Wet Weekend

I never delivered on my aforementioned Cookie Adventure story. Let me sum up: Ran 15.5 miles with promise of "big cookie" at the end. Cookie at the end sucked. Proceeded to 3 stores to find the perfect "big cookie". (Found out Mrs. Fields no longer exists in the Mall). Whewww.

So this weekend proceeded to rain on pretty much everyone I'm sure, but we tried not to let it distract too much. Saturday morning I was able to get out at 7am before it was raining and do a nice run. After that we had planned on going to the Target Children's Book Festival at Three Rivers Park. We did this last year as well... This year, it had slightly more meaning to us, but the outcome was much the same. (except no rain last year) Megan was unfocused, just wanted to run around, and in the end the rain forced us into an early retreat. But we made the most of it.









Last night was a great D&D session, but it looks like we might not have another one like that for quite awhile. I had high hopes that the fall and winter would be the time when people would have less going on and would be able to get more time for gaming in, but it just doesn't seem that way. Work, football, vacations, you name it. Maybe I need to start looking for another back up hobby... Hey, what's that World of Warcraft icon doing on my desktop?

But seriously, I do start to miss my TV for the simple fact that I wouldn't mind buying a new gaming system. (XBOX 360 would probably be the console of choice). Just to have something to do those odd hours I have to spare on the week nights. Some nice solid single player gaming action. I think for the first time since we got rid of the TV (March 1st) I'm actually missing it from a movie/video game stand point. Only 6 months? Sad! Going to need a few more years without it most likely... But don't tell my Mom I said that.

Uhhh GPS... cool

Just did my first run with my fancy new GPS running watch. I don't know why I didn't get one before. 1800+ miles on my old watch, that gave me inconsistant results and only a small amount of information (distance)... to this:


Needless to say... that's only the tip of the iceberg in terms of information provided by the new watch. I'm totally hooked, wish I had got it in time for the 25k this past weekend.

I'll post more about that and maybe my insane Cookie Adventure later. I don't have a lot of time tonight so I'll just end with some new pictures.

Megan ready for her first day of school last week. Sounds like today went okay as well, however she didn't nap today after school so she was kind of grumpy tonight. (understatement?)



Just a cute picture of Megan with pigtails.

All right, all right...

Yes, I realize it's Saturday and I haven't posted in over a week. Sue me! No big reasons I haven't found the time to post, mainly just a lazy thing.

Labor day weekend... What did I do again? That's a lifetime ago. Let's see, Friday was the bachelor party, which went exactly as I expected. Fun and I got to talk D&D with my buddy most of the night. I also went ultra cheap and ended the night only spending $7 bucks for parking. Go me!

The rest of labor day weekend was spent running, biking, sitting around doing nothing, or hanging out in various places with Megan. Pretty typical stuff!

The big news for this week is that Megan started preschool. Tuesday night we had an open house where we met her teacher. For some unknown reason, she got a different teacher at the last minute, than the one we originally met. The open house was fine, if a bit unorganized. There were two classes worth of kids congregating in one room.

Thursday morning was the big day. I stayed home from work that morning to help see Megan off. The bus comes to the house around 8:20am to pick up Megan. She got on the bus with no problems. In fact, we woke her in the morning saying "The school bus is coming today!" and all she would say all morning was "school bus!" When the bus arrived, she got right on and gave both Andrea and I a kiss goodbye. She'll go to school now Tuesday/Thursdays from 8:30 to 11:30.

Not much else going on this weekend, except for a 25k run I am doing tomorrow. Although the weather today is just awesome, perfect running weather... I'm sitting here "resting" for the race. And what will I get instead? Probably cold and rain in the morning. Juuuust great.

9 years come and gone

Yesterday was our 9 year anniversary. Just like the last few years, it's standard procedure for me to mention that. At least this year the blog title is a little more creative than "9 years".

We enjoyed a nice long (and huge) dinner last night, at a place called Rudy's Redeye Grill in Lakeville. Andrea had been there one other time, but I had never been there. I came up with a short list of a few places and Andrea picked this one.

The food was awesome (I had left overs tonight!), but boy did we eat too much. This was coming off last weekends all you can eat buffet night at Mystic Lake. Needless to say, I was 192 on the scale this morning, which is about 10 lbs more than I'd like to be.

I'd really like to stop the whole bouncing up and down and feeling like I have constantly be "working off that last meal". In light of that, and our anniversary, and the new month, I came up with a list of 10 "No" items. For the most part, I'm against "negative" approach to changing eating habits, but I think for now this is what I need. I've become to complacent about my eating habits, and it's time to get back on track. And sometimes just saying it out loud helps. So in no particular order, 10 things to JUST SAY NO!

1. No snacks at work. That includes Salsa Thursday, snacks on the Snack Master, or free anniversary treats.
   
2. No ice cream. This one's gonna be tough, but needed.
   
3. No candy from my Mom's house.
   
4. No random snacking at my Mom's house. (if you're reading this Mom, help me out here!)
   
5. No fried foods when eating out. That includes french fries, breaded chicken, mozzarella sticks, etc.
   
6. No "all you can eat free" items when eating out. You know what I'm talking about... chips & salsa at Mexican places, bread sticks at Olive Garden, cheddar bay biscuits at Red Lobster...
   
7. No eating Megan's left overs when we go out to eat.
   
8. No after dinner/late night snacking.
   
9. No pizza at D&D sessions. Just best to say no, since I can never stop myself from having 5+ pieces.
   
10. No over eating after really long runs. (No over eating, period!)

I already broke 2 of the above rules just tonight, so I'll have to start first thing tomorrow. That sounds like a good plan!

Tomorrow night I head up to downtown Minneapolis for dinner and a Gopher football game at the Metrodome for my friends bachelor party. It should be a good time, if nothing else my good friend who joined my D&D group is going to be there, so we can talk about D&D the entire time if the bachelor is too busy talking with all the other family that will be there.

I got nothing

I so wish I could do a brain dump right now. Too much crap on my mind and I can't seem to organize a single coherent train of thought. I told someone at work this week how running was the one chance where I could "think about nothing" and he didn't think it was possible. Now all I can think about is how nice that time can be... It's a big part of why I've become addicted to it.

So intead of fight it, I suppose I'll just post about running. Around mid June, shortly after I did my first half marathon race of the summer, I started getting some pain in my left hip. It was a deep pain that would feel worse after running, but better while running. Afterwards, sometimes even walking would cause sharp shooting pains to run from my hip area down my leg to my knee.

I was a tad worried to say the least. I goggled various possible issues and came up with a few possibilities, the worst of which would have been a problem with my sciatic nerve. (symptoms sounded very similar) Eventually I just went with a solid 3 days of resting with light runs and it sort of went away but was always nagging me and got significantly worse with fast pace runs.

Fast forward to last week and my 16 mile run. I took the opportunity on that run to pay close attention to my body. I had already made a deal with myself that if my hip started to act up I would call off the run, because the last thing I wanted was to do serious damage. But I ran that 16 miles and not only did it end up feeling great but it was at a very good pace and with very little after pain.

