Life: March 2007 Archives

I have been dreading writing this post, because it is not good news. My family's dog (and also sortof my dog), Scout, has been sick for the last two weeks. He's been to the Vet multiple times, even staying for a few days at one point. We thought he just had like the doggie flu or something, and for awhile, anti-biotics were helping. But he relapsed, and the Vet suspected that something was wrong with his lymph nodes.

While we thought it was cancer, we weren't sure. Scout had an appointment with an oncologist on Monday, but unfortunately he just wasn't doing well at all. He was throwing up whatever food he ate, and apparently he stopped drinking water. He was so weak last night, that my parents decided to end his suffering and had him put to sleep this morning. He was almost 11.

What is amazing is how fast he went from being a normal, healthy dog, to being so weak that he couldn't take him self outside for a sniff. I was just in Chicago for the Super Bowl (more on that later), where Sara took this picture:

Scout sitting with me.

Just a month ago, he was fine. We would have taken him for a walk if it wasn't bitterly cold, but that notwithstanding he still had his normal amount of energy, and demanded attention, food, petting, and play.

It is amazing how dogs can become a part of your family. Scout had definite personality, and was fiercely loyal. He didn't like spending time by himself -- he always had to be with somebody -- even if you were just trying to sit in your favorite chair. He was a staunch defender of our house, and he kept the greater South Wheaton area free of squirrels (well, maybe not free of squirrels, but he chased them as much as he could). He was also intensely curious, as he quickly demonstrated when he was just a puppy. Oddly, he loved rolling in the snow, and did so whenever he could -- but he hated getting bathed. It was always when he looked his most pathetic. Yet he never held all of his baths against us, and would rejoin our sides after he was dry.

Scout was a great dog, a worthy part of our family, and he will surely be missed.

-Andy.

So, I have a bit of a blogging backlog to work though -- things that I have wanted to blog about, but haven't had time time in front of the computer to get to. One of those things is the Nike+iPod thingy that I got for Christmas. So far, I have been using it faithfully whenever I go out for a run, and have logged these overall results:

True to the hype, not only does the iPod keep track of your stats while running, but it syncs those stats with iTunes, which in turn uploads them to Nike's special website, where you can play around with your run data:

The primary reason why I wanted to get this Nike+iPod kadoodle is as a motivation aid, to help me run more. I am decently motivated to go and and make with the running (as you can see from the above graph), but I have plateau'd at about 2.5 miles per run. I need to start going for longer runs, and I was hoping that this little thingy would motivate me to do that.

Unfortunately, that hasn't happened yet. This isn't exactly a failing of the iPod system -- but rather a defect of when I find time to run. It is usually after work (which is pretty late now - like 8:30 PM), and so I'm usually pretty tired and hungry from the long day, and I don't have the will power to go longer.

What this iPod diddly-oodle has got me doing, however, is running faster. Since I can now see what my run time and average pace are, I'm now trying to beat that. My best so far is covering the 2.5 mile route that I run in just a shade under 20 minutes.

Hopefully at some point, I'll start covering greater distances, too.

-Andy.