One long post to make up for the missing ones.

PART I

I would like to thank everyone for their support during this time. Your comments and well-wishes and really lifted my spirits. They make a difference, they really do.

I've arrived back home to about a foot of wet, heavy snow. I'd decided that I would take a day of bereavement from work tomorrow, so that I could spend a day alone. Maybe, I'd decided, I'll take long slow 15 or so run on the bosque trail, since I'm still in training for RR-AZ and missed my long run Sunday. The trail is, also, likely to be deserted. I could take a long crying bath. Watch sad movies. Clear out the emotional sinuses, as it were.

Then I was informed that school was canceled tomorrow. And, the bosque trail has not been cleared, and has about a foot of wet, heavy snow on it.

So, I get to spend the day on the treadmill, no doubt with the Jonster hanging around, "what are you doing? I'm hungry. I'm bored. I need new shoes. When am I gonna get some new pants? I'm hungry again. What are you doing now? I'm hungry again. I'm bored. I need, I need, I want, I want..."

Blah.

Okay. Try to lighten the mood here.

I like to do "best/worst" when I do long trips, so here they are:

• Best place to lay a bowling ball so that it never, ever rolls away. Ever. AMARILLO, TX.
• Best place to smell the stockyards everywhere you go: AMARILLO, TX
• Best place to be reminded by a billboard that your should beat your children often to remind them that He is the Lord Your God: MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.
• Best place to have many billboards remind you that Jesus is Your Risen Lord and Savior: MISSISSIPPI and ALABAMA.
• Best place to have a warm, sympathetic person drawl to you softly and sympathetically, while giving you a big, warm hug, "well, bless your heart" ALABAMA.
  
• Best good, clean "feel good" movie I've seen this year: THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
  
• Best place to have Thai food: Surin West, Birmingham, Alabama (It's in the trendy, "Five Points" area. Where, as my sister said in a whisper, "all the gays live". I'm not kidding. She actually dropped her voice said the word "gay" in a whisper. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog. At least, I hope not.)
• Best place to make an absolute pig of yourself and get exactly what you want: TON's MOGOLIAN GRILL, ARLINGTON, TEXAS.
• Coolest way to get your long rides in: Doing BREVETS, which are sponsored by the USA Randeneour club. Or something like that. Sweet Baboo did a 200K, which you can read about on his blog soon.
• Best audio book Sweet Baboo and I listened to on our long trip: RIGHTEOUS MEN.
• Best place to see one of your best friends who you've known for over --eeek!--25 years PLANO TEXAS.
• Best hotel in west Texas: LUBBOCK HOLIDAY INN. The rooms are large. Did I say large? I meant huge. Did I say huge? I meant cavearnous. You can do your own imitation of Julie Andrews singing "The hills are alive" in your room.
  
• Best thing to drink, anywhere, anytime, MILO's SWEET TEA. Now with splenda.
  

PART II

I took it to heart, recently, when Nytro expressed disgust over New Year's resolutionists. For all my hard-charging go-getting bullshit, I must concur. Especially since about 90% of the ones I made last year I did NOT meet.

I'm not even going to link to them. They are so pathetic. You'll have do a search.

So instead, I decided to set some non-resolutions. Here they are, things I will not do in 2007.

Let's start with some easy ones:

1. I resolve not to eat any chlorella this year. I know; it's supposed to be good for you. But, it's so green. It is my personal philosophy that drinks are not supposed to be that particularly virulent shade of green, unless they are lemon-lime coolaid, which I personally believe to be one of the 9 wonders of the world. (The other one is Milo's Sweet Tea with Splenda. You can't get Milos Sweet Tea west of the Mississippi, I think. i've been told I could get it shipped to me. Sweet tea is one of the most redeaming features of the south that exist. The other is the big warm hugs and "well, bless your heart"'s) But I digress. Badly.
   
2. I resolve not to punch out the next person that insists to me that whey is the superior protein and I'm really missing out. Particularly when that person is a pudgy, pasty counter clerk at GNC.
   
3. I resolve not to buy any more equipment for my tribike with the goal of saving weight until I've taken more weight off me.
4. I resolve not to complain quite as much about how I hate cycling. I still haven't 'made friends with' my saddle yet, we've been introduced, but are still eying each other warily, unsure of where this relationship is heading. I've got a line on a custom made saddle which a woman recently told me changed her life. She does 200K rides and up. Changed her life. More on this as it developes.
   
5. I resolve not to try to best Dean Karnazes' 50-in-50 feat. Let's give Dean a chance to enjoy the afterglow for a while before I take that away from him, okay? (Just seeing if you were still with me)
6. I resolve not to run any slower. This should be easy. I think if I did get slower I'd actually be moving backwards.
7. I resolve not to be so bossy in public. I call is the "old teacher syndrome," where you forget that the whole world isn't school and you can't go around admonishing adults to behave, stop running in the hall, and no cutting in line!" Besides, I think it embarasses Sweet Baboo.
8. I resolve not to eat any water chestnuts this year. You know the weird crunch disks in Chinese food? They freak me out. They are so creepy and crunchy. Ew.
   
9. I resolve not to go on, ad nauseum, about my sexy toe socks. No matter how fabulous I think they may be. Even considering that I just got three new pairs of PINK ONES for the holidays.
10. I resolve not to criticize every west Texas town about how it smells. After all, those are the races where people are always EXTRA friendly, so it sorta makes up for it.
    

...