4th

I’m listening to this really mellow band called Iron & Wine and drinking my own iced coffee concoction*

I’ve already done pushups, curls, one-arm one-leg dumbell rows, swiss ball crunches, shoulder presses, sets of rope jumping. I’ll do some running later. I’m feeling better than the last few days.

Received in the mail: one invitation to come back and run the mountain I attacked last September. I’m in. 50K or 23? I’ll see how I feel as I go along. I’m leaning towards 50K, because why not? I’m already up there suffering. I might as well go past the marathon mark. But we’ll see. Baby steps.

Last night, Kat and Violette and I delivered Hoodsie cups to the folks in the building (these are little vanilla/chocolate ice creams in little cardboard cylinders with little round cardboard lids. They are usually dispensed with wooden paddle-spoons, that give adults fears of splinters mixed in with the nostalgia element. If you were from New England, i wouldn’t have to say all this. I’d say “Hoodsie Cup” and you’d think: “things I eat in the summer of my youth.”). She was in a red-white-and-blue outfit with her hair in little knobs. Her mom got her to say, “Happy Birthday, America!” at most of the doors. Near the end, she said, “Happy Birthday, Wednesday.” We’re not sure why.

I’ve taken Violette to the lake a block from our house every day for the last three days, and I’ll take her there again in a little while. I’m wearing my swimsuit already. She’s on the couch with her markers drawing a big guitar and strumming it. While I type, I have to jiggle my bum to the music or she gets a little feisty.

My head is overflowing with ideas for our new division at work. I’ve been writing feverishly, reading all kinds of books, and studying the literature outside of my trade. I’m learning about product management and design and marketing, and something called user-interface engineering (not computer-only, but the sense of how users come away with an impression from what they “touch” of your company). Technically, I’m learning Solaris 10 and Red Hat ES 3.0 and all kinds of other stuff. I’m thinking of learning Java Enterprise because I’ve got a feeling we should shift our code base to something more platform-independent. Yep. This kind of stuff is keeping me vibrating until around 1AM most nights lately.

But then again, it could be the iced coffee.

*Iced Coffee: My mom’s recipe

1 heaping Tablespoon of Maxwell House Rich instant coffee (decaf if you’re a wuss)
1 packet Splenda (or your poison of choice)
Skim milk to taste
Water
Ice

Throw the tablespoon of coffee into the bottom of a huge glass (12 or so ounces). Pour an inch of hot water (just sink hot) into the glass. Oh yeah, throw in the Spenda. Stir vigorously. Add another 2/3 of a glass of cool water. Stir a little more. Pour some milk. Throw a fistful of ice cubes into the glass. Drink slowly on a bench reading something fun while the breeze tickles the hairs on the back of your summer-tanned neck.

My mom survived on this when I was a kid. I grew up in the 70′s, remembering my mom and any friend visiting sitting down to these, only back then, it was Sweet N Low. My dad was working, providing for his children. I’ve become my dad in this equation, but let’s not digress. This is about iced coffee.

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