Well, beside being able to tell when I'm lying without any trouble at all.
After nearly 10 years together, she revealed her secret identity. She is a blood donor. Our church bulletin had an announcement in it about a church just up from our house sponsoring a blood drive today. We both went to donate, I couldn't, I have to wait until tomorrow to meet the required period between donations, but Jina went ahead.
She overcame her fear of needles and donated for the first time. Nice Job Babe!
After a good week of running, I'm still struggling to find my motivation. Maybe it's just the summer months, but if I'm going to run in mid-October, I've got get my rear end in gear. I'm in New Orleans this week and the running routes don't motivate me like the ones in Duluth. What I do this week will determine whether or not I do the Louisville Marathon, I can't afford to fall behind in training.
29 June 2008
28 June 2008
Bunker Mentality and a New Poll
One thing I learned in my college economics classes was that the American consumer drives the American economy. The old business saying, "You have to spend money to make money." also applies to our economy. While economic policies can affect the long range outlook, regardless what Obama and McCain tell us about saving us as soon as they're elected, and the wealthiest among us provide the investment resources to expand industries, it is the average American that drives the overall economic health of our nation.
With that in mind, and being in a stable financial position for now, our economic relief dollars got spent for vacation and a couple of other things. Our small part to boost the economy. Now, with yesterday's record oil prices and the twenty five cent jump in gas prices at our stations I'm having a fundamental shift in my approach to our family finances. We are carefully considering our plans for my second week off. It was to be a camping trip an hour and a half drive away. If fuel prices push higher, the cost to drive our RV, at 11 mpg, may prove prohibitive.
Our local plans are changing as well. I passed up going to the gym on Friday morning, my first chance in several weeks, and did a hill workout with some push ups and sit ups instead. The reason? I didn't want to burn the gas going. I also passed up running the Founders Day 5K in Charlestown, IN this morning for much the same reason. I couldn't bring myself to burn the gas or pay the entry fee.
I'm assuming a bunker mentality. Hoping to hold our position until the worse is over with. A big change from where I was even a week ago, when I had hoped to use our financial position to take advantage of low interest rates to perhaps buy a larger house.
With that in mind, and being in a stable financial position for now, our economic relief dollars got spent for vacation and a couple of other things. Our small part to boost the economy. Now, with yesterday's record oil prices and the twenty five cent jump in gas prices at our stations I'm having a fundamental shift in my approach to our family finances. We are carefully considering our plans for my second week off. It was to be a camping trip an hour and a half drive away. If fuel prices push higher, the cost to drive our RV, at 11 mpg, may prove prohibitive.
Our local plans are changing as well. I passed up going to the gym on Friday morning, my first chance in several weeks, and did a hill workout with some push ups and sit ups instead. The reason? I didn't want to burn the gas going. I also passed up running the Founders Day 5K in Charlestown, IN this morning for much the same reason. I couldn't bring myself to burn the gas or pay the entry fee.
I'm assuming a bunker mentality. Hoping to hold our position until the worse is over with. A big change from where I was even a week ago, when I had hoped to use our financial position to take advantage of low interest rates to perhaps buy a larger house.
24 June 2008
Super Hero!
OK,
I've managed to break away, or run away from nightly email catchup to see Iron Man and Hulk in the last two weeks. Iron Man = Great, Hulk = "So So", but that's just my opinion.
Did you ever wish you had a secret power. I've always bounced between wanting to either be able to fly or turn invisible. As for my favorite super heroes, I like those who actually struggle one way or another. Spider Man/Peter Parker, Bat Man/Bruce Wayne, Under Dog/Shoe Shine Boy...yea, I said Under Dog...It's my blog and my super hero choice.
Anyway, there is a way you can be a super hero. You can give blood. OK, I may have lost half of you there with the thought of the needle, but wait just a minute and hear me out.
You can, by laying on a table for 15 minutes and dealing with a needle stick, save a life. You think it is scary. How about your child or spouse laying on the O.R. or E.R. table and blood not being available? They don't make it in a lab folks. Which is scarier, the needle stick or the prospect of the above situation.
I can not verify the story, but back in my early twenties when I started giving blood, I got called to come and donate, the supply in the Ohio Valley Red Cross Region was critical. Apparently they had, I believe, 64 units of blood on hand. A near fatal crash over the weekend used up 48 of those. All 48 went to one victim. What if they only had 47 on hand?
Anyone willing to be a Super Hero? If you already are, Great! If not, and you've got no physical dis-qualifiers, Why not? Here you go to get you started...
http://www.redcross.org/donate/give/
I've managed to break away, or run away from nightly email catchup to see Iron Man and Hulk in the last two weeks. Iron Man = Great, Hulk = "So So", but that's just my opinion.
