Tam's Birthday Today

Happy birthday to my big sister Tammy, who turns the big 4-0 today! She has always been somebody I could look up to and be in awe of as she has always been an amazing example of strength, faith, and love to me. She is one of my biggest heroes and I feel blessed and humbled to be able to be as close as I am to her. No matter how old I get, I will always look up to my big sister Tam! Happy birthday!!

Surprise! My Blog is ALIVE!!

I joined a new band to accompany the band I'm already in. This band is Idol Eyez and we do more current stuff (and some older stuff too), but mostly Rock/Rap/R&B. This image was taken by somebody attending the wedding reception at the "Jolly Roger" club in SODO (South Seattle). I am not sure what I am singing, but it's a pretty funny picture.

Hood to Coast

This whole adventure started with Juliet dropping me off at the Amtrak station in Tacoma. 4 hours and change later, I was in Salem being greeted by my family that had been visiting G&G Cooper for the previous week. After a good nights rest and the next day spent with Dallas sick and me reading a book and relaxing most the day, I was ready for the adventure. I drove the van with Derrinda, Debbie, and the boys up to Portland and met the members of our team that would be in van #2 together for the next 20 some hours. After chatting and getting to know everybody for about 1/2 hour, we all loaded into the van and got to our first exchange point. We dropped Jeriah off and we were under way. I did legs 11, 19, and 32. The first leg for me started at 12:23 a.m. It was a 4.39 mile distance through the outskirts of Portland and along a trail. It was pretty uneventful other than a group of punks walking along the sidewalk and one of them came at me and tried to hit me, but I jumped out of the way, hollered a colorful name back at them and continued on my way. I also got stopped twice and had to wait to cross the street. Since I am new to this event, I figured that was part of it, but I later found out that nobody else got stopped anywhere. I finished my leg in 26:33, and averaged 6:03 pace. I would have been under 6 minute pace were I not stopped. Oh well. I handed off the wrist band and crawled back in the van to await my next leg. We stopped at the next van exchange point and had about an hour to kill before I started the next leg for us. I tried to sleep and may have managed to sleep for a few minutes before I had to head to the exchange point. This next leg proved to be my most challenging; a 5.89 mile leg that turned out to be a serious climb, something I was definitely not prepared for. However, I took this leg out a little easier because on the first leg I went out a bit quick and had to struggle for a while towards the end. This time I was smarter, but also slower with this killer hill. I knew I would be running for about 40 minutes with the hill thrown in the mix, so I basically told myself it was a 40 minute run and that helped me to mentally get through it. I finished in 40:52 and was very happy to hand off the wrist band. I only managed a 6:56 pace for this portion. Oh well. Now I just needed to prepare for my last leg, which was to be a 7.28 mile section. My stomach had been giving me trouble the entire time, and apparently I wasn't the only one experiencing this. I thought I would puke a few times, but thankfully I never did. Trevor could see I was hurting and not feeling that well, so he decided to switch my leg out with another runner so I only had a 4.09 mile section. I was very thankful for this. I know I could have finished the longer leg, but it would not have been pretty. This meant I would be running again soon. I was just glad to be getting it out of the way so I could just relax and cheer the team to the finish after my last leg. I started my last leg at 11:46 a.m., so I had 6 1/2 hours of rest between my 2nd leg and this one. I started out and thought I was really hauling. I figured I was running somewhere near 5:40 pace, but also knew how fatigued I was and told myself I would probably be running 25-26 minutes for the leg. I passed a ton of runners during this leg. I think during all my legs combined I must have passed near 80 people or so. The good news is that I never got passed during the entire relay. Anyway, I finished my last leg in 26:07 and averaged 6:23 pace. I felt like I was running a lot faster than that, but at this point, I was going to be happy with it, get back in the van, drink some gatorade, and just relax and cheer on the team. Our team ended up finishing the event in 20 hours, 1 minute and 56 seconds. Less than 2 minutes shy of our goal of breaking 20 hours. Oh well. Everybody did their best and that is that. We still ended up being the 10th team overall, out of over 1,000 teams, and averaged 6:07 pace for the entire relay as a team. Not bad. I was happy it was over and we all crossed the finish line together on the beach, collected our medals, and posed for a photograph or two. I understand we are getting an additional medal for our finishing place, so that is cool. I met up with the family, and we stopped in for an elephant ear there in Seaside, then got the heck out of the crowded town and stopped at Cannon Beach for some play time. The cold water felt awesome on my sore and very fatigued legs as I frolicked in the waves with my sons. It is an experience I will not soon forget and I got to meet a bunch of great guys who enjoy running as much as I do.

