I'm Staging a Protest

I haven't run since my 18-miler last Sunday (which, incidentally, was not pretty.)

At first I thought I was just discouraged because my 18-miler was not pretty. Then, I started to think I was just lazy. I have been tired lately, and when I am tired, the last thing I want to do after working through a hot afternoon is to go running.

But I've been hard at work at other things. I'm a little surprised at my industriousness, in fact. I've been able to study for hours at a time, I've stayed up-to-date in some tedious projects, and for fun, I've been reading some classics of Greek and Roman antiquity. This proves that I'm not lazy (not this week, anyway), and my fatigue is nothing that coffee cannot overcome.

I finally realized that I am in protest. It's the weather. We should not be having summer weather in the fall, when people need to be training for marathons. So I subconsciously began a protest. I cannot run, because I'm on strike, and I didn't even realize it until now.

Now that I know what is going on, I refuse to run until my demands are met, and cooler weather prevails! Until then, I will sit at home, perhaps to read about Pheidippides, who inaugurated the tradition of running marathons, when, after running 150 miles in two days, he ran the 26-mile distance to announce the Greeks' victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. "We have won!" he declared, and then immediately dropped dead.

Which is what I will probably do in Chicago in two weeks if this heat wave doesn't go away, so the unfortunate and not very rational sit-in may end, and I may resume my marathon training. The Chicago Marathon is October 12. They are going to have good weather this year. They have to. Bad things don't happen twice in a row. (Well, sometimes in presidential elections they do, but only because the election is stolen. I'm not convinced that this weather is due to corruption of that nature.) And I've already paid, so I have to go. Besides, I've already arranged for a substitute organist. That is almost more trouble than preparing for a marathon.

(My substitute is a world-renowned musician, by the way. I am very lucky to get him.)

I think my protest is having an effect. I heard the meteorologist say that a cold front is on the way. It's a good thing I did this! I refuse to feel guilty, or in any way a failure, because of my lapse in training. Sometimes you have to do things like this, to make a point. The strike goes on. The weather will be lovely, and it will remain lovely all the way to the finish line in Chicago. We will win.

During my sit-in tomorrow, I will email my substitute organist and ask him if he would be available to play at my funeral. I'm sure the music will be spectacular! I will be sorry to miss it.

Therapeutic Foot Massage

This is my second attempt at posting a video to my blog. This time I will leave the video at the bottom of the post. Later on, I'll try to learn how to move it.

I would like to commend to you a method of foot massage, for relaxing at the end of the day. All you need is a comfortable bed and a willing cat. In this case, the cat is named Tripod.

She seemed to enjoy the foot massage, and she stayed relaxed until she noticed the camera. It is not surprising, with a name like Tripod, that she'd be interested in photography.

If there is another cat in the room, she might want to help you relax as well.




Calliope let me use the top of her head for finger massage.





Don't forget under the neck!



And here's the video... Hope it works this time!

I Think Everyone Would Understand if I Did Not Run Tonight

It was a long day. I've been fighting a cold. (Please note that I do NOT have a cold. I do not get colds. I merely have cold symptoms, and they are going away. I'm not dead yet. I'm getting better.)

I worked hard all day, and got home at 9pm.

My feet are tired. I'm tired.

I think everyone would understand if I did not run. I would get a red square on my Sciral Consistency, but so what? What's one red square?

...But I've been doing so well. I haven't gotten a red square since September 1. (It was for not scooping the cat litter). I have a streak going. It would be a shame to ruin the streak. Running would probably clear my sinuses.

I could do a shortened run. I don't have to do the full amount, to get the dot. I could just go out there and run a couple of miles, and it would still count.

So I put on my running clothes. Sometimes if I say "You have to put on your running clothes, but you don't have to run," that is enough to do the trick. As soon as I put them on, I feel like running.

I sat in front of the computer to read running blogs, for inspiration. I learned that at this very moment, Dean Karnazes is doing a 48-hour treadmill run, to break the Guiness world record for running on a treadmill, and that it was possible to watch him on a live web cam.

So I tuned in. There he was. Let's see, he would probably be on about the 36th hour by now. Jeez.

OK, I'm going out to run now. I think I can do the full amount.

UPDATE: I'm back. I did the full scheduled distance. As usual, I feel better than I did before running.

When Harry Met Bessie

I was asked to play for a funeral in Independence this morning. I used to fill in at this church sometimes, back when I was doing substitute work. But I was substituting at one church or another every single week, so I finally just took a regular Sunday job. Nowadays, I don't get a chance to play at other churches very often ~ just the occasional wedding or funeral.

It's kind of fun, because every organ is different, and has its own personality. This one is very touchy. You breathe, and it plays. You have to be very careful. If you are playing a note, and even think about the neighboring notes, you get those too. So I played more major and minor seconds than I usually do.

