Michael & Liz are Bloggable

3 More Months of Movies

2012-02-01T22:10:00.002-05:00

I've been slacking on the blog, and lately all I feel like writing about is babies and our baby prep. But no one really wants to hear about that. So other than that, all I could think of writing about is running or the movies we've seen on Netflix over the last few months. So for now I chose movies. We've seen a few in the theaters lately, but I didn't include those.

November:

Bridesmaids (2011) - 4 stars - The first time I saw this movie in the theater, I just about fell out of my chair laughing. The second time around, it was nowhere near as funny. 5 stars in the theater and 3 stars at home, so we land at 4.
Get Him to the Greek (2010) - 4 stars - You ever seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall? Where Sarah Marshall runs away with Aldous Snow? Well this movie is all about Russell Brand acting as Aldous Snow again. I couldn't believe it when it came on. I really really enjoyed it, I think his character is hilarious.
Sex and the City 2 (2010) - 1 star - If I were to set out to write and direct the absolute worst movie I could possibly dream up, I still don't think I'd fall below this movie. It was mind numbingly terrible.
Jonah Hex (2010) - 2 stars - I don't actually even recall seeing this movie, it was that forgettable.
The Last Airbender (2010) - 3 stars - They definitely made this a difficult movie to follow, but they also clearly set it up for sequels. If you hang with it and follow the plot, it's actually a surprisingly decent movie. I look forward to the sequels.
Shrek Forever After (2010) - 4 stars - Pleasantly surprised with this 4th Shrek movie, I wasn't a huge fan of any of them since the first, but this one came very close.
Charlie St. Cloud (2010) - 4 stars - I need to write these reviews down closer to the time I actually watch the movies. I remember really enjoying this movie, but I can't remember why. I really enjoy Zac Efron, I'm ashamed to admit, the High School Musical movies are really enjoyable.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) - 4 stars - This movie gets 4 stars mainly because the graphics are unbelievable. It's hard to believe that it can be done. The plot wasn't awful, usually I hate the plot in the transformer movies, but this time I could actually follow it.
Hocus Pocus (1993) - 2 stars - The only reason this didn't get 1 star was because it was made in 1993. I understand it was made for kids, but even so, it's so incredibly awful. It has completely been ruined for me as a good movie to watch around Halloween. Although leave it to Netflix to ship it to us on the day before Thanksgiving.

December:

Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) - 2 stars - Basic premise: highlight the people who got damaged the most by the recession and have them complain on camera about their struggles. What doesn't make sense is that they featured some families who had lived in the same house for 30 years and those families lost their home. My question is, why don't they own their house by now? I personally cannot watch the movie and not think about how ridiculous their money management had been all these years. Of course it's everyone else's fault except their own. I didn't feel very sorry for the people they featured, which is probably why I only gave it 2 stars.
Going the Distance (2010) - 3 stars - Typical romantic comedy, you could see the plot climax coming from a mile away. I still enjoyed it though. The only thing I didn't like is, I can't imagine anyone like Drew Barrymore falling for a guy like Justin Long.
Wales: A Nationhood (2006) - 2 stars - I thought I'd learn something about Wales, but it was flat out boring.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) - 1 star - It's not often that I don't finish a movie, but it happened with this one. Just couldn't stand it anymore. Just didn't find the plot set up interesting.
Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead (2010) - 5 stars - This movie kick started my changing opinions about food. The book Eat to Live pushed me over the edge though. If you watch this movie, it'll make you want to buy a juicer. Which by the way, we now own one.
The A-Team (2010) - 3 stars - Decent action movie, and Liam Neeson does awesome every time, but that's about it.
Takers (2010) - 2 stars - This is one of those movies Netflix recommended because it had no other options and it's required to. Very little about this movie was interesting, stupid Netflix.
Easy A (2010) - 2 stars - I don't find Emma Stone attractive, even a little bit. So that and the fact that the movie had a pointless plot, it gets 2 stars.
The Town (2010) - 4 stars - Ben Affleck was awesome in this movie. I'm not a huge fan of Jon Hamm as he seems to me the human equivalent of a big tall board. He's stiff, uninteresting, and lacks personality. Even with him in it, I really enjoyed this movie. The costumes that they dressed up in was creepy too.
A Prophet (2009) - 2 stars - Another movie Netflix forces upon me with it's stupid recommendations. First of all Netflix, get the hint, there has never been a movie with subtitles that I've given more than 2 stars. I still watched the whole thing though, and I still can only muster giving it 2 stars.

January:

Spirit of the Marathon (2007) - 4 stars - I think this movie was more designed for the beginning runner, but it was interesting to learn about the training habits of the elite athletes. I also feel bad for them. They have the same struggles I do, but on a grand scale. They train and train and train, running 100 miles per week, and then lose by 12 seconds in a 2 hour race. That's tough.
Life as We Know It (2010) - 3 stars - Nothing special about this movie. I really like Katherine Heigl, but that wasn't good enough to improve this movie. You could also see how the movie ends within 2 minutes from the start.
Fred Claus (2007) - 4 stars - I love Vince Vaughn, and very few of his movies will fall below 4 stars for me. I love his sarcastic demeanor most of all.
That Thing You Do! (1996) - 3 stars - Liz really hyped this movie to me, but usually hyping a movie only ends in disappointment. It was average at best. And I also really wanted more Tom Hanks, but he played a VERY minor role.
Everything Must Go (2010) - 5 stars - Will Ferrell usually doesn't nail his serious comedies, but this one was awesome. Several times he busted out his sarcastic, Ricky Bobby-type, tone and it was very funny. I recommend this for all Will Ferrell fans, you'll enjoy it.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides (2011) - 3 stars - My immediate reaction was "Why was that called Stranger Tides"? They said the phrase once in the whole movie in a very insignificant scene. The plot was convoluted and boring. This series will never be able to touch the success of the first Pirates movie. I'm afraid it may continue to go downhill with any future movies.
The Ghost Writer (2010) - 4 stars - This movie had my riveted from the start, but the ending left a lot to be desired. I actually can't claim to fully understand how it ended. It wasn't entirely clear to me, so I just assumed I missed something and it was excellent. The only reason I watched this was Pierce Brosnan and my love of the Bond characters. I'd recommend it.
Facing Ali (2009) - 1 star - Why are we praising a guy who very clearly dodged the Vietnam draft?? Between his trash talking and his draft dodging, I think he's a despicable human being. I got this movie to see if it may change my mind, if there was something I was missing, but no, he's a piece of ...
Winter's Bone (2010) - 2 stars - Got this movie because Jennifer Lawrence is the star in Hunger Games, so I wanted to see her in a movie before that. She did great in it and I think she'll rock Hunger Games, but she couldn't make up for this movie's plot.
Morning Glory (2010) - 4 stars - I freaking love Rachel McAdams in all her movies. This was a really cute comedy, I'd highly recommend it.
Cyrus (2010) - 3 stars - This had "indie" written all over it, and yet had some big stars in it. It's basically a guy moves in with a girl who has a son who is angry about it. I think they could have done SOO much more with the plot. They have John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill and they can't create some hilarious prank scenes in the house? Come on.

Trimesters Are Different

2012-01-29T21:37:00.002-05:00

With the 3rd trimester well on it's way, I can't help but mark how different each trimester has been. Pregnancy really is perfectly divided into 3 sections, 3 very very different sections. Here is my assessment of how those trimesters have gone.

1st Trimester - The Paranoia Trimester:

The first 90 days are full of paranoia. The baby is incredibly small and vulnerable and almost anything can happen. The end of the first trimester is marked by a significant decrease in risks to the baby. Liz was always sick and tired during that time and we were always analyzing every issue to see if it's something to be concerned about. This first trimester, full of paranoia, is my least favorite. It may contain the excitement of finding out your pregnant, but that's the only thing to be happy about during that time.

2nd Trimester - The Fun Trimester:

The second 90 days are the most fun. The baby is growing big enough to poke out of Liz's belly. The baby will start kicking for the first time. The exhaustion that occurred in the first 90 days is completely gone and energy returns to a normal level. It also includes the first ultrasound along with the discovery of the baby's sex. Now that you know the sex, you can get right into picking the baby's name. This was definitely the best trimester.

3rd Trimester - The Anxious Trimester:

Anxious as in, eager and antsy, not anxious as in worried or fearful. While we are barely halfway through the final trimester, it is difficult to handle all the excitement as Liz's belly continues to move around and grows so big. It's as if we already have a baby, we just can't play with him yet. We have a name picked out and we can't tell anyone about it. We have baby clothes, a baby room, and all the baby things ready, and yet no baby to occupy those things. There is a date that used to be far off in the distance, but is increasingly becoming a tangible date on the calendar. Liz, and pregnant women alike, start to get uncomfortable with the size of their belly. An old movie line of "just get this thing out of me", is a phrase that makes a lot of sense to me now.

Yesterday was the first time in the pregnancy where the baby and I interacted. We were in baby class, and he was kicking hard. That's one thing we certainly will remember about the pregnancy, is how active he has been. Liz could feel him kick at 16 weeks and all he does these days is constant somersaults and flailing inside her belly. I like to think he's already starting to develop his soccer skills. Anyway, I found the spot he was kicking, and pushed his limb back in. With an abrupt reaction, he kicked Liz right back to the point where she jolted around in her chair. It was very comical.

We have all the preparations made for life to change, and yet we still have all this time to wait. I almost equate it to having bought a house, moved all the furniture onto the front lawn, but told we won't get the key for another month. So close and yet so far. We also don't have any control over the future either. The baby will arrive when he wants to arrive, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. I keep looking at the calendar in March and thinking to myself, which day are you? Which day have we been waiting for? Which day is going to be one of the greatest days in our life? It's so exciting and yet all we can be right now is antsy.

So anxiousness, that's all the 3rd trimester is consumed by. Hopefully March gets here sooner, rather than later. It's starting to get tough to wait.

Lake Hinson 24 Hour Race

2012-01-11T21:38:00.001-05:00

So why not just throw something else on this blog that makes me look insane. This week I signed up for my 2012 ultra marathon. Here's a link to the site: http://www.hinsonlake24hour.com/

The race lasts 24 hours. You start at 8AM on a Saturday morning and you go until 8AM on Sunday morning. There is no finish line, just an end time. It's a 1.5 mile loop and you go as far as you possibly can during that time. It's been called a tailgate with some running. This may sound ridiculous and outrageous, but 9 months away, this sounds like it will be a lot of fun to participate in.

