Online musings of everyday life....

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Halloween & Anniversaries

I know you have read about Halloweens in my past and there always seems to be something happening on this date to mark some sort of anniversary. First, it was coming out and now it was breaking up.

Yes, on exactly one year from today my ex and I broke up. Over a rat.

That's scary enough, isn't it?

Around such breakups there is always the thoughts of "Should I have done that?" or "What if I hadn't?" Until.....you start seeing someone new. Then, thoughts of doubt just melt away, don't they?

It was exactly one year from today that I came home from work and my current called me and said, "Can you come over RIGHT NOW?"

Having the STUPID thought of her wanting to jump my bones (since it had been two months already (silly me) I RUSHED over there. Only to find rat turds and the suspicion that there HAD BEEN a rat in the house. This was the first of the expectation of me whipping out my exterminator cape and flying in to the rescue.

Little did she know that that cape was at the cleaners and I was not going back to pick it up. Not participating in the HUNT FOR RAT-OCTOBER turned into a(nother) MAJOR argument - fueled by alcohol, I might add - over me not cutting her off earlier in drinking.

Hello? I am an AA councilor, too? I've never worn that cape.

Anyway, it's all good! I am glad that I threw all those capes away and moved on.


So, Happy Halloween and rat retirement anniversary to me!

Although, I hope nothing happens this year to gain another anniversary! Except maybe an anniversary of watching a new DVD on my new TV.

Yeah, I can handle one of those anniversaries! Have a happy Halloween and be safe out there!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

I have Succumbed!

Afunt - “What did you want help with
Me – Opening the back hatch of my Explorer exposing a big box “This
Afunt’s eyes getting big “WOW!”

B is more of a techie than I – and, I carry a Blackberry! Last weekend we were laying in bed and she said, “I wish you had a TV in the bedroom! Then, we could snuggle and watch the game.” Me – I was thinking Then we could spend more time in bed. More time in bed = more sex! Hmm, this is not a bad idea.” Out loud I said, “What kind of TV, honey?” She said, “Oh, high definition, flat screen, NOT plasma (not sure of the reasoning but NOT that). Plus, you should get a DVR, you’ll have to get a digital box from Comcast, AND you should get speakers and you’ll have to upgrade to digital channels, plus Showtime as you like that show."

Me thinking - All this for more time in bed?” Sigh

So, I looked at sales papers, I went to stores, I asked more questions to my techie gf, I went to more stores, I looked online, I read reviews. I educated myself on the subject. It didn’t matter because by the time I got to Brandsmart I must have looked like a fish ready to hook.


The salesman asked me what I was looking for and I had the thought of “go big or go home” just prior to saying 37”. He took me over to an HP that he was having a “special” on and that was all she wrote.

Afunt grabbed one end of the box and we slid it out of the car and carried it to my bedroom. It took us 5 minutes to slide it out of the box and lift it up to the dresser.

Her eyes were still big.

Later, that night I decided that I just HAD to hook this thing up. Which entailed drilling holes in my floor, crawling in the crawlspace under my house – in the dark. (OK can I just tell you how scary that was?) I finally got it hooked up – and the first show that was on was Friends. No high definition channels just yet until the cable company hooks up my new box on Thurs. but not a bad picture what-so-ever.

I am now high tech.


And, I have decided that weekends I'm not working - I should get spend every moment in bed with B.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Distant Ramblings

It’s finally cooler outside. When Monday it was 85 degrees and then it dropped with the rain. Last night I was getting ready to meet friends out for a drink. The house was cold and breezy. I felt a chill and ran around to shut all the windows much to my cats’ distain. Animals tend to get CRAZY the first scent of fall and the weather cooling off. Even my old cats have all their toys out on the kitchen floor when I come home these days. I will be watching TV and hear a crash in the other room and sure that half the house has fallen in when it’s only my cats playing with each other – slamming into furniture and knocking things over. My drum set cymbals reverberating the whole time.

I back the thermostat down to 65. I have a big house and heating it is a bitch. Well, it’s not the furnace. No the house will get toasty warm in a matter of minutes but my gas bill will be north of $200. Gas companies suck! Yeah, let’s jack up the rates when we need heat. In the summertime when the only thing I use gas for is for my hot water heater the rates are at the lowest. I sign a new contract with a gas company every year before winter to ensure I lock in my rates.

