Friday Leftovers (July 23)

We are now officially TWO DAYS away from the San Francisco Marathon!! I'm getting pumped now! We leave for San Francisco on Saturday morning (via Oakland) and we'll check out the Expo, check into our hotel and try to see a little bit of the City before one final pasta meal and then the big race on Sunday!

Of course, I will keep you all updated on all the things going down in the city by the bay. I'll give you some more of my Sunday plan on Saturday's post so please come back for that.

Now, to the Leftovers...

Word Association

Play here.

1. Deals :: Car
2. Alive :: Well
3. Smooth :: Criminal
4. Materials :: Tools
5. Arrest :: Jail
6. Locker :: Room
7. Evidence :: Exhibit
8. Operation :: Repo
9. Opal :: Sponsor
10. Investigation :: Unit

Explanations: Operation :: Repo is horrible! That show is not real. It's staged. If you watch it, stop doing so. I saw a few episodes and figured it was real since it was on Tru TV and all, but then one episode kinda made me wonder about whether the show was real or staged and did some investigating and found out that it wasn't. Lame.

Last-Minute Motivation

I posted this picture on my Facebook and figured I'd share it here too.

What I said there I'll repeat here. That picture shows me four years ago and four months ago. Don't let anyone ever tell you that something is impossible. What chances would you have given me four years ago of running a marathon? Nothing is impossible.

Nothing. Is. Impossible.

Marathon Nos. 1 and 2 are proof of that.

Five Question Friday

Here's the latest edition of Five Question Friday. If you haven't done it yet, you should check out Mama M's blog.

1. What were your school colors?

Well, even though I have a college degree, I never really felt connected to my college. I spent a few semesters at a community college, got married, wasn't going to school and then realized that I should attend school to get my degree. I never really liked school when I was in it, I still shudder at the thought of having to take some classes, so I guess that's the lack of connection.

Anyway, long explanation to a short answer. My college and high school each had the same color scheme - blue and gray.

2. What's the best compliment you ever received?

I recently had lunch with an old college friend (an old friend from community college) and even though I wasn't big then, I was a little on the chunky side. I was probably just north of the 200-pound mark, nothing close to the 300-pound behemoth I became :(

Anyway, she'd seen some pictures of me from the dark days and was shocked to see me now. She said "You look like you could never have weighed as much as you did."

I struggle sometimes still with my perception and that just really made my day week month year. Really, I could pass as some regular, average fit guy, not someone who's less big now than he was. Safe to say that I will never forget that compliment.

3. Do you buy cheap or expensive toilet paper?

The cheap stuff is, well, cheap. We get the expensive stuff but we get it at Costco so it's less expensive than it would be at the grocery store. The cheap stuff... you end up using more of it so you go through it faster.

4. Have you ever had a surprise party thrown for you? Or have you had one for someone else?

We had a surprise party for my brother Danny before he left for college. It was the summer of 99 and he was all set to go to USC and we got together for a surprise party. My task was tough - we went out to the movies while my wife and his then-girlfriend, now-wife got the decorations and stuff together. It was fun and I'm sure he appreciated it.

5. What is one material possession that you "can't live without"?

My laptop. I guess that's actually true because I make my living writing and I need to be mobile so if I didn't have a laptop I would be unable to work. And then I'd spend my days crying... okay, no, I wouldn't...

If there's something not work related that I can't live without, I guess it would have to be my cast iron skillet. I use that a lot. I love it. Lately my favorite thing to use it for is some pasta primavera. I just dice up some veggies, put them in the cast-iron and then into the oven at about 425 for about 15-20 minutes. Then I toss in some cooked pasta and eat right from the cast iron. Yum. I eat it from the cast iron because I'm the only who would eat that dish anyway.