EAGLES ARE GOING TO EAT YOU!

HE IS HUNGRY FOR VICTORY!
Patriotic SuperBowl, eh? Too bad the Eagles will have to peck out the eyes of the Patriots.

Moo on a plate

A modern day hamburglar?!
(Note: don't miss some of the added links and photos found by clicking on some of the colored words, for example, "hamburglar" above.)
My hat goes off to Kate Stelnick of TCNJ and Princeton, NJ for conquering the oft' challenged, but never before defeated, 11-pound burger at Dennys in PA. More incredibly, Kate is less than 115 lbs herself and not a professional eater. Unfortunatly, I missed her on Good Morning America and The Tony Danza show, but she now says that she is in love with the Danza. For more on the one who cows must now fear: click 'dis.
For a blast of "Who's the Boss?", the real Tony Danza show, put this in your pipe and smoke it.
For a good resource on competitive eating: eat this.
By the way, I am sad that I missed National Pie Day yesterday, which is certified by the National Pie Council. NEVER AGAIN!
Kate's feat is further evidence for the belt theory, which postulates that skinny people are able to dominate eating competitions because they do not have any fat constricting the expansion of their ballooning stomaches. Just look at the King, Kobayashi ,compared to Badlands Booker. Booker is like 4 of Kobayashi, but the Jap chap still destroys him. Ditto with the "Black Widow," a 100 lb woman who won Philly's Wing Bowl last year. I will keep this in mind and try to stay trim over the next few years, in case I decide to enter the pro eating circuit. Lastly, could Stacy become the next competitive eating sensation?! Probably.







(not.)

THE SKY IS FALLING! AGAIN!

Baak Baak!
It
*s*.
*n *
* o*
* w *
* e *
d *
*******again today! D'oh! I was about halfway through my run when the familiar white devils floated down and dusted the surroundings. (Click here for the current weather in Bryn Mawr, my place of residence!)
I made it to the Villanova practice today for the first time since before Christmas break. Nice to run with other humans, I suppose. Pace was a little slow, and the roads were treacherously snowy. Still, hearing Freshmen huffing and puffing around me made me feel like maybe I'm in better shape.
1.24.05 68 min, 10 miles. Ran long Avon (hilly roads), then added on 2 miles down Ithan.
Corporate Finance class is on the menu for Monday nights, and it was somewhat yawny, but I perservered. At least I didn't re-introduce myself to anyone. My last class, I introduced myself to someone, and he responded (in friendly manner), "Yes, I know, we've me before." This seems to happen more than it should for me. I recently did this for a homo sapien on the Bryn Mawr running team, but I still don't remember who it was. Thus, I am now afraid to introduce myself to anyone, at least on the Bryn Mawr team. I'll just pretend I know them (which I probably do).

The Sky is Falling!

KNOCK KNOCK! Who's there?
EASTER! Easter, who?
NOR'EASTER , which is going to dominate your weekend!

So, the heavy snow dumped about a foot of powdery snow in my neck of the woods. This limited my weekend jaunts, although Stacy and I did make it around Philly a little on Friday. I was looking forward to going to Cereality, a new cereal bar/cafe near UPenn. You choose combinations of cereals and toppings and BAM! feast away. I went with Lucky Charms, Coco Puffs, and malted milk balls for a delish concoction. For more info, check out: http://www.cereality.com/intro.html. We strolled around the UPenn bookshop and I read magazines for free prior to calling it a night.

The opening of classes is a-ok. European business could be a lot of work, but also looks interesting. I came up with a team name for my accounting class: NovaNet. We're #1!

I now sell things online at www.Amazon.com. I have sold 2 items for about $100 total, but couldn't make it to the Post Office with all the snow. Hopefully my rep. is still ok. I give 15% to Amazon, but I am able to make up for this by selling to a national market for high rates. So... buy from BairdosBooks and make me rich! Satisfaction guaranteed!

My blog is being a jerk tonight, already erasing one of my posts, and refusing to publish my hilarious pictures. I'm going to cross my fingers as I post this, and hope it doesn't disappear into a black hole in cyberspace.

FLY EAGLES FLY!

