OLD

As you know I was at a wedding in my home town this past weekend.  When I was chatting with an old buddy, it dawned on us that we sounded like our dads...basically, like old men.  So DM took it upon himself to make a list of things that make him feel old.  Some of these I can relate to, some of them not so much.  Take a gander and see how many of these you can check off your list.

Thank you my good man for your list.

o     You can’t think in the morning until you have had your coffee.

o     It sounds like popcorn popping when you stand up.

o     You can sleep from 9 PM to 6 AM and still feel tired when you wake up.

o     You have to stretch before golfing.

o     You think going to bed at 10 PM is staying up late.

o     Getting up at 5:30 AM is not that early.

o     The worst part of a hangover is being tired.

o     Mowing the lawn is the most exercise you get in a week.

o     You can nap at any time.

o     You are good at golf.

o     You no longer speed in construction zones, not even 1 MPH over the speed limit.

o     You drink more coffee in a day than anything else.

o     You purchased gas when it was below $1 per gallon.

o     You have children.

o     You use phrases like, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” and “Where’s the beef!”

o     You can eat dinner at 4:45 and not thinks it’s too early.

o     If you wait until 7 to eat dinner you are starving.

o     You work out with two different medicine balls.  The first is 20 lbs, the other 30 lbs.  They are your children.

o     You can remember when Facebook, IPhones, and IPods didn’t exist.

o     You didn’t get your first cell phone until college.

o     You can’t figure out why your sore, then you remember you jumped on a trampoline.

LOTTO

So on an impulse I bought 3 Powerball tickets...I didn't win. 
I guess that means I won't be too busy traveling and doing rich-people stuff to continue adding to this masterpiece of a blog...Lucky you.

STALE LEGS

I'm not sure what the deal is, but I have had zero energy to run lately. 

I could blame it on the heat or the fact that I was traveling this past weekend, but I'm not going to.  I'm going to own up to the fact that I have just had no desire, and no strong drive to overcome the lack of desire.  I'm not to the freak out stage yet, I know that it will only take a good run or two to snap me out of this funk.    Hopefully publicly exposing my laziness helps me get back into shape.

In non-running news, I've been a busy bee around the house these past few days.  I'll be posting pictures in the very near future, so just relax.   

I WAS RIGHT

Well, once again I was right...L-town was a blast.  Maybe it's because I don't live there any more, or because I don't go home very often, or the fact that it's a small town and things seem simpler.  Whatever the reason, when I go home it is always like a mini-vacation.  This trip was no exception and I left feeling recharged and ready for the upcoming week.  I'm sure you're all like, what was so great about this trip?  Well, you just sit right there and read this list.  I dare you to say you wouldn't have had fun too.

• A trip to the Blue Dog, with the required hamburger horseshoe.  This has been my meal of choice there since at least 8th grade, only difference is now I order a beer rather than a cherry coke.
• Mel-O-Cream doughnuts on Saturday morning
• Swimming at the local pool.  This is where I spent the majority of my time during the summers as a pudgy youngster...sometimes swimming in the pool and sometimes sitting under the life-guard station, "thinking about what I did wrong"
• Celebrating a buddy's wedding.  CONGRATS again Beau and Missy.
• Catching up with lots of friends
• Seeing my folks
• Eating Wendy's

See, told you I had a good weekend. 

Thanks to all who helped make my weekend great.

JUST A TEST

Don't mind lil' ol' me.

CARD

This is them...If I were to order cards for myself.
Think of all the fish bowls I could put this bad boy in. If I was lucky, I could eat free lunches for weeks.

WEEKEND FUN

Some good ol' fashioned fun is about to be had...A buddy is getting married and I'll be seeing a bunch of old pals over the weekend.

Hope all you cool kids out there stay cool in this heat.  I might recommend taking advantages of your local resources...you know the Mississippi is practically in your backyard.  Just sayin'.

HOT HOT HOT

To some, this might sound like complaining, which it's not.  I'm simply letting all of my internet friends know that it is going to be hot for the next couple days. 

My only question is, how am I supposed to run in this heat.  It is almost like if I don't run at 5 in the morning, then I'm not going to run.  (I'd like to point out the heat index at 5 a.m. is in the high 80s/low 90s.) Most days this isn't a problem...today it could potentially be a problem since I didn't wake up on time.  Maybe I should run in the heat to punish myself and help myself remember to wake up in the morning. 

Stay cool out there.

LEGS A'MOVIN'

Went for a 5-miler this morning...'twas a great run. Nice and sunny and not too hot.  A great way to start the day.  Hopefully tomorrow's will be just as good...but if it goes better that would be great too.

BOTTOMS UP

Until very recently, this past Saturday to be exact, I used to live by the motto, "Don't let tomorrow's responsibilities slow down today's party".  This was not some clever saying I said to look tough, many life events, some very important (my engagement, my wedding, too many of my buddies' weddings to count, the start of family vacations, etc.)  occurred with a headache pushed into hiding thanks to nothing but a few Excedrin and pure grit, a grit only a young man can have...Well internet friends, I'M OLD.  This was a horrific discovery.  I've known this day was coming, and have caught glimpses of Old Man Time every once and a while, but until recently, have done a decent job of escaping his grip.  Before I'd see a hangover as a necessary evil, making it easy to deal with, now I only see it as evil. 

I'm changing up my tactic.  Sure, I'll still party hard for special occasions, and most likely a few times for no occasion at all...but any change takes time.  I thought that I was going to fear this, but in all honesty, I don't mind too much.  Two Saturdays ago I was up at 5 a.m., had the yard mowed, went on a 7-mile run, cleaned the dishes, and did some random yard work, all by 11 a.m.  I'm to the point where I'd rather do that than sleep till 9 and lay around for a few hours.  Getting old is weird.

