I hate the time change

Hey to all,
It is Monday evening, Oct. 30. The time has changed back to standard time and lots of us will now be running in the dark after work. Be safe. Use your reflective gear and/or you LED lights. What a drag. I have my LED headlight and my blinking red safety lights so I'm set. I just don't enjoy running in the dark. But what to do? I could run during lunch but then I'd sit in my cubicle (yes, my true identity is Dilbert) and sweat. I could shift my work hours except my employer isn't that flexible. I'll manage. I always have, always will.

Here's a quick rundown of the last few days to catch you up-

I got back from Vidalia Thursday afternoon. Sorry Amy . . . would have enjoyed a run and lunch in Macon over the weekend but I had to get home! I know you understand that mentality. The trip home was uneventful. Three guys in a car driving through Atlanta. That was it. BORING. By the time I got home, it was pouring down rain. You guessed it-I had to get a run in. It was surprisingly enjoyable. The temperature was not bad and once you're wet, you're wet. I did a 5 miler and a at decent clip.

Friday, I did not run but I did take a half day from work to play in a golf tournament. It was a fund raiser for American Cancer Society in memory of one of my friend's father. Had to play it-a bad day on the golf course is better than any day in the office (unless you're getting promoted). We played in the rain. However, we had a good time and the money raised goes to a good cause.

Saturday was a planned busy day. Susan's eldest daughter, MA, had a birthday party Friday night. She's turning 10 on Nov. 1. As part of her party, she had 12 of her friends spend the night at Susan's house. Susan had also wanted to go to University of Alabama homecoming on Saturday for the parade and tailgating (not overly excited about that since I am an Auburn fan). We didn't have tickets but it didn't matter since they were playing Sisters of the Weak and Poor. The plan was to then come back to B'ham for MA's afternoon soccer game. Here's how it went-

I got out of bed at 5:30 am Saturday morning and headed to Susan's because I had told Susan that I would help her feed thirteen, 9 and 10 year old girls and help her get twelve of them out of the house by 8:00 so we could drive to Tuscaloosa. I am flipping pancakes at 6:30 Saturday morning.


Author's note:
I had originally posted a picture of a a 10 year old's birthday party breakfast with her friends. However, I was reminded that I am using unauthorized pictures of the girls and this upsets some parents very much. I would have loved to have shown you the pictures of 9 and 10 year old girls having fun, eating smiley face pancakes but I guess on some level it makes sense to not post the pictures. I am not a parent and will never be a parent so it is tough for me to wrap my 47 year old brain around this kind of stuff.

We fed them the perfect breakfast . . . . pancakes, whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles, and Mountain Dew!!! (just kidding about the Mountain Dew). I'm sure there were some grumpy girls by Saturday afternoon!

We got the kids out of the house by 8:30. Some of the parents were running late picking them up but it was okay. Susan had wanted to be in Tuscaloosa by 9ish and it is normally about an hour drive. Not a problem. Cram her girls in the car, get on the interstate, drink some coffee and drive 100 mph! To be fair to Susan she drove nicely and only hit 100 a couple of times! Most of the time it was closer to 90. I begged her to slow down but I only got the dazed look of a mother who had just had 13 young girls in her house the night before. I think she mumbled something like . . . "if you want to slow down, get out". We made it to Tuscaloosa in one piece and onto the parade route in time to see the whole thing. Here's some pictures-




Susan, E and MA standing if front of what the Bammers call the million dollar band. Can you tell my enthusiasm about being at an ALABAMA event is overwhelming?








This is Big Al. Alabama's moscot. An elephant for those of you who do not live in the southeast. Yep, I've always thought it was sort of silly too. You can barely see Susan (facing Big AL) and E in her pink jacket. I guess it is exciting if you're an Alabama fan. I know Susan is going to give me a ration of crap about dissing her team. Sorry Susan and Laura . . . I AM an Auburn fan.








