They Must Be Getting Slower

Because there is NO WAY that I'm getting that much faster.

Yes it's true I did set a new PR (or personal record for non runners out there) on Saturday at the AMPS 5k in Pensauken, NJ. I crossed the line in an even 21 minutes and 21 seconds which shattered my previous best time of 21 minutes 56 seconds turned in at the Gaithersburg New Year's Day 5k. That was my favorite 5k and the last before LBJ (Little Bloggerman Jr) decided to poke his head out the following year).

To give you an idea of how I'm not really built for speed, I ran all 3 miles in under 7 minutes which is the first time I've ever done that. Add to that my first mile was clocked at 6 minutes and 29 seconds which is easily the fastest mile I've turned in, well ever. So that had me pretty amped up (no pun intended).

But there was one more thing that topped all of these. It seems there were only two people to finish ahead of me. That's right...little (fat) old me came in 3rd place (2nd male finisher) in the entire race of 400 people.

Now I know what you're going to say, and no, I DID NOT CHEAT!  I did however have two things working in my favor. First was that I was among the first five people to cross the starting line and in a race that isn't chip timed, starting position means everything. Second, it didn't hurt that of the 400 or so participants, about 300 of them were walkers.

But most importantly was that the race raised valuable funds and awareness of Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome (AMPS) which one of my cousins suffers from. It's a very painful disease that sucks all the energy out of you. In fact she was having another tough bout a few days before we showed up but luckly started feeling better the  day before the race. She, along with her siblings and some friends walked/ran the entire distance along with a bunch of other alumni from thier recovery program. Her Mom and Dad along with Mrs. Bloggerman and LBJ walked the course too and turned in a rather impressive time of under an hour!

I'm really proud of everybody who participated but particularly those who have battled the disease and continue to fight through the pain to live normal lives! Finally, my cousin won for "Best Fundraiser" for the event. She raised over $11,000 for the treatment program!

Things I Would Not Jump Into To Save a Life

Rob Nuckols is a brave SOB. The New Jersey roofer, “jumped into a vat of nitric acid solution to save a co-worker who had fallen 40 feet into the tank.” WOW.....either he had a death wish or the guy who fell owed him a lot of money!

Nuckols is hero, he and a few other co workers got the guy out and saved his life. The guy who fell, Martin Davis, is in critical condition with injuries associated with the fall but Nuckols and his co workers are all fine less some minor burns from the acid solution.

But all this got me to thinking...would I do the same for my co workers? They are all nice enough, well most of them. But are they acid diving worthy? Eh....maybe not acid. What would I jump into a vat of to save a co worker who fell? Marshmallow fluff, pillows, down comforters, gym mats all come to mind.

 This is not to say that I’m so cold hearted that I wouldn’t try to help. I would gladly whip out the old cell phone and call 911. I would even consider throwing down a rope or long pole to try and snag the victim. Acid is a tricky thing though...I already have enough in the “not-so-handsome” category, I don’t think assorted burns would help that.

For the record, I’m not an acid-phobe (or even and acid-hole). There are plenty of other substances that may be contained in vats that I would not jump into. Among them (and in no particular order):

• Raw meat (especially pink slime!) 
• Cotton Balls (yes they’d be soft, but I don’t like to touch them. They give me the chills). 
• Fertilizer 
• Thumbtacks 
• Glue 
• Squeaky Dog Toys
• Liquid Bubble Gum 

Just stay out of these and I’ll jump right in. Now all I have to get over is my fear of missing the vat.

There Aren’t Many Better Places to Spend the Night

Sure you could choose the bed of some hot guy/girl/horse you meet in the bar after a night of Jager Bombs and Miller Light. Sure you could get a room in the Motel 5 of the I-25 out in Denver. But when it comes right down to it Charles Jones, Jr. picked a pretty sweet spot to set up his hobo camp, the basement of an Ocean Township, NJ library.

As New Jersey Newsroom puts it, “Think about it. If you were young, homeless and possessed intellectual curiosity, where could you hang out while pulling your life together?”

You have books to learn yourself something. You have fairly unlimited use of bathroom and shower (sink) facilities with little to no hassle from the security guy. And if you don’t have a huge conscious, you have free run of the employee fridge. Just stay away from that mystery pack in the back with “Steve” on it.

Some homeless people are really stupid when you think about it. They camp out under bridges or on steam grates on city streets but this guy used his noggin and set up shop in a library. Sure it’s a little stereotypical, the homeless guy in the library thing but this guy took it to the next step and found his way down to the basement. Now that’s intuition.

