6.30.07

So tomorrow I start training for the Marine Corps Marathon, actually, tomorrow is an off day, but it is the first day on my training schedule. The real training starts on Monday with a simple 5-mile run. Tuesday will be an off day as well, with the Peachtree on Wednesday [6.2], 4 miles on Thursday, rest on Friday and 10 on Saturday [actually, I may split Saturday into two 5-mile runs, one on Friday and one on Saturday]. That will complete my first week of training with 25.2 miles in the record book.

I really, really need this. I need a schedule to stick to and a goal to reach for. I can get pretty lazy without that!

I bought a new pair of running shoes today, the same as I've been wearing for the past year or so, Fila Flow Sanctuary. These will be for the marathon.

6.28.07

A few things I learned yesterday:

1. Oregon is the ONLY state in the US where you CANNOT pump your own gas -- that's right, I said YOU CANNOT PUMP YOUR OWN GAS -- too dangerous I guess. When you pull up to the pump an attendant comes out [just like in the old days] and says, "Fill'er up?", "Premium or regular?" How COOL is that?!? You don't even have to get out of your car -- just like the old days. Of course, they don't check your oil, and they don't do windshields either.
2. I thought that this time of the year would be the "off season" for Timberline. WRONG! It's like their peek season because it is the only place in the US to ski or snowboard during the summer. We are thinking about returning in the spring when the rooms are not so expensive and we can REALLY see snow!

The trip back yesterday was nice and uneventful. Uneventful is good when you're flying. I sure didn't want to come back! It is so beautiful out there, so beautiful in Oregon. We took lots of pictures but pictures do not do it justice. The soil must be like really, really fertile. It's like the whole place is made up of nursery after nursery and orchard after orchard. Fruit stands are everywhere, everything is so green and lush, lots of evergreens. It's like a HUGE Christmas tree farm! I would think the growing season to be pretty short.

A few things I didn't see: billboards, churches, and people of color. These things are in short supply in Oregon, at least the part we visited. You really take for granted all the churches we have in the south -- the "Bible belt". There are not that many in other parts of the country. I think I could count on one hand how many churches I saw, and only one of them was Baptist.

6.27.07

Our trip around this grandiose mountain yesterday afternoon was quite interesting.

The temperature difference is SO diverse from the mountain to the valley. When we were up on the mountain it was SO COLD [probably like 30 or so] that we had sweaters, coats, mittens, gloves, hats, boots and the like on. We went to find a lake in the valley that we can see from the mountain, lake Trillion it was, and when we got there it was like 80! People were swimming -- it was such an AMAZING difference in temperature just from the mountain to the valley, two places that were not that far apart -- you can see one from the other, but so, so different! People were doing outdoor kind of stuff at both places, but in totally different clothing and temperature. It was so cool!

Last night we had the best pizza I think I've had it my whole life. A little place at the bottom of the mountain called the Ice Axe Grill in Government Camp. It was really, really yummy! --their signature pizza with tomato and spinach.

This morning we are just chilling until it's time to check out. Then it is on to the airport for the long trip home. We didn't get first class on the way out but I think we will on the trip home.

6.26.07

Today I have discovered that God is a God of variety. It’s not something you will find in the Bible, at least not in those particular words. But as I was riding the ski lift up Mt. Hood this morning and enjoying the cold, beautiful scenery and thinking about all of the other beautiful backdrops I have been privileged to witness over my lifetime, like the Grand Canyon, the Caribbean, and others, I realized that God IS a God of variety. But not only in the landscape he created for us, also in the people he created – So many different personalities and looks. He is SO a God of variety!

We got in bed pretty late last night; we were up almost 24 hours [21+]. This morning the sun came up so early. I had my alarm set for 6:00 but woke up at a little after 5:00 and the sun was up, bright and shining! Grabbed a bottle of water, some granola and raisins, a banana, and we were on the lift a little after 7:00. The ride up was incredible; they call it the Magic Mile and it is magical!

After about 4 times down the mountain BIG Tom was done! His side is scraped up, he had fun, maybe he’ll go back out a little later.

BTW, pictures are posted on facebook. Sorry to all you folks who don't have a facebook account; you can see the pics when we get home.

