Costco

Miles Run:12
Miles Biked:45.49
Total Miles:57.49
Days to Rainier:199
Summit Team:4.5
Aspirin Tablets:6

Today was a good day. It is my one day of total relaxation and rest each week. I volunteer my time from Sunday-Thursday at Mars Hill Church in a variety of ways. Saturday is my project day to catch-up and prep for the next week. In obvious contradiction to my previously defined day of rest, I installed 20 feet of 12-2 Romex and a new receptical (Romex, if you don't know what Romex is you are not a DIY type of person, tisk tisk). So without being electrucuted I updated and rewired the power to my bedroom to ensure that my new shiny computer monitor would be well grounded. I then knocked out 25.25 miles on my mountain bike in the driving wind, with only one minor injury (Biking Map). Finally, I cooked some amazing shrimp Linguine and watched Swordfish with Travolta and Berry. I know God said:

Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly. Deut 32:35

But something in me is stirred when Gabriel (played by Travolta) says:

Someone must bring [the terrorists'] war to them. They bomb a church, we bomb 10. They hijack a plane, we take out an airport. They execute American tourists, we tactically nuke an entire city. Our job is to make terrorism so horrific that is becomes unthinkable to attack Americans.

I guess I am just a jacked up guy, but vengeance...
This sympathy with Gabriel or Clyde Alexander Shelton (played by Butler in Law Abiding Citizen) and their causes of justice and liberty leads to a fear in my gut. Should I ever be blessed with a wife or a precious daughter. I know there is no power on Earth that would stop me from repaying anyone who hurt them fully.

Wow, man I got off topic. Like James Harleman says, "there are few experience specifically as compelling or challenging as being pulled into a film's story for a few hours."

So what was I going to write about? Oh yeah Costco!
"Costco?", you ask. Yes, Costco. Every year my mom and I go to the Costco shareholders meeting in Bellevue (except last year when I was on my Epic Road Trip). "Are you a RICH GREEDY CAPITALIST who is ruining America and the World by promoting the corporate executive system where men make outrageous amounts of money yet have no incentive to manage risk, instead they live only for the short-term thereby ensuring we will all be subject to frequent and volatile financial crises?!"
No, no, no. I support that system of intentional instability when I pay my taxes.
Anyway, I hold a modest amount of Costco shares in my retirement account, so I get to go. My mom and I enjoy the event each year because it reminds us that Capitalism is lovely and saves the lives of hundreds of thousands each year. It also allows me to buy the hundred pack of socks. Jeffrey Brotman led the meeting, the video presentation of all the cool depictions of Costco in the media (Jimmy Kimmel at Costco was the best), and the Q&A. The best part is the free stuff. Don't get me wrong stealing made the top ten not cool list, but it's not stealing when they say, "Here take it we don't want to take it back to the office." So I got 2 gallons of laundry detergent, 4 containers of chocolate covered Almonds and Raisins, 50 pounds (!) of sealed trail mix, 6 2.2lb boxes of Natural French Truffles (one of my personal favorites), 5 cool self-sealing storage containers, 3 boxes of Flex Free Glucosamine and Chondroitin tablets, three pounds of shrimp, a dozen bottles of Kirkland Signature Vita-Rain, and a sweet portrait of myself,. My mom got about the same amount of swag plus a full-sized dog bed for Fritz.
Thursday's Costco outing was a total win. I even ran into my buddy from Ballard Campus Security. So now I am fully stocked with training food (50lbs of trail mix!) and am even well rested or will be after I publish this post and snooze.

I am still calling any manly man or womenly woman to join me on Rainier. July is just far enough away to prepare physically and mentally. Join me. Beat Rainier.