Happy ending.

No, it's not that kind of happy ending. I went to see Donna the Buffalo at the Orange Peel I had first planned on drinking up to midnight and cutting it off. As it just happened, they had Cold Mountain Winter Ale from Highland Brewing Company on tap. This is my favorite beer of all time. And if I am not going to drink for an entire year... that should be the way it ends, not at the hands of a double shot of vodka. My best Buddy Dan insisted that he pay for it. I toasted with some of my Brothers from the Jack of the Wood Futball Club, I savored the taste, and drank it slow. I also enjoyed having my wits all about me for the evening. I think I can make this sober thing work to my advantage even when I am out. There is a difference between acting drunk and being drunk. It's really something. Well, one night down many to go. But no hang over for this little boy in the morning. Definitely happy about that. In other news, right before last call Dan, Clay and myself were definitely hit on by strippers. They had to be strippers, I'd put money on it... um, so to speak.
Finally, one note on how the universe speaks to you. Donna The Buffalo opened with a song called Movin' On. Of all the songs they have, they open with that. Movin' on... it's what I am doing. I have gotten past some negative feelings associated with the past, I am really focused for 2009 and I will become a better version of myself. The Song has a few lines in it "but drinking don't seem to work like it used to, and a freshness is what we need." It does not seem to work like it used to for me... I think I am going to get my head out of this fog I have created for myself and see what is out there.
http://www.uulyrics.com/music/donna-the-buffalo/song-movin-on/

How Dry i am.

I am making this announcement publicly here. Calling myself to the carpet and making this official. I resolve to not drink in 2009. One notable exception, a glass of Wine with Dinner if and only if everyone else is doing it and it would be totally awkward to not have one in front of me. Right now, this is easy, very easy to manage. Monday night, a few too many. Felt kinda ok in the morning. Then Last night, Sam's Birthday. A few more too many. Got up in the morning, considered a boot. Couldn't quite make it happen.

I

feel

poisoned.
Rode my bike down to Moe's to get a Homewrecker and Queso. Food usually fixes my hangovers, and Burritos or "babies" as I like to call them and my ace in the hole when it comes to hangovers. Alas! I could only eat half of what I ordered. I bagged it up to go and rode home utterly defeated but at least basically blown homeward by the strongest north winds I have seen around here in months. I'll eat the rest before I head down town to see Donna the Buffalo.
I had planned on Taking my last drink before midnight, you know, get a good little buzz going and then rock out and sober up after midnight... but I'll just go ahead and make it a year and a day. This makes my last drink a doozey. Sam poured up a double shot of Vodka. Like regular old vodka, not even fancy pants vodka. After a nice gag face and slobber mouth, I washed my mouth out with water. Damn that stuff is good... Water, i mean gotta love it. It's basically free, it keeps you alive and whatnot.
Not to put any Pressure on the guy, but Dan Cannon said he is going to stop drinking too. I think we BOTH think, yeah right I'll believe THAT when I see it.
I am planning on being really productive and super healthy in 2009. And there is one other thing. The money, I mean ho- li- crap. holicrap.

A typical -oh group week in the life of Doug Methvin.

Monday, Quizo. a few pitchers at $10 each with the Discount and then usually a high end scotch or two. THEN on occasion another bar depending on what is going on. bare minimum, $40.00 on Monday night just to the drink.

Tuesday, sometimes nothing... sometimes a few depending on whatever. Lets say $10.

Wednesday. Boy's night and sometimes 80's night. $12 bottle of wine and then pbr or makers at Broadways. Lets average that part to $10 a week. So $22 on Wednesday.

Thursday. No weekly plan but Surely we can average $5 per week.

Friday. NOTHING, it's typically the day before a race and I have to have my shiite together.

Saturday, It's After a race and time to celebrate. Lets give it $15 on average... and that is probably a conservative number.

Sunday, it's after a soccer match and we go to the pub. Also easily $15 on average.

