Today's Run Route and Time

Seven more sleeps until the half. Bring it on.

Today's run route
Start at E King Edward Ave & Inverness St, west on E King Edward Ave, right at Windsor St, left at E 10th Ave, left at Heather St, left at W 37th Ave, left at Windsor St, right at E King Edward Ave, end at Inverness St.
Today's run time
1 hour 2 minutes 36 seconds

Survey Says!...

A new feature (aka Page Element) on this blog: Poll. It can be found on the sidebar directly under the fluid flickr photos and will be updated fortnightly or so. I'm thinking the questions will likely reflect current events in my life, with the odd stray thought converted into question form.

Today's Run Route and Time

Today's run route
In Pacific Spirit Park, start at Sasamat Reservoir, down Sasamat, right at Council, left at Sword Fern, left at Long, left at Salish, left at Council, left at Sword Fern, left at Long, right at Salish, left at Clinton, left at Sasamat, end at Sasamat Reservoir.
Today's run time
59 minutes 32 seconds

Me, too

Miss Manners Says as Long as You Ask First, It's Okay

Queer: That guy sooo just checked you out.
Hot chick: Should I go over there and ask to sit on his face?
Queer: Bianca.
Hot chick: What? I'm horny!
Queer: Me, too, now that I think of it.

--Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia

via Overheard at the Beach, Apr 17, 2008

Get a Grip

Googled my name yesterday. Found out I was a grip for the 1992 film, The Favour, the Watch, and the Very Big Fish. Yahoo! Movies gives this synopsis: After being released from prison, a pianist with delusions about his identity poses as Jesus for a photographer and becomes a celebrity. Hey, don't laugh - it had Bob Hoskins and Jeff Goldblum in it.

Today's run route
In Pacific Spirit Park, start at Sasamat Reservoir, down Sasamat, right at Council, right at Sword Fern, right at Salish, left at Hemlock, right at Salish, left at Council, left at Sasamat, end at Sasamat Reservoir.
Today's run time
34 minutes 45 seconds

Running in a Half

I've been running regularly since last August. At the end of February I started to keep track of the location and duration of each run. By posting each run's route and time on my blog I'm motivated to keep running, both in the general lifestyle sense and in the specific not-feeling-so-great-today sense. Today, for the first time in years, I went for a run on city sidewalks, instead of the woodsy trails of Pacific Spirit Park.

While running the park's trails is great for a variety of reasons (don't have to stop for red lights and cars; the freshest air in town; soft-ish ground surface for the feet; the dogs tag along and get a lot of exercise), I need to run city sidewalks more often and here's why: in less than three weeks I'm running a half-marathon. There. It's out there. The Vancouver Half-Marathon on May 4th will be my first half-marathon. To prepare my body, my training runs should be similar to what I'll experience on that fateful Sunday. It means leaving the dogs at home, which sucks, but it's what's best for me.

Today's run route
Start at E King Edward Ave & Inverness St, south on Inverness St, right at E 31st Ave, left at Windsor St, right at E 37th Ave, right at Kersland Dr, cross W 33rd Ave, follow an unnamed Queen Elizabeth Park road clockwise, right at sidewalk next to pitch and putt golf course, follow path counterclockwise to the parking lot, through the parking lot, left at W 37th Ave, left at Windsor St, right at E King Edward Ave, end at Inverness St.
Today's run time
53 minutes 21 seconds

Raiders: The Adaptation

On Friday May 2nd at the Park Theatre, watch Raiders: The Adaptation for $12. Screening in Vancouver for the first time, it's a shot-for-shot remake of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Made by three teens in the 1980s, the reviews I've read and heard have been nothing but positive. On top of it being a fun event, it's also a charity screening to benefit the Canadian Cancer Society. My friend Jason is hosting/organizing - check out his blog for more info, including a video that shows some movie clips. Biscotti and I (and Jason) hope to see you there! Click the pic to enlarge it.

mailover7 and I were BFF

From: -
(1/2) Hey, I got your number from a friend of mine, but I bet you can't guess who I am! My name's mailover7, if you wanna come see if yo
7:12pm 3/30/08

From: -
(2/2) u recognize me online, at mailover7.love-jump.net Well hope to see you soon!
7:12pm 3/30/08

On Sunday March 30th Biscotti and I drove down to the states for the day; our cell phones were turned off to prevent roaming charges. That evening, after crossing the border back into Canada, I turned my cell on and was subsequently alerted to at least one text message. In fact, I was blessed with two text messages, seen above. (Note that I didn't delete the from info; the texts came in exactly as shown above.) Then, last week, we had just walked through the doors of River Rock Casino in Richmond when Biscotti got text alerted. Same theme, different wording. Neither of us had received text spam before it hit my inbox on March 30th - indeed, up until then we hadn't even been aware of its existence.