Mister Miyagi in Issaquah

My band Mister Miyagi played a show in Issaquah last night. It was a 90 minute set. It was lots of fun. There were TV cameras there and they recorded the show and said they would give us a copy of it once it is edited down. That will be fun to see!

Gigville

By the end of this month (July) I will have played 8 shows in just 8 weeks with my band Mister Miyagi. I'm not very good at math, but I think that averages out to 1 show per week. Although some weeks we have no gigs and some weeks we have 3 in one week. Regardless, it has been a hectic summer for gigging. Add to this the all comers track meets I've been trying to stay in shape for by running twice a day, and also trying to keep up with maintaining BSS, it has been quite the last couple of months. Our last show was a wedding out on Whidbey island, so Saturday I drove up to Greg's house in West Seattle and we loaded up his car with our gear and were out of there by 10 a.m. Just to give you an idea of how long of a day it can be for only playing music for a couple of hours in the evening, I was up loading my stuff at 9 a.m. and didn't arrive home until after 1 a.m. But after we got set up, we found a little 9 hole par 3 golf course on the island and I played my very first round of real golf. It was tons of fun. I can see how people get stuck on that game. At first I was doing great, and even beat Greg, Jesse, and Brian on the 2nd hole. I parred it! But towards the end, I must have been doing something wrong with my swing because I fell apart and started hitting terrible. I still ended up beating Brian, but Greg and Jesse beat me by about 18 strokes over the course of only 9 holes! I still think I did pretty well for a first timer. Then we headed back to the wedding party and they fed us, we changed into our gig clothes and rocked the show for about 2 1/2 hours before loading up and making the 11:30 p.m. ferry back. It was a long day. But people are always asking me how the gigs went, so I thought I would share this from a guy who was there video recording some stuff for the wedding. He caught me after our set and said he had a little snippet of the last wedding we played at the Fairmont hotel on his website. So I searched for it and found it. It is mostly the wedding peeps, but there is a tiny snippet of us playing and of my candy striped guitar. But this will give everyone who wants to know what the weddings are like a little bit of an idea. Here is the link:

http://cabfareproductions.blogspot.com/

~ I just noticed he posted a new video on this site, it is "not just another montage" one. Currently 2nd video down.

Blog Update

B.S.S. team dominating the 2 mile race. (L to R in yellow: Juliet Gerry, Michael Stone, Trevor Pettingill)

Since I started my running blog, I haven't paid much attention to this blog. But things are going good. Dallas and Cody just had their last day of school yesterday and we celebrated with the first all comers track meet of the summer! They all did great. Dallas got 2nd in the softball throw, 2nd in the long jump, and participated in the 100 meter dash and also the 400 meter run. Cody did awesome in the 50 meter dash and got 3rd. He also participated in the 100 meter dash, softball throw and standing long jump (I think, it gets hectic trying to get all the kids to their events and also do your own events). Elijah did great in the 50 meter dash, I think that was all he did. Juliet won the 2 mile, 400, 800, and mile. Trevor won the 2 mile, I got 2nd in the 2 mile, and I won the mile in 5:13. Mercedes won the shot put and got 2nd in the javelin and softball throw. Desi got 2nd in the shot. If my math is correct we should have somewhere around 118 pts. for the first meet. Not a bad start to the year. We will have to see where the flying dragons are when they announce the leaders next week!

Running Blog

I started a running blog dedicated solely to my running/workouts/races, etc. If anyone is interested in following my workouts and what not, here is the link:

http://www.dailymile.com/people/mikestone

You should start one too Juliet!!

