Our government has seen fit to establish a database of ALL national phonecalls being placed thanks to the spineless creeps at AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth. Hell, even my librarian won't turn over my record of books checked out. Of course they say they aren't recording the calls. But frankly, these are the same folks that had the draft-dodging, AWOL nerve to question the military records of American veterans. They spread the rumors that the foreign-adopted daughter of a political foe was actually the product of a mixed-race affair. Do we honestly think anyone's 900 phonecalls are really off the record?
Bush's approval ratings are now down to 29%. What I want to know is who the heck is the 29%??? :-)
Hookergate, anyone?
The GOP is extending tax cuts to the richest among us. Check this out:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-weissman/frame-this-a-tax-deal-fo_b_20844.html
32 dead American service people in Iraq this month so far. 2,346 total so far since the beginning of the war and 17,869 wounded in action. Did you vote for GWB? Take a look then:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/
Do I sound pissed? Yeah, I guess I really am.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Thursday, May 11, 2006
miscellaneous musings
My website is up and running! www.runswithdog.com Check it out. It isn't finished and there is a lot I want to change but I am pretty darned impressed with myself right now. All credit and thanks goes to Spark for all her help. She even walked me through some things on the phone, right off the cuff. And everyone knows how hard it is to verbally tell someone the steps of something that you are used to sitting at a keyboard and doing.
Yesterday, Mo and I ran. 2.7 miles or two big loops. It was warm although we went early and his tongue was hanging out the side of his mouth before we finished the first loop. I wonder if I am overtraining. It seems like my runs are getting harder physically and slower. I have my hr monitor by the side of my bed to take my resting hr but I just keep forgetting.
I met Jen P at the Y to do a little cardio before her weights class. We decided to do a little mini cycling class, because she has been wanting to try it. Her daughter's step sister and a 12 week client of her joined us. The big joke has always been that I beg her not to do walking lunges in her class. With running and cycling, my legs just cannot take them. I now think she knows why :-) It is funny how our body really becomes acclimatized to what we ask of it. Jen is in great shape but I could tell that she was 'feeling' it. A week or two of classes though and her body will get the message that this is what is expected now and respond. I have had runners come into a cycle class and struggle. Their cardio capacity is there, it is just that their body doesn't understand the new demands on it. They always adjust to it disgustingly fast though!
Because of other demands, I hadn't taken the weight class in a while so I was dreading it. But I don't feel too bad this morning. She did a lot of upper body and was quite perky. I think the little bike class warmed her up :-) I have always wanted to teach body cuts but there is no way in hell I will ever be able to lift and talk and count at the same time. I can barely get through Jen's class as it is. I don't know how she and the other body cuts instructors do it!
The forms are down off the basement and they have waterproofed the outside of it. Today is starting off beautiful but should get cool and rainy later. I don't know if they will do any work on it, anticipating the bad weather. Next steps I think will be pouring the basement floor and starting to frame. The whole thing looks way too small to me. I look a the outline of the basement and can't imagine a living/dining/kitchen, masterbed and bath, 2 bedrooms and another bath fitting in there. The porch and garage outline look bigger than the house! Could they have made a mistake like that? LOL
GWB's approval numbers are down again. And I read that Karl Rove will soon be indicted. Oh and GWB thinks his brother would make a great president. I hope that folks have enough sense to say 2 Bush's are enough! I am afraid that the past 8 years will not go down in history as a stellar period in American politics.
Yesterday, Mo and I ran. 2.7 miles or two big loops. It was warm although we went early and his tongue was hanging out the side of his mouth before we finished the first loop. I wonder if I am overtraining. It seems like my runs are getting harder physically and slower. I have my hr monitor by the side of my bed to take my resting hr but I just keep forgetting.
