Run DMZ

One vow I made to myself just a little more than two months ago, was to take advantage of my unemployment and do things I never had time for when I was constantly doing things for someone else. I’ve made good on that promise, including a special trip yesterday to Hollywood to be part of a studio audience for “ The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson .” Who doesn’t love this guy? He’s funny, erudite, highly charming, and very good-looking. It turns out he’s also a genuinely nice guy. We weren’t allowed on the CBS lot with cameras, cell phones or PDAs, so there are no pictures of those several hours spent waiting in line, waiting for our orientation and then waiting in the tiny, very cold studio, let alone during the actual taping. I’ll download the other photos later for tomorrow’s Wordless Wednesday. Lunch at 4A We arrived a little too early to park in the CBS lot and stand in line with our tickets, so we drove around the block to The Grove and Farmer’s Market to kill time. I had my fir...

My online training log for the month looks pretty pathetic. It's also misleading. It would appear, at most, I work out two or three times a week at the gym, and that's it. In truth, almost every morning I get up, grab some tea and toast, grab my jog bra and shoes and head into the dark to walk the streets of my neighborhood. I have long hated walking, mainly because it hurt my hips and it hurt my pride. But lately I've learned to love the walk. I don't have to panic if I suddenly need to pee. I don't have to worry as much about my wardrobe. I don't have to replace my shoes as often. I don't fall (as much, anyway). I don't have to worry about bra support (as much, anyway). I don't obsess about time lost to detours and dead ends. I also get plenty more time to watch the world turn over for another day, to work up a light sweat, to check out my rich neighbors' illuminated interiors and to really think about the way I move my entire body (which, by t...

Once upon a time a woman named Lynda and her husband bought a pistachio farm in central California and found it came with an orchard of exotic-looking orbs. Rather than raise the fruit trees to make way for another money-producer, the couple researched the market potential of this tart-tasting fruit and discovered these gems were nutritional gold. I’ve eaten pomegranates since Shelly Yoder shared one with me in the ninth grade. But it’s only been in recent years that the fruit has reached the height of its popularity – thanks in part to medical research, marketing genius and health-conscious consumers who like their food loaded with vitamins and antioxidants . And POM Wonderful , the juice that’s 100 percent pomegranate, is one of the best ways to get these benefits, I’ve just discovered. The folks at POM recently sent me a small box of 8-ounce bottles of their juice to try and report my findings here at Run DMZ. When my older daughter lived at home, I bought pomegranates almost weekl...

My sister called me on Tuesday afternoon to let me know our parents, sister and 16-month-old nephew had been involved in a bad car crash. The collision happened at 11 in the morning and by 2 p.m. everyone had been safely delivered by ambulances to the hospital for CAT scans, tests, more x-rays and stitches. A woman from Portland whose son had just deployed to Afghanistan said she never saw the red traffic light before barreling into my parents’ new Nissan Pathfinder. Despite the condition of the car, the SUV held up pretty well even after flipping over. (And, just so you know, another Pathfinder once saved yet another sister’s life when a reckless driver’s trailer unhitched on an LA freeway and she careened into a concrete median.) My dad was hurt the worse, with a broken rib and a big cut and a bruised brain; my sister is sporting quite the black eye; and my mother says she told hospital staff she was in bad shape before the crash, so just ignore the limp. My nephew’s new car seat had...