Cleansing--or something like that

A while ago in yoga class the teacher was talking about fasting and performing a food cleanse. I thought it sounded like a good idea and mentioned it to Miss B. She then purchased a book on the subject and we thought to give it a try. The goal is to demonstrate the food in our lives, how it's prepared, a greater sense of appreciation, and detoxify the body all at the same time. It's suggested that probiotics as well as fiber and thistle cleansers accompany this undertaking. One for the colon, the other for the liver. Also keep in mind there is no consuming of dairy products during this period nor caffeine. The designated start day was yesterday. Woke up in the morning. Took all the appropriate formulas, drank lots of water, started the day with fruits and vegetables. Did all the things per the book. Stopped at the coffee shop to pick up an herbal tea and be on my way to work. There's no way to figure out the last time a coffee was not party of my day, the kick start of it all. I gotta say, tea just doesn't cut it. Sure it's hot, smells good, springy and refreshing but it's no coffee. Of all my vices that I have given up from the past, I'm not sure this is one I want to let go. At any rate, it was different from any other day where usually I am scrambling to finish my latte and eat my bagel prior to my first meeting of the morning. I trekked along with my orange slices and mystic mint tea with no caffeine fervor behind me. As the day went on, things became more and more unclear and I was downright loopy. Couldn't concentrate. Missed some vital pieces of information in a conversation or two. Simply out of it. It was time to leave work so off to the parking garage I went to begin the trek home. On the way my vision became blurry and things had a prism-ish hue about them. No, no acid or shrooms had been dropped, but it was a sure sign of a migrane on the way. Driving home there were several complications with the cell phone headset wire and it was clear that my wits were no where about me. Nope, not one bit. Got home just in time to hurl which is classic sign number two that the migrane had in fact arrived. I got into bed and cried as my eyes hurt due to the sunlight and became increasing sensitive to the sounds of the apartment. Miss B eventually got home and she too, barfed. The targeted suspect is the liver detoxification pill which appears to have sent things over the edge. It was impossible to eat anything and I spent the rest of the night sleeping. If detoxing from heroin is anything like coffee, I don't want any part of it. Day two has been ok but the dull migrane hangover has been haunting me as they do when recovering from one. This isn't easy. Two days down. 8 to go. Tomorrow is the addition of grains day! Hooray. The first thing I am going to have is cream of wheat. (with no sugar or butter of course!) Hopefully after this is all said and done I will have a greater appreciation for the food consumed and how it's prepared. Oh, and a detoxified liver.

In other news, how about "Scooter" Libby's fall guy position? I suspect Karl Rove and Cheney (Jabba the Hut to some) will skate on this one and the former "advisor" will take all the heat and serve time in prison. Although Rove is still under investigation, there is no way they will touch him. He's the Monkeybush's brain. Face it people, he's not going anywhere. And Cheney, well, they will just place him in an undisclosed location as they did post 9/11 or something stupid like that. He's not going anywhere either. What is interesting is how the media is turning on the Monkeyboy. The patriotic do-gooder good old boy image is crumbling. When asked about the increasing turmoil within his administration the Monkey was quoted stating this was "background noise" and it was business as usual. Yeah, jacked up, just as it always has been since he started if that's what's being referred to as business.

And don't forget the staged disappointed Monkeybush showed when the former rug munching Miers withdrew her nomination. I believe all along that he thought he would "sneak this one past the goalie" and receive her approval without being second guessed. I can hear him now "Well why wouldn't you believe me, she's a good gal with a good heart, accept her nomination already damn it!". Not so. As the pressure built from both parties, she caved before he had to. There was no way this blank slate would be accepted. Sheesh. Who knows who will be the next to be pulled up from the dregs.

I'm going home now to eat more fruits and vegetables. With any luck, maybe I can have some beans. Shambala.

1/2 Marathon News and Baseball

Miss B finished the half marathon on Sunday! We awoke at 5:30am to get her all ready and prepped for the big event. Last year 9,000 women participated and this year, 15,000! The race began at Union Square. The place was off the hook with runners and those whom support them. Music playing. Adrenaline pumping getting everyone psyched for the path which was ahead of them. The event was put on as an partnership between the Team in Training and Nike to raise money for lymphoma and leukemia. Along the raceway were posters of folks whom the race was being run for and those whom had passed. Collectively 14 million dollars was raised which is incredible. I got all teary eyed watching people come in over the finish line whom were so proud and excited about their accomplishment. 5 months of training to get across that line paid off. What a sight to see! The first marathon finisher cooked right along coming in just under three hours. No one was behind her for 6 minutes! I waited for Miss B and had the camera out at hour two in the event that she pumped up her pace, I didn't want to miss that photo opportunity! Apparently the course was a bit more hilly than anticipated and two stretches with lots of downhill made it more than challenging. She hung in there and finished like a champion! I'm so proud of her. Next year I am going to sign up in time and run with her, I swear. As hard as those 10 mile training runs were, I want to give it a go, just to see if I can. What has worked out well since I didn't run it is that Miss B has been pampered before and after the race. Saturday night was a pasta dinner with homemade brownies. (My mom's recipe and my god are they ever good! The secret is the copious amounts of butter.) Sunday morning started with a bagel and coffee. Post race she was craving fries and a veggie burger so off to Burgermeister we went. Followed up with a hot bath with bubbles, soothing salts, and massage. I then was quiet so she could take a two hour nap. She awoke to head over to a fabulous birthday party in which she got to drink beer and sit. Oh, and at this b-day party we played BINGO for prizes! I won a Candyland game. Can't wait to bust that out at home! All in all it was a successful half marathon and Sunday. It's been fun spoiling her and to see her sense of accomplishment. Now she's talking about training for a marathon...whew.