I can easily see $107 a week. 5 grand a year? 5? 50 Benjamins? damn. I could think of some cool stuff to do or buy with 5K.

So there you have it. And anyway, I always liked doing extreme stuff. Just going way out there to an extreme and seeing what it's like "out there".

I throw caution to the wind here on this last day of 2008 when it's gusting up to 60 miles an hour. How very appropriate.

If the shoe fits take it off and wing it at an idiot.

I wish that guy had a whole JC Penny stock room worth of them, he really was a decent shot. Both on the mark and Bush had to move each time. I bet Carter, Ronnie and Bush Senior would have been nailed. Clinton probably could have dodged both shoes I think. See, the question for all these others is hypothetical because none of them would have had a shoe winged at them in a press conference in the first place. Shoes, fairly safe, it's like a snow ball fight, so mainly its funny and sad... This presidency... please let it end. How many days till we get rid of the worst president ever. Can you fathom another president who could have had a shoe thrown at him and it have not been an insult to the American public? Its a perfect commentary on Bush as he leaves office.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uIj0YvDBKE

I heart Sarah Silverman.

what more can i say? She is perfect at what she does.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/b8cfd60edd/sarah-silverman-on-the-night-of-too-many-stars-from-notms-and-sarah-silverman

Call me Hansel

With what I assume is my last soccer match of the season behind me I can finally stop and heal. The back half of 2008 was great fun. The only bad thing about it was the persistent injury. The core muscles just kept giving out. Train a bit, fall apart, stop. The last two months saw one effort a week. Show up on Sunday and gut it out for 90 minutes on the pitch. By the end of the season I felt slow, fat, weak and clumsy from the lack of practice. I have figured out that it will take a full month of inactivity in terms of running and soccer to heal this thing up. And even then I will have to come back smart to make it work. I hate injury. I will be really careful about how I come back around to proper shape... Maybe start biking a few weeks from now. Till then I am just going to sit around and get fat. And that is fun really. It's just part of the plan. HOPEFULLY, in 3 months time I will be rocking alongside Stewart Moran and some of those guys on their easy runs as I whip myself back into form. In 4 months, maybe some track workouts as well. I want to do it all. And If I am smart about it, and a little lucky, I think I can.
Till then... In the words of Fat Albert. "Hey hey hey!"

Hard data.

Well, the first 5k I have run in nearly two years has happened. the last time I laced um up I ran a 17:05 at the 2006 turkey trot, the race before that was a 16:16 out in Bryson city on the fourth of July that year. For somebody who professes to be good at 5K I sure as hell do waste a lot of time training for longer races... (I do love my shut in and running relays though....) Anyway, I need to get from 6:15 per mile to 5:15 per mile and then start true speed work. On paper, it seems SOOOOO easy, just change that 6 to a 5... done. I know better, there are miles of trials and trials of miles aplenty between here and there. Amongst my relay running brethren... um and sistren when you add Amber Moran who just raced 10 miles at 6 minute per mile pace... the difference between 6:15 and 5:15 pace on a 5K goes from, "aw how cute", to,"respect".

But I must say, for a starting point, I am perfectly happy with a 19:19 on a 5k. Especially one I gave no special training consideration to in terms of resting my body or anything like that. Honestly, I will continue on like that until I feel like I have a shot at breaking 16 minutes. Just find a race and go run the damn thing. I will say that after a 5k on Friday, and a full 90 minutes on the pitch Sunday, I know better than to waste time at the hill repeats tonight. Instead, I will lazily ride my bike up to craggy and take pictures of leaves and other pretty shiite. I will let the blood flow gently through my legs and cleanse all the built up crud from the weekends efforts while I burn a few calories in the quest to be rid of every single ounce of me that I don't need when it comes to showing most of the world a clean pair of heels.
To that end... I close this post. Perhaps I'll add a pic from the day. tonight when I get home.

It's doable...

