Oh Yeah? Well Stake That!

Wow, two posts in the same month and it's only June 20th!

Congrats to the Dallas Mavericks for knocking off the Miami Heat.  Thank goodness we didn't have to see LBJ hoist the championship trophy.

Congrats also to the Boston Bruins for beating the much hated Canucks of Vancouver.  I've always wanted to see Vancouver.  It's too bad the citizens had to burn it to the ground.  Silly Canadians.

I was in Baltimore a couple weeks ago for a conference and was fortunate enough to go to a Baltimore Orioles game with some of Angie's DC family.  I've wanted to see Camden Yards for awhile now and I wasn't disappointed.  It has been a dream of mine for a long time to attend a game at every major league baseball park.  I've been to Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles), Coors Field (Colorado Rockies), the Metrodome (Minnesota Twins), Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs), the old Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees),  and Oakland Alameda County Coliseum (Oakland A's).  For awhile I kept my ticket stubs as proof but somewhere along the line I threw most of them away.  As I sit at my desk and look at my Orioles ticket I think I'm going to start over.  Unless I can find some of those stubs I've only got 29 more to go!

I actually kept up on my 4k training while in Baltimore and it's a good thing too because I ate a lot of junk while I was there.  My training is going pretty well and just today I went for a jog near my office and completed a 2.6 mile workout in 25 minutes and 27 seconds.  That might not sound like a very good time but that includes 6 minutes of walking.  I'm still alternating walking and jogging to build up my stamina.  I feel like I'm doing pretty well and am hopefully on pace to be able to jog most (if not all) of the 4k by July 4th.  I'd better be ready because I just registered! Gulp! I would be even further along had I not decided to try to cut my toe off.  How did that happen?  I'll tell you.

Just over a week ago Angie and I finally completed a task we have been talking about since we moved in; putting new trees in our back yard!  We knew that, at some point, the empty lots behind our house would be filled with houses and our view would change from the playground to our neighbors' kitchens and living rooms.  We put an Armstrong Maple along our back fence and three juniper trees along our east fence for added privacy.  As we were putting in the tree stakes for our maple tree I decided to use some of my weight to my advantage.  Each metal stake has two "wings" that stick out near the bottom.  I wasn't sure what they were for so I assumed they were there to push on.  I pushed with my foot a few times and didn't feel the stake move into the ground much so I put all of my body weight onto the wing.  Bad idea.  The metal wing sliced right through my shoe, my sock, and my skin.  Luckily it didn't do any serious damage (I assumed since I could still move my toe) but it was bad enough that Angie thought I should get stitches.  After having my toe numbed a few years ago I vowed to never let another needle touch my toe so I put a band aid on it, wrapped it in tape, and finished the job.  After some moaning and groaning of course!  My toe is mostly healed now although I'll probably have a nasty scar and my 4k training resumed after a six day break.

Back to work, I hope all the fathers out there had a nice Father's Day, I know I did.

Qdoba to 4k

Wow, I can't believe it has been three and a half months since my last post.  Sorry about that.  A lot has happened since my last post so I'll try to summarize the major events in one sentence each (in no particular order.)

Nuggets finally traded Melo, made the playoffs, and then exited in the first round just like they did when Melo was here.

The Broncos had a pretty good draft and addressed some of the issues on the defensive side of the ball, now let's just hope there is a season.

The Rockies got off to the best start in the majors and just finished off the worst month in the majors and there is much panic at 20th and Blake.

My baby girl turned 2 and is as cute and as sweet as ever.

I turned 33 and Angie turned...29...and she is as cute and as sweet as ever.

The folks are still in Senegal and things seem to be going well for them although we still miss them like crazy.

Two weddings in April, one in MT and the other in MN, and the weather held up for the most part.

I think that about sums up the past few months, now I'll try to do a better job of updating in the future.

I have tentatively decided to do the Erie Firecracker 4k on July 4th.  Until about 5 minutes ago I thought it was a 5k so now my training just got 1k easier!  My idea was to start training on June 4th so I'd have exactly one month to get ready but I cheated and actually started today.  I am starting off easy and combined walking and jogging (9 and 12 laps respectively) for 1.5 miles.  There is a rec center by my office and it has a running track that says 14 laps = 1 mile but i'm not quit sure I believe it because I finished the 1.5 miles in just under 18 minutes.  This means I could finish the 4k in 30 minutes with a lot of walking.  Obviously my goal is to do it all without running and I think that, by July, I should be able to do it without any issues.  I do not, however, plan to change my diet much so I'll continue with my Qdoba and sushi (not on the same day) lunches.  I wouldn't want anyone to confuse me for a healthy person!  Stay tuned for more updates as my training continues!