Did pretty good

General

Ran to work this morning. I did pretty good this morning, in part, because I didn’t run on Wednesday (rest day) and couldn’t drag myself out of bed Thursday morning as planned, so would have had to run Thursday evening… didn’t want to have only 8 hours or less between two long-ish runs, so I just walked 3 miles last night. The weather was nice, if a bit muggy, and the cottonwood trees were spewing their allergy-inducing cottonwood-y tufts all over my neighborhood, but it was still a good walk. Even if it was interrupted with my accidentally walking past the Iron Horse restaurant, falling in, and having a delicious chicken Belize tostada.

Today: 5.5 miles, total time 55:55.00, for a per-mile pace of 10:10 even! Yay!

Sneaky sneaky

Smacky

Shhhhh… I’m in the middle of trimming Smacky’s claws.

Normally when I do this, I try to get it over with quickly, which always backfires in a way that leaves me wearing gloves and a long-sleeved shirt to work the next day in order to avoid the “Oh, my god! What happened to your HANDS and your ARMS?” comments from coworkers.

But no, I’ve figured out a slightly easier way.

If I sit in front of the computer long enough, he will come over and peacefully fall asleep in my lap. Usually with one leg or another sticking out oddly. I first noticed this (the arm-sticking-out part) a couple of nights ago, and didn’t until just tonight realize what it meant.

What it meant was that, if I had the nail clippers handy, I could probably, slowly, cautiously, and carefully, trim the claws on that paw without him noticing much. And if he did notice, he’s in such a mellow mellow mood that he wouldn’t do too much damage to, well, me.

When he does notice, he gets agitated, then wanders off, attacks one of his toys or watches the birds outside, calms down over the course of 10 minutes or so, and then wanders back, eventually curling up in my lap like nothing’s happened.

I’ve got his front left and rear left paws done, and one of the claws on his right front paw so far. I’m doing pretty good. He just finished cleaning himself and laid his head down, so as soon as I finish this post, I’ll get to work on the remaining claws.

Patience, it is said, is a virtue. Along with preventing blood loss from thousands of tiny cuts.

Valuation

Tech

Google may be a good company. They certainly do what they do very well, and are constantly coming up with new ideas and innovations all the time. (Side note: I use a subsidiary of Google to post, although my actual site is hosted elsewhere.)

TimeWarner, Inc. may be a bad company. The massive amount of disparate media controlled by one gianormous corporation has led, I believe, to a poorly-informed American public. That’s an argument for another time.

However, even if you accept my initial assertions, it’s difficult for me to then conclude that Google is worth more than Time-Warner. Google is worth 80-billion-with-a-“b” dollars? Really?

Quick running update

exercise

Quick running update:

Ran in my neighborhood, down to the river and up through Sellwood Park, then back again. 3 miles. Here’s the splits:

  1. 4:39.71
  2. 4:42.98 (09:22.69)
  3. 4:53.63 (14:16.32)
  4. 4:16.67 (18:32.99)
  5. 5:16.40 (23:49.39)
  6. 4:41.67 (28:31.06)

Yes, my total time was 28:31, for an average mile pace of 9:30.35! I rock!

And now I’m hitting the showers.

Running schedule this week

exercise

Running schedule for the week:

  • Monday: 3 miles
  • Tuesday: 4 miles
  • Wednesday: Rest day
  • Thursday: 3.5 miles
  • Friday: 5.5 miles
  • Saturday: 3 miles
  • Sunday: Rest day

Total of 19 miles.

I think that’s a better distribution throughout the week. I’m not going to label Friday my “run to work” day since it depends on other non-running factors (notably, my social plans and my laundry situation). I’m increasing my total miles by a tiny .5 miles. Still working towards 25/week by end of summer, but, y’know, slowly.

…not quite 5.5 miles

exercise

Dammit… I went back and double-checked the total miles for my run. I use this mapping software on another computer to plot out routes, and like I said in my previous post, today’s 5+ mile route was a new one for me, so I wasn’t entirely sure I was following it properly.

At any rate, I missed a small section and the distance I actually ran was only 5.26 miles, give or take. Which slows down my pace (assuming my total time was correct) to around 10:28. Which isn’t bad, and feels closer to what I thought I was doing, but, damn, for a bit there, I thought I rocked a bit harder than I actually rocked.

New 5.5 mile loop

exercise

Running update:

Tonight, a new 5.5 mile figure-eight loop in my neighborhood; start on SE 19th and Marion, run north through Westmoreland Park to Bybee, then west on Bybee up to the crematorium, then north again to Knight and turn east (that’s the cross-street by Papa Heydn’s), down to SE 22nd, back south, turn west on Bybee again, then back along Sellwood Ave. to Sellwood Park, through the park and work my way back to 17th and Linn. Whee!

I don’t have the half-mile splits figured yet, just the total distance. I did time myself tonight, but when I finished, I accidentally reset the time instead of saving it. I think my total time was around 54:35, but I’m not sure and that sounds a bit fast — a 9:55 mile pace, if that’s true. I’ll record the time but with an asterisk.

Still, it was a nice evening for a run; sunny and not too warm.

Eleni’s Estiatorio

reviews

Quick ‘n’ dirty review:

Had dinner last night at Eleni’s Estiatorio, a Greek restaurant in my neighborhood I have not previously enjoyed.

And man-oh-man did I and my friend enjoy it last night. Amazing food.

The menu is almost entirely appetizers; only 4 main courses that I could see. And a note at the beginning of the menu says that the best way to dine is with plate after plate of appetizers and lots of wine and conversation. Who were we to dispute that?

The calamari was, without question, the best calamari I have ever had. It’s so easy to overcook squid, and it can be rubbery… but last night it was tender and flavorful and amazing. Did I already say “amazing”? Sorry but it’s the perfect word. We tried the bread, the calamari, the tzatziki (a.k.a. “Suzuki”), chicken kabobs (came with a spinach side), saganaki (“flaming cheese”) and finished up with a wonderful salad…

I highly recommend this place. So good.