That's not cool

I finished reading Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto yesterday afternoon. The book was very good. I think it is the best Monroe biography I have read so far and recommend it to anyone who loves Marilyn.

But I did have one problem with the book. In the last chapter of the book, the last page was missing. Someone cut the page out of the book. I guess whoever did it really needed that page. So I don't know how the book ends and that makes me angry. I spend a week reading it and I don't have closure. No ending. Just cut off in mid sentence. That is not the way a library book is supposed to be.

When I returned the book today, I said to the librarian that they should be aware of something in the book. The librarian replied, "A dirty passage?" I said no. I told her the last page of the last chapter was missing and showed her how someone cut it out of the book. It would be nice if they could copy the page and place it in the book for others to enjoy.

Books read in 2008

A Simple Act of Murder: November 22, 1963, Mark Fuhrman
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot
Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Richard D. Mahoney
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, Donald Spoto

Currently Reading: True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess, Wendy Leigh
Up Next: Final Disclosure, David W. Belin

Locked in

Aftering feeding the dogs this morning, I put on my scarf, hat, gloves and zipped up my coat. I gathered books that needed to be returned to the library, my camera and camera bag and headed outside. It was very cold and windy. I wanted to get to my car as fast as possible. The problem was I couldn't.

One of the latches on the gate was frozen. While holding my books, camera and keys, I tried to get the gate latch open several times. It just wouldn't move. After a couple of minutes I gave up and walked back into the house. To actually get to my car I had to go through my house, out of the front door and down the driveway.

I pressed unlock on my key fab and grabbed the handle on the passenger side door. Nothing. The door was frozen. I tried again. But no luck. I had to put down my books, camera and camera bag and use my body to open the door. I hit the door with my hips and butt a couple of times, the door finally opened. After scraping the windows on my car, I tried to open the driver's side door. It was frozen like the passenger side. This side was easier. It only required two taps with my hips to open.

Right now the temperature outside is 9 degrees, with the wind chill -10 degrees. Who knows how cold it was this morning when I was leaving for work. I have one question: how long until spring?

Marked - Adrian, MI

Windowpane - Adrian, MI

Random things

Before heading to dinner Saturday evening, my husband and I stopped at Best Buy off of Airport Road. While pulling into the lot we noticed a Chipotle Mexican Grill. While vacationing in Chicago a couple of years ago, we ate at one and fell in love with it. This morning while on their website I saw that Toledo has four Chipotle's. Why I'm I just finding this out? I told my husband next time we go down to Toledo, we will be eating at Chipotle.

Sunday morning at 2 am, my dogs woke my up by barking. Once they stopped barking, I could hear people talking outside. I put on my glasses and opened the curtain. In our neighbor's driveway was a suspect down on the ground getting handcuffed by several officers. In the morning when I went out on the porch to get the paper, I noticed two of our outdoor lights by our sidewalk were knocked over. I could tell by the footprints in the snow, the suspect running away from the cops tripped over the lights and broke one. Silly criminal, I hope you liked your ride to jail.

Jurassic Park

Driving back from Toledo Saturday evening, the song Walk the Dinosaur by Was was playing on the radio.

Me: "Wouldn't be neat to see dinosaurs in a zoo?"

Husband: "Wasn't there a movie based on that entire premise?"

Random things

This morning at work, I couldn't get warm. Along with wearing a turtleneck sweater and jeans, I also had on a cold gear shirt, running tights, scarf, hat and my winter coat. It still didn't help. I blame it on the permanent draft inside the building. Or it could be that the temperature is only 6 degrees with a wind chill of -9 degrees.

Next week it is going to be a heat wave: 30 degree temperatures! I really need to get outside and take some photographs. I have totally been slacking on that. If you noticed, I have been posting photos from my trip to Washington, D.C. from 2004.

This week has really been bitterly cold. At every game I've been at this week, people or should I say teenagers in the stands have been wearing shorts. Its the dead of winter with temperatures in the teens or below, shorts is the first thing I think of when I get dressed to go to work.

This weekend my husband and I are going down to Toledo, Ohio to do some shopping. I'm really looking forward to eating at Don Pablo's. YUM!

Unawakened - Adrian, MI

Horses - Washington, D.C.

Sounds too familiar.....

August 5, 1962: Marilyn Monroe, 36, was found naked and dead in bed at her Brentwood, California home by her housekeeper. Her death was caused by an overdose of sleeping pills.

January 22, 2008: Heath Ledger, 28, was found naked and dead at the foot of his bed in his SoHo Apartment by his housekeeper. His death was apparently from a drug overdose.

When I first read the story about Heath's death yesterday, I instantly thought of how similar it was to Marilyn Monroe's death. They both were found naked and dead in their bedrooms by their housekeepers. Marilyn's death was caused by an overdose and it looks like Heath's death was as well.

Its too bad because he had such talent as an actor. Both Heath and Marilyn were too young to die.

Wreath in hand - Washington, D.C.

