What is Radio MASH?, ask the voices in my head and the 2 people who actually read this blog.

Radio MASH is an 100 hour toy drive benefitting the underprivileged children of the Brazos Valley. MASH stands for Make A Smile Happen. Equicom Radio provides the radio broadcast and serves as a contact point for various organizations to make their toy requests. The Texas Army National Guard provides the tents and military equipment for display. Members of the USS Intangible (Star Trek fan club) prepare the toys for delivery. Volunteers from other organizations provide a lot of help. We also get the occasional volunteer doing community service hours.

During the broadcast donations of new and gently used toys and cash are accepted. Also there is a raffle - proceeds used to buy toys.

Churches, schools, daycares and non-profit agencies are contacted by Equicom to get lists of children in need. Last year, 4,000 children received toys. Radio MASH also provides stuffed animals for the Harley Davidson Motorcycle Club's Jingle Bell Run and chew toys (stuffed animals not suitable to give away to children) for Woodstock Animal Rescue. Other charitable organizations get left overs.

Radio MASH will be running from 10:00 am Thursday until 10:00 am Monday, December 1 - 5 in the Post Oak Mall parking lot under the sign on the corner of Harvey Road and Highway 6 in College Station, Texas. If you are in the area, come by, gawk, donate or volunteer. If you are in the College Station area you can listen to the broadcast on 98.3 (country), 101.9 (light rock), 103.9 (rock) and 1240AM (Spanish).

I have resumed the getting up early experiment. I accomplish a few things with the extra time but I need a nap but can't take one because I have to go to work. I'll do the experiment for one more day then suspend it for Radio MASH.

I work more hours at Radio MASH than I do at my regular job. I love it. The sore muscles, various interpretations of gently used, mass quantity shopping, creative names, disturbing toys, snarky comments about birth control, the full range of Texas weather, leaky tents, flat Coke, good food, laughter, interesting smells, clueless volunteers, loading, unloading, stuffing toys into cars, noisy toys going off at random, thoughts of murdering the person who set off Elmo for the 6,000th time, trolls, stuffed animals, weird books and little boys named Tyler - often addressed by their full name, Tylerputthatdown!

I'm tingling with anticipation.

This week's book:

Too Much Coffee Man's Amusing Musings

There will be no updates on Thursday and Sunday.

This week I ran 23.92 miles, burned 2,883.8 calories and weigh 163.5 pounds.

Monday ran 4 miles in 41:27
Tuesday ran 2.60 miles in 35:00
Wednesday ran 5 miles in 52:47
Friday ran 4.38 miles in 1:05:00
Saturday ran 7 miles in 1:23:22

4 days until Radio MASH.

Goofy spam names:
Wean Diesel
Voluptuary Q. Nautically
Van Damage

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I enjoyed visiting my family and the turkey was good. The Dallas Cowboy game was real tense. Too bad they lost it in overtime.

I bought some spray repellent but after reading the first aid instructions I decided not to use it and will take it back to Petco. Perhaps exchange it for something to spray on the dog to make her smell better. I put a cinder block over the drain and a board to limit access to the air conditioner. Physical barriers rather than chemical barriers will be safer for everyone.

I'm trying to keep a positive outlook about Sunday. Maybe I can watch a football game.

"Bitter End" is not working. Masey still removes the drain cover and she has started chewing on the AC Unit. Time to go to Petco and get the repellent. If that does not work then it is time for beatings (just kidding). It will become time to get a different dog.

I hope she has not done much damage to the AC Unit. Luckily, there was no current running through it.

Masey needs a playmate or something to keep her from getting bored and destroying things. Masey needs a large family.

This whole attempting to get up by 5:30am thing stinks. Sure, it might make me more productive and successful but dammit I need to sleep. Productive, successful and cranky is no way to go through life. I'll try to pick up the habit again after Thanksgiving. Maybe after Christmas. My body clock might get used to it eventually or I will have to settle for less productive, less successful but happy.

I need to unsubscribe to "success" e-mail newsletters. They are causing me to try crazy things like getting up earlier, responding to commercial inquiries, taking a more active hand in my career direction and thinking about my spending more carefully. Next thing I know I'll be investing in real estate using their fool proof method. Or worse, attend a seminar.

I need to start my own "success" newsletter. One that convinces readers that the true path to happiness involves sharing a small portion of their personal wealth with me and that small portion shared with me will provide 10-fold increase in their wealth. Not an original idea - tele-evangelists offer that promise all the time. Not smearing the name of Jesus and honesty about where the money would go (my pockets) distinguishes me from the tele-evangelist. My "success" newsletter would promote the virtues of sleeping in.