Willie

Yesterday in the early evening we decided to take the dogs up to Bradley Lake with the kids and go for a nice walk. We did one lap around the lake and decided it was such a beautiful evening that we would take another lap. About three-quarters of the way through the second lap, Dallas said "what's on Willie?", after which I noticed a red spot near where his shoulder meets his neck (that's a tough call because they kind of run into each other, he has put on a few pounds now that he is getting into his senior years). We stopped and I looked at it closer and could not believe what I was looking at. Poor Willie had what appeared to be a big and deep cut. It looked like it was about an inch long and about as deep. Nobody knew how or when it happened. I took him to the vet first thing this morning. The vet looked at him and the expression on her face told me it was a pretty serious wound. She said she needed to keep him there and would get to it later in the morning. So I left Willie there and waited for a call. No call so I called over there around 2 and they said he was ready to pick up they were just getting him cleaned up. They put him under and cut the hair off in the area and stapled him up (9 staples). They also had to put a tube in behind the staples to catch the infected stuff to drain it out (it looks kind of like the one I had when I had my appendix out). Anyway, he is doing good but is rather lethargic and resting a lot right now. We have to take him back Friday morning to get the drain out and then again the next Friday after that to get the staples removed. Poor guy, who knows how long he had that before we noticed it. The vet said it was infected and had been there for at least a couple of days. He is a good dog.

Beautiful Sunny Day in May!

I started off the day by taking off from BSS and running almost to the bridge before getting into Orting and back. I think it was somewhere between 10 and 11 miles. I felt pretty good at first but by the end my resources were gone. I really should have had some Gatorade and a banana before going, I would have had much more energy towards the end of the run, but oh well. It looks like it will be another gorgeous spring day here in the Northwest. I am working the desk at BSS right now. I showed a couple of units this morning and when Derrinda gets back from taking the deposit I am going to fertilize all the lawns with Scotts plus 2. That is some good stuff man. It will be a good opportunity to utilize some little helpers too. I will have them hold a stick at each end of the lawn so I know where I have fertilized. It's not really necessary, but it gives them something to do and gives them a sense of accomplishment. We had a good time celebrating Dad's 64th birthday last night. It's always nice to get together as family and spend time together. Juliet and Tam worked hard making soap yesterday getting ready for the farmers market here in Puyallup this summer (they are selling soap there). The soap looks very professional and I hope they have a successful business venture!

Trail Run

Starting Anew

I've still got a hacking cough that gets quite annoying and I still have a weird pain in my lower abdomen near where my appendix used to be. I'm still trying to run through it even though my mileage has suffered. I was up to around 50-60 miles per week and now am closer to 30-40 for the last couple of weeks. I was able to get an 8 miler in yesterday on pitbull trail. Well, I ran from BSS to the trail head and then up to Military road and back. I ran at right around 7 flat pace. I ran 6.5 today and pushed the pace a bit to try and force myself out of my comfort zone which seems to be around 7-8 minutes per mile. I ran 6.5 in 40:24 which is right around 6:15 per mile. I felt o.k. as far as my legs go but I was coughing so much that I kept getting short of breath. I still feel good about the run. I need to remember when I go out on training runs that I'm trying to improve and get out of my comfort zone rut. That means "push the pace pansy!". I recall being in High School and taking off from the duplex and starting the run no slower than 6:00 and after warming up hitting miles between 5:20-6:00. Granted I was only running 4-5 miles per run at the time, but I'm not convinced that I'm too old to run faster times than I did in High School just yet. I remember I used to look forward to my workouts with a fervor and I had goals for each run, etc. I remember one speed workout in particular where I went to the Smith field house to run 4x800's and the entire morning all I could think about was how I was going to attain my goal of averaging 2:15 per repeat. I know that having goals works because I ran my first in 2:17, the next 2 in 2:15 exactly and then I said to myself "well, to get my goal I now need to finish with a 2:13." And that's exactly what I did. That was one of my finest workouts, but it goes to show that desire and hard work will produce results. I just wish that I could find the zeal that I once had for working hard during my runs instead of just coasting along. Motivation has been a real factor (lack of motivation) for me the past several years of running. After that trail race Saturday, I thought about how back when I was running like I did during those workouts like I mentioned above, there was no way I would have just coasted along in the race and not cared about my finish place or time. Oh well. Anybody have any suggestions on how to get re-motivated? After all, I am still only 33 years old and should be running as fast as I ever could.