My goals:

Don't stop except for normal stuff like food, bathroom use, and stretching. I want to see if I can keep walking or running for the entire 24 hours.
Cover 50 miles. Compared to previous year's totals, 50 miles in this race is small potatoes. For example, in 2011, if I ran 50 miles, I would have finished 100th place out of 254 people. But I have never run an ultra before and never run farther than 26.2 miles. I think 50 miles is a reasonable goal.

So at this point I need to figure out how to train for this. I think I will initially just start training like I would for a marathon. Medium runs in the week and long runs on the weekend. Then once I get comfortable with marathon distance long runs, I'll start extending those even farther and include walking in there to get used to that. It will not be easy and I am not naive enough to act like I don't have any concerns or doubts.

I'll keep you all up to date with how I'm doing in training. Right now I'm kinda bummed because I have a pulled or tight muscle near my right calf that just won't go away. Can't wait for it to go away so I can put in some serious mileage. This is certainly a daunting challenge, but I like challenges, so bring it Lake Hinson.

11 days of Nutritarianism

2012-01-11T21:25:00.000-05:00

I have been a nutritarian for 11 days. A what? The book "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman, talks about the concept of being a nutritarian. It's eating foods as high in nutrients as possible. The plan he proposes boils down to eating as a vegan for 6 weeks while also completely cutting out sugar, oils, and as much salt as possible.

So I've been doing it for 11 days now and I must admit that this has got to be the healthiest I have ever felt in my life. I'm rarely tired, I have lots of energy, and losing weight isn't very difficult. I can hardly claim that I'm starving myself either because I'm stuffing my face with fruits and vegetables. I've lost roughly 11 pounds over the last 20 days and the rest of the weight coming off is just a matter of time. With that said, here are a few things that I've learned over the last 11 days:

I have always been so concerned with what I weigh, but while eating the right things and moving down the right path, I've begun to not care. Weight really is just a number, but it's how you feel and your health inside that counts. I can really feel myself improving in health. I donated platelets the other day and my heart rate was 52 and my blood pressure 110/72. I'm psyched to see my weight drop, but I just really don't care how fast at this point. It'll settle where it wants.
Walnuts are really good. I used to think they were dull and boring, but it's a very under rated nut. Super healthy and delicious.
Without eating sweets, clementines have become my new dessert. They are so sweet and delicious.
Now that I've freed myself of the toxic habit of fatty foods and overeating, random hunger suddenly doesn't bother me anymore. There was a time that missing a meal or not eating enough would cause me to get a headache.I truly believe that overeating is an addiction, and I really had a problem with withdrawal. That should never happen. Terrible.
Taco salads are awesome. Throwing some beans, corn, and salsa on top of some lettuce is freakin' delicious.
"Don't sweat the small stuff". It would be easy to go crazy on this plan. For example, salsa's 5th or 6th ingredient is salt. I'm not supposed to have salt but when I'm doing so many things right, I'm not going to drive myself crazy by caring that my healthy taco salad has a slight bit of salt in the salsa. Not to say I'm careless and not following the rules, but that's nit picky. Who cares.

I could go on, but I'll stop there. Do you want to know the 2 main reasons why I am giving this plan a try? Dr. Fuhrman has many patients who cure their allergies by following this diet plan. I can't imagine living Spring through Fall without allergies. My life would be much happier during those times, so the first reason is to see if that is actually possible. The second reason I am trying it is to get faster at running. It's about time I put in the same effort into my food as I do with the training in my running.

This should be the best year of our lives, can't wait to see what happens.

2012 New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-02T19:34:00.002-05:00

This is my 5th year in a row doing new year resolutions on this blog. It's time to make some pledges to accomplish some new resolutions in 2012. Here are the links from the previous years:

Last year I went 2 for 3 on my resolutions, here are the results:

Operation Reese Cup - This totally failed. The goal was to lose 26 pounds. The good thing is, I began 2011 at 187 and finished the year at 187 (as of this afternoon). The Reese Cup is still in the freezer today. The day I hit 160, I will eat that treat, hopefully it's not freezer burned.
Complete 4 house projects. We completely made over our Sweet Room, I re-did the landscaping in the front of the house, expanded the attic by 40 square feet, and wainscot and painted the second bedroom to prep for our new baby boy. The only 2 projects I haven't accomplished yet is staining the deck and putting up hanging shelves above the garage door. I don't know when I'll stain the deck, but I've already bought the wood to hang shelves in the garage.
No carbonated soda. I had an addendum that I could have some if I stayed up between 2-5AM, but I didn't even do that. I was actually excited about having a soda in 2012, but I've decided I just don't need it. I think I've given it up permanently. 14 year old me just said "ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!?!"

So what am I doing in the New Year. I would argue these are my 2 hardest new year's resolutions I've EVER made. Check them out:

Go vegan for 6 weeks. Yep, that's what I said. Vegan. Recently I read a book called "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman about health and nutrition. It has blown my mind and my opinions on how we as a society eat. Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma really blew my mind with how we eat and how we should treat the preparation of our food. Joel Fuhrman takes it one step further and throws a TON of science behind it about how our body processes food.

He proposes a 6 week plan to go entirely vegan and I'm going to do it. My Mom and sister Annie are doing it as well and we're encouraging each other. It's especially tough on Liz because she does most of the cooking for dinner, but since this is my choice and my burden, I am going to start contributing and even preparing dinner for us. I don't know what to expect out of the plan other than to lose weight and break free of my food addiction. I will write a book review to explain my thoughts and feelings later, but basically this is one of my new year's resolutions is to accomplish this 6 week plan.

By the way, my dinner tonight was a massive salad with sauteed onion, green pepper, Serrano pepper, and red hot chili peppers, and then some walnuts sprinkled on top. It was delish.
Run an ultra marathon. At this point the race I am aiming at is the Lake Hinson 24 Hour race in September. It's kind of a choose your own adventure type race. If you want to run 100 miles or if you want to run 30, it's up to you. At this point, my 2 goals in the race would be to (A) not stop for more than the time it takes to stretch and eat and (B) to travel at least 50 miles. I realize this is ridiculous, to say the least, but something inside of me is telling me to get it done. In 2010 I ran 1011 miles. In 2011 I ran 1061 miles. Hopefully with this new goal, I can blow both of those away.

I talked to Liz about her New Year's Resolutions and she said they are to have a healthy baby boy and to run the City of Oaks Half Marathon in the Fall. Both resolutions are phenomenal and I am going to do everything I can to help her accomplish both.

2012 is setting up to be one heck of a year. I can't wait.

Baby Naming

2011-12-22T12:16:00.001-05:00

Before getting pregnant, I thought naming our baby would be extremely easy. We started talking about baby names years ago, even before we were married. I think if we were having a girl, we'd have been done months ago. Naming a boy on the other hand, has proven much more difficult.

Imagine how many times in your life you say or write your name. It's kind of a big deal. I mean even on a day full of nothing, you probably have to say, write, or hear your name at least 10 times. 3000 times a year maybe? 54,000 times by the time you graduate high school. And that's on the low end of my estimate.

Nicknames, middle names, inherited names, names that flow, difficult to say names, names that rhyme with dirty words, initials that don't spell out something funny like "BUF". There's a lot to consider.

But I think Liz and I have finally come to a decision. We'll be keeping it a secret until our boy is born. Now we just have to continue to mull it over and decide if the decision we've come to is the right one.

Oh, and continue to keep it a secret, that won't be an easy task either. We've heard stories of people who start calling their baby by their name before their born, and then accidentally say it around other people. We are totally the kind of people to do that. We'll try and be careful.

I Really Don't Care

2011-12-22T11:57:00.003-05:00

I haven't blogged very much in the last month, and I don't know why. I guess I don't feel like I have much to blog about lately. After my last post I have decided that I really don't care about my injury.

Let me clarify that. I have decided that I am going to do what I want no matter if I get it fixed or not. Granted, it hurts. But some activities hurt it more than others. So far I have run 20 miles in the last 4 days and the only real pain I've had during this time is in the groin soreness immediately after, or the morning after, running. At a comfortable pace, the stomach pain is barely there.

Running is an activity that doesn't aggravate the injury as much as Soccer. Soccer may be out of reach for a while just due to the twisting and turning involved. I actually tested my ability to sprint today and the pain is far less than it was this Summer. So things are improving, I guess that's good.

I am still going to pursue getting the injury corrected, but I've decided this will not stop me from doing what I want to do. I refuse to let my body dictate my life's activities. In fact, I am a firm believer in the exact opposite, that your diet and physical activities will dictate how your body feels. The days I feel the best is when I eat healthy and exercise. I think at this point it would be easy for me to throw in the towel, become fat and lazy, and stop running or working out. Not happening.

So with that said, here's what I want to do. I've talked about it before and if there's anything that annoys me more, it's someone who talks the talk and doesn't walk the walk. I want to participate in an ultra marathon. That's any event farther than a marathon distance of 26.2. Now is as good a time as any.

The one I had in mind was the Lake Hinson 24 Hour Race. What I love about it is the concept of testing your mental will along with your physical. The race is a 1.5 mile loop, and you start at 8AM one morning and you run/walk however much you feel like for 24 hours, and it ends the next morning at 8AM. The reviews I've read call it a tailgate party with some running. I haven't signed up yet, but I don't know what I'm waiting for. It's in September, so it'd give me plenty of time to train.

I have to set a goal in the race because what's the point without a goal? It certainly wouldn't be to win. The winner last year finished just under the world record, going 163 miles in 24 hours. For me, I'd have 2 goals. The first would be to travel AT LEAST 50 miles, and the second would be to never stop. I could take a minute or two break for food or drink or to stretch, but I'd want to continue to move the entire time. I'm under no delusion that I'll run the whole time, so the "continue to move" would be running and walking. I'll have to come up with a game plan to prepare myself for what I'll do.

Back in college, I participated in Relay for Life which was a decent introduction to this kind of race. It started at 6PM and ended the next morning at 8AM. Apparently the point was to have a team and pass a baton or something, I didn't like having to do that. I walked the entire time without stopping. I even ran 9 miles with some friends as well. In those 14 hours I traveled roughly 27 miles according to my pedometer. Without that experience, I think I'd scoff at doing a 24 hour race, but to me, it's possible.

Some stupid injury is not going to stop me from doing what I want to do. I want to run.

Angry Injured Athlete

2011-12-08T21:46:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make, I've been living the last few months angry. It probably doesn't make sense to some people because I'm really good at burying it. After all, life is going so well with a baby on the way. Life is great, but when it comes to athletics, I'm really angry. I have a sports injury and it's turning out to be more formidable than I expected.

