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T h e A d v e n t u r e s o f C h i c a g o J o |
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Book Club, Bones, and Britney |
| 2005-05-18� �� 3:36 p.m. |
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Monday night was the monthly meeting of my book club. When we set up our club, we tried to be all academic and smarty-pantsy, choosing to read Pulitzer Prize fiction novels. Well, The Hours stunk it up, and a new rule was introduced and passed. We now read self-help books since all we�re talking about are men, shitty women, and what to do about them both anyway. At least now we�ll sorta be on-topic with this being a book club and all. This next month�s meeting is on the book If Buddah Dated: A Handbook for Finding Love on a Spiritual Path. Seriously, y�all... There are so many reasons why I just chucked and swallowed a little puke after typing that book title. However, it�s the way book club works. Everyone takes turns choosing books, and that�s that. I�ll get them back with a book on the flat tax, how to flip real estate without tax implications, and how to hide assets in corporations. Speaking of which, I�m now setting my brother up with his own corp. Of course there�s a back story. As an all-around good kid who isn�t bothering anybody with anything, my parents decided that he could get a vehicle. He found a small truck for a decent price, and my dad has agreed to get the financing on it so long as Kyle pays for it. So, how does a kid who doesn�t want to work an actual job make money? He�s suggested turning to eBay since the small town he lives in now has high speed Internet access that will be wired in my parents� home by the end of the week. Although eBay is completely do-able when you have the means, I don�t think he knows quite how it works since you really should be somewhat familiar with HTML. This will involve a tutorial from yours truly, as I am an eBayer extraordinaire. Until I can get there to teach him how that all works, I suggested that he simply clean my parents� house out, wake up early on the weekends, and hold garage sales. Each time my siblings and I got bored and did this, we always made out like bandits. Does anyone else have any ideas on how he can make money with few formal skills? He of course loves baseball, but I can�t think of anything that will raise money with just that skill. Last night I had a bone density test at my gym. This didn�t go over well. Apparently I have the bones of a 55-year-old... That, or the machine is full of crap. I lift weights. I run. I don�t drink but once a month these days. I don�t smoke. I don�t consume large amounts of protein. I eat calcium-rich foods like spinach and broccoli daily, yet I still take a calcium carbonate supplement with added vitamin D. I don�t have in my family with bone problems. I haven�t broken any bones since I was nine years old. So when going through the checklist of habits to change, I�ve got nothing to be improved on. Eat more spinach? Don�t drink those three beers once a month? Run and lift more weights? Take two calcium supplements each day? The lady running the machine said I needed to eat more cheese and start drinking milk. Yeah right. I�ll kindly avoid eating or drinking the breast milk of another species, thank you very much. Really... It�s ridiculous. I have a doctor�s appointment tonight, so I�ll ask about it then. Yeah, a doctor�s appointment tonight. [shudder] After yesterday�s test, I took off for my several-times-a-week run. This time I headed south toward Museum Campus, and I did an easy five miles. Having new shoes makes such a huge difference. Ever since getting them, my mileage has suddenly doubled and tripled. Tonight is a long run, and I plan on doing eight miles if the sun permits. It doesn�t set until 8:06 tonight, so I should be fine for a long run. Keep your fingers crossed. I�m going into new distances... The 10-mile race is in two weekends. I went online and looked at last year�s results, and I should come in the middle of the pack for my age group. I�m not expecting to steam through anything, but some people ran seriously slowly. I don�t see myself doing 16-minute miles... Yes, that�s how slowly I�d have to run to come in last place for the entire race. I enjoyed seeing how large each age group was for this race. There were a few under-14, a few 15-19, a bunch of twenties, tons of 30s, and then everything else tapered down from there. Maybe I�ll stick with running until I�m in a small age group and can win some recognition. One running friend in Texas once won a big belt buckle for placing in her age group. I got a call yesterday about the job I applied to. It seems that I�m a good match and that they wanted to scope me out. We�ll see what happens from here. There are quite a few positives with this position: The large amounts of travel will taper off significantly after 6-12 months. The downsides: I wouldn�t get to walk to work anymore. I�m not officially looking to leave here, but no one is giving me any reassurances. I have to remember that I don�t have a job offer or a contract extension in writing, nonetheless in a verbal promise... That they don�t have to give me even a moment�s notice before kicking me out and deactivating my key card... That they haven�t gotten an employment offer to me in the two years I�ve been here... That I have to look out for myself, even if I don�t want to leave them high and dry... Something will work out. It always does. After yoga class last night (yes, I ran five miles and then went to the gym for abs and yoga classes), my friend Happy and I went back to my place for dinner and to watch Britney Spears� new show. It�s official: I no longer like Britney Spears. I find nothing likeable about her or her husband, and they�re just plain annoying. I�d rather watch the Ashlee Simpson show [groan] than watch this again. If you choose to watch next week�s second of six shows, be warned. It�s horrible. Okay, all. It�s time to wrap this up. I have to finish some work and then get outta here. Have a good night.�
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Moving Day - 2008-02-15
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