Crossing stuff off and keeping tabs, it all adds up

I like to keep track of things.

On a daily basis, I like to write out a "To Do List," even including the mundane tasks I have to do at work each day. Things like "check the jail log" or "call the cops" or even larger tasks like finish my story that's running the next day. And as I accomplish a task, I get do cross it off and as I scribble it out, I feel good, like I've done something.

But it's not just day to day stuff I keep track of. I do it for other long-range stuff too.

I write down the books I've read each year. This year I even started keeping track of how many pages I've read. My wall calendar is full of little triangles on the date boxes. Triangles that signify the days I've either ventured to the YMCA or gone for an outdoor bike ride, run or walk.

It's that sense of accomplishment I get, either from crossing out tasks I've finished or keeping track of what books I've read this year. And that's probably why I started the next list.

A log of how far I've run this year.

It started out as just little notations on my calendar, but it's evolved into an Excel spreadsheet. One that adds up the mileage for me. Yes people, I actually figured out how to make the spreadsheet do the simple math for me!

Now that I've bragged out my spreadsheet making abilities, here's what I've got:

Miles run in 2007

January: 2

February: 15.2

March: 32.75

April: 48.62

Total miles in 2007: 98.57

Obviously, you can tell by the numbers that I rediscovered my gym-going habits sometime in February, which coincides with my decision to run the 5K in April. I was shooting for 50 miles this month and would have met the goal...if it hadn't decided to be cold and rainy out today.

Some Park Fun, otherwise known as SPF

I think my lips are sunburned. If they're not, I know for a fact my shoulders and the back of my neck are on the pinkish-red side.

Blame it on the gorgeous weather. Blame it on two really, really nice weekends in a row. Blame it on the need to be outside. But whatever you decide to blame it on, it is so not my fault that I forgot to lather my shoulders in sunscreen. Because I remembered, except I remember to slather my face in SPF 30...not my shoulders.

Oh well. It's just a little pink. And it's not like it hurts. And if my past history says anything, it's that the pinkness will be gone in a matter of a day or two and the rest of the summer I'll just tan. Because, not to brag or anything, but I only burn once a year.

Yes, yes. I know, I'll probably end up with skin cancer by the time I'm 40 with my semi-poor sunscreen applying habits. And now that I think of it, does sunscreen ever go bad? Because the bottle I'm working on is from two or three years ago. And for all I know, the time I spend slathering myself in sunscreen (when I remember), may be wasted if the stuff provides no protection.

But it was nice out. And I didn't want to be cooped up in my apartment, worrying about sunscreen. Especially when all I wanted to do was jump in my car and drive over to the park. Because I had a running date with the trails.

Once I finally got there (my face properly slather in sunscreen), I did run. And the first half of the run was good. A nice pace, nice scenery (both of the nature variety and the opposite sex). Too bad I didn't factor in the gusty wind that I would be fighting on the way back. Yeah, it was just a bit windy. I almost stopped and just walked back to my car, but I decided to keep running, even if it felt like I was running in slow motion.

After the 3.5 mile run (which felt so much longer due to the wind), I grabbed my bag from my car and camped out in a sunny spot by the water. Not only did I get a good chunk of A Confederacy of Dunces read (it may get finished tonight, if not, tomorrow), I also got to people watch, an activity that is always entertaining.

All in all, it was good day to spend in the park. A day's worth of activities I'll probably repeat on a fairly frequent basis this summer.

For some reason, I like the green aloe better than the blue stuff

After spending the day outside, enjoying the beautiful weather, I had to break out the bottle of aloe for a slight sunburn on my neck.

Who could stay cooped up inside with lots of sun and temperatures in the low 70s? Not me. Even the somewhat gusty breeze was nice.

So I made the most of it. I went for a 3-mile run this morning and in the afternoon met up with my friend Nicole at the park. There we went for a nice long walk and later let her one-year-old nephew play at the playground. After saying goodbye, I eventually met up with my mom and The Rugrats and we took them to the park before I left for home.

Now, I'm playing on crashing in my recliner while I enjoy watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest.

And tomorrow, when it's supposed to be equally as nice, if not nicer, I have plans to enjoy the outdoors again and hopefully finish A Confederacy of Dunces, because that book is just getting painful to read and difficult to finish.

If I was on a diet, I just blew it

I splurged. And although I'm kind of ashamed to admit it, I had an Oreo blizzard from Dairy Queen for dinner. In my defense, it is Friday and I only ate part of it.

But still. That Oreo blizzard, even a partial Oreo blizzard, probably cancels out any good I did earlier tonight when I ran 4.5 miles and followed it up with a 4 mile bike ride.

Oh well. The blizzard was quite tasty. And I haven't had one in a really, really long time.

I'm done playing this game

The smoke detector just wouldn't die.

Here I thought it was completely dead since it was silent this morning when I left for work.

Turns out it was just taking a break, getting ready for round 2, which started about 10 minutes ago.

This time, I'm not dealing with it. I climbed up on my chair, slide open the battery compartment and yanked that 9-volt battery out. I don't care what the landlord says.

And now, the smoke detector is silent. This time, it's really dead.

Demons be gone!

I was putting one foot in front of the other, but I was really paying attention to what was going on around me.

My MP3 player was on shuffle and I was getting lucky. Good music was making its way through my rotation. A little Johnny Cash, a little John Mayer. Some Pat McGee Band and O.A.R. Even a little Green Day.

