You know, what we needed this week was a good, strong run! After starting the running week so late, our 8 mile run tonight was awesome! We always say we’re gonna take it easy, but we always end up running nice and strong! Maybe it was the cool, dry weather, maybve it was the rested legs we had. We did 8:50 miles. It felt awesome!

Now we rest!

I don’t know if I’m just sick of running, if I’m “tired”, or if I’m just ready to move onto the next thing, but the past two or three weeks have been kind of “ho-hum” when it comes to running. I’ve skipped two Thursday runs, albeit short ones. It looks like I’m going to skip this Thursday’s run, as we started our running week on Wednesday instead of Tuesday, and didn’t run our 8 miles last night because we thought the cabinet guy would be over at 6:30. He didn’t make it over until about 8:30PM. No biggie.

Since I’m/we’re in this running “rut”, we decided we’d run the 8 miles on Friday, the 4 on Saturday, and the 12 on Sunday. NAH! I’d rather run the 8 tonight and the 12 on Saturday or Sunday. Most likely Sunday, as running 12 miles tomorrow morning doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. But running 4 miles tomorrow doesn’t sound too bad.

See, this running stuff gets in the way. I can’t complain, it’s done wonders for my health. My cholesterol is WAY down, with the help of Lipitor, garlic, and fish oil, of course, but it’s still WAY down, almost 50%. It’s done wonders for my psyche. Although, at the moment, my psyche is focused on other things, mainly, my job at Ford.

I received my job offer yesterday. Now I just have to go through the HR hoops and finally get hired in. Then, that chapter will be done. However, the race on Oct. 5 is actually the next big chapter in my life, for some reason.

I have a great apprehension and anxiety about the race. I am afraid I’ve set an unrealistic goal to try and run the race in 4:00:00 or less. Maybe I should have set a goal that is more attainable. To try and shave off 29 minutes might be too much, but I think it’s a tough challenge, and I’m hoping that on the morning of October 5th, I’m blessed with cool, dry weather, and the strength and endurance of 100 men!

I had to take this from Dino’s blog. It’s just too good to pass up:

Vigilance Finally Pays Off!
I’m a road vigilante. Plain and simple. Nothing gets my blood boiling more than discourteous drivers! What happens to people when they get behind the wheel and in traffic!? Do people think that driving is “survival of the fittest”? I usually ruin at least three asshole’s days every 24 hours. Today it paid off with interest!

Everybody knows the drill… a five-lane road becomes a two-lane road at an intersection. This is a typical road condition leaving Sterling Heights and entering Troy on my way to work. There’s always the asshole that doesn’t feel like waiting like the rest of us, and tries to take advantage of someone that’s still sleeping in the morning. I’ll usually give someone the false sense of supremacy and gun it right at the moment of truth: when they’re going to speed up and cut me off. It sure pisses off a great deal of assholes every morning. Some people need coffee. I just need an asshole. And usually when they realize that I’m not the sucker they thought, they’ll try to sneak in behind me… which is usually when I immediately slow down for no apparent reason. That’s a coffee with two sugars for me. Some altruist behind me will usually let the asshole merge in front of him.

Today, I actually had a double espresso with three sugars, and it occured on the way home! I rarely get the treat of vigilance in the afternoon, but today, I was blessed. Seventeen Mile Road goes from five lane to two lanes, going east, right past Van Dyke. Usually, the two lanes to the right end up being strictly right turn lanes, but once in a while, there’s always the discourteous asshole that doesn’t feel like waiting in line like the rest of us at the light. The traffic situation at the 17 Mile Road & Van Dyke intersection took a turn for the worst when Sterling Heights decided to build a fire station right at that corner. Now, at 6:00 PM, there’s usually a ten minute wait, just to move a mile.

I was fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time. The light turned green, and there were at least three people in front of me. They all waited the typical 2.3 seconds AFTER the light turned green before their feet moved from the brake to the gas pedal. Every time I cross the intersection, I keep an eye in my rearview and passenger mirror to see if there are going to be any assholes that feel like being discourteous biaaatches. Today was my lucky day! It was an east-side punk driving in his east-side 1989 Camero. He had it gunned, and in his feeble mind, he probably envisioned that he was actually going to sneak in front of me before the lane actually ended. Little did he know that I was on to him, and that I was a licensed road vigilante that felt extremely vigilant.