I met Jen P at the Y to do a little cardio before her weights class. We decided to do a little mini cycling class, because she has been wanting to try it. Her daughter's step sister and a 12 week client of her joined us. The big joke has always been that I beg her not to do walking lunges in her class. With running and cycling, my legs just cannot take them. I now think she knows why :-) It is funny how our body really becomes acclimatized to what we ask of it. Jen is in great shape but I could tell that she was 'feeling' it. A week or two of classes though and her body will get the message that this is what is expected now and respond. I have had runners come into a cycle class and struggle. Their cardio capacity is there, it is just that their body doesn't understand the new demands on it. They always adjust to it disgustingly fast though!
Because of other demands, I hadn't taken the weight class in a while so I was dreading it. But I don't feel too bad this morning. She did a lot of upper body and was quite perky. I think the little bike class warmed her up :-) I have always wanted to teach body cuts but there is no way in hell I will ever be able to lift and talk and count at the same time. I can barely get through Jen's class as it is. I don't know how she and the other body cuts instructors do it!
The forms are down off the basement and they have waterproofed the outside of it. Today is starting off beautiful but should get cool and rainy later. I don't know if they will do any work on it, anticipating the bad weather. Next steps I think will be pouring the basement floor and starting to frame. The whole thing looks way too small to me. I look a the outline of the basement and can't imagine a living/dining/kitchen, masterbed and bath, 2 bedrooms and another bath fitting in there. The porch and garage outline look bigger than the house! Could they have made a mistake like that? LOL
GWB's approval numbers are down again. And I read that Karl Rove will soon be indicted. Oh and GWB thinks his brother would make a great president. I hope that folks have enough sense to say 2 Bush's are enough! I am afraid that the past 8 years will not go down in history as a stellar period in American politics.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Estate Planning
We got the drafts of our wills today. Pursuant to Section 7-6.1 of the New York EPTL, a certain sum of money is to be held by the Trustee to be used to or for the benefit of our dogs. This money is to used to 'continue the lifestyle to which they have been accustomed'. THE LIFESTYLE MY DOGS HAVE BEEN ACCUSTOMED TO???? Do you hear that, all you people who have offered to take in my dogs if we die? You have to maintain their accustomed lifestyle. :-)
imsomnia
Here it is, 3:21 am. As is way too usual recently, I am awake, downstairs to keep from disturbing A. I found an old Homicide on - the one where Kay gets promoted to Sgt. and promptly starts driving everyone crazy and that there is a video guy filming a documentary. Man, I love this show! I especially loved the episode where they played the whole documentary. I want to live in Baltimore. I want to meet Meldrick Lewis. I wish Clarke Johnson did more film/tv work, although I guess he does a lot of directing.
Ran with Budge tonight (last night?). We did the new fast/slow runner workout and it was pretty good. I liked it. It didn't make me feel guilty as she was able to run her own pace. 5 minutes - my fast pace, 2 minutes - recovery, 2 minutes - her fast pace - 2 minutes recovery and we repeated it several times. We ran about 4.2 miles and my time was 47:45 - 11:22 m/m. WTH? I felt like I was sprinting! I was breathing like a freight train! I was hoping it was at least a minute/mile faster. I hung with Budge pretty good except for one hill at the end. No run tomorrow - thank goodness!
The house basement walls were poured today. It will be neat when they remove the frames and we can actually see the basement. We also finished the selection process. I think it is going to cost us about $5000 for a fence - hence the insomnia and some nausea if I think about it too much :-(
Ran with Budge tonight (last night?). We did the new fast/slow runner workout and it was pretty good. I liked it. It didn't make me feel guilty as she was able to run her own pace. 5 minutes - my fast pace, 2 minutes - recovery, 2 minutes - her fast pace - 2 minutes recovery and we repeated it several times. We ran about 4.2 miles and my time was 47:45 - 11:22 m/m. WTH? I felt like I was sprinting! I was breathing like a freight train! I was hoping it was at least a minute/mile faster. I hung with Budge pretty good except for one hill at the end. No run tomorrow - thank goodness!
