If you didn't know I was back home all you would need to do is look and see if the Rays won last night, they did so I must be home.
I arrived back in Tampa at 11am on Thursday after leaving Kuwait on Wednesday 4pm EST.
Flight was uneventful with long lines at customs and security. Oh man is it good to be home.
I woke up on Friday feeling very refreshed after going to bed at 9:30pm and not waking up until 8am. Ten and a half hours the most I've slept in a long time. I went to work for a couple of hours just to check in and see how things are going. Came home and took Kathy out for lunch. If you want some good BBQ you should try "Bad to the Bone BBQ" in Brandon. Kathy and I wanted to try it because this is who is catering my son's Michael and his fiance' Krystal's wedding reception.
We came home and I got ready for the race Ben and I were going to run at 7pm. It was a cross country 5K in Fishhawk. I ran it last year and was looking forward to running it again. The race started and after about a half of mile I realized that this was a big mistake. I guess the jet lag back home took more of a toll on my body than I thought. It was a struggle just to get through the first mile, my time 9.30. During the second mile I had to walk for a couple of minutes. My time for the second mile 11.07. With the third mile in front I just settled for a slow pace and finished the that mile in 10.23. With one tenth of a mile left I was totally spent with nothing left to sprint. I crossed the finished line in a miserable 32.20. My worst finished in well over a year. Ben didn't have his best time either but didn't have the excuse I did. He try to come up with a lame story like he hasn't been able to train this whole semester of college, whatever.
We went home and had a great dinner with all the kids, except Nathan and Andrea who are in Texas. We had Kuwaiti steak and Kuwaiti chicken made with spices I brought back with me. I came out for dinner dressed in a traditional Kuwaiti attire. Everyone had a good laugh and I handed out presents, sorry Nate and Drea you'll have to wait for your's.
We played a new game called "In a Pickle" and watched the Rays win. Then off to bed.
Great to be home
runrandall
Welcome to My Blog
- Runrandall
- A Little Bit About Me. Middle age Christian grandad trying to shape up his life and stretch himself. Relying on God for perseverence. Check out the video at the bottom of the page to see my weight loss progression as I run races with my brother.
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23 comments:
Hey glad to have you home in one peice.
I enjoyed reading your adventures.
I thought though by now you would have some pictures uploaded.
But all I see are the same pictures of you and Runron.
My mouth is watering thinking of all the food you had. I really like middeleastern food.
We've been to a lot of the resturants here but I bet it's not the same.
Not sure what the "Randall Dance" is and not sure I want to see it.
Only you could have joy in visisting a dust bowl. I guess it comes from doing the Lord's work.
I'm proud to have you as a brother. I wish I had your faith.
But if you every go to Germany, Greece, Netherlands, or any where civelized(sp?) I might tag along.
Other wise if I want to see sand I'll go to Home Depot and buy a bag.
Unrun
Who is this rick o'shay? And why is he praising you? Hey, Rick (if that's your real name) your a little late to the party.
Randall trots the globe eating prunes and milk or whatever they eat over there. Roams the streets looking for maids to put in his car. And makes up stories about chickens we've never seen.
The "Randall Dance" is what his trip was.
Vague references about shadowy figures trying to run him over. Not paying for items, than acting like he forgot. Stealing sunscreen from old ladies by the pool. Buying gas at 4 cents a gallon while laughing at us back home. And I won't even mention the curse put on the Rays.
You two want to travel together fine, but leave me out of your twisted adventures.
I'll always chose the good old US of A, over a death march through some desert or a reenactment of a Hitler's youth conference.
Where's the sanity, the common sense, the decency?
It wouldn't surprise me if one of you guys had an "Obama" sticker on your car. Maybe both.
Let me ask you this? Being the youngest, when do I start to lose my mind? Obviously you two are there.
Eat, drink, and be merry, let Rome burn and the Rays crash. We're going on vacation. Sick.
See you at the grits festival.
Love,
Ron
Hey rod get it tagetha bro.
We live on a small planet.
That's getting smaller each day.
Can't we all just get along.
I love the Appalachians in the fall. And the Catskill Mountains of NY in the spring.
From the Outer Banks of NC. to
The Beach of Coranado in the summer.
I love the slopes of Nubs Nob Mi.to the Snowflex polymer composite consisting of a monofilament fibre and impregnated carrier layer slopes of Gadling TX.,Comming soon can't wait. Gotta give the Texans credit.