This afternoon we took a driving tour of the surrounding area. Actually, we drove completely around the mountain. Took several hours. We actually found a STARBUCKS! Can you believe that?!? We came back on the"road less traveled" and it was nice -- a one lane road for miles and miles and miles and some of it wasn't even paved. Glad we rented the Jeep!

6.25.07

I don’t even know where to begin to describe the beauty of this place! It’s like a HUGE Christmas tree farm :) Evergreens everywhere! The trip out was great, it took 5 hours but really to me it only seemed like about 2 or so. I had a good opportunity to work on my book as I hope to on the trip home as well.

When we arrived the first thing we noticed was the clarity of the air in Portland and lush, green vegetation everywhere – So different than the dry, parched grass and shrubs at home. Oh yeah, the temperature is a lot different than back home too – in the 50s up on the mountain at Timberline, 60s in Portland, and it should get down into the 30s or low 40s tonight.

The Timberline Lodge is nice and quaint. It was built in the 30s and much of the furnishings in the rooms and other areas of the lodge are from that era – original to the structure I would guess. Our beds are actually feather! The view out our window is incredible! It is a picturesque view of the valley and we can see Mt. Jefferson off in the distance. Mt. Hood is about 11 thou feet at its summit and Timberline sits on it at 6 thou feet.

We hiked part of the way up this afternoon and will hike some more tomorrow. We will not be able to reach the summit on this trip as the higher trails are closed for restoration. We really came out here to let BIG Tom snowboard so as long as he gets to do that tomorrow, all it well!

It is all about the huckleberry out here… huckleberry ice cream, huckleberry milk shakes, huckleberry jam, huckleberry syrup, huckleberry honey, huckleberry chocolate. You name it and they’ve got it in huckleberry flavor!

There is still plenty of snow as you will see in the pictures, especially up on the mountain. I think I read that in the winter the snow gets 21 feet deep! There is still a good 2 feet in some places around the lodge. We even saw a snowman that someone had made here today. People probably think we are crazy to get so excited over 2 feet of left over snow but we just don’t see this stuff in Atlanta. We get excited there over 2 inches of snow!

6.23.07

Just finished a pre-Peachtree run [+ 1 mile] starting at the BIG Peach on Peachtree to Piedmont Park. Today is the Gay Pride thing in Piedmont Park, so... that was interesting. I mean, there are always a lot of those types down there but today the place was crawling with them. YIKES!

The run was 7.2 miles total [it is a mile from the BIG Peach to Lenox]. I felt OK about the run. It was pretty low key. Sponsored by Rebook and the BIG Peach. They had a trivia game [about the Peachtree Road Race] before the run and I won a radio. Woo Hoo!

My time was pretty off 1:19. Last year I finished in just at an hour. But the course felt so easy today compared to last year [even my running partner said so] that I would have thought my time to be better. Up until last year I had done NO hill work whatsoever in my life, but while we were in training for the ING GA Marathon this winter and early spring we ran those hills at the Rock and Heartbreak Hill [at Piedmont Hospital] doesn't even begin to compare to that!

I stopped during the run to spin the big wheel at Caribou Coffee and won a tin of mints -- maybe that's why my time was off. Ha Ha Ha Ha

When we got back to the BIG Peach they gave us a drink bottle [like I need another drink bottle-- I just got finished cleaning out my "drink bottle" cabinet a few days ago and threw a bunch away] and a training journal. I need to use that, but I probably wont.

I've gained like 20 lbs. [and it's not even Christmas!] That's one reason my times lately have been so bad. That's like running with 2 1/2 gallons of milk. I've got to work on getting rid of that 2 1/2 gallons! It won't happen quickly. It's crept on slowly, since that marathon in March, so I expect it will take a few months to get rid of. I've set myself a goal of 5 lbs. a month for the next 4 months.

I probably won't run again until the end of next week. Hopefully we will be doing a good bit of hiking on Monday - Wednesday though. Mt. Hood here we come!

6.22.07

I think I'm recovered from the campout and lack of sleep :O well, maybe not fully [that's me yawning, again].

