Foreclosure Home... Ownership?

Well, apparently no one has taken the bait to comment on the new blog title. It's not a joke--or is it? Yes, I've been going through the process of buying a foreclosure home. I didn't want to blog about it because I figured the deal could fall apart at any moment. On Tuesday, I was supposed to close, but it didn't happen. I've been really frustrated through the whole process. That's not entirely unexpected. I figured I would have to put my fingers in my ears and yell LALALALALA the whole way to get through this, blindly ignoring all my mistakes and the incompetence of everyone involved in the process. Even after I thought I was about to cross the finish line and nothing else could go wrong, it did and I'm still sitting here without a house.

This entry would've been better if I finished it on Tuesday, when I was really angry, before I diffused that anger by having a good run. I was to the point of considering taking my losses and telling my realtor and lender to take a hike. I still feel that way part of the time, but since I can't blame the latest problem on them I'll do my best to not think about it and hopefully get this thing done this month. I just wish I had some power because it feels like everyone assumes there's no risk of me backing out and therefore doesn't need to care about my situation anymore.

One thing I can blame them on is telling me we were good to go, because when they did, I put in my 30 day notice at the apartment. I probably could see if I could renig on that, but I'm looking forward to getting out of here whether I have a house or not. I could save a bit of money being homeless for awhile, and it might be fun!

I'm trying to decide on Christmas plans, but with this hanging over my head and a gig on December 20 (the day my relatives get together), I may not make it North for Christmas this year.

Turkey Trot Fail

I knew Thanksgiving morning that it was going to be tough to beat my time last year. Last year, conditions were perfect. It was cold and dry then, and I had to wear a sweatshirt before the race started. This year, that wasn't the case. It wasn't exactly warm, but I was comfortable in shorts and T-shirt. Also, it was sticky. There was fog on the drive down to the start, and you could feel the moisture in the air. I knew that would slow me down. Also, I was still a little weak from Tuesday's awesome run.

I thought I was only a block or so from the start, but somehow I didn't end up crossing the start line until 14 minutes after the race started. I was waiting on a cross street so I didn't actually see what was going on at the start line. Maybe runners were merging in from somewhere else because the waiting runners I eventually joined weren't even inching closer to the start line for ten minutes or so. In any case, I needed to be a lot farther up because most of the people I started with were walkers. I did my best to dodge them, using the sidewalk down 6th street whenever I could, and maintained as fast a pace as I could, which came out to be an 8 minute mile pace. Not bad considering the traffic, but I imagine I expended a bit more energy than an 8 minute mile pace by myself. Keeping up this pace would've broke my time from last year, but after 2 miles I couldn't do it anymore.

I'm not disappointed that I couldn't break my record this year, but I am disappointed that I gave up so completely (significant walking after 2 miles, resulting in a time of 48:35). I may have ended up with a better time had I not set that goal, as I wouldn't have started out as fast and wouldn't have said "screw it" after realizing I couldn't keep it up. I felt great after my five miles on Tuesday, so I'm looking forward to running at a faster pace outdoors this winter.

suck suck suck SUCK!!!!

Timeline

11:45 pm Leave LJ's
12:00 am Arrive at HEB
12:20 am Leave HEB with Pumpkin Pie ingredients
12:30 am Arrive at home
12:55 am Complete mixing ingredients for two pies
1:00 am Bake at 475 for 15 min
1:15 am Bake at 350 for 45 min
2:00 am Remove pies from oven
2:05 am Go to bed
8:30 am Arrive at work with one pie
11:00 am Have one slice of pie
12:30 pm Lunch
1:30 pm Have second slice of pie. Pie is gone.
3:10 pm Start feeling very tired
3:15 pm Write blog entry

Turkey Trot Prep

Tonight I did a practice 5 miler to see if I had any chance of beating my Turkey Trot time from last year, which was 42:07.2 (8:25/M). I might have been in better shape last year, as I think I was still doing the BFL routine regularly. This year I have been running more, but not lifting at all. So I dunno. Last Saturday I ran 5 miles in 41 minutes, but it consisted of a planned 5K at Town Lake, followed by a long break under Mo-Pac, then another 1.9 miles.

Tonight I first looked at my Garmin at 25 minutes and change, which coincidently turned out to be at 5K, and wasn't discouraged. I looked at my watch again around 36 minutes, and I don't remember what the mileage said but after doing the math I almost stopped running because I didn't think I could make it. I must've done the math wrong though, because I finished in 41:27.

So, there's a decent chance I can beat my time on Thursday. The course is different, so who knows what difference that will make. I figure I'll run a little faster than practice since it's a race.

Whoops!

I forgot to mention that yesterday was the one year anniversary of me beating Brownie at a race!

