It's Here

I've waited since 11pm to get the final book in the Harry Potter series. I originally waited at Borders, but after an hour and fifteen minutes after midnight I drove to the local Walmart store. I walked in, got a copy, purchased it and then walked out. Total time spent - maybe 5 minutes.

So, I'm home now and I shall begin reading. See ya.

Harry Potter

Is there anymore I should say? This past weekend I ventured to the local Regal cinema to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - by myself. Yes, it was a little strange; I drove up to the theater on Saturday night but eventually drove back home chastising myself for wanting to see a movie by myself. Sunday, however, I said screw it and went to the theater. The theater itself is rather small compared to any of the new megaplexes, but it served its purpose. The movie I thought was quite fun to watch.

Also, I finished my most recent book, Perfume by Patrick Suskind. It was a really enjoyable read.

But now I'm ready for midnight on Friday. I will be in line to purchase and read the last of the Harry Potter books. I'm actually thinking about staying up until I finish it. What I really want to do is try out my new coffee grinder and French press (I don't drink enough coffee to justify a coffeemaker, yet I've spent more money on the grinder and press than a coffee maker. Well, that was my justification. Also, I can make a lot of tea at one time).

So what I'm saying is, don't try to call me on Saturday. I'll be sleeping. Well, or I'll be working.

New Shoes

I have replaced my Five-Ten shoes that I purchased a year and a half. I really wanted to purchase a pair of North Face shoes, but they no longer support my shoe size, size 7. Subsequently, I purchased pair of Salomon XA 3D Pro's. They're more comfy than my previous shoes. Plus, I think I look gnarly in them.

Tri-ing Hard

On July 10, I attempted my first triathlon. It was fun. When I finished I compared how tired I was to running a marathon. All my marathons have been more exhausting. I'm not sure if it's more grueling than a half a marathon. Maybe, I didn't push myself hard enough. Anyway, what did I learn? My weaknesses are the same ones I identified earlier - swimming and biking.

I was able to get out of the water in under 15 minutes for the half mile swim. The main issue is that I never really got comfortable in the water. My head was constantly above water trying to site the buoy. Also, it really takes time to get use to swimming with lots of people in close proximity to yourself. Once I got out of the water, the biking was my weakest section of the race. My thighs stayed tight for several miles until I could get them feeling okay. I only made up a little time on the people in front of me during the 17.1 mile ride.

Luckily, I've practice many bricks of biking to running and it paid off. I was able to pass quite a few people in the 10K run. The first 3 miles were downhill which allowed my legs to get acclimated to the ground. The second half was pretty good too.

Overall, I clocked in around 2 hours and 5 minutes. Hopefully, sometime later this week I'll find out my actual time. Nevertheless, I was able to capture 2nd place for my age group. Oh, I got a nifty flashlight. The only reason I know I came in second in my group and got my gift was because another person I worked with stayed for the awards ceremony. I had left to drive the 3 hours back home instead of wait around. I don't race for prizes. I race against myself.

Here is a picture of Pat who I work with at GE Plastics.

I celebrated my efforts by running a 12 miles the Monday after the race. 5 weeks till the half marathon in Parkersburg. Now, this is a real half marathon. I'm shooting for a 1:30 time. It's a slow time, but the course is a real doozie! Hills, hills and more hills.

Happy 4th of July

Well, it was an uneventful day but it was nice to have some solitude. Is solitude the word I'm looking for here? It doesn't seem to fit, but anyway, I did 4 tubs of laundry, went running, read my book about Korea, bbq some brats and drank 2 beers. Yes, 2 wheat beers. One from Sam Adams and the other, my personal favorite Oberon.

Right now I'm listening to the fire crackers that the locals are shooting into the sky. This is the only time they can fire them off because we're in a lull between thunderstorms.

Oh, this is something random. On my way home from Michigan, I purchased some Reese pieces candy. Well, I found two extra in my cup holder so I tossed them out of my window. When I finished my run today, I noticed a trail of ants to one of the candy pieces. It's pretty amazing to watch ants. I was curious how much of the peanut butter they had gotten out so I flipped it over and saw they had carried off 90% of the soft peanut butter. The hard shell was all that remained. So, I found this pen on the ground and broke the shell into tiny pieces so the ants could carry them back to their lair.

I also located the second Reese pieces candy and put it near the ant opening. I was mesmerized with the ants. There was this one ant that was carrying a large piece of shell back, but it was going the wrong way. It seriously, went 10 inches in the wrong direction before heading back in the right direction. There was also another ant that had taken it upon itself to take a very large piece back. This ant was larger than the other ants. There are the little worker ants and then there are the Arnold Schwarzenegger types. They really can move material. Anyway, this ant started moving this piece of candy that was 10 times the size of its body; the candy wasn't just the shell, but it also had peanut butter. I'm guessing it was over 10 times its body weight. Well, Arny here started moving it, but he kept moving around the candy so he really didn't go anywhere. Well, lucky for Arny, another beefcake ant came over and helped him out. It was quite fascinating.

Now, what the neighbors thought about the guy who lays down after running and talks to the ground I can only imagine. Maybe I should have been an entomologist (studies insects). I just Googled "study ants" and maybe I should have studied myrmecology.

It's a Brick

When I came home from Michigan this past weekend, I turned on my computer to check email. However, I didn't get the normal beep sound that you get when the computer properly boots. So, I turned it off and turned it back on. Nothin'. Uh oh. This doesn't sound good. I turned it off and opened up the case. Sadly, a cord had fallen where the cooling fan for the CPU operates. Subsequently, my CPU fried in seconds when I turned it on the first time. At least, it will only cost me $41 to fix it. Well, hopefully, it fixes the problem.

Nevertheless, I'm waiting patiently for July 22, so I can build my new computer. This is where I usually rant about the specs and how awesome it's going to be, but I'll save you the agony. Instead, I'll torture with my thoughts about the iPhone. It looks awesome, but no 3rd party apps is a little annoying. Also, the EDGE network blows for data retrieval. Heck, the network was already reported down today because of heavy usage. Personally, I love the silky Blackberry 8800. Now that's a true working person's phone. My phone contract is over now, but I'm going to hold out a little longer to see what comes out next year. Plus, my Sony phone has served me well so far.

Oh, this weekend is the sprint tri. I should be tapering, but instead I ran 12 miles today. Oh well. If anyone wants to get me a gift buy me a bumper sticker that says "Wanna try a threesome?" and above the words are a symbol for each part of a tri.