Surprise Doc!

Today's Haiku

Flustering doctors
prattle off explanations
for my parasites

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles
DAREBEE: (Had to choose either running or the this because of Malaria stuff)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Dram from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Malaria Update!

I've been a little silent about the Malaria Study so I'll catch everyone up on what's happened since my last update. So after the hotel phase, I came back a week later to check in and get my blood analyzed. During that period they discovered that multiple people had come down with malaria after the hotel phase and had to return for treatment. So just to be safe, they treated everyone with Malarone for three days. It wasn't a big deal, just a little bit of nausea the second day. I thought I was in the clear today, since it was my final test and I didn't have symptoms. NOPE! Turns out my tests came back positive and I've got to go through a whole different treatment from the Malarone. Whopee. 

Today's Haiku

Rusty exhaust pipe
We think we're in deep caca
But the alarm's false

Today's Workout
(Too busy reeling from Malaria and a car repair)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Ritzy from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Fire in Spirit

Today's Haiku

Presents by the fire
well actually a fake fire
It's the thought that counts

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles
DAREBEE: Day 75 from 90 Days of Action

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Betwixt from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Wind and Weeeeee

Today's Haiku

Unbearable winds
cut through my thin long-sleeved shirt
and redden my hands

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles
DAREBEE: Day 74 from 90 Days of Action

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Yahoo from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

First Day Back

Returning home after the holidays is always a shock, and it's especially weird considering we're going back so soon. And after the excitement of the election work and the malaria study I'm suddenly finding myself a little lost on this final leg of 2018. Is it weird that every year continues to feel like the end of the world? Has this always been the case?

Today's Haiku

Predatory call
to try and hire me as a
pyramid builder

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles
DAREBEE: Day 73 from 90 Days of Action

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Quirk from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

TRAVEL DAY: Headed back home

Drove for 10 hours to get home today. Two hours longer than usual because of crazy Thanksgiving traffic but since we left really early we skipped a decent amount of it. Excited to be back home and digging back into normal life...that is until we make the trip again in a month for Christmas!

I've been posting these updates on my goals and fasts and feeling great about them. There are a few I'm still falling behind on and I've been finding doing Vegan days is very hard. I can't find an easy comfort food to turn to that doesn't involve cheese....it would really help if I was lactose intolerant. Maybe it'll still happen? It apparently develops in a lot of people later in life.

Week 22

Stats:

Running Mileage: 413.37/1,000

Drinks: 163/365

Vegan: 22/100

Books Completed: 12/25

Words Written: 167,495/350,000

Fasts (Days without)

Internet: 74/171

TV: 56/120

Gaming: 90/141

Booze: 67/163

Coffee: 56/150

Junk (Savory): 53/100

Junk (Sweet): 77/100

Eat Out: 100/100

Today's Haiku

Pants down to ankles
A rest stop bathroom kid beams
peeing like a champ

Today's Workout
(On the road all day)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Occlusion from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Bombers

Today's Haiku

Diner called Bombers
where the riveters ate eggs
and American fries 

Today's Workout
Running: 3.15 miles
DAREBEE: (Off for travel)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Audacious from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Hot Sauce Tasting

Today's Haiku

Crackers in a row
kissed with spots of burning sauce
Time to man up boys

Today's Workout
Running: 3.75 miles
DAREBEE: (Off for Holiday)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Impromptu from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Turkey Daaaayyyyyyy

Mom set up a drawing station during part of the festivities. The result is at the bottom of the post :P

Today's Haiku

Hosting the high court
kin feasting like royalty
and drinking like squires

Today's Workout
(Off for T-day)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Cornucopia from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Bottle Feeder

Today's Haiku

Booze receptacles
fed in at ten cents a pop
we made fifteen bucks

Today's Workout
(Taking the day for chores and T-Day prep)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Noisome from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Do I Still Call it Home?

Back at my childhood home! Both nostalgic and surreal, as usual.

Today's Haiku

After dinner drinks
for tonight's entertainment:
Youtube videos

Today's Workout
Running: 3.2 miles
DAREBEE: (Off due to travel)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Perforce from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Frosty the Fire Truck

More family chill time, moving boxes, hanging lights and raking leaves.