It was a good day to be running. I was about a mile into my 3-mile run and I felt good.

And then it happened.

I got attacked.

By a little, yippy, ankle-biting Yorkshire terrier. Who was sporting a red bow.

I'm not sure where it came from. I was running, minding my own business when all of a sudden this demon dog flew down a driveway into the street and started lunging for me. Going for the ankles. All the while barking its yippy little bark.

I tried to shoo it back to what I could only image was its own yard, but the little thing wanted nothing to do with going home. I tried to run farther out in the middle of the street. Nope. It followed me. For every move I made, the little dog countered, like it was attempting to tackle me.

Finally this guy comes out of the house. And casually walks down the driveway. Like it was no big deal that this little devil dog was nipping at my ankles and not allowing me to continue on my run. The guy was all like, oh don't worry she won't bite.

Yeah, until my ankle looks mighty tasty to your yippy little Satan dog.

He finally got the ankle-biter under control. And somehow managed to herd it back into the house. I could finally continue on my way, running far away from the yippy Yorkshire terrier.

I made a mental note of where the dog lived. And believe me, I'll be hoping it's not around the next time I'm out for a run.

I wasn't in the mood to dismantle it, so I let it annoy me

I was sleeping so soundly, when I first heard it, I thought it was part of a dream.

beep

But then it happened again. Only this time it was getting louder.

Beep

So I opened one eye, heard it again and realized what was happening. The batteries in my smoke detector (conveniently located right above my head in my bedroom) decided now was the best time to begin dying.

At 4:30 in the morning.

Not cool. I thought maybe I could manage to drown the beeping out. Because if I can manage to sleep through the blaring alarm clock, I should be able to sleep through a dying smoke detector.

Apparently it's not that easy. I tossed and I turned and at 5 a.m., I gave up. I grabbed my pillow and blanket and stumbled into my spare bedroom, shut the door and tried to fall back asleep on my futon. But the beeping was still there. And it was getting louder, and more often.

BEEP...BEEP

Somehow I managed to fall asleep for about an hour, but of course it wasn't a nice deep sleep. Not only could I still hear the dying smoke detector (which sounded pretty healthy to me), I was worried I would somehow manage to sleep through the buzzing of my alarm clock.

So at 6:30, I stumbled back into my bedroom and tried to catch a few more winks before my alarm would go off. And I was somewhat successful. The alarm went off and I headed for the shower. The smoke detector still beeping, getting louder and quicker, like it was gaining strength.

BEEP....BEEP....BEEP

It kept beeping as I got ready. At one point it was beeping once every 30 seconds or so. Then, as the clock struck 8:30 and I was getting ready to head out the door, I paused. Something didn't sound right.

The beeping had stopped. Wonderful. Just when I was leaving.

On my way to work, I called my landlord and left a message about the dying smoke detector. I know I could have just pulled the batteries myself, but I've had landlords in the past who were very adamant that under no circumstances was I allowed to touch the smoke detectors. And for some reason, if I can remember clearly (it's a little difficult...that whole lack of sleep thing), I think this landlord was one of those.

I haven't heard from the landlord today. But there currently is no beeping noise in my apartment. And it better stay that way, because I need to sleep tonight.

Did you happen to get outside?

In case you were living under a rock this weekend, it was gorgeous. Beautiful. Dare I say a bit summer-like? Anyway you describe it, if you spent the weekend indoors, shame on you.

Once the clock struck 5 p.m. Friday, I took full advantage of the wonderful weather.

Had a nice low-key dinner with my parents Friday night and then my aunt and uncle had a bonfire at their house later that evening. I tell you, I think my ribs still hurt from laughing so hard.

Saturday, I loaded my bike up on my car and lugged it my parents' house. It was in need of air in its tires and a good dose of grease on the chain. And I don't do bike maintenance. I was going to take it with me Friday, but I was having problems hooking my bike carrier up to my car, so I left it until Saturday morning. I loaded the bike up, drove it up to Mom and Dad's and within 5 minutes, Dad was putzing around in the garage, putting air in the tires, giving the chain a fresh coat of grease and tightening the kickstand.

Later, two-thirds of The Rugrats made it over to Mom and Dad's house. We played outside, took a walk around the block and went and played at the park.

I had decided to stay at my parents' house last night. When I got up this morning, I laced up my running shoes and took a nice 2.6 mile run around their neighborhood. It was nice to have some different scenery. The run wasn't bad, except when I was running south, into a really gusty wind. But I survived. After a quick shower, I loaded my bike back up and hit the road back to The City on the Water.

Once I got home, I waged a war on the spiders that are hanging around my house. We could potentially live in peace, but they decide to sneak their way into my apartment any time I open the patio door. And needless to say, I'm not going to keep the patio door closed all summer. So Dad had given me some bug killer stuff and I sprayed it all around the patio door. And then watched as it claimed it's first victim...a nasty looking striped spider.

After the spider was dead, I pulled my bike out of the garage and went for a 7 mile bike ride, nearly getting knocked of sideways from the wind. It was a nice ride, a good one to get myself back into the bike riding mode.

I then spent the remainder of the afternoon sitting outside on my deck, reading "A Confederacy of Dunces," a book that I'm struggling to get into. I'm about 180 pages into it, but it's still not quite grabbing my attention. Maybe it will soon.

Tomorrow instead of getting up and going to work, I have plans to clean the bathroom and make a batch of brownies before heading out to my uncle's funeral.