Ouch, Eesh, Yikes.

We had dinner Friday night with Kathy, Travis, and baby Anna Claire. The baby made not one peep in the restaurant.

Saturday morning, I ran on the road. I had a new route picked so I could get two miles in one direction without hitting downtown foot traffic. Unfortunately, that route has no sidewalk, and road traffic forced me to move onto the sloping grass shoulder too often, and now my ankles are killing me. I think my ankles have gotten tender because my fallen arches are forcing them to do more work. I need new shoes, shoes with stronger support. I did manage to run two miles and then ran sporadically on the route back. Your Sis spent most of Saturday doing yard work. We cleaned up and returned to the furniture store to buy a loveseat. We were ridiculously organized. We measured the alcove space at home, tested each loveseat, and measured it. When we returned Saturday, we found our top picks and narrowed them down to one winner. It's supposed to arrive in a week. If we tip the delivery guys, they might take the old couch away. If not, we'll give it to a local charity. I've had that couch a long time (it originally belonged to the crazy neighbor lady who emailed me two months back). We then bought the beloved crackuccino at Starbucks. We attended a birthday party of a gal who recently moved out of Mayberry.

On Sunday, I got up to redo your drawing. Seems I made the unthinking mistake of inking the face last, and I ruined it. I didn't have a tight enough rendering, and the inking changed the features drastcially. I scanned the pencil drawing, printed it with stronger contrast, traced the face to a new board, traced the body from the previous inked version, and inked the new drawing. It didn't take very long, but this time I did the face first. If it didn't look right, there was no need to finish inking the piece. Your Sis said it looks like you this time, and the piece should be finished by week's end. Then I can tackle her drawing. I like to listen to DVD commentary trakcs while I draw, and I got though most of Red Dragon yesterday morning.

We ran by Lowe's to look at outdoor lights, and ran into the head of the local college theatre. We talked to him in the summer about doing theatre work, and not only did he tell us yesterday they were already three weeks into the production I hoped to audition for, he said the audition notice ran in the paper. I have no reason to think the man is lying, but we read the paper front to back and specificaly looked for that notice. Neither of us saw it. I'm disappointed, but if I was doing that, I wouldn't be able to run. An Asheville company is doing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the winter, and I might audition for that.

Your Sis worked on the yard some more, and that night we indulged in French Onion soup and cheese bread. Fall has changed my appetites, and I crave the soup.

Moving Picture of the Day
The history of the Middle East in 90 seconds

In the News
When the congressman chairing the House caucus on missing and exploited children resigns when it's revealed that he had sex chats with underage House pages, and it's discovered that some fellow Republicans knew about this almost a year earlier and did nothing, that sounds like a Very Bad Thing. The Speaker of the House changed his version of events since the Friday resignation; he initially claimed he wasn't notified. According to Roll Call, the page committee Republicans investigated Foley without telling the Democrats who serve on the board.

Pain, The Good Kind

Your Sis bought this yoga-prop inflatable ball for exercise. It's low-impact. I tried it for the first time Wednesday, and holy crap, it makes you work. You don't feel the effort during the workout, but you do when you try to stand up.

I've done some yoga before while at MetroBEAT. In one of those decisions that lead to its demise, the paper ran yoga-studio ads in exchange for yoga sessions. The office was given a limited number of sessions, during work hours, in hopes of us paying for more. I liked those sessions, but not enough to continue it after the freebies. I couldn't make room im my schedule, especially since one never knew how long to expect the workday to last.

I woke up Thursday with a bum elbow from the ball workout, and went to the gym last night where I susprised myself by cruising through 3.5 miles. Of course, those are treadmill miles, but I have increased the treadmill speed beyond my ground-run speed, so I think it's close to evening out. I got home to discover I had a tender tummy. The ball exercises targeted my sides, and I really felt it after the run. Even today, I'm feeling it. This may finally erase the love handles.

Picture of the Day
Earth as seen from the orbit of Saturn. We're the speck above the rings.



In the News
Scientists say our hands emit light, and this can be measured to possibly aid diagnosis.

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The Senate has debated Bush proposals for new detainee legislation, specifically to make legal what Bush wanted but was denied by the Supreme Court. But there are concerns that the new bill, if passed, will again face Supreme Court cancellation becuase it removes the writ of habeus corpus from detainees. In other words, they don't have to be told why they're being held. That's a Western notion stretching back to the Magna Carta. The bill also naively demands the president publicly list any extreme interrogation procedures he may approve for specific detainees.