Austin City Limits

I have been sicker than a dog all day today. It didn't stop me from playing tennis this morning and putting in a shift at BSS (rented a 5x5). It did however stop me from getting a run in. I started coughing a couple of days ago and last night it felt like my throat was going to close. Today I have been running a mild fever and don't really know what's going on. I can say I am glad that Willie Nelson came into this world. I am enjoying Willie playing his guitar and singing on Austin City Limits right now. His guitar style and playing is really something to behold. If I have to be sick and on the couch, watching Willie is a darn good way to spend it if you ask me.

Ripped off in the record books!

I was just browsing the internet and came across an article about the 1994 Mountain View Boys Cross Country team's finish at the Foot Locker Western Regional. I'm not surprised because as everyone knows, the "Coach" (and I use that term very loosely here) hated my guts because I didn't suck up to him like the rest of the leeches on the team. Anyway here is a link to the article:

http://ut.milesplit.us/pages/All-timexcteams . Scroll down and read the bit about Mountain View and Bingham: the Greatest. It says how the 1994 Mountain View's boys team performance at the 1994 Foot Locker Western Regional Cross Country Championships is one of the best of all time. That is fine. But here is my gripe: It says Dula led the team in 15:12, Zak in 15:14, then Wade Allen in 16:09, Ryan Andrus in 16:10, and it has the 5th scoring runner on the team listed as Andy Farrer in 16:16. The problem is that I ran 16:11, thus I was the 5th and final scoring runner on the team. Only by 5 seconds, but still, I should have my name on that list of one of the best teams of all time, not Andy Farrer. I know it is probably because Houle the fool didn't claim me as a member of the team. Another interesting tidbit about this race is that I, along with Dula and Zak, were the only 3 runners from Mt. View in the Seeded boys race. The others were in Senior and Junior unseeded races. It makes a big difference. It ticks me off, but I'm not surprised. That guy screwed me out of a lot during my High School running career.

In better news, I ran a 5:30 mile last night and almost killed over running 7 miles with Trevor this morning. The mile time is slow, but it is encouraging because I am starting to get more fit.

Slippery Tennis Court

I drove up to Bellevue to play tennis with Greg this morning. The weather was overcast, but very little rain. After our warm up, we started the first set. Greg jumped out to a 2-0 lead on me after breaking my serve in the first game. On my side of the court there was a wet spot in the back of the court. I ended up back there somehow during a rally and ate it when my feet went out from under me. Thankfully the only injury I got was a skinned knuckle. I ended up losing the first set 4-6. It had started raining very lightly during the last couple of games of the first set. I served first to start the 2nd set and my serve was working pretty good (I always seem to serve better in the 2nd set) so I held serve easily to go up 1-0. Greg also had his serve working pretty good and tied it up 1-1. After he won the game I called the score 1-1, and he said no it's 0-2. So I corrected him and then won my service game to go up 2-1. It was starting to get pretty slippery at this point and I broke his serve to go up 3-1. During the 5th game of the set I was serving again and doing well. Greg ended up slipping and going down during one of the rallies. I won the game and was up 4-1 and we both decided it best to call it quits because the court was becoming quite treacherous, which was strange because I have played many times in the rain and never had issues with slipping, but I've always played in running shoes before and I think they have superior grip to my tennis shoes. Greg's knee was actually pretty busted up from his fall too. It was a bit frustrating to quit the match when I was starting to do so well, but that's how it goes sometimes. I guess I can look at it as total games won 8-7 in my favor. It's fun playing with Greg because we are both closely matched as far as our tennis game goes.

Running is coming along good. I'm going to go on a 10 mile run later this afternoon. I got in 11 miles yesterday and on my afternoon 6 mile run I took the whole crew. I pushed Elijah and Brandon in the stroller while Dallas and Cody rode their bikes behind me. It was a beautiful day for a run and I covered the 6 miles in 44:00. 7:20 pace while pushing a stroller is pretty good. I ran the last mile in 6:44. Dallas and Cody did great and never complained the entire time. I had to stop several times to help get little black bugs off Elijah. He did NOT like bugs on him and he let me and all the other trail goers know. That kid can wail. He might have a future as a sanger.

The picture is just for fun.

Ensign

There are some pretty good articles in the Ensign this month.

