Shamrock Shuffle Done: Now whether or not to run another marathon

Yesterday  I ran the Shamrock Shuffle for the billionth time in my life. The Shuffle is considered the official start of Running Season, at least for self-proclaimed Recreational Runners. For avid runners like myself, the season never really ends. I run all year long, although in the harsher winters I now succumb to the Dreadmill and run indoors. Many of my friends are even training for a spring marathon right now, which means they were training in the cold dark of winter.

I have to admit that I have been a little envious of all my friends posting their LR results every weekend on Facebook. During the bulk of my marathon/racing years I didn’t have FB and had to brag the old fashioned way: sending out an annoying email to my friends like a Caveman!

I probably have one or two more marathons in me but if I’m gonna run another one, there has to be some extra prize at the end. Since my first marathon in 1998, I’ve run 22 marathons so I certainly have proven that I can push my body through 26.2 miles of pavement and in spite of the cliché, for me it’s more than just simply finishing. I know that I can do it and that if I were forced to do one tomorrow, I could walk/run it in under 6 hours. The fact is, I don’t need another 4+ hour marathon under my belt.

When I started this marathon business, I did one marathon a year. After a few years I got the crazy idea that in order to improve, I needed to keep my running base up all year so I would do winter training which eventually led to spring marathons because if you’re gonna do the work you might as well get the results. So I switched to a two marathon a year schedule which foolishly morphed into doing three marathons a year at one point (2007, 2008). This led to injury and along with old age, has cut my marathon career a bit short. I got my knee scoped in 2010 and haven’t really run a marathon since (I did run/walk the Detroit Marathon in 2012).

Even though I cannot feel any pain in my knee, the damage continued running that my doctor alluded to might become more severe forcing that retirement issue altogether. I’m currently getting injections of hyaluronic acid/Euflexxa in the knee which should help my arthritic knee. The doctor said I could run another marathon if I can find a way to train for it by only running 2-3 times a week (he says 2, I think 3 so we’ll see).

The other things to keep in mind is that training for a marathon is a big commitment of time and resources, especially if you’re gonna do it right. My first two marathons I did half ass and the results back that up. The typical training schedule is 16 – 18 weeks and it gets old getting up early to run to beat the heat or trying to squeeze a run in during lunch or after work.

When you train for a marathon, you find yourself married to a training schedule and making the time to run those miles can be tricky. Most people think that you just go for a few runs on the weekend and before work and you’re set. No Charlie, it’s much more than that. When the mileage gets high, it takes even the fastest runners at least an hour to cover the mid-week long distance and that isn’t factoring in the time to change in and out of your running clothes and showering.

I would probably only do another one under the following conditions:

• If I were certain I could have a successful experience. By successful I mean I don’t want to run/walk an entire marathon again. Been there, done that. The next marathon will at the very least be about running at least 80% of it before bonking. Hopefully it’s about more than that.
• If Nightingale says honey I want to go [some location outside of US soil] and there happens to be a marathon the same time we are going and have 16-18 weeks prior to said vacation trip to train beforehand of course.
• My Personal Best (aka fastest marathon time) is 3:29:52 at the 2006 Spirit of St Louis Marathon. That wasn’t fast enough for then 36 year old me to qualify for Boston and it certainly wouldn’t do the trick today. In May however, I turn 45 and the BQ time is 3:25 so maybe Race Day Magic strikes again.

While I don’t have any marathons planned any time soon, I do believe there is at least one more marathon in my future. Possible a few more throughout my sunset years. I just have to pick them judiciously and train for them carefully.

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5 places to get good cheap produce in Chicago

Produce can be expensive at Big-Box stores like Jewel and Whole Food. Mariano’s is starting to uptick their prices as well.  And while the Farmer’s Markets will be here soon, they can get pricy as well.

