Hi All,

Sunday, January 20th to Saturday, January 26th: 24 miles

Monday: 9.0 miles, 15F, a little windy, no stops, around 8:30 pace
Wednesday: 7.7 miles, 22F, a little windy, no stops, 8:25 pace
Friday: 7.3 miles, 22F, windy, 1 stop, 8:20 pace

I started the kitchen on Saturday. I removed the wallpaper yesterday and today. I discovered tile under the cupboards and behind the stove and microwave. It's off white with blue streaks. Tomorrow I will start painting the ceiling and priming the walls. I will take off the cabinet doors also.

I had an interview with Constellation Energy at the Ginna Nuclear Power Plant on Wednesday. I was one of three candidates so I have a good chance. I am crossing my fingers.

Right now I am converting my La Femme Nitika collection of 14 tapes to DVDs. Ahh, the joy of watching Nikita and Michael flirt! I just found another box of ST-TOS tapes.

My court date to reduce my child support was delayed because her lawyer couldn't make it ... effectively lengthening the time I give the full amount by another month. My creditors will be so pleased.

Keep running, Doug

Hi All,

Sunday, January 13th to Saturday, January 19th: 30.7 miles

Sunday: 8 miles, 40F, calm, no stops, 8:14 pace
Tuesday: 7.7 miles, 32F, calm, snowy, no stops, 8:25 pace
Thursday: 7 miles, 36F, a little windy, no stops, 8:11 pace
Saturday: 8 miles, 25F, pretty calm, no stops, 8:14 pace

I am still unemployed. I got flushed by Ultralife. It is really amazing that you can do Desktop Support for six years, meet all the qualifications for the job and not get either of the two positions open. Ultralife is 1.6 miles away from my house. I had an interview down at Cornell University in Ithaca on Monday and at Xerox in Webster on Thursday.

I am almost done with David's room. This week I finished scrapping the wallpaper, painted the ceiling twice, the walls twice, and pulled the rug. I just have to clean and then paint the baseboard and the inside of his door. Then I can get all the stuff that was in that room out of my bedroom. On to the bathroom and kitchen next.

I took Michael back to Ithaca College on Saturday. I did have a little fun meeting up with a MK at a house in Henrietta for a little party. I learned how to play euchre. An interesting game that I haven't played in a very long time. Then we went up to Six Pockets up in Irondequoit for a little dancing to the Time Bandits. A link to the lead guitarist's page is here. They sounded pretty good! I haven't danced in a while ... it was fun!

I got my first unemployment check last week ... minus the FULL amount that I pay for child support. So basically, I got 44.4% or $180 and child support got the rest. I have a court date next week to hopefully change my child support payment to more closely match my current income ... which isn't much. I could rant on this for a while but ... I will pass for today.

I really need to get this house done. I figure two more weeks. But, I really need to get a job. Where this job is will determine whether I move or not. If I don't get a job out of the area, then what do I do with the house? My ideas are: sell it, rent it out or get a roommate to help with expenses. If I sell or rent it out I will have to move but where? If I move, I either have to get a roommate or be a roommate. Decisions, decisions.

I gave blood today for the 62nd time at the Newark American Legion. My BP was 122/76, pulse was 48. I was in and out in 73 minutes. If you want to donate and you are in the New York / Pennsylvania region, please go to www.donatebloodnow.org. You can get swag ... I got a certificate for a free pound of coffee from Dunkin Donuts and a free ticket to the January 26th Knighthawks game versus the Minnesota Swarm.

Yes, I am still continuing to convert my VHS tapes to DVD with my Samsung DVD-VR330 DVD Recorder. I am deep in a box of ST-TNG, ST-DS9 and ST-Voyager tapes. I can convert a VHS tape of six one hour episodes to one DVD. I do about three a day.

I watched The Kingdom from the Redbox at Wegmans.

Keep running, Doug

Hi All,

Sunday, January 6th to Saturday, January 12th: 23.75 miles

I ran third times this week keeping to an every other day schedule. I am keeping my pace somewhat constant while I slightly up my mileage.

Monday: about 7.5 miles, 56F, calm winds, no stops.
Wednesday: 7.25 miles, 50F, 20 to 40 mph west wind (which knocked me around), 8:58 pace.
Friday, 9 miles, 40F, light wind, no stops, 8:30 pace.

