The Perfect Storm

Biiiiig day tomorrow.... first, Erin's Pinewood Derby... worked on the car this week, registered it this evening... then Erin's soccer game.... THEN Erin's Leprechaun-themed birthday party. Took a half- day today at work to help get ready... still haven't come up with the games yet... instead I'm blogging...

And after her party, Erin plans to attend another.

Runny, Part 5

So I'll run 2 - 3 times a week for only about 3 miles each time. I'm taking glucosamine... I've never been a pill guy but it's basically chopped up shrimp casings or some chitonous substance... wait a sec, I forgot to mention that one of the reasons I'm running again is related to my anti-pill thing. It turns out that my cholesterol has recently crossed a threshold that has caused my doctor to recommend I take a drug to get it down. I've always had slightly high cholesterol in the 200-225 range but since my good cholesterol level was high, my doctor just said keep up the exercise and decent diet.

But now it's 230 and rather than go the drug route, I'm going to go stricter on the diet and keep up the running. My typical diet every day is a bagel with hummus (instead of my usual cream cheese), coffee with half&half (can't skip this) and for lunch, black bean burritos with spinach and more hummus instead of cheese, a bag of raw veggies, and a bag of cereal then whatever my wife makes for dinner. So we'll see how it goes.... if the cholesterol gets worse, I'll likely end up on Pravichor or whatever is making the rounds these days.

Anyway, although I miss running for real, I'm going to keep to it for health (not to mention the stress-relief and getting-outside thing!) I don't want to overdo it and hurt my knees which may threaten my hiking plans.

Speaking of, the fam did it's biggest hike ever together today... about 7 miles up and down Blood Mountain, the highest point on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia. Erin and Liam made it to the top with nary a whine and Finn stayed on my back like the smart lad he is.

Diamond Dave

Thursday I heard that the guy who played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, Fess Parker, had died. I do remember having a coonskin cap at some point in my childhood but I don't really remember seeing much of his shows. We did watch Disney's "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates" a few years ago and it wasn't bad for what it was.

Anyway, the first thing I'm thinking is could they re-do a frontiersman show? Make it serious and realistic?

The 2nd, Fess in the 60's picking up chicks in a bar "Hey, I'm Davy F*cking Crockett!"

Top o' the mornin'

Last week, Team Keough went to downtown Decatur for a booksigning (well, "stamping", her hand had been injured) by Mary Pope Osborne of Magic Treehouse fame.

While Kerry braved the madding crowds with Erin, I wandered the square with Finn and Liam. There were a few guys putting up some banners around Mac McGee's, an Irish pub for St. Patrick's Day. From the outside, the pub looked very inviting and I was a wee bit parched. The fact that I had watched a show on the Food Network the previous night where they were in Ireland demonstrating how to pour the pefect Guiness did not help ease the temptation to head in. Having the kids though was a little awkward and we were planning on eating at Doc Chey's again so I declined.

Tonight though, once again yet another St. Patrick's Day has passed, another one much like the others with a few Smithwick's (the current beer being pushed as 'what they drink in Ireland'), and corned beef and cabbage, a meal I've always loved, my older son is starting to like a lot, and my daughter still is disgusted by... like seemingly 75% of everything we put in front of her these days.

Two additions:
1) a trip to McDonald's, a fine Irish establishment, for Shamrock Shakes, and
2) a shot of Bushmill's

Another St. Patrick's Day where Erin tries to trap the wily Leprechaun... this time with a trap on the kitchen table and another in her room using a glass of green food-colored tainted grape choose... which she promptly spilled onto the carpet AND neglected to mention it.

Sure and begorrah, tis a wild child she be.

Runny, Part 4

So my plan was to start biking at work for exercise... I bike on the weekends, I'll just start taking short rides at lunch... maybe I can find a big hill in Norcross... there's a big landfill just south of Jimmy Carter...

But it didn't work out. Biking is a heck of a lot more of a hassle than out-the-door running. So maybe I'll join a gym. But now I get to work at 7 because of traffic... I don't see getting up at 4 to get to a gym. Actually, that could work... what I don't see happening is going to sleep before 10 the previous evening. Once the kids are in bed, that's my time to catch up on crap...

I could do a gym in the evening... possibly... but I really don't want to go to a gym anyway.

1) I like getting outside.
2) Actually going somewhere and having to go back is a great motivation vs. some computer thing.
3) I'm a cheap bastard.

So I decide to start running again.

Runny, Part 3

Then we stop and drink a little at another spot off the side of the road while the "runners" keep on truckin' down the line... finally I cross the finish line.... along with one other guy that like myself, actually wanted to get a time.

Speaking of, my time from went I crossed the starting line was 2:29:00. Last year it was 0:49:20. Not bad when you consider I drank about 6 beers along the way...

And then, naturally, we all ended up at The Highlander.

Banner Weekend - Part 2

Well, I keep getting behind in these posts so let me wrap this one up...
after the zoo, we didn't feel like driving back to the burbs it being such a swell day and all, so we went to Doc Chey's in the Highlands, a nice, safe choice.. they even had kid's menu's and crayons.... man things have changed intown, ya know?

Anyway, a bit of a surprise especially given my post about the kids only liking standard fare but they loved it. And $4 for each kids meal... what a bahgin. Best, of all, Kerry and I got to enjoy a meal on a deck with real music and ketchup nowhere in site.

The next day the whole gang ended up biking on one of the new Greenways. Well, Liam and Kerry were biking, I was sitting on the side of the path re-attaching Erin's training wheels. She can "ride" without them... using the strictest definition of the word... she just can't steer or go straight for more than 3 feet. But then we did all ride... the kids saw other kids they knew... and we had fun.

But I didn't really get enough exercise so decided to another ride on my own. I was pondering doing my Taco Mac run but then a friend called and asked me to help him get his pool cover off. His place was about 7 miles away so I set off. I had picked a route to avoid as much riding along busy roads as possible however I had to assume there was an extra back way connecting two subdivisions to a third. One I knew about and involved a ride on a rocky maintenance trail connecting a park and some kind of power utility station. The other I had to hope for the best.. it looked to be no prob on Google Maps - Satellite.

But of course I ended up sloshing through a less-than-sparkling stream, riding along the trail-less side of a weed-covered hill, then pushing my bike up pretty much a cliff (I failed to notice the "contours" on my so-called problem-free route) to finally make the cut-thru. Then, it took some time to haul the soggy leaf-mass cover Deadliest Catch-style from the pool and, with the sun quickly sinking, I had to kill myself to make it back the 7 miles to home before dark.

Yup... a good weekend.