Thanks to Elizabeth for allowing me to borrow her heart-rate monitor for the run. I would not have been able to give as detailed an account without it.
I was going to change the wording of the previous entry, but Meredith said I should leave it as is and explain why it is worded so disjointedly. I had consumed almost a whole bottle of wine at dinner (spirits), it was way past my bedtime, and I was high on the afterglow of having spent the evening with people that I totally love and enjoy being with.
Capital 10K
I am very happy with my performance at the 10K. My time was 1hr 26min and 58 seconds. I have each mile's time noted, if anyone is interested I can post that as well. I burned almost 900 calories. My average heart rate was 145. I added some pictures to the album in my webshots. I invite all who is interested to take a look-see. Stepan cheated again and beat me and Jennifer across the finish line. He says he isn't going to run, and at the last minute, when we have our guard down, he sprints full speed ahead. Even though he did this for the Cowtown 10K, his official time puts him coming in after Jen by about 15 seconds and before me by 2 seconds. We will not have an official time for the Capital 10K.
Vacation is Over
I have to go back to work tomorrow. I will be spending a week at the SBC Center For Learning.
I just got back to Jennifer and Stepan's from dinner at Elizabeth's house. We had a very lovely time. We had lovely food and spirits. Brian, Dale's father cleaned the kitchen. Our dessert was homemade ice cream. Jenny and Stepan made it and it was wonderful. The flavor was strawberry. Blue Bell coiuld take lessons from Jen and Step. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for me. 10K run is a good thing---I have taken in a bunch of calories that needs to be spent. I will report more tomorrow. I am not sure, but ESPN could be doing live coverage of the event. If so, my race number is 15055, look for me.
I am going to participate in the Capital 10K on Sunday. So, I decided to do a fitness jog today. I went 1.5 miles in 20 minutes 30 seconds and burned 386 calories. I am going to try to do the same route tomorrow. I am not making any promises though.
I love movies about baseball. I was checking out the TV listings and saw that The Natural is going to be on TCM. This is one of my favorites, along with Field of Dreams, Angels in the Outfield, and A League of Their Own. I use to love playing baseball in the backyard with sibs and neighborhood kids. I remember the first major league game I attended was in Cleveland Oh and a double header. I was 9 years old. I do not remember the opposing team, but grandpa bought me a pennant that was proudly displayed on my bedroom wall for years. Oh yeah, another great baseball movie is The Sandlot. If you have missed any of the movies I mentioned, and you love baseball, please, do yourself a favor and rent or buy them.
I have now successfully completed I drive safely.com internet defensive driving course and scored 91% on my final exam. I needed to score at least 70%. I have been fretting over my need to take this course. I was issued a traffic citation in Houston during the weekend of the Cinco Ranch Triathlon. The ticket indicated that I was going 68mph in a 45 mph speed limit on Hwy 6. Even though the ticket was incorrect in both the posted speed limit and my alleged speed, I decided not to fight the ticket and take the course. I was going approximately 63 and the posted speed limit where I was stopped was 55. Ever since the judge granted my request to take the defensive driving in lieu of fines and to have the ticket dismissed, I have had it in the back of mind that I need to take care of this. I was granted 6 months...that expires on 06-03-03. I kept putting it off. Recently, I went to smartpages and got a list of defensive driving schools in Arlington. When I got around to calling the schools listed, I found that all of them had disconnected numbers. So, yesterday, I got online again and began googling for schools. I found one online, verified with the Texas Education Agency that they were a certified course and took the class online. It was so much better than having to spend 6 hours in a classroom with a bunch of people that I did not know. While I was taking my final exam I got a call from Kathleen. She told me that Matthew, her son, was taking defensive driving today as well. I am anxious to see how well he did on his final. I hope I do not get too preachy about other's driving habits, since I am a recent graduate of defensive driving.
I am in Wichita Falls right now. Taking a break from my crocheting project to rest my hands. I am so tired. I got only 5 hours of sleep last night. Mother and I started our day at Roger Einhaus's for breakfast and then shopped til we dropped for the rest of the day. Now, I am bound and determined to finish the afghan tonight. It should take about 3 hours of non-stop working to complete.
