As seen in the newspaper:

WANTED: Somebody to go back in time with me.
This is not a joke. P.O. Box 322 Oakview, CA 93022
You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your
own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this
once before.

So, it's not just me when I say that people in this town can't drive

(Article copied from WIStv.com)

"A new report says Columbia has the worst drivers in the entire country.

An article in this month's "Men's Health" magazine ranked 100 US cities for crashes. Columbia finished dead last with a grade of "F."

Here are a couple of the scathing comments in the article:

'Spend a day in Columbia, South Carolina. And wear a helmet. Simply put, the city is lousy with bad drivers.' 'A Boeing 737 could land there, but the cars can't avoid bending fenders.'

So - are Columbia's drivers really that bad? Here's what some of you are saying:

'But this town is bad for you if you're on two wheels, there's no doubt about that. If you ride a motorcycle you take your, you know, your life at peril every time you leave your house around here.' 'I think things move a little too slowly sometimes, but I don't think there's any traffic hazards or, or any accident hazards.' 'In this city we seem like, that we're willing, to just move up one spot we're willing to endanger two or three people's lives when it's not going to get us effectively from Point A to Point B any faster than it would have if we had allowed the person to get in. It just seems to be more accomadating in major metropolitan areas. I do not know why Columbia is like that. I love Columbia. It's my home, I've always lived here. We have some of the worst drivers in America.'

Now, you're probably wondering how Men's Health came up with their findings. Researchers looked at a number of statistics including speeding numbers, traffic accidents and fatalities, and seat belt use.

In case you're wondering what city has the best drivers, it's Des Moines, Iowa."

threats

Sirens flooded the air this morning as multiple Columbia PD patrol units, along with the DHS, responded around 9:00a to a bomb threat at the high school across from my house. The serenity of my Thursday morning was broken first by this, and then the sound of morning traffic, as the streets surrounding the school were closed vehicles were diverted onto the road in front of my house.

Count down: three days

I started running today with apprehension; my legs were hurting and I hadn't even ran 100 meters yet. Terrified thoughts blitzed through my head; "Can I do this Saturday?"

As I continued to run, I realized that I haven't had a break from running since this past Saturday. Everyday for the past four, I've hammered out at least 7 km per run. And now I sit here at my computer, yawning away, exhausted.

These next two days are my self-proclaimed break to let my body reconstruct itself. Rest. Time off. A recharge period--hopefully long enough to sustain the 10 km run on Saturday morning.

4.2

I ran my old course tonight. The one I created several years ago during my freshman year.

Today marks one week to go.

I did something last night that I haven't done in almost two months:

I drank a soda.

I know how unhealthy sodas are, but I was really tired, and I needed to stay alert for the entire length of my evening class.

So I drank a soda. A Mr. Pibb, to be exact. And it cost me a freakin' dollar to get it out of the vending machine.

And after drinking it, my body tried to figure out what this corrosive substance I just ingested was and what way to best remove it. I sat through the entire three hour class period suffering the detrimental effects the soda induced upon me.

Moral of the story: I'm not drinking another soda.

I got 99 problems and 82 of them are the parking spaces on campus I can't find

I paid my parking ticket today. $15. Not terrible.

But I got it for parking in a parking lot over spring break. Granted, it was a teacher lot, but I thought that they had a break just like everyone else did. Oh well.

And, if I hadn't changed the time on this post, it would've said 10:54 PM. It's kinda funny that although computer programmers have had a full two years to change everything to Congress' Energy Policy Act of 2005, most computer times are still off.

Spring Break, by the numbers

Sleeping= 64 hours ($0; -$0/hr)
Working= 25 hours (N/A)
Driving= 24 hours ($33; -$1.4/hr)
Walking/hiking= 6 hours ($0; -$0/hr)
Coffee Shops= 4 hours ($11; -$2.8/hr)
Packing= 2 hours ($0; -$0/hr)

So, according to my data, going to coffee shops is the most expensive thing I did over spring break.

I also spent a full day in a car.

Spring break has been such a rush. Columbia, Hendersonville, Asheville, Summerville, Charleston, Myrtle Beach. It's been to the point where I haven't been in the same city for more than 10 waking hours. Strange.

Shack on the Rocks was great. It was nice to get away from all my distractions, climb a mountain, and just kick back and relax. Though, I have to say, Asheville didn't live up to what I had heard. Basically, it was a collective gathering of hippies. It wasn't exactly my cup of tea.

After spending about an hour at home unpacking and repacking my bag, I set off for a training conference. An hour and a half later, I arrived at my hotel in Summerville, where both conference days were supposed to be held. But when the seven of us who were attending got there, we found that the course for Thursday wasn't being held in Summerville, but rather, Charleston.

And then I drove to Myrtle Beach this evening. Tomorrow's journeys include Florence and the return to Columbia. I should sleep.

I just set a coffee mug down on the counter. Not hard.

The handle came off in my hand.

It's my Midas touch in reverse.

Double Letter Week

uno mes

It's that day again; another month has gone by, making this empty-the-bank-account day.

I got my race packet last night. Four weeks. That's it. I can't wait. Now that I've been running a lot more, I feel like I could do it now.