Actually the "success" newsletters that I subscribe to contains useful information and ideas between the hyperbolic advertisements and the occasional forays into foil beanie territory. Take what I can use and leave the rest.

I did not check the drain cover this morning to see whether or not Masey removed it. I'll do that this evening.

After work, I think I'll run instead of my usual workout. 30 minutes worth of sprints.

Tomorrow is a short work day. Hooray!

8 days until Radio MASH!

Yesterday I bought some "Bitter End" to help Masey stop chewing on some items in the backyard. I'm not sure how well it is working. Masey grabs the drain cover and then drops it when she realizes how nasty it tastes. I want her to leave the drain cover alone. Maybe she will figure it out. I hope she stays away from the water hose.

Petco also has a spray repellent product. I might try that next to keep her away from parts of the backyard.

I inhaled a bit of "Bitter End" mist while spraying. The taste is very difficult to get out of my mouth.

I also bought some air freshner, Poop Off and corn cob bedding for Salvador.

The getting up earlier experiment failed this morning. Try again tomorrow morning.

This week I ran 31.59 miles, burned 3,676.7 calories and weigh 163.5 pounds.

Monday: 4 miles - 43:26
Wednesday: 7 miles - 1:20:00
Thursday: 4 miles - 42:41
Saturday: 16 miles - 3:19:00

Salvador can fly! He can't fly as well as usual but he can fly.

Tomorrow, I run 16 miles.

A computer does not work like a typewriter.

I had to spruce up a table someone sent me. This person created their version of the table the old-fashioned way. Tabs. Yes, this person actually created the columns by tabbing - the way it was done on a typewriter.

I created an actual table and selectively removed borders to make lines between parts of data. It looks great.

Tabs!

Sheesh!

Masey captured Salvador. Fortunately, none of Sal's bones appear to be broken but he lost most of tail feathers. I did not find any blood feathers. Sal does have a bit of bare flesh on his back side.

I have a small bite wound on my thumb that I received while removing Sal from Masey's mouth. Sal used his beak to maintain a firm grip on Masey's lip. I washed the wound and will keep an eye on it.

I displayed some behavior that I find annoying in others. My bird almost got killed. Walter warned me about this but I did not take it as seriously as I should have. The dog would get used to the bird and ignore it, Sal can fly high away from the dog.

Salvador is very traumatized. Now it has gotten through to me that the bird and the dog cannot be out at the same time - ever. Damn, I can be thick sometimes. Yes, stupid does hurt. I suppose there is some comfort that the infrequency of my stupid acts prevents me from becoming dulled to the pain.

I hope Walter can remove Sal from his shoulder. I needed help removing Sal from my shoulder in order to get dressed this morning. Sal will step on to my finger then on to my shoulder but he would not step on to my finger from the shoulder but he would step on to Walter's finger. He behaved the same way with Walter.

Questions to ponder:
Do I want to continue fostering dogs despite the risk to Salvador?
Do I have the ability to be vigilant about making sure that Sal and a dog are not out at the same time?
Can I give Sal and a foster dog the right amount of attention under these restrictions?
Can I give up doing something I enjoy for the sake of Sal? I have difficulty giving things up.

I had one of the best night's sleep I've ever had in a long time, courtesy of Walter.

I need to print some business cards.

The professional meeting went well and I learned something. I did not flounder at the small talk. Just talked about the job and publications. Secured an article for a newsletter and will exchange an annual report with another department. I look forward to the next meeting.

The temperature has dropped 30 degrees. I love Texas weather.

The 1970's in Europe: http://www.omodern.com/

The site is in a Scandanavian language but fluency in those languages is unnecessary. The pictures speak for themselves.

I slept the whole night! WooHoo! I feel good.

I look forward to attending a "professional" meeting later this afternoon. I'm trying this networking thing to enhance my career and learn a thing or two. The meeting is about de-mystifing I.T. This meeting will also have a "networking" opportunity.

I hate "networking". I dislike the conotation of making connections with people for the sole purpose of career advancement. We all use each other to some extent but to have the idea so up front bothers me. I suppose I could think of it more as mutual aid rather than use.

The idea of interacting with a room full of strangers causes a bit of discomfort. If I don't get a bit uncomfortable, I don't grow and my career gets stuck. Not to mention my life would suck. Not in the grinding poverty - poor health - major disaster sense but more in a very slow soul killing sense. Everything on the outside looks great while the inner self rots.

With luck an extrovert will be in attendence to carry the conversation or at least provide me some direction. I can handle the introductions. I tend to flounder a bit beyond that without something from the other person.

