This is quite possibly the cutest thing I’ll see all month:

You’re welcome!

Love,
  Me

** Image borrowed from www.jamesbest.com

The weather has started to get pretty cold this past weekend and that's been causing some problems with the battery in Lynn's car.  After jumping it a couple times, I decided it was time to let my inner Grease Monkey come out and play.  So I went to AutoZone and checked out the replacement batteries for her car and picked up one of the best ones they had.  When I got back home I started to do the swap, but it wasn't as simple as it should have been since the hood lifts on her car didn't work either and there wasn't a hood prop, so I had to have Lynn come out and freeze with me while holding the hood up.

Taking out the old battery went fairly smooth except when one of the clamp posts fell in to the engine compartment.  Not a big deal though.  Putting in the new battery was a different story.  It actually fit in well, but the posts were on the wrong side and one of the cables wouldn't reach. Story of my life; always an inch and a half short.  It turns out that when the battery chart suggested a 24F, the F indicated that the posts would be on the front side and was fairly important in this case.

So, back to AutoZone we went where we suffured through another round of having somone enter Lynn's information in to the computer for the 4th time for warranty information.  Side Note: I'm far from the worlds fastest typest, but waiting on someone to bang out 2 words per minute with the single finger chicken peck isn't my idea of fun.  This time I took back the original battery (avoid the core charge) and purchased a new set of hood lifts (Lynn isn't talented enough to provide me with beer while holding up the hood).

Armed with the correct parts, I proceeded to install the hood lifts and the new battery as well as cover myself in grease.  After getting everything installed and enjoying a few drinks of a wonderful winter ale, I hopped in the car and tested it out.  SUCCESS!!!  The car started right up and re-ignited my inner Grease Monkey. :)

Lessons Learned

• A 24F battery isn't the same as a 24.
• Doing a Google Image Search for "Cooter" doesn't return as much bad stuff as you might imagine.

Since today is the last day of 2009 I wanted to take a little time to recap some of the highlights.

'09 Highlights

• Started training for my first half marathon; didn't follow practical training advice; got injured; training got sidelined; had a poor first HM performance; learned from my mistake.
• Got in a fairly involved relationship that wasn't right for me and learned a lot from it.
• Did my first sprint triathlon for my friend Pat.
• Started training properly following the "Run Less, Run Faster" / FIRST training programs.
• Won 2nd place in a local 5k and 1st in a 4-miler - both for my age group.
• Started doing Centergy / Yoga; Met Lynn!
• Ran the Philadelphia Distance Run (Half Marathon); had a great performance with a time of 1:34:08.
• Ran the Akron Marathon (Half Marathon) 6 days later; had an even better performance with a time of 1:31:02!!!
• Got Lynn started running; ran her first 5k with her.
• Ran the Bourbon Chase: 200 mile relay; our team won our division by over an hour; it took us 22.5 hours.
• Ran the Fast Freddie's Five-Mile Foot Feast on Thanksgiving morning; improved from last year's time by almost 10 minutes (side note: Fast Freddie's was my first road race ever).
• Converted my site over to use BlogEngine.net; pretty happy with it so far; creating a new theme for it and hope to contribute to the community.

I typically don't set resolutions for new year's, and don't plan on doing that this year either.  However, I do have a few things that I'd like to accomplish this year.

• Run my first marathon (currently registered for the Derby Festival Marathon); hopefully qualify for the Boston Marathon by the end of the year.
• Drop my cable TV service and save over $600 / year (already started purchasing hardware and software from Sage TV).
• Start a running group at my local gym.
• Successfully coach Lynn to complete her first Half Marathon.