Open letter to the folks still searching for my Netflix instant posts

First thing's first-- don't wait on another one, although you probably figured that out already.  Netflix has formed a super PAC (that isn't news) called FLIXPAC and though it was initially reported to be pro- SOPA, its actually not.

If you've been living under a rock for the last couple of months, SOPA stands for the Stop Online Privacy Act, introduced by Texas Rep. Lamar Smith designed to fight online piracy and intellectual copyright infringement. The major knock against it is that it paints with much too wide a brush if you will, and thus puts effectively the entire internet in he realm of prosecution for copyright infringement prosicution. The legislation is dead, but various attempts have been made (backed by major grants by the Motion Picture Association) to kickstart similar legislation.

Anyways, I was initially concerned, and still am, that Netflix would use FLIXPAC to funnel money (although a comparatively small amount) to the pro- SOPA (or similar) lobby so they could get away with their mediocre at best selection of movies while helping to prosecute those who look for alternatives. As I said earlier, FLIXPAC isn't pro- SOPA, so take that worth a grain of salt, but it isn't anti- SOPA either. Netflix's official statement was the goal of the super pac is 

PACs are commonplace for companies that lead a big, growing market and Netflix is no exception. Our PAC is a way for our employees to support candidates that understand our business and technology. It was not set up for the purpose of supporting SOPA or PIPA. Instead, Netflix has engaged on other issues including network neutrality, bandwidth caps, usage based billing and reforming the Video Privacy Protection Act

Second, you don't need me to review Netflix movies. Here's a list of the 50 top movies on Netflix instant 

Its like a swim meet

Are you kidding me? My first week of training and it rained an unreal amount. Like, I'm pretty sure it would have caught Noah by surprise. Thats all well and good and I'd rather run in rain-- even a lot of it-- than anything else, but come on now Edina city engineers, didn't you plan for this? So I've done most of my runs in this park thats a mile from my house that has a 2 mile loop in it. To get there I have to go up a couple pretty decent hills, so there's a little of everything. Especially in these first couple weeks of training where its just running for the sake of running, it works well.

Anyways, Thursday night it started raining, and it rained into Friday. Finally it let up enough to the point where I could go for a 10 miler, which would be 4 times around this park plus the mile there and back, if my Edina High School math is correct. So I got down there in allright shape I guess, apart from this gorge at the bottom of this hill probably a quarter mile from my house which was shin deep with water. So that was a bummer. Then I got to the park. Two bridges washed out and a quarter mile fully underwater from ankle deep to shin deep at parts. So that happened FOR FOUR EFFIN LAPS. I should have run in flats, but nope, I ran in my trainers which hold water really well, so it felt like I had cinder blocks on my feet the last couple laps.

It was the same story yesterday. And today.

But chin up kiddo, next week will be a better week, right?

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"-- Lao-tzu. "A journey of 1534.2 miles begins with 8 miles easy"-- Matt Ellenberger

And so it begins. Thats a song too. Actually its a lyric to a song. Its probably a lyric to a lot of songs, but the song I'm thinking of is called "Countdown" by Jupiter One. Its a brand new day and you shouldn't be fading away. Thats a lyric too. Anyways, we're inside 20 weeks to the Twin Cities Marathon, so yeah. 20 miles is a long time to be training, I realize that, but its a really structured program, plus I'm running less miles per week than I have in the past, so I'll put my money on it that things turn out better.

The 110 mile just because off week

See, this blog isn't down and out yet, but its getting there. I start posts probably at least once a week that I never finish because I get depressed/ bored/ have better things to do/ am pretty sure that no one will care about what I'm writing anyways, so I mean the intention to write stuff is still there at least. So last week was my first week back running after Eugene, and no I didn't mean for it to be in triple digit mileage but it is what it is. I didn't need a triple digit mileage week, since I'm doing a 20 week Twin Cities plan (crafted by the man himself Luke Humphrey) aimed at hopefully getting to Boston-- but I always say that and it never happens-- starting next week. Actually, that kind of mileage is probably going to be detrimental at that stage in the game, but I'll live.

