Ramblings Of A (Double) Caffeinated Mind 5.2

I'm sitting here at the office and I guess I look like I need another Iced Grande Sugar-free Vanilla Non-fat Latte because someone just handed me another one; complementary no less.

My alarm clock went off at 342A this morning. I hit the snooze once and when it went off again I knew that I had to get out of bed. You see, I was meeting runnerOne at 500A today for a jaunt around the park.

I have a Rubber Maid bin full of running shorts right next to my bed so pretty much what I do is roll out of bed, land on the bin and get a pair of shorts, crawl to the armoire and get a shirt and then start the morning routine.

The Calvinator was looking at me like "WTF is going on?" so he jumped on the bed and went back to sleep while I brushed my teeth. Eventually he realized this wasn't a joke and that we would be walking out the door for a walk.

Get this. At 416A when we started our walk, it was 77 degrees and 80% humidity. Once again, I must ask, "WTF?" Wasn't it just in the 60's a few days ago with low humidity? I was even humming Barry Manilow's When October Goes. Guess I need to change that tune to Summertime. I should have gotten a clue when I noticed the condensation on the inside (EDIT: I meant to say outside not inside) of the windows.

runnerOne was actually surprised to see me at 500A. I was right on time. We had a slow 3 mile run this morning. His legs were heavy and my right knee was bothering me. So picture two old, cripple men running in 80% humidity in the dark complaining about our ailments but yet talking about upcoming running/triathlon events. I'm not gonna complain about the slow run because I had a good 4 mile run yesterday morning and even made it to LeFittes later in the day to do some weights.

I was home before 600A and I was soaked from sweat. I awakened The Calvinator.

So what does a person do when you have an hour to kill? You putz around. You see, doggy daycare doesn't open until 700A and there wasn't any sense in going back to bed. So I cleaned up and putzed.

I have a lunch meeting today and I'll have to get a bit dressed up for it. Not sure that cargo shorts and knit shirt would be appropriate attire for the restaurant.

And speaking of meetings, I had another one of those warm-fuzzy feelings last night after a meeting. The group of us who are working on World AIDS Day Houston met last night and things are beginning to gel. We're going to meet our print deadline and one of the guys is getting ready to launch our website. Another guy has written an awesome press release.

What I like about this group is that you have a diverse group of people with a common interest working together to meet a goal. I am really glad that I am getting to know these people. Some of them I had never met prior to getting involved with this group. Others, I knew of them and only 2 or 3 I actually knew.

In other news:

It was brought to my attention that someone actually thought I had been attacked by tsetse flies. Rather than admit that I'm old and tired and I tend to sleep more than I used to I like to blame it on the tsetse fly.

So that's it for now bois and gurrrls. Need to scoot. That 2nd Iced Grande Sugar-free Vanilla Non-fat Latte just kicked in and I'm raring to go! I can't type fast enough.

Ramblings Of A Caffeinated Mind 4.3

I feel like I have quite a bit to tell you but I'm not sure how much you want to know. So I guess, I'll just jump in and see how much I can ramble.

Trash Disco Party

The Krewe had a party at Rich's on Sunday. I finally got the photos off of my camera sorted through a helluva lot of pics. Here are a few:

To see many, many more pics, click here.

That first pic reminds me of a funny incident from a few years ago. AttyHou and I were at JR's one night. Madonna's cd Ray Of Light had been released and they were showing the video to the title song.

A guy that we know who is really cute and nice but might be short 1 taco on his combination plate walks over and starts singing. Well, the chorus is: And I feel like I just got home And I feel And I feel like I just got home And I feel

However Mr. Cute & Nice is singing: And I feel like a disco ball And I feel And I feel like a disco ball And I feel

We couldn't stop laughing. And to this day whenever I hear Ray Of Light or I see a disco ball I think of that night at JR's.

And before I forget, thank you to everyone who showed up on Sunday!

World AIDS Day

Some of you know that I have volunteered some time to work on World AIDS Day Houston. I will be putting more information out here in a couple of weeks but please know that there will be events happening Nov. 30 - Dec. 2.

We had another meeting last night and I left there feeling good. Sometimes I wonder if the things I do really make a difference and last night was sort of a reaffirmation. I had a good feeling driving through Midtown on my way back to NoRO.

Running

RunnerOne wanted to meet at Rice U yesterday afternoon. I was really dreading it because he has this workout that has me running up and down the stairs. Plus, it was hot! I had already been to LeFittes earlier in the day.

