Sorry About That

Yesterday was a busy day. I wasn't going to post anything and then something happened last night that got me p!ssed off.

So if you happened to read Str8 Up With A Twist between the hours of 10:30 p.m. (CDT) and 5:30 a.m. (CDT) this morning, you will know I thoroughly p!ssed off. Not sure that many people have ever seen me that upset.

Anywho...I do need to go buy some tonic and some lemons & limes so that when I do need a good strong drink I can either have a Vodka Tonic with lime or a Martini Straight Up With A Twist. I resorted to cheap wine last night (not out of box).

I haven't been sleeping well this week. I awaken at 4:00 a.m., 4:30 a.m. or 4:55 a.m. I don't take any naps during the day and I'm usually up until 11:00 p.m. or so although I did fall asleep watching the news on Tuesday night.

As I told Running My Mass Off the other day, I am very distracted. There a few things weighing heavy on my mind and if one or two them would get resolved, maybe I'd be able to get a good night's slumber.

So. If you read my rant last night, sorry for the foul language that I used.

Changing the subject. In a previous post I mentioned The Heights Fun Run this past Saturday. I said how hot it was. Well, at some point after mile 2 I was miserable so I stopped and took off my shirt and when I did my sunglasses got covered in sweat. So I had to clip the iPod nano to my shorts and run with the shirt in my left hand and the sunglasses in my right hand.

A few days ago I was thinking, "I don't remember seeing anyone taking photos. I hope the camera wasn't between mile 2 and mile 3." Well...

I went to the website yesterday and rut ro! There are two pics of me without my shirt! Two comments:
1) I have a double chin like Lisa from Top Chef;
2) I don't have as big of a muffin top as I had imagined.

Still, I would have preferred no shirtless photos and no double chin.

So. My second apology for the day: Sorry for subjecting y'all to that!

Friday Rant

How many phone calls should a customer have to initiate to get the status on a repair? If you've been following this blog, you will remember that the transmission on The Cal Mobile went out last Saturday.

I had it towed to Freeway Ford on Saturday. Didn't hear anything on Monday so I called. Didn't get much information. Didn't hear anything on Tuesday. Didn't hear anything on Wednesday so I called. Was told the part had been ordered and the car would be ready on Friday.

Well, here it is Friday and still no Cal Mobile. I figured they were waiting until it was ready to call me. A bit after 4 (after not hearing anything since I called on Wednesday) today, I called and was told I would get a call back. Over an hour went by and still no return phone call. So I called only to be told they still didn't have the part and it will be Monday. Uh huh...sure...and let me sell you some beachfront property in Tempe, Arizona.

I guess what gets me about all of this is that I had to initiate all communication with them. Hmmm....whatever happened to customer service?

As I told the guy when I last spoke to him, good news or bad news it would have been nice to have received a phone call from them rather than leave me sitting here wondering what's going on.

And so, I'll continue to wonder if The Cal Mobile will really be ready on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday...

It's always easier to look back and think woulda, coulda, shoulda. I shoulda and coulda spent the money to get the Corolla fixed up instead of buying The Cal Mobile. It may have been an old car but it was still running...and I saw it going down through the neighborhood the other day while I sat here without a vehicle.

You know....you watch the news about someone snapping and doing something violent and you wonder what caused it? I'm willing to bet that dealing with a car repair is the reason some times.

Story at 10p on the news.

Ramblings of A Caffeinated Mind 9.3

Overheard

"I like Hillary but you know what they say, 'Once you've had Barack you never go bawk!'"

Maybe if I type this I'll get it off of my mind

Last night, right before the movie started (see below), I check email from my phone. There was a reply to an inquiry that I had made about something. I need to remember that "No" is also an answer. However, it's not the answer that I was hoping for.

Running Rant

Two things happened this week while I was running. One day, a group of four people were running at Memorial Park and they were running four abreast. The running trail is just barely wide enough in most spots for that many people. So I'm running counter-clockwise and they're coming at me clockwise. I'm running right.

