That is exactly who we tried to find at the local Toyota dealer where we drove in the morning to get a repair estimate for our poor Camry who had been victimized in an accident a day before. We ended up test driving a brand spanking new Camry while hanging out at the dealership. We were ready to make a switch right there but they wanted a bit too much money to do that. Hmmm, keep your car. It was nice though.
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Trip to a nearby High Point University where Missy works as a professor. We had a chance to sniff out the renewed campus and see a third chemistry department on this trip. Quite nice, we got free Animal Crackers and water, courtesy of HPU. It is amazing what money can do to a campus look.
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Quick nap with Wilmer and mama and it was time for the Ultimate Runner practice run. They had all the five distances on tap but we decided to skip the first one, the mile, after our extended warm up with Danny the Usain Bolt. Danny had brought his red Flash Gordon spiked track shoes and was ready to send Michael Johnson's 400 m world record into history. He started fast, so fast that he left part of his calf somewhere in the second turn. That was it for him. Rest of the night was spent holding the ice bag on the foot. I on the other hand enjoyed my time on the track and almost got lapped by the fastest people. One down, few more to go, 800 m next. It is weird but your legs start behaving funny when you only have 5 minute break between the races. Well, I made it, only 50 seconds behind my best time from few decades ago. Next was 100 m, oh yeah, the sprinter in me came out. Let's just say that Mr. Bolt is safe for a while, I gave him a nice 4 second cushion. The fourth and last distance of 2 miles was spent attempting to keep the big Mexican lunch down and trying to figure out why my legs didn't want to go in straight lines anymore. It probably looked like having a drunken person trying to walk on a two inch line. - Done! I even beat the 8-year old kid by a chest's length. She wasn't happy... let's just hope that she does not opt for plastic surgery.
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Helen and Derek invited us for a dinner after the track session. Helen being Maaret's former co-worker and Derek her husband and a member of my dissertation committee. Derek did the race as well and it did not seem to bother him too much since he basically sprinted home from the track. I tried my best to follow him but my wooden legs refused to allow anything faster than a tortoise on ice. It became clear very quickly why he flew home so fast, there was a great meal waiting for him. Helen had put together a feast. Yummy!
Wilmer had a chance to play with the big boys at the dinner. He was so proud to join Zach for some endless fun with a ping pong ball. The cats also received their share of exercise after having ran away from him all night.
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Driving back, we were treated to a nice light show by thunder and lightning. So magnificent that us late bloomers had to go to bed in complete darkness after a half night power outage. Danny and I were doing our customary late night surfing, sitting on the couch with laptops in our laps when the power went out. It was kind of comical to sit there in the glow of the screens with no internet connection, surrounded by a complete darkness everywhere.
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