Eight from the Gate

Right before the race started today, I came up with my slogan: Eight from the Gate. This is in reference to my desire to run 8 minute miles right from the get go. I started the morning with a 1.5 mile warm up run, and then picked up my bud and headed down to the Minnehaha falls area. There was HORRIBLE traffic. I guess the good weather brought out TONS more people then last year. Luckily, after a few last minute decisions, we found a parking spot a mile from the start. We ran down the starting area with about 20 minutes to spare.

The race was GREAT. I was feeling good from the start and around mile 3 knew that the rest of the race would be exactly what I hoped for. My goal was under 50 minutes, which I was able to achieve. My final time:

47:19 !!!

I'm super happy with that time, I had a lot of fears that due to my recent health issues I wasn't going to be able to run the race I wanted to today. But everything came together and I hit my goals and then some. What will next year bring...?

Speaking of everything coming together, we are all finally on the mend this week. Megan was given some more antibiotics for her ear infection (Augmentin - one of the main things I used to take) and is healthy as a clam. No fevers, all normal Megan all the time! Andrea's sore throat is gone and I'm feeling great. Talk about a big relief.

As for the whole water leak problem... Ugh, that's a whole story for a different post. Maybe I'll get something up tomorrow.



Today there was a huge neighborhood garage sale event. Andrea found a bunch of fun things for Megan in the early morning hours while I was running, including a tricycle!! Here are some images from our play time today.

Coulda done without that

As if this week wasn't rough enough, I come home tonight to see this:



Seriously, kick me while I'm down. I suppose it was bound to happen sometime. Nothing lasts forever right? Just wish it wasn't water damaged ceilings. I wouldn't even begin to know how to start fixing it myself. Should I just start sawing sheet rock in hopes I can get to whatever is leaking? And then even if I do, how will I actually fix it? Wait, what am I talking about. This would all require TOOLS that I don't own... Not to mention this is directly above my computers. I'd have to move it all out of the way so they didn't get covered in sheet rock dust.

I have one theory on what the problem might be. Actually, it's what I really hope it might be. You see, that long line leads directly to a shower head in the bathroom on the other side of that wall. We haven't turned that shower on in months, maybe even a full year or more. Today, that shower was cleaned. There is a high chance that perhaps the shower was actually turned on during that cleaning process, and maybe, just MAYBE, the leak is actually from the pipes feeding to the shower itself.

So why would I really hope that is in fact the problem? Because if it is, it's not an immediate concern! I would be able to ignore it for a long time... Okay, well not forever obviously. But you know, at least until Megan grows old enough to take showers down here. That's what, at least another year right?!

I have to confirm with Andrea if the shower was turned on later tonight, when she gets home from Police Academy. I'll post a blog update once I validate or debunk my theory.

No News = Good News?

No strep, no pneumonia. That's the good news. Bad news is, we don't really know what it is that is causing Megan's fever. The other good news is that she didn't seem to develop any fever symptoms at all today. For the most part, today was pretty normal although she was still much more moody than normal. It would be great if she finally turned the corner. Just in case, we scheduled an appointment with our pediatrician for this Thursday. If she's done with the fevers by then, I'm sure no more tests will be done, and we'll just never know.

In the meantime, I've had to deal with my own bad decisions. We had this coupon sitting on our board for quite awhile to get 6 free wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. So we ended up going there Saturday night. I started with just a buffalo chicken wrap, but couldn't help but order some potato wedges. They were covered in sooooo much oil, yet tasted oh so yummy at the time. Within an hour of dinner, hell even as we walked out I knew something was wrong. My body just could not handle that level of badness. I never thought I'd actually say it, but I think my body has actually adjusted to clean living?

I won't gross you out with the following 48 hours after that, but last night was rough. I'm feeling better now but learned a pretty tough lesson. I can only hope that my body is back up to speed by this weekend. The weather is looking to be very nice for the run and if I one stupid decision ruins the run for me I'm going to be very upset.

I think I'm going to have to take a mulligan for April. May will be better!

Rough 72 Hours

You know that saying, it gets worse before it gets better? I damn sure hope that is the case for us, and especially Megan. The last 72 hours have not been a pleasant trip for anyone in the Anderson house. Somehow, I'm the only without a temperature right now, but I still don't feel 100% either. I have no appetite and I've had an upset stomach all day. Andrea has a fever of 100.

After Megans 100+ temp on Thursday, things have not improved. It didn't seem too bad Friday night, but by Saturday afternoon, Megan was burning up. I took her temp at 104, and we called the nurse line. They recommended kids ibuprofen. Andrea ran off to Target to get some, which we gave to her and settled her down for the night. So far Megan does not have any other symptoms that would point to something more serious. (vomiting, diarrhea, etc)

At some point during the night, her fever must have broke, because she woke up in a very decently chipper mood. Her temp was a normal 98 degrees.



