Watching the Detectives

The Harry Potter book has been finished. Too distracted to discuss right now, but would love to soon . . .

I hate having allergies. Where did this come from? I was never allergic to anything before – not when I lived in Philly, not in the wild deep suburbs of Northern VA – now I am just a mass of stuffy nose and wheezes. Ugh! I’d love to blame the condo, but I am all sneezy at work and outside too. I guess I must break down and go to the doctor and get some Allegra 180. My husband and I can then buy allergy pills in major bulk (like 20 gallon drums) and pop them from March to November.

Spotlight TV show: PBS’ History Detectives (http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/)
Today’s Washington Post Live Online Discussion about the show (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/07/21/DI2005072101724.html)

Didn’t get to see it last night, but this fine show is much enjoyed viewing at the Random household. When you are married to a history buff, a lot of his enthusiasm for the subject rubs off on you. (Because if it doesn’t, you wouldn’t have married the guy in the first place, because all of the random stories the guy likes to tell about the backstory of whatever random incident is going on at the time would drive . . . you . . . absolutely . . . insane.) The show’s premise is that people have these artifacts in their possession that have been passed down for generations with some story behind it (like, “This hat was worn by Custer in battle, and my great-great grandpa was right beside him and picked it up.”) and these historians actually go out and do the research and see if (a) the story is true and (b) the artifact IS actually related. You get to learn a lot about individual people’s stories and it emphasizes how history is just made up of regular folks who contribute to major events. History, when done well, is basically stories about interacting in interesting ways . . . which is why I love the show. Check it out at least once if you can.

I had to ask a totally wussy question of my running coach today – Saturday was the first day of the Ten Miler training program – but I am glad I did. You see, I am a very slow runner. I mean really, really slow. Yes, I could probably speed walk faster, but what would be the fun in that? Anyway, on Saturday, she divided us up into the different groups – 5K, 10K, 10 Milers, and half Marathon folks – and asked that we find buddies and run our weekly specified training run together. There were 3 other women in my group, and I was the only one who had run these particular trails before, so the coach wanted me to lead the women through the proper trail for the 40 minutes we had to run. So we start, but quickly the other three start peeling away from me – as in, not even within yelling distance. I just let them go, figuring, well they must know where they are going if they are going to zoom away like that. So I basically did my run alone, but it was OK because I was running into other women on the trail who were also running, so it wasn’t scary or anything. However, I felt pretty bad about it, because I was feeling like I was going to slow the group down, and Coach is adamant about always running with someone when on the trails. So I asked the Coach if I could just run by myself as soon as I get there, otherwise I’ll get discouraged and not want to come to training. Luckily, she said so long as I check in with her when I get there and check in with her before I leave for the day, I can go on my own. Yay! . . . But I initially felt really stupid admitting my slowness and insecurity to someone else, even though I’m sure she’s dealt with folks who felt like that in the past. I just need to get more comfortable with actually speaking up . . . I am so lousy at doing that in general.

Teaching my last class for the summer tonight – woo hoo! We will go out today with Don Henley’s Boys of Summer . . . Dedicated to my lovely husband, the California Dude himself . . .

I can see you
Your brown skin shining in the sun
I can see you walkin’ real slow
and smiling at everyone.
I can tell you
My love for you will still be strong
After the Boys of Summer have gone . . .