G+

I like Google plus.
The problem with G+ is that so few people are there.
So here's your personal invitation
Come on over to G+!

You can find me here

Let it be, Let it be

**disclaimer - I don't know how to write this. I should probably wait. My brain is jumbled**  

In our day to day life we worry about so many useless mundane things. Things that if we took a step back we would realize don't matter at all. 

How is my hair

My clothes

Damn that person who cut me off!

Rush, Rush, Rush.

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late

I want, I want, I want. 

More stuff.

More things. 

Lets fight about religion 

Lets fight about debt

Lets fight about politics 

Lets waste our energy hating people based on 

Race, Sexuality and Religion

or lack there of.

Lie, cheat and steal from each other 

to get 'ahead'

I need, I need, I need

Money, Money, Money

The newest technology 

The biggest house

The nicest car

I'm right

You're wrong

Just stop

Breath

Breath

Breath

We spend so much time worrying about tomorrow

that we miss out on today

We spend so much time consumed with the 

maybe

what if

perhaps

sometime

someday

that we miss the moment we're in 

right now

Did you see it? 

or did you miss it again. 

Try again 

Stop

Close your eyes

Inhale

Exhale

'Just love to live and live life today

Don't spend too much of today on yesterday.'

Your hair is fine (or lack there of!)

Your cloths are doing their job of keeping you warm.

Maybe that person really needs to be somewhere

Take your time, it's in limited supply 

so enjoy ever last millisecond

You'll be happier without them.

Let it be, Let it be.

If Sally and Jen want to get married

What difference does that really make in your life?

What difference would it make? 

Let it be, Let it be

You will bleed and die just as quickly as the next guy.

So are you really ever ahead?

More things to break

More things to fix

More things to distract you from the moment you're living in.

It doesn't have to be one way or the other. 

Even what is true is not stagnant. 

Just because something is true today doesn't mean that it will still be true tomorrow 

so why worry about it?

 

Now

breath

breath breath

I'm sad tonight. 

My brother-in-law by proxy (my BIL brother) 

is in his final days. 

He's 36 years old. 

He is a teacher. 

He has brain cancer. 

For the second time. 

He's been fighting it 

this second time around

For almost a year now. 

And he's on his final stand. 

I sent him flowers. 

I've been told that's a bit depressing.

To send someone flowers before they die. 

I disagree. 

Flowers serve the living much better than they do the dead. 

I am also of the opinion 

that men don't get flowers nearly often enough.

On and On and On

It's raining in Seattle again.

Did it ever stop raining in Seattle?

I don't remember.

I've been a major running slacker goob and haven't ran in over a week. Actually I don't remember the last time I ran, but I remember it was a good run.

Second reason for being a major slacker goob is because I haven't been riding my bike to work, which makes no logical sense. It actually takes me longer to get to work via car than via bike most days. It's that ridiculous. It can take anywhere from 7 minutes to 40 minutes to get the whole 4 damn miles to my job via car. I don't know what my issue or mental block is. I need to get over it. 

And get a head lamp. It's getting dark much earlier now, and not getting light out until later in the morning. 

This is where I make excuses for my slacker tendacies now. 

School is in full swing and I'm still adjusting. I am not used to getting up early in the morning. I hate waking up, even more than I hate going to sleep. 

Got a hair cut, after not cutting it for 5 months, happy to cut it again. Seriously considering shaving it in the semi-near future. No lie. 

Ordered the boy a pair of preschoolians. Currently he doesn't have any shoes that fit him, just a few pairs of suede sole slippers.... which is fine except it's wet out and he needs shoes to go to his playgroup. I'll let you know what I think of them when they get here. I ordered the "I'm walking barefoot" sole. . we'll see. 

Need to plan a trip to NY. 

Maybe December, Maybe February 

Hate spending the money on airfare.

Craving tattoos.

Come On Everybody Sing It 1, 2, 3, 4

He's playing at a local (small!) venue next month, time to find a sitter?

