July 2009

By Guus , 30 July 2009

The Grapes of Wrath

Sasha recommended Steinbeck to me and we had this book in our collection. What a great read! The language is so beautiful. I loved the short chapter on how the turtle walks through the field and crosses the highway.

The Joad family takes highway 64 in the book, starting from Salisaw to Gore. I looked it up on Google maps, and parallel to that old 64 is now... I-40, the highway I take to work everyday and which goes from North Carolina to California.

The speed on the highway seemed to be fairly similar to what it is today with a maximum speed of 65 miles per hour. Of course, the 'jalopies' did not make that speed.

Very cool that there is even a reference to the city we live in, or to be more specific to the tobacco that was produced here. Tom at one point says: "I wish I had some Durham".

By Guus , 28 July 2009

Hot Tuesday run

I started around 7.30 pm when the sun was not as bright anymore, but it was quite warm. 87 degrees, 50% humidity. Had to wait 2 minutes for the first big traffic light. Saw a train passing in front on me; I didn't have to slow down though (last week, I think also on Tuesday around the same time I had to wait a little).

By Guus , 28 July 2009

samovar

A samovar (Russian: самовар, pronounced [səmɐˈvar] ( listen); literally "self-boiler") is a heated metal container traditionally used to heat and boil water in and around Russia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samovar

By Guus , 25 July 2009

jalopy

Jalopy is an old, decrepit, unreliable and often nonfunctional car which has limited mechanical abilities and is often in an unmaintained and often in a rusty or dented shape. A jalopy is not a well kept antique car, but a car which is mostly rundown or beaten up.

By Guus , 24 July 2009

Friday evening run

Went for a run tonight, Whole Foods and back. 84 degrees, 50% humidity. Tired when I started but the run went well. Very tired after wards.

By Guus , 21 July 2009

Tuesday

Whole Foods course.

By Guus , 20 July 2009

Catch-22

This was an assault of funny craziness and bureaucratic madness.

Catch-22 was an funny book; I especially enjoyed the dialogues. A beautiful example:

By Guus , 19 July 2009

Saturday afternoon run

In the morning I wasn't sure what kind of run I wanted to do, but the nice weather forecast convinced me to go for the 12.6 course in Umstead. Maximum temperature was 85, low humidity, and indeed it was wonderful weather for a run.

Got a phone call at 0:52, answered an e-mail. At the water stop at 1:18 pm, left at 1:21 pm.

I finished strong. At 2.15 pm I was just before the dam, and continuously ran the next 15 minutes until almost the finish. On my previous runs the last 15/20 minutes I couldn't run continuously.

85 degrees, 35% humidity.

By Guus , 16 July 2009

64

Whole Foods course, wonderful. Saw a raccoon. Almost caught a disk. 82 degrees. 70% humidity.