Current Fitness Level

My fitness level seems to be coming along good at this point. I've been running twice a day for the last several weeks and am starting to see some results. I had to go on my afternoon run early today because Derrinda had to go do some serious canning. Dry canning at that. So I ran at about 2:30 this afternoon. I decided to run the 4 miles at a brisk pace, and my goal for the run was to average 6:30 per mile. The weather was beautiful and I started out at a decent clip. I hit the first mile in 6:20 and was surprised how easy it felt, so I decided to take it up a notch to the turnaround. My breathing felt relaxed despite the quicker pace and I hit the turnaround at 12:21. A 6:01 second mile. I was happy with that. On the way back I noticed that just like yesterday, there was a pretty stiff headwind going back. I figured the wind was slowing me down, so I just tried to relax and maintain my pace. 18:26 at 3 miles; this was even more encouraging to me hitting a 6:05 into the wind. I was however beginning to feel a bit tired, so I just tried to maintain that pace. I picked it up a little over the last 3/4 mile and finished in 24:19. A 5:53 last mile! I am very happy with this run because I am just under 180 lbs., and have another 10-15 lbs. to lose. Very encouraging.

Columbia Tower

I had a gig last night in downtown Seattle at the top level of the Columbia Tower, which was the tallest building West of the Mississippi River when it was built. There have since been taller buildings built, but it is still 4th tallest west of the Mississippi. It was a launch party for Microsoft and we put on a good show and everybody there seemed to have a good time. The view was pretty cool, but being from Utah and being used to going up into the mountains and the view from that perspective, it wasn't as cool as that. The coolest thing about being up there was watching the big planes fly into SeaTac and being below you. I am pretty tired now though because I was up at 6:30 Friday morning and ran 9 miles in a downpour, and didn't get back from the gig until about 2 a.m. And we all know how sleeping in in the mornings goes with 4 little boys...not too good Al.

Chilly Afternoon Run

It was pretty cold today. I wore my sweatshirt pretty much all day. We got a lot accomplished at BSS today. I busted up an entertainment center that someone left in their unit when they moved out, and I also took the rug that sits in the office by the couches out and shampooed it, scrubbed it with a brush, and then pressure washed it. It's still hanging on the fence drying.

I ran 6 miles with Juliet this morning. It's always fun running with her. I ran again by myself this afternoon. I ran another 6 miles and pushed it a little bit, but not too much because I usually only go 4 in the afternoons. I was 20:27 at the turn and finished the 6 miles in 39:40. It works out to be an average of about 6:37 per mile. Pretty good run, I felt good the whole way. It was quite cold and I was wishing I had remembered my gloves, and it started raining lightly just as I was finishing, but it was a really good run. My fitness is coming along as I continue with my base mileage and I am looking forward to starting track workouts in another month or two so that I can be somewhat prepared for the track meets. I just hope that I can stay healthy.

Allergies

My allergies have been terrible the last few days. Everyone else in my family seems to be sick with a cold at the same time. It hasn't kept me from running though. I had a good run last night. I ran 4 miles in 26:07. I knew I was pushing it a bit, but once I saw my first mile was 6:48, I thought to myself that it must be a day for pushing it, so I upped the effort a bit and ran 6:43 for my next mile (into a stiff headwind). So 13:31 at the turn and I knew it would be easier running back with the wind at my back so I just got going a good pace and kind of coasted. My next mile was around 6:30 and I finished in about 6:06 for my last mile. I felt pretty good about that because I'm still not in very good shape, but getting closer everyday now.

I ran 6 miles with Juliet this morning and was pretty beat from last nights run, but we made it through like always and felt good afterwards like always. Now I've been sneezing my head off all morning. I took some Benadryl allergy medicine, but I have yet to find any medicine that gets rid of the sneezing, stuffy nose, nose running, etc. Oh well, I guess it just helps me to appreciate my health when I've got it. Later yo.

Sunny Winter Day...

I think the toe issue is pretty much gone now. I ran 6 miles this morning with Juliet from Mama Stortini's up the trail to Fred Meyer and back and it felt fine. There is still a little bit of pain if I push on it, but it doesn't seem to affect my running anymore so that is good. Now I'm just sitting here at BSS waiting for the throngs of people to show up and rent storage units. Business has actually been very good this year compared to the last couple of years; hopefully that is a good sign that the economy is bouncing back. With the weather having been so nice the last week, I have been getting spring fever and wanting to get outside and do things. It has also brought allergy season quite early and I've been going through tissues like they're going out of style. I'm thinking about getting my tennis racquet restrung sometime soon. I've had those strings on there I think since about 2001 or 2002. I'm thinking about trying a rough textured string to see if I can generate a little more spin, but I don't really know how well those work. I guess we'll see...