I applaud him for saving city, county, and state resources as well. This guy didn’t burden the “state” by taking up space and food in a homeless shelter. He wasn’t out taking up the time of the cops by panhandling on the street and going to buy a bottle of NightTrain, getting drunk and peeing on the steps of your brownstone.

He’s out there trying to find a place to stay warm, clean and better himself. Bravo to you Chuckie...next time though, don’t get caught!

That’s One Oink and One Cluck

And the leftovers from dinner Saturday night just found their way into my gullet. Thanks to all that joined us for dinner over at Red Rock Canyon on Saturday and even if they couldn’t get the prime rib right (serving it once well done and once uncooked DOES NOT equal medium-rare) and the fact that DA had trouble understanding why there weren’t tater tots. The restaurant has very good food but they really should pair down their menu to three items (and various combinations of such): Oink, Cluck, and Moo. Seriously don’t even offer the salads or fish or shrimp. Keep it Simple. The people will come.

Speaking of people coming, it seems that the nice folks down at New Jersey’s child services have finally come to the home of young Adolf Hitler (and his 2 siblings) to remove them from their idiot parents. I was going to blog about this insanity a few months back when a local supermarket wouldn’t make a cake with young Adolf’s name written on it but I got distracted so this will have to be the first you heard of it.

Lets finish up with an award for a friends four-legged-friend. Young Dylan (you should have named him Jeter!) was awarded the front page of the Daily Puppy today. He’s very cute but look out Dylan, the Mook-a-Lok does not take challenges to her “cutest dog in the world” title very lightly. She may not be so friendly the next time you nibble on her ear. That’s not a threat but rather a warning. Not saying something will happen but it could....stay tuned.

You Give Us 22 Minutes and We’ll Give You a Trip to NYC (DAY 1)

So Mr. and Mrs. Bloggerman took a trip up to NYC to see our beloved Metropolitans play their final season in the open-air toilet bowl otherwise known as Shea Stadium. I’ll spare you most of the minutia to include the entire playlist on the radio on the drive up from DC (although I will say that we did get to hear the Schmoozer, Steve Somers, on WFAN when we crossed in to Jersey)

The Sign
The trip up was good and relatively traffic free (save the BQE) and we made it up to meet with some friends in Queens a little after 1230. After a really good Eggplant parm sandwich with all the orthodoxy walking back from shul we crossed the street to one of the best signs I’ve ever seen.

This is in response to a spate of pedestrian accidents in the crosswalk. Talk about signage that “tells it like it is”. Now all we need is the sign to sit next to the red light that says, “Hey Dumbass…you in the car…the red light means STOP and is not optional!”

The Rain Delay
We headed to Shea at 530p on Saturday for a 710p game in order to catch batting practice and tour around the stadium. It had just begun to rain but we were told that the storm would just be a summer thunderstorm and pass quickly. Not so fast. Come 645p the tarp was still on the infield and the rains hadn’t let up yet. About that time we took the time to appreciate the finer points of Shea that we might have overlooked in the past. This includes some of the area around the stadium including the old World’s Fair grounds. We also took interest in finding the “Most Obscure Player’s Jersey” that a fan was wearing. Plenty of folks have David Wright, Jose Reyes, Johan Santana jerseys but what about the Alan Zinter, Tony Clark, or Tim Tuffel’s of the world? Well we didn’t any of those but did actually find someone with a Danny Heep. What’s even better then that? She had it signed! BTW: This guy wearing the Dave Kingman was a close second place on our list! Around 715p the rains lightened up and we checked out our seats. Upper Deck but right over home plate….near perfect! The only problem was that the rain started to kick up again and we had lighting to boot. Instead of retreating back into the now crowding concourses we decided to hoof it up some 20 rows to the top of the upper deck that is protected by overhead awning. While up there we managed to pass the time by:

A: Taking in the car fire out in the parking lots in right field.

B: Hanging out with Cowbell Man

C: Watching the visiting Texas Rangers use the infield for the worlds largest slip and slide

Finally the team canceled the game around 830pm. We trudged down through the rain and out of the stadium stopping to pick up some additional free swag commemorating the final season of this dump.

Chinese and a Cookie
Since we were soaked we headed back to the hotel, changed, grabbed the car and headed to downtown Flushing where we heard there was a meca of Chinese food. We weren’t disappointed and were referred to a very modern looking place called Sunway Café. As somebody on a food board said (I read today) it looks like a Chinese Howard Johnsons.

