People always ask me what I miss from the U.S. You know what I miss? Jumbo bottles of pain reliever. You can go into any Wal-Mart in America and pay, like, $7 for 500 ibuprofen. Here the biggest package I can find is 24. (The Snook says it’s to keep people from using them to commit suicide.) It’s really annoying.

Tomorrow is Cupcake Day for the RSPCA, and I’m halfway through a mammoth frosting project. C IS FOR CUPCAKE!

I haven’t danced on a platform in fake smoke for like 9 years. Man, so fun. But what is this CRAP that passes for music nowadays?

I REFUSE to dance to Lady Gaga. REFUSE.

I’m home from Hens Night before Snook is home from Bucks Night. This means HE WINS.

Planning a trip to Adelaide, Alice Springs, and Uluru in October with Snook and Eileen. We’re going to be sleeping in swags in the Outback!

The mention of the high cost of US insurance premiums blew my mind. A family pays $13K a year?? I did a quick back-of-the-enveloped calculation and worked out that the Snook and I pay less than $5K a year for health insurance. (That includes the portion of our taxes that go to the state-sponsored insurance, plus the extra private insurance cover we have on top of that.)

• http://pol.moveon.org/truth/lies.html?rc=fb

Ran the 14km City 2 Surf for the fourth time. Finished in about 110 minutes, which wasn’t a personal best but was pretty good considering this wasn’t my goal race. This was just training for my half-marathon in six weeks time…

My Race Report from the 2009 City 2 Surf… with lots of bad photos from the actual course!

• https://web-goddess.org/archive/8566

I really don’t understand the fear of nationalised health care. This American frickin’ LOVED both England’s NHS and Australia’s Medicare. They’re not perfect, but it’s nice not to worry about getting sick and going bankrupt (like people I know back in the States have done).

I can’t even tell the rest of the office how brilliant “Single Ladies (in Mayberry”) is, because they don’t know the Andy Griffith Show.

achieved both goals for 2009 Bay Run: ran whole thing without stopping, and finished in under 50 minutes!

Kristine Howard shared a link.

• https://web-goddess.org/archive/8555

12 hours until I run the 7K Bay Run (bayrun.com.au) at Iron Cove. Weather looks good; feeling optimistic. Time for food, water, & sleep!