RunLog: Two more personal bests! I finally broke eleven minutes for the mile, and I finished the 5K in 37:00 flat. My back didn’t trouble me at all and my tendon hasn’t hurt since I got the new shoes. Of course, now I have new problems. After I got off the treadmill I went to stretch and noticed myself feeling very woozy and dizzy. I don’t think it was a dehydration issue, because I hadn’t had any less to drink today than I normally do. I sat down for a minute and it went away. But get this: fifteen minutes later I was at the post office waiting in a huge line to pick up a package. They had the air con cranked way high and I was still warm from the gym. Suddenly my stomach just started cramping and I felt like I was going to be sick. I was sweaty and clammy and I could feel my stomach churning. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and headed home as quickly as I could. So what was up with that, I ask you more experienced runners? Was I actually dehydrated? Or was it going from the very warm outside to the really cool inside? Hmm, the water I was drinking during my run had come from the fridge, so could the coldness of that have been a factor? This has never happened to me before, and it made me feel so crummy that I want to avoid it happening again.

Holy crap! Indiana is the ninth smartest state? And I don’t even live there anymore! 🙂

The Lord of the Peeps: Fellowship of the Peeps. People, I have no words…

Okay, so I’ve been stressing about this Thanskgiving dinner and reading all the great turkey ideas you guys posted… and now I’m wondering how you are with side dishes. I mean, I’d planned to just do the normal veggies and casserole-type stuff, but I’m suddenly worried that my plain Indiana fare will fail to impress. So, got any new and exciting ways to serve yams? Any secret family recipes for outta-this-world baked beans? I’m looking for inspiration, folks. If you’ve got any favorite holiday dishes, please post a recipe or link to this thread and save my ass. Thank you. 🙂

I had a bit of a reading marathon today and managed to finish Kushiel’s Dart. Huh. I think we’ll have lots to discuss. How’s everybody else doing? I know this is a busy time of year, so if folks haven’t had a chance to pick it up (but still want to) let me know and we’ll just postpone the discussion a bit. If you’re still on the fence, just let me warn (or is it persuade?) you again that this is a very “sexy” book and you should be pretty open-minded before tackling it. There aren’t any really graphic sex descriptions; it’s more just the idea of what Phédre is and how her world works. (Personally, I’d have preferred more scenes of nookie with my favorite character – and less with, oh, say everybody else – but that’s jumping ahead to the discussion and that’s very naughty.) Just so you know.

My house stinks. The Snook is brewing again…

<darkly>No, Harry Potter is not out here yet. It won’t be out here for two weeks. So I don’t wanna hear about it. This is my punishment for seeing it before everybody else last year. I’m trying to convince the Snook to fly me to Singapore before I explode with frustration.</darkly>

Ask Yahoo answers the age old question: “What are blogs and why are they so popular?” My reply would be: “If you have to ask, you don’t spend enough time on the Internet for me to bother explaining it to you.”

Dammit! Max wrote a nice big post about my Thanksgiving plans, but thanks to some insensitive bastards, he’s turned off his comments and I can’t thank him for the shout-out. Thanks, Max! I was also going to tell him that we deep-fry turkeys in Indiana, too. (At least, my Mom says she’s done it.) I found a recipe and showed it to the Snook yesterday, to which he immediately replied: “Where in the world do we get 20 liters of lard?” Good question. We’ll stick with roasting.

The drought rages on. The city has imposed voluntary water restrictions to try to bring the level in our reservoirs back up. Apparently “voluntary” means they’re not going to fine you if you water your lawn, but they’re urging your neighbors to tell you on if you do. Hmmm. Fine, I can refrain from watering during the day. But my worms need moisture or they’ll dry out and die! I figure I can also stop taking the occasional bath and go back to just showering. I’ll miss my bath bombs though!