I check CNN.com every work day to check the tech and science sections.
Today, when I checked, there was a big yellow banner of “Breaking
News!” about a possible shooting at a school in Minnesota. I got
interrupted, and when I came back, there was a new “Breaking News!”
banner about Anna Nicole Smith “exchanging vows” with Howard Stern on a
boat. Their lawyer explained the vows were not legally binding.
1) And they say romance is dead.
2) What is wrong with the media, and by extension, our country? Since
when does “news” about two celebrities doing something trite and
meaningless trump a news story about a possible school shooting? I love
my country, but sometimes we are a bunch of idiots.

Mer and I just got back from a picnic lunch put on by our church and the Kent branch of the China Outreach Ministries,
where we were able to have lunch with graduate students from China,
Taiwan, Malaysia, and India. Talk about your assembled brain power! Mer
and I got to talk to Sinu (from India) who is entering his
PhD program for some kind of human genetics (I forget the official
term for the study), and we had a long conversation with a professor at
Kent, who was at the picnic with her very cute daughter and with her
mother. She spoke very good English, having studied in the Northwest
for six years before coming to Kent.

One of the great things about America is that it is still a desirable place for foreigners to come to. It is really
cool to get to interact with people from other cultures and
experiences. Since it was a church function, we were certainly willing
to talk about God, but not in a forceful way. Mer and I talked a little
about God and Christianity with the professor and a little with Sinu,
but both times were natural enough in the conversation. Mostly it was
about showing love and hospitality to people who may still be getting
used to America (Sinu has only been in Kent for a month).

We did
get to finish the afternoon up with getting to see the students riding
horses (if they wanted to). The professor and Sinu both took the
opportunity. What a nice way to spend an afternoon – people from
five countries coming together to eat in New Baltimore, Ohio. How fun
is that?

I love fall. It is my favorite time of year. The days get cooler, I get “good sleepin’ weather” at night, the leaves turn pretty colors. One of my stranger addictions during the fall is running. I love to run during the fall. When the air turns crisp, I get edgy if I am not running (fortunately only a couple of times over the last 8 years).

This week the temperature dropped into the 60’s. Things were still humid, but I was able to get three 1-hour runs in. I ran twice with the CVCA cross country team, which on Thursday made me run faster than I normally do, and keep doing the hilly-loop part of our woods trail, which was hard. But it felt good.

There is some point for me in running where running becomes peaceful. That usually happens when I can run for about an hour comfortably. That happened this week – my runs allowed my body to do its thing while I was able to enjoy my surroundings and think (or not think). Granted, the uphill parts on Thursday were not in this category (I was running hard by the end), but running is comfortable again.

I have a pattern at work where I have a “crash” around 1:30 where I am tired. It usually lasts anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. The odd thing is that during these times, I really look forward to my run. My runs are my time – where I can be by myself, be away from computers, where I can think about my day, about God, or about other big (or small) issues. I have also been using running time to listen to books-on-tape (or books-on-Shuffle), which is a great use of the time.

I started training this year for an unknown marathon. Usually I have a specific marathon targeted. This year, all the marathons seem to be in late September or early October, which I won’t be ready for (I’m behind schedule for a marathon by about three weeks). So, running has been largely its own end, but I do have my eye on the Towpath Half Marathon. I should be ready for that, and I have never run a half marathon before (a half marathon is 13.1 miles, or about two hours of running for me). I like having a goal in my running – it keeps me on task. But at the end of the day (literally the end of my work day right now), running is something I like to do. I have been running on and off since I was in eighth grade (22 years).

Next week is looking fantastic – temperatures in the high 50’s or low 60’s and dry. I should be able to move up to a couple of hour-and-a-half runs next week. Oddly, it will be one of the best parts of my day.

I clicked on this picture in my blog to see it more closely (I like it).

Xanga, as many have noticed, has advertisements across the top of the page that are linked to what is on that Xanga page – a form of directed marketing.

When I clicked on this picture, the ad at the top of the page became a 2-choice survey asking which of two Victoria’s Secret models was “hotter.” I can ONLY conclude that the ad came up because I was looking at pictures of Riordan mega-babes. The proof is in the advertising!

Last weekend, Sonotmu flew out to Ohio to visit me and Mer. At least that is what we told ourselves. I am SURE it had nothing to do with OrangeBlogger being
on a business trip to Pittsburgh, which is conveniently located only 2
hours from our house. But I get ahead of myself.

