The weather is too nice to be responsible today. On our way outside to take the top down in the Cabrio and bum around Palo Alto. Maybe we'll run into those street music ex-execs we heard about.

Walked another 6.5 miles yesterday, then printed out some resumes and went to our very first Job Fair. If Tony wanted to be a highway patrolman or a prison guard, it was the right place. Or he could have worked at a rock quarry, just like Fred Flintstone. But nothing whatsoever for an executive producer. Drat. They weren't even serving hot dogs at the expo center, which at least would have salvaged the trip.

We have officially moved Get a Job Day to every Tuesday instead of Monday, on the thought that people are more harried on Mondays and therefore less receptive. So wish us luck today! We'll walk this morning and then be Serious People for the rest of the day.

(On the other hand, we recently heard of a group of unemployed tech execs who are playing street music in downtown Palo Alto, collecting change and handing out resumes. Every week it gets a little more tempting to join them.)

I got wiped out by a bike today. He knocked me flying and I landed facefirst. So did he. We were out walking with mom and Stephen in Shoreline park, the biker came at us very quickly, we both zigged in the same direction and KERPOW.

He turned out to be a very nice guy, and the incident led to apologies all around before we both turned and hobbled off in our opposite directions. Now I have a scraped leg, a sore jaw, and a shadowy bruise about the size of a bowling ball on my hip. Can't wait to see what it looks like tomorrow.

We celebrated National Slacker Day one day late and did absolutely nothing yesterday.

Well, not exactly nothing. Tony was apparantly so sympathetic after talking to our sick friend Dave that he got a little bit sick also -- his cold is back. He went to bed. I provided the floor show, hopping around in my underwear, trying on all my old pairs of pants and moaning about them being too tight. When is all this walking going to start making me smaller?

We have a mutual fear of ending up with teeny withered torsos on top of tree trunk legs. Therefore, we've started doing yoga as well as just walking. We have the Inhale program (from the Oxygen network) on the TiVo, but if anyone knows of anything else good, let us know!

Another fast, no stopping 6.5 miles this morning, despite today being National Slacker Day.

Just got back from 6.5 miles. No stopping. Fast pace. We feel great, especially after taking a long shower (together) afterward.

Sadly, our friend Dave is sick. He got a flu, then bronchitis, then an ear infection, and actually ruptured his eardrum! And through all this, he's still letting us keep his GameCube at our house. We need to bring him magazines and pudding cups, ASAP.

The other day was Day 777 of the millennium -- we were glad to see that the predicted apocalypse did not arrive.

Today is pretty cool also. 02/20/02. Try typing that ten times fast...

Walked six miles again yesterday... this time without a break in the middle. All this walking can be frustrating because there is no quantitative way to determine how well we are doing. Are we getting stronger? Do we have more endurance? Are we faster? It feels like maybe so, but it's all subjective. I'm the type that needs a number. A score! A rating! Something to measure against.

Get a Job Day was not encouraging this week. Mostly just a flurry of phone calls, email, paperwork, bills, more bills, and then we finally escaped and saw The Count of Monte Cristo with my sisters Danielle and Jessica.

Oh, this figures. Windows XP works great, but now our video cards (don't even ask how ancient they are) won't work in 3D. So it looks like we have to spend some money on upgrades after all.

But not until tomorrow. Today is our weekly Get a Job Day, which for Tony means checking in with his contacts and general job hunting, and for me means finishing a book revision, searching for contract work, and/or doing grownup stuff I'd rather put off -- like finishing the taxes. Yuk.

Six miles today. We put a picnic in Tony's pack and ate on a bench out by the lagoon.

Just finished upgrading both systems to Windows XP -- woohoo! And it only took a little while before I was able to make the network functional again. We were going to hold off on XP until we could buy new systems, but that day is looking rather far off so we went ahead and upgraded these. The best part: it was free. We used Amazon.com gift certificates we earned with our Amazon Visa.

(Joseph: thanks for the ramen recipe!)

We both felt reasonably decent this morning, so we took a jamba walk. Four miles.

Yesterday we found ramen noodles for ten packets a dollar at our market, so today I invented a new ramen dish: Hurry Up Noodles. Kind of an egg-drop thing. Tomorrow I'll try frying them. Anyone out there with any good ramen recipes?

Now I have a sore throat. Of course.

Should have wrapped myself in plastic after all.

Walked five miles yesterday (in our new shoes) and tried to watch Cujo last night. It was so slow-paced that we turned it off after eleven minutes.

