Our Weekend was uneventful, which is a good thing as this past weekend was a “breather” weekend. We have another road trip planned this weekend, it’s actually CLASSIFIED right now (no, I’m not pulling a GreekChickie here). I am pretty sure that said parties involved do not read this blog, although they might… I dunno. Anyway, if you are one of those people that MUST know or have to make a appointment to with your Psychiatrist, email me (or use the Contact Me link) and I will fill you in. I can tell you have pictures will ensue and will be shared.

I’m lizard-and-fish sitting for across the street neighbors, I will try to take pictures of the lizard (named Spunky) with Stella. I have posted pictures before, but perhaps I’ll get a good one or two.

I was hoping to get Episode 14 of Gravity@1053 out… it’s soooo close to being ready, but it seems that to find the time necessary to sit down and stitch everything together, I am better off coming to work and doing it.

So another busy week ahead. I have to switch around my long run this week, to probably tomorrow. If I could wake up at 5am, I would do a 15 miler in 3 steps. But I must go back to making a packing list for this weekend. Would hate to forget something… like usual.

This Week’s Theme: Creative

I went out Hunting for this last week when we were in Dallas. All I could find was a Space Invader in a park in downtown.

I was getting ready to create a post for my run yesterday before I got the call from My Lovely and Talented Wife that The Younger had busted his head open and that they were going to the Emergency Room. The nice thing about working downtown is that the Children’s ER is 3 blocks from my office (on the same street to boot).

So, that has left me not as much time to detail about my 5+4+1 run yesterday. I was helping a friend pack his Moving Truck and knew that my time for running after work was limited and I had 12 miles on the schedule. I decided that I would run 4 at lunch and then 4 miles immediately after work and get at least 8 miles in for the day, I could handle that.

To support running right out of my office door, I had to map out a 4 mile course which wasn’t all that tough because I have an entry point to 3rd Creek Greenway about 1/4 mile from my office. While I was getting ready for my lunchtime run, I was a little ahead of schedule meaning that I might be able to fit in another mile and not be too late for work.  So, I did.

My Lunchtime run was a 5 mile run on James White Greenway taking advantage of the new Mile Markers and I was pleased with my times, however, they were consistenly fast.

5 Miles on JW Greenway
Mile 1: 9:02
Mile 2: 8:47
Mile 3: 9:05
Mile 4: 9:00
Mile 5: 9:28

So after that I headed back for the rest of the work day and right at 5:00 I was out the door, dropped my stuff off at the car and started on my 4 mile out-and-back course.

4 Miles on 3rd Creek
Mile 1: 9:05
Mile 2: 9:06
Mile 3: 9:10
Mile 4: 9:05

I hopped in my car, very pleased at how consistent that run was from start to finish, and called my friend to let him know I was on my way. He said that he was getting the truck and be there around 6:30 (which really means about 6:45 or so knowing Truck Rental places). So that meant that I could “squeeze” in another 2 miles or so and be where I needed to be. I chose to run at the Northwest Middle School Track which is a figure 8 fashioned 1 mile path. I wasn’t sure how I would handle running a third time in the day but apparently, I did just fine.

I was upset at the time, because I realized that I should stop so that I would have enough energy for the  packing of the moving van

1 Mile at the Northwest Middle School
Mile 1: 8:29

So, all in all I ran the 10 miles in 3 different sessions, all within about 6 hours of each other.  My total time was 1:30:17 for the entire workout andI will have to look to see if I need to change my workout paces because 9:00 was very very comfortable for at least 5 miles at a time, maybe when I can go longer I will be closer to my current 9:45 Long goal pace.

I was working on getting Episode 14 of Gravity@1053′ out today but with the ER detour, that didn’t happen. Maybe over the weekend.

Despite the fact that The Elder has the First ER Trip Award, The Younger has captured the coveted First Stitches Award.

In a acrobatic move called the Backwards Chair Drop, The Younger won the First Stitches Award by using the back of the chair as a buffer from the hardwood floor.

The Younger lost no points in Choreography as his performance did not result in a concussion. For his efforts, he left East Tennessee Children’s Hospital with 3 stitches and a Mayfield Cherry Popsicle. Of course, when all is said and done, that was “One Pricey Popsicle”

Neither The Elder nor The Younger would comment on the First Broken Bone Award…

Last Monday (7/16) I was able to get a trail run squeezed in during my last minute errand run. I ran again at Concord Park near my house and followed a route that was almost on the perimeter of the park, running on the trail along side of the river.

There has been some new routes cut in the interior of the park and so I need to bring a map on day to pencil in and try to figure out the distance of the legs. There is one map of Concord Park online, but it is a little outdated and not extremely helpful in determining distances if you don’t follow the loops. For Example, it’ll say 1.31 mile loop, but I run only on part of the loop. I did have a map that had my notes on it, but I can’t find it… so I need to recreate it.

