The Adventures of Cowboy Hazel

As expected, time has continued to march along in an orderly fashion. Saturday still follows Friday. Friday still follows Thursday. Etcera. The only difference is that time seems to be marching much quicker than it used to. I hear that cliché so often, but it really is true. What causes this?

Well, my past week (which was over in what seemed like a blink of an eye) was rather full yet uninteresting. Nathaniel was out from San Diego, so I had to go into the office three days this week. That combined with the rainy weather and the fact that I was trying to let my legs recover from a recent surge in mileage caused me to take five days off from running. I got out for only my second run of the week this morning.

It was a good run. I met up with Antonio and Michael in Central Park and we did the normal loop except we had to make a couple slight detours because of a big Revlon walk for cancer thing that was going on. I finished it feeling strong and ready to do more which is rare running with those two — they’re both much better runners than me. I didn’t even have that much trouble with the hills. I hope that this positive momentum in my running continues.

The week at the office was busy. I didn’t get a chance to work on my big multivariate testing project at all because my time was spent fixing other problems, doing small improvements here and there, and attending various meetings. It was definitely a switch from my typical routine. But, I have to say that I actually did enjoy it. This whole office job thing isn’t nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Of course, it’s a lot better on the weeks that I get to work from home…

Nathaniel came up to my place Wednesday night and we brainstormed on the games site we’re working on. That whole thing is scaring me a little because the deadline is June 15th and I have at least 80 hours (this is totally a guess, it might end up being much more) worth of work to do on it before then. Coming up with that time is going to be tough, especially since I’m going to be back in Colorado for the last half of this month. I really need to keep working hard the whole time I’m there, but I don’t see how that’s going to happen. I’m going to see three Rockies games with my mom, I’m running the Bolder Boulder, my friend’s brother is getting married, and besides all that, this will probably be my only trip home this year so I want to see all my friends. So, yeah, I’m pretty much not going to be able to sleep if I want to fit everything in.

Thursday night, I attended the worst baseball game ever. You know those bumper stickers, “The worst day fishing is better than the best day working”? Well, that’s how I feel about baseball. I didn’t think it was possible to not enjoy a baseball game. That is, of course, until Thursday night. It started raining halfway during the first inning and never let up. With the temperature was in the mid-forties, the rain made this the coldest night I have ever experienced in my entire life. The deep, wet cold seeped into my bones and froze me to the core. I had a few beers and tried to tough it out and enjoy the game. But the Yankees made enjoying the game tough to do — they were playing dismally. Finally, at the end of the sixth inning, I moved down to the lower deck below the roof (there were plenty of empty seats by this point), and then the Yanks gave up two more runs. It was 8-4 at the end of the seventh and I couldn’t take it anymore. I left the game early — something that I never do.

Before leaving, I stopped in the bathroom. After waiting in line (dancing the I-have-to-pee-so-bad dance) for a couple minutes, I finally get to the front of the line and a urinal opens up for me. I walk over but couldn’t get my button-fly jeans undone because my fingers were so frozen. Considering that I had a few beers in me and had been holding it for a while, this looked like it could turn into a embarrassing situation quickly. I tried blowing on my fingers to unthaw them, but it wasn’t working. I still couldn’t get my fingers to unbutton my jeans. Fortunately, they were somewhat baggy jeans and so, after some creative problem-solving, I was able to just slide them down over my hips without unbuttoning them. That in itself would have been embarrassing, but I’m pretty sure that everyone else in there was even drunker than me and didn’t pay any attention. Still, note to self: Wear zipper fly jeans next time it’s cold and rainy and you’re going to be sitting outside for long periods of time.

Other than that, it’s pretty much been the typical run of the mill stuff. Nothing too interesting to report. I’ve been reading a lot, but nothing too substantial. Just fun books. (If you’re curious which ones, see the reading log.) I went on a date last night. I had a good time, but I couldn’t really tell if the girl was into me or not. Time will tell. I found a new favorite house wine — 2003 Chateau Cabezac Tradition Minervois. I bought a few bottles earlier in the week and have pretty much depleted them. While talking to Nathaniel, I came up with some new ideas and expanded upon old ideas for the Lantenengo Network. I really want to kick this whole thing up a notch because my dismal advertising revenue is just not going to cut it. After we get this games site done, I am going to make improving my network, attracting new visitors, and monetizing that traffic a top priority. I want to be at a million hits a month by the end of this year. That’s a big goal, but I think it can be done. Plus, nobody ever said go little or go home…