day 1

Day 1 of my new running early morning schedule plan etc...complete! I woke up at 6 am and went for a 4 mile run this morning. Good start...but can I keep it up?

extended vacation

So after I ran 12 miles last week, I went to Florida for a short vacation. When I came back, I had a hard time getting back into running.

Then last night, I went for a run, and I got stung by an insect (probably a yellow jacket) TWICE on my left foot. My ankle swelled up & turned purple. I hobbled back to my apt & Ryan took care of me with some ice, benadryl, cortisone, the works. (thank you!) But talk about unlucky! So I've decided that this is the perfect time for an extended vacation from running. It's hot...it rains a lot in the evenings...I get stung by insects, you know, the typical excuses :)

Keep me accountable though. Next week, I really want to start running again, and this time, in the early mornings! It's the only way to beat the heat & rain, and it's just better for the body overall. I just have a reeeeeally hard time waking up early. Not a morning person! Any advice?

furnace of affliction

Alas, it is the last day of July, and the end of my patriotic quote month. I must say I will miss it, it's been fun diving into old documents and searching the web for good words from our Founding Fathers. (i'm a nerd!)

This last quote I think is really relevant to Americans today. I'd say we are going through a furnace of affliction right now. Fears of the economy, gas prices, presidential election, failed & corrupted Congress...all these things could make us afraid, could make us lose faith in America.

But we need this time as a nation. We need to go through the furnace every now and then. When we emerge from the other side, we will only be a stronger, better nation. I only hope that the furnace does not break us, and that we look at this time as opportunity to go back to our Founding Fathers' beliefs and virtues.


The furnace of affliction produces refinement in states as well as individuals. And the new Governments we are assuming in every part will require a purification from our vices, and an augmentation of our virtues, or they will be no blessings.

John Adams
Letter to Abigail Adams
July 3, 1776

not-so-in-motion picture

Oh man, I LOVE this. Found it on Hot Air this AM. Finally someone in the RNCC is thinking! This is what we have to fight against, to hit home to the American public. For as much as everyone wants to blame Bush & Republicans for our problems, how can we forget that Congress is DEMOCRAT led?! Ever since they took over, we've done nothing but go downhill. Can you think of one good thing that they have done for us?

review: Sandbar

Sandbar Restaurant
date of visit: 7/25/08

kiwis:
taste: 4
service: 3
ambience: 5

I guess the ambience category isn't really fair here, seeing as this is a restaurant directly on the beach! As in...my feet were touching sand the entire time I ate. Oh so wonderful.


The food is really good & fresh, the only downsides are parking and a slightly rude waitstaff. They rope off the parking lots and only open them as the other lots get full. This is to deter anyone from using the lot to park on the beach. I understand this, but I think they guy they hire as Parking Nazi over the lot is a bit much & intimidating enough to make you not want to eat there. Then the waitstaff is a bit uptight, short in manner and not much for small talk.


But really, the food is great. I had the Blackjack Mahi Mahi - mahi mahi blackened with bacon & cheese and fries. It was cooked perfectly and had just the right spice to it. And as we all know, bacon makes everything delicious. The fries were good too, I'm not sure what seasoning they use but it really makes the fries great. My aunt got a grouper sandwich which I have tried in the past and can attest to its greatness. My cousin got a turkey club sandwich, which was huge and probably tasted good (I didn't try). We were too full for dessert but we did return later...

For some amazing pina coladas! Maybe the best I've ever had...I just needed a paper umbrella! =)

flames kindled

The flames kindled on the Fourth of July, 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them.

Thomas Jefferson to John Adams
1821

more reason for me to not watch the Olympics

China is reneging on their promises - surprised? No.

Just more reason for me to not watch the Olympics this year. I don't understand why our country isn't boycotting this. Oh wait...maybe it's because China owns so much of the United States? I don't know :( But how can you support a Communist country who wants to restrict the press coverage of the event?

My favorite is the quote at the end of the article, where a reporter from Communist Cuba is even surprised at how controlling China is being:

Cuban reporter Joel Garcia Leon, with the magazine Trabajadores, said he expected the censorship. But he was overwhelmed by other red tape.

"I'm surprised how tightly controlled and complicated everything is here," he said. "To get a phone number from China Mobile, I have to give them a copy of my passport and my mother's maiden name. This seems quite excessive and abnormal."

sweet 100

So a couple months ago I planted a Sweet 100 tomato plant in a big planter on my balcony. The name comes from the promise that it will bear 100 tomatoes per plant. It took a lot of work, because the plant way outgrew my expectations, and I didn't have adequate support for it to really grow to its potential. About a month in, half the plant broke off from the weight :( So I may only get 50 tomatoes.

But there is a happy ending...here are my first tomatoes of the summer! I'm super excited =)

I am an American

Eesh I go on vacation and leave you starving for some more quotes from our Founding Fathers! Here's a quote each day I missed (fri, sat, sun, mon) and a quote for today!

I anticipate the Day when to command Respect in the remotest Regions it will be sufficient to say I am an American. Our Flag shall then wave in Glory over the Ocean and our Commerce feel no Restraint but what our own Government may impose. Happy thrice happy Day. Thank God, to reach this envied State we need only to Will. Yes my countrymen. Our Destiny depends on our Will.

Gouverneur Morris
Speech in 1800

This government, the offspring of our own choice uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support.

George Washington
Farewell Address
Sep 19, 1796

The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and perpetuated.

