It’s been pretty busy for me at work lately. Spending some time now preparing for my review meeting on Monday. It’s when I get the nod or not for being extended an offer for permanent Ford employment! Wish me luck!

Big week of running
Tonight we do 5 miles, to end the mid week long running of our training. We will have run 20 miles in the past 3 days, and 40 in 5 days after Saturday morning!

Microwave saga
Not sure why, but every direction I turn towards getting our Microwave (had it since the end of June) installed, I run into a brick wall. I don’t get it. The fourth guy is going to come by at 2pm on Saturday to give us his rundown. Let’s see what he can come up with.

Maybe I am obsessed, but I think I need to be. Jim Karpen, a writer for PocketPC Magazine, has covered my site once again. In his latest Web Guide, he mentions that my site has gone through a face lift and upgrade of the portal system. This is true, and I hope it spurs some traffic this week and gets me some more “keeper” users.

Personal Best for 5 miles last night!
I ran 5 miles in 39:50 last night. That’s a pace of 7:58 per mile! Less than a month to go, and getting pumped, nervous, and excited!

Worst commute TO work, to date!
Besides the commute home on the “Blackout of 2003”, today’s commute TO work was horrid, the worst, unacceptable! It took me over an hour to get from the Lodge and M39 to work. There was an accident near Joy road that caused 2 of 3 lanes to close. IT SUCKED! I called Michelle to pass time and I called Dan to pass time. The problem with the way IN TO WORK is that people are either not at work yet, or they don’t want to be on the phone so early in the morning. The new GPS I’m testing, Tom Tom Navigator US was fun, but not so much when you’re moving at 1mph on average!

Dan surprised us last night, wearing his Audi hat. He wanted to come by on his way home from his mom’s (maybe he lied about that, too). He said come out and check out my Xenon headlights. I knew something was fishy at that point. He got a brand new silver Infiniti G35 Sedan! Awesome car! Fast as hell, and it looks awesome, inside and out. It’s an automatic with an autostick that is VERY responsive. Also, it’s rear wheel drive, so it really feels like it gets up and goes!!! Fantastic vehicle! Congrats, guy!

This is the pinnacle week in our marathon training! We have to run 40 miles this week! Today is day 1 of 4 for running. I have to meet with a potential client, first, so I may get home as late as 8-8:30. If I do, I think I’ll have to buck up and put the headband headlight on (fun) and head up to Stony to do my run of 5 miles! Let’s hope it works out. I cannot cheat myself this week like I did the last few weeks. I think I’ve skipped two runs and cut one short in the past two or three weeks. This can’t go on for the remaining weeks! I have to get my goal of 4:00 hours.

I am doing a lot of things to try and get Axim Users Dot Com to have more and more traffic. I tweaked the Meta Description yesterday, so I’m hoping that will help get me back onto page one when one searches for “Dell Axim” on Google. We can only hope. The Google ads are really starting to pick up. I’m hoping they will be a viable alternative to making ad deals with some of the vendors I have. It’s sometimes hard to live up to the expectations of having high traffic to promise/give them. I almost feel bad when there are lulls in the traffic to the site.

So we had to run 14 miles last night, but we were LAZY all day… we should have just run at 9am, when it was a cool 61 degrees. But we didn’t. We just chilled out all day… in the end, we got to running so late that by the time we were done it was pitch black. It kind of sucked, as we were never really in it to win it. We ended up doing 11.16 miles instead of 14. Oh well. This week HAS to count. It’s the 40 mile week. 5, 10, 5, 20. I can’t wait until it’s done. Then I just have the anxiety of my work review on Monday and the marathon itself… after that, it’s costing all the way until the holidays!

This is how we do it. We always plan on getting up early, like 7 or 8, so that we can get the run out of the way…but have we done it like this? Nope! And you know why? Because we highly enjoy our “down time”, Sunday Morning. We rest, read, eat…and slowly get ready to run. We end up running around noon. No biggie today, though, since it’s only going to be 81 degrees, and with a rising barometer, the air should be nice and dry. There is one concern I have, I’ll miss watching the Lions game, or at least the beginning of it.