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Variety reports Robert Downey Jr. (late of the you-must-see-it Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) is going to play Iron Man. The character is Marvel Comics' alcoholic mechanical genius, and much is made about Downey (an infamous addict) playing the role. But Iron Man (real name Tony Stark, and this will be my last parenthetical aside) is also a humorless hard-ass with an intense focus on his work. I don't know if Downey can do that for what should be a straight-up action film. Iron Man isn't like Spidey or the X-men. He doesn't brood over his abilities. He revels in them. Imagine Sir Richard Branson fighting bad guys. That's Iron Man. Downey is a magnificent fop and dandy, but is he an action hero? Will Iron Man be an action movie, or will they steer the film toward ponderous banality as with Hulk and Superman Returns? Unlike Ghost Rider or Elektra, I do want to see an Iron Man film. A good one, anyway. I've read the character since I was a tyke.

Can't Stop, Won't Stop

Your Parents returned to the States yesterday. Mr. Dad came to the office to say hi and drop off some thank-you gifts from Mrs. Mom: a nice t-shirt and some fossilized dino rocks. I called Your Mom, and we talked running for a bit. She's been in the Halloween race herself a few times. After work, I surprised myself by running two miles on the treadmill; I only wanted to go one mile initially, but I got into a groove and ran at a quicker pace then normal. Then I hit some machines. I feel good today. No soreness anywhere. I might run tonight on the road, but I'm tempted to let my body recover. Also, we should drop by Kathy and Travis's house to see the baby again and give them some conversation.

We watched the TiFauxed Monday episode of "Studio 60" last night, and for a one-hour show, it seems to last only 15 minutes. I am digging this new series something awful. Yes, Whitford seems to branch away from his Josh character, and the show expanded its ensemble to include the fake-show cast. Also, they did manage to present a fake-show skit that was genuinely funny. Your Sis and I are of like minds: We want to see a whole episode of the fake show. In what appeared to be a counter to any argument that "Studio 60" is anti-Christian, the fake-show cast conducted a throughly Protestant pre-show prayer, complete with a nice comment that Christ had to be sometimes funny to garner so much attention. You don't see a prayer on network shows unless a funeral is involved, and this was certainly a positive presentation of such.

Picture of the Day
Pardon me for geeking out a little here, but this is a SWANK photo of the Dumbeldore Army from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.



In the News
After much ballyhoo, the White House decided to release some of the intelligence report claiming Iraq has made terrorism a greater threat than before we invaded. You can read what's been released here. Democrats petitioned yesterday to declassify the whole thing, but the White House security advisor argues that declassification is too difficult. Horseshit. The Wilson/Plame debacle lead to the revelation that Bush signed an executive order concerning declassification, and all one has to do to release secret material to the public is to simply have Bush or Cheney hand it over to somebody.

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French doctors will attempt the first zero-gravity operation aboard a specially designed aircraft.

Road Runner

Saturday's horrible run convinced me that treadmills weren't doing enough to prepare me for an outdoor 5k street race. I got home yesterday, suited up, cranked up the iPod, and ran down the street. We're high on a hill in the neighborhood, and jogging down it added to the stretching I had done after lacing up the shoes. Once the road flattened out, I opened up. I ran toward downtown, a slow uphill slope all the way. I wanted to run a mile, and I did, but I was achy in the ribs and really out of breath. Also, my quads turned to wood. I stopped after the mile landmark (the first redlight intersection) and walked a few minutes. I got back to the place where I stopped running, started again, and ran home. The second leg was much better. I kept my back straight to hopefully counter the rib pain, and it didn't re-emerge. I had a nice pace going and cruised home. I had to run back up that hill, and only the power of Duran Duran made that happen. When I stopped, I was shot. I breathed hard for 15 minutes after. I was breathing hard after my shower. But my shins were fine, and that was always my weakness when running on pavement. This morning, my thighs are a little tender, but I feel OK. I ran 2.4 miles yesterday, and that's more than half of the 5k distance. I have almost exactly a month to get ready for the race. I can do this. I'm going to do this. Now I just need that perfect costume ...

