T and I are watching “Eragon” while S and N are at separate birthday parties. M’s with N at his party. I hope he’s doing well. T’s kind of excited, I think, to have his brothers off at parties so he can have the house on his own. Shadow’s sleeping next to him on the couch. They look calm, like they belong together.

So what did I do this week? First off, the weather was hot, near eighty, way too hot for late September in Wisconsin. Today I have all the windows open again. The temps are supposed to drop early next week, I believe, and I can’t wait. We could use some cool autumn weather. I could never live somewhere without real seasons. Anyway, I was busy at work, I suppose. On Tuesday I took the morning class to an inner city Milwaukee school. The building’s energy was palpable and the students later reported the experience worthwhile. I taught the Franciscan material in Cathy’s class later in the day. Oh, did I forget to mention Tuesday was my birthday? People at work were quite nice about the birthday thing. Wednesday I stayed home and met with the elliptical repair guys. Apparently the metal frame is cracked but the warranty still holds so the elliptical company should replace the machine soon. In the interim I’ve been running/walking outside. What did I do the rest of Friday? I graded a few papers, answered email, phone conferences, the usual. Thursday was busy at work, including a long, boring afternoon meeting followed by a solid run. Yesterday I hit the office in the morning but got very little down because people kept stopping by for visits. I don’t mind visitors, I suppose, and I managed to finish off the papers in the afternoon. Later I stopped at Costco and Kohls on the way home. We watched Speed Racer (very long but kind of interesting) and I fell asleep on the front porch with the MP3 player. This morning T, S, and I hit the (smaller, local) farmers market for a harvest festival. The festival was a bust, honestly, but we managed to get iced tea and Italian sodas from the coffee shop, so the morning wasn’t an entire wash. After lunch I went on a massive cleaning jag, working through the kitchen, dining room, living room, front porch, and my car. I’m ready to take it easy except for maybe another run in a couple hours.

I’ve been running twice a day, by the way. Or running and walking, I should say, if I’m going to be honest. I run a few miles and walk a bit before running again. My knees and lungs are holding up fine, but my shoulder hurts off and on. I hope the elliptical is replaced soon, although I might alternate running and the elliptical even after the machine is replaced.

Ok, that’s it for now. I’m distracted by the film. More later.