My first 5k

Happy Birthday USA!!!

July 4th Parade

Another Fourth of July, time for celebrating! I’m happy I didn’t have to work for the holiday. I always work Mondays at the hospital and a lot of holidays fall on Monday so I get bummed sometimes missing all of them. With all the medical clinics closed I suspect it was an easy day in the lab, those are few and far between lately.

I’ve had a goal for most of 2012; I wanted to do a 5k (about 3 miles, and most people run the course). Our employer sponsors one annually in June and I have always wanted to do it, for three years now I have wanted to do it. The first year I hurt my foot, the second year I had to work that day and this year I wound up not doing it again. I was also always a bit nervous wondering if I actually could do it. With all my health/leg problems I have been uncertain if I still had the get-up-and-go I used to have. The big reason I wanted to do a 5k was to show myself I could.

I started a training program in April, but it was one I did not keep up with. I tried the treadmill, I did laps around the park with walk one minute, jog the next, then you increase the time for each period of running and walking. Well, I am not a runner, I am a walker. Besides even though a training class was offered by my employer to help us get ready, my manager gave me such grief about leaving for the class every Monday that I gave it up. Our town does a big shindig and parade every year for the 4^th of July and they have a 5k. I decided I would do it. It was only a few days away when I decided this.

My partner in ‘crime’ lately had been by daughter-in-law. She’s been by concert buddy, lunch, shopping, get into mischief and have fun buddy lately because hubby does not like to go to concerts and my son (who was my previous concert and movie buddy has been in Japan). I knew if I asked her she would do it with me, and we could both take turns pushing the grand-baby in the stroller the whole way. Yes, she was game to do it so we both decided we would walk the 5k while pushing the stroller. I was still nervous about actually doing a 5k.

I awoke on the forth to the sound of ornamental canon fire, which happens every year at the break of dawn on the fourth of July. I spied the clock and thought I saw that the time was too late and I had already missed the start of the 5k race. I rolled over in bed and decided “Oh well, I’ll try again next year since I missed it this year”, and went back to sleep. I had had a bad night with my legs and did not sleep well. I was in no condition to do a 5k. Short of having a full blown panic attack during the night, which happens when my health burden gets overwhelming, I got up at 1 am and took a prednisone to ease the pain and swelling. Those prednisone pills are reserved for emergencies and I use them about once a month, if all else fails.

I finish the 5K!

It turns out that I did not miss the race after all, although by the time we arrived it was 30 minutes after the start of the race. I determined that I was not a coward and wanted to walk the course anyway even if I missed the official start of the 5k. I felt foolish signing up after the race had actually started, but I wanted to do it according to the rules, -so that included signing up, getting the fancy t-shirt, and the most important of all, the entry-number to pin on yourself!

We walked the 5k in one hour! The uphill part was a bit daunting, and we were being passed by the runners doing the 10k, actually running double the distance we were merely walking, but WE DID IT!!!!!!! One runner heard us talking as he went by I said “I don’t care if we come in last, I just want to do it.” Then he gave us encouragement, he understood where we were coming from. Thanks, sir!

My daughter-in-law finishes the 5k!

Grand-baby finishes the 5K!

At the end, we just slowed to a stop and figured we would just go home, but my sweet daughter-in-law said no you have to go through the finish gates since you finished the race. Yes! Victory was sweet even though we did not get an official time or place or anything like that. I do know I came in first in the category of grannies pushing grandkids in strollers! Yay me! I am looking forward to my next 5 k.

"Dinnertime," an original short...by me!

            I am exhausted! All this puttering about, I’m getting frustrated. Yes, it’s definitely time for a bite. I must catch the smell, and quench my hunger. It’s such an invigorating smell, delicious, tantalizing, and intoxicating. I need blood!

          Circling about the creek, I deduce there is nothing palatable there. Wait, yes, in the distance, a faint sweetness. I’m drawn to the delicacy.

