Random and occasional thoughts on

Running ... I have now run 3 times in the last 5 days. No distance records and with the heat we are dealing with, nothing too fast, but getting consistent is my top priority right now. I won't have a problem finishing the 5k in MN later this month(*see update) , but I probably will NOT be setting a new PR unless I kick into a bit higher gear and get 4+ runs in every week between now and then. *UPDATE: Challenge Arthritis 5k - 4th Annual on 8/30/2008 Photography ... I am spending lots of time playing with my camera. Took some lightning pictures the other night. They looked pretty good in-camera, but when I cropped them the way I wanted they were a bit grainy so next time I will zoom in a bit more to capture what I want. I also am playing with Gimp (free image manipulation software) and made a minor change to one of my favorite photos and had it printed at 8x10. I really like how it turned out, so I will probably be printing it bigger and framing it. Game ... I am trying t...

OK, For the Week 4, we again have no winner for now. That means the standings are: Frankie - 1 Mary - 1 Me - 2 Week 4 will remain without a winner. I think I can find out whose car the week 4 plate belongs to. If so, I will ask them and award points later. If any more guesses come in, I will consider it (if I notice it, so if you think you figured it out, send me an email or post the guess in a current entry and label it Week 4 Guess.) Also, you may have noticed that I am using the word "week" very loosely. It will be at least 7 calendar days for each contest, and I will try to keep it to less than 2 weeks. The week 5 entry may be easier (or not, you never know): Good luck!

OK, For the Week 3, we have no winner. That means the standings are: Frankie - 1 Mary - 1 Week 3 will remain without a winner. If a later suggestion comes in, I will consider it (if I notice it, so if you think you figured it out, send me an email or post the guess in a current entry and label it Week 3 Guess.) Here is the entry for this week:

OK, For the Week 2, we have a winner, Frankie , but I like Theia's inclusion of the animals on the plate to guess vet and also, a "hats off" to Mary for making the obligatory Friday-esque guess. Now, for Week 3. I have not gotten around to setting up a survey on license plate frequency, but I will try to do that this week.

OK, so first of all, thanks to everyone that dropped by last week, and especially those that took a guess. The winner of week 1 IMHO (and since it is my game, that is what counts) :) is the incomparable Mary !!! Congratulations Mayor, you can add Winner Week 1 to the other titles (Beer Perfessor, Collegiate Superstar and all the others I can't remember right now) you so proudly wear. Now, on to this weeks contest. I just saw this one earlier this week while out to lunch with some friends from work. I am eagerly anticipating some fun guesses here. Also, as Frankie (also runner up for Week 1) mentioned, we seem to have a lot of customized plates, so I was wondering what parts of the country have the highest frequency of custom plates. Stay tuned as I will be putting together a survey by next week if I can. Should be interesting. In the meantime, please leave a comment with a note about how often you see custom plates. I see 5 or more just about every day.

I enjoy reading license plates, so I started taking pictures of them when I could do it safely. So I thought this might be a fun way to share some of them. Sometimes they are pretty self-explanatory, others are more obscure than some of the clues in a New York Times crossword puzzle. Even the apparently simple ones might have alternate meanings. So the game is this. Each week, I will post another picture and you all (if you are really out there) can post your thoughts on the meaning of that weeks plate. Sound like fun? I hope so. Oh, there are no prizes other than the title of "Winner Week #n" if you are the first comment with the selected winner. My decision is final. So, here is this weeks plate: OK, so what do you think this one stands for?