I was tagged in Facebook with this task. I liked it so much I added it my blog. Here 'tis:

1.   I run to get away.
2.   We just hit our 10 year anniversary and it's still as fresh as when we were dating.
3.   Check that. It's even better.
4.   My family, we're a tight group.
5.   I'm 44-yrs-old chronologically but I've really only been living the past 13 years.
6.   And that's all I'm going to say about it, so please don't ask.
7.   I'm the guy the all the crazy people come up to in the supermarket.
8.   I was raised Catholic, became an atheist in the fourth grade and have been agnostic for    the past five years or so. Neither a believer or non-believer knows any more than I do.
9.   But I do hope there's something more.
10. Reflection is hard but necessary for growth.
11. Beside my parents, my high school English teachers probably had the most influence on my world view through their choice of books and movies.
12. I don't hate nuns as much as I profess.
13. But I know there is a special place in hell for at least three of them.
14. I try to do everything in moderation including my vices.
15. It just that sometimes this principle operates on a sliding scale.
16. I like to run far. One day I want to run until I can't take another step just to see what it feels like to be beyond the limit.
17. I hoping for a feeling of transcendence.
18. The holiest places I have ever been in are the Jenkintown Quaker Meeting House and the Holmesburg branch of the Philadelphia public library system.
19. I've come to believe that you do not know something until you can articulate it.
20. Or perform it.
21. And if we do not teach our students to do these things we are cheating them big time.
22. I was born exactly six months from Christmas.
23. I do not believe in "art for arts sake." If the artist can't explain what a particular piece means to them they why should I put in the effort to supply it for them? I can doodle just as well. True art should reveal something about us.
24. Pennypack Park is still my favorite place in the world to run especially in the summer.
25. I'm a writer not a poet. There's a big difference.

Read Kelownagurl's 25 Things

"O sleep, O gentle sleep,
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down
And steep my sense in forgetfulness?"

                             -Shakespeare, Henry IV

It seems insomnia is running rampant amongst my Twitter community. I know it's had it's affect on me the last several weeks. Between that and the anxiety filled dreams, my sleep has been restless at best. I think it's the result of the time of year. The semester is beginning and there are many things to be done and done immediately. I just can't seem to relax enough to shut my mind off. I'm in survival mode. It will pass, it always does. But that does not make it any less of a bitch to live through.

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"You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it's all right."

                             -Maya Angelou

It was only until the last few years where I could really understand the veracity of that quote. Being a Philadelphian is to be full of conflicting emotions regarding yourself, your town, and your world view. For many years I took the W. C. Fields approach to my hometown (and his) where you kind of downplayed it by making jokes about the notions others have about my hometown.

But in truth, I'm proud of my town and I'm glad that I was raised there. So much so, I no longer feel it necessary to shrug it off like an old coat that is beneath me.The problem was not with my town it was with me and my feelings toward myself.

Now living in central PA I'm fortunate to have two places I call home and be glad that each will have me.

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Treadmill: 4 miles; 7:53 per mile.

Row - 5 minites

Incline chest press 110lbs/ 1 set of 12; 125lbs 2 sets (12,8)

Lat pull downs 2 sets @ 125lbs

Running Playlist (continued from yesterday. inspired by VH-1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs of All-Time. Made for the perfect jump channel while watching football this weekend).

Roll with the Changes - REO Speedwagon
Need Your Lovin' Tonight - Queen
Get it on (Bang a Gong) - Powerstation
Venus and Mars/Rockshow - Wings Over America
Morning Glory - Oasis

Legs got tired toward the end of the run. Don't know if it's the shoes or just getting back into form. Also, head is very stuffy making breathing a bit difficult. Did drop a couple of pounds to 164.

"Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered human natur [sic]"

                             -Dickens, Nicholas Nickelby

Last week the History Channel ran a series of programs on the seven deadly sins. Interesting stuff. It seems that what drove our need to control ourselves was the need to subdue our human nature and make ourselves more worthy for the next world. Taken to their extremes these sins considered anything we derived pleasure from a sinful act-- an act which made us closer to the animals and further from the divine. Some individuals sought to constrain their sense of pleasure by holding their hand over a flame if they felt aroused or sprinkling their food with ashes to diminish any enjoyment from eating.

While I do not wish to go to extremes, I do want to control my appetites, particularly my love of food so I can maintain my goal weight. However, I must confess I do not do this by punishing myself by eating foods I dislike or purposely spoiling foods flavor. Instead I replace one pleasure for another. For instance, when I crave food I think of how I'd rather look in a suit, or sweater.