I think I've found out why I run. Not because I can, not to eat a lot, not to look good, not for a sense of accomplishment, not any of those things I said before; and certainly not for fitness. Addidas had this XC slogan a while ago-- I have the poster hanging in my room-- that goes "the farther I run, the smaller my problems become" and that's really it. I mean, I'll be frank, life sucks for me right now. Girl problems, life problems, family problems, way too many problems for a kid to handle. And I'm really good at concealing my feelings so that compounds things. So, I just keep running because maybe then I won't have to cowboy up and face anything. Related: I'm super passive aggressive. It gets worse because the Senate adjourned Sine Die (with no defined start date) on Thursday, so I have a lot of time to think about, and overthink, things. Thank God there's this girl in my office who's around my age who'll always listen and give me sound advice. If you're reading this, you're an angel. So that's good.

But I mean, I run, and then I get back and still haven't solved my problems so I go out and run some more. I know you're thinking "why don't you just man up and deal with it?" well, I've tried, and always have ended up making things worse, so I've given up. I had a 30 mile day last week, and I had a 37 mile day yesterday (well actually I started one 16 miler at 11:47 and finished up at 1:58 the next morning, so I don't know what to count that as). Why I'm not good at running yet is beyond me. At this point you're thinking "woah, this is one messed up kid" and I'd be inclined to agree with you.

Chapter 17: Breaking Down/ Eugene Marathon race report

OR: the train wreck that really wasn't that bad

Oregon is freaking gorgeous. I won't recap my entire vacation because that would make this post ridiculous long, but let me at least glaze over it. My dad and I flew in to Portland on Thursday morning. My dad went with me because his company had a client or something out there and if he met with them they would subsidize some of our trip, and it was an expensive one. From Portland we went to Tillamook, which was a good couple hours from Portland through state forests and a bunch of Podunk little towns. From there we went another hour or so to the little town of Barview to get a first look at the Pacific Ocean, and guess what? as promised, its still there. From there it was a long- as- hell but oh so beautiful drive to Eugene.

We stayed at this shady South Eugene hotel (I'm not naming any names, but...). We got there, checked in, and as we were driving away to get dinner at Tracktown Pizza the bank that was on the corner of our block got robbed. Or, I'm pretty sure it was robbed. There was a fire truck, an ambulance, 4 police cars, and 2 FBI style black SUVs there, so I'm only putting two and two together here. That next morning I ran the first 13 miles if the marathon course.

I also went to the Expo on Friday, which was changing it up a little bit I guess since I've never been to an expo two days before a race. It was nice though. It was a little expo both space wise and people wise, it really want that crowded. Also cool was that Meb Keflezighi was one of the speakers and, because the expo wasn't all that crowded, I was able to get a seat to hear him talk and not stand the whole time. Saturday I went to the Oregon coast and Pre's hometown of Coos Bay. I won't even begin to describe that because it was so gorgeous and it would probably take forever. I came back, got my singlet and shorts and stuff together and then had a great and filling (put air quotes around that one because it was neither) pre race dinner at Jimmy John's. On the plus side, the cute girl working there said it was a "good luck gift" and to not worry about paying for said sandwich. So if by some chance you're reading this, thanks, cute girl working at the Eugene/ Springfield Jimmy John's, I appreciate it!

So Sunday was race day, and I was up at at the crack of dawn at 5am. It wasnt really that bad since 5am pacific is 7am central so it was good. I got to Hayward Field around 6 and got to the porta potties first. The race starts a block or so from Hayward, and was actually pretty orderly. I lined up behind the 3:40 pace group since I was shooting for 3:40- 4:00, and after a butchered remix of the star spangled banner, we were off. The course went out and wound through a couple neighborhoods in which I had to be careful to avoid the rearview mirrors of VW buses parked in the street. Miles 2-ish to 7 were around a bunch of parks, which was both serene and good for my pace as I was able to move back up to the 3:40 group as the hobby joggers ran on the grass and stuff and opened up a lot of road space; I had fallen back at this one long hill around mile 2 or so. Miles 7-10 were remarkably similar to the first 2, and at mile 10 was the split off between the marathon and the half. I was worried that the pack was going to string out and I would get lost and either have to drop out or wait for someone who knew what they were doing and kill my time, but that really didnt happen

