3 in a Row

One of my pet peeves is people who walk slow in front of me.  I always feel rude passing somebody on a sidewalk.   I don't know why.  I think it is because usually it is just me and the other person so it's like me saying "hey look, you are walking so annoyingly slow that I have to go past you now".  Which I suppose is exactly what I am thinking at the time.  A lot of the time I simply slow down my pace and walk 20-30 feet behind them.  Sometimes I feel like I am going so slow I am practically shuffling my feet along slowly.  In my head I am screaming "how can you possibly be walking that slow!  This is like driving 30 mph on the freeway.  There should be special walking lanes for people like that.

Today was my 3rd run day in a row this week.  I think I may have some slight cold or sore throat weirdness going on.  I really didn't feel like going out today.  However, I managed to do it and felt great the whole way.  My left leg was a bit sore prior to running, which worried me a bit.  I am determined to get the most out of this week run-wise.  I noticed that after the run I was sweating profusely.  This did not happen the last two runs, which probably means I was under hydrated those times.  That probably explains why I felt so bad afterward as well.  I feel good today.  I need to get a book or do more research on the proper runner's diet.  I don't think I am doing that right.

 I took this one yesterday.  It was really overcast compared to today.

Overhead

This week is my last week on overhead status at work.  What this means is that I am not officially attached to any project and am doing tutorials and kind of being lazy.  Next week all that ends.  What also ends is my ability to go for runs at lunch time since doing that extends my lunch period well beyond the allotted hour I am given.  When I am on a show I typically take just enough time to eat for a lunch break.  Nothing even close to 1 hour.  Now that I am living closer I have no reason to get up at 5am and drive to work.  The nice bonus to doing this in the past was that I got some free time in the morning to run and still be working at my desk well before anybody else showed up.  I am not exactly sure how I am going to work in runs now.  The only way really is to wake up extra extra early.  Like 4:30-5am and get in a run before I have to start making breakfast and lunches for the kids at 6.  Well, guess I can do that or stop running.  Don't think I feel like stopping right now.

I felt like crap this morning.  I got a bug bite on my foot that woke me up at around 2am last night.  It was really annoying.  Then this morning I just didn't feel right.  My throat felt weird and my head had that heavy feeling you get when you are going to be sick.  Unfortunately, this being my last week of overhead I planned on taking full advantage and running 4 times this week.  Starting with today.  Now, often when I feel really tired and not in the mood to run, I end up having some of my best runs.  Today was basically like that.  Although, I felt great while running.  When I finished I immediately started feeling bad again.  That's ok, at least I got the 6 miles in.  I think it may have been a water issue.  Tomorrow I plan on doing a 4 miler followed by another 6 on Thursday culminating with a long run on Saturday morning.

If you look really close you can see my footsteps in the sand.

A Question for the President

I am connected to a site called linkedin.com.  This is a site were professionals in various fields can stay connected.  It's not like facebook.  It's more of a way to find a past colleague for professional purposes.  I don't really pay much attention to it, however a few days I got a spam email from them asking if I would like to ask a question of the president in a town hall meeting via email.  That got me to thinking, if the President showed up and pulled me aside and asked me point blank what I was concerned about.  What exactly would I say?  If you really think about it, that is not so easy a task.  Here is what I could roughly put together:

When are you going to give us the bad news?  I think politicians have a hard time giving people really bad news.  Sure they love to talk about how bad things are because of how the other guy is running things.  What not many politicians are willing to do is say "you can't have X, Y, and Z anymore".  I am not an expert on policy, social security, medicare, military spending, etc.  I am also not a medical doctor.  However, if I show up at a doctor's office one day with a runny nose and an achy feeling and he says "just take some aspirin and get plenty of fluids", I'll probably just do it because he's the expert.  If a few weeks later I show up at the same office now with pain in my chest and he tells me the same thing but just take Tylenol instead of aspirin, I'll probably say you know what, that doesn't make sense.  I'm going to another doctor.  Then I when I go to another doctor he says the other guy was an idiot what I really have to do is eat chicken soup.  Well, he's the expert so I do it.  Then a few weeks later I show up at the same doctor with all of what I had before but now I can't see.  He says, you gotta eat a different brand of chicken soup.  At this point I know both doctors are idiots and not telling me what is really wrong with me.  Unfortunately, they are apparently the only two doctors I can go to for help.  I'm no expert, but I'm not stupid.  I know something is wrong and that things are getting worse. Whether my doctor has a D or an R next to their name, I don't feel like I'm getting a straight answer.  That is what I want and I think that is what the American people want.  What is that answer?  I think we'll know it when we hear it.  Go ahead Mr. President give it your best shot.  It may cost you an election, but it will earn you my respect.

Breakfast

If there is one thing I believe that I have gotten good at over the years it is making breakfast.  For a long time all I ever made was eggs and potatoes.  Which was good, just not every single day.  Now that I am able to cook breakfast everyday at home I have developed a full lineup.  Eggs and potatoes is still there, but so is waffles, pancakes, egg sandwiches, and the new addition french toast.  Also every once in a while I'll throw in cereal and eggos just so the kids can get their junk food fix.  I like breakfast.

Liquidity

From the outset of the financial crisis that our country is still working it's way through I have heard the term "inject liquidity into the system" used quite a bit.  Let me be honest, when I listen to or read financial reporting I probably understand 30% of it.  It goes by so fast that I feel like I can kind of put the pieces together and get the jist.  I feel like I should really understand what they are talking about if I'm going to pretend to pay attention to such things.  So, I googled it.  Here is a short and to the point answer to what bank liquidity is:

"Liquidity for a bank means the ability to meet its financial obligations as they come due.  Bank lending finances investments in relatively illiquid assets, but it funds its loans with mostly short term liabilities.  Thus one of the main challenges to a bank is ensuring its own liquidity under all reasonable conditions. "


Wow, so simple!  I did a little more reading and have come up with what I think is bank liquidity in uberlamens terms:

Liquidity is a short term loan (think of it like a credit card) for a bank to be able to use to pay off another short term loan. 


