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To all of you who participated in today’s Baptism service: Thank you. I can’t tell you how much it meant to all of us to have so many family members and friends serve as a witness today. I would not begin to try and list everyone that was there, but all of you hold a special place in our hearts.

Thank You.

(Pictures coming soon).

(I wasn’t going to post this, because we have more serious items to deal with right now. But I had already planned on what I wanted to say in my after-the-race post, and since Dana did ask about it, I’m taking that as my opportunity.)

Back in the Summer, I decided to start running again. My goal was to run the Vulcan 10K in November. I decided not to mention the goal on clanMcGraw.com, mainly because the last time I mentioned a race, my running fizzled. I ran through my neighborhood, at work, on vacation, and on the track at Church. I was incredibly out of shape when I got started (okay - I’m still out of shape). When I first did 3.1 miles, the time was something like 42 minutes. But I kept working on it. I was really starting to enjoy it. I decided to give a little hint to what was going on - That’s why the Nike+ plugin appeared on the left side of the blog. And if you’re one of my Google Mail chat contacts - that’s why I’ve had a countdown on it for the last 2 weeks.

Today I ran the Hueytown 5k. I had 3 goals:

1. Run time of < 34 minutes. I ran it in 33:25 (unofficially). That's about a 2.5 minute improvement from the only other 5K I've done.

2. Don't Finish last. I definitely wasn't the last one across the finish line.

3. Run the entire race - no walking. I didn't meet this goal. I had about 4 spots where I stopped and walked. But I never walked for more than 20 paces, and I didn't walk until I was past the 2 mile part. Given that I ran the 5K distance exactly 1 time in the last 3 weeks, I'll be satisfied with this result... for this race.

It was fun. I was really tired in the last half-mile. I think that’s because, as usual, I didn’t control my pace in the beginning of the race. I believe that my first mile time was around 9 minutes. That’s way too fast for me, at this stage of my (glorious) running career.

So what’s next? I’ve actually ruled out the Vulcan 10K on 11/3 for various reasons. But I’m hoping to keep increasing my distance, and keep working on my time. I’ll be in another race relatively soon.

One last comment, pertaining to the race course: Apparently whoever lays out the courses has a different definition of the word ‘flat’ than I do.

Amanda’s Mom had a small stroke last night. They’re taking her to the hospital right now. Amanda’s headed for Tuscaloosa. Please keep Diane in your prayers.

If you’re reading this, then I’m either running or have finished my first 5K since March 5th, 2005.

This flush’s for you:

How to build a toilet-flushing Lego robot

I found this link this morning - Candidate Calculator. It lets you go through a list of issues, rank them as high/medium/low in terms of importance, and compare your feelings to a candidates’ positions (although I am curious where the various positions were gleaned from, given that most Presidential candidates change positions like people change their underwear).

Because I’m sure you’re curious: I had a 97.87% match with Fred Thompson.

For the past few months, I’ve really been trying to watch what I eat. One of the best new foods that I’ve been eating is Bear Naked’s Triple Berry Crunch:

It’s great-tasting, and pretty good, nutrition-wise. This past Sunday, I was getting breakfast for the boys when I spied this in the cabinet:

I picked it up, and out of habit, looked at the nutritional information. If you’re watching calories, which would you think was the healthier choice?
Read the rest of this entry »

Russian woman’s 12th baby weighs in at 17.1 lbs

And for those of you who are wondering the same thing I was: Caesarean.

If so, get ready for some crazy questions during your job interview. Questions Like:

How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

Explain a database in three sentences to your eight-year-old nephew.

How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?

You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?

How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?

I once helped another manager with a job interview. In the middle of it, he started asking questions like this. It was the worst interview that I’ve ever participated in. I felt sorry for the guy on the other side of the table.

Homeowner aids in arrests of two

Reason #235,323 that I love living in Alabama: “A man has the right to protect himself, his family and his property,” said (Sheriff Herbie) Johnson. “I’m so proud of him. I’m thinking about buying him a box of shells so he can keep that shotgun loaded.”