Opening Day!

There are no sweeter two words in the English language. We’ve got our tickets, I have a change of clothes in the car and a tomahawk for my wife. Should be loads of fun. As long as the rains hold off.

The Braves lost a tough one last night, but anytime you play against a team opening a new stadium the cards are stacked against you. Nobody wants the visiting team to win. But they played well and a few first inning mistakes killed them. Hudson looked sharp, discounting that throwing error and a couple of bad pitches in the first two innings.

I ran Saturday and Sunday, marking the first time I have run two days in a row in a long time. Sunday was a light two miles, and today is an off day before I go into the final three weeks before the event. Few rest days, heavy weights, lots pain. Hopefully plenty of reward.

On the Run

It’s been a busy week. I ran today, 3 miles in about 25 minutes. Still too high a time, but I was dehydrated, ate too close to the run and was not dressed for the surprisingly warm weather. That’s three excuses in one sentence for those scoring at home. My wife and I drafted our fantasy team last night. I think it went pretty well, but you never know.

I’ll be doing a longer run tomorrow and hitting the weights. Monday will be stairs at work since I’m leaving early for Opening Day at Turner Field. I absolutely, positively cannot wait. I’m like a kid when it comes to baseball. Or an addict. Take your pick.

Crazy Week

It’s been a wild week. I’ll be able to share more next week on some of the events, but for now some will have to remain on the QT. I’ve always wanted to use that in a sentence since I first saw L.A. Confidential. I guess I can mark that off my lifetime To-Do List.

Work has been very busy, and I’m coming in Sunday for a concert at the school. I’ll be managing all the volunteers. It should be fun.

On Wednesday I ran 3.4 miles and really burned through it. I finished three miles in just under 25 minutes. Not bad on a course full of hills.

Last night I wasn’t able to work out on account of my wife’s birthday. It’s not an excuse…I’m very happy with that decision. However, tonight I’ll be hitting the weights for sure.

Monday I’m heading to Opening Day at Turner Field. I can’t wait. Opening Day is such a wonderful time, and it’s been a few years since I last went to the first home game of the season.

In other news, I’ve started carpooling to work with a guy who lives in my town. It’s been great except that I’m now getting up at 5 a.m. That’s made this week a bit rough. I’ll think I’ll have it down by Monday.

Happy Birthday Sweetie

My beautiful wife is 28 today. Maybe you’re not supposed to mention women’s ages. But Cady becomes more gorgeous and sweet with every passing day.

Cady, I hope you have a happy birthday. I love you so much.

Off to a Great Start

OK, so Huston Street is one of the closers on my fantasy team. He gave me my first stats of the fantasy baseball season: 1.2 innings, 2 strikeouts, ERA of 16.2 and a blown save.

Thanks Huston. I hate fantasy baseball.

The last few days have been tough on me, mentally and physically. Last night I finally walked in the door a little before 9. That means I was out of the house for 15 hours. By the time I ate dinner and cleaned a little bit, I was ready to pass out. So I did.

I’m doing much better today. I’m looking forward to my run and doing my weights.

As for Huston, you better not pull that again…if I wanted an ERA that high I would have drafted more Rockies.

Three(or Four) Crazy Days

I didn’t get a chance to work out Friday or Saturday, for reasons which are good, but I can’t go into…yet.

Saturday meant a trip to my in-laws for Easter. It was nice spending time with them, but it meant waking up early. That evening I worked a concession stand at a local softball tournament with my Kiwanis group.

Cady and I were supposed to go to dinner afterward, but she ended up having to work for a bit so we had a late dinner…we arrived at the restaurant a little after 9:30. It was a nice date that we spent talking, laughing and just really enjoying ourselves.

Sunday was also busy.  I was up early for a fantasy baseball draft(more on how I did in another post). As soon as the draft ended it was off to my parent’s for the first of several Cady birthday parties. We grilled out and had plenty of desserts. My parents are preparing to move so they forced us to clean off the two bookshelves in my old room.

Thanks to all the dust, my sinuses are going crazy today. Oh well. We got home and I spent the next hour trying to send hate-thoughts to Microsoft while looking for a way to fix our computer. Vista sucks. We have to download a patch so our new computer will recognize SD cards and our digital camera.

Vista sucks.

I finally managed to run last night on the hills course. My first minute was about 8:30, but I slowed considerably when my Achilles started to hurt, but my last mile was at a much better pace. I finished 3.4 miles, and I think my problem is not warming up enough and stretching. I was going to warm up more, but with the time I just went ahead and ran.

