Final Test Schedule From Hell.

So around the middle of October I check the final exam schedule to see what my last week of school is going to look like since all of my professor's stated that the final is mandatory. I am taking 6 classes so that meant 6 tests. No big deal I thought until I realized that all 6 of them were in a 24 hr time period. One on Monday night and five on Tuesday.

I knew that every University has a policy that allows you to reschedule your tests if you have so many within in a certain time period. So I go and look online and can't find anything. I call the department office, they can't find it. They refer me to the business school office, they can't find it either. Next is the student services office.................! I end up talking to the President's office who took my name and number and told me they would call me back. About an hour later I get a phone call from the Senior Provost for Academic Affairs. The conversation as I remember it goes like this.

Me-Hello
Provost- Hello this is Dr. so and so. Sorry.
Me- For what?
Provost- It appears we don't have a policy limiting how many finals you can take in a day.
Me- Your kidding
Provost- We thought we had one, but apparently we never "Put it on the books".
Me- Then I am supposed to do what?
Provost- Don't worry we will take care of it for next year.
Me- How does that help me this year.?
Provost- Uh......it doesn't. Try asking your professor's to let you switch
Me- I already tried that. I wouldn't be calling you if I had worked it out.
Provost- Then good luck!
Me- Wow

Apparently I attend the only University in the state that will allow you to be schedule for 6 tests in 24 hrs that each count for at least 40% of you overall grade. Hey at least I got a policy change out of the deal. Maybe I should cut out that section of the 2007-2008 catalog and put it next to my diploma.

White Rock Surprise!

So in my last post I stated that I would not be able to attend the White Rock Marathon this year. Well things can change quickly. On Saturday the day before the race Dori calls around 2pm and informs me that the WONDERFUL bride had chosen not to require me until around 3pm on Sunday. That meant I had all morning to run the race!

The only problem was that I had not gotten my bib number because I figured I wouldn't need it. I had to work until 7pm that night so I could not make the 6pm cutoff time. Well my awesome Dad drove out to Dallas and got it for me. FYI I have a great family.

The morning of the race GandaMan and Nell rode with me out to the race so it was an enjoyable ride plus we got a great parking spot thanks to my tiny car. I was so excited to be at the marathon because I really didn't think I was going to be able to participate. Nell stuck with GandaMan and myself until about mile 6 when she had to duck into the relay exchange zone to pass of the baton to Donaldo, GandaMan's Dad who was the next person in her relay team.

GandaMan and I had an understanding that neither one of us would feel an obligation to stay with the other. That being said, neither one of us really pulled away from the other for most of the race. We train together so we naturally run at about the same pace. Around mile 8 we started to enter the White Rock Lake area. This is the longest part of the course where you are basically running around the lake for about 10 miles. The great part about this is that there isn't very much traffic. The bad part is that the lake can get a little old after about 5 miles.

We made it around the lake feeling pretty good. GandaMan had just finished running a sub 4hr marathon at Marine Core about a month ago so he was still in great shape. He had flamed out at White Rock the year earlier around mile 17 so he enjoyed flying by the 17 mark still feeling great. I on the other hand had fizzled around mile 14 of the White Rock the year prior and ran a 5hr+ time. Needless to say I was just happy when I hit mile 14 with no pain or major fatigue.

I have started to figure out something about my body on these long runs and marathons. I don't like gel shots or sugary sports drinks after a certain point. It seems as though my body can only take the sugary intake for so long before it begins to tire of it and I actually begin to feel sick at the though of taking another one. Well this happened to me around mile 16 of the race and by mile 21 I was beginning to feel the consequences. I was afraid if I actually had a gel or more than a sip of Gatorade that I would throw up and really lose all my "fuel".

To make a long story short, I told GandaMan goodbye around mile 22 and watched him dash of for the finish for what would be his new PR. I then reduced my pace to stave off any cramps that might cause me to miss my goal of 4:15. Miles 22-25 were really slow, probably around 13-15 minutes each. I hit mile 25 at around 3:57 and realized I better pick up the pace to give myself some breathing room in case my watch was off from chip time. I ended up cruising across the finish line at 4:05:12. Well below my goal of 4:15 and light years ahead of last year's time of 5:05:53. Wow if I keep that up then I should run a 3:05 next year and qualify for Boston..........yea right!

