Craving Chocolate

Most people in the office are on vacation this week, so it's very quiet. It's wonderful. There are only 2 engineers in this week (down from a whopping 4) and Mike is in charge because he has been here longer. However, Mike had to leave to go to one of our test labs yesterday for a few hours and I was in charge! Oh yeah.

Left side of the ravine again. It's becoming a nice normal running route. Did a good solid 26 minutes. Felt strong. Used the new socks and was careful about how tight I tied the shoes, but my left toes still tingled (not the same a tingling tail, mind you). I'm gonna call the guy at roadrunner to make sure this is okay and my toes aren't going to fall off one day on a long run.

Hey, tomorrow is Friday. Yes! Long live short weeks.

What's wrong with my calves!?!

Didn't run over the Christmas weekend. It was a combination of laziness and a new (old) running location. I've gotten so used to running at work that it now feels weird to run anywhere else. It used to be that I was so used to running in Los Osos, running elsewhere was weird. Funny how that works.

My calves hurt like hell yesterday for no apparent reason. I think I may have just been flinching a lot while I was sleeping and it made them sore (it's happened before). They still hurt today and were a little sore during the run. They really hurt when I stopped running.

Took the new spiffy shoes (with special orange laces!) for a spin today. They felt a little different with my old socks then the spiffy new ones I tried them on in. But I only have one pair of new socks (thanks mom...uh...I mean Santa) so I'm gonna try them tomorrow and if they feel better I'm gonna have to make a complete switch. My left toes felt tingly. I'm hoping that will go away with different socks and not tying the shoes so tightly. I really don't want to spend money on a whole set of new socks, but the guy at Road Runners was cute and maybe he'll actually ask for my number this time (stupid other customers in line behind me).

Took the left side of the ravine again. Turned around at the street. Did a good solid 25 minutes and was a little faster today, though it didn't feel like it. The wind was terrible and my contact wasn't happy on the way back. Couldn't take it out because I was afraid it would blow away. The new arm band and (RED) nano came along for the ride as well. They worked nicely once I figured out the logistics of where the earpiece cord should wrap and how loud it should be to hear over traffic.

I like the word spiffy.

Anderson Cooper

So, apparently my sister doesn't know who Anderson Cooper is. He's an awesome journalist who has done some amazing stories and currently has his own show on CNN. He's also the son of Gloria Vanderbilt, the designer, and yes, a real Vanderbilt. Check out www.cnn.com/ac or www.cnn.com/360 for more fun stuff. His show airs at 10pm EST (so that would be 7pm PST people) and the first hour is always worth watching.

Took the left side of the ravine today and found out that it also dead ends (into a street, not a stable) at about the same point (time wise) as the right side. So this trail isn't going to be good for long runs, which means I'll just have to do them at home like I have been. Did a great 26.5 minute run today. Was only going to do 25 minutes, but I felt so strong I just kept going. I hit the stoplight at 25.5 and it took a few minutes to get through both signals. Then I just ran the extra minute down the hill (cause it's downhill and it's easy). Could have gone even farther, but I have learned my lesson many times to not over do it and to build up gradually. But I'm feeling really strong in my runs. And despite being the holiday season and eating a few little goodies, I'm down another pound. Plus I found this great arm exercise that I can do at my desk to tone my upper arms.

I figured out why the reindeer didn't work. I did the circuit wrong. Duh. I fixed a few today, but I'm so over it, so I'm not doing anymore. I need a good soldering iron. Should have asked for one for x-mas. Oh well, too late now.

Dodging horse poop

Went back to the trail for my run today. It's more of a ravine with a path down each side. Last Friday I chose the left side of the ravine. It is basically a wide dirt path (a car could drive down it) that follows along the back side of some houses. It not shaded at all (bad for hot day). I was going to take the left side again today cause it's rather cold out and I wanted the extra warmth, but there were some trucks in front of the gate, so I chose the right side. The right side is covered in shade and offers a myriad of path options. I'm pretty sure they all end up in the same place (or go back to the street level), but that leaves me with some exploring to do. There were piles of horse poop on some of the paths that I had to avoid. I found out why there was so much horse poop. That path dead ends at a stable. The little firefly lit up at this point in the run. Unfortunately, the path dead ended a little too early for me, so I only ran 24:15 instead of 25 minutes.


I have to cross a very busy intersection (both streets, actually) in order to get to the ravine. Normally I jay-walk (jay-run?) across the first street because it's not always that busy and it saves me some time at the stoplight. I was about to do so today when I noticed Mr. Policeman up the street from me. I figured it wasn't a good idea to jay-walk and then run right by the cop. So I just waited at the stoplight.

I have to decide if I'm going to make a cake or some other type of goodies for work people. I can't decide. Someone decide for me please.

