June 2024 Part 1 - Camp Pendleton Mud Run 2024

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

Saturday, June 1st, I got to get muddy this year. Even better, it was at Camp Pendleton. 

The one mud run I had signed up for cancelled on me (sadly, since it was always fun). I thought I might not get a mud run in this year, but then Camp Pendleton announced they were having a mud run on June 1st and it was opened to the public again for the first time since 2019. I signed up right away!

The course was only 3.5 to 4 miles instead of having the full 10k (6.2) mile course like they used to have. We started and ended with the old route, but had a different part in the middle. 

It was a little cooler than I would have liked.  The sun did come out while I was there, but it was overcast to start with.  Still, I’ve done it in colder weather.

I was disappointed by how few people were there.  Granted, it made getting in and out easy, but even as other events started to die down, this one kept going strong.  I hope they don’t take this as a sign of lack of interest and don’t have it in the future.  The did only announce that it was open to the public six weeks beforehand.  And it was the first one in five years.  So hopefully, they will allow it time to build up again.

Because I had a BLAST.  I think I was smiling almost the entire time I was on base.  Even driving to and from the venue itself.  And yes, I was smiling while running.  It was so fantastic to be back.  Yes, I would have been happiest doing the entire course that I used to do, but I was more than happy to take what they offered me.

After a lunch at the Pit Stop Diner (love that place) in Oceanside, I started making my way home.  But I stopped to visit friends in Orange County along the way.  These are family friends from growing up.  I didn’t get to see everyone I would have liked to see, but it was nice to visit with the ones I could.

September 2nd's Joke

The bartender says, "We don't serve time travelers here."
A time traveler walks into a bar.

May 2024 - A Mostly Quiet Month

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

Not much happened in May.  It was a cool month, especially for So Cal.  We can be pretty hot.  We can also be pleasantly warm.  It's rare that it was a cool as it was.  We had one week where it didn't hit 70.  That's winter weather!

Other than that, it was work and my monthly game day.  The friends who started that a couple of years ago and kept it up.  It's definitely a highlight of my month.

Speaking of them, I did have them over the last weekend in May.  They're huge fans of the show psych and hadn't had a chance to watch the last couple of movies.  Since I have Peacock, we fixed that.  They were okay.  Definitely not the best the show/franchise has to offer.

I also went to the theater a couple of times.  I discovered my theater offers discounted tickets on Tuesdays, so I went to see Unsung Hero and The Fall Guy.  I thought I might take more advantage of that, but I haven't been back.

Other than that, I played disc golf a couple of times with friend who also happens to be my pastor.

As I said, quiet.

July 9th's Joke of the Week

Be thankful it's not snowing outside.

Imagine shoveling snow in this heat.

Lunch with Friends - April 2024 Part 2

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

There were some authors who were going to be at the LA Times Festival of Books on Sunday, and I was considering going back for day 2, until I got a text from my friend Donald.  He and his wife, Heather, were going to be coming through town Sunday afternoon and wanted to know if I wanted to have lunch.  I immediately said yes.

We met over on the other side of town from where I live, but it wasn't too much out of their way.  Not a big or fancy restaurant, but it was a delicious.

And it was very nice to get a chance to sit and catch up with them.  We could have talked much longer, but they needed to drive home.  I always wish we could spend more time together, but a small visit is better than nothing.  And I'm usually the one who has to drive away since I usually visit them driving to and from visiting my family.  So I really can't complain too loudly, can I?

LA Times Festival of Books - April 2024 Part 1

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

April was the LA Times Festival of books again.  I went down on Saturday and just Saturday this year.  I had a fantastic time.

The real highlight was getting to spend the day with my friend Angelique.  We've been going together for decades at this point, which is scary to think about.  Heck, it's scary to realize we've been friends that long.  Doesn't really seem possible.

Naturally, we spent most of the time around the mystery booths.  We got to talk to some authors that we've become friends with over the years, which is always fun.  We did wander around the rest of the festival as well, but the mystery section (and the booths are all right together) is always home base.

I managed to get away with only buying one book, too, which was pretty amazing for me.  Of course, considering how many books I have around here I haven't read, I need to show more restraint like that.  Or find more time for reading.

The festival isn't what it once was.  We can often get through what we want to see by early afternoon.  But we found a nice bench to sit on and just talk, which was so much fun. And the weather was nice.  Not too warm, not too cold.  Considering how cold April and May were overall, that was a blessing as well.

July 2nd's Joke

I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn’t find any.

March 2024 - Family Trip to San Diego

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

The middle of March, I met up with my family in San Diego.  We'd done it a couple of years ago, really enjoyed it, and decided to do it again.

Mom and Dad rented up a place to stay right on the beach.  It was a different place from two years ago, but still very nice.  In fact, we might have liked it a bit more in some ways.  The plan was to enjoy the beach, plays games, and be a bit of a tourist.

We did still play tourist a bit, spending one day at Sea World and another at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

However, we got sick while we were there.  My nephew had gotten sick a couple of days before, and Dad started to get sick our first night.  I was just getting over being sick, but I got sick again.  And my brother got sick.  The ladies stayed healthy, until we left.  Then they got sick at home.  What's the weirdest is we all seemed to have slightly different symptoms.  I was the quickest to recover, and it took some longer than others to get over it.  But eventually we all did.

So it was a bummer of a trip in some ways.  But we did still have fun, and we are glad we went.

February 2024 - Catching Up

Well, I managed to get behind again, didn't I?  Let's work on catching up.

Honestly, not that much happened in February.  We started out with weather in the 70's, but wound up getting lots of rain.  Fortunately, no flooding in my garage, which was nice.  Did miss some running because of the rain, which is a Southern California problem.  But before that started I got a nice afternoon of ultimate Frisbee.

I did my taxes on my President's Day holiday and wound up owing this year, which was a bummer.

The bigger bummer is that I got sick at the end of the month.  Sick enough I would have taken time off work if I weren't working from home.  I might have if nothing else had been going on, but I got sick at the end of the month, which was quarter end, so I plowed through.  I did see a doctor, and it just seemed to be a cold.  I was negative for other things.  Of course, I'd managed to give myself pink eye as well.  Got drops for that, which cleared it up.  The rest slowly ran it's course.

May 27th's Joke

What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?