beer festival

Big beer fest in Ypsilanti. An excuse to see folks in Monroe, water my brothers plants and get some much needed bookstore time in Ann Arbor. Met up with Rob on the Fri. night and exceeded my fun quotient, but stayed mellow on Saturday. Tried at least thirty different beers from Michigan brewers, most of them worth drinking again.

My gerbil beats your toad.

Potter is done

Finished the Deathly Hallows after a marathon read. In 2003 when I was even more broke I took advantage of the cushy chairs in Barnes and Noble (in Columbia, MO.) and finished the fifth Harry Pooter book in three days, reading 500 pages one day. I couldn't shoot until I finished it. And then I found two great stories within the week.

Of course they're related! How dare you suggest otherwise.

In hopes of invigorating my recently limp photo skills I read the latest book once again thanks to Barnes and Noble (of Saginaw, Mich.) and fueled by store bought coffee read it in 25 hours. So, yes I supported the store, but none of my money went to a woman already richer than the queen, just enjoyed her story telling (I did buy the HalfBlood Prince). So I have gotten my megadose of children's fantasy literature.

Now I can shoot better, right?

After Hours

the slowest in the group

My running schedule called for a easygoing 6 miles for today. I have been pretty lax in training. Skipped my first long run, cut short the next long run due to food poisoning, then finally got up to distance, 12 instead of the recommended 14 miles, last week.

But, I've been spending Tuesday evenings with the local running group. It consists of twenty-odd guys and one woman running an eight mile loop. I've been running six of the eight miles, but finally gave it a whirl for the full eight today.

I started out last and stayed in last watching them fade into the distance. By the time I reached mile three (my house) all but two were out of sight. I passed two guys at mile four, so i really wasn't dead last, just third from last, and cruised in while everyone else was cooling down and stretching.

What amazes me is that I ran eight miles in 1:05. That's by far the fastest I've ever run that kind of distance (I think), but I was still so far back in the pack.

I guess I can only get faster from here (as long as I don't pop something).

fireworks

A shot of Bay City fireworks from my living room. There were porta-johns across the street to keep most of the sketchy folks from asking to use my toilet. Nota ll of them unfortunately. But my house and belongings made it through the night.

Toronto