I'm thankful . . .

• For remaining employed in a time of heightened economic uncertainty.
• For the FCC's opposition to the AT&T/T-Mobile merger that has no upsides for the customers or the employees of either company.
• For having comfortable housing in an area with beautiful neighbors.
• For the contents of my kitchen, where my biggest complaint is that I have run out of space in my freezer for any more yummy things.
• For opportunities to go and make a difference for others.
• For the nineteen thousand pageviews at Houston Running Calendar last month. (Whoa!)
• For the organizers and volunteers that make all those running events happen.
• For the CyanogenMod team whose firmware has made my Nook Color a much more interesting device.
• For the knowledge that there will be a season 5 of Mad Men.
• For the cessation of wildfires (for now) and for the firefighters that have been keeping our homes safe.
• For being able to sleep in this morning, run my own one-man Turkey Trot with the treetops, come home and write a 351st post to this blog.

. . . and much more. Happy Thanksgiving!

I wear now pants! I wear now pants!

It's not quite as nice as the trinket that the New Orleans Saints brought home, but I won something on Super Bowl Sunday too:

Most of the commercials aired that evening were pretty forgettable, but I noticed that the "Wear The Pants" ad from Dockers ended with a mention of a giveaway online. A couple of days later, I finally remembered to visit the site and before I knew it, I was being congratulated on being one of the 5000 randomly selected winners. Dockers was sending me a pair of soft khakis in "carmel."

No, I don't know why they have a color named after a mountain.

Anyway, today the package containing my eagerly-anticipated fig-leaf substitute arrived and we can live happily ever after now that I can stop showing up to work pants-less like the guys in the Careerbuilder commercial.

Reflections and Resolutions

As we cash in on what little we have left of this year, I couldn't help but click back to previous blog entries and reflect on some of the things I posted during 2009:

• When the year started, I was in pursuit of a new 10K PR. I got it with a 55:38 chip time at the Bayou City Classic. Now that seems like an eternity ago and I wonder if I'll ever run like that again.
• It was both a year of remarkable drought (Houston's historically rainiest month of June was totally dry) and remarkable flooding.
  
• I took home finisher medals from my seventh and eighth half marathons. But I was the most excited to be there as I saw my sister collect her first.
• Internet delivery of movies and television shows became something that happens at my couch, not the computer chair.
• As I got settled into my new apartment, I met some unexpected neighbors.
• While out on a run, I watched a man die.
• While tummy troubles gave me grief in the latter half of the year, achilles concerns weighed down my running in the first half.
• As I suspected, a relay event can be really fun.
• And I still can't beat Gary Kubiak.

Having been a kid intrigued long ago by the movie 2010: The Year We Make Contact, having this next calendar year actually arrive is rather cool. Over Christmas, a very special holiday elf gifted me with a runner-centric calendar by Marty Jerome. I'm not familiar with his writings now, but I'm guessing that I will be by the end of the twelve months. I hope it will help me with my perpetual resolution to become more organized. I'm okay with not being a fast runner, or a runner logging monstrous mileage. But I'd like to be consistent. So I'm modestly resolve to log at least 730 miles in that book, or an average of two miles a day. It's intentionally modest because I'd also like to leave myself more open for cross-training opportunities.

Second, I resolve to be a better spender of money. Being fiscally prudent recently through the economic downturn has paid off, and I'm fortunate to be employed and comfortable with my level of savings. So I hereby give myself permission to spend more -- not in a frivolous sense, but in ways that I feel will enrich my life.

I hope to improve my life in other ways, of course, but those are the two resolutions I'll declare on this blog post. May 2010 be blessed and prosperous for my readers, and may it provide reason to celebrate once again one year from today.

Merry Christmas!

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

For the few, the proud, the readers of this blog -- may joyful blessings find you, wherever you may be.

A Guarantee That Will Never Be Put Into Writing

Dear readers, rest assured that you will never see this blog delivered in the overplayed Comic Sans font.

Have a pleasant day.

Should the Rohs by any other name be spelled with ease?