What you may not realize is that there are tons of smaller family run grocery stores.   They’re not located in the Green Zone and some are hard to get to if you do not have a vehicle.  But they are worth a visit, especially if you are trying to save some dough.  Speaking of dough, many even have their own bakery!

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Archbishop of Genoa: How would you feel if we swapped Gay with Catholic

In a speech published this week by the Italian bishops’ newspaper Avvenire, Archbishop of Genoa Angelo Bagnasco slammed the recently announced Italian government pamphlets in schools aiming to teach children about love and diversity.  The anti-homophobia campaign follows a series of high profile murders and suicides among young people in Italy. (source.)

[Cardinal Bagnasco] wants parents to fight schools’ efforts to prevent anti-gay bullying, saying they are ‘brainwashing’ kids into being LGBTI friendly….Bagnasco likened anti-homophobia state education in Italy to a totalitarian dictatorship.  He also said the efforts were turning schools into ‘indoctrination and re-education camps’.

But this solution to ‘homophobic bullying’, Bagnasco says, is in fact designed to brainwash children to have ‘preconceptions against the family, parenthood, religious faith and the difference between fathers and mothers.’  The cardinal has urged parents to take a stand and not be ‘intimidated’.

‘Parents must defend their children against gender ideology,’ he insisted. ‘It is a grave duty of society – at all levels and forms – not to corrupt the youth with ideas and examples that no father and mother would want for their children.’- SOURCE:emphasis mine.

Couple of things.  First, I’m quoting a newspaper that is in all likelihood translating what the cardinal said in Italian into English so there might be room for good old Miss Interpretation.  Second, while I haven’t fully researched or looked into this issue it strikes me odd that an Archbishop cares about what the government run schools do.  I get that in Italy it might be a different sack of potatoes with regard to the whole separation of Church and State and there might be more at stake here.  Hopefully not-so-new Pope Francis send this guy a text message asking him to focus on more important things like  making The Church a merciful, more welcoming place for all.

Finally, when I first read the article I decided that some mental masturbation and fantasy foreplay was in order.  What if we substituted gay for catholic (or any other non-protected class of people that share a similar characteristic or common denominator  i.e. blondes, lawyers or even biker gnomes).  It might be interesting to read the story that way.

So below is my edited version of the above quote. Note: I did my best to take the original story and simply search and replace “gay” with “catholic”. To make the quote cohesive, I had to make a few more modifications that should not detract from the overall point of this post.

Secular Authorities want parents to fight schools’ efforts to prevent anti-catholic bullying, saying they are ‘brainwashing’ kids into being Religion friendly….Secular Authorities likened anti-Catholicophobia state education in Italy to a totalitarian dictatorship, adding that the efforts were turning schools into ‘indoctrination and re-education camps’.

But this solution to ‘Catholicophobia bullying’, is in fact designed to brainwash children to have ‘preconceptions against the family, parenthood, secular faith and the difference between fathers and mothers.’ The secular leaders have urged parents to take a stand and not be ‘intimidated’.

‘Parents must defend their children against anti-agnostic ideology,’ they insisted. ‘It is a grave duty of society – at all levels and forms – not to corrupt the youth with ideas and examples that no father and mother would want for their children.

Yeah, I’m probably going to get excommunicated for this.
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Guilty Pleasure: Why I hate the ChicagoNow Blogapalooza events

So the challenge from the Powers-That-Be at ChicagoNow: Write a post passionately defending your guilty pleasure(s).  Yeah I know that was the feature of an episode of Glee. Jimmy hasn’t been the same since Julie left our ship so let’s cut the guy some slack.

This is what I really hate about our CN Blogapalooz events. the point of the exercise is to show bloggers that they can write a quality post in a short period of time so we get a broad topic and a wide berth of latitude on what we need to write about. The problem is that a topic like this one — and the other six we’ve gotten — isn’t something I want to write a sample exercise about; I want to write a post that knocks it out of the park.