Miles run in 2008

Wow. This is the fastest that I have ever reached 50 miles. I owe it all to my half-marathon training schedule that I have been following since the beginning of the year. I ran my longest run ever Sunday evening. Seven miles. My previous long run before that was 6.7 miles. This weekend I will be repeating another 7 mile run. I have another week to go before I bump up my long run to 8 miles.

2004: 22.2
2005: 28
2006: 27
2007: 30
2008: 52

Cross and roses - Adrian, MI

Books read in 2008

A Simple Act of Murder: November 22, 1963, Mark Fuhrman
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot
Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Richard D. Mahoney

Currently Reading: Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, Donald Spoto
Up Next: True Grace: The Life and Times of an American Princess, Wendy Leigh

Knocked over - Adrian, MI

What a difference the sun makes

As I was waiting for my husband to exit a home improvement store, a vehicle pulled in and parked in a spot a row ahead of me. A teenage son and his mother got out of the vehicle. The son and mother decided it was such a nice day that they didn't need winter coats, their long sleeve shirts would be sufficient. The temperature was 27 degrees. With the wind chill factored in, it was only 14 degrees with 18 mph winds.

The mother was carrying a special fashion accessory: a fanny pack. She put it around her waist as they were entering the store. Fanny packs, that is so 1990.

Books read in 2008

A Simple Act of Murder, Mark Fuhrman
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot

Currently Reading: Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Richard D. Mahoney
Up Next: Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, Donald Spoto

Red Heart - Adrian, MI

shuffle

I've mentioned before that I received an iPod for Christmas. For the last two weeks at work, the iPod has been my close companion. Before I sit down at my desk for the morning, I put my earphones in and turn on the power. Listening to different music for five hours makes the mornings go quickly. It is so much better then the random CDs I used to bring in.

Besides listening to it at the office, I've been listening to my iPod during photo assignments at sporting events. I can't believe what a difference it makes. With my music, I don't really pay attention to the crowd anyone. I miss all of the yelling and complaining from the stands. And that alone is pretty nice.

Now that I've had this great gift for a couple of weeks, I noticed how quickly the battery dies. Monday night I charged it after my game. At work this morning, the battery died. As I type it sits in its dock recharging. The other thing I noticed is the lack of shuffle. For the past two days after a couple of hours the same songs I heard already were playing again, and in the same order. I have over 100 songs uploaded and I don't think I heard 30 of them yet. I saw on the directions that songs can be reshuffled. Maybe I will try that later tonight at my game.

Besides those two minor things, I love my iPod shuffle. I don't think that I will go back to bringing CDs into work ever again.

So true

I wasn't scared of them growing up. I just thought they weren't funny. Now a researcher says they are "universally disliked by children."

Just wondering

I recently downloaded songs from one of my favorite movies, Rocky IV, onto my iPod. When I hear the songs play is it sad that I can picture the music montages in my head?

Door hinge - Adrian, MI

What? Not another birthday.

Friday evening and Saturday night, my husband and I ate at two different restaurants. The first restaurant had three birthdays during the time we were there. The servers would gather, clap, sing and give a free dessert to the birthday person. The second night, the entire time we were at the restaurant there was five or six birthday's. These servers would gather and say Ye-Haw! Could there really be that many people in the same towns in the same restaurants celebrating their birthday on the exact day?

While talking with our server on Friday, I asked if she believed all of the people she sang to if it was their birthday. She said no. I said you should check IDs. She said it would be better if it was a milestone birthday. I think it would be better if restaurants just stop signing, clapping and embarrassing people on their birthday. Just hand them a dessert and say Happy Birthday. The whole restaurant doesn't need to know about it because nobody cares if it is Jimmy's 14th birthday, especially when he isn't a family member.

Ivy & Bricks - Adrian, MI

Treetop - Adrian, MI

Random things

Not much as been going on with me. Just working like everyone else. Here are the highlights from the week:

Last Saturday was my first time as an altar server. The man I was serving with asked me if I was nervous. I wasn't. I got to carry candles, a bucket of holy water for the priest and the bread. I had fun and I was told by the priest and a couple other altar servers that I did a great job. This Saturday, I will be an altar server again.

I have been running since the beginning of the year. Even though the half-marathon is in October, I wanted to get a jump start on the training. I downloaded a half-marathon training schedule and have been following it. So far so good. Ask me how I'm doing when I have a scheduled run of 10 miles. That might be a different story.

Besides running, I have been reading and watching DVD's received at Christmas. The first book I read this year took me a day. The second book is taking longer, its been almost a week. I always read one book super fast then drag on the second book. The DVD's I have been watching is the series of Six Feet Under. Granted I received them on Christmas 2006 and started to watch them now. I needed a break from the series because a couple weeks before Christmas 2006, I watched the entire series through Netflix. Is is just me or others as well? When I watch DVD's of television shows I always have to start from the beginning. Six Feet Under had five seasons, there is no way that I would pull Season 3 and start from there. I have been watching SFU for a week, right now I'm on Season 4.

I received an ipod for Christmas. This week my husband showed me how to use it. I loaded some songs Monday and Tuesday. Today I went to add songs but ended up deleting them. I had to upload close to 100 songs again. Not fun.

