Thursday, February 26, 2009

Rotten SOB

Somebody stole my stuff. I mean, he cut the lock off my locker, took my iPod from my coat, as well as my gym bag. I say "he" because this was in the men's locker room at work.

I never considered the value of my running gear, as running is supposed to be the least expensive athletic activity. Right. What one fails to consider is the value of the things that you accumulate over time. It isn't just a $90 pair of running shoes. I had three sets of clothes in the bag, as the weather has been varying, and I didn't know what I would need; I had clothes for 22 degrees or below, 50 or below, and warmer (or workout clothes). Each "outfit" is not inexpensive, as those familiar with the gear understand. The running jackets, light and heavyweight compression pants, Zoot shorts, Mizuno gloves are not cheap. And then it gets worse. I bought the shoes ten days ago. There' s the Suunto heart rate monitor, with associated PODs, my RoadID, and especially my custom orthotics. I have had them about fifteen months, and had put about 1,300 miles on them. There was plenty of useful life left for them. Those were $400. So, losing the bag is significant.

And with the exception of the iPod, and maybe the watch, the rest is completely useless to anyone but me. What a hassle. My level of aggravation is off the chart, and I should probably go to confession for all of the evil thoughts I had. I think I just used a year's worth of obscenities (vocal and mental). For as much as I curse, I think I borrowed from 2010-2014.

I'm done venting.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Beware of the Doghouse

I really enjoyed this. This link has a clearer version than the embedded video, but links eventually go bad. Funny thing is, I can see this happening to me (what's wrong with giving a kitchen appliance as a gift?). I'm a little smarter than that, I think, but the idea that one can actually get the "wrong" gift for someone can be difficult to understand. Yes, I understand there are inappropriate gifts for people, but would a new washer and dryer be such a terrible gift? I'm not going to test it out, but I guess I look at things differently. I am happy to get anything, whether it be something I want or need, or something that just saves me time and effort. I would routinely ask for socks and underwear as a Christmas gift; not because I really like that stuff, but because I will eventually need them, and me not having to go to the store to get them is a gift. I hate shopping.


Anyway, enjoy the video.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Change in Plans

Due to schedule issues it looks like I will not be able to run in either the Illinois Marathon or the Country Music Marathon. I had actually considered running in both, but my rocky start this year makes this a somewhat foolish goal. That said, neither will fit in at this point, so I am looking at The Flying Pig Marathon on Sunday May 3 in Cincinnati. It has good ratings, and the course looks forgiving. It's also close enough to make it a day trip. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope it doesn't interfere with anything.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Still Funny

This may be a few years old, but I still think it's funny. There were a few different commercials, which you can see at YouTube.