The house basement walls were poured today. It will be neat when they remove the frames and we can actually see the basement. We also finished the selection process. I think it is going to cost us about $5000 for a fence - hence the insomnia and some nausea if I think about it too much :-(
Monday, May 08, 2006
Safety first, a PB and frustration
Yesterday, we had scheduled a long bike ride and a 20 minute run. Early in the morning I headed out to the park with Mo and Ang to meet some friends and we did a 4 mile walk. Absolutely beautiful, gorgeous weather! Budge and Wen then met at my house for the ride. Wen forgot her helmet so the decision was made to make the 20 minute drive to her house and ride out there. No biggie as she lives out in the county and it is a nice country ride. And it is never worth it riding without a helmet. Never! We did about 15 miles with some small hills. I think Budge is getting more comfortable working her gears - she really needs to get that down pat because she will run through all her gears at Green lakes to get up the two hills. Due to my superior training - ok, due to my excessive 'junk in the trunk' I could take them on the downhills. It is just physics - more weight=more speed downhill. Of course, Budge caught me on all the uphills. Physics and superior conditioning - less weight +better cardiovascular conditioning = more speed uphill :-)
When we got back to Wen's we threw on our shoes and took off running. It was supposed to be a 20 minute run but we decided to just do a mile. We were tired - it was a miracle we did anything! :-) I felt ok but like I was running in quicksand. If you had asked me, I would have said I was doing a 13-14 minute mile. At one point, my breathing was so labored I thought I should slow down but was afraid if I did, I would be walking! One mile times:
Budge - 8:24 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Me - 9:28 (A PERSONAL BEST!!!!!!)
Wen - 9:47 (!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Of course, we all agree that we wouldn't be able to keep that pace but still, it was a welcome shot in the arm. I am so very happy with all of us!
A's brother came over for the afternoon and evening - they hit and threw the ball around in the green area and then took J and his girlfriend to the mall for the prom tux rental. They came home with a top hat and cane! I knew I should have gone. I made white bean and sausage (tofurkey sausage, of course) with salad and biscuits for dinner. We eat a little spicy here and I don't think A's brother really does a lot of spice so I felt bad about that. He ate it all like a champ though, with lots of water!
I spent the rest of the evening working on my website and it sucks. Something is wrong with the software and it won't upload my site. We have reloaded the software, we have reconfigured my computer, made new trial websites to upload.........nothing! I might just have to get different website creating software and use that :-(
We should have the basement walls poured today!
When we got back to Wen's we threw on our shoes and took off running. It was supposed to be a 20 minute run but we decided to just do a mile. We were tired - it was a miracle we did anything! :-) I felt ok but like I was running in quicksand. If you had asked me, I would have said I was doing a 13-14 minute mile. At one point, my breathing was so labored I thought I should slow down but was afraid if I did, I would be walking! One mile times:
Budge - 8:24 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Me - 9:28 (A PERSONAL BEST!!!!!!)
Wen - 9:47 (!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Of course, we all agree that we wouldn't be able to keep that pace but still, it was a welcome shot in the arm. I am so very happy with all of us!
A's brother came over for the afternoon and evening - they hit and threw the ball around in the green area and then took J and his girlfriend to the mall for the prom tux rental. They came home with a top hat and cane! I knew I should have gone. I made white bean and sausage (tofurkey sausage, of course) with salad and biscuits for dinner. We eat a little spicy here and I don't think A's brother really does a lot of spice so I felt bad about that. He ate it all like a champ though, with lots of water!
I spent the rest of the evening working on my website and it sucks. Something is wrong with the software and it won't upload my site. We have reloaded the software, we have reconfigured my computer, made new trial websites to upload.........nothing! I might just have to get different website creating software and use that :-(
We should have the basement walls poured today!