You see we live in a great diverse country.
And diversitry of culturs makes this country great.
But the world is also full of wonders that this homegrown bumpking will not likely live to see. Not saying I'll die anytime soon. I just know there are places I would love to see that will void the oppertunity.
The Great wall of China.
Shah Jahan's Taj Mahal, the finest example of Mughal architecture.
Great Pyramid of Giza.
Stonehenge, in the county of Wiltshire, England. Probably put there by aliens the ones from outer space, not the illegal kind.
The Colosseum of Rome.
The Leaning Tower.
Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa.
You see Rod.
This is a beautiful planet,
I'd love to see from space and from sea.
I think your problem Rod is, diversity scare's you.
Maybe a little emetophobic.
You need to embrace the moment.
Smell the roses.
See God's great goodness and kindness that makes us all different.
Shall I go on? Do you get the picture?
As far as Obama goes. I really don't see the difference. I vote none of the obove.
I want them all gone. Let's start over.
RICK
OH SHEA can you see.
Liked the videos. I thought I would see more wrecks though.
Yo, can Rod not see the joy in those kids faces.
I think most humanity is good. Sure there's evil in this world.
But I run into more good than bad.
I'm sorry Randall. I just saw your video of driving in Kuwait. You and o'shay are so right. What's wrong with me? If I went to Kuwait I could see asphalt roads and palm trees. Man, what was I thinking? I wish there was some place around here (Florida) where I could see asphalt and palm trees.
I live such a sheltered life, man I can't wait to see some asphalt and palm trees.
This is the second time I've tried to post this.
Who'd think this blog turned into a diagnoses with Freudian proportions. Throughout time, it's always been, "kill the messenger," Randall tried this and this is no different.
My stable mind or lack of it has been called into question, because I refuse to play your reindeer games of traveling the world.
A full moon or a sunset looks just as spectacular in my backyard as it does in Giza.
This romantic notion of Arabian nights or a casual stroll down the beaches of Monaco is something out of Hollywood circa 1940s.
I can find diversity at the Taco Bell, especially if they have a Long John Silvers attached. (Taco or fish, what a country)
If I must smell roses, Home Depot is right around the corner. And God's goodness happens each morning when I wake up.
In 5 years I will be 50, is this what I have to look foreword too? Ramblings about UFO men building Stonehenge and gibberish referring to a slope in Texas.
I know old age is tough, we share the same father, but I didn't know it was this bad, or this sudden.
I'm just trying to state a case for common sense, yet I'm labeled a fear-monger with bouts of anxiety.
o'shay, be careful. Randall walked down this road and it all turned on him. It's always ugly when a younger brother bring the older one down.
Look at the history of this blog and particular it's comments. You can trace the slow turn to my side with each post.
In the end truth always wins, look it up.
"Can't we all just get along," sounds a bit beatnik drifting into a socialist pledge.
Delusion is a two way street. You see great walls and majestic mountains.
I see a wall built with slave labor in a communist country.
As far as your mountain, it's waiting to bring an avalanche down on a poor village.
Who's the delusional one?
One view is fact, the other is fiction, and a sane man can tell the difference.
So go ahead and sign me up for anxiety class, call me scared, and you continue to live on the edge of what's real and imagined.
Serious discourse will never be found in this forum. Dialogue is always trapped between what's said, to what's understood.
Runrod
If great men like Columbus, Magelin, The Pilgrims on the Mayflowr. Had not risked their lives looking for a better world
You would brobably be living in one of those countrys you despise so much.
If it werent for George Washington and our Founding Fathers risking their lives and fortunes we would be eating Kidney pie and plum pudding. Saying "pleas suh can I have some morh"
All these people were willing to step out of their shell and explor this world to make a better life for themselves.
All down through history great men have risked their lives to create a better life for us.
Just because I have a yearnig for adventure doesn't mean I've lost my mind.
Sure I can watch a sunset from by back proch and sometimes they are breath taking. Sunsets are onece a day for about 15 mins. What you do with the rest of the day is what matters.
I would never go to Kuwait. It's not by bag of tea. The middle east is a little frightning.
But if Radall wants to go it's his perogative.
If you want to stay in this great county and see all the wonders here that's great. I have traveled to many places in this county and want to see more.
You schould really try hangling the dunes of Kitty Hawk NC, Take the rapids of the Potomac river.