At the end I caught up with GandaMan who looked incredible. The guy acted like he was ready to run another marathon. I on the other hand was suffering because of my lack of calories. My brother has diabetes so over the years I have spent many days checking my blood sugar with him. If I had checked it at that moment it probably would have been below 25. For those of you who don't know, that is incredibly low and actually borderline dangerous. I really didn't care at the moment though because I was just glad to be done and pleased with my results. Nell gave me a yogurt smoothie which tided me over until we stopped and got Braums on the way home. I was on a time crunch because I had to be at the chapel by 3 to shoot the wedding with Dori. For the sake of time I decided to eat lunch while I was taking my post race bath. As strange as it may be, that was a great experience. Feeding my completely empty stomach while relaxing my overworked muscles.......I can't wait till Cowtown so I can repeat the experience. Maybe I should find a hot tub.

FYI: My goal at Cowtown is going to be sub a 4hr.

White Rock Bummer

So I have been training for the White Rock Marathon for about 5 months now. The race is this Sunday and guess what....... I won't be running. My fiancee and I are photographers and there was a little miscommunicationbetween us,probably mostly on my part. We have a wedding scheduled for that day at 11:00, and unless I can run a 2:30 hr marathon I won't be able to "Run The Rock". Considering my personal best has barely been under 5hrs, I don't think I am going to be able to run that fast. So now the goal turns to the Mardi Gras Marathon or Cowtown Marathon. I am hoping for Mardi, but if things don't work out the Cowtown is an option.

James Kim

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of James Kim. His tragic death trying to save his family has had a surprising influence on me. Normally you hear about a story like this and by the time 24 hrs has passed it is already forgotten and old news. Strangely enough I personally felt a connection to the man that only the Internet can bring. These "Internet Stars" or personalities are only a click away everyday. For those "Tech Geeks" like myself, we generally check certain websites daily. One of my favorite websites is cnet.com where James Kim was a senior editor. I check this website daily for the latest reviews and technology news, and that is where I first read about his disappearance almost 2 weeks ago. Daily I have watched this guy through online videos, read his work, and even emailed him on occasion for. To think that he passed away in frigid weather in the Oregon woods searching for help for his family really strikes a cord with me and makes me grateful for everything that I have.

Here is to life and the memory of James Kim....................................................

I am an avid reader of cnet.com, and have been following the recent disappearance of their Senior Editor James Kim and his family. Apparently he and his family were driving home from Thanksgiving vacation and disappeared in Oregon. A few hours ago they found his family stranded in the Oregon woods, but James left a few days ago to go and try to find help. The search continues tonight and throughout tomorrow in search of him. No word yet on how the family ended up so extremely lost.

Cajun Vacation

So to recap the Thanksgiving vacation.

Dori and I had fun in Louisiana even though we didn’t want to leave Fort Worth because we have a ton of work to catch up on. We mostly hung out with Dori’s Dad and her extended family. It was crazy having that many people over for Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving I helped out around the house and around the 20 acres of land they own about 3 miles from the house. Mr. Boone bought the land a year ago and has completely transformed it. The place is pretty incredible when you consider that less than a year ago it was covered with trees and 8 ft. tall grass. He cleared the land, leveled it off, installed a huge barn, fenced the entire thing with electric fence, and is just yesterday finished up a 1 acre pond. He has a little farm going on out there complete with goats, chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, horses, donkeys, cows…….well you get the point.

In the course of the week I visited and passed through several interesting places. It seems towns in Louisiana are very concerned with having a distinct city.....I mean corp identity. For the people from the other 49 states, Louisiana calls counties parishes and doesn't have city limits, but instead has "Corp" limit. Some of the more interesting cities I visited where Jennings, "The Cradle of Louisiana Oil", Rayne"The Frog Capital of the World", Crowley "The Rice Capital of America", and Gueydan "The Duck Capital of America".