After running a Blue ridge relay where I put forth as much effort as I could given my limited fitness I have begun to actually start down the road to get some (fitness) Drinking less. Staying out too late less. Running an average of once a day or better. All the little things that require nothing more than the will to do them (or not do them as it were). The cold front that blew in makes running fast much more feasible. My ab muscles still hurt most of the time and that is bothersome, But apart from simple discomfort It is not stopping me from running. I'll just tough it out and see what happens. I think I have a focus race coming up. I'd like very much to go to Uhwarrie and run the 8 miler to see where I am fitness wise. It is in February and that will give me time to train properly. It blows my mind how I let myself get out of shape. I love the feeling, why would I not stay there? I averaged an abysmal 7:35 per mile for the blue ridge relay. In 2006 I could have taken those same legs (hills and all) and run 6:00 per mile or just under it. Just a month later I am ready to run those same legs in 7:00 pace. That's nice but I want the whole thing back asap. Weight loss is not happening quite as fast as I'd like. Turns out I have LOTS of fat hiding on me and I needed to build up more running muscle. It won't be as simple as, drop weight and then you are ready to run. It's more like, whip the mule and have it push away from the feeding trough as well. I don't care if I look gaunt when it's all done, I'll work on adding muscle after I get down to race weight.
One other thing that I am going to have to do is break out the spread sheet o' pain. Basically I will lay out a weekly time target for running. It must be hit properly. If I miss a run then other runs get longer and weekly running distances and times are achieved.
I have been talking about this crap for months and done precious little about it. Time to go!

Busy and stuff

I am working on a wonderful blog posting I promise. There is just a bunch of stuff stewing in my head right now. I'm getting ready to taper up for Blue Ridge Relay... GO MAGGOTS!!!! and I am getting pretty pumped about it. In the next few days this blog idea will have cooked itself properly and come out of the scary oven that is my head.

Slack Blogger

I was called out on my total lack of new material. I suppose I had it coming. It's been hectic. But the main issue here is a lack of structure. I thrive under it. I need it. One of the pitfalls of owning one's own business is that you can do what you want whenever you want. That is until you are up against a hard and fast deadline. And so I play and play, stay out late, act a fool, muddle through the next day and don't get much done, go to bed early that night, play catchup all the next day with the business, then blow it out again that night and repeat the cycle. I am forcing myself into some structure now to make me function better. I am now making punch lists for the day. Today's list included post a friggen blog. There, done and done. Now on to my other things on the list. (near the end of that list is... take some time to try and remember something noteworthy to blog about from the last two months)

The most Bachelorly thing I have EVER done

Without a doubt, happened on Sunday, I was fairly sure that I had folks coming over and my place was a wreck. The fall out of a very busy few weeks, a lot of out on the road, come home, drop stuff everywhere... Papers all over. Clothes in heaps, etc. I picked things up and found the floor a mess. I was running out of time. I had to go play soccer soon and then there was a fathers day dinner to be had right after. A stroke of genius hits. I open every window and door, and grab my shop vac, and proceed to Hook the nozzle to the exhaust. I then use it like a leaf blower to clear all the dirt and whatever on the tile and wood floors out of the doors. It worked like a charm. Got under the couch, in hard corners, everywhere really And I could use the force of the air to dust off shelves and tables while I was at it. And then with one last Alamo sort of pile of dust bunnies, sand, and god knows what, I attached the vac end to it's proper outlet and picked up the small remaining pile.

So, I have now told on myself... it's funny. Why not share right?
Well, I am also actually going somewhere with this. Even as I did this most unorthodox method of house cleaning I was very mindful of the most important analogy that was present.
When you go to "clean up your life", "do personal housekeeping" whatever you want to call it, be wary of cleaning the same way every time. It's Like Brushing without flossing. Or Brushing with a bad pattern and totally missing spots. Then decay can set in. Or those little corners and spots in your house that sweeping does not get... or under the couch. Dirt doesn't just stay in one place. A little breeze can push it out from under those hidden spots. You could have just mopped, and then bam, there it is back out in plain sight, with more still lurking out of sight.
I think this tells me as a person to switch it up from time to time. Don't Always do things the same way over and over again. People hate/are scared of change in general. Anything that interupts their regular day is typically viewed as an annoyance. But without change there is no progress. We have to do things differently as people and as a society. Use a leaf blower to clean your house, Elect a colored man the leader of the free world, talk to someone you don't know when out in public, just be aware that the possibilities in this world are limitless. Every day you go through doing exactly the same things you have done the day before is an opportunity lost. Do it different tomorrow, do it better.

