Jimmy Soul - If You Want to be Happy for the Rest of your Life

2-10-12 Snow showers, yeah!  It is so pretty outside.  Today was a great day and I am ready for the weekend.  I took Matthew and Carson for our weekly Friday morning trip to Tim Horton's for donuts on the way to school, then ran a few errands on the way home and didn't get home until 9:45 so at that point, I had a bit of catch up to do on work.  I did successfully find socks to make sock octopus for the 3rd grade Valentine's Day party next week.  I also went to Dick's and bought a couple pair of smart wool socks.  I really like to have crew socks when the weather is cold.  Those little no see-ums don't work for me.  I got the last 2 pair of smart wool socks, they are so nice.

I had intended to run earlier to avoid the snow but I got busy with work and that didn't happen.  By the time I went out, it was snowing sideways.  I ran 3 miles and it was really fun except for the fact that the snow was coming straight in my eyes.  I wonder if they make running goggles, I am sure they do.  Of course I am not sure who much use I would get out of them.  The other issue that I had was my neck and shoulders started feeling really stiff after about 2 miles.  I finally figured out what the problem was.  Hoods sort of bug me and when I wear a hood I think I hold my head in a real stiff kind of hunched down position so my hood won't fall off.  As a result, I have a stiff neck now.  I am sure a shower and an Advil will help that problem. 

They are finally putting in a stop light at the entrance to my neighborhood.  Hallelujah!  today I stood there 2.5 minutes waiting for my chance to cross the street and even then I had to run, not too smart on wet, slippery streets.  The lights are up now and they have it on flash with a warning sign that there is a new traffic light.

We are heading out tonight for the annual 3rd Grade Parent's Night out that I coordinated.  I picked a really nice place for us all to meet called the Arlington Cafe.  Good location, great appetizers, etc.  I set all of this up with them a few weeks ago.  Then I find out Monday that the place was shut down.  Apparently some guys came in with shot guns and held the place up.  I guess this is not the first time something bad has happened there and I think the city of Arlington is probably tired of it.  I don't know how all that works but I was shocked.  This is Upper Arlington!

This song came on about 1/2 mile in to my run when I still hadn't decided if I was happy about running int he snowy weather.  Light fluffy snow is fun, this was not light or fluffy.  This song made me laugh and then I looked around to make sure no one else was outside and started singing it.  "I saw your wife the other day.  Yeah?  Yeah, she's ugly.  Man, she's ugly but she sure can cook, baby."  I don't know if this guy had any other hits, but this one sure was good.

If you wanna be happy
For the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you.

A pretty woman makes her husband look small
And very often causes his downfall.
As soon as he marries her, then she starts
To do the things that will break his heart,
But if you make an ugly woman your wife,
You'll be happy for the rest of your life,
An ugly woman cooks her meals on time,
She'll always give you peace of mind.

Dan Fogelberg - Leader of the Band

2-9-12  Today was a good day.  I have been waiting for the last couple of days to get the announcement about a deal that I have been working on.  During that time, if I went out to run, I just got anxious about it and worried that I was going to get a call and be a couple of miles form home, on foot.  When the deal was announced there would be some immediate communications that I had to launch. I was up last night until midnight on conference calls getting updates on the status of this, so we were pretty sure it would happen at 10:00 am Thursday.   Anyway, the announcement came, I took care of what I needed to and then went for a run without stressing over work. 

Obama's Mortgage Settlement Boosts
Warren Buffett's Wealth by $154 Million

After that, got cleaned up and went out for my monthly book club. this month we read Steve Jobs biography.  I have not finished it.  It started out good, then got a little boring and I lost interest.  I have been assured that it really picks up again, so I will finish it, but it is not some thriller that you pick up and cannot put down.  Steve Jobs on the heels of Stephen King is a totally different pace and hard to transition.



I had a bad run on Tuesday and never ran on Wednesday.  Partly due to the above anxiety and partly in response to the leg/shin pain .  A day to heal and to be totally engaged in work, 24/7 was what I needed to do. 

Today I ran 4 miles through a neighborhood that is across Sawmill Parkway called The Lakes of Powell.  It was a nice change of scenery.  A pain in the ass getting across the road, but nice once you do.  It was a little cold, but it was sunny and no wind.  I do not like wind so I was happy.  I listened to Dan Fogelberg today.  He is an incredible songwriter, composer, instrumentalist and singer, too bad that he is gone.  The song below is obviously written about his father.  although, I saw on a Q&A site of Fogelberg's where a fan asked him who he wrote the song about!!!  Fogelberg wrote and recorded this when he was 30 years old.  It just seems to be such an insightful and touching song for someone to write at age 30.  I guess 30 is beyond the rebellious stage and maybe he never even had one.  My impression of many young men (and some women too) is that they stray a bit from the knowledge and recognition that their parents are so valuable in the shaping of their lives and then they come back.  I am betting that Dan never strayed.  I think the last line says it all though.  The thing here is that most people have this regret after someone is gone.  Dan wrote this about a year before his father passed away.  His father got to hear it firsthand from him.

