A Brawl In The Safari – Watch more free videos

4.96 miles in the neigborhood.

Do all kids say “Old MacDonald’s” when they see a McDonald’s sign, or is it just mine?

Appetizer
List 3 emotions you experienced this week.

Pride, disappointment, and… does hunger count?

Soup
Name a car you’d love to have.

Nissan Cube (Japan), Nissan GT-S, or James Bond’s Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me.

Salad
Describe your typical morning routine.

Wake up, take shower/get dressed, try to wake kids up, make breakfast for kids, make lunches for kids, get kids dressed, take kids to school, then off to work!

Main Course
Have you ever emailed someone famous? If so, who, and what did you say to them? Did they reply?

I seem to remember emailing someone famous and getting a reply… it escapes me now.

Dessert
Do you listen to podcasts? If so, which ones?

Lots of Leo Laporte, VideoGameOutsiders, LeShow (Harry Shearer), Running From the Reaper

Last night there was a little cooking club gathering at our house for Mariko and her friends. This session was all about sushi, and one of our friends came over to teach. (He’s a sushi chef). The cooking club is for the women only, so I had the job of staying upstairs with the kids. I fell asleep at 9pm with my boys, and at about 10pm?, Mariko came upstairs and asked if I wanted to eat sushi. I quickly thought about it, but my tiredness won out over my desire to eat, and I politely refused. Skate-night at the roller rink with Bay really wore me out I guess.

At Bay’s school this morning there was a breakfast for the students who received an ethics award, and the parents were invited. Mariko took Bay, while I took Koa to his school, and planned to meet up with Bay and Mariko at the school library. But I was late (traffic around the school is nuts at 7:30am) and arrived at the school with five minutes to spare. I rushed to the main door of the library just to see Bay and Mariko exiting out of the back door. I had to jog past the donuts, coffee, and juice to catch up with them and then say goodbye to Bay at his classroom. It’s fun to see Bay interacting with his classmates, so it was definitely worth the effort, but I missed the breakfast. Mariko later said the coffee was terrible though.

I just started using my iBook as a writing tool. I think it is a really cool little machine. It’s a lot nicer to use than my other laptop. I guess it’s a combination of the keyboard, the form-factor (the iBook is small!), the lack of fan noise, and some cool software. I am using a nice program called WriteRoom by Hog Bay Software. It’s a really simple writing program that cuts out all interface clutter, and allows you to focus on just text. The screen is basically black, with green type. It’s all customizable, of course, but I like the default. Plus, there is a plugin that lets you switch from other programs to WriteRoom, where you can write your text, then switch back to the original program and the text comes with you. For instance, I am using Mori (another wonderful program by the same company) to organize my notes and writings. When I open up a click into a document pane, I can select “Edit in WriteRoom”, and I instantly have my clutter-free writing environment. It’s really helpful, and believe me, I need all the help I can get since my writing is so awful.

Speaking of writing, it’s really fun! I am a total n00blet at it, but It’s kind of nice to do I think. I never really wrote anything with any frequency before. At least stuff that didn’t have to do with schoolwork! But I have started to write about lots of stuff, like dreams that I have, and memories of things that happened long ago. I’ll post some of the stuff, but most of it is just for my own entertainment. I think it would bore most everyone to death anyways. I think it would be nice to be able to illustrate stuff like memories and dreams. I wish I was a better illustrator too. heh. Maybe I can start drawing stuff in my little moleskiné and scan it in?

You know, I really have to say that I wouldn’t have started this little writing endeavor if I didn’t get the iBook. (thanks Mikey!) There’s something about it that just lends itself to doing cool stuff. Hard to explain, really.

Tonight I decided to run at the Y. It was actually a pretty nice night, weather-wise, so I almost ran in the neighborhood instead. But I guess I was worried about mosquitos or swallowing a bug, so I made the three-minute drive to the gym.

Sometimes I prefer running on the treadmill at the gym. It’s pretty entertaining most of the time. There are lots of distractions such as multiple tv’s, the statistics on the treadmill panel, and of course all the other people there getting their workouts in. Unless there is a good ballgame on ESPN, I will just crank up my iPod and just zone out and run.

I had my iPod Shuffle all ready with a Zard playlist and was eager to see if it was good running music. I had figured it would be, but you never know. It all depends on your mood at the time too. But it was perfect for tonight, and I ended up running six miles at just under a 10-minute/mile pace. I felt really good. There were no aches or pains, and I had no problem with motivation. I guess the music kept me going. Sometimes I just get too bored though, and cut the run short.

One of the advantages of running outdoors is that you never get bored. There is always something to look at, and you have to keep your attention focused on the sidewalk and intersections. Plus, the elevation is pretty varied in my neighborhood, which makes for an interesting run. I think I am pretty lucky with the neighborhood we live in because there isn’t too much traffic and the sidewalks are really wide. Plus there are lots of trees and you can see horses, cows, deer, and other critters in the fields. There aren’t a whole lot of other runners, though. I think the most I have seen during a run was four.

You know, I am glad I started running again last year. It’s really rewarding, physically and mentally. I used to have lots of fun running when I worked at UCLA, but since then, I haven’t run so much. But now I think it is something I want to keep doing, and it is cool because it is not something that you have to really “get into”. Just go with the flow, I guess! If you want to race, go for it, if you want to do easy runs, do that. 🙂

6 miles at the Y