What changed? Well, what I came to realize was my stride was uneven. I found that I was pushing off with my left foot for the majority of my forward motion. The end result was that over time, I've been putting a lot more wear on that area. It also was the cause of more blisters on my left foot. I couldn't figure it out why my right foot never had blisters!

With a conscious effort, I tried to even out my stride and push off with both feet equally. The result was no more pain, the blisters on my feet are going down, and I'm feeling much better. Last week I decided to experiement and see if it made that much of a difference. I ended up running 5 days in a row, all decent distances and paces. By the end of the week, I had no significant pains. Problem solved!

Here are the splits for my 16 miler:

2:14:16 Total
1- 8:34
2- 8:45
3- 8:36
4- 8:40
5- 8:27
6- 8:15
7- 8:17
8- 8:19
9- 8:13
10- 8:05
11- 8:13
12- 8:09
13- 8:09
14- 8:24
15- 8:41
16- 8:17

The Friday Post

I did want to get more then one post up this week, but it just didn't happen. Main reason was that I had a D&D session on a week night this week (Thursday) so I was busy preparing for that most of the week. It went pretty well, I have a old friend joining the group which is great, and I still think the new 4th edition is going to be some long term fun.

I'm home alone tonight because Andrea and Megan are down visiting Grandma and Papa B tonight. I thought about checking out Tropic Thunder, but in the end just wanted a quite night to myself. Granted I ended up doing about an hour of work but oh well. I also wrapped up some D&D and got my runs uploaded, which I had been slacking on for awhile.

Some big things coming up in the next few weeks, from our 9 year anniversary to Megan's first day of pre-school. I haven't decided yet how I'm going to do that, but I think I will just come in late to work that day so I can be home when they come to pick her up. I have NO clue how she might react... she will either be totally excited and not even care about jumping on to a bus and going away, or she will be totally freaked out. I think Megan has some parts of my personality, and extremes is one of them.

Anyway, here is one of the videos I captured from last weekend I just wanted to share. This is right after our long bike ride and Megan was ready to go home. While I was packing up the bike and such, she wandered over to a bench to relax for a bit. I joined her and she told me she was ready to head back.

Great Escape

Sometimes challenging, sometimes fun, sometimes rough. Overall, great weekend away from home and work. For now, I'll just give some highlights and pictures. I'll try to post a few videos later in the week.

The drives up and down weren't bad at all, with Megan sleeping most of the way both times. Thursday was just relaxing and dinner, nothing too exciting. I was given some T-shirts and a small welcome goodie bag. Megan dug into that right away.



Mom and Megan exploring the rest of the "special room".



Friday morning I woke up and prepped for a new personal distance best. I ran a solid 16 miles, the farthest distance I've run. 2/3rd marathon distance... but still no marathon plans so don't ask! While I was running, Andrea was entertaining Megan at the various "kids" stuff the resort had to offer. We also did a LOT of swimming over the weekend. Megan couldn't get enough.



Saturday morning, Megan and I went on a bike ride together. We were out for about an hour and a half and did 18 miles. I think she enjoyed it, but it's so hard to tell. She is still asking for "more bike" or "bike ride" every now and then, so it must be a positive thing.



Saturday afternoon Megan took a nap, which was a nice break and gave us a little time to just relax and read. Saturday night we got local high school girl to come babysit Megan in the hotel room, so we could do the "formal" dinner without her. The resort makes all the arrangements and you just meet up at the front desk. It went okay, but Megan was crying when we got back to the room. The sitter said she just started crying before we got there, and... knowing Megan I was inclined to believe her.

Biggest highlight of the weekend? Megan has started using 3-word phrases a lot. Things like, "Mommy here now" and "Green car there". Not to mention a slew of new words over the weekend. My favorite was what we decided to call the hotel room. Instead of just calling it "room" or "hotel room", we started calling it the "special room". It stuck, and Megan was so cute when she says it. So next time you see her, make sure to ask her about the "special room".

Where to begin

How about let's begin this vacation shall we!? 5 days off... Seems like a lifetime since I've had a long break. The worst part is I'm sitting on 120 hours of time off (3 weeks!) and even more in personal days and sick time. Why can't I just get sick more? Sucks being so damn healthy all the time...

So tomorrow we head up north, to the company sponsored vacation at Maddens resort. This will be my third year at Maddens, although the first year with this company. Funny how things work out like that. This will also be our first long vacation with Megan. I have high hopes that it turns out to be a fun weekend for everyone, but I do worry about Megan not having enough to do. Andrea is out looking for odds and ends to help out with that.

At work this week, they officially put out a request for volunteers to do 24x7 on-call support, specifically for the area of software I work on. Kind of funny, considering how I JUST mentioned that two posts ago. At this point, it's at the volunteer stage, and at least at this company there is extra compensation involved. But I had ZERO interest in it... I put in my 6+ years of 24x7 support, I'm not about to go down that path again. The question now is, how long until "volunteer" becomes "mandatory"? My guess? 4 months or less. My prediction is that I will be forced to on-call by the end of this year.

With the threat of 24x7 support looming, I'm trying to think of the positives. 5 days without work, with more fun things coming up next week. Got D&D lined up, and another free night out at Mystic hotel the following weekend (Once again courtesy of Grandma Gayle). After that, at the end of the month, I will be attending what in all likely hood, will be the last ever bachelor party I ever go to. (as in, I don't know anyone else that isn't married, that would invite me to a bachelor party).

I could have sworn there was even more going on this month... what was it again? Oh ya... 9 years of marriage! Almost forgot that one. :-)

Side note, after posting this blog I realized I used this same blog title back in 2005: Where to begin, 2005

Just when you thought you were safe

So work is not getting any better, and I'm trying to figure out what I can do about it if anything. Yeah, I did an hour or so of work today, so what of it? Am I lame for doing work on the weekend? Yes. But what else am I going to do? When I can log into my PC at work from home, it's really not that big of a deal. It's not like I have to actually be on-site to do work. Hell, the guy that taught me everything I know worked out of his house in Seattle. Just proof that if you are good enough at writing code, you can pretty much work from anywhere.

AD&D has only met once in the last month, our last session being July 3rd. When I say it out loud, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. I can't expect much more then once a month to be honest. Not to mention this is the worst time ever for almost every single one of my players. So I'll just be patient and who knows. Maybe come winter time, people will be begging me for something to do.

So anyway, between work stress, family stress, and self induced stress, I'm finding it hard to relax. I can't stop thinking about... (fill in the blank). One night this week I woke up at 3am and couldn't fall asleep until 4am because I started thinking about work. It drove me absolutely nuts. I just wish I had answers for everyone, and the decisions or problems they are facing. What can I say, I like to fix things for other people I guess.

In the meantime, I need to find healthy way to relax I think. Running helps, as does reading (I read a 500 page book in 5 days recently). But soon I will be out of books to read and with nothing new to focus on, might end up having to resort to something. In fact, I think right now I might fire up an old video game...

And Then Some

Long weekend, and I can't think of a good place to start. It started with a hell of a Friday. One of the managers comes over to my cubical and basically says, "We need someone to do this thing, and you're the only one that knows how. And it's probably going to require weekend work. Good? Great."

