Watt's Up Musings of an original geek

Well my nice new shiney iPod is dead. It won’t recharge, it won’t reset, it displays a battery and a lightning bolt in the charger, but when I remove it from the charger it doesn’t do anything. I’m sad. I really like my iPod especially as my early morning running buddy. Cry, cry. Tear, tear.

Update: Mailed it back to Apple on 3/25.

I’ve not been posting because I ran out of space on my web site that’s provided by RoadRunner. So I’ve reset my running weblog and removed most of the posts from it.

I’ve been watching the Rollergirls reality TV program on A&E which takes place in Austin. So I decided to go see it for myself. Oh did I mention that Kathy is away too so I got to go by myself.

I got to see Sister Mary Jane, Lux and many more. It was held in the Austin Convention Center and over 2000 people attended. Fun!

I have used Dial bar soap in my shower for years.

When a bar gets used and thin I switch it for a new bar. For the past few years I’d save a number of these “used” thin ones in an already opened bar soap paper wrapper. Until recently I had saved two full wrappers containing about 15 bars. Why? I have no idea. It was just something I did.

One day several months ago, I finally threw them out. However before I did I noticed that some of them were so thin that the letters “Dial” were still there and almost transparent. This caused me to wonder if I could purposely make it happen again. So now when I take a shower I only lather with the non-letter side of the bar. Yep, you’re right, only the NON-LETTER SIDE – weird huh, well I think so. Do I have obsessive-compulsive disorder? Oh my gosh, I might have OCD.

But that’s not all. Recently my anxiety increased over the Christmas holiday when my daughter needed to shower. She asked to use my shower and although I said yes I was immediately worried that SHE MIGHT LATHER WITH THE LETTER SIDE – Oh no! Soon after her shower I went in, checked the bar out and breathed a sigh of relief – I could still make out the letters. My anxiety dissipated.

For example, here is one of my used thin bars with the letters showing.

Isn’t that so neat!

I need to run fast. I need to run light. Yeah right. So in preparation for my third marathon I shaved my head today. It’s interesting to feel the cool breezes, and I’m so glad I’m no longer a fake redhead (or crushed garnet-head). So I’ve gone from a red-do to a no-do in two weeks. Will such changes ever stop? Yup – this is enough.

In the next one you can see my faint 3-inch circular scar from brain surgery above my right ear.I’ve now taken up wearing a black ski hat to keep my head warm. I hope marathon day is warm or I’m gonna freeze. Now I’ve got every reason to run “screamingly” fast from start to finish, because I’m a lean mean running machine. Wish me luck!

We travelled over to College Station to celebrate Matthew’s birthday. It was a quiet affair with a nice lunch, then later a sandwich dinner, and dessert. We sat and talked to both Matthew and Beth and had a nice but quiet and simple time. After lunch we went shopping for shoes and just looking at things in the mall – the puppies caught Beth’s eye too. We brought a brown-sugar cake so our dessert was ice cream and cake in his apartment – btw, this was the first time we had visited him and saw the new apartment which is very nice. Because I had to run the next day we left about 8:30 PM to head back to Austin. Earlier in the day we had bought tickets for them to see a movie, but it was too late for us to stay and see. We hope they enjoyed the movie. We enjoyed the day very much.

Update:Brown Sugar Cake from Doris Anna Watt
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups flour – less 2 T.
1/2 cup soft butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking power
7/8 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Heat Oven 350 degrees. Put all ingredients in 1 bowl and mix with electric beater until well mixed. Bake in circular cake pan for 35-40 minutes. Serves: 12

Panoche Frosting
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup or 2T hot milk
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup or more of confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

When first three ingredients are melted, add confectioners sugar and vanilla. Spread on top and sides of cake.

Every so often we all need a change so I thought I’d do something with my hair. This was quite a new experience for me – typically I’m an ol’ stick in the mud kinda guy. With the help from my sweetie we went to the local drug store this afternoon and chose L’Oreal Feria #41 Crushed Garnet. From mousey gray I have become a totally new person – yeah right. Well that’ll get some attention – probably bad attention, but attention nevertheless. Here is the before:

and here is after: Now how about that change! What do you think – definitely better right?

My life is work and running. The running will culminate on February 19th at the Austin Freescale Marathon. After that I’m wondering what I’ll do. Oh sure I’ll continue working, but what else… I’m finding it hard to keep busy. Some how I’ve got to find more to do.

I got an iPod Nano for Christmas and I’m having a ball listening to it. I don’t listen to music. I’m a talk kinda person so podcasts have caught my fancy. Right now I’m enjoying Phedippidians about running and NerdTV about technology. I’ve even bought two audiobooks – both of Car Talk from NPR. I use the iPod everyday – in the car, at work, and at running practice. However, I tried to use it during the running race this weekend, but I found the talk to be a distraction, but generally I’m really really enjoying it.

The noise has risen and fallen. Cookies have been baked and eaten. The presents have been wrapped and ripped. The stress has risen and lessened. Food, food and more food has been eaten and digested. The family has come and gone. Christmas is now over and done. I am both happy and sad all at once.

Justin had one heck of a time getting here and returning home. See We recommend that you take off your shoes and later.