His gamble didn’t work, and it not only shattered his pride, but also damaged his east-side ride. Right after he slammed on his brakes to avoid going up the curb, he thought that he was going to sneak in behind me. Unfortunately for him, I also decided to abruptly stop, which caused him panic, then fury, then a tire up the curb, followed by a scraping front APC east-side fascia. The next thing I knew, there was an east-side vegan riding my ass, cursing, cussing, and doing so many things with his hands. I just gave him the international wave, and proceeded home.

Uh oh… as soon as I looked up, I saw a Sterling Heights cop pulling out of the Farmer Jack parking lot to my left. I felt I was busted, since I really was the one driving offensively. Who needs offensive, vigilant drivers on the road? Passive sheep probably would lower insurance premiums. The cop was obviously pulling out for what just happened. Did he see everything? He must have, at his angle. Bummer.

Oh boy! That cop was my hero! He got behind the east-side white trash and flipped on his lights. The Camero was busted, for just being a plain discourteous asshole!

Awesome! It was my most gratifying traffic encounter for 2003!

Tick…tick…tick…

I hope today goes by quickly, and I have fun.

A friend of mine gave me this today:

“Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabridge Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in what order the ltteers in a word are, the only iprmoetnt thing is that the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a ttaol mses and you can still raed it wouthit porbelm. This is bcuseae the human mind deos not raed ervey lteter by istleft, but the word as a wlohe. Fcuknig amzanig, huh?”

Today was a busy day…but a good one! This morning, in anticipation of finding out if I was going to be a Ford employee, I anxiously got to work early, checked my email…NOTHING!

My boss comes in, walks right past me….NOTHING!! What a creep! Didn’t even say hi, like he normally does. Didn’t even get situated and come over and tell me to call ADAM, nothing! About 15 minutes later, he walks over, and shakes my hand. MAN OH MAN!!! I was so anxious, that I probably didn’t even look excited!!! But I most certainly was!

So the HR hurdle is next. I get an application via email about 10 minutes after he tells me the good news. I filled it out and drove it over to ITHQ, to give it to Jacqueline. Now I wait for an email offer and an overnight offer/package. They said I could start as a Ford employee around Oct. 1. We shall see how it goes!

HAIR
I singed the left side of my hair tonight, lighting the BBQ. My eyelashes and eyebrows are a little bit shorter now…so I just shaved my head in anticipation fo the big race on Oct. 5.

Michelle
She also had a very exciting day! She started her new job today! I am so proud of her! She inspires me to do so many things. I also thought about how I fell in love with her all the way back in 11th grade!!! I never stopped loving her since that time!

Georgia
My cousin Georgia, in Greece, had a stroke yesterday. :( I can’t believe it. She’s so young, early 40s. It’s a damn shame. We are anxiously awaiting to hear from Greece to see what’s happened in the last day!

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Greeks ‘borrowed Egyptian numbers’

Looks like the Greeks may have borrowed Egyptian numbers. I wonder if there will be future research that yields Greeks were just Olive farmers, and didn’t contribute ANYTHING to this world????

So here I am. Just rehearsed what I’m going to present tomorrow afternoon at work. It’s my big day. I have to shine as best as I can. I have to show these folks that I really want to be a part of this company and that I’m the man they need. I was fairly confident up until this point. I have to collect my thoughts in a very concise fashion so that I don’t waste too much time with a bunch of dribble. I have to be clear and to the point.

I can’t wait until it is over!

So I’m trying to mess w/ Movable Type and I have grief today. But my buddy Chris gave me some ideas!

Football is fun.

Michelle and I decided that seeing a movie after our long run was the perfect way to rest, and indeed it was! We took the advice of my brother and the general public and decided to see Seabiscuit, with Tobey Maguire and Jeff Bridges. What a sensational story, movie, and inspiration.

The movie tells the tale of a post-depression era jockey, horse trainer, and horse owner. Each of these people has a sad tale of despair during the depression. Seabiscuit, a champion race horse of that era helps to repair all of these people, and vice versa. It’s a beautiful circle of love amongst these people and the horse. Each of them seems to get a little “healing” from the other, and the combinations are endless.

We left this movie feeling very touched. The story was warm and the movie was perfectly laid out. 5 out of 5 from us!

I’m not a huge Johhny Cash fan, although some of his songs are kind of “neat”. I am, however, a John Ritter fan, of sorts. I remember watching Three’s Company while growing up. Hilarious show. If I only had more adult in me at the time, I would have understood more of the adult humor the show was throwing out at us!

I can’t believe it. My buddy Justin just took a job in Mongolia!!! He has to pass a physical, first. Ulan Bataar is the coldest capital city on Earth!