          The young fisherman raises his hand, he brushes something near his ear and swats absent mindedly at the object of his annoyance. He is concentrating on keeping his eye on the lure.

          How dare he swat me away! I must try a different more subtle approach then...…buzzzz. Ah, a tender ear, nah, too obvious. I could be swatted away again with more disastrous results than the last time. How about on the neck, hmmm? See, his eye is fixed only on the water’s surface.

          I approach as silently and stealthily, as I am able. That splashing I hear at the water’s edge may aid my stealth. I’m salivating at the thought of dinner, at last! Crawling ever so carefully along the flesh, I approach. Hairs on the back of the neck impede my progress, and I make haste so I do not lose my chance. Dinner smells alluring, enchanting. Anticipation is half the fun of eating, oh the warm tangy goodness of it all.

          A little pinch here and he’ll never know it. Alright! Delightfully delicious! Smacking my proboscis, I am contentedly full. I slink away into the evening.

     Gee, maybe I overdid it, I’m quite bloated it seems. Smack! It seems like that hand is after me again. Whew, that was close. I guess I was a little too greedy; it was foolish of me to over-eat, again. It was such a good meal but being so full does have a tendency to dull my wits a bit and slow my flight. I’ll just rest here awhile, away from that smacking hand, right here, on this nice leaf. Wow this leaf is rocking me gently to sleep, floating, as it is, on the water’s edge. 

           Snap! The lights go out and it’s 

 all over. That fish wanted dinner, too.

(If you are looking for a fun family read aloud book, about mosquitoes, of course, try "Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples Ears", a West African folktale.)

Philosopher Quotes II

Art by Raphael, Brown hair and younger is the depiction of Aristotle.

Quotes from Aristotle:

“Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.”

“Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms.”

 

Quotes from Democritus:

“Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.”

“The wrongdoer is more unfortunate then the man wronged.” 

Quotes from Plato:

“All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.”

“All men are by nature equal, made all of the same earth by one workman; and however we deceive ourselves, as dear unto God is the poor peasant as the mighty prince.”

Art by Raphael, depiction of Plato.

 

Quotes from Plutarch:

“Character is a long standing habit.”

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled."

Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde and words of Irish wisdom from his Mum!

I have a quaint volume entitled “The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde”. I became interested in this author after seeing a PBS movie of his work, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. It was quite an intriguing story. Then I purchased a cd by a favorite musician of mine and noticed that a quote of Oscar Wilde’s was used as the inspiration for one of the songs on the CD. This peaked my interest even more. I looked at my quaint volume of fairy tales with new interest. Here is a listing of the nine stories in my fairy tale book and it has wonderful illustrations inside by Michael Hague.

The Happy Prince         The Selfish Giant

The Devoted Friend      The Remarkable Rocket

The Nightingale and the Rose      The Young King

The Birthday of the Infanta         The Star-Child

The Fisherman and His Soul

Then, while surfing for information about Mr. Wilde, I learned that his mother was also quite an interesting person, Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde, and she compiled a unique little book of Irish folklore, superstitions, etc. called Irish Cures, Mystic Charms & Superstitions. Always curious, my quest for information was now becoming very interesting and irresistible! I will be happy to share with you some gems of wisdom I found in Lady Wilde’s little book.

To Cure Warts (quoted from Lady Wilde’s book)

“On meeting a funeral, take some of the clay from under the feet of the men who bear the coffin and apply it to the wart, wishing strongly at the same time that it may disappear; and so it will be.”

How to have Money Always (quoted)

“Kill a black cock, and go to the meeting of three cross-roads where a murderer is buried. Throw the dead bird over your left shoulder then and there, after nightfall, in the name of the devil, holding a piece of money in your hand all the while. And ever after, no matter what you spend, you will always find the same piece of money undiminished in your pocket.”

The Evil Eye (also quoted from Lady Wilde’s book)

“THERE is nothing more dreaded by the people, nor considered more deadly in its effects, than the Evil Eye.

