15 and Delirious October 19th

Sunday I was in town for the Scary Movie night at Brent and Floyd's so I thought I'd just stick around and do my long run along the bike trail. It was a beautiful morning. I started around 8am and had 15 miles to go. There's a few things that are different running along the bike trail vs. running here in Manteca. There are several fellow runners and that just gives you a blot of sanity. That's right I'm not nuts...look at everyone else that's out here. There were also cyclists who scared the crap out of me a few times. Thought I'd have to change my shorts. I'm used to running with cars and you can hear them but when you have 10 bikes that zoom past you coming from the back you jump a bit. Trust me on that on.

As the run got longer my brain starts to slowly focus on only what's in front of me. I can't do simple math or think about what I'm going to eat for dinner that night. It's primary focus is my current state. With that I began to get delirious and start seeing things that aren't what they seem to be. About mile 7 here was a tree stump but could have sworn it was a man in a hunching position that was getting ready to pounce on something. On the way back mile 14 there was a tree that I saw had a iguana the size of a large dog in between the branches. As I came up to the tree sure enough just a part of the wood. I just shook my head I decided to stop sight seeing and just focus on the pavement in front of me. I carried on.

Fun and Games with the BAD

At work some may know that I work for a home builder called Pulte Homes here in the Central Valley. We were known as the CVD (Central Valley Division). Well with life things change when the economy does so now we're merging to the BAD (Bay Area Division). As a get to know you and happy merging activity they had both divisions meet at Chabot Lake, totally cool place, and we were separated into teams.

Each team was a color and we had a treasure hunt to finish with the team. We were scored on a few things but some included team cheers throughout the hunt, battling it out in paddle boats, twister activities and word search/crossword puzzles. I was on the winning team, of course and had a blast doing it. It really was well put together and we bonded very quickly. Here are some pictures.

History crossword puzzle. Notice I'm taking pictures and not participating. History, ugh!

We had to come up with what this was. If you want to see the answer scroll to bottom of this post. **

This was at the very begining of our twister game that had 8 of us involved. I was one so had to put my right hand on someone's left shoulder.These guys hauled a%$. Their legs were hurting afterwards and they all cycle but it's all about the 4th quarter. Bringing it home!

**Desire to win

Hard Hat! Saftey First!

Being a Customer Relations Manager has it's advantages and disadvantages. One we don't think we have to follow the typical construction rules on the job site. Mike Moore was a volunteer of this. We were walking a house with a few guests from other trade companies and Mike walked straight into a stud. He didn't have his hard hat on and now we have proof the benefits of hard hats. If you note you'll see a cut across his head by the front of his hair line. Ouch! But that wasn't the word he was thinking when it actually happened.

Thanks Mike for taking one for the team!

Home Before Dark 9-26-08

Neil Diamond had chosen once again to come to Sacramento for a concert. His most recent album, Home Before Dark, was spot lighted but of course it didn't take up most of the time as he played his greatest hits.

Brent and I have a game that we play when we attend Neil's concert...name that tune with his songs during the concert. Brent smoked me! Well done brother!

We had fun that night. We were in the very last row you could get. Floyd had friends there too he was see frequently since the gentleman sitting next to him was oozing into Floyd's seat too.

Then it was Brent, myself, Karen (dad's fun cousin), mom and dad.

Some of our favorite were of course, Sweet Caroline, Play Me, Chery Cherry, Solitary Man, and Brent and I booed when he did Love on the Rocks. We're so over Neil singing it with one of his backup singers every time. If it's not Barbara then it's best to not go there.

Circus Night 9-18-08

Time to catch up

Melanie got free tickets to the circus for being a local hero. Her kind husband submitted her name in and va-laa...they loved their story.

We had great seats! Eating at the circus is like eating at Disneyland. For a box of popcorn $7, cotton candy $10, and a small bag of peanuts $4. I don't know how much the nachos and pretzel were. Too scared to look. Some parents were also hooking their kids up with stuffed animals, toy swords, and princess wands that twirl and light up.

Cody needed a diaper change and so Mel went with the ol' I'll change him right here and now. (It wasn't a stinky one, quick change).

Kambree got folded up in the chair as soon as she sat down since we weighs lighter than a feather so she sat on my lap. I took a picture of her and as you can tell she was more focused on what was going on than saying cheese.

The Boohers and Browns were there with us. Good times as always!

As you can tell the kids enjoyed and were a bit tired.

San Francisco Mid Singles Gathering

Real quick here's some photos from the Stampede. I just got them today.

The first is of mile 7 and the other is at the finish line.

This past weekend was a long one at that! Mike and I attended the San Francisco Mid Singles Gathering and we partied like it was 1999. The first night we drove up there, danced till one and then everyone hung out for another hour just chitting the chat. We then went to Mel's dinner where there was a good dozen of us chillin'. Then I drove home and went to bed at 5am. Mike staying in Santa Cruz with his cousin Jessie.

Next day I met the boys back in the city at pier 41. They had a ferry rented. It was soooo much fun. The ground level was a dance (killer music) and then upstairs was a meet and greet place. It had table and chairs blah blah blah. Then you walk outside and there's the 2nd and 3rd level. It was a full moon and was a gorgeous site to see the moon cascade on the water with the city behind it. I tried to take a picture of it but you're going to just have to believe me. (the picture didn't turn out) After we were landed about 20 of us continued the night and met at IHOP. Good stuff. The pictures are what I took on the boat and at IHOP.

Mike and I drove him after and got back about 4am. We were talking that we felt pretty cool that we still had it in us...late nights. Of course I slept for 11 hours Sunday night but who's telling?

10 Mile Stampede and A Pirate's Birthday

I was in Sacramento for two reasons this past weekend. I had a 10 mile run and to celebrate mom's birthday.
The run was first, Sunday morning.
This is one I haven't done before. If you run longer than a 10 min mile than you were in the "Migration" and if you run faster than a 10 min mile you're part of the "Stampede". I was in the Stampede group, that needed to be said to explain how my run was. It was nerve racking. They had the Migration start at 7am and then we started our run at 8am. After about the first 3 miles we were sharing the path with the runners from the Migration. We were running out and they were running back. I felt like I was back at school, the entire time I was running it was like taking a test. (I have test anxiety) The second I saw the other runners heading back I got the same feeling when the first kids got up to turn in their test and your still sitting there with 3/4 left of your scantron to fill out. PANIC!!
I finished the race with a respectable time but I don't think I'd do that one again. If I do I may need to take a Valium prior to.

More thoughts: My first mile was 9:05 then my second was a 8:50. I knew I had to slow down or else I was going to run out of gas around the 8 mile mark but I had that panic in back of my mind, just keep going!! What the??? I'm so competitive with myself. I couldn't even enjoy myself. I was stressing out the whole time. My mind is hard to control while running.

Side note: I'll try and do easy math sometimes just to see how much of my mind is focused on helping my body move. Mr. Green would worry if he only knew some of the arthritic I struggle with during long runs. (hehehe)

Now for the fun part...mom's birthday. Her eye has been bothering her lately so she's been wearing a patch. Background: When mom was super young she had cancer in the tissue of her eye that surrounds her right eyeball so it's just skin that protects it, easily bothered. My brother thought it would be fun to have a theme party, pirate. Pictures are worth a thousand words. I'll let them do the talking. (Brent looks like that due to a dare so don't judge. hehehe)