Dogs and Free Food

A mea culpa to start things off. It has been almost a week since my last confession... err posting. In that time I have committed no words to paper but have had many thoughts of sins (of the flesh, tongue, pallet, etc). No matter how many hail marys I throw downfield or how much holly water I ingest at the community pool I will most likely fail to post daily again. In the words of the good book, "Get over it! And now the rest of the story.

Last Wednesday I tried to do the right thing. You know something to balance out all the negative karma I've been amassing lately. On the way into the park with the Mooks, I decided to pick up a bunch of cans, bottles, and other refuge that had found its way out of peoples' cars but not into the proper receptacle. As we approached the park entrance an older man was struggling to maintain control of his two large dogs. Their size was no my concern. What caught my attention was that this guy was using a long thin stick to reinforce his "no's". Well one thing leads to another and he let's go. I let tried to jog Mooks away but tripped and let go of her. He was laying in the road complaining about his shoulder and I got one of the two dogs and tied him to a sign. Then Mooks came over and I got her leashed to the tree. The guy's second dog took off into the neighborhood. I went over to check on this guy and decided to call 911.Well 3 min later the cavalry arrives in the form of 4 squad cars and minutes later a fire engine. TJ Hooker, Jr. steps out of the first car and asks "Who got bit?". I told him it wasn't a bite and he tries to cancel the medical team. He also gets pissy with me when I tell him that in fact we want the medical unit there to check out this guys shoulder. He says, "well if he fell why did you call it in as a bite?". He wasn't even trying to listen when I told him that somebody else must have called in the bite, this guy only fell. The long and foster of the story is that the guy refused medical attention and my attempt to be a good samaritan backfired. The only silver lining to come out of this is that his neighbor came out and was pissed at this guys dogs for running loose again. I gave him the number of animal services. We'll see what happens.

On to the free food. I want to thank the following establishments for providing me sustenance, on the house, these past few days:

Chik-fil-A: dressed like a cow on Friday (national cow appreciation day) and got a free chicken sandwich.

Seven-Eleven: received a free 8oz slurpie just because it was July 11th (7/11).

Lido Pizza by way of the Damascus Volunteer Fire Department: supplied plenty of slices for those of us who were volunteering at their open house.

Cheeburger, Cheeburger by way of the Reiches and the Boigs: As part of the great burger challenge, I successfully polished off a burger of their creation (1lb of meat, bun, portabella mushrooms, relish, onion, jalapeño peppers, tobacco sauce, peanut butter, blue cheese, guacamole, whipped cream, and grenadine). Kicker here: I finished it before Santiago or Jason got through their untopped 1/3 pounders! Take that GI track!

McDonalds: for their delicious McCafe caramel mocha this morning as part of their "Free Mocha Mondays" promotion.

Kill Those Bloodsuckers

Want a great way to drop a few pounds without really trying? Take a summertime visit to Assateague Island on the Atlantic Ocean and watch the mosquitoes fly (and bite). I won’t go into all the details in this past weekend’s camp-o-rama fun, but rather point out a few of the highlights. For more info you can go over to the Mighty Boig Chronicles page and get caught up.

Set up and Big Gay Al’s Big Pit Beef
Ever go to a mosquito-infested swamp in the middle of a hot summer day? If you answered “no” I would say to consider yourself lucky and to tell you to avoid it at all costs. Since we all know I’m a dope, I said “yes” and took about an hour or so to set up a few campsites before we looked at the clock (or the bites on our hands that looked like a watch) and decided it was time to head out to lunch.

We drove down the main road (on the way to Ocean City) and found Big Al’s Pit Beef. Just kidding about the Gay part...although he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt! Its nothing more then a little snack stand on the side of the road but inside they whip up a crazy good pit (roast) beef sandwich and equally kick ass french fries. They easily garner the NBLAJ two thumbs up and were a welcome break from the bugs.

Blue Shows Up (Eric and Amy too)
Later in the afternoon Mooks' friend Blue showed up along with his "people" Eric and Amy. The pups quickly found their way to the beach for some running through the late afternoon surf. After some running and swimming, we set up the campfire and more importantly the citronella torches and settled in to another world-class dinner by Mrs. Bloggerman. A quick ice cream run and the arrival of the rest of the crew ended the night.

