Dig Deep

As near as I can recollect†, I was running pretty hard and not feeling very good about it. I was in the middle of my marathon training and my notes say that I ran "19 long miles/ 30.5Km". The PBGs', in their various ways suggested that I "Dig deep". And, as is usually the case, the dig deep message applied to other areas besides my aching calves.

They said, "Dig deep in your running for that is the only way to improve your conditioning and attain your goals"

"Dig deep in your quest" to listen to the needs of others around you and respond in a Christian way. The surface is there for scratching because most of the truly pivotal stuff is not displayed on the surface.

"Dig deep in your personal relationships" for you never know what lies beneath the layers you are already familiar with.

"Dig deep into spirituality" for there will always be depths that have never been plumbed and mystery waiting to be enlightened.

†Originally experienced July 10, 2004 so these thoughts are not as freshly squeezed as they aught to be. It had great punch when I lived it but may seem more like pressed leaves in retrospect.

Must Be Weird to Care

It must be near Hallowe'en or something†. On my run I saw 4 black cats. I think it could have been a witches convention in Mill Woods or something. And I am not talking seeing the same black cat 4 times or over a large span of time. I saw 3 of these cats on the same fence. Pretty weird, eh?

But that isn't what I was going to talk about. Half way through my run I saw a young mom sitting on the curb with a small toddler in her lap. Her head was covered with a hood and she seemed to be rocking the child back and forth. It seemed to me that she was in distress. I even thought I heard her crying.

Indecisively, I stood across the street, catching my breath from some hard running. Should I approach and offer help? Is she really in distress or was I just imagining it?

"Are you ok?" I asked her.

Apparently she must have been just playing a silly game with her toddler. She looked at me as if I had a banana sprouting from my ear. She thought I was on crack or something. "Get away from me you loser," was written all over her face.

Is it so wrong to care? To take an interest in someone else's emotional state? Is it that unusual to notice someone's pain and reach out?

At the time, her reaction didn't bother me, but I did have the presence of mind to say, "Don't look at me like I am weird. I'm not weird." It didn't really change her opinion of me. But I was glad that I stood up for my supposed kind deed.

What would you, dear reader, have done? Would you risk looking the fool? Would you go out on a limb? Even if it was likely that you would be rebuffed? If she really was in need, what would I have done then?

Don't be shy. Let your 'higher right' speak out. Say what you feel needs to be said.

Or, just leave a comment if you want to.

† Actually, this post has been in my drafts since mid September. I did imagine a witch convention at that time however.

Here are my results from the What's my footprint quiz on the Earth Day Network

CATEGORY	GLOBAL HECTARES
FOOD	3.5
MOBILITY	0.2
SHELTER	0.6
GOODS/SERVICES	0.6
TOTAL FOOTPRINT	4.9

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 8.8 GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 1.8 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 2.7 PLANETS.

Thanks to my friend David (CIV handle Croxis) over at Paradigm Shifter for the link.

Soap Box Derby: Huge Lead

Didn't I tell you it was a huge lead? Eat my dust, red wagon! 

Soap Box Derby: They’re Off!

And they’re off! The hill is fairly steep, but the start is still slow. The dragon car has a huge lead. 

Soap Box Derby: First Race

First big race. Red wagon doesn't look TOO fast. Cross your fingers! 

Soap Box Derby: Father and Son

Father and son together 

Soap Box Derby: Lined up to race

Lined up and ready to race 

Soap Box Workshop: Finishing touches

Mom and dad put on finishing touches.White under coat and black top coat. Mom did a wonderful job with flames and dragon. Bear in mind that the race is only 12 hours away! 

Soap Box Workshop: Undercoat

Sister helps out too. She is painting the undercoat and Dad attaches the seat belt hooks. 

Soap Box Workshop: Seat Belt

The rules say you have to have a lap belt and a shoulder belt. But how do we attach them? Will this be sufficient for the inspection? AAaaaahh! The race is TOMORROW! 

Old Haunts

I recently returned for a run in my old training ground.

I have nicknamed my usual runs, and the route in question is called 'Alley-8'. As you may know if you have looked at my running log, Alley-8 used to be my most common route and many of the entries in the PBGs' Path were 'born' while running this route.

Anyway, on my return to Alley-8, I ran into 'the man in Green', who recognized me and told me that he wondered where I had been. I had to slow down to talk to him (good thing, because I was running sub 4:30 min/km and probably about to have a heart attack) and we had a good, but short, conversation about running and injuries.

I also ran by Hunter's house. There have been some changes in his yard and I am unsure wheather he even lives there anymore. As I started this entry, I did a google search of my own site and on a whim, I did a search for Hunter.

Ah, the good old days of running and PBGing (if you will permit my verbification :-) ). Recently, running has become more about fastness than about spirituality. Concerns for Hunter have been replaced with concerns for minutes-per-kilometers. All about the next marathon. All about, well, me.

Sad, sad, sad.

The distractions have run their course. Even my blog stands neglected.

On the Soap Box

Well, I have been AFK (for my non-chat savvy friends, Away From Keyboard) for some time now.

But I have a good excuse. Well, not for being AWOL (for the non military, Absent WithOut Leave) from my blog (perhaps that should be Absent From Blog or just Abandoned By Blogger) it isn't that good an excuse. But it will explain some of my absence.

I have been out in my garage with my 13 year old son making a Soap Box Derby racer. Our City is having a Centennial celebration this year and the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues hosted a Derby. I started building the car pretty late and, therefore, had to spend a lot of time in the garage cursing and many more hours haunting the local hardware stores. Pretty much all my free time has gone into either running a marathon or building a racer lately.