Baseball season is wrapping up with the World Series. I really don't much care about the sport other than the playoffs and championship. It's fun to watch with the banter of A alongside and seeing Miss B get into an organized professional sport. Sunday night in the 9th inning when the Astros tied it up and then Sox won, I've never seen her so worked up about something like this! I like explaining the rules and seeing what can be pulled out of my noggin from so long ago when I watched lots of Milwaukee Brewers baseball as a kid. During the summer the games were always on and once we were done with work for the day, I watched them seeing as repeats of other shows were boring and for some reason the men in tight fitting pants pulled me in. Back then Paul Molitor, Cecil Cooper, Robin Yount, Rollie Fingers, and so on made the way for the Brew Crew and made it exciting. It was also something that my dad and brothers could do together. Well, there really wasn't much of an option. One television, and one dad who wanted to watch baseball. I did enjoy it all the same and owe my fascination with baseball and the playoffs to him.

Lazy Days

Oh what a weekend in the woods will do. Miss B and I returned to our get away at the Russian River. This place is called "Enchanted Woods" and I would have to say it sure is! It's a great place to kick back and relax, forgetting about the hustle and bustle of the city. Both taking Friday off, we slept in, did a bit of last minute errand running and hit the highway to wine country. The first stop became the Buena Vista Winery. Apparently the man who founded it attempted to the the same thing first in Wisconsin, the little home town which I grew up in! There are pictures of the Wisconsin winery and the architecture is the same as the one we visited. This cute hipster guy was working the wine tasting counter and was the one brave enough to serve the two clearly homosexual clientele. Everyone else appeared too "busy" to help us and he was the one to take on the challenge. He spends every weekend in San Francisco the thought of hanging out with a gay wasn't probably too much of a challenge. He was a funny fella and poured us some lovely white and red wine for sampling. As we got into the reds he poured a double medal winner and I said "So this is like the Mark Spitz of wine, wining multiple medals and all?" to which he replied "You know, I have never heard it put that way before but must say it's the best description! I make a living listening to obscure wine jokes! I love it!". He then hooked us up with complimentary coupons for tasting and a few other wineries and sent us on our way. He made my day. Nice boy. Funny too. And hooked us up with a great bottle of red wine! We then drove into Sonoma and the next winery was called Castle. We cashed in our coupons and did more tasting. By this point Miss B's cheeks are rosy red and I was feeling a little tipsy. Of course we purchased some trashy wine and the best port ever made. They served it up with dark chocolate and it went together like peanut butter and chocolate! Super yum! We had to take a little pit stop post tasting to get some food in our bellies and to sober up so I could drive. We went to the local cheese store and got a cheese sandwich. Sonoma is a beautiful place but wow is it every yuppie and white. Not sure why I am so surprised as I knew this but hadn't been around it in a long time. Once ok to drive we hopped back into the car and made our way to the gay river oasis. Oh, and we did also start to check out places to potentially have our wedding. Two things we found out for sure: 1) it's expensive 2) we really want to keep it simple but not cheesy. More information on that to follow as we have it. Good thing we are getting started now!

Guernville was it's typical layout. As we pulled up to the rental agency, there was a crazy lady chatting with this tweaker guy as two bears passed us by. She was attempting to get the tweaker guy off his bike and into her truck. Mind you he was carrying two huge cans of Budweiser and two bottles of vodka and whiskey. Party? Well, somewhere there was apparently. We got hooked up with keys and directions and the regular lecture from the rental agency mulleted owner to find ourselves back onto the street walking by the truck with the crazy lady and tweaker. Sure enough, they were smoking something and it wasn't maryjane. Dirty dirty dirty gross. But then again, Guernville is a combination of tweakers and gays. And sometimes the gays are the tweakers. Go figure.