I want to be in Florida – so bad this week. I want to be with my two friends down there. Running every morning with J and taking the dogs for a walk on the beach. Snapping on the harness of the smaller of the two dachshunds, Barry. Watching the tide come up. I want to be there but I do not know how to do it. What would I do for a living down there? How would I sell my house in this market? Oh well. More thoughts on this to continue, I’m sure.

I throw on my fur lined sweatshirt and feel the softness and warmth envelope me. OH MY GODDESS! I am not going to be out of this thing all winter! It will be like Little House on the Prairie where they sew themselves into that red long underwear with the flap in the back. Did they really do that? I need to study, I need to study, I need to study!! But when? I am too busy. I will study non-stop all weekend. I have to!

I want to be in Florida.

Driving to a new place to meet friends. I hope there’s not a bunch of rug rats running around. I hope they have the game on. I hope it doesn’t suck. I park and there ‘s a couple with three kids running around just outside the door. Sigh. Welcome to Decatur.
As I make my way around them I see on the door “No one under 21 allowed in bar” I smile. I like this place already. I go in. The bar is nice – it is separated from the restaurant well. It is quiet. There is no smoke and no children. There are 3 wide screen TV’s showing the game. Ahhhhh! This is GREAT! My two friends wave from the corner table. I forget everything and go have drinks with them.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Ahhhhhh


Muuuuuch better!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Unofficial Blackberry Pearl Review

I normally have a lot of patience and it's very unusual for me to loose my temper.

I lasted through a class with a father and son team that didn't want to wear their gear while on their motorcycles. (after telling them 4 times to put their gear back on I threatened to throw them out of my class - but, I told them this calmly)

I lasted through getting up at 4 a.m. during the 3 day and

I managed to not bury my crew captain.

I lasted through endless deadlines at work which I met.

I lasted through working three straight weeks without a day off.

I lasted through 3 blackberry pearls that kept malfunctioning. The last one kept shutting itself off at inopportune times.

Until - I had a moment of needing to get ahold of B and it just decided at that moment to shut itself off.

It had an unfortunate event after that.

It managed to hit the wall forcefully and somehow ended up crunching under my boot.

(those track balls are the first to go)

BTW - I do not recommend the Blackberry Pearl - they are a POS.




Thursday, October 18, 2007

Ex's and New Beginnings

We all have ex’s and we all have memories of them – good and bad. It’s always better to remember the good instead of the bad. However, sometimes we need to keep the bad memories in check to help us remember why they are an ex and not a current.

Last week I was getting ready for the 3-day event. I was digging out pink stuff from last year, packing my motorcycle and my camping gear when I noticed that bag of pink letters. They were pink sticky backed initials of my mother's first name. My ex had cut out hundreds of them and put them in a bag for me to give out to the walkers and crew. In fact, there were so many of them that it took me 3 years of being involved in the event to give them all away.

That was probably the nicest thing the woman ever did for me.


In hindsight I wonder what had gotten into her as there were so many bad things after that. And, it took me a long time to leave that (or her). We broke up once and she asked me to take her back. And, I did. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. But, I never should have. I broke up with her again 6 months later when things had gotten even worse. I made myself walk away but it was hard. And, there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think about her. There was a period of time that I tried to be friends, even. But, I have finally let all that go. And, have met someone new. Someone who appreciates me for who I am. Someone that adores me as much as I adore her. And, now I am so glad I walked away from that ex. Because if I hadn’t I would have never been there for when B crossed my path. I could have missed her. And, now thinking about that devastates me. Because I cannot imagine my life without her.

And B and I? We had our 6 month anniversary this past week! Yeah, baby!!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Thoughts in Hindsight

Yeah, I’m not feeling so emotionally hungover this year as I was last year. In fact, honestly, I felt a little cheated out of the experience because of the crew chief. And, that’s a disappointment as I had been looking forward to it for a year.

I’m not sorry I did it. In fact, I’m glad I did. No regrets here but just a small bit of disappointment on my part - that's all.

So, I think I’m going to pass on next year. And, no regrets!

Thanks for all your praise and support regardless!

I'm off to crew someone elses race! Stay tuned on that!

Monday, October 15, 2007

'07 3-Day recap

We had pulled into camp after working intersections all day for day one of the Atlanta 3-day walk. I immediately got off my bike, went to get my bag off the truck and set up my tent. The sooner I could get it set up the sooner I could get a shower and dinner and relax.

