DJ John Land

The weekend flew by very quickly. I met up with the fellas for drinks. The Santa Run race did go on as planned. And we went to New York City on Saturday. It was a whirlwind, but let’s get into things as they transpired… Met up with the guys “for drinks” at the Middletown Applebees as is normally our custom every second Friday of the month. Enjoyed an Irish Coffee when I first got there…it was pretty strong. Didn’t have another. Had a nice time chatting with Vinnie and Rich and catching up a bit. The Santa Run went on as scheduled. Decided to Uber to Asbury Park instead of driving myself since parking in the city has become difficult. Got there a bit after nine and spent time stretching and walking around Convention Hall a bit to stay warm. The race itself started right at ten, and I officially paced at 8:37-minute-mile. Not sure why but this run felt a little harder. Maybe it was because it was cold. Or maybe I was bundled up to the nines. In any event, I’m fairly okay with it and ...

Ahh…end of another fun-filled week at the office and it’s time for a first-time “Friday Five” post. Seriously, though there is much madness going on in the country, I’ve had a pretty good week… The New iPhones Our iPhone Xs were finally delivered on Monday! Though it does seem a bit Pavlovian to be excited over a new smartphone, Al’s been in need of a new one for awhile now. The batteries on his 6 have been having a fairly low timespan after a charge and his speaker was barely loud enough for him to hear it; he’s not big on holding the phone to his head (for that matter, neither am I). First impressions : the size is actually very ideal. It’s not too big, not too small. The screen resolution is very nice. There is a learning curve and getting used to the absence of the Home button has proven a bit of a challenge at first, but the swiping movements to get around feel a bit more natural, especially when having the phone docked on my iHome clock radio at the office. Al is doing ok...

During our Thanksgiving get-away, Al and I (mostly Al) assisted my family in NC with the Christmas decorating activities, both at my mom’s and aunt’s houses. We assembled the trees, connected the lights, and hung the ornaments. In addition, Al put other Christmas knick-knacks around my aunt’s place (we were staying there) while I worked out at the local CrossFit on Friday morning. We assembled my mom’s and stepfather’s 12-foot (!) artificial tree, connected the lights, and hung ornaments there too, and I must say it wound up looking pretty fresh. And I admit it now, I haven’t even begun to decorate my own place. I made only a mere dent with Christmas shopping. Not a big deal really because with family being located in different parts of the good ole U-S-of-A, it’s going to be an easy chore...gift cards for (mostly) everyone! Because Al normally has his open house every Christmas Eve, we more-often-than-not spend the entire couple of days at his house. And I am actually considering...

We just got new iPhones the other day. Both Hubby and I got the iPhone 10 (or commonly known as the “iPhone X”). Al has been in need of a new phone for awhile now; his “6” (or 6s, I forget which) has had a couple of issues such as the battery not holding its charge, and the speaker hasn’t been working well. I’ve been using a 7 for just over a year; there are no complaints about it and it has worked fine, but being in the “upgrade program” qualified me to get a new version every year, so after my bet with Jonathan was called off, we moved forward on the purchase of the new phones. The delivery was scheduled for 12/1, and I had taken a vacation day to meet it since a signature was required. But alas, UPS rescheduled the delivery to the 4th, and fortunately I was able to have our tenant sign for it and hold onto the parcel until I got back home from work that day. Over the weekend though, Al and I went to a friend’s for dinner, and a conversation came up about smartphones. Like politi...

After closing down my Wordpress® site because Yours Truly is somewhat frugal in certain matters, I’m now revisiting blogging here once again. My old Wordpress® posts have fallen into the Great Abyss and probably have disappeared. Not forever and ever, mind you, since nothing  is ever temporary here on the Internet, but I’ll probably won’t see those screeds again. We’re now into the Holiday Season once more. Al and I spent a very nice, yet short, visit with my mom, stepfather, and aunt over Thanksgiving weekend. It was just a two-day excursion and Mom was surprised by our visit; we wanted it to be a surprise for her 70 th birthday. We spent a good portion of the time helping to get their houses decorated, and I was able to sneak away to a local CrossFit® gym and get a workout done. And of course on our way back to CLT, we enjoyed a small indulgence at The Greatest Breakfast Place in the Universe : Waffle House; it didn’t disappoint. I ran the 5K course in the Navesink Challenge...