Happy Thanksgiving

I don't know why most people are in such a rush to blow by Thanksgiving to get to Christmas. Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays still untouched by Hallmark and commercialism. It is a time to pause, to spend with friends and family, to remind yourself of the blessings in your life.

I spent the day at the house, getting started on that last 10 percent before heading over to my cousin's house for the family dinner. There will be 35± people there, and love will be mixed with a little chaos.

Just finished raking leaves while listening to 'Alice's Restaurant'. It feels like Thanksgiving already.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Piling up

Busy weekend...

-Friday evening: book club.
-Saturday early morning: volunteer meeting.
-Saturday late morning: 12 mile run.
-Saturday afternoon: waiting for the furnace guy, last minute prep for the move.
-Saturday evening: Friend's Thanksgiving.
-Sunday: moving stuff from the house to storage, taking the movers to pizza, one more trip to the house.

I was supposed to get a 18 mile run in this weekend, but the schedule just didn't allow for it (without doing something crazy like getting up before dawn). Quite frankly I probably wasn't up to it anyway. The additional running I am doing at work has me a little run down.

So now it is on to the two week taper period in preparation for the marathon. The taper period is when you back off the mileage after months of build up, in order to rest up for the big day. My longest training run this time is only 16 miles, so in one way there is less to back off from. On the other hand, I will be running the Monday - Friday before the marathon, so there won't be a lot of rest. Each time you toe the line, there are doubts. They're piling up early this time.

In the midst of the busy weekend, my debit card stopped working. I had stopped to gas up late Saturday night and it was declined. After using a credit card, I walked over to Albertson's to pick up some breakfast for the movers, and my debit card was declined there too. Paranoia rising, I jumped online as soon as I got home. Fortunately, there was still money in the account.

I received a call from my bank Sunday evening. They said there were some suspicious charges so they had shut off my card. Someone has stolen my account information for the second time in the last four months. This time around the charges were pretty big. I asked if there was some common issue going on here, but he said this wasn't that unusual. Not too reassuring, but I'm glad they are looking out for me.

After the busy weekend, I was smoked. So tired it felt like a weight in my chest. Even though I was ready to doze off during dinner, I wasn't able to get to sleep Sunday night. Too much swirling around in the old noggin. You'd think it would be tired by now too.

We are in the home stretch (hopefully) in the house sale as well. With the holiday weekend, and a slightly disorganized escrow company, there will be a mad scramble to get all the papers signed in time. There is still a fair amount of touch up to do at the house as well. As my brother put it, the last 10% seems to take forever.

I'm sure part of what is swirling around in my head keeping me up at night is the sale of the house. It is bittersweet. If the sale goes through, it will be sweet that we were able to sell it so quickly. But there is a shade of bitter as well. It is the right thing to do at this point, but I hate to see the house go. The mad scramble to get it done in three weeks only adds to the tension I'm feeling.

My printer broke this evening. There was a paper jam, and when I pulled the sheet out, a little wheel came with it. I needed to print out documents to sign and get to escrow ASAP. I so desperately wanted to put my fist through the scanner. Need to find a way to uncoil the spring until things taper off.

Quote of the day

"Literature will always be political: It cultivates empathy for a theoretical stranger by putting you inside his head, allowing you to experience life from his point of view. It can broaden your view of gender, ethnicity, place and time, power and vulnerability, all the elements that influence social interaction. What could be more political than that?"

~from an interview with author Barbara Kingsolver

Dream job

I have started working with the delivery company again. I am on a different route with a different driver this year. I like the new guy well enough, but the new route has me running about three times as far. Lots of dirt roads and long driveways. At 20% less pay, it is quite the bargain.

The trucks are also wired with a little Big Brother this year. Of course they were already updated constantly when packages were delivered, enabling customers to track their deliveries. In addition, the trucks now monitor whether seat belts are fastened, the cargo door is closed, and how long the truck sits at idle. A company that relies on efficiencies continues its quest for every saved second and increase in safety.

