• Friday Friend: Leen

    Posted on by Layla

    I first saw this photo several days ago, and I’m still laughing. Seriously, I’ve had the blog post as an open tab in my browser for days, just because it cracks me up when I happen to click on it. So that’s why Leen is this week’s Friday Friend.

    (The photo links directly to her blog post; if you link to it, please do the same thing.)

    Leen’s been posting a photo a day this entire year, and it’s pretty impressive. I’m a sucker for fall colors, but she can really capture the season properly. But through her lens, sunrise also takes on a new look, as do Coke and daffodils and snowflakes.

    I’ve known Leen for 10 years (whoa, really?!), thanks to the wonders of the Internet. And, also because of the Internet, now everyone can see her photos, too.


    This entry was posted in Friday Friends

  • Balloon boy’s dad returns

    Posted on by Layla

    Remember last year, when much work stopped in the U.S. because there were live newscasts of a Colorado boy who had supposedly climbed into his family’s homemade helium balloon contraption and flown away? (Yep, I was one of those who got in trouble at work, even though I was actually supposed to keep up on news events as part of my job…) The boy’s family was distraught, military planes were scrambled to try to catch the balloon, and then it turned out the boy was actually hiding in the house.

    So all was OK and the family started making the rounds on talk shows, as happens in these modern times. And then the boy outed his father on live TV by reminding him that it was a planned hoax in order to get on a reality show.

    The parents got in trouble and had to do a little jail time and pay thousands of dollars for all the money wasted on the massive search/rescue. Eventually they faded out of the spotlight, though they did get their own Wikipedia page. What happened to them? Well, apparently the dad has come up with a new idea: a large, gawdy back scratcher that is permanently mounted to a wall for all to see.

    The best part? He made a commercial (apparently after hyping himself up on what I guess to be 96 ounces of strong coffee) and posted it on YouTube.


    This entry was posted in Other

  • Who wants to run the Texas Marathon?

    Posted on by Layla

    I’ve kept pretty quiet about my leg injury updates because, frankly, it’s depressing. I apparently had a setback and there’s nothing I can do but wait, since stress fractures must heal completely. Despite a previous experience and the vast majority of runners’ tibial stress fracture stories online, mine is taking longer than expected/most to heal. And that leads me to this:

    If you’d like to run the sold-out Texas Marathon (finishers get the biggest medal in the country, and a rubber duck) on Jan. 1, let me know. It’s completely legitimate because the race, unlike most, allows transfers and refunds. It costs $60 and I need to know before Nov. 30, because that’s the cut-off date for me to just get a refund. Either comment here or e-mail me at layla @ thesmudge.com and we’ll work out the details.

    I’ve wrestled with this decision, but there’s no way I will be in marathon shape in 54 days. There’s a waiting list for this marathon, so I shouldn’t put it off any longer — if someone else can run it, they deserve to do so.

    If you want more information, here’s what I wrote about the marathon in a blog post on June 2:

    Is it wrong for me to be very amused by the website of Kingwood, Texas? It doesn’t hurt that their town motto is apparently “the surfable forest,” and one of their featured businesses is Heather the Pet Nanny (whose website features a rather fascinating bouncing yellow tennis ball). And, when asked their favorite meat to eat, visitors to the website overwhelmingly selected beef.

    As if that’s not enough to make Kingwood interesting, it’s just two miles away from the town of Humble (the H is silent, according to that link). Humble became a happening town after a 1904 “oil gusher” brought people in droves for work.

    Why am I jabbering about Kingwood, which is 1,926 miles from Lodi? Because it’s home to the Texas Marathon, that’s why. Oh come on, you knew there had to be running involved if Layla was posting.

    They always say things are bigger in Texas, so of course the marathon’s medal is the biggest in the U.S. At 2.2 pounds, that’s definitely one to wear through the airport or else it might push luggage over the weight limit. Finishers also get shirts, rubber ducks, and pizza. That is a nice bonus, because pizza usually sounds like the best thing on earth to me when I finish a long run. And, hey, a rubber duck has to be cute, right?

    The race is on Jan. 1, which means it’s 1/1/11. I’m a bit of a numbers nerd, which is one of the big reasons I’m running the Portland Marathon on 10/10/10. I surprisingly got into the lottery for the New York Marathon, which will be held Nov. 7, a mere four weeks after Portland. So, I’m thinking of just going completely nuts and running a third marathon within 90 days of Portland, so I can qualify for Marathon Maniacs membership. It’s either that or the much closer California International Marathon in Sacramento.

    So. Who wants to go to Kingwood with me for New Year’s?


    This entry was posted in Running

  • To your 16-year-old self

    Posted on by Layla

    The latest meme to sweep Twitter involves the hashtag “tweetyour16yearoldself.” If you have no idea what that sentence meant, here’s the translation: Post a tweet (140 characters or less) to yourself when you were 16. Some people instead posted a tweet that they would have posted at age 16.