Crew chief: “You all have to put pink flies over your tents so you look like everyone else.”

WTF? So, now we have to undo and pack up two tents just so we look like everyone else. Not used to being ordered around I was a little torqued.

Sidebar: The moto-crew always brings their own tents for the 3-day because we all like to camp together next to our bikes and some of us do not want to sleep with anyone. If you signed up for a 3-day tent then you must share with someone and camp in the general population.
(motorcycles and tents wrapped in PINK)


Tent covered in pink I walked over to the bike to organize stuff when-
Crew chief: “We’re all going to dinner RIGHT NOW!”

I turned to my buddy K and said, “Damn, what’s up her ass? I wasn’t aware we were signing up for the Army!”

Sidebar: K was very instrumental this weekend in keeping me from burying our crew chief up to her neck in the sand of the volleyball court next to our campsite.

And, this continued the rest of the weekend. Up at 4 and “Get on your bikes NOWWWW and set up!” and “Get off your bikes NOWWWW and go there!

Me to K: “This is bs! I don’t think I’m signing up next year”

Crew moral seemed a little low this year because of tension with the crew chief. Supposedly, the 3-day was thinking of getting rid of the moto-crew, had to fight hard to keep it this year and we were under the microscope to look good which equaled our crew chief ordering us around like minions.

However, once out on the route all that bs just melted away once you glimpsed that first smiling face of a walker coming over the hill towards you. Turning up the disco music on the boom box and putting your hands in the air you see 20 other people responding. By the time they get to your intersection you have them clapping and singing as you stop traffic to allow them to cross safely.

Yeah, that’s what it’s all about!

At six the next morning I gulp two slugs of coffee before running to my bike and hopping on because 28 running motorcycles are waiting for me to get my shit together. I know I’m pushing it with the chief. We had all been up at 4:30 trying to figure out how to pack (2) tents in the dark and find the gear truck to load our bags. It’s the last day of the walk and several walkers are tired, hurting and have low morale. They have been sleeping in tents, too, eating the same food as us but also walking 20 miles a day so they are even more tired than us.

As the last group of women hobble toward my intersection that morning I reach over and turn up the music, adjust my pink cowboy hat and start dancing. I see smiles, their steps pick up a little. One is walking with a cane and a shaved head. I am not sure she is going to make it all the way to Piedmont Park but right now I’m sure as hell going to try to make her smile.

As the last of the walkers pass I hop on my bike and ride to lunch and then to work my afternoon intersection until closing ceremony. I’m at 14th and Peachtree – one of the busiest intersections in Midtown. I’m blowing my whistle (hard) and stopping drivers who are very angry that I did so to let women and men who had walked 59+ miles and almost to their destination cross the intersection. They were cheering, singing, dancing, hobbling, limping, skipping, and dragging.

Anything to get there.

It was almost time to meet up for closing ceremony and as I picked up my stuff to take to my bike I looked up and there was my walker with the cane from this morning. She had made it! I went to give her a personal escort accross the street.

Once at the park we are lined up waiting for the walkers to come through. Again, we see their smiling faces coming up the hill – only this time more of them condensed together. There were 2700 of them this year in Atlanta who had raised 1.6 million dollars.

Today my hands are sore from clapping, I am horse from yelling “Whoooo!” and my knees hurt from standing. But, do I mind?


Hellllllllllllll no! Bring it (the-f) on! I am still glowing from remembering all those smiling faces.

Oh, and what crew bs? Guess I’m signing up for next year again. (and bringing my shovel for the volleyball pit ;-)








Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Gearing up for 3-day '07

Some of you know that every year I participate in the Susan Komen 3-day walk in Atlanta doing motorcycle crew. Last year was my first time as a crew member and I had gotten that coveted position from being a walker the previous year and incessantly flirting with the woman in charge of crew assignments. ;-) I also brought with me three other motorcycle instructor/friends.

My buddy, K asked what it was all about when I was initially trying to talk him into crewing it with me. I was like "Dude! 3-days! Talkin' 'bout boobs! Seein' boobs! And having 5,000 enthusiastic women around you all happy to see you when you pull up on your bike and give them Bio-freeze and powerbars?! Common'!" I didn't need to say anything else - he was hooked. But, I still hadn't let him in on the secret. I wanted to see the look on his face at closing ceremony - which was also his 50th birthday.