Today's Haiku

Frost caked fire engine
old and labeled "L7"
Caged behind chain link

Today's Workout
Running: 4.2 miles
DAREBEE: (Off for the Holidays)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Henchman from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Turkey Down

Week 21

Stats:

Running Mileage: 399.12/1,000

Drinks: 147/365

Vegan: 22/100

Books Completed: 12/25

Words Written: 156,620/350,000

Fasts (Days without)

Internet: 68/171

TV: 52/120

Gaming: 85/141

Booze: 65/163

Coffee: 54/150

Junk (Savory): 52/100

Junk (Sweet): 73/100

Eat Out: 98/100

Today's Haiku

Bright plastic carcass
A turkey, once inflated
strewn out on the lawn

Today's Workout
Running: 4.24 miles
DAREBEE: (Waived during travel time)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Chapel from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

TRAVEL DAY: MICHIGAN!

Eight hour road trip to the Mitten!

Today's Haiku

Through Appalachia

careening between snowbanks
and stalwart semis

Today's Workout
(On the road)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Susurrous from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Homeward Bound

The night before heading out to Michigan for Thanksgiving! It'll be the first time spending it at home since graduating college 8 years ago.

Today's Haiku

Packing a car load
So much more space than a plane
We go overboard

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles
DAREBEE: Day 72 from 90 Days of Action

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Exculpate from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Flaky

Today's Haiku

Obese snowy flakes
pummel the still shedding leaves
unwelcome right now

Today's Workout
(SNOWED OUT!)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Memento from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Creepy Jester

I drew a creepy jester today. It is below. I am proud of it.

Today's Haiku

Stoking a fake fire
Crumpling the black paper coals
and placing the logs

Today's Workout
Running: 2.25 miles
DAREBEE: NOPE

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Tomfoolery from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

CPR

I took a CPR course tonight from 6:30 to 9:30. Emily and I took it together with three other people. It was scary to think about doing any of it on a dying person. I'd like to think I'd have the kind of focus and resolve to not get paralyzed in a situation like that. Especially the baby choking/cardiac arrest one. But I don't know. The only way you know is if it happens to you, right?

Today's Haiku

Tan plastic baby
grab its neck, lay on your knee
and pound on its back

Today's Workout
Running: (Alas the day did not permit me the time)
DAREBEE: Day 71 from 90 Days of Action

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Recalcitrant from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Muffins!

Made muffins today!

Today's Haiku

Surly groundskeeper
hurls his faulty leaf blower
Guess he's done today

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles
DAREBEE: Day 70 from 90 Days of Action

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Admonish from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Swipes and Swords

Oh my! Twenty weeks already. And I'm still on track to get my miles in!! A pat on the back well deserved. 

Week 20

Stats:

Running Mileage: 386.43/1,000

Drinks: 139/365

Vegan: 22/100

Books Completed: 12/25

Words Written: 147,123/350,000

Fasts (Days without)

Internet: 67/171

TV: 49/120

Gaming: 81/141

Booze: 62/163

Coffee: 50/150

Junk (Savory): 49/100

Junk (Sweet): 68/100

Eat Out: 93/100

Today's Haiku

A nighttime journey
We just miss getting sideswiped
White-knuckled the rest

Today's Workout
Running: 6.1 miles
DAREBEE: Day 69 from 90 Days of Action

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Valorous from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Home Bodies

Today's Haiku

DO NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE!
Why? Oh it's just cold outside
and we don't wanna

Today's Workout
(Windstorms and Headstorms)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Furlong from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Chilling and 'Dueing

Had a first day of real apathy toward running and working out due to the weather and fatigue from the election. I deserve it, right?

Today's Haiku

Cheesy fondue pot
A diverse vegetable spread
We some classy WASPs

Today's Workout
(Feeling lazy)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Boustrophedon from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Getting Back in the Vegan Game!

Finally managed a vegan day! I've been struggling because it's eggnog season and ever since I've become an adult, I buy it whenever I can. Seriously. I got my first carton back in early October. I'm already mourning when they'll stop carrying it in January.

Today's Haiku

Vegan clam chowder
fishy without the mollusks
and hardy to boot!