What did happen was a bummer. Around mile 16 or so, we changed from running on roads to running on bike paths. This caused everybody to bunch up again, and I accidentally lost my footing, stepped in a pothole, and took a tumble. Bummer. But back on track. Mile 16-20 were on the opposite side of the river on the bike paths on the banks of the Willamette River. It was picturesque and all, but people were really sparse and it wasn't really conducive to racing. The river portion seemed like it was never going to end, and I was joking with the 4:15 pace group (I had fallen back at this point because my knee was hurting pretty bad from the pothole) that I might as well swim across the river. It sure looked inviting. I also went of course for a mile, so that was no fun. Somebody caught up to me on a bike and let me know, but I was mad and hot at that point. I think this was at mile 18 but I'm not sure. We crossed the Willamette River at mile 21ish and then it was the same story all over again until we hit the football stadium at mile 25 and a half. I was in bad shape coming over the river so my recollection of the latter fourth of the race is fuzzy at best. I walked alot. I tried to walk the knee discomfort off, but only ended up getting stiff. For the record, don't try that.

The run into Hayward was not as cool as I expected, but thats probably because I was disappointed.  I was ready to rock, but c'est la vie, right? (how do you pronounce that?) the all you can eat pancakes after the race kind of numbed the pain.  

what I want to hear before I fly

That the TSA is running a drug ring, because they are. So I can't bring a couple a energy gels through security without jumping through about a million hoops, but if I want to bring a pound of weed through its no problem. Makes sense, right?

Here's a link to the story on BBC

Big ol' jet airliner, don't take me too far away

Tomorrow I leave for Eugene. Portland actually, and then its a boring two hour drive into Eugene, which actually won't be boring at all since the Pacific Northwest is beautiful. Anyways, I fly out tomorrow morning (Thursday), and the race is Sunday, so I'll have time to kick around some, see the sights and just do whatever until race day. I don't know if I'm ready per say, but the hay's in the barn now, as the saying goes, so I guess I'll deal with it. I don't know what time I'm shooting for, probs around 3:40, but what actually will happen is I'll go out in a 1:35 half and then close in a solid two and a half hours. Its pretty safe to say that's what'll happen-- I'm 4 for 4 on doing stupid stuff like that. I also have a pretty big gash on the side of my foot and another one on the back of my foot. Its probably because the heel in my new shoes is too loose, but I'll have to gut it out since its way too late to change anything. So we'll see how it goes-- I can't do any worse than my last time out at Twin Cities (well, I could I guess, but lets not talk about that)

This seems like a really good idea

Convicted felon Tom Petters is teaching a business class at the prison in Kansas that he's in. I mean, no doubt he's smart but come on now, he set up a multi- million dollar ponzi scheme and now he's going to teach ethical business practices? really? I bet the part of the course about white collar business crime is really awkward.
Here's a link

This is amazing

Its also old, so you've probably seen it before. If not, you're in for a treat

Figuring Sh*t Out

So its about that time that I might as well figure out how I'm going to get down to this marathon on the 29th. I mean I have some time but figuring out flights and stuff takes forever and a day so better late than never. I was going to drive out there, but thats not going to work because its like 1,800 miles to Eugene and the vast majority of that is driving through fly over states. It would be a much easier drive if I was driving to the east coast and not the west. So I'm flying to Portland or something and then driving to Eugene, even though thats still a hell of a long drive, then staying a couple of days in Eugene and running and stuff, then staying a day or two in Portland and then flying back. Its going to be pretty much a blast, I'm excited for it. It doesn't really look like too difficult of a race terrain wise, so if all goes wrong I might end up in decent shape.

I finished up the difficult part of my training on April Fool's day. Meaning, that was my last 20 miler- the third of three. I promised myself that I'd tone myself down as I start my taper, but I didn't. I went out last Tuesday night and had a lot to drink. 6 or 7 whiskey cokes, I think? Somehow, I remember the whole night and I didn't do anything too dumb, although I did throw a little bit of a temper tantrum towards the end of the night. But all turned out well. Or it seems that way anyways. Hopefully this Tuesday won't turn out that way. There's this local bar the Wild Onion that does a birthday Tuesday thing, so I was there last Tuesday for this girl's 22nd, and I'm going this Tuesday for this other girl's 21st. I've never drank with this girl before-- in fact I was pretty sure that she didn't drink up until she invited me, so who knows. I mean, I don't want to be rude and spoil the fun, but I don't want to be super hungover the next day either.