The Difference Between Good Runs And Bad Runs

I tend to not do enough of the 'essential to life' things such as eating, sleeping and drinking water. To be honest, most of the time it doesn't occur to me that I need to do them. I go without eating until I'm lightheaded/cranky/starving to death, I go without sleep until I realize it's late and I should probably go to sleep (one of the reasons I keep a scheduled afternoon nap!), and I've had days where I can't remember drinking a single drop of liquid.

Now I know none of these things are good and I try my best to be conscious of them. Recently though, I started to notice a trend.

My 'bad' runs (where my legs felt heavy and movements felt forced, the ones where I'd feel my lungs cramp up) occurred after days of less than stellar hydration. Duh.

Since I've been really paying attention to my water intake my last few runs have been much better, I'm still sticking to two miles, but hope to be able to increase it soon.

New York, NY

I grew up in New York. 

Long Island to be exact - in the town of Amityville (yup, same place as the movie). 

My parents had been divorced for nearly my entire life (from the time I was 4) so once a month my mother would load me into the car and we'd travel 2.5 hours to meet my father at the half way mark to his house. The trips would only be for the weekend. I moved to my fathers house when I was 15.

With that in mind you can figure that I traveled over the Throgs Neck Bridge a minimum of 264 times (twice a month, twelve months a year, 11 years). The reality is that it was probably more than that, but we'll go with that number. It would be a game for me to spot the NY landmarks from my window The empire state building and the twin towers.  I could only see them going home if I remember correctly.

I can distinctly remember the last time I saw them. It was late April 2001. I can close my eyes and see the New York haze clouding their view. I remember thinking that I wouldn't be seeing this skyline much anymore. You see, I was making this trip to attend my mothers funeral. I made a point to remember it. I didn't realize that it would be the last time I'd ever see that sky line and in just a few months it would look dramatically different.

I was 16 on September 11, 2001. A senior in High School. I was in my psychology class, upstate New York,  4 hours from the city. We spent the rest of day in front of televisions until they sent us home. We sat, and we watced. I walked home alone, as I always did. The skies were eerily quiet and empty. I never noticed how many planes were in the sky until there were no longer planes in the sky. I was worried for my good friends that still lived in NYC.

My cousin was supposed to be at the twin tours that day, but wasn't. Ultimately, no one I directly knew was killed that day, but there's likely only a one or two person degree of separation to know someone who died that day. Here's mine.

Peter O'Neill Jr

http://longisland.newsday.com/911-anniversary/victims/Peter-ONeillJr

He lived a few blocks from me (ironically in the 'Amityville Horror House'), and I went to school with his younger brother Thomas (along with tons of his cousins that I knew - it seemed everyone was related to the O'Neills in Amityville). One of his uncles was my middle school principle. I played soccer on a team with a few of his cousins. His service was held at the church associated with the school I had attended with his brother, the same church my mothers service was held at just months before.

Think of peace and happiness today my friends.

What You Miss When You're Going Too Fast

Yesterday on my run I found a dollar bill.

I like to think I've found a fair amount of money laying in the street in my life. I wonder how long it laid there before someone came strolling by paying enough attention to the ground they were walking on to notice it.

On our bike trip across the country, I found an entire wallet that contents had been strewn on both sides of the street for about 1/4 mile. I don't remember the exact amount of each but hundreds of dollars in cash, giftcards, and also some credit cards along with ID etc.  All because I saw the license upside down on the road. I would have never seen it if I had been moving faster (as a matter of fact, my better half rode right on by it - he was running with me yesterday as well and stepped right over the dollar)

The wallet ended up belonging to a teenager that had just graduated high school (that's why there were so many gift cards). He was lucky enough to live in a small town where his last name only brought up one name in the phone book. We were able to get it all mailed back to him.   


I've been slacking a little bit on running. We went to a family event that took us down the Oregon coast and away from home for four days, after a hike that was supposed to be 8 miles but turned into about 12 ( I think, more on that later), only to come back and start going to work to get things ready for the start of the school year. It's getting darker earlier now so with work starting I'm going to have to really figure out a schedule for running in order to make it happen. I tried going for a run in between there, but got about .5 miles and wasn't feeling into it so I headed home.

Happy trails - slow down and enjoy the view!