A Lot of Nothing Really

OMG.

So I just logged onto Blogger to post, and the homepage pulled up to reveal three baby pictures in the Blogger update section (Blogger employees had kids, I guess).

I swear to Twizzlers, it scared the begeezus out of me - I almost threw up.

One second my eyes are diverted watching TV and waiting for the Dashboard to pull up, the next second my hearts in my throat as I make eye contact with what appear to be three aliens staring at my soul.

Shake it off, shake it off.

Ugh.

Okay.

Back to self.

So scratch that earlier post - turns out that if you just stay up long enough (i.e. after 2AM) you miraculously find time to post. Okay, so it's more like you start to hallucinate and distract yourself from the real work at hand. And here is what poured out of my overworked noodle:


Sleigh Bells Ring
As heard on a news report at 2:01 AM:

“It’s August 5th, and time to start thinking about those gadgets you’ll want this holiday season.”

And then moments later, to lead into the story: “We’re smack dab in the middle of summer, which makes it the perfect time to start thinking about the Christmas holiday!”

Uh…no.

No, it’s most definitely not time to start thinking about it.

You know what it is time for?

It’s time to think about how to squeeze in last minute bbq’s, a final summer sunburn, where to shake out all that beach sand, and how to score that kiss from a summer-long crush before school starts next week. THAT’S what it’s time to think about.

‘Cause by my calculations, Christmas is like, 100 months away right now.

If people in the U.S. are seriously starting Christmas shopping this early, I'm moving to Europe.

Oh but wait - also on the same news report? "More men in Britian are wearing tights."

Okay, so maybe not to the Britian part of Europe.


Kleenex S.T.A.T.
Does anyone else watch “Hopkins?”

Holy Shit Buckets I love this show.

It’s like a real life “ER” if “ER” didn’t blow ass. Last week’s show included a baby that almost died after being shaken (tears forming, throat lump rising) and then a man donating his kidney to save his wife (full blown sobbing, wiping snot with tee-shirt, calling all family members just to say “I love you”).

Like I don’t get enough trauma in my everyday life, it’s like I have to actively seek it out in my leisure time.

But seriously. Watch it.

Now.


Denial Ain't Just a River of Lard
Report out today: Most kids' meals at top restaurant chains have way too many calories to be healthy.

It goes on to say that this is contributing to childhood obesity.

Are we JUST NOW finding this out?

First off, why are people constantly surprised that fatty foods make for fatty people?

And second off, why is it a surprise to people that if you feed your kids fried chicken nuggets (or the like), french fries, and soda weekly - or even daily - kids will be fat?

I mean, the chicken in the nuggets doesn’t cancel out the fact that it’s still fried, nor does the vegetable part of a French fry cancel out its inherent evil.

But yet we spend money to conduct studies to tell us that bad foods are bad for us.

And truth be told– I am not perfect (contrary to popular belief), as I too have fallen victim to the heavenly greasiness of comfort foods. In fact, my late teens and early twenty were basically spent climbing out of a daily bucket o’ fries (the hangover recovery variety), so it surprised me none when I had to keep buying bigger pants.

Now, of course I had blips of occasional denial and was convinced that the dryer was making my pants smaller, but in my heart of hearts, I knew it was the routine 3AM Riccobene's deliveries.

And even back then - in all my drinking and pack-a-day smoking habit glory - I knew that I needed to knock off the cinnamon roll and glazed donut diet or I would be doomed to early heart disease and a lot of dateless nights.

But at this point – in the year 2008 - it has to be common sense, right?

Or maybe I am just hanging out in circles that are the anomalies of healthy living.

Good thing this is where all our government money is going – to study things we already know the answer to - ‘cause gosh knows it’s not going to silly little things like real child welfare.


Looking Ahead
So I am putting this out there – I am considering doing an ultra in Chicago in November. It would be about three weeks after my marathon in October, which I figure might not be a bad idea – I could use the marathon as one of my final training runs.

My reluctance comes from my anxiety over potential injury. I mean, I hate setting a goal that my body fails to meet. This has happened twice – once, training for the New Orleans marathon, when I tore my cartilage after the 20 mile training run and dropped out of the race two weeks before; and the second time was when I blew my back out right before IM AZ 07. Both times was pretty devastating.

And moreover, I just don’t want to risk injury period. Screw the race – I can’t deal with a third knee surgery.

But yet….it’s there.

This need to train.

So I ponder…..