Mariner’s Goodbye
Jeff and Marilyn had a little shindig for Dave and Kinski yesterday. It was my first chance to see their house up past where Dan and April live. Nice place. I would LOVE to live on a lake. But living on a lake would incur some added expenses. BOAT! But how bad could it be? Just ask Mike and Amy! Anyway, it was great to see all my friends, and I was sad to go so early. Just as most of them were getting there, I had to leave. Oh well.

David and Christine
I had to leave Jeff’s house because David and Christine had their housewarming party. We also celebrated Uncle Jack’s 70th birthday! He’s quite a guy. I got a chance to talk with him for about 15 minutes about his career as a teacher in Highland Park. It was real nice to bond with him. He’s a good guy. He LOVES his grandchildren and his children. I like Jack.

I am SO excited that tonight’s game on ABC is in High Definition!!! It LOOKS SO AMAZING! I can’t wait until everything on television is in HDTV!!!! Stressed out? Why would you say that? Because I’m in FIVE Fantasy Football Leagues!!! Am I feeling like an asshole for NOT playing L. Coles of WAS, kind of!!! Am I an asshole because Curtis Martin hasn’t done DICK yet, probably! Is Patrick Ramsey playing like a stud tonight? YES! OH WELL!!!

Michelle and I had our best 9 mile run, ever!!! I felt like a horse tonight. It was about 60 degrees, with practically ANY humidity in the air! We did 9.017 miles in 1:19:xx. It ended up being 8:51 pace. I felt awesome. It was like CRUISE CONTROL the entire way! HOOOO AH!

Oh yeah, did the last mile in 7:58!

Jason Dunn has done me the favor of posting my latest giveaways at Axim Users Dot Com on his site, PocketPC Thoughts. They’ve done me well over there. Each time they mention my site on their front page, my site gets mad traffic. So far, I’ve got 2700+ pageviews today, which is up, significantly as of the latest few weeks of traffic, and I have 29 new registrations. I have to keep this aggressiveness up! Thanks, Jason!

So, here is the update on my order with Best Buy, oh well:

Dear Best Buy Customer,

Thank you for your recent Sony notebook order.

A recent error on our web site allowed you to place an order for the Sony VAIO Notebook, model number PCG-GRV680 for $300.00. The promotional price for this item was $2099.99 ($2399.99 - $300 instant savings). Due to the nature of this error and in accordance with our Errors on Our Site policy contained within the Conditions of Use, your order that included this item will be canceled. You will receive an email confirming the cancellation of your order within 24 to 48 hours. Due to system issues, if your order contained additional products other than the Sony notebook, those items will need to be re-ordered. We apologize for any disappointment or inconvenience this cancellation may cause.

For your inconvenience, we would like to provide you with a special one time, one use offer. Information regarding this offer will be provided to you via email within 7 to 10 days. There is nothing additional you will need to do to receive the special offer so there is no need to contact Customer Care.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best wishes from Best Buy,
The Customer Care Team

Oh well, Scott was right!!

Did I mention that I finally got my Klipsch ProMedia 4.1s back yesterday. I was concerned since I hadn’t heard from them since I sent them back. I tracked the package I sent and saw that it made it there on August 27. My contact person there is on vacation until Sep. 9, so I thought I wouldn’t hear a word. They were on my doorstep yesterday! Looks like they shipped them out on August 27, 2003. That’s pretty fast. It also looks like they either gave me refurbed fronts and sub or new ones. They smelled new, unless that is what being in Styrofoam for a weak does! So, for $50, I am back in business!

Catching up
I didn’t really have all that much time to write yesterday. I was “catching up” from missing work on Tuesday, and the Labor Day Holiday on Monday. As I mentioned earlier, we had the funeral for my Nouna on Monday. Funerals suck, but the togetherness part of them is the best part. It’s too bad, as the cliche goes, that it takes funerals to see certain people.

Work
I have about 7 work days left before my “Preview” presentation at work. After that, I should hopefully get the “NOD” to be brought aboard, where I’ll have to negotiate my salary and any other negotiable stuff.