GO EAGLES!!!
I enjoyed watching the victory. Celebrated with a snow parade. On to J-ville and the SB.
http://www.onecrazyfan.com/
http://www.thephiladelphiaeagles.com/
http://www.eaglesfanclub.com/

Weekly Total: (drumroll please)-- 70.5 miles in singles. This was a tough week to get in quality training. With opening semester meetings and workshops, I didn't have access to any indoor tracks. Plus, there was a lot of snow, it was ice cold, and I was a little on the less motivated side. Wish I got in another workout, but I'll take what I've got. I'd like to average 70 miles/wk over the whole year of 2005. My achilles still hurts, laying off hard workouts this week could only do so much, as I was slipping around a lot in the snow, which also leads to problems.

Sunday. 1.23.05
67 minutes. 10+ miles. Ran around the local roads in the bitter cold and snow. About a foot of snow bombed the area last night, so I was glad to get out at all.

Saturday. 1.22.05
78 minutes. 11+ miles. Ran around roads. Thought I'd get in a workout this morning, but the snow came earlier than I expected. Already an inch by the time I got out the door, and I was slipsliding along. Was pelted with snow in blizzard conditions. The worst was when ice accumulated on my eyelids and froze them in a grimacing postion. I pulled a recon mission and rescued the Antelope, which has been chilling at the train station the last month. When I got back, I was close to hypothermic Had to put some blankets on and recover for a while. My hands hurt the remainder of the day.
Fired up the wafflemaker later on, feasted, took a nap to recover, then wasted away the day.

Friday. 1.21.05
65 minutes. 10 miles. It was really cold out today. I ran out towards Haverford along Montgomery.

Thursday 1.20.05
14 min warmup.
30 min fartlek-- 3X( 3min on, 1min off, 2 on, 1 off, 1 on, 1 off) then 2X (1 on 1 off)
20 min cooldown.
Ran down around the Willows park, even though there was too much snow to run the trails, I just stayed on the narrow, busy roads. Say 10-10.5 miles total. OK workout, not superduper hot though.

Wednesday. 1.19.05
63min. 9.5-10 miles. Well, considered doing a workout, but then it snowed. And was really cold. I ran around the local Golf Course, probably the last I'll see of soft surfaces for a while.

CHECK OUT THE NEW BAIRDMOBILE!!!

I BOUGHT A CAR!!! (Pictured above is an artist's description of said automobile.)
That's right, the Antelope bicycle may now get some rest (it's been rusting out by the train station for the last month or so, but I digress.)
I bought a 2000 Ford Taurus, which is blue and has 56,000 miles. It is the first car I've purchased and had in my name. I've been pinching pennies for months, and outright bought it, no sucker financing for me.
I tried my best negotiating with the dealer, getting him down a few hundred dollars. As it was, I paid about $1k less than the Blue Book Value. It's great to have a car, I finally have some freedom!
This was the biggest thing I accomplished over break, thanks to my dad for helping me. I also read 1600 pages of Harry Potter and ran a few 100 miles. I made friends with a weird man named Remus and a local celebrity who championed an 11 pound burger-- but I'll save an honorary post to her for later in the week, as I have run out of time this evening.
I now officially mourn the conclusion of winter break. Tonight marked my first class, which seems to be a winner. 4 person teams write business proposals for the entire semester. I think that a door-to-door barber, or someone that would come to your house to cut your hair would be a good idea. I didn't mention it to my team for fear of banishment and/or ridicule.
Well, these gents need a haircut and a trimmy trim trim around the pipes: http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/. Some awesome specimens here.
Cheers!

Post-Martin Luther King Junior Day Blogging Special

Well shucks. I just spent an hour on an informative, quality blog post, only to have my screen freeze and lose the entire mess as I posted. I will proceed with an abbreviated version with all apoly-ologies:

Running journal, ahoy!
Tues, 1.18.05
58 min, 9 miles. Weather dude forbid staying outdoors more than 20min. I scoff at the measly 18 degrees, chuckle at 20 mph winds, and make rude gestures at Old Man Winter. I am a straight-up winter running super-stud. Ran along the Radnor bike path with like 10 layers on, putting off workout for another day.