You may not remember, but back in early June, I hurt my stomach somehow playing in a soccer game. I mention it here as an issue during the marathon training. Well that stomach pain has actually gotten worse. I didn't mention it in the post, but it was a combined pain, some in my groin and some in my lower pelvic abs. I gave it a month and a half to heal itself, when that didn't happen, I went to the doctor in July to see what he thought. I got an x-ray with nothing found, and the doctor said to see a sports therapist.

"Garbage" I say. I don't need some a sports therapist, I workout enough and know what to do for exercise. So I kept running and just "dealing" with it hoping it would heal. Well October and November rolled around, and with the pain in both groin and abs getting worse, I saw the doctor again who surprised at it not having gone away, recommended a MRI and a meeting with a surgeon.

I got the MRI done last Friday and that was an interesting experience. I learned I am *not* claustrophobic, in fact, I really enjoyed it. I had headphones on, and it was slightly uncomfortable not being allowed to move, but there's something to be said for staying completely still for 1 hour. It was very relaxing.

Then on Monday I saw the surgeon who gave me both good and bad news. I'll start with the good news first, he verified that I do in fact have an issue with my pelvis area that the MRI identified. I'll actually quote the diagnosis here:

There is parasymphyseal bone marrow edema. Mild fluid signal intensity is seen within the pubic symphysis. There is asymmetry of the distal aspect of the rectus abdominis, smaller on the right than the left. A cleft sign is seen at the inferior parasymphyseal region consisting with a partial tear of the origin of the adductor musculature.

Constellation of findings suggesting symphyseal instability, consistent with the term 'sports hernia'.

Super, sports hernia, that's exactly what I thought I had, but here comes the bad news. The surgeon takes off his glasses and looks at me all serious, and says "I don't know anyone in our area that can perform this surgery." Apparently this is not a common enough injury to have trained, available surgeons to fix it.

After a 20 minute conversation with him he describes a surgeon from Philly that comes down every January, flies in professional athletes, and does 20 of these surgeries a week. A quick google search of this Philly surgeon shows this is not a viable solution and he may be more of a crook. Ironically enough, the surgeon I was talking to actually said he thought it was a sham because he didn't know what the Philly surgeon does to fix it and it's expensive. The Philly surgeon doesn't accept insurance and charges $15K up front. And if you know me well enough, I scoff at such a proposition. I would happily cut off the lower portion of my body than pay $15K. Get real.

So this is where I am angry. There is no next time in life. There's no "oops", fix it, and do it over again. No eraser on the end of life's pencil. How many times are you 30? To think I will never be able to kick a ball in soccer like I have in the past because I tore whatever, is INFURIATING. I run because I'm young and I can. I play soccer because I'm young and I can. To think that something I could do so easily a few months ago has been completely shut off to me, is MADDENING.

I didn't do this to myself. I didn't go out and do something stupid. I played hard in a soccer game on June 1st, tried my absolute damndest to score goals on a random night, and ended up tearing my stomach/groin.

Now granted, I have not tried very hard to find another solution. I talked to 1 surgeon, but in talking to him, and reading the reviews online from people with a similar ailment, my hopes are completely crushed. It sounds like "living with it" is what a large majority of people end up doing. I'll start calling around and seeing what else I can do, but I might have to face the fact that stomach/groin pain will be a staple in my life.

So what can I do physically right now? I can run but not very fast and not as far as I used to. Right now, if I run any faster than 8 minutes a mile, the stomach pain is too much. Which means sprinting of any kind in a sport is too painful to handle. That limits me in running the bases or playing outfield in softball. Also, if I run any farther than about 8 or 9 miles, my groin pain is too much and I have to stop. To be honest, I haven't tested the distance part too much, but I will soon. I refuse to allow my days of marathon running to be over.

Soccer? I might have to concede that that's a thing of the past for me. The twisting action of kicking a ball causes a sharp pain in my stomach and it's way too much to take just once, let alone 50 times in a game. I just can't take that.

So... angry, upset, furious, any other synonyms you can think of? That would describe my attitude right now when it comes to my body and sports. Throw dejected and hopeless in there too. I got no happy ending in this blog, that's all.

Baby Prepping by Grandpa

2011-11-26T11:43:00.005-05:00

To say that Liz's Dad is handy around the house, is an understatement. More accurately, if given the time and the tools, he could probably build a house by himself. He and Liz's Mom were in town this week and he put his skills to use on our house / car.

One of the first things he did was replace Liz's brakes and rotors in her car. I would have loved to have seen him do it, but I had to work earlier in the week and we only had so much time later on in the week.

Then Thursday, we spent most of the day wiring our 2nd and 3rd bedrooms to install ceiling fans. This was very interesting to see because working with electricity is something I am terrified of. Voltage and watts and amps oh my. But we got it done, and then on Friday we installed the ceiling fans.

Both rooms have 3 switches on the wall. The left is for an outlet on the other side of the room, the middle is for the fan, and the right is for the light in the fan. Pretty awesome.

And then, because we hated our fan downstairs, we got a new fan for the sweet room to match the coffee table and entertainment center we bought this Summer.

But what takes the cake is what they brought us as a gift for the baby's room. A changing table!! Check out the wood work. It's pretty freakin' awesome. I hope someday I can make something that looks this good!!

The front knobs are little elephants. You can also see the color of our baby's room. It's a light turquoise color we picked out before we knew the sex of the baby. The changing table is one shade darker to match. The excellent paint job was done by Liz's Mom.

Look at the details on the side!

Liz and her mom bought little brown baskets for the slots in the front.

The puppies are too cute (and so good with the "stay" command). They have no idea what's coming though. We are just waiting for Gryffin to lay next to Liz's belly and get kicked by the baby inside. Should be hilarious.

Movies Over 3 Months

2011-11-14T21:51:00.001-05:00

In September we canceled our instant streaming from Netflix, so our movie watching has slowed down a little bit. But here are the movies we've watched over the past 3 months. I highlighted in red a movie below, that is hands down one of the most inspiring documentaries I've ever seen. If you have netflix and enjoy running, you need to see this movie.

August:

Country Strong (2010) - 3 stars - I don't recall actually enjoying this enough to give it 3 stars. The acting was well done, but it was a depressing plot.
How Do You Know (2010) - 5 stars - Paul Rudd is amazing. I seriously loved the ending to this movie. This was a totally predictable love story, but it was definitely feel good. If you enjoy romantic comedies, you gotta see this one.
Just Go With It (2011) - 5 stars - Adam Sandler in a 5 star movie? Yeah totally. Just like the one above, this ending was awesome. Jennifer Aniston plays a little bit outside her comfort zone as a dorky secretary type person, and did a great job as the love interest.
Tron: Legacy (2010) - 3 stars - This movie was actually really confusing to me. It didn't help that I was working while watching it because Liz fully understood it. The graphics are crazy good though.
True Grit (2010) - 2 stars - It deserves every bit of the accolades it received from the acting performances. That part was phenomenal. I would have given this movie 3 stars mainly because of it's mediocre and relatively boring plot, but I took 1 star off for 1 very disappointing part. Ask me on the side what it was if you care to know, so I don't ruin things for other people.
The Green Hornet (2011) - 3 stars - This is not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a lot more Ironman-like, and a lot less like the movie "Kick-Ass".
Black Swan (2010) - 3 stars - This got 3 stars for the acting. Natalie Portman did awesome. What I did not expect was how freakin' CREEPY this movie would be. It was borderline scary part of the time too. If you don't like being somewhat creeped out, pass this one up!
The Tourist (2010) - 4 stars - This was a surprisingly awesome movie, although I shouldn't have been surprised seeing as it has Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. We very much enjoyed it. Johnny Depp playing a completely normal dude was weird though.

September:

Parenthood: Season 2 (2010) - 5 stars - We have a new favorite TV series. There is seriously nothing I dislike about this show. It's phenomenal.
Letters to Juliet (2010) - 2 stars - I can't honestly say that I paid much attention to this movie. It was also super forgettable with zero A list celebrities. Don't watch it unless it happens to be on.
Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) - 3 stars - What's not to like about Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? OK, maybe the plot, but other than that...

October:

Your Highness (2011) - 1 star - I really thought this would be hilarious. Instead it was raunchy and boring. I can't believe James Franco and Natalie Portman actually read this script and thought it was a good idea.
Paul (2010) - 2 stars - The most impressive part of this movie was the graphics and integration of an alien into human life. It seriously looked believable. Nothing else in this movie was that great though.
Something Borrowed (2011) - 3 stars - This movie was somewhat frustrating. Kate Hudson played the most annoying character ever, and John Krasinski's awesome character basically got crapped on the entire movie.
Body of Lies (2008) - 2 stars - I tried, I really did, but this movie is so incredibly boring. This is actually my second try at watching it, and I could not stay interested for 2 hours either time. Leonardo DeCaprio did a great job of acting, but even he couldn't save this one.
Cedar Rapids (2011) - 4 stars - Ed Helms rocks the house. This movie did not get national exposure, but I really enjoyed it. I can't really explain why, other than Ed Helms being his normal funny self.
MacGruber (2010) - 3 stars - I was surprised with this one. It started out being absolutely hilarious, but then as it went on, the jokes somehow disappeared. I think if they had maintained the humor from start to finish, this might have gotten 4 or 5 stars. Although be aware what you are getting with this movie, it is a SNL spoof after all.
Thor (2011) - 3 stars - The plot was so far-fetched and ridiculous, that it was hard to enjoy this one. Although it had enough of the good sci-fi stuff to get up to 3 stars.
Megamind (2010) - 2 stars - I had high hopes for this movie. And recently a lot of animated movies like "Despicable Me" or "How To Train Your Dragon" are really entertaining for adults, but this one was completely a miss.
Inside Job (2010) - 3 stars - This was a documentary about the banking crisis. Lets just say that if this was all true, then anyone with a brain in the banking industry would have seen this crisis coming.
Robin Hood (2010) - 4 stars - You need to pay very close attention to this movie because if you miss one part, then you may get lost by the plot. We first saw this movie at an outdoor movie theatre, and I must have gone to the bathroom because it was confusing to follow. The second time around was much better, and this movie freakin' rocked. I love Russell Crowe.
Running the Sahara (2007) - 5 stars - This movie may need it's own blog post. I would say that without a doubt, this movie was probably the most inspiring thing I have ever watched. You ever asked yourself what is the hardest thing you could do? What will push you past your limits? These guys asked that question, and then answered it. Absolutely amazing! I wish I had half their will and guts.
How To Train Your Dragon (2010) - 4 stars - This movie was made for kids, but it absolutely is adult-worthy. Very funny and entertaining. I highly recommend it.