Sig Tau Draft
We had our (my 2nd) Sig Tau Draft yesterday. The Sportsline system choked. It wasn’t showing the 10th team, so we ended up just using their draft/chat room to do our draft the good ole fashioned way. Mariner came over again and brought with him a six pack of wide mouth Mickey’s. Man, 3 of those and a Heineken get you pretty liquored up! Hell, I may have even had 2 Heinekens! Nonetheless, the draft was fun, 10 teams, 7 man roster, no defense. Should be an interesting season. I woke up at 4:34 this morning with a shitty headache, even though I drank about 35 oz. of water before I went to bed. So, I drank more water, took 2 Excedrin, and worked a little on AximUsers.com.

Running
Only about a month to go for the race. Michelle printed out a course map, which is way different than the 2001 Marathon. In 2001, they had to alter the course due to the 9/11 tragedy. They detoured from going into and out of Canada. This year, we start at Comerica Park, head towards the Ambassador Bridge, come back through the tunnel (which will cause me a “shift”, since my GPS won’t work down there, throwing off my data), run towards and do six miles on Belle Isle, and then do the last 8 miles towards Grosse Pointe and finish at the 50 yard line of Ford Field. I’m super excited, and SUPER nervous. Why am I nervous? I’m not nervous to finish, not at all. I’m nervous about FAILING to perform better than I did last year in Chicago.

Deal and a steal?
Yesterday, when I came back from meetings at another building, there was some “buzz” about this ridiculous laptop deal at BestBuy.com. The link that Nadia sent me didn’t work, but she had a cached copy on her machine. It was for a Sony P4 2.6Ghz, DVD burner/CD Burner, 512MB RAM, 60GB HD, 64MB Radeon video (not sure which one), 16" screen, etc, for $300 PLUS a $150 rebate! Well, I put my order through, which got pre-approved on my Visa check card. I am crossing my fingers. Nadia ordered 4 of them, others ordered a bunch too. I didn’t see this deal posted on any of the deal sites out there, like dealsea.com, or slickdeals.net. If this goes through, I’ll feel like I won a lottery!

Pepe…like it says above: “All the best, babe!” My dear friend, Pepe, got engaged this evening, to one Sarah Freischmidt, of DePere, WI. Congratulations to these two wonderful kids!

They were in town this weekend, visiting, for Jesse’s wedding reception! We had a great time with Pepe and Sarah, and with everyone at Jesse’s reception! I love weekends like this! Lots to do, lots of friends and family all the way around!

Jesse and Angela
Their wedding reception was splendid!!! A perfect mix of family and friends for me. I was able to mingle with a little bit of Jesse’s and Angela’s families, as well as some old time friends, college friends, and family! The reception was held at Island Lake. Man, that place is HUGE! I was so excited as we kept driving deeper and deeper into the place! The weather couldn’t have been better. It was in the low 70s, sunny, and very dry! God blessed our friends with this miracle of a day! God bless you both!

Saab ticket #1
Let’s hope this is the ONLY ticket the Saab earns. As we were headed down Mound, for Kurnip’s wedding party, Jon wanted to drag race the Saab, for kicks. Hell, I though, what harm could that be on Mound. It’s not like we’d end up going TOO fast! So Jon is in the far left lane, and I’m in the 2nd from the left. Michelle says to me: “Get ’em, Pete!” No problem, I thought. So I rev the Saab up a little bit, and let the clutch out. I forgot to turn off the ESP (traction control), so the front end made an obnoxious noise from trying to gain traction. LESSON LEARNED. So, as I’m getting an earful from Michelle, I look behind me and see a black, unmarked Sterling Heights Copper! Phew, I thought, as I put on my seatbelt, thinking that I got away with my little drag race. About 5 seconds later, I see him pull next to me, all the while thinking that I was lucky and he was just driving slow for some odd reason. Another 5 or 10 seconds pass, and I look to my right to see an irrate office, gesturing for me to pull over. So, the long and short of it: He gives me a speeding ticket for 10 mph over the limit, but didn’t give me a noise ticket or careless driving ticket for spinning my tires or drag racing. I guess I am lucky. I’m definitely going to ask for a court date, hoping the ticket will just be reduced to something that is without points, but it’s going to be hard to, as I’m sure the judge will ask for my story, and I’m going to tell him what I did. He’s going to hate me for it, and throw the book at me, telling me that I’m wasting his and the court’s time. My only hope is that the officer doesn’t make it that day. All I can say: FUCK YOU…COPPER!