An only child alone and wild

A cabinet maker's son

His hands were meant for different work

And his heart was known to none

He left his home and went his lone

And solitary way

And he gave to me
A gift I know I never can repay

A quiet man of music
Denied a simpler fate
He tried to be a soldier once
But his music wouldn't wait
He earned his love through discipline
A thundering, velvet hand
His gentle means of sculpting souls
Took me years to understand

The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through my instrument
And his song is in my soul
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I'm just a living legacy
To the leader of the band

My brothers' lives were different
For they heard another call
One went to Chicago
And the other to St. Paul
And I'm in Colorado
When I'm not in some hotel
Living out this life I've chose
And come to know so well

I thank you for the music
And your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom
When it came my time to go
I thank you for the kindness
And the times when you got tough
And, papa, I don't think
I said, "I love you" near enough

The leader of the band is tired
And his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through my instrument
And his song is in my soul
My life has been a poor attempt
To imitate the man
I'm just a living legacy
To the leader of the band
I am the living legacy
To the leader of the band

Elton John - Tiny Dancer

2-7-12  I had a bad day.  I planned to run 3 miles but after about 1 mile I started to get the shin pain that I have had off and on since I broke my foot.  It is always shin pain in my left leg, same side as my broken foot.  I used to think it was shin splints, but I don't think they come and go so easily.  I will have terrible pain one day and then be fine the next.  Anyway, I decided to stop running and go home rather than make the situation worse.  I was also a bit anxious about work.  I am in the middle of a deal that the bank is making with the Department of Justice and the Attorney Generals in several states.  Once an official settlement is signed, I will have to pull the trigger on many pieces of c9ommunications and the whole time I was running, I was worrying about whether the big notification would come while I was away from home.  I really didn't need to worry, we didn't have a high confidence level that the announcement would be made today, and I was never more than about 15 minutes from home.  Oh well, I will take Advil before I run tomorrow, I need to get 4 miles in tomorrow.

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand

 

So this song was written by Bernie Taupin about his first wife.  I have always liked it a lot.  I think I was listening to this song while I was limping home.  I actually cut through a neighbor's backyard to get home rather than walk the extra half mile to go the street route.  12 hours later, my leg feels fine.  I wish I knew why this happened periodically.  It used to happen quite frequently but hasn't happened since around Thanksgiving.  I really thought that it was behind me and that my regular running had eliminated this problem.

Billy Joel - The Piano Man

2-4-12  It is another rainy day in central Ohio.  37 degrees and rain, ugh!  Today completes week 2 of running, still have my cross training tomorrow before week 2 is officially done.  It is going to have to be a very early morning bike ride, early enough to make it to 7:30 mass so that I can come

 home after that and cook Super Bowl food. Looks like I'll be on the bike about 5:00 am on the recumbent cycle in the basement.  Scary.

 

I am thinking chili, wings, Mexican layered dip, cheese and crackers, and of course no junk food party is complete without french onion dip, lots of it!  Our friend Richard's firm has tickets for the game (they are based in Indianapolis) so he has two tickets and is taking a client.  We invited his wife Patti to join us for the game.  I am cooking and she is bringing wine.  We'll need some beer too.

I ran 7 miles today through Big Bear Farms, then past Seldom Seen Road and all the way to Rutherford.  I love the name of that road, must have been hard to find at one time long ago and people started referring to it as "that road that is seldom seen".  What else could it be? 

Saw a few ducks along the way too.  Funny thing, when it rains we go inside, but not the ducks, they get in the water and start swimming.  I think I need to start getting in my car and heading to some trails to run.  Every house looks the same in some of these new developments, gets a bit boring.  

It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday

And the manager gives me a smile

'Cause he knows that it's me they've been comin' to see

To forget about their life for a while

And the piano, it sounds like a carnival

And the microphone smells like a beer

And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar

And say, "Man, what are you doin' here?"

I loved this song when it first came out, still do for that matter.  I remember being in Clearwater Beach, had to be spring of 1974 and wishing I could hear the song all the time.  Back then, you listened to a radio and hoped that your favorite song would be played.  During the mid 70's eight tracks were starting their decline and cassettes were on the horizon, but there certainly weren't any iPods. For me, I only had record albums and hadn't yet purchased a Billy Joel album. You listened to whatever the DJ on the radio wanted to play and it was driven by the billboard charts.  Interesting about this song, it really is based on a piano lounge in LA that Billy Joel played in regularly and the characters in the song are real people that frequented the bar.  Glad my name wasn't in the song, "and Pam, the head teller from Michigan, who never had time for a ......" (fill in the blank), ha-ha.

