Crazy Lawsuit Game

2nd item on Homer's "Things to Do Before Summer Is Over" list, from "The Monkey Suit" episode which is the Creationism vs. Evolution Simpsons episode.

I think Atlantis existed. In fact, it might still be a bustling city underneath the water that is so far advanced they want nothing to do with us. Or it could be a creepy city just like the one in Bioshock. That's a Xbox 360 game and is pretty amazing and very suspenseful. It's being played in a college dorm and/or parent's basement near you.

Please keep the families in Nebraska who have been affected by the recent mall shootings in your thoughts and prayers.

A note to media outlets, I know this type of thing is what you live for, but when the killer's suicide note says that "now he will be famous", maybe you shouldn't plaster his name and face over every newscast and website you can think of. Ugh, fine, I'll explain why. What you're doing is exactly what he expected; you're glorifying his actions. You're almost encouraging other disturbed individuals to take similar actions all over the country. "Hey, that numnuts in Nebraska did it and look at the media circus! That could be my media circus!", is what they'll say. So before the blame game starts, here is who the blame lies upon: the lion's share of the blame goes to the disturbed individual, a sprinkle on the parents and friends, and a decent chunk on the media for giving him the coverage that he wanted.

How do you have your cake and eat it too? Don't release the killers name and DEFINITELY don't put his picture up on the main page of your website CNN.com.

I helped a labmate jump his car this morning. His battery cable was pretty corroded (like mine was before last weekend) and he said it had been at least 5 years since he had bought a battery. I think we found the problem!

J's 5K is rapidly approaching. I think she'll do okay. I need to find our last 5K times for comparison even though the course is different.

J's workplace just hired a new person who also went to Samford, my alma mater. I guess it is a small world after all.

Labels: 5K, Big Media, lab, The Simpsons, video games

Those are what I have to grade by Wed. Ugh. I really don't mind grading but when it's a report and there are a stack of 50-60, it's a daunting task. Not dissertation daunting, but still daunting. I plan to get home and grade furiously until they're done then I can get back into my book. It took me about 15-20 pages to get hooked but I really can't put it down. Blindness by Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago. There is an epidemic that causes white blindness. They know hardly anything about it but know it is contagious but are not sure exactly how. All the blind are quarantined in abandoned buildings and they're at max capacity. Something big is about to happen. I'll let you know how it ends, unless you want to read it for yourself.

I did some routine maintenance on the cars this weekend. I used "Sea Foam" in both cars to help with carbon build-up. Both received new wipers, 3 for Focus, 2 for Tercel. Tercel had a new headlight installed. I also cleaned up Focus' battery which had some corrosion, bluish snow stuff that I can only assume is copper (II) sulfate formed from the copper of the wires and the sulfate from the batteries' sulfuric acid.

All that's left is a coolant flush for Tercel and replace a turn signal in Focus. I'll probably finish that up this week or next weekend. J is running a 5K next weekend too.

Oh! We also picked up a Carolina (Blue) Sapphire that is really pretty and smells amazing! We put it up last night and got the lights on. J went a bit crazy and successfully jammed it full of 800 clear lights. Pictures will be posted.

Labels: 5K, cars, Focus, Tercel, weekend

J and I were discussing what she actually said this week. Turns out she said that I should take the week off and recuperate but still race, so I did.

I'll get to the chicken mole recipe a bit later. Edit: there is no recipe. Enjoy the post! But first:

I crashed around midnight and J finally joined me around 1 or so. Alarm goes off at 6:30. Snooze. I'm fairly certain that she wanted to get up around 6:45 so she hits snooze twice for an actual wake-up of 6:46. I'm still torn on how I feel about snooze. I used to be a chronic snoozer but now... Hop outta bed, and assemble my carefully planned running ensemble. Start with underwear because the blue thermal doesn't keep the mouse in the house very well. Cover that up with some lovely black athletic shorts. Thermal shirt with my Sandblast Rally 2006 shirt on the outside for warmth. I was Runner 1027 and J was Runner 1026. I also wore my incredibly comfortable Adidasish pants and my trusty hoodie. We picked up one of my wife's co-workers and carpooled over to Greenville.

