Our Own Sour Patch Kid

Earlier tonight we were patting ourselves on the backs over the fact that we realize no matter how sweet the kid can be, she definitely has a mischievous side. Tonight she was being pretty difficult while we were out at dinner, but every time someone would come talk to her and she’d turn on the charm. She’s like that pretty much all day–wandering the house with a crazed look in her eye searching for a cat to torture. But as soon as she catches you watching her it’s all smiles and sweetness.

Sorry Chicky–we’re wise to your game. We invented that game.

Drivin’ Like A Maniac Down The Street

I don’t want to say that I never speed, but I very seldom speed–not even within that mythical 5 mph buffer police supposedly give you.  It’s not that I’m worried about getting a ticket, I just don’t get in a hurry that often.  Not saying I’m never late for anything either, but I don’t get in a hurry that often.

Digital Your Speed SignBut when I see the little signs that the DOT puts up that read your speed and display it digitally, things change.  It’s hard to resist the urge to see how big of a “score” I can get on the little readout.  I’ve even gotten irritate with them because I know I was going way faster than it gave me credit for.  I drove by one of these signs today on my way to Murvul and got irritated at the guy in front of me for slowing down when he saw it.  I’m not a road rage guy either–as long as no one was hurt by whatever idiot move another driver just pulled, I figure there’s no reason to get worked up.  But it really bothered me that this guy slowed down and killed my opportunity for a high score.

Does anybody else pay any attention to these signs?  He’s the first person I’ve ever seen slow down for one.

Que Rico!

I loves me some Cuban food. No matter how high fuel prices get, we pretty regularly make a trek from our little shack in the Westland Ghetto to Taste of Havana on Tazwell Pike. TOH used to be at Kingston Pike and Lovell Road, but it seems like they made a good decision to change locations, even if it’s not as convenient for us. It’s almost always full when we go to eat there, and with good reason–authentic food, big portions, fairly priced, and a huge selection of delicious desserts.

Cuban FoodWe’re in the ALPH until tomorrow for my job, and there’s a Cuban restaurant called From Havana to You here I’ve wanted to try. I had to wait for The Missus to be here though, because she’d skin me good if she knew I went to eat Cuban and she was home having spagetti or something. We checked it out tonight, and it was incredible. As good as TOH is, this place was even better. Before we left the owner brought us a cup full of arroz amarillo that the cook (looked like his mom) had just finished making. This stuff was unbelievable. I asked if they could make a big batch for me some time to take home and freeze. Of course, no problem!

I’d love to visit Cuba, where Cuban food is just called “food” and is available everywhere.

Stupid damn Castro!

MSM Strategy

AP vs Bloggers, Couch-gate, and _____ coming soon to an outraged corner of the blogosphere some time next week.

If a marketer were smart, she’d use this surefire formula to duplicate these incidents.  It’s really a simple process, and it creates buzz and a ton of web traffic.

  1. Announce or release something that is sure to piss off bloggers.
  2. Wait for the eventual meltdown to occur in the blogosphere.  You won’t have to wait long–people falling all over themselves to talk about you.
  3. Clarify what you originally announced or released just as the buzz starts to die down, reviving the discussion.  Make sure everyone knows it was all just a misunderstanding.

Excuse me while I plot a way to generate traffic for myself instead of someone else.

Coworking Publicity

A few weeks ago a reporter from the Knoxville Business Journal came out to our coworking meetup to do an article, which ran yesterday. Pretty good stuff in there. I’d invite anyone who’s working at home to come out and see what coworking is all about. We’re still working long term on building a foundation to get some actual workspace.

Still meeting Wednesday afternoons at Panera on Kingston Pike (across from Kroger in Bearden). Come out and see what it’s all about!

Instant Replay in Major League Baseball?

Yeah.  That’s the real problem with baseball.  It’s not their looking the other way with steroids a la the WWE.  It’s not the designated hitter (why not have 9 offensive player and 9 defensive players?).

