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This is only my 8th blog post this month.  Sad.

This month, my blog made $65.23.  That’s $141.68 since this blog began on July 15, 2008.  I’m a loooong way from being a professional blogger.  Thanks to whoever is clicking on my amazon links and purchasing stuff.  Also, thanks to those who are clicking on my adsense links.

I uploaded my final C# project tonight.  I am 1/10 of the way towards another masters degree.

I ran 37.2 miles this month, totaling 458.19 miles since I began running in February 2009.  That’s a pathetic average of 35 miles per month.

Hopefully, that chart will start to look more like an upward curve.  Then again, the summer heat is not a runner’s friend.

This fall, I plan to run 4 10Ks, a 13K, and a half marathon — all in preparation for the 2010 Goofy Race at Disney.

That’s enough math for tonight!

The faculty and students at work are currently on spring break, which is great!  I’ve been able to catch up on so much stuff.  On Friday, we are all off.  I seem to work for the only employer that includes Good Friday as a paid holiday.  My plans?  Rip up the cheap flooring in my bathroom and install ceramic tile.  Of course, you will be able to read about the entire experience right here in a few days.  Let’s hope it goes well.

I’m also trying to finish out this stupid C# course.  I have one more project due at the end of the month and then I’ll be one-tenth of the way towards a second masters degree.  I haven’t decided if I want to attempt any courses this summer.  The summer semester is only a month long and I’ll be in Colorado for one of those weeks.  Mercer is sending me to do a presentation at a conference in JonBenet Boulder.  Also, I may ditch the graduate courses over the summer because I really want to upgrade my MCSE from Windows 2003 to Windows 2008.  I have the materials, I just need the time.

If I could just lock myself in a closet for a month with nothing but books and a few computers . . . actually I would probably just waste the time by playing on Facebook and Twitter.

Since I’ve been slightly neglecting this blog lately, I figured its a great time for a life update.  In no particular order:

RUNNING: I ran 4 miles tonight. It’s the longest distance I’ve done since the Disney Marathon, which was almost 3 months ago.  I’m just over a 9 minute/mile pace at that distance.  I have five races scheduled in April/May so I’m really going to be hitting the pavement.  It feels good getting a trophy at the end of a race!

SCHOOL: I turned in my second C# project last weekend.  One more to go and then class number one of masters degree number two will be complete.  Summer semester is going to be rough because it’s less than a month and I have a work trip to Colorado scheduled right in the middle of it.

WORK: Work sucks lately.  I just hate being there.  Our worthless marketing guy is trying to take over technology and my boss doesn’t like to fight the political battles.  On top of all of that, four years of doing the same things is getting boring.  There is no chance of advancement in my current job and my boss doesn’t support formalized training (even when it’s free).  I would really like to get my expired CCNA back (which wouldn’t cost the University anything but time), but the boss believes that if you train someone, they will leave.  I’m not knocking my boss.  He’s a great guy both in and out of work, but I need challenges!!!  I would go for the CCNA outside of work, but I don’t have time.  I do have a 5 day weekend beginning tomorrow, so maybe I’ll be re-energized by Wednesday.  If things don’t improve over the next few months, I may jump into the job market.

TRAVEL:  Yes, we are hitting the road again Sunday.  Back to Disney World.  As annual passholders, we can book the value rooms for next to nothing.  Apparently though, too many of them have been booked, so someone from Disney called me today and gave us a free upgrade to one of the Deluxe Villa Resorts (Old Key West).  It should be a great weekend.

TELEVISION: LOST is really slow-moving this season.  Some questions are being answered, but there’s not much new.  I’m ready for more action.  24 is pretty much the same old thing.  Some [insert hostile county]ian terrorists plan to detonate a [insert WMD type here] weapon in the U.S. and Jack is going to save the day.  Been there, done that.  The best part of the entire show is Chloe!

So it’s Thursday.  Smack in the middle of Cherry Blossom week here in Macon Georgia.  You would think important stuff would be going on here.  Think not.  Take a look at the most viewed stories on macon.com:

I mean, I could understand if he was stabbed over a sirloin. Or maybe a chicken leg. Or even one of the free scoops of cherry ice cream they are giving out downtown. But a waffle?

Six years ago when we got married and moved into this house, we did what was pretty normal at the time: we got a telephone line.  From the time the line was turned on, we were inundated with calls for the P… family.  I’m guessing that they had our number before it was assigned to us.  

My first clue was that Georgia Power wouldn’t let us use our new number to have power turned on for our address, because the number was associated with a delinquent account.  After that, it was credit card companies and even Gillead Christian Academy (a local extremely conservative private school).

Joel and Sonja P… are the main culprits and their son Jonathon gets almost as many calls.  Here is how the conversations for Jonathon would usually go:

Bill collector: “Hello. Is Jonathon there?”
Me: “This is Jonathan.”
Bill collector: “My name is blah blah and I’m calling about the money you owe me blah blah.”
Me: “I’m sorry, you have the wrong number.”

