outskirts: life and times in charlottesville

I got up this early this morning and got a good chunk of my weekend tasks completed. I then headed out for a run on a sunny 70 degree fall afternoon. I felt rather strong for the entire 8 miles, although I could definitely tell I had run the 5k yesterday. My knees are feeling decent, but tomorrow I’ll either take the day off or just hit the gym.

After the run I grabbed a late lunch and then settled in for an afternoon of football. The Dolphins played a rather ugly game, but managed to win. Their offense really needs to get in synch, either with the current players, or maybe someone from the bench (QB in particular…always easiest person to go after).

It was a pretty good day. Tomorrow it is back to work, where I’ll have to deal with the reality of a the fact that I live in a tiny village. Same-o, same-o.

There hasn’t been a 5k since last June, but the first of several over the next few weeks was this morning. It was the UVA Naval ROTC 5k. On this calm and crisp fall morning I headed off to UVA on my bike. I got there in time to stretch and get ready to run. I was hoping to get under 22 minutes. There is one really long steep hill here in town that I had never gone up called Observatory Hill. Needless to say it is tall enough for the local observatory. I found out that the course goes straight up the hill. Ugh. The average age of the race crowd was around 20 and everyone had on their Navy shirts. A rather fit looking bunch.

I started the race and up the hill I went. I kept thinking I must be close to the top and I saw the trees starting to thin out. It turned out that was about the half way point. I stopped for a few seconds to pull up my knee bandage (and suck some wind as they say) and then I continued up. Eventually I made it to the top and finally got to head downhill. That part sure was fun. By mile 3 I had recovered from the first mile of straight uphill and really picked up the pace.

I finished in 21:32. Not bad for the first race of the season, and the fact that I did a four martini happy hour last night. We’ll see how it goes over the next few weeks. Can I get my time under 20:30? Can I get down to 20 minutes? I really wish they would have an evening race here in the village.

I’ll keep you posted.

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week there were 11 burglaries here in the Belmont/Rose Hill area (I live/run in both daily). Needless to say, when there are that many burglaries in such a small neighborhood in that short period, you would think that it might seem odd. Not so here in the village I guess.

A police official said in a typical week there are a “good number of burglaries,” and he doesn’t see a relationship between the recent incidents and any others in recent weeks and months.

I would hate to think about a non-typical week. I think I’ll work at home for the next week or two…

UPDATE: The “official” total of attempted robberies is now over 50. Crime rolls on.

Sunday night. The last time I spoke a word was 6:55 pm on Friday evening. I almost feel like I should say a few words. Will I forget how to talk?

Is it a positive or negative that as a single person, I often go days without speaking a word. Is the visual medium more important than the verbal?

At the start of the season there was a bit of hope that the Fins weren’t the worst team in the NFL. After the game tonite it is apparent that they are. My guess that they could finish around 7-9 has changed to 5-11.

It is rather odd that the Fins really started to become a miserable team about five or six years ago, which is when I moved to this miserable village of Charlottesville. I’m still waiting to run in to just one person who is single and happy (and over 30) here in this miserable little village where pediatricians go to prison for abusing their own children.

Hurricanes, earthquakes, the warmest September in recorded history, flooding in the northeast…just another typical week.

The NFL has now ruined 1/16 of my year by refusing to air a football game. The only reason they are not doing it is “because we want to adhere as closely as possible to the spirit of our longstanding policy not to conflict with high school and college football during their seasons [which means Friday night and Saturday],” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Hey Greg..I hope you and your family get to feel the depression currently being felt by all the Dolphin fans across the planet. You are a miserable human being for causing so much pain. A much better solution would be to show the game and just have public service statements during the game so people could call to donate money to the Red Cross (or charity of choice). Instead you feel more like abandoning people in a flooded city.

Since you refuse to put the Dolphins on television, I will refuse to give any money to charity (of any sort) until you issue an apology to the fans of football.

I’m pissed, I’m overworked, I’ve got no football to watch this weekend, and I’ve spent money for a service which delivers no product. Not a good week.

And now for the upside story of the week (I’ll skip the fact that C-Ville has once again said no to stadium seating theaters). They charge about $2.50/bag of trash here in the city. To throw away garbage you need to go to the grocery store and buy stickers to put on your bag. They only sell in packs of ten for $25. I bought mine and the cashier put the sheet in my bag. As I unpacked the groceries I noticed that the sticker sheet felt a bit think. I realized that two had been stuck together, so I got a two for one deal.

Now that makes it a great week…right?

People spend money on things they enjoy. Fans of football buy NFL Sunday Ticket so they can watch their favorite team each week. For the second time in a year the NFL has moved a Dolphins game to a different time due to weather.

Despite the fact that the television signal could be broadcast to all the paying customers, they will not do that. Paying customers get no product at all.

I encourage you to drop them a line and tell them about young fans sitting in a hospital rooms that are just feeling good because their favorite team is about to play on television. As they get told that they won’t get to see their heros that week, how do you think they feel right then. I hope the NFL executives feel that way until they provide a product to customers and fans.

Feel free to write to them at: National Football League, 280 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Call them at: (212) 450-2000
Or email the NFL on this form.

Be sure to tell them about little Johnny in the hospital room waiting to see his heros.

This week was brutal. Insomnia set in on Monday evening. Since then I’ve gotten less than 4 hours of sleep each night. Four days I was in work by 5am. Nightmares of the tasks due by the end of the year won’t stop. It just won’t get done. What will happen during annual reviews? Will I get canned?

I got a major problem solved around 2pm today. By 5 I was off at happy hour. I’m a bit surprised I can still type. Tomorrow I’ll try to limit work to just five hours or so. Why do I do this. I don’t know. Should I worry about money? Should I worry about having health insurance? Should I even care?

I don’t know how much longer I can take the 16 hours/day of work lifestyle, where the tasks never reach an endpoint. There is always more that must be done by tomorrow. Should I stop caring? Work is more like a crypt, where everyone is in their own coffin. Words and breaths are few. All seem to be in a catatonic state, overloaded with work.

I hope I don’t have any nightmares as I fade in to slumber in an hour or two.

Is Steve Jobs the best con artist ever? All I know is I want a new iMac, and new video iPod, and some videos bought through iTunes to put on them.

Two of us at work already bought an episode of Lost just to see how it looked on our computers with iTunes 6. Rather amazing. Tomorrow you can buy the episode of Lost that aired tonight for just $1.99. Will that hurt or help DVD sales? I guess that is the big question. I personally think it will help the sales. Time will tell. I really can’t wait for the IDR (immersive digital reality) to become commonplace. I wonder if I’ll be alive when that happens.

I wish the new iPod had high def on it…what happened to the “Year of High Def” that was supposed to happen this year?

I got an email the other day that pointed out why I liked Vancouver so much: it is the ‘best place to live’ on our planet.

Charlottesville…no.