Tomorrow we will run the full Peachtree course + a mile, starting at the BIG Peach at 7:45 a.m. to Piedmont Park. I hope my friend Anne will be able to join us, that will give me someone to run with [maybe]. My running partner could be back at the BIG Peach before I finish... he he he he she's FAST!

I've got a new site going up [as I write - watching it w/one eye, writing w/the other]. This one is loaded with PDF and MP3 files and is taking FOREVER to upload. I will be maintaining this one as well and it will require quite a bit more time than any of the others I have maintained in the past, maybe with the exception of one.

I've already drug out the suitcases to begin packing for our trip to Mt. Hood. We will leave early [VERY EARLY] Monday morning. I'm SO excited!

6.20.07

cow girls ;)

Well, here we are at the CFA First 100 in Smyrna Blogging away on my old laptop - NICE! The weather is great -- so far... Will post some pics later, I think. We got here at like a little after 6 a.m. [left the house around 5] and we are numbers 14, 15, and 16. Right now the girls are playing Scrabble and I am getting ready to get some work done, thanks to my running partner's CPA, who let us borrow his SPRINT wireless card.

OK, so now the Chick-fil-A FREE WIFI is up and running, took them a while but it's working now and fast - GREAT! They came around and gave us all cow fans -- thus the "cow girls" picture.

About 10:00 or so they passed out lemon pie, brownies, cheesecake, and chicken biscuits. The first campout that we've been to where they've served the sweets. At noon it was CFA sandwiches.

The afternoon passed slowly. The heat wasn't too bad, there was a nice breeze most of the time and we had a table with an umbrella which fortunately we brought from home. Usually, the tables have umbrellas but the ones for this CFA have not come in. SO glad we brought one from home -- the old "craft show" umbrella.

For dinner it was a nice bag dinner with a fresh, HOT CFA, chips, and a brownie -- NICE!

It's almost 10:00 p.m. and they are about to serve nuggets and play the movie Facing the Giants. At midnight they will serve ice cream with all the toppings. We've already seen the movie but if the girls want to stay up I'll stay up with them and surf and Blog while they watch. The ice cream is not worth staying up for. They have to serve so much at one time that the only practical way they can do it is to prep it ahead and put it in the freezer -- HARD Ice Dream -- not a good thing.

It's 5:00 a.m. [or a little there after] and we just got our wake up call. The bathrooms are only 1 stallers, so, the line is incredibly lllllllllooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggg.... We can't break down our tents because the TV station [don't know which one] is on its way. Hopefully, about 6:00 or 6:30 they'll walk us through, give us the goodies and we'll be on our way... They do have coffee out. Guess they want us to be awake :O That's me yawning.

6.19.07

HOT, 4-mile run through the city [between thunderstorms] in the mid-afternoon. Good Peachtree conditioning. Made it back home just before a BIG thunder boomer hit. WHEW! And we were going to run 7. Glad we didn't!

Looking SO forward to our Mt. Hood trip next week. Read more today on the summit and the approach to it. Hope we make it!

Reservations Made

The reservations and airline bookings are made, car rental is in the works. We will fly into Portland, Oregon next Monday morning for a few days of snowboarding [about the only place in the states where you can snowboard this time of year] and mountain climbing on Mount Hood. I am so looking forward to staying at the Timberline. It's a National Historic Landmark, build in the 1930's, situated near the boarders of Oregon and Washington State. Parts of the Stephen King movie "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson was filmed there, many, many moons ago...

6.17.07

A busy week ahead. The usual, + on Wednesday we are camping out at yet ANOTHER CFA First 100 Grand Opening campout. I think this will be the last for a while. I don't seen any other openings on the horizon in the area this year. Of course, that's not to say we couldn't go outside "this area" :) The weather looks to be nice, 84 for a high on Wednesday, the lowest high of the week -- that's about all we can ask for. There is a threat of thundershowers in the afternoon. We'll deal with that if it happens and hopefully, it won't blow our tents away. I think we may have a good number of friends joining us for on so that will be nice.

Thursday/Friday... we'll talk about that later...

6.16.07

WHEW! What a day. I don't even know where to begin beginning.

I guess, the Hooah race: the last I suppose, although I didn't think about it before, my friend Anne reminded me that the base is closing in the next year -- so, I would assume this year's race [the 6th] will be the last -- one can only assume.

