The Road to Farley is Less Traveled

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am an NPR fanatic. I hang on every word that comes out of Bob Edwards', Sylvia Pojole's, Nina Totenberg's, Cokie Roberts', Mandalit del Barco's, Ira Glass', David Sedaris', Tom and Ray Magliozzi's, Dick Gordon's, Lynne Rosetto Kasper's, and Lakshmi Singh's mouths. To be truthful, the only NPR show that I can't stand is Prairie Home Companion. There is something about Garrison Keillor's voice that just irritates me, and all those odd Minnesota stories conjure up weird memories of my early career days in Minnesota where I met some full on Norwegian types. Today, when I was driving to meet two co-workers for dinner, Neda Ulaby was reporting on the use of "That's racist!" as a common retort used by kids these days. If you missed the story, you can listen to it and read about it here . As I listened to the story, I recalled that I, too, have sometimes jokingly made this comment about th...

I do love me a Sunday with nothing to do. I've been on the move the past three weekends. Today, I anticipated my Sunday with no plans like a kid on Christmas Eve. I moved from the bed to the couch at around 8 a.m. and lounged there until about 10:30. I was moving in and out of consciousness at that point. You know that "oh my God, somebody drugged me, I can't move feeling..." That's where I was. So, I forced myself off the couch and went to the gym. I'm on Week 2 of my "Couch to 5K" program and needed to get one more workout in this week to keep pace with the program. I still dislike running, and I dislike running on the track even more. But, I haven't thrown in the towel yet. Still working toward that 5K in October. Good thing that's still three full months away. I don't feel like my progress is very good at this juncture. Then, for the first time in years, I got in the pool for some lap swimming. What a feeling....refreshing, peaceful...

On my 4.5 hour drive back from Minneapolis this afternoon, I had time to reflect on how blessed I am to have such fabulous friends. As I cruised south on Highway 52, I kept hearing the song:  Thank you for being a friend Traveled down the road and back again your heart is true you're a pal and a confidant I'm not ashamed to say I hope it always will stay this way My hat is off, won't you stand up and take a bow And when we both get older With walking canes and hair of gray Have no fear, even though it's hard to hear I will stand real close and say, Thank you for being a friend. By the luck of the draw, really, you can be dealt a royal flush when it comes to your family or, sometimes, you are dealt some really crappy cards and come up with nothing. But when it comes to your friends, you have choices. I am profoundly grateful for my friends--friendships that began in kindergarten that are comfortable and grounding to friendships that are still ...

I would have been a contender at the Farley "Kick Off to Summer" 2 mile run/walk. I'll start with the back story... About a week ago, two of my co-workers planted a seed in my head to join them in a 5K run in October. Let me set the record straight...I am not a runner. I went out for track once in the 8th grade. I threw the shot put. Oh, I think my coach probably put me in some other races, but I know I was never a winner. This body is not built for speed. However, I have always been one to jump on the bandwagon and give in to peer pressure, so although I haven't completely committed to running the 5K, I haven't abandoned the idea either. In fact, last weekend, I spent about two hours googling "fat person running 5K." Yes, there are numerous blogs and posts on this topic. I probably should have googled "fat old person running 5K" now that I think about it. Last night (Friday), I show up in Farley and my sister tells me that she is getting...