On the one hand, it's good to know I'm useful. But on the other hand, I had serious flashbacks to working at Micron and it's 24x7 attitude towards it's work force. It took everything in me to remain calm and just get it done. In the end, I was able to complete it by 7pm Friday night, and had to do very little on Saturday. Still, the feeling of powerlessness left a very sour taste in my mouth.

I tried not to think about it too much the rest of the weekend. Saturday morning I headed out for a nice 11+ mile run. Went on a completely random new trek just for something different. Andrea's parents came over and spent the afternoon with us and Megan, which was very enjoyable. Saturday night Megan and I spent some time together and went to McDee's.

Sunday I went for another shorter run, followed up with a bike ride with Megan. She had been asking for awhile, and the weather was finally nice enough. We rode over to my Mom's house, met up with Andrea, hopped in the car and hit the zoo for a few hours. Then rode back home as she fell asleep. Tonight we just putzed around the house, the only excitement was when Megan tried to eat a cup of sand.

Anyway, just one last thing to share. I did end up getting another PR (personal record) on the 10k last weekend. My official time was 45:11. Unbeknownest to me, some friends caught a video clip of me crossing the finish line.



With 45:11 under my belt, my next goal will have to be the 45 minute mark. Will I see it this year?

Your Plan Sucks

Apathy. That word I love to hate. Or do I hate to love? It's come up before on my blog, and I couldn't help but spend some time reading this post from two years ago. Are things different now? Has my outlook changed at all? In a lot of ways, it hasn't. There are a lot of truths to be found.

I also found it interesting to be reminded what it was like to post my honest thoughts. No sugar coating, no censoring. Just raw brain dump, take it or leave it. I should go back to that, because it's what I always wanted my blog to be. Why not share the realities of me? If people disagree with me or think I'm full of ..it, then why would they want to waste time knowing me anyway?

So... back to apathy. Is apathy itself, inherently good or bad? That is what I've been thinking about lately. I think that by today's definition, apathy gets a bad rap. It's defined more as a negative emotion, bordering on depression and a general lack of concern for ones well being.

I have none of that, yet I consider myself very apathetic. Oddly enough, one of the more common definitions of apathy is "absence of emotion". So how can apathy be both an emotion and the absence of emotion? I think the apathy I feel, is the general lack of concern for things that... don't concern me. Or even more broadly, a lack of concern for the things that... are the way they are.

What it seems to come down to is this: Everything in my life I feel like I can control, I've taken control of. I've poured every ounce of energy I can into bringing about the most positive changes I could come up with in all aspects of my life that I seemed to have control over. So what does that leave me with? All the shit that just is what it is, and will always be. And THAT'S what I'm apathetic about.

Am I making all the right choices? Am I living life the best way possible? Who knows... it's not like there is any one answer to those questions, and the fact is, no one ever talks about those questions anyway. So I'll I have is my own thoughts, my own questions, and my own answers.

Weekend Warrior

Honestly, I do wish I could blog more then once a week, but time just escapes me. Between my nightly runs, other activities, and my own need to just relax a bit each night, I can't seem to find the time.

Work is definitely not helping matters either. I'm not stressed out about it, which is an odd feeling for a change. I've come to the realization that I have absolutely no interest in dealing with the shit that rolls down hill anymore. Let it come, I can brush it off, dodge it, ignore it. Doesn't matter to me.

So this morning I did a 10k run, Heart of the Summer 10k. It's an easy run around Lake Nokomis a few times, but being this time of year, it's usually hot and humid. Today was no exception, but the day did start out on a cool note (63 degrees). I decided to go ahead and try to run a fast pace, and I think I was able to get another PR. (waiting for official results). Somewhere around 15 seconds faster then my last 10k. Not too shabby!

I then ran a little more after the 10k, for about another 30 minutes. Then I headed over to pay my Grandparents a visit, since I was only about a mile away from them. (Hi Grandma and Grandpa!!!!!). They have a lap top now, and although my Grandma hasn't touched it yet, my Grandpa has my blog book marked.

So on that note, a few more pictures for them and everyone else. These were taken today.

Just eating lunch:



Mom and Megan:

Tried (tired?) and Failed

Here it is, 10:21pm at night. I attempted to do some work but my brain is simply done. It occurred to me I've been up since 4:30am, so I'm sure that's part of the problem. So instead of attempting to post anything regarding a coherent thought, here are some pictures I've been wanting to share.

A recent trip to the zoo, where Megan got some better quality bear time.



And more...



Just Megan.



Us messing around.



Last weekend, before our adventure.

Old and New

Still two words Megan likes to use, and she definitely understands the concepts behind them. Recently she wore a "new" pair of shoes, and she put the two words together, "new shoes". That's not exactly what this post is about...

17 years ago when my father passed away, one of my uncles planted a pine tree in our front yard in his memory. I remember it well, barely 4 feet tall. The sad news is that the recent storms in our area knocked the now 25 foot tree right over.



It was pretty sad to hear about the news that the tree had fallen over. Later we learned that the roots had already started to rot, and so that is most likely why it fell over so easily. Still, I know my Mom probably had some tears over it even if she didn't admit to me.

But it's funny how life works. There are two sides to everything. And with the death of that tree brings the birth of a new one. This one planted by Grandma and Papa B, one for each of their grand kids. The same day that we saw the downed tree we also saw the new tree.





It didn't even dawn on me the significance of the two events until I uploaded the pictures from my camera. As I started going through them, and I saw these pictures back to back, it was like something clicked. One of those moments that can't help but feel more than just random coincidence. What are the odds that on the same day, I would happen to see both trees, one fallen and one new, both having been planted for someone I love and care about?

I'm not saying I had some kind of spiritual epiphany, but I have to admit the feeling was hard to rule out as pure chance. And to be completely honest, deep down, it just felt good to think that maybe Dad just needed a change of scenery, and wanted to be a part of "Megan's Tree".

One... Two... Five!

Yes, I quoted Shakespeare, yes there is such a thing as realistic fantasy, and yes, my D&D session went great, thanks for asking! I was using the term "realistic fantasy" to actually mean "non-contrived fantasy". That is to say, a world and an adventure that doesn't feel forced and unnatural. An adventure that takes the players on the path I want them to be on, but because they want to be on that path as well. Not just because the DM said so.

Anyway... enough about that. We are squeezing as much fun as we can into this weekend. Friday we tried to do the Apple Valley parade, but once again the heat and time of day just ruined it. Seriously, who plans a parade for the hottest part of the day in the hottest part of the year? It should be mandatory that all July 4th parades start at 9am.

We recovered, and followed up with a morning at the Waterpark on Saturday. It was great, Megan and I went down our first water slide together. (her first ever) We went down at least 6 or 7 times, and she loved it. By the end, I had her at the top yelling "Ready! Go!" and we would shoot down.