My time wasn't so great 1:00:22, but then I didn't expect it would be. Too much sight seeing and reminiscing :) my old stomping grounds, lots of memories... My running partner won first place in her age group, again :)

After the race it was home to clean up and off to the car show with my BFF. It was HOT! I saw a friend from high school -- that was nice.

Then it was off to Belk for a Father's Day gift.

Then ALL the kids came for dinner -- Dad cooked so it was good :)

Now, I'm EXHAUSTED!

6.13.07

4 mile on the mill late a.m.

Dale Earnhard Jr. is announcing [as I write] his decision to go with Hendrick Motorsports next year. I was surprised. I really though he would go to RCR but I think this will be a good fit. There is obviously a long-standing good relationship between Dale Jr. and Rick Hendrick that maybe wasn't out front so not too many people knew about it. I think he will be like a father figure to Jr. and Jr. needs that. He needs someone in victory lane telling his he's done a good job, and I don't think he's had that since his dad passed. Jr. is also good friends with the other drives in the Hendrick camp -- that will be a good thing.

Next year will be interesting to watch. As far as the sponsor and the number, that's still all up in the air and will be worked out in the next few months. I would suspect that Hendrick and DEI will trade the numbers 5 and 8 and the sponsor that Jr. currently runs for will remain [unfortunately] -- Bud has been with Hendrick before [back in the day].

I suspect that next year, from the fan's eye, everything will "look" the same.

It is very interesting to me how you have a Sr. [Rick Hendrick Sr.] who has lost a son [Rick Hendrick Jr.] and a Jr. [Dale Earnhardt Jr.] who has lost a father [Dale Earnhardt Sr.] and now the two come together as a team. I think all around this will be a good marriage for both Hendrick Sr. and Earnhardt Jr. I think they "need" each other in a strange kind of way.

6.12.07

This morning I watched Steve Job's keynote address from the opening of the WWDC yesterday. EXCITING STUFF! I was wrong about the iPhone going on sale yesterday, June 29 seems to be the date. [2+9=11, 611 still applies.] Leopard is due to be released in mid October and has some really exciting features, one feature will make file sharing so much easier and there are a lot of other goodies as well. I can hardly wait! October seems so far from here. Of course the MacBook Pros have been updated -- that happened last week, bigger processor -- NICE! When I get mine in October it is going to be such a HUGE step up from this 7 year old Gateway. WHEW! Don't know if I'm going to be able to handle all that speed...

6.11.07

6 miles on the old mill this a.m, some of that pretty fast. Have GOT to stretch good this afternoon -- every day this week, really. I am so tight! I was so nice and limber during the marathon training and oh how I want to get that back!

I will run probably 5 on Wednesday, 4 on Thursday [LOVE that taper!], and take Friday off. The BIG Army Hooah race is on Saturday, a FAST, flat 10K through the ghetto -- run like you were being shot at... that won't be hard to imagine. Could be a good time for the '08 Peachtree. I'd Love to break 50 but I don't see anything close to that happening.

6.8.07

I know it is late in the day for a post but I have been so, so, so, SUPER busy as of late!

[3 miles on the mill this a.m.]

I am working on a new website that I plan to put up June 22 and it has been an all-consuming job! That's how it usually is with these things. When I get into them I like eat, sleep, and breath them until they are done. I'll be up at like all hours of the night pecking away on my laptop. When I do get to sleep, I'll think of an idea or solve a problem and like have to get up and write it down so as not to forget it...

Anyway, that's my excuse for not Blogging much lately.

I am SO looking forward to Steve Job's keynote address on Monday morning at the WWDC! It will be carried live over the Internet and I hope to be able to see it w/o any computer problems or interruptions.

Tomorrow it's off to a Pampered Chef party in the a.m. and then I'm not sure what the afternoon and evening will bring. More website work I would suspect.

6.6.07

GREAT, fast, 5-mile, late a.m. run! Felt really good and strong. NICE!

6.4.07

5 miles on the mill. Good run! Felt strong.

Rumors, rumors, rumors...