Schooled.

I got SCHOOLED by Greg this morning. I was up 2-0 on him to start, but ended up losing 6-3, 6-2. My serve was sucking, and I couldn't get into a rhythm with my ground strokes. Anybody know where I can get a good deal on a ball machine? I need to learn how to hit the ball better.

EHL Trouble

I've been battling Extensor tendonitis (top of big toe) the last couple of days. I just bought some new running shoes. I scored a great deal on some Nike Air Pegasus. I paid about $40 for them. Well, I blame them for this toe issue, because I refuse to believe it's a coincidence that as soon as I switch shoes that's when I get hurt. So far I've been able to run through it and haven't missed as much as a mile, but it's been crazy. Juliet laughs at me because I go out of my way to run on gravel, dirt or grass, oftentimes zig-zagging all over the place to find the soft stuff. The softer terrain really helps alleviate the pain. If I had to run on pavement, I don't think I could handle it. Well, I've been popping ibuprofen and icing it like crazy, which also has been helping. I have another 4 miles to do tonight, then I am hoping on going on a longer run tomorrow (8-10 miles) morning because I have a tennis match lined up for Saturday morning with Greg again. I beat him 6-2 last time. Maybe we will have enough time to play 2 sets this week. Then hopefully my toe will be all healed up for next Monday in time to start running again.

One to the two to the two to the three...

Ran 5 miles this morning from BSS up to Woodland Cemetery and back. I felt pretty sluggish this morning. Dallas had his testing today to see about going into a special program for advanced learners. I'm not sure exactly what it consisted of, but Dallas didn't seem to like it too much. Having two kids go to two different schools sucked too. I don't think we would enjoy that too much. I've got two tennis matches lined up for this weekend. Both are on Saturday. I am playing with Greg at Sprinker in Spanaway from 7:30 to 9:00 and then I've got my first match with the South Sound Tennis Tour at 2 p.m. It should be fun, but I'm a little nervous because I have never played competitively with anybody besides friends and family before. I'm looking forward to it. You never know what to expect when you play someone new. Anyway, that's the latest update with me. Laters.

My Morning So Far...

Had a crazy start to my morning today. The plan was to meet Juliet at Mama Stortini's restaurant at 7 a.m. for our usual 6 mile morning run. Well, my alarm went off at 6:15, which was earlier than I wanted to rise. It is normally set at 6:30, but Derrinda had a meeting early yesterday morning so I changed it to 6:15 and forgot to set it back. Well, I hit snooze (I thought, the Power button is right behind the snooze) and went back to sleep. Next thing I know I open my eyes and glance at the clock-- 7:02. Crap! Juliet's been waiting for me at Storts. I threw on my warm up pants grabbed socks and shoes and ran down to speed the 2 miles over to where she was waiting. The only problem was I didn't have a shirt on, oh well, no time to get a shirt, so I threw on a zip up sweatshirt that I saw laying there on the floor and threw my socks and shoes in the van and drove off. The clock in the van said 7:07 when I got there. Juliet was not there. I thought maybe she was walking back to her apartment (my mind wasn't working good just yet), so I drove past her apartment and then realized she was probably on the trail getting her run in without my delinquent butt. I came up with plan B which was to drive to the Safeway and hopefully she would be getting there at about the same time as me and I could start from there. I hurried and put my socks and shoes on and went out to the trail. Thankfully I saw her about 200 yards down the trail heading towards me. At this time I realized I hadn't taken the time to pee yet, so I took this opportunity and visited the bushes (George W. and Laura were not there however). Juliet told me she saw someone go into the bushes and was scared they were going to kill her. She was ticked when she realized it was me. She was going a good pace and it seemed particularly quick to me since I wasn't warmed up yet, but I finished the run with her and then ran back up to the van so I still got the 6 miles in. I told her I didn't have time to put a shirt on and made a joke of it by zipping my sweatshirt down half way and revealing my "Jonathan" chest (Michael Landon in Highway to Heaven). It was funny.