CHANGE

So last night an old friend stopped by to hand deliver a wedding present.  She is an artist and the present was a painting she made, specifically for our wedding.  (A picture of the picture will be posted soon).  She recently had a daughter, and she brought the baby for us to meet.  It's so weird, I know everyone grows up and becomes an "adult", hell, I just got married.  It's just crazy to think...

On running news, I ran the other day and it felt good.  I've got a 7-miler tomorrow, I am going to switch my run times and run in the evening rather than the morning because we're having a garage/yard sale.  So if you're looking for some super awesome stuff, come on over.  Call if you need directions.

THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB

Thats right. A kitchen spatial to spread wood putty. Bob velia would be proud.

UPDATES

So this past weekend was pretty busy, but in a really good way. 

We took it easy Friday night, went out for pizza and a few beers.  All was going perfectly until I some how got a hot pepper in my eye.  We're not talking a little pepper juice, we're talking one of those small red peppers that you shake out of the glass container onto your pizza.  Talk about instant pain and tears.  Holy balls was it hot.  It was so hot it sent me into instant panic, I didn't know what to do except rub my eye and cuss.  I'm sure it was a sight to be seen.  Luckily the pepper was small, and with some rubbing, it was able to work itself out of my eye.  I guess that is just a small sacrafice for getting a table and having a minimal wait time at Black Thorn's on a Friday night.  I'm not sure if it is a good or bad thing that this was the only exciting part of my night.

Saturday consisted of going on my long run, doing some household chores, then spending the evening with some friends watching Sublime with Rome and 311.  Sublime with Rome was AWESOME.  In fact, after they played, I knew there was no way 311 would top them.  I could have gone home then and had a great night.  On a negative note, Verizon Amphitheater sucks and I'm done going there. 

Overall a nice lil' weekend. 

Stay cool in that 100 degrees heat.

MIND-F$@K

That is all running is...a giant mind fuck.

I am happy to report that after today's 7 miler, I am on my way to getting past the mental part of the marathon. 

More later.

PS- The bandana has been working splendidly...no more sweat in this guy's eyes.

GAME ON.

CHEAP

Even though we're millionaires and have more money than any person should, we're trying to connect with the commoner, so we're trying to find things to do around town that are cheap or almost cheap.  By the way, when I said we're millionaires, I meant billionaires. 

Last night we went to the Botanical Gardens for their free concert.  Too bad the lightning didn't get the memo.  Oh well, not all was lost, we went to a friend's house near the Gardens and hung out there. 

On running news...Because living here is like living on the surface of the sun + 5 degrees, I've decided to start running in the mornings before work.  I used to wake up early and lift weights before work, and I really like getting up early and getting a jump on the day.  But my friends, running is a lot different than lifting.  I have mixed thoughts of what the first mile is like, either like the Tin Man trying to run or the scene in Forest Gump where Forest is running with the braces on his legs.  Regardless of the character, the first mile is always rough.  But, on the upside, I love getting out of work and having the run done.

FUN WITH FRIENDS

.

WEEKEND IN PICTURES

I had some pretty big plans for this weekend, and decided to do something a little bit different.  I decided I was going to tackle my to-do list with camera in hand.  I would show both of my readers what I did by showing before and after pictures.  After I started snapping pictures, I realized I didn't really do that many things which could be captured by before/after pics.  I mean, I went for a run, how do you show that?  Maybe a picture of me before the run, eyes bright and full of optimism and then a picture of myself after, sweat pouring down my red face and shirt soaked?  No one wants to see that, so no photo evidence of that task.  So below are a few pictures that highlight my 3-day weekend.  Go me.

Hedge Trimming

Bought myself a new, well...my first ever, hedge trimmer.  How's that for celebrating America's birthday?  I felt weird getting electric instead of a gas, totally goes against my motto of "go big or go home."  But when you only have four bushes and two small shrubs to trim...

Made some ribs

Not the best, but a learning experience.  Next time they'll be even better.

Installed a new shower head

Don't get me wrong, the old shower head worked just fine if you liked a loud, shrill screech about 3 inches from your ear the whole time you're in the shower.  We're not talking a little screech, we're talking one you could hear throughout the whole house.  I guess Mr. Old Shower-head just wanted to make sure I was awake and ready to tackle another day, but that is what Mr. Coffee is for.

Beer tasting

So I wanted to expand my beerizon and went to an upscale liquor store and made my own 6-pack...here is where I should make it known that I know basically nothing about beer.  I know I like to drink some of it and I know that drinking too much of it will give you a head ache.  That is the extent of my knowledge.  So, basically I was picking out brews that had cool labels and names.  Well, believe it or not, but that strategy didn't work out.  Throughout the weekend the excitement of trying a new beer turned into an almost dread as I was about to take the first sip of an unfamiliar brand.   Turns out I am a terrible beer-picker-outer and I should stick to my regular flavor. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Go out and do something American today...

STUFF & THINGS

So we went and saw "Bad Teacher" the other night...hilarious.  Some of the characters reminded me of teachers I've had throughout the years.  Even though it was good, I wouldn't recommend crying if you don't see it in the theater...you won't miss anything if you watch it on DVD since there are no super awesome visuals or no awesome sound track requiring top of the line equipment.

To honor America on her upcoming birthday, I'm giving her a present.  The gift of recycling.  I'm going to go out this weekend any buy a separate trash can for all recyclable materials...and I'm going to start using it.  Hope you're happy America.  I expect a hand-written thank you note.

In other news, this weekend will be filled with plenty o' grillin', some relaxin', and some socializin'. 

See you on the flip side.