Not gonna happen...again

Another year of dismal, dismal failure at Nanowrimo for the artist known as Scott Lommers. It's no secret why: the first week of the month and the last week of the month were just horrible. The Thanksgiving weekend will always be tough, so clearly, for 2009, I'm going to have to concentrate on starting faster and getting about 20,000 words done in the first week.

Ah well...

RACES FOR WEEK OF DECEMBER 15th TO DECEMBER 21st

December 19th / Northern Lights Winter Solstice Headlamp Run 5 mile / Sedro-Woolley, WA

December 20th / Ferndale Flat and Fast 10k / Ferndale, WA

December 20th / Lampson Cable Bridge Run 10k and 5k / Pasco, WA

December 21st / Christmas Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10 mile, 10k, 5k / Olympia, WA

December 21st / Winter Solstice Run 5k / Eugene, OR

100 Posts Old...

and I'm feeling every one of them. So this is post number 100 on The Two R's. Wow.

In other news, I'm way behind on my Nanowrimo novel, but I've got one last big push in me this weekend. By Sunday night, we'll know if there's any hope at all.

Let's Run.

RACES FOR WEEK OF DECEMBER 8th TO DECEMBER 14th

December 13th / Jingle Bells Runs 8k and 5k / Eugene, OR

December 13th / Winter Solstice Fun Run 5k / Bainbridge Island, WA

December 13th / Jingle Bell Run 4 mile / Bellingham, WA

December 13th / Run Rudolph Run 5k / Edmonds, WA

December 13th / Mosier Twin Tunnels 12k and 5k Runs / Hood River, OR

December 13th / Christmas Rush Fun Run 10k and 5k / Kent, WA

December 13th / Jingle Bell Run 5k / Spokane, WA

December 13th / Toys for Tots Airport Run 10k and 5k / Arlington, WA

December 14th / 12K's of Christmas Holiday Run 12k and 5k / Kirkland, WA

December 14th / Jingle Bell Run 5k / Seattle, WA

It's Jingle Time...

Well, not that Jingle actually...

It's the time of year that the Arthritis Foundation Jingle Bell Runs start popping up on the calendar! Yeah, nothing like running and making an annoying noise early in the morning all at the same time.

RACES FOR WEEK OF DECEMBER 1st TO DECEMBER 7th

December 6th / Ridgefield Holiday 10k and 5k runs / Ridgefield, WA

December 6th / Fairhaven Frosty 10k and 5k runs / Bellingham, WA

December 6th / Skagit Jingle Bell Run 4 mile / Mt. Vernon, WA

December 6th / Bend Jingle Bell Run 5k / Bend, OR

December 6th / Wondergirl 5k / Seattle, WA

December 7th / Beaver Fun Run 5k / Corvallis, OR

December 7th / Portland Jingle Bell Run 5k / Portland, OR

Where have all the writers gone?

Yes, I know the blog has been pretty slow lately, but I'm trying to write this Nanowrimo novel, you see. Don't worry, I'll still get the race calendars up, but probably not much else for November.

Although I do have something to discuss today! What's with all the talented writers dropping down into the young adult ranks? Are the publisher's just desperate to find the next Harry Potter? Surely there's no more money in the Young Adult and Children's market than there is in the Adult market...is there?

Two of my all-time favorites are doing a LOT of this, to the point where they barely write adult novels anymore. Yes, I'm talking to you Pete Hautman and Rick Riordan. Others trying their hand at young adult novels are Ridley Pearson, Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen. What the heck is going on?

Why I remember when I was a kid...you had to go straight from Encyclopedia Brown to Stephen King with no stops in between. If that was good enough for us, then why do these modern kids get all these quality writers working just for them?!

You damn kids! Get off my lawn!

I'm behind...again...

Yes, I realize I'm more than a little bit behind on my word count for Nanowrimo, but never fear! I had to spend the first four days of the month working on an article for RaceCenter Magazine. Now that I've finished that, I've got nothing going on for the rest of the month but writing! And I've got my first weekend - always a high point in any young man's life. Of course, I've also got the kids since Jen has a show in Port Townsend this weekend. Not exactly the quiet time that aspiring writers look for.

RACES FOR WEEK OF NOVEMBER 24th TO NOVEMBER 30th

November 27th / Oregon Mid-Valley Road Race 5.2 and 3.75 mile runs / Albany, OR

November 27th / Osborne Aquatic Center Turkey Trot 5k / Corvallis, OR

November 27th / American Red Cross Turkey Trot 5k / Kennewick, WA

November 27th / Mosier Twin Tunnel 12k and 5k / Hood River, OR

November 27th / The Centre at Norpoint Turkey Trot 5k / Tacoma, WA

November 27th / Give n' Gobble 10k and 5k / Sherwood, OR

November 27th / Thanks and Giving Challenge 12k and 5k / Wenatchee, WA

November 30th / Seattle Marathon, Half-Marathon / Seattle, WA

Thanks to the American Red Cross Benton-Franklin Chapter, for that good lookin' bird. I can't wait for T-Day, my favorite holiday of the year!

The first excerpt is up!

That's right, the first excerpt from my nanowrimo novel is up. Head on over and check it out. Then come back over here and tell me what you think.

Unless you hate it, then for God's sake, keep it to yourself.

Hey, I stole the photo from here. Please go over to Yvette's and say "Thank You" for me. No, I'm not sure how they got Domino, took her picture, then brought her back without us noticing.

Costs about $59.94 too much...

Oh boy, the Nike+ SportBand. Where do I start? Oh, I know...IT'S A PIECE OF JUNK. Sorry about that, but really, it's just not good. Don't get me wrong, I'm a Nike+ fan. I've never had any problems with my Nike+ that hooks to the iPod and I like running with it. So I thought, "Hey, that SportBand looks pretty cool, I think I'll give it a try." And $59.95 later, I was hooked up. And all was well for about two months, then...the screen seemed to fog up a bit, and the pixels came and went, and the charge wouldn't hold for longer than about 10 minutes, and, well, finally it just died. A three month life span. Twenty bucks a month. That's a little expensive for my taste.

When I called Nike to complain, I realized that the SportBand has serious issues. Even though I have no receipt and no proof of when I bought it, they took it back for a refund (a voucher to Nike.com, which is fine with me) with absolutely no arguement whatsoever. They seem to be getting a lot of those kinds of calls on the SportBand, she was shocked by nothing I said. I've since looked online a bit, and the SportBand definitely has issues.

Back to the Nike+ on the iPod for me.