Mon. 1.17.05
67.5 min, 10.5 miles. Ran around my parents' home. I charged through trails that had a light coating of snow. Also lifted weights. Cruised back to Bryn Mawr in new ride.

Weekly Total: 72.5 miles in singles, 2 good workouts. Achilles still quite sore, esp. on easy days. Indoor season questionable right now. Difficult to get motivated with sore achilles and a team that doesn't do any trips during the winter. We shall see, I am in ok shape.

Sun. 1.16.05
85 min, 12.5 miles. Nice relaxed distance on the icy trails. Achilles still sore, so the uphills were uncomfortable. Took my parents for a test drive in my new vehicle, where my dad demonstrated the definition of a back-seat driver. Also watched the Eagles look gooooood in whipping Moss and the Vikings, sitting around in wet running stuff after my run. E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!

Sat. 1.15.05
52min, 7.5 miles. Relaxed run, I was starving. Ran after inking a deal for my new auto, right before going back to pick it up. Had to squeeze this one in. Watched Star Wars later that night...too bad I didn't know all the Jedi mind tricks prior to my negotiation with the used car salesman.

Fri. 1.14.05
14 min warmup
45:32, 8 mile tempo run, hilly roads by my home, avg. 177 bpm. Tough run, esp. due to hills. Dreading the workout all day, great to get it done and done decently, about 5:41 pace.
12 min, 1.5 cooldown. Total 11.5 miles.

Thurs. 1.13.05
68 min, 10.5 miles. Ran around icy hilly trails. Did sprint drills and strides afterwards. The horses next door were checking me out. I challenged them to race, and they backed down. Home of Smarty Jones, my bottom.

Wed. 1.12.05
70 min, 10 miles nice and easy. Went car shopping with me mum, acutally maybe this was Thurs. I liked a little red sportscar, but nobody else did.

Tues. 1.11.05
2.5 mile warmup, to Nova Track. 3X2k ins and outs, alternating 200m.
33, 44.2, 33, 41.5, 32.6, 40.5, 33.8, 43.97, 33.5, 40.5
5min
32.49, 41.67, 33.1, 42.79, 32.26, 42.5, 33.22, 42.96, 32.2, 41.2
5min
31.1, 43.5, 33.7, 41.9, 32.7, 42.1, 33.2, 44.3, 31.86, 41.53
15.5
Nice workout. Kept "slower" 200s moving better this week.

As easy as falling off a bike!

THIS SITE DEMANDS MORE MUPPETS!
My Blog has been seriously lacking in the muppet department. I offer here a swell photo of muppet bikeriding.
A quote from "Muppets Guide to Getting Dressed": "1. Underwear first. This is important. If you get to the end of this guide and your underwear is still on the outside, something has gone wrong and you should start again." Top-notch, helpful guide: http://www.dur.ac.uk/greycollege.wrfc/MUPPETGUIDE.HTM.
For more mainstream, here is muppet central: http://www.muppetcentral.com/.
Finally, this is a muppet personality quiz. Which muppet are you? I am most proud to identify with Gonzo. http://www.matthewbarr.co.uk/muppets/.
Later,
Mike "Gonzo" Baird

After running there, I heart P.P., too. Going to be in Baltimore? Here's some info on the park: http://www.pattersonpark.com/Friends/aboutfpp.html. Bon Apetit.

