Fire Up Old Sparky

I've had a tiring week, but pretty much only because I'm badly addicted to Downton Abbey and I've been staying up late watching it.  It is fantastic. 

Honestly, I'm pretty sure that Mitt Romney wants to cut PBS funding because he's jealous that Ann's got a major crush on the Cousin Matthew. 

I mean...I get it girl.  I have a crush on him as well.  I mean...hello?

Sorry.  I know that if you don't watch that show, that was totally boring. 

In case you were wondering, I have been trying to run more and I even put in a 55 mile week last week.  I'm still slow though.  I can't believe that taking only a couple weeks off (and a couple months of half-assing) has had such repercussions on my speed.  I probably shouldn't be surprised though.  Running doesn't lie.  And not working hard for a couple months doesn't lie either.

I'm going to try to regain as much as I can before NYC/Ragnar.  Fingers crossed. 

I've also managed to do several electricity / fire themed things in the past week. 

1)  Set My House On Fire.

You know that "storage area" underneath stoves?  Yeah.  Turns out for a gas stove, it's not exactly storage.   Or at least not for my gas stove storing a sandwich maker and a still unidentified additional now-melted appliance. 

There go my dreams of hot sandwiches at home. 

Last Sunday night, I wanted to bake a Butternut squash.   I started pre-heating the oven, like a normal human being would, and I noticed some white smoke coming out of the oven.  Since the place is new, I figured maybe there was something random down there that needed to burn up, so I turned off the oven and waited.

However, the smoke kept coming.  And there were some small flames at the bottom of the oven.  I figured they would go out.  Go out they did not.

I went next door to ask my neighbour what to do, and he didn't know either.   It didn't seem like an emergency just yet.  So we just stood there staring at the stove.  And then black smoke started coming out. 

"F it I'm caling 911!!!" 

My hands were shaking as I dialed 911 and as the fire in the oven grew bigger and bigger.  Then the alarms throughout my new complex started going off as the sirens of the fire-trucks approached. 

"Holy shit", I thought, as I frantically moved boxes out of the way of the growing flames. 

But thank god for emergency services - those firemen were there and putting out the flames in no time.  They pulled out the remains of the sandwich maker (with melted plastic everywhere) as I apologized profusely for my mistake. 

"If you wanted to see us so badly, why didn't you just come down to the station and say hi?".  

Haha.  All's well that ends well though, and nothing got damaged.  My night just ended with me feeling a little bit shaken and under a lot of ashes. 

Pretty crazy and embarrassing though.  A banner way to introduce myself to the new neighbours!  

2) The Gaslight Anthem I only mention this part because of the irony.  The night prior to setting a fire in my gas stove, I went to go see the band, the Gaslight Anthem at the Honda Center in Anaheim. 

They were pretty rocking and I love them. 

I mean... I guess it would have been more funny had the band's name been the "Gas Fire Anthem", but you get the idea.

3) Compex Electrostimulation Machine:  As you may have heard, our ultra relay is sponsored by a company called Compex (along with Pro Compression.  Woot!).  Compex makes electro stim machines that basically serve to help build muscle as well as to help recovery. 

Frankly, I'd never heard of a machine like this until I mentioned our sponsor to my boss (a former ridiculously good track athlete) and a couple other people who have gotten physical therapy.  They were all jealous that we each got a machine!   Apparently this method for recovery is legit.

But the thing is...I am too dumb to use it.  Tonight I followed all the steps in the manual and I'm still not sure if it worked.  I'm also kind of scared to put it on anything but the lowest setting (uh after I nearly burned the house down).  Here're some pictures of the attempt:

I don't know about you, but the cartoon of the naked man with socks on in the middle diagram is enough to make me keep using this machine. 

In all seriousness, I am really excited to learn proper usage because I don't recover well from workouts and this could be a great tool.  If you've ever used one of these, tell me about it!  I'd love to hear more.  

Also, if you've ever set your house on fire, perhaps you can tell me about that one too.  I'd like to think I'm not the only one who has burned up a sandwich maker in a cloud of black smoke.