My driver Rich and I have been chatting, sharing histories and stories. Conversational segues veer this way and that, sometimes on the thinnest of threads. It was raining steadily as I hopped in the truck yesterday. I was wearing a running skullcap made of some technical fabric. He asked if it was waterproof, and my response was, "We'll find out. Maybe once my head is soaked it will act like a wetsuit and keep me warm."

So then we were off on scuba diving. I've been on a couple of cruises in the past, and have fantasized about leaving the world behind and teaching scuba to tourists on a tropical island. My driver Rich did something close to it. He and his wife moved to Key West and opened up a shop. He said it was fun for a while and he met a few celebrities. But he said that even the dream job turned into a job. His wife turned out to get seasick, customers were jerks, etc. Then he had a customer die of an embolism while he was surfacing. Fantasy over. He eventually moved back to Washington, his wife became his ex-wife, and swimming in the sun was replaced with running in the rain.

Reality really messes with the fantasy.

Uhh...

E-mail wisdom

Most of the time our happiness is reactive behavior. We let things or people be the cause of our happiness. True happiness has no reason. It's a choice.

Today, find one reason for joy. And focus on that for the day.

-- Signature line from a freecycle member.

Is that a new toy for us?

I found this picture in the boxes of cards I went through last week. It is our two dogs checking out the hamsters in the Habitrail. They were hypnotized watching the hamsters running through the tubes. Pretty cute.

Off the grid

I have been away from the tubes of the internet, and it has been good.

I spent much of last week at the house. I was meeting several people who had responded to my 'for sale' and 'giveaway' ads, and it just made more sense to stay there and avoid the drive each day. The house has been pared down quite a bit, but at least there is still a bed to sleep in.

There is no internet or tv hooked up at the house to distract or escape to during the evenings. I brought along a movie or two to watch on my laptop, but spent quite a bit of time digging through boxes I haven't unpacked for the last few moves. Three or four of them were cards, letters, announcements and the occasional picture I have saved over the last 20 years. I spent more than one evening sifting through the souvenirs of years of friendships and relationships.

It still seems odd to describe things in decade-size chunks. Most of the time I don't feel old enough to have 20 years of adulthood to look back on. There were cards and notes from my high school girlfriend, letters from people I used to work with, wedding and birth announcements, lots of birthday and Christmas cards, and some other random objects. Objects that would mean nothing to almost everyone, but for me are talismans representing events at different points in my life. It was a mostly fond walk down memory lane. We'll deal with the more recent boxes sometime later.

I came across a note from my Mom letting me know that she and my Dad were getting remarried. I also found a wedding picture from their first wedding tucked away with a couple photos of me around age two. I found things from a couple of friends I haven't seen in more than 10 years. By some coincidence, one of them found me on Facebook a day later. We are hoping to get together sometime soon, and looking through the cards reminded me of what a great friend she was. Having had this memory refresh it will probably be even more surprising to see each other after so much time.

I am a sentimental pack rat, but I tried to thin out the things in those boxes. Birthday and Christmas cards went into the recycling bin unless they had special meaning. There were several wedding invitations, but if the marriage didn't survive, the invitations didn't either. All the letters made the cut, and after all the sifting, I probably only cut things back by a quarter. Still a sentimental pack rat, just with a fairly open-weave filter.

I was largely offline for the week. I went to a few coffee shops to update ads and respond to interested buyers, but there wasn't any blog reading or random surfing.

Then over the weekend, a couple of friends flew me down to Arizona. I have been visiting my friend Bill for the past 10 years since he moved to Tucson for work. Scott and I head down to watch a little football and play a little golf. We missed last year for financial reasons, and because Bill was expecting his first child.

Scott and Bill chipped in to make sure I made it down this year. They felt (knew) I could use a little away time with the boys. We didn't go to a football game, but did catch the Seahawk's loss on tv. The weekend was otherwise very low-tech. We caught up on our lives over rounds of golf, morning coffee, and lovely dinners at home. Their almost one year-old wobbled around the living room showing off her new walking skills. She slowly warmed up to Scott and I, but still wasn't sure if we were OK after three days.

I dragged my laptop down in case something was needed for the home sale, but didn't ever turn it on. It was a wonderful weekend off the grid, spending time more wisely - sharing it with friends.

