The Runner's Lesson

What struck me right off was the cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth while he spoke, like something from an old movie. He had that grizzled, just-got-up-from-a-bender look, and was having this animated conversation on his rather large cellphone. I see him every day, a portly guy in his 40's, walking his two dogs, leaning back into it with the new one that is on a leash. The other dog is some kind of sheepherder dog and always comes up to me in a friendly way to see if my dogs have left him some kind of dog-DNA secret message.
The two of us cross paths every day, me doing my morning jog, and him, I think, walking to 7-11 for a pack of cigarettes, or exercising the dogs. I begin to wonder if there is really somebody on the other end of that cellphone call, I mean, it's 6:30 in the morning and the guy is quite a character from what I can see.
There is a lot of comfort in seeing the same things every day and running the same place, but yesterday something happened. There is another jogger I see every day going in the opposite direction and yesterday I saw him turn off on a side street. You see, I run down the main highway, because I measured the distance in my car, and knew how far I could go in an hour, but suddenly it ocurred to me that I don't have to run the same place every day, just go for 30 minutes and then turn around.
Today I went down that side street and a new world opened up to me. Instead of a busy road full of cars, there were beautiful homes and little lakes and new people with their dogs. It was always there, why did it take me so long to find it?

Slowly Going Nowhere at Great Expense: #3

Although I'm not 100% sure of ever going on another cruise, I would say that there were some things I don't know how you would ever get to see otherwise. One of these is pulling into port of a beautiful island. The landscape view from the ship far surpassed most of what you get to see as a tourist dropped off at port for a few hours. Here is where a cabin with a balcony was so great. Sure you could go somewhere on the ship and see the same view, but there is something about getting up in the morning and looking out from your bed and seeing an island coming into view. That image is burned into my mind. Even just looking at the photo above reminds me of how peaceful that feeling was.

Slowly Going Nowhere at Great Expense: #2

Being that this was my first cruise ever, and that I had been told so many stories about what to expect, I was still a little surprised at some very simple things, like watching the sunset for an hour, or watching storms off in the distance. It was kind of like having a beach condo, except that the water was moving. Our cabin was much nicer than what I expected and even the bathroom was larger than I had been led to believe. This may have been why our trip cost so much, to get these luxuries, and for the next 7 nights I slept like a rock, no headaches, no nausea or anything. Actually I did better than I usually do on a trip. Pam thought it was because of no plant allergies to get used to.
The only problem on the trip was overeating...I was prepared for this, but I was not prepared for how good the food was to be. I didn't understand that every single meal was going to feel like a client with a large expense account just took you to the nicest place in town and told you to order whatever you want. I'm still running 5 miles a day in 100% humidity to make up for that indulgence.

Slowly Going Nowhere at Great Expense: #1

It was hard to imagine me going on a cruise, especially a 7 day cruise, but it happened just a few days ago.
I go to the beach almost once a week to go surfing and have look at these giant ships in the port each time. I never could see why so many people would pay so much money to sit around doing nothing and eating way too much food, but I think I have a better handle on it now. I had many of my friends tell me horror stories about getting seasick, about getting bored...or about getting wasted and spending too much money gambling. I was plenty nervous driving up to the ship a week ago Saturday. The money was gone, but there was the fear of huge add-ons to my bill, and the fear of being trapped and bored to tears on a boat full of people that wanted to do nothing all day for a week.
The first big surprise was how nice and efficient boarding was. It was how I wished an airport experience would be. Then we went to our cabin and found it to be about twice as large as I expected and with a really cool balcony. I was already getting into it and I hadn't seen the food yet...

I Heard The Hawk Call My Name

Man, if I was an American Indian back in the day, I would know that there was some kind of omen about today. I have remarked before that I sometimes see more wildlife in a short walk around our suburb than I have on trips to the great wilderness parts of our continent. Perhaps it is because hunting is not allowed in the city limits, but I like to think that like us, animals prefer the warm climate and have somehow learned to deal with the environment man has made.
I ran in the house this morning after my daily run, exclaiming to the missus that I saw more exotic wildlife in the last hour than I did on our whole trip to Canada last year. There was a large hawk sitting right above me on the telephone line not far from home and then coming down our street I spied the local armadillo foraging about in the shrubs. That was a good start to the day. The cool weather, a good run, and getting to see some happy animals. I knew that this was a good sign, maybe even for the week.
I found myself ready for work early and took two steps out of the front door with the daily garbage in hand and stopped dead in my tracks. There on the edge of the roof of my house, not 30 feet away, was the large hawk. She perched for for a minute or so, staring straight at me, feathers all fluffed up, before she took wing...message delivered.

The Story of The Crow

I was walking out the front door of my house when a large shadow passed directly overhead. I ducked and looked up, expecting to see a large hawk or heron flying by, but saw nothing in the clear blue sky. Then something totally out of place caught my eye. A large black bird was perched on the edge of my roof, very close to me, with his beak wide open. He was a large as my macaw and although I love birds, this did not feel like a friendly visit. I see lots of birds, but could not remember seeing a crow around my house before. He did not seem afraid of me standing there and merely moved around the roof a bit, keeping an eye on me the whole time.
I ran back in the house to tell my wife about this giant bird, and then heard my wife screaming that there was a crow in our screened pool area. Our pool screen has a few small holes in it, but usually the only birds in there are my parrots when we take them outdoors for some weekend exercise. I was expecting to see that giant crow attacking my small conure, but instead I saw a small crow with a yellow beak trying to find his way out. He was hiding in the plants and then flying around, looking for an opening in the screen.
I quickly put the conure back in her cage and opened both doors. The crow then came out and walked around the deck to the doorway and flew away. I have not seen either bird since, but I have to wonder, was the large bird asking for my help?.........

The Day I Never Even Bothered To Hope For

My wife screamed, and I came running from the bathroom to see her with the sports section of the newspaper held up in both hands. All I had to see was the photo of a ripped young man in track clothing running towards the camera and the caption, but she kept reading the story anyway. Once I realized who he was and what it meant, I was pretty choked up. It was Marvin, the very guy that my website and music was about. The guy who knows nothing about me, but someone we talked about a lot when he was little.
When he was in my wife's kindergarten class and I was working in public schools, I saw up close and personal about the haves and have-nots, and wondered what would possibly happen to this kid with off-the-chart intelligence coupled with the worst-possible environment I could imagine in this town. Would he end up in jail for murder or would he succeed against all odds, against everything people know about education? To me, it was some kind of fundamental quest, wondering what it takes to do such a thing. We hear stories like this all the time, but this time, I was there. I read it in the paper when the police killed his dad while he was reaching in his pocket for his cellphone. I was there when another public school refused to accept him because of his behavior (I didn't know they could do that!), and all along, I wondered could his brain overcome everything else?
In a really strange twist, it must have, because it decided that sports was what he needed....just google Marvin Boone Sprinter...to read about the story I am celebrating today, the sunniest day this year yet.