By the afternoon, things started going south again. I took her temp at 102 and gave her some more ibuprofen. After that she went into the tired state and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon.



We just got done taking a semi-luke warm bath together, it was the best I could do. She didn't like it very much, but was too tired to complain. Her temp was 101.5, still high but nothing like yesterday. Now she is resting on the couch again.

Needless to say, I'm going to take a sick day tomorrow and we are ALL going to the Doctor. If I had to predict... I would say that her cold/ear infection is coming back with a vengeance. We'll probably try some more antibiotics and see if that helps.

Blog update: It's 9pm and Megan is doing great. She is laughing, active, and even ate some late night food. Her temp is 98.4, so looking very good. It's good to see her with a normal temp late at night when it is typically the highest. Still same plan for tomorrow, because I really want to make sure her ear infection/cough aren't getting worse.

Woh is Me

Despite the great weather, I took the night off running tonight to get home early. Megan came down with a 100+ temperature, so I thought it best to get home and help out. It has been a pretty rough month for Megan. She hasn't been 100% healthy since early April with the original pink eye and ear infection. This is really the first time she's been sick for this long, I just hope she starts to feel better soon.

Work is interesting as ever. And by interesting, I think you know what I mean. You know what? I'm not even stressing about it. I've found that it's time to embrace some of my own best advice: Go with the Flow. It's all about seperating the things I have control over from the things I don't. It worked in my personal life, why can't it work for my professional life?

Not much else going on this week... I don't have any plans this weekend that I can think of. Might be a slow few days on the blog. Not like my posts recently have been all that interesting. Suppose I should get some new Megan pics up soon, I just checked my camera and realized I haven't taken any in quite awhile.

Ninja Monday Vanish

Holy crap, 5 days without a post! Been awhile since I had a long break like that, guess I'm slacking. The three day weekend was perfect, just enough time for a little bit of everything: something new, something active, something fun, something relaxing!

Friday we enjoyed our trip to the Water Park of America. We dropped Megan off at daycare at 9:40am and got over to the Water Park shortly after 10am. The locker rooms left something to be desired, with $1.00 one use lockers. Other then that, the park was great! There were 3 solo slides, 2 pair person slides (on a tube), and 1 family tube ride (3-5 people). There was only a line for the family tube ride, so we only did that one twice. We did have one bad incident, when we went down together on one of the pair slides (you go on a large 2-person tube). At the end of the ride we got flung off the tube and I hit Andi in the head with my knee! I also tried to body board on the wave pool thing... very long line, but it was fun (for the 10 or so seconds before I fell off). We ended with a long dip in the whirlpool and a follow up lunch at Don Pablos.

Saturday morning I got a great 10-mile run in with my unofficial running partner. There is a chance we might attempt to run the Get in Gear 10k at the same pace together... More on that later! The weather wasn't too cold at all Saturday morning, so the run was great. Saturday night we visited some friends at a small spring get together.

That left Sunday morning for a quick trip to the grocery store with Megan while Andrea was at church, followed up with a relaxing afternoon of video games and movies. We even had a friend stop by to drop off a Christmas gift for Megan. Heck yes I like Christmas gifts in April! Who doesn't? Finished the night off with a little basketball with my brother and his roommate.

Got out for another great run tonight, the weather was awesome. I just hope that it can stay this way for the next two weeks. Just a few more runs this week and probably one practice pace run, then it's on to looking forward to my first half-marathon: The Heart of the City 1/2 Marathon.

My Wife the Cop

Megan and I are chilling alone tonight, watching Goonies. We had some turkey burgers for dinner and I gave Megan a big piece of mine. She loved it and ate it all up, but maybe she loved it too much. Because then a little bit later she had a really bad coughing fit and had a bad vomit situation. She didn't seem bothered by it, but it's still no fun. You just don't know, should you offer her more food later? Or wait to see if she gets hungry later? Oh well...

I realized I haven't mentioned why I am home alone tonight, and for the next few Wednesdays. Andrea has signed up for a Citizen’s Police Academy here in Apple Valley. Here is a news article about it from the local Apple Valley paper. Basically she gets to learn about police procedures and actually do a ride along with an officer one night. It's a totally free class and I think she is really enjoying it!

The snow this week is quite the downer, but this weekend should remedy that. Tomorrow is Friday for me since I'm taking the actual Friday off to spend the whole day inside, escaping the snow at the Water Park of America! We are dropping Megan off at day care and going straight to the park. Hopefully we will get a few hours of water slides, rafting, relaxing and swimming in, followed up with a nice lunch.

Not much else new... You may have noticed I moved my video posts over to Google Video instead of YouTube. The main reason for the switch was my Mom's work internet blocked YouTube. (but not Google Video) It does seem to be a slightly better quality too. YouTube seemed to always get the video and audio out of sync, but the Google Video posts are much better.

That's all I know for now, lets hope what they are saying about this weekends weather is true. (60's by Sunday...)