"The Next Time" Game

2011-10-26T21:16:00.001-04:00

When we first found out that Liz was pregnant back in July, we started playing this game. We're due in March? That's forever from now, we have tons of time. But do we really?

The game is pretty simple. Randomly we would say "The next time" and then finish the sentence with something that will occur after we have our baby. It's an easy way for us to realize we really do not have a lot of time. The baby is coming, and it's right around the corner. I wish I would have written all of them down, because some of them were HILARIOUS. But I'll write out what I can remember, most of the non-funny ones.

The next time the Summer Olympics are on.
The next time the Winter Olympics are on, we'll have a 2 year old! (holy crap)
The next time there is a World Cup, we'll have a 2 year old.
The next time there is a Spring finale of Biggest Loser.
The next time there is a presidential election.
If Obama has a second term, the next time we elect a new president, we'll have a 5 year old. Now THAT is weird.
The next time I have a birthday.
The next time we have a day off for Memorial or Labor Day.
The next time we fly on a plane, now that is weird.
The next time we are able to go to Movies in the Park nights at the Art Museum.

You get the idea. All these events and activities we have lived with over the last 5 years, are now going to be drastically changed. But so far life hasn't changed at all, except Liz's belly is a little bigger than it used to be. This is just our way of making it real.

Also my sister sent us a onesie in the mail today, that did a pretty good job of making it real.

It's a Boy!!

2011-10-21T07:37:00.002-04:00

Well we had our big ultrasound yesterday and had the sonographer write down the baby's sex so we could open it at dinner. We thought that might be tough because we weren't sure how obvious it would be. Good thing most everything looks like patchy blobs to us because we couldn't tell. She had us look away when she was specifically looking for it.

This entire time we've been thinking it was a girl just because of what our doctor said at the 12 week appointment. He certainly misled us, that's for sure. Boy or girl, we would be thrilled just as long as the baby is healthy, and it sounds like all is well.

It was actually difficult for the sonographer though, because he was kicking and moving around like crazy. At one point on the screen, we could literally see him kick is his legs straight out and then curl up, over and over again. The sonographer was laughing because she was having a hard time getting pictures of the important stuff (organs) with all the movement. Sounds like we're going to have our hands full!!

We got a bunch of pictures from the ultrasound, but I thought I'd share our 2 favorites:

Everything in the pictures are a little bumpy, but that's just the inexact science that is taking pictures during the ultrasound. The one above is our favorite.

The picture below is one we had a hardy laugh about. Liz said "Oh my gosh, it looks so frail, I need to eat more!"

But believe me, she's eating enough. He's progressing just fine. Today marks week 18!

Main Sewer Line Fix

2011-10-15T18:12:00.003-04:00

4 years ago after we bought the house, the main sewer line going from the house to the street got clogged up. We had a plumber come out and unclog the drain and the plumber said that he thought there were some roots in the drain, but there wasn't that much. He said, he wouldn't worry about it.

Then, this Spring, we had the same thing happen. Drain clogged up, we got a plumber to clear the drain but this time he said it is a pretty strong root. His suggestion was for me to dig down and fix it myself. I put a stake in the ground where I thought the clog was, and said "I'll get to it".

This week I got to it, although not in the way I wanted. I was forced to. On Wednesday Liz was running the washer upstairs and all of a sudden, when it started draining, our toilet downstairs started gurgling and then the water started to rise. ACK! It's only been 6 months!!

A plumber came out again and said the root was so strong that when the drill bit used to clear the clog went through, he couldn't pull it back out. They unhooked the drill at the other end, and then just pulled the wire back through.

So today was the day. It was time to dig down and find out what's going on. To prepare, I called the 811 number to get our utilities marked, so I didn't hit an electrical wire or gas pipe or anything. And this morning I started digging.

I was smart enough to document the work with pictures, check it out.

So you can see where the line goes. It's from the little spout at my feet all the way to the white pipe coming out of the ground near the trash cans. If you look close, halfway along, there is a white dot where the plumber thought the pipe was on Wednesday. Turns out he was completely wrong and the spot was where I put the stake back in the Spring. Oh well, cost me about a half hour of digging.

We've struck GOLD! There's the pipe. Nowhere near where I originally started digging.

The problem is instantly evident. Should there be a massive hole with a big root sticking into the pipe?? The root is to the far right of the crack. You can't see it in this shot, but it's there. In fact the root had wrapped itself around the pipe, and was starting to tear a crack in the bottom of the pipe. Give it a little more time and we may not have had a pipe anymore.

I has a tired.

Can there be anymore roots? What an awesome source of water this tree has had!!

You can see the cracking that has already started around the bottom of the pipe on the right.

Now this is the point at which my easy little task took a turn for the worse. Little did I know that when building the house, the builders ran the water line directly beneath the sewer pipe. So when I started to saw the sewer line out, I accidentally hit the water line.

Saying that I panicked would be an understatement. Luckily my neighbor across the street was outside and he ran over and turned off our water line at the street. I didn't even know how to do that, but water was spewing every where and I couldn't hardly think. I actually didn't take a lot of pictures at this point, because lets face it, documenting this moment wasn't a big concern of mine.

I immediately called a plumber to get someone who knows what they are doing. I spent the next 30 minutes cleaning out water from the hole and continuing to dig to get a better look at both pipes. The plumber arrives and says to continue cutting out the sewer line and he'll fix the water line. Good deal.

So... back to pictures. We finally get the sewer pipe out:

Ah! Relief, the water line is fixed, but for a pretty little $155 penny. Back to the sewer line... It took a while to find the parts, I had to go to 3 different stores to find the correct pipe and couplers.

I probably cut the new pipe unnecessarily close to the length needed, but that way there is very little lip on the inside for stuff to get stuck.

This is exactly how the plumber suggested I do it. He even got the part out of his truck to show me. Very nice of him.

This is the second largest pile of dirt we've ever had in our drive way.

This last picture might be more for my benefit than anyone elses. If we ever have to dig the pipe up again, I know where it is.

So now we are running laundry, I showered, we finally flushed our toilets, and are now enjoying the amenities we are use to. I'm leaving the pipe exposed until tomorrow to make sure we don't have any leaks. If all is well until tomorrow, I'll cover it up and try to forget this day. But for now, I am going to sit here and enjoy the sound of our washing machine. Go water go!

Halloween Song, You're Welcome

2011-10-11T22:34:00.003-04:00

For years I have been singing this song every October. People (friends) would ask me "I've never heard that, where is it from?" and include a jab in there somehow. I would respond with a meager "from my childhood somehow, I can't remember, but it's awesome." Well it is awesome and it's songs like this that make me love October/Halloween.

Well here is it's awesomeness, in all of it's glory:

(You can fast forward 1 minute to hear the words, if you get bored by the spooky sounds)

You're welcome, your life has been changed forever.

H-A-Double L-O-Double U-Double E-N spells Halloween. I love it.

Blue Ridge Relay Pictures

2011-10-06T21:03:00.003-04:00

I thought I took more pictures than this. But here are all the good pictures from our Blue Ridge Relay Race. I need to do a better job of spreading the camera around because all the pictures are of not-me.

Here is our van of 6 before the race is about to start. It's 7AM at the top of Highlands State Park.

John is our first runner, he's on the far right in the gray.

Trying to keep up with the front runners. He smoked the first leg!

And now his legs are on fire. Nothing heals calf cramps like some compression socks, but more importantly, nothing says "I don't care what it takes to feel better" like a guy in pink compression socks.

Van writing is HILARIOUS. This is just a small idea of what I'm talking about. If you can't read it, it says "You've done a marathon? How cute"

Gatorade is the fuel of choice.

Here is Super Matt. His special powers are seeing in the dark, outrunning his enemies, and then spraying them with water. He also taunts his enemies and their poor hunting skills by wearing a reflective vest, as if they could ever catch him with or without the vest.

John's coming in to finish his 2nd leg, and Matt is about to go out to tackle the beast, a 10 mile run up Grandfather Mountain. (And when I say "up", I mean it never is flat or downhill).

Waiting for Matt, I took a picture of the Grandfather Mountain monument. The view is gorgeous.

This is what every check point looks like. 15 passenger vans for miles. We referred to our van as "Vanna White", because we were the only van with no writing. We forgot markers for our van.

And here is the team picture of "The Runegades" at the finish line. We didn't really break any record or anything, but finished in a respectable 31 hours. We started at 7:30AM on Friday morning and crossed the finish line around 2:30PM on Saturday. Next year I'll do better taking pictures, because yes, there will definitely be a next year!!

Tax Me More Please

2011-10-04T20:03:00.003-04:00

Wow, I bet a bunch of people who read this blog just had their blood pressure jump. There's probably fewer subjects that are more volatile than this one right here.

I'm not talking about federal income tax. While I do have my opinions on that, it's not something I feel like expressing here. I'm not even talking about the most influential tax that I feel should be implemented, a huge gas tax. Could there be anything in the United States that would impact our country more than having to pay an extra $5 per gallon? It would be pretty awesome in my opinion. If you disagree, read the book "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" and then feel free to comment.

No, here I'm talking about state sales taxes. Can anyone honestly claim they fully understand how your state sales taxes work? What you'll be taxed when, and how much? I am happy to admit I am 100% ignorant on the subject. I couldn't have even thrown out a number without looking it up, and even now, I'm still confused.

A few years ago, when Liz and I started cracking down on our budget, I started grocery shopping with her. Not to help pick items out, but to be her personal calculator, keeping a running total of how much the grocery items we'd collected would cost. I actually take a lot of pride in being able to nail the total right on the button. We always play the guessing game in the checkout aisle, and I can usually hit our total within $1. I can't help but feeling proud when Liz strokes my ego with a drawn out "Woooooow" too.

The point of my story, is that the first time I started shopping with her, I had no idea how much to account for sales tax. 5%? 7%? I dunno? So at that time our total came to roughly $120 without tax. So I guessed $135? Do you know in our state, that a grocery bill of $120 would generate a tax of only $2.40?

Are you as surprised as I was? The tax on groceries is only 2%. Liz just came home after picking up a few items for dinner tonight. She spent $9 and was taxed a whopping 18 cents. Now I realize other things like hotels and electronics are taxed more, like 6% to 8%, but it's all relative in my opinion.

Most people would say "that's awesome, what's wrong with a low tax rate". Here's where my opinion changed.

I heard on the radio a few weeks ago, that one local county would only have to increase their sales tax rate by .25% in order to save several hundred teacher jobs that would soon be laid off. It wasn't done, obviously, because all taxes are bad nowadays (apparently). Why not do that though?!?! It's not too often that a tax is instituted that would go directly to one announced cause. And would anyone seriously notice? I know I wouldn't, and I guarantee 99.9% of anyone else would either.