Although I am really good at running hungover. I went out and ran a 12 mile tempo run where 7 miles of that were at 7:15's that Wednesday morning. Just mixed drinks though, if I run after a night of drinking beers I'm slow as molasses.

Its not actually tempo time yet-- I still have one more week of decent 100+ miles, so I guess I can cheat myself out of breaking that promise by rationalizing it that way, but really, I'm just bad at self control.

On getting old

Lets try this again, eh? I've got probably 5 or 6 posts started that I haven't finished as of yet, so I may or may not get those done but I figured I may as well get this one out. And hey, even if I don't thats okay. I mean, if you hit 1 for 5 for your career you still make it to Cooperstown. I doubt the same principle applies to blogging but lets pretend it does.

Not a lot has gone on in life to tell you the truth. Last week was a bit ridiculous because of committee deadlines and then you had the whole Voter ID thing taken up in the House and then the Senate a couple days later. I actually had to sit through the whole House floor session on Wednesday-- at least I think it was Wednesday, maybe it was Tuesday. Anyways, it started at 5pm and went until 2am, and I took a grand total of two and a half pages of notes throughout. It was a forgone conclusion that it would pass the House (and the Senate, for that matter) although since it was a constitutional amendment it needed 2/3 of the total members in each house. Without laying all my political views on the table, I think Voter ID is a great idea, I really do... in principle. You should have to prove you're a real person and live in this state in order to vote in this state. However, the bill is filled with flaws and could have used way more time in committee. Now, if you're a pessimist, than I guess you'd say the Republicans passed the law as is because passing it without amendments bars more voters who would probably vote Democratic from voting, but I'm not going to go down that road. The two big complaints I heard were "could University students (specifically MNSCU students) use their school IDs to vote in substitute for a State ID?" and people physically having trouble getting to the DMV to get an ID. Both issues went unaddressed. It was funny however how people were complaining that they couldn't drive the 10 miles to the DMV to get an ID but they were willing to drive down from Northern Minnesota to protest the amendment outside my office (which is right next to Senate Chamber). I know they're not the people we're worried about when you talk about having trouble getting from point A to B (we're talking about the mobility impaired and the elderly) but still.

So there's that. I also read a play the other day. Its the first play I've read since Othello in 9th or 10th grade. The play is called Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw. The play's a great look into our militaristic, cutthroat culture that not many people see, though it was written in 1905. I won't pretend to be cultured, but it was good stuff for what its worth. I also finished reading a book called Warriors of God: Inside Hezbollah's Thirty Year Struggle Against Israel by Nick Blanford. Really, you won't like that book unless you're interested in that region. Even then, the book's incredibly dry at times, but its also really interesting and informative.

If you haven't guessed, I really don't get out much. Yep, this is me, getting old at 21. Stay in school kids, real life is more overrated than you can imagine-- or maybe I'm not doing it right.

Anyways, I've got to run. I should probably go 2 hours today, since Eugene is coming up faster than I would like. Its weird, last week it was 80 and I was running in shorts and no shirt. This week its barely 40 and its shorts and long sleeve T weather. Crazy, man

Can't stop, won't stop

Thats another album title for ya. If you haven't guessed already, I'm not very creative at all. "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" is The Maine's second album, you really should, they're pretty great. They're pretty much my favorite band right now, and I may or may not have payed way over face value for tickets when they come to Minneapolis. Seriously, I don't know why they don't get more play on the radio because they've been on the scene for a while, plus they're amazing to run to.

Anyways, I had a good weekend, putting in a halfway decent 30 miles- 14 on Saturday and 16 on Sunday. The bands of the day were Howler and Fun. on Saturday and The Maine and Passion Pit on Sunday. I'll tackle Sunday first, since thats pretty straightforward. As I kind of hinted at, The Maine already has a pretty big following and they're decently well known, so I won't touch on them all too much. Its kind of cool because all their albums tell a story, and its easy to relate to all of their songs, so thats pretty cool. They're primarily a rock/ alternitive band, but their acoustic sets are tremendous as well. I'm not a huge fan of their newest album, Pioneer (although there are three or four tracks on there you should hear), but their previous two are great.

