At 24 miles one-way, it was a good ride! There’s something extra fun about seeing skyscrapers appear on the horizon, then biking into their shadows. Ricardo and Jim joined up there. And there was swag to be had! Water bottles, leg bands, lights, and the Red Bull girls handing out free ice-cold energy in a can, whoop. I’m logging my miles here now, check the top right for the latest summary. I’ll try to add some more fun graphs soon…
Category: Daily Life
An environmentalist’s bad day, with a long shot at total redemption
Eight animals runnning around on your carpet for about a decade takes its toll. Andrea’s allergies have been acting up for years, likely synchronized with the buildup of dirt and dust deep within the carpet. So this week we are getting hardwoods installed in the entire house.
I have resisted for a while. It’s very costly (hello debt). And my inner environmentalist has been saying “can’t we just make do” (for far longer than reasonable, all things considered). The fact that the hardwood boxes are marked “Made in USA” doesn’t cover my guilt. Such conflict! So… here I am. I carted three vanfuls of carpet, padding, nails and carpet tack to the dump this week. *sigh*
In other vaguely related news, I discovered a beautiful bunch of bunnies – by running over them with my electric mower – none were harmed! – but they scattered like the wind. I pulled them out from the A/C ductwork and pushed them back into their burrow. I was determined to protect them, but… I had called our lawn guy to come mow, and he said to call him back when he was back in town. I feel like I spend half my life following up on things like that, but irony would have it that he was proactive, and came to cut the lawn on his own without a followup… mowing over the bunnies – again none were hurt! But when I heard the news, I was crestfallen and depressed. When I got home from work, I searched the yard and everything seemed okay. By now, the bunnies have grown too big for the burrow, but I’ve spotted them, and mom, around the yard, and hopefully the little guys will lead long happy lives. :>
So, to sum up, I’m not completely satisfied with my environmental efforts lately. Life can be full of hard choices and challenges! But there may be an unbelievably strong light at the end of the tunnel – EGS! I’ve recently become fascinated with the potential of this alternative energy source to solve all. our. problems. Seriously! We’ll see how it plays out, stay tuned!
spectrial round 1, over
Even if had money, I would rather burn everything I owned,
and not even give them, you know, the final dust from the burning, so…
(Anna: the ashes) Yeah, the ashes.
(Anna: not even the ashes) No, not even the ashes.
They could pick them up, and then give them to someone else.
They could have the job of picking it up.
That’s what I think about that media industry.
UPDATE: …and round 2 has begun… unbelievable…
Soccer drills that worked
We had fun at Reiley’s soccer practice tonight, here are the drills we used:
- shots on goal from outside goal box
- hard pass to one-touch shots on goal
- all-offense corner kicks
- leading-pass through cones relay race
- 4v4 half-field scrimmage, dribble thru cones to score
It’s great fun to watch the kids improve – a talented bunch!
See my bike stats, guilt me into riding!
A new page of my bike stats is available on the menu above. Check ’em out and ask me why there are big gaps. :>
Clean scan, and life is good!
I got my semi-annual CT scan last week, and the 9mm tumor near my spleen has not grown at all. NO change. That’s about the best news you can get! Dr. Levine says “keep doin’ what you’re doin!” Happy day. Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement. I suppose I should throw a party!! Would you come? :P
A very good day
Woke up to snow! So of course I played hooky for a bit. Started off with blueberry pancakes while Jack Johnson sang about banana pancakes. Not quite enough snow for sledding, but Andrea and the girls and I had an epic snowball fight with Nick and Nathan, plus dogs. Then made some coffee to warm my bones, and headed off to work. Every day should start this pleasantly! :P
9.5 Flight of the Conchords
I feel irresponsible for not pumping this a long time ago. It’s on season 2 now, and worth finding all the old S1 episodes (and old albums and the original BBC radio show and youtube goodies and…) if you have any appetite for beautifully droll humor or oldskool casio keyboard voices. Mine is insatiable.
Pirates everywhere!
The girls and I gave Andrea the Pirates’ Cove board game for Christmas, and it’s turned out to be great fun. In the first game, we teamed up to go up against the Flying Dutchman, with cannons that “heal” every firing volley, and we managed to sink her! Wren loves the Pirates of the Carribean movies, and she continued the theme on her birthday – everyone came dressed up as a pirate! We burned the edges of the invitations, the sign on the door (“Beware There Be Pirates!”), and everything else we could think of. We served rum (ok, it was really lemonade). I made a treasure map that had the girls running around the house, and included a Piratey Perplexor Puzzle (say that three times fast). And a couple days later, on the actual day of her birthday, she got another pirate board game, Dead Man’s Treasure, which is “easy to learn but difficult to master”, and the Pirates of the Carribean game for the Wii, so we could swashbuckle all day long – it uses a fun linear cinematic style of play. ARRRR!
Tommy and Mindy tie the knot
My nephew Tommy tied the knot with his girlfriend Mindy this weekend in West Chester, PA. We had a blast getting together with everyone right before the holidays – Ma and Pa were there, and brother Dan, Val, Bailey, Corey, Niki, Tammy and Diane, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Jeanne, Tommy’s friend Colin, etc. – it’s been a long time since that whole group has been in one place. We drove up through awful traffic on Thursday, but Tommy had a worse travel story, missing his plane and doing lots of driving just to make it to his own wedding. But we all arrived safe and sound. While the bridal party had their rehearsal dinner, Andrea and the girls and I and my folks, headed to SuTao, a completely vegan Asian restaurant that had an entire buffet including desserts. We were all in the same nice Holiday Inn hotel Friday night, Dan and I hung out with Corey and the rest of the next generation for a few drinks and an overdue tech talk. Entertaining the wait staff with our antics kept us pretty busy Saturday morning. Then the wedding – downtown West Chester has that quaint charm, and it rolls on for blocks. The Catholic church was a beautiful stone building with gorgeous stained glass windows and an old worn hardwood floor. In between the wedding and the reception, we had a chance to grab a muffin and a coffee/tea/hot chocolate with Uncle Chuck and Aunt Jeanne. The reception was the highlight – on the Greystone Manor grounds – an old English-style manor that is reserved for special occasions. Instead of a large generic banquet hall, the catering took place throughout the manor, in all the nooks and crannies. Hord’erves were everywhere, drinks were served in the colder lower wing, while Andrea and the girls and Bailey and I had the main course next to a massive roaring fire. The caterer made us a special pesto meal with a wonderful glaze. Later there were chocolate-covered strawberries with coffee, and of course dancing. The girls showed off their moves! We did our best swing dancing, and everything else we could think of. We were up late again, ending up at the hotel bar with the younger gang. We had more fun at another hotel breakfast. We’re finally back home now, and we’re exhausted! CONGRATS TOMMY AND MINDY! :>