I'll take it one step further, why don't they increase the sales tax by 2% more and make the local schools absolutely awesome?? If that's what it would take to cure a current problem, why don't they just do it?!

The downside is that it would never be taken away. Not only would it never be taken away, it would then be diluted into other forms of funding until the original "for the schools" cause is no longer necessary. Maybe that's where local politicians can go from good to great? Announce what the tax was for, and announce when it's being taken away. It's probably not that easy, and that's where my ignorance comes in on the way it could or could not be done.

Taxes shouldn't be used to cure all government problems, but when offered as a direct solution to a current problem, not to mention a temporary one, I don't see how that's bad. Please don't comment with a one-sided political argument about how all taxes are bad. I'm just talking about a measly sales tax here. Government spending and regulation is a massive problem, I understand that, but what I heard on the radio and what I see on my receipt doesn't seem to add up to me. If I can pay an extra $1 on a grocery bill so several hundred teachers can save their jobs, sign me up immediately.

The Kitchen is Half Bangin'

2011-09-20T19:55:00.001-04:00

The kitchen is looking bangin', but it's not quite done. We are done painting the top cabinets but we still need to work on the lower cabinets. There's also some finishing touches on the top cabinets left to do. We need to put on some knobs, put on little rubber stoppers behind the doors so there's a small barrier between painted doors and painted cabinets, and then we still need to paint below the cabinet above the refrigerator.

So here's some mid-kitchen progress, and yes, they are as awesome as they look.

You can see little paper towel rolls stuffed between the doors and cabinets so they don't stick until we get some tiny rubber stoppers.

The last picture is of the cabinet above the fridge. That cabinet used to have an empty space above it where we put plants just so it would take up space. I'm kinda proud of how that looks. It's not quite as seamless as I intended, but it looks good in the picture.

Gryffin is a Runner

2011-09-19T21:11:00.000-04:00

One thing I have always wanted is a running dog. I am pretty sure the next time (which I hope is 20 years down the line) we get a dog, I'll consider exercise into the equation.

The last two days I've taken the dogs around the neighborhood. One thing has become blatantly obvious to me, every time I try and run, Gryffin outruns me and doesn't stop until forced to. I have never given him a chance, but I honestly think he's a runner, and I'm going to give him a chance.

Yesterday Liz and I took the dogs for a walk. I took them individually and did a little jogging with each one. Not much of a distance at all, but enough to get their heart going for sure. Today I went on a run with them. This was not an easy little stroll around the neighborhood, it was meant to be at most a constant jog, and at the very least a walk/jog combo.

To be honest, Daisy enjoys running as far as the fun of it will take her. She's a little chihuahua, what do you expect? When we start out from the house, she runs for a good minute. It's fun, she bounds around, and bites Gryffin along the way. She LOVES it at the start. From that point on though, every time we start to run, she'd go about 10 seconds and then stop and sniff and analyze every grass blade. If she gets tired, she'll walk at her own pace, and I have no chance of rushing her. She's made it very clear that she's in control of her own exercise.

Gryffin on the other hand continues to show an interest in running. Tonight's run, it was go-go-go the entire time except for about 3 moments where he did his #1's and a #2. He wants to run fast and for a long time and rarely slows up. In fact, not only does he run fast, but he pulls on the leash as if I'm a sled. Tonight was only a mile run but the dog has energy.

I am actually contemplating taking him on a longer run (2 miles) at a slower pace to see if he could do it. He's got short legs, but big muscles and an even bigger heart. I seriously never imagined loving this little boy as much as I do. He means so much to me, so the last thing I want to do, is put him in a situation he can't handle. But Gryffin's actions are speaking loud and clear. He wants to run, so as a runner myself, I can't help but nurture that.

New Challenge: Me vs. Daisy &Gryffin

2011-09-17T18:49:00.000-04:00

*DISCLAIMER* - I am well aware of how ridiculous this challenge is. I am not taking this seriously. It is 90% fun.

Over the past few days, while petting the dogs, I have noticed they are a little more pudgy than I think they should be. The vet actually keeps telling us, "they are slightly higher than they should be, by maybe a pound or two". Which for two dogs as small as them, a pound or two is a LOT.

Well lately I have also been meaning to drop a few pounds so I figured what's better than making it a challenge. Me vs. Daisy & Gryffin.

It's basically like Biggest Loser, who ever loses the most weight percentage wise wins. They dogs will count as one person, so their weights will be combined.

This morning I weighed them and Daisy weighed 13.4 pounds and Gryffin weighed 18.6 pounds. This is where my "DISCLAIMER" is important. I won't be starving them, I won't be working them out in any abnormal way. I will keep their food the same. What I am going to change though is the amount that I walk them.

These days, we are lucky if we take them on a walk once a week. When I say walk though, I mean going all the way around our 1.2 mile neighborhood. They do plenty of running around in our backyard and house but for this challenge, I am going to make it a requirement that I take them on 5 walks around the neighborhood every week. So if I do it every day, Monday through Friday, that's good enough. I also intend on taking them to the dog park more often, but I don't want to set a requirement for that.

I thought of this idea yesterday, so I started this morning by weighing the dogs first thing when we woke up. This challenge will go until October 29th, which is Halloween weekend. I love Halloween so having a goal set for that weekend is very fitting.

My goals here? Realistically I think the dogs each can lose 1 pound. Doing the math, that would mean I'd have to lose 12 pounds from my current 184. OOF! That's a lot of weight, but I'm going to try!

What am I going to do? I'm going to get back to my daily healthy routine and also do a lot more than just running at the gym. I need to switch up my cardio by doing some stair master and also lift some weights.

Wish us luck!

August Challenge: Run Every Day Complete

2011-09-16T16:53:00.000-04:00

I totally forgot to blog about the completion of this challenge. I doubt anyone cares but the obsessive person inside of me could not leave the blog incomplete. So here is how I finished out the month:

August Day:	Miles:
1	3.5
2	1.8
3	1.2
4	3.5
5	1.2
6	1.2
7	1.2
8	1.2
9	2.7
10	3.2
11	1.7
12	1.2
13	1.2
14	7.5
15	1.2
16	1.2
17	4
18	3
19	1.2
20	4
21	1.5
22	1.2
23	4.6
24	5.5
25	4
26	1.2
27	1.2
28	1.2
29	5.6
30	3.6
31	9.5
Total:	86
Average:	2.77

An average of 2.7 miles a day isn't bad. I really enjoyed the month. I found out the last 3 days that I had to run 26 miles in order to hit a 3 mile a day average. I thought about trying to do that but didn't want to make myself miserable so I took it easy.

I didn't officially make a challenge for September, but I'm thinking about starting one soon, and believe me, it's absolutely ridiculous. I need to run it by Liz first to see what she thinks. I'll let you know.

Liz is Pregnant!!

2011-09-14T21:27:00.000-04:00

We're making it official now, Liz is pregnant and is due late March. Weren't you wondering why we were making our 3rd bedroom "livable"? (all 3 of you).

We won't find out the sex of the baby until our appointment in late October. But for now we just wait and fix up the house. We're going to be painting the baby's room a light turquoise color so that it's gender neutral. Liz has already started hunting for deals on cribs and baby seats and stuff.

We couldn't be more excited about it!! I'll blog more about stuff later, this is enough information for one post.

Blue Ridge Relay 2011 - My Legs

2011-09-14T17:19:00.001-04:00

So last year, for the first time ever, I ran the Blue Ridge Relay. You can have all your "what is that" questions answered by this post I made last year. There are some pretty amazing things that happen over the course of the race. I also posted about that last year, and you can reference those with this post.

This past weekend I ran it again. It was absolutely amazing and I have a bunch of pictures and info to share, but I will post about how the race went later. Today is all about my specific legs. I was runner #3 of our 12 person team. We started the race at 7:30AM on Friday, and my first leg happened around 8:50AM. It was 5.2 miles and labeled as "moderate". That part is funny to me, only in the Blue Ridge Mountains would this run be considered "moderate". It's all relative though, believe me!! Here is the outline:

The hills are as brutal as they look. The last part of this run was beautiful, just rolling country side with small homes lining the road. At one point I was running by a house with an older woman sitting on the porch knitting. The house was close enough so I yelled "Good Morning!" and she looked up with a smile and said "Good Morning!" back. It was really cute, I felt like a southerner. It's all about the enjoyment of the race, and enjoy it I did. I finished this 5.2 miles in 39:49. Under an 8 minute mile? I'll take it!!

My next leg didn't happen until 8:15PM that night. Matt, runner #2, had a brutal 10 mile run up Grandfather Mountain. He claims it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be, but I don't want to hear it.Any run up hill for 10 miles is a bad and brutal run. So what did that mean for me? I got to go downhill. I got to go downhill very very fast. It was only 2.3 miles to the next town. Here are the specs:

My strategy? Start out sprinting and then ease into a pace slightly slower than that. The "Easy" label is an understatement for this run. Most of the time I was trying to slow myself down so that I wouldn't completely wipe out if I hit a weird crack in the road. I was keeping such a close eye on my watch too because how long was this run supposed to take? A sneeze should have taken longer. My goal was to hit a 6 minute per mile pace. The 2.3 miles took me exactly 13:52. That's a 6:01 pace, good enough.

My last run was certainly the worst of all 3. I had been dreading it all day. I estimated I was going to be running around 4AM and it was a daunting 9 mile run mostly up hill. I don't do very well with sleep deprivation. In fact I'd argue I am the worst person I've ever met when it comes to staying awake past 10PM. Fortunately I was able to get a good 3 hour nap in right before the run so I was refreshed. Here is the leg info:

I bet this would have been a gorgeous run had the sun been out, but unfortunately the entire run was done in the dark. I started at 4:28AM on Saturday morning. I was passed by one runner in the first mile but then over the next 20 minutes, I passed 8 other people. From that point on, for the other 50 or so minutes, it was just me, the road and darkness. I saw absolutely no one except for a van that passed every now and then. It's a very surreal feeling. You're running down a road with a headlamp and blinking lights attached to your hip. It's pitch black behind you and all you can see is what your head lamp illuminates. You are heavily relying upon the signs on the road to guide you to the next exchange zone. If you miss a turn, you are in a lot of trouble. It's the most amazing experience.