Passion Pit is also really great. Its kind of an interesting pop/ electronica niche genre, so as much as I'd like to I'm not going to say you're an idiot if you don't like them. But for real, they're straight up amazing, and catchy as hell. Just the beats themselves are reason enough to keep them on loop but the vocals are pretty great too. The music itself is pretty upbeat, but not overly loud or energetic or anything, but not too mellow either-- its good stuff and the courses in all the songs are oh so catchy.

So, Howler, Fun., and Polica (I posted about them a week or so back) are some of the bigger names headed down to SXSW (south by southwest), the big indie music fest in Austin in a little bit. The reason I bring that up is because Fun. and Howler are playing a set together and Polica is playing the main big party (I forget what its called, but its a big gig) and Fun. is actually opening for Howler. This is of some significance because Fun. is somewhat known (their song We Are Young is actually played on the radio and stuff) and they're... yeah its a big deal. But anyways, Howler is right up there with Polica as the best thing to hit Minnesota this year. Howler's kind of this punk rock- esque sound straight from the 70's or 80's, so they don't cover up bad music with tons of f- bombs and loud guitar like today's punk. Its great. I mean, fine, their lyrics are kind of cliched or whatever, thats fair, but at the end of the day its not canned garbage music, its not corporate; its pure, unbridled fun.

Also worth mentioning is Russia. I know you probably don't care, but nobody reads this blog anyway, so I'm going to go there because I think its hilarious. Russia "elected" a new president the other day, or rather an old president. Putin got 60 something percent of the vote, but does it even matter? Russia's not as ridiculous as its Former Soviet Republic and all- too- close trading partner Belarus has been, which has helped keep its egregious election- related human rights violations on the down low. This is Moscow on election day:

Yep, those are Russian Army troops who answer to the weak willed Dimitri Medvedev who is a mere mouth piece for (then Prime Minister) Putin. They are there to "maintain order," but actually ended up arresting around 600 at a post- election protest. Vladimir Putin's new political slogan: The Putin Presidency: reliving the glory days of Stalin's Gulag Archipelago."

Also worth reading: Foreign Policy's article "This Is How You Elect a Fucking President?"

Pushing Through The Seasons

If you were wondering, Pushing Through The Seasons is an album by Mashlin, although I didn't listen to that on my run today since I'm out to discover some new music and Mashlin is not that. I thought it was appropriate though, since the run I was just on was just trying to push through so I could turn around, slog through a couple more miles (10? 5? a million? does it really matter at this point?) so I could get home, take a nice hot shower and be warm. Yesterday, it snowed for the first time in a while. By the time I left work at the capitol it was raining. By the time I left Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub for the Wild game, it was raining harder and freezing, which continued throughout the game and must have continued throughout the night, plus a little more snow. So when I got up this morning it was more rain than ice, and more ice than snow out there. Oh yeah, and it was still raining.

So I did an hour and a half, which was only 10 miles today. That kind of sucks. Oh yeah, and I almost fell off a highway overpass. It was the same one I complained about a while ago. When they plow the snow off the road they plow it onto the sidewalk that also crosses the bridge so there ya go. Stay classy, Edina. The two records I listened to today were "Feel the Sound" by Imperial Teen and "Walk It Off" by Tapes n' Tapes. Imperial Teen I'm not a fan of at all, at least not that album anyway. My take is that they try to sound pop- ish but miss the mark in the majority of their songs. They try to rhyme everything in their songs which gets ridiculously annoying. Its like, you know when you had to write poetry in 5th grade and were convinced poetry was making every line rhyme? Thats what Feel the Sound Sounds like FOR 40 MINUTES STRAIGHT.

Walk it Off is good music. There was a girl one of my education classes the other year who was a huge Tapes n' Tapes fan. I didn't listen to them then, but she knew what was good for her. I just downloaded all three albums from them, but this is the first one I decided to listen to, so sue me. Walk it Off is great because its like a thousand bands on one CD. First its rock, then its alternative, then its melodic, then its folk- y but it all sounds great and it mixes together really well. I'm kind of surprised these guys haven't made the mainstream yet, Walk it Off is just a masterful album.

