Sorry for the week gap in putting anything up on here. Been busy with things, like work, running, taxes, and getting ready for fantasy baseball season. It's hard to believe that I'm already done with six weeks of training for marathon #2 (meaning it's less than 10 weeks away!). I did an 11 mile run on Saturday and my left knee is not happy with me right now. It's the same injury that put a damper on my training for marathon #1. I'm hoping it doesn't affect me too much since I'm already a bit behind from being sick earlier in the month. My first race of the year is only two weeks away, the Shamrock 15K (a 9.3 mi race for the non-metric folks). Hard to believe it's almost March. New Years does not seem that long ago. I am currently at 115 miles run so far in 2006. A little behind the pace I wanted to be at, but not bad.

This weekend I finally saw 'The 40 Year Old Virgin' which was hilarious. Steve Carell was excellent, as was the rest of the cast, including Seth Rogen who seems to be director Judd Apatow's best friend since he's starred in all of his projects (and has been great in all of them). Some classic lines will come from this movie. If anyone rents this, I highly recommend checking out the deleted scenes. I know, I usually don't even bother with these, but there is some great stuff that was cut out of this movie. In particular, there is a very extended "You know how I know you're gay?" discussion between Rogen and Paul Rudd that had me crying with laughter.

Sorry, but it was a slow picture-taking week. I know, I promised to keep the cat pictures to a minimum. But Walter is just so photogenic! And this is one of my cooler pictures, if I do say so myself.

No trickery here. Just a regular picture taken without the flash. I am by no means a serious photographer (as if that wasn't obvious), but my advice to others is to cut down on the use of your camera's flash. A lot can be done with natural lighting. Most of my best pictures have been taken without a flash, including those in mostly dark places like at a concert. So do yourself a favor and use that flash sparingly.

On Saturday afternoon, Kristy & I ventured down to Medina, OH to have dinner with some friends. We went to the House of Hunan and enjoyed a very tasty sushi dinner. Afterwards, we wandered around the town square and enjoyed the ice sculpture show that was going on. I took a number of pictures of various works, but this was one of my favorites. A dog howling at the moon.

I'm a bit behind the times on finding this one, but Larry David (creator of 'Seinfeld' & 'Curb Your Enthusiasm') recently wrote this article entitled 'Cowboys Are My Weakness' in the New York Times on why he won't be going to see 'Brokeback Mountain' anytime soon. Larry is a very funny guy and this piece is pretty hilarious.

And while on the subject, if you have not seen it yet, check out this very funny trailer for 'Brokeback to the Future', which highlights the obvious undertones that were present throughout the 'Back to the Future' series. Thanks to Will for pointing this one out.

After enjoying an unseasonably mild winter, reality has returned as the thermostat currently reads 9 degrees here in the early afternoon in Northeast Ohio. In the brief moments I have spent outside today, it really did not feel as unbearable as I thought it would. Fortunately it looks like the warm temperatures are going to return in a couple of days. I would like to think the worst of winter is behind us, but I know better.

I ventured out last night with some friends to a few bars and was reminded of how annoying drunk people can be. There were the usual characters like the guy recounting his glory tales of bar fights past, and the guy who was yell-talking loud enough to let the whole bar hear about his herpes infection. I also spoke with a young apparent conservative whose political beliefs seem to have developed from a grudge he holds against Bill Clinton for lowering the alcohol level that will result in a DUI, which he recently received. I'm not even sure that is true, but it seems like a very valid basis for one's political beliefs. He also stated that NPR is "so communist, they should move to Russia". I wonder where then we could cast off all of the ultra-conservatives including Rush Limbaugh. Maybe send them out to Europe so they can hang out with the pope some more so that their political beliefs can become even more closely aligned with religion (if that is even possible).

- Also, I couldn't pass up this awesome story about Houston's police chief recommending that apartment complexes and even some private homes should be required to have surveillance cameras installed to help fight crime. The best part is his quote, "I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?". Classic.

Thursday is one of the best days of the year. It is the day that the boys of summer dust off their gloves and take the field down in the sunny parts of the country and start preparing for a long summer of baseball. The Cleveland Indians will have their pitchers and catchers report to camp tomorrow, with the rest of the team to follow next Tuesday.

I get excited every year about the start of the baseball season. Not only am I a huge baseball fan, but it is also a sign that winter is starting to come to a close. In a little over a month and a half, I will be down at Jacobs Field for the Indians home opener, making it the third straight year I have gone.

While I am excited about the upcoming season, I am a little tentative about the Tribe's chances of winning it all. Very little was done in the offseason to make this year's team better, which after such a strong showing last year is quite a shame. It seems like they were only a good player or two from having a shot at winning it all. But alas, Cleveland is a small market team and has to work with the budget (as set by their cheap owner) that they are subject to because of their market. It has been hard to be an Indians fan over the years, but the future of the team is looking bright. So along with all the other Indians fans, I will keep on hoping that "the future" finally becomes "the present" one of these days.

The sun decided to make a brief appearence this afternoon, a rare thing for these parts during this time of year. I caught my "money tree" (that's what they call it at Target, where I bought it) enjoying it's warm glow by the window. As you will note, the balcony is covered in a fresh coating of snow. As much as I hate the snow, I'm hoping it lasts through Friday as my department at work is planning a snow tubing outing that has already been postponed three times due to lack of snow. And then I hope it turns 60 on Saturday and it all melts, never to appear again until next winter.

Haven't been on here much lately. Was a little under the weather last week, with a pretty nasty cold. I'm not usually the type to get very sick, but the cold I got was pretty rough. I didn't take any time off work, but I spent a lot of time in bed and put my marathon training on hold. I am almost back to normal besides a lingering cough.

Other than that, not much else going on besides hanging out with Walter, much of which involves watching him sleep. In regards to his name, I have always thought it cool when pets have old men names. The world needs fewer pets named Fluffly, or Spot or Baby. Instead we need more Walters, Bruces, and Garys. I will also admit that I like the name Walter thanks to the character of that name in 'The Big Lebowski', as played by John Goodman (as pictured). It's still a bit weird for me since this is the first pet I've ever owned (besides a goldfish). But I am looking forward to a long life together. I just wish he would stay nice and small for a while.

I've held off confessing my recent addiction, but I think it's time to admit it (since that is the first step to recovery). I'm addicted to Sudoku, a puzzle game from Japan that now appears in most U.S. newspapers. I had never heard of it until I was Christmas shopping and saw a book at the bookstore and noticed it was a topseller. I was intrigued and looked it up online, and quickly got hooked. They have helped to pass many slow hours at work over the past couple of months. You can try some out at Web Sudoku, a great free site to do the puzzles online.

This picture is of the newest member of my family, Walter. He is a seven month old grey cat that I adopted Saturday afternoon. I decided a while back that when I moved out on my own, I wanted to get a cat. The only question was when. I also had a liking of grey cats. So when I saw him, I knew that the time was right. So we are currently enjoying our first evening together here at my apartment, and things are going alright. He's doing lots of exploring (which might motivate me to tuck away the stuff in all of the boxes that I haven't unpakced sine I moved).