Some recent words from Rep. Betty Brown of Texas have got me thinking about American identity. In short, Brown made a remark suggesting that Asian-Americans consider changing their names to make things smoother on Election Day:

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?”

There's a definite difference between hatred and ignorant misunderstanding. I'm hoping this was just ignorance. The use of the phrase "you and your citizens" strikes me as particularly unfortunate because (1) the person she was addressing at the time was named Ramey Ko -- not exactly a difficult name for pollworkers to grasp, even those educated in Texas public schools -- and (2) as "citizens" we're supposed to all belong to the same state and country.

I do understand that, for many immigrants, picking up an "Americanized" nickname makes everyday life and blending into the culture easier. But in the age of computers, it's not that hard for the government to track proper spellings and such. We stopped making up things to scribble by hand into the Ellis Island registry a long time ago. Brown's remark was just laughably rude.

Merry Christmas!

I think I've found a great use for my budding medal collection!

CurrentlyVince wishes everyone a Merry Christmas. May we be blessed with the gift of redemption from those things that weigh heavily on our hearts.

Have we met before?

<---- These adjacent Facebook ads are proof that women are pretty much all alike.

Just some Wednesday musings

• If you live and work in the Houston area, odds are now heavily in your favor that you have power again. If you don't -- and assuming that your property hasn't simply been wrecked -- then I'd say that fortune owes you one for your inconvenience.
• Commuting is still a big mess with numerous traffic lights still inoperable all over the place.
  
• Texans can breathe easier knowing that our hurricane season is practically over.
  
• I've discovered that a prepaid Subway card is a helpful tool for avoiding greasier lunch spots.
• I saw the season premiere of Heroes on one of the local cinema screens, which was a fun way to experience television. It's a smart business move on the part of the theater as well. How else do you pack the house on a Monday night?
• Annoyingly stupid car commercial #1: Cadillac brags that they now offer a hybrid-power Escalade because they "they should." There's two lines of reasoning for buying a hybrid -- saving gas money or saving the environment. It's going to be a challenge to save much gas money if you're still only eking out 12 miles per gallon even with hybrid technology. And as for environmentalism . . . well, you're only eking out 12 miles per gallon. Exactly how stupid does GM think we are??
  
• Annoyingly stupid car commercial #2: Lincoln is touting that most of their offerings only need regular octane gasoline to operate. People who are in the market for a luxury car are highly unlikely to be bothered by a five percent difference in their fuel bill.
  

Do Not Remove This Tag Under Penalty of Blog

I think E is trying to get back at me for telling her that she'd do fine in running a half marathon. She wants me to share six random things about myself. People, this is MY blog. It belongs to me. If I thought there were things about me interesting enough to share with you, wouldn't I have posted about them already? Sheesh!

OK, I'm playing along with this game, only because she's a fellow slow-running Honda driver:

Random Thing #1: I've never set foot inside a Hooters restaurant. There's no real "reason" behind this.

Random Thing #2: I've been playing Guitar Hero III on the Wii for about two weeks now. I've beaten every song on Easy except for "Raining Blood" by Slayer. That one, um, slays me.

Random Thing #3: The other day a woman in my neighborhood called me a "show-off" as I was out walking my dog. Weird.

Random Thing #4: Many years ago, a woman in Austin called the cops because I was in her neighborhood and was suspicious-looking enough to spook her. I was just lost. I suppose I do have a menacing-looking side to me.

Random Thing #5: I once had an ceiling tile randomly fall on my head during an indoor volleyball game. (Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Cut it out!)

Random Thing #6: Just days after I took the picture of Bernie's 19th Hole, the storefront was closed up. I'm not sure which makes me sadder: (1) that I never actually paid a visit, or (2) that Bernie is now dead or married.

OK, here are the game rules copied straight from E's post:

- Link to the person who tagged you.
- Post the rules on your blog.
- Write six random things about yourself.
- Tag six people at the end of your post.
- Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
- Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Claire, Lorelei Leigh, Girl In Motion, Kelly G, Pat and Jenn . . . TAG! . . . I'll be visiting you shortly.