For anyone who has ever been a walker, supported a walker or been a crew member you know what I am talking about. The 3-day (really 4-day if you're a crew member because you have training for a day) is a journey in itself. Not only in mileage but an emotional journey. You are never the same after it. In fact, you are better than you were before it. You smile and cry happy tears and hug and laugh not only for 3 days but for weeks after! It puts it alllll into perspective! And, you discover you have a MUCH larger family than what you initially thought.

With each step that each walker makes, each mile that they complete, each day that they walk you are thankful for them - that they are there doing what they do!

Pulling up at closing ceremony is the time where the walkers line up in a holding area. This is the tunnel they form that the crew members walk through. It's the last time the walkers and crew members will have together to hug, cry and thank each other for being there. And, it is a rockstar feeling walking through that tunnel. This was the part I didn't tell my buddy K about. It is literally impossible not to cry when walking through this. And, despite never having shed a tear the whole entire 3-days I finally got to see the man cry. Walking out of the tunnel I turned to him and said, "Yeah, Happy Birthday - I didn't tell you about that part." He later said it was the best birthday he had ever had.

Yes, it is all about the walkers - for 3 days and after but it's the walkers that make us feel so good - like rockstars.
PS: If you want to catch us live this Friday - Sunday check out our webcam@

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Letting Go


We haven’t been friends since both of us had motorcycles and we were both angry with our gf’s and decided to pack our bags and head off into the mountains on a trip to Asheville to which we got lost and ended up riding over a mountain pass with snow and ice on the side of the road and renting a cabin only after narrowly escaping the crazy cannibal couple who wanted us to stay with them and frostbitten fingers. Only to find the town was dry and we walked in the snow to the only open restaurant and this nice couple who owned it set us up by the fireplace with two bottles of wine and we ate prime rib at 9:30 at night while the couple exclaimed “You rode over THAT mountain in the snow TONIGHT?!”

Yeah, we haven’t been friends since that time.

You got another girlfriend and sold your house near mine to move in with her. Sold your motorcycle to buy her a ring and started vomiting promises of having kids and getting married – copying the same wedding ideas as mine. Me who had just gotten left at the alter and wanted to run every time I saw you and sat and bit my tongue while you talked on and on about babies and marriage when all I wanted to do was die.

We weren’t friends then but I held on.

The same gf you got engaged to you shoved down my throat and wanted me to become immediate friends with. I did. Then, it turned out that I liked her better than you. Then, you dumped her and started seeing someone new. Someone whom I did not like – not because you started seeing her before you even moved out my friend’s house, not because I felt awful for her, and not because I didn’t expect you to do something just like this. It was because the new person had no likeable traits.

Every time I asked you to my house for a drink or to grill out you were busy - you never offered to do anything with me that involved coming to my neighborhood. You pressured me to come to a party at Unlikable’s house . And, when I did you said hi but did not talk to me the rest of the night.

That was almost it for me.

You called and wanted to do something (in your neighborhood) when you and her broke up. But you got back together the next day and I never heard anything again.

You called me up yelling at me about something I did not do- without even verifying it first. (And, maybe you yelled because deep down inside you believed it yourself) But, I still apologized for doing nothing. I texted you and you texted back you were busy. I left voicemails to do something and never heard from you again.

Until you and Unlikable broke up.

Now you want to be friends, get together (in your neighborhood) and talk.

But, I have moved on.

See we haven’t been friends since we rode to the mountains that day.

Missing the bus but finding the limo

The whole day was a bust yesterday. It was one of those days where you run out of the house and it’s raining and you forgot your umbrella but you push on because you’re late and maybe it will stop raining and you won’t need it. But, by the time you make it to the bus stop it’s pouring even harder, you’re soaked and the bus is pulling away. Yeah, it was one of those just missed the bus sort of days.

As the English say – I was just shattered yesterday from working all weekend. I did.not. want to be at work or go to work. B had been studying all weekend for her comps and so I hadn’t seen her.

I slogged through the day and finally was glad when 4:00 rolled around and I was out the door. I got a wild hair and decided to drive down to Midtown and surprise B. She would be getting out of her exams at about the same time it would take me to drive down there, stop and get some flowers, an energy drink and be standing at her door just as she pulled up.

