World Domination

I have this running list of things I would do if I ruled the world.  One of them is to DNA test every corpse and close out some cold cases that way. 

Another thing is that the name of a place would be the same in every language.  Everyone would call it Zhongguo, no one would call it China or Cine or whatever. 

I'm not saying that just because of the Italian Monaco thing -- I once had a long conversation (read:  argument) in Italian with someone about various things about Monaco.  Turns out in Italian, if you're uncertain about where Monaco is, you need to specify:  the principality of Monaco (Monaco), or the Monaco of Bavaria (the city we call Munich).  Instead of Italians calling that city Monaco (or Monaco di Bavaria), and us calling it Munich, everyone would call it Munchen, same as the Germans do.

I came across this map, and it turns out someone else has had the same idea.  I think the map is subtitled in Polish, but all names appear to be in their native language, even when it's using an alphabet/characters that we don't have.

I love it! 

Tunnel Run

Since my step-dad died on Good Friday, we've actually made two separate trips to Pittsburgh to see my mother-in-law and others in my husband's family. 

In terms of my mother-in-law, she's pretty much the same.  She often seems to think she's somewhere between the ages of 14 and about 25.  She wonders where her parents are, she talks about the principal a lot, etc.  But she still at least recognizes us, although she forgets names a bit more.  It's confusing to talk to her because she'll say something like her sister just left after visiting her (highly possible), but then she'll also talk about her mother having given her the car keys that morning (highly impossible).  She seems to be less frightened, which is good, and she sometimes realizes she's not making sense and just says "I don't know what I'm saying."  But she still sometimes thinks she's in a stranger's house and wants to know when her parents will be there to take her home.

She's significantly more lucid in the mornings, so we try to time our trips to Pittsburgh to allow for at least a couple morning visits. 

Besides spending time with her, we usually stay with my husband's middle older brother and his wife.  And then there's usually a few random activities that fill our time.  My brother-in-law lives in a suburb pretty far outside the city, but if I drive (the rental car with those big @ss keys) a couple miles, I can park along a trail that runs pretty much forever.  At least 50 miles I think.  You know, in case you want to do an out-and-back 100 miler before work one morning.

It's a beautiful trail:

And the fun part I remembered to photograph this time, there's a tunnel: 

It's also about 20 degrees cooler than Dallas in the mornings, so there's that...

Pigeon Protection

My biggest complaint at home lately is that there are a bunch of pigeons who spend the night on our porch (primarily our neighbors' porches actually).  And of course they crap all over. 

On nights I'm home, when it's getting dark and they're settling in, I try to go out on the porch and scare them off -- throwing ice cubes in their direction if necessary.  One of my running buddies said that her dad throws ice cubes at them, and it struck me as a great idea.  That way if I throw one to scare pigeons off my neighbor's porch, it doesn't leave any residue (like a pebble, which was my original tactic). 

Anyway, my husband says we should just go back to Dubai and go to a falconry school and bring back a pet falcon. 

But we had this bird visiting a month ago and that did the trick for a short period of time. 

Majors Attempt

I've done four of the six world major marathons and I'd like to do Tokyo and London to finish up the series, but both are very hard to get into.

I wish marathon lotteries would have a general category, but then a separate lottery if you can show that you've entered five times and not gotten picked, and prove that you've run some other marathon each of those five years -- it would maybe be a good way for people who are long-time marathoners to get in. 

But my hat is in the ring for London for the second year in a row, and now, there's this:

Tokyo does not fit into our 2019 travel plans in any way, shape or form.  But if by some miracle, I get picked for that lottery, we are going to make it work! 

I've never been to Japan.  It's on the list, but it's hard to get it scheduled since we both like going to new places, and my husband went there before he knew me.  But one of these days I'll get there, hopefully to do the marathon, and hopefully in Feb. 2019. 

Fingers crossed...