"Who run it?!"

This is the route C and I ran today in 3.5 hours--just short of 19 miles if you don't include walking around Giant Eagle looking for chocolate samples and DVDs...haha! C hasn't run more than 90 minutes since last April, and then busted out with this 210 minute monster? She's crazy--crazy beautiful. Long runs are fun because, as C has convinced me, it is necessary to reward oneself. So, a great (big) lunch, some miscellaneous shopping, a terrific dinner including sweet Italian sausage, and Graeter's ice cream.

Also, we got some seeds started today! This included two varieties of tomatoes, two types of peppers, creeping thyme, and basil. I set up a 4' shop light with daylight spectrum bulbs in the basement. Hopefully the cool temperature down there doesn't stifle the germination of our lil' buddies. The shop light was already in the house. Some chain to hang the light, 2 bulbs, and the starting trays cost around $25. I'll post a picture of the set up when plants start pokin' out of the soil.

I'm getting pretty excited about life including warmer temperatures, bike riding and gardening with C, skateboarding, and playing with Aldocho.

The Great Near-Blizzard of '08

Fun times during a Level 2 Snow Emergency.

Bike payoff calculator!!!

Ok, so I've been thinking about the pros and cons to buying a road bike to commute to work. I decided it would be fun to set up an equation to weigh the cost of a bike against the cost of gasoline needed to drive. I have been struggling to find a simple type of interactive spreadsheet to embed in a website so that a reader can manipulate the numbers like mileage and price of a bike to determine a payoff for herself...well, this is the best I found (www.instacalc.com). Enjoy switching up the numbers--it is pretty user friendly. Note: the double-slash (//) denotes text; I recommend only changing the miles to work, mpg, gas price, and bike price...




My formula can be written simply as this: (B(((X/25)*10)*G))/4, where X is the number of miles commuting one way during the work week, G is the price of gasoline, and B is price of your dream bike!!!

Some other considerations: you can increase commuting mileage by including trips to a restaurant or grocery store to which you might alternatively bike; also, within a year's time from now, gas prices will probably rise above $3. Both of these changes will result in a decreased payoff time...

Ode to Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castile Freshness

I was taking a shower tonight and enjoying my invigorating, eucalyptus-scented, liquid soap by Dr. Bronner's when I decided that I would dedicate a blog entry to this wonderful "all-one" wash. Dr. B's six liquid soaps are made of organic coconut oil & organic olive oil (with retained glycerin), organic hemp oil, organic jojoba oil, cage-free water, citric acid, and the organic essential oil of your preference. Supposedly, the soap can be used as a shampoo, body wash, dish soap,laundry detergent, and toothpaste. In addition to all this goodness, I found that some Bronner-friendly stores (like Clintonville Community Market) offer 5 gallon tubs with push-pumps to refill empty Dr. Bronner's bottles, thereby reducing waste! In fact, the bottle I am using has been refilled twice since I bought the peppermint soap senior year of high school--but only twice, which could be attributed to its hyper-concentrated strength, or my lower-than-average shower participation [Note to self: write blog about our hyper-sterile-obsessed society]. The eucalyptus is a bit overpowering--a scent akin to Vick's VapoRub--but I am really enjoying it. Dr. Bronner's story (the abridged version, as stated in 4 paragraphs on the company's website) is pretty exciting: evading Nazis as a Jew in Germany and rebelling against manufacturers of synthetic surfactant formulations...
Ok, bedtime. Gotta take Alden out for the fifth time this hour. Peace and soapy suds

Pupster

--Edit: "Meet Alden Paczki, born November 22 (Thanksgiving Day), 2007 and destined for greatness. "Paczki" (pronounced "ponchky") is a type of Polish donut--C and I learned about these on the CBS Sunday morning show the day we adopted little Alden. This was the name we almost settled on, but couldn't stop laughing everytime we used it--so we decided to find a more serious name for him. Alden means "old friend," and we know he will live a long and joyful life with us and always be a friend.--

C and I are trying to be patient with puppy training, but it's rough. Actually, the first 3 days were smooth, with minimal accidents inside and mostly gentle play. We're trying to learn all we can to teach him how to be an obedient dog. I also hope that puppy socialization will help "Aldo" learn how to play well with others.

