I got an e mail from my cousin Romina in Serbia last night, it seems that my cousin Jelena ( the one who's wedding I attended 17 months ago ) is pregnant. So that of course is good news. I am not sure if I will be able to visit with her on my upcoming trip, but I certainly send her my congratulations.

I got to try out my new MP3 player today at work. It's a Creative Zen V Plus 4 GB player. I loaded about 1 GB of music onto it. It's so small and light and comes with it's own soft pouch. I'm still getting used to the controls, but it sounds great.
Somehow I have decided that this week is going to be a kind of recovery week for my running, since I felt so tired yesterday. So I have just run 3 miles each of the last 2 days, it felt good today.
I have to file my taxes before I leave for Europe next week.

It's Presidents day here in the US, which is a combination of the birthdays of Lincoln and Washington.
When I went out this morning it wasn't raining but there was evidence that it had. When I was half way to work the heavens opened and although I had an umbrella I got wet.. Later it was much nicer with some sunshine.
I talked with my cousin in Croatia and he is happy to have me stay with him when I go there in a few weeks.
In the afternoon my new MP3 player, that I bought on Friday from Newegg.com arrived by UPS and I got it up and running. Which is exactly what I did, as I went out for 3 miles with tired legs from yesterday.

With the temperature just around freezing, Utpal and I set off for our Sunday run. We ran the same route as last week to begin with, but had decided to add some extra miles. At the Shea Stadium, Citi Field site we we headed off in a different direction only to find we couldn't get to where we wanted. After working our way back to somewhere we knew, we took another turn. This one proved to be better and we came home after doing about 14 miles.
I had some breakfast and a little nap, relaxed for a while and then went out again. This time running 3 miles at an easy pace, but with tired legs. So another solid week.

This is Sadhak performing at Stain in Brooklyn last night. We stopped in the village for him to meet his new booking agent on the way.
It was a cold 2 mile run this morning. ran the first mile in 7:53, second in 7:54, for a finishing time of 15:47 which I was quite happy with. Since I upped my mileage my legs are a little tired, but they seemed to come back in the last 1/2 mile. My form was quite good and I really felt like I was racing.
FA Cup 5th round today and the shocker was Barnsley beating Liverpool 2-1 with a last minute goal. Cardiff beat Wolves, West Brom beat Coventry. So there 3 Championship teams left in the final 8.

First of all I woke up on time this morning. When I stopped in for my hot chocolate and stuff, they remembered that I forgot to take my change yesterday and I got it this morning. I gave them a tip.
For about the last 2 months I have had a spot on my left cheek it just appeared there one morning. It looked somewhere between a pimple and a mole. Kind of like the scarlet pimpernel only white. I wasn't worried about just figured it would go away some time. Well last night while sitting at my computer I felt like I had an eyelash on my cheek, when I brushed it off with my hand it felt like something more. Then I realized that the spot was gone. I guess the body creates these things and then takes them away. Maybe it's just getting rid of something we don't need.
I'm going to Brooklyn tonight, my friend Sadhak has a gig at a place called " Stain ".

I overslept this morning, I woke up at 4am and went back to sleep not waking up again until 5:20, the usual time I leave for work. I had to forgo the usual festivities and made it out the door by 5:27.
In a rush I forgot to collect my change at Dunkin' Donuts, which was $16 and didn't realize until I got to work. I managed to go through the day without thinking about it.
It was a beautiful afternoon after the last 2 days of snow or rain. I went out and ran 5 miles as I have done for the last 3 days. Though my legs were kind of sore today at the start of my run.

There was just under 1 inch of snow on the ground this morning, but the temperature was a few degrees above freezing so it was slushy. Not to worry though I had on my trusty Dunlop wellies to wade through it on the way to work.
very little sneezing and not too much of a runny nose today. I did notice that I had a strong appetite, so maybe I'm fighting whatever it is I've got.
It rained quite heavily all day and by the time I left for home almost all trace of snow was gone. the temperature had also climbed up to 50 F ( 9 C ). So it was kind of pleasant.

It pretty much looks like this outside right now, with a bit more snow on the ground. This photo was taken in December, the last time we had real snow on the ground.
I woke up at 2:30 this morning sneezing, I then proceeded to sneeze a total of 4 times then fell back to sleep. I have been sneezing on and off and had a runny nose all day. I have sore red patches around my nose from blowing and wiping it so much.
I did get in a nice 4 mile run this afternoon in the snow. So hopefully a good nights sleep will work wonders.

It's freaking cold here in New York City! I could feel it was cold the moment I walked out the door this morning. The temperature was 12 F ( -11 C ), but with the wind blowing at 25 MPH ( 40KPH ) it actually felt like -7 F (-22C ). It was one of those days when the skin on your face felt cold.
It was also the first time that the tips of my fingers felt cold in my gloves. I have to wear my warmer gloves.
Right now there is a bright sunny blue sky out there, but it's still well below freezing.
I went out for a run just before lunchtime and maybe because of the cold, my legs didn't feel so tired after the 14+ miles I did yesterday.