Just as we're approaching each other, the path gets more narrow because of a light pole. These are my options:

1.) Stop and curse at them

2.) Jump on to Memorial Drive into the traffic and get hit

3.) Take out one the girls' left breast with my elbow

4.) Take out my right testicle, right arm and right leg by running into the pole

5.) Keep running and see what happens

See below for what happened.

In another incident, I started my run and about 1/10 of a mile into it I pass a guy who is standing there and stretching. About 1/2 mile into the run, he passes me. No big deal. He gets a good lead on me.

Around 2 miles, he stops running and starts to walk. When I reach 2 miles, I stop and get some water; he is still ahead of me walking. However, he keeps looking back at me.

I start my run again and when he sees me running he starts running. OK. That may have been a coincidence but I don't think so. So...I start running hard. Around 2 1/2 miles I'm shoulder to shoulder with him and he starts running faster so I start running faster and he has to eat my dust. He wasn't able to keep up with me. For some reason that made me feel good.

Spirit of the Marathon

Last night I took myself out on a movie date. Dinner consisted of the Combo #1 at Chik-fil-a. I went to see an encore showing of Spirit of the Marathon. The movie follows 6 people as they prepare for the Chicago Marathon 2005.

There was one runner that I could relate to even though there were aspects of the other runners (with the exception of the elites) that were very familiar. Lori is the runner that I am referring to. She is the one who trained by herself and raised money.

I think I laughed the loudest when Rona told her dad that he is a professional talker who runs marathons (instead of a professional marathoner who talks while he runs). Some of you know that I hate to talk when I run.

Deena Kastor is amazing. She suffered an injury and doesn't run for 6 weeks and then wins Chicago 2005.
Then there is Ryan who is bound and determined to qualify for Boston and ends up being injured.
And Daniel runs with the grace of gazelle. He is bound and determined to be the bride and not the bridesmaid as he makes another attempt to win Chicago.


The one that touched me the most was Leah. You can tell that she wanted to quit during the run but she didn't. Her tears at the end of the run were based on many emotions. I can relate to that except I waited until the day after my first marathon to burst into tears...and I was in line at Burger King; not one of my finest moments. (I have metioned this before but still haven't given the details about what triggered the tears...and yes, they let me have it my way.)
The movie was more than just covering the 6 runners. It gave some history about the marathon. The director also interviewed some of running's greatest athletes. I was very intrigued with Katherine Switzer's story about almost being pulled off the course of the Boston Marathon because she is a woman.

photo credit: AP/Worldwide Photo

Here are some additional comments about the movie:

• Based upon the Italian guy who almost died after running a marathon in London(?), people started to take notice of the event more out of morbid curiousity rather than to support the athletes.
• It was long believed that women were not built to be long distance runners because their uterus might fall out.
• I'm not so sure about Deena Kastor's avocado enchiladas.
• I thought the footage of Chicago was awesome. I love that city.
• There were a few chuckles in the crowd everytime they showed Carey Pinkowski who is the race director. If you don't know, Chicago 2007 was a disaster.
• John "The Penguin" Bingham makes a good point. Every marathon participant pays the same entry fee. So if you follow his line of thinking and if you finish the course in 2 1/2 hours and the course is open for 6 hours you're not getting your money's worth. The longer you're on the course the more value you're getting for your dollar.
• The footage of Daniel saying that it was dangerous waiting for the hippopotamus was funny. He kept saying it was dangerous but yet he wouldn't leave!

The movie reminded me that the human spirit is amazing. And its the reminder that I needed after reading that email. (see above)

Answer
I decided that I wasn't going to change my stride just to make room for the four of them. So as we squeezed through that narrow part of the path she realized she was about to get body slammed. None of the other three made any effort to downsize so she had to run sideways for 5 of us to make it through that part of the path.