I wouldn't mind going to the grits festival, I love grits, but I also love a good hashbrown.
Let me challeng you to try something besides meat and potatoes or grits in your situation.
So put a flower in your hair and sit and meditate. Otherwise yor are headed for serious heart troubles
Shay
PS
I think I will win more people to my side once they read this.
I will admit you are slick witted.
And can twist words to prove your point. Maybe you should be the speach writer for Obama.
I deleted the two above due to my diction or lack of it.
First off, I would expect this from someone who treats grits and hash browns as equals.
All those people you spoke of had one thing in common. They wanted to come here (where I live) not the other way around. Columbus at el did the heavy lifting, so I can stay right where I should be.
As you lob another softball, I’ll hit it out of the park.
Adventure lives in the mind. Just because I have no desire to jump off a mountain with some sort of fixed wing on my arms, or being slammed against rocks while trying to tame Mother Nature, doesn’t make me riddled with fear and anxiety. No I haven’t run with the bulls in Pamplona, nor will I ever want too, but I have run 26.2 miles, twice.
I’ve seen a ninety-mile an hour fastball coming at my head, and I’ve used porta-lets on construction sites, so I know all about thrills and brushes with death. This guilt you place on me has no weight. You act as if I’m a hermit, afraid of the unknown. Furthermore, you accuse me of being Machiavellian in spirit with Narcissistic undertones. Maybe I’m not the definition of a Renaissance man, but just because there’s an open sea, it doesn’t mean I have to sail it.
If you recall, my first statement to you two guys was, if you want to go on a trip, fine, leave me out.
Do I think it’s a bit odd to travel the globe eating things that used to be a family pet? Yes. But it is your life, do with it what you will. I just like my feet on the ground and my dinner to be stamped USA approved.
For that, I’m called into question about my diversity, code word simple minded racist. I really don’t know what putting flowers in my hair has to do with eating dogs in China, or how we got from a innocent comment about a trip I’ll never take, to I need to be evaluated by a fear and anxiety clinic, but here we are.
I went back over the comments made and it’s pretty clear as to why I think your loosing your mind. I stated facts and you talked about space men. I gave a thoughtful opinion about a political candidate and you wanted something done to them that should get a knock on your door from the Secret Service. To any government official monitoring this site, these are not my words. o’shay said, “I want them all gone.” Look it up.
And let’s just put all the cards on the table and get all the facts. Did you or did you not email me with an unsolicited web address for a Fear and Anxiety course? That’s right people, o’shay been playing outside the lines, now who’s the twisted one?
So Randall, how you doing?
Like Fraud said, “sometime a cigar is just a cigar”
Rod
The best advise to give you would be to find a yoga class.
Sit on the floor legs crossed.
Left palm in you lap and right
palm on top of left palm.
Make sure your arms from the shoulder to the palms of your hands form a triangle.
This will allow your thoughts to be centered.
Then meditate.
Some people like to say simple phrases to induce a trance like affect.
Like hummmm O mmmmmm.
You could say I am Onennnnn with the universessssssss.
Any thing like that.
It would do you good. Really. Just try it.
Don't forget to put on some sandles. It also helps if you let your hair grow out and put it in a pony tail.
I really am trying to help. I think you have some anger issuses to get past.
Touche
Rick o'Shea
This reference about ponytails and sandals leads me to believe you’re in some state of arrested development disorder. The 60’s are gone along with Timothy Leary, LSD, and Nehru jackets.
The Mamas & the Papas song “San Francisco” which is obviously your anthem because of the line, “Be sure to wear flowers in your hair,” was written 41 years ago. That’s a 4-decade gap in your thinking. I find it funny you want to experience new things, but can’t seem to get out of the protest marching, sandal wearing, Woodstock gathering, (Don’t eat the brown acid) culture.
Perhaps, this is why you gravitate toward weird food; slopes, UFOs, and wishing Presidential candidates could just magically disappear.
If only Bill Gates would’ve said a few chants and mellowed out over some Mexican bent-weed, with Dylan playing in the background, we would all be using Apple computers today. But even a nerd like Gates saw through the sham of the 60s.
From your writings I can tell this thing runs much deeper than a silly trip with the author of the blog, (whatever happened to him?)
No, this has to do with hallucinogenic imagery painted on a blank mind without regard to ones self mortality to the inducement of others. In other words, if you die on some wacky vacation, it’s okay as long as I die with you. That my friend is sick. Your warped sense of being indulges me to take a closer look.