Today was race day and my whole family was pumped. I won't go into all the details here (unless some one asks :-) ) but we had a great day of racing. We won the first 3 of our heats and could have won the 4th if we didn't go off course and hit a pylon or two. Oh well. Our racer worked pretty well but I did have to make a few fix-ups during the race. Susan asked me to post pictures, and I promise I will, but I have to get the developed first (for the techies, that means I go to a store, pay money, wait 1 1/2 hrs, and THEN scan the pictures into my computer! No digital camera here in the Canadian wastes.) I can't wait to see what people captured of the race.

Oh, and I owe you a Marathon race report as well.

Off to work I go

Well, I finally landed a job. I will be working as a programmer using a programming 'language' called LabView for an electronics company that makes sensing equipment. This job will be using real-time programming in a language I don't have any experience in, so I feel lucky to have landed it.

It is also an interesting company that seems to be doing quite well. It has a very good recent track record.

I guess my Parachute book pegged it right. After 4 1/2 months of looking for suitable work using the internet job boards, I finally got my job... through a friend.

So if you are waiting for a great job opportunity to be posted on Monster or some other internet job board, that is JUST right for you, remember that thousands of other people will see that opportunity too and potential employers will have to wade through 1000s of resumes to find that pearl in all the yucky oysters.

If you are that pearl, that's great, but take it from this clam, networking is much more fruitful.

PBGs and the UnderBlog

Thank You Susan for recommending The PBGs Path to "Celebrating the Underblog 2004" list.

Do you know of (or run) a quality blog that deserves a bit of extra attention? What blog/s do you read that you wish others knew about?

Susan added a comment linking my site and added a quote from my Introduction to the PBGs page. On her Sister's page, she also describes what the underblog list is about.

So far I have only had one hit from the underblog list, but since my page is way down the page (on page 8!), it is surprising that anyone even looked down that far.

I guess I need to consider updating my blog more regularly if I am actually going to have visitors.

Sorta like keeping a clean house. If nobody is coming, what is the point of cleaning up? But when someone does come, you spend the whole time of their vist bustling around cleaning dishes and moving stacks of magazines.

Hmmm. My dishes are done, but the house IS a mess. Posting will have to come later, I guess <Grin>

Shy Away

I think my comments are working properly. Then again, I haven't exactly been flooded with comments lately. Susan Prince of Sisters' emailed me to say that she couldn't open the comment window by clicking the comment link below. It works for me and I have received comments from Ron and Mike among others.

Is there anyone else who can't make a comment?

Leave a comment below...

No, wait, that won't work. Um..

Alas, I will have to for-go my usual shyness and paranoia and release my email address so you can contact me that way. I guess it is time to dive into the deep end of the blog-o-pool and start standing by my words.

I can be reached at TerminalMan90_AT_gmail_DOTcom

Susan says she has JavaScript turned on and thinks that the Haloscan popup isn't being suppressed by a popup suppressor. Anybody have another idea about what might be going wrong on her end?

Caution: Stats may be Habit Forming

I admit it. I am a stats junky.

I haven't started a 12 step program yet, but I admit that I have a compulsion to check my website stats at least 4 times a day. I just can't resist the temptation to see how many new visitors I have. I love to see what posts are getting the hits. I want to know who I am drawing in with what.

Call me vain.

There is no question about it Holmes. Curiosity killed this cat.

But I am sometimes at a loss to figure out what people where really looking for from the search terms they type in. What do you think the person who typed in "Rat Food" was looking for? I can tell that they didn't find discount rat pellets or weed rat stew recipes on The PBGs' Path.

Some of you might be asking yourself, "Why was TM90 posting about Rat Food anyway?".

Mission with the Works Please

Mike posts on Waving or Drowning? (which, BTW, is a poem I love and wrote an essay about at university. The poem is "Not Waving But Drowning" by Steve Smith.) about Works and their importance to Spirituality.

We do not do the work. On that I agree with you. I do think we have the responsibility to "prepare the soil". In our little tribe we talk about doing our part so God can do His part. He makes all this available to us, but we are responsible for working with God in this formation.

The PBGs really agree with this post. Works are as important as faith. You cannot control God nor can you "push the plan". On the other hand, God doesn't make all the decisions either. If you are unwilling to play the part cast by God for you, the plan is altered irrevocably. That doesn't mean it is ruined, just changed. When you work with God instead of against God, things go in the right direction. When you work against God, good things still happen, but I suspect they are not as grand as the were meant to be.

Chicken and Egg Question

Okay, so I have been giving Faith and Salvation a lot of thought lately. And, sure enough, at church today, that seemed to be the focus of the sermon. The PBGs are relentless.

Or maybe that is just me.

Briefly, the reading today was about Jesus eating with the Pharisee, Simon. Along comes a woman of 'low social standing' who crys on Jesus' feet, drys them with her hair and anoints them with perfume from an alabaster jar (Luke 7:36-50) (not to be confused with Mary and the Alabaster jar).

Listening to the viewpoint of our Minister, I heard that God's grace is given to all. I asked him after the service my "Chicken and the Egg question." I said, "Which comes first, Faith or Salvation (i.e. the grace of God)?"

He said that in his opinion we didn't have to do anything special to earn God's grace, it is available to anyone who is willing to accept it. I expect that means he doesn't think too highly of the concept original sin then either.

Humming Bird Nest

Here is a series of pictures depicting the birth of a humming bird. Thank you Mom for the link.

This is truly amazing! Be sure to click on NEXT PAGE at the bottom of each page...there are four pages. Adults and children will find this very interesting. Enjoy!!!

This lady found a humming bird nest and got pictures all the way from the egg to leaving the nest. Took 24 days from birth to flight. Very neat and good pictures.
Humming Bird Nest

I was told to share it with the grandkids and kids, which I did, and I also thought I would share it with the PBGers too.