I’ll warm up Tuesday and see if I feel better. Tonight will be weights. I’m just over a month out from the challenge…

The Waiiiitttiing Is the Hardest Part

Five weeks until the next new episode of Lost. Doesn’t seem fair. Last night was good, and now it seems Aaron is one of the Oceanic 6. I didn’t think he was, but…I thought the biggest  twist was the reveal that Tom is gay. Didn’t see that coming, but I should have since he said last season that Kate wasn’t his type.

The episode leads me more and more to believe that Michael is in the coffin. Nobody knows he’s off the island(which is why nobody shows up at the funeral) and he’s trying to die. We’ll just have to wait, which can be pretty hard, according to Mr. Tom Petty.

Last night I had a pretty exhausting workout. I managed three sets with the dumbbell press at 68 pounds per hand. However, the first set was 10 reps and the last two were only about 4. My shoulder press is struggling. I had 10 reps on the first set and only a handful of reps on subsequent sets.

I also did dips, curls and a set of pushups with one hand on a box. Those pretty much wore me out.

I’ll try to run tomorrow, but I’ll be pretty busy most of the day. I’m going to try and run early in the morning so Sunday can be another weight day.

My fantasy baseball draft for my own team(Tuesday’s draft was for a team I co-own with a friend) is Sunday morning. We draft from both leagues(there ya go, Rocket!), so the talent pool is pretty deep. I’m in a bit of a dry spell, not having one my league since 2004. This year I plan to turn things around!

Open the Pod Bay Doors HAL.

I ran yesterday nearly 3 miles, but the last 3/4 of a mile was in pain. Granted, the run was full of hills, but it still feels like a setback. I’ll try again tomorrow. Today is a circuit day.

Arthur C. Clarke passed away. If it weren’t for him, maybe the title of this blog would lack the word “Geek.”

2001: A space Odyssey is a monumental book and film. Rendezvous With Rama is one of the alltime great science fiction stories. These stories took my imagination to new places, places I had no idea existed.

I fell in love with science fiction, really fell in love, after seeing 2001. I still sing “Daisy…Daisy,” whenever I hear that name. And HAL. There’s not much else to say about that creepy voice except I had a college professor who sounded just like HAL. I was creeped out every day.

Arthur brought us so many ideas that later became reality, from geosynchronous manmande satellites to artificial intelligence piloting spacecraft. Sure AI was around before HAL, but never in that same vein.

The movie Independence Day stole freely from his works. Arthur saw the future, held it with both hands and tried to show it to the rest of us.

Arthur, wherever you are now, I hope “It’s full of Stars.”

Tuesday Addictions, Geek Stuff, Etc.

Last night I went ahead and did about 20 minutes on the stationary bike and some light ab work. Today will be my circuit workout, but I doubt I’ll run. I’ve got a lot to do today.

Which leads me to…

Tuesday Addictions, or what I’m addicted to this week.

1. Fantasy Baseball – My first draft is tonight, and I have a second draft Sunday morning. I love fantasy baseball. It combines two big geek elements into a super geek holy grail: a love of baseball and that belief that I could totally own a baseball team.

2. Reality TV – OK. I really don’t like most reality shows. I enjoy Survivor and Amazing Race, but after that, the shows start to head downhill. But my wife loves ’em, even the bad ones. So I watch them with her, and it’s fun to share something like that. We make fun of the shows together, laugh together and almost always, eat popcorn together.

3. Fantasy Baseball. It seriously deserves two spots.

4. My iPod. I got over the holidays and I love it. I have the arm band for it, so I use it on my runs and when I work out. I also have an iTrip for it, which has been a mighty help during my morning and afternoon commutes.

5. Running. I simply enjoy it more and more.

Running Wide Open

Yesterday I went to the park with the intention of seeing just how fast I could run three miles. I’m a little over a month away from the challenge and I wanted to know exactly what I could do.

I started off a little faster than I should have, but I pushed on and finished the first mile in 7:40. The next two miles were about the same pace, perhaps a touch slower. I was chugging at the end, but I finished in just over 23 minutes. My goal was around 24 minutes.

I’m very happy with the pace, but I need to keep pushing since the run will be after the other events. Overall, it was a good run, but I need to work on keeping my speed up.

Today will probably have to be an off day. I’d like to work out tonight, but it’s tough since I don’t make it home from work and Kiwanis until after 8:30. I don’t mind working out late, but spending time with my wife will take precedent.

Tuesday I’ll hit the weights again and Wednesday will be another run. Probably speed work at the park.

My friend and I draft our team tomorrow for fantasy baseball. It’s gonna be a blast. I absolutely can’t wait for the season to start.