One of the advantages of being self-employed is that you can sit in front of your laptop obsessively refreshing a Twitter page in hopes of winning free concert tickets without fear of being discovered by your boss. The @IndyStateFair Twitter page has been giving away free tickets to various events this month. You just have to be the first person to direct message them with the correct answer to a trivia question. When I saw that they were going to give away tickets to the Journey concert with opening act Heart, I opened up one browser window for the direct message and another with the Twitter feed to refresh every minute waiting for the question.

I didn’t expect to win because I don’t know any much Journey trivia, but after about 10 minutes I hit refresh and was startled to see the question appear, “Which current reality show judge was a member of Journey from 1986-87?” I haven’t watched American Idol since season two, unless you count the weekend I watched every Adam Lambert video online [...]

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I was number two in the 5K last weekend!

Sadly, this does not refer to my finishing placement but to my bib number. I was evidently the second person to register for the event, only after the elusive number one who I never sighted. This made me such a celebrity that a guy ran up to me after the race to ask, “Are you really number two?” to which I replied, “Yes, I’m number two!” Then his friend took a picture of us both holding up two fingers like a victory sign.

I had planned to run the Midsummer’s Night Run in Lexington, Kentucky with my old college roommate, Kelly, who lives in town. Sadly, Kelly injured her foot while riding a slide into a basement dressed as the Cheshire Cat, so I had to run alone. This was for the best because it would have been Kelly’s first 5K, and it was so AWFULLY organized that it probably would have turned her off to racing all together.

I had positive thoughts for the race at first [...]

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I woke up this morning to a cat crawling on my face, as I do many a morning when I am sleepy and the cats are hungry and we battle it out to see whose superlative will win. Today Java Bean’s back leg stepped on my nose and he dug his claw into my skin and left a two-inch long cut under my right eye.

It HURT. It was bleeding. I grabbed some toilet paper from the bathroom and applied pressure for 10 minutes. Then I cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide. Then I Googled “how to prevent scarring” where I learned that I should keep the wound clean, moist and avoid direct sunlight.

I’m not sure how I’m going to get a bandage on this thing, but I’m going to the drug store to see if recent innovations in bandage technology have provided a solution. I’m not that vain of a person, but I’d rather not have a scar on my nose for the rest of my life. If I do, I’m going to have to come [...]

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I had been drinking plenty of water, so I knew heatstroke wasn’t causing me to hallucinate the words on the sign above the barn at the Indiana State Fair. Pioneer Farm Blog? Huh? I stared at it for another 5 seconds and still couldn’t understand what the sign was supposed to say. A Pioneer Farm Blog? Here? Amongst the sheep and horses and pigs? Then finally I figured it out – Pioneer Farm Bldg. (short for “Building”). Good to know.

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I’ve been nominated for a Blindy Award, which is given out by the Blog Indiana Conference happening this week in Indianapolis. If you have the notion, you can vote for me here under the second to last category, “Best Hoosier Blogger.”

I had a good time at Blog Indiana last year, but won’t be able to go this year because of other commitments, mainly that 5K race I’m running on Saturday. I debated whether to mention the nomination since I won’t be there to accept it if I’m fortunate enough to win, but I went to college with the guys who organize the conference, so I thought they deserved any attention I can give them. I get hives just thinking about planning something that huge. If you are in Indiana and interested in blogging and social media, it’s not too late to sign up.

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