Here are the ones we have been given previously:

• September: “Give advice to a person, place or thing.”
• October: “Write about a time you helped someone, or a time that you received help.”
• November: “Write about a great challenge faced by you or someone else.”
• December: “Write about something you learned or experienced since you woke up this morning.”
• January: “Write about a character or scene in a movie or book that affected you.”
• February: “Write about fear, or lack thereof, and the role it has played in any aspect of your life.”

How did I do on those?  Let’s take a look:

1.  Inviting the office to your wedding
2.  FAIL: couldn’t come up with anything.
3.  How I met my wife
4.  FAIL:   STNG: A Matter of Hone – Today I learned to eat gagh
5.  Field of dreams: my favorite scene
6.  FAIL:  Best Decisions.

The truth is, I don’t really have any guilty pleasures.  That’s because I don’t feel guilty about anything that I take part in that gives me pleasure.

The Green Zone Litmus Test

Since this blog started out about house-hunting and it lives in the Real Estate section of ChicagoNow, I figured I should still occasionally write about Realty, property and related topics.

What is the Green Zone?

In certain local Real Estate Circles, the term Green Zone refers a subset of neighborhoods that are set apart from the rest of the Chicago neighborhoods. These GreenZone Hoods tend to be the more popular neighborhoods that college graduates, new transplants and DINKS tend to gravitate toward.  The areas have established amenities, high property values, and low crime. The Green Zone term was a reference to Baghdad. Just like how folks refer to the south and west sides as Chiraq now.

But what exactly makes a neighborhood part of the Green Zone and where does this GZ fall on the map of Chicago?  It is like porn, you know it when you see it, but it is hard to define.

High concentration of Trixies and Chads? Check.
Starbucks? Check.
Lululemon? Check.
Trendy restaurants? Check.
Close to El? Check.*

* Not TOO close as in to hear it in your bedroom and not too far as in not too far to walk in in-climate weather.

By informal Consensus, the following neighborhoods are considered GZ by the majority of the current real estate pundits:

Lincoln Park
Bucktown/Wicker Park
Lakeview
Southport
Roscoe Village
Andersonville
Ravenswood
Lincoln Square
South Loop
West Loop
Streeterville
Gold Coast
River North
Millennium Park/Loop

So looking at the neighborhoods from the above list, I asked myself what do these very diverse neighborhoods have in common?  I came up with 5 categories that each one scores relatively high in.  So I give you the GZ Litmus Test.  If you can score high in four of the following five, the neighborhood is Green Zone.  [I’ll leave defining a neighborhood and sub-hoods, e.g. Lincoln Square and North Center are more or less covered by Ravenswood, to another forum].

The GZ Litmus Test

Relatively Low Crime:  This should be obvious but I’ll emphasize that there’s probably no such place a crime free zone.  For GZ def purposes, No noticeable gang presence and very little graffiti.  The level of Violent Crime should approach zero.  See Gary Lucido’s post on this.

Schools:  public schools are decent enough to send kids if private/parochial is not an option.

Walk-ability:  Proximity to amenities is again subjective but I’ll say if you have a decent sized park nearby and a mix of restaurant types to frequent without repeating one during the week.  Independent coffee shops, boutiques and local alternatives to big box stores goes a long way.  Dog Parks.

Access to public transportation:  whether you use it or not, the ability to get around town. Availability of cabs should factor in here.

Desired Housing Stock:  This is a little tricky so I’ll go by way of example.  Downtown has luxury high rises, Lincoln Park has Vintage buildings, River North and Wicker Park have converted lofts.  Others on’ list have new construction with great amenities.  Conversely, hoods within the Bungalow Belt are probably never going to be.

So if you step through this, Old Irving Park fits, but Albany Park doesn’t.  For now. Some hoods are on the cusp like Ukrainian Village and Logan Square. West Town isn’t GZ just yet, but it is definitely getting there. Some neighborhoods will never get there.