Today we visited the Children's Museum, and it was MUCH better than the last time we went. We got there right at opening, 9am. We had the entire place to ourselves for the first 30 minutes and then even after that, it never got crowded. We did colors, words, and all sorts of fun stuff. The new exhibit was Once Upon a Time, Exploring the World of Fairy Tales. Megan dressed up with fairy wings, climbed up the magic beanstalk (attached to a slide), and road in Cinderella's carriage! She also said a new word after all her fun, "Princess"! We were very excited about that.

Even with all that fun going on, I was able to get some time and see Hancock this weekend which I enjoyed, and Andrea went out with a friend of hers to celebrate a birthday. And the best part? The weekend isn't even over yet!

Tonight we'll go out for dinner for my brothers birthday which was last week, and then tomorrow we have Zoo plans. Although we went to the Zoo just a few weeks ago, it was so packed that I'd love to go back and enjoy the bears and new stuff with less crowds. Similar to this mornings 9am plan, tomorrow we will hit the Zoo right at opening time.

Almost There

The week flew by just like I knew it would. Work has taken on an almost comedic value. The cool thing this time around, is that this project is just so huge, that when the shits hits the fan, there won't be any one person or reason. Just the obvious facts that management tried to cram too much work into too short a time.

Tomorrow night is the kick off session for the new 4th Edition D&D campaign. I've got high hopes even though I'm slightly under prepared. From past experiences, I doubt this will be much of an issue because odds are they won't even get through half of what I have planned. I've also started rethinking some aspects of how I've run games in the past, and the parts that always seemed "flawed". One main aspect that has always bothered me in my adventures? "Quest Givers"

In typical adventure video game, a "Quest Giver" is the guy you talk to in order to start the adventure. He'll have some lengthy dialog, lament on how he can't take care of the problem himself, and ask you to go rescue the princess, save the town, find the missing children, etc, etc. It's all very straight forward and actually quite lame. In a realistic fantasy world, Heroes don't get handed quests. Heroes aren't created by checking the "Adventure Want Ads". So how do heroes come about? The best place to look is your favorite fantasy novel.

Heroes are made by being put in circumstances way beyond their control. That's my approach to this new campaign. No fancy person asking for help (Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope). No town leader looking for adventurers to help with a local monster problem. This time... the adventure itself will make the heroes. And the players will be put in situations where they have to be heroic just to survive.

To quote William Shakespeare:

"Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them."

I hate when I'm right

Long week. 48 hours of work long. Not that I'm complaining... ah who am I kidding. Of course I'm complaining. What frustrates me the most when putting in higher than normal hours, is the raw meaninglessness of it. (at least I think that is a real word) Not so much that extra hours don't get some extra work done, help meet some arbitrary deadline, or even help some coworkers out. It's the fact that regardless of how much work gets done, there will just be more after that. Some new project, some new ridiculous deadline, and even more demands from the "business". It's never gonna end until I retire, so wtf is the point of extra hours now? And on the flip side, why should I complain about more work? Isn't that exactly what I want? A job that pays out until I retire?

In other news, D&D has it's claws in me deep. If I'm not working or spending time with the family, I'm thinking about D&D. I have about a years worth of storyline in my head already, written in a way that will allow for everyone to play an equal part. Gone are the days where I thought about plot lines specific to one or two players. I see the plot as a function of the entire adventure and the whole group, and that if everyone is equally involved and engaged, there will be high level of interest in keeping the story moving forward. Idyllic isn't it?

Truth is, it's still harder then hell to get people together. No matter how hard I try, or creative solutions I come up with, it's always going to be like pulling teeth. My hope is my new campaign will grab ahold of the players like an episode of Lost, and have them wanting to come back every other week to see what the next episode has in store. Lofty goals, but at least they are goals centered around fun and creativity. Not work and meaninglessness.

Anyway, it's been awhile since I posted any pictures, so I figured it was high time to get some up. I'll see if I can't get back into this a little more regularly. More pictures, less complaining.

I can't get enough of her in pig tails, makes her look so cute.



Today we had a Mom's Club picnic. Nice turn out, but I wasn't in much of a mood to socialize. I just hung out with Megan and snapped a few pictures. One of her playing Ladder Golf and another on a park ride.

What a Week(End)

It's going to be hard for me to find much time for blog posting in the next few weeks. Between work and my one other hobby (Dungeons and Dragons), there isn't much spare time left. Work is going to start effecting my mental health here soon enough. I think I'm detached enough to not let it bother me much this round, but time will tell.

My number one fear is just dealing with those problems at work I can't solve. I mean sometimes, there are technical challenges that I'm not able to solve. I'm no super genius expert in this area of programming, I merely know enough to muddle my way through for the most part. When push comes to shove, often times I find myself in a pure trial and error state. "Hmmm well try this, maybe that will work. Nope, okay well try this. Nope, hmmm." Sometimes I'm lucky, sometimes I'm not. When will my luck run out?

In other news, this weekend was GREAT! Saturday we had a company picnic at the MN Zoo. Since I could get 4 free tickets, and we already have a Zoo +1 membership, I got my whole family in for free. The Zoo was PACKED unlike anything I'd ever seen before, but we managed to make the most of it. We got a free lunch and Megan got to spend some time in the inflatable jumpers, one of her favorite things.

Today Megan and I went to see Kung Fu Panda. I figured it had been quite awhile since our last attempt, and I wanted to see how she would do. It went just awesome. She sat through the whole movie with no problem, and did signs for every animal that came up on screen! (except for the Mantis) The rest of the day she was doing Panda signs (at least, our version of Panda). Tonight we did a little park time and ended our evening with a trip to DQ.

Megan also picked up a bunch of new words this weekend including "Old" and "New". She can say the words and do the signs for them both. It's hard to tell if she actually understands the abstract concepts behind words like these, so we are doing our best to encourage her use by explaining what they mean. Hopefully it's sinking in!

Warp Speed

Didn't even realize it was nearing a week between posts. This weekend went just as described, and it kept me busy. Thursday night I ended up jumping the fence to hit the local high school track so I could calibrate my watch. My ninja like skills served me well. Friday we saw two movies, the new Hulk and The Happening. Hulk was okay, better than the last one but not worlds above. The Happening kind of sucked.

Suck might be too strong a word, but if I had known it was just a 90 minute movie about creative ways to commit suicide, I might have skipped it. Maybe people are too hopeful that M. Night Shyamalan films must be thought provoking. This movie was just a long Hitchcock episode. I think the tie for best suicide method was between the zoo keeper who fed himself to the lions (LOL at the special effects/physics on that one), and the guy who turned on the large lawn mower and laid down in front of it. Gotta love that crazy "act of nature" that disorients you, but still allows you to get creative!

Got my exercise in over the weekend, over indulged all weekend as well. Not only did my Mom get us the free night at Mystic Lake Hotel, but she ended up winning a few hundred dollars Saturday morning while going there to pick up the room keys. She was nice enough to throw in a little bonus money to pay for our dinner that night.

Back to the grind today, and a few long weeks until next month. Not quite sure yet what time off I'll take around July 4th, but definitely some. Hopefully some of the movies coming out this month and next will clear my memory of the not-so-good and mediocre ones so far this year.

