Category Archives: personal

Goodbye, Good Friend

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A recent post by a friend of mine brought back a painful memory.

"When I was 14, just a little over two months before [Rob] would have graduated from high school, he was killed. I hadn’t talked to him for some time when I just had this overwhelming need to call. His mom answered the phone and told me that earlier that day he had gone out to buy a motorcycle. As he was driving it home, he somehow lost control and wrapped himself around a telephone pole. I was frozen and utterly speechless."

My best friend in high school was pulled off a platform by a passing train and died. Getting that phonecall from my dad was one of the worst moments of my life. Anyhow, I know other folks have lost loved ones unexpectedly. We’re connected by a terrible bond, but we can use it to help each other. At the lowest points of my life I’ve found writing poetry to be very theraputic. I thought perhaps folks still mourning a loss would appreciate this poem that I wrote when my best friend died.

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2006 Run With HAART 5K

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[runwithhaart06.jpg]9 AM. 36°. Sleet.

It wasn’t the coldest race I’ve run, but it wasn’t the warmest, either. 😉 This morning I ran the Run With HAART 5K in Schenley Park. It was one my favorite races thus far. I love any race that involves trails, but this was especiialy cool because it involved trails that I regularly train on. 🙂

Like I said, it was freakin’ cold, but not unbearable. The pre-race registration seemed well organized and the race started on time. I finished in 29:15, which gave me a mile pace of 9:26, and my heartrate averaged 180 and peaked at 195. That time’s in between my results for the Run Shadyside and Chamber Classic last year, and I’m pretty happy with it. It’s early in the season and I have plenty of time to improve before the Great Race. I finished 44rd out of 60 males in my age group and 110 out of 208 total participants (though some of them were walkers and skew the results a little).

After the race, ten-minute massages were available for free. Also, there was a raffle which I put $5 into. There were a lot of very nice gift certificates given out, as well as the 50-50 prize of $30. I won two $5 gift certificates to Subway and a $10 gift certificate to Allegro Hearth Bakery in Squirrel Hill. Due to the frigid weather, only a few people stuck around for the awards ceremony and raffle. Those who did were treated to humerous announcing by one of the organizers, made all the funnier by his ability to be goofy depsite how cold he obviously was. All-in-all, it was a fun race and I’d be happy to run again next year.

Point of View

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In anticipation of Brother‘s upcoming "best of" compilation, As You Were, I’ve decided to share the list of tracks on my personal 2-disc compilation, which I call Point of View.

    Disc 1

  1. Romp & Circumstance (Exit From Screechville)
  2. Thetimeisnow (This Way Up)
  3. River (Urban Cave)
  4. The Crow (Exit From Screechville)
  5. Didg Jam (Exit From Screechville)
  6. Shadowman (The Digging Bone)
  7. Rainmaker (The Digging Bone)
  8. Turn Me Upside Down (Demo)
  9. Hang On (Demo)
  10. Mr. Maintenance (Black Stone Tramp)
  11. He’den.bro (Black Stone Tramp)
  12. The Next Time (Exit From Screechville)
  13. In Your Name (Urban Cave)
  14. Wear ME Down (Urban Cave)
  15. The Serpent (Exit From Screechville)
  16. Give It Away (This Way Up)
  17. All I Know (Black Stone Tramp)
  18. Louie’s Return (Exit From Screechville)
  19. Stand Beside Me (Your Backyard)
  20. 2 Chairs and One Tree (Your Backyard)
  21. Crazy (i you you me)
  22. My Rhubarb (Pipe Dreams)
    Disc 2

  1. An Doarach Bheag (Exit From Screechville)
  2. Shoes (The Digging Bone)
  3. Lose Your Head (The Digging Bone)
  4. It’s All Good (i you you me)
  5. Blackest of Blue (This Way Up)
  6. Dirty Reeds (Black Stone Tramp)
  7. One Heart, One Soul (The Digging Bone)
  8. Matter of Time (Exit From Screechville)
  9. Falling (Black Stone Tramp)
  10. Circling My Heart (Exit From Screechville)
  11. Lonely (Your Backyard)
  12. Bitch (Inside of Me) (Demo)
  13. Sooner or Later (Your Backyard)
  14. You Are (The Digging Bone)
  15. Chains (Exit From Screechville)
  16. Got Inside (The Digging Bone)
  17. Face (The Digging Bone)
  18. Carry Me (Black Stone Tramp)
  19. Just Listen (Urban Cave)
  20. The Java Jive (Pipe Dreams)

Bubble Butt Babies

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[obesity.jpg]I’m with Peter. Americans need to wake up and stop telling people being fat is OK. We’re not talking about making everyone Calista Flockhart or Laura Flynn Boyle (I can’t think of any famous men with eating disorders at the moment.), so you can relax, Ms. Wann. There’s a difference between being fatter or larger than average and being obese. Obesity is unhealthy. People need to learn that and start exercising and eating healthier foods. Not only are you hurting yourselves and your families, you’re burdening the whole country by raising our insurance rates.

In case you’re wondering, I too battle obesity. I’m 5’8″ and a couple of years ago I peaked at 205 lbs. That’s not morbidly obese, but when you factor in my body fat percentage, you could certainly say I was headed down a dangerous road. Today, I am about 180 lbs. I still have some fat to lose and muscle to gain, but I’m heading in the right direction. My diet is not perfect but it’s much better than it was in college. I’m also running 4 times a week. Obesity runs through my genes (from my mom’s family), so I have to stay vigilant and determined. Anyhow, I just wanted you folks to know that I’m not some perpetually skinny person judging people in situations I’m not familiar with.

Now, put down those potato chips, get up from your computer, and move your bovine behind! 😉

West Penn Track Club: Good People

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I just got back from having dinner with some of the members of West Penn Track Club at La Fiesta (great food in well-sized portions, by the way). We went after training at the CMU track. They seem like a really nice group of friendly people. This particular subset of WPTC is made up of those members that live in the Oakland area. They meet every Wednesday at 6PM to train. Tonight was the first time I joined them. I look forward to joining them again. Training with others is helps with motivation and of course misery loves company, but it’s more the comradery that intrigues me. I’m at excited by the prospect of helping them make WPTC a top notch club for folks of all ages and ability levels. 🙂

If you’d like to join us on Wednesday evenings, give Ken Krynski at 412-241-5209 or kkrynski1 at verizon dot net. The more the merrier. 🙂