I'd like it to be known that I hate hate hate the text messaging system on my cell phone. If you ever feel the need to text me, please keep it very short so I don't have to scroll. Otherwise I'll only read what is visible without scrolling. Telus - the future is (not user) friendly.

Paradise, Baby, Paradise

I learned something very interesting yesterday. While uploading Vegas pics (and now vids!) to flickr, I was googling various Vegas sites and somehow found myself on the wikipedia page for the city of Paradise, Nevada. According to said webpage, Paradise contains McCarran International Airport and most of the Las Vegas Strip, including well-known hotels such as Caesars Palace and MGM Grand. Therefore, many tourists visiting "Las Vegas" actually spend most of their time in Paradise, not Las Vegas proper. How many of you were aware of that? Yeah, I thought so. To see pics and vids of our Vegas/Paradise trip, click here.

Today's run route
In Pacific Spirit Park, start at Sasamat Reservoir, down Sasamat, right at Council, left at Sword Fern, left at Long, left at Salish, turn around at 16th, right at Sword Fern, left at Long, left at Salish, left at Hemlock, right at Salish, turn around at 16th, right at Sword Fern, left at Council, left at Sasamat, end at Sasamat Reservoir.
Today's run time
1 hour 10 minutes 39 seconds

Vegas -Lights

It's been over two weeks since Biscotti and I got back from Las Vegas, Nevada, so a Vegas post is overdue. First time there for both of us and it was a grand four-day/three-night stay. The night before our flight out of Bellingham, minimal trip preparation had been done, but there was a Canucks game on PPV and I wanted to watch it at The Cottage [Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood Pub - editor]. Yes, this was back when their games held importance.

Heading out the front door to begin our short walk, Biscotti shut the door before asking, "got your keys?", prompting me to pat my pockets and get nervous. I didn't have mine and Biscotti didn't have hers and we were now locked out of our house. So we began our walk and I phoned my mother who graciously agreed to drive over to The Cottage with her copy of our house key sometime in the next two and a half hours.

In the end the Canucks won, we got back into our house, and the packing didn't take too long so a good amount of sleep was had. Here now, is a recap of our Vegas trip, in the form of a highlights and lowlights list.

• Packing too many clothing items - a Vegas run? Ha!
• Plethora of activities with our money-saving Power Pass
• Getting to our first-night show on Fremont
• Our first-night show (I'm a Chippendale?)
• The River Pool at MGM Grand (1,000 feet or 8,000 feet)
• Long walk from our room to the River Pool
• Star Trek Experience
• Biscotti riding Sahara's Speed: The Ride (post loop, coaster "accelerates from 35 mph to 70 mph in just two seconds")
• Rim Runner and Canyon Blaster at Circus Circus's Adventuredome Theme Park
• Biscotti riding The Roller Coaster at New York-New York
• Playing a slot game we actually enjoy
• Playing blackjack at a table for the first time ever
• Releasing four books - one journaled already
• Two buffet meals a day - except for a midnight meal at Studio Cafe and a meal at Planet Hollywood
• Having our midnight meal next to newlyweds who had been married four hours
• Finding Planet Hollywood, and their grill being broken
• Riding public transit to the outlets and back
• A leaking bottle of apple juice in our bag
• The busyness and excitement of March Madness
• "Touring" King Tut Museum at Luxor
• Stand-up comedy at Tropicana's The Comedy Stop
• Taking Pete Rose's picture

Today's Run Route and Time

Today's run route
In Pacific Spirit Park, start at Sasamat Reservoir, down Sasamat, right at Council, left at Sword Fern, left at Long, left at Salish, left at Hemlock, right at Salish, turn around at 16th, right at Sword Fern, left at Long, left at Sasamat, end at Sasamat Reservoir.
Today's run time
49 minutes 22 seconds

Me in Courier's k&k

In response to a detected error, regarding usage of the phrase "begs the question", I sent an email to The Vancouver Courier. Specifically, to the writers (or, maybe, writer) of the kudos & kvetches column. In the very next issue, the writers address the usage. The kudos & kvetches column is here and my Detected Errors post about it is here.

Books, and Errors

Hey you. Yeah, you. Guess what? Changed my mind - listen, don't guess. Please listen, don't just guess. I have started two new blogs and am hopeful that you'll pay them a visit now and then. They're located on the sidebar's blogroll for your convenience. One is called jblue's Blog o' Books, and the other one is a blog o' errors called Detected Errors.

Today's run route
In Pacific Spirit Park, start at Sasamat Reservoir, down Sasamat, right at Council, left at Sword Fern, left at Long, left at Salish, left at Hemlock, right at Salish, turn around at 16th, right at Sword Fern, left at Long, left at Salish, left at Council, left at Sword Fern, left at Long, left at Sasamat, end at Sasamat Reservoir.
Today's run time
1 hour 2 minutes 39 seconds