Dale Earnhardt Jr NASCAR Rumor: Junior Moving To Gibbs, Visa Sponsor
By Mike Baron June 3, 2007

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. This is the latest rumor and we have had several people we trust tell us it has legs. Look for an announcement very soon.

This powerhouse three-car Chevy team will now become four. It pairs Junior with pals Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. J.J. Yeeley also drives the Interstate Batteries No. 18.

Junior and 'Smoke' are close friends and work particularly well together on restrictor plate tracks. Earnhardt was one of the ones who convinced Hamlin to be a pro racer early in his career.

Earnhardt Jr to Ginn NASCAR Team, Mark Martin Full-time in 2008 ?
Posted by: MSulka on Jun 03, 2007 - 09:21 AM
The rumors continue to swirl regarding the future of Dale Earnhardt Jr. who revealed Friday that he has trimmed his list of potential teams down to three or four.

The most interesting possibility right now has been published in the Winston Salem-Journal stating that Mark Martin may return to a full NASCAR Nextel Cup schedule in 2008, and that "many drivers seem convinced that Earnhardt will accept an offer to drive for Bobby Ginn."

Though Mark Martin has been vocal about his happiness in running a partial schedule this season, winning does have a way of pulling at the heart of a driver.

Is it possible that Martin's full-time NASCAR Nextel Cup return is tied to Ginn landing Earnhardt Jr. ?

We shall see.

6.1.07

3 miles on the mill. Have an opportunity to run a couple of laps around the Rock tonight but don't know if I will do that or not.

Interesting news on the WWDC front: New rumors abound! The first is that the new MacBook Pro updates will be released before the conference scheduled to begin on June 11. It seems that Apple has an Education Back to School program which launches next week and the updates will be released early to coincide with that... well, you read the rumor:

While we had heard convincing reports that the MacBook Pro updates would have to wait until WWDC (June 11th), a few new reports have started trickling in that the MacBook Pro could see updates as soon as this Tuesday (June 5th).

Mac4ever.com (French) posts the following from a reseller (roughly translated):

There's some news. We've just ordered the new MBP ! Launch expected for next Tuesday... But Apple didn't say anything about the specifications. We have to order blind-eyed... If I've got some other news, I'll keep you informed.

This information alone would not necessarily be convincing, as resellers tend not to have much lead time on new products... but a few other tidbits we've heard leads us believe that this could be legitimate.

Sources are unclear if this will be the LED / Santa Rosa updates that users have been hoping for, and some sources still insist we will have to wait until WWDC for the new MacBook Pro.

Update: There is some speculation that Apple may be releasing MacBook Pros next week rather than at WWDC to coincide with their Educational Back to School Program which launches next week. (If Apple waited until WWDC, the MacBook Pro specs would change a week into the Back to School promotion.)

Another rummer, now brace yourself, this one is WILD! NEW MACS to SHIP w/VISTA

I told you it was WILD!

So some other...bloggers and I were discussing this unlikely rumor, and we started to realize something: With core elements of Vista in place on Intel hardware, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to imagine OS X running Windows apps. Then, by chance, I ran across this article at Mac Daily News posits the very idea, and that this could be the way big secret Steve is keeping for WWDC. Bootcamp 2 isn’t in the current preview of Leopard, nor are many other expected toys. We still think the whole thing is a little suspicious, but what a possibility it creates, no?

This is probably the most insane Apple rumor we’ve ever heard... But in the interest of generating site traffic, and to secure bragging rights of being “first!” if it’s somehow real, and because we’re reckless, we bring it to you now.

Our Trusted, Reliable Source™ at the WSJ’s D conference...was chatting with some other PR types who work for Apple... He/She said they were nervous over Mr. Jobs accidentally spilling Leopard secrets two weeks before its official unveiling at WWDC. The source said something jokingly about how it’s really a re-designed version of Vista, and, to their surprise, the PR type said, “No, Vista runs great on the new Macs by itself, and Bootcamp 2 lets us ship it as an add-on option for dual-boot.” Or something to that effect.

We’re thinking the Apple PR person was messing with our source, the idea is to run ideas up the flagpole to see if they fly. We really don’t see any Macs shipping with dual-boot to Windows anytime soon, but Steve has surprised us before, so who knows? We mark the likelihood as very low, but stranger things have happened...