Goodbye

I helped a friend say goodbye to his dog Mandy today. She has been going downhill for sometime, walking through her life with a variety of ailments including Cushings disease. She had lost weight, most of her sight and almost all of her hearing. Toward the end she had difficulty eating, drinking and taking care of business. She became weak and had some difficulty walking a straight line.

My friend has had Mandy since she was a puppy, and they spent something like 17 years together. Even with all her ailments, she didn't seem to be in pain. This made the decision that much harder for him. Was it really her time he kept asking. He didn't mind taking care of her and cleaning up her accidents. But she was clearly a different dog. Though she may not have been in pain, it didn't appear that she had much joy left. She wasn't Mandy anymore, just a shadow of what she was.

I went over to build a box for Mandy to be buried in. We talked about her and my friend's tortured decision as we prepared for her final moments. He originally thought he wanted to be alone at the vet, but I ended up joining him. The vet was very caring and professional, allowing us to spend the time needed, then explaining the procedure and assuring us it would be peaceful.

Dogs live in the moment and have a grace I doubt many humans will ever achieve. As the vet said, dogs don't know what is coming at the end. They do not suffer the torment of the approaching end. They pain just stops one day as they move on from our world. The vet was wonderful, asking questions about Mandy, prompting happy stories from my friend as his dog drifted away in his arms.

Today was painful, but I was honored to be chosen to be there. I dread the day when I need to make a similar decision. It was the right one, but for some time that won't much matter. There will just be an emptiness in the home that won't be filled for a long time. When joy and grace disappears, it can leave a pretty dark void.

But slowly, bit by bit, fondness will replace the pain associated with memory. He will move a piece of furniture months from now and find a toy or wisp of hair, and it will bring a smile. It will warm his soul as he remembers his best friend and how lucky he was to have her grace his life.

Server busy.Take a moment.

With the (hopefully) rapidly approaching sale deadline for the house, I need to get more stuff out of the house. I've been posting things I can sell on Craigslist, and giving away more stuff on Freecycle. I apparently overwhelmed Craigslist at some point. I got this error message.


Not many errors come with poetry...from elves.

What a day

A lot happened yesterday.

We have accepted an offer on the house. Pretty fortunate in this market to have an offer come to us in just over a week. I am not counting my chickens yet, as there are inspections and appraisals and various other hoops to get through, but we're hopeful. Looks like the clean up and improvements made a difference.

A couple hours before we heard back from the buyer, the owner of the company I used to work for called to tell me he was closing up shop. Certain things happened to make it much more difficult and expensive for him to stay in business. And since the market is a fraction of what it used to be, he has decided it is not worth the fight to carry on. He called me to both let me know what was happening, and to ask for my help in winding things down.

And later I found out that one of my friends lost his job. He wrote me today that it could end up being a good thing in the long run, as he may be able to get a different (better) position at the company as a contractor. But that is only so much comfort as he packed up his office.

So yay, crap, and damn it?

What the...

I went over to the house today to check on things, refill the flyer box, and see how many business cards were sitting on the counter.

Each time I come home, the house is a little different. Lights are left on, blinds are left open, etc. Today was more disturbing. The door from the house to the garage was wide open and the light in the garage was left on. On closer examination, the garage side door was unlocked as well. In addition, the shed door was locked but not closed all the way, so the door just pushed open.

I can only hope this was carelessness and not intentional. Each agent has to electronically sign in to obtain the key to the house, so there is a record of when they were there. Of course I have no idea who their clients are at this point. I am having my agent check the records to see who was there last.

When I was an agent, it was odd to walk through someone else's home, and now I am on the other side. As an agent, it was my responsibility to protect people's property and keep the house secure. I always did a final walk-through to make sure everything was buttoned up, especially if I had a client with me. It was my responsibility, so I couldn't just assume they had locked up.

I occasionally found doors unlocked and things that seemed wrong when I walked into a home. I made sure to call the listing agent to let them know what I had found so they could make sure nothing had been taken. We haven't heard from anyone, so I can only assume it was the last agent through that left things unlocked.

Feeling a little violated.

