So yesterday was more of the traditional type of good days. One where I did not have to back up and take a look to really see the good through the brambles of some bummers. It’s just goodness all up in your grill.

My ex-wife’s migraine receded enough for the kiddos to go see her and spend the night.

My truck has been fixed and the bill was a bit of a hit, but absolutely better than what I was expecting. I can not tell you how much I appreciate Danny over at Medford Sunoco for coming in on a Saturday morning just to work on my car. I will still absolutely take my car to Chad’s for maintenance, but it’s good to know there is someone this close that I can count on as well (especially when I’m worried about driving the car more than a couple of miles).

I also got in a really good run yesterday afternoon. For those of you that run and have an iPhone, I can’t say enough about RunKeeper Pro – this app is such an incredible tool for training. It’s pricey ($10), but definitely worth it.

On top of those good things, I had a great day working on several client sites - Stone Scapes By Rich, The Family Registry, Independence Seaport Museum, Hope for Humanity, and a few projects still under wraps until launch.

Today, Abbe and I are going for a 10 mile run at Cooper River Park and then we also need to spend some time clearing off countertops, because tomorrow the crew is arriving to start tearing them up! That’s right the NeedCounterTops.com contest I won is becoming a reality. Monday, the old countertops are coming out and Tuesday, the new sink, backsplash, and countertops are going in! Also on Tuesday, the folks from BEN FM 95.7 are going to be visiting my house – I have no idea if I’m being interviewed or videotaped, this should be fun!

Oh and I recorded this… this is just the outro to Jeff Buckley’s So Real…

I’m not sure how many guitar players there are out there reading me, but that song has a lot of incorrect or close to correct version of the tab for this specific part, so I thought I’d post this…

OUTRO: (play throughout the end of the song)

|-------3-3-3-3-3-3-|
|-------3-3-3-3-3-3-|
|-------2-2-2-2-2-2-|
|----0--0-0-0-0-0-0-|
|-2-4---------------|
|-----3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|

|-0-0---0-0-0---0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0---0-0-0---0-0-0-0-0-0-|
|-3-3---3-3-3---3-3-5-5-5-5-|-3-3---3-3-3---3-3-5-5-5-5-|
|-3-3---3-3-3---3-3-5-5-5-5-|-3-3---3-3-3---3-3-5-5-5-5-|
|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-4-4-4-4-|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-4-4-4-4-|
|-------------------0-------|-------------------0-------|
|-3---3-3-----3-----5-5-5-5-|-3---3-3-----3-----5-5-5-5-|

|-------3-3-3-3-3-3-|
|-------3-3-3-3-3-3-|
|-------2-2-2-2-2-2-|
|----0--0-0-0-0-0-0-|
|-2-4---------------|
|-----3-3-3-3-3-3-3-|

|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|
|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-0-|
|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-0-|
|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-0-|
|-------------------------|
|-3-----3-----3-----3-----|

• Macho Salad

Well, how cool is this? I got a few emails yesterday from my friend Rachel that her husband Rich’s website, Stone Scapes By Rich needed a few changes here and there. They were all quick and I took care of them. And who shows up bright and early to work on my yard? Sweeeeeet!

Last night, while Abbe was working on a purse for her Aunt Deb and a couple little name thingies for my kids, she started making bracelets…

I have a couple of friends that have potential SWSW 2011 panels, they need your vote. The voting does involve a very easy sign-up, but these are both well worth it, swear…

• Vote for Dana’s Subtle Sexuality: NBC.com Adds Spice to Shows
• Vote for Jessica’s Turning Facebook Followers Into Change Agents

Movie reviews…

Leonard Cohen I’m Your Man – I really wanted Bono to shut up as soon as he started talking, but the good performances on this DVD are well worth it. Beth Orton, Marth and Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, and Antony all perform Cohen covers. Antony’s version of  “If It Be Your Will” steals the show.

Kick-Ass – better than expected, give this one a chance – it’s entertaining for sure. It’s not Shakespeare, but for an action flick, it’s at least more thought provoking than the usual fare.