Glass half full

Yesterday I met the half-way mark in my marathon training: 13 glorious, unforgiving miles!

The night before my run I stayed awake until 3 a.m., painting part of a mural at Denison's coffee shop and drinking beer with friends. I didn't plan on running the next day, but agreed with C that we should do our long run on Saturday since we had time. My late night really undermined my running--I was dehydrated and had trouble getting into a good stride. I managed to complete 135 minutes of running but decided that until I run a marathon, I'm not going to drink any alcohol. Maybe after a few months of no beer, I'll lose the habit of buying it or drinking socially. I hope to replace beer with homemade juice full of vitamins and antioxidants!

FYI, here's what I painted on Friday:


Good life go!

Exorcise

As the days have been getting colder I've been motivated to make an effort to not drive my car when I can get to a particular place efficiently by walking, biking, running, or skating. My drive could be fueled by a combination of an increasing desire to rebel against winter (since so much time this season is spent indoors) and live up to a New Year's Resolution I've unofficially set for myself (that is: drive less). I can't take all the credit: C and I have both decided to make a concerted effort to car-less-ly transport ourselves to places nearby. Within 2 miles of our house you'll find: 4 grocery stores, the recreation center, 2 hardware stores, 3 coffee shops, a public library (with a Starbucks in it), 2 bike shops, 2 tattoo parlors, a high school track, a skate park, a skate shop, a shoe repair shop, a post office, [a college campus], a farmers' market, numerous parks, and myriad restaurants, including 2 Paneras, 2 Chipotles, a Graeters, and the best Chinese restaurant in the Western Hemisphere, Lucky House.

C has been a huge inspiration to exercise...regularly? How about, "relatively frequently." For the past couple of years I've been resistant, but after she annihilated the Athens Marathon (Athens, Ohio) last spring, I realized how amazing exercise can make you feel. More specifically, it became clear to me that running is a powerful ability that I strongly admire. I will admit that I've not been interested in doing push-ups, and most days I can't muster up the desire to lift a weight. However, more and more I look forward to runs on my training schedule. In my mind I'm racing toward a goal, and at the end of the tunnel I will be rewarded. I hope I can keep this up for the rest of my life.

Running, biking, walking, skating--why should these things make me feel good? Maybe it's endorphines (possibly anandamide). I think I've been enjoying them because they are ways to realize my potential and be a responsible human and citizen, all at the same time.

C is a great teammate. I might not be excited about living room curtains and she might not be happy about watching another skate video, again. BUT we both support each other's efforts and most times we both step up to the plate, with minimal fuss, to push forward, side by side. She is teaching me a ton about myself and about relationships. I hope I'm teaching her some good stuff too.

Homage to the New Year

As you may have guessed, "Frequent and regular updating of my blog," is not high up on my list of New Year's Resolutions. I'm considering amending the name to "Several Weeks Later In The Good Life..." Any thoughts?
--
Cheers to a great and satisfying holiday vacation filled with family, good tasting food, and too many bite-sized chocolates. C and I each crafted neon colored stockings from felt, which were placed near the 12" tree with care... Mom and Dad Love brought us a living Christmas tree (Norway spruce!) to be planted in the yard--haven't figured out a suitable location, but the frozen ground has afforded us some time to keep thinking.
New Year's Eve dinner was enjoyed with friends & family at a terrific (and patient) restaurant called Lemongrass in downtown Columbus. Later, Allison O., C, and I used bikes and a skateboard as transportation to attend the first annual "ball launch" in uptown Westerville to ring in 2008 and celebrate the town's 150th birthday, simultaneously. On New Year's Day, C fixed a terrific dinner of pork tenderloin, sauerkraut, sweet potatoes, and asparagus, for tradition's sake and good luck for the two of us plus C's sister and her fiance(herein referred to as J&M).
I won't get into my expanding list of resolutions, but I've identified some short term goals that I'm excited about. I say "expanding" but I need to write them down, else the abyss I call my short term memory will continue to dissipate them as quickly as I think of new ones. Maybe I will write a list for my next post--Stay tuned!
Ok. Go see Juno and see if the soundtrack doesn't melt your heart forever.