Another weekend of good stuff

My weekend long run is up to 15 miles, and I decided to get it in on Saturday before Halloween kicked into gear. More good weather, just some wind messing things up toward the end. I did fine until about mile ten, and then ran low on energy. Legs felt heavy, heart rate started to climb, brain started to rebel. I had skipped lunch, so I was pretty hungry by the time I was done, but I made it through.

I was invited to a friend's house to walk the neighborhood with her kids. Halloween means very little to me most years. I don't get in to the dress up thing, and we didn't get more than handful of trick-or-treaters at the house on any year. Walking around with some five year olds was right way to spend the holiday.

They were seriously amped before they even dug into the candy for the sugar rush. The neighborhood was a good one for trick-or-treaters with plenty of the houses handing out candy. One house had even set up a haunted house in his garage, scary enough that some of the kids didn't dare go in. As we went along we ran in to some of the kid's friends, so the group grew as we made our way down the street.

The kids are old enough to walk up to the doors by themselves, so the adults hung out in the street. As the kids ran back, they screamed out "we got ___" (fill in the blank with type of candy). Skittles and popcorn balls seemed to be the most exciting. Fortunately the kids ran out of steam before the adults, and were content to head back to dig in to their loot after about an hour.

The adults stayed up late playing cards while the kids tried to come down off their sugar high long enough to fall asleep. The group got together again for lunch on Sunday with a couple more friends. We walked down to a local brewery and became card carrying citizens of the Rogue nation. Citizenship has its privileges - discounts, birthday beers, etc. I also picked up my King County Library card on Sunday so the wallet is getting filled with good stuff.

When unprepared, just fake it.

I have accepted the challenge to run the inaugural Las Vegas Rock n Roll Marathon on December 6th, owing much to my sponsor (s) for making it happen. I am very fortunate to have the support of friends like this. To not only challenge me, setting a goal to get me moving forward, but to lend additional support to make it happen. I don't know where I find these people.

Because there are no days off in December, I will be flying in on Saturday, running 26.2 miles Sunday morning, and flying home Sunday night. Definitely not the right way to recover, but you do what you have to. On the plus side, there won't be any time to gamble away any money I don't have.

My prepwork for this marathon will be a little different as well. Much of my mid-week running in the final weeks will be done in short bursts running packages. It will be a modification of the popular run/walk method, becoming more of a sprint/sit rotation.

I will get some longer runs in each weekend, but I will definitely have fewer miles than normal under my belt by the time I reach the starting line. I will take a tip from Anthony Edwards and make use of my best make-believe skills.

Anthony Edwards returns to tv in NYC Marathon

That and his special use of Accelerade and sit up techniques. Is there a stunt double that I can call on to take my place when it gets difficult?

Hat tip to Half-Fast for the video link.

The person you are trying to reach can not be located

The home officially went on the market on Tuesday. Today the yard sign is in place, and discussions with neighbors have been ratcheted up a notch.

I was calling around changing addresses yesterday. Since I am mostly out of the house while it is on the market, I also am trying to reduce unnecessary expenses where I can. I called Verizon to see if I could reduce the tv and internet service we’re signed up for at the house. I thought the contract ran through January, so I was hoping to get a cheaper package to cut costs in the meantime. Apparently the contract was up last week, so I was able to cancel both TV and internet service. Yay!

I wasn’t thinking things through though, because that also canceled my Verizon e-mail account For some reason it also wiped the DVR clean. Now I can’t log onto the account and any e-mail sent to me from now on goes nowhere. I wasn’t sure if people would get an error, or if it just goes into the ether. (A friend latter let me know that he received a bounce-back message).

I like so many others have become very e-mail dependent. When I was working as a real estate agent, I realized how many people turn to e-mail as there first means of communication. I was meeting a potential buyer at a house, and waited 45 minutes before giving up on him. When I made it home and checked my e-mail, I found a message from him that he wasn't going to make it - sent 5 minutes before our meeting time. Of course I was already at the meeting place by then. He had my phone number, but didn't think to use it. I bought a new phone that received e-mail a short time later.

