Yeff on Stuff

On Sunday C and I ran the 2008 Bay to Breakers with 60,000 other people. I've never done the race before (despite living in the Bay Area for 12 years), and now I have many regrets. It was a real blast! I ran all the way, longer than I've ever run non-stop in my life, and had fun the whole time.

( pictures and some details behind the cut )

This was a lot of fun, and we will definitely do it again next year. Maybe we'll even get costumes!

Friday night C and I drove down for a getaway weekend in SF and to run Bay to Breakers on Sunday. Saturday we went to the Livermore Highland Games, which was much fun!

( Trip details and many pictures behind the cut )

It was a good games and a good time. By about 5:30 we'd had enough of the sun and headed on back to SF to eat dinner and rest up for Bay to Breakers, the subject of the next post.

Simulated Mars fly-by, based on various survey data from orbiters and landers (on APOD). Way, way cool.

and boy, are my legs tired.

Saturday at the Livermore Highland Games was fun, though it was very very hot.

Sunday in SF was great with Bay to Breakers as the highlight.

Full blog report tomorrow, including pictures. And, I will have a very special guest blogger. Until then, I'm beat and have just enough energy left for some writing. Cause there hasn't been much of that writing recently and it hurts. It hurts!

I've been doing some more thinking about the Finale (which starts tonight, yay!) and about the specific point of how the Oceanic 6 get together and get off the island.

( If for some strange reason you haven't been watching LOST this season, but are interested in this post, I have to warn you there are SPOILERS as to the Oceanic 6 (but not to the finale, as I know nothing) behind the cut )

Summary: I say Yes! But you have to understand that, given my history, I was saying "Yes!" once the first trailer came out. This, of course, means my opinion might be completely invalid to everyone else but me.



( a more detailed review behind the cut )

It's supposed to be 99 here in Sacramento today and we'll be over 100 by the weekend. Summer is paying us a short visit, reminding us that it will be here in another month for an extended stay.

As a salute, here's "99" by Toto. 70s soft rock at its "best".


If I had to choose one 99-based song it would be Nena, of course.



Now I need a song for when it's 101. Any suggestions?

Tonight, we had the regular SacSpecFic critique group meeting at the cafe part of the local Borders. We managed to score the big table that is away from the other tables (yay!) and were talking about one of the stories.

All of a sudden there's a person standing next to us who says, in a flustered voice, "You guys, it's too much, you need to keep it down, it's, it's just too much." The person turns and walks back to where they were sitting across the cafe.

We sit there, stunned for a second, and then one of us manages a weak "But this isn't a library, it's a cafe". We talk about it and aren't sure what had happened. We're pretty certain we were using regular conversational voices. We certainly weren't shouting and weren't using foul language. We did have a couple moments of laughter when a joke was made, but those were rare and still not loud.

Again, this is in the cafe part of Borders where the conversation of the counter people carries, where other conversations are going on, where people talk on their cell phones, where the blender and the espresso machine are a regular interruption, and where there's music playing in the background.

We did end up turning our volume down a notch for a little bit, but then we could barely hear each other, so we went back to normal voices. Of course, we made a couple snide comments later to ourselves about how we hoped the blenders weren't too loud.

But the whole thing was strange, one of those moments where you think "This was a problem? But I don't get it." even though you are trying to examine what you did wrong. It ended up bugging me, as I certainly don't think of myself as a loud, rude person (just the opposite, in fact). And if I'm in a cafe and someone is talking loud I might get tweaked for a second, but then I realize "well, this is a cafe." The whole thing was all very strange and uncertain...

Summary: The set up for the big finale is happening and all the pieces are moving into place. Also, the question of "time travel or not" rears its head.

( I used to have dreams. SPOILERS! behind the cut. )

As part of the prep for Bay to Breakers, I did a longer jog today. I was able to do 4 miles, and got a good sense of how I might feel during the B2B. Mile 0-1 = Get Into A Rhythm. Mile 1-2 = Soreness Twinges In The Legs. Mile 2-3 = Feeling Pretty Good! Mile 3-4 = Just Keep Going and Try To Stay Heel To Toe.