Mess with the Bull...

And we all know what happens.
I was having a wonderful morning. After a chaotic Monday Which ended with Jane Carter dropping me at my house (THANKS JANE!), me deciding I was hungry, eating, and promptly passing out rather than running back downtown in the middle of the night with my bike key to unchain and then ride my Bike Back home. I awoke this morning to a nice cool dry breezy day and ran first to Biltmore Village to deposit my Stimulus check, and then on to the downtown BBT to deposit a check for my business. I was happy to note that I ran a route I had taken a few weeks back a full minute faster. I then trotted on down Patton Avenue over to Jack of the wood to liberate my commuter which was none the worse for wear after a night out on the town so to speak. I was eager to head home and take a few minutes to update my blog and knock out a few business items while I wait for some equipment that I ordered for my business to be delivered to me. It's heavy and I must be home to get it. That lovely breeze today is from the north and that is a joy when riding homeward. I scream down Asheland Avenue with the wind to my back. I also manage to hit the light and the bottom of the hill where it becomes McDowell. Signs ahead claimed that the right hand lanes were to be closed and only one lane was going to be there for south bound traffic. Cars were backed up for roughly 200 yards trying to merge over into the turn lane as both normal south bound lanes were closed. Of Course, on my bike, with all of that speed from the wind and the hill, roughly 40 miles an hour, can see that I have room to proceed unhindered past all of this. And to boot I caught the green light that kept my momentum going on up the hill heading into the tunnel. I could feel the ire of a few drivers as they finally caught me as I lumbered up the hill heading into the tunnel. As if I had somehow wronged them by being able to continue forward while they sat in traffic.
You know, If I had a nickel for every time a car passed me WHILE in my lane rather than moving to another lane (if a 5 lane road) or not waiting for proper passing zone on a two lane road... OR the WORST of All, passing ME on a two lane road while a car is oncoming in the other lane thus making us 3 wide on a two lane road.
So anyway, there are those few rare times when traffic is snarled and a biker actually makes better pace than a car. This was one of them. I had made my way into the middle of the tunnel and I could hear a large construction truck, one with a flat bed and one solid body coming up behind me. I could also tell It was in my lane and despite the loud diesel engine I could discern that there were other cars in that surge of traffic. I could tell I wasn't going to like this. So I got as far over to the curb as possible in a dark tunnel and gripped the handle bars and waited for it to pass. The Driver of the Truck thought it a lovely idea to Blow the horn when he was right by me in the tunnel. Now, Mind you, this was at the crest of the hill, the wind is at my back, and my Adrenal Glands just dumped about a weeks worth of freak out juice into my fragile little mind. I screamed at the TOP of my Lungs. "M#$@$R F#$@*R" Jumped out of the saddle and proceeded to immediately use the Wind, Hill and raw aggression to get back to 40 miles an hour and chase down the truck. Almost at the bottom of the Hill, just past Asheville High, Yet another construction delay has the cars pinched to the left lane and waiting for a signal to go. AH!!! my sweet reward!! I get to face the cowardly A$$hole who from the safety of his automobile wants to be a jerk, but now, he is caught! I slide past a few cars, swing out to the drivers side of the truck, hop off my bike reach up to the cab and poke my hand in the window and yell at the top of my lungs all at once in order to give him the same shock that blowing a horn in the tunnel gave me. After the scream I follow with, "What the hell is your problem buddy?" The driver, of course, was a nasty older redneck (probably 45 but looked like 60) with a medium sized pot belly and a beard down to his man tits. Typically when you confront someone like this they either just roll the window up scared and wait to get going again, or they fire back with words. He does, I invite him to get his fat ass out of the truck and explain himself. Mind you, there are cars behind us and we are on McDowell at the lower edge of Asheville high. Before he climbs down out of the truck he reaches under the seat for something. At first I worry about a gun and I am fully ready to dart behind the truck for cover. Instead, he hops out wielding an AXE. NO kidding, an axe with about a 2.5 foot handle. The crazy bastard takes a few swings at me, but it's kinda heavy and I don't even have to let go of my bike to dodge the guy. And honestly, I coulda kicked the thing out of his hands after a swing, but it just didn't make any good sense. So after a few swipes and me telling the guy he is really brave going after a guy in running shorts holding a bike and nothing else with an AXE. I decide it's time to hop on the bike and just keep heading home. The road construction guy stopping traffic a little further down the hill saw it happen and just had this look on his face that I would pay money to see again. As I rode by I just shook my head and said to him. "Crazy F'in redneck huh?" Of course, I did need to look behind me to see which way this guy was going now that he and his Axe were back in the truck and make sure he wasn't going to use either of those things to come after me. He didn't, he turned onto Meadow road instead of coming to biltmore village proper. Probably on some vague level it dawning on him that he had just tried to assault me and could go to jail if I wanted to track the guy down. I am not going to try to find him, I didn't get the plates, it all happened pretty fast and I am not injured so what ever.
In conclusion, I'd just like to reiterate the name of my blog. Yet another one of those things that is now on my life list that you couldn't even script if you were a gifted writer of fiction.
June 17th... 2008, approx. 10:15am, had an Axe swung at me...

