Minor Addictions and Major Changes

I have a minor addiction to books.  There.  I've said it.  With all the newfangled technology out there, laptops, e-readers, smartphones, there's still nothing like the feel of a paperback in your hand.  There's nothing that puts a smile on my face like the crack of a freshly opened spine or seeing my bookmark slowly marching forward through the pages of whatever adventure I'm reading.  It's midnight, I have to be up tomorrow (today?) at 6 am and I'm pre-ordering all the books by my favorite authors. 

Mass market paperback.  For whatever reason the newest in printing fashion is to print in trade paperback.  Which would be fine, except that I have well over 300 books on my shelf in mass market and I'm a little OCD about my books.  The neat rows of titles evoke flashes of stories every time I look.  The straight lines lead me through memories of characters lives.  I like the neat, orderly fashion of it all.  I need it.  So I wait months, sometimes years to read my favorite author's newest texts because I have to have them in mass market.  Tissa by Steven Brust isn't going to be released in mass market, I'm not going to buy it.  James Patterson's Alex Cross books are half in mass market half in a narrower taller size. I've only read the ones that line up on my shelf.

I took a time management class.  It was for work but really it was about learning to set goals and finding the time to meet them whether that is finishing what you're working on at work or changing your life.  We looked at all aspects of our lives and ranked them based on those that were most important to us.  We then gave each a number for how satisfied we were with that part of our lives on a scale from 1-10.  My top three of importance were Personal Development (7), Family (8), Friends (7).  We then set goals that were measurable with a time line.

- By December 31st 2012 I will have completed a creative writing class and will have reviewed the spring schedule for art classes. (Personal Development)
- By Thanksgiving I will have lost 10 pounds. (Physical)
- By the end of this week I will have asked the cute guy at work to go to lunch. (Family - note: family includes the acquisition of significant others)

I'm hoping to report that by the end of the week I'll have succeeded with the third one and have signed up for the first.

9/12 - It's Like a Running Party!

I'm pretty excited about the performance I had in the most recent race.  447 out of 959 with a finishing time of 30:21 with a pace of 9:46.  My dad was 10 seconds behind me in 456th.  For a pretty dismal August performance of only 13.6 miles I think I may try to get back in the swing of things.  My friends want to run the Disney 1/2 in February so maybe I need to get back in the saddle and pick up the running. 

The running year in summary:
January: 40.21
February: 39.19
March: 38.26
April: 28.76
May: 42.22
June: 34.65
July: 45.80
August: 13.60
    Total: 282.69