right as usual.

I'm running a marathon, but only if you help pay for it.

nobody@vox.com(lane) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 15:45:48 -0700

Courtney and I are in training to run the San Francisco AIDS Marathon at the end of July. We figured the structure of the program will get us through 26.2 miles by race day, since group expectation and guilt are truly fantastic motivators.

For the marathon, we're participating in a fundraiser benefiting the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Established in 1982, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation is one of the oldest and largest community- based AIDS service organizations in the United States. They provide direct services to thousands of people living with or at risk for HIV/ AIDS, promote HIV prevention and awareness in the community, and advocate for sound HIV/AIDS policies at all levels of government.

Speaking of group expectation and guilt, here is where you, our friends, come in. We've both set our personal fundraising goals at $2500 each -- we have to raise $1800 each to participate, though if we can raise more, that's great! -- and we have to do it by April 27th. So whether you are motivated by the cause, by the prospect of me running a marathon, or just by the prospect of seeing Courtney (who's way faster than me) kick my ass, please help us meet our fundraising goals and donate today!

It's (theoretically, if the web site wasn't such a clunker) easy to make your tax-deductible donation by credit card online:

My donor page

Courtney's donor page

Or if credit cards on the internets scare you, you can instead download a form from the link on our donor pages or just mail a check to:

National AIDS Marathon Training Program File #7409302
PO Box 60000
San Francisco CA 94160

If you send a check, please reference our names and participant numbers: Courtney Skott #7167; Lane Becker #7168.

Finally, please pass this link along to anyone else you think might want to support HIV services and prevention programs. Donations of any amount to either of our campaigns will help us reach our fundraising goals.

Thanks so much for supporting us in this undertaking. We'll keep you updated on our progress! (Coming up next: 14 miles. Ouch.)

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Look around you.

nobody@vox.com(lane) — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 08:18:55 -0800

On YouTube, it's not all that often you get the funny with high-production values:

Look Around You - 1 - Maths

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true that.

nobody@vox.com(lane) — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:11:11 -0800

"There is a profound distinction between a consoling delusion and the truth."

On a related note, I'm often frustrated by people who don't understand the difference between not lying and telling the truth. Not lying is easy; telling the truth is much harder. Even getting to the truth is more work than most people want to do, preferring instead to rest easy on predefined assumptions. Leaves me with a lot of admiration for the folks I know who really do try to dig down to understanding.

Anyway. Something I've been thinking about during this balmy holiday day here in Austin...

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true that.

nobody@vox.com(lane) — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:07:25 -0800

"There is a profound distinction between a consoling delusion and the truth."

On a related note, I'm often frustrated by people who don't understand the difference between not lying and telling the truth. Not lying is easy; telling the truth is much harder.

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true that.

nobody@vox.com(lane) — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:06:49 -0800

"There is a profound distinction between a consoling delusion and the truth."

On a related note, I'm often frustrated by people who don't understand the difference between not lying and telling the truth. Not lying is easy; telling the truth is much harder.

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strangely compelled to share with you the details of our near-death experience.

nobody@vox.com(lane) — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 10:09:05 -0800

driving down some rural texas backroad at around 11pm saturday night, heading from carlsbad, new mexico, to fort stockton, texas, the last leg of the day's drive, with plans to make it to austin the following afternoon. almost finished with an enjoyable week-long tour of the interior southwest US, hitting a bunch of national parks along the way (more on that later).

some foreshadowing: we had already blown one tire, a few days previous, also around 11pm, next to a travel center in kingman, arizona. that's where we met larry the auto mechanic, who spent the next 2 hours alternately chiseling and drilling the head off the anti-theft bolt that volkswagon so considerately placed on the tire, guaranteeing that neither the thieves nor the cars actual owners would ever be able to remove it. larry ended up whaling on the back of the tire with a sledgehammer, trashing the rim so that we couldn't just get the tire patched but finally succeeding in getting the stupid bolt removed and the tire off. so we were already one tire down and driving on the spare when this little story takes place.

it was late, we were almost in austin, we were excited, and we were tired. i was driving, and there were no other cars around. we were going 70 in our little jetta down a dark backcountry road. i saw the coyote in the road just in time to swerve the wheel to the right, a little faster than i should have, and totally lost control of the car. tried to get it back by spinning the wheel the other way, which instead made the car shake around a bit and then do a sudden 180. so now we're still going top speed, only backwards, straight down the middle of the (fortunately empty) road.

had that thing happen, where time slows down and you get a moment to try and figure out what the hell to do. i'm doing 70 backwards down a state highway. courtney's a little freaked but taking it well, all things considered. applied brake pressure lightly, to start to slow us down, which sort of worked -- as the back tires were still spinning forwards even though the car was going backwards, the car swung back the rest of the way around so that we were facing front again.

i'd love to pretend i meant for that to happen, but it was sheer luck. that second 180 also slowed the car down a bit on the spin, so that once we were headed the right way i was able to pump the brakes a couple of times and bring us to a relatively sudden stop, albeit in the oncoming traffic lane. still nobody on the road, thankfully.

we were a little shaken up but fine. the car killed itself after coming to a stop so i started the ignition back up and pulled us over to the other side of the street -- the right side -- and hopped out to check the tires. everything seemed ok. couldn't tell what happened to the coyote, but presumably it's still out there somewhere. got back in the car, drove to fort stockton, rented a motel 6 room, and despite the still-surging adrenaline, fell asleep immediately.

woke up the next morning to discover that the back right tire had in fact sprung a leak, but it was a slow one and the tire was still half-full. couldn't find a tire repair place that was open -- "nothing open in fort stockton on christmas eve day, and no starbucks neither," we were told by the woman in the wal-mart -- so we drove the last six hours down i-10 to austin stopping every half hour or so to refill the tire at a gas station.

and now we're here in lovely, sunny texas! so don't think you can get rid of us that easily. moments like this remind me how very lucky i am to have wonderful people like all of you, my friends, in my life, however brief that life might end up being. cliched though it might be to think so after something like this happens, i love you all and appreciate whatever time i get to spend with you.

just sayin'.

merry christmas and a happy new year, everybody!

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