an update that may just blow your mind

Monday, 1/10/05
Slept in, as I didn't slumber too well early on in my rest quest. Headed out around 11am, since I was still in Baltimore. Headed towards East Baltimore to look for Patterson Park, also wanted to avoid undgrad campus (Remus called me last night and I didn't feel like "running into" him.) I didn't know exactly where the park was, but managed to find it, and run about 2 loops around (13min loops max), then I came back to the Mt. Vernon area via a nice, sunny path by the Inner Harbor. It was a good run and nice to shake things up with new scenery.
However, running around East Baltimore (past Johns Hopkins Med. School) was a bit unnerving. It is a rather run-down, dangerous area, where many of Baltimore's nation-leading murders occur. I almost had to pop a few caps in some fellows. Anywho... I ran around till I saw a hillock off in the distance, and discovered the park. Ironically I ran down "Milton St." to get there. You see, this is ironic, because Milton wrote "Paradise Lost," and it certainly felt like I was running down "Dante St." (as in The Inferno (as in HELL!)). I allowed myself a few moments to wax philosophically on the downfall of man.
Patterson Park was pretty nice, I've wanted to run there for a while. I enjoyed the view looking around at various sculptures and buildings, but when I'd look down I'd see copious fecal material (presumably from canines), so I hope I didn't step in (much of) any. I ran through Mexico on the way back (little Mexico of Charm City), then swung south and ran along a stretch of inner harbor, by boats swinging next to the shore. I popped through the major financial area of Baltimore during lunchtime, and had to dodge many humans. At one point, a car cut me off, and I slapped its back right in front of a traffic cop. Now, doesn't THAT make me a big strong man? 67min, 10.5 miles. Also pilates and pushups.

Just barely made it onto a Greyhound (by like 1 min.), and rolled on back to Philly. My afternoon was stretched a little later because Stacy had to attend an unplanned autoposy, an experience that didn't sound joyful. Back to the bus experience... it was excruciating standing in line as the slooooooow staff dealt soooooo sloooooooooowly with the customers ahead of me. On the bus itself, someone had spilled a soda, and my sneaks got very sticky. This didn't work so well when I went into the tiny bus bathroom, because toilet tissue, wet naps, and assorted miscellaneous items wedded to my stompers as I attempted an exit. At least if I use the restroom later, I will be able to wipe my butt with my foot!

Total Weekly Mileage: 75.5 miles. Another decent week, not big miles, still doing singles. I just wish my achilles wouldn't bother me when I run quicker intervals.

Sunday, 1/9/04
86 min, 13 miles, I ran up and about Druid Hill Park. Achilles still tender. This run was fine, typically standard, really. Used the potty behind a gate at a botanical gardens museum, to avoid my stomach detonating. Perhaps I consumed a bit too much pizza last night when Stacy and I went to the Owl Bar. This used to be a real swank hotel right down the street from her, now it is still a popular bar/restaurant. I ate 5 slices of pizza and French Onion Soup. Those frenchies sure know how to stew up an onion!
On Sunday, I went to the Barnes at Inner Harbor with Stacy. I needed help from the manager to find the Harry Potter section, but was able to get my mits on a copy of The Phoenix and read 100 pages in the store, while chugging my chai latte (I believe the caffeine in this kept me up that night). It made me feel a bit of a dolt to be lurking around the children's book section in search of my homeboy HP.

You GO girl!

To be awed by the complex xylophone playing of a 3 year old North Korean girl, Mo Kin, I direct you here, with highest regards:
http://robpongi.com/pages/comboMOKINHI.html

Another Saturday night...

Drive by blogging:
Saturday, 1/8/04
65min, 10 miles
Got a good run in during the waning daylight, up around Hopkins undergrad, muddy little trail. Waited until the rain stopped to run, but this rather messed up the rest of the day's plans. Left achilles a bit tender. Rather yawn of a day. On a side note, I've worn the same shorts for 6 stinking consecutive days. Ooo la la. Lovely fragrance/scent/odor/stench.

I am working on my Internship search for this summer. Any suggestions/offers? Email: michael.baird@gmail.com. It is not as easy as I hoped, but I will perservere and finish the bulk this break. I would like to stay in the Philly or DC area, but may consider going west if USATF or Nike calls. I am looking for sports business related jobs and financial service related jobs, and will take the best that I can get.

Friday, 1/7/04
2.5 warmup
8 mile tempo in 43:24, this is like 5:26 pace. Ran on the Rail Trail north of B-more. Rather like towpath, nice weather, was warm in a long sleeve t-shirt. Let Remus meet me, and I enjoyed crushing him. Made sure he wouldn't hang around longer than 30 seconds, opened up in 5:11. Went through 5 miles in 27:02. Most of miles were in the 5:20s. Wore normal trainers, was difficult, but not killer.
2 mile cool down. Total 12.5.