The habit has stuck

9 days deep into running or at least running after a ball every day for an hour and I can't not do it. I have lots of work in the office, but I left it for an hour over in bent creek. Sheer joy! I run it, they bike it... I quit you mountain biking, Just like zippers and lesbians, I quit you. After the run I had a sit in Bent Creek for about 10 minutes.... So good for the legs.

sweaty bastard

As with everyone, the more out of shape I get the more I sweat. It is a VERY good thing that I have never been over 200 pounds. I'd probably sweat profusely while typing at room temperature. Today I ran from 5 to 6 oclock. Not the peak heat of the day, but by far the hottest of the 4 runs I have completed yet. Just for giggles I checked my weight before and after. I sweated out 4.5 pounds. That is a little over half a gallon for those of you keeping score at home. That in Just an hour and 8 minutes. I ran from home and took a check for my business to the BBand T atm downtown, a hilly hot, and apparently horny run, as I was told on the way back that I had a nice ass by a girl sitting in a car. Which brings up an interesting point. This little fitness experiment of mine will have some decidedly negative effects. That ass will shrink by a good bit, my mom will resume telling me that I look like I have AIDS. And by and large I will become less attractive to ladies in general. At face value, you HAVE to question why I would do this. The only valid answer to it would be, Become me, and you would know.

Gutting it out.

Busy with work, and busy acting silly at boys night carried over to 80's night at Broadway's. This made for a late (but VERY fun) Wednesday night followed by a full day of work and family. After dropping Abby back off at her mom's I at 9:00 tonight or just after I finally found the time to get my run in... But I DID get it in. This the required mentality. The run happens, barring a severe lightning storm, you just go do it. Period. The legs are of course rather like jello... Well jello if you shot it. 3 hours in 3 days, nearly a marathon worth of running coming back more or less cold turkey, and your muscles (or lack thereof) simply won't like it. But the mind is stronger, basically just sends a message back to your legs, "quitcha-bitchin" this won't stop, but it will get easier as you harden back up. Gliding alongside beaver lake in the dark was nice. Just a quick tour of the north side of town, over to Charlotte street and back up Merrimon to bring it back to the truck parked over near the dam. Good cool running weather. Sometimes you have things to think about when you run and it's good. This time my brain was forced to be on all day, so I spaced out on this run instead. Honestly, I could tell you where I went, but I can't tell you a single thought I had during a 1:03:04 trot. And that is nice too.