We spent several hours watching the parade which consisted of various clubs, classes and drunk frat boys on flatbed trailers. College, nothing like it. After the parade, we met up with Susan's sister Laura and her husband Woody and their kids. I've met Laura before and we get along great. Very nice lady. This was my first time to meet Woody and we seemed to hit it off well. He has invited me down to Montgomery to play golf. According to Susan, he does not do that very often. Chalk one up for the home team. Of course he knows that I suck on the golf course and he may see me as easy pickings on some progressive wagering.

We then went to the Quad (open park area in the center of campus). This is the designated area for parties, riots, vomiting, whatever. We met up with some friends of Laura and Woody and Susan. They had a nice big spread of food and drinks. They had their satellite dish and big screen TV set up and I watched bits and pieces of the Auburn-Ole Miss game. We hung around and ate their food and Susan drank their bloody marys. I did not imbibe since I had planned to run a 10 miler that afternoon at home. Probably a mistake . . . drink other people's liquor whenever you get a chance.

As the crowd was headed to the stadium, we headed to the car. Parking off campus seemed like a good idea in the morning but at 1:00 in the afternoon after the temperature had gotten up, it didn't seem like such a good thing to do. My guess was that the car was about 2 miles from the Quad. Normally, a 2 mile hike is no big deal. However, E (the 6 year old) was dragging and not very enthusiastic about walking. MA was busting a gut to get to the car to make it back to her soccer game. I can't blame her-it was her last game of the regular season and she enjoys it som much. Needless to say, it was much more expediant to put E on my shoulders and hike to the car. We would probably still be in Tuscaloosa had we all hiked. BTW, I am going to take extra credit for toting 50 extra pounds on my shoulders for 2 miles!

Due to Susan's bloody mary consumption, I drove back to B'ham. She was not intoxicated but no risk in getting a DUI, especially if she was going to drive 90 mph. Besides, I am a control freak and it just made me feel better to drive. We made it home and got MA to her soccer game just a little bit late but it was okay.

After the soccer game I told Susan that she was on her own the rest of the day. I had to get my run in and rest. I high tailed it home and got to running by 4:00. Again, I listened to the second half of the Alabama game. Listening to their announcer, Eli Gold, is like having dental work done. He's irritating but distracting and I managed to get 10 miles in at a 9 minute pace. The run wasn't exciting but I did recover much quicker and decided to go out to dinner (yes, all by myself).

Sunday, after going to church with Susan and the girls, I finished the doghouse (for Sam) I was working on. As you may know, I asked the girls to design it. The big thing that they wanted was a front porch. On a doghouse? Yep. The shingles look crappy because it was just a hair over a bundle and I had matched the shingles to Susan's house. I had mixed in some old shingles that she had left over. The red is paint we had left over from painting her picnic table. The gray is the collor of the floor of the screened in porch. The porch rails are . . . . well, put your own words on it!
Here it is-


















After completing the doghouse, we started carving pumpkins. Afterall, it is almost Halloween. We each had a pumpkin we had picked out a couple of weeks ago. I have a kit and some patterns so we all picked out a pattern. Actually, I just did an mean face. After seeing the patterns the women picked out, I figured I had better get mine done quickly so I could help them out. However, everyone pretty much did their own. I did help MA a little and Susan helped E. Here are the pumpkins-
















MA did the pumpkin with the stacks of pumpkins, E did the cat face, Susan did the ghost and haunted house. Mine was just a boring scary face.

Oh yeah . . . . running. I ran 5 easy miles tonight and will push a 5 or 6 miler tomorrow evening. I will probably ditch Halloween since I have not bought candy yet. I will probably just turn out the lights. I will be upstairs packing. I am going on another trip to Seaside. The last beach trip of the year. It is the red wine festival! Susan and I are renting a house and going to enjoy and indulge from Thursday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. We will bike and run to make up for our bad behavior! This is an adults only trip and we are looking forward to getting away together. I'll post for another day or two. I may even take my laptop with me so we can check email and update my blog!!!