Thursday Thoughts

It's Thursday and time for my weekly question and answer session. Please respond in the comments. If you're visiting the site for the first time, feel free to comment--anyone can. It's free! It's fun! It's addicting!

1. Under what circumstances have you ever or would you ever pose nude?

2. What is the best bargain you ever found?

3. What would be the title of your autobiography?

4. Who was the best teacher you've ever had and why?

5. What was your most vivid dream?

Why do I waste my time? (And other stuff)

One of my guilty pleasures is reality TV. I try to stop, but it's so darn addicting. But, at the conclusion of each of these reality shows, I seem to never be satisfied with the outcome. Why do I waste my time?

I have to admit, I watched this last Bachelor. Not because I wanted to; but more because it was hilarious and I really thought this one was real (I am so stupid). And after watching the two hour season finale last night, I was severely disappointed. He didn't choose my girl. She lost and I lost.

I HAVE GOT TO STOP WATCHING REALITY TV!!!

In other news...I might actually start running soon. I've run a whopping 35 miles since the marathon. I just haven't been in the mood. But now that I've gained a solid 5 pounds and the pants are starting to not fit again, I think it's time to get my lazy, large ass out on the pavement and burn some calories.

And finally, a certain significant other of mine is having a very large birthday in a week (THIRTY!!!!) and I am a little short of gift ideas. Anybody got any brilliant ideas? Anything you got for birthdays that you just loved? Any help is appreciated. :)

Thursday Thoughts

It's time for Thursday Thoughts. You know the drill...I'll ask 5 questions and you answer them. Simple as that.

1. Which would you rather watch on Saturday--the OSU/Michigan Game or Tom and Katie's wedding?

2. What's your favorite tailgate food?

3. If you could pick any other name for yourself, what would it be and why?

4. What are your Thanksgiving plans next week?

5. What are you thankful for?

This is Buckeye Country

In case you've been living under a rock, there's a big football game this weekend. Of course, this weekend every year is a big game when you're a Buckeye fan. And when you live in central Ohio, the world revolves around Ohio State.

There is a hotly contested senate or congressional seat that is still being decided and it was announced this morning that the ballots will not be counted until after the game on Saturday. I also heard that the governor-elect who is to be sworn in on January 8th will not celebrate his inauguration until another date because we're all hoping OSU makes the national title game that day.

And as an Ohio State fan, I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

Harriers: The Making of a Championship Cross Country Team

A few months ago I was contacted by a publishing company to read and review a book. I was a bit nervous about doing this because I did not know if this offer and/or person was legit and I am not sure my writing skills are really good enough to merit a book review. But, I figured the review was only going to be on my blog and being that it is my blog, I can pretty much review the book any way I want.

The book is called Harriers: The Making of a Championship Cross Country Team and was written by Joseph P. Shivers and Paul Shivers. Cousins, not brothers. The journey follows Salem High School’s boys cross country team from a respectable team to a state championship team. Each team member is profiled along with the coaches and displays the emotions of being part of a highly competitive team.

There were a few things I did not like about this book. First of all, I thought it was way over detailed. While communicating with the publisher, I was informed that this book was most appealing to high school runners and former high school runners. There were two different places in the book that describe how to score a race, but it was very detailed and was more information that I thought the audience needed. If this book truly is geared toward people who run or have run cross country, I do not think this level of detail is needed. That category of people should already know how to score a race. Only a high-level breakdown would have sufficed.

Another thing I thought was a bit weird in this book was that the two writers of the book, who were members of this team, referred to themselves in third person. I think I would have preferred if they had told the story from their point of view. I would classify this book as non-fiction and I think it would have been better as a memoir. It needed to be more personal.

But the book was personal, which makes for the third thing I did not like about this book. For a book about winning a state championship (twice!), I thought the overall tone of the book was pretty negative. Even when the team won the championship, it still seemed that the teammates had negative things to say about their individual performances. Winning a state championship is a huge deal. Can they not be happy with that?

There were some interesting coincidences, though. Salem High School is in Ohio and is in the same division as the high school where I coach. The state championship where Salem wins their first championship was in 2003, and I was at the state meet that year. I remember the scoring glitches that were talked about in the book. Another six degrees twist to this book was that Salem’s biggest competition is/was Walsh Jesuit High School. A close friend of mine, his brother and sister are the coaches at Walsh. Weird!

The book was not bad, especially considering it was written by two high school students. I just thought it could have been better. I appreciate the opportunity to read it and write about it. And maybe, you will check it out for yourself.

Thursday Thoughts

Yep, it's Thursday and it's time for the weekly question and answer session I like to call Thursday Thoughts. I'll ask the questions; you supply the answers. Fun and interactive...exactly what this blog is all about. :)

1. Did you vote on Tuesday? How long did you wait in line? Or if you're not from the USA, when is your next election?

2. How do you know me (i.e.--thru the internet, personal friend, married to me, etc)?

3. Are you crafty? If yes, what kind of crafts/hobbies are you into?

4. What's your favorite food to eat at Thanksgiving?

5. What would be one way you would not want to die? (I know, kind of morbid, but an interesting question nonetheless).

A Million Thank Yous

A great thanks to everyone out there who voted yesterday. I would like to say a million thank yous to the Ohioans who voted for our state-wide smoking ban. I couldn't be more excited.

Make Your Voice Be Heard

Hey get out and vote today! There are important candidates and issues out there, so let your voice be heard and take a stand.

I went at 6:30 this morning and voted. The person in front of me need to vote by provisional ballot and there was some confusion surrounding that, but I think he finally got to vote. And then my precint split the alphabet in half, so this woman in line went to the line with the back of the alphabet and then got in line to vote. This other woman yelled at her to get in line. The clerk had to step in a let the woman know she had told the other woman to be there. People, this was at 6:30 this morning!

Damn Ohioans screwing everything up! Just kidding. I think that was blown way out of proportion with the last election.

And now for my soapbox. Ohioans--Vote no on Issue 4 and yes on Issue 5. Let's get the correct state-wide smoking ban in place!

Soapbox has been put away. Happy election day!

What about Boston?

So now that Lance has run his sub-3:00 marathon (without training, mind you), do you think he'll run Boston? From the looks of it, he didn't have very much fun in his first marathon. Imagine what he could have done had he actually trained.

For anyone else out there running Boston, have you made reservations yet? I'm finding that ALL the hotels are booked or if they're not booked they're crazy expensive. I found one today with availability but the price was over $1000 per night. I would pay that much for Michigan-OSU tickets, but not for a hotel. :)

Thursday Thoughts

Good Thursday to y'all! You all provide great responses last week. Hopefully participation will again be high this week. First I'll throw out this general question. Does anyone know when NBC is doing their coverage of the 2006 Ironman World Championships? I want to make sure I don't miss it. Now, on with the questions....

1. Are you allergic to anything? If yes, what?

2. What is one fear you might be able to conquer? How would you conquer it?

3. Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? If not, when do you think you'll start?

4. Have you started your Christmas wish list yet? If yes, what are some of the things on it?

5. If you could only get one gift over the remainder of your life, what would you want?

October Totals

For the month of October:

Running: 104.45 Miles
Swimming: 2000 yards

Now that the marathon is over, I'd like to increase my swimming yardage and I'd also like to get back to doing some spinning (maybe) and yoga (maybe). My schedule is pretty busy and now that I'm tackling the 365 Days art project it's hard to find any more time to add activities. That being said, my gym I currently go to is adding a second location in Columbus and it's going to be really close to work. I should be able to swim or do yoga on my lunch hour or before work. I think the second location is set to open in early 2007.

Have a good first day of November!