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What to do before a Parent Dies Part III: Safetyproofing the home

A friend of a friend went through the aftermath of losing a parent not too long ago and after all the dust cleared, she sent around an email that covered a lot of bases. In this three part series I will share her advise along with what she learned. [At her request, I am preserving her anonymity.]

Okay Part I and II were a little Dark, so I’m going to try and close this series up on a slightly lighter note. What to do while at least one of your parents is around. Maybe Mommy needs a cabana boy or Pops wants that Mail-Order-Russian Bride (don’t judge). Do you have the money for it?

I can afford you and the Viagra

In all seriousness, elderly care is expensive and not something everyone has budgeted for sufficiently.

 

Do the health care math early

Neither Medicare nor private health insurance cover nursing home care. If a parent has been hospitalized and goes straight to transitional care for rehab, they can stay about 30 days at Medicare’s expense. Then, their care is either: 1) paid partially through long term care insurance, which most people don’t have; 2) covered by Medicaid if they are eligible (requires they have almost no income or assets and haven’t had any for 5 years or so); or 3) private pay.

Assess safety at home and out-and-about – regularly

– Driving: the DMV, AARP and AAA can help assess parents’ road safety. I had to sell my mom’s car out from under her to get her off the road (a moral obligation to protect her safety and others) but Dad willingly gave up driving.

– Steps: Install extra handrails, remove rugs; move regular task spaces to the main floor, put grab bars in the bathrooms, etc.

– Fire hazards: Remove stacks of papers, old paint and chemicals, old rags, etc. from the basement and garage

– Gas appliances: My mom lost her sense of smell, couldn’t smell gas leaks. Be safe and check them

– Walking: Remove throw rugs, invest in a cane “just in case” before it’s really needed.

– Snow/ice: Have snow and ice removal planned before the snow flies

– Using heavy equipment, e.g., lawnmowers

– Food safety: check the refrigerator regularly for food that’s spoiled or on the verge

Occupational therapists and Courage Center offer home safety audits. This can be helpful, especially if there’s disagreement about safety or parents’ true capabilities. Goodwill also has a “medical equipment” loaner program.

It’s a difficult thing to sit down and think about but the death of a parent is something that many of us will have to face at some point. Every family is different, especially in these Modern Family Times, so this post isn’t meant to be an all encompassing checklist. Rather, it is meant to get your thought process started on the path now so that when the time comes, you are more prepared in you time of need. Read Parts I and II here.

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What to do before a Parent Dies Part II: Post-demise planning

A friend of a friend went through the aftermath of losing a parent not too long ago and after all the dust cleared, she sent around an email that covered a lot of bases. In this three part series I will share her advise along with what she learned. [At her request, I am preserving her anonymity.]

What my Friend Once Removed learned:

Talk frankly about end of life wishes and put it in writing.  My friend’s friend was lucky her parents were quite open about their wishes – and talked about them early on, before they had become incapacitated. Here are some of the topics they discussed:

What do they want, when the time comes? Comfort? To be alone? With family? At home? Pastoral care?
What do they definitely not want? Hospital? Drugs?
Religious/spiritual beliefs: What would be comforting to them? How would they like others to say goodbye? Funeral? Memorial service? Private? Favorite hymns? Verses?
How would they like to say goodbye? Casket? Cremation?
Where would they like to be? Cemetery? Family plot? Scattered?
What do they want done with their belongings?
Are they specific things they’d like specific people to have? If so, get it in writing.

Prepare to have to make decisions for your parent and complete the required legal documentation beforehand. Without it, you can’t help a parent in a crisis.

Power of Attorney: Without it, you won’t be able to pay bills from your parents’ accounts, sign legal documents, sell assets in their name, sign medical documents, file their taxes, access a safe deposit box, etc. You need an attorney to prepare this paperwork. Keep copies on hand. There’s a separate Medical Power of Attorney form that gives you the right to make medical decisions on their behalf. An advanced care directive and/or HIPAA authorization aren’t enough to do that.