Do you think the bill collectors bought it?  Of course not!  Once they confirm there is a Jonatha/on here, they think I’m changing the story when I tell them they have the wrong number.  So here we are, six years later, still getting harassing calls for the P… family.  

So how am I smarter than the bill collectors and why all of this tonight?  Using my common sense approach to researching on the internet, I’ve found them all.  Joel works (or worked) at the local Honda dealership, Jonathon is currently in the Marine Corps and Sonya (and possibly the others) attends a baptist church that is 1/2 mile from my house.  The latter two are on facebook, along with extended family, cousins, etc.  Why can’t the bill collectors use google?  It certainly would increase their recovery rate.

The number actually forwards to my cell phone now — our land lines are long gone — and when this AT&T contract is up in 2011, the number I’m referring to will be gone as well. 

Now, even though hardly anyone reads this blog, I’m calling these people out.  They deserve it after years of telephone calls and dinner interruptions.  I did hold back a little.  I haven’t published their address here.  They moved into their current house (which they paid $84,000 for) in November 2002, about 5 months before I got stuck with their number.  It’s all about research!

I usually don’t forward or post crap like that, but this is extremely creative writing.  Enjoy:

While things have looked quiet lately here on my blog, I’ve actually been writing several posts.  They are all “drafts” right now instead of posts for various reasons (timing, sensitivity, etc.)

Other than that I’ve been busy, busy with a number of things.  This is the first week of classes here at work, which makes for a nice headache.  It’s also my second week of class.  I just started on another master’s degree through Mercer’s School of Engineering.  This semester, the only class I’m taking is an object-oriented class using C#. 

I had the kids all day Monday because healthcare doesn’t observe holidays, last night was 3 amazing hours of LOST, and tonight I have the kids again while the wife updates her CPR certification.

I intentionally withheld my comments about this weeks “historical” event, although I think Obama did a great job attacking global warming — it is freaking cold here!  I’m also intentionally NOT discussing some work-related items.

There is one domestic chore that we don’t do at my house:  Ironing.

We don’t even own an iron.  For some reason, when we were going through the whole engagement – marriage era of our lives, everyone opted to give us toasters instead.  Six of them to be exact.  Most of them went back to the store, but not one was exchanged for an iron.

We do have an ironing board.  We also have a travel ironing board.  They sit in the deep dark corner of our laundry room, gathering dust by the hot water heater.  We even had a third ironing board at one point, which we gave away. When I tell people that we don’t have an iron, they give me the same look as when I tell them that “I’ve never swallowed a pill before” or “I’ve never eated a banana”.

When we stay at a hotel that has an iron in the closet, my five year old asks “Daddy, What’s that?” (He asks about the coffee maker too).  In contrast, my wife was already ironing her family’s clothes when she was five.  I have actually never ironed.  While growing up, I had a laundry genie that would take clothes out of the laundry basket and somehow make them clean, wrinkle-free, and on hangers in my closet.

Fast forward to now — six years into our marriage.  Guess what I need?  An iron.

No, I don’t have wrinkled clothes.  Well, at least not wrinkled enough to warrant actually purchasing an iron.

For my upcoming marathon, I decided to make my fan club (family) shirts to support me.  It seems to be the thing to do for the Disney Marathon.  I looked at creating shirts using zazzle, but I don’t want to spend that much money on a dated shirt that would be worn once.  My frugal self went to Hobby Lobby and bought some $3.00 white t-shirts and a $6.00 inkjet-iron-transfer kit from Wal-Mart.  Somehow I missed the hint that you actually need an iron to make it happen.  Doh!

So now I’m stuck with a dilema:  Do I fork out another $5.00 – $10.00 on an iron, or do I ask to borrow one?  I’m very frugal, so I don’t want to spend money on a household appliance that I’ll likely only use this once.  But an iron isn’t one of those things that you borrow from your next-door neighbor, like an extension ladder or a cup of sugar.

This may be one of those times when I purchase something, use it once, and return it.

Hypothetical situation:

If I decided to dress up in all black — ski mask included — and go jogging around my neighborhood for a good workout at night, would that be a crime?  It might be cold so I should be completely insulated. Maybe I should take some free weights or something to help boost the cardio. Oh yeah, I don’t have any free weights though so I’ll have to take some DVD players or something. That wouldn’t be a crime would it?

Maybe not, but I guarantee you some cop would come up and start questioning me. What would give them the right? I’m not committing a crime and I’m sure I don’t have any warrants out for my arrest. Since cops don’t harass normal citizens exercising in their own neighborhoods, maybe he’s really a criminal who has shot the real cop and is impersonating him. I should run. Fast.

Yeah I have worked at a law school too long.  Or maybe it’s just this cold is causing me to have more snot than since.

I snapped this photo through a rainy windshield while driving down Mercer University Drive in Macon:

You can’t help but wonder if the dent in the right side of his tailgate was caused by someone following too closely.  Probably a cop following too closely.  What idiot leaves all of those chocolate donuts out in the rain anyway?