Remus also brought his girlfriend, who he let me know used to weigh 200lbs, but got down to 144 by running, even though she is asthmatic. He also informed me of all her PRs, along with his children for the 10th time. I don't plan to run with him any time soon, but it was interesting, and I don't want to be rude. To quote the concerns of my mom, "What if he is a kook?". I tried to steer Remus in the right direction in terms of training, but I'm not sure if he'll listen. He seems to alternate short sprints at the track with extremely slow long runs. At least he is always (overly) enthusiastic. (Did I mention he has a tattoo of the Olympic rings and plans to be in China in '08 along with his then-14 yearold daughter (competing). He ranks somewhere around 1000th place in the US right now in the marathon, by my calculation. Something oddly nice in his ability to dream big and believe. Still, I really enjoyed demolishing him today.)
Stopped by the grocery store on the way home and bought some gigantic turkey legs that were on sale. Figured out how to cook them and feasted later on. Gobbley Gobbley.

Thursday, 1/6/04
1 hour
This was a decent little run, nothing killer. Left calf is sore. About 9.5
Tripped on some computer wires today and took Stacy's computer out. Felt bad, especially since Stacy had to re-write an assignment. This led to some unpleasantness, but luckily warranty is still good and it will be fixed. I finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and am dying to get my hands on my copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Josh's new slee refuses to befriend me.

Wednesday 1/5/04
1 hour 21.5 minutes slow with Remus. So I met this Remus fellow, expecting a good run, based on how much he talks and the Olympic aspirations and all. It was a joke, 8+ minute pace much of the time. Didn't mind so much as I was sore from yesterday, especially my achilles, but this may have made it worse, even. Gonna call it 10.5 miles only.

Ciao darlings,

MDB

oinkway oinkway

Sorry, no more photos until next week, as I am without my computer. Or, in Pig Latin: Orrysay, onay oremay otosphay untilway extnay eekway, asway Iway amway ithoutway ymay omputercay.
Yup, you gotta love Pig Latin. For a useful, English to Pig Latin translator, I suggest: http://users.snowcrest.net/donnelly/piglatin.html.

Udeday, Ikemay Airdbay ulesray, ehay isway ethay ingkay ofway Ogsblay!

Holly Jolly New Year

Here is a lengthy "nobody will ever care about this" update of my bliggidy blog:
Tuesday, 1/4/04
2.5+ mile warm-up to Johns Hopkins track (18.5 min), 4 strides. 3 X 2K "ins and outs", that is 200m fast (goal was 32s- 3k pace), alternated w/ 200m a little less fast (goal was 42s). Beautiful day. Around 60 degrees, although there was a strong wind.
31.26, 48.8, 31.8, 44.5, 31.89, 47.0, 32.6, 43.4, 32.29. 42 (6:25)
3:59 rest (800m jog)
31.3, 43.9, 32.59, 43.97, 32.17, 43.33, 33.23, 43.77, 32.64, 41.52
3:58 rest (800m jog)
31.57, 43.72, 33.2, 44.55, 31.87, 44.33, 32.5, 44.09, 32.07, 43.52,
2.5+ mile cool-down (19.5 min)
Tuesday total: 10.5 miles
Originally I planned to do a similar workout up at the Haverford indoor track to meet up w/ Marcus and local Nova guys. However, the weather down here was quite nice and Stacy held me captive. The faster 200m sections went very well, although I slowed a bit too much on the slower 200m portions. All in all felt pretty good. Wore some old racing flats I have down here, but they give me blisters.
Met a dude named Remus at the track today. Talked to him some before my workout and then for a while (20min?) afterwards. He actually did most of the talking, especially since I was so tired/hungry. He was doing 300m's in 45 seconds to prepare for a marathon this month(?). He assured me that he can run 2:45min marathons every week, and that his life is track and field. He has 4 kids and his 10 year old daughter is a "future super- star" that can run 5:20 in the mile. Nice guy, even if he does tend to boast. When he pulled my PR's out of me, he was impressed. We're going to meet for a run tomorrow, which will be nice I suppose. Hopefully I'll get to get to see some new runs. Oh yeah, Remus also wants me to meet his family and get free stuff from a local shoe store and invited me down to Miami with him this month. Think I'll try to take it a bit more slow...