Morning Run: Hello George
Saturday morning I arose from my sweat-filled slumber to drip a little more out on the beach during a nice 10 mile run. One of the key attractions on the island (other then the blood letting plan) is the wild horses who (quite obviously) roam free throughout the grounds, including the beaches. I saw a group of four horses (horsemen not included) just laying out and catching some early morning rays. That had to rank among the cooler things I've ever seen while running! Then on the way back down the beach comes this lone horse just strolling down the shoreline. He looked just like any person up for a sunrise stroll of the beach. I was so impressed that as we passed I greeted him with a smile and a "Hello George.” It was the right thing to do.

Tomorrow we'll have some special thoughts on authentic Mexican cuisine.

"Babys R' Us" Sucks R' us (Guest Blog)

Dear NBLAJ,
... [S]ince my blog doesn't seem appropriate for venting...if you deem blogworthy I have a rant for yours...
____

I am already predisposed to hate "big box" stores. I am a local area shopper, try to support my community where I can. But sometimes you have to bite the bullet and shop where the shopping is and again I have regretted it. For some time now, I have been looking to replace Lilah's large stroller with something smaller (that will actually fit in my trunk) but sturdy (so not a $30 umbrella stroller). So when my cousin with five kids who I consider a baby expert showed me a mini-running stroller she was using - I thought - this is perfect, but the price was a bit high. Then last week, I ran across a 20% off coupon for Baby's R Us and it even qualified for the stroller I wanted - I was in luck! With the coupon and some returns we were still spending a hefty amount, but it was now what I deemed "worth the drive and the expense". The drive you see is because Baby's R Us is about 40 minutes from our house, but not wanting to pay the shipping costs and wanting to get it before it got to cold off I went trekking over there yesterday.

Well of course they didn't have ANY of the four colors in stock and of course I could ONLY get it online -- which meant crazy amounts of shipping ($50 if I wanted it anytime soon / $18 if I wanted it in whatever "ground" shipping meant). Now I admit I could have called and saved myself the trip, but the online site told me they carried it at the store - so silly me for believing what I read on the Internet. So as I was discussing my shipping dilemma with the nice lady at the store she told me I could sign up for their FREE rewards program which allowed for one time only free shipping on ANY (keep this in mind) item. Well that sounded great, so after standing in line another 20 minutes to return what we had to return (and get some new sippy cups - thanks Anne and Joe!) we trekked another 40 minutes back home where I proceeded to get online and sign up for the rewards program.

After signing up for the program and getting ready to order the stroller (and knowing I will now get LOTS of spam email till new years) they say the free shipping is only available between 6am and 11pm today - the day after you sign up AND it is only for $15 total. But hey, I can get a free umbrella stroller with my purchase since it is over $100 so as Mrs. Bloggerman says - at least that was suppose to be a consolation. So I get annoyed, but figure one more day is no big deal. Keeping track, I have at this point put almost three hours into getting this stroller.

So this morning, I get up early and figure I will complete this purchase before I start the day, forget about it, and get pissed that I can't get the shipping because it is past 11pm. So back online I go, into the online shopping cart, apply the $15 off shipping (I opted to pay $3 ground and not have it overnighted - $50 is INSANE). Just about to check out, I realized two things 1. The 20% off is no longer applied, 2. The umbrella stroller is not listed anyplace on the shipping order. So I go back out and start over. After a bit of finagling, I got both the 20% off and the $15 shipping applied, but still no umbrella stroller. Figuring maybe it is one of those things that you can't check the box until you check out, I go through the whole process and pay, still no stroller -- so I call.

After - I kid you not - NINE different "If you are .... press 1, 2, 3) options I finally get to a person at Baby's R Us who informs me I had to pretend I was purchasing the umbrella stroller, then enter in another code then it would have been "free". This she says is written in very small type apparently at the very bottom of the page of the stroller I had purchased if I had kept scrolling down on the "Buy Me" page. OK I tell her how stupid that is - yes I used the word stupid - and she offers to add it for me. For another $6 shipping. So..and I knew this was coming...ask her how much the stroller is...$16. OK so basically for now FOUR hours of time, I have to pay another $6 for $16 off to get a cheap stroller that will break in about 3 days according to all of the reviews on their web site. I don't think so.

So I give up on the umbrella stroller. Vow never to shop their again expect for other people's gifts. Get what I wanted to for slightly more than I would have if the store had it in the first place, but wasted way to much of my own time because I was trying to find a "deal" at big box, national store. I am crawling back into my local product, eco geek hole today hopefully never to come out again.

____
Thanks for listening,
JB

Wendy’s, Woods, and (W)idiots

“Idiots” doesn’t have a W but I needed to add a silent one to keep everything moving right along. Time for quick weekend update. Most of the weekend was spent down at Bull Run camping. I won’t go into the full details because the wonderful folks over at Mighty Baby Boig Please read their recap with interest. have already done so. I want to focus on 2 weekend specific events and a discovery I made today.

