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Sunday, May 30, 2010

Good Morning!


I think we can all say we've been there...just walking along the street, blank look on our face, just completely spacing out. Sometimes we're upset, sometimes just plain bored, or even grouchy because we have way too much work to get done. Then all of a sudden, you hear a cheerful "Hello!" or "Good morning!" and look up only to find some kind stranger walking past with a smile on their face. No matter how you felt beforehand, that random stranger managed to make you feel at the very least a tiny bit better.

Being in a running program, I have been lucky enough to experience this random act of kindness on quite a regular basis. As we run along the trail in our little packs, we always pass other people...whether it be another pace group or someone else out for a morning jog, everyone says good morning. Maybe it's just the fact that we are all sharing in the misery that we're putting ourselves through and the only thing left is to be nice...misery does love company. But let's face facts...none of us are really that miserable, we've got endorphins running out the wazoo!! Everyone really is just nice to each other.

But it's not just running that brings about a random hello. As we drove back from our run today, we saw Rolling Thunder passing by on the other side of the highway. Regular traffic had been stopped to allow the parade of motorcyles to continue on their way. Generally speaking, dead-stopped traffic on the DC-area highways would cause for screaming and frustration. Instead, people started to get out of their cars, waving at the bikers as they passed by, receiving kind waves in return.

This may be making some of you think of those ultra super peppy people that go a bit overboard, driving us all nuts; those aren't the people I'm talking about. I'm not talking specifics, I'm talking about people generally just being nice to other people. We seem to live in a world where the general custom is to just ignore each other. If we're not doing that we'll find any reason to argue. But luckily, sometimes, there's still that kind, human interaction that keeps us all together.

MCM Training Update: 9 mile run this morning was tough, but went well. Getting into a good routine and am feeling better about this great undertaking every day.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

God Bless Our Troops

There are all kinds of videos on the internet, from trashy to cute, entertaining to just plain pointless. Sometimes you watch videos and wonder why the hell you just wasted the last few minutes of your life watching them...and then there are the videos that amaze and inspire.

A good friend of mine watches all kinds of videos online. When he finds a good one, he generally posts it as a link on his facebook, and I usually find them all pretty entertaining. Since I don't have nearly enough time and patience to sort through videos, it sure does save me a lot of effort in finding the good ones. The other day, he posted a video and a comment, "Happy Memorial Day." The video was of soldiers coming home and surprising their loved ones...I clicked the link, watched the video, and cried like a baby.

I've watched that video three or four more times, and have cried each time. I also started to watch the related videos, and cried at those, too. But the one that got me the most was the first one...it really serves as a good reminder of the sacrifice that not just our troops make, but that their families make. Even despite the controversy that lies within the wars that our country is involved in, our soldiers never give up; they still fight for the freedom of our country.

Despite all the problems that the USA has, both domestically and internationally, we can never give up. We have to stay strong and united, and support each other every step of the way. Our soldiers help us to remember this, and sacrifice more than the rest of us could ever understand. If you'd like to watch the video, here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkGzqpGx1KU

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, but I warn you now, you'll probably cry (guys too--don't be ashamed).

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Wheels are Turning...

Sorry it's taken me a while to write another post. To be honest, I haven't really wanted to. Coming up with a name for this blog has been more trouble than it's worth, and I just get more and more frustrated with each bad idea that comes to mind. Coming up with the title for my Spain blog was at least a little bit easier...at least there I had a general theme/topic to work with. But life in general? There is no one title (for me at least) that could do that subject justice. So here I am, settled on the plain and simple title of "The Coffee Break," after almost abandoning the idea of a coffee-themed blog altogether.I'm hoping that maybe in the future I can come up with a better name for this blog, but what can I say, titles have never exactly been my forte.

I return to my new blog tonight after finally watching "Julie and Julia" all the way through...the first time I attempted to watch it was on my trans-Atlantic flight to Spain, sharing a screen with the girl sitting next to me because mine didn't work, eventually ending in the movie cutting out about halfway through; all this while I still felt sick as a dog from my nerves that had built up over the course of the day. But now I have finally gotten to watch it, and I must say I really enjoyed it. While I can't say that the movie brought me to tears, it did get me thinking about something (besides food, of course)...that something big can in fact grow from something small. Something...like a blog.

Now, before you begin to think that I'm totally narcisistic, let me just say that I am not looking for my blog to become something big. Sure, it would be awesome if it did, but for the most part I just got to thinking that this blog could end up bringing about some sort of good. What kind of good, I'm not really sure, but any kind of good will be nice. Even just to be able to get some sort of writing experience, whether it's total crap or pretty decent...well I guess I can say that's a type of good in itself.

I must admit that looking at all these other fancy blogs with tags and long archives and hundreds of followers, etc etc, is a bit intimidating. But for now I think I'm just going to stick with the simplicity of my blog and go from there. Maybe as I write more I can get a bit fancier, but for all you tech-challenged people out there--you're welcome :)

Well, that's about it for now. Who knows what my next post will be about...I guess we'll all just have to wait and find out. But before I close, my marathon update...

MCM training update: Every run last week was a total bitch, even the shorter runs. Started to get discouraged in my traditional "bummer week" but had a good 8-miler on Sunday...even if it was in the pouring rain.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Blogging, Round Two

Writing my blog for Spain has inspired me to start another blog just on everyday life. I guess that officially gives me the nerdy title of "blogger," but it's fun, and I'm already a bit of a nerd as it is, so that's OK.

I realize that the coffee theme to this blog is a bit cliche, but the recent increase in my coffee addiction just made it all the more appropriate. I must admit that the theme to this blog didn't come from my own imagination, but instead I stumbled across a fun template and went from there. It was then that I remembered that some of the best conversations happen over a cup of coffee. Whether meeting a friend at a cafe or enjoying a casual Sunday morning coffee with your family at home, this caffeine-infused addictive drink just seems to be a great conversation starter. I'm hoping that maybe this blog can do the same thing. I'll write about anything and everything that comes to mind (that I would want to put in a blog of course)...thoughts about life, fun stories, and probably plenty of other random things as well. Whether this sparks conversation or not, I hope you all enjoy it.

One specific thing that I will probably write about is my running progress. I am currently training for the Marine Corps Marathon, so I figure if I have to post how good/bad I'm doing, I'll actually end up doing better. Don't worry, I won't go into tons of details that would bore any non-runners out there, but I'll just have short little updates here and there. For instance...today I had to make up for the 8-mile run I missed yesterday. I only made it 5, which sort of pissed me off (and clearly didn't make my dad happy either), but hopefully from here on out I will accomplish my workout goals.

I promise this blog will be more interesting (at least I hope so), but what better way to start than with a few random fun facts!