Getting drunk dialed is not as much fun as it sounds

I got drunk dialed last night from someone I know on assignment in Germany.  You'd think drunk people would be funny and would say crazy stuff, but instead, they slur their speech, repeat themselves and bring up all sorts of drama.

They also usually just say they're calling to chat, but they always have a reason for calling and it's like pulling teeth to find that reason out.

Garden work

Since it's still a really nice day, I went over to Lowe's to get some landscape fabric. My front yard is pretty much a wilderness. There were some paving stones that created a path from the driveway to the front door, but I never use the front door so the stones got absorbed. I decided to put down some landscape fabric to create a bigger and more obvious path. When I figure out exactly where I want it to go, I'll get some gravel to cover it.

Here's how far I got before I got hungry:

I got the professional 25 year stuff. It'll let air and moisture through, but no growth. You can see some stones from the base of the flag pole that used to be in the middle of the yard.

This fabric is pretty beefcake and I had to enlist a pocket knife to cut it.

While there, I saw a plant which looked cool so I made an impulse purchase. I got a Burkwood's Scotch Broom because I was looking for some ground cover for one corner of my front yard. Wow. I just read the description and it's considered an invasive species in the Western part of the US. Oh well. It can invade my yard all it wants as long as it doesn't mess with anything else I've planted.

Here it is after planting:

You can see my dandelion farm in the background.

I also took advantage of the warm weather to put some rebar in concrete to complete my raised plant bed:

I just poured the concrete dust into the cinderblocks and then added water because I don't have a bucket suitable for mixing. I'm sure it'll be alright and hopefully it will stay dry for a few days so the concrete can cure. I plan on planting some bell peppers here because this part of the yard gets a mess of sun.

I don't really want any grass in my front yard because it's too tough to maintain. I hope to plant some more fruit trees/bushes so I can get my eat on.

Toilet vs my colon

I had bragged before that my now-no-longer-new toilet had yet to clog.  Well, today it finally met its match - the infamous Wahl colon.  Those who know know the Wahl colon has epic toilet clogging abilities.  My toilet had put up a valiant effort over the past five months or so.  Hopefully it can recover to fight the good fight for another five months.

Track work

It's a beautiful day out so I hit the track this morning for an interval workout. I also tried out my new Merrell "barefoot" shoes. The idea is you'll strengthen your legs more if you run barefoot since you'll run up on the balls of your feet. That claim is definitely true because there is no heel cushion so you pretty much have to. It's fine for sprinting, but most of let our heels touch when we jog so it was a little weird "sprinting" slowly.

It was my first real exercise since getting my head cold so I did one warm up lap, six "sprint"/walk laps and one cool down lap. I went 2.11 miles with an average heart rate of 141bpm and burned 276kCal. Not too shabby. It's supposed to be nice for most of this week so I'll try to go again during the week. I'll have to check the high school's track and field schedule.

My calves are pretty sore so it was definitely a workout and I can see why they suggest you start out slowly until you get used to "barefoot" running. These shoes were recommended by my friend and they worked well for me this first time out.

I'm disgusted by the average American and the American media.

I'm sure everyone knows Osama bin Laden was killed by American forces a couple of days ago and by now, everyone has heard "facts" about the raid.  Well, it turns out that many of those "facts" may be just fabrications to justify our actions.  It's not clear that bin Laden was armed nor is it clear that bin Laden used anyone as a human shield.  As I understand it, he was sick so he was probably pretty easy to take down.

I have a hard time believing the raid team couldn't have subdued him without killing him so that he could be put on trial for his actions.  What we did is nearly straight up murder and won't change anything.  I don't feel any safer, I still have to get x-rayed or have my junk groped and I still need to buy $10 bottles of water on the other side of security.  Are we really free?

Can I really trust the American media to broadcast anything factual anymore?  Fox News is one small step above the Enquirer and the others aren't much better.  When did media go from reporting on what happened to manufacturing stories?  Are they that desperate for ratings as to pass stories as the truth?  What happened to fact checking?

Why are some athletes being vilified for daring to question why we celebrate the death of anyone?  I personally believe bin Laden was a terrible person, but everyone deserves a fair trial.  It's part of what separates the good guys from the bad guys.  We should definitely take steps to protect ourselves, but should do so with the minimum amount of force necessary.

I really fear for the future of this country because I feel many of us have lost our ability to rationally process information and the ability to ask tough questions.  We've been in Afghanistan for ten long years now and have accomplished diddly squat.  If anything, we've reinforced our enemies' view of us.  We should reach out with the olive branch and try to improve their conditions so they don't feel the need to attack us.  Life is too short for hate.

I'm not necessarily a pacifist, but I believe our military should be used for defense and as the last resort.  We do not have the moral right to impose our will on anyone and chanting "USA.  USA.  USA." like we just won a gold medal is crass and saddening.  Is this point where human evolution has brought us?  We've really come no further than the Roman rabble entertained by gladiators hacking each other to death?

Finished my puzzle

The fab is idling today so I decided to work from home.  I'm also feeling under the weather so it's probably good I came home.  Anyhow, I decided to polish off my puzzle since I was pretty darn close.  I finished it and have crossed another challenge item off.  Sweet.

I found working on my puzzle pretty relaxing and I definitely want to get another one.  I'll leave this one up for a bit and then take it down.  I may keep it or I may give it away for someone else to work on.  I'll have to marinate on it.

I'll think some positive thoughts so I can regain my health to continue my good progress.  I'm going to skip basketball tonight because I'm having trouble concentrating.

Sunday bike ride

This morning I went for a bike ride because it's gorgeous out. I rode for about 9.9 miles in 47 minutes. I had an average rate rate of 125 bpm and my watch says I burned about 600 kCal which is supposedly double what I burned yesterday. I have a hard time believe I worked just as hard biking as I did sprinting, but who knows? I'm not going to worry about it since I got some exercise and that's the key.

I rode out to New Scotland park and back. I'll try to do a different route each ride, but I'm still learning the area.

I'm well on my way to great fitness.