Hopefully that makes a little more sense.  Also I hope that I'm right.  Apparently, what a lot of big banks do is loan really large sums of money to big corporations or countries or very wealthy individuals.  They do this by borrowing that money from somebody else at a smaller interest rate than what they are lending it at.  That is how they make money.  Seems kind of weird doesn't it?  I always thought that a big takes in deposits from people like you and me and maybe from businesses then loans that money out and charges interest on it.  That was probably how it was done 50 years ago, but not today.  That method of banking probably kept a lot of people out of trouble.


I saw an article today about some rally happening on Wall St.  Occupy Wall St, I think it was called.  Something like 5000 people got together and staged a "sit in" in front of some big bank or maybe the stock exchange.  I'm sure it will come and go as a minor nuisance to those who have to move around in Manhattan today.  I wonder if any of those people know what bank liquidity is.


I mapped out a 6.5 mile route around Signal Hill that takes me down Cherry to PCH, then down to the river bed, then to Willow and finally back to Cherry.  I think I saw a homeless guy taking a picture of himself with his smart phone.  It was a nice day for a run.

The Willow St bridge around 8am.

Sparky likes Mexican Food

So I went ahead and paid my fine and opted for driving school.  Luckily you can now do your driving school online.  It is clever how they force you to actually read through the material.  Each page has a timer that forces you to keep the page open for about 10 minutes and they sprinkle random sentences into the course work like "Sparky likes mexican food".  Then after each page they quiz you on some of what you read and sometimes about Sparky.  It's not that hard.

I forgot to mention that I got Sydney up and riding a bike with no training wheels on her second lesson.  She is using Derek's old bike so it is a bit heavy and too big for her.  The only thing she has a problem with is stopping.  I forgot how much running was involved in that process.  I'm glad I'm in shape for it.

Fraud Alert

I was recently researching the possibility of getting a credit security service like Lifelock.  After doing some digging I found out that one of the main things they do for you is to put a fraud alert on your social security number with all the major credit bureaus.  Then it maintains this fraud alert for as long as you pay them.  The thing is you can do this yourself.  You just have to remember to reapply the fraud alert every 90 days.  A bit of a hassle?  Not really it took me about 5 minutes to do it and I saved myself $160 (lifelock fee).  Unless you are one of those people that likes opening up lines of credit at stores like Best Buy or Pep Boys then this is a no brainer.  Everybody should be doing this.  Click the link below to find out the details:

http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/flag.html

Here are the specific links that you'll need:

equifax fraud alert form, just click here and fill out the form
https://www.alerts.equifax.com

Experian  fraud alert form, same deal
http://www.experian.com/fraud

Transunion doesn't have an online form, you will have to call them and pay a fee of $10.  However, from what I read on their website this alert does not come off unless you remove it.  So you only have to do it once.

1-888-909-8872

Charlie Brown

I found this today while perusing The Piano Guys youtube channel:

That's some fancy playing Mr. Schmidt.

Diesel Question

Why doesn't the government support diesel more?  I know that 20 years ago diesel was associated with loud black smoke belching buses and big rigs.  However this is 2011, we've got clean diesel with 97% less sulfur.....which is good I think.  Diesel cars really aren't that loud anymore either.  Mine is noticeably louder than a regular gas engine, but it's easy to ignore.  The newer diesel cars are even better.  I really don't see the downside to the government supporting diesels more (don't we own a really big car company now?).  I know that diesel is the cheapest gas to make however it is the most expensive consumer gas to buy simply because of taxes.  I don't know for sure but I would guess that the taxes go towards maintaining our nation's highway system.  I wonder how much this tax really hits all of us though.  Think about it, who uses more diesel than anybody.  Big trucks that haul things.  Milk, computers, car parts, paper towels, you name it chances are it got to the store you bought it from in a diesel truck.  Imagine how much the price of all goods in America would drop overnight if the government lifted the taxes on diesel.  Our cars would also average 45 mpg.  Imagine how that would effect our foreign oil dependence.  Because we got such high gas mileage with the cleaner diesel fuel that we have today imagine how that might effect the environment.  Honestly, what is the downside?

Target Spotted

I think I have a race narrowed down for 2012.  Behold...the tough mudder:

http://toughmudder.com/events/socal-2012/

This sounds a lot more interesting than just running.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up on marathons.  There is a good chance I'll try for the Long Beach marathon in October 2012.  I first heard about this race from the one in England.  That version is called the Tough Man.  It looked positively miserable but fun.  I was thrilled to see that they made the same race in the states based off the Tough Man.

I got out for an early morning Signal Hill run yesterday.  It was early so there weren't a lot of cars out.  It was weird that the first part of the run is a steep down hill but I never felt like I really came up hill that much coming back.  That is fine though.  In Chino Hills it didn't matter which way I went I knew it was going to be a nasty up hill climb at the very end of the run.

Obisbo around 7am.  God getting some early morning painting in.

High Tide

Why is the tide so high right now.  Somebody explain this to me.  Is the moon mad at us?  Whatever, it looked interesting on my run today.  Me knee did this weird jab of pain thing right at the end.  That wasn't so nice.  Going to have to hit the pain stick later to work out the ol IT band.

Also, it would be nice if things could stop breaking in my new house.  That would be great.