Ok, I admit it. I cannot make small talk.

So many unknowns here.

Jeez, it's just a @#$%! meeting. Relax, learn and enjoy.

Ran 20.97 miles, burned 2,635.3 calories and weigh 164 pounds.

Monday: 4 miles in 43:53
Wednesday: 5 miles in 54:16
Friday: 4 miles in 42:41
Saturday: 7 miles in 1:22:00

This week's book:

Seamonsters & Superheroes, Vol. 1

I ordered a cake for Walter's birthday party. I'll purchase decorations to match the cake when I pick it up tomorrow.

I slept from 11:00 pm to 4:30 am. I looked at the clock and went back to sleep.

I posted a multi-panel cartoon this morning. I would have posted last night but a meeting went a bit long. The extra meeting time was necessary. If nothing else to get some feelings out.

A Veteran's Day rant:

Thank you to all the Veterans.

This rant addresses alleged French rudeness and ingratitude. France's policies sometimes clash with U.S. policies and when they do some pundits use the liberation of France during World War II as a justification for France bashing. Bill O'Reilly and his show is boycotting France over the Iraq War. On The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, O'Reilly used the phrase "we liberated them" to criticize France for not joining the Iraq War.

Bill O'Reilly is in the wrong business. He should sell the secrets of his youthful appearence. If he was part of the "we" that liberated France then he is the most youthful looking and vital octogenerian I've ever seen. The man could make billions and gain the universal love and affection of humanity selling his secrets.

I doubt Bill O'Reilly or any of his staff helped liberate France from Nazi Germany. They are not entitled to any gratitude from the French. Americans under the age of 70 are not entitled to any gratitude from the French people. Only a portion of the French people owe a shrinking portion of the U.S. population a debt of gratitude. The rest of us have no right to take credit or expect gratitude for the brave deeds of our men and women involved in World War II.

Thank you veterans.

Dear France,
I had nothing to do with the liberation of your country from Nazi Germany. If I visit your country I will not expect gratitude. I will expect decent customer service in exchange for money that I spend but no gratitude. I left nothing on the beaches of Normandy.

I slept in two hour increments. Aside from the fitful sleep the getting out of bed earlier experiment is working well. I've kept dirty dishes from accumulating in the sink. After I clear out the clutter in my e-mail inbox I need to clear out the clutter around my desk. Improved housekeeping has been the most positive result of this experiment.

Walter has been cleaning the house in preparation for Saturday's party. The living room is looking good.

The leaves on one of the trees in the backyard have turned a quite spectacular shade of yellow.

Masey chewed the laces off one of my running shoes. She used her teeth to cut the laces; 6 inches on one end and 8 inches off the other. Now I have to get replacements. Salvador now has two new shoe lace ends (aglets for you trivia buffs out there) to chew on. Once he gets over his trepedation regarding new things in his cage he will enjoy chewing up the aglets. Hopefully, the dog slobber smell won't bother him.

I hope these mundane blog entries help someone with their insomnia. Maybe I'll receive good sleep karma points.

The getting up earlier experiment - Day 3

The experiment is successful so far in terms of productivity.

For some reason, I haven't slept through the night this week. I wake up between 3:00 and 4:00 am. My vision apparently is 20/20 at that time. I can see the time on the clock very clearly. I can also do mental arithmetic very quickly. I see the time and note the exact number of minutes until the alarm is set to go off. After all this I shut my eyes and go back to sleep. Clear vision and doing arithmetic in my head are not talents I possess when fully awake. Maybe it is some weird dream state.

I got a back rub this morning! I stayed in bed a bit longer but still made it out before 6:00 am.

I made it to work early!

Masey needs more toys. She spent a great deal of time whining and looking for something to play with.

She scared Salvador this morning. She stuck her head in his room, this caused Sal to try to fly in his cage, this made Sal even more interesting so Masey walked further into Sal's room, this made Sal attempt more in cage flight and scream thus making himself even more interesting to Masey so she came closer and this led to even more agitation on Sal's part. I came in and shooed Masey out and turned on the light and checked for fallen feathers.

Fortunately, he did not lose any flight feathers. Oops, using correct English on the internet! He did not loose any flight feathers. There is no excuse for flaunting the ability to use and retain the education I received. I do not want my fellow Americans to feel bad.

About the school shooting in Tennessee (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9970713/), authorities are seeking a motive. The motive is in the story:

On the school website Principal Gary Seale welcomed students with this statement:
“The next four years will be the best times of your life.”

I would have shot him.