3 Years of Blog

By any estimation, 3 years is quite a long time. 9.375% of my life! Considering how many other things I've quit, changed, or no longer spend time on, it's actually a big deal that I'm still blogging. Perhaps I do it now just out of habit. 90% of the time I don't feel like I have anything that insightful to share anyway. The other 10% I'm either posting pictures or rambling incoherent negative bullshit.

Speaking of negative bullshit, tomorrow is my birthday! My Mom was kind enough to remind me, that 32 years ago tonight, she was in labor. Does that mean technically my birthday spans 2 days, since I just wasn't born until the next morning? By that measurement, Megan's birthday lasts like 2 weeks!

32 years young...? Never would have guessed that at 32, I'd be in the best shape of my life. I kinda wish I had more time to explore other active type things. For example, recently I've been thinking about fond memories of martial arts class as a kid. I honestly can't even remember how old I was, yet the memory of the dojo, the discipline, the respect... All powerful stuff. But then I think, "When the hell would I have time to do martial arts? And how much money would that be?" I'm so cheap, I wouldn't even spend $5 dollars to eat at a company picnic today. (aside from the fact I don't like Brats).

Enough of my rambling for now. Tomorrow night we'll all go out for my birthday dinner. And then I'm taking Friday off to enjoy a long weekend. My Mom was once again able to get us a free room at the Mystic Lake Casino hotel. (way to go you gambling fool!) As a birthday present, she is going to watch Megan over night on Saturday so Andrea and I can enjoy some time. Hopefully an early morning bike ride Friday and a long run Saturday. Sunday - rest & recover from the weekend of fun.

Good Run, Good Weather

Despite the crack of thunder moments before the start of the race, and the dark clouds coming closer, the weather held out this morning. Only a few drops of rain around the mid point of the race. By the end, the sun was shining and overall great running conditions this morning.

Before I get into describing the rest of my 1/2 marathon run this morning, it is important to make a note about this particular course. This course has got to be the easiest 1/2 marathon out there in the Twin Cities area. Why? Elevation. Take a look at this graph:



That's elevation on the y-axis, distance on the x-axis. As you can see, you basically start at the top of this huge hill that you never have to go back up. (until you walk back to your car, which sucks). So from that perspective, I take my time with a grain of salt. I'm very happy with what I got, but at the same time, I'll have to "do it again" to prove it to myself.

My time was around 1:38:20, which is a solid 7:30 pace, the same as my 10k pace. I had not planned on going that hard, but it's funny how the mind and body can sometimes work together to trick each other. Here is what happened:

About a week ago, I felt like my pacing watch was off. It was recording shorter distances for locations I've run many times and knew the exact distances of, and it was saying my pace was much lower than it felt like. I figured I should calibrate it soon, especially before the race this morning, but just never got around to it.

The race starts out, and I'm constantly checking my watch, running an 8 minute pace. (my original goal). Around mile 2.5, I asked fellow runners what their paces were. I got everything from 7:00 to 7:30. Obviously I was running faster than an 8 minute pace, but I just went with it. Every time I got slower then 8 minute pace on MY watch, my brain said "go faster, you need 8 minute pace", and my body responded. I guess my decision to not calibrate my watch helped me run faster. Weird?

The moral of this story? Setting goals can be tricky. On the one hand, a goal is needed in order to strive for something. On the other hand, set a goal too low or too high and you might miss the opportunity to achieve more than you intended...

Word of the Day: Newb

As previously mentioned, Megan is learning new words all the time. Earlier this week, I accidentally taught her an important word: Newb. (added wikipedia link for all the newbs out there) I wasn't even trying to get her to say it, she just repeated it after hearing me say it while talking. Hmmm... maybe I should stop swearing so much?


I also had to post this part of the clip too... If you listen close, you can hear Andrea in the back ground yelling "I'm not counting that as a word!!!"


In other news, Megan used the potty for the first time tonight! It's all thanks to a single book: Once Upon a Potty. She couldn't get enough of this book for the last 3 days, and what do you know!

Every Beginning has an End

Don't worry, I'm not ending my blog or anything like that. Just a simple saying... it's probably been around or used for a long time. (nothing original to be found here!) It might also invoke images of that horrible third Matrix movie where The Oracle says something along those lines.

No, it just happened to be an offhand comment made by Andrea tonight. She probably had no clue that my first thought when hearing it was the Matrix. The fact is, despite the cheesy-ness of the saying, I like it. It's one of those sayings that is kind of hard to argue with given what we observe in the universe around us.

From a more simplistic stand point, it just reminds me that life is about a collection of beginnings and ends. For a long time, I looked to the past aspects of my life and lamented over the things that I missed / no longer had. I think that I've finally got past that and can see things in my life that have "ended" being just as valuable to me as all the other new "beginnings".

In other words, who I was is just as important as who I am, and who I'm one day going to be.

Have I lost you yet? Good. Me too.

The other reason I like the saying is the pessimist in me. No matter how bad things might get, those things will have an end too.

Sleep is overrated

It's 10pm and I don't want to goto bed yet. Why? Because it's Friday damnit! As expected, the rest of this week was pretty uneventful. Okay well not completely. I happened to notice over the weekend, some water under our water heater. Prior to that, I had noticed that some of the laminate tiles outside the laundry room were warping a little bit. Turns out it has been this slow leak that we didn't pick up on until now. End result? Had to get a new water heater this week.

Ugh, just another reason owning a house can sometimes suck. Someone tell me home ownership is all worth it in the end? Please? It's hard to see it sometimes. Andrea and I started making a list of "Everything we'd probably need to fix if we wanted to sell this house." It ended up getting LONG and just saying it all out loud made me groan at how much it would probably cost for it all.

So where was I? Oh yes... I bet you're wondering what a guy with no hobbies does to fill his evenings now. It's quite scary actually. I started reading about RPGA. What's that you ask? It's the Roleplaying Gamers Association of course! Out of raw boredom, I thought maybe I'd sign up or whatever and try to get free stuff out of the deal. They even have an online test to become part of the "GM Program". Turns out, I'd actually have to show up at some random hobby store where someone is running an "official" RPGA game and ask for a "sign up sheet". I decided that was way too much work, and my strangeness has it's limits. The last thing I need is to start aspiring to achieve "Grand-Master Level GM".

At least it's Tuesday!

As Andrea and I spend the evening discussing the merits of vacation, my 4-day weekend comes to a screeching halt. Not that the weekend wasn't great, but as always, way too short.

Indiana Jones was... umm... so anyway, Dungeons and Dragons finally on Sunday night! I'd say it went about what I expected, but not exactly what I had hoped it could be. One of the players couldn't show up until later in the evening, so we mostly just wasted time until then. I suppose it's my own damn fault for being the only one that actually likes to role play, as opposed to roll play. (if you don't get that... oh well) It also doesn't help that I know the rules back to front, and I cringed every time a rule was broken, ignored, or otherwise randomly changed. (I was even guilty once myself) I guess that's what I get for being a DM and memorizing all my source books. I'm already planning my triumphant DM return in '09. AD&D 4th Edition anyone? Why YES, it IS my birthday in 16 days now that you mention it!

