The fun of running in the dark

Encounter on this morning's run: A dude on his bike was coming down the middle of the sidewalk straight towards me and did not see me at all. About 10 feet out, I pointed my blue headlight at his face. He finally saw me when I was about 5 feet away. The next thing I heard was a blood curdling scream "WHOAAHHHH!!! Sorry!!" his feet hit the ground and his bike almost fell over as he went off the opposite side of the sidewalk. So today's question was "It's 6 AM, do you know where you are?"

Life's Orchestra

As I sat and listened,
The band played a tune,
It was not my favorite song,
And I hoped it would end soon.

But I found myself
Out on the dance floor
And I danced until I almost collapsed
From my legs becoming so sore.

Sometimes life's music
Is not what you long,
But you might as well dance,
And lookout when they're playing your song!


Copyright © 2009 Tom Eckenrode. All rights reserved.

Happy Independence Day

Those that have known me for more than 2 years know I am a cancer survivor. I blogged during my recovery time from my initial surgery, during the 6 months of chemo and right up through my last surgery. I finished chemo right around the end of June in 2007. I had a party, shared a bottle of Dom Pérignon and celebrated my independence from cancer on July 4th, 2007.

Two years ago, chemo had me wiped out. At one point, I remember having to rest half way from my recliner in the living-room while on my way to bed. My energy was zapped and the longer the chemo lasted, the worse I felt. I had gained a lot of weight from the steroids in the pre-meds, my "high weight mark" was 235 lbs, most of it was steroid weight coupled with my love of comfort food. There were numerous side effects and some are still with me, but they are now manageable without medication.

Now two years later, I am happy to report that all my scans and tests since then have come up great and show no sign of cancer. I have been dieting and dropped 50lbs. I have always enjoyed running and have taken that back up. I have been running 3 miles at least 4 times a week for the past month. Last night I went out for a run and got back home after going 5½ miles. Quite an accomplishment from where I had been, but I 'm nowhere near done. . . .

Thanks for reading and enjoy life while you have it!

Cuckoos

While shopping at Target tonight, I had a most peculiar encounter. I saw the endangered Target-cuckoo. As I shopped, I brushed by this lady and by the look on her face, she looked like she had just been dropped off here on Earth on her way back home to the smaller of Mars' moons, Demios. As I passed her and glanced down at the end-cap I heard a very strange sound. I realized the look she had was merely a precursor to the sound she was about to make. Breaking the still Target air, the lady cackled "Cuckoo!!"

I have heard the 'store sounders' before, but usually they whistle in a peculiar way, like to summon the lost person in their party. Usually their distinctive whistle is followed by another distinctive whistle from their mate or child a few aisles over. Ok, that is a bit weird, but I have only heard these seldomly and to think that someone may have gotten their secret signals crossed with other store-sounding-whistlers enough to have to change it over to a full fledged cuckoo, that is just way over-board. So Target-cuckoo-lady, knock it off, we are all on to your secret signal. Just buy a cell phone like the rest of us. Besides, I don't think you'll be able to hear your other cuckoos over the rest of the store's laughter. GAWWWWD!!!!

Speaking of birds, I have my webcam pointed over to a Sandhill Crane nest now. The mama is sitting on two eggs. It is about 600 ft. from the house, but the neighbor let me trim a tree in their back yard to get a good webcam shot of the nest. I zoomed in with my camera using the optical zoom and the digital zoom is selectable on the page. When the mama gets up to turn the eggs or stretch, you can clearly see the two eggs. The babies will hopefully hatch around the 25th of March, and you can see it live. The "nestcam" is on http://TomEckenrode.com/webcam Enjoy!

Ravens vs. Steelers

Steelers in the Superbowl; quoteth the raven, "Nevermore!"

"Let-up, mighty bird," the Steelers will implore;

Quoteth the raven, "Nevermore!"

2009

Happy New Year!

I've been sick all week with a nasty cold and finally I am starting to feel better today. I was only out of work once last year due to illness, ironically enough I got sick for a day after getting the flu shot. Go figure. So this past week I have slept most of the day and really missed out on all the new year festivities. What a wonderful way to spend my vacation.

We had a really nice Christmas. We had Tommy, Chris, Shawn, our grand-daughter Makayla and Lori's Mom, Tamsey here the weekend before on the 21st. I was able to webcam Chelsea in and we all got to have a nice video tele with her in Japan. Thanks for getting up so early Chels! It was great having everyone here to share Christmas.

We had quite a full schedule this holiday season, aside from the kids being here, Lori got to meet some of my highschool classmates at two events. The first was a party thrown by my friend Nancy. We had a very nice, relaxing evening- Thanks Nancy! The next event was at the concert in Orlando featuring Cheap Trick. One of my fellow Seabreeze '84 graduates, Shawn is the drummer for Iced Down and they were the opening act. Kelly was great and got us tickets for the VIP section and a big shout out to all of my Seabreeze Alumni that were there - Kell, Nancy, Denise, Michelle, John, Jon, Mike, Doug, Kim and Carl. It was great seeing all of you! Shawn's band was awesome and we are happy that we were able to go.

I'm looking forward to a great year and I wish you and yours the best for the upcoming year too!

Peace!

Santa was seen that night.....

And there I sat motionless in a Santa suit, at the edge of I-4.

I have made a tradition the past couple years to try to join up with my local cacophony group for Santarchy. Last year it was illness, but this year I at least made it out of the house but never made it to the event.

Some background is in order. First, Santarchy is an event where a bunch of folks get together for the sole purpose of drinking and having fun while everyone in the group of dressed like Santa. Second, my gas tank fuel gauge is faulty.When i fill my tank, I push the reset button, then I have 300 miles to drive before I fill-up and reset the button. Now, normally, these two events would have nothing to do with each other, but last Saturday, they met head-on.

The temperature was a nice 65 degrees. Chilly enough to wear heavy Santa suit comfortably. I rushed out the door, knowing that once the Santa's got together, the group would quickly move throughout downtown Orlando. The GPS had me arriving at the Santa rendezvous two minutes early. As I passed Altamonte, I was anticipating some of the merriment which be soon become bestowed upon me.

Then it happened. My SUV sputtered. My SUV lurched. My SUV's engine went off. MY SUV was out of gas. Across 4 lanes of traffic I coasted over to the shoulder. And there I sat motionless in a Santa suit, at the edge of I-4.

I had plenty of options, but decided that a hitchhiking Santa would not be a welcome sight for inquisitive children. My roadside assistance program was slow so I decided to just call home. It was about 2 hours before Lori got to me with gas. Luckily as I sat there I had my iPhone filled with Christmas movies, so I watched Elf. Not the night I had planned, but those are normally the ones that I walk away with good stories from. There's always next year.