WARNING: Long post

I'm finally back to blogging - I'll be better about updates now that I'm getting settled in more.

House news:

It's coming along very nicely. Slower than anticipated for several reasons, but all is going well. The move itself went great - everything arrived safely, but I ran into some unforeseen problems once it was all over here. My bed didn't fit up the stairway to the second floor, so that was a bummer. I had concerns about that fit ever since I first saw the house, but I figured there must be some way. There isn't. This slightly older house (1949 build) just has skinnier doorways and stairwells than more modern houses, and it just wasn't going to have any part of that bed's unique head/footboards or it's queen-sized traditional mattress/boxspring. So, I now have a completely outfitted spare bedroom on the main floor. And it is quite literally a bed room - that ginormous bed takes up just about all of the smallish room, but hey, at least it fits in there! Next, I wanted to set up my TV area in the basement rec room, and then get new living room furniture to have a real living room upstairs (no TV!). My couch and chair wouldn't fit through the basement stairwell. So, those are staying on the main floor too. No big deal there - those furniture pieces are still in great shape and will work fine in my living room. Otherwise, things are slowly finding their place here.

I'm painting right now - the office and spare bedroom are done (and put together), and I just finished the dining room (waiting for that to dry completely overnight now). Tomorrow, I'll paint the living room. Then - finally - I'll be able to get everything pretty much moved into place. Right now, the living room and basement are still filled with mucho flotsam & jetsam of moving carnage. And my kitchen isn't faring much better, although I can at least make my morning coffee ;-)

On the bright side, I did end up with a great new queen-sized mattress and bedframe from good ol' Ikea that I absolutely love. It's a latex mattress that was just barely pliable enough to mash & stuff up the stairway. So, my upstairs master bedroom is looking (and feeling!) good. I also scored a basic cheapie sofa arrangement from Ikea to use downstairs for the TV area; it's nothing great, but it does the job. I don't watch enough TV to justify paying for cable, so I got one of those HD boxes and an indoor HD antenna, and it seems to be working out fine. Reception down there is a tad sketchy sometimes, but I haven't really made a concerted effort yet to tweak the setup. It'll be good enough. I really like the notion of having an adult living room with no idiot box, so that thing is staying downstairs no matter what.

My washer and dryer fit downstairs fine (whew!). Getting the old ones out was an adventure though. I thought I could perhaps do it by myself, and I did indeed manage to get the dryer out, but I couldn't get the washer up even one step - that thing was a friggin' tank. Fortunately, the movers were able to get it out the next day just fine.

Some miscellaneous thoughts on moving:

I was struck over the past week or so with fleeting moments of loneliness and insecurity. Which is odd, since I have no reason to feel that way. I've come the conclusion that it's a Pavlovian response to moving - I've moved a lot in my life, and it's usually been to new places and new circumstances - basically, leaving behind a comfortable and "known" existence, so those feeling were a bit more understanble to experience. Just seemed strange to have them pop up a couple times with this move too. I also think it's just the overall feeling of not being settled in anywhere yet - when things are all packed up in various locations, and there's that transitional period where you don't really have a home, it seems to naturally breed some insecurity.

While thinking about all of that over the weekend, I asked myself, "What makes your home home?" Certainly, getting your things arranged & settled in their proper place is a big part of it. And then customizing the surroundings (painting, decorating, etc). But, when I was in that week-plus transition between the apartment and the new house, home was whichever place I had my computer set up. Oh, and wherever your bed is too. That's a big one. Those couple of nights spent sleeping on the couch while I was dealing with the bed debacle were quite dispiriting.

But I love this new place! The location is great - I'm a quick 3/4 mile from Lake Nokomis, and a jog over there and then around the lake will be absolutely perfect for my pre-work morning runs. Very cool!

And that brings us to: Marathon prep updates

Due to some packing buffoonery, my GPS was MIA for a while. And truth be told, my running has been ...errr... pretty minimal over the last two weeks. I'm back full-force this week though, and I'm feeling great, so I'm confident the marathon will go well as planned. When I went toe-to-toe with that old dryer and the stairs last Wednesday, I wrenched my back pretty bad. In my infinite wisdom, I decided to still run that night - somehow, that made sense to me at the time. Last week, I was running nights. Not evenings, but nights. Anywhere from 10:30 to midnight-30 starts. I was on a crazy schedule, and those night runs helped me clear my head at the end of the day. So, anyway, last Wednesday... That was the crazy stormy night, but despite my bad back and the storms, I wanted to have one last run in Mendota Heights. So, off I went at about 11:30. At that point, the rain was steady but still pretty soft. After about 10 minutes, all hell seemed to break loose. Rain started coming down in frenzied, wind-whipped sheets. I was unfazed - "Hardcore!", I reassured myself. And then the lightning started. And not just a little. A lot. Still I pressed on. The few people out driving who saw me must have thought I was absolutely out of my mind. They were right.

I was going past St Thomas Academy's athletic fields when it suddenly got very bright. Sort of bright like daylight, but much, much brighter. In daylight, there are still always some shadows that darken things somewhat. This sudden light was unbelievably bright, and there were no shadows. I knew that either I was about to be abducted by aliens, or there was going to be a lightning strike very close to me. Time slowed. Despite the pounding rain, there was a loud sizzling noise steadily building, and I could feel the electricity in the air. Then, the loudest noise I have ever heard in my life - the lightning struck a ballpark light pole about 20 feet from me. Being a military pilot, I've heard a lot of loud things, but nothing like this. I could feel the powerful concussion of that strike, and my ears rang for minutes afterwards. I watched the lightning bolt hit the pole numerous times in that brief split second - I could see the light race up and down the bolt, and then when it was done with the strike itself, flashing dots of light flickered on-and-off along the vertical path of the bolt. To say the least, it was awesome and very humbling to behold. I finished the entire planned run just fine - soaking wet and a bit shaken by the lightning encounter, but the experience certainly made for a memorable last run in Mendota!

Today's GPS Rundown:
Nokomis lap variation
5.69 miles / 45:40 time / 8:02 pace
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Now playing: opus III - it's a fine day