Monday was a strange day... started with an early morning run, in the sun. Very hot, and so I wanted to get Megan out for her first bike ride. My neighbor let me borrow his bike carriage. Got Megan all ready, sunscreen everywhere, shorts and T-shirt... Wait? Where is the sun? Why is it so cold? QUICK, coat, blanket! Despite the drastic change, we went for the ride anyway. Megan had a great time. I stopped after a short distance to make sure she was doing okay. I went to open the cover and she immediately said NO, and grabbed to put it back in place. Obviously, I should get one of these for more rides!

Is that Air Megan? Or is she just excited?



Megan helping Daddy, obviously I'm not going fast enough.



All ready to go! (minus the blanket and coat which came right after)



We only rode a few miles (6) in total. Going up hills against the wind with her in tow was a bit hard. We went to a local park where a pot-luck was going on that our neighbors were at, and then I just rode around Apple Valley, stopping at another park for some more play time. The cool part about going to a park in the bike carriage, was that when it was time to go, Megan was excited to leave instead of crying or being mad about leaving.

Not much else on tap this week. Andrea is having a friend of hers over this weekend, I'm having a friend over the following weekend. That same weekend is also a half marathon I just signed up for, so hopefully this nice cool/sunny morning weather holds out for awhile.

Errr, what was that?

That... that was a pigeon. It's funny how you can have this great idea for a blog only to completely blank when finally sitting down to write. I blame the massive headache I woke up with this morning.

It was from a combination of a few things: dehydration (most likely the main cause), calorie deficit, and too much sleep. They all added up to one nasty pain upstairs. So I did what any normal person would do waking up with such a large headache. I took two Excedrin and went for a 10 mile run.

Okay, so maybe not the best solution, but whatever. It worked, my headache was gone by the time I got home. But the first mile or so was rough. Every step shot pain from my temple down through the back of my eyeballs. It was fun, really!

I know I haven't posted much about Megan's recent progress - and trust me, there is TONS! But it's hard to post the good without the bad. On the positive side, she is picking up new words all the time, and will often attempt to say new words when asked. Some of my favorites are "awesome" (ahh-dum) and "rainbow" (bane-boo). She even recently put two words together, "more bubbles". Aside from words, she can identify and say a large amount of individual letters and is even recognizing written words like "up" or "mommy".

On the negative side is her frustration. She still gets very frustrated being unable to ask us what she wants or what she wants us to do. This results in her striking out, quite often at me. And let me tell you, that little girl packs quite a wallop. The 2 year old hitting factor is a well known part of the terrible twos, but that doesn't make it any easier. I don't think there is going to be any quick fix to her hitting, so for now I'll just focus on preventing it and communicating with her why it's wrong. I'm not 100% sure on the timeout factor yet, some "experts" say it just isn't effective before 3. I can only hope this hitting phase is short lived - it only started a few weeks ago.

Anyway, at least it's only Saturday, and 2 more days off to enjoy. Tomorrow will be Indiana Jones (which by all accounts, should suck hard) and... drum roll... DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS! Yes, finally after a month of hoping for a first session as a player, it's finally going to happen. I think the 4 other people I play with have the worst combination of weekend jobs possible, making it damn near impossible to get time to play together. I suppose it doesn't help, I have no other hobbies right now either...

Pictures, quick

As the lines between negativity, apathy, and daily survival blur together in my head to the point where I can't even focus... Let's stick to some pictures and save the good stuff for another day shall we?

This weekend, Megan and I enjoyed some quality alone time, as Andrea was down visiting her parents helping with a garage sale they were doing. Friday night we hit the park and gelato, while Saturday morning we had a fun time at a local free "family fun days" at a Lakeville school. In reality, it was an attempt for some local businesses to connect to the community with some not to subtle advertising mixed in. Overall there was a lot of fun for the kids. Not to mention, TONS of free food. From Perkins mini muffins, to Subway, to Domino's pizza.

Megan was excited to go, as I talked up the morning events. She had her car keys and purse ready!



Megan playing musical dots with help from Grandma. (Grandma helped a lot that day!)



This next picture requires an explanation, before people think I just like to torture my daughter for picture amusement. Megan saw this thing and WANTED to go inside. She even waited in line for her turn, and she NEVER waits her turn. When the door was opened up for her, she ran straight inside... Once the money started going, she just kinda froze up, but didn't freak out or anything. After it was turned off, she seemed to have had a fun time and grabbed a hand full of dollars on her way out.



Megan was also chasing the school mascots (Cougar and Panther) around, making the cat sign and growling sounds.



Sunday brought a big surprise for me... You see, I had this grand idea to try fixing my garden this year. I mentioned it to my Mom, and next thing I know she and John show up at my door step with a tiller, top soil, and some flowers! So what the hell, we dived right in. I took back seat to the gardening masters and just kinda went along with the flow.

Not a true before picture, as the garden itself was completely over run with tons of grass/weeds.



Megan even added some help, carrying over the flowers.



The finished product... Do I qualify as a gardener? Hardly.



Check back in a week, see if anything survived. And for the record, I am now the proud owner of a hose. I won't even get into what a fiasco that was...

What makes the world go round

I said I was going to talk about my bike ride of last weekend, but now I'm just not motivated. The ride itself was an experiement to see if I could do some kind of half drive-half bike commute to work. Overall, I'd say the experiement failed. The ride was way to hard for something I'd want to do, and the alternatives were not appealing. I could drive a full 12 miles, then bike another 9? My normal commute is 18 miles... so I'd save 6 but spend 9 biking. Hmmm, maybe. Anyway, here is the route I did (there and back):



In other news, I've been starting to take some new perspectives on work lately. I think for awhile there I was getting caught up in the overall importance of it all. Because for the first time, I was at a job I actually somewhat enjoyed and wanted to stay at from a long term perspective. But it's quickly come apparent to me that I need to take a step back from all that, to get back to where I once was. Work is nothing more then a means to an end. I had those thoughts as far back as 2005, and I just need to get back to that. I'm going to live a large percentage of my life in a cube working on shit that has no baring/meaning/importance, and I'm okay with that. Because it's just what I need to do to provide the things my family needs.

I've posted my thoughts about money before so I guess I should stop rehashing the same old shit. I guess I just find it odd that 3 years later, it's just the same thoughts running through my head. What does that mean? Does it mean I hate how our society works? Does it mean I'll never be content working within the system? Or does it simply mean that no matter what I think, I'll forever be a slave to that system?

God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

Tuesday Picture Day

Megan went to bed tonight without any fuss. Not that she is particularly fussy about bed time, but she likes to fight it like any normal kid. When we put her to bed, she usually comes out of her bedroom anywhere from 1-4 times until finally going to bed. My Mom watched her over night on Saturday night and asked, "Is she always that good with bed time?" Apparently so!

Just wanted to get some pictures up of recent days. Nothing special in particular, just a few fun shots.

Here is a picture of that night I mentioned a few days ago, about Megan and I just playing around on the floor one night. We ended up falling asleep together, it was great.



We got some of those Flavorice sticks recently. They were a bit too cold for Megan, but with some minor help, she was eating them in style.



Just a cute shot of Mom and Megan.



