running...over coming fears

I just want to start by saying since I started running again, and according to the NikePlus site (which records all my running activities,) I have run 105.52 miles, now for someone who is 200lbs, that I mean is a lot, maybe not some small skinny little thing, but i admit my frame is neither small nor thin. I would qualify in most long races as a "Clydesdale," seriously...that makes me feel great about my weight, you are equated to a giant horse that pulls beer trucks around, whatever. So my upcoming race is looming in my mind and I hate, hate, HATE treadmills, so I refuse to run on one...period, end of story! It has been raining weather crappy, and me in a foul mood, I don't want to run either, but I will finish, oh yes, I will finish. Here is today's time for my run...it is always in mile 7, 8 and beyond I slow down, I know there are services during those miles, so hopefully that will help.




So my second reason for posting is because well, I am admittedly not fond of heights. So when the opportunity to walk the Brooklyn Bridge rears its ugly head at me, I refuse. I did it once and was on the verge of panic needing an Adivan after. I'm telling you, wooden walk way, bikes, tourists, cars zooming under you...not fun at all! So today I did an appointment on the Brooklyn side of the bridge and said myself...SELF! do it...walk the bridge...and I did it gritting my teeth the whole way, trying not to look down, of course I did, and survived. That's all, my story, all written down so you don't have to write it!

HACKED!!!

So for all the readers out there, if you happen to know me and my bad grammar you know it is some what bad, BUT if I were to send out kind of an S.O.S. message from a old email address I would probably a) let people know I was going on some kind of trip (such as Africa, news like that travels fast) b) post something of the sort with updates on facebook c) I would capitalize my freakin I's. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE! I have never work on AIDS/Malaria research of any sort...and probably never will...well I won't say never. I would also put the name of the hotel in the email. Because if I was at the "city library" I doubt I would have all day to wait for emails and then return emails. So far the culprit has not emailed me back, my email went something like, "You don't know ho you are messing with jackass, none of my friends and family are dumb enough to send you money, the police have been notified..." really the police will do nothing...but oh well empty threats but my friends and family have been notified. Here is the letter...jackass.

Hello Dear,
I know this message will come to you as a surprise since i did not inform you of my trip to Africa for an International Seminar on "The devastating effect of poverty,H.I.V/Aids,Malaria on sub-saharan Africa" This is an extended programme taking palce in three major English Speaking west African countries of Ghana,nigeria,and The Gambia.I thought i could use this time out to see what Africa looks like.Hey its been a horrible experience.
It's been a very sad and difficult moment for me out here as iam stranded as a result of the loss
my little bag containing my money and some important travelling documents. I actually forgot it in a taxi i boarded from the airport in Lagos back to my hotel.Efforts to retrieve the bag has been unsuccessful.The problem now is that iam so distressed iam unable to pay up my hotel bills.This has been so embarrassing as the hotel staff threaten to seize my luggage and handing me over to the Hotel management.
I have never been this embarrassed in my whole life as iam so stranded that i find it difficult to feed since i do not know where to go for help.
This place is kinda hell!!.Please help me with some money ,i will pay back to you as soon as iam back.I need $800 to pay up the hotel bills and at least $500 to sort out other minor problems.I will want you to send me a total of $1,300 which i shall pay back to you immediately i arrive home safely.
Please try and understand how urgent i need your help.I am sending you this e-mail from the city Library because i do not have access to a telephone here. I will appreciate what so ever you can afford to send me for now and I promise to pay back your money as soon as am back home.
You can send the money through Western union money transfer or MoneyGram to the Hotel manager whose details i shall send to you as soon as i hear from you.
Iam counting on your urgent assistance.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks,
andy



Every I write better then this, and those of you who have corrected any of my writing know that. Also I capitalize I's and correctly space between sentences. Also all the spelling mistakes I would pick up on spell check...jackass.

when I grow up?

Today folks I thought I would take a trip down memory lane, mostly because the books I have been reading of late have been "easy" reads for me and well I finished them in a day or so. The other thing is I have been thinking about how I am almost completely different then I was when I was a weird-o pre-teen/teenager and how the education that kids get now is almost different then when I was a kid...kind of academic sounding huh?

I started to write this big rant about how I hated school mostly English, writing, Science and Math, which leaves me with Social Studies, Music, Gym, and those electives we had to take, but then I erased it all. I just was thinking how when I am FORCED to read something, I don't want to, and it is uninteresting and blah blah blah, but when I am generally interested in something and it flows and kind of follows my thinking pattern. I like it. Just as an example in the last few months these are the books I have read:

Salt
Cod
Schyuler's Monster
Various Issues of National Geographic
The New Yorker

On the outside people would say huh pretty non-fictionish selection of reading material and I would say yes, it is. I would also say that they are interesting reads. I picked up Salt on a recommendation from my newest Brother-in-Law Ansgar, he is intellectual and well read, MBA from MIT, sailor, cool, and German. Plus I hadn't read anything in awhile, I picked it up and read maybe 100 pages the first day and after that I almost missed stops on the subway because I was so into it. I mean yes, honestly it is about what the title is: Salt...but come on do you know all about salt??? Well Cod is written by the same author, so I thought I would give it a go...finished it in 2 days, and again, it is about just what you think...the fish. So the third on the list is about a father and his quest to be a good father and his daughter who he is discovering can not talk. His struggle with becoming a father of a "word-less" child and so on. I finished it in one day albiet I did have two flights today and I just stayed up for 3 hours finishing it and I have been following his blog, but it was a good read. When I read with fervor I just feel like I am my father's son. I remember growing up and he would spend hours upon houses devouring the latest John Grisham novel or Stephan King book. He would also read them in like a day. I enjoy read when I am interested, when it's forced, it sucks...nuff said, but just to beat a dead horse here is my list of the novels I can remember being forced to read...and hating every word I did or didn't finish:

Moby Dick
William Shakespeare...honestly nothing stuck out to me
Chaucer...hearing my 12th grade english teacher recite them in Old English...
Frankenstein...apparently I didn't "get it"
I am the cheese
Clan Of the Cave Bear
really anything I had to read in High School...sorry I didn't enjoy reading them, I have tried again and again, but to just sit down and read one of those books...makes me want to sleep...

Although the ones I did enjoy:

1984
Animal Farm
The Time Machine
Walden
The Client
Jurassic Park
The Sphere
Andromeda Strain
lots of historical books I found for 5 dollars or less
and others.

Point being... don't like to be forced to read books...but I still like to read, so why force kids to read certain books? Go ahead cut me down...but do you find relevance in Moby Dick in your life or was it time you could have spent reading a different book you were more into?