Go Vertical

This morning I climbed to the top of the Sears Tower and, man, was it easier than I thought it was going to be. Climbing 103 floors (2,109 steps) in around 30 minutes seems pretty good. I took the first twenty flights pretty well but my mouth was parched because of the poorly ventilated stairway. I got water at the 30th floor and every 10 floors after that. The continual goal was to make it to the next water stop instead of thinking of the top floor. At floor fifty I was a little discouraged but once you break through the 70's you know that you are going to make it. The easiest floors were 100 - 103 because you can hear the beeping of the chip timers and the announcers. You just grab onto the handrails and vault yourself up to the finish. The view at the top was, of course, awesome.

I'll be honest, I was a little worried about my ability to make a respectable try out of this race. My training regime included running up NCC stadium's steps twice, working out on the stairmaster once, and taking out the garbage a couple of times. Oh, and I kind of trained for a marathon before that.

The Road - Read It

I've never read much (any!) Cormac McCarthy; mostly because I'm a contrarian. Some people recommend his books and say that I'll really enjoy them. Others say that it's probably not the writing for me. That leaves me with little room to be contrary.

Anyway, the long and short of it is: I love it. It is in my top 10 books: it is a masterpiece in subtle characterization. It has one of those perfect endings: one that at first leaves you feeling a little cheated but then when you stop to think about it, it makes perfect sense. I couldn't wait to recommend it to others.

Trick or Treat

It's interesting, this Holiday. A day when all rules are thrown out the window and kids are allowed to wander the streets to knock on unknown neighbor's doors to take candy.

I sat on the porch and passed out treats tonight. K and I don't have a prime candy-passing location so I only saw a few kids in the hour or so that I was outside. It was a brisk night but I sat and waited, eating hot clam chowder, drinking an RC, and reading the Economist to pass the time. Eventually K came home from work and we went upstairs to watch reruns and enjoy each other's company. We left the carved pumpkins on the porch and a tupperware full of candy. Every half hour or so I would go downstairs to top it off. It felt nice, grown-up even, to sit on the porch, listening for costumed kids to come up the sidewalk and to eat a nice warm meal on my front steps.

I didn't really remember how much work carving pumpkins was but K and I did it. I'll try to post some pictures of our creations in the upcoming days.

Chicago Marathon

Well, I did it. After not training well for months and months, I finished the Chicago marathon. I've never read David Foster Wallace's "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" but I'm sure marathoning is included.

However, for a free t-shirt and hat, I've registered for the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon on 5-6-07. I'll blog more about the race when I'm not so exhausted. Yep, 36 hours later, and I'm still exhausted.

On a similar note, I saw King Lear at the Goodman Downtown. It is a marathon in itself, clocking in at three and a half hours. The acting was incredible (except for Goneril, who was truly bad) but the director made some "interesting" (read: political, unfocused) choices that ultimately made the play unsatisfying. I'm glad I went; I always love the theater, but I can't recommend the show.

Why I Keep Blogging

A friend recently posted about giving up blogging. It got me to thinking; here's a few reasons why I keep blogging:

1. Even though two of the people I enjoy most have never met; they still have an influence on each other. *67 went to see a movie based on Squirrel's recommendation and I am now reading "The Road" because Squirrel mentioned it on his blog. McCarthy was also an author that *67 was reading when he came to visit me once at IU. The human connection in a digital world.
2. I realize that the banal minutae of my life may not make good reading, it's nice to look back on what's been going on every once in a while. Ultimately, these posts are all about me. The smallest details can trigger the largest memories.
   
3. Even though I'm not so good about staying in touch, this blog helps people know what's going on with me and hopefully makes them post what's new in their lives - which saves my cell phone minutes.

My dad was/is in the hospital today and apparantly was on Saturday night. One would think that I would get a call regarding this. My sister told me today. The lack of communication in the M. household stays true. Awesome.