I hate the drive thru (Sonic excluded). Not only do you have to talk to the box and hope that they understood you but it usually takes twice as long to get your order as opposed to walking in the front door and looking at a cashier face to face. This way you not only can take your sweet time (nobody honking behind you or giving you the “You’re the number 1 driver in my book” sign) deciding on what kind of caloric laced feast you will partake in that day but also make sure they get it completely correct before walking away and enjoying. This happens to be the lead off topic today because on Saturday we stopped off at Wendy’s on the way to the campsite. Here’s the scene:

(We pull up to the order board…)

Order Taker: would you like combo?

Me: No thanks. Let me have a single [burger] no tomatoes and no cheese

Order Taker: Combo?

Me: NO! No combo. Let me also get another single no tomatoes and no cheese and a medium iced tea.

Order Taker: You want combo?

Me: No! I don’t want a freakin combo…give me 2 singles both no tomatoes and no cheese and a medium iced tea.

Order Taker: Ok pull up…total is five forty-one.

(We pull to the first/cashier’s window…)

Cashier: Seven sixty-one please

Me: No the order taker said five forty-one

Cashier: No, you had 2 singles and a drink…seven sixty one

Me: Are you sure because both my wife and I heard five forty-one.

Cashier: You must have heard wrong…it’s seven sixty one.

Me: I heard wrong!? Let me speak to a manager

Cashier: I am Manager

(BTW: Every time I leave out “The” from this dialogue, it’s because that word was not used by the Wendy’s staff…wonderful mastery of the English language)

Me: Give me my food and a receipt.

End of the story (for now is that I filed a complaint with Wendy’s corporate and we’ll see where it goes from there. Although we are both sure they spit in the burgers!)

The woods were very nice and via a number of circumstances both me and Mr. Boig now have matching Wall Mart $5 sandals and I learned that Mook-a-Lok is good with water as long as she can stand in it AND that Coors Light and a bagel with cream cheese don’t go well together (at least first thing in the morning.)

Lastly on to my discovery of this morning. For some unknown reason I was searching the word “idiot” on the world wide interweb and hit upon our friends at Wikipedia. Did you know there are seven US states where an “idiot” cannot vote? Special props go to the legislators (either former or current) in the following states for helping with Natural Selection

• Arkansas
• Kentucky
• Mississippi
• New Mexico
• Ohio
• California
• Iowa

Now if we could just declare voters who go to the polls because their clergy tell them to and vote based on “moral values” could be added to the “idiot” pool we’d all be a lot better off.

4 hours….we don’t need no stinking four hours!

In fact take those four hours and return 25 seconds of them back to their original owners. That’s how confident I feel about this transaction.

Yeah confident….sore but confident as I not only set a PR on a course I had no business PR’ing on but also managed to see something that I never thought I’d see in my running “career”. As I crossed the finish line at the 2008 Frederick Marathon, my watch read 3hr, 59 min, and 35 sec. So not only did I break my PR set last month in DC by about 5 min but I broke through the 4 hour marathon window (barely!).

The course was very tough, especially the back end. If you care to look, here’s the elevation chart and my version of the course from Gmap Pedometer. The front half of the race is fairly flat and scenic, rolling through small neighborhoods and historic homes before coming back to the Fairgrounds. The second half however went out to the more industrial section of town and then down a long stretch of highway where we hit the two “Monster” hills before returning back to a newer neighborhood up on the ridge.

The people were great but none greater then the mighty Boigs who came out to support me (even if they missed me at 15), feed me the night before, and even give me a lift home. Thanks for the support. And thanks to Mrs. Bloggerman for getting stuck in CA and not being able to attend. For those of you keeping score at home, she’s missed the last 2 marathons and I’ve set PR’s at each!

I think I’m taking the summer “off” and just running for fun until the fall comes around. We have Baltimore in October and will hear about entry in to NYC (November) in mid June. If I don’t get in there I may do Marine Corps (late October), San Antonio (November) or Las Vegas (early December) as my fourth this year….we’ll see.

Welcome Little Boig (Girl)

Couldn't complete a few days without posting by not telling you about why I've been incommunicado.

Her name is Lilah Rose Boig and she was born on Sunday morning to Jason and Jenna (of the family Boig).


Welcome home little one, may the big guy upstairs (and Hunter) look over you and protect you and may we all say Amen.