Better late then never

I know I promised a "Megan talks" post yesterday, but lazy sunday got the better of me. So much in fact, we didn't even dye eggs! Megan and I sat around in our PJ's all day, and it was great. I did at least take a shower sometime around 1pm, but quickly got back into my PJ's again. I played video games for at least 8 hours. Ahhh... so relaxing.

Today Megan is exactly a year and half old!! I know it's cliche to keep mentioning how fast time seems to be going by, but it just does. But when you think about it, that's probably a good thing. Isn't it also often said that "Time flies when you're having fun." Maybe I'm just having so much fun watching Megan grow up that it's flying by.

In honor of Megan's milestone, here is the video of her first word. Although offically we declared Megan's first word to be "up", this one is just so damn cute. It's also the first word she has used when she sees one around town. We were at Applebees once and Megan pointed and said "Ball!" and sure enough, there was a sports ball stuck on the wall. So please enjoy, Megan says Ball!

So much for that

Nothing really interesting to post about this week. Work is back to semi-normal, if one could even call it that. We've been given new direction by the business that is so Top Secret, I can't even talk about it! It's sorta like Fight Club...

Thankfully the week went by really fast since I had Monday off. The bad news is come Wednesday, I woke up sick. After avoiding it for almost 2 weeks, I get sick now... WHY! If it's the same thing Andrea and Megan have, I'm going to be hurting soon. My plan is to rest today and tomorrow, and come Monday really start to run it out of my system.

The best news from this week is that tonight we are playing Dungeons & Dragons! It's been 6 weeks since our last game so no one will even remember what we were doing last time, but it should still be fun. The funny part is I'm still way ahead thanks to all that prep work I did back in Feb. I've had to do zero prep for tonights session which is nice. I'd like to see them get through the current adventure tonight, but odds are it won't happen.

Come Sunday we will be dying some Easter Eggs with Megan! Not sure how involved Megan will be this year, I don't want to make a huge mess in the kitchen. It will still be fun, and I'll get a bunch of pictures. Also tomorrow I'll be posting up a little surprise video... Megan talking! (sort of)

Over the River

And through the woods! Monday morning Megan and I headed over to Great Grandma and Grandpa's house in Minneapolis. We had a nice little visit, my Aunt and cousin where there also. My grandpa recently bought a digital camera, which is weird considering he doesn't own a computer. I'm not quite sure what he does with the pictures, I assume he must take the memory card in and get prints created directly from that.

My cousin, being the technology savvy wiz that she is, recorded a video with my grandpa's camera. It occurred to me that whatever cuteness was on that recorded clip would basically never reach the light of day. Long story short, I stole my grandpa's camera so I could get the images and video off of it. Here is the result, run time 1:42.



And some pictures from the morning... Megan went crazy up and down the stairs. Wore her out pretty well!



Megan smiling at her Easter bunny present that she got from Grandma and Grandpa.



Other then that, today went pretty well. For those of you curious about the work situation, as usual I blew things out of proportion. Not only was the problem found, it wasn't even in an area I have direct responsibility over. Thus I did not find the problem. (although my "best guess" from last week turned out to be correct...) But that is exactly why I was stressing so much - not having the knowledge / ability to find the problem on my own. For whatever reason, I have very little faith in other people sometimes. Maybe it's just because I've never had a job where I felt like someone had my back. Most of the time it just seems like everyone is too busy watching their own back. The use of the acronym CYA (Cover Your Ass) in the business world may seem out of place, but it happens more then you'd think.

No Jokes

Our weekend was very relaxing. We arrived at Andrea's parents house and spent a few hours there with Megan, and then headed out to check in to the hotel. Upon arriving, we found a large mass of people in the pool area. At least 20+ people and kids all hanging out, along with tables full of food, drinks, cupcakes, etc. No big deal, right? I'm sure things would clear out by the time we got back in the evening...

We headed into downtown New Ulm to kill some time. Stopped at Country Loft because we heard they had really good fudge there. We ordered a few pieces and they were soooo yummy. After that we went to see a movie... I hesitate to say what we saw, but you have to realize we only had a choice of 3 movies, and the other two were cartoons. (and I've already seen TMNT!) So we saw Blades of Glory. It was pretty bad, but it had a few laughable moments. After that we enjoyed a nice big dinner at the Lamplighter.

Upon returning to the hotel, it was to the same huge crowd of people in the pool area. Did I forget to mention that we had a pool side room?? We tried to delay as long as we could (9:30pm) to try and get some swimming in, but it was still crowded. There were actually kids JUMPING into the whirlpool and splashing. We didn't stick around very long...

Other then that, the weekend was great. The only bad part was Andrea still feeling like crap. So today she headed to urgent care to see whats up. Turns out she has BRONCHITIS!! No joke! Luckily she went in early enough that she was able to order and pick up some antibiotics all today before everything closed. Now both the ladies in my life are sick and on medication. The fact that I'm still well is a miracle. Talk about dodging bullets.