It may strike at any moment unless the greatest precautions are taken, and even then there is no true help possible unless the fairy doctor is at once summoned to pronounce the mystic charm that can alone destroy the evil and fatal influence.

There are several modes in which the Evil Eye can act, some much more deadly than others. If certain persons are met the first thing in the morning, you will be unlucky for the whole of that day in all you do. If the evil-eyed comes in to rest, and looks fixedly on anything, on cattle or on a child, there is doom in the glance; a fatality which cannot be evaded except by a powerful counter-charm. But if the evil-eyed mutters a verse over a sleeping child, that child will assuredly die, for the incantation is of the devil, and no charm has power to resist it or turn away the evil. Sometimes the process of bewitching is effected by looking fixedly at the object, through nine fingers; especially is the magic fatal if the victim is seated by the fire in the evening when the moon is full. Therefore, to avoid being suspected of having the Evil Eye, it is necessary at once, when looking at a child, to say "God bless it."

(I’ll mention here that my Italian relatives, evidently along with the Irish, also have this same little superstition and even in the 1990’s were saying “God bless” while telling me how lovely my children were.)

If you cannot go another minute without learning more of Lady’s Wilde’s collected wisdom, you can have a look at the site “Sacred Texts” to read it all for yourself at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/ali/index.htm

Or, you could pick it up used at Amazon for as little as $0.01. http://www.amazon.com/Irish-Cures-Mystic-Charms-Superstitions/dp/0806982004

Cloning the Mammoth

We live in an age of scientific wonders. Not long ago I read about some scientists that were going to try cloning the Mammoth. The mammoth is a prehistoric elephant with enormous tusks. The genetic code or genome of the mammoth was published in the journal, Nature, in 2008. Scientists extracted DNA from fossil mammoth bones and were able to obtain genetic sequences particular for that animal. The genome is a blueprint for an organism; the chromosomes can contain a million base pair sequences. The fragments which were extracted from the mammoth bones were about 200 base pairs long. That may not seem like much where a million is concerned but considering the age and the sample they had to work with, it seems like an amazing feat to me.

The way they planned the cloning was that they were going to obtain an egg cell from an elephant and replace the elephant embryo with mammoth DNA embryo. Now granted, some of this should probably be taken with grain of salt, because the South Korean scientist (Hwang) saying this was found out to be lying about cloning a human from stem cells not too long ago. The same scientists though have actually already cloned the cat,  dog, pig, cow and a wolf. Do you think they could really clone the Mammoth? Should we even think of cloning a mammoth? Where would it live? Could it live? Interesting to think about.

 

To learn a bit more about cloning check out this genetics page from the University of Utah:

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/tech/cloning/whatiscloning/

May 28, 2012

"The real champions of our nation's wars have been those men and women who innately understood the horrendous risks and still left their safe havens in an attempt to preserve freedoms for others." 

(Capt. Robert B. Robeson, Vietnam Vet who flew nearly 1000 missions.)

Thank You Veterans and families of veterans for preserving our freedom around the globe.

Concert Report...

My special meet and greet lanyard

The official autograph card, designed by Jose (the drummer) with all their signatures. Hi Deborah in the high left corner is with Kimore's autograph, in the lower right corner is Brandon's.

Back to reality now…It was great to have a break from the daily grind with our quick trip to the River Riot in Iowa, where we were able to ‘meet and greet’ the members of the band Incubus, and attend their concert. We flew out on Thursday, went sight-seeing on Friday and also attended the concert that evening. Then, on Saturday we flew home. Even though it was a fast trip it was a welcome one. Work has been so busy lately that being able to get away was ‘good medicine’ for me. I always have a blast with my sweet daughter-in-law so I knew we would have a good time. She’s been my concert buddy lately.