Monday, 1/3/04
62 min, 9.5 miles. Ran from Stacy's apartment up through Wynman park to Druid Hill park and back. Perfect weather helped to make this a pleasant run. I was moving along. Always lots of dogs to dodge in the park, but I deal.
Was going to travel back to Bryn Mawr today, but decided to stick around, even though I only brought clothes to last me 1 day, and my Harry Potter book won't last me too much longer.

Weekly mileage: 74 miles. This was a decent week of training, though disrupted a bit by work and tiring. My longer tempos are certainly going well, though.

Sunday, 1/2/04
1hour 27minutes, about 12.5 miles. Ran from my apartment down and about the Willows trails (via the backroads). Started to rain on me almost as soon as I left, 40 degrees. Felt sluggish on the run, but got through it. Trails were mildly entertaining. Tired today, helped Stacy make the trek back to Baltimore. Tried my new waffle maker today, which worked well. I consumed 5 waffles and froze some for later. My first attempt, however, I overfilled the thing-a-ma-gig, and I had some major batter overflow.

Saturday, 1/1/04 (HAPPY NEW YEAR!)
PM: 36min, 5+miles. Did an easy run around the local, rocky park near my apartment and the hill prep school. Got back, and Stacy was waiting for me! Later that night, we went out to the Wild Onion, a bar about 1 mile from my place down Conestoga Rd. It was nice, very uncrowded.
AM: 50 min. Ran 1 loop on the boardwalk, and then finished up on the sand in Ocean City. Also did a couple barefoot strides on the beach. Going to call it 7.5 miles in all, but may have been a hair less. Was nice to run w/ Matt and the Brown twins, former high school teammates. This was a relaxed run, so relaxed that a woman passed us on the boardwalk (I swear she was working out). The run culminated in a nice dip into the Atlantic Ocean. GRRRRRRRRRRR, we are now members of the few, the proud, the polar bear club. It was pretty easy this year, since it was 60 degrees outside, but the water was still biting cold. A little tired today, slept on a couch last night.

Friday, 12/31/04 (HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!)
14- 2 mile cool down,
42:59- 8 mile tempo run, all on the boardwalk.
15 min- 2.5 mile warmup/strides/etc.
Total: 12.5 miles.
This tempo run went quite well. As we were stretching on the boardwalk, a worker put up a barricade right in the middle of our route, so we had to adjust a tad. I don't understand why they had to set up a wall 12 hours before setting off a few fireworks. Anyway, I ran 1.75 mile stretches of the boardwalk, back and forth until the 8 miles was reached. Matt and the Browns lasted maybe 1/2 mile before breaking off and doing their own things. I averaged 5:23 pace, although one of the markers may have been a little off, as that quarter was consistently way fast. I think that the mileage sign was put on the last lamp-post available, but really should have been a little bit farther down. In any event, I kept my heartrate at 175bpm for a long time, which was the goal. Tough workout, but a beautiful, short-sleeve day. The 4 of us got multiple catcalls from the local high school girls team, who ran by a few times. Meow.

Later in the day, more folks arrived at Matt's beachhouse. We went to Atlantic City for a few hours and for once, I was lucky. I bummed around with the Browns there, who were expecting a little more glory and glamor, and a little less sleaze and bankruptcy. At least I knew what to expect. I lost $5 in a video poker machine, but lasted for a while. Later, at a nickle slot machine I made back $4, and at the end of the night, I found a penny slot machine that was in love with me. Eventually, I came out $12.75 ahead. I'm RICH! I would bet 5 cents a line on 5 lines at a time, riding out about 2 dollar losses until I would win $5 at a time. Since I was betting small, I could take these risks and be successful. It was rather fun. Everyone else seemed to lose, so I used my winnings to pay for parking and traffic tolls.
Later that night, we played 3 rounds of "Cranium", which is a decent boardgame (the first 100 times or so). I would have enjoyed it more if I wouldn't have lost 2/3. I wonder if artists or cartoonists ever get together and play Pictionary? I bet they would rule at it.
At midnight, we went out to the boardwalk and watched some distant fireworks. I called Stacy to wish her a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It was too bad that she was too sick to make it down. I would've went up North to see her, but her family was sick, and it didn't seem like a wise decision.