    Both resulted in some long walks down memory lane. I only have time to skim my Twitter friends list, but I saw some responses that made me think, “Awww, to be young again.” One friend mentioned a plaid hair scrunchie, which reminded me of the ones I used to make. Yes, I made a plaid one — and my nit-picky self made sure the pattern matched perfectly at the ends I sewed together. (And, wow, there’s a scrunchie.com website.)

    Naturally, I loved the one another friend posted: “Honey, you’re gonna run a marathon someday.” I also liked, “Invest in Google.”

    I posted, “He’s not worth it.” Needless to say, my teenage self wouldn’t have listened to my own advice. In fact, many years later, I’m still slow to take that advice. (At some point, he’s worth it, right? Right??)

    If you could give your teenage self 140 characters of advice, what would you say? Would you tell her she’d one day laugh at that big hair? Would you advise him that Hammer pants are not cool? Would you get serious and say that loved ones won’t always be there?


    This entry was posted in Other

  • Giants win, and quotes abound

    Posted on by Layla

    So the San Francisco Giants won the World Series last night, and TV was full of funny quotes.

    Take pitcher Tim Lincecum, for instance. He was holding the large series trophy when a TV reporter asked him a rather stupid question, “How does it look?” Lincecum, obviously not sure what that question was all about, replied, “Uh. Shiny.”

    Now, to back up a bit, I’m a Chicago Cubs fan. Since they have been on a bit of a non-championship streak lately (har har), I root by geography, which means I cheer for the Giants and the Oakland A’s. In other words, I’m not quite a bandwagon fan, but considering I don’t pay a lot of attention during the earlier part of the baseball season, some might call me one. I’m OK with that. For the record, I’ve said for a long time that I’m sure I’d really get into baseball if I ever dated someone who also liked it, because I’d be interested by the stats and the numbers.

    As in most recent years, I watched the World Series again this year (it doesn’t hurt that I’m working with someone who’s a big Giants fan). I have a bunch of friends who are fans, so it was all over Facebook and Twitter, and it was fun to see all the orange and black Giants colors just in time for Halloween. Now that they beat the Texas Rangers, I guess we’re all going to be subjected to red and green for the next two months.

    To get back to quotes on silly TV, one not-quite-sober Giants fan was hollering joyfully in a San Francisco bar, where a reporter stuck a microphone in front of him. “I’ve been waiting 29 years for this, since 2002!” he shouted in glee.

    And then, later in the night, a Bay Area reporter was outside the Civic Center in San Francisco, after the hubbub had died down. “I’m broadcasting live, where the fans were gathered earlier but now there is nothing but trash left,” he said — as a bunch of fans appeared in the background and began cheering.


    This entry was posted in Other

  • Lots of tweets

    Posted on by Layla

    This weekend I hit a Twitter milestone, though I’m not sure if I should feel sheepish or proud about it. Yes, folks, I reached my 10,000th tweet.

    Does it help if that tweet was about a burnt bison out-running a grizzly bear? Seriously, those photos were pretty epic.

    Twitter is such a weird phenomenon, and I think I like it because it’s short and to the point. You’re limited to 140 characters per tweet, which means you say something short, then you get back to skimming through other people’s posts. No wonder I spent a decade as a hard news reporter and found it to be so easy — write fast, move on.


    This entry was posted in Other

  • Locked in

    Posted on by Layla

    Take a look at this picture:

    Yes, you are looking at a doorknob. It’s my interior bathroom doorknob, to be precise. It’s a mix of gold and silver colors. That raised part in the center is only decorative, and the outside half of the knob is identical. It looks quite benign.

    But it’s actually a villainous doorknob, full of evil plans. It sits there silently for months, plotting and scheming, waiting to catch me off guard, at a moment when I’m certainly not thinking about my bathroom doorknob.

    That moment came Friday evening, when I’d had less than five hours of sleep, had been awake since 4 a.m., had driven 110 miles, and had been staring at a computer screen for a good chunk of the day. Oh, and on my way home I’d gone shopping (not my most favorite past-time) for a birthday present for a 1-year-old. In other words, when I went to open the bathroom door, I was quite confused when the oh-so-angelic doorknob didn’t turn.

    I tried again. I turned (or tried to turn) it the other way. Then I recalled that my doorknob had pulled the same stunt a while back. I was quite shocked then to learn that my bathroom door actually locked, and then I promptly forgot that bit of trivia about my house — probably because I spent the summer battling black widows. At least this time, I knew I didn’t need to panic, since I’d clearly managed to free myself the last time I managed to get locked in my own bathroom.

    Of course, it would have helped if I remembered HOW to unlock the door. I pulled, I pushed, I turned some more. Just when I was starting to worry, one of those methods worked. Now that I think about it, I’m still not sure how to unlock the door…

    In typical Layla fashion, I promptly posted about it on both facebook and Twitter — might as well spread the humor at my own expense! The best response was from my friend Rick, who suggested I put a refrigerator in the bathroom for next time, adding, “Mmmmm. Toilet beer.” Perhaps he was referring to Bud Light?