When we landed at the airport we collected our bags and trotted over to the rental car booth to pick up our car. The employees there asked us what brought us to town and when we told them we were attending the Incubus concert they got all excited. Since we were going to a hot concert (their words) they thought we should have a hot ride to get there in so they gave us a killer rental deal on an awesome Mustang!

Our hot ride

Our hotel turned out to be right by the Omaha Cabelas, and of course we had to go check out the fish in the huge aquarium and get some of their tasty fudge (moose drool anyone?). We still had more time to sight-see after that so we decided to visit Old Market, which is a historical area with shops and restaurants and cobblestone streets. We visited some unique shops and enjoyed walking around and taking in the sights.

DJ Chris Kilmore

Kilmore at the 'Meet and Greet' I couldn't resist snapping it with my cell phone, bad me.

As we were walking down the avenue, just past the guy playing his harmonica on the street corner, I noticed something familiar about these guys sitting at a sidewalk café having lunch. My first thought was…that guy has really long dredlocks, like the DJ from Incubus. Continuing the thought, I figured if it was the Incubus guy (DJ Chris Kilmore), Ben Kenney the bass player couldn’t be far away, and low and behold-who was sitting on the other side of the table…a guy wearing a baseball cap like Ben often does, it was Ben! My mouth dropped open and I had a look of shock on my face. Then I crazily walked right up to them (don’t ask me how I had the nerve) and boldly pronounced that I was really looking forward to seeing them tonight in concert. They were taken aback because they said that nobody really recognized them there. I blurted out that a true fan, me, would and that I would recognize that profile with the dreds nearly anywhere and got chuckles from DJ Kilmore.

Ben Kenney

Ben

 What a thrill to meet them right then and there. Of course we asked if we could get a picture and gave the camera to a passerby to snap one for us, but unfortunately that guy did not do it right so we were sad later when we found out we had no photo. Ben also said he felt a bit sick (he had a hangover from going to a baseball game the night before in Minnesota where the last concert was). We did not want to be annoying fans so we exchanged just a few more pleasantries; they said they would look for us at the meet and greet and we said “See ya tonight!”  About an hour later when we were walking around some more, we saw Ben and DJ Kilmore again, and lo and behold, Brandon Boyd, the lead singer, was also with them! We smiled happily and said Hey!, as we passed by. All three of them gave us a nice wave and later on that night when we met them at the official meet and greet event they remembered us and said “There you ladies are!” as we came around the corner to get their autographs and shake their hands. DJ Kilmore came over and talked to us like we were old friends or something, sigh!!!! We mentioned that we were thinking of going to the San Diego concert and he said “You better!” :)

Mike E.

Mike and Brandon

While we were shaking hands and getting their signatures, I was so busy dreamily staring into their faces that I realized I couldn’t remember which signatures were which, but another fan pointed them all out to me later. Overwhelmed much? Yes! I really had the chills and seeing them earlier in the day made it all perfect!!! For the official photo at the meet and greet, Mike E. the amazingly talented guitar player, came over by us and I happily said Yay! We get Mikey! He gave me a big hug during the pic and afterwards, too. I said he was Awesome! and gave his frizzy hair a pat (I definitely was crazed right then and there and embarrassed that I did it afterwards) Gee, maybe I should have slipped him my phone number as well, lol!

Mikey

At the concert, which was standing room only style, we couldn’t get very close to the stage, darn, in fact we were kindof in a mosh pit and got so squished, and jostled by the drunkards attending we got the heck out of there! Jo’Dee even got punched in the back and nearly knocked down so we found a safer place to watch the concert after that. Man, that place, Mid America Motorplex, was a dive and only had porta potties for facilities. With all those drunk people attending the concert it was a free for all on the fence by the porta potties as the guys just wizzed away in public! So much for gaining wordly experience….but, I am so thankful that I can have a good time at a concert without being drunk or high, because those people were embarrassing themselves. I can’t wait to see my next Incubus concert!

Our official Meet and Greet photo (the only photo we were allowed)