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Treadmill: 5.25 miles; 7:53 per mile.

Standing Bi-curls 30lbs 2 sets of 8

Kneeling Tri-extension 27.5lbs 2 sets of 10

Running Playlist (inspired by VH-1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs of All-Time. Made for the perfect jump channel while watching football this weekend).

The Seeker - The Who
Beautiful Girls - Van Halen
Jailbreak - Thin Lizzy
Fox on the Run - Sweet
Renegade - Styx
Jet Airliner - Steve Miller
Gimme Shelter - Stones
Every Picture Tell a Story - Rod Stewart
Roll with the Changes - REO Speedwagon

Felt fairly good running the treadmill. I think the legs had some spring from running the hills the past two weeks. My arms were tired though. Had not worked out with the weights since before break. Weight is 166 so I need to drop 8 lbs.

"Cleanse thou me from secret thoughts"
                             -Psalms 19:12

Today marks the beginning of a new semester and for me it also marks the end of my celebratory period that was the holiday season. Since the marathon I've been indulgent with my diet enjoying food and drink in ways in which I know better. The holiday celebration is over and is replaced with my penitent phase. I'll drop my caloric level into weight loss mode until I return to my desired weight of 158. I'm also a secret binge eater. I eat as a form of stress control. One of my resolutions for the year is to get this habit under control.

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5-plus miles around Bellefonte. Two tours around town. Down Wiltshire to Jacksonville. Jacksonville becomes Howard stayed on through Spring St. Turned left at the "T "where the Presbyteriam Church is and went up Spring to Bishop St. Turned left onto Bishop and ran it all the way up to McAllister. Made a left at McAllister and went down to Howard. Repeated the loop a second time them turned right onto Howard and continued on to Jacksonville. Made a left onto Wiltshire and took the hill up to home.

Ran the middle of the day. The weather was mid 30s, no breeze, sunny. No need for wind screen today. Did the Wiltshire hill hard to work the quads till they burned.Going to take a tub then order in Chinese for football.

Borrowed Sue's Shuffle. Playlist:
Refuge - Tom Petty
Born to Run - Springsteen
Yesterday Once More - The Carpenters
Desparado - Johnny Cash, American Recordings
Into the Old Man's Shoes - Elton John
Pour Some Sugar on Me - Def Leopard (2x. got me up Bishop St. the second time)
Dedicated Follower of Fashion - The Kinks
These Foolish Things - Bryan Ferry (The epitome of chic)

I love Nick Lowe. I think he's a wonderful pop lyricist but, this post isn't about him. It's about my Tweet earlier in the day regarding no good deed going unpunished.

I did a professional favor for someone whom I worked on a project with. This was something where a process already existed and the means to get what he needed done it were in place. I should have directed him there but since he said it was an "emergency" and he was "under the gun" and needed it done "immediately" or the world as we know it would cease to exist, I did the job for him.

So how was my act of kindness repaid? By this person referring my services to a colleague of his offhandedly as if it was something I do all the time. Plus, the job he referred me for was quite a bit more involved and time consuming. When I informed his colleague what she could do (follow the existing process not involving me) she threw herself on the floor and began to kick and scream. Of course I heard back from the instigator of it all and he also acted hurt. Long story short, we worked it out but not without a lot of extra input by me and inconvenience to others and some ill feelings all around.

So what's the moral of the story? Well, that brings us back to the title of the post. I've since added a resolution to my list sometimes I am going to have to be cruel to be kind.

This goes against my nature. Generally, I am pathologically helpful. A trait that has gotten me into difficult situations before. Not to mention increased demands on my time with extra tasks that don't really count a bit toward what I should be doing. But I am changing this as of now.

From this point on I am taking a stand. I will help when and where I can but when the best course of action is to help someone learn for himself or herself, I'm going to bite the bullet and lead them down that path. There may be hurt feelings upfront but better then than down the road when raised expectations raise the pain threshold. Plus, I know I'll be racked with guilt but, I need to fight this feeling and stay the course. It will be the best thing for them and, ultimately, the best thing for me as well.

"The optimist proclaims we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true."
                             -James Branch Cabell, The Silver Stallion

If ever a phrase summed up the duality of my makeup this is it. Being a humanist I believe this is all we got all the while desperately hoping I'm wrong. It also seems an apt quote to start the new year with given the state of things in the world.

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