Miss USA Pageant (revisted)

OK. So AttyHou and Everyday Italian sent this pic of AttyHou and me with Miss Texas USA. Of course this was several weeks before she became Miss USA on Friday night. Maybe she will become Miss Universe!

Miss USA Pageant

On the morning of AIDS Walk Houston, I was having a conversation with TUTS Bob when I spotted Miss Texas USA. I ended the conversation to run over and talk to her.

She told me to make sure that I watched the pageant on April 11, 2008 and I told her I would and I wished her good luck...and then I asked who designed her gown for tonight's pageant. I can't remember who designed the dress but I do remember she said it was a gold color.

So tonight I watched the pageant and yes she wore the gold dress (and looked wonderful) and yes, she won! I would like to think that it was MY wishing her good luck (and keeping my word to watch the show) that tipped the scale.

So...Crystle Stewart, if you're reading this, CONGRATULATIONS!

AIDS Walk 2008

What A Day

Here it is only 10:30 and I'm worn out. Not so much physically and not so much emotionally...maybe mentally?

I slept later than planned this morning. I kept hitting the snooze alarm. Finally got out of bed and realized it was going to be a beautiful day.

So I'm out walking The Calvinator, enjoying the chill in the air. As we're heading back toward the house, I see one of my neighbors out walking his dog. Hadn't seen him in awhile and it is always good to talk to him so this is a nice surprise to see him.

We're talking and he says that he is glad he ran into me. He has something to tell me...and he wasn't smiling. In a split second my mind goes racing in a hundred different directions. He then tells me that he is moving to another part of town but his wife is staying in the house. They're splitting up. This is another case of I never would have guessed. He is taking the dog with him.

It wasn't appropriate to ask questions so all I could say was that I was sorry to hear that and that on many different levels I'm sorry to see him leave the neighborhood.

It really caught me off-guard. Maybe if I had already had my daily dose of my addiction it wouldn't have hit me as hard.

So, now I'm really late for my next venture. I had received an email that Bill Clinton (the former President) was going to be making some stops in Houston and the first one was at 800a. Having some first hand knowledge of how a day of campaigning can go, I wanted to be at the first stop because once you're late it sets the rest of the schedule behind.

I'll be posting a commentary later about the rally (with pics). I walked away from there feeling happy again and feeling hopeful.

Change seems to be the word of day and all I'm saying is that I'm ready.

And I finally got my coffee!

EDIT @ 1:30P: I went running at Memorial Park at noon. Just had to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. I have a meeting this evening so I won't be able to enjoy this evening. I'm doing post-run stretching in the jungle gym area and out of nowhere Viv comes up and says hello! Wow! What a nice treat! We were chatting and I said something about Ethel Kennedy being at Obama's HQ at 11a but I didn't want to go to his HQ to see her and she says, "What time is it?" I said, "12:40." She says, "twelve four zero?" And I say, "yes." Next thing I know I see a streak of lavendar go running away from me. LOL Viv...hope you made it to your destination on time...and safely.

See you lattte!

support my efforts to raise funds for
AIDS Walk Houston 2008

AIDS Walk Houston 2008

On Sunday March 9, 2008 several thousand people will gather downtown for AIDS Walk Houston. It is a 5K (3.1 miles) course.


Even though progress has been made since HIV/AIDS first came onto the landscape, a cure still has not been discovered. Houstonians continue to contract HIV at an alarming rate. HIV doesn't know the boundaries of sexual orientation, gender or ethnicity.


Money raised from the walk will be used for education and prevention programs, pediatric care, housing, food, and medical care.

Readers of this blog will remember that I was involved with World AIDS Day Houston 2007. In a previous post I did a memorial to friends. In another post I gave my reasons for being involved with World AIDS Day Houston 2007. And in another post I gave some statistics about HIV/AIDS.

I hope that you will read some of my previous posts on this blog and then consider making a contribution to the walk. Anything that you can contribute will be greatly appreciated and go to a good cause.

You can click here to the walk's website.

AIDS Walk Houston 2008

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)

Project Runway Reunion

Quick recap from last night's show:

Here are the contestants.

I forgot about her. Her name is Simone and I can't remember what she did to get auf'd. She didn't have much to say.
I barely remember him. His name is Marion. He didn't have much to say either and I can't remember what he did to get auf'd.

Just Jack wouldn't say if he'd be back.
Believe it or not, he didn't cry (although they had enough footage of him crying). Am I the only one who is irritated by his hats? She cried.

She said people stop and ask her why she is so mean. She said someone gave her the nickname of Nina Garzilla. EDIT: It is Meana Garzilla (thanx David Dust).

They were a bit cozy last night. Who knew that Rami was a bear chaser?He was voted fan favorite even though I think Chris should have won.

***The End***

support my effort to raise funds for

AIDS Walk Houston 2008 (click on the link)