My daughter says it's weird that I like to play for funerals, but not so much for weddings. I told her the reason is that at funerals, the people are most likely thinking about the meaning of life. But at weddings, they are thinking about the party, and how everything looks, and all kinds of things that are not important. Besides, my track record at funerals is better. When I play at weddings, they usually don't even stay married. But all of the people whose funerals I have played for have stayed dead, so far. (I like to think my work has an impact.)


This is a historic church. It is where Harry Truman went to Sunday School, and where he met Bess.



If I go through a hallway behind the organ, I come to a little sitting room, where they have a framed picture of Harry and Bess as children. It's very sweet.



It's a pretty church ~ there is balcony seating all around. When I have been there on a Sunday, there have been people seated up there.


Right outside this church, you can see the world headquarters of the Community of Christ ~ the muffin-top building is the Auditorium, and the corkscrew building is the Temple. They have the best organs in town.

I can't help thinking about Harry and Bess every time I come to this part of town. Years ago, I read the first half of David McCollough's Truman (I have read the first part of many books), so I remember a lot of little details about Truman's early life. (Since I didn't read that part of the book, I know very little about the second half of his life, although I do remember when he died. I was ten. It was around Christmas time. I was at my grandparents' house in Iowa.) I think it's cool that he took piano lessons, even though it was not considered "macho" to play the piano. He loved music enough that he learned to play the piano anyway, never mind what people think.

One of Truman's favorite pieces was Paderewski's Menuet. (That was one of my favorite pieces, too, much to my teacher's annoyance.) Paderewski was a concert pianist who became prime minister of Poland. I think that's cool too. As a composer, he was a one-hit wonder. I only know of the one piece. In fact, it's the only thing I know about Paderewski. (Other than the fact that he was prime minister of Poland.) When I hear "Paderewski," I think "Menuet."

But when I go to the Wikipedia article on Paderewski, it doesn't even mention the celebrated Menuet. Not that Wikipedia is the authoritative source on what is important about Paderewski, but it makes me realize that I don't know much about history.

I have lived in Kansas City for 23 years, and I have never visited the Truman Library, or taken a tour of the Truman Home. I hear that they are wonderful. People come from all over the world to visit these sites. Sometime, within the next year, I promise to take the time to be a tourist (without leaving town). I will take a tour of the Truman Library and Home. I've said it before, but now I'm saying it publicly, on the internet, so that I will follow through.

(What about you? Have you visited the important sites in your town?)

This Cold is NOT Going to Get Me!

I haven't caught a cold in years. I am convinced that it is because every morning, I take Air-born or Emergen-C. (Actually, I take the cheaper, Walgreens brand. It's the same thing.)

When I do get the slightest hint of a cold, I take even more ~ every 3 hours ~ until the symptoms go away. Since I've been doing this, no cold has ever gotten a germhold on me.

It's mostly vitamins. Wal-born has more fat-soluble vitamins, and Emergen-C has more water-soluble. So I feel more comfortable taking the Emergen-C, if I'm going to be taking it that much.

I'm willing to admit that it could be the placebo effect at work. But whether it is the ingredients, or my own mind, it works, so I'm going to keep doing it. I BELIEVE.

I've been hanging around people with colds lately, and yesterday I started getting the first hints. Today, it was unmistakable. I got the runny nose, the sore throat, and the general tired feeling.

So I went to Walgreens and stocked up. I've been sucking on hard candies all day (I think that's as good as the medicinal losenges for a sore throat.) Then I came home and had a can of bean & vegetable soup. I was out of chicken soup. I'm low on groceries in general.

I have three apples. If I eat one every 8 hours, that will keep three doctors away until I can get to the store.

And I had a beer. (You can see the top of the beer bottle peeking out from behind the vitamin boxes).

I'm already starting to feel better. I'm going to lie down for a short while. I still have some things I have to get done tonight, so I don't get red squares tomorrow. But I can tell this thing isn't going to slow me down. I always say I don't get colds, so now we are going to test my claim. Stay tuned to this blog in the next few days, for more updates. I'll show you. This cold is not going to get me.

Either that, or I will just have expensive pee.

Running Has Been Hard Lately

I'm finding out that Sciral Consistency is a very powerful tool for getting things done. I have been using it for a month now. So many times, I have been dog-tired at the end of the day, and nevertheless have flossed my teeth, done 25 sit-ups, and worn my retainer ~ things I normally would say "No way. I'm too dog-tired to do this." I have even dragged myself down to the laundry machines or gone for a run, all because I don't want to get a red square the next day.

I'm doing really well at it! I have a few red squares, but those all date back to the trip to Wyoming. Once I got home, and got caught up on things, I have managed to stay on top of it. Because I have the kind of personality that likes to keep from getting red squares, at all costs.