Something clicked

I can't tell you what happened, when it happened precisely, or even Why it happened. I guess I was just growing tired of not feeling the true joy of running. I have a million reasons pounding against the wall of my brain saying run Run RUN! But I just wouldn't do it. This morning, I DID. a pleasant hour long trot through biltmore forest... It didn't really hurt, it was still coolish but warm enough to get a good sweat going. The Locusts are out en Masse back there right now. Their dull roar seemed to cheer me on. I know enough about running to know that tomorrow, that one hour run won't feel quite as good. And then on Thursday I very well might consider breaking it into 2 30 minute runs. But the point is... They will happen. I am NOT going to NOT run for a great long time now. I need it for me. Soccer has kept me in Good enough fitness to not make this re-entry to running miserable. It HAS been in the past. So, for the next few weeks, before the outdoor 8V8 season fires up, I will slim down, speed up and get sharp both physically and mentally. I look forward to it. On the way back from Biltmore Forest there is a long store front with glass all down the face of it. Back in 2006 when I was running 60-90 miles a week I'd check my form and make sure I was doing ok... Today I glanced in the glass and did in fact see decent form (for me anyways) but who was doing it was this guy with a big old ghetto booty and some beefy arse thighs and bit of a belly on him. I totally giggled at myself. I could see that sleek rail thin runner peek out from behind the 18 pounds of fat that are needlessly on me right now and point and laugh a bit... Fair enough, fair enough. The beer and late night snacks were worth it in my opinion. At any rate, I'll be tracking this things progress over on the side bar.

What it is and is not about.

Personal growth is something that I have long held 2 differing models for. One is a fairly random pattern of flat spots followed by a sudden stair step or two... sometimes more. The other not so Rosy but probably more accurate model is one that actually goes down on occasion, yes generally it trends upward, but it experiences set backs, corrections, and other variations that can snow ball if you don't stay on top of it. I think I can honestly say that over the last 2.5 years or so, I think my own trend line of personal growth could be shown to illustrate that second model. I had a lengthy conversation recently with a really intelligent friend of mine who I have always admired for clarity of vision and logic. Recently this person has screwed up in their personal life, and we began the chat with that and it's ramifications. This was followed by a discussion at large of how people work, and more importantly, how they DON'T work. And It's funny, while this persons life is Actively f'd up right now, I realized some things about my self that were festering hangovers of my inability to let things go. I realized my faults, the very things that hold me back, were tied directly to my ego. I did a quick search for "Ego Tripping" tonight and came up with the following that I found most relevant.

A regarding of oneself with undue favor.
Behavior or activities undertaken mainly out of vanity or for self-gratification.
The undertaking of acts to increase your own power and influence or to draw attention to your own importance.

I would like at this time to propose a concept that is a slight play on words, and a new way to interpret ego tripping. And Maybe Flaming lips does hint at this in the song Ego Tripping at the gates of Hell... but I'd like to draw a very hard line at the word Trip and suggest that we use the stumbly-bloody knee-twisted ankle version of trip rather than the Power Trip kind of Trip, and then associate that awkward clumsy trip with the Ego.
Long story short, I came to the conclusion that it isn't all about me. I am no damn where near as important as i thought i was. I have self high self esteem and all that good stuff, maybe too much for my own good. I'd take the actions of others as a personal affront of some kind. It all started back in 2006 with an ex girl fiend (who i cared for very much and was very serious about) cheating on me. Much of the anger, and the bad feelings I had came from an ego trip. Sure, it's natural to be upset when something like that happens. But you have to process that stuff and move on with the absolute truth that you are who you are, no more no less. If something doesn't work out with you and another person, with you and a job you wanted, with you and any external factor in your world for that matter, you simply have to learn any lesson that may be there for the learning and then understand that the reason it didn't work was YOU plus this other thing. Your only two options at that point are to:
1.Delude yourself, claim you are perfect, and place blame on everything but yourself. (harboring anger in the process) Or,
2. Come to the conclusion that you did what you did, and this is what the real world outside of your mind dealt you in return. (and at that point truly let it go)
It does tend to sting when you give you best effort and the result is still unfavorable. But I think I needed to learn to treat it no different than if you half assed something and that didn't work out either. Either way those were my actions, I was being me and this is what came of it.