My Verizon e-mail was my main and professional e-mail address. It is on my former business cards, my resumes, networking sites, etc. Now it was no longer valid. As an odd coincidence, two days ago my Windows-based phone required an upgrade on a program that allowed me to access my MSN e-mail address. The upgrade wiped out the old program, but did not install one to replace it. I haven't done research yet, but for now the end result is my Windows-based phone can't receive e-mail from my MSN account (and now I'm hooked on mobile access).

So my MSN e-mail wasn't accessible by my phone, and the address wasn't the most professional anyway. Not something I should be putting on resumes. So I added a Gmail account to the growing list of e-mail accounts. Of course I am late to the Google game, so my name is long gone as an e-mail address. A series of numbers had to be added.

Then came the task of letting all the people and websites know how to get a hold of me now. People were updated relatively easily - at least those in my address book - but websites were another issue. Since I've acquired several e-mail accounts over the years, different websites have different e-mail addresses attached to them. I've run into more than one site that won't let me change the address without signing up for a new account.

It would be nice to have e-mail portability something like cell phone numbers have now. That, and a forwarding message like you could put on an old phone number when you moved. Of course changing my address did drop several mailing lists that I won't go out of my way to renew. Maybe I don't want leave a trail after all.

Back in the jumpseat

So I got the job running packages over the holiday season.

I was called over the weekend by someone in the HR department offering me the job. I mentioned the day off I was hoping to take in December, and she made a note of it and didn't imply it would be a problem. Cool.

Then I received a call back yesterday from the guy who did the initial interview. He said the previous caller didn't understand their requirements. I needed to choose between taking the day off or getting the job. Naturally I chose the job. I should have about five weeks worth of work starting in mid-November, hopefully with as many full days as possible.

I'm crossing my fingers the weather will be better this year. The deep freeze and unusual amount of snow we received last year really made a mess of things, extending Christmas into the new year. Judging by the temps and amount of rainfall we've had recently, I think rain is more likely than snow this time around due to El Nino, the Pineapple Express, or some other thing.

Now get out there and shop so there is something for me to deliver!

Voices in my head

With the carpet installation, etc over the weekend, I didn't have time to get in my long run. I managed to find a two hour, rain-free window this afternoon to squeeze in a 12 miler. Instead of running several loops around the house, I headed down to Lake Sammamish to run along the lake trail.

It is a great gravel path that was created a couple of years ago through the "Rails to Trails" program. It is nice and level, and it generally stays about 100 feet from the shoreline. It was about 10 degrees cooler than my run last week, but we are still in the upper 40's, so it is still relatively comfortable.

I brought my Shuffle along and listened to a couple podcasts as I ran. One of them was the latest episode of Pheddipidations. This week's installment was the race report episode from the Worldwide Festival of Races. Steve shared some race reports submitted by the other 1160 participants from 45 countries who ran one of the events.

I had written an e-mail to Steve the night before the race, thanking him for both his podcast and for sponsoring this event. This last minute entry into a (free) half marathon was the kick in the butt I needed. As I ran the path today, I was surprised to hear him read my letter on the podcast. It wasn't my race report, since it was written the night before the race, but was more about why I was running. It was pretty weird to hear my words, spoken by someone else come through the headphones. My words about why I was running, while I was running.

It's a small world after all.

A new look

Well the carpet is in and looks pretty nice. It definitely gives the house a warmer look. The installation went pretty well - they had it in by about 4:00 and no hidden charges. They did ding up some of the trim, so I had to touch it up. On Sunday I moved all the furniture back in and mopped a bit, so the house is ready to go.

The biggest difference is in the hallway and living room.

I created some flyers this evening, so we should be ready to go live. Fingers crossed the market isn't as bad as they say...

The morning after

After another night of too little sleep, I am waiting for the carpet installers to arrive. It has been a stormy week weather-wise. The sky has opened and pounded us with rain, like the world was ending and you'd best find a spot on the ark. Rains that make you pause in dumbfounded amazement. The sound was especially impressive underneath the aluminum patio cover.

This morning, all is quiet sitting at the dining room table surrounded by furniture. Outside it is calm, and the world is trying to dry itself off.

