up a Linksys Wireless Network. Now I can work anywhere in the house on the laptop, and I love it!

Also, I’m looking at buying a road bike. At first, I was positive that I’d buy a traditional road bike, but now I’m thinking possibly a recumbent. Benefits are ‘easier on the back/butt’ and you get a better view of where you’re going. I’ll have to try one out before spending even more $$$.

Spent the last few days sick. Not crazy sick. But, sick nonetheless. Headachey, stomach pains, etc. Maybe has something to do with the binge night out at the Croc last thursday. Haven’t felt right since then.

onward…

hi

has been a while since i’ve dropped by, but a lot has taken place. first, i actually finished the san diego marathon last weekend. honestly, i didn’t expect to do as well as i did, but wonders never cease. i was fairly unprepared, given that, due to injury, i hadn’t really run any significant miles in the 6 weeks leading up to the marathon. my longest run over that span was five miles. but, on race day, i arrived at the start line as well rested and fed as could be. i then stuck to my strategy of running very slow. five of us started in a slow pack, but maye and i dropped off when she needed to use a bathroom. she and i then slogged at a 9:30-10:00 per mile pace through mile 18. that’s where i stopped. i developed a lot of pain by mile 15, so miles 15 to 18 were my test of fortitude. i set a goal to run until i saw jeff blackburn and karen cho on their return leg. after i saw them, i then kept on setting goals, and when i had missed my mouth with my water cup at 18, i decided that that was a sign that maybe i was getting a bit dizzy. i then walked and ran it in from there, but still maintained ~12 minute per mile pace. was so fantastic to see karen at the hotel every time we went by — that was definitely a huge assistance for me. all in all, it was a nice mini-vacation. the hotel was very nice, and the weather was fantastic. we even got to spend some time with mary and rick cassoni and spent the last day in la jolla and san diego with karen cho before flying back. san diego is really undergoing development, which reminded us a lot of seattle.

we also moved the boat from thunderbird marina out to elliott bay marina this weekend. it is so much of a nicer marina. we can’t wait until the sunny seattle days arrive. it will be so peaceful to hang around elliott bay.

spent the rest of the weekend just laying around. read a few different things. finished up an issue of runner’s world. read a few chapters of a Back and Neck Pain book. and, read the first two chapters of Good to Great by Jim Collins. i think that i’m in a reading group for that book tomorrow, but i don’t remember seeing it pop up on my meeting maker. either way, the first two chapters were very good, as usual. his concepts are very inspiring. more to follow on that, i’m sure.

finally, i e-mailed an organization called Northwest Environment Watch (NEW) about volunteering for them. i am excited about hearing back from them.  basically, they work to “foster an environmentally sound economy and way of life in the Pacific Northwest, the bioregion encompassing the watersheds of rivers flowing through North America’s temperate rainforest zone.”

Is about 6:30 right now — I’m torn between getting some work done, and going out for a beer or two — i’d say it is about a 50/50 chance for either right now…

Had another dream last night that was very strange. And, a similar pattern arose from a dream the other night. This time, Karen and I bought a new condo without ever going inside before making the purchase. I’ll skip the details here. When we moved in and looked through it, it was huge. Had 3 bedrooms, 3 kitchens, massive fireplaces, dining rooms, etc. Now, to the similar pattern. To get to one of the kitchens, you had to climb a staircase that wound around to the left, and the steps had to be pulled down as you climbed and there were steps missing (just like in my dream the other night). What does that mean?

Back to life —

Started running again the other day. The marathon is less than 2 weeks away. Ran 5 miles on Saturday, very slowly, and my leg stood up to the test. Am feeling good. Started drinking water in mass quantities yesterday. I believe that I’ll finish the run. May explore new depths of pain. Will be an interesting test. Anything to be in the San Diego sunshine for 4 days.

Off to work now. Can’t wait to get there.

strange dreams the last two evenings, but fairly easy to interpret (some more than others)

one – was running with my brother, and then discovered that we were running the marathon that I thought was the next weekend. somehow they decided to run it both weekends, and it was a 2 lane winding path, marked every 20 feet or so. we had to run through houses, and at one point, I had to break out of a bathroom window to get back on the path. also, i was concerned that i had run the day prior. so, my legs were a bit more tired than i would have liked. i woke up near the 2 mile mark. must have something to do with my being worried that i am not adequately prepared for the san diego marathon on january 20th, eh? anyone notice an abundance of 2’s and 20’s in that dream?

two – was at my high school reunion, which was being held in a field type area, with a local tavern nearby. remember many people sitting in rows of chairs (5-6 rows about 25-30 chairs wide) with an announcer giddily recognizing and announcing people joining the reunion. i distinctly remember phil showing up, near the front left row, and sitting down there. what was strange was that there were bunches of people who i didn’t recognize at all, and who i am quite positive didn’t go to school with me. not sure what this one meant.

three – setting was on capitol hill in seattle, near our apartment on pike street. but, i’d have to say that the setting was only 60% like the real location. there was a huge funhouse/museum type thing in the neighborhood that i was visiting. i parked my car, the mazda six hundred and twenty six, nearby. then, when i came out, i couldn’t find my car. i walked all over the neighborhood, but it was nowhere to be found. then, karen and i went to someone’s house in the area, not sure whose it was. walking up their front/side steps was strange, because they were rickety and a step was missing, so you had to step over it. and a person was sitting on the small balcony atop the stairwell. once inside, it was a strange small house, with several levels. i remember calling the police because someone told me that they would look for my car for me. i gave the the general location of where i thought the car was (the blocks that bordered the area) and then hung up. they called me back and told me they found it, but they were a bit of a business now, and wanted to charge me $50 to know where it was. i said, “no way, now that i know it is in that area, i’ll just go and look again.” seems that i just wanted to confirm that it hadn’t been stolen. not sure what this dream means because, God knows, i don’t really care if that car gets stolen.

work has been strange lately. i’ll leave it at that. for now.