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles
DAREBEE: Day 68 from 90 Days of Action

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Palmary from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Testing the Day After

Breaking after the insanity that was yesterday. Trying not to read too much news and political analysis. Failing miserably.

Today's Haiku

late evening house call
lab tech makes a thorough check
for life insurance

Today's Workout
Running: None today
DAREBEE: Day 67 from 90 Days of Action

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Derring-Do from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

ELECTION DAY IS HERE!!

Got up at 4:30 do get my typical chores done at home so I could get to my polling place and start setting up at 6. Our chief judge brought us muffins and I spent the first part of the morning helping one of my fellow judges unload his lunch and set up his work station. He was a large gentlemen in a scooter with paralysis in both his legs and one of his arms. His name was Rodney and he liked to know things and tell you about the things he knew. It was exhausting as he fixated on me, maybe it was  my youth, or gender or just general kindness and he made sure to roll up next to me. Thankfully, this first part of the day was insanely busy. I worked one of the digital check-in machines and got my script for the whole encounter down pat. I saw all manner of folk and it was great to see so many bright and hopeful faces. I saw someone in a Fallout shirt (Fallout is popular video game) and when I commented on it she said she was actually working on it! I saw an old acquaintance from my college who did not recognize me. Since I saw a lot of local addresses, I meet many people from my apartment complex. In fact, because of the nature of my area, I mainly referenced the same ten street addresses with the only difference being the apartment number. I made the same stupid jokes over and over, polishing the routines for each new person, trying to read their faces as they approached. I found this part great fun and a delightful challenge. Unfortunately you also heard other people's pitches and poor Rodney was a kind guy but his delivery would fall flat and he didn't learn from his mistakes. His intros were often something like, "Are you with the bride or the groom?" or "Are you here for the barmixtzfah?" These would mostly lead to confusion and nervous laughter...a hard opener for Rodney to recover from later in the transaction.

I took my first (and only break) around 11. Afterward I got to change where I was sitting and ended up next to my dear dear friend Janice, who I had only met a week ago, but we just GOT each other. This is what helped make the day go by so much easier from that point forward. She worked the Provisional Ballot table where all the people with address, precinct and absentee problems go to fill out more paperwork and carry around bright orange folders. Janice taught me how to do it all and and quickly got the whole gist of it in a half hour or so. Then I was doing that on top of the check-in and we both got pretty good at anticipating each other at our orange table. It was nice to be working in a high pace environment with a teammate that I liked and trusted. It was painfully reminiscent of my time in the Boston fringe theater and my restuarant/bar work in Baltimore.

But the weirdest thing of the whole night: When I was looking up a gentlemen's name in the database and got his address to match, I had to do a double take as it was listed as MY address. I looked at it a few times, to the point where the man asked if something was wrong. Procedure had me verify his address after his name and when I asked he gave me a completely different one then mine. I was grateful for this, otherwise I would have started having a reality bending break-down in the middle of the polling place. I then, quite dumbly said, "I live at the address you have listed." and there was a pause. He said "What?" Then I asked him if he had lived there before and he said yes but not in a couple of years and we both had this moment of surreal wonder at the sheer odds of the encounter. Then I shook his hand, at his prompting, and sent him of to get his address changed so I could keep working.

Our precinct closed like an hour later than planned due to the sheer number of people in line at the end of the day (1300 people came through our tiny room). We were all frazzled since there had only been one break for most of us and we needed to finished packing everything up that night. additionally there weren't a whole lot of young people so a bunch of tasks got relegated to me. I would usually be fine with this, but I was also designated the Driver for the precinct, which means taking all the digital and physical ballots from the polls to a drop-off point nearby. I was told this needed to be done as soon as possible so I was on edge about making sure that I was ready to take it when the time came. But I received no clear indication as to how long it would take and ended up getting on my hands and knees and hastily removing and organizing all the wiring and pollbook stuff. Most everyone else just looked tired and lost and went to eat pizza and count spare ballots. Oh yeah that reminds me. We got eight pizzas from some mystery benefactor. No idea where they came from. Or best theory is that there's some organization that does it. Which is patently ludicrous. So I did a bunch of work while people sat around and ate pizza, all the while freaking out about when I would need to drop everything to be the government's lamest getaway driver. So I was pretty angry near the end, and it didn't help that I had three old dudes simultaneously try to give me directions to where I was going despite the fact I had the address and could just use my GPS. I tried to tell them but they were so frustratingly hungry for a time when that information was actually useful I nodded along with gritted teeth. I eventually got the four blue bins in my car and headed to the drop-off point fuming. It wasn't too far and at a local school. A line of cars was waiting for me there, where men were stripping the cars of their blue cargos while clueless high schoolers in reflective outfits took the paperwork. After they unloaded my vehicle the teenagers gave me a receipt for the corresponding paperwork, a yellow carbon copy. I wasn't returning to the precinct so I asked, "What am I supposed to do with this?" And the high schoolers just sorta looked at each other, shrugged and one said, "Keep it?". So I did. Hopefully someone important didn't need them...