I’m standing at the door with the flowers and no B. I just missed the bus. She called and said she had gotten tied up at the exam and was heading straight to her massage at 5:30. If it were a cartoon it would have been the flowers falling down over my hands drooping. I sighed and got back into the car and drove towards Decatur and texted Afunt that I could meet her afterall. I could use a pick me up.

We talked, we drank, we ate and a little BRAT beside us (in the bar, I might add) was pounding on the table with the sugar holder with enough force that I was surprised it didn’t shatter in his hand. He got too close to me at one point and I shot his mother a glare that would have melted dry ice. I turned to Afunt and said, “See what I mean?” Despite the brat it was nice to catch up, have a beer and a good meal! Yes, my spirits were looking up despite the pounding of the sugar holder beside me.

Just then my phone vibrated. It was B saying she got the flowers and was heading to my house with the dog. Was it ok if they spent the night?

I may have missed the bus earlier but I had found the limo parked in my driveway.

Friday, October 05, 2007

Friday

It’s Friday! Sigh – it’s Friday…..and, I'm fried!

(Very cute picture from this site that is always good for a smile)

I went out with S1 last night (rd and Clove should know her by now ;-) to our usual place to have margarita’s and fajita’s. We got a little carried away and I ended up crashing at B’s up the street and watching Grey’s Anatomy – probably the first time I’ve ever watched it where I saw two of each character on the screen – thanks to that Patron shot.

This morning was not fun riding the bike in to work with a pounding headache and being rained on. Not to mention I had a big deadline at work to get out and have to leave immediately to go teach until 10 tonight. And, all I really want to do is go to the hockey game tonight and snuggle with my gf.

How is it that I get myself into these things? And, on a Friday, too! My only consolation is that I will earn a little extra money for Vegas in November.

Happy weekend everyone! I hope it’s more relaxing than mine! Go Thrashers! (And, if I must - Go Sox!)


Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Running Part IV

(Ok, last running entry I swear! I'm sorry if I have been boring my non-running readers with all this stuff.)

Running = Independence

Why? (and, you know I'm gonna tell you ;-)

WHERE ARE YOU GOING?” my father shouts from the barn as I try to get into my car without being noticed. It is 1984, I am 16 and have my first car – a ’81 Mustang coupe and I cannot wait to get as far away from that farm as possible.

For almost half of my life I could not do anything or go anywhere without checking in with someone my whereabouts. My father was (and, still is) a control freak and enjoyed telling me when and where I could not go. My mother was the constant worrier that never wanted me to leave. "Don’t drive after dark, why are you going there, something could happen", etc. When I was in high school I joined track just because it was something I was good at, it kept me away from home longer and I got out of alot of farm work that way.


When I went to college I ran on my own and I started to keep things from them. I traveled to places like California when they had no idea. I went to Chicago, Pennsylvania, Florida. Sometimes my mother would find out that I went to these places without telling her and she would be very angry with me and ask why I didn’t tell her and I would say, “Because I didn’t want you to worry”.

When I graduated from college and moved to Atlanta I almost immediately met and moved in with the woman I have had my longest relationship with. She was exactly like my mother(Especially, when it came to buying a motorcycle).

That relationship ended almost simultaneously with my mother’s death. And, since then I have lived alone for many years (and, bought a motorcycle). I do not check in with anyone (unless, of course it's my boss on company time). Most of the time I don’t impart information of what I am doing or where I am going unless I am making plans with someone.

I find I like it this way.

I think that is why I like to run so much. I am out the door and down the street – not really knowing what my route is or where I am going. I don’t have to plan anything, talk to anyone about it or wait until a certain time. I don’t need anyone else to motivate me to do it.
I am solely on my own.

So, when I talk about running people say, “You should train for a marathon.”
I find this statement ridiculous. Why do I have to train for anything? Not everyone runs to train for a race or marathon.

It’s like saying that because you like to shop in the produce section of the grocery store that you should raise vegetables in a greenhouse!
(I love shopping here but that doesn't mean I want to raise all these things!)

Runner friend: “Why don’t you join my running group?”

Me: “Sure but I have to see how my vegetables are doing in the greenhouse before I can commit


(Hey, can you get that tractor out of the way - it's on my running shoe)

Monday, October 01, 2007

Running Part III

I like to pretend I am alone. Completely. Alone.” (From the character Dexter)

I don’t have to pretend most of the time. I am alone. But, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, is it? Yeah, I have a gf who I love very much and love to spend time with. I have friends and a partial family. But, I live alone. And, I have for years. Anyone who has lived alone for as long as I have can relate to this story.