Sonic Drive-In Saved My Morning Commute

After coming home today and eating dinner, I decided to head out to clear out some junk. OK, it was more like I just wanted an excuse to drive by the local Sonic for a cold and frosty dessert.

I jumped into the driver's seat of my Honda and discovered that the motor wouldn't crank! My records show that the last time I bought a car battery was in '04, which further confirmed my suspicion that
I was faced with a dead battery. After an unplanned trip to AutoZone and a nearly hundred dollars later, I find myself dropping in the new juicebox at 9 p.m. at night. Fun.

Anyway, I'm back home again after taking the new Duralast Gold battery for a test drive and finally taking advantage of the 99-cent shake special at Sonic Drive-In along the way. It's a good thing I was in the mood for a drive out. Otherwise, I wouldn't have discovered the dead battery until tomorrow morning. And not getting it to crank when I need to get to work would have certainly made me a crank!

Thank you, Sonic cravings!

File under "Stores I Should Visit Some Weekend"

Bernie's 19th Hole: West Bellfort Avenue @ Keegan Road

Happy Easter!

Thomas Aquinas had it too easy.

After penning his thoughts on the Eucharistic sacrament, Thomas took his written answer to church, laid it down in front of the altar and prayed to the Lord, asking him if his answer was correct. And he heard a Divine Answer right then and there.

Now, granted, not all of us have the mighty responsibility of shaping Church doctrine on our shoulders, but even in our everyday lives, we're faced with the question of whether what we are doing and saying conforms to what God has meant for us. Who wouldn't appreciate receiving a loud-and-clear A-OK from God on what (s)he is doing?

I suppose that explains the whole "What Would Jesus Do" phenomenon. Anyway, Happy Easter, and may we all relish in the joy of mystery!

Oh, what a value!

I must have landed on someone's "gullible" mailing list. Sorry, there's no way a nitrogen fill on a set of passenger car tires could be worth anything approaching $300.

It's beginning to look at lot like Springtime....

Does crazy live here again?

This past weekend, I saw a car on the road that made me do a double take: It was a station wagon with a Hawaii license plate and a cargo area full of luggage. Around here!? Boy I wish I had a camera.

I logged 25 miles last week, so I'm definitely back at the level I was at prior to all the marathon buildup. Yippee for recovery.

I might be truly sick. I was looking at the website for the Seabrook Lucky Trails Marathon and starting thinking that the "Pelican Challenge" -- a half on a Saturday followed by a half on a Sunday -- might be fun. Early registration ends this week, so I'm going to have to think about this one some more. Ha!

Merry Christmas!

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born

"Worthless"

While cleaning I found something I had feared I had lost: a pair of 100-peso notes from the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II. Now here is evidence that the value of an object is tied purely to mutual agreement among buyers and sellers. A 100-dollar bill from the 1940s would still be worth at least 100 dollars today -- probably more due to desirability to collectors.

In contrast, an eBay search of completed items suggests that my bills are only worth a couple of American dollars now. But I think I would like to hold on to them because I like having tangible evidence that the Occupation did happen, and a reminder that war can radically alter what we believe is valuable and what is not.

Recharge Thyself

Some months ago, I was thinking about my upcoming birthday and decided that the best gift I could give myself is time off, some real time off. So today I'm embarking on Day One of Vince's Totally Unstructured Vacation.

The last time I took vacation off, I had myself running from place to place. I had slated an activity for every morning, afternoon and evening. Oh, it was great fun to be sure.

But I also miss the long-ago days when we were kids and had nothing to do on summer vacation except whatever we came up with that day. That's sort of what I'm aiming for now over the next couple of weeks. I have hope that in the process I'll re-discover a nearly forgotten passion and discover a new joy. But definitely I'm calling for some "recharge thyself" time at this point in 2007.

So this time, there's no big fancy airplane trips to a faraway land, no cruise, nor several nights at the Ritz-Carlton lined up. If nothing else, I think my financial health will thank me in the long run!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to pet the dog, then do . . . whatever. . . .