I was never a big fan of running. I had no quarrel with people who enjoyed it, but when it comes to exercise, I’ve always liked there to be some sort of fun involved. With the exception of running when there’s a game or sport involved, most running seems to involve unpleasant things, like running in an airport to avoid missing a flight, or trying to flee hungry lions. (I’ve never had the misfortune to be chased by hungry lions, but I’m sure it’s unpleasant.) Without a fun or otherwise compelling reason to run, it always struck me as a boring way to get tired, and all you got out of it at the end was that tired feeling. Whee. |inline

My niece, Jenna, is nearing the end of her kindergarten year, and getting smarter and more independent every day. She’s not just smarter than ever; she’s also clever enough to use her skills to come up with fun treats and surprises for her mom, all the while concealing her plans through indirect questions and subtle misdirection. For Mother’s Day this year, she put together a surprise plan to really pamper Mommy (my sister) from the moment she woke up. In retrospect, there were little hints that could have tipped my sister off, but I’ll just relate the story as I heard it, and you can decide for yourself whether you’d have caught on.

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I first created “The Finite Monkey” when I wanted a place to post stories and pictures about my 2002 World Cruise aboard the Crystal Symphony. A blog would have been a great format for that, but blog hadn’t yet become a household word, and I wasn’t aware of them yet, so my original site was old-fashioned HTML, and a pain to maintain. When I discovered blogging, I knew it was the direction I wanted to go, so I evaluated the (free) alternatives available at the time, and decided Movable Type offered the best combination of power, customizability, and ease of use. Movable Type is still a great blogging tool, but the blogging landscape has changed, and when I recently took a fresh look at the alternatives available, WordPress emerged as the new favorite. |inline

I used to get a semblance of regular exercise by playing recreational ice hockey, but it’s been close to four years since I played regularly, and the bowling I’ve done just hasn’t filled that exercise void. Last summer I joined a gym and started working out about three times a week. You won’t see me on the cover of any fitness magazines, but the regular exercise is already paying dividends. My wife has exercised daily for as long as I’ve known her, and I have a sporadic record of accompanying her on long walks when the weather is nice enough. Recently, we added a new twist by mixing in some jogging with the walking, which is very unusual to me. I’ve never understood the running thing; I’m one of those people who generally only runs if being chased or chasing something, which doesn’t come up often in my day-to-day life. Jogging with my wife turned out not to be so bad, though, and led us both to make a very out-of-character decision: we decided to run in a local 5K last Sunday. |inline