As you can see we ran out to Shea Stadium again today. Utpal wants me to say that this is where the Beatles played more than 40 years ago.
We did the same run as last week, but by Utpal's suggestion we added a little more by running past the Zoo in Flushing Meadow Park. I like the fact that we are doing a little extra each week.
I went out for my second run about 2:30pm, another 3 miles of easy running. It actually felt better than yesterday, but then I had run a race in the morning yesterday. I am very pleased with the way my training has gone this week.

Woke up this morning with a bit of a thick head. I had woken up in the middle of the night with a sore throat, but that went away.
I put on my running gear and went out the door, it was 35 F. My right calf was still a little sore so I didn't know what to expect from the race. As it turned out once I started running everything felt good. I went through the first mile in 7:43, the second in 7:47, both faster than any mile I had run in previous weeks. My finish time was 15:30, my best time so far this year by 20 seconds. I also won the spot prize, where they pick a race number at random. The winner gets a running log book and a pen. So all in all I did pretty good.

There was a distinct nip in the air this morning. For some reason I was in a really happy mood all day. My right calf was a little sore from my longer run yesterday, for some reason.
When I went out for my run this afternoon I felt quite good. Again I don't know why but from time to time during the day I found myself reflecting on the subject of happiness.
In my net surfing exploits of the day I came across The Henry Rollins Show, so that is something new for me to watch, I like Henry Rollins.

There's been a lot of talk about recession and economic downturn lately. We seem to be really busy at work, just as we seem to to catch up with things a new big order comes in.
As I started out on my run this afternoon my legs felt very heavy, so I decided just to run 5k instead of the 5 miles I had planned. However as I was completing my run I saw Utpal going out on his. So I joined him and ended up running a total of 6 miles. So all in all it turned out pretty good.

It was warm today. When I went out fro my run this afternoon, it was 64 F so I didn't have to pack on so many clothes. While I was out running I passed a group of trees that was completely full of blackbirds. There must have been about 300 birds and they were making a lot of noise. At first I thought they may be Starlings since they tend to crowd around in groups like that, but no they were definitely they were blackbirds.
Oh England won their first game under their new coach today. Beating Switzerland 2-1.

On the way home from work this afternoon I saw some Giants fans coming from the victory parade. Yes there was a victory parade for the Giants in the city, with a presentation I think at city hall.
I felt a little laboured on my run this afternoon, but I did manage 5k just like yesterday, so I am quite happy with that.
I mostly watch TV on the internet these days and have just started watching a new show on HBO called 'In Treatment'. It stars Gabriel Bryne who I like as an actor, I've watched 6 episodes now and I am beginning to quite like it.

I think I am responding favourably to the 4 runs I did this weekend. There was some tiredness in my legs when I went out for my run this afternoon, but that eased as the run went on. I went on my old 5k loop and felt quite strong at the end of the run.
The day started off as quite mild though the temperature was only a few degrees above freezing. When I left work large flakes of snow were falling, but in less than an hour they had stopped. Just before I went out for my run it had rained and it once again started to rain as I finished.
Since I came to New York in 1978 I have been a fan of the New York Giants and I am very happy that they won the Superbowl last night. My street was quiet , but just after 10 pm a couple of guys came out and shouted " The Giants won the Superbowl. They were not expected to win, but they did in the last minute of the game.

At the start of our run my legs were a little tired from yesterday and my 2 runs, but the weather was so nice, with a temperature just around freezing and the Sun coming up. We decided not just to run out to Flushing Meadow but to go all the way out to Shea Stadium and in fact ran around most of the new Citi Field Stadium. Of course I didn't bring my camera this week so no photo's. We ended up running around 11 miles, a little more than 2 hours of running. Now I will see if I will go out for another short one this afternoon.

First of all last night was a lot of fun, though because of the heavy we did pretty wet on the way to the Cafe.
Like last summer I wanted to try an run 2 times a day on the weekends, so this morning I ran the 2 mile race in 15:51, just 1 second slower than last week. Then I went out again this afternoon and ran another 2 miles. In the summer I built up to running 10k for the second run and will try to do that this time, but it is winter and I'm a little heavier at the moment.
I listened to the England v Wales six nations game on BBC five live, at the same time my Welsh friend was listening to Radio Wales in Colombia. We chatted during the whole game on Google chat.
England built up a 19-6, then fell apart to lose 26-19, it was an exciting game though.

I think today is the first day when it has rained all day, since I got back from the UK. Well it was a chance to try out my new rain suit that I got while I was there. Usually a large size in the UK is like a medium in the US. So I got a large and it is, but it's OK. I went out running in it this afternoon and it worked good. It's a navy blue colour, which is a little different than I usually have. In the past they have been red or yellow.
My friend and co-worker Sadhak, the singer-songwriter is playing a gig at the Yippie Cafe again, so I'll be going there tonight to show my support. I should get a chance to also meet his voice coach Kathena, she of the Hippy Nuts. Who I met in October and also supposed to be coming to offer support.