I love my ipod. I can take it everywhere with me. At work I love it because I can walk away from my computer freely. Before I had an ipod I would take CD's in and plug in headphones into my computer tower. When I needed to get up and go somewhere I would always have to stop the CD and take off my headphones. Now I can just get up. Also, I took my ipod with me to a basketball game last night. Listening to music while photographing made the game made it go faster. Now it will always be with me at games.

I downloaded The Dance by Garth Brooks for my ipod. I know the song is about a loss of life. When I hear the song, I think of my dad. The day he died, my mom, brother and sisters were talking with him in our kitchen. We all had laughs and it was a great conversation. Who would of knew that about eight hours later he would be gone forever?

The Dance

Looking back on the memory of

The dance we shared 'neath the stars above

For a moment all the world was right

How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye

And now I'm glad I didn't know

The way it all would end the way it all would go

Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain

But I'd of had to miss the dance

Holding you I held everything

For a moment wasn't I a king

But if I'd only known how the king would fall

Hey who's to say you know I might have changed it all

And now I'm glad I didn't know

The way it all would end the way it all would go

Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain

But I'd of had to miss the dance

Yes my life is better left to chance

I could have missed the pain but I'd of had to miss the dance

I'll be watching you - Adrian, MI

Eternal Slumber - Adrian, MI

Worn face - Adrian, MI

So I didn't

In my post The Ticket, I said that I would return to the cemetery this morning and take photos.

I didn't.

After work I filled up my car and decided that I would rather sit on the couch with a blanket and read. Right now the temperature is 26 degrees, with the wind chill its 16 degrees. It is warmer then yesterday but I wanted to stay inside today.

I checked weather.com and the forecast for Monday and Tuesday is supposed to be in the 50s. I think I will wait until next week to venture back to the cemetery.

Books read in 2008

A Simple Act of Murder, Mark Fuhrman

Currently Reading: Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot
Up Next: Sons and Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Richard D. Mahoney

Snow on statue - Adrian, MI

The ticket

After work this morning, I went to the library to pick out new books to read. I was in the library for about a half hour. I walked back to my car to find something on my windshield: a parking ticket.

I was a bit upset because I thought all of the parking in town was free. I was wrong. I managed to park one spot away from the free parking. I didn't pull up into the free spot because the car that was parked next to the open spot was crooked and over the line. I really didn't want that person to hit my car when they backed out so I stayed in my spot. The paid parking spot.

I called the number on the ticket to find out how much it was going to cost me. The lady on the end said it was $15. I didn't have the exact cash to put in the envelope so I wanted to wait until I returned home to see if my husband had change for a $20.

Still mad from the parking ticket, I didn't enjoy my time photographing my favorite cemetery in town. The photos that I took this afternoon weren't terribly exciting because the ticket took me out of it. Also, my dress shoes were getting wet from walking around in the 4-5 inches of snow.

I returned home, woke my husband up and told him that I received a parking ticket at the library. He told me to call the library and see if they validated parking tickets. I called the number and told the woman who answered the phone that I received a parking ticket while I was inside checking out books. She told me to bring the ticket down to the library, they would take care of it. It was so nice to return after lunch with my ticket and hand it over to the library staff. It really made my day and I decided to return to the cemetery Friday morning with boots.

Snow covered trees - Adrian, MI

Iron gate - Adrian, MI

New Year's Resolutions 2008

I'm a day late, but I don't think that matters. I want to continue with last year's resolutions because I thought that they were pretty good.

1. Run over 600 miles - In 2007 I ran 573.7 miles. I think that if I run 5 times a week and over 3 miles every time I will be able to achieve this goal. Another way to reach that goal is to start training for the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon that I will be running in October.

2. Eat more at home - My husband and I did a really good job of eating at home more last year. With eating at home, I know we saved more money then when we constantly went out to get food. My husband wants to try something different this year, actually sitting down at our table and eating. It would be a change then always eating in front of the television. They only time we ate at the table last year is when we hosted family dinner on holidays. I agreed with him and hope we sit down to dinner at the table.

3. Shoot photos more - This is one resolution from 2007. I think I did a pretty good job of getting out on my own time. But I need to get out more. I 'm hoping to photograph things that I love once a week. Tomorrow I don't have a game to photograph so I can use that free time to go out and shoot the things that I love and add them to my personal series: cemeteries, cemetery statues, decaying structures/industry, graffiti and ballet.

4. Read more books - I finished 2007 with 43 books read. I hope to read over 45.

Miles Run in 2007

I thought about skipping my run yesterday. I thought I really didn't need it. But later in the afternoon I decided to just do it. So I did. I ran three miles on the treadmill and loved every second of it. Today, I will get back on my treadmill and start the year of 2008 at zero miles and work my way from there.

I finished the year of 2007 with 573.7 miles run. I total kicked 2006's butt by 103.7 miles and it feels good.

Total miles run for the year:
2004: 318.6
2005: 350.8
2006: 470
2007: 573.7