My plan is to go for 4 to 4.5 miles straight jog, then try to walk/jog in 0.5 miles increments until the end. The Hayes Street Hill looks a little daunting, though.

Things Younger Than John McCain (via affinity8). Chocolate chip cookies?

A Cultural Geography of the United States and Canada (via brad_beaulieu). Census data, sorted and graphed on a map of US/Canada based on various cuts like ethnicity, language, economics, etc.

The story "The Stolen Word" by Lisa Mantchev in Fantasy Magazine sparks a big discussion on -isms (racism, sexism, etc) and privilege. (Link via David Moles, who also provides a helpful bingo card for the discussion). Extremely enlightening. When we write we're working with a whole collection of attitudes and opinions, some we're not even aware of until someone points it out. Much to think about here (with good links to resources from various folks).

A bite-sized frosted cupcake treat. With sprinkles! 93 calories, 37 of them from fat. Very tasty.

That's a quarter there, for comparison.

By Thursday May 15, I want (need) to:
- critique 2 stories for Critters (DONE)
- critique 2 stories for SacSpecFic (actually by Wednesday at 7PM)
- revise and submit a story for the Indian Country anthology
- finish "The Presidents Book of the Dead"

That's in addition to the several high-priority work tasks nipping at my arms and legs.

And the usual family things of kid school events and morning send-off and helping keep the household running.

Expect light LJing over the next few days as I get through work and writing. Which is a bummer, as I have three posts (on LOST, on Speed Racer, and on a play called "The Swan") cooking in the brain. Maybe at lunch break.

From "The Greatest Ever Vegetarian Cookbook", Editor: Nicola Graimes,

Fennel, Orange and Arugula Salad

( recipe behind the cut )

Very tasty. And it helps that we're using tangelo/tangerines, upon which I am completely hooked.

No picture could do its tastiness justice, so I won't try. There is a variant at the Colavita site, which contains a poor picture.

C and I are doing Bay to Breakers this Sunday, so I went for a lunchtime jog to re-teach my muscles how this whole "running" thing works. There was a very big breeze blowing (from the north, which means it's going to get hotter) so the first half (out) was tough while the second half (in) was wind-assisted. But beyond the small nagging leg tweaks it went okay.

We'll see how I feel after the 12K (7.5 miles) on Sunday! But it will be my first Bay to Breakers. I never did it the 12 years I lived in the SF Bay Area. Shame on me.

Saturday was non-stop go from getting up until about 11pm.

Sunday was non-stop go from getting up until now.

No writing. Some thinking about writing, some notes here and there while running about, but that's about it. And it's like an itch inside your chest that you can't scratch because you can't get your fingers on it.

And there's still clothes to be folded and a kitchen to be cleaned.

Thank goodness i've got two hours scheduled for tomorrow night. I'm going to need them, especially when there's a bunch of stuff due the 15th. This should be a monster writing week. I hope.

Today it's: buy a birthday present (done); take A to a birthday party; get some movie tickets; take E shopping for Mother's Day presents; pick up A at party; go see Speed Racer (yes!); dinner with the kids; C and I go see "The Swan" at B Street.

Tomorrow is: get up and make special Mother's Day breakfast for C (eggs benedict, probably); all go to Whole Earth Festival at UC Davis; usual Sunday stuff (grocery store, laundry, dinner, etc).

I'm hoping to get some writing in there somewhere, but it might be tough. It'll be in the nooks and crannies, the times like that.

Found in the parking lot yesterday at work. It very kindly posed for me until I took the picture, then it ran off. I have no idea what kind of spider it is. Anyone?

The Fifty Greatest Commercial Parodies of All Time (from Nerve.com).

Actually, I can resist. But it's really difficult, especially when the list includes "Change Bank", "Robot Insurance", and "Colon Blow".

Tonight.

The Hindenburg, of course. The sheer speed of the immolation is amazing, but that's hydrogen for you. What's astounding is that a good percentage of the crew and passengers survived.