Had a bit of a scare last week. See, I was stupid enough to let my cousin talk me into signing up for the Houston Marathon (well, half-marathon, actually, but that's still 13.1 freaking miles!), and I'm really not in shape enough to do anywhere close to that distance yet, so I decided to go running. Of course, since I'm not a morning person, I chose to go running at 5:00 pm, right after I got off work. I did a warm-up lap, and felt pretty good when I stopped to stretch -- a little stiff, but that's to be expected since I haven't run for two months. So, I started on my second lap. Made it about three-quarters of the way through when I started to notice a pain in my chest whenever I breathed. Soon it got bad enough to make me stop running and just walk, and by the time I made it to the side of the track it was there all the time, not just when I breathed, and it was bad enough that it had me gritting my teeth and squinting my eyes. I walked over to the shade and started doing some stretches to try to loosen up my chest and shoulders, figuring that maybe it was a muscle spasm. It was about then that I noticed the fingers on my left arm were cold to the touch and my left arm was tingling. Needless to say, this scared the piss out of me, and I immediately made an appointment to see the doctor, who fit me in the next day (Thursday) right after lunch. After having an EKG, chest x-rays, and blood work done and having my blood pressure tested and listening to my heart and breathing through a stethoscope, the doc said I was, in his opinion, perfectly healthy and it was probably just a muscle cramp. However, because of my family history (my uncle Dave had his first heart attack at 35, my grandmother on my mom's side had several before she finally died of a burst anneurism, (sp?) and my uncle Bill and uncle Wayne have also both had heart attacks, and my dad had a stroke at age 50, and my aunt Val claims to have suffered a stroke in her forties), he referred me to a cardiologist, who did an echo cardiogram (which was really damn cool to watch) and then hooked me up to a bunch of wires and put me on a treadmill while he watched my ekg. After ten minutes on the treadmill, where my heart rate was around 170, the stress test eneded and he pronounced me perfectly healthy, saying he agreed with Dr. Buescher about it being a muscle cramp or spasm, and I was more than welcome to return to running, but I should probably do it when it was cooler outside. So, to make a long story short, my body doesn't like the fact that I now weigh 205 lbs, and decided it couldn't take running in 100 degree weather. Damn body... Oh well. I'm gonna go running around dusk tonight. Hopefully it'll put up with that better.

Check it out! I got a new job. And no, it's not even part time. Yup, you heard it, a full-time job for Dathan! Starting Tuesday, August 16, I'll be the head web developer for the College of Criminal Justice at SHSU. Pays $30k a year minus taxes and witholding (insurance, FICA, etc.) so basically I can expect to bring in somewhat shy of $2k a month, and expect a pretty fair refund after filing my taxes. Plus, I get a staff parking sticker, paid vacation time (twelve days a year), and the university waives all standard fees for classes (so I only have to pay tuition and fees that are specific to the classes I take). Yes! And you know, it's funny how when I don't have money I don't worry about it, and I'm not really tempted to buy stuff I know I can't afford. But now, I've already created a list about a mile long of things I'd like to buy, places I'd like to go, etc. Hopefully I'll be able to keep my new income from burning a hole in my pocket long enough to pay off my credit cards before I splurge. Or maybe not. As long as they get paid off, soon, it doesn't matter if it's the first thing I do. I'm thinking Disneyland... (c: