Merry Christmas!

Unfortunately, this morning's running statistics aren't as impressive as yesterday's. I was so pooped after staying up late last night watching Christmas DVD's that I needed to sleep in this morning and didn't leave on my run until after 7:30, and I only did 3.51 miles, burning a measly 495 calories and leaving myself up one pound since yesterday - and so the battle continues.

But at least we're catching up on the Christmas videos! Yesterday, almost one right after the other with hardly a break in between, Lynn and I made it through It's A Wonderful Life, The Polar Express, Beyond Christmas, and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.

Today, as I write this, it's a balmy 71 degrees here in Scottsdale, we've got all the windows open and any dreams of a white Christmas have been thoroughly fulfilled vicariously through our just-completed annual viewing of the greatest Christmas movie of all time, A Christmas Story. ("Vicariously" is the best possible way to experience snow).

If I can manage to keep my eyes open, later tonight we're going to watch the SECOND greatest Christmas movie of all time, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Of course, if I do make it all the way through the end, it might just take the sound of a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant to wake me up in time for my run tomorrow morning! Wish me luck!

10 Miles Run, 1470 Calories Burned

...are the stats for my run high in Scottsdale's McDowell Mountain Ranch area this morning. I left before 6 a.m. and enjoyed some wonderful views of the city lights while continuing to work off seasonal dietary transgressions past and future. And if I have a sufficient quantity of both time and insanity I might just try to repeat the experience on Christmas morning too!

'Tis the season to chortle at the last minute shoppers. Of course that is a lot more fun if you're not among them. Personally, I haven't gone Christmas shopping since December 23, 1988, when I experienced crowds and lines so severe that I still have post-traumatic stress disorder 22 years later. If I am ever in lines like that again, I had better be at Walt Disney World waiting for Space Mountain - or the Ohana buffet at the Polynesian Resort.

Of course, eating at Ohana would require even more running to make up for it afterwards...but I digress.

While I didn't go Christmas shopping yesterday, I DID go grocery shopping. I do all my shopping at a local center that features a humongous parking lot framed by Sam's Club on one side and WalMart at the other. If there's anything that I can't find at either of these stores, I don't need it. And on this particular trip I didn't expect to need much time as I only had a handful of grocery items on my list. 

Actually, I didn't spend much time inside the stores. It was navigating the roiling sea of traffic in that humongous parking lot that was the time-consuming part. The good economic news for this holiday season is that myself notwithstanding, a lot of people are shopping for Christmas. The bad news is that they're all doing it at WalMart and Sam's Club. And a lot of them, like me, are obviously just browsing, because I didn't have any problem with very long lines at the cashier.

But oh those insane parking lot traffic patterns. According to Wikipedia, as of 2000 there were 202, 705 people living here in Scottsdale. Factor in our share of the people who left Michigan according to the 2010 census and my guess is we ought to be up to at least 210,000 by now. Well, yesterday afternoon, 209,999 of them including me were circling the WalMart parking lot (my wife, Lynn, was still at work). 

So the moral of the story is stock up on groceries a few days in advance. On December 23, stay home. 

Or go running. I had the top of McDowell Mountain Ranch all to myself this morning. Everybody else in town was still stuck at Sam's Club.

It's Done! It's Done! The Christmas Newsletter Is Done!

That's right!! If you're on my Christmas e-mailing list, your copy of the 2010 Gannon Christmas Newsletter should be in your inbox as of a few minutes ago. At least, as of this writing, I haven't gotten any error messages back YET saying any were unable to be delivered due to file size (which has been a problem in the past).

So, so far, I've only had to part with ONE 44-cent stamp - yes, there's only one person on my list who still doesn't have an e-mail address. (And if you have found this blog after reading the link in the newsletter - c'mon - sign up for a free Hotmail account or something - PLEASE!)

So now the work is finally done and I can finally go back to the fun of trying to catch up on the remaining two-thirds of our Christmas DVD movie collection. Only about 1,329 to go and with luck we might just finish by the 25th. Let's see, done with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Miracle on 34th Street - time to pull out Christmas with the Kranks and Deck the Halls.

Speaking of Deck the Halls, I've been inspired by this GREAT Christmas decorating idea. I might actually be inclined to put up some lights of my own next year after seeing how simple it can be!!!

By the way, if you're wondering how the Food vs. Exercise war is going, rest assured that I'm still winning. Even after another great Fugo de Chao's dinner for my birthday AND a splurge at the Great China Super Buffet the night before, I'm STILL down by a net one pound a week later. And contrary to previous posting, I've decided to forgo both eggnog AND fruitcake this season and am hoping to lose the last remaining 4 pounds and get back  under 175 by the end of the year. (I'm only 6 feet 4 inches tall, and having reached that all-time high in the low 180's a couple of months ago was a harrowing experience!)

Last night Lynn and I walked past this Christmas display, which is one of my favorites and situated high in the McDowell Mountain Ranch area - making for a great aerobic workout that helped burn more calories.

That picture was actually taken a few years ago, and the display has gotten even fancier every year since. Better yet, their neighbors across the street from them now appear to have begun a "Deck The Halls" style competition with them. I already can't wait to see what the block looks like NEXT year!

OK - I'm signing off. The Christmas movies are calling!