Did you ever wish you had a secret power. I've always bounced between wanting to either be able to fly or turn invisible. As for my favorite super heroes, I like those who actually struggle one way or another. Spider Man/Peter Parker, Bat Man/Bruce Wayne, Under Dog/Shoe Shine Boy...yea, I said Under Dog...It's my blog and my super hero choice.
Anyway, there is a way you can be a super hero. You can give blood. OK, I may have lost half of you there with the thought of the needle, but wait just a minute and hear me out.
You can, by laying on a table for 15 minutes and dealing with a needle stick, save a life. You think it is scary. How about your child or spouse laying on the O.R. or E.R. table and blood not being available? They don't make it in a lab folks. Which is scarier, the needle stick or the prospect of the above situation.
I can not verify the story, but back in my early twenties when I started giving blood, I got called to come and donate, the supply in the Ohio Valley Red Cross Region was critical. Apparently they had, I believe, 64 units of blood on hand. A near fatal crash over the weekend used up 48 of those. All 48 went to one victim. What if they only had 47 on hand?
Anyone willing to be a Super Hero? If you already are, Great! If not, and you've got no physical dis-qualifiers, Why not? Here you go to get you started...
http://www.redcross.org/donate/give/
23 June 2008
Bummed
OK, I woke up this morning and all my pep talk last night about motivation didn't do squat for me. I didn't want to run and it felt bad during the entire run. I gutted and groaned out 2 loops through the neighborhoods for 4.4 miles.
I then drove to Cincy to catch a flight to Minneapolis to drive to Duluth. Upon arrival I checked in, changed into my running clothes and headed out for a 3 miler along Lake Superior. I'll call it a tempo run, clocking 3 miles at a 7:50 pace over a course with small rolling hills. My left hammy is still tight and sore just below my buttocks, but at the lack of humidity helped my cardio.
I've upped my iron intake the past couple of days thinking that might be part of the leg fatigue issue. I've slept a little more, although it is 10:30 central time as I type this, so tonight will probably be a 7 hour deal, which by recent standards is a great night of sleep. Lastly, I went to the store and picked up some grapes, some bananas and some low sodium V8 juice to try to balance out my diet as much as possible. I'll just have to wait and see if that helps, I ran off an forgot my multi-vitamins. I just need to go to Walgreens and pick up a bottle to keep in my luggage.
I'm starting to think that part of my problem might be more mental than physical. With the exception of my vacation week, I've maintained a pretty hectic travel schedule for about 2 months now, and have another week and a half to go. Duluth is a summer vacation destination in the north land. For those familiar with Gatlinburg, TN it is very similar in atmosphere, although much larger and it lacks the commercial ventures found in Pigeon Forge and Sevierville. Anyway, lots of families walking around, which does nothing to help me stop thinking about my boys at home (and my wife, but thought that might sound to mushy...yuck).
I need to flip through the MP3 player and listen to one of my favorite running songs over and over again. Sorry Chris and Scotty, it's a country song.
"If your going through hell, keep on moving. Don't slow down, if you're scared don't show it. You might get out 'fore the devil even knows you're there."
Anyway, maybe I'll snap out of it? Duluth appears to have a pretty active running community and trips along the lake are prone to cause OLS flare up and result in over training.
I then drove to Cincy to catch a flight to Minneapolis to drive to Duluth. Upon arrival I checked in, changed into my running clothes and headed out for a 3 miler along Lake Superior. I'll call it a tempo run, clocking 3 miles at a 7:50 pace over a course with small rolling hills. My left hammy is still tight and sore just below my buttocks, but at the lack of humidity helped my cardio.
I've upped my iron intake the past couple of days thinking that might be part of the leg fatigue issue. I've slept a little more, although it is 10:30 central time as I type this, so tonight will probably be a 7 hour deal, which by recent standards is a great night of sleep. Lastly, I went to the store and picked up some grapes, some bananas and some low sodium V8 juice to try to balance out my diet as much as possible. I'll just have to wait and see if that helps, I ran off an forgot my multi-vitamins. I just need to go to Walgreens and pick up a bottle to keep in my luggage.
I'm starting to think that part of my problem might be more mental than physical. With the exception of my vacation week, I've maintained a pretty hectic travel schedule for about 2 months now, and have another week and a half to go. Duluth is a summer vacation destination in the north land. For those familiar with Gatlinburg, TN it is very similar in atmosphere, although much larger and it lacks the commercial ventures found in Pigeon Forge and Sevierville. Anyway, lots of families walking around, which does nothing to help me stop thinking about my boys at home (and my wife, but thought that might sound to mushy...yuck).
I need to flip through the MP3 player and listen to one of my favorite running songs over and over again. Sorry Chris and Scotty, it's a country song.
"If your going through hell, keep on moving. Don't slow down, if you're scared don't show it. You might get out 'fore the devil even knows you're there."
Anyway, maybe I'll snap out of it? Duluth appears to have a pretty active running community and trips along the lake are prone to cause OLS flare up and result in over training.
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