My big sister Barbara in happier times.

1954- May 11, 2007
Rest in the loving arms of the Lord.

May was a tough month.
As a boomer, I’ve long believed that there is a song for every occasion. Here are two.

Mary Chapin Carpenter: My Heaven

Nothing shatters nothing breaks

Nothing hurts and nothing aches

We got ourselves one helluva place

in my heaven.

No one's lost and no one's missing

No more partings just hugs and kissing

And all these stars are just for wishing, in my heaven.

There's neighbors, thieves and long lost lovers

villains, poets, kings and mothers

Up here we forgive each other, in my heaven.
For every soul that's down there waiting,holding on, still hesitating

We say a prayer of levitating, in my heaven.
You can look back on your life and lot

But it can't matter what you're not

By the time you're here, we're all we've got

In my heaven.

And Lyle Lovett: Last of the Family Reserve:
When I saw the ambulance screaming down Main Street
I didn’t give it a thought
It was my uncle Eugene
He died on October the second, nineteen eighty one

And there are more I remember
And more I could mention
Than I could ever write in a song
But I feel them watching
And I see them laughing
And I hear them singing along

And we’re all gonna be here forever
So mama don’t you make such a stir
Just put down that camera
And come on and join up
The last of the family reserve

Admiral Stockdale: "Who am I ? Why am I here?"

Why Running Dog?
1. Running Dog Imperialist Lackey is too long.
2. You may have guessed, I'm a Dog Person. The Wife is, even more so. In our house "You dog " is a term of endearment, not a pejorative. (At least that's what she tells me.)

At age 40, about a year after the kids were born, it was time to get serious about regular exercise. I started running three or four times a week. I enjoy it, and it keeps the stress and cholesterol down. I've done three ten milers (best time 85 minutes) and a marathon (4:24.) Not bad for a guy who became a jock in middle age.

Daniel Lyons writes in the latest Forbes magazine on easy blogging with Blogger. I've considered it for awhile. so here I am.

What will this be about? Running. Politics. Silliness. Kids. Travel. The GWOT. Life. Heck, I don't know, really. I'm making this up as I go along.
More boring gratuitous personal stuff follows. You've been warned.

I'm a civil engineer in a consulting firm with offices in Old Town Alexandria.
"What did you do at work today Dad?"
"Sent lots of emails, talked on the phone to clients, shuffled papers, went to too many meetings."
It's a good career. I've had a part, if only a small one, in projects like the Springfield interchange, the new Wilson Bridge, the new NAVSEA headquarters at thw Washington Navy Yard, and Pentagon Metro bus station.
I've been married for over fifteen years. The Wife teaches AP English and plays with an Irish band.
We have twin daughters, 12. They are terrific kids.
I grew up in the Southwest, went to Rice University, and then lived in Texas for ten years before moving to Virginia.
As George Will wrote,

Visitors may consider Rice the Harvard of the Southwest. Rice students
prefer to think of Harvard as the Rice of the Northeast.

I have a core sample of the Edwards aquifer on my desk; it's my own little piece of Texas.