Birthday, yesterday

Yesterday was my birthday, 40. It is kind of funny because I still think it is not that big of a deal but it does make you reflect a little. I think I am in the ballpark at least of 1/2 done, in other words 80 is probably pretty close to my ending age if I even get that far. So half of my life is lived. Also my thoughts were on how I don't really feel older, I still stay up too late, but get to work and function the next day. I still eat too much of stuff I shouldn't but have cut down on the fatty fast foods a lot also. I guess I don't know, I don't see where this birthday is really any different than the last few that I have had but I guess they are adding up.

We went out to eat last night to a decent little restaurant that advertised kids eat free on Tues & Wed. I kind of figured this encourages families and would also discourage those that don't want to be around families. It was a busy night at the restaurant so it took quite a while to get our orders in and wait for the food. The kids of course were okay at the beginning but got worse over time.

Once the food got there the worst happened, Angie touched something hot that Debbie had and Angie screamed for 30-45 seconds. Not too good inside a small restaurant. Thomas was making noise throughout the night, we are kind of used to his background noise but come to think of it later, the other diners probably were not. Oh well, it was a good attempt and the food was good. It will be sometime before that is attempted again and probably not at that restaurant, will need to find something a little more open maybe, who knows but more thought will have to go into it.

3.5 miles

Well I got a run in tonight. It was while Rose had VB practice. I found a park & did a few laps with quite a few other people. It was around the parking lot/drive in the park, there wasn't a path just for runners/walkers/bikers, oh well like I said there were quite a few others there also. It was an okay run, something like 13:05 first mile, 12:48 2nd mile, 11:50 3rd mile and around 12:30 for the last 1/2 mile. Nothing great but since I hadn't done anything since Saturday I will take it.

Running Update

Just a quick note on my running. Since I was sick, I took some extra time off from running. I did finally get a run in last Thursday. I went to my normal park, Woodson Park and it was full, both fields in use and the tennis courts all being used--probably by a high school team. So I drove to another nearby park, Fogerty Park in U-City and ran there. I thought I would only do 2 miles with mostly walking, but I actually did 3.25 miles at all under 12 minute pace. I was really surprised about this. There are a couple of slight hills, more than Woodson Park so that is also to the good.

On Saturday, I went to Creve Coeur Park and did the shorter route of 4 miles. I went around 1:30 in the afternoon when it was very hot. The first 2 miles were good, the 2nd two miles were much slower with a water break on one of them. Still glad that I got the 4 miles in though.

Not sure when this week I will get a run in. Wednesday is my 40th birthday, no real plans but probably something going on so no run expected. Tuesday Rose has VB practice and there is a meeting at school. Thursday is probably VB practice again so who really knows yet.

PopCo--#48 finished

This is a really good and interesting read. I really liked the way the author, Scarlett Thomas bounced back and forth between Alice's(the main character) current life and her life growing up. There was mystery or at least not normal happenings running with both story lines. I especially enjoyed her growing up time and the pressures and attempts to fit in that she really struggled with, it really added much depth to the character. The end got a little preachy with a kind of anti-capitalist rant but not enough to keep the book from being enjoyable overall.

I have another Scarlett Thomas book in my stacks of books, The End of Mr Y. I will be looking at getting this book read much sooner since finishing PopCo, Scarlett Thomas will be a writer I will try to follow.

The book is on WL at PBS but is a little rough in condition, I think it is still fine to post, but hopefully it won't go to someone too picky. I am still reading Child 44 and Wrong on Race and will probably add a 3rd book tonight as well.

Dirty Jokes and Beer--#47 finished

This is Drew Carey's book, not too bad. Some funny parts and some kind of shocking parts--being molested at age 9 being the biggest. Also he finished the book off with 4 of his own short stories, 2 or 3 of them became episodes of his shows or at least parts of them. For a quick read, not too bad. It kind of makes me wonder though why I can't find his show in syndication now though, I really did like his show. I know the last year or two weren't good in that ABC was almost trying to kill it off so I don't know if that has something to do with why it can't be found now. Of course it is also 8-10 years old so maybe it is just timeliness too.

I am still working on PopCo, I am somewhere past 200 pages so still have a ways to go, 500 pages in total. I am not sure what my next book is going to be, I had 3 picked out a few days ago so will probably look them over and try to decide tonight. This Drew Carey book is one that I got from PBS & I have already posted it but there are something like 60 others already ahead of it in line so I doubt it is going anywhere soon.

What Next--#46 finished

This book written by Walter Mosley was supposed to be a kind of conversation starter about how to achieve peace in this world from a black perspective. I found the book to be way to simplistic and frankly naive in it ideas and thoughts. He comes out blaming US corporate interests as the real power behind the US government and the cause for most of the problems in the world. He wants a brand of democracy removed from capitalism, don't know what this is, but sounds like socialism of some sort. Rarely mentioned are dictators and oppressive leaders of these foreign nations.

I was actually expecting a Bush bash book, but this book is not that. I can tell from the tone of the book that he is not a fan of Bush, but Bush is rarely mentioned. As I was finishing it, I checked Amazon for reviews and most reviews were positive and I am not sure why. This book has huge gaps reality and scanty understanding of the world. I am actually surprised the book was even published in the first place. Oh well, I guess I see things differently.

There was already one copy in PBS, but my copy is now out there as well. It might move eventually or I might get tired of looking at it & send it off somewhere else. Right now reading PopCo, was also reading Late Night Talking but have gotten 25 pages in and cannot stand to read anymore. Late Night Talking is also now on my PBS bookshelf.

Sick

Wednesday morning I woke up sick, as in throwing up sick. The throwing up part ended a few hours later and now it is recovery stuff. It is just taking too long. I am stiff & sore and don't really feel like eating anything. I missed work Wed & only went in for 3 hours today. Tomorrow I was supposed to leave work a little early & drive to NE to pick up Rose who has spent the week on the farm. I hope a good nights sleep and all will be better or at least good enough to get me through this weekend.