my wilson

this might be one of the more silly or odd posts that i've made since starting my blog. but i've lost something that was uniquely me: my cooler. actually i didn't "lose" it, since it was taken from me. upon returning to eric's truck last night after the brad paisley concert in CLT, i discovered the cooler was missing. it wasn't in the truck bed or on the ground around the truck. someone had taken it from the truck during the concert. i had been robbed. my friends know that this was a special cooler. it had traveled to many concerts, football tailgates, two app national championships, beach trips, lake days, 4th of july celebrations, nascar races, plus much, much more. it had collected stickers from many favorite restaurants, tourist attractions, retail stores, sports teams, and of course the recognizable "PKS" oval sticker. this cooler traveled many miles and gave refuge to many beverages of choice. it had become a staple at special events, only to succumb to a greedy and disrespectful person. who takes other people's coolers? especially a cooler with a bunch of tacky stickers on it with no real meaning to an individual except for the actual owner. i mean really, who does that? i guess i'll never know. but one thing is for sure, i'll be on the lookout for my cooler, my wilson (thank you tom hanks) when i'm at verizon wireless amphitheater next week for the kenny chesney concert. whoever has the cooler better take good care of it. Afterall, it has character, history, and a unhappy former owner.

time well wasted

time passes by quickly when you are having fun...i guess that is what has been happening in my world since i last posted. i have had friends get married, have babies, take new jobs, move out of boone, make grad school decisions, travel the world, run across the state of NC, tame The Bear, get their first drivers license...just to name a few things going on over the past month.

my "new" job continues to go well and challenges me daily. a lot of the challenge is simply in the difference between what i had been doing for so long and the more structure-free world i am in today. for many people who are like me (a bit of type-A personality), this change of pace might be too much to handle. but, trust me, at this point and time...i am handling it. it's as simple as this: i can pretty much take my lunch hour whenever i please. for those who know me well, know this is a big deal. ;)

speaking of big deals, last thursday was a day to remember. for the second year in a row, a few of us brave souls challenged ourselves and attempted The Bear Run - 5 miles up grandfather mountain. despite some leg ailments, i finished the best i have in three attempts! i ran the 5-miler in 47:29 and finished 175 out of 731 runners. i must say that when i crossed the finish line i was sure that i had run the slowest time, but much to my surprise, i had shaved nearly 8 minutes off last years run! even more rewarding was the fact that a bunch of friends ran the race this year and everyone did great! congrats to chris z, clayton, dawg, rachel w., peter jud, ruggieri, and lee! i think we're all planning to try and make this an annual event, which i think would be awesome.

mark your calendars for next year's Bear Run: JULY 10, 2008.
join us for the challenge!

Eric and Patrick tame
The Bear for the
second year in a row!
7.12.07