This proverbial dialogue you keep referencing is troubling. You state, “Let’s all be one world.” But yet, that contradicts a non-conformist attitude you display by ponytails and sandals.
This is more about a commentary on the generation gap.
I know most of your 60s icons are either dead or drooling in their oatmeal at some roadside speakeasy pontificating how they changed the world. But how sad is it, that those men who cowardly burned their draft cards, now flash an AARP card and demand a discount down at Waffle House just because they’ve outlived their usefulness.
It’s very unbecoming of a nearly 70-year-old Mick Jagger shaking his behind, singing “I can’t get no satisfaction.”
The Psychedelic generation was always a me-first-generation. They preached holding hands and singing kumbaya, but their actions told of something else. Things like, urinating in public, using their heads to beat on a policemen’s innocent Billy club, and selling tie-dye-t-shirts without reporting taxes.
It must hurt when the reality of old age hits. The generation who thought they’d be young forever, find more in common with their parents than their younger siblings.
Is it a coincidence that the 60s love generation reached old age about the same time Viagra was invented? Of course not, it’s a tool used for a last chance grasp in effort to hold onto their youth. Yeah, the hippies still pop pills, but this time, more than their mind is expanded, and sometimes for 4 hours!
Fixating on green men, or repetitive chants, is truly bizarre. Usually the one that needs help is the last one to see it. I hope I’ve brought you up to speed and now you realize life continued after 1969.
As you can see, this comment page has told me a lot about you. Others reading this will clearly see how I pinpointed your dysfunctional views. Some may call it a gift, but it’s really a burden. It’s never easy putting someone you love out to pasture.
I will expect your formal and written apology on the next comment. This is a game you can’t win.
I don't see anything to appologize for.
I have expressed my views and last I recall this is America. I believe we still have freedom of speech.
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter". George Washington
And so I leave you with a few more quotes.
To quote Mark Twain
"Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."
And to quote Abraham Lincoln
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
And Bill Clinton is not the only President who said "I feel your pain"
George Washington
"Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse".
To get back to the sorce of these disscussions which is Randalls mission trip.
I believe he incoumpassed the feelings of George Washington.
Your hero I believe.
August 5, 2008 7:25 AM
Ron, never has more intelligence been displayed in one place since Jefferson dined alone.
I've been monitoring this war of words, and if it were a fight, it would've been called the moment you stepped into the arena.
Disposing of two brothers in one blog...Tip of the cap, it's not a contest, but I'm sure you know that.
The Viagra reference, is what put this war out of reach for o'say. But I'm sure you'll have some closing shots... And I can't wait.
P. Tanner
Thanks Mr. Tanner, at least there are two sane men reading this blog.
To go further would be running up the score. I know how Tiger Woods feels. I’m in the club house putting on a green jacket, while o’shay is on the 18th green fretting over an 8 foot putt for double bogey.
Got to give it to o’shay, he played better than his brother.
Randall’s last comment was, “you go o’shay you go.” Randall please, I know you put your hope and trust in o’shay to do your bidding, but like him, you must fall on your sword… again.
The sad part is I haven’t even used my A game. I’ve been trying to get up a new post for my own blog, so these comments have been weak and without much thought.
As I take my victory lap, chew on this.
Quoting others is the last act of a dying man. A crutch to aid the lack of ones own words to justify whatever meager point one tried to make.
Lesson one in writing a rant. Never quote, unless it’s you.
Lesson two: use the persons own words against them. Watch this and be amazed.
Freedom of speech is a two way street. If you recall, I said, “if you two want to travel the globe, fine, but leave me out,” I gave you your freedom, but in return, you didn’t let me have mine.
Instead I was insulted, disrespected by calling me Rod, told I needed to be evaluated, said I had anger issues, and totally mocked for expressing my views. To add insult to injury, Randall shouts from the peanut gallery, “you go o’shay you go.” Or in other words, Randall said, “Amen.”
Lesson three: drive the point home.
So now I have two older brothers ganging up on me. Obviously one is too scared to type alone and the other feels a false sense of security, (safety in numbers) and both with a combined age of well over one hundred. Remember, I didn’t ask for this, it was brought to me on a silver platter and I had the sense to pull up a chair and pig out. A one armed man is king in an armless village, and it’s good to be king.
