"Beauty confronts us with the requirement that we place ourselves among...the redeemers, the leaders in the protection of life. Once you have seen the bush on fire, you are not going to get out of the assignment unless you close your eyes to the beauty.... [You] either have to close your eyes or go back to Egypt and set the people free." - Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, "Rising to the Challenge of Our Times"

Monday, October 09, 2006

fast times in bidwell park

It is hard to replicate the pressure of a real race in a solo training workout, but I tried to move as fast as I could convince myself to go this morning for my solo 5K. (Guess what, I came in 1st place and had my pick of any t-shirt I wanted from my closet.)
Either my estimation of the distance is a little off, i.e. somewhat shorter than 3 miles, or I ran 3 straight 7-minute miles. I'm afraid that the former may be true, but STILL, it can't be that far off. I guess the proof would be in going back to the track to see if I can get a similar result in 12 laps.

Today was a legal holiday and after my run I had the luxury of walking Celia to work downtown, stopping at the hardware store for more supplies, and lingering at the Peet's where I did a whole crossword puzzle (not a big one, maybe 50 across x 50 down) and the "Celebrity Cryptogram" below it. I was disappointed that the latter was too easy to guess after a few of the words started to become obvious--though it's a memorable saying that has appropriately graced many a poster on many a wall of many a high school English classroom. Though I can't remember for sure where I first saw it: "The real voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."--Marcel Proust.

Anyway, great quote, but it made the puzzle too easy.

Then I came home and set about more housekeeping. It was a day of learning about wall anchors and what sizes and types seem to work with what kinds of screws. I have a stud finder that doesn't seem to work very well...maybe it's intended for finding some other kind of studs. I could try some experiments: running it over the Personals section of the newspaper and see if it beeps at anything, or maybe take it with me next time I go to the gym. I could scan people as they walk in, I'm sure they would hardly notice.

Despite the unreliable stud finder I succeeded in moving the towel rack to a higher point on the wall, installing our 2nd smoke detector (bedroom ceiling), hanging Ce's old spice rack which, though inadequate for our quantity of spices, matches our 1970s-brown cabinets as if they had been separated at birth and together they are kind of a beautiful thing. I also mounted a new stainless steel paper towel holder under the cabinet since the jaundicey-yellow plastic one that came with the house was promptly rejected by C.

Then rounding off the day was a special board meeting for Chico Natural Foods to ratify the results of the membership vote on whether or not the store should carry meat. My feeling at this point is that all the to-do over this was fantastic publicity for the store and probably accounts in part for a rockin' month of sales in September, but the image of tempest-in-teacup comes to mind as well. The store will have some meat that will probably be all frozen or canned; for a big bloody slab of dead animal folks will still have to go elsewhere; so ultimately the difference between buying a big frozen cheesecake and a frozen chicken is what? I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a cheesecake from a chicken.

No comments: