Hello Alleve my old friend, I've come to talk to you again

Ok so the race is finally done.  Free at last, free at last.  Quite honestly I probably should not have run it.  Two weeks ago on my last long run (12 miles) I most assuredly injured myself.  I am not sure if it was my groin or my hip flexor or some combination of the two.   It hurt so much I did not even train for the last two weeks.  The thing is though that when I mentioned it to the husband he of course made the bitchy comment "You better not cop out of the race."  That was enough to get my Irish up.  I had made up my mind that I would finish the frackin' race even if it meant aggravating my injury and getting a crap ass time on it.  I am not sure I aggravated the injury much but I did do the race five minutes slower than last year.  I was doing fine until about mile 8 and then hit a wall.  I actually walked most of mile ten and then a bit of mile twelve as well.  I think if I had not done whatever the hell it was to my hip I would have easily made the eight minute mile mark for the race.  Regardless I'll never know as I am not doing another one. 

Probably more than need be said in polite company but I have been popping Alleve like it is candy since Sunday afternoon and I think it is giving me serious gas issues. 


After the ace- which the husband and our friend MM cheered me on for- we went to TK's apartment, I stretched, took a nice hot shower and then we went and had brunch..

Yesterday I actually did hit the gym in the old neighborhood, walked on the treadmill for thirty minutes, lifted and then used the Styrofoam roller thingy to stretch out my hip.  Then the husband and I had dinner with MP and SJ at our old haunt.  I did not see any of my old secret boyfriends at the gym but there was definitely new, fresh meat to keep my mind occupied while I worked out...

Portugal is next, just saying.

One of the tings one learns in m line of work quickly is not to let others know what your pet peeves are.  People in my line of work are like a pack of jackals when we find out that something bothers another member of the pack.  A great example is the woman who sits between myself and the guy who shares my surname has an issue with people wearing short sleeve tee shirts under sweater vests.  So of course a week ago everyone of us wore a short sleeve tee shirt under a sweater vest.  It was awesome!

To further prove I kinda enjoy messing with co-workers, there is this young kid who drinks out of a metal water bottle- you know because plastic is so bad and what not.  I noticed that he always takes it with him when he goes to the bathroom and leaves it on one of the filing cabinets near the bathroom while he is doing his business. So of course I enlisted a few other people so that if one of us saw it there we'd move it to within sight of where he placed it but not the exact spot.  It took him a while to figure it out and he stopped doing it.  Phase two has just been initiated so that now when he leaves the desk we move it from his desk to the spot on the filing cabinet near the bathroom.  Yeah, ok maybe I am a little bit evil...

In case I had not stated it previously I am the alpha male in the house, lol.  I only say that because the puppy has this fetish with my clothing.  Every night when I am getting ready for bed he sits there and waits for me to take my socks of and then grabs them and runs away with them.  He could care less about the husband's socks and I tell him well clearly he wants the scent of the pack leader on him.

I have tomorrow off.  Just getting some stuff done with the husband and then have the Spring Sports Kick Off dinner to go to for my oldest.  He actually has his first tennis match next week but I don't think I'll be able to make it.

Barsoom

The weekend was actually petty good and relatively relaxing.

Friday night dinner was good as ST was finally back in town and we had the boys.  ST had missed a few due to his travels and my youngest was starting to get a complex that ST did not like him and his brother anymore.  That was put to rest at dinner.

Another interesting thing at dinner was finding out my oldest actually made the junior varsity tennis team.  Apparently the tryouts were all week but as he would lose his head if it were not attached to his shoulders he did not realize it until his friend told him he had to be there Friday.  So he went to one day of the tryouts, the coach told him he liked how he played and to show up Monday after school for practice.  This means we (his mother and I) will be attending the spring sports kick off dinner next week.  Oh and he also shaved for the first time!  He used an electric razor- I'll need to remedy soon....no electric razors. 