Since I am back to school (but on my own), I added a task to my Sciral program: "Journal Day's Academic Progress." That means that every day, I have to write down in my beautiful lavendar notebook what steps I took to get my little scholar of a self closer to union with my masters degrees. I have to write something each day, even if it is "I didn't do a damn thing today." So far, I haven't had to write that. In fact, I am pretty pleased with what I have written. I've made a good start in this three-semester marathon of a project. I realize I've only gone a few steps, but it's early, and I'm on pace.

Since running has been hard lately, it's been kinda nice to have another Big Project, because I can use that to avoid having to run (just as I have used running to avoid having to do research or study). Yesterday, we had thunderstorms, and then it was humid. I was nice and cozy, inside, with my smart glasses on, doing a lot of reading. I knew I should be running. I had only done one short run all week, and there were only two days left in the week.

I have rules about running, and I was in serious danger of violating two of my own rules. I schedule four runs per week ~ two short, one medium, and one long. The first rule I was thinking about breaking is that I may skip one run per week, and it has to be one of the short runs. The second rule is that the long run is absolutely sacred. I can only skip that if I have a medical excuse, and then I have to worry about whether I can do the marathon.

So, as Saturday went along, and I was doing so well on my studying, it got to be 8pm, and I finally got my gear on and got out there, intending to do my long run ~ 16 miles. It was raining lightly, but then the rain stopped and it was just humid.

I got 4 miles out, and started rationalizing. I reasoned that if I turned around and made this an 8-mile run, I'd get home at a reasonable time, and I could call it a medium run, and I would be guaranteed to do a long run tomorrow (because the long run is sacred.) But if I continued, and made this the long run, I would get home at midnight, and would almost certainly not do a run the next day. So by running less for this run, I would end up running more. If I ran more this time, I would end up running less.

I turned around and made it an 8-mile run. It turned out to be the right decision. The rain came back, and it was rather heavy, and I stepped in a deep mud puddle, and it just wasn't pleasant.

So today came, and I was obligated to do the long run. Physically, running has been very hard in recent months, and psychologically, it has been even harder. The prospect of this 16-mile run felt like an ultramarathon. It really isn't all that far ~ but sometimes things seem more overwhelming than they actually are.

When you have a long run, there are ways you can make it seem more doable. Here are the things I did today. The run was still hard, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I was making it out to be.

1. Make sure there is good weather. This is the most important thing I did ~ I ordered nice weather. Just kidding. I was really, really lucky. It was perfect ~ around 60 degrees, and dry.

2. Pick a route that inspires you. Sometimes I am in the mood to do out-and-back, instead of looping around all over the place. I have about 3 miles of runnable terrain to the south, and 5 miles to the north. But I didn't want to do one loop, come back to the starting point, and do a second loop. That felt like two runs! So I drove down to the 3-mile point of the south loop, and parked in the hospital parking garage. From there, I could run 8 miles out, and then back. An added benefit is that it was uphill (mostly) for the first three miles, and therefore downhill for the last three! That helped!

3. Break the run up into segments. In the first mile, I mentally did the math. 16 miles breaks up into five segments of 3.2 miles each. Three-point-two is not very far! I just had to do that five times. I decided that for the 2nd and 4th segments, I would listen to music, and for the 1st, 3rd, and 5th, I would just listen to my own thoughts. That gave me intermediate points to aim for.

I further broke the 3.2-mile segments into 5-minute units. I used the timer on my watch, and had it beep every 5 minutes. When it beeped, I took a walk break of up to one minute. That was a good run/walk ratio for me. Even if I didn't feel like walking, I walked a little anyway ~ I really think it is the reason I have not had injuries. Most of the time, though, I wanted to walk ~ in fact, every time I started running, I thought "only 4 minutes until my next walk break." 16 miles is a long way, but 4 minutes is something I can handle.

I always have a plan when I set out to run. This time, I planned to run from the hospital to the place where I teach ~ that would be about 8 miles. But as I always do, I changed my plan during the run. I see a road, and I think "I wonder what's down that road?" and I take it. With a Garmin Forerunner, you can be spontaneous, and divert from your planned route.

I have never run down this road before, because of narrow shoulders. But it was still light out, and not much traffic, so I took the road. I thought this scene was kind of pretty.



My father-in-law said that they were going to outlaw this kind of round hay bale soon, because it was bad for cows. "A cow can't get a square meal!" he said.

To get to the 8-mile turnaround point, I had to run into this neighborhood, which I don't normally see.

Hey! Someone tell McCain! I think I found one of his houses! It has his name on it! I wondered if he knows about this one?



But then I saw another, and I realized I was in the Republican Ghetto. I'm just not used to seeing this kind of sign, and it confused me.

The new-to-me road also took me 'round the other side of a cemetery that is a site on my regular runs. I just haven't seen it from this angle. It's kind of pretty from this perspective ~ I'm not in a hurry to see it from underneath, though. This is mile 7.5, and I saw it again at mile 8.5



And here, at mile 11, is the view I usually see of this cemetery.