New BPM Rules

Dying to know what's up with my BPM plan? I'd been considering dropping it for awhile, as it has served its purpose of getting me running again. Also, I knew I'd have trouble keeping up that last week of October which had two concerts and the BRC. Surprisingly, I made it all the way until the Ben Folds concert (10/25) before I finally went in the hole drinking more beer than miles ran. I disappointed myself a little bit, but I had kept it up for over two months which included the ACL Festival and a four day out of town gig, so I think I did pretty well, considering. My first thought after going negative was to scrap it. Then I thought, well, maybe I should still keep track since I'll have to run even more to erase my deficit. So, I tried that for awhile but still thought maybe I should stop since I seemed to be in a good running routine. I stopped logging every day for a bit, through my trip to SF, but not long enough that I couldn't remember. During the SF weekend I decided I might as well drop it (11/9). SF didn't do all that much damage since I ran alot, but after a few days back home I realized that quitting wasn't a good idea because I didn't run for four days. I reconstructed what had happened and started climbing out of the hole.

One beer per mile has encouraged me to run regularly, but slowly. This is not the routine I really want. I was pretty happy with BFL last year, and I want something more like that. That means I need to incorporate some weight lifting into my equation. I've decided on 3 beers per workout. A workout is somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour at the gym, but it's not constant exursion like running is, so I figure a workout is equivalent to a 5K.

Also, since I am running slowly--much of the time 6 mph (10 min/mile) when I'm on the treadmill (way too slow), I'm putting BPM on a sliding scale with 3/4 beer for 6 mph up to 2 beers for 10 mph (a 6 minute mile, which I can't do). That puts 1 bpm at about 7 mph which is somewhere near my average running pace when running outside in the cold. Also, I need to do more sit-ups so I'm giving myself 1/2 beer for each 100 sit-ups.

I didn't think it was fair to change the rules until I was back at even, so after my 4 miles tonight I finally reached equilibrium. I am now at LJ's, and am comfortably back in the hole, for the time being.

Full Moon Hash

It's great that I'm in good enough shape now to be an FRB again. That's not without its problems, though. Watch this and check out how that first check kicked my ass:
Austin FMH3

At least I'm checking, unlike most everyone else! It turns out that trail was laid down the median, which I didn't check. There was an angry dog, too, and I would've been his first victim had he been angry enough. I decided to go around the long way. The weather is getting cool which means I can run forever now.

Word Verification

San Francisco

Trojan turned me on to a great deal by Jet Blue to San Francisco for the weekend. Why not? After I found a cheap hotel online Friday afternoon, I left work half an hour early to catch my flight. After arriving at SFO, I took BART to downtown and settled in. The hotel was in an old building which was kind of cool--I had a small room, with no obvious form of air conditioning, and a small barely functional heater. The elevator was funky too with a pull outside door and a sliding inside door. I only had enough energy Friday night to make it half a block away to a deli where I had a couple of good beers and a corned beef sandwich which looked small, but had enough beef in it that I couldn't finish it.

I was tired, so I didn't get going until Saturday afternoon. I went to the local Mel's Diner and had Steak & Eggs. B4I was B4me to come to see her but I didn't know if she'd be there when I got there, so I went with the plan I formulated the night before. I walked south past City Hall when my Garmin finally locked on.



Then, I started running south and turned west when I got to lower Haight. I dodged all of the few actual hippies and hordes of wanting-to-see-hippie tourists, and ran into a music store to buy a few souvenir guitar picks. I kept heading west. I was already tired from climbing the hills but then got through Golden Gate park fairly easily. The weather was what I would have expected from San Francisco--overcast, cool, and misty. There was a cool waterfall in the middle of the park, which turned into a stream which I ran beside for half a mile or so.


Waterfall at Golden Gate Park

[I know that short video and picture below are sideways, but I'm too lazy/stupid to fix it.]

I walk/ran all the way to Ocean Beach, where I made sure to touch the Pacific Ocean.
Pacific Ocean at Ocean Beach
Pacific Ocean at Ocean Beach

It's funny, I've been to the bay area for probably ten weeks in the last year or two, but never saw the Pacific Ocean the whole time. I'm struggling to remember the last time I did--probably seven or eight years ago.

Saturday evening I headed to the Marina to say hi to B4I but her bar was packed with USC fans. I had one PBR and left. At this point B4I was thinking I was a creep because she hadn't recognize me after I dropped a couple of hints. I guess I should start posting pictures of myself here. I went down the street with a $2 Miller Lite and $3 Pilsner Urquell special going on, and had a rather enlightening conversation with an old teacher dude as I watched Cal hang in there for a bit but finally lose to USC. B4I had already left work when I got back, so I went back to the hotel with intentions of seeing some music, but the beer specials took hold and I was done.

