Our “Finding Nemo” DVD is… missing.

Took Lex to preschool early this morning so I could hit the track before going to do a home visit with my mom and her cadre of physical therapists. Did some stretching and then started running. “I wonder if I could do six laps?” I thought to myself. Turns out, hell yes I can!

I didn't feel as strong at the end of this run as I did after my bike-path run the other day — probably because I hadn't eaten breakfast — but I could probably have run another two laps if I'd had the time/inclination. Soooo happy! Then I walked a lap to cool down. Shins felt pretty good throughout.

So, for those of you keeping score, that's a mile-and-a-half of running without stopping. Booyah!

P.S. Happy birthday El!

I was away all day on Saturday but I figure standing in line for 2 hours, and standing during an audition process for another 3 hours was worth something in the training log.

Yesterday, I went out while the boys were napping and Monstro was prepping for our new D&D campaign (whoo!). There's this stretch of trail that runs about 40 feet beneath a bridge on my street and I'd always wondered how one got there. Well, as it happens, yesterday I ran to it and back again. I walked some, but not much. It felt amazing. A truly wonderful run. And, I think I've figured out how to stop shin pain: when my legs were still hot after my run, I gently pressed down the front of my leg with the ball of my hand. Then I did it a little harder. In the shower, I used a downward motion with my thumbs, pressing down the front and side of my shin. This morning it's like I never ran at all. Great to have a new trick in my arsenal. And boy, it felt great to be running on the first sunny day of the summer. I figure the whole trip was around two miles. I sprinted across a wooden bridge, so fast that a bicyclist looked back to watch me.

On Saturday morning I drove to a mall 90 minutes away to attempt to qualify for the upcoming Boston “Wheel of Fortune” episode tapings. I was there all day but wasn't randomly called to go on stage. It strikes me now that when they had the “Event” puzzle on the board and I knew the answer *before they turned ANY letters* that I should have just called out “I'd like to solve the puzzle, please”, but this didn't strike me until I was up with Babykins at 3:00 the next morning. Oh well. There is still a chance that my application will be chosen for the final audition, which will be held in Boston sometime in August — with my luck, probably while I'm in California. Nevertheless, I solved a puzzle in line and won a TV-38 t-shirt, and signed myself and Monstro up for Spin I.D.s so I could get the talking Pat and Vanna minifigs, so I got some good swag. Also, I learned that WoF receives 1,000,000 applications from wannabe contestants every year!

Now I just need to figure out how to get the pictures off my phone.

Oh, and if you want to look skinny in a picture? Pose with a Winnebago. Works every time.

Think good thoughts for me today because if everything goes according to [my] plan then sometime in early September I'll be the one shouting, “C'mon, wheel! Big money!”

A really good run today. Pretty much the first time since I started this that I've been able to tweak my stride. I've been so busy trying to breathe the other times that I've mostly just plodded along. Today I did some tempo runs. The acoustic “Everlong” and FOTCs' “Hurt Feelings” helped a LOT. Thanks, fellas.

Michael Jackson is dead. I'm glad that most outlets seem to be focusing on his revolutionary-artist aspects rather than his sad-cum-twisted aspects. I mean, the man was an epoch.

Nobody is sadder about his death than my buddy Chris, who has spent the past three weeks at his job at a major Internet ticket outlet purchasing empty seats for what was to be MJ's London concert series, and who now has a whole lot of refunds to process.

Wow, this is truly neat-o: My recent Wallet Blog post about ENERGY STAR got quoted on the MSN Money “Smart Spending” blog. Booyah!

So while my mom's rehabbing her new knee, I'm taking care of her bills. And I had to call AT&T Wireless, because she lost her phone a year ago and we'd been paying the minimum until her contract ran out, because it was more economical that way. Well, I'd set up the lower payment plan for her last year, with no problem.

And yet now that I'm calling to potentially cancel her cell-phone account, they won't give me access. They say that I don't have the last four digits of her social security number. Well, it seems that somehow, that number has been changed from what it was last year.

Of course this couldn't have *anything* to do with the fact that 1) the lower rate has ended and they're back to sucking $26.33 out of her bank account every month, and 2) I spoke with the cancellation department.

And then, when I called her AT&T residential service, to get her credit balance of $10.66 sent to her in the form of a check, the automated attendant told me the office is closed and to call back between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Yeah, a-holes. It's 10:56 a.m. right now.

So instead, I went to www.att.com, to get them to send me an email. Got to their “Contact Us” page and typed my subject line, but their /common/fsrscripts/attinvite.html was not found on this server, so the “Continue” button doesn't work.

I effing hate AT&T. Had forgotten how much until just now. If you want to improve the quality of your life, dump AT&T pronto. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Sean moved to New Zealand just to get away from AT&T. Not such a bad idea, buddy.