At about mile 12, I took an extra walk break, about 6 minutes, and took some time to read my email, and appreciate this gorgeous sunset. I wish I had my better camera!


I was glad to get back to my car. It was not an easy run, but parts of it felt easy. It was only during the middle miles that it felt as difficult as I had been thinking about it in my head. And that was only a small portion of the total run.

Back to School

I am in my eighth year of graduate school.

It's not quite as bad as it sounds. When I finally finish, I will have two masters degrees in music (musicology and music theory), instead of just one. I'm getting two degrees, because I couldn't decide. (Actually, I think the two disciplines are artificially divided ~ I don't think you can have one without the other ~ and since it had been about two decades since I got my bachelor's degree, I felt I needed to immerse myself in both, to make up for lost time).

And I have been doing other things, besides being in school. I have two part-time jobs in music (teaching piano at a community college and serving as a church musician), I've taught piano and music theory privately, I've achieved two levels of professional certification from the American Guild of Organists, I've worked as a TA, and I've run 24 marathons in three years.

I finished my coursework about a year ago, and now I "just" need to take my comprehensive exams for each degree, and write a thesis. It will be one big thesis for both degrees, rather than two theses. Not quite a dissertation, but a "super-thesis."

When you are taking courses, there is a structure already set up for you. A professor hands you a syllabus, you meet at specified times, you have certain assignments due at certain times, and you have a classroom of peers for a support group.

But when you are studying for comps and writing a thesis, you are kind of on your own.

Especially at my university. I am enrolled in a place that is so seriously understaffed that it took almost a full month to get them to enroll me this semester. It was a reality check. I am afraid that this is the way it's going to be from here on out. I will have to be creative and persistent in order to get people to respond. I have heard horror stories of people going through the process at this school, and having to enroll in extra semesters because it took so long to get their dissertations read.

And I know it is not the fault of these people I need responses from. They are nice people. They are not the type of people to blow someone off. They are just overburdened, because things at the university are not the way they ought to be.

It is like being one of 23 children in a family. Large families are great, but there is no way that one parent can give enough attention to one child, when there are 22 other children to take care of. Everyone ends up being neglected.

Not to mention the poor mother. I'm thinking of Dr. Seuss's poor old frazzled Mrs. McCave. There is a picture of her, sprawled in front of her house, completely overrun by a stampede of children named Dave. The story implies that a flawed naming policy is to blame, but I question the wisdom of having 23 children in the first place. At any rate, something went wrong there, and the poor woman had no chance. My university has a lot of people in Mrs. McCave's position, for whatever reason.

Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty-three sons and she named them all Dave?

Well, she did.  And that wasn't a smart thing to do.
You see, when she wants one and calls out, "Yoo-Hoo!
Come into the house, Dave!" she doesn't get ONE.
All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!

This makes things quite difficult at the McCaves'
As you can imagine, with so many Daves.
And often she wishes that, when they were born,
She had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn
And one of them Hoos-Foos.  And one of them Snimm.
And one of them Hot-Shot.  And one Sunny Jim.
And one of them Shadrack.  And one of them Blinkey.
And one of them Stuffy.  And one of them Stinkey.
Another one Putt-Putt.  Another one Moon Face.
Another one Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face.
And one of them Ziggy.  And one Soggy Muff.
One Buffalo Bill.  And one Biffalo Buff.
And one of them Sneepy.  And one Weepy Weed.
And one Paris Garters.  And one Harris Tweed.
And one of them Sir Michael Carmichael Zutt
And one of them Oliver Boliver Butt
And one of them Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate...
But she didn't do it.  And now it's too late.

Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss), “Too Many Daves” from The Sneetches and Other Stories (New York: Random House, 1961).

I think this is partly why I found it so easy to neglect my academic life last year. No one handed my a syllabus, and said "Here ~ your first assignment is due in four weeks ~ here are the guidelines ~ now get to work!" It was a big, undefined blob of undoablity. So I enrolled in thesis hours, and let the professors attend to all the other Daves, while I got busy with other things that were already structured and defined and calling to me like a siren song. Amazing feats. Big accomplishments that changed the trajectory of my life. You see, I'm not discounting the importance of these things. But they did not move my Bodkin Van Horn any closer to graduation, and if I keep getting drawn into other projects, it will be my Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate never to graduate.

So this year, I set about the task of defining my academic work, as any good GTD practitioner would. I have spent a lot of time this week figuring out what my next actions are, and setting up my system. And I decided that I would graduate in December of 2009. That gives me three semesters and a summer. I think I can do it.

I'm actually not starting the thesis from scratch. I have a topic, and a piece I want to analyze, and a methodology. I have already presented two papers at conferences on this topic. My thesis has not yet been formulated into a well-articulated proposal ~ it's kind of a Soggy Muff ~ but I've done a great deal of work around the periphery of it.