I have been scrapping off the wallpaper in David's room. It was a slow process which took five days of steady effort. I know how to peel wallpaper. Now it's just another room. It's just a matter of spackling, priming, painting and pulling the rug ... then this room will be done.

On the job front, I have an interview with Cornell University down in Ithaca on Monday.

I used my $5 Dunking Donuts gift certificate that I won at the Newark Turkey Day 5 Mile Race to buy a dozen donuts for Michael and myself. Yum!

Keep running, Doug

Hi All,

Sunday, December 30th to Saturday, January 5th: 33.6 miles

An uptick in my mileage this week due to running my long runs on Sunday and Saturday plus unemployment.

Sunday: 9 miles, 32F, calm, 1 stop, 8:31 pace.
Tuesday, New Year's Day: 8.6 miles, 36F, calm, no stops, 8:27 pace.
Thursday: 7 miles, 15F, calm, no stops (too cold!), 8:24 pace. It wasn't really that cold ... as long as you dressed for it (3 shirts, shorts, pants, jacket, 2 mittens, hat and scarf).
Saturday: 9 miles, 36F, calm, no stops, 8:22 pace.

The forecast is for 50s and 60s on Monday and Tuesday.

I am emptying David's room of all my computer stuff today. I will start stripping the wallpaper tomorrow. I am so looking forward to it .... NOT! But it has to be done so it will get done.

I am continuing to convert my VHS tapes to DVD with my Samsung DVD-VR330 DVD Recorder. I have done over thirty movies so far. DVDs take up a whole lot less space than VHS tapes.

Keep running, Doug

Happy New Year 2008

Hi All,

Month of December: 73.4 miles, 11 out of 31 days, 6.7 mile average

Happy New Year to everyone. I celebrated by running 8.6 miles today. I ran over to the Newark High School, ran 5 miles around the track and then ran home. The weather was around 36F , snowy at first but it quit. I did a 1:12:40, a 8:27 pace.

Here is a look back at 2007 according to my spreadsheet. I ran 801.8 miles. Here is the breakdown:

January   17 out of 31 days  86.1 miles
February  19 out of 28 days  83.3 miles
March     17 out of 31 days  86.7 miles
April     15 out of 30 days  98.9 miles
May       17 out of 31 days 119.5 miles
June       5 out of 18 days  39.6 miles
July       0 due to injury
August     8 out of 21 days  39.1 miles
September  8 out of 30 days  38.5 miles
October   10 out of 31 days  51.1 miles
November  13 out of 30 days  53.9 miles
December  11 out of 31 days  73.4 miles

I ran in 11 races, here is the breakdown:

1/13  Freezeroo #3 5K                      22:34  7:17
2/18  Polar Cat #6 5K                      23:32  7:35
3/17  Runnin' of the Green 5 Mile Run      37:34  7:31  Lifetime PR
4/1   Spring Forward 15K                 1:14:29  8:00  Lifetime PR
4/7   Leo Austin Memorial Half Marathon  1:50:43  8:27  Lifetime PR
5/18  Williamson Appleblossom 10K          45:13  7:19  Lifetime PR
5/20  Medved Liliac 10K                    46.22  7:29
6/9   Powerbar 9 Mile Trail Race         1:29:46  9:58
9/16  Palmyra Canaltown Days 5K            22:30  7:15
10/5  Fairport Scarecrow 5K                22:17  7:11  Lifetime PR
11/22 Newark Turkey Day 5 Mile Race        38:57  7:47

A really short breakdown on what happened to me in 2007.

Physically: I am doing OK, 6'3", 162 pounds, excellent health.
Mentally: I am just happy to be able to run every other day. I want to run a marathon in 2008. I will take care to slowly ramp up my mileage this time.
Job-wise: unemployed since 12/28/2007.
Marriage-wise: I have been living separately from my wife for over two years. No action on a divorce or separation due to a lack of funds on both our parts. No hope of reconcilation. Karen and David live with their mother. Karen is a freshman at Houghton. Michael lives with me. He is a junior at Ithaca College.
House-wise: I am fixing up my house and will be selling it soon most likely.

Keep running, Doug