Day Off, and a New Coffee Maker

Yes, yet again I find myself with a day off, and it feels good. The ankle is a little bit sore today (more than yesterday, which puzzles the brain), but I am still optimistic for my 10k tomorrow.

While waiting for this network migration thing to really hit the fan at 5pm, I decided to walk to the local Sears and pick up a little coffee maker for my desk. I've stopped buying coffee at various places around in an effort to reduce this expense (man, this addiction can really add up over the year!), and have been drinking (yeah it's pretty bad) INSTANT COFFEE!!! Blaaaaahhhhh!!!

Well, those days are behind me now that I have one of these sitting beside me, complete with percolating sounds that sooth my jangled nerves:


It's small, comes with a mug, and a reusable filter! I am enjoying my first cup from this little machine right now, and the results are good.

Now I should also mention that, although this $20 purchase is the highlight of my day, we also blew almost a grand on a new dishwasher since our current one sucks major ass. We end up rinsing, then putting the dishes in the dishwasher, and then washing them again upon completion. Ummm, yeah... I cannot revel in the glory that will be a new dish washing slave right now since delivery and installation is not for another couple of weeks to accommodate our work schedules - damn it! Work getting in the way again! I'm sure y'all can identify with this, especially in the context of appliance delivery. Who the hell is willing to wait while the delivery people show up sometime in an 8 friggin' hour window!!! We arranged for evening delivery and weekend install, so it's all good, but we have to wait.

All the best to those running marathon and half-marathon races this weekend! Stay loose, and have fun above all! I look forward to a flurry of reports come Monday.

Day of Rest, and Caffeinating

With the knee on the mend, but definitely not all the way healed, I have taken to heart some advice from a fellow runner (thanks Lily on the Road!) who has more experience than I and will approach my recovery more conservatively than I would otherwise. Also, my paper is still in the drivel stage and I fully intend to get it to first draft stage by the end of today. As such I will be partaking of more coffee than I should while my lovely wife is entertaining the boys for the day. She's the best!

I wonder what other runners out there think about coffee? Is it ok or a total no go? My love of coffee started when I was a bike courier and the winter months were cold and long. Getting on the bike at 7am when it was still dark, the cafes looked very inviting and I was hooked. Also, downtime, a good book and coffee just fit so well together. I've cut down recently, but having no coffee while holding down an office job seems nearly impossible. I particularly enjoy the social aspects of the "coffee break" and would likely miss that most of all.

Anyway, back to the paper, and of course the coffee!