I really should start taking a camera with me when I go running. One of the ice cream trucks in our neighborhood has a big, bright sign on the back that says "Firearm Violations May Be Videotaped."

I felt like I finally hit my stride this evening, in that the last ten minutes I was really running rather than just shuffling along. That's the first time since we've started back that I felt like I had it in me to really stretch it out into a good pace. I guess slogging up that hill at Winslow Park the past few weeks has done my legs some good.

I recommend the sports massage.

This post is really by Catherine, although she demurred when I offered to let her sit down and type it herself.

After it got dark this evening, we took a star chart and walked over the the park. It wasn't ideal viewing, the park lights were overpowering, and there's a half-moon in the sky, but we still managed to do a little star-hopping. This is especially exciting for Catherine, since she's never spent any time with the constellations. We found:

Ursa Major
Ursa Minor
Draco
Vega in Lyra
Deneb in Cyngus
Hercules
Arcturus in Bootes
Canes Venatici
Corona Borealis
Cepheus
Cassiopeia
Great Square of Pegasus

and on the way home, Scorpius

There must be a word for those people walk down a sidewalk in the middle of the night, trying to read an astronomy magazine in the dark. A word other than "dorks," I mean.

To K. Pandya, wherever you are at the moment: Syd, I went back to the pool this week. Nothing serious, just a few hundred yards, but I thought you'd be interested. Hope your fly is still strong.

Former fellow asg-xer Kerry Lutz has an entertaining blog.

When we grow up, we want to have a big house, a house that has room enough for a deep freeze somewhere. I'm sure Catherine would like to use it for all those damned frozen vegetables she keeps buying. Me, I'd like to have room for a half-dozen more ice packs. Because let me just say, three ice packs aren't enough for the broken-down body that is mine, even if you take care of the feet and ankles with a washtub full of ice water.

Catherine has decided she wants to run a 5k this fall. She could probably go out and run one next week if she wanted to, but it seems to be a confidence thing with her. She runs on a regular basis, but when it comes time to sign up for a race, she always chooses the walking option instead of the running option. But now she's decided she's going to run the Jill Behrman Run for the Endzone in October. I'm probably going to do the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer run in September, and then the Jill Behrman run. The running goal for 2004 is the 10k, though, since I didn't make it last year. I'm thinking that the Wabash Valley Runners Indiana Fall Classic might be the one, barring any new injuries.

When I got home from work, I put the pizza crust on to rise, then forced Catherine to go to the park with me. We kicked around the soccer ball, and then threw the Aerobie around a bit. That's all I'm doing tonight.

Hit the wall yesterday, physically and mentally. Decided the best thing to do was just spend the rest of the day in bed. So I did.

Nothing feels quite right at the moment. Some of it's physical, some of it's mental, all of it is tedious. Time to just dig in and force my way through life for bit, regardless of how I feel about it all.

Work has been slow. We've been at a standstill design-wise on the museum, pending further discussion with the State Historic Preservation Office. Luckily, we meet with them tomorrow, and hopefully things will start happening again. I've been working--sort of--on a landscape project this week. It's amazing how difficult it is to site a pool properly on an essentially empty lot. Anyway, the best part about the project is the observatory we're adding to the property. I spent a lot of time today surfing the web, looking at other backyard observatories around the world.

Catherine is making pineapple salsa pizza again tonight. I'm really hungry.

One of those days when I have absolutely nothing say. Life feels as flat and thin as an empty piece of paper.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon out on the back porch reading Toni Morrison's Beloved. I think her writing is meant for people with more spirit--or more spirituality--than I possess. I can see where I'm supposed to connect with the narrative on something more than an intellectual level, but I don't have another level in me, and I don't think I ever will. I wish I could write like she does, but then again, I don't think I want to have the kind of soul I would need to have to do it.

It's like playing chicken in reverse...instead of racing toward each other, you run in opposite directions. Whoever turns around first, loses. Or possibly wins. It's a complicated game.

I can't believe how often I have to call Ameritech about our phone line. Out of order again. Even when it's in order, the quality of the line is terrible. We can hear other people talking, music, static and about a dozen other noises during every phone call. If I could figure out how to afford a cable modem, I'd abandon our phone line completely.

My leg is starting to look better, so the antibiotics must be doing something other than making me feel sick to my stomach.

Damn, I just realized I left the site plan and notebook I need in the car. Spent all yesterday morning out surveying two residential lots for a pool/landscape project we're doing. First time I've used an engineer's level. It's not very complicated, but you have to have a detail-oriented assistant. I apparently did not (I borrowed someone from another office), since Louis and I had to go back out a second time at the end of the work day to re-take some measurements.

Friday p.m.: running, coffee, drive-in--Shrek II and Ella Enchanted (forgettable)
Saturday a.m.: running, errands. Talked to Bobby, went to public library, lunch at Opie Taylor's.
Saturday p.m.: Dinner with Jen, David, Natalie @ Erika and Henry's. Storm Saturday night.
Sunday a.m.: Storm in a.m., drive to Falls of the Ohio after. Dinosaur exhibit, tornado. B&B, tornado. Dinner @ Japanese steakhouse. Read Sharmila's Book, Catherine watched Open Range (forgettable). Tornado sometime during the night.
Monday a.m.: @Churchill Downs by 8:30 (breakfast tomato tart fiasco), backside tour until 10:00. Derby Museum.
Sunday p.m.: Churchill Downs, watched 1/2 race card, picked two winners. Took I-64 to 37 to avoid storm damage on way home. Grocery shopping. Read The Prime of Jean Brodie.