Finishing this leg felt absolutely fantastic. I have been struggling over the last month with running. I had taken all of July off from running after the marathon in June, so I was struggling to get back into running shape. I might not have lost anything physically, but I certainly lost a lot mentally. I needed to get it back.This run was exactly what I needed. It ended up taking me 76 minutes, which is almost exactly a 8:30 minute per mile pace. That's not good enough in my mind, but it is what it is.

My next post about the relay will have pictures and more fun information about the trip.

You Know What, You Know What... WOW

2011-09-12T19:53:00.002-04:00

I have so much I need to blog about, but lately we have spent a lot of our home time painting. I just have to say... WOW. I built these shelves a month or two ago, and I knew when painted that they would look good, but I'm so excited with how it's turning out. Here is some mid-kitchen progress!! In not too long, our kitchen will be bangin'!

Back to work...

Hard at Work

2011-09-06T20:48:00.004-04:00

Now that I'm done with all the wood work that needs to be done in the kitchen, my girl is stepping it up and painting like a mad woman. We took all the upper cabinet doors down and she's spent a few hours in the garage both yesterday and today painting up a storm. Now I just gotta get crackin' on the inside cabinet part, that was my job.

We're using Low VOC primer and no VOC white paint for the kitchen. I don't know anything about it but apparently it's an environmentally responsible and less-stinky paint to use. The only down side is the higher cost, but if we're adding less pollutants in the air, the small extra we have to pay is worth it. We are so super psyched. Can't wait to have this kitchen done and looking awesome!!

I might just go buy an air compressor and nail gun tomorrow... so much excitement in this house.

Sweet Room Floating Shelves

2011-09-04T16:15:00.004-04:00

This project started on Wednesday afternoon when Liz sent me this email:

This is what I have in mind for the shelves above the tv:

http://www.amazon.com/Burnes-Boston-LL2932-Level-Black/dp/B000B50F18/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314797349&sr=8-1

There should be 3 of them, just like this set includes. I'd like the longest one to be the same length (or as similar as can be) to the length of the entertainment center (50-ish inches I think?). the second should be maybe 3/4 of that length, and then the smallest one being roughly 3/4 length of the middle one.

Also - just like in this set from amazon, they should have a little lip in the front so I can prop things up and they won't fall over. That's probably obvious, but i just wanted to point it out.

I've looked all over the internet and in stores for these, but I can't find any long enough.

Is this do-able?

The only problem with starting this project this week was that I knew I would have to give back the nail gun, compressor, and miter saw to Bobby on Sunday because I've held onto them way too long now. He has no idea how much I've appreciated borrowing the tools. Now that I've had a little test drive and a taste of life with sweet tools, I'm starting to hunt craigslist. Our house just might explode in woody goodness if I owned them permanently. After the last month of building things, I can't go back to the stone age of non-miter saw/nail gun life.

The shelf lengths we decided on are 50", 30", and 20". They have crown molding around the bottom and then a piece of wood inside cut at an angle so it sits down below the top. She wants a lip, then a lip is what she gets.All in all this project took me 2.5 hours yesterday and cost $57 at Lowe's for the wood. Crown molding is shockingly expensive.

I actually have to go out on a limb and say this was probably my favorite project I've ever done. Not only did the project produce something usable, but it's also decorative and good looking. Here are the pictures:

I had to include an up-close look at the lip. You can see the small brad nail holes that I'll have to touch up. They should be almost invisible with wood filler.

The small gap at the top between the wall and shelf really bothers me, but I don't think I can get it any closer. It's the hangers that I bought that do not allow for any tighter of a hold. Oh well, from a distance you can barely tell, it's only from up close like this that it looks a little weird. I've already gotten some dark wood filler and after a day of drying, I should be able to stain these bad boys a dark mahogany brown just like our coffee table and put them back up.

Now if only I had a table saw to make the long wood lip angle cut easier... oh to dream...

Places That Make Me Uncomfortable

2011-09-03T21:31:00.000-04:00

I should probably blog about something relevant to our lives or something that may be worth while to yours, but I'm in the mood to blog about something completely irrelevant.

Today I started thinking about 2 places that make me really uncomfortable. These are common places that usually wouldn't do that for someone my age.

First of all, the bank is a very awkward and uncomfortable place for me to be. At the beginning of every month, we "refresh" our cash budget by going to the bank and withdrawing a certain amount so that we have money for the month for food, personal money, dog expenses, and toiletries. It's a great way to keep spending in line for the month.

That may sound like a natural situation to go to the bank, get money, and leave. My problem with the bank though is that it's anything but private anymore. You stand in line with a bunch of people, most of which I wouldn't trust with a butter knife. For some reason, all other bank patrons feel to me very untrustworthy and sketchy. Then you get to the counter in their non-booth like, one long counter experience where everything you say echos in their massive ceiling buildings.

When we refresh our cash budget, we get out a pretty large amount, enough to last one month. So I quietly whisper how much I'd like, but then the woman responds with a loud "What kind of bills would you like? $100's? $50's? what?". And I quietly whisper how much I want of each bill. At this point, I feel like the very close line of untrustworthy people is watching as the teller slowly pulls out money and thumbs through it on her desk. Then she hands me a massive envelope (because I like getting lots of $5's and $10's) and I feel like I was just granted permission to leave with what I just robbed from the counter. I quickly stuff the thick envelope in my pocket and pray I make it to my car safely without any interaction from anyone. "I HAVE A WAD OF MONEY IN MY POCKET PEOPLE, GET OUT OF MY WAY!! (I say inside my head)".

Maybe I'm alone with feeling this way, but banks these days have become a very awkward and non-discrete place and I don't enjoy going.

The other place that makes me feel awkward is the ABC store. I'm 9 years past the drinking age and I still feel like I'm breaking the law. There's always someone at the register you'd never interact with outside the confines of the building. There are signs all over making it clear that "Alcohol is a controlled substance!" and "It's a state law to do anything ever". On top of that it takes me roughly 49 minutes to find a label on any bottle that I recognize. There are even sections of the store that are foreign to me (cognac) so I move along for fear I may have to pronounce it later. I feel like the whole store is designed to make you feel uncomfortable, rushed, and as dumb as a box of rocks.

Then, half the time, there's a police officer awkwardly staring around, possibly judging you, as you do a summer sault inside because you recognize the large white malibu rum bottle. "I recognize it and it's delicious" (a 21 year old girl might say). Despite the fact that I have 9 year's experience in the alcohol shopping genre, I still constantly think to myself "am I acting the way I should act if I was over 21? Am I acting in a way that may make them think I'm 19?! I hate that I still look 16."

I can't be the only person who feels like these two establishments are awkward. I'm sure there are more places I feel awkward in, but none come to mind right now.

Making it Livable

2011-08-29T20:28:00.000-04:00

Contrary to what my last blog post may suggest, I don't sit and watch TV all day long. Maybe just on the weeknights after work? For the longest time we've wanted to make our third bedroom livable and this past weekend the stars aligned where I finally had the time and the tools to get the job done. Thank you Bobby for the tools!! The goal is to make it look the same as our second bedroom which I finished back in 2008.

So Friday night we went to Lowes and bought all the supplies and most of the day Saturday and Sunday I spent installing beadboard. I finished Sunday night but it was too dark to take pictures. All that needs to be done is painting the beadboard white and then painting the rest of the room a decent color other than it's current bland cream color. We also need to clean up the riff-raff, put some crap in the attic, and put the furniture in the proper place, but other than that we've gotten it up to livable standards.

Here are the before pictures:

And now for the after pictures (ignore the terrible caulking job, it will be covered by paint):

I guess I still took the pictures when it was too dark outside. That is the advantage this room has over the other one. The sun sets on the other side of the house, so after about noon, it's super dark in there.

Our Fall 2011 TV Schedule

2011-08-28T12:45:00.003-04:00

As active and busy as we keep ourselves, we love our TV shows. I'm a little ashamed to admit that it's probably (definitely) more than the average person. Then throw in movies that we watch and boy are we putting a lot of time into the TV.

This past Spring we had a couple shows we were watching that were canceled. Those include "V" and "Mr Sunshine". We enjoyed them, but they deserved it. So with those gone, we have a couple shows we've picked up. We try and strike a balance, although recently the balance seems to be on the heavy side.That probably can't last too long.

These are the shows we've always watched that we'll continue to watch when they premiere this Fall. :

Survivor - CBS, Wednesdays @ 8PM, Begins 9/14 - The show seems to go in waves. They'd introduce a new rule every 4th or 5th season (Exile island, Hidden Immunity Island, All-Stars, Fan vs. Favorites, Heroes vs. Villains) and it would be awesome and then start to tail off. Redemption Island has totally revived my interest in Survivor. I love picking my horses and rooting for them.
How I Met Your Mother - CBS, Mondays @ 8PM, Begins 9/19 - Brilliant writing. This show is so original and creative in so many ways: Slap Bet & Countdown, Barney's Dating Playbook, The Goat, creative flashbacks, Marshall's Family; I could go on. There's no show on TV like it. I think most of all what I like about the show is Jason Segel, the real star of the show.
Glee - Fox, Tuesdays @ 8PM, Begins 9/20 - Liz loves this show more than I do. It certainly is creative, but the plot craziness is something that is hard for me to handle. I also completely disagree about the moral integrity behind what they decide to air on TV, especially considering how many teenagers are watching. It's as if they are willing to do ANYTHING to get ratings. Sometimes it's difficult to take seriously, which hurts my enjoyment. The best part though is the songs. The cast is awesome and the songs are hilariously random and really well done.
The Biggest Loser - Tuesdays @ 8PM, Begins 9/20 - Can I express just how much I love this show? Some people may hate reality shows, but there is no other show that is more beneficial to it's contestants. The show is truly meant to change people's lives. The downside though is that last season was the first time I started to see that it's going downhill. Unlike Survivor, their twists and changes in the game rarely make it more interesting. It is what it is. The show is completely dependent on how interesting the cast is. They better continue to do their best to cast great people, otherwise it'll continue to decline.
The Big Bang Theory - Thursdays @ 8PM, Begins 9/22 - I still can't believe this show made it. We watched the first season and were predicting that it wouldn't be renewed. Now here it is about to start season 5 and on the verge of syndication. Amazing. What this show has going for it is science. Most, if not all of the viewers, probably don't understand a word of what they are saying, but that's part of the show's draw.
The Office - Thursdays @ 9PM, Begins 9/22 - I'm really afraid that one day I'll say the words "The Office ended when Michael Scott left, it just didn't get canceled at the same time." This season the old boss is gone (Steve Carell) and the new boss, at least from my perspective, is a huge downgrade. I'm really afraid that this show's good days are over. If they manage to concentrate more on office hi-jinks between Dwight and Jim and less on story narrative, it may survive.