    This entry was posted in Other

  • Nerd alert: 44444

    Posted on by Layla

    It’s no secret to most of my friends that I am easily amused. This extends to numbers and patterns, which often drive me mildly nuts because I see them constantly. On long drives, I’ve been known to mentally calculate my miles per hour to the nearest hundredth, simply because I was bored. My days of grocery store work and crime/court work have made it that I see produce  and criminal codes everywhere, too. We’ll get to 11:11 in another post on another day.

    Anyway, the other day my car’s odometer hit a cool number. Since I’ve gotten better at thinking, “Oooh, photo opportunity, let me pull out my phone,” I documented it:

    Aren’t you glad you spent the time reading this blog post?


    This entry was posted in Other

  • Running thoughts while bicycling

    Posted on by Layla

    I don’t like cycling. I don’t always hate it, but I’d much rather be running. But since I’m still waiting for my injured leg to be back at 100 percent, I don’t have a lot of other options if I want to get back in shape. I motivated myself Saturday by setting out to ride the longest I’ve ever gone. I accomplished that by riding 43 miles. Yep, 43 boring, un-fun miles.

    I present to you the occasionally nonsensical “Thoughts of a Runner While Bicycling For Two Hours and Forty-Five Minutes”:

    • “I’ve been out here for two hours. I could have run a half-marathon and be relaxing by now.” (The fact that I’d cycled almost three times the length of a half-marathon didn’t matter to my thinking. It still doesn’t.)
    • “Headwind sucks when riding. I will never again complain about it when running.”
    • “Did that driver really just speed up to pass and turn in front of me, making me brake and start looking for an out? Yep, they did.” Five minutes later: “Really? Another driver just did the same thing? I knew I hated the town of Galt; apparently they’re so uncivilized that they don’t know what a bike is.”
    • “Stoplights really suck. They are not an issue when running.”
    • “The wind shifted so I STILL have headwind? I think that’s a sign I’ve been out here forever.”
    • “My back is tired. And why are the bases of my thumbs sore? These things are not issues while running, either.”
    • “Ack, a bug.”

    Suffice it to say that I’m a runner, not a bicyclist.


    This entry was posted in Bicycling Running

  • PostSecret tour stop

    Posted on by Layla

    I’ve followed the PostSecret blog for a long time, and a friend gave me one of the books a few years ago. So, when I heard the author (for lack of a better word to describe him) was speaking at the university 16 miles from my house, I was intrigued. But there was competition for tickets, and I don’t like dealing with that, and I figured I didn’t need to spend $10 on it. Then I got a last-minute offer of a free ticket, so I jumped at the opportunity and attended the event Saturday night.

    If you don’t know about PostSecret, it started five years ago when a guy named Frank Warren got an idea for an art project. He printed up 3,000 postcards with his home address on them, then began asking random Washington D.C. strangers to write a secret on the card and mail it to him. It became an Internet sensation, and now he gets 1,000 postcards a week from around the globe. He’s also received secrets written on a potato, a bag of coffee, an In-N-Out bag (which he showed Saturday), and others. He just published his fifth book, a best-seller.

    Warren is a great public speaker, and he had the right balance of humor and serious thought-provoking matters. For him, the biggest purpose of collecting secrets is to encourage people to let go of them. Plenty of the secrets are funny — he said “I pee in the shower” is the most common secret he receives — but many are from people who are dealing with awful things in life. If they can tell their awful secret, even anonymously, then maybe they will feel relief and be able to move on.

    Of course, some people will probably move on for other reasons: At the end of Warren’s talk, he asked people to step forward to one of several microphones and share their own secrets. One girl brought down the house by admitting that, for revenge, she uses her roommate’s pasta strainer to sift poop out of her reptile’s cage. I have a feeling she’ll be moving on to another roommate because a confession like that won’t remain secret in today’s world full of social networking. But that’s probably best for both roommates, anyway.

    Others shared about depression, and some started crying as they shared their dark secrets; audience members then started crying, too.

    “The children almost broken by the world become the adults who will change it,” Warren said in his speech, and it stuck with me.

    Much of the audience was made up of college students, and the first one who spoke publicly said that he makes it a point to say hi to as many people as possible, because when he was in high school he was the outcast nobody talked to. That young man didn’t let his experiences break him; instead he’s trying to change the world simply through kindness.

    One PostSecret blog reader was inspired by a postcard to start a website that would reunite lost cameras with their owners. Now, dozens of people have found the pictures they thought were gone forever, thanks to I Found Your Camera. As I write this, the site has received 5.2 million hits.

    The camera site and PostSecret started simply: Someone got an idea and decided to act on it. On the screen behind Warren, he displayed a simple question: “What’s Your Crazy Idea?” His own mother doesn’t like PostSecret (she called it “diabolical”) and, after glancing at his books in a bookstore, said she doesn’t want her own copies. But that didn’t stop Warren, and his idea has become a phenomenon. He has found something he truly enjoys doing, and he’s been rewarded: Warren has heard from people who, after seeing a secret on the website or sharing their own, decided to get help rather than committing suicide.

    We all need to cling to our dreams, and take a chance by pursuing the ideas that come to us. After all, we might just stumble upon a way to help others.


    This entry was posted in Other