Advanced Care Directive: Send a copy of the living will to every clinic/physician they see. In an emergency,  doctors don’t necessarily look at it but it is extremely helpful to reference when talking with the doctors. It’s also helpful for clearing your own head when you have to make decisions in an emergency.

HIPAA Authorization: Allows parents’ physicians and health insurance to talk with you about their health, health care benefits, treatment options, etc. Without it, you can’t legally have access to the information you need to help parents in a crisis or if they become incapacitated; without it, neither the insurance company nor the doctor can give it to you. You don’t need an attorney for this, but you do need the parent to sign the appropriate paperwork and send to the clinic or insurance company to be officially registered. Keep several copies on hand for yourself. It’s usually valid for about a year, then has to be renewed.

Bank Access: Power of Attorney may allow you to add yourself to a parent’s checking/savings account if you need to manage their funds. Check whether the bank also requires that your parent go with you and complete additional paperwork. Without Power of Attorney, the bank can’t talk with you about a parent’s account, give you access, allow you to stop auto-bill pay, pay bills to an account, etc.  Get access at some point so you can pay their bills (e.g., property tax) if they can’t.

Safe Deposit Box Access: The Patriot Act passed after Sept. 11, 2001, now requires more than Power of Attorney to have access to a parent’s safe deposit box, regardless of the circumstances. The parent or box holder needs to go with you in person to complete this authorization. Without it, you can’t have access to their safe deposit box, even in the event of death. Instead, access to the box goes through Probate Court, which can take months.

Social Security Alternate Payee: If a parent is completely incapacitated, you can apply for Social Security Alternate Payee status: Social Security sends you the monthly benefit; you are responsible for managing it, paying their bills and providing required accounting to Social Security. Power of Attorney designation doesn’t apply to Social Security, so basic things like changing an address become extremely challenging.

Finally, take care of yourself and your own need to grieve, even while they’re still with you. The parent you always knew is now someone a bit different.

A therapist whose father was in the transitional care in the next room next to my friend’s dad shared this advice: “Before people die, they need to hear four things from their children: I love you; I forgive you; I’m sorry; I’ll miss you.”

It’s a difficult thing to sit down and think about but the death of a parent is something that many of us will have to face at some point. Every family is different, especially in these Modern Family Times, so this post isn’t meant to be an all encompassing checklist. Rather, it is meant to get your thought process started on the path now so that when the time comes, you are more prepared in you time of need. Read Parts I and III here.

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What to do Before a Parent Dies Part I: Gather all the paperwork

Something almost everyone might face some day is the loss of a parent or parents.  What can you do to prepare for that inevitable day?  Well, you could try to convince them to live forever, but we are not there yet.

The next best option is to be as prepared as possible.  It’s a difficult thing to sit down and think about but something that many of us will have to face at some point. Every family is different, especially in these Modern Family Times, so this post isn’t meant to be an all encompassing checklist. Rather, it is meant to get your thought process started on the path now so that when the time comes, you are more prepared in you time of need. It’s worth an an Estate attorney’s time to advise you on your specific situation. Note: this won’t be cheap but it is worth a few thousand dollars today versus losing or paying more down the road.

A friend of a friend went through this not too long ago and after all the dust cleared, she sent around an email that covered a lot of bases. [At her request, I am preserving her anonymity.]

What my Friend Once Removed learned:

• Make decisions before they have to be made; few good decisions are made in a crisis.
• Plan for what parents will need, not for their needs today.
• Be transparent among siblings so everyone can be on the same page (note: There may be children from previous marriages involved in the decision process.)
• Divide the labor.
• An estate attorney is essential; You will need one to draft the legal documentation and advise you.Know where all the paperwork is.