Last minute upgrade

Once I moved most of the stuff out of the house, and did a thorough cleaning and touch up tour, I invited our real estate agent over to take a look. She took several pictures and we filled out the preliminary paperwork. Then it was on to the discussion of price.

The best way to come up with a listing price is to see what similar homes have sold for recently. Then you take a look at comparable houses that are currently for sale. It doesn't matter what you owe, or how much you would like to profit - the buyer is looking for the best deal on the market. In the current market, there are lots of sellers competing for a small pool of buyers.

Our agent and I looked at online photos of our competition. Several had made some upgrades. We would need to price ours lower to attract a buyer willing to do some remodeling. Our floors are the worst problem. The carpet is in pretty bad shape, heavily worn with some stains, and each bedroom has a different color. The hardwood floors in the living room are almost as bad. The previous buyer had carpet over them and tore them out just before the sale. There are multiple stains from the staples as well as some water marks from spills. The wood is in bad enough shape that they aren't worth saving.

We have decided to replace the carpet in the house before we put it on the market. We considered setting aside some money for the prospective buyer to do it themselves (and pick the color), but the floors are bad enough that they make a poor first impression. We hesitate to put too much money into the place since we don't know what the market will bring, but we have agreed that this will make a huge difference in the look of the house. I originally looked at replacing the hardwoods as well, but it is much cheaper to just put carpet over them.

To save some money, I am doing the tearout myself. I also needed to remove and replace the base trim. In the rooms with carpet, the trim is sitting directly on the wood floors, and they need to be a half inch higher so the carpet can run underneath. While I had them all torn out, I gave them all a new coat of paint.


The carpet in the hallway was in the worst shape. It of course gets more traffic, and it was pretty beaten down and stained. As I pulled it up and saw the underside of it, it was clear we made the right decision.



I think our pooch had at most two accidents in the house, so the underside of the carpet was a gross record of all owners past. I didn't unearth any terrible smells, but there was definitely a funk that has now been exorcised.

The new carpet gets installed this Saturday. It should make a world of difference in how the house looks. When the buyer walks in the door, they will be greeted with a brand new room and won't have their first impression be a house in need of repair. The beauty and potential of the house should now outshine the few remaining blemishes.

More on health care

"This American Life" is one of the better podcasts that I listen to. As Matt mentioned, their last two podcasts have been on the health care system.

Part one describes how doctors, patients and insurance companies each contribute to the problem of escalating health care costs. Like so many issues, everyone has a hand in the problem. Part of the reason market forces don't work as expected in the the health (and other) insurance markets, is the disconnect between who consumes and who pays for the product. Part two expands on this topic.

In part two of the series, they team up with another good podcast on my regular rotation, "Planet Money". Planet Money does a very good job of explaining the complicated economic issues of our time. In part two they describe how we almost accidentally ended up with employer based health insurance. They have a great comparison with shopping for groceries that does a good job of pointing out the oddity of this setup.

They also cover the huge difference between the cost of name brand and generic drugs. They compare two identical acne drugs, one is $50 and the other $668. The difference - the $650 version comes with (non prescription) calming wipes, calming serum and a calming mask - worth a few dollars. Because of the disconnect, the patient (if he has insurance) has no clue about the costs of the two choices. The piece has a good bit about how the insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies encourage patients in opposite directions.

There is also a good bit on pet insurance, how costs of treatment are thought of differently, and the story of a hedgehog.

Another topic that has been brought up is that patients often receive multiple bills for one office visit. One from the hospital, one from the doctor, one from the radiologist, etc. Adding to the confusion is the varying amounts listed on the bill. There is the listed cost, and then the adjusted price the insurance is willing to pay. Each insurance pays differently, based on their market share and negotiating power. From this number, the insurance pays their portion depending on your coverage, and then finally there is the bill due to you.