Although my estimated average pace doesn’t show it at 10:17 min mile, I did feel faster on the trails. And Concord park isn’t easy either so I am not unhappy with my pace. I just want a good feel for the pace so I know when I am improving my time.

But what I don’t get is why I haven’t come out of there with MASSIVE poison ivy. I run the single track (about 1′ width) and there is poison ivy ALL over the place on the ground. I also run shirtless and there are spots where the ivy is growing on the trees. I guess the sweat is acting as a great barrier.

During my trip to Dallas I did not get a chance to run. But who cares… if you didn’t know this already, it’s a tad bit warm in Dallas. And although this MP3-Wearing-During-a-thunderstorm Danger boy would run during the noon heat in Texas, I passed. But, I did walk a TON! And I was a little sore from the dashing I did during paintball too.

Monday, as I tried to get back to a normal routine, I placed myself out on the track to run some 800m intervals. I told Susan (who I am coaching for her December marathon) that whatever interval workout I conjure up for her will be my following workout the next Monday.

My goal time for the 800m was 3:45 for 2 laps around the track and I nailed the 800m paces (3:44, 3:47 and 3:54) before I moved on to 100m Strides for a workout close. Strides are the classic “windsprints” and INCREDIBLY beneficial. I managed 4 strides before heading back to the aquatic center. I was a little sore on Tuesday, but it was the good soreness that you get after a good workout.

I didn’t get to run again until Wednesday (today) and I had to keep it an easy run. Since I didn’t run for a week, I would be too tempted to take an easy run and turn it into a Tempo run in 1/4 mile. So the pace for my Wednesday runs should fall between 9:00 and 9:20 minutes per mile based on my training paces for a 3:45 marathon.

I was really feeling the benefits of the 10 mile run from 2 weeks ago during this run. At no time did I feel tired, wornout or had to slow down because of a hill. I almost kept my pace the entire time:
Mile 1: 9:06 BAM
Mile 2: 9:01 BAM
Mile 3: 8:40 Oops, a little fast
Mile 4: 9:05 BAM

So, the runs this week have been awesome. I’ll run twice tomorrow… once at lunchtime and then again with David Incognito at 5pm for a total of 8 miles. I plan on running the lunchtime Easy pace and then with David, a slightly faster pace.

Remember when I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my pictures… either Picasa or Flickr. Well, I am doing both.

Flickr will be for my one picture wonders

Picasa will be for my Web Albums

I think this will work best and with the handy Post to Flickr addon for Picasa… it will be easy to upload and update both. This morning I put together a few Picasa Albums together of some pictures that I had and uploaded a bunch of pictures to Flickr.

Best of all, BOTH have RSS feeds, so you can be updated when new pictures/albums are up loaded.

Feeds for them are:

FLickr: http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=55161674@N00&lang=en-us&format=rss_200

Picasa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/planet3rry?kind=album&alt=rss&hl=en_US&access=public

URLs for them are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55161674@N00/
http://picasaweb.google.com/planet3rry

And if you aren’t using RSS feeds to update blogs or news, that is SOOOOOOOOOO 2003 of you. There are plenty of Feed Readers out there… Google Reader and Bloglines are two that come immediately to mind.

The trip to Dallas was a good trip despite traveling with small children. I always take a great deal of inspiration from these events and thus I can get “refueled” every 6 months. No different this time. I do need to go over my notes, but I feel recharged and revitalized. The small events that I attended between January and July help me, but Seminar and Leadership are the two biggies.

I don’t want to bore you with all the details about our trip, but will give you a reader’s digest version:

Wednesday (Day 0)
Registration
Headquarter’s Tour (Pictures to follow)
Manufacturing Plant Tour (Pictures to follow)

Thursday (Day 1)
Opening Ceremonies (Pictures to Follow)
Kalicak Awards Night (Pictures to Follow)
Last year, I was awarded the Kalicak Area’s Mr. Mary Kay award which is voted upon by the directors in Jen’s National Area. Well, one (and only) of my duties is to present the incoming award recipient. This means that I get to get behind the microphone and say a few words.

I had been looking forward to this for a while but had little time to write down was going on in my head. Of course, I did bring a prop with me for some cheap laughs… which did work. But really, that night I was able to be the unofficial official photographer! As a result, I SO need a Speedlight among other things for Stella.

Friday Day 2
Paintball (Blog post & Pictures to Follow)
Company Awards Night (Pictures to Follow)

Saturday Day 3
Closing Ceremony

Sunday
Travel Home

One of the perks that my wife receives for her work is that she can earn the use of a company car or take the cash. At the end of June we qualified for our 3rd car… YAY! We have been enjoying a nice, sporty platinum 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix for the past two years and now we get to choose another one.