At any rate, I had this conversation a little over a week ago and it's effects are both far reaching and ongoing in my own mind. I am finding all manner of things both great and small to let go of and my little chart has jumped up as my soul seems to be a little more sure footed. I see it's fruits almost daily.

Down with the sickness

I don't get sick, It just doesn't happen. The only thing I can figure is it came from trying to do too much. It's true I worked my butt off last week. I actually skipped quizzo. That simply is not like me. I did sit at the computer and get a lot of work done, and I need to. This 6 week period starting May 3rd to June 7th is my busiest of the year. In that span I produce 3 triathlons, (lotta work) time 5 running races (six if you count one that is a 10K and 5K together) AND help at two of my buddies Triathlons. During the Front half of that I was playing both indoor and outdoor soccer. (but that was a nice release for me)
So, as I sit here and OD on immodium. I'd like to propose the concept that I was not burning the candle at both ends so much as I simply threw the F'in thing in the microwave and put it on high for 99 minutes and 99 seconds.
(somebody try this sometime and let me know what happens).
Anywho, there is light at the end of the tunnel... the money from all of these efforts is starting to come in. And it's a good thing because the bidness was getting stretched financially. And then, in early June, I am working a race for someone else here in town... SOOO relaxing. And then on the weekend of the 28th I am simply... off. What a concept. That hasn't happened since march 22nd.

Have I mentioned that I have re-fallen in love with football?

It is just so

very odd that I went 10 years without playing soccer. Why? I was good at it, why would I just up and quit? It is a physical and mental challenge. It's full of do or die moments... unlike running or triathlon where you just plod forward and cover ground. You don't trick anybody in a 5k. Not really... there are a few times where you can put in surges, or choose to sit behind someone and let them work... but it's not the same as nutmegging someone, or playing a perfect through ball while you are looking the other way to sell it to the defense. And then there is scoring a goal... it's like a giant finish line popped up all of a sudden in front of you. Completely unscripted! You rarely know that you are going to score even 5 seconds before you actually do. And who doesn't love surprises like that. Happy to be back on the pitch.

The more you know the less you do.

A few nights ago, Clayton (my soccer buddy) and I were trying to analyze this bizarre text I got from a woman who in a rather long winded way told me she wasn't interested in dating me. And that is fine, except I never asked her out and didn't even have a game plan to speak of for such a thing. After a few rather pointless hypotheses, we just came to the conclusion that if we knew what women do and why they do it, we could become exorbitantly rich by selling this knowledge to other men. We also concluded that each subsequent woman we interact with only seems to muddy the waters of understanding the "fairer sex". When one takes a hard look at a new piece of data relating to a woman, they see that not only is it new, and totally different, but also totally incongruous with previous data. There is but one pattern that seems to hold. Stop paying a woman attention and you can easily get her interested in you. Sure it's a temporary effect but it is highly effective in the short term. I think quite a few men understand the "devil may care" approach to getting somewhere with a woman. But once we have made that first step... it's nearly impossible to predict what a woman may do next.
Below is a great link to a stroll down memory lane... I think a lot of folks forget just how good the muppets were at times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vvV9LjBsNw&feature=related

spring has sprung, but I didn't touch anything...

