Thoughts On The Run

Thoughts during today’s run…

• The Killers concert at Sandstone was pretty good. Didn’t think they quite reached the level of the Boulder and Denver shows we saw, but still a fun night. Note to self: don’t be stupid enough to take the I-70 route to Sandstone again…24/40 all the way.

• Really hoping “Chuck” gets picked up for a third season. Fun show. Fun actors. And Yvonne Strahovski is a credit to the great country of Australia.

• 30,000+ Americans die each year from the “regular” flu. That doesn’t stop us from flying, taking the train, shaking hands or anything else. Put the word “swine” in front of “flu” and everything changes. We’re a nation of panickers.

• Top “Shaft” movies:

1. "Shaft"
2. "Shaft"(2000 remake)
3. "Shaft’s Big Score!"
4. "Shaft in Africa"

(The 1973-74 TV series was an abomination .)

• Best 80s movie featuring a “Chuck” NSA agent: Has to be “My Bodyguard,” Adam Baldwin’s first movie. Also featured Matt Dillon (three years before “Outsiders”), Jennifer Beals and Joan Cusack.

• Has grocery shopping become such a strenuous exercise that a Starbucks is mandatory for tooling around the store? Those things are more hazardous to shopping cart operation than cell phones are to car operation. (And watch out when a Starbucks, cell phone and shopping cart are mixed.)

• Best Adam Baldwin quote from “My Bodyguard”: “Poor little guy... poor little guy.”

• How did “Caddyshack II” ever see the light of day?

Resolute on resolutions

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions for the same reason I don’t take seriously weather forecasts or annual job performance plans. (Sorry, boss. My proudest work moments of 2008 involved projects we weren’t dreaming of in January.) Fact is it’s impossible to know what will happen tomorrow, much less six months from now. Rather than worry about the next 12 months, I prefer to be thankful for the past 12. Things like:

• Fold-in driver’s side mirrors on our Irish rental car

• Orange biscuits at the Hallmark Café (and Crown Room pancakes)

• Amazon’s MP3 Daily Deal. Great way to try new music.
  

• The choir at St. John the Baptist Church in Kinsale, Ireland.

• NBC’s “Chuck.” (A show that would be better titled “Sarah Walker”)

• SNL’s Digital Shorts

• Chrissie and Tom at The Olde Bakery B&B in Kinsale, Ireland. Finer proprietors you will not find.

• The opportunity to run on untouched snow-covered roads.

• Killarney National Park before it opens to car traffic.

• All seven Bruce Springsteen concerts. But especially the second night in Dublin when he came within a few feet of Rachel. (Her look was priceless.) And the Houston show with Father Tom. And meeting Dave and “Tree” in St. Paul. And the KC show with my dad.

• Watching Avery and Gwyneth needle each other the same way Candice and I did at their ages. And knowing what the girls don’t…that they may spend the next few years wishing for their own rooms or their own toys or whatever else, but in each other they have a best friend for life.

• The lunch-time running crew at Hallmark

• The chance to stand in the outfield and watch Neil Diamond at Fenway Park

• That my brother found someone who will endure him for the next 60 or so years.

• Facebook. (I never thought I’d say that. But it’s been very cool to reconnect with old friends and classmates.)

And the basics, which didn’t seem so basic in 2008. Health, employment, family, friends, faith and a wife who endures me. Seems like the sky is falling anytime we open a newspaper or turn on the television. And I’m sure it feels like the sky IS falling for many people. Jobs lost, retirement funds depleted. But I do think everyone can find something to be thankful for. If not, perhaps a resolution is in order…