One of the things I contemplated this week was what kind of tools I plan to use. Am I going to use index cards, or a 3-ring binder, or some kind of computer software? I found a website called PhinisheD, where people can go to discuss all manner of things regarding their thesis or dissertation. It's a support group. I think I will probably join up, so I won't feel like a Weepy Weed, so all alone in this. Browsing through the site, I got a lot of good information about how other people organize their research (and their time, and their energy...)

I have never written a paper longer than about 20 pages, so I think it is important to organize everything in a way that works with my brain. I like technology, but I have found that I need the immediacy of paper and pen. It is always available ~ I don't have to carry a laptop everywhere I go, or wait for it to boot up, ~ and I like being able to thumb through physical paper pages of notes, rather than searching for invisible, digital files. So I decided that I would keep all my research notes in a 3-ring binder, with graph paper pages. All my notes will go into the binder. I can use highlighters to color-code things, so I can find information when I need it. When it comes time to write, I will refer to my notes, and mindmap my ideas on a gigantic pad of paper, and then linearize it by writing at the computer. I plan to purchase a software called Endnote, and put all my bibliography information into that ~ it automatically puts it into the correct format to insert into your document. Technology does have its place.

So yesterday, having decided on the tools, I went to Office Max. Anyone who knows me knows that I have an unnatural lust for office supplies. It's called "productivity porn." So I really enjoyed my trip to Office Max. I chose a lavender heavy-duty binder, and pocket dividers and mechanical pencils in lovely pastel shades that coordinate with the color of the binder. Most importantly, I got several notebooks of graph paper. I like grids. They give me guidelines to keep my writing straight, but I can write either horizontally or vertically, or ignore the lines completely, and go crazy all over the page. And I got a ruler, because it was on sale, and I can never find my ruler. And just for fun, I bought a package of humorous sticky notes.

So that's it. I'm pulling myself up by my Paris Garters, and am going to be a Hot-Shot graduate by the end of next year. I just needed a kick in the Oliver Boliver Butt.

True Confessions of an Unwitting Internet Thief

My internet is not working.

This is not a new situation ~ but I can usually get it to work by going in there and clicking randomly on things, and making semi-educated guesses about what will appease the Internet Gods.

This time, however, I think the gods are fed up with me, and I had to call the cable guy. He won't be able to come until Friday morning.

I think this is what's been happening: Every time I have gotten it to work, it is because I have been using my neighbor's internet. I'm not sure about this, but I think so.

I have a router that says "Netgear." When I click on "View Available Networks," I have always seen "Netgear" and "Linksys." I naturally assume that mine is "Netgear," because that is what it says on my router. So I select that one.

When I do this, it says that I am connected, and that the signal strength is as strong as can be.

But I can't get any webpages.

So I try the one that says "Linksys." The signal strength does not appear to be quite as strong, but it's good enough. And voila! I can get webpages. I don't know what I am doing ~ I only know when it is working and when it is not working. I never have trouble getting connected in other places, like hotels or internet cafes when I travel ~ the only place I've had trouble getting the internet is at home, where I am actually paying for it.

So Linksys is what I have been using at home. Who can blame me? Given the two choices, most people would choose the one that worked.

However, I've always had the nagging sense that I am using my neighbor's internet connection, while paying for one that does not work. I don't know this for a fact, but I am highly suspicious that I am a thief. It wasn't a sudden realization, but something that has been dawning on my gradually, in my random semi-educated clickiness.

Last night, linksys suddenly disappeared. I feel an internet-size void in my life, and I believe Linksys is gone for good. I don't know of any neighbors moving out, but it's the only explanation I can think of. So my free ride is over, and it's time to make use of the internet I've been paying for.

After spending the requisite two hours on the phone talking to a friendly computer who sounded remarkably like a real person, and then on hold, and then talking to a friendly real person who reminded me of a computer, I finally got an appointment for someone to come out and get my internet to work.

Meanwhile, I'm going to have to be very organized. I depend on the internet for a lot of things ~ to communicate with people, to pay bills, to purchase things I need, to do research, and most importantly, for entertainment. So I made a list of all the things I need to get done online today, and I packed up the laptop, and headed over to Panera for an early dinner. Panera is the most laptop-friendly place I know. I'm going to be eating most of my meals here until Friday, I am sure. I have a little mobile device that I can use for quick emails, and limited web browsing, but it can't do the heavy lifting.

It wasn't very long ago that I didn't even have internet. Now, take it away, and I can't function. Isn't progress wonderful?

Panera is nice. Try the soup.

I Went to Iowa to See my Mother

I went to Iowa today to see my mother. I've been meaning to do that, because she has had health problems lately. I haven't been very good about going up there to visit, unless there is some sort of "event." I'm in contact with my mother every day (in fact, she reads this blog ~ Hi Mom!), but she will probably not tell me if there is anything I can do for her, and I will have a better chance at discerning if there is anything she needs if I go up and visit a little more often on the weekends.

