Thanksgiving 2014

I'm going to do something different this time and just let some pictures speak for themselves.  So, sit back and enjoy some visual proof that I had a great Thanksgiving and a Black Friday spent at the best mall there is: the National Mall.

 

I hope that everyone had a happy Thanksgiving.

Shorties 2

Once again, instead of one big post, I'm collecting a bunch of smaller ones.

Guest Bed
I recently acquired a free sofa-bed from a family that is moving out of the ward.  It's definitely used, but not overly so.  There's some fraying of the seams here and there, but nothing that threatens the structural integrity of the sofa.  I bring this up, because it looks like I'll be sleeping on it tonight.  The air mattress that the Larsens lent me won't stay inflated anymore (looks like I'll be buy them a replacement soon) and I woke up nearly touching the floor.  Nice to have a back-up plan.

Have [TV], Will Travel
Speaking of free furniture, Ian found me a free TV and small entertainment center online.  I only needed to go pick it up.  The problem with that is that the TV is an old-style tube-driven one and it's really, really heavy.  The previous owner helped me get it into the car, but then I couldn't get it inside unassisted.  Luckily, my Elder's Quorum President, along with his teenaged daughter, was willing to lend a hand.  Even with three of us moving it, it was still really, really heavy (it's a 32").  We were all breathing heavily by the time we made it to the third floor.  (I think the funniest thing about the situation is that I haven't bothered to plug it in yet, since I haven't had time for TV.  Heh.)

One Ring to Rule Them
At work yesterday, a bunch of us married men were discussing our wedding bands: how they fit (or fail to, in some cases), why we chose the styles we did, how often we wear them, etc.  I was surprised to learn that one of my coworkers barely wears his outside of when he's at the office.  I only take mine off when I run because I'm afraid it may come off (I've experienced enough weight-loss since I picked it out that it's a bit loose), but otherwise it's always on.

Run Like the Wind
Speaking of running, I've changed things up recently by doing hill-sprints.  I was talking to a coworker (the same one that barely wears his ring) about how I was frustrated that no matter what I did, I couldn't complete my run any faster than at an eight-minute-per-mile pace.  He suggested that I trying sprinting up hills for a couple of weeks, then go back to see how I improve.  I know that Ian does hill-sprints sometimes as a part of his PT training, so I gave it a go this week.  It's amazing how difficult it was just to get the form down.  I've been doing fairly long-distance runs for about over a year now and switching to sprinting, which has a completely different feel to it, isn't as easy as I thought.  Still, nice to have a change up.

[-]ate
Did anyone notice all of the hyphens in today's post?  I don't know, it seemed like an unusually high volume.

I hope you enjoyed another round of Shorties.  I'll have to do this again soon.

Couch on a budget.

This is me taking a nap. On our couch.

Y'see, we have no real couch. We have an area rug and with a couple of blankets. And, of course, pillows. When Allison sits on the rug and wants the pillows, she'll ask for the couch. If I join her after she's already there, I'll complain that she's hogging all the couch. It's funny, but it's still the floor.

But think of all the money we saved!