Good morning Holly. We got 4 inches of snow yesterday night and the streets weren't cleared yet so I went to the Y and ran on the dreadmill this morning. I did a little progression run, starting at a 9:51 mile, ending with an 8:14 mile, 5 miles total, then some leg machines and ab work. They're predicting another snowstorm for tonight and tomorrow - 6 to 12 inches with wind gusts. Sigh...it's not even officially winter yet Tim - you are an incredibly kind person. What a wonderful thing to do for a single mom with no money and lots of kids. I hope she's able to "pay it forward" in some small way for another person. Have a great Monday, everyone.

Tim- That was a great thing to do...We certainly struggle with our finances around here,but we always manage to pick a name from the tree at the mall and make sure they get a nice gift for Christmas...

Lyndenrunner, yes, we do the same. I was so excited when the tree was up at church yesterday. What I like about our program is they give you the child's name and age and we can actually wrap the present for the child. For some reason I really like doing the whole wrapping up piece too, which is why the "drop in the bin an unwrapped toy" drives never appealed to me. I always pick the older boys, as a lot of folks seem to favor the youngest and also the females. I can't wait to go out and shop for the two I have this week! Just came back from a quick 2 miler with Renee -- it was too cold out to walk her! Little stiff from wallpapering last night -- we have our new flat screen arriving today and being installed on Wed., so the wallpaper needed to go up on the one wall yesterday. It's been about a year since we've wallpapered together, and gosh, we must be the weirdest couple on the planet, 'cause we have such a good time doing it. For anyone who's thinking getting a new TV right now? Is she nuts? Well, here's the thing. Those people who sell them need to eat too. We already had the money saved and put aside. The price is lower than we budgeted. It would seem mean-spirited to me to hoard the money we have. I'm using the extra money we didn't have to spend on the TV to buy more items locally to help the small retailers and to really surprise and brighten some of my friends and neighbors holidays.

Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing farmers money if the federal government decides to charge fees for air-polluting animals. The Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases from motor vehicles amount to air pollution and the EPA is trying to take that ruling and apply it to farm animals. The American Farm Bureau Federation said, based on federal agriculture department figures, it would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle, or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog. Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks was quoted as saying "Man, that just stinks." I really admire those of you who ran in frigid temps yesterday: NoNo, Tramps, Peter, Sarge, Evryday, Erika, Deb, Maine, Teresa, Larry...and anyone I missed. Personally, I have an awful time running when it's below freezing. TomS: I agree 100% with Sarge...although I'm fighting it every day, I get sick of looking at my old running logs and see how much I've deteriorated. Of the huge group of us that were running 30 years ago, there's only 4 left. My doctor is really tired of hearing my complaints on that subject. During my last physical he just looked at me and said "Look, you're still running...how many others your age can say the same thing? Just put on your jock and shut up." Also, I am in awe of all of you who can put in long miles on the dreadmill...I refuse to get on one of those things. Yesterday, we drove about an hour to a city with a big mall and did some shopping...there was a Dick's Sporting Goods store nearby and I went over there while Pam bought whatever it was that she bought. Sarge, I think you're the only one who would appreciate this. Rather than check out running gear or cold weather stuff, I immediately went to the softball dept. to check out the new bats (man, some of them are over $400!), gloves, compression shorts, batting gloves, etc. I'm ready for March. 4 untimed slow miles this morning...it was in the 20's...like I said, I am horrible in the freezing temps. ShiveringG

It's great to see nono helping out the economy this way. I think there are a lot of bargains to be had -- in fact we just finally bought a blu-ray dvd play we'd been planning on buying all year, as it was on sale. I'll second (or third) the kudos on Erika's restart. It's really good to see her running again. I which all of us could be injury free now. While I didn't run this morning, I logged in to see if DickyG's current event was the call for the GM CEO ouster. I can just see the want ad for the new CEO: "Wanted: CEO for large auto manufacturer. Salary, uh, well, that's not so important, now is it?" Oh, Bill's 26.2 mph reminded me: dawndaughter1 and her husband were talking about some eurosticker they saw on the back of someone's car. It said "2.62".

Hi Mariposa-EE. I won't be around for a nice lunch, but I thought I'd add a note from the "you probably don't want to know, but maybe it would be a good idea to know" file. As of the end of 2007, the #2 restaurant in all of Seattle on the list of restaurants with the most health code violations was... Wild Ginger. I have no info regarding whether they cleaned up their act in 2008, and clearly people don't care much 'cause it is full every time I walk by it. http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=469961 Blech. (the #1 restaurant on the list... by far... is a goofy burger joint that's near my house. No, I don't go there.)

This is a placeholder! No time to read and respond as I am rushing to a meeting, but I will post today's run: 8 miles (1:01:38) in 32 degree temps. It's supposed to be 36 here today and 61 tomorrow - crazy! Meg