Thanks to the time difference, I woke up really early, so Sunday I decided to make the best of it by running the Embarcadero 10K.


Start of Embarcadero 10K

It started at the Hyde Street Pier and went along the coast 'til almost AT&T Park before turning around. The race was put on by the Dolphin South End runners club, who holds a race every weekend. Their races are casual (no blocked off streets, no timing chips, a small field, etc). I was kind of worried about screwing myself up by running all dehydrated and hungry, but it went rather well and I still feel fine. There were no water stops so I thought I might have run faster than my last 10K, but I ended up around 55 minutes--still a good time for me. My Garmin's battery was dead so I don't have any specific data. I talked to hasher at the end of the race named Jack the Ripper. The timing didn't work out as far as going to a SF hash, so maybe next time. I was close to the Marina so I made it down to try to say hi again to B4I and was successful this time. I had a nice burger and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had the Packers/Vikings game on, and also had fans of both teams sitting at the bar. B4I was nice enough to call GF to come down and drink with me.

GF and I at bar
B4I at work

They make B4I wear a helmet at work so she doesn't hurt herself.

I then headed to Krissy Field on B4I's recommendation for a few minutes.

Golden Gate Bridge from Krissy Field
Alcatraz from Krissy Field

After that, I went out to eat with my dad and planned to check out some music but failed yet again. I had to get up shortly after 6 the next day so decided to be responsible and crap. Blah.

I enjoyed this short trip, and am now more determined to get up to SF whenever they send me to Santa Clara for work. It's much cooler than Silicon Valley.

Spontaneous Vacation

It's almost time for my spontaneous vacation. It's not completely spontaneous since I bought my airplane ticket three weeks ago, but the ticket purchase was pretty spontaneous. It still feels spontaneous since I only packed this morning, reserved a hotel a few hours ago, and haven't made any plans for what I'll do when I get there. Spontaneous!

Continued

Last week was pretty uneventful. I voted Friday evening, but felt kinda crappy so didn't go out Halloween night. I don't remember anything else of consequence that week. But, I still haven't finished blogging about the prior weekend. I left off taking a nap Saturday afternoon after a long band practice. It wasn't easy to motivate to do anything that night, and I wasn't entirely excited about it, but I did have a ticket for Ben Folds at Stubb's so I managed to get down there before he started. I did miss the opening act, though. I haven't bought his latest album, and maybe not even his last, so I didn't know any of his new stuff. I didn't get into any of it that much. I haven't liked hardly any of his stuff since the Rockin' the Suburbs album. Not like Weezer I guess. My wait was rewarded, however, as he brought out a lot of old stuff after the break. Kate, Philosophy, Underground, Fair (with very "Obama" sounding b/u vocals), RTS, Z&S, Annie Waits, the reprise of audience vocals ala Ben Folds Live on Army & Not the Same, etc. Also he gave me an idea for a quick halloween costume that I wore to the hash the next day (see below). Two other hashers that I just met that day actually made the connection of the costume to the show, as they also went.

Wow, a rare political post

I guess I'm still up cause I'm curious about the Franken/Coleman race. It's close at the moment, but starting to not look good for Franken. Even though I voted for Coleman 6 years ago, I would like to see Franken win so he gets a better appreciation for how tough (I assume) the job is. And I'm generally in favor of celebrity politicians. Ventura was hilarious. Someone remind me when I saw Al Franken on the subway in NYC. I feel special that I did, since it pre-Stuart Smalley (but also post-Al Franken decade, I believe).

Catching Up

I'm still blogging about events two weeks ago. I stayed home sick the day following the Weezer show--partially cause I stayed out too late but also because I knew was developing a sore throat/flu/cold thing and it felt really bad Tuesday morning. I did actually work a bit from home, though. Wednesday and Thursday I spent freaking out about the upcoming practice on Saturday. We hadn't gotten together for quite a while due to our bass player's new crappy work schedule. We've all been supposedly practicing on our own but I am really losing interest in playing covers. I fear I may not last much longer.

That Friday was the Burnet Road Challenge! It was the fourth year, and ever since I showed up a little late to the first one and ended up with an XL shirt, I spend all day freaking out about getting there in time for the right shirt. No problem this time, though I don't think I'm sold on the wicking shirts. They're not quite as comfortable as regular cotton and they stink BAD after you've ran in them. I was in awesome running shape for this one, so I ran the whole way. Technically I DNFed since I didn't have two beers per stop after the first three stops, but I didn't care--I had to be in some sort of shape the next morning for practice.

The next morning I really exhausted myself. I rode my bicycle from home back to the BRC start to get my car, then had to load/unload the keys/guitar/amp/stand from my apt (four trips down two flights of stairs) before practice at 10am. I was dead by the time practice was done, and didn't play very well. I needed a nap and took a long one that evening.