As we drove into the woods the overpowering smell of redwoods and rain overcame the senses. It was lovely. The air was so fresh. Not a sound from anything or anyone else. Just me, B, and the hot tub! Friday night we stayed in, made some dinner, and hung out in the hot tub. At some point into the evening it began raining and it made sleeping in even more rewarding than ever before. With the pitter patter on the rooftop of the A-framed home it lulled us into a significant coma and we didn't wake up until late morning. The electricity had gone out at some point so it took the hot tub a while to warm up. What to do while that was happening? Drink mimosas of course! Hadn't had those in a long time and they sure hit the spot. At some point we made it to town for dinner (long after the mimosas wore off and there was an afternoon nap!) for pizza. The Union Hotel is one of the best pizza joints on the planet. Enjoyed that completely and then came up and curled up in front of the TV, something we rarely do. Sunday was more of the same, hot tub, brunch, and then we had to pack it up and go home. I was so relaxed. Not sure if I have a pulse as of today. What I do know is that I long for the woods and hope to retire in a place so lovely. Can't wait to go back next year!

Monkeybush--This speaks for itself

Hello Dolly

This week's run was perhaps the most difficult to date. As Miss B and I were running with the Nike running group she inquired with the team leader as to where we should be at with mileagle for this week seeing as the race is only a few weeks away. Tara (a lovely Canadian who is really nice!) told us that it was 12 miles this week and then time to taper off. Next week 8 miles, week after 6, and then race day. I was less than thrilled to hear this news. The start of the run felt good and the hills weren't even as bad as the week previously. However something happened in the last 3 miles of the 10 mile loop and I fell behind. Not just a bit behind but significantly so where often times I lost sight of Miss B's cute ass. It was partially due to inconvenient timing of the stop lights and also because I was just slow. My knees and ankles felt as though they were going to explode. The last half mile of the 10 mile loop I was on the verge of tears and had clearly mentally checked out. I wanted to cry so badly. It just hurt. Miss B was waiting with the team leader to finish up the last two miles and I told them to go ahead stating that I couldn't do it. I feel terrible for not pushing myself to take on the last two miles. It was only an extra 24 minutes, why couldn't I do it? I wanted to complete the training as planned. I guess for now my longest distance will be 10 miles. I did go buy new running shoes this weekend. Can't wait to try them out tonight. They feel like a dream compared to my old ones which had about 300 plus miles on them.

It was a good weekend to do a whole lot of nothing else. Miss B had her usual schoolwork to do on Sunday which means I need to leave the house as not to be a distraction. A few times recently I have stayed home while she works and have done a pretty good job of staying out of her way. Prior to "separate time" we went to Savor for brunch with Mistycans, Ted, and some bears. It was a good way to start the morning and the food was much better this time around as compared to the last time we went. Still had the Noe Valley vibe of dogs, baby strollers, and BMWs everywhere. Oh well, every once in a while it's ok. Just don't expect me to live in it every day, OK? It was then time to head over to A's neck of the woods to make the pilgrimage to Dolly Parton's performance at Golden Gate Park. Yes, it's true, Dolly played the park, and for free! There were tons more people than I had anticipated and at one point I almost bailed due to the number of back packs knocking me over and drunken idiots falling on me. I just don't like big crowds. Scott Frick was nice enough to look after me and we moved to a clearly less hostile area while A remained with the mean people guarding their blanket. She did an outstanding job with their ridiculous requests while hearing Dollycans sing "Here You Come Again", among others. This, and Dolly's comments about the "great smells coming from the crowd", meaning the weed, made it worthwhile. On our way out Emmy Lou Harris was performing and we caught some of it as we stood in line for kettlekorn. That stuff IS crack, I don't care what anyone else thinks. It's the perfect combination of salt and sweet and it keeps you coming back one handful at a time. Super yum! I got the nickel bag and took some home to Miss B. Of course I ate half of it on the way home and had a bellyache last night. It was worth it.

Speaking of crack, the picture posted is of our three babies, Sammy, Zami, and Little Green. This was one afternoon after I loaded up the cat tree with cat nip. They go absolutely mental for the stuff and can't get enough. Although it really mellows Little Green out which is no easy job. When Miss B and I moved in together it was a gamble to see how these three were going to get along. Sam had been an only child for so long and was such a people oriented cat that it was clear that he thought to be human, not a feline. When he was found at the SPCA after months and months of searching for the perfect cat, I lived with the boys on Lundy's Lane. We all worked such different schedules that someone was always around to play with Sam. He got very used to that and eventually when I lived alone, so did he and it wasn't to his liking. Sam would follow me everywhere in the apartment and start meowing at me the minute he saw my car pull up outside returning to the abode. Miss B and I read several articles about how to best introduce new cats to a new household and it all paid off. These three totally dig hanging out and can often be seen chasing one another up and down the hallway like the Indy 500 of cat races.

Speaking of which, can someone tell me when it became cool to follow car racing? It's embarassing how much the US of A has embraced it. There must be something I am missing.