It's about a 2 1/2-hour drive. I enjoy getting in the car and driving ~ it gives me a chance to listen to lectures from The Teaching Company, or just enjoy the silence. (I chose silence on the way up, and ancient literature on the way back. I now know more than I did about Gilgamesh and the Torah.)

Yesterday I found out that a fellow Where's George hobbyist works at a restaurant in a nearby town, so that gave me the idea to take my mom out to dinner at that restaurant.

It turned out to be a very lovely place. I was expecting more of a small-town diner atmosphere, but this was a bit fancier than that. It still has the small-town feel, but it's the kind of place people go for special occasions.

In fact, the moment we walked in the door, my mother was greeted by someone she knew. She recently served as interim pastor for one of the Presbyterian churches in this town, and one of her former parishioners was there to celebrate a family birthday.

The lady asked how Mom was. Mom said, "Oh, I've been better ~ I'm going to have brain surgery!" --and the lady responded, "Well it's ABOUT TIME!" I love that kind of sense of humor!

One of the things my mother has to do, to prepare for the surgery, is get her blood pressure down. The first thing she ordered when we sat down at the table was a big plate of onion rings! I should not have let her get away with this, but evidently, it is a specialty of this restaurant.



We didn't eat all of them ~ and the rest of the meal was fairly healthy ~ we both had salmon, a salad, bread, and green beans.

How I'm Using PocketMod with my Amish PDA

I've always thought the PocketMod was the coolest thing. It's a little 8-page pocket booklet that you make with a single sheet of paper. You can even use paper that's already been used on one side! This is how I recycle the old papers that have gone through the printer ~ the misprints, the papers I don't need anymore, and the flyers that end up in my mailbox at work ~ ~ any old sheet of paper that is still blank on one side.

I have the folding and cutting instructions down pat, so it is really easy to do.

I started by using the templates that are already available on a couple of different websites, here and here. You can create calendar pages, various lined pages, graph paper, music staves, guitar tab, even games like Sudoku. You configure your PocketMod with whatever you want on each page, print it out with your printer, and fold & snip, and you're good to go.

But you don't have to print any pre-designed forms. You can just use blank paper, if you know how to fold it. (When I do this, I first make an extra fold in the paper, lengthwise, and then unfold it ~ then I know where to make the cut.) I recently had a bunch of stuff printed on one side of some 11x17 paper that I didn't need anymore, and rather than throw the paper away, I made up a bunch of "Super PocketMods" ~ little folded booklets of blank pages, but twice as large as the regular PocketMod. These will be handy to use taking notes while reading, and I can use the Super PocketMod as a bookmark.

Recently I read this webpage, which listed the top 10 cool (and hopefully, productive) things you can do with paper. That led me to read about how one clever person made her own custom-designed pages into a PocketMod, for logging her travel information and workout routine while on the road. That inspired me to figure out how to make my own calendar pages, with my appointments already printed, so I don't have to write them out by hand each week. I never like the one-kind-fits-all kind of planner page. I want mine to say "Dance Card."

So I finally figured out how to do it.

Now I am no longer limited to the pre-designed templates I've found on the web! I have mastered the ability to print up whatever I want, and make it into a PocketMod.

If I could shrink my entire life into eight pages, I could use this as my planner, and not have to use an Amish PDA. This would be great! Life would be so simple. I'd just have to be careful not to lose it! Unfortunately, I can't shrink my world that much, but I thought maybe I could still use a PocketMod in conjunction with my PDA.


So I made up a PocketMod with a week of daily planner pages ( my "Dance Cards"). I did it as an 8-page Word Document. I discovered that you have to use a pretty large font (over 20-pt), or it will shrink so small you can't read it.

On the "cover" of the PocketMod, I printed up a chart of my "SuperFoods" covering the entire week. I am not sure how well this will work, because there isn't room to keep a food log, as I've been doing, but maybe all I need is a checklist. We'll see how it goes.


The rest of the pages are "dance cards" ~ one for each day of the week. Since many of my appointments remain invariant each week, I do not have to keep editing this document a whole lot. Each weekend, when I do what passes for a "Weekly Review," I can open up the last week's Word Document, change the dates, and make any necessary adjustments in the schedule.

My work has me in two different locations, mostly, so I color-coded my appointments. The things I do at the college are in blue, the ones at the church are in lime green, and everything else is in pink.

I also printed some times in pale pink, to indicate that there is a window of time available during which I might get something else done.


At the bottom of the Dance Card pages, I have printed my "runs this week." In the one shown above, I am planning to do four runs ~ 5, 8, 5, and 16 miles. When I have done one of those runs, I cross it off, on all the remaining pages for that week. ( Probably on Monday, I will run five miles, so I will cross one of the fives off on each page, leaving me with 8, 5, and 16.)

Converting the 8-page Word document into a PocketMod is an easy procedure. First, it has to be converted into a .pdf document. (I use "ClickToConvert.") I guess if I were really advanced, I would compose the document as a .pdf to begin with, and I think there is some free software for that, but I haven't explored it yet.)