Since Sonotmu
flew out on Friday, he agreed to fly in at 4:30 so he could attend the
staff picnic at CVCA and see a home football game. Mer and I had
forgotten that non-Christian and/or city-folk do not go to potluck
suppers very often (we Christians like to eat!). Sonotmu was pretty
impressed with the amount of food available, and even better was the
huge variety of desserts available. Readers of OrangeBlog will know
that Sonotmu has bet off desserts for September. *I* had no problem
eating 2 helpings. We had lots of good food, and had lots of laughs
with Mr. Churchill and his girlfriend (they are great people).

Since
we had time before kickoff, I showed Mer and Sonotmu the new cross
country trail at CVCA, which I am strangely proud of even though I had
nothing to do with building it. Still, the finished part is really
nice, and I took the opportunity to explore the rougher unfinished
part. ATTENTION, younger folk: do NOT take your love tromping through
the woods when she is in a skirt and dress sandals. The trail was cool,
but Mer had some trouble traversing parts of it. In her defense, she
laughed about it. Later.

We got back to the football game having missed 2 minutes or so, and we hooked up with Ombudsman and his kids. They were most amusing, but had to leave near halftime due to bedtimes (the kids’, not Ombudsman’s).

Anyway,
the game was quite exciting, and it was the first high school game
Sonotmu had been to since high school (17 years). CVCA won, 17-7, and
it was a most entertaining time. After the game, I got to introduce
Sonotmu to our local (non-Starbucks) coffee house Rico Latte where we got hot chocolate (not considered a dessert by the official scorekeeper, OrangeBlogger).

We all slept in some on Saturday, and Sonotmu was feeling edgy, so I took him to Quail Hollow State Park
to tromp around in the woods again. It was a nice morning, but I was
disappointed in the trail marked “Beaver Pond,” where the pond appeared
to be an algae-encrusted water hole that was about 15 feet across.
Still, a nice walk.

We also watched some DVDs (including the last
half of a Royal Fools show). But the big excitement of the day was the
road trip to Pittsburgh. We drove there, and Sonotmu had promised
OrangeBlogger that we would be there unless hit by a hurricane. So, of
course, we spent about 45 minutes driving through one of the heaviest
downpours I have seen in a long time. Mer compared it to a car wash
(which our car needed). We got there safely, and found OrangeBlogger in
her VERY swanky hotel, the William Penn Hotel. Mer and I did not get to stay in a hotel like that at our business (ASCI) conference last year….

Pittsburgh was south of the heavy rain, and it was a beautiful day. We walked about a mile to Station Square,
a cool shopping complex, where we ate at a Chinese restaurant. The food
was great (get the lettuce-wrapped chicken appetizer). After supper,
Sonot and Orange wandered off to be romantic by shooting zombies with
shotguns in the arcade while Mer and I ate chocolate while sitting on a
bench.

We then rode the Incline trains up the hill. I handled it
better this time (from when I was in Pittsburgh with Diakonos last
spring), but it is still high and steep. For some reason there were
fireworks going off in the northeast part of the city, so we watched
those for about 15 minutes. They were really good fireworks, too. We
wandered around the top of the hill and visited a really cool Catholic
church. We also got to see the ridiculous site of a man embracing a
woman in a romantic spot while she blathered on her cell phone. People
are odd.

We
took the nice walk back to the hotel, where the non-dessert-eating
Orange gave us her hotel mints. They really should have these bets more
often. We then drove out of the city, after only one wrong turn. A very
nice evening.

The next day being Sunday, we went to church
and Sunday School. We then went home and ate, and went back to Quail
Hollow (with Mer this time) to stroll around some more. We got back
home to catch the Bills-Patriots game on TV, but had to leave during
the fourth quarter to get Sonot back to the Akron Canton airport.

Sonot
has an interesting travel life. He seems to be able to only have one
leg of a trip go smoothly. Since his flight to Ohio went well, I have
no idea why we did not check on his flight before we left for the
airport. Mer and I go home to have Sonot call to let us know his flight
was canceled. So, we took the 25 minute trip back to the airport to get
him. To make up for the flight, I ordered pizza for us, one perpperoni
and one green pepper (Sonot is a vegetarian). When we got home, we
discovered we had two pepperoni pizzas. It was that kind of night for
Sonot. But, we got to spend some more time watching football, and I got
him to the airport the next morning where everything went smoothly,
getting Sonotmu back to work by 7:30 a.m. (in Chicago).

All in all, a very very nice weekend.

Oh – odd note – Mer and I have now seen Sonot and Orange in Chicago, Los Angeles, and in Pittsburgh in the last 5 weeks.