The Houston Metroblog has a link to the London Metroblog and London Photobloggers, which have first-hand, personal stories of the bombings this morning.

On Saturday, I traveled with some fellow Rhombulans to an organic farm 1.5 hrs north of Houston to pick blueberries, blackberries and figs. The blackberries weren’t in season (they peaked in May), but we got some excellent, excellent blueberry action. The blueberries were huge, plump, and amazingly sweet right off the tree. I must have eaten an entire pound of blueberries while picking my stash.

When we first arrived at the farm, there was no one to greet us - which was fine, but we weren’t sure if we needed to “check-in,” pay first, etc. Instead, we found a small table under a canopy with some buckets and a sign with some scribbled instructions. $25 for 10lbs of blueberries. That’s a lot of blueberries.

What really struck me was that the farm operated on the honor system - people were welcome to pick the fruit, and leave money behind. And as you can see from the pile of cash shoved underneath the stone, people were indeed following the honor system.

That was a feel-good moment.

 

 

 

In the end, the 5 of us picked two trays of blueberries - totalling about 20lbs.
Here are some of the ‘fruits’ of our labor. Get it? yuk yuk.

So, with my 4lbs of blueberries, I made stacks of blueberry pancakes (with apricot syrup…mmmm) but have otherwise been popping tons and tons of blueberries. I’m also ashamed to admit that I ate my LAST blueberry tonight.

 

On the upside, I’ve gotten more than my share of antioxidants and Vitamin C, and I’ve been VERY regular.

 

 

 

just did my usual webstats check, and someone got referred to escapevelocity based on a google search for “do koreans have a sense of humor”.

1. Pigeons are the most fearless animals on the planet. They will perch quietly on anything, including 500ft tall walking alien robots shooting lasers and destroying cities.
2. Find Tom Cruise because he can sniff out the last working car on the East Coast. Must be all that Scientology.
3. Bad things happen when you drink Peach Schnapps.
4. Human beings are, apparently, the dirtiest beings in the universe. I blame the cockroaches.
5. Make friends with rich white people in Boston because in the event of a violent alien world invasion, their brownstones are left intact.

I think it’s quite possible that gwen stefani’s holla back girl is the worst song I’ve ever heard.

July 15th, exactly 14 days from today, will mark my one year anniversary of being smoke-free. (woot woot)

To celebrate my improved lung capacity, I’ve decided to run the 2006 Houston Marathon on January 15, 2006. For a while, I had decided to aim for the Half Marathon…..but I figure, why not shoot for the whole thing?

This past January, I volunteered at the 21-mile waterstop to pass out water and Gatorade to the Marathon runners. It was quite an inspiration seeing thousands of people of all ages, shapes and fitness levels running the entire 26.2 mile course. I realized not everyone has to be like Paula Radcliffe in order to run a Marathon (thank god).

So, I’ve joined HoustonFit - a 27 week running clinic that focuses on Marathon training…..renewed my membership with HARRA…..and will start pilates (and maybe yoga) classes at Luke’s Locker. Aside from the 6am (ouch!) group runs scheduled for every Saturday morning until the Marathon, I’m really looking forward to the training and meeting other running peeps.