I really should stop eating right before I go to bed.  I think I have crazy dreams as a result.  Last night had a few different dreams, but the scariest one was when a doctor told me I had thyroid cancer.  He said that he wanted to start radiation treatment right away.  I said I wanted a second opinion.  Later on I busted out into tears when I told my family what the doctor said.  They were all in shock.  It was very imprinting though, I woke up still confused if I had actually been told by a doctor if I had thyroid cancer.

 - Does pizza count?  How about just american cheese?  I hate pumpkin, that's for sure.

 - Straight from the container.

 - I just had some yesterday, so I'm going to go with Reese's Pieces.  Although, I kind of feel like it's cheating for some reason...

 - Funny you should ask.  I used to LOVE orange soda.  My favorite drink.  I loved having the orange stained upper lip afterward too.  I knew it was there, and i wore it proudly.  A little ostentacious, but I wanted everyone to know that I just drank the best stuff ever.

 - I have this Newegg tshirt i got for free, and I always thought it was too loud to wear in public, but the 2 times that I have, people have complimented me on it.  It's more of just a geek factor compliment, but still.  So the last time I wore it was a month or so ago.

As I was walking to work this morning, a late 20 year old guy was washing his cadillac, and I intently made eye contact with him, waved, and said hi to him.  Not entirely characteristic of me, but he was close enough to be my neighbor, so I wanted to be neighborly.  As I was past the Family Dollar in the Hill District a few blocks away, a gentleman said as he passed me, "How are you doing today, Sir?".  He said it quickly and in too close proximity for me to look at him and reply though.  I just looked up and smiled at him.  Then a block down a girl asked me for the time, which i promptly gave her.  Then a block down an elderly lady with a walker said good morning to me and offered me a track which I declined.  Then another block, this huge dump truck slowed down, stopped, turned off his engine, and the driver says, "Excuse me sir, do you know where Joshua Gibson ball field is?"  I then gave him directions to the field with joy.  Never have I had this much social interaction on my walk to work, and I was barely even half way there!  Then I'm at work riding the elevator up with a guy who is leaning his head back against the wall and says, "Is it Friday yet?"  I reply, "You're in luck my friend, it is indeed Friday!"  He asked if I was sure and then said that it's just been one of those weeks.  I said, "It's only been a 4 day week!  Must have been pretty bad!" then wished him well as I got off on my floor and he continued his ascent to where ever he has to sit out the rest of the day.  Then the network went down, so people on the floor were wandering around aimless without having the internet to entertain them, and a guy that took my old job but has been around for a few weeks introduced himself to me.

What a talkative public I've encountered today!

Yay, I'm secure enough in my adulthood to tell this little gem.  Maybe a testament to my social awkwards, maybe a propellant of my social awkwardness...who's to say, either way, what a childhood.  So I was in scouts as a kid, and really had a great time all along.  If I remember correctly, I skipped the smallest ranking of cub, but had 2 years of wolf, 2 years of bear, and I think there is a 3rd rank in there before webelo scout...had to google it, bobcat.  Webelo is where all the cool stuff happens, in my opinion, but as you can see, i was pretty well invested in the program with around 7 or 8 years involved.  Towards the end, I started getting less and less involved, perhaps a little disinterest on my part, perhaps some parental differences, perhaps going to a private school instead of the public school that all the other kids went to, but probably a mix of all of the above.  I think there was a time where I had missed like 3 months of activity and one day my dad just said, "You're going." when I wanted out because I didn't know anyone anymore.  Anyway, it was a night where there was some structured lecture thing going on, maybe about 50 kids in the room sitting in a grid of fold out wooden chairs.  I don't remember how old I am, I think 5th grade, but certainly old enough to know when I need to go to the bathroom, and I did know I had to...just not sure of what protocol was necessary to go.  Welcome to my oppressed childhood.  The scout master is up there rambling on and on, and I'm stuck worried about getting in trouble for interrupting if I just got up and went to the bathroom without someone's permission.  I tried my hardest to wait.  I knew it couldn't be long until the end of the meeting.  I don't know anyone here anymore.  I really don't want to be here.  Then I just let it flow.

  I remember now that I was wearing brand new white sneakers too.  I just sat there waiting for the meeting to end...not that I new what to do once it ended...but yeah...I was deer in the headlights mentally.  Then the others caught on.  "Dude, you're leaking" someone said.  I played confused and tried to blame it on a leak in the ceiling...haha, wow.  "I know, this crazy leak in the ceiling is falling right onto my crotch and I just don't know what to do about it since I am chained to this chair and the chair is nailed to the floor" seemed like a good explanation at the time at least.  The scout master said the final words, something that would start everyone to get up and do some kind of pledging, and I bolted in the crowd of movement.  I ran outside, with no destination in mind, I was thinking about hiding in a bush until I saw my mom, but thank God she had already parked the van in the parking lot and was cleaning it out.  Mom to the rescue...again.  I remember balling my eyes out trying to explain what the crap I just did.  I can't even imagine what was going through her head.  She helped me come up with a plan to sneak into the house so that Serah and J'aime wouldn't see.  I think they did though.  That, or my mom told them later.  I know my dad told them later.

You'd think that'd be it though, right?  Nah, dad says I'm not allowed to quit.  Time to go to a weekend camping trip with the troop.  I was not friends with the kids before because I just didn't know them, but now they're not friends with me because I'm the kid who peed his pants.  They stuck me in a tent with one of the older kids, probably so I didn't get beat up.  I don't remember much of that weekend, really it seemed like it went pretty well in retrospect.  We camped at a small airport and I got to fly in a plane for the first time.  There was a helicopter there too, and I really liked helicopters.  The worst part about it though was spaghetti was on the menu for the whole weekend...and I didn't eat spaghetti.  It was ham barbecue for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Since that weekend, I've never been able to eat a ham barbecue sandwich without emotionally cringing.  It has become the embodiment of one of the worst childhood experiences I can remember.

you know, I should really make an effort to make personal updates what I have something to say instead of these dull posts that just fade into archives and the history of me never to be read again, as if they were a polaroid photo where everyone has red eye...

anyway.  Drove out to delaware this past saturday with mumsy to check out serah's new house.  It's actually pretty cute.  I like it.  small 1 floor house, but the basement is huge and unfinished, so they can easily double their living space and equity.  good stuff.  Kallie met us there then we headed down to DC together to hang out with friends.  Then up to Philly for some more friends and socializing.  basically the weekend was a lot of driving and a lot of people.

So...Kallie's moving to pittsburgh...not entirely sure when, but it's going to be great.  Gotta help her find a place, since we both think it's probably not wise for her to move in.  Well...she needs to a find a job too...that would be helpful.  Thinks are in the works though.  Things go well on that front though.  I'm excited.

Training continues for the urbanathlon on sept 27th in new york.  I'm actually going to NY next week for work on the 9th, 10th, and 11th (great day to fly out of NY, right?)  and I plan to do a trail run of the course.  I'll see if i can get into WTC 7, since it's right across the office.  I hope they at least let me look at the stairwell to see what I'm up against.  crazy stuff.

Did you know that there is a wooden street in pittsburgh?  Roslyn Place in Shadyside is the only one.  It's hard to tell from the google street view, but you can certainly see the color.  Here's an article on the history, or really, lack of historical knowledge.  It's a historic landmark though, so it will be around for a while.

This reminds me of red dog roads.  Know what those are?  Red dog was a biproduct of mining that was used to pave roads.  It was a red colored gravel or brick chip like material.  I couldn't find any google images, but I there were roads like this back in the country where I grew up.  They might still be around...