Yes, I am a people person. I can entertain people. My students love me when I teach motorcycle classes. I can go into a tense meeting and make people feel at ease. I can take the worst of situations and make them better.

I can do all this.

But, only because I can come home and throw my keys on the counter, put on my running shoes and go for a run and BE ALONE with my thoughts.

I have days where I just cannot stand to be around anyone anymore after work. My gf calls and I go through the motions of saying all the right things when the whole time I am thinking about pulling out my running shoes and what I am going to make myself for dinner. How much I am looking forward to being alone that night, what I am going to watch on tv, what I am going to read and that I will go to bed early and feel the soft sheets waft down upon my body.

I am not always like this – but, at least once a week I am.

B and I were talking about eventually moving in together this weekend. It was all I could do to keep from having to take a Xanax to calm down. I kept thinking “You have time. At least two years. Don’t worry about it until you get to it.” And, on and on and on…..


“Honey, I think I am going to go for a long run while you work on your paper – k”?

And, I run and I think things like “I love her, I don’t want to loose her, but how can I live with someone? What if she brings all her sh*t? What if I never have any alone time again? Then, we will never make it!

And, I run and run and think things. I take my worrying out on my body. I am thankful that I can have this release after having surgery and loosing part of my lung years ago and after being a smoker on top of that.

Yeah, I have a gift – and, it’s running. Some [Goddess] force allows me this because she knows that I NEED it.

And, I will always run as long as I can.

Running Part II

Running = Mental Health

Why? I will prove it!

I forgot my ipod the last time I went to the gym and it was shear hell. I mean, I should have just turned around and went home and got it or bagged the whole workout. Not only is it hell trying to ride the cycle and occupy my mind by reading a magazine (plus, the magazine is hard to hold while trying to pump up a 20 minute mountain!) I couldn’t zone out on everything around me which as you know is bad for me.

The magazine is bouncing up and down as I ride the bike and read 1/100 of the Men’s Health magazine “30 Red-Hot Sex Secrets” (Ok, it cracks my shit up reading from the straight male perspective on this – although, I am suspicious that straight women actually write this)

Bouncing, bouncing reading “Do not try to stuff your semi-h@rd p*nis inside my v@gina” Well, no shit, dude! If you had a dildo then this wouldn’t be a problem. And – “Do not reach for my cl*toris if you are in a position that is not suitable for such a connection – meaning don’t awkwardly try to rub it off” Yeah, I agree – WHO WRITES THIS SHIT? I should write for this magazine. Maybe these guys need some advice from a certified lesbian. I’m thinking all this as the magazine bounces up and down on my lap.

My torturous bike ride is over, my heart rate is up and I am slightly amused by the magazine and I go in to lift weights. There is a woman who is talking very loudly to her workout partner who is this straight man with a paunch “Who are these people and how did they get in here”, I thought. As we have a mostly gay/cool-straight gym. (cool-straight meaning people who do not try to pick up someone of the opposite sex at the gym when CLEARLY they are GAY) Their conversation is really bugging me until I look across the gym and there’s a woman in this outfit:

And, I am flashed back to, well, Flashdance!
(Go Jennifer! Of course, it doesn't take much to make me think of her...)

Then, I’m thinking “Well, how did she get in here?” Suddenly, as I am looking at her she comes over to me. I am thinking “Oh, please, please, don’t talk to me, Olivia. Can I just work out in peace? If I had my damn ipod then this wouldn’t be happening because I would have zoned out and not been even noticing you.”

She gets to me at the pull down machine and asks “Are you using both of these?” When CLEARLY I am! What the "f " have I been doing the past 10 minutes and there’s a machine just like it across the gym but you have to come over and bother me without my ipod!”

I actually don’t say that but I am at a cross road of if I say the truth “Yes” then I will sound like an @sshole. So, I take the easy way out hoping that she is about as sharp as she looks

And say “Well, I’m using this one more than that one”. It worked because she just looked at me and said “Oh” and went away. WHEW!

All this just to get in a simple workout when all I had to do was go for a run. Headphones, I’m in the zone, it’s nice outside, the smells of fall coming on and I DON’T HAVE TO TALK TO ANYONE!

That’s all I’m saying.
And, yes, there will be a Running part III. Stay tuned.