Apparently there are females that are friends OF friends of mine who are looking for " a hot guy who is nice". And these friends, who are indeed wonderful friends of mine, simply don't understand the severe degree to which I have the abilty to just come across as brash, disinterested, or desperate based on my complete and utter lack of need to play "the game". (I instead just choose to say EXACTLY what is on my mind) These friends only see that nice silly fun Doug... Blind dates are ESPECIALLY hazardous. It's great though, I have been through enough life, and spent enough time being "me" to know that my bizzarre personality will more than likely run them all off screaming. So at least I will be entertained for the next little while... I know that is cynical, but hey... So, tonight, I am going to say in and out of trouble for the most part. Busy day for me tomorrow...

On the mend

I am glad that I am such a fast healer. All of that HGH and stuff that I am taking has that side effect I guess. My face is basically a chewty factory right now (rather obscure but VERY gross Wonder Showzen reference). At any rate it is nice to chew food again. I feel verbally constipated... as in... there are plenty of things I COULD write about in great detail and length, but alas none of them need to show up for all to see. So I'll close it down, bottle it up, set it aside, put it away, etc.

ah the joys of bike riding...

Well it's been since 2005 since I laid it down... Iv'e seen some nasty wrecks in that time. Happy to say none of them were mine. I guess I was due. My face is "real purty". That and my wrist took the blow... no road rash on the legs arms or hips... really odd. It was this strange uphill crash, just wandered off the edge of the parkway while taking in the view... pretty lame, but if this is my one crash for the next 3 or 4 years... hey, I'll take it. All the joy that I have racked up in the last few years has been well worth it. I started eating some small solid food today... that's good I figure in a weeks time it will be but a memory, roll by the store and get some vitamin E or something now that everything is solid. It stinks that I didn't shave my face before the wreck... I am kinda stuck with it for a week or two. I think I'll go out tomorrow night... most of the pain should be gone by then, and my face is a good convo starter...

Not the worst Idea ever... but one of it's neighbors for sure

Hmmm, here I am, blogging... at last, April 2008. I think I HEARD the word blog some odd 4 or 5 years ago but was too lazy to go investigate the details of the thing. Then, oh, perhaps a few years ago I wrapped my mind around the idea and mused... hmm, ok. But then, once again didn't do a thing about it. What nudged me? Other friends doing it mainly, I like the concept of leaving mental bread crumb trails everywhere for folks to follow as they do. Clearly, if my mind was bread.

1. I would eat it because I love bread, and
2. I am pretty sure it would be marbleized rye and dark pumpernickel.

But I digress, and this is the first of perhaps thousands of those. In spoken word I digress like it is my job. This makes some people love to hear me tell a story, and others, it simply annoys to no end, and yet with others, it depends on the story being told.

The topic of this post is perhaps obvious to any who know me. I have no filter between my brain and my mouth, and my brain is a very strange place... it's fun, i love it, but it's not for general audiences by any means. The good part about what comes out of the mouth is that... if it isn't being recorded by anyone, then it very often dries up and leaves no trace much like a light shower on a warm spring afternoon. The WRITTEN word is problematic. I have used email in particular to have very deep conversations with friends of mine that have challenged me to think things out to a fuller extent and grow as a person. I have also done some lovely turns of phrase with a few special women in my life. Things I seriously doubt I could have said on the fly and with such a level of quality and feeling. The other edge of that sword is of course the negative. I can write the most scathing, belittling, air tight arguments for a given persons stupidity or lack of what ever have you that it has really placed me in a bad spot at times after I unload on someone in a work environment. I very well could have yelled those exact things at a person over the phone and been none the worse for it... but here instead is this perfectly crafted email of shame and hate for all the world to see.
Thus, with the ideas that I own my own business, and this blog is public domain, I should be a bit careful about what I write. I am the face of my business and my business IS me... I'll write later about the brave new world of working for yourself, it's fascinating to me. But, this is enough for now.

One real time update to close with. Tonight is Jane Carter's Birthday at quizzo. If it's anything like mine was, she'd better bring or buy a hat and hold the F$^% onto it.