And now the new shows we'll be picking up in our schedule:

Parenthood - NBC, Tuesdays @ 10PM, Begins 9/13 - Randomly we'd see this show on TV in the Spring and we decided to get the DVD's through Netflix and check out the first season. It's an amazing show. I actually usually hate scripted dramas, in particular all the lame CSI, Law & Order, ER type shows. They really bother me, but Parenthood while it is scripted drama, is much different. I think they do a fantastic job of telling real stories (the autistic young son for example) and add humor that is subtle and done through character personalities, not cheap jokes. The writing is really well done.
Terra Nova - Fox , Mondays @ 8PM, Begins 9/26 - Holy cow this show looks awesome! It's basically looks like a mix of Lost, Jurassic Park, & Avatar. Apparently they are way over budget and it's crazy expensive to make. Hopefully that is a good thing and not a motivation for cancellation. Their previews of a dinosaur attacking a car better be a frequent occurrence, because if it is, I'll be hooked. It better not be like Lost where they advertise this crazy dinosaur noise, and then not talk about it until Season 3. I have high hopes.
Last Man Standing - Tuesdays @ 8PM, Begins 10/11 - We may not be able to watch this, we already have two other shows on at 8PM on Tuesdays. I don't know how that would work. With that said, it's blatantly obvious that ABC is doing this because the show's premise is exactly the opposite of Tim Allen's old hit, Home Improvement. This plot is that Tim Allen is the father of 3 young daughters. See it now? The concept of seeing Tim Allen completely flipped over, really intrigues me. To say I'm a fan of his show Home Improvement is an understatement. I watched it live when I was little and then watch the reruns religiously. I really want to see how this show works, but with it's difficult time slot, I might not be able too.

What shows are you watching?

P.S. - Thank goodness for DVR. We always tape the shows and skip commercials, that saves SOOO much time.

Zac Brown Band

2011-08-27T20:18:00.002-04:00

Recently Liz and I were listening to the radio (country station) and she says "I really like the Zac Brown Band". Sometimes you never really realize you enjoy something so much until it's pointed out to you. It made me realize just how much I really like them also.Two songs in particular just hit me every time. I love just pausing and listening. We also watch the country music channel and they come on fairly often as well. I'd like to share them here.

I think the reason I love country music is because they always tell great stories. There's no genre of music that tells a better story than country music. Overall that's what attracts me to the music.

Ironically both songs are completely contrary to each other. In the first, he wants so badly to be close to his son, but he can't make it work. The second song, which I imagine is the case with a lot of men in the world, is that he can't help but want to be free. He wants both the girl and the adventurous life.

The first song is called "Highway 20 Ride":

The second song is called "Colder Weather":

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Thank You Tina Fey For Being Hilarious

2011-08-22T20:14:00.005-04:00

I'm exactly the kind of person that would *not* pick up Tina Fey's book, Bossypants. I am a young (relatively) male who just had his wife say "you won't like this, it has a LOT of girl stuff in it". But I am a huge Tina Fey fan so I couldn't resist.

Something she talks about in the book is how woman were never looked at as funny or relevant in comedy. I'll comment on that real quick.

I used to be one of those shlubs that thought that. You ever think back to the 80's and 90's (cuz that's as far back as I can think) and wonder where the women of SNL were? There were probably a bunch of them, but they never got any camera love? Name all the stars from SNL and the list of males grows endlessly. To be entirely honest, gender would not have even registered on my mind while listing Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Dan Akroyd, Chris Farley, etc.

I actually can't tell you whether or not the women who appeared with those guys were funny. I haven't seen any clips of them because the guys hogged the spotlight. I actually remember speaking the words in the early 2000's, "I don't know any women comedians that are funny." When Tina Fey arrived on SNL, my world got rocked.

She is legitimately funny. No, I'm not adding "for a girl" on the end of that sentence, she puts most guys to shame (I say "most" because I don't have a favorite, but she's in the list of my favorites). She is inventive, creative, and uses humor much better than anyone I have ever seen before. She opened up the SNL world to women in comedy and Kristen Wig (who is also amazing) has stepped right through. I knew Tina was awesome long before her book Bossypants but it put a huge exclamation point behind awesome!

So now back to the book. The overview is that it's a story about her going from a weird philly nobody to being the Bossypants executive producer of her show 30 Rock. There's a lot of information in this book about her life, including, like Liz said, a LOT of women stuff in it. Some of it is gross and not something a guy wants to hear, but I understood most of it and once you get past that stuff, and the whole book is hilarious. Either she put a lot of effort into making the reader laugh every single paragraph or she is much funnier and talented than I had ever thought.

What I enjoyed most about the book was her lessons on improv comedy. Not only did I learn a lot about how to improv, but I actually noticed she used those skills in her writing style. I could give a million examples, but the one I love the best comes from her responses to her fan mail.

She says that the first rule of improvisational comedy is to always say "yes". Accept whatever is given to you or told to you, and go from there. Someone can say "I have a gun!", and your response cannot be "no you don't, that's your finger." Improv over. That is breaking the first rule. So remember that rule while reading her response to fan mail:

She was sent:

"Tina Fey is an ugly, pear-shaped, overrated troll."

Her response:

Dear Fan,
First let me say how inspiring it is that you have learned to use a computer.

I hate for our correspondence to be confrontational, but you have offended me deeply. To say I'm an overrated troll, when you have never seen me guard a bridge, is patently unfair. I'll leave it for others to say if I'm the best, but I am certainly one of the most dedicated trolls guarding bridges. I always ask three questions, at least two of which are riddles.

She continues on in her response to further destroy the writer with humor. Disregard the brilliance and hilarity of her response, and notice how she accepted the input of being called a troll and went with it. I just about exploded with laughter when she said "when you have never seen me guard a bridge". Pure genius. She used almost every rule of Improv in her book and in her humor, and I really got a lot out of it, not just laughs.

Should you read this book? Yes, absolutely you should. It is filled with page after page of more genius. Just skimming through it, I so badly want to erase my memory, read it again, and laugh for the first time once more. I will resist ruining any more of the book for you so you can laugh for the first time yourself.

By the way, I read the book in 2 days while on vacation. That is definitely saying something.

Challenge Update: Run Every Day

2011-08-18T18:30:00.000-04:00

This has probably been the most fun challenge that I've had. I really like running and being forced to run every day has made me realize that. You know what they say about exercise, that it somehow increases the endorphins in your body giving you a feeling of well-being and happiness. I totally buy that. Every time I walk back in the house I am pumped about having run. Even while sitting on the floor recovering (because I don't want to get our furniture nasty from sweat), I feel like going back out and running some more.

Here are my stats for the month so far:

August Day:	Miles:
1	3.5
2	1.8
3	1.2
4	3.5
5	1.2
6	1.2
7	1.2
8	1.2
9	2.7
10	3.2
11	1.7
12	1.2
13	1.2
14	7.5
15	1.2
16	1.2
17	4
18	3
Total:	41.7
Average:	2.3

The reason for all the 1.2's is because that's the distance around the neighborhood.

I actually was fairly proud of my numbers until I wrote them down here and calculated the total. I'm only averaging 2.3 miles a day? Half of the 18 days were measly 1.2 jaunts around the neighborhood? That's pretty pathetic in my book. I guess the upside is that those are the days I probably wouldn't have run anyway. When the month started, I was actually thinking about trying to beat an average of 3 miles a day. Maybe I can start making it up?

What has been tough is working around my schedule. Most of those short runs were either late at night when I barely had time to run or on days when I had softball and didn't feel like doing more than just a lap around the neighborhood. The downside to running so late at night too is that it's right after dinner, so there were 2 or 3 runs I did on a full stomach. Those runs were rough.

I actually have enjoyed this challenge so much that I think I will continue it into September but up the ante a bit. Lets see if I can run 2 Miles a Day? Now that I think will be a big challenge!

More Kitchen Progress

2011-08-13T18:03:00.001-04:00

These changes aren't as dramatic as the shelf I installed, but they are necessary to make the kitchen look much better. What is missing in these pictures is shoe molding (I didn't feel like doing that today). There are a lot of nail holes and scuff marks but those won't mean anything once it's all painted. I also left a gap between the floor and the base board because our linoleum floors are hideous. We'll eventually get hardwood floors 1 or more years down the line and I wanted to leave a gap to make the pulling up of linoleum much easier. The shoe molding will cover it up.

So the only thing left to do in the kitchen now is:

Shoe Molding
Fix up a few spots like nail holes and gaps that need putty
Paint
Drawer and Cabinet Hardware
Enjoy a sweet new kitchen.

While this does seem like a pretty short list of to-do items, we are fixing up the kitchen on a fixed budget. So it may be until mid-September that we can buy all the paint we need. No big deal. There's no rush.

July 2011 Movies

2011-08-13T12:48:00.003-04:00

Boy have I been slacking on the whole posting thing.

Best movie of the month, without a doubt, was Secretariat. If you see any of the ones below, definitely see that one!! Here are the movies we watched in July

The Plain Truth (2004) - 3 stars - This movie was based on a book that Liz had read. She said the author "is very well known for twist endings". So I was expecting it and guessing and I was totally wrong. It was enjoyable.
Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (2010) - 4 stars - This was my second viewing and I enjoyed it even more the second time. It's very Harry Potter-esk with it's magic and mystery. I really like the demi-God idea as the plot for a movie, but I never thought it was that good until this movie.
The Kids Are All Right (2010) - 3 stars - Movies where the plot revolves around infidelity make me uncomfortable. I don't like watching it because I'd like to remain in my little bubble of "it doesn't happen". It really is a life ruin-er and I don't want any part of it.
Rescue Dawn (2006) - 3 stars - I continue to be impressed by Christian Bale's acting skills. He did an amazing job in this one as well.
Hall Pass (2011) - 3 stars - Another infidelity movie, although in this one the outcome was expected. He got into a fight with his wife, they went on a break, and then with his "Hall Pass" he realized how terrible not being married was. That's pretty much how I feel about the whole situation.
You Again (2010) - 2 stars - Kristen Bell is awesome, but this movie was super boring and dumb.
Sudden Impact (1983) - 1 star - I stopped this after a while. Like I've always said, most old movie are terrible, this one included.
No Strings Attached (2011) - 4 stars - I want so badly to hate Ashton Kutcher (mainly because of Punked) but as it turns out, it's the opposite. He played the good guy throughout this movie and I enjoyed it a lot. I'm actually really looking forward to seeing what he does on Two and a Half Men.
Kevin Hart: Seriously Funny ( 2010) - 1 star -Seriously not funny. If you can't make one joke without cussing, then you are not a funny person. Cussing is a crutch. It's kind of like hitting a home run with an illegal bat. Sure people laugh, but it's not because of you.
The Kite Runner (2007) - 3 stars - Liz watched it without me. She says "It was a good movie, a little slow paced and there were sub-titles, but it was good."
Secretariat (2010) - 5 stars - You know that feeling at the end of a movie that makes you want to stand up and throw your fist in the air and yell "YES! YES! YES!" Anyone? Just me? OK, well that's how I felt at the end of this movie. I'll have to see it multiple times before I can actually declare this to be true, but it might be up there with Rudy and Cinderella Man as one of the best "sports" movies I've ever seen. I've never thought of horse racing as a sport, but it's in the genre. The races kept me on the edge of my seat and it really built up to a fantastic ending. Absolutely loved this movie.
Alice in Wonderland (2010) - 2 stars - We thought this would be a good movie, but it was actually weird and dumb. Johnny Depp is always awesome, but he sure does like weird roles. There was also a cameo from one of the original Alice in Wonderland actors, that was funny to see.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (2011) - 5 stars - The best Harry Potter movie without a doubt. You can read my thoughts in this previous post.