Once it is in a .pdf format, you can run it through the "PDF to Pocketmod" program, available here. This automatically shrinks it down to one page and puts it in the right configuration to print for your booklet.



Once it is printed, you do the folding, make one little cut, and you're done!

Any appointments you make after you have printed it can be added using a pen or pencil. And I figure that if I have too many things to fit on a schedule this size, I am just too busy. It keeps me realistic.

To use the PocketMod with my PDA, I get the hole-puncher out, and punch a hole in the lower left corner. Then I apply a durable tab labeled "Next Week" so I don't get confused. The PocketMod for this week has a yellow durable tab labeled "TODAY," which I stick on today's dance card page. I keep two PocketMods in the planner at one time ~ this week's, and next week's.



As I go through the day, I usually make little journal notations of what I did that day. Then I can archive my old calendar pages in a 3x5 box ~ having a journal like this can come in handy sometimes.



I have also made two PocketMods for the "monthly calendar" section of my PDA. For that, the pre-designed templates were good enough, although someday I might find a reason to go to the trouble of making my own.

I am sure I will continue tweaking this ~ I am a tweakaholic, and the danger is that I spend too much time tweaking, and not enough time doing ~ which defeats the purpose of having a system in the first place. I am aware of that, but I allow myself to have fun with the tools on the weekends, and the tools help me get stuff done the rest of the week.

Yeah. I'm a Maniac.

Today I got this shirt in the mail. It is a singlet, for running.

It arrived in the middle of the day ~ I was about to drive my daughter to the airport, and I checked the mail on the way to the car. I was not expecting the shirt to arrive so soon. I had her open the package while I was driving. It's my Marathon Maniac shirt. Cool.

Not everyone can have one of these shirts. You have to be a Maniac. And for that, you have to qualify.

As I mentioned in the post about the Wyoming "Run With(out) the Horses" marathon, I had been meaning to join Marathon Maniacs for some time. I've seen these shirts at marathons, and I have met some of the maniacs. I was told by two of them that I should join, because I certainly qualified for it.

To be certified "insane," you have to do more than just run a marathon. There are different levels of craziness, with different criteria. When I first looked into this, last year, I was shocked to see that I qualified, not just on the basic level (which they call "bronze"), but on the silver level.

So this month, when I finally got around to having myself committed, I was horrified to learn that it was even worse than that. I had leaped right over the "gold" level, and was now insane at the iridium level. I didn't even know what iridium was! I had to look it up. It was running 10 marathons in 2007, that did it. I only needed nine, to reach the fourth level of the craziness hierarchy.

I will never be as far gone as some of these guys. The really crazy ones are certified at the tenth level ~ the "titanium" level, by running 52 marathons in one year, or some such stunt. So I remain humble, as well as keeping somewhat connected to the world of common sense. (In comparison, that is).

(Don't tell the Maniacs, but I think there should be one more criterion for insanity ~ if you run a marathon, immediately hop in the car and drive for 13 hours straight, arrive home after midnight, and go to work in the morning ~ that should figure into the diagnosis in some way!)

It's good that I joined now, before it gets even worse. I was happy to see the email from the nice young men in the white coats, telling me that I was in.

I got my daughter to the airport, and dropped her off, and proceeded hastily to the college, to teach for the rest of the day. A pretty easy day, but I was tired, and frustrated because I have been knocking my head against various academic brick walls, without any of the walls budging one bit.

I got home, and took some aspirin for the headache caused by the brick wall impact, and ate a very unhealthy "meal" of two pieces of fried BBQ chicken. I was really tired and defeated, and I didn't feel like doing anything. I turned on the TV, but it was just a bunch of Republican speeches. I tried NPR ~ same thing. I don't want to hear that tonight, so I turned it off. I opened my Sciral Consistency, and it said I have to do one load of laundry, or I will get a red square tomorrow. Just one load. I can do that, if it's just one. I'm tired, but I can do one load.

And then, my email buzzed. It was a brick wall. It budged. It's not knocked down yet, mind you ~ I still have some more head-banging to do ~ but it budged.

I looked up, and saw my Maniac shirt hanging up on the other side of the room. I decided to blog about it, because I needed to turn my thoughts to some kind of accomplishment. Writing a blog post forces my brain to stop and ponder the meaning of the yellow shirt. I got it because I ran 24 marathons. Every one of them made some part of my body feel a little like my head feels now (on account of the brick wall).

The news about the brick wall moving a tiny bit made me hungry for more, so that is why I am writing about the shirt. The good thing is that the human brain is very stupid in some places ~ it doesn't know the difference between running 24 marathons and making a brick wall move a tiny bit and crossing "do one load of laundry" off a to-do list. They are all wins, and they all need to be celebrated. The brain will celebrate it, if you tell your brain "It's done! Party time!"

