On Saturday morning I ran 47.4km. That is a long distance.
The traction was good enough. I had cleats in my backpack, but I didn’t wear them. There were moments when it would have been nice, but it didn’t seem worth it.
Because I left for the run in a rush, I didn’t have a chance to bring my newspaper in. It took me quite awhile to notice, but it was missing when I came back home. Someone stole my newspaper!
It is apparently sunny enough that I have gotten tanned/burnt. At least I have color in my face again. Although the haircut I got later today has revealed pale spots.
Because I did the run on Saturday, I don’t have to do it Sunday morning. Which means I can stay out late on Saturday night.

It has started to happen. The signs have been appearing.
Last year, training for an ultramarathon sucked all my free time away. I didn’t have time for any other activities. Or chores. It is already happening now. I wake up, going over the things I need to do, and realize that I can’t figure out when I will have time to do any of them.
I live for the weekend, when I think I will have time to do things, but I still don’t. By then I’m too tired to actually get around to doing the work I need to do.
I wanted to have a party next month. There is no way I can get this place cleaned up in time for one.

The worst part is that I know there are people who are going to be saying “I told you so.”

Battlestar Galactica ended over the weekend. Despite having cable and recording it, I still downloaded it off the internet. I guess my computer has higher quality than VHS. And less commercials.
My thoughts on it: “You got your religion in my science-fiction!” “You got your science-fiction in my religion!” It was like the Matrix trilogy all over again.
But now that it is over, the only television show I ever watch, I don’t need cable. I canceled it yesterday.
They did try and convince me to, instead of canceling, to get digital cable. And it was a convincing argument. I would be more likely to watch television if I could control it better than with a VHS machine that likes to eat tapes. But I don’t have time to watch the stuff I have on DVD.

Last night was fairly sleepless.
Not because my father is getting worse. He seems to be much better. His spirits are up, although they went down a bit when he found I was returning back to Edmonton. But I have a job I really should be doing.
No, last night was sleepless because the dog got its comeuppance. It took several days, but I think the frozen roast has had its revenge. At around midnight, the dog started acting strange. He would not settle down. He wandered all through the house, with loud clicking sounds from his nails on the hardwood floors. He would find someone in bed, growl them awake, and demand attention like he wanted something. With me he was generally happy with ear scratching, but that didn’t let me sleep. With my sister, he got up onto her bed and paced on that.
Was he hungry from his new diet? Well, he ate food but wouldn’t settle down. Were his muscles aching from the run I subjected him to? He ate the baby aspirins, but continued his pacing.
After taking him for a walk today we figured he was constipated. Although why that makes him antsy, we don’t know.

My father appears to be getting better today. I didn’t see him; The family decided to just have his brother spend quality time with him. But we’ve kept up on updates via cell phone. He has been alert today and the doctors are optimistic. For me, the big sign was that he wanted his new iPod Touch to play with. (We had gotten him one as a present early on but he was too sick to use it.) If he’s getting bored then he must be getting better.
I think I might head back to Edmonton tomorrow.

I don’t trust good news anymore. My father’s state is so up and down; It’s an emotional roller coaster. I had some lingering doubt after all the good news of the morning.
My uncle is coming in to see my father. The original plan had been to serve him a roast that my mother had in the freezer. But over the weekend, an emergency call came in, so my mother and sister left quickly to be with him. My mother had thought she had left the meat to defrost on the counter far enough away from the edge so that the dog couldn’t get it. She was wrong. He ate the whole thing. The whole frozen thing, including the bones.
On an unrelated note, the dog is now going on a diet.
The family went to Costco to get more supplies. While there we called my father and it sounded like things were getting worse. My mother was very shaken by this news. One minute later, an employee with one of those crate-moving pull carts bumped into her. She was hurt, and when the employee turned to try and help her, he did not notice that he caused the metal handle to hit her in the head. Bad timing. She tore him a new one and stomped off. My sister then chewed out some other people for laughing. The employee must have had a bad day because he looked like he was about to cry.
Were a little emotional right now.
My father says he is feeling better. The doctor think that when he had the reaction to the penicillin, his body started producing a lot of acid which has been eating at him. They plan to give him clotting agents to try and stop the bleeding in his intestines and other medicine to heal the ulcers. In the meantime they are going to keep giving him blood.
Donate blood.

My father called and said that his doctor is “As pleased as punch.”
This is a good thing.
However, he still needs lots of rest. We’ll see him in the afternoon.

I got a call from my family with news that my father wasn’t doing well. The doctor, when asked if I should come down, said “definitely”. That is not a good sign.
He is bleeding internally. A lot. He has ulcers in his stomach and sores all along his intestine. The doctors put him on a complete diet. He wasn’t allowed any food and only got nutrients intravenously; They didn’t want his stomach producing acid. They really aren’t sure what is going on with him.
Today they decided to let him eat again and that seems to have helped a lot. He was practically inhaling food. Apparently he is more alert and, I don’t know what this means, his hemoglobin count is climbing. So I think he is getting better.
I went directly to the hospital from Edmonton and spent an hour with him before I let him go to sleep. So I think he is doing better, but things have changed overnight before.

I saw the Watchmen movie over the weekend.
I don’t know if it was a mistake, but I reread the comic right before going to see the movie. So I was continually comparing the movie to the comic. The Watchmen is to comics what Citizen Kane is to movies. Be forewarned.
There were times in the movie when I felt it was rushed. The comic had more time to develop scenes, and the movie rushed through those. But, if the movie hadn’t been rushed, it would have been too long. And the length was pretty appropriate; I did not feel exhausted coming out of the theatre.
Of course there were other changes, and there was a big one central to the whole plot. But I like the change; It made everything fit together better. The comic could have been improved by it.
They also did a very good job with the music in the movie. Very period appropriate, but also theme appropriate. “Everybody wants to rule the world” playing in the background of the guy who obviously does. The Bob Dylan song in the opening credits was also perfect. (I should go buy that song.) And there is only one song you can ever play now when their are helicopters in Vietnam.
Go see it.

Today was a bad day at work. It started out well, but fell apart in the last half hour.
Since I’ve been given to a new project I have felt like I’m not pulling my weight. I’m supposed to be fixing bugs, but I don’t know the code and I’m frequently trying to fix bugs I can’t reproduce. Today I started work on a bug that I felt like I was making progress on. I felt good about myself.
Up until I found out that a senior programmer was working on the same bug and had just fixed it. The only good part of fixing bugs is the catharsis that comes from actually fixing it. So I got all of the pain, and none of the joy. And I continue to feel stupid and unhelpful.

I’m heading back to Edmonton this evening. Usually on Mondays I hold a movie night, a party to watch a movie. Since I am not there I have someone else running it. In other words they will be having a party at my place. I will probably be arriving home at some point in the evening which means I will be crashing the party.
S. thinks that “You can’t crash gatherings at your own house.” which I’m going to have to take as a dare.
In my head, the way to crash a party is to burst in, uninvited, and make yourself at home. That sounds really easy if it is your own home. (Is it my home? I have a squatter there right now.) But is that enough? It does sound like I’m not putting in enough effort. So I have to think of other ways to effectively crash a party.