Saturday the boys and I took the kids for a trail walk while the husband did his training for his upcoming triathlon.  The I dropped my oldest off at his friend's house and they were off to the movies and dinner.  The husband and I and my youngest then had sushi for dinner.  I then went to bed as I was sore from the past week's training.  They all stayed up to watch some movie. 

Sunday I did the laundry and then we had the boys do yard work for a hour.  They picked up branches and sticks.  the deal was just for a hour and then we'd go have lunch and see John Carter.  I don't know why there are so many haters of John Carter.  the movie was actually really good and Taylor Kitsch was shirtless all the time.  The husband later commented on how he saw a lot of elements from Dune, Fringe, Star Wars and various other classics.  I then pointed out to him that actually all those things he mentioned had John Carter influences as the books were written starting in 1912.

Thankfully this is my last week of training.

Quit your bitching

So I did a pretty fast run this morning, 4 miles at 7:36 pace.  I think at my age thought I need to focus more on stretching both pre- and post-run.  I know one cannot dislocate one's hip and if you have a hip issue it is most likely really a groin issue (I learned this the hard way through MMA) so I need to remember to stretch tomorrow morning. 

I was starving for lunch today from about 11:30 on.  Finally the boss asked if I wanted to go grab lunch and I said hell ya!  As we were in the elevator I of course commented on my training (since it is all about me) and he asked if this was the last half marathon I am doing.  I answered in the affirmative to which he said good, I can't take anymore of your bitching about the training, lol.  Funny thing is earlier PF said the same thing to me so clearly I am whining a bit too much about this race.

I am gonna guess the CACs get activated which will lead to Greek CDSs getting activated as well.  Again there is no such thing as an "orderly" default but we'll see.

Omni Consumer Products: ED-209 coming soon to a neighborhood near you?

So some more great tidbits from the past weekend:

At dinner Friday night, my oldest actually called the husband "my step-father."  Holy shit!  I was a bit taken aback at such a bold step/statement from him.  I played it real cool though and did not miss a beat nor did the husband.  Sunday evening during dinner he asked me if I caught that and I sad duh!  Of course I did.  I think the husband was actually happy to be referred to as the step-father although I can never really tell as he keeps an excellent poker face about such things.  At least he was not called step-mother....

I hesitate to mention the next part of Friday night's dinner but it is almost too funny not to, consequences be damned.  The oldest has exhibited some curiosity about wine.  So during dinner he mentioned it several times and I finally asked would he like to try some.  He was a bit coy and not expecting that question I think be he finally said yes.  So I asked him if he would like to try white or red.  He stated both.  So he had a small glass of each and after trying them both he stated he preferred the red as it was "more robust."  WTF?  When I was his age beer was a big deal to me (I did not discover Rumpleminze until 10th grade) so for him to comment on red being more robust threw me for a loop.

Sunday afternoon as I was driving the boys back to their mother's house we were discussing movies for this coming weekend.  They mentioned that they thought Silent House looked really good and that their step-father thought so too.  I said well that is nice but we are seeing John Carter of Mars. I then said why don't you ask your mother's boyfriend to take you to see Silent House.  (For argument's sake let's call the bf Bob).  They said Bob is not as cool as their step-father.  Winner!  I know it seems really petty (I admit it is but WTF) but I was totally psyched to hear them say their step-father is cool.  I of course let the husband know ASAP.

I admit I am fairly conservative in my belief the government should stay out of as much of our lives as possible but I firmly believe there are certain aspects of society the government is really the only qualified to do- education, infrastructure, national defense, the penal system and law enforcement.  So when JW sends me a story about how the UK is considering privatizing law enforcement I get nervous.  All I can think about is Robocop and how the idea of enforcing the laws for profit is so not a good idea.

Since we are on the topic of politics, the husband asked me what GOP candidate has a viable economic plan.  Short answer is none of them.  It is real simple- the mess we are in pretty much dictates we need to raise taxes.  But since that is verboten thanks to that ass wipe Grover Norquist (who wouldn't even raise taxes to stem the rise of the apes and the overthrow of humanity) NO GOP candidate has a viable economic plan at all.  Too bad and even more reason I will probably vote for our current President.

