Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Way Not to Wish Me a Happy Birthday, Jerks

With the exception of Barefoot Josh, you guys are all failures. You should have known that yesterday was Flag Day, my birthday. Yet, not a single one of you (again, except Josh) wished me a happy birthday. I'm hurt, offended and pissed off.

Clearly, my happiness is dependent on the number of reader comments I get, and you guys showed yourselves to be big ol' jerks. And Josh, he actually said "Bappy Hirthday," so I'm not sure I should totally let him off the hook.

Yesterday, I took the holiday, slept in, went for a shorter-than-anticipated run around the neighborhood and then drove out to Mount Vernon, Ohio, with the Enthusiast.

My run was a barefoot four-miler around the neighborhood. I decided to see what happened when I pushed it, and the results weren't spectacular. Not only was I slow, but my feet were very tender afterward from pushing off too much. Every time I think I'm getting to a point where I think I could run a 5-K race barefoot, I learn how difficult that would be in actuality.

Mount Vernon was enjoyable. We were antiquing for wedding things and looking for grave sites. The small city was the home of Dan Emmett, minstrel musician and acknowledged as the author of the song "Dixie," who died in 1904. However, some people believe Emmett learned the tune from a local black family, the Snowdens.

While the Enthusiast and I were able to find Emmett's grave in Mound View Cemetery, we couldn't find the burial site of Ben and Lew Snowden, whose grave marker declares "They taught 'Dixie' to Dan Emmett." The story of how the Snowdens may have influenced Emmett is told in Way Up North in Dixie, by Howard and Judith Sacks, an enthralling read for those interested in early American music.

8 comments:

C said...

I no longer have a concept of time. Is that a good enough excuse?

Happy belated birthday, Cranky McCrankypants.

Ironman By Thirty said...

Geez you are getting cranky in your old age.

Happy Birthday. There, you happy now?

Now go drink a PBR to celebrate you old fart.

Anonymous said...

I don't believe in Flag Day. Ergo...

The Sean said...

Happy Flag Day! (belated)

TNTcoach Ken said...

Happy 2012 B-Day!

Nitmos said...

How 'bout you get your Happy Birthday when we see a little more effort on the running front? We don't just give away Happy Birthday's like classic 'Dixie' tunes. What are we, the Snowdens?

Julie @ ROJ Running said...

Sorry I missed your bday. Would it help if I sent you a picture of Elliot Ness' grave...since you're a booze hound and everything and mentioned burial sites in this post.

Junk Miler said...

I was celebrating to drink. I mean, drinking to celebrate.

Barefoot speedery takes some time to figure out. Time spent running. Again with the agreeing with Nitmos.

First up the cadence to kind of goofy fast, then make the foot circle bigger. That will slow the cadence down to a less goofy level. Swivel the hips like a drag queen doing karaoke from the musical, Chorus Line. Use your arms. Voila!

Man, I should charge for this stuff.