We Don't Walk Slow

Phils 5k & the sms

So I ended up winning the old man’s age division, 25-29, with a time of 17:55 or so. I think I was about 21st for the race out of 700. This was another example of not being as good as I once was. Both my times from last year in the Broad St and this race were both faster last year. This one I chalk up to lack of training and not running as good of a race as I could have. I felt pretty strong finishing it, I just didn’t want to die throughout the race so I might have held back a bit. Nonetheless I wasn’t beating Sam who was low 17:00’s. The days of being able to compete with top high school and college athletes are over and I’ll never see them again. Enough running talk although I’m doing a 10k at Belmont Plateau on Sunday so I only have a few days to prepare for what I hear is a really tough course. Throw in some military obstacles and I can hardly contain my enthusiasm. This will probably be a non-drinking weekend so that’s probably a good thing.

I’ve paid off all my dental crap so I’m happily in the clear and restarting from today’s date. I’ve invested some money in stocks like RIMM and Teva and I’m thinking about buying some GS and GE. I don’t have much faith in our financial system but I’m hoping strong companies will prevail through tough times. From what I read it seems like we are going to be in for some slow growth up ahead and I’m pretty sure no one knows for sure what is going to happen. I’m still on the SIRI bandwagon as I’m sure you want to know. Enough finance talk as I’m sure this is just as boring as the running talk.

I want to express my growing appeal for the text message. I like the text because it’s very impersonal and I don’t feel any need to respond to it. When someone calls me, I immediately think “what is this pressing issue that this person wants to discuss with me.” It’s funny because when I see I have a missed call I get agitated that I have to call the person back. When I see a text it’s exciting because I can look at it and not have to do anything about it. That growing bbm signal next to the text is a sign of hope for future plans. Plus it gives me time to think about how I want to respond without being put on the spot. My only problem with the phone is lulls in the conversation and this need to be talking all the time. There’s no breaks and I always feel like I’m forcing a goodbye when I don’t want to talk any longer or the convo is going nowhere. The BBM is fine too but you are limited to the people who are part of your contacts so there is no shock value as to who is contacting you. I use the phone all the time at work so it’s not like I’m inept but sometimes I’m just not in the mood to talk, whereas I feel no pressure from texts. I like emails too but I’m amazed at how many people don’t get their emails to their phone. This is so elementary but I don’t think some people have the same level of commitment to emails as others. My dad for instance has a personal company email and doesn’t bother to check it so I do it for the both of us. If you really have to call me, don’t hesitate because you read this post. I have to write about something.

Normal

So the alcohol has been drained from my body and I feel normal again. A new line “get the poison out” is catching on. I heard it on the Howard Stern show when the creator of the sybian was dirty talking this girl on the sybian and used that line. I also heard it on ESPN so I’m not really sure where it’s origin was but if you come to this blog I’ll try to give my best updates on newest culture trends.

I went to the gym today (but not this morning) and ran 6 miles in 35:15 which was pretty good. I felt really good and could have continued. I don’t know if I would have been able to go the full ten at that pace but I think I’m in line to get there by May. I weighed in at 178 which is still about 5-8 pounds more than my ideal running weight but I know that’s going to be hard to achieve as long as I continue to drink on the weekends. I’m really taking this running as serious as I can because at this age, these are going to be my last few best effort attempts at setting times. Plus it keeps me in really good shape.

My dad is a habitual gum chewer and I pretty much never developed the habit but lately he’s been buying different flavors and I’ve come into contact these past few days. He usually buys the blue trident which I find very off putting but there is this orange and pink flavor that get me hooked. I start off with 2 pieces and they will lose their flavor within one minute. But the geniuses within the Trident gum factory have this planned so you just pop in another piece. 10 minutes later I’ve had 5 pieces and this huge wad of gum in my mouth which I don’t spit out for hours and just keep adding to it with more pieces. I know it’s bad for my teeth but once I get started there is no stopping. I have to go back to the dentist this Thursday which isn’t helping the cause. I have ok teeth, besides the two crowns on my front, and would like to keep them that way so I’m going to have to put an end to this gum popping.

I’ve been playing poker and betting on sports off and on but nothing worth talking about. Rimm (Research in Motion, the people who make Blackberry) has made a comeback from it’s earnings debacle and all my other positions have been stable. I’m actually considering restarting and selling everything and then picking one or two companies I like and then writing covered calls on them. I think this would be more profitable then some of the positions I’m in now. I remember the Shee telling me that you don’t really have to know what you’re talking about when talking finance, you just need to know a couple of buzzwords. Positions are a good one because it’s so broad and sounds like a smart word. Equities is a nifty because any nitwit can invest in stocks but if you are putting your money in equities, whoa nelly, you must know what you are talking about. Just mentioning interest rates and their general effect on the market has credence. With interest rates low and steady it’s not surprising to see more money moving towards the equity markets, now’s a good time to load up on positions. Easy as cake.

If you want to know my schedule and when to check for posts. I’ll usually post late at night on the weekdays so people can check first thing in the morning and see something new. Midday posts are rare but certainly not a never. If things come into my head sometimes I’ll quickly post something. Usually never evening posts and no weekend posts. I still find this as entertaining for me as I hope it is for you. I’m a bit surprised I haven’t heard anything from the quotes of the day, I’ve trying to pick good ones and thought it was a good addition but maybe I was off on that.

I also have a drunk video from Jkash once he gets the right USB cord. The bbm is as follows (I’ve taken excerpts):
Him: I’m mad I started the video late. You were not speaking English for a while before I started it.
Me: Is the vid on your phone or camera cause some have different ports
Him: Phone. I’m not a dumb shit. We have the same phone port. It’s smaller than most.
Nowhere did I imply that he was a dumb shit but my question must have come across, how are you that stupid that you don’t know the difference between a phone and camera USB cord? I didn’t mean it that way but the response was pretty funny.