Finally Free

Haven't run in the past 4 days for various reasons. Doesn't really matter at this point, I just need to make sure I run all the rest of the week. One of my coworkers showed me a really great trail near work on Friday. I ran it and it was great. I've decided to switch from a set distance to a set time, since that's the way I'm used to running. And now that I have a trail to run on, it'll make it easier. I have my pace down (about an 8:40 mile), so that goal is accomplished.

Finished that stupid x-mas project and after all the work , it didn't. Good riddance. It's nice to be free of that project and actually focus on what I'm supposed to be doing.

Okay...if you were carpet cleaner, you'd be with the cleaning supplies, yes? Nope, not if you're at Target. You'd be next to the vacuums.

I need to clean a bit and then go to bed, but I can't stop watching Anderson Cooper!! He's been added to the "husband list," but you'll have guess at his number.

Not So Good

Spent all morning in the QC room staring at more small parts. Walked out of there dazed and confused just before my run time. The bad part about being the QC room was that I wasn't able to follow my normal morning feeding routine (what can I say, my body likes a regular meticulously planned out schedule). I knew going into my run that my body was worn down. Just after the mile mark my digestive system decided it was no longer going to cooperate. I tried to go a bit farther, but my body just wasn't having it. I stopped, walked back to my building (about a half mile), went into the bathroom and curled up in the fetal position until I felt better. Didn't throw up, but it was miserable. Now I just feel like crap. Oh well. I get to go home soon and I think I'll take a nap.

So Tired

Wasn't able to run during lunch today. Had to make a run to Radio Shack and Michaels to get some stuff for work. I meant to do a hill run after work, but I spent the whole afternoon staring at really small objects and it made me dizzy and nauseous. So I went home and relaxed and stared at more small objects. Now I really need sleep. Haven't gotten the 8 hours a night that I need.

Has anyone noticed how hot Anderson Cooper is? Oh man. I don't need any other reason to watch CNN.

Just Another Day

Did another 2.5 miles today. It was a little warmer, but less humid and with a nice breeze. Had shin splints and knee pain in my right leg again. At about the 1.5 mile mark, my left contact hurt and I had to stop and take it out. I was really close to my building and almost went in to put it back in, but I knew I wouldn't go back out if I did, so I made myself keep going, half blind. My leg pain went away the last mile, but that may have been because I was too focused on only being able to see out of one eye. I definitely slowed down the last mile because I felt so disoriented The back stretch on Alton feels like it's slightly uphill and I always want to quit there. Still, I came in at a 21:51, only 2 seconds slower than yesterday. All in all, I felt pretty strong.

One of my fellow engineers, named Tim, who happens to sit across from me, has been on the phone all day. Most of the calls are business related, but he just talks and talks and BS's with whomever he's on the phone with. He's loud and obnoxious and I'm not sure he's been quiet for more than a minute or two all day. If I hear one more time about how many cycles he has to do for QUAL, I'm gonna lose it. Oh wait, there he goes again... Plus, our QC manager came to me and told me that I needed put some weld-prep features on some of the parts I designed for Tim's project (I didn't know to do so...learn something new everyday) and when I ran it by Tim, he hemmed and hawed and said it was bullshit. So now I have to wait for those two to fight it out before I can finish these parts.

Got "The Village Sessions" in the mail last night. Oh. My. God. That is how an acoustic album is done. Such an amazing EP. "Good Love Is On The Way" has taken a whole new shape. And I thought it was powerful before. Now I'm just floored. Damn.

First Post

After a few weeks of running 2.25 miles a day, I chose to up the distance this week to 2.5. I had gotten down to around an 8:45 mile pace for the 2.25. My goal for my first 2.5 mile run in quite a while was 23:45, which is a 9:30 mile pace. Legs felt kinda heavy for the first five minutes or so and I had a shin splint off and on in my right leg. Really felt like I was dragging. But I pulled in a 21:49. That's 8:43 miles for my first 2.5. Woohoo!!

Spent the weekend in Las Vegas with my grandfather for his 91st b-day. Didn't stick to the diet at all. Now that I'm back home, I'm trying to get back to 1500. Doing rather well, but people keep bringing in x-mas goodies. Arg.

Haven't swum in weeks. I'm not getting to bed early enough because I'm working on a special x-mas project for work that keeps me up late. I'll start swimming again after the holidays are over and everything calms back down.

Work is getting a bit monotonous. I've been writing and revising JTs for weeks and I need a change of pace. There's a hose assembly sitting on my desk that needs work and the shop manager wants to work with me to do some tweaking on the CNC lathes, but these damn JTs just keep coming. But my secret x-mas project is almost done, so that should add some fun times. And the party will be a blast. Plus everyone loves the snowflakes.