My Nouna
On a more sombre note, my Nouna (Godmother) passed away on Saturday. She had been battling lung cancer for 3 months. Apparently, the lung cancer spread to her other organs, ending up in her brain, causing a few strokes in recent days. I will miss her, dearly! She was a very loving woman, much like my Thea Sofoula, who passed earlier this year, on January 22, a day prior to my birthday! Let’s just hope that this year stays with two deaths in my “family”. I couldn’t take any more!

Afeena
We also celebrated our Goddaughter, Athena Lillian’s birthday yesterday! It was another fantastic day spent visiting with our family! I got to see my cousin’s Ike and Lilly, as well as Mitchell and Alyssa, Jake and Markos! I love my cousins’ kids! They are so young and tender, and full of love and energy! Michelle and I enjoy spending time with all of them. Ike and Demo are always fun to see. Got to see them two days in a row, which was nice. Cindy was there, but April was absent. Perhaps she had some other obligations! We did get to see her and finally officially “meet” her at Turk’s wedding shindig. Very nice, and pretty girl. I’m very happy for Ike! I also got to see Danielle and Dino. We didn’t get to on Saturday because they were “booked” with a wedding of one of Dani’s friends. They said it was at the Atheneum, in Greektown. Said it was VERY HIGH RENT. Sounds like a very good time.

18.04 miles
As Michelle and I laid in bed this morning, from 7 until about 11:15, we kept hearing rainfall…it was nonstop. We finally decided that it was letting up enough for us to make it towards Stony Creek to do our 18 miles. We felt GREAT! I was SO excited for the day’s run, and nervous, naturally. We got all geared up, waters, goos, “The Stick”, GPS, HRM, watch, visor…the whole “nine”. Still sprinkling, but very cool and seemingly dry, we started on our journey. We had all the intentions in the world to do 2 laps, 4 and back, which would be 20 miles. Why not, right? It ended up being an incredible 12 miles (2 laps)… Even on the 3rd lap, I was feeling great, a little bit stiff, but no biggie… near the 15th mile, halfway around the 6 mile loop, I started to feel REALLY stiff. So stiff, that I had to stop and stretch with about 2.5 miles to go to reach 18 miles. Again, no worries, as I stretched it out, somewhat, and started running, to get the blood flowing down there. Again, this has been a great run, as we took bathroom breaks at 6 and 12 miles, but no other walking stops… I think it was the best I’ve ever done in terms of not needing to take breaks. I think I’ve narrowed it down to temperature and humidity. The temp was great, around 62-65 degrees. It was a little bit humid, but really not that bad, as the sprinkling rain was keeping it under control! Anyway, the last 2 miles sucked…it was devastatia. I pretty much decided, with 2 miles to go, that 18 would be the distance I’d run. And 18.04 was what it ended up being. The only good thing about it, it only took us 2:57:08, about a 9:48 pace. We were both extremely happy with this time, and chalked it up as a victory. Michelle drove, and the whole way home I was writhing in pain, as my upper calf muscles were KILLING me. I didn’t know how to fix the pain. It was almost cyclical in nature. When I got home, I laid flat on my back, legs perched straight. The pain started to go away. The hot shower helped, and we got ready for my Nouna’s funeral home showing…

Nouna and Funeral Home
Not very fun, but good to see family and be there for my Godsiblings. They are both wonderful people, Gus and Sandy, as are their spouses and children. They each have two wonderful sons. God bless them!

Ho-chi Dog! It’s great to read YOUR blog! Keep up the good work, mate! I haven’t read it all week, until now, and it was a nice way to “catch up” on your shiznit! Say hello to Mina for me!