Tennis Time!

I had a great night last night. I drove up to Bellevue to play tennis with my buddy Greg. He plays guitar in my 80's band. It sounds like he was a standout player in High School back in SoCal, but, like me, he doesn't get out to play near enough these days. He is turning 50 next weekend, so I do have an age advantage, but we are pretty evenly matched because he has a great swing and great technique. He has a lot of variety to his shots, such as a powerful forehand, powerful backhand, but also a lot of great slices and touch shots. It is fun playing with someone who challenges you but is still near your level of play. I scored a sweet deal on a new tennisracquet this week. It had an MSRP of $249.99, but I got it for $60. I was very excited to try it out. The last racquet I bought was "the aggressor" and it served me well for many years. I bought it in 1995 at a Rite Aid in Coos Bay, Oregon. This new racquet will take some getting used to though. For one, it is super light compared to what I'm used to; secondly, it is a head heavy stiff frame with the strings strung very tightly. What this does is create LOADS of power. So much power that it can be uncontrollable if you don't hit the ball PERFECTLY every time.

So this is how it went down last night: We hit the ball around for about 45 minutes of our alotted 75 minute court reservation. I was really loving the new arm cannon. I would just swing lightly at the ball and generate the same ball speed I used to have to really put a lot of muscle into to get. So I was liking it. Then I tried some serves. I had a really hard time controlling the serve, but when I did hit it right, it was unbelievable. The speed was wicked. But the control just wasn't cutting it. My second serve (slower and more accurate usually), kept going long or wide. We decided we better play a set before our time ran out, so I let Greg serve first and he won the game. I was finding it hard to find confidence with my new racquet so I was a bit gun shy on my ground strokes causing a lot of errors. This trend continued until I found myself down 4-1. At this point I decided to throw the racquet in the river (not really) and grabbed my old Fox racquet that is a weaker racquet but a lot more controllable. The tide started to turn and eventually I evened things up at 5-5. He won the next game and then I evened it up again at 6 games a piece. We decided to play a tie breaker because time was running down. First one to 7 points wins, have to win by 2. I got down early again, this time finding myself down 4-1. I rallied back and won 7-5. I even scored about 1/2 dozen aces throughout the match. It was a lot of fun. It felt great to play again. Tennis is so much more than a physical game. A lot of it is mental and staying focused under pressure. I love it. I can't wait to play again. I just need to spend a little time with the new racquet and I'm sure I will really love it. It is just so much different than what I'm used to.

I also had a blast on the drive up and back as I put my racquets and gear in a big duffel bag and strapped them to the back seat of my Honda CBR and drove that up to Bellevue and back. It was fun to ride again. I hadn't been on a long ride like that in a while. That bike is a blast to ride. I still need to get the front brake issue fixed though. It pulsates pretty bad under hard braking.

Proof of the Deal of a Lifetime...

O.K., so this morning I went to the licensing agency to transfer the title to my name and pay the ridiculous amount of sales tax on the truck. I was ready to fork over about $350 for the tax. Well, the lady at the window wants to know why the truck was so cheap. She is obviously thinking I am lying about the price I paid for the truck. She then informs me that I will have to pay the tax on the minimum the truck is worth. I ask her how much the truck is worth. She tells me $8500. So they want me to pay $850 sales tax when I really paid $3500 for the truck. So now I have to try to get a hold of Randy again and see if he will fill out a "Declaration of Buyer and Seller" form and say why he sold the truck for so cheap. So obviously the truck was a killer deal because the state thinks I'm lying about it. I guess I should have told her the transmission was out or something, I don't know.

The Deal of a Lifetime...

A few years ago I bought an old Ford F250 pickup truck. I paid $2300 for it if my memory serves me. It was a piece of junk. I sold it and bought a new truck. I paid $3500 for this one. It has a lot of miles on it, but is in almost perfect condition inside and out. The truck is listed on Kelley Blue Book for $8500. I have no idea why this gentleman sold me the truck for 40% of the estimated value. I changed the oil in it, and just today I changed the transmission filter and fluid. It is running really good. It goes down in the history of my life as the most amazing buy of all time! It is a 2000 GMC Sierra 2500HD 4x4 Extended Cab with 3rd door.