Blame Game

Another long week nears the end. I've been battling a cold. At the beginning of the week, it was primarily head congestion but now it's moved into my chest. I feel the worst in the morning, after everything has settled all night long. I ended up skipping hockey last night so I would get a little more rest. Figured the last thing I need is to be worn down right now. Plus I'm running the Half at the Hamptons up in NH on Sunday and want to be healthy for it; last year, I was signed up but had to skip it because I was too sick to run.

I've been quiet in this space but busy writing in others this week. In addition to my latest running column on the endless battle between runners and drivers, I've also been posting daily at my work blog and a new Salem News blog for local runners who are training for the Boston Marathon.

Speaking of training, I got a good 20-miler in last Sunday, although I don't think it helped me in my battle to stave off this cold. We've had a warmer than usual week, but I ran on the treadmill at lunch today because my stomach was a little hinky. So I get a good sweaty 5 miles done only to discover that the water at the gym was shut off because of construction work they were doing in the women's locker room. As a result, I had to take a deodorant shower. Thankfully, I didn't have to go to any meetings this afternoon.

Here is a list of bulleted items:

• It's been a crazy week in the baseball world. First, A-Rod admits to using steroids while playing for Texas in 2001-03. Now MLB Commish and all-around nitwit Bud Selig is trying to figure out whether he should suspend A-Roid. And Astros ace Roy Oswalt thinks A-Fraud's statistics should be disqualified from the record books. Man, this thing ain't even close to being over.
• Even crazier is a lawsuit filed against retired ballplayer and sure-thing Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar by an ex-girlfriend, claiming he has full-blown AIDS and insisted on having unprotected sex with her. He has denied the allegations, which do sound kind of kooky. The suit claims Alomar was foaming at the mouth and had purple skin, but others who have seen him make public appearances in the last year say he looks fine. I hope it's not true; the guy was the greatest second baseman I'd ever seen when he played for the Jays in the '90s.
• Man, this peanut butter salmonella outbreak story gets worse by the day. It's like the company was run by one of those crazy cat ladies who has 150 cats and 35 years' worth of newspapers stacked up in her apartment. It's times like these I'm glad I'm allergic to nuts.
• Looks like Joaquin Phoenix is trying his best to turn into Andy Kaufman. Lately, he's claimed that he quit acting to become a rapper, has grown a crazy mountain man beard, and he had a particularly wiggity wack appearance on Letterman the other night. Like Kaufman, I think it's all just a wacky stunt, but kudos to Phoenix for keeping things interesting.

No Christmas While I'm Talking

Usually around this time of year, I get all cynical about the holidays, but seeing it all through the eyes of two wide-eyed girls can certainly put a positive spin on things. We picked up our tree yesterday and decorated it today. Just seeing the girls get all excited about the ornaments is pretty cool. In fact, I was inspired to put together a rock-centric holiday song mix on my iTunes. I found that I had about 13 or so songs already, including my all-time favorite Christmas song, "Father Christmas" by the Kinks. So I went to The Hype Machine and tracked down close to 30 other songs; there's a ton more out there, too. I just get sick of hearing all the regular Xmas schlock.

After a week of hype and a guaranteed victory from the Steelers' Anthony Smith, the Patriots laid the smack down today, whipping the Pittsburgh squad 34-13. They're now 13-0 and next week they play the Jets at Foxboro. I'm sure Belichick will be pushing for them to hit triple digits against his former assistant, who ratted him out to the league after game 1 for having a cameraman videotaping the opposition signals.

Ho ho huh?

• The Dallas Marathon was held today, with news reports citing the difficulty runners had with falling temperatures. It was in the 40s. Just about anywhere else, that's called ideal weather for marathon runners. But I'm sure it's a shock to the system for folks in warm-weather climates. I got out for 10 miles today and it was 33 and comfortable.
• What's with all the wacko gunmen taking people out lately? First the shooting in the Omaha mall and then today, some nutjob killed four people at a Colorado church. It could be the season. Something about the holidays really brings out the worst in people, whether it's depression or something much, much uglier.
• A freaky deaky serial killer case wrapped up today in Canada when a jury convicted pig farmer Robert Pickton of six counts of second-degree murder. He's charged in the murders of 20 other women and is believed to have killed several others. The Port Coquitlam, B.C., man would bring women--mainly prostitutes and drug users from Vancouver--to his farm and kill them. The court heard a recording made in prison in which Pickton told an undercover cop posing as a prisoner that he had killed 49 women and wanted to make it "an even 50" but was arrested before he could. Police found the remains of many of the women on the farm; it was believed he may have fed some of the remains to his pigs. Messed up stuff. His sentencing takes place next week.
• On a lighter note, Back to the Future is one of those movies I stop and watch every time I see it on TV (and I haven't even seen more than a few minutes of either sequel). It came out the summer that I graduated from high school and I always get a kick out of it, even with the Huey Lewis theme song. So this clip gave me a chuckle.