I have received four bills so far for my doctor and hospital visits earlier this summer. I'm not sure if this is all I will be billed for, as medical bills are notoriously slow to arrive. There may be other bills from radiology, lab work and other folks that had a hand in things. As near as I can interpret, the charges so far:

Total Charges - $9,407.19
Insurance adjustments - ($5,784.15)
Insurance payments - $2,764.25
Billed to me - $858.79 (plus co-pays of about $125)

If I am interpreting things correctly, the hospital/physicians are getting paid about 39% of what they are billing. Is the total charge line like the sticker price of a car that no one is expected to pay, or are these real costs that need to be made up elsewhere? According to the last part of the podcast, some of the costs are passed on to insurance companies that have less bargaining power. Ironically, it is possible that increased competition in the insurance market could actually mean higher premiums.

I highly recommend both health care podcasts (part 1, part 2), and regularly tuning in to both This American Life and Planet Money.

Clean this place up, the folks are almost home!

The house will be up for sale soon. I have decided to move out now in order to keep the house as clean as possible while it is on the market. My parents have offered me a room until I get back on my feet. They didn't hesitate to offer, and I am very grateful for their support.

They have been on vacation for the last two weeks, so my own pooch moved in while I was was taking care of theirs. I've been moving in bit by bit each day as I worked on my own house. It has been nice but odd to have their place to myself. I have been able to take my time getting settled in, but I'm still moving into someone else's home. I'm not sure where their things are or where my stuff should go.

They come home tonight, and I'm looking forward to spending some time with them. We are pretty close already, but I have a feeling we'll be breaking new ground over the next few months. Important stuff, like where the pasta strainer goes.

This year is a little different

Just a little barometer on the job market.

I worked for a delivery company over the holiday season last year as a driver's helper. It was a decent job with a little heavy lifting and lots of running. It was supposed to run from Thanksgiving to Christmas, but went into overtime because of all the snow we had last year.

I received an e-mail that they were hiring again for the holiday season, and had an interview on Tuesday. I don't know how many people they interviewed last year, but there were 20 of us there on Tuesday, and there are many more appointments over next two weeks. And something they didn't mention in the ad is that they are paying $8.75 an hour instead of the $11 they paid last year.

They also anticipate fewer hours this year since folks may be shopping/shipping less this year. The hours are not guaranteed, and are adjusted daily to meet their needs. We are kind of at-will employees. It worked out OK last year, but who knows what this year would be like.

I mentioned that I was planning one day off the first week of December, and they freaked out a little bit, saying they would need to check with a supervisor. So they can't promise the number of hours, or even that we will be working each day, but they can't work around a day off with two months notice. And in this climate, they can afford to be this way.

Still hoping I get the job.

Planting season

The projects are getting checked off slowly day by day. I am about done with the inside of the house, and since today was supposed to be the last rain-free day for a while, it was time to head outside.

I spent today at the nursery getting plants to spruce up the front yard. For someone lacking a thumb with any hint of green, it was an interesting experience. The number of plants I can point to and name could be counted on one hand, so it was a little overwhelming. Not exactly like a kid in a candy store, since I was wasn't looking for a sugar rush and overwhelmed by choices. More like being told you need a computer, then going to Fry's Electronics to grab everything you need to build one, operating on your base knowledge of a typewriter. Or insert any mega-store experience where you haven't a clue.

So anyway, I don't know what I am doing. The first of the two planting areas I am working on is the planting strip in front of the house. It has largely been allowed to grow wild, so I cleared most of it out and was looking to put in plants to add some street appeal. The second area is a 10x10 square just to the right of the front door. I was originally going to put in a small deck, but later decided on plants. A deck is what I would want, but the prospective buyer might have other ideas. Plants were a cheaper, less permanent option.

That is another thing that added to the confused feeling I felt as I wandered around the nursery. I'm not even buying plants to satisfy my desires, but guessing what some random person will find appealing. But that is a whole different subject.

So lacking any plant knowledge or artistic talent, I tried to break it into (man)ageable chunks. I started with only getting perennials because I didn't want to spend money on flowers that wouldn't make it more than a month. Next I broke it into two trips based on sun exposure - one area is shaded and one gets full sun. Fortunately, most all the plants had tags that listed the necessary sun exposure. If they had tags like Garanimals, it would be almost idiot proof.

Besides all the digging, it actually ended up being an enjoyable afternoon. A little window into a new world. Once I throw in some bark, the place will look a little more welcoming. I'd like to say I learned something, but I still don't know the names of the plants I put in.

