what the... ???

Yesterday, I dragged Bruce to the gym for some weightlifting. Much to my pleasure, the XM Satellite Radio was set to "obscure '80's songs" or something of that ilk rather than "today's bubblegum pop that makes a ripoff of every single song that's existed and has no originality of its own".

One of the songs that came on was a slower R&B tune from the '80's -- I remember having heard it then, but I couldn't remember the title or artist. And as Bruce sat there doing chest presses. he told me that this particular song reminded him of Strawberry Quik.

???? What the hell ????

Anyway, yes, he had an image of a rotating container of strawberry Quik powder while this song played.

Further reminding me that... I have a unique husband.

count your blessings

whether or not you're religious. Every now and then, I get a reminder.

I'm part of a large internet-based running community -- even though I've been laid up with more chronic injuries than I can count on one hand. One of the frequent posters, about a month ago, was out running a trail race with her friends and suddenly collapsed with a brain aneurysm.

Luckily for Karen, there were paramedics nearby also running the race. Apparently they saved her life. A month later, she's in rehab, finally transfered out of the hospital, and still getting used to the idea of feeding herself, talking, taking care of herself... it's going to be a long recovery, they say.

Also, luckily for Karen, she's a young strong running type. Yet even for someone of her health status, the fact that it took her three weeks to regain strength to say a single word is sobering.

Count your blessings. Enjoy every day you have on this planet. Hug your family and friends.

And for updates on Karen, check our her family's blog:

Karen's Blog

Longing for road trips of old...

We recently finished driving through the West for 2 1/2 weeks. Our time was limited, so we had to drive a bit farther, most days, than we wanted to.

Which brought back memories of my childhood family road trips, where we had nearly unlimited time. If something looked interesting, we'd stay the night. If we were too tired to drive, we'd stay in the middle of nowhere, just to make sure we could get enjoyment out of the trip.

Yet one of my fondest memories comes from a roadtrip of my own that I took a few days after dropping out of grad school, back in 1998. I hopped in my little Toyota and headed north of San Fran on 101. I'd also tossed my guitar into the back seat, just for kicks. Partway up to Mendocino (which ended up being my day's destination) the two-lane highway had one lane closed, and I had to stop for a while, waiting for the other direction to pass. I put the car in park, reached back for the guitar, and started playing -- all while sitting in the driver's seat. I still wonder what people thought, guitar neck sticking out the driver's side window... but heck, we weren't going anywhere for a while.

But that was back when life was more carefree...

166.66666...% increase

I rock. But I don't know how.

I've been teaching a "new" spinning class on Monday nights at the gym. As people get used to having any new class on the schedule, the class slowly grows. Usually.

Before I left town, I'd had three people for each of two weeks -- pretty paltry.

But tonight, I had eight. WOO!

I'm sure I had nothing to do with it. Maybe it was the fact that the gym finally started posting my class on the schedule (claimed they ran out of the proper label for the chart... for three weeks?). Maybe it was something my sub did over the past two weeks.

But in any case... yay! Far less danger of the class being cancelled, which is what I'd feared. And it feels good!