BDay #25

What would happen to the power of Christian unity if Christmas and Easter were optional and flexible dates? The strength of tradition is in its consistency. So I'm religiously continuing with my birthday 5Ks.

Boston Marathon 2014: More Is Less

What: Boston Marathon 2014.
When: April 21, 2014.
Time: 3:07:28. I dropped out at mile 14 (was on pace for 2:47) and jogged to finish.

Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach is a city on the East Coast revolving around (drumroll) a beach. Norfolk 20 miles west seems to take all the industrial and financial load of the area, leaving solely rest and recreation to Virginia Beach.

New Year's Roadtrip Through the Southeast

What can be a better Christmas gift than breaking away from the daily reality?

For the vacation of Christmas-New Years +Michelle Corkum and I did a roadtrip to the south of Pittsburgh and back. Intense, dark, nasty, and, most importantly, completely unplanned. 6 days, 6 hotels, 7 cities, 1800 miles, 1 new year, and tons of fast food.

The counterclockwise direction is stuck deeply in every runner's mind.

BDay #24

I'm writing this to say that the tradition of running 5Ks on my birthdays, established last year, is alive and well. The main message of the tradition is to show that I spend my bdays as I want (running), not as you want (parties, presents, and that).

Kennywood Holiday Lights

Kennywood -- Pittsburgh's main place for rides, clowns, ice cream, fries, and multi-children families -- tries to squeeze the last money from this year. They organize a Holiday Lights programme which equals regular Kennywood minus rides minus 75% of regular traffic plus Christmas decorations plus bazillions of light bulbs plus cold weather.

Still, that makes an attractive deal.

Buffalo Wings Don't Fly Over Niagara Falls

A number of unidentified persons, including myself, had a weekend roadtrip to Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

Halloween 2012

My Halloween entertainment program this year included: 

• Pumpkin carving;
• A visit to Kennywood Fright Nights;
• A costume party;
• A couple of horror movies: the Shining and Silent Hill Revelation (more)

(unlike last year)

Pregnant women and mentally unstable children are not allowed to proceed further into this post (they already have enough problems)!

BDay #23

Celebrating my birthday without stress and not losing the social image (if there ever was one) always was one of the most difficult tasks in my life. I hate doing almost anything that involves more than 1 person (= myself), while spending one's birthday at home = being a sore loser.

Let's see how I tackled the issue of June 9 this time.

To summarize: it was a road trip with Misha around LA that included a 5K run, going to a beach, eating out, going to a campus, a couple of exhibits, and seeing a movie.

Graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University

At last!

Goodbye, Moscow State!