I’m not dead; I’ve just

I’m not dead; I’ve just gone three days without a blog entry. Strange, I know. I’ve been busy. I am getting tired of hearing those words come out of my mouth. “I’ve been busy.” Yuck. It’s starting to sound like an excuse. I’m just not sure exactly what to do to calm things down.
I emailed yesterday to say that I cannot volunteer for the Ballunar Festival this year after all. Something had to give, and that’s the first thing I chose. It was so much fun last year to help launch the balloons, but I just don’t have time this year. The festival starts on Friday the 25th; I’ll be getting back from the AIAA Conference in Colorado Thursday night. I was already going to have to miss Sunday morning’s flight because it is the day of my triathlon. I was trying to squeeze in something that I don’t have time to do. I’m glad I realized it two weeks ahead of time and could gracefully back out. Now I’ll be able to go to the festival and take some photos once, instead of having to work five balloon launches. There is always next year to volunteer.
I ran a 32:30 at Maribelle’s 5K on the Bay last Saturday morning. I was hoping for better but had no watch (my HRM is still broken), so I had no idea how I was doing until the finish. I thought that might be a good thing; who knows. Still, 32:30 certainly ain’t bad for August and I wasn’t upset about it. I am, however, hoping to improve on that a bit at Run the Woodlands this weekend.
I rode 23 miles this morning on the bike, starting at 7 am. I had a surprisingly nice time at the early hour. It was cooler and cloudy, there was less traffic, and I saw a lot of other bikers. I’m thinking I should get out there early more often! So things were great…until the heavens opened and I got absolutely poured on. The rain itself actually didn’t deter me — I laughed out loud of the absurdity of it as the water dripped off my helmet, and hands, and glasses, and shoes, and every other exposed part of me and my bike — but but the HUGE BOLTS OF LIGHTNING had me scurrying for home around mile 20. After one crack that I swear was right above my head, I decided that being outside in a thunderstorm with a large piece of metal between my legs (rubber tires be damned) was maybe not such a good idea, and I think I rode faster than I ever have without going downhill. About 22 mph on the flats! Lightning is scary! It was supposed to have been a 35 mile ride, but 23 will have to do.
In non-running news, I gave Vic and his family a tour of Mission Control today and afterward, I showed Jose the cool stuff at Space Center Houston that they do a horrible job of advertising. GRR. I get so infuriated when I think about the way they have set up their museum-quality items. Their coolest things — the Faith 7 Mercury capsule, Gemini 5 capsule, Apollo 17 command module, and a moon rock — are stuffed in a dark corner where half the visitors never go. There is just no excuse for it. I feel like going over there and giving visitors an exit poll. “Did you see the moon rock? How about the Apollo 17 spacecraft?” I think I’d get a lot of responses that go something like “There was a moon rock in there? Where??”
Sigh.
This afternoon I also installed a programmable thermostat. Jose monitored things to make sure I didn’t, you know, electrocute myself, but I did it allll by myself. I feel very handy. 🙂