The problem is that there is no instant replay?

George Will is a lot smarter than me, and he’s way better at getting people to agree with him than I am.  You’re better off just reading his thoughts.

In the NFL, coaches’ challenges, which trigger replays, contribute to the sense that a game consists of about seven minutes of action — seriously: Use a stopwatch, and you will confirm that — encrusted with three hours of pageantry, hoopla and instant-replay litigation.

T Minus Eleven Days

Until Rock Band for Wii is released. I’m so looking forward to the hours I’m sure to lose learning to play the drums. I’ve been getting amped up for this release by watching guys who are good at it play on YouTube–the ultimate in dorkdom.

I’ve always heard that Neil Peart of Rush is an amazing drummer, but I never fully understood why until I was able to watch what it takes to play Tom Sawyer on Rock Band. This guy is good–and it’s cool the way he has the cameras set up so you can see the foot pedal, drum pads, and the screen at the same time.

Lee vs. Eastwood

A few of my friends have a long thread of emails going that was initiated by Clint Eastwood bitch slapping Spike Lee.  It has evolved into a discussion over the merits of each of their movies.  I’ve spent most of my time on the sidelines of this discussion; all I really needed to do was type in the word “Unforgiven” to get my point across.

I’m not much of a movie critic…most fall into the category “really good”, like Juno (take that HM) or “that sucked”, like “Starship Troopers”.  As I’ve said before, picking movies is a complicated matter.  Luckily, my old age has allowed me to hone my criteria for what constitutes a good movie down to a pretty simple litmus test…

If it ain’t got Jackie Gleason chasin’ Burt Reynolds I ain’t gonna bother watchin’ it.

The Perfect Run and Another New Balance Ad

Hungry Mother on “that” run:

I thought about my “magic run” back in 1977, when I was on sabbatical leave at Duke. On day, when I was doing a power walk, I jogged for 3 miles for the first time in my life. That run was smooth and effortless. I felt as though I could run forever.

I think everyone who’s ever run (or biked/paddled/whatever) somewhat seriously has had that day. If you’re really lucky you’ll get several of them in your life. To be fair, anyone who’s ever seen me run knows that I’ve never had an “effortless” training session in my life, but I have had a couple of days when it seemed like everything just clicked perfectly. In my case, they usually end with a violent vomiting session because as good as I feel, I’m really overheated or pushed beyond where I can run comfortably. Is that the runner’s high I’ve heard so much about?

As with most of my other successes in life, good runs for me are usually fueled by spite more than anything else. I ran my best 5k on what was supposed to be a recovery day after a 10 mile run that I completely bonked on and barely finished. Luckily, I was highly pissed off at the beginning of the race and was further agitated by a jobroni (he’d later become my running nemesis) who kept passing me then slowing down and letting me pass him back. With about a half mile remaining I decided that this jerk was not going to pass me again, and I ended up edging him out by about 15 seconds to take the title in the fat boy division of that race.

I’ve had a couple of training runs over 13 miles that seemed to go perfectly too. One of these runs started with all the people I was training with taking off at too fast of a pace for me–I’m very slow at the start, but usually accelerate as the run goes on and end up just kind of slow. Running alone gave me a few miles to stew, and I eventually began to boil. I think I ended up passing them somewhere around ten miles, and the site of them just fueled the fire–each mile after that got faster and faster. I actually ran a personal best for the half marathon distance that afternoon, although it doesn’t count since it wasn’t a sanctioned race. Unfortunately, it was also about 92 degrees outside. After I puked I almost passed out and had to go sit inside a nearby restaurant in the AC and sip water for about an hour.

I really showed them, huh?  Here’s some running zen to help you remember why you do it.

A Call to Action!

If you haven’t subscribed to my feed, now would be a good time to do so.  There is a special prize inside every post that’s available to feed subscribers only.  You’ll be especially interested in this if you’re a blogger…