Parking deck, walking, "FINISH". No big start sign which I found strange. But we stroll up and there are two huge inflatable Yuengling bottles. I kept hoping for samples or coupons or door prizes but alas, all for naught. I guess drinking and jogging don't mix. So what if it was 10 am? It's okay on a gameday but not for a 5K? They did have water provided by Pepsi, muffins (blueberry, banana nut, and choco chip [WTF?]), bananas, halved oranges, apples, Nutri-Grain bar (blueberry, apple cinnamon, and um, red.....strawberry?) and Kashi bars of which I tried the honey almond flax and brought home a peanut butter and trail mix. They also had some highly inefficient propane heaters. You could literally see the wasted heat rising away, but stand in the right spot and it made your face feel wonderful and your hands if you held them up high. We arrived way too early; around 8:05 for a race that started at 9. So we stood around, had a granola bar, drank some water, chatted and then it was 8:45, time to warm-up! We go out into the road which I find quite liberating, running in the street, it's been a taboo since childhood, and stretch and bend and jump around, getting loose and ready to go.

The starting line is actually the plaza in between a hotel and some other building. I jump up and try and judge the size of the crowd. The Irish announcer said they were expecting around 1800 people. Lots of heads was all I could get from the plaza. Airhorn! Hey, that means go! So we all start jogging, people dodging in and out. J was telling me beforehand that runner's etiquette is if you're slow, get in the back and if you're fast, go towards the front. Co-worker said that some people in front were actually walking from the start. Yikes, that's how people get trampled, not at a 5K but concerts and riots. It's mostly downhill for a bit, the crowd thinning out. There were a couple jogging strollers even a dog. But as I calmed down and found a spot in the chaos, I started to look around. They're really trying to spruce it up and make it pretty. But the people. So many people. I never turned around, didn't want to know how far back I was, but there was a solid column of humanity filling the road in front of us.

Downhill, up a tad, flattens out, turn right, turn right, downhill, across a bridge, oh no! an uphill! Phew, tough, but not bad, and I haven't stopped jogging yet where as last one I started walking a half mile in. Flattens out again. There are cops everywhere. Every street on at least one side blocking the streets so that we can safely pass and not play "dodge the traffic", so thank you to the Greenville Police Department for all the blockades! A peak and it's downhill! In the distance you can see where it goes back up so the relief is temporary. Rest while you can and J taught me to "open my stride" on the downhill so you cover more ground and do about the same work. We hit the uphill and my philosophy on hills is, the faster you go up them, the quicker they're over, within reason of course, so I don't slow down and just power through it. Must stop. I slow to a walk and move to the side. Just then I pass the 2 mile mark. Huh? It's more than halfway over?!? Apparently I missed the 1 mile mark if it in fact exists. See, it's a 5K and they still mark it in miles. I guess a 3.2mil. doesn't sound as cool. Encouraged by my making it over halfway through without stopping and the fact that J passed me when I was taking a stroll, I hit the next corner and pull out my secret weapon: ipod! I had been carrying it in my pocket up to this point, just taking in the city and the sounds. And I figured fiddling with my headphones and pod would distract me from that fact that I was jogging in the cold at too early o'clock on a Saturday.

Headphones on and I just reached the hill that was looming in the distance but I know this is the last hill and that it's a gentle downward slope for the rest of the race. Offspring kicks in and I use the auditory burst to decimate that hill. But it hurt and I have to walk towards the top. J catches back up with me when I walk and we walk for a bit recovering from the ascent. J takes off and I follow a few steps behind. We pass 221 North, where we drank the other weekend, Island Jerk, the Caribbean restaurant that J won't eat at cuz she's a jerk, and lots of shops and coffee shops and all the other boutiquey places that is downtown Greenville. Maybe a butcher or bakery is the next step. And then, there in the distance, you see it. The need to get there as fast as possible kicks in but you must fight it! There is no way you can sprint that far and you've come too far to spaz out in front of all the people at the finish line, which is basically friends of runners and all the runners who have just kicked your jogging ass, but at least are nice about it. So you maintain the jog, knowing that a mad dash is coming. J kicks, there she goes, but wait! She not sprinting, she's just jogging faster, so I wait a few more strides and then take off! Full stride but controlled cuz there are kids around and pass at least 8-9 people. I even leapt through the finish line. It took a while to recover from that full sprint but I thought it was a nice finish and I beat my wife J! Burn! She said it's just cuz I was a boy but that's just an excuse.