Is it cruelty or senility that causes adults to say that to young people entering high school?

Day 2 of the wake up earlier experiment is more successful than Day 1. I accomplished several mundane tasks this morning and do not need a nap right now. This could be the caffeine and cake talking.

I have a weirdo co-worker that scrapes the pineapple and cherries off pineapple upside down cake. Oh well, more pineapple and cherries for me but why scrape off the stuff that makes it a pineapple upside down cake? After scraping it is just a plain yellow cake. Everyone has their quirks I guess but why does everyone else's quirks seem so much weirder than mine?

Freelance work is starting to come in. Hooray!

I set my alarm for 5:02 am on Saturday so that I can get up and start my Saturday run earlier. I wanted to finish in time to take a shower before a 9:30 am meeting. I arrived late to the meeting but the other people at the meeting appreciated me for taking a shower. Better late than stinking to high heaven.

I decided to keep my alarm set at 5:02 am. I hit the snooze button 3 times but got out of bed earlier. I'm going to try the earlier wake up time for a while and see how it works. I've read that this will increase my productivity and make me feel better.

This morning I did some stretching, cleared out some clutter in my inbox, folded some clothes, washed dishes, took a shower, planned the week's workouts, prepared lunch and ate breakfast and still made it to work on time.

I need a nap.

This week I ran/ cycled 33.4 miles, burned 2,567.4 calories and weigh 164.7 pounds.

Monday cycled 6 miles in 32:39
Wednesday cycled 8 miles in 41:06
Thursday ran 4 miles in 54:14
Saturday ran 14 miles in 2:44:50

If I can keep the same pace that I ran the 14 mile throughout a marathon then I'm on track for a 5 hour race.

Photos: I would have done this sooner but slow uploads and screwy formatting delayed me. I don't know why I'm so picky about the formatting in a blog.

From top to bottom:

1. The flaming chalice pumpkin in its freshly carved glory. Now it sits outside slowly imploding
2. Approaching the finish line at the Woodstock Howl-o-ween 5K.
3. Getting closer. Neither dog nor human is an albino. If I go out during a sunny summer afternoon I burst into flames if I don't use sunscreen.
4. Crossing the finish line in 36:39. That time included a water stop and a potty break (for the dog).
5. Masey, the tail-less wonder dog, and I submit our time.
6. A Newfoundland (Newfie) in a cheerleader outfit.

Masey is available for adoption via www.woodstocktexas.org. You can see her in person at PetCo in College Station, Texas Saturdays from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. She can run farther than 5K. She is pretty good on a leash but pulled (not too hard) during the race because of the excitement. Without distractions she stays at my side or slightly behind. If you are looking for a somewhat slow running companion (12:00 - 10:00 minute miles), Masey is a great dog.

My knee is fine. I ran slowly today without experiencing any pain. I felt much better after running.

My father-in-law has moved into his own place.

This week's book:

Perfect Planet and Other Stories

Last week I ran 17.13 miles, burned 2206.1 calories and weighed 164.5 pounds. So far this year I have ran 692.39 miles and burned 85,496 calories.

Monday: 3.3 miles in 40:00
Wednesday: 4 miles in 41:12
Friday: 5K in 31:25
Saturday: 3 miles in 36:00 and 5K in 36:39 (Not bad for a bum knee and an excited dog)

It is taking too long to upload pictures. I will try tomorrow.

Cycling on a stationary bike sucks! My ass hurt and I rode for 6 miles and burned under 200 calories. I even changed the resistance. Less than 200 calories! I barely broke a sweat.

I can't wait to start running again.

Because of the nasty weather last night we did not get too many trick or treaters. Consequently, we have a lot of left over candy. The possibility of left over candy factored in our choice of candy. Somebody has got to eat it. I would ship it to some starving children in a third world country but I don't have an address. No, I don't trust Sally Struthers to act as a courier.

I found the the nasty peanut butter things wrapped in black or orange wax paper that old ladies gave out when I was a kid. They were expensive ($5.99 a bag vs $1.99 for the good stuff). The expense prevented me from purchasing a bag. I wanted to give the nasty things out to uncostumed teenagers just trolling for free candy.

Then there is the left over candy dilemma. What would I do with the left over nasty peanut butter things? Nobody in my house would eat them and I certainly would not give them to anyone that I have one ounce of empathy for (about 5.9 billion humans and the animal/ plant population). I'm sure there is someone out there that likes these things and I would gladly give them my left over nasty peanut butter candy but would I want to meet much less interact with such a person?

My flaming chalice jack-o-lantern lasted all night.

I need to post pictures.