By myself but not alone

It was Worldwide Festival of Races weekend. There were a total of 1137 participants from 45 countries running in one of three events: the "Kick the Couch 5k", the "Zen Run 10k" or the "Worldwide Half Marathon". As I mentioned previously, this race is a free, non-commercial event for runners of all abilities to 'virtually' run together. People could run an official event or make up their own route. I ran a solo half marathon this morning to get myself moving in the right direction.

I was not only running virtually with the folks that signed up for the Worldwide Half, but also with my friend Sean who was running the Long Beach Marathon. I chose a route in West Seattle so we would both be running along the Pacific Ocean, and timed it so we would be finishing at roughly the same time. He ran the first 10 miles with another friend before striking out on his own to finish the marathon. His friend was running the half marathon a couple years after open heart surgery. The day was filled with lots of meaning for all.

I started my run in Lincoln Park not far from the Fauntleroy Ferry Dock. I had found this route while on a bike ride back in June, and it seemed perfect for today's run. One advantage of running a solo event is there weren't the normal long porta-pottie lines at the start. However the park restroom was padlocked, so the advantage was short-lived.

The park is right on the water, and there is a asphalt/gravel path that hugs the shoreline for about a mile. The winds were calm and the weather perfect. There were several people enjoying the morning, coffee in hand while walking their dogs. I wish I had my camera with me, but I have misplaced it in the recent move. I took some shots with my phone, but the lens was gunked up so they aren't worth posting. This event isn't half-assed, but it turns out my preparation was.

The path ended at a narrow street, which then met up with Beach Drive. There was a small hill at mile two (and mile eleven), and the sidewalk disappeared for a while, but this was the only complaint on an otherwise great route. Beach Drive took me past several beautiful beachfront homes with occasional views of the water. There were several remodels taking place, and I was able to find an unlocked porta-pottie around mile 3.

The route continued along the shore and met up with Alki Ave. For those not from the Seattle area, Alki is our one beachfront community with lots of public access. There is a three mile public beach, and wide paths filled with walkers, runners, skaters and dogs. The street is lined with coffee shops, bakeries and other restaurants. Some condos have sprung up, but there are several funky houses that have not given into developer pressure. The pedestrians far outnumber the cars along this beachfront avenue, which is a beautiful thing.

There were lots of people scattered along the sand and taking to the paths on this glorious fall morning. There were even some folks with running bibs on. They were participating in an event called "Miles for Midwives". Some were running and others walking, but all returned my smiles. You are rarely alone on the roads, and it is almost impossible to be without a friendly face on Alki.

As this was an out-and-back route, I made my U-turn around mile 6.6. I took in all the friendly faces on Alki Ave before turning back onto the less populated Beach Drive. I had brought my iPod Shuffle along, and was listening to a couple Pheddipidations podcasts. Steve Runner produced a race day episode made up of listener submitted shout-outs to encourage fellow runners as we ran together this weekend. I also listened to episode number eight from September of 2005 entitled, "Why we Run". Many thanks to Steve for not only putting on this event, but also for his enthusiastic podcasts that keep us company.

After climbing the hill at mile eleven, and then rejoining the gravel path around mile twelve, I was able to kick up the pace a bit on my way home. Since I entered this event with a little over two weeks of training, I was unsure how the day would go. It felt great to have something left in the tank at the end to push to the finish. Since the mileage was calculated by my Polar watch, I don't know that giving you a precise finish time is important, but I was able to make my goal of 2 hours with a few minutes to spare.

After my marathon in June, I went into a bit of a tailspin. With money tight, I didn't sign up for another event, so I didn't have a goal on the horizon. Post marathon blues combined with the depression of my looming divorce was a potent cocktail. I stopped caring, stopped taking care of myself, and settled back into the "Couch of Doom". I needed this event and the challenge issued by my friend to get me back out on the roads. I am thankful, and happy to call myself a runner once again.

All in all a great day. The run went well, the route along the water was beautiful, and the friendly faces of Alki were an added boost. My only complaint is that the beer garden was a little weak.