Megan was very excited when she found out we were going to see Grandma Gayle.



If you're keeping tabs on my Exercise Log, which I know everyone does! You might have noticed I actually did something OTHER then run this weekend. Yes, my first actual bike ride of the summer. It was a bit rough, but fun. More on that later this week.

5:51

The first 4 day weekend is here, and what happens? I get a cold that hits me first thing this morning. Seriously... wtf? What on earth did I do to deserve that? Oh well, I'm not going to let a little thing like that stop me from having fun this weekend.

Last night was the Twin Cities 1 Mile run. Sort of a silly event, but a lot of prize money to be given out. I settled on a goal of 6 minutes, and was able to do 5:51!!! That time puts me REALLY close to the top 10% overall. (220 out of 1893) And to think... $10,000 dollars was a mere 1:51 within my grasp.

Before the run, I had a small dinner of pasta and one garlic bread. I sort of regret that decision, but the timing of the event (7:30pm) made it so I couldn't go all night without food!

During the run, I was afraid I was pushing to hard. I started out near the front of the pack at something just above a 5 minute pace. I knew obviously I was going faster then my body could handle but figured, what the hell, it's only 6 minutes right? Somewhere around the half mile mark I figured I was done for. In other words, straight up quit.

Somehow I kept going, even though I dropped my pace down hard. Then I saw the finish line and bursted with every thing I had left.

After the run, I felt sick to my stomach. I got a bad metallic taste in my mouth, which my friend explained to me was lactic acid. I have no clue how the body works under these situations, so I had to do some goggling today. One of my toes started burning as well, turns out a blister formed + popped all within that single mile. Not quite sure how that happens.... Maybe it was just there all along and I didn't realize it.

It was a fun time, and now I have to wait until Saturday to find out if I get selected as one of the 400 people for the TC 10 miler. My odds are about 1 in 5 to get selected, not too bad really.

Now, if only I could find some way to stop checking my damn work email while on my 4 day break!

uncustomized-post-template

It's past midnight on a night I thought, "Hey, I bet I could get some extra sleep tonight." I decided to go ahead and start tinkering with my blog layout, updating to use the new templates. I then proceeded to spend 3 hours getting it tweaked to just how I want it. The last 45 minutes were spent fixing this lame thing where the comments link was no longer right justified.


See how that looks? Compared to how it looks down below? Ya... so I get a bit obsessed sometimes. It ended up requiring that I stick the aforementioned title of this blog post somewhere deep in the bowels of bloggers junk.

I'm not done tweaking the layout yet, because I think it's time for a new header picture. It might take me awhile to find something new that I like, but by the end of the weekend something should be up.

In other news, this is just the sort of thing that happens when you don't find a replacement hobby. Putting aside my World of Warcraft playing wasn't that big a deal, but I still haven't found something else to do in it's place. I've tried a few video games, they've all been meh. I pored a bunch of time/thought into creating a D&D character for a campaign that may or may not even happen, to be run by someone else, while spam emailing everyone trying to make sure the first session happens. Last weekend I went to three movies on Sunday.

Blarg, why must I do everything in extremes?

On the plus side, there have been a few nights of extra sleep, and lots of fun time with Megan and Andrea. Last night, around 8:30pm, Megan just laid down near me down stairs while I was on the couch. So I jumped down and laid next to her and we talked and played. Then I moved her to her bedroom where we drifted off to sleep together, with her hand resting on my cheek. That was undoubtedly the highlight of my day.

Piggies as promised

I'm sorry for using my blog for my own selfish purposes. :-) Here are some pictures as promised... besides, it's the only reason anyone comes here anyway!

Let the 4 day weeks begin

Survived another week. Not sure why I say it that way, it's not like my life is some kind of war zone. Yet some times it feels like a battle is raging... somewhere.

Quoting Wiki-pedia, the only source for information these days:

Over the past twenty-five years, there has been a substantial increase in work which is felt to be due, in part, by information technology and by an intense, competitive work environment. Long-term loyalty and a “sense of corporate community” have been eroded by a performance culture that expects more and more from their employees yet offers little security in return.

Translation? Work people to the bone and then get rid of them when they are no longer useful.

Fact: I've been the lowest rung on the corporate ladder for 10 years (come June)
Prediction: I'll probably remain the lowest rung on that ladder for 30 more (if I can even last that long?)

Fact: I've never been fired, laid off, or otherwise given any indication that my job was at stake. (I've even survived lay offs)
Prediction: I'll probably be fired, laid off, or otherwise let go at some point in my life.

Fact: At every single job I've had, I've had ZERO of the skills actually needed for the job.
Prediction: I can probably adapt to any job as needed in the coming years.

Why do none of these facts or predictions make my stress any less? You'd think that by now, I'd have a good sense of my career "path", yet it's clear to me that in fact, there is no such thing.

Work is not a path I feel a need to walk down, it's a path I'm forced to walk down. The fact that human existance in our life time is centered around work, money, collection of wealth/meaningless things just makes me depressed. I don't want to be a part of that system, but there are no alternatives. (aside from winning the lottery?)

I don't know where I was going with this rant, other then the fact that when you start to spend only 3 hours a night with your family you start to question the point of it all. Existing only for the weekends is not good by any stretch, but sometimes it feels like that's all I have.

Enter the 4 day work weeks. For the next month, I've lined up some days off so that I have to be at work only 4 days every week. It includes two 4-day weekends, and I'm looking forward to it. I probably should be taking more time off work, but for whatever reason, I find myself in a situation where I have to "burn" time off. Meaning, if I don't use it, I'll lose it. Pretty sad, I know.

If I could survive on half the income I make, and work half the time, I would. Too bad that's not really an option either. Maybe I need to start doing the research now into the career "path" I will actually retire with. Because despite Peter Gibbons question of "What if we're still doin' this when we're 50?" My answer isn't quite the same as Samir's response of "It would be nice to have that kind of job security."

Giving everything

The cold was something else this morning. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry at the whole situation. What was I doing? Running outside on a day like that? I had no hat, no gloves. My finger tips were ice cold. Yet sure enough, run is what I did. And I can honestly say, for the first time, as my 3rd attempt at this race, I gave everything I had.


I ended with an offical time of 45:32, almost a full minute faster then my goal for the year. I was very happy with that time and will be in no rush to attempt to beat it. I was just spent at the end of this race, honestly out of any energy left.

So what does a crazy below freezing temperature run need at the end of it? You guessed it, ICE CREAM!



It may look nice out in that picture, but trust me, it was freezing. And you know what? We ate the damn ice cream anyway. Why? Because sometimes in the face of crazy sub zero temp runs, you just have to be crazy too.

I'm glad I did it, I wish the weather was better, and maybe, just MAYBE, I would have had a slightly better time. I'm already signed up for another 10k this year and in 2 weeks is the silly "Twin Cities 1-miler". I only signed up for that to get an extra shot at a random ticket into the 10-miler. Don't ask... it's complicated.

In other news, Megan's hand is healing up just fine. She has no problems with it at all, and is using it totally normal. We've resumed normal bath times and stuff, and so soon it will just be a fading memory.