Paul Simon - You can call me AL

2-2-12  Ran very early today.  I had a full day at work and it is Catholic Schools Week, which means they have all kinds of things going on at school during the day and kids have an expectation that you will be there.  I still think schools lives in the dark ages when it comes to working parents.  I do an awful lot for the school, Room Mother, School Board member, volunteer for most anything that is asked of me, but why can't you do some of this stuff after hours????  Okay done venting.  There was a parent/student lunch today. Everyone brings lunch, sits in the parish hall and eats together.  If you don't come, your child is "THE ONLY KID WITHOUT A PARENT" or so I have been told.  Anyway, I was able to take off at 10:30 to go to McDonalds, pick up lunch and be at school by 11:03 which was the official start time and I made it back home for my noon conference call.

I ran three miles today.  It was a bit colder than it has been, 36 degrees, but wind chill of about 30.  I wore my pink jacket (too hot), my thin black gloves (too cold) no head band (big mistake).  It was a nice easy run around Campden Lake.  

A man walks down the street
He says why am I short of attention
Got a short little span of attention
And wo my nights are so long
Where's my wife and family
What if I die here
Who'll be my role-model
Now that my role-model is
Gone Gone
He ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl
All along along
There were incidents and accidents
There were hints and allegations

I think this is about a midlife crisis.  I am not having a crisis, thank you, but I am in my midlife (or am I passed that now?)  Anyway, fun little song, fun to sing fun to think about the lyriscs.  Like what is a roly poly bat faced girl?  I don't know.  What is his real name?  Who is Betty.  Ah, what the heck just enjoy the song.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Arond the Bend

2-1-12  Another great day.  I ran in the morning and it was 50 degrees.  It rained overnight so the roads were wet and smelled like fresh worms, yuk.  Other than that, the weather was perfect, no wind.  I was feeling a little tired, I think from all the hills that I ran yesterday so I chose a fairly flat route today through the new Wedgewood neighborhood and through Campden Lakes.  Very quiet at 7:45 am, with the exception of kids waiting for the bus.  Funny how kids feel a need to run to the bus stop at full speed.  I saw a kid running and thought the bus must be coming and he was afraid of missing it, but no.  there was no bus in sight.  Then I saw another kid doing it.  Are they anxious to get to school?  Are they anxious to see their friends at the bus stop?  Are they excited about getting out of the house and away from Mom telling them to take their bowl to the sink, to tie their shoes, to remember their glasses, to stop hitting their brother, to flush the toilet, to tuck in their shirt, to comb their hair, to use a kleenex, to close the door, etc. ?  I think it is nothing more than kids having much more energy than me in the morning and needing to use it!

There's a place up ahead and I'm goin' just as fast as my feet can fly
Come away, come away if you're goin', leave the sinkin' ship behind.

Come on the risin' wind, we're goin' up around the bend.

Great running song, really keeps you going.  Not much more to say than that.  Lots of CCR's songs have a bouncy tempo, good to keep you moving and singing.  I really like to sing when I run.

Eric Clapton - Let It Grow

1-31-12 Last day of January and it feels like April.  60 degrees and sunny all day.  Had to really push to get out of the office early, but I really wanted to take advantage of this weather.   On Tuesdays, I have been starting work about 6:00 at home, going to the office at 8:00, after I take the kids to the bus stop and then leaving about 4:00 so I can get home in time to run.  The nice thing is that it is staying light a lot later now.

I ran on the golf course and it was so nice.  It is a very hilly course though and a lot of work in some areas.  It is kind of different running on a golf course because you will see a landmark and you will be getting close and then you have to turn as the cart path takes you to another hole.  Just when you feel like you have gained a lot of distance, you feel like you are starting over and the same landmark is off in the distance again.  Probably not a good route to take if you are in a hurry to get finished because mentally you will feel like you are not making headway.  But...if it is 60 degrees and sunny on the last day of January you just have to go for it and enjoy the scenery.  There are even plants budding and crocuses coming up. 

Standing at the crossroads, trying to read the signs

To tell me which way I should go to find the answer,

And all the time I know,

Plant your love and let it grow.

Such a pretty song.  It was funny though, I was coming up to a "fork in the road" or in the cart path, at the snack shack.  One way headed toward #6 and the other toward #14.  I only needed to run another mile to get my 3 miles in and was wondering which way I should go, when this song started.  It cracked me up.