RIP James Brown

I had the pleasure of spending an evening with Mr. Brown a few years ago. We attended the President's Dinner together. It was a surreal evening as the Godfather of Soul rocked the house of the Republican faithful just by showing up. Our table was in one corner of an enormous convention center and all night a parade of folks came by to pay their respects to James Brown. The Secret Service even collected him up for a backstage chat with the President. It was a surreal brush with the power of celebrity.

Godspeed James Brown. He certainly wrung a lot out of his 73 years.

I Hear Phoenix is Lovely This Time of Year

I love my job, I really do. It's interesting, I work with and for great people, it pays the bills and for my horse addiction. Yeah, there's a but coming... I have to @#%ing travel to Phoenix the week before Christmas for a 1/2 day meeting. Of course since the 1/2 day meeting is in Phoenix, it's a 3-day trip. Bad enough to miss my prime last minute shopping days, but I also have to travel with all the amateur flyers who will be packing the airport and slowing the process. argh.

On the bright side? This little last minute jaunt across time zones will boost me to medallion status on Delta for the first time since they changed the qualifying requirements - bastards. Gotta google running routes in Phoenix. Joy.

Half Marathon Training v2 (or 3?).0

I had slacked off in the last couple of weeks -- running once a week whether the schedule called for it or not. But last night the training resumed in earnest with an hour work out that included 54 straight minutes of running. That's a personal record and fairly amazing feat in my (admittedly limited) book. Now I just have to triple that by March 25... eeeeeek.

I usually think of friction as my friend but last night my friend turned on me and some chafing ensued. OUCH. I've got to work that issue out and quick.

Christmas Blues

I always get the blues at Christmas time to some degree or another. I used to think it was because I was alone, but now I'm happily married and still get the blues, so I guess they are just part of me. The fact that my favorite Christmas song is Joni Mitchell's River doesn't help. Every since Robert Downey Jr.'s character on Ally McBeal picked it out on the piano in a poignant scene and I sleuthed out the original, it's been a Christmas-time listening staple. This year Sarah McLachlan has released a new cover of it. It's such a sad song, but for some reason it lifts my Christmas blues even as it lets me wallow in them a bit.

An Odd Tradition

I fly a lot. But it just struck me yesterday what an odd tradition it is for the pilot to greet each passenger as they LEAVE the plane. Air travel has become a bus ride mostly. Unlike when I was a kid and it felt special to fly, now it's just a means of impersonal torment. Except where the pilot says a word to you on the way off the plane.

I can see the point of the pilot taking a close look at his passengers as they get ON the plane, but after the fact of a successful flight (i.e. we all walked away from the landing) I don't really want to make nice with the guy. I've been crowded into a seat and tossed a bag of peanuts if I'm lucky so it's not like he/she hosted a really great time.

On the other hand, I'd like to get a good look at the pilot BEFORE we take off -- remember those guys who had downed a few before climbing into the cockpit -- I'd like a chance to see if he/she was tipsy or looked particularly morose about something. It also seems like a good idea for the pilot to check out the souls he's about to be responsible for and make sure none of them are particularly morose/drunk/or have suspiciously bulky shoes.

That's it; let's size each other up before the flight and let parting proceed without that awkward smile and word of thanks that's so out of step with the rest of the flying experience.

Food is Not My Friend v 2.0

Off to the doctor lickety split. Took a lot of blood and didn't say shit.

Okay so we're in testing mode. The options are ulcer, gall stones, some sort of bacterial induced colitis. Don't they all just sound lovely. I have Prilosec in my possession and a date with an ultrasound machine on Wednesday. In the meantime, food still causes discomfort and I'm still eating -- I'm simply not trainable. But you knew that...

T Minus 16 Weeks

Darn those weeks slip by quickly. 16 weeks to the ING Atlanta 1/2 Marathon. I did do better this week with 3 running incidents under my belt. Yesterday was a 3 mile-ish jaunt with probably a mile of running, so it's good, all good. I have 4 more weeks to be able to run 3 miles without stopping. I think I can, I think I can...

It's a goal, but I'm not going to stress over it and just keep on getting out there. It's too easy for me to psych myself out rather than motivate myself.

Food is Not My Friend

On so many levels, but lately because it makes me feel really badly. Unlike Pavlov's dogs, I'm clearly not trainable. Here's the deal, when I eat almost anything I feel like serious crap almost immediately after and for the next several hours. You would think this would make me not want to eat. Oh no! I'm still eating 3 squares a day. I'm just whining a lot.

Bev, our office manager/lay doctor, is convinced that my gall bladder is on the fritz. We'll see what the real medical professionals say on Monday. In the meantime this would be a good weekend to fast... but I won't.