typical of this atypical winter it was low 40s*F today and just light wind...walked twice....once to the local food mart....for just a few things and the second time to the local Denny's for a fish fry.....
have taken it easy today...slept in...well at least for me....and have not played blogshares aggressively today.....just needed a break....
relax...kick back and watch a little boob tube.....okay....more then a little.....

i got thinking of old times and old coaches....would have been fall of 1969...i was running college cross country...small college.....4.5 to 6 miles....but my best distance was 20K....(12.43 miles)...any who ....Mondays or Tuesdays when we didn't have a race until the weekend he had us run a 13 mile road course....well we usually took our time and he got a bit upset with us....( a huge understatement).....
so he said " anyone who beat me, got the next day off....and if any one(s) did i had to run 5 miles per...so the rest of the team bribed the one guy who could test me at that distance....well we went flying past the 6 mile mark in a tad under 30 minutes....and i got a little worried...i had hung behind him and let him set the pace....so i knew i had to get rid of him....came up on his shoulder and said " pace is a little slow ( a bald face lie ) can we pick it up a little and threw a 4:30 mile at him....so he disappeared...and i packed in the sand bags...4 or so miles at a 5:30 pace...i got a little over a mile from home....we had a mile marker....he was sitting  there in his VW and questioned my time....i told him you only said i had to beat them....you didn't say how fast.....said he....i think you let yourself tie up...i bet you a steak dinner you can run the last mile in under 4:30.....a ran a 4:22....his wife grilled a great steak.....

so i took a long walk today...first to my doctor to pay a bill...yes i understand an envelope and a stamp and i barely have to leave my rooms...on the other hand it's a 5 minute walk...and i still have in my pocket the price of the stamp and the envelope.....what's that you're saying.....i am not cheap.....well at least i don't think i am .........on the other hand the other stops i had to make were in the other direction...so i went 10 minutes out of my way to save the cost of a stamp and an envelope....just picked up a few things at the local plaza...but must admit i was a bit bushed when i got back...but i used the money i saved walking to the doctor's to get a cold soda...ok...ok...and a bit more...

this is off a post i commented to on FB about jury duty.....in my mid 30s to early 40s i got called for jury duty 3 times....one to supreme court...two cases..1 criminal...the other civil....was never going to be picked for a criminal case...i knew the county DA.....but ended up on the civil jury....time number 2 was a civil jury...by that time the DA was now county judge.....so all i could serve on was another civil jury.....ended in a settlement....and the 3rd i was never called to report apparently it was settled...
but the flip side to the story was i played at the same golf club with the DA then judge......we were in a two man team league event...best ball...we were down 1 hole and two strokes and i sank a 40 footer for birdie...he and his partner both made bogeys....so the match  was halved...but when my putt was still rolling and about ten feet from  the hole quote the DA/judge..."Bud you SOB you made it"....i saw him like 15 years later....and that putt was the first thing out of his mouth.....

i finally got out for a walk for the first time in about 2 weeks....combination of weather, had a bad foot for 3 days, and broke my cane...took two days, to have someone bring me a new one...
made a couple of stops but still have a couple more i need to take care of but they are in different directions then the walk today....

have been playing Blogshares a lot today....and although i have not changed my main tactic, have been trying a different secondary tactic....the problem is that to some extent the two different tactics are self exclusive....you need the same tools for both...and for the time being will stick with the new option....
looks like the weather will be weird again tonight....mid 30's F...and rain.....nuts.

oh how i love North Country weather....yesterday -37*F.....+21*F....and over night snow,sleet, rain and mid +30'.......in 3 days a 70* or so temperature swing......not to mention hell fire and brimstone....well that may be pushing the boat out a little too far....but the way the weather is this winter...all bets are off

UPDATE3: it's 3:30 AM Sunday morning...the good news is no wind therefore no wind chill the bad news is that's it's -34*F
UPDATE2: now -13*F and a windchill of -36*F....
UPDATE: now -9*F and a windchill of -28*F.......
as i sit here in my warm rooms the temperature outside is currently -3*F and add in the windchill it feels like -21*F....and the temperature is dropping and we're under a windchill warning until mid day tomorrow....with the snow and the cold have been in for the last few days....but thanks for Chinese delivery.....
[ obviously  i have reset my layout.....and dropped some of the sidebar material]

oh lovely [not]......not only are we under a lake effect warning but a windchill warning....starting late this evening we will be below 0*F thru mid day Sunday....Saturday night with the windchill in the range of -20*F.....( that is about -30*C, give or that a degree)....but at that temp the mad one ain't going any where

haven't sat down and written anything here for a few days...but that is not that rare....i either write 2+ times per day...or not at all for days....haven't been that busy on one hand but have been spending a lot of time on facebook, and blogshares.....haven't walked but have had a problem with my right foot, old sports injury but it's better today....
to catch up:
1] slept thru the first half of the super bowl, and barely watched the second half......really didn't care...as some of the old times where i grew up would have said "I didn't have a dog in that hunt"...
2] the Donald won the primary in NH....but i truly doubt he'll get the nod....we will [the mad one shrugs] have to wait and see
3] the democratic primaries are mere window dressing....unless the emails get her, Hillary will be the candidate in November
4] we now have a fresh coat of snow on the grow, and it's turning colder....weirdest winter i've seen in my 60+ years....

G.F.Handel's Water Music running underneath thanks to YouTube....been a quiet day.....beautiful day outside, quite sunny, and mid 30*F...but for a day in early February....in the lea of Lake Ontario....almost balmy.....but stayed in:
a] really needed nothing from the outside world...
b] while not sick, or even unwell....just a little off my game...physically.....
c] besides after being off line for a few days Blogshares [logo on left] was back up today, so spent a lot of time today playing...

okay...okay...i may be a johnny come lately...but i now am on face book...got on by accident...a friend mentioned a post on face book i might want to see.....and to make a long story short.....i now have a face book time line...[link on the right].....have only spent a bunch of time on it only because Blogshares [logo on left] is off line....again....dang

i have a confession to make....i have a great amounts of skills but there are a few things that evade me....my english skills are mixed...which is a problem...because it is my native tongue.....my grammar is all messed up....actually just plan weird....i blame it on my studies of latin,also bibical greek and hebrew....but the truth is i just don't get it.....but the worst is i can't spell a lick.....thanx to spell check...it now appears that i can spell...but it's only an illusion....but that being said....i've been wanting from time to time use a certain word....but my attempts have been so futile that even spell check couldn't help me.....and that word was scratch....oy vey
[ the mad one scratches his head [finally] and wanders off in the general direction of his bridge]

i think i mentioned this before but it begs repeating.....in all of my 68 some odd winters this maybe the weirdest one i remember....rain and temperature in the mid 50'sF.....by the end of tomorrow the probability is we will have zero show cover......but the real gag is that the annual Snowtown USA festival starts Friday [ will add a link down there on the left somewhere]
now i usually scoff at the concept of global warning, but this weather has got me shaking my head.