• The Real Message Board – thanks Justin
• Sock Monkey (Human) Centipede
• The Cat Whisperer
• Denny’s New Fried Cheese Melt – that’s right, that’s 4 mozzarella sticks inside a grilled cheese sandwich
• The Justin Bieber Show
• Orgasm on a Slingshot – NSFW, this woman really likes her carnival rides

Small Business/Tech Links…

• Visualize All of Your Foursquare Check-Ins
• How to Pick the Right Social Media Engagement Style
• How Much is Too Much to Pay for SEO?
• NoFollow Importance

OK, so a few big things went down yesterday. My iPhone 3G died and forced me to bite the big expensive bullet and buy the iPhone 4. This unexpected expense really sucks right now, but what I need to do is focus on work and making up that extra expenditure. On the brightside, I did take a close look at my voice and data plans and cut them back to save myself $20/month – so that’s a good.

Abbe’s new phone also arrived yesterday. Abbe had a dinosaur of an cell phone and finally was able to get a new Blackberry Curve (for only $10 via her upgrade plan).

Now the bad news, so after I got back from the Apple Store. I found that my ex was still suffering from a bad, bad migraine and wasn’t able to watch the kids. On top of that, Abbe was feeling a little under the weather too. So I had to back out of going to see Arcade Fire and Spoon last night. A bummer, but somedays, it feels good to have folks that need you.

And now the worse news, my new favorite running trail, the one around Shawnee High School? Well, I’m now very convinced it’s riddled with poison ivy. How do I know? Well, mostly because it’s all over my feet and legs. I used to catch it every summer as a kid and be flat out miserable. I think that might be why I hate hot weather. I spent many summers hot, itchy, and swollen. So I’ve got it on my feet and lower legs, although a few other spots popped up last night. This sucks.

• The Whitest Kids You Know: Home School – thanks Susan!
• Learn to Curse in English
• What It’s Really Like to Work in a Music Store

Abbe and Viv gave each other new hairstyles… Abbe got the standard Viv (spray as much detangler into Abbe’s hair as possible and comb it flat) and Viv ended up with a side pony…

Abbe and I got a really nice pain-free run in late yesterday afternoon. We went 7.15 miles, which was a round trip to Shawnee High School and 2 laps around the cross-country track around the perimeter of the school. Resting my calf and tons of stretching was the key.

We went to dinner at Mom’s and Bubs was very pleased that he is now almost as tall as his Aunt Naomi…

After dinner, the kids got a sleepover with Memom and Abbe and I headed home so Abbe could put on her rollerblades and do a little indoor rollerskating…

So this morning, I have a nice little unexpected expense. My iPhone started bitching about it’s sim card not being installed after our run and after removing, cleaning, and replacing it worked for a few minutes and went back to bitch-mode. Ergo, I’m heading to the Apple store, most likely coming home with an iPhone 4. I’ve needed to replace my 3G and I was searching for a less expensive alternative, but I just can not find a phone that is the same or better for the same money. I did discover that I’ve got more voice minutes than I really need and my unlimited data plan change (AT&T no longer offers unlimited) will result in a lower monthly bill. Also I found a much cheaper and more thorough warranty plan for my phone too (thank you Jan!).

• xkcd : Atheists

I got a good run in yesterday. 7 miles around Shawnee High School. During the first lap, I caught my toe on a downed tree across the path and I was sent ass over tea-kettle. I banged my already sore knee pretty good. My knee and hands were covered in dirt. After the first two laps, the storm began to hit but I was already soaked with sweat – no need to stop for a few little raindrops. I took great pride in watching the 20 something year olds running laps around the football field head in as the bad weather approached. I pulled my sopping wet shirt sleeve over the top of my iPhone strapped to my upper arm to protect it from the rain. The bad news is that by pulling my wet sleeve (or maybe it was the cloud cover that came with the storm), that killed the GPS tracking so I lost some of my pace/interval times data – no biggie.

All tough guys ice their sore calves with Hello Kitty ice packs…

• WikiLeaks Drops 90,000 Afghan War Documents Online
• xkcd : Period Speech
• Granny O’ Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
• Scala’s cover of “Creep” by Radiohead – thanks Cynde!
• Star Wars Yoga – thanks Sonia
• Pennsylvania Guys

Small Business/Tech Links…

• SEO Client Relationships : Tips