Saturday, May 06, 2006
A small confession
Yesterday evening, Budge and I did a swim workout. I know it was Friday night, but frankly I don't have much of a life and the pool is so nicely sparsely populated and quiet, it is a joy to swim. Budge has been much more diligent with her swim workouts than I. I hadn't swam in two weeks :-(
Now for the confession. First, to put this in perspective, you need to realize Budge is pretty gifted physically. She is about 6 ft tall and weighs 100 lbs. She has these long, long, legs and long, long arms. She is pretty much the exact physical opposite of myself who leans to the fat midget category. All this means is that I spend a lot of my time looking at her back. Pretty much all our running time and it looks like it will be the same for our bike rides. Well, last night, we decided to do a nice and easy swim workout. 300 yd warmup, 5 x100 w/ 15 sec. and 200 yd cooldown. I am tired of looking at her back so I stepped it up a bit and tried to keep 1/2 to a whole body length ahead of her. Not enough effort to really tax me but enough that I (for a change) wasn't tailing along in her wake. She did pass me once in our cooldown swim but I really was taking it easy there :-) So there is my confession - it felt pretty good for a change not to be bringing up the rear. Of course, I do realize that if we were swimming all out, she would burn me like overdone toast but I take a little, unseemly pleasure in my effort last night.
Karma is a bitch though. We ran 60 minutes this morning and Wen joined us. While I huffed and puffed my way, unable to string a half dozen words together, just trying to keep up with them, Budge just loped alongside of us, chatting away, telling us stories to occupy the time. I don't think she broke a sweat :-)
Tomorrow is a 19 mile ride with a 20 minute run after.
Now for the confession. First, to put this in perspective, you need to realize Budge is pretty gifted physically. She is about 6 ft tall and weighs 100 lbs. She has these long, long, legs and long, long arms. She is pretty much the exact physical opposite of myself who leans to the fat midget category. All this means is that I spend a lot of my time looking at her back. Pretty much all our running time and it looks like it will be the same for our bike rides. Well, last night, we decided to do a nice and easy swim workout. 300 yd warmup, 5 x100 w/ 15 sec. and 200 yd cooldown. I am tired of looking at her back so I stepped it up a bit and tried to keep 1/2 to a whole body length ahead of her. Not enough effort to really tax me but enough that I (for a change) wasn't tailing along in her wake. She did pass me once in our cooldown swim but I really was taking it easy there :-) So there is my confession - it felt pretty good for a change not to be bringing up the rear. Of course, I do realize that if we were swimming all out, she would burn me like overdone toast but I take a little, unseemly pleasure in my effort last night.
Karma is a bitch though. We ran 60 minutes this morning and Wen joined us. While I huffed and puffed my way, unable to string a half dozen words together, just trying to keep up with them, Budge just loped alongside of us, chatting away, telling us stories to occupy the time. I don't think she broke a sweat :-)
Tomorrow is a 19 mile ride with a 20 minute run after.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Thursday recap
We headed out to the house site yesterday evening to see if anything had been done. There were all these long wooden panels stacked up - I guess the forms for the poured foundation. They also had poured a short strip of cement around the hole - I guess like a footer (don't really know what that is but it does sound like a builder/foundation/construction term!). There were also squares, probably 2x2 feet, poured in locations in the middle of the foundation, maybe for supports? Pretty cool. And pretty scary. Can't believe we are actually doing this! I did take some pics and will post them when they are developed.
We then headed out to the local AAA ball park to watch a game. It was absolutely gorgeous, perfect temps, for the first 2.5 innings. Then the rain came and the game was eventually called :-( I blew off subbing for Bob for that. I should have subbed - I would have at least gotten a ride in. Oh well.......
We then headed out to the local AAA ball park to watch a game. It was absolutely gorgeous, perfect temps, for the first 2.5 innings. Then the rain came and the game was eventually called :-( I blew off subbing for Bob for that. I should have subbed - I would have at least gotten a ride in. Oh well.......
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