Arizona REALLY Needs Daylight Savings Time

First things first - I just finished another 13.1 mile half-marathon run a couple of hours ago.  I've been doing this almost every Saturday now for several months. The only problem is that I have to keep getting up earlier and earlier and earlier every week in order to be able to be finished before the sun gets too high.

See, I have this thing about greasy lotions and potions. There are numerous reasons the good Lord in His wisdom made me male, and my abhorrence of chemical cosmetic products is definitely somewhere on that list. I HATE SUNSCREEN. When I'm ready to run, the last thing I want to do is spend 15 minutes putting it on, and when I get back I DEFINITELY don't want to spend twice that amount of time loofah-scrubbing the blasted stuff back off. But I'm also a health nut (as you may already have guessed), so I just avoid the need for sunscreen entirely by trying to do all or at least most of my running before the sun comes up. 

Unfortunately, when you're running for almost three hours, that means having to leave VERY early in the morning. Today I was out the door at 3:35 - and yes, that is A.M. Geez. Arizona is one of the few states without daylight savings time, but I say we really need it. Maybe it should even be two hours. Who needs daylight at 5 a.m. anyway? 

On another topic, last time I was here I promised to post before I went to any more buffets. And even though it's been about a month, I have indeed kept that promise - I haven't been to any buffets since my last post. I'm going out to Pei Wei's tonight - but that's not a buffet so it doesn't count.

The nice thing about Pei Wei's is that the menu has decimal points in its prices. That's very important, because if there's one reliable rule in life, it's that if a restaurant's menu prices don't have decimal points, you're going to pay way too much money for way too little food. No exceptions. If you don't understand, let me explain: it's a much better deal to get a third-pound of ground round for "$6.95" than a single regulation-sized scallop with a dab of Hollandaise sauce just thick enough to hold the mandatory decorative but useless sprig of parsley for "28". That's the even worse thing about these places - not only is your wallet raped, but you have a good chance of still being hungry when you leave. Unless, of course, you also spring for the imported French beurre-cream layer cake that's on special for "9". And that is what the restaurant is hoping you will actually be drunk enough to do after they've managed to sell you the recommended wine-bottle pairing for "75" - yet another reason I'm thankful to be a near-tee totaling milkaholic who always waits until after he gets home to have that milk rather than order it for "6" at the Maison De Pointless. I need to save that money so that I can afford my running shoes!

My wife and I actually did once eat at one of those frou-frou French restaurants and left so hungry after our meager portions of a purported "seafood" dish that actually consisted primarily of clam shells in chicken broth that we had to stop off at the McDonald's right around the corner for a real meal immediately after leaving. Luckily, we still had just enough money left over to pay for the Big Macs.

Anyway - on to Pei Wei's tonight. And probably on to several additional runs of half-marathon length or better. Whenever that next buffet meal comes, I'll have earned it.