James Madison
Advice to My Country
Fall 1834

I charge them, on a father’s blessing, never to let the motives of private interest or ambition to induce them to betray, nor the terrors of poverty and disgrace, or the fear of danger or of death deter them from asserting the liberty of their country, and endeavoring to transmit to their posterity those sacred rights to which themselves were born.

George Mason
To his sons
Last Will & Testament

Independence Forever!

John Adams
July 4, 1826
on the 50 yr anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and date of his & Thomas Jefferson’s death

review: el pollo loco

el pollo loco
date of visit: 7/22/08
kiwis:
taste: 4.5
service: 3
ambience: n/a

Wow! this is my new favorite place! On a rainy Tuesday evening, I decided I was too tired to cook and too wet to go inside anywhere. Hence the convenient & newly opened El Pollo Loco (on Cobb Parkway).

They are all about their flame grilled chicken, so I got the 3 piece meal with pinto beans & rice. I was also starving at this point so I got a cheese quesadilla to eat on the road. I give them a 3 for service because the drive thru took a long time. At least 10 min. I'm used to the 2 min Chick-fil-a drill (the only other fast food I will eat). But it was totally worth it. My meal only cost $10 and the food was great. If you served it on a nice glass plate with silverware, I don't think you would know it was fast food! The chicken was so juicy and flavorful, the beans were cooked perfectly, and the rice was good, although a little dry. I was even impressed with the crispyness of the tortilla on the outside, while staying soft on the inside of the quesadilla. Mmmm...

So for those of you who know me, I eat at Chick-fil-a at least once a week...but now you may find me at El Pollo Loco!!!

And there are many more locations coming! 50 in the next 6 yrs...crazy...crazy chicken that is!

a change of pace & place

so today I reached another milestone - 12 miles! Very exciting, and very painful. I ran from 8:30-10:30 this morning, and 12 hours & several ibuprofen later my kneecaps are still hurting.

A couple days ago I had the opportunity for a run in Peachtree City. My next race is there in a couple months, so I thought it'd be good to get a sneak peek. I have to say it was really nice! Just to get out of Atlanta for one thing, and then to have fresh air to breathe was great. Then, Peachtree City is known for their golf carts - everyone has one. So this presented 2 good things for me: nice golf cart paths to run on, and then lots of moments of laughter every time I saw a golf cart driving around. It's just such a different world down there, it makes me laugh. You wouldn't believe the different golf carts that exist.

So, I am looking forward to my 15k in October! Can't wait to check out more of the paths.

vindicate the honor

It belongs to us to vindicate the honor of the human race, and to teach that assuming brother moderation. Union will enable us to do it. Disunion will add another victim to his triumphs. Let Americans disdain to be the instruments of European greatness!

Alexander Hamilton
Federalist No. 11
Nov 24, 1787

Hmmm I wonder what Hamilton would think of Obama?? Thoughts?

if men were angels

I got too busy for a quote yesterday :( So here's 2!

They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society: They reared the fabrics of governments which have no model on the face of the globe. They formed the design of a great confederacy, which it is incumbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate.

James Madison
Federalist No. 14
Nov 30, 1787

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

James Madison
Federalist No. 51
Feb 8, 1788

Pres Bush visits my street

Yeah, that's right. Too bad I wasn't home at the time. Pres. Bush dropped in to Atlanta yesterday and attended an event right down the road from my humble abode!

"Close to 200 people — including Gov. Sonny Perdue — attended the event at the home of Harrison Merrill, a local developer, just off West Paces Ferry Road."

The closest I got was stuck in a moving roadblock on 75N after work. SO FUN.

$25 for 3 courses

Midtown Restaurant Week

Who wants to go with me? :)

ravishing Light and Glory

Sorry...forgot to post quotes on Friday! So you get 4 today :) and they are good ones! just like all the others ;)

Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means.

John Adams
Letter to Abigail Adams
July 3, 1776

Let us recollect it was liberty, the hope of liberty for themselves and us and ours, which conquered all discouragements, dangers, and trials.

John Adams on America's first colonists
Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law 1765

Let the only contest be, who shall be foremost in defending his country.

John Jay
to the General Committee of Tryon County
July 22, 1777

I have not yet begun to fight.

attributed to John Paul Jones
Sep 23, 1779

shocker!

A little late in the game, Cafferty.
Why does Obama get more news coverage than McCain?

Amazing to me that Cafferty is just now noticing this. But then, does he ask "how can the media be more balanced?" or "how can I be a better journalist when I see this problem in my industry?" No. Of course not. Instead, he asks "Why does Barack Obama get more news coverage than John McCain?"

?!

CNN took my nausea to another level today.

the cause of all mankind

The cause of America is, in a great measure, the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections are interested.

Thomas Paine
Common Sense
Feb 14, 1776

just the facts

Why aren't we drilling in ANWR?

Real & Fake energy proposals - you decide.

And according to the Institute for Energy Research...
Q: Can and should energy be produced in both NPR-A and ANWR's 1002 area?
A: Yes.

Interesting stuff!

p.s. what a funny widget on the IER homepage - countdown til the congressional offshore ban expires.

p.p.s. I am now a big fan of Sarah Palin. Her well-written post on Sen. John Cornyn's blog is a must read!

amor patriae

Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families. The Amor Patriae is both a moral and religious duty. It comprehends not only the love of our neighbors but of millions of our fellow creatures, not only of the present but of future generations.

Benjamin Rush
"On Patriotism"
Oct 20, 1773