Green Day and U2 teamed up last night before the Saints/Falcons game in New Orleans. You can see some of the video here. You can also download the songs, but they will only work with Rhapsody and are dependent on a subscription. If you cancel the subscription, the files won't work anymore. I TiFauxed the concert for Your Sister. She's such a Green Day geek.

Sketch of the Day
Here's the Star Wars picture of Your Sister. I'm playing with highlights to build form within all the unlined black spaces. I'm also using lots of shadow in the clothing. The trick is going to be drawing the face in shadow under a black hood.


In the News
Condi Rice responded to Bill Clinton's response to the ABC 9/11 movie. The debate concerns who has done what to get Osama and prevent 9/11. While he was the president, she was the national security advisor to his successor. She was also one of the many people who didn't lose her job after 9/11. That kind of security breakdown, following alerts of a possible attack, is inexcusable, and her boss has many times said that capturing Osama is not a priority. But Clinton was chasing Osama while the GOP went after the Lewinsky affair and said he was only trying to change the subject. Now it's just a pissing contest with gainsaying and it could distract from the important matters during the mid-term elections. What Condi is doing is perpetuating the angle that 9/11 was Clinton's fault even though he had been out of office for eight months. What he is doing is fending off those claims. And it's only important if we ignore the fact that she herself was advising Bush about Osama but not enough for him to take the matter seriously. We were chasing Russians and crafting missile shields. I'd rather blame the men who carried out 9/11 than those standing watch, but it seems obvious from the evidence uncovered after 9/11 about the Bush attitudes toward Osama and his attitude about Osama just months after 9/11 that he's more concerned with using the event to spark foreign policy and majority support for domestic policies than he is with catching the bad guy. Osama is his boogeyman and has more value if left alive and hiding to scare people. And that is the most inexcusable offense.

A Bad Run

The Saturday visit to the gym was a disaster. Not only did I not get the good treadmill and tried to run on the sinking-sand models, but I again developed a rib pain. This has emerged during the last three runs, and I'm not sure if I should blame a lack of decent stretching or a trend in bad form. I had to give up after just a mile and a half. To see if the treadmill was the trouble, I decided to run out the door and down the street. And I did. And I encountered a headwind not unlike El Nino. I got maybe half a mile and had to again stop. I was in pain. Not the legs. They're fine. But my rib was a spearpoint. I'm afraid I'm nowhere near thin enough to try this run despite dropping some weight over the summer. I do have a month to get ready for the 5k though, and some stricter regimens can make it happen. I took my race application to the Chamber of Commerce and was told by the ancient Saturday worker that she had no clue what I was doing there. I had to tell her about the race and that the application behooves all of us to bring the paperwork to that office. I had her give me a receipt so I can prove that I did register when I shop up at 11:30 p.m. for the race.

Later that day, we went shopping for loveseats. The couch in the TV room needs to be replaced; I've had it since the first marriage, and it takes up too much walking room. We found a store near the airport and measured and sat and picked our top five. We drove to Asheville after and ate at The Noodle Shop. It was fantastic as always, and Your Sis plied me with warm sake. I apparently lost my appetite for liquor the same time I developed lactose intolerance and an allergy to peanut butter. It gave me the crunchy cheeks, where my muscles constrict right under my eyes. I hate that. We walked to Old Europe and found it's no longer there but has been replaced by a bistro serving exactly the same fare. We were told Old Europe had move a few blocks over, and now there are two downtown cafes serving coffee and desserts.

And now football ...
YOUR SISTER’S TEAMS:
NFC: Detroit Lions (0-3) /Philadelphia Eagles (2-1)
AFC: Oakland Raiders (0-2) /New England Patriots (2-1) /New York Jets (2-1)

MY TEAMS:
NFC: Carolina Panthers (1-2) /Philadelphia Eagles (2-1)
AFC: Miami Dolphins (1-2) /Pittsburgh Steelers (1-2)

Parity seems to have crept into the league to such an extent that good teams (on paper) are 1-2, and historically bad teams like Cincinnati and Baltimore are 3-0. The Panthers should be 2-1 but ran a bad play last week to lose the game. Atlanta's 2-0 Falcons take on the Saints in New Orleans tonight in what should be an emotional night and a very good game. This is the first game in the SuperDome since Katrina.

Sketch of the Day
Remember this? I've started inking the drawings, and here's what I got so far.
I have to decide how much of the sleeves to darken or if I just draw the lines of the folds.