Now I feel like I can do a few more things on my to-do list, and I think it's because I took some time to appreciate the wins. There are always wins ~ you just have to focus on them. It doesn't matter, to your brain, how big it is ~ it's still a win.

(Disclaimer ~ I also had some coffee. That probably helped some too.)

Using Flat Tires to Help Me With My Running

Yesterday I was at work, and the priest came in and told me I had a flat tire. I denied, at first, that it was my car. Sometimes if you deny things, they go away. But not this time.

Fortunately, I was about a block from a service station that fixes tires. So I drove it very carefully to the garage. The mechanic had already gone home for the day. I said that's okay ~ I didn't have to drive anywhere the rest of the day, and as I remembered, I didn't have to be at work the next day until 11am. So I left my key there, and as I signed the paper, she said "you are promising your first-born child." I said, "Great! I'll send her right over! Will you take the second-born, as well?"

(My daughter protests this bit of humor. They are both past the difficult teenage years by now, but the lady at the service station didn't know that, so it was still funny.)

When I got home, I looked at my calendar and realized I had a 7am dental appointment, and a 9am appointment at UMKC. Darn! I hated to cancel either one of these!

I called the dentist's office, and got their answering machine. I tried to leave a message to cancel my appointment, but there was a glitch with their answering machine, and it wouldn't record my message! I had just confirmed, that afternoon, that I would be there for my appointment. I hate when my students stand me up ~ I can just imagine getting stood up at 7 in the morning! So I started thinking about how I could get there.

As I said in another post, the bus system is lousy. I could have my kids give me a ride, but I had just signed them over to the lady at the service station, so that wasn't an option.

I wonder if I could run to the dentist? I had just been complaining to myself about my schedule ~ I get really busy Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and so I tend to put off my running and bunch it all up on the weekends. It doesn't always work well, to do it that way. Not all running routes are safe, but if it's runnable, it might be a good way to get a run in.

A quick check on Mapquest/Google showed me that it was indeed runnable. It would be a little over six miles, round-trip. A six-mile run was on my training schedule for this week. Perfect! I would get up at 4am (for reasons mentioned in previous posts, I need at least two hours to prepare to run in the mornings. It sucks.), and take advantage of the cool weather, get my run done, and not miss my dental appointment.




It was raining lightly when I set out, and completely dark out, and about 62 degrees. When I run in the dark, I wear reflective arm bands and red lights on my shoulders. I had determined that the course was fairly safe ~ mostly two-lane roads ~ no sidewalks, but adequate gravel shoulders, for the most part. I actually think it is safer to run at night than during the daylight hours, because with the safety gear, I am more noticeable to drivers. I run on the left, facing traffic. And I am certainly hyper-aware when it is dark out, and can jump out of the way if a car doesn't see me.




These pictures were actually taken on the way back, because it was light then! Kansas City is a sprawling metropolitan area, and during its growth, it swallowed up a number of small towns and rural communities. I ran through one of these towns. There were several kids and teenagers waiting in the rain for their bus. Some of the roads were a bit narrow, but nothing terribly unsafe. Sometimes there was an accommodation for pedestrians, like this footbridge, above.



When I walked in the dentist's office, all sweaty, dirty, and wet, I said "My car had a flat, so I ran!" They were completely impressed. That was my plan. As we know, winning the approval of dental health care professionals is what I live for. To top it off, I bragged that I have worn my retainer and flossed daily since my last visit, last month!

They were very glad to see me, because the other people who had 7am appointments failed to show up (and didn't even call!) They wondered where I found the "motivation." When you think about it, the flat tire was actually an opportunity in disguise. I got to improve my cardiovascular and dental health all in one shot. (Not to mention the all-important approval). They seemed to think I should get some further reward on top of that, but I didn't correct them. I suggested a discount, but they didn't bite. They countered with an offer to let me play with the kiddie toys. (I should have asked for free floss. I might have gotten somewhere with that!)

I got the tooth fixed, and set off for home. It was raining a bit harder, but not too bad. I got confused and took a wrong turn, so I got even more opportunity for cardiovascular health.



If I hadn't taken the wrong turn, though, I would've missed these lovely views from the bridges.




I cut a couple of tenths of a mile off the return trip, by cutting through the parking lot of the Democratic headquarters. They were closed, or I would've stopped in and bought a bumper sticker.



I got home in time to call UMKC about my 9am appointment. Running to that would have meant an ultra-marathon, and that was not on my schedule this week. I suggested that we try to do the meeting over the phone. (It occurred to me that I could have done that with the dentist, too. He could've said "Okay, now take the drill, and ... " Never mind.)

So I called back at the appointed time, and guess what? No answer! I even called two different numbers. I have been trying for three weeks to get UMKC to take my money, and I've had absolutely no luck! Fine. They don't want my money today. I'll keep studying, and get ready to write my thesis, and maybe they will take my money tomorrow.