So yesterday was my last long run for training was yesterday.  I did twelve miles and I am frackin' paying for it today.  I was very happy with my time as I think I will end up at or close to my goal of eight minute miles for my last half marathon.

The other reason I am psyched to get this race over is because Tuesday the 20th is the first day of spring which means I am getting my hair cut (actually all of them).  I am one shaggy beast right now as I have not been properly coiffed since the end of August.  It is driving me crazy and I cannot wait to get it chopped off.

Does anyone else get annoyed by AdSense and AdChoice things that show up on their websites when they are online?  I ask because today for some reason one of the sites that came up was "Established Men: Sugar Daddy Dating."  Really?  What site did I google to get that to come up?

I have several tattoos and I would get more if not for the threat of divorce hanging over my head like the sword of Damocles.  So of course I read about magic tattoos in Thailand.  It seems that you can go to this Buddhist monastery and get magic tattoos.  Sadly you aren't allowed to drink or they lose their powers.  But if you do you can go to their annual festival and get them repowered.  How cool is that?  If I were able to get more tattoos I'd go with the ones Rand al'Thor has on his forearms.  Just saying...

Driving

So last weekend I did my long run solo.  Saturday night we went to Philly and had tapas with JD and JW at a great place.  I was the designated driver so the husband had a lot of fun with wine.  He was all octopus hands at the dinner table which was both flattering and embarrassing.  He was hurting all day Sunday so I ended up doing my 11 mile run solo in the afternoon.

I admit that I did not see The Artist but I read the wiki entry for it and I have to say it sounds to me like Mel Brooks did it much earlier (like 1976 early) and funnier.  JD and JW said they had seen it and while it was a good movie they were surprised it got nominated for Best Picture.  I am surprised it won.  Jena Dusjardin winning the Best Actor for his role it was a bit surprising as well.

Speaking of Monsieur Dusjardin winning, I have to say it seems to me that we in America are going through a resurgence of all things French.  I have seen no less than three newspaper articles regarding recipes for cassoulet.  France has been leading  the charge in the Mid East for all of their former protectorates.  I don't think it is a bad thing but it is interesting.

I get somewhat annoyed at the GE commercial implying that without turbines you wouldn't have your Budweiser.  Really?  That seems a bit of a stretch as I am pretty sure Bud has been around longer than we have had electricity.  I know beer has been around way before we had any turbines as I believe it was first made circa 9500 BC in Sumeria, there is evidence it was in ancient Egypt and Iran as well.  Don't even get me started on many jobs GE has shed here in the United States- they really aren't that great of a corporate citizen here.

The whole farce that is the mortgage settlement announced several weeks ago is depressing.  If I understand it correctly, the people that will actually get help will only receive somewhere around $1500-2000.  So let me get this right, you lost your house via an illegal foreclosure and all you get is maybe $2000?  That is assuming the person who owns the mortgage is willing to help you settle.  Chances are if is FNM or FRE and they are not going to help you.  So the right hand of the government gives and the left hand takes away- nice.

So this may come as a shock to some but I will probably be voting for President Obama in November.  First- most of the GOP candidates just don't have anything sensible going for them.  Second, as JW pointed out to me I already have a moderate Republican in office.  It thought about and it he is totally right.  Everything President Obama has done is what a moderate Republican would have done.  I also am now sure President Obama will be a two termer.  I mean seriously- how can you take Santorum seriously when he complains about the separation of church and state?

Ok, Whitney Houston.  she was a crackhead.  Last I checked she did not save orphans from a burning building or throw herself selflessly onto a live gernade and save her fellow soldiers.  She died from a drug overdose.  So when TGT pulls a card making fun of her I find it annoying.  The best joke I heard was "What is six inches long and did not get sucked on for Valentine's Day?  Whitney Houston's crack pipe.

So my oldest had to pick his course for next year.  I and his mother were shocked to see he has driver's education as one of his courses.  Really?  WTF?  Since when did he get old enugh to drive or learn to drive?