Time Constraints

I had a lazy Sunday today and decided to check up on my blog. I was shocked to see that I haven't posted in over three months!? I checked and I'm still paying a monthly bill to my automatic blog writer so I'm now quite disappointed in him and yes, a lawsuit will be headed your way Mr. Ibrahimer of Sudan. I'm going to need that $10,000 back, plus interest! Anyway, I can sympathize with Mr. Ibrahimer because, well, sometimes life gets in the way of blog writing. For him it may be piracy; for me it's marriage, teaching, running, sawing, hopscotching, book binding, and table cloth sewing. There are just so many things that compete for my time and even though I see blog composing as fairly worthwhile, I can rarely justify its position above journal writing or talking on the phone with my family. Blog posting just keeps getting pushed aside for more appropriate tasks until you wake up one day and realize that you're paying a non-English speaker $10,000 a month to also not update your blog. I can't say this is necessarily a turning point because my busyness has not subsided, but perhaps it will act as a reminder that I am still alive and you can take down the "Missing" posters of my face that I've been seeing around the local library.
One hobby that's been keeping me occupied is running. I signed up for another half-marathon this year and I'll be competing in the Richmond (VA) half on November 15. That gives me about two weeks. Luckily, I didn't just start preparing. I started yesterday. Just kidding! In fact, I started running on September 15, two days after taking the GRE. In two months I've seen myself improve dramatically and I think I'm going to be well prepared for race day. That is, of course, if my replacement legs come in by then. You see, during the first week of training my legs got pretty tired and I realized that they were never going to keep it up for two months. Because of this I responded to an internet request made by an email acquaintance of mine, Prince Juhara of Senegal. Prince Juhara originally mistakenly emailed me- thinking I was a dear friend of his- asking for some money to get out of a sticky situation he was in. I replied and told him that I was regrettably not the friend he thought I was, but since he had 'prince' for a title I was immediately intrigued. Turns out he didn't have the email address of the friend in question, so I jumped up his friend list with just a few friendly emails and before I knew it he was enlisting my help!  I cannot express the honor I felt when he told me I was considered among his top 6 friends and that he had turned to me when he was in a pickle. I sent him the $8,000 he requested, but only with the guarantee of something in return. I'm no dumb investor. In return for the cash he promised to send me some prosthetic legs that he guaranteed would help me run 'faster than Usain Bolt.' What a great guy, that Prince Juhara. Once I learned that those were coming I pretty much just stopped training and dedicated my time to stalking the post office instead. They still haven't arrived but I'm feeling pretty confident in my new found best friend. Stay posted for the race results (not on my blog, but on the Richmond Half Marathon website).
Also, married life continues to be blissful. I'm loving it.