All sorts of people running 10k, half-marathons and marathons today, right through NCSU and downtown. Nicely done, Raleigh! And me (ahem), and Bill, who guilted me into running in the first place, and Gary, who ran the 13.1 without any real training. Great start to the day!
We had a fantastic weekend, taking a 4 hour drive over to our favorite town in NC (and beyond), Asheville. We started with a tour of UNC-Asheville, currently Reiley’s top university choice – for lots of good reasons, including a brand new science building, small 20-student class sizes that are more focused on discussion than lectures, a great price, and a well-rounded liberal arts focus. And lots of perks, like an on-campus branch of Rosetta’s Kitchen, free bus rides to Asheville, and quidditch. After the tour we headed to our old favorite Laughing Seed for a meal that included vegan dishes from around the world. There was a drum circle that night, the whole center of the town was filled with dozens of drummers keeping the night jumping. Then off to Urban Outfitters for some late-night shopping with all the hipsters. The next day we were up at the crack of dawn to layer on clothing for our whitewater rafting trip, even though it was 45 degrees outside. The name of the site was Blue Heron Whitewater – I definitely recommend them. We got to the site with plenty of time to gear up more, with really nice equipment including wetsuits and gloves and neoprene socks, and lots of help from the great staff. And a nice hot cup of coffee, mmmm… We got a couple hours of whitewater rafting under our belt and had a delicious hummus sandwich lunch sitting on hot rocks. Then a few more rapids and we headed back to the site to shower, dry off and warm up. Back to downtown for more great adventures, including shopping, coffee… and Wrenny climbing three stories high on the rock wall across from Laughing Seed! Everyone on the street was watching and clapped for her at the end, nice one Wrenny! We headed to Plant, a totally vegan restaurant, for dinner. It’s just north of the town center, towards UNCA. We were 5 minutes early and the place was deserted, so we drove to a nearby park. It was small so we just headed back to the restaurant, went in, and even though the doors had only been open for 5 or 10 minutes, the place was packed – and fully booked! Buuuuummer! So we headed back downtown to Rosetta’s Kitchen. Best recovery ever – it’s a self serve restaurant with the most amazing vegan friendly options served up in huge portions. We had Pad Thai and BBQ sandwiches and miso soup and etc and it was delicious. A new favorite! And we drove back that night, for quite a jam-packed couple of days!
It’s on!Played paintball with Reiley on Saturday, she’d been asking for a while and then Groupon provided the financial motivation with an all-day offer to play at Black River Paintball for half price. I was so intimidated and worried about it being too rough – I geared us up with baggy clothes and scarves around our soft fleshy necks. Good thing, we both took shots to the head! And had a total blast. After the first few minutes we were keeping up with all the teenage boys in style, dishing it out and ending up in most of the final firefights. We took our requisite bruises in stride with pride and are ready for more. The Angier location has some amazing fields, with forts, old cars on their sides, forest, bridges. The refs were great, always allowing Reiley and me to be on the same team. And everyone was nice and friendly, both staff and players.
Now if all the gun nutjobs would discover the joy of paintball – competition! team play! adrenaline! projectiles! – and give up the rest of it, this would be a kinder, gentler Nation. :-)
Amazing Race returns, and let the next contest begin!
Pick the team you think will win, and pick the team you think will be eliminated next.
If your winning team is eliminated, you have to pick another. Least picks wins!
If your losing team is eliminated, you score, and get to pick another. Most scores wins!
The two prizes will be huge Trader Joe’s Belgian dark chocolate bars, or better if I get creative! Good luck, ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!
Team
Symbol
Andy & Tommy – snowboarders
S
Laurence & Zac – father/son
Z
Kaylani & Lisa – showgirls
K
Ernie & Cindy – engaged
E
Liz & Marie – twins
T
Jeremy & Sandy – dating
D
Bill & Cathi – grandparents
G
Justin & Jennifer – siblings
J
Amani & Marcus – married
A
Ethan & Jenna – survivors
U
Ron & Bill – domestic partners
P
PICKS
Viewer
Ep01 E/(G)
Ep02 S/U&P
Ep03 S/K
Ep04 S/(T)
Ep05 A/T
Ep06 S/(A)
Ep07 S/J
Ep08 E/Z
Ep09 A/?
Ep10
Ep11
Ep12
Larry
U/D
A/D
Jane
S/J
S/A
Andrea
Z/D
G/D
Mike
S/G
Wren
S/K
S/D
Reiley
S/D
Nick
U/P
S/K
S/D
Legend
Winning choice won this leg of the race (used for tiebreaker)
-1
Winning choice lost this leg of the race (pick again)
+1
Losing choice lost this leg of the race (pick again)
+1
Winning choice won, and losing choice lost – PERFECT!
-1
* Selection change
-1/+1
Winning choice lost and losing choice lost (double elimination!)
My brother Dan and I had a spirited debate as I drove back from Winston-Salem today. He started off with a conspiracy theory (here we go…) that Obama was “briefed” for two days shortly after being elected, and was somehow influenced to do a 180 on all his campaign promises. I was lit and ready to go at it… Continue reading “Easy to destroy, hard to build”→
If you haven’t been watching, you should find the last two US games and catch up. The team is on fire! The games have been sensational, words cannot describe.
Japan and Sweden are tied up right now. If Sweden wins, the US will have to play a team that just beat them. If Japan wins, we’ll be watching the same sides that we saw live in the friendly here in Cary last month!
Yes I am a Beastie Boys fanboy. As Johnny Cash said so well, “until you know my shame you really don’t know me”. I grew up on New Jersey playgrounds, cursing (not “cussing”, that’s what rednecks in FL did) my head off since I was ten. To me, my brother’s actual name was jerk-off. I just didn’t know any better. I hit punk right on the mark around the age of 12 – I remember my dad walking into my room and hearing someone on my favorite NY radio station say something rude and what in the world was I listening to and me replying “I don’t listen to the words, just the music”. New wave was next and swept us all up, smashing molds and bringing sweet melodies and new sonic fabrics. And then came hip hop in the form of Run DMC and Beastie Boys and Public Enemy, and it was loud and strong, and continued to rip the fabric of everything that came before it – literally in this case. The industrial music of Ministry and Meat Beat Manifesto was the last great one for me. From then on, everything else was just recycling – Grunge, Shoegaze, LoFi, whatever – I’d heard it all before.
I guess this is the definition of being old. I have become one of those “classic rock” fanatics that I never understood during my youth. But when we were young, each of those early changes meant something to us, ripping off the lid on something brand new and knocking us to the floor, winded.
And I could feel my roots when I turned up the Beastie Boys. They are smart-ass New Yorkers with ADD. Like FAMILY. :P
If your sophomoric sense of humor remains intact, you may continue to enjoy their craft. This album went through extra refinement (due to MCA’s cancer battle, keep on good man) like a fine wine. Peace out to life-lovin’ cancer-fightin’ vegan-tryin’ Yauch, who directed this joint… WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT, this is not for women or children or anyone else with any sense or maturity whatsoever. Self-parody at its finest. And check the crew they brought for this one, stellar.
My brother Dan and I had a spirited debate as I drove back from Winston-Salem today. He started off with a conspiracy theory (here we go…) that Obama was “briefed” for two days shortly after being elected, and was somehow influenced to do a 180 on all his campaign promises. I was lit and ready to go at it… 
