Nothing but running, and more running....

Not much happening on the blogging front these days. Life goes on but nothing particular dramatic. I did do some lovely runs this weekend, but you are likely fed up with me singing the praises of trail running up in the foothills. But we did 14 miles yesterday, and 26 miles today, so we are feeling ready for the Way Too Cool 50K in a couple of weeks (that’s Way Too Cool as in the town of Cool, California where the race starts and finishes).

We did see something interesting today – a nice set of mountain lion prints in the trail. Two sets actually, perhaps a mother and a cub; at least one was significantly larger than the other. I have never seen a mountain lion in the wild, but obviously they are around. Interestingly the tracks we saw were just a mile or so away from the memorial to Barbara Schoener, a trail runner who was killed by a lion in 1994. That’s one of the reasons that we never run alone out there. There’s safety in numbers and so long as you aren’t the slowest runner you are alright – no?

There are not a lot of attacks, as you can see from this website, but we are encroaching on their territory more and more.

Valentine's Day

As we move into another holiday season, albeit a minor one created by Hallmark Cards, my neighbours, true to form, have floated another inflatable device on their roof.


This time it is some kind of frog or toad with Happy Valentines day on it's shirt. I am not quite sure what the connection is between Valentine's Day and frogs is, but, it's the thought that counts. A Happy Valentine's day to you!

Online Driver’s Traffic School.

I regret to say that I got a speeding ticket on my motorcycle a while back (last November). The road was so good (coming into Truckee) and I wasn’t paying enough attention and there just happened to be a CHP Officer who had nothing better to do that afternoon.

So I paid my fine, and I elected to do the Traffic School Online to remove the points from my record. However, actually completing the Traffic School is something that I have been procrastinating on rather seriously. As the deadline to complete the test approached, the pressure began to build. However, finally, I got down to it last week and I filed the necessary paperwork today – if all goes well, my record will remain clean.

The whole purpose of the Traffic School is to make you read a lot of material and then hope that some of it sticks (at least until you do the accompanying multiple choice tests). The way it is organized is that there are periodic tests which you cannot proceed beyond until you have answered all the questions correctly. Of course, if you want to be devious, you can fly through the material to the tests and then open up a new browser page and Google for the answers. That, of course, would not be playing fair and I would never do that.

The Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group

Last weekend was the 15 year anniversary of the Buddhist group that I have been attending with more or less diligence over the last 8 or 10 years. They had a small celebration to celebrate their survival and growth and to recognize the people who made it all happen.

It is a wonderful group – a non-denominational Buddhist group with equal opportunity being given to all types on Buddhism - Zen, Theravadan, Tibetan and any flavor in between. There are no demands to proceed down any particular course of study or to improve your practice in any way, though there are many opportunities to do so – the cafeteria style Buddhism that we are so good at in the Western world.

It was great to hear the stories of how the founders got the group off the ground and it is quite amazing how it has survived and grown over the years. It is a wonderful group of people that I feel privileged to have them nearby.