Sunglasses and Nail Polish Remover

I don't know why I always smell nail polish remover when I run. I know its weird and I don't know why it happens, but its not cool. Anyways, the band of the day was One For The Team, which I had just heard that morning on Local Current and liked what I heard so I downloaded both their albums, Build it Up, and Good Boys Don't Make Noise. Together, the albums were a touch over an hour, which gave me a tad under 9 miles of running.
Since I heard them on the local current, I'm going to go ahead and venture to guess they're from the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area. I mean, the sound is familiar, which is not to say its not exciting. Its got that punk- ish personality to it, but its too soft to be actually punk. I think theres comfort in the familiarity-- like you've heard all the songs before. The first band that came to mind is Gob, if you've heard of them, even though they're nowhere near as loud as them. I liked the lyrics too, they were pretty funny in some songs and I could really relate most songs.

Brooks T7 Racer review

Its been a while since I've done a shoe review, so here's one. I've had two pairs of T7 racers, the Chrissy Wellington special edition and the regular one, and I've had them probably four months or so. I said in a previous post that I didn't have trainers until I bought some on Saturday, so I got some serious mileage on them. I tore the upper on the Chrissy Wellington pair, although I feel like that was more a factor of overuse than anything else. Oh, and I don't count mileage anymore, so if you're looking for "these shoes last X number of miles," sorry.

I'll start by saying I wasn't a huge fan of the T6 racers, in fact, I had to return them. The heel collar dug into the back of my heel and rubbed them raw after like three days, but everyone else loved them, so I figured I'd try the T7s. The first update you'll notice is the asymmetrical upper. Personally, I didn't mind it that much, although I didn't find it all that beneficial either. It didn't make my feet feel more snug or secure, but it wasn't overly annoying either. At first the toe box felt like it was bigger than the T6s, which was kind of a hindrance for the first couple runs, but then that feeling went away, so it might have just been me being weird.

Now for the thing I was really concerned about- the heel collar. Really not a problem at all. Its shaped different- its more rounded- than the T6, so that might have done it.

Heel collar heights- T6 (left) and T7 (right)

Also worth mentioning is that the shoe is cushioned exceptionally well for being as flexible as it is. It doesn't seem super mushy marshmallow like, but you don't feel the road too terribly bad either. Finally, a note on durability. They're pretty durable, and my first pair ripped a couple months after I got them, but I was wearing them almost exclusively, rotating my other pair in here and there. That pair is holding up real great after half a year of intensive wear, so I wouldn't shy away from wearing them in a marathon if I were a more efficient runner.

Sunday afternoon music sesh

I don't know about you, but I'm not partial to long runs at all. I mean, after 40 or 45 minutes of hard running I'm mentally checked out. So what do I do? I mean, I've sort of backed myself into a corner by my own doing. I've got the Eugene Marathon in 40- something days and just bought some trainers yesterday. Up until now my runs have been sub- 40 minute tempo runs in racing flats. So bottom line for me is that every third run for me will be boring as shit, AKA 11+ miles at a decently slow pace. So I've deemed long run days new music days-- the first of which was today.

So here's my plan to cut the boredom- I'll listen to a brand new album or two every time out. I think I've got enough albums to do it, and I've got Pitchfork and The Current in case I need more stuff. Now, normally I'll listen to more straightedge rock and stuff when I'm running-- Search The City, Rise Against, Blindside-- that kind of stuff. But I mean since I'm going to be going at an "accelerated jogging" pace, I can listen to whatever I want to. Today I listened to Attack! Attack!'s self titled CD (the UK band not the American one) and Polica's CD Give you the Ghost.

I've already seen Polica twice in concert- once at the Kitty Cat and once at First Ave so there's really nothing new there, but its still a killer CD. Its their music is kind of haunting I guess and its pretty slow, but its a nice, melodic slow. They're a little known band from the Minneapolis area, so there's a plus too. Attack! Attack! is a pretty sweet band that I'd never heard of until a week ago, but I'm glad I ran across them. Their music is a lot more up tempo than Polica but its good. I mean its kind of like a "once you've heard one, you've heard them all" alternative band, but you could tell the guys were having fun making it. Its far from mediocre, so worth a listen.