All in all a great time even though I found running tough down around Lafayette, La. The weather is fine, but there wasn't as much sidewalk coverage as in DFW. The area is less populated so speed limits are not really enforced. It was disconcerting to be buzzed by cars going 70 mph on some backroad near the Boone house. I restricted my mileage because of fear for my life on the local roads. No shoulder, plus no sidewalk, plus no speed limits, is a little to risky for even me. I will have to make up some mileage this week back at home.

Black Friday

Ok, here comes a long blog update.

The day after Thanksgiving started off the same way it did last year, with a crazy Black Friday experience. Dori has decided that she wanted a new MP3 player for Christmas. After a lot of research and convincing by me that the Ipod is overpriced and restrictive she decided to go with the Creative Zen Micro Photo. It was on sale at Circuit City for $129.

So we woke up and left Dori’s Dad’s house at 2:30 a.m. and got to the store about 3. By the time we arrived the parking lot was filling up and we found ourselves about 90^th in line. We weren’t really worried about being so far back because the first 100 or so people are always there to get big ticket items like computers and Televisions. The problem is that the stores usually only have at most 15 of each item which are snapped up by the first 50 or so people in line.

By the time the doors opened at 5 the line had swelled to around 400 people. Everyone rushed in and quickly clogged up the computer and TV sections, but the MP3 player section was relatively quiet. After grabbing the player Dori and I ran around the store and picked up some great deals on work related items. By this time all of the line was starting to empty into the store so it was becoming crazy. By the time we finished and hopped in line to check out I was having to hold the shopping basket over my head to maneuver through the crowd. All in all we spent a ton of money at the store, but after we send in the 30+ rebates that we have to file it will be chump change. It took the receipt printer 5 minutes just to print out all of the rebate slips we will need.

After the store we got back to the house around 7 a.m. and went back to sleep for a little bit before the rest of Dori’s family woke up.

Well Dori and I arrived in Lafayette, LA for Thanksgiving. We got here Wednesday evening after about a 6hr drive. Dori's brother rode with us, but he slept the entire time except for the 15 minutes when we ate or stopped for the bathroom. The impressive part was that he went to bed relatively early that night. Oh, to be a teenager again.

We had 80+ people over at Dori's Dad's house yesterday for Turkey Day. Quite a lot of people, but we started cooking at 11:00 the night before so we had enough food for everyone. Quite an experience cooking for 12 hours straight. This is hands down the largest Thanksgiving get together I have ever been too. At my house we usually have about 25 people at most. I guess this is my welcome to Cajun Country.

Today started off with a 2:00 am trip to Circuit City for the Black Friday deals, but I will have to comment on this and the rest of the day tomorrow. Later.

Back to the Blog.

Well, I am going to start of this blog again and I have committed to staying current with it so here goes.

Dori and I just got back from a wonderful trip to San Diego. We stayed with my 91yr old Great Grandfather who is still going strong out on the West Coast. It must be the weather and the Italian bloodline that keep him running around. I am counting on having the same longevity. We left Friday morning at 9:00 am and landed in San Diego at 10:00 am. The 2 hr time difference causes the flying time to only have a 1hr impact on my day although it wipes out the day when we are flying back to Texas.

During the weekend we caught up with Grandpa, visited the beach a couple of times, I ran 12 miles on Coronado Island while Dori followed on a bike, visited the Tide Pools at Cabrillo National Monument, and ate more in 3 days than we have in the past week combined. Italians have this thing about eating well and making sure that no one ever goes hungry. I am going to spend the next week trying to run off all the extra calories I consumed.

So my biggest current goal in life is to run with Dean Karnazes. I missed him when he came through town for the Endurance 50 because I had a test in Real Estate Law, and he ran the Ultracentric National Championships in Grapevine last weekend while I was in San Diego. So it looks like I will have to go and find him while he is running home from New York to Los Angeles. GandaMan went and ran with him at the Ultracentric. Go and read his blog post when you get the chance.