Mother
Mother told me a funny. Matthew had used the outdoor light for an electricity source and in doing so pulled it loose. Mother wanted him to fix it because she didn't like the way it was dangling. Matthew told mother that he has something that dangles, mother replied, yes, but yours doesn't light up.
Ok, so I get to J's hangar and he is piddling around in it. He is looking for a funnel so he can add oil to the plane. He is frustrated, which is evidenced by his demeanor, so I try to look for the funnel. In a few minutes, I hear: "here it is, right where I normally keep it." The chute is stored in a very large bag that sits in the passenger seat, which made it neccessary that I follow J to the runway in my car. When we get to the take-off starting point, J begins readying the plane for flight. This includes unpacking the chute, laying all the lines that attach the chute to the body, positioning the chute for flight and so on. The time came for me to climb aboard. J had already instructed me on the in flight sound system that is stored in the helmet that he made me wear. It allowed us to talk to each other and be heard, which was very nice. I am buckled in, J is buckled in and we are ready for take off. At least I thought we were. J starts looking at his control panel. I am watching what he is doing and it seems as if he keeps doing the same thing over and over. In a moment he lets out a very disappointed "oh well." He wanted to monitor the temp of both cylinders and was only able to access the stats of one. Another thing, he tells me not to be concerned if the warning light comes on. It has been doing that and he said he has voltages set incorrectly. To correct this would require RTFM and we all know how we are about doing that. In a moment we are on our way, roaring down the grassy runway. Take off was exciting and scary at the same time. It was surprising how fast we gained altitude. It was very foggy when we started and we got high enough that the fog obscured the view of the ground. I had an overpowering urge to be on the ground. It was not long, seconds, before I felt comfortable with where I was. I had both of my cameras with me. I tethered the digital to the neck strap of the Canon. I got some very nice pictures. On my way to J's I saw an old house in the middle of nowhere. I told J about it and he knew to which one I was referring. We had been up for about 15 minutes and I asked J how far that house was. He said we were on our way there. It was pretty chilly. I wished I had grabbed my jacket from the car before we left. Time went by way too swiftly. We were heading in for the landing. We line up with the runway and begin our descent. Some guy is fishing on the Brazos and I wonder if he is watching us. J said I may have to walk back to my car. We are above the runway flying, flying and not landing. I said J, the runway is running out. So, we get to make another attack on it. Approach 2 was successful, woefully we were on the ground once more. One thing about the whole experience---it ranks among my 10 most favorite experiences of all time. I hope to be able to do it again. Thanks, J.
I had so much fun today. J called me early, and I went out to Weatherford to go flying in his powered parachute. I took pictures, and hopefully this will link you to them. I tested the link and you will be taken to the photos taken with my digital. I will be adding more from the 35MM soon. So keep checking them.
J showed me this site on the internet. You should go there and watch the 3+ minute clip entitled 405 the movie.
Vacation
I have 70 hours to take that is left over from last year. I am taking 40 of those hours in the coming week. I believe the weather is going to be gorgeous for a vacation. Today certainly is very nice. I may go to Wichita Falls for a short time. I am trying to finish a birthday/mother's day gift for mom. I would like to deliver it.
While I was in Houston, we did many things. We went to the new Aquarium. We went to see Guy Forsythe. We went out to eat and drank a bunch of booze. We went to the water wall near the Galleria. While we were at the wall, Tim noticed a young couple and approached them. He asked them if they had just gotten engaged. They had, so I offered to take a picture of them with my new digital camera, which I have added to my webshots, and email it to them. I emailed them yesterday and today I got the following letter:
Dear Rita,
THANK YOU so much for the picture. Matt and I both agree that it looks like a professional picture. This was the happiest moment in our lives, and if it wasn't for you it would just be a memory in our minds. Thanks to wonderful people like you we have proof of our glorious moment to hang on our wall. I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for us. I think you're an angel sent from God to us that day to capture the moment for us to have forever. We would like to keep in touch with you in the future. My fiance and his dad own a pool hall in Clear Lake called Breakers Billards. If yall are ever in the area we would love to see yall again. The number there is 281-316-0037, just call and ask for Matt. Again thank you very very very much.
Love,
Matthew and Tiffany
There was a specialness of the moment for me. I know that this couple will remember this day forever and that I, as would Deon, Meredith, Catherine, Felicia, and Tim would be part of that memory.