It Was Good, For A While, And I Could Always Fake A Smile

That title really has no bearing on this post, but whatevs. Its a quote from a song by The Rassle called 21. I think if you go to their web site their EP is still free, or maybe not. If its not, feel free to spend the $5 or whatever and buy it. I'm getting no money for saying that, but as a general rule I only spend money on music I'll actually listen to. If its for a house party or whatever, just use spotify or groove shark or something but don't steal music. I'm not saying that because President Obama probably reads my blog on the reg being like "lets see what laws Matt incriminated himself on today" (even though he totes does) but think about it. If you're really going to listen to a song a lot, then you probably like the band, so support them. If you're only getting a song that you're going to play once in your life, why even waste the effort in getting it illegally? I mean if you get caught thats a whole 'nother barrel of wax, but, I mean whatever, do what you want, this argument is running out of steam fast.

So I guess I should get to the reason I'm actually writing. I was going to write this big long mellow dramatic post about how I'm such a loser and can't talk to girls and then drown my sorrows by eating thin mints while watching reruns of house hunters on HGTV on Saturday nights until one in the morning, but ya know, if I don't want to hear that I can't even imagine you guys, so I won't. Instead, I'm going to talk about yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk.

In order to get to a spot to do long runs, or even mid- distance runs, I have to run across a highway overpass. This is because our neighborhood is set into a valley and you have to go up a ridiculous hill that my car can barely get up to get out of my neighborhood the other ways. Anyways, people don't really obey traffic laws or common sense on that overpass. Its like when they laid out the plans for Edina they said "traffic laws will apply everywhere but here" and then circled the Valley View/ 169 overpass. Its ridiculous, man. You know how you're supposed to yield to pedestrians on a left turn where pedestrians have the walk sign? yeah... that went right out the window. I got plowed into by some idiot in a red Buick the other day on such an occasion. Okay, not plowed into, but I definitely got more than a love tap and some bruising. Not cool, bro. So I guess if there's a point to this story, its don't be an idiot. Just don't.

Sooo... what would you say you actually do?

I won't take credit for that image, so don't sue me. Because if you do sue me, I'm pretty sure you'll come on the losing end of that one because I have no money, hopes, or dreams.

Thats my disclaimer for all of my big shot "im going to law school" friends. So I'm going to try my hand at this blogging thing again, not that I have anything more interesting to say than I did a few months ago. If anything, I have less interesting things to say. You see, age and being interesting have an inverse relationship. Nonetheless, I was inspired by the awesome writing over at The Tangential and thought "hey, maybe I can be as cool as those guys too." Actually, scratch that, I was bored and decided to start writing again. So yeah, thats that. As far as running goes, I've changed scenery I guess. Thats a fancy way of saying I'm a lowlife living at my parents house. See, I graduated college in December, which is good, and my boss for my job at school said I could work until the end of the semester. False. I get an email from HR the last day of January basically saying "our bad, but that job security you thought you had? nope. Tomorrow's your last day." Thanks for the heads up St.Thomas, I appreciate it. So I was pissed. Long story short, I've been applying to a lot of non- profits serving those with disabilities since thats what I want to do with my life. nope. again, this is me:

Refer to the above poorly written disclaimer

How are you supposed to get 1-3 years related experience if every freakin job requires 1-3 years related experience? THINK ABOUT IT. Anyways, fast forward through days of heavy drinking, hanging out too much with my parents, and no callbacks, and you get to like a week ago. I met with the Minnesota State Council on Disability, which was awesome because they're who I want to eventually end up with for a career. So I landed a kind of sort of internship with them where they said I could follow their legislative expert around and do things for them if there was ever anything to do. The next week I got in touch with Senator Geoff Michel's office and they're going to let me do stuff for the committee he chairs. I also have an interview coming up with the Running Room (which my friends affectionately call "the jogging room" but don't tell them that) which is like, I mean, I'll probably end up making minimum wage there but its all good since its stuff I'm pretty sure I'd like to do.

So there's where I am right now.

That was long. Congrats if you read this far. I've got a two hour run on the docket. Hope I don't get hit by a car again. Thats a story for another time.