Saturday, December 27, 2008

A Christmas Story

My Christmas was wonderful and my kids got everything could ever want and more. The Big Wheel was a non-event and The Little One got to ride his new F-150 truck all around the back yard because the day after Christmas it was 75 degrees here. A very nice post-Christmas gift I must say.


The Big One got a new guitar and amp. He said he wanted one for a long time and also said he knew how to play already. I assumed this was typical teenage exaggeration. Until he picked up 3 new songs by the end of Christmas day! He's a natural. I suppose 3 years of violin playing helps learn the strings and stuff but damn that kid is good. I was online finding the music to all my favorite songs today and forcing him to play them. He picked all of them up right away. I may have a new retirement plan in the making.


Willie was not left out of this wonderful gift giving either. I received the new Garmin 405 from my wife. I was overcome with guilt and remorse by this as I had skimped on her gift this year. I couldn't believe she got me something so great. It amazes me that she still acknowledges my presence let alone GIVE me something. I want to assure both of you that I have done nothing to deserve a gift. NOTHING! In fact I have tried my best all year long to make her realize what a huge mistake she made with me. She's a genius and graduated at the top of her class with a masters degree but she's a little slow when it comes to personal matters I guess. Anyway she got me this wonderful gift and I couldn't even look at it for awhile I felt so guilty. OK so that only lasted a few hours and I was all over the thing! It's wonderful. I set it up to sync with my computer and it wanted a name for this device. Hmmm.... I have always wanted a daughter named Anastasia (2 boys later I REALLY want one) so I decided to call it Ana. It must be female BTW, they are much more scary to me and therefore more motivation. My wife, however, said "Gee I thought you'd call it Paula". WOW! Why didn't I think of that? Paula is the most amazing, therefore scariest, woman runner I've (n)ever met! Paula it is.


I got to run with Paula (how cool does that sound huh?) today for the first time. First thing I noticed was that Paula picked up satellites much quicker than Garmin. I was actually still sitting in my truck when Paula said she was ready! It was cold today and I was wearing my Brooks coat so the second thing I noticed was that Paula was talking alot! I figured out that my coat sleeve was touching that bezel thingy and causing her to think I was asking her to do things all the time. That could get annoying. I read that you can lock the bezel though so it's something we can overcome together. Not a relationship ending problem. Even with all those unintentional button pushes she still recorded my entire 9 mile run and put it on my computer WIRELESSLY!! Oh that was cool. She had me the first sync.


It was good to get a long run in finally. I was feeling very blahhh lately. I didn't run hard at all but I worked up a good sweat in all my layers so I suppose I burned something. I've been eating a lot of cookies lately.


I check my weight daily and haven't gained any weight but I sure feel like a slug. My belt even broke! OK so I didn't have it on at the time but it still didn't help my conscious any.

I have gotten to know my dog really well lately. She has an attitude though. If I'm on the computer in the kitchen she MUST be held in my lap. She lets me have it if I don't pick her up. I try to ignore her but she's very persistent. Also since she is a dachshund, she is always cold. If I lay on the couch (do that a lot) she has to be beside me under a blanket. She generates more heat than a steel mill! I'm afraid she might spontaneously combust one day.

Thanks for listening

4 comments:

Southbaygirl said...

Paula...very funny! I'm sure you and Paula will develop an amazing relationship!!!

It sounds like you had a great christmas!

Anonymous said...

It does appear that you had a great Christmas! Awesome! I love that your son just picked up the guitar like a pro. Music is amazing...maybe lessons in the future?

I also love that you named your new 405 Paula! My 405 is named Deena! Bet ya can't tell who it's named after? :) I like the 405 however it does have some glitches I'll have to warn you about sometime. It's definitely finicky like a woman. :)

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Adi said...

Perfect name for your new toy! I'm sure she'll make a fantastic running companion!

Anonymous said...

I had that problem at first too. I thought if I locked the bezel, I couldn't start and stop the timer. But you can, that's what I do now, or put it on the outside of my jacket (that wrist thing is huge, and I'm small, so it works.)

The only thing with the bezel is that it doesn't work great if your hands are wet, as in, you're sweating a lot.

I should name mine something too - I absolutely LOVE how fast it picks up on the satellites, and it is much more accurate than the earlier models for the pace per mile, although occasionally it does go a bit batty.