Have a good weekend everyone! See you latte!

********************

support my efforts to raise funds for

AIDS Walk Houston 2008 (click on the link)

I know...

it's the parents not the kids that are the problem.

Last night I went to grab a bite to eat at a neighborhood establishment. It was the perfect opportunity to eat and watch the Astros.

At the restaurant, two kids were running amok...barefoot at that! And their parents just sorta smiled. UGH!

I almost lost it when one of them started tugging on my shorts and then tried to climb into an empty chair to join me. Her mother came over, smiled and said, "I guess she wants to join you." *silent treatment* "Come on honey. Let him watch the game." *silent treatment with a long stare*

That is only one of the many things the kids did. Enough said.

OK...happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts, deep breath.

People are still talking and e-mailing about the party on Saturday. Those are good signs that a fun time was had by all.

Here are some photos of the hosts. A big THANK YOU for a wonderful afternoon/evening.

Micheal, (guest) & Erich

Doug, Scott & Micheal

Shane & Jameson

Ramblings Of A Caffeinated Mind 1.1

URGGGGGGGHHHH!

Do you ever have one of those days when you wake up and you feel like you're going to blow up...sort of being on the edge of losing it?

A few minutes ago a lady honked at me 'cause I wouldn't make a right turn on red. "Hey lady! There were cars coming at me!" I almost got out of the car and banged on her window but in this town you never know who has a gun in their car. To make matters worse, after we both turned onto Memorial Drive we got stopped by a red light. She was in the middle lane 5 cars back; I was in the right lane first car at the light. She proceeds to get behind me and ride my bumper. UGH!

Maybe I shouldn't have had coffee this morning.

OK. Enough of my ranting.

1, 2, Cha Cha Cha

Do you ever see something that makes you giggle? After my run on Thursday, I was in the jungle gym area doing my post-run stretches. The iPod was playing Janet Jackson’s Together Again (Tony Moran 12” Club mix).

There was a lady not far from me who was doing some type of calisthenics that looked like she was doing Cha Cha steps…except she didn’t have any type of musical device to give her the beat. However, her rhythm was right on beat with what was playing on my iPod. I started to giggle and almost went to ask her if I could Cha Cha with her.

June 21 (revisited)

Yesterday was the first day of summer, also known as the Summer Solstice. Solstice comes from the Latin words that mean “sun stops”. If I understand it correctly, at 1:06P CDT on June 21, 2007, the sun reached the Tropic of Cancer. From that point on, it will now start to move south because the earth is tilting in a different direction and the days will get shorter. Does that sorta make sense?

Speaking of the longest day of the year. In my Father’s Day post, I mentioned a trip to South Korea. The day that I departed Seoul happened to be June 21, 1989. Seoul is much farther north than Ft. Worth so the sun came up around 415A. We left that afternoon and at some point we went from the 21st of June back to the 20th of June but landed at LAX around 1000A on the 21st of June so here is the sun in the morning…again. I didn’t get back to DFW until the evening of the 21st and the sun was STILL out. Str8 Up With A Twist recommends to its readers not to cross the International Date Line anywhere near June 20 and June 21. It will mess with your mind and your sleep.

And speaking once again of summer. Have I ever told you that Houston has two seasons? That’s right! Summer and August.

Yoga Boi messed with my mind yesterday. I figured that since it was the longest day of the year, he would be out early. I got to the park around 615A and no Yoga Boi. I run-right counter-clockwise and at about mile 1 running-right clockwise was Yoga Boi. Did he do yoga yesterday? And I promise, that I will do a post about Yoga Boi and why I am so intrigued with him doing yoga at the park.

P.S. Forgot to tell you

A good thing happened on Wednesday night. I received a massage! Calvin doesn’t know it but that was his Father’s Day present to me…since he didn’t even acknowledge the day. If you’re in Houston and looking for a massage therapist that does an awesome job, visit Your Body In Harmony.