They weren’t wrong but the food was really good and a huge variety of mostly good and greasy Cantonese fare (the kind of food I’d equate to a really good greasy spoon/diner when you’re up at midnight). We split a few dishes (Rice w/ omelets and raisins, baked chicken with black pepper, and then something I don’t remember the name of but is described by one critic as ”… an order of crispy noodles, said material wrapped in squishy rice noodle, served with a dollop of syrupy Hoisin sauce. Mellow greasy vibe.”

Finishing off the meal, a watermelon juice and bubble tea for the misses. Now to find a good cookie to finish off the night.

Not as simple as it sounds! You see evidently the rain has forced the shut down of some roads (with 5 ft of water!!) and the rerouting of others. After driving around and sitting in traffic we end up at a Pathmark over by our hotel. They have a wonderful looking bakery case but not a single fresh baked (today) cookie to be found as midnight rolls around. Bloggerman was starting to get huffy and the Misses was doing her best (G-d bless her) to calm me down. Alas, we found a diner nearby and dug into a very soft and pillow-y (thus good) chocolate chipper and dozed off for the night.

Tune in later today for Part II and updated pics here.

Peaceful City Noise and Governor Dobbs??

I had the opportunity to walk the streets of DC this morning and realized that even with the “city” noise it was fairly peaceful. That’s the thing here…the trains are silent in the morning. In fact, if you do start yakking on your cell or talking to your seatmate, other riders will stare at you like a pariah. The same thing goes for the streets (at least before 8am). I walked about 10 blocks total this morning and all I heard were cars rolling down the street (no horns), and building air conditioners. No other noise, no yelling, no screaming, no construction cranes. It was very peaceful. Just wanted to share.

On to the next governor of the fine state of New Jersey could be none-other then “Fat” Lou Dobbs of CNN fame. According to several sources including this article in the latest issue of Business Week sites several sources as saying that Dobbs could be the Republican nominee for the gubernatorial election. He’d be running against the incumbent, Jon Corzine (D).

I have some reservations about both men and would love to share those with you now. Let’s start with Corzine who was involved in a bad auto accident last year when his SUV crashed on the NJ turnpike on the way to meeting severely injuring him. You had to feel really bad for this guy as he battled back from two broken legs, collapsed lung, etc. only to find out that the reason he was so badly injured was because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. Lets’ see, besides the obvious fact that it’s the LAW and you are the states top LAW enforcement agent how about it will save you from massive injury or even death if you are involved in an accident! If he can’t figure that out, can he really run a state?

But Dobbs is no angel either. Besides the fact that he’s a fat slob who really should shut his yap on politics when on his show; which by the way is a Business themed show; this jackass’ wife Debbi actually tried to bring a loaded firearm on a commercial airline flight a few years back at Newark Airport. A loaded gun!!! How friggin’ stupid are you! And this is a direct reflection of the guy who married you. If he chose her then how can he be trusted to make the good choices as governor? I use myself as an even better example of this. Mrs. Blogger married me and I’m an idiot. What does that say about her judgment? Yep, don’t vote for her for NJ Governor either!

Ma...back up the truck...I think you ran over Dinner!

That's right fans of non-horse based meat and meat by-products. The state of New Jersey (My homestate) has bellowed down from the rooftops that Squirrel meat is once again safe to eat. Which would of course imply that that it was eaten before which begs the question, "Was there a shortage of Raccoon?"

Here's the article from today's NY Daily News.

You can't make this stuff up. I can, but I'm special. I'm also wondering how exactly state regulators or federal ones found that this squirrel had lead in it's system. I mean we don't really care that the fish we eat has deadly levels of mercury.

To add to the Halloween fun I've also found this recipe for the deluge of squirrel meat that's going to be in your neighborhood A&P or Walbaums:

Honey and Cider Squirrel

2 young squirrel, dressed & halved (or old squirrel shaved and black tie attired)
1/2 cup honey
2 cups apple cider
2 bay leaves, crushed
1 TBL cornstarch
2 TBL water

Pat squirrel halves dry. Place on rack in broiler pan. Coat with half the honey. Broil 6 inches from heat source for 8 minutes. Turn. Coat with remaining honey. Broil for 8 minutes longer. Place in roasting pan. Pour cider over squirrel. Add bay leaves. Roast @ 350 degrees for 1 hour or until tender. Remove to serving platter; keep warm. Strain pan drippings into saucepan. Dissolve cornstarch in water; stir into pan drippings. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Serve with squirrel. May serve with crisp shoestring potatoes and green salad. Yield: 4 Servings.