Lesson four: Grab a topic from left field and act like its part of the subject. Watch in amazement again.
Hitler, Castro, and Marx all had one thing in common, they wanted change. And you want me to change. Well I refuse to live in your Marxism world, where we all hum to the same tune. Individualism is the American way, like choosing not to go on a foreign trip. Call me radical, but I enjoy freedom, even if it’s just in my backyard. (Tip: This is a setup for later. You’ll see how it comes back as if it’s a known fact you’re a Communist)
Lesson four: Question the person’s sanity and make a reference they probably won’t get.
Do you really believe this stuff, or is this a scream for help? You’re one UFO ramble away from having Nurse Ratched administer shock treatments. What must it be like to live in your world of “Who ate the strawberries?” and “Have you seen my baseball?”
Lesson five: The wrap up.
You and Randall continue to beat me down, but I’ll never cave to the Communist Manifesto you two obviously subscribe too. A simple trip that I didn’t want to take has led to this question.
So o’shay and Randall, how long have you two been Communist?
Thank you and goodnight. hummmm O mmmmmmm.
Okay Rod
I give up. I'm a fool for wanting to go on adventures. I shall be content to sit on my back porch and watch the sunsets.
I will ignore the foolishness of wanting to see other cultures and other beautiful places God has created.
I will sit in my rocker with a lap blanket and waste away. Waiting for death to over take me.
Maybe some day I might get up the courage to do some apple picking in NC.
What's there to life anyway? Only misery, and injustice.
I bow to you o wise one.
I shall now go and eat corvus brachyrhynchos. And since I'm on a bland diet I'll eat it without salt.
Since Tanner is on your side, Rud, there couldn't possibly be anyone on my side.
So Tanner you turned the tide to the younger sibling. And since no one else has come to my aid, I have no choice but to conceed to the slick witted Rudrod.
See you on the back porch.
Shey
Ron, Rod, Rud whatever you have a way with words but a math guy you ain't. You gave us six lessons that's right countem six but you only numbered five. I believe you had two lesson fours. How can I read what you write if you can't even keep of what you yourself write.
As someone who never leaves comments, I feel I must step in. Ron, clearly the good genes were used up before you were born. Or perhaps, maybe you should check with o’shay and Randall’s parents to see if you were adopted.
Abandoned children always seek approval and scream for attention. From reading your comments, I can smell the unwanted child begging to sit at the big table with his brothers.
If obnoxious was a gift you’d be Santa’s favorite stop. Clearly this is a case of a spoiled kid not getting his way.
All you do is cast dispersions from the 60s which o’shay never referred too, to making things up, which is never proven. Then you try to confuse and cloud an issue with your schoolyard Red Herrings that have no merit whatsoever.
Truth be told, you need your fanny whipped.
The unnamed arbitrator
To The unnamed arbitrator;
You'll never know how right you are.
Thanks
O'shea
Randall, you think you got me, but the joke is on you. I purposely left a hanging curve ball over the middle of the plate, just to see what you would do.
You learn well young grasshopper. You used the master’s words against him. However, you whiffed on the nasty slider because you comment was weak bordering on irrelevant. You need more batting practice son if you’re going to play in the big leagues. One trick comments are for the simple minded. Brevity is the soul of wit doesn’t apply in your comment. If you’re going to be brief, but stinging, the comment should have been something like this…
“You can’t count and Jefferson wanted change too, did that make him a Communist?”
Brief and to the point. See just by saying “You can’t count” would have left me scratching my head and rereading my comment. And then when I saw the mistake (which I really knew about, because this was a test) the sting would’ve hit me. The next throwaway line, “Jefferson wanted change” Would have turned things back around and questioned my patriotism.
That my friend is brevity with purpose, not that rambling about two lessons fours and six lessons countem six.
I know, I know, it’s like watching Tiger Woods hit a drive and then thinking how easy it looks.
With 22 or more comments on this topic I feel it’s time to move on. I’ll leave with this.
I’ve always treated Randall’s comment section as Professional Wrestling with a keyboard. The villain always cries foul even though he’s the one who stirs it up. I have an odd sense of humor and enjoy playing the villain on these pages. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t, but I have fun and hold nothing against my two brothers.
This is not to say I’m done, I love to bust chops too much. If Randall keeps posting I’ll be around.
P. Tanner, the unnamed arbitrator, and Ron
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