Actually, they are phasing out the Grand Prix and replacing it with 2 vehicle choices, the Saturn Aura and Saturn Vue. We were at a loss this time. Which one to choose. When it’s between the Car and Cash, it’s a little easier to decide but when it’s Car, Car or Cash…

So we scheduled a trip to our Saturn Dealer to check out the different vehicles. The sales guy that responded to my email didn’t quite catch on that we weren’t buying a vehicle… the company was delivering one to us and we wanted to see the different features.

My reply to him before our arrival was this:

“We don’t get to chose the color and options of the car, whatever deal Mary Kay and Saturn has worked out will be what we get. We do know that the Vue and Aura will be Black. Knowing Mary Kay and based on the options of our current Pontiac Grand Prix, Mary Kay probably won’t stick us with the barebones options but it won’t be fully loaded either. They save those for the Cadillacs they offer.
If there is anything else, please let me know. Else we will see you tomorrow, probably closer to 6pm.”

But yet, when we arrived he believed we were buying a car. Perhaps thinking that we would get the cash and then work the deal ourselves.

After ranting talking to his manager, he realizes that he’s not going to make a penny off of us, he’s not quite as enthusiatic, but still very nice. He didn’t have any 2008 Auras in the showroom, as they haven’t been delivered yet, but we saw a 2007 Aura. We also scoped out the 2008 Vue.

Both were pretty sweet rides, but the one thing that Aura has going for it is a sealed trunk for security and protection.

So,  as we are looking at the Vue, he drives his truck up, so he can leave ASAP. He finishes answering our questions while throwing in that “he’s usually off at 5pm” as if I am supposed to be upset that it’s after 6 and he is still at work. He could have easily seen if we could have rescheduled or even had someone else help us… perhaps we should have “just showed up” and might have been able to test drive one… maybe.

That was Friday night and we didn’t really know which one to get. Both were great cars. Then Saturday we get the paperwork in and My Lovely and Talented Wife has to decide which one by this coming Friday! Come on people… this is stressful enough to pick out which car, much less do it right before our big trip to Dallas. Granted, the cars will be there in Dallas to oh-and-ah over, so that might make it a little better.

Not really. Still she had to chose between:

and

Later on… while I was at the Company Headquarters, I received a text from My Lovely, Talented and Decisive Wife that she “chose the Aura”. After all, she doesn’t plan on having it too long before earning her Pink Cadillac SRX. So the Aura will do for now.

Some of you maybe familiar with Bill Cosby’s Himself routine that debuted in 1983. With my friends having HBO, The Movie Channel and Showtime, it was watched multiple times and with such enthusiasm grilling in Cosby’s wholesome, hilarious outlook on some of the normal things of life such as kids, childbirth and chocolate cake.

One of his skits is about Jeffrey, a 4 year old, who during a 2500 mile trip constantly said his name to all the passengers without end or lack of enthusiasm. At the very end of the trip, he falls silent… which is met with cheers from the other passengers. Nothing is said about the parents of little Jeffrey, they must have been in a dramamine induced coma or something.

The Younger, thankfully, was not as bad as Jeffrey. But, he did cry and yell “No” for a good solid 10 minutes going UP and coming DOWN. The rest of the time he slept from Chicago to Dallas. But the 20 minutes that he was “active” was veyr unnerving especially those that don’t really enjoy hearing a kid scream oer and over again. One that was inconsolable from the effects of pressure changes and the unwillingness for Daddy to help in any sort of fashion. No, this is the independent-and-I-must-do-it-MY-way child.

So, no videos, no drinks, no tickling, no Elmo, no trucks, no books…

And everyone was in a good mood too because the flight was 1.5 hrs delayed because of weather.  We all survived and it wasn’t too terrible… but when you are the parent of “That Kid”, you feel that the flight takes forever and everybody hates you.

We returned safety back to Big Orange Country without incident. The trip was a lot of fun but yet exhausting. Of course, now I am very far behind on everything, both work and personal stuff, so it will take a couple of days to get back on an even keel.

I took over 300+ pictures, most of them are stuff that probably wouldn’t interest you all. They are from Seminar, but if I find one that seems to have some merit, I will upload it here or on Flickr. The Dallas Convention Center is located adjacent to a small cemetery and I took a few pictures. I am playing with colors right now and will post them today to Flickr. Most head and foot stones were either broken, missing or too worn to read.

Having Stella (my Camera) this trip was 1000 times better than having my 35mm Canon AV-1 and 2 Point and Shoot Cameras from past years. I was able to learn more of the manual features as I had to battle with Distance and Low Light (or poor lighting) all Seminar. I did run out of space on the CF card and will need to pick up a few more gigs.

So Coming Up… we have posts such as:

Why The Younger was “That Kid”

The Trip to Saturn

El Presidente or Are Those Hickies?

GreekChickie says she can’t met up with us, then leaves Texas for Good

God Bless You, Mr. Portable DVD Inventor 

Terry Orbits the Track 

So, I’ll leave you with this…