May 2005

A package arrived at my doorstep the other day. I’m not gonna lie, I always get a bit uneasy (in a good way) when UPS knocks. Good news or bad news, it doesn’t matter. The same pit in the stomach arrives.

I mean it’s THE UNKNOWN, right?

It’s like that feeling you get on Christmas Eve …”the what’s inside feeling” — but times 10. OK maybe times 5.

And it goes without saying, it’s always the generic brown boxes that make me the most apprehensive. What can brown do for you?? I’ll tell you what it can do for me, it can make me more freakin’ nervous.

When the package arrived this past weekend I was out of town so it sat waiting for me upon my arrival. There it was, the generic brown box, just itching to be opened. I picked it up and stared at it for a moment. I did the obligatory “shake shake” and listened…Nothing. No sound.

Suspect.

Very suspect.

I looked at the return address. Again, very generic. Sent from Janesville, Wisconsin. I do not know anyone in Janesville.

TERRIFIED.

I went through the common self-dialogue…”Should I open it?” “Yes, Lisa open it!” “But what if….” “Damn it open it.” You know, two voices one mind.

With a mix of excitement, curiosity, and utter confusion filling my head, I pulled out my beloved Grade A metal scissors and slit the brown packaging tape down the middle.

Holding my breath, I looked inside at the mangled tissue. What could this be? I unwrapped the tissue as slowly as I would open up my credit card statement over the holidays.

One, two, three…

BAM. SHARPIES!!!!

Sweet!!!! I LOVE sharpies! (I am actually borderline obsessed.)

I looked inside for an explanation…a note from a friend…a chain letter…NOTHING.

Just a receipt.

Odd.

BUT THEN – I looked at one of the Sharpies. OH MY GOD. My name was emblazoned on each one. Lisa Comrie. In Comic Sans.

Who sent this to me? Who? Who? Who? I need to know! Definitely not the Sharpie Organization (although Saskia and I once got a ride home from a party from a guy who worked for Sharpie. He ended up giving us the new metallic fine tip as a parting gift.)

And I know it’s not him. Well, 99.9% sure.

Over the past couple of days I have emailed a few people asking if they are the culprits. But I have come up with NOTHING.

So I am using this blog as an outlet to play Inspector Gadget. I am on a mission to find this Carmen San Diego and track her/him down. If you know anything about this. Please inform me.

As I was inspecting the Sharpies these two brothers, Butch and Victor Hillman, happened to be at my house working on the cable.

(Victor is on the left, Butch is on the right.)

I was curious to know what their thoughts were on this issue. Butch’s hypothesis was that Sharpie sent them to me as a promotion. A solid thought but I just didn’t buy it. I told him that it would just be too ironic that of all companies, Sharpie (one of my favorites) would send me something so personal. It just wouldn’t happen. As Butch and Victor continued to work on the cable we started talking about Sharpies in general.

Lisa: “What is it that you like so much about Sharpies?”

Butch: “Sharpies are cool and permanent.”

Lisa: “Right on, Butch. Right on.”

Victor: “It’s the grip. The writing ability. Their function. Their different styles. Fat tips all the way to the extra fine tip.”

Lisa: “100% in agreement.”

Butch: “I think they are great….they are universal.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Case in point, Sharpies ARE awesome. I actually write better when I write with them.

So to whoever sent me the Sharpies – THANK YOU. (But please come clean and tell me who you are!)

And to the Sharpie Organization (in case for some odd reason you come across this post): THANK YOU as well for creating a superb marker that never lets me down. I have thoroughly enjoyed every punctuation mark, alphabetic letter, cartoon character and number I have written with the Sharpie Ultra Fine Tip since 1989.

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Back in March, I had picked an Intense Individual of the day. That individual was the Ultramarathon Man. The man by the name of Dean Karnazes who recently completed a 262 mile run for 75 straight hours.

Here he is with his parents and Ardy.

(His dad was a big fan of ducks, too.)

The other day he was at the Barnes and Noble for a book signing and I was compelled to go hear what he had to say. I wanted to find out this man’s story and actually be in his presence. With our books in hand, the audience and I listened to him speak about his experiences on the road. He talked about sleep running and how he would eat a whole cheesecake and pizza mid-run… you know just the normal stuff that you do during a workout. After he had spoke for about 30 minutes, he opened it up to questions from the audience.

My favorite question of the night came from a woman wearing a blue sweatshirt.

WOMAN with blue sweatshirt: Do you compete in marathons?

DEAN: Yes, I do.

WOMAN with blue sweatshirt: “How long are your average marathon times?”

DEAN: “Not that fast to tell you the truth. Sometimes they get up to 3 hours and 15 minutes. But that is usually because I warmed up prior to the run…and my warm up runs are usually around 100 miles.”

(insert moment of silence here for that one).

I thought 4 times around the field hockey field was enough of a warm up before a game back in high school!!!

Anyway, after listening to Dean speak and then talking with him and his parents afterwards, I realized that he was not only intense but a quality guy as well.

You might think that Dean has no time for anything else except the road but that is not true. Somehow he finds the time to also raise two children with his wife and run a natural foods business. (Next time you eat those peanut butter filled pretzels from Trader Joes you can thank Dean). Dean is a very personable man with a very interesting perspective on life.

While extremely dedicated and intense, he considers himself to be “just a normal guy” living a “normal” life. I beg to differ.

I mean let’s be honest, nobody is really normal.

“Being normal” for Dean means taking little vacations away from San Francisco with his family. For example, they will plan a weekend at a spa in Napa Valley to refocus, regroup, and relax….well, sort of. The difference between him and the rest of the vacation goers in the world is the mode of transportation….

The weekend arrives and the family packs in the car …sans Dean. Where is he? Oh that’s right, Dean has already left the night before on foot….so he can run through the night…for 75 miles and meet his family there.

Just a normal guy.

His book: “ULTRAMARATHON MAN CONFESSIONS OF A LATE NIGHT RUNNER” is in stores now. I really recommend you pick it up….he wrote it all while he was running.

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