Today's Haiku

Up to my eyeballs
with the shambling populace
This is my precinct

Today's Workout
(Working the polls!)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Umbrage from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

A Doll and A Beaver

It's the day before the election! We had a prep meeting at my precinct polling place and I was surprised at how small it was...maybe it would be as busy as the last one. There is pretty bad weather predicted for tomorrow. I have mixed feelings about it.

Today's Haiku

Sopping little doll
splayed out on wet wood chips
Contemplating death

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles
DAREBEE: (Still letting the back heal)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Mordant from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Mining it up!

First update in November

Week 19

Stats:

Running Mileage: 374.13/1,000

Drinks: 130/365

Vegan: 21/100

Books Completed: 12/25

Words Written: 135,746/350,000

Fasts (Days without)

Internet: 64/171

TV: 45/120

Gaming: 81/141

Booze: 59/163

Coffee: 49/150

Junk (Savory): 46/100

Junk (Sweet): 67/100

Eat Out: 87/100

Today's Haiku

Back in the CubeWorld
we sink to the underground
and mine resources

Today's Workout
Running: 3.1 miles
DAREBEE: Day 66 from 90 Days of Action (Part Four)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Gridiron from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

In the Dungeons

Lazy lazy day. Both of us are aching - the wife with calve pain and myself with back.

Today's Haiku

Rat Man and Golem
Cut through swathes of the undead
Heroes on the  prowl

Today's Workout
Running: 2.2 miles
DAREBEE: Day 66 from 90 Days of Action (Part Three)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Sinew from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Write write write!

Diving into National Novel Writing Month again this year! Last year I succeeded in writing the 50,000 words required by the challenge, though the content itself was all planning and stream of consciousness. It was a valuable exercise and I hope to progress even further this time around.

Today's Haiku

It's Nanowrimo!
The words flow smooth like honey
and fast like water

Today's Workout
Running: (Not today due to election caused back pain)
DAREBEE: Day 66 from 90 Days of Action (Part Two)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Connive from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***

Final Early Voting Day

Today was my last day of working as an early voting judge. It was very VERY busy. I worked both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and they were pretty busy, with a rather steady stream of people coming in throughout the day. On those days we voted around 2,100 to 2,200 people. They told me those numbers were impressive and I believed them because I didn't really stop working for the whole 10 hours shift. But today? Oh today was insane.

It was the last day of early voting before the election and it seemed to have affected the turnout. We had multiple local news crews come through. I stood for four hours straight helping voters with the ballot scanners. As the day went on, things did not let up and then around 4:30, the steady stream turned into a broken fire hydrant. The line to vote wrapped all the way outside and across the street to the movie theater. I had my ballot explanation pitch down to a science and we couldn't get them through fast enough. The polls officially closed at 8, but seeing as all polls must take anyone who's in line at the time of closure, we didn't even get the last voter in our center until 9. My back and voice are shot. After all the dust settled, we processed over 3,200 people today. My heart is full and I am so glad I chose to do this. Though this does make me a little nervous for how things are going to spin out come election day...

Today's Haiku

Vocal chords, ragged
My ballot speech's so polished
it is reflective

Today's Workout
(TOO BUSY - Final Early Election Day)

Today's Drawing
(Based on the word Verbose from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day)
***Check out the full catalog of pictures HERE***