YubNub

Okay, I apparently have been missing something for a while. Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows how much I prefer the keyboard over my mouse. I just found this:

http://yubnub.org/

It is important to note that the reason this is viable for me is because by default it searches Google, which is what my Firefox search box already does. But then it gives me a million gazillion (no really, like 10,000) command line options for search, and allows me to add my own. The only requirement is that the search engine uses a get request to pass the parameter, just like with addons like DictionarySearch. And it has a Firefox search bar plug-in that can take the place of my Google box (and the entire drop down menu for searching Wikipedia, IMDB, Amazon, eBay, OED, and Merriam-Webster, among others).

If anyone wants to give me a job searching the Internet, you can rest assured that I would be really, really good at it. Pre-YubNub (seriously, I will now refer to this era as PYN, commit that to memory) I was pretty good, now I am a search savant.

I am a marathoner!

So three and a half weeks ago I started training for the San Diego marathon. I haven't run consistantly in the last 7 or 8 years, and the last year has probably been my least active year ever. A normal person would be like "I'm going to start exercising three times a week for 30 minutes." But using my usual form of problem solving, I decide to train for a marathon.

It all started with a plan to run the half marathon that will be held in Tucson on March 17th. But then I made plans to go to Seattle for that weekend. My friend Jenne has been planning on San Diego for a while now, and she asked me if I wanted to do it. I asked if they have a half, but they don't. She said "think about it."

So a few weeks later I realize we are closing in on 16 weeks away, and I start to think about it. Mostly I think it is a completely crazy idea. But then I think about El Tour, and how that was a completely crazy idea too, but I still did it. So I start looking for marathon training books, and I find A Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer. The running schedule looks reasonable. But what hooked me was the first chapter, which focused on developing an internal locus of control, or in non-psychobabble, developing the belief that you can do anything you set your mind to.

That is an issue I struggle with a fair amount, and for some reason, it seemed like the marathon was what I had been looking for. I have reasonable expectations. I don't think running one marathon is going to fix all my problems or cause me to never doubt myself again. But I think on many levels, it is what I need. I need to prove to myself that I *can* do this, that despite all the reasons I think I will fail at this, I can complete a marathon.

So this week's mental assignment is to start thinking of yourself and referring to yourself as a marathoner. Honestly, I have my doubts. I missed some training runs due to illness, and some others when Jackie and Mason visited. I was tempted to quit, feeling like I had missed too much training. And then I calmed down, I refocused, I read this week's chapter. And now I am hesitantly committing to "I am a marathoner." I don't believe it yet, but I'm going to say it anyway. I am a marathoner!