Figure out where everything is

Find:

• Social Security numbers
• Bank account information
• Safe Deposit box information and keys
• Checkbooks and blanks
• Credit card accounts
• Pension information
• Investment information
• Stock & Bond information
• IRA and 401(k) information
• Stockbrokers/personal bankers
• Health insurance information Military discharge papers
• Mortgage documents,
• deeds
• Divorce/marriage/adoption/birth records,
• wills
• Cemetery plot deeds
• Insurance policies –life, home, auto, etc.

Make a list of all of the above  Get pertinent contact information for all of the above. You will need it later.  Record policy/account numbers and gather online account logins and passwords.  Take the time now to test those online accounts and bookmark on your computer — this is so much easier when your parent is still alive!

Confirm: Call all of the issuing companies (above) and find out what documentation you and your parents will need to sign in order for you or a family member to have access to that information when the time comes. This can be a lifesaver!

Know all sources of income and debt/financial obligations

• Salary
• Social Security
• Pension
• Veterans Administration Benefits
• Alimony
• Investment dividends
• Settlements
• Other

Know all financial obligations

• Mortgages
• Property tax Loans
• Credit cards
• utilities and services
• Insurance premiums
• Planned giving
• automated billing
• Other

Fun Fact: Google “lost insurance policies” for information from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to help find old/missing life insurance policies, such as infantile policies common in the 1930s and 1940s. Some are so old they’re not in insurance companies electronic records but they may still be valid.

A friend of a friend went through the aftermath of losing a parent not too long ago and after all the dust cleared, she sent around an email that covered a lot of bases. In this three part series I will share her advise along with what she learned.  See Part II and Part III here.

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IKEA Hack: Entryway Storage using Expedit Shelving Unit

So we were trying to figure out what to do with the hallway of our new house. We needed storage because the three hooks on the wall were insufficient to hold our coats, especially since somehow coat after jacket after coat after handbag  would pile on until the poor hook screamed for its life.  Not sure how this happened since I usually have only 1-2 coats or jackets in rotation in Chicago’s ever changing weather…I guess the House Elf is up to mischief again.

The previous owner had a nice entryway bench with hooks but it was custom and he took it with him.  We looked around for something we could buy off the shelf but the trick is the length of the wall is 70 inches and then you hit the arch.  Most standard entryway items were either too small to go with one or two big to go with two…it would stick out just a little and that would cause  the Interior Design Police to knock on our door.

I contacted a carpenter I had heard good things about through Everyblock.  Here’s what he had to say:

Hi Icarus,

If I build them at 4 x 6 by 12″ deep, in oak, and you stain them, it would be only $1400 plus installation. Installation could be as little as $300 depending on what we do with the base molding. If you want me to do the stain and varnish, add $500. If we make it larger, it would have to be made in two pieces and put together there which drives up the price. If you stain it, I would recommend removing it and re-installing it. Just a few screws, so you could do it yourself.

Let me know,

Carpenter Dude

So we were looking at $2000 when all was said and done.  That’s a lot of money to spend on something that we cannot return if it doesn’t work out.  We decided to look into other options.  I had hoped we could find something already built online or at an antique store but nothing seemed quite right.  So we decided to see if we could hack something ourselves.

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IKEA hacks are all the rage now and what we did was quite simple.  We took an EXPEDIT Shelf unit and simple didn’t add the middle shelves.  At first I was worried that something so modern looking wouldn’t work in our old Foursquare style home.  Alas, it actually worked out quite well.  The sleek dark wood have an elegant, formal look that compliments the missionary style Oak wood of the stairway and surrounding trim.  At least I think that’s what people versed in Interior Design Vocabulary might say about it.

Costs:

EXPEDIT Shelving Unit       4 X 59.99 = 239.96

Lekman Box                            4 X 12.99=51.96

KNIPSA Basket                       4 X 14.99=59.96

National Nickel Under Shelf

Double Coat Hook Pack of 2   2 X $4.89 = 9.78
total cost ~ $362 plus tax

 

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