Thursday, 12/30/04 (Happy Birthday, Karin)
66min, 10.5 miles. Ran back and forth on the boardwalk at the OC, about half of the way with Matt. Started to feel good and dropped some sub-6 stretches (especially when I would pass some decent dudes, I would accidently accelerate a half to5:30 pace). We put this run off all day, until finally, I had to do half of it in the dark. Oh well. We played video games most of the day, specifically old 2002-03 sports game that Matt bought for $5 somewhere. Keith didn't leave the couch all day, from 8am until 2am. Pretty sad, but nice all the same. I got a nap in, which was good, as I'm tired from the first half of the week.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004
47min, close to 7 miles. Did this run late at night in Ocean City, upon arrival and rather famished. After working all day for Alan in Philadelphia, I took the train to Atlantic City, where Matt and Keith, my good buddies from high school, picked me up. The train was amazingly cheap and easy. I feel like the casinos may subsidize it to drain more people's money. We went to Ballys, where it only took Keith 15min to win $237, and for Matt and I to lose $15 each. Keith was in such a good mood, he reimbursed our losses, which was nice. Unfortunatly, Keith missed our exit on the way back and it took waaaayyy longer to return. The highlight was when we payed $2 to go through a toll, turn around, and pay $2 again.
I'm glad that my 3 day stretch at work is over. My running was starting to suffer, but I'm glad to make a few extra bucks and continue my relationship there. Alan thought he was paying me $1.50 more per hour than he actually is. That stung a bit. Before returning to work next year, I may hold out for a bigger raise than I already have (which is supposed to be to compensate for extra taxes I may incur as an "independent contractor.").

Tuesday, 12/28/04
PM: 18 min warmup, 2.5+ miles.
34 min workout. 8X3minute pick-ups. 1 min rest. 2 min rest after the 3rd and 6th, when I increased intensity. About 6 miles. Ran around neighborhoods, just trying to find flat areas.
The track 'twas closed and snow choked the grass,
Thus I struggled with the workout, which became half-ass.
15 min cooldown, 2 miles. Total: 10.5 miles. Woke up early, got ready to run, then went back to sleep. I feel for all the guys who work fulltime and train, it's quite draining. I've been there before, but am not digging the experience.

Monday
56min, 8.5 miles at 6am. Ran around the Bryn Mawr grad college, etc. Very very cold, and snow on the ground. Had to return the Antelope from the train station, so that I could ride it back. Ran pushing it, and my hands became icicles. Not a stellar run, but ok. Not fun to run before/as sun is rising. I'm working for Alan this week, my old job in Philly. The train ride is about 25min, and I managed to catch the train by about 10 seconds all week. Some quotes from Alan this week, "Where the deuce (is that paper)?". "Can you believe that [expletive deleted]." "We are so [expletive deleted]." Alan tends to take things pretty hard and work is high stress. I helped to prepare some tax filings, among other tasks this week.
The small, center city office has its own lore, which I hope that I've passed on to Ty, the current legal assistant. I've seen some interesting temps come through there as I was trying to leave. For example, there was the wacked out woman who wanted to be violent with Alan, got physically ill because she disliked the job so much, and showed me the website on witches that she made in her spare time. Oh, she was also incompetent. One of my favorites was the midget accountant, who couldn't reach the boxes on the upper shelves, and muttered to herself, so you could never tell if she was talking to you or not. There were also at least 3 or 4 that quit after 1 week or less. Ty may make it 1 year, which is impressive. I may have quit, but I certainly didn't burn any bridges. Jackie, my predecessor, came in to work one Monday morning, and announced she was quitting that day. She was to to an accelerated orientation with me all day. She left around 10:30 am while Alan was on the phone. He really wasn't a fan of her and even to this day, she is a proper scapegoat when something is incorrect.