My doozer was busy this weekend. Paul built a rolling platform for our new TV. We are turning a spare bedroom into a room to watch movies in. We spent months looking at TV’s. We couldn’t afford the one we really wanted, a flat screen, back lit TV that mounted on the wall. One Sunday we saw this DLP TV at Fry’s who was discontinuing the model. We went home, priced it on the internet. It was a good price so we borrowed the neighbor’s suburban to pick it up. Turns out it doesn’t fit in a suburban. The pedestal is how the TV projects and it doesn’t detach from the TV. I tried to return the TV 3 times before we left the store. We ended up with free next day delivery. It fits perfectly in the closet in the room but there is no way to get behind it to plug things in and out so Paul made a platform that rolls.

The run today was really hard. I ran out of tunes and blood sugar. My ipod freaked out at the Hawthorne bridge on the way out. It stopped and the battery indicator was at 0%. I tried resetting it and half of my music disappeared. I tried resetting it again and the rest was wiped. When I got home the battery indicator said 80% full but no music. It was tougher without a bubble of music or fun audio book. I did come up with a couple of good ideas for my writing project and a few taunts for Paul when we crossed paths. My water mixture was not quite strong enough and I only had one little gummy candy. Low blood sugar is not fun and it made my legs crampy when I stopped. I tried out new thin socks in hopes the toe on my right foot would be happier. It really wasn’t and i felt more friction rubs on the soles of my feet. Paul got lost (missed the turn around point) and went for 13 rather than 11.

Paul is doing job training tonight. He’s downtown in light armor picking up drug addicts. He is with Police Officers tonight. They find people who are visibly strung out and offer them food and cigarettes (and to not get arrested) in exchange for allowing the Drug Recognition Experts (DREs) to practice their tests. Paul is observing so he knows what the DRE officers are doing when he testifies after them in court.

Drug recognition tests are systematic and standardized examinations of persons suspected of drug impairment to determine: (1) whether the suspect actually is impaired; and if so, (2) Whether the impairment is drug- or medically-related; and if drugs, and (3) the broad category or combination of categories of drugs that is the likely cause of the observed impairment.

I stumbled upon the The Yuba City Police Department Website today. I was googling images and the photos of Yuba City’s most wanted came up. The pictures are not mug shots, though they contain more misery and suffering than I can imagine.

Paul is part of the Shambhala Prision community and is bringing meditation instruction and shambhala training to the Oregon Prisons. He toured two facilities in Salem a few weeks ago with Bill Karelis. Paul felt that the people he saw looked very normal and average.

Paul’s Picture was in the weekly PortlandFit Newsletter. We are 7 weeks into training for the Portland Marathon which is apparently 143 days away. If you want to skip the bother and training you can buy the finisher’s medal for $3 at the online store. This Saturday is a short run. I’m not sure its worth driving down for 7 miles.

My neighborhood has been undergoing massive changes. They have turned the quarry/dump near my house into a high end retail shopping area called Bridgeport Village. The location really seemed like a dubious choice. It was a big pit that was full of garbage. Peets opened on Monday. I am very pleased to have a grocery store, movie theater and coffee within walking distance.
photos

When I left the house this morning there was a state police car in my drive way. You might think this would be a cause for concern. However, this is a mint green mini-van and Paul and the other new Forensic Scientists are car pooling to Salem for training.

We are 6 weeks into marathon training. It is so different this year. Neither Paul or I ran much over the winter and I worried we lost much of our training. However, eight miles didn’t seem like that big of a deal. We didn’t need to take a nap. Instead we tackled gutting and painting the kitchen pantry which had an indian meal moth problem. They were eating the glue in the particle board. Paul bleatched the pantry and cut new boards. I was the painter (of course).