Lame, lame, LAME!

This weekend is shaping up to be worse weather than the very first Get in Gear that I ran. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm still gonna do it. The fact that the weather is not going to cooperate just means I'm going to go ahead and sign up for another 10k asap.

Runners often talk about a new PR. That stands for "Personal Record". Most runners use "offical" events to set their PRs, and I'm no exception. Every single race I've done has had some form of PR attached to it. I've got all sorts of goals for PRs this year. For the 10k, I had (have?) a goal of 46:30, which is a pace of 7:30. The thing is, I've already hit that on a practice run this year.



So is the race PR really that big of a deal? I dunno... It is and it isn't I guess. If the weather is lame, then I'm not going to be all upset if I can't hit my goal. Then again, maybe if it's cold I'll just end up running fast to get it over with!

In other news, quitting World of Warcraft hasn't been all that hard. Not only has the game itself got stale, but they are making changes soon that will make it even harder for the casual gamers to have fun. Okay, I get the hint! No need to kick me on the way out...

Problem is, I need something new to fill those few hours in the evening I have to myself, or I tend to get bored. Last night I fell asleep at 7:30pm. That was crazy weird. I woke up to Megan crying at 11pm. She was cold after having climbed into her crib. (a new habit we have got to break) After that I wasn't able to get back to sleep until 1:30am. Don't want that to be happening again.

Well, wish me luck this weekend and hope for good weather!

Good news, honest

This weekend was great, not the long weekend I needed, but great just the same. I've designated May to be my "4-day work week" month. I've lined up some vacation days so every single week in May is only 4 days long. (with two 4-day weekends as well) All I need to do is get through the next 2 weeks!

Saturday was mostly just Megan and I doing our thing, from reading to playing to lunch and everything else. I wanted to give Andrea some time to herself because I had a large amount of plans on Sunday. It worked out great, and we both enjoyed our time.

Papa B and Grandma B came up Sunday, but I was off doing my thing, so I didn't visit with anyone. I ended up doing a 10 mile run with my running buddy. He suffered a minor set back during the run, hopefully it won't come back to haunt him during the Get in Gear this weekend. The weather started out a little over cast and cold, but by midway into our run the sun was coming out and things were warming up nicely.

After that I headed over to Eden Prairie to catch lunch and a movie with a coworker and friend. That wouldn't have been so bad, if it wasn't for the fact that I also play World of Warcraft with these two guys. Going to lunch with the people you play WoW with shortly after quitting... is like going out with your drinking buddies the day after becoming sober. Time will tell...

Anyway, on to the ACTUAL good news that just came in this afternoon. Megan's hand has healed so well, she is going without bandages! This is great news and we are both so relieved to know there most likely won't even be any long term visible scaring. It still in the healing process so we have to be careful with her outside (sand, debris, sun exposure, etc). But she is using it normally with no ill effects. If you are curious (and brave?) you can see the close up shot of her hand below.

Ah well, screw it

I got my World of Warcraft account back, although it wasn't without a price. They stripped one of my characters of everything I had "earned". Did I cheat to earn what they took away? You bet. Do I feel guilty about it? Of course not. It's a form of entertainment, a way to kill time, and nothing else.

The problem is, the game isn't actually that fun. If it was, I wouldn't want to cheat to bypass the lame parts and time that has to be invested. On top of that, even the parts I was enjoying for a while have started to become stale. The people I play with have schedules that don't jive, the competitive parts of the game I was enjoying are saturated with people way better and with way more time.

So screw it, I don't need to waste money on something I don't enjoy. I cancelled my account, time to find a new night time hobby. On the plus side, until something comes along my new default night time hobby is sleeping. Quite a strange hobby, but damn, went to bed at 9:30pm last night. 10 hours of sleep!! Don't know when the last time was that I got that much sleep...

In other news, the Get in Gear 10k run is just around the corner. Have I trained for it properly? Not really... am I going to hit my goals? Maybe... As long as the weather behaves and nothing crazy happens between now and then. I did a practice run and hit my goal with room to spare, so I know it can be done.

Megan update: Hand is healing well according to the doctors. It's way past the point of any infection concerns and the skin is growing back nice and fast. She might be able to go without bandages as early as next week. Only things we have to worry about now are keeping the bandages on and keeping any exposed skin out of the sun. Not to hard with this weather...

As far as the other things are going, Megan is amazing us every day with what she is learning. Her lack of language seems to not be preventing her from learning a lot of things. For example, she can identify a large number of letters now. Not just pictures, animals and words, but individual letters! That's huge. From a verbal perspective, she can make animal sounds "Moo" and "Baa" and roars for Tigers and Lions. She also says "Boo" when playing the peek-a-boo game. In general, she is vocalizing strings of sounds together, so you can tell she is trying to communicate.

My prediction is still a late summer time, early fall when that explosion occurs and the words start coming. All the time between now and then will be just building up the individual words and then working on putting words together.

Last night Megan and I went to the grocery store. As we were going down the aisle, all of a sudden Megan started doing the sign for "Dog". I asked her where she saw the dog? She pointed and I was still confused, so I slowly backed up the cart until I could see what she was point at. Sure enough, right there on the cereal box was Clifford the Big Red Dog. Way to go Megs!

Oh Noes!

Will I have to face the harsh realities of Real Life!?!?!?!?!


One can only hope not...

Something Positive

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

I'm just going to get the horrible shit out of the way, in the odd chance that I can come up with anything positive. It's been awhile since I quoted THE song. Oddly enough, for me it was 2pm on Tuesday, not 4pm this week. I got a phone call at work from Andrea, she was in the emergency room with Megan.

While helping make her lunch of Mac & Cheese with Mommy, Megan managed to get her hand on the stove and got some pretty bad burns. She suffered second degree burns on portions of her left palm along with some burns on the fingers. Needless to say, it's been a rough week.

Fast forward to today, 2 doctor visits, codeine spiked Tylenol, and numerous scary bandage replacements... And we've survived. All things considered, Megan has been quite the trooper through this whole ordeal. I haven't seen her cry once, not even the night Daddy climbed into bed with her to read some bed time stories, only to accidentally lean on her hand, resulting in a popping of the largest blister on her hand.

This is actually the first time Megan has been to the emergency room. Statistically speaking, it probably won't be the last either. But it was still a horrible thing to happen and it came at a time when things were starting to pick back up.

So where is this positivity I promised? I don't know... It sure as hell isn't this weather. I swear, snow and rain were the last thing I needed to add to this week. Can I just get a FEW days/weekends of nice weather? PLEASE!?! Work is okay for the most part. We made revenue goals last quarter, so that means some profit sharing this month. Can't complain about that I guess.

Last weekend was something nice at least. I was able to spend some time with my Grandparents and Scott and Val. They came over on a Sunday afternoon and got to see Megan and then we headed out for a nice lunch. Megan was great and I was glad she got to spend some time with her Grandparents. We don't see them enough.

In other news, my grandparents are getting a lap top and internet! I'm sure the traffic to my blog will be shooting up soon. I promise more positivity and lots of pictures of Megan just for you Grandma!!