Today Tony is sneezing and snorting and has a nasty cold. I want to baby him... but the last time I caught a cold I ended up with bad asthma for a month, culminating in a painful cortisone shot just a few days ago. So now I'm tempted to wrap myself in plastic whenever we share a room.

Spent most of Valentine's Day afternoon in another running shoe store. Finally, finally, we each found a pair of shoes that we think might work. Maybe. By the end of the day my arches and Tony's heels hurt, but we hope that was just from having tired feet.

Sushi dinner afterward, and then we intended to watch a Stephen King double feature of Christine and Cujo, but Christine was so much worse than we remembered that we cut our losses afterward and watched the TiVo instead.

(Heather and TOMV: my emails to both of you are bouncing. What's up?)

So, I haven't been writing about asthma here, mostly because I haven't had anything good to say. Finally had to go see the doctor this morning and get a(nother) cortisone shot. He must've found a huge vein because I have a giant blood splotch on my arm now. I don't mind. Those shots hurt, and they make me gain weight, but it will be glorious to have the wheezing stop.

Oh, forget it. The taxes can wait.

Walked five miles this morning, then spent two hours in the shoe store having our strides 'analyzed' and trying on Every Running Shoe Ever Made. Now we both hate shoes. Our feet hurt. A lot. My toe rings have dug twin red groves around my toe. I am crabby. All I want is chocolate.

Confession: could not face the taxes after all. I'll do it tomorrow. Honest.

I'm going to finish the taxes today. Not because I really want to know the final amount we owe (arrrrgh!) but because I'm tired of the computer room looking like a scene out of Twister.

Just listed a handful of Beanies for Breasts auctions on Ebay, trying to encourage pledges for the walkathon. I hope people bid. I hope Ebay allows us to use the word 'breasts' in an auction title. I hope we didn't just waste .30 an auction on something that everyone ignores. Cross your fingers...

Spent the day exploring the Stanford art museum, circling Lake Lagunita, and walking through downtown Palo Alto with Mom & Stephen. (The lake is dry this time of year, making it easy to get all the way around.) Ending up walking six miles, and we even got kosher salami sandwiches for lunch. But now we're tired, cranky, our ankles hurt, and we're both wishing very very much that we had new shoes. Going to flop down and watch the Olympics for a while.

Just added our training regiment to the site, so you guys can see how much we are putting into the 3Day. We've walked over 40 miles in the last two weeks, and we've just gotten started!

Have mostly recovered -- I think -- from the shin splint. Spent Recovery Day yesterday doing minor book revisions and avoiding the taxes. (Federal was so horrific that we don't have the nerve to find out how much we're going to owe for State. Maybe I'll do it next week. Or the week after. Or how about sometime in March?)

Shin splint. OW OW OW ow ow ow ow. Anyone know any miracle cures? Wonder drugs? Anything?

See the nifty new Walkathon Info button on the sidebar? The page is mid-construction and the graphic needs recoloring, but it's a start.

More taxes. This is bad. Can't-even-joke-about-it bad. We're going to owe a lot.

On a happier note, I forgot to mention that on our walk yesterday we actually got someone to pledge us. Or, rather, promise to pledge us as soon as we return with our forms. This is a huge accomplishment because it's still really, really hard for us to ask for money, even for breast cancer.

(That's part of the reason we haven't posted a training/walkathon page yet. The other part is that we're waiting for our official walker numbers, which will make it possible to pledge online.)

The first Monday in February is traditionally Start Our Taxes Day, so here I am, surrounded by paper and biting my nails already. It's going to be a LONG week. I can tell that we're going to owe money, which is the last thing we need given our current non-employed status. Very bad.

We did go on a training walk, though. We're looking for a good electrolyte/carbohydrate gel to carry in our packs. Power Gel (by the Power Bar folks) was our first choice, but it tastes like... well... um. Maybe we'll get used to it.

Happy half-birthday-plus-one-day to meeeee...

Yesterday was not only my half birthday, it was also Groundhog Day. Clear and sunny. That means lots more winter is coming, right? Phooey.

Tony is off with friends, so I'm snacking on leftover steak and writing all day. Have temporarily lost all motivation to exercise, climb, work on the site, or do much of anything besides revise old chapters or watch King of the Hill on the TiVo. Am considering pulling myself together and fixing the pipe under the sink, to surprise Tony, but am worried about accidentally flooding the upstairs. It wouldn't exactly be a good surprise if he came home and found water dripping down the stairs!

(Tomorrow, however, we have Grand Plans for Adventure, including another training walk and an over-the-bay expedition to Fremont. Not particularly interested in the Superbowl, except maybe the commercials.)