Friday, January 30, 2009

Friday, January 23, 2009

Home Sweet Home

Where I spend 6 hours a day Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Possibly for the rest of my life :-P


Monday, January 19, 2009

Sunset January 19, 2009

Taken out the front door of the store where I work. We're west-facing, about 1.5 miles off the Gulf of Mexico. Not too shabby, eh?


Good Weekend :)

On Friday, I passed my speed test, thus enabling me to (officially) move on to the next level. Which I had been (unofficially) practicing at for a month anyway :)

On Saturday, I ran a 10K in St. Pete Beach in 59:06, which is a 3.5 minute PR and the first time I've ever broken an hour. Just a year ago, I was running 1:12-1:14 at that distance.

I had to work at the Hellhole all day today, but it's all good--I'm still slightly giddy from the good stuff ;)

Friday, January 16, 2009

2009 Race Schedule

On the eve of my first race of 2009, here is my race schedule this year. So far :)

Running--

1/17 - St. Pete Beach Classic 10K
2/14 - Suncoast Classic 10K
2/28 - Gasparilla Distance Classic 15K
3/8 - Princess Half Marathon
3/15 - Bay to Bay 12K
3/21 - Armadillo Run 5K
7/4 - Kiwanis Midnight Run 5K and 10K (I may do both this year. 'Cuz what's more fun than running 15K at midnight in Florida in July??)
11/26 - Turkey Trot 10K
12/12 - Thunder Road Marathon, Charlotte, NC (??) Undecided on this one. It just seems weird to not have a marathon on this list. We'll see how everything goes....

Triathlon--

Mid-May - Mad Dog Sprint
Early August - Top Gun Sprint
Late August - Hammerhead Oly
11/7 - Beach 2 Battleship HALF iron

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Advisory

I'm going to a friend's housewarming party on Saturday night. I just found out there will be a karaoke machine. And tequila. I just wanted to warn all the dogs in the area so that they don't howl back at me.

Rain Be Gone!

From my absolute favorite country song EVER:

Rainy Night in Georgia, Kentucky Rain
Here Comes that Rainy Day Feeling Again
Blue Eyes Crying in the early morning rain
They go on and on, there's no two the same
Oh, how I wish I could blame all these songs about rain

It's chilly, it's dreary, it's depressing. Enough, already!!

Although, I guess there's no better day to be stuck in the Hellhole for five hours :-P

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Ten Second Book Review - Serena

Serena by Ron Rash

Wow. What a brutal story. Or, what a story about brutal people. The book starts with a murder and ends with one, with several in between. But with all this killing going on, what makes me squeamish to the point where I almost pass out while reading? A graphically detailed account of a blood transfusion. Not the first time that's happened, by the way....

Anyway, the premise of the book is lust for power and how it destroys, and this plays out in a logging camp in western North Carolina in 1929, and a secondary plotline deals with the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. George Pemberton brings his new bride, Serena, back from Boston, and she quickly proves herself the equal of any man out there. Before Serena was in the picture, Pemberton fathered an illegitmate child with a 17-year-old camp worker, Rachel. Rachel quickly became my favorite character in the novel, along with a Greek chorus of camp workers and Sheriff McDowell, one of the few people who try to bring the Pembertons to justice. It is impossible to like the viscious, evil Serena and her almost-as-vile husband. Actually, there was a time in the last quarter of the book where I kind of felt bad for ol' Pemberton, but it didn't last long. It's hard to have empathy for people who just cold-bloodedly kill people that get in their way.

Well-written, haunting, with a satisfying ending.

5 stars out of 5.