We wait around and snag some take-home Kashi bars and an apple and hear some times. Fastest guy was 15:mid-30ish and the fastest lady, his wife, was 17:mid-30s. J and I were in at 32:something which was a slower time than last time but a far greater performance. And J did great too!

No recipe tonight, we're about to go to the store for nachos for dinner. I'll edit the promise of a recipe at the top so you won't feel like I suckered you into this marathon post.

Labels: 5K, Greenville, Kashi

I'm still phlegmy and coughey and a little achey, so it doesn't look like I'll be running tomorrow morning, which sucks but J will represent us well. And she can bundle up before the race and then hand the sweatshirt and other items to me and I can hold them until she is done with the race. The route is a loop of downtown so the spectators can use the through streets to cheer on their favorite runner at various spots. I can't imagine there will be tons of spectators since it is so bloomin' early on a cold Saturday but there will be some.

I made chicken mole (accented e) last night and it was really good. The leftover chicken I shredded and will put that into soft tacos for lunch today and we're making enchiladas with the rest tonight. There was even enough chicken leftover to freeze a couple servings for lunches or dinners at a later date. I only tried a little last night but it tasted very good. I used split breasts but next time I would use boneless meat or a meat with just one large bone because I did not enjoy picking the bones out of the mole before I poured it over the shredded chicken. It's out of our Williams & Sonoma crockpot cookbook that we recieved as a wedding present. And before you ask, yes I'll get the recipe up this weekend. It has chocolate and cinnamon in it which felt really weird but is delicious.

This weekend I plan to reorganize the spare bedroom and a closet or two. So hopefully I'll have some stuff to drop off at Goodwill and some good stuff to pawn off to some other sucker on ebay.

Story: Protege bought some tires off a guy on ebay. Shipping was $6 less than what he paid so the guy refunded that money. I told him "Yes, that's what nice ebayers do." To which he said, no way, I would've kept that money and thought of it as a processing fee. Good thing I haven't bought anything from Protege! So make sure and read the feedback from the sellers and buyers that you're dealing with, some are nice, some are not so nice and some are theives.

I'll update tomorrow with J's 5K time and the mole recipe.

Labels: 5K, chicken mole

They were just sitting around. And then J and I were walking around campus and she jumped into a moat and was being chased by swimming iguanas. This might have been a dream. She did make it out safely though.

I ran most of the 5K route from a couple years ago. The ipod helped. Or at least it did in my head. And slow Smashing Pumpkins is not good running music. Sorry Billy. But fast SP definitely is.

J and a friend from work attempted to do the 5K route that we will attempt in less than 2 weeks. They finished in 21 minutes. They also took a wrong turn because that is wicked fast.

It will be fun to run in downtown Greenville. Hopefully another warm streak will come through. The temp was in the low 60s-high 50s last night. Awesome. The radio just said that the newest cold front is coming through, so that won't last.

My parents are going back home tomorrow morning. They were here for around 3 months but it's never long enough. Yes, they're just a phone call or half day plane ride away, but a 4 hour car ride is much easier and more convenient. For Christmas Dad took Mom back to Portland, Oregon. They were missionaries out there in the late 70's and early 80's, which is why my brother and I were both born out there. So they went back and said alot had changed but it was still pretty.

It was funny. According to my father, lots of white Californians moved out of Cali and sold their modest houses for oodles of cash and could afford huge houses in Oregon, but they weren't used to having yards or anything, so it's all these McMansion subdivisions. Some friends of ours sold their 5 acre mini-farm and a develelpor put 32 houses onto that 5 acres. Yikes. Hope you like your neighbors. It used to be lots of mini-farms everywhere and now the sprawl has taken over. Our friends bought a 32 acre farm with the proceeds of their sale. He also said that there are now strip malls everywhere. So I imagine it looks like Orlando now, instead of the Pacific Northwest. I can't remember the term Fast Food Nation used, but it was the McDonalding of America, or something like that.

I realized yesterday that I haven't been using the post labels, so I'll start doing that. And once things settle down, get ready for a blog makeover. And for some old posts to go away, so save your favorites now.

Labels: 5K, dream, Mom and Dad