As it turns out, we did a loop around the campus that consisted of alternating jogging with fast running. I kept pace with him until the last segment.

Normally I allow 23-24 hours between runs but if I did that then I wouldn't be able to get a run in today so...

After I dropped off The Calvinator at doggy daycare, I went to Memorial Park for a 3 mile jaunt this morning. Uh...it hurt at first but I ran through the pain and felt good when I finished.

If any of who have ever run a marathon, or you are thinking about it, take a look at this clip for Spirt of the Marathon. I can't necessarily relate to the elite runners but I can relate the Average Joes in the movie.

The Calvinator

I took him to get groomed the other day. He doesn't like to go to the groomer but he always looks so handsome when they're finished with him. On our way home from the groomer I took him to Memorial Park. A lady stopped and said how cute he looked. After she walked away, I said, "You see!"

Anywho...I took this photo of him on Monday.

And Tuesday, he tried to maul me again. Well, it turns out I was sitting on the cushion where he had hidden his rawhide. Once I got out of the way and he was able to get it, he was fine. Or maybe he tried to maul me because he didn't like wearing my sunglasses. I don't get it. They're Oakleys! It's not like a put a pair from the Dollar Store on him.

He is passed out right now. I just love it when he goes to doggy daycare!

The Sky Is Falling

So the first part of today did not go as planned. Here was the plan:

1. Get up early and do a 5 mile run

2. Shower and clean up

3. Take The Calvinator to doggy daycare

4. Go to the office and read the newspaper

5. Head west on I-10 to suburbia to check out a store for my paper supply

6. Meander back inside the loop (ITL) and have lunch

Here's how it played out:

At 3:57A CDT, I was awakened by loud claps of thunder, lightning and rain. I wasn't sure how long the storm was going to last but I knew it was going to prevent me from getting out to the park by 500A. I guess at some point I turned off the alarm.

I got out of bed around 530A or so and it had stopped raining. Anthony Yanez at your education station informed me that the tropical disturbance is now Tropical Storm Erin. Erin will make landfall on Thursday between Corpus Christi and Brownsville. Galveston-Houston will be getting rain and storms. This morning was just a preview.

OK. Not to sound like Chicken Little but Tropical Storm Dean will probably make its way into the Gulf and not dog leg and go north. This storm will probably be a hurricane in a few days. UGH.

Satellite image from this morning. TS Erin is on the left and TS Dean is on the right (east of the Lesser Antilles.)

We went for our walk and while we were walking I started the debate in my head about running today. So I decided to take The Calvinator to doggy daycare and then go running.

OY! It was a 3 mile three sweater run. The park was wet (duh!) and the sun was peaking through so the temp was rising along with the humidity level. It honestly felt like I was wearing three sweaters and pallet of bricks.

I cleaned up and went to the office. By now I'm thinking that the traffic in suburbia should be OK so I did a quick read of the newspaper and headed west.

On my way to the store, I saw a mega-Garden Ridge so I stopped in and boy did I get thrown for a loop! The first thing that greeted me was rows and rows of Christmas trees and decorations. I'm sorry but mind isn't even thinking about Labor Day and I see Christmas trees. It honestly started to make me dizzy. So I left. On the way out I did see Halloween decorations.
To make myself feel better I went to Panera. I was still a bit overwhelmed by the Christmas trees so I ordered a Frozen Green Tea (with whipped cream)...Largo. I figured Largo went with Large Asso. Just put the whipped cream on both of my thighs. I took two Asiago bagels with me for future meals.




I made it to Archivers. The entire time I was on this trek I kept humming Suburbia by Pet Shop Boys. I'm not being critical but I will say that I didn't fit in with most of the people in 281 that I saw today. As Sugar Land Stuart has repeatedly told me, I'm too urban. (I take that as a compliment.)

At this point I wasn't sure what traffic was going to be like heading back ITL. I really wanted to go to Kohls 'cause I've never been to one but I didn't want to chance the traffic with all of the construction on I-10.

Made it back ITL and got to St. Anne's in time for the 12:00P Mass. The church was full which really surprised me. For the non-Catholic readers, today is a Holy Day of Obligation. This means we are obliged to attend Mass and celebrate The Feast of the Assumption.

from Catholic Encyclopedia:
This feast has a double object: (1) the happy departure of Mary from this life; (2) the assumption of her body into heaven. It is the principal feast of the Blessed Virgin.

Other than some web surfing, I don't have much else planned for the day. I was at LeFittes yesterday to do weights so I won't be going there this evening.