Sweet Kitchen Progress

2011-08-05T18:19:00.000-04:00

Last weekend a friend of ours let me borrow his nail gun and miter saw. To say that I'm excited to have the proper tools to make something awesome is an understatement. So over the last week I built several things in the kitchen. Really they are all somewhat mediocre except for what I finished tonight.

Liz wanted a shelf built into the end of the cabinets along with crown molding around the top of them. Nailed it!

Now the next step is to put the base board around the bottom of the cabinets and we're ready to start painting. I think Liz is going to love her new kitchen.

August Challenge: Run Every Day

2011-07-31T08:06:00.000-04:00

Have you ever heard of this club? U.S. Running Streak Association

The concept "is to run at least one continuous mile within each calendar day under one's own body power". If you do that for 1 year, you become a member of the organization and they put your name on the website. I don't think I can make it for 1 year, but I'm going to try and do it for the entire month of August.

This is going to be a crazy hard challenge. I don't like running in the mornings on work days because I already get up so early, so during the week I'll do most of my running at the gym since it's still very hot outside in the afternoon. It's not going to be easy on the days that I'm busy either. Sometimes it's tough to fit in exercise into your day and as easy as 1 mile sounds, it's still will be an inconvenience on some days.

I'm sure there will be nights where I'm sitting here at 9PM thinking "oh crap! I forgot to run". That's going to be tough to get up the motivation to get out there. On those nights, I'll just throw on some running clothes and maybe take Gryffin out there with me. I've always wanted to see how he could do with running if I brought him along.. Daisy is too much of a wanderer to pay attention to running the whole time, but I think Gryff could do it.

I bet most of these people have really nice treadmills, I can see how that would be a huge help with this type of challenge.

The reason I'm doing this is to use the challenge to kick start my running again. I've taken a little bit of a break in July from running and have only done about 30 miles in the whole month. I figure in this challenge I'll probably do about 100 miles in August and that's what I need to get back into it.

I'll post an update soon on my July Challenge of no burgers or fries. It's been really really easy. There were a few occasions where it was just inconvenient, but it made me realize how much I actually don't have those things on a regular basis.

Hangin' on Faith

2011-07-30T13:28:00.003-04:00

In college I did a ton of website development including creating a website for the Dean of Engineering (he let the domain and hosting plan expire and it got deleted) as well as creating and managing my fraternity's website( linked here ). It's still running but has been VERY neglected over the last 6 years (holy crap 6 years) and isn't quite as stable or consistent as it used to be. Since college though I've taken a very long break from web work (outside of my full-time job which I dabble in) until last Fall.

This hasn't really been public knowledge, but last September I started doing some side jobs for a website company. I was either working on filling out content on already built sites or creating designs for new sites. After a while I struggled to find time to do anything and told them that I just couldn't do it. I really enjoyed working on the sites, but since I work on computers all day at work, the motivation to come home and continue to sit at a computer was just not there.

Well this past February I was approached by a woman named Kathy Wood, who goes to our church, to possibly help out with her non-profit organization called "Hangin' on Faith". The organization is designed to help inspire and encourage people going through difficult times using the Bible and scripture as the guide. Kathy has her own inspiring story that is worth reading on the site. Their website needed some updates and assistance. She had gotten my name from the guy who I had worked with before and wanted to see if I was interested in helping her site. At my full-time job, I'm occasionally referred to as the guy "who can't say no", so of course I offered to help.

It was clear from the start that I was either going to struggle maintaining what was currently there or I had to build a new site. It's frustrating to me to have to work around poorly constructed HTML code. I'd spend more time trying to fix what I broke with new code than I would improving the site. I'm happy to just "make it work", but if I was going to help, I might as well give it my all.

So in February I started building a new site. It probably took a lot longer than it should have, but between an indoor soccer league, 3 softball leagues, and marathon training (and not to mention having a life as a husband and homeowner), my time was stretched pretty thin. But last weekend the new website finally launched and I'm psyched to have it live. Here is a link to the new site.

For any of the dorks out there, the website is all HTML and PHP and I wrote all the code in Wordpad. GASP! Wordpad!? I know, but I hate most code editors and the code is really simple, so I use what is easiest and quickest. I created all the images using a photoshop-ish software and there is also 3 backend databases for the Stories, Newsletters, and Scriptures that are called with MySQL. I could go on and on about all the features I've added or plan to soon, but that would be boring. Suffice it to say, this site is as stable as I could make it and so far the reviews are all fairly positive.

So far there's only 2 things that bother me on the new site. I don't like how bubbly I made the left navigation links. They are just too bubbly and out of place. So eventually I plan on fixing those with something more slick and discrete. The other thing is that the product page is pretty much just copied and pasted from the old website with a few small changes. It's really not well done and eventually I'll completely rewrite it all... when I find the time!

Let me know what you think of the site! I'm eager to keep adding to it and hopefully my effort can help continue to build the following for this wonderful organization!!

Ranking Harry Potters

2011-07-22T23:10:00.001-04:00

Any of the Harry Potter movies could easily be considered one of my favorite movies of all time. I don't know what it is about the series or the concept or what, but I love the wizards, witches, spells, and "the flying and the magic" (Old School reference). So now that the entire series of Harry Potter movies is over, I have to post my rankings from best to worst:

#8 - Chamber of Secrets
The Bad: There is nothing in this movie that *doesn't* drive me crazy. Touching on the obvious: Ron whines the entire time about spiders and barely contributes, I hate the side-story of Ron's possessed car, and Hermione is disabled half the movie from the Basilisk. On top of that, Gilderoy Lockhart is obnoxiously incompetent. It was also annoying that all the victims of the basilisk saw the snake's eyes through some mirror or reflection conveniently avoiding death. And if all those things weren't enough, the worst part was Tom Riddle narrating at the end. The first couple movies had this incessant need to narrate what happened to it's viewers, probably because it was targeting younger viewers. Watch the movie again and tell me it's not ridiculous though. Example: Tom Riddle: "Your Phoenix may have blinded the basilisk but it can still hear you." Thanks captain obvious.
The Good: In the context of the first two movies, I didn't understand the horcrux book or basilisk fang, but it all makes sense now which is awesome. I also liked how Lucious Malfoy planted the book on Ginny. Dobby and the phoenix save this movie, they were both rockin.

#7 - Order of the Phoenix
The Bad: I don't think I've ever hated anything more than Dolores Umbridge. It's really her giggle. My brain goes into a mini-fit of rage when I hear it. There is nothing she did in this movie that didn't drive me up the wall. She single-handedly brought this movie down to #7. Cornelius Fudge, for being the Minister of Magic, is frustratingly ignorant. It would have been a much better story to have him operating under the Imperio curse. But no, he's just the highest wizard in the world and a complete moron. I also was annoyed by Voldemort entering Harry's brain so often. He came off as a weakling.
The Good: Dumbledore was a rock star in the end, taking on Voldemort and making him go away. Luna Lovegood played a pretty big role in this movie and you can't help but love her innocence. Along that line, it was the first time when Ginny started coming off as a strong woman and Neville a confident, brave man, and that was refreshing. The fight in the end where Sirius died was pretty awesome, even though Sirius dies.

#6 - Deathly Hallows Part I
The Bad: Does it need to be said? Part I. You can't help but feel as though this movie ended unsatisfactorily. Also, who would enjoy seeing the hero of the movie, Dobby, killed in the end. Dobby was so innocent, noble, kind, and humble, and in the end he gets nothing but a knife to the chest. I hated that Ron got jealous of Harry and Hermione and went MIA for most of the movie.
The Good: The way Hermione narrated the story of the Deathly Hallows and the way it was explained was absolutely phenomenal, they couldn't have done better. I loved how they used non-magic ways, like walking and hiking to get from one place to another. And their constant spells to protect their location and ways they destroyed horcuxes was really cool too. But in the end, the best part of the movie was Dobby and him saving the day in the end.

#5 - Half Blood Prince
The Bad: Dumbledore dying in the end was an expected downer for this one. You can't have this be at the top of the movie list and have Dumbledore die at the same time. Horace Slughorn is a weak man and I guess characters like that are needed around all the awesome ones, but they tend to get in the way.
The Good: It was like Batman & Robin the entire movie with the way Dumbledore and Harry worked together. Ron never gets the chance to be the hero and seeing him succeed at quidditch without any magical help was refreshing. I also loved the sexual tension between Ginny and Harry, they are growing up.

#4 - Prisoner of Azkaban
The Bad: The entire series, Voldemort has wanted to kill Harry Potter and suddenly someone else who wants to kill him (on top of all the death eaters) is somehow a threat? Lupin has been a werewolf his entire life, how is it just now a problem that he turns into one? I thought the dude had medicine or magic to counteract it. And the whole wormtail-death situation (or lack thereof) bothered me. They have all the magic in the world and can't tell that wormtail never died and is instead still a rat? It was also annoying that Harry was portrayed as weak because of the Dementors.
The Good: Love the progression throughout the movie of Harry's expecto patronum. I tend to think that time-travel makes absolutely no sense in movies, but I really enjoyed how they tied it all together in this one. It was annoying how Hermione was MIA half the movie, but I liked finding out in the end what she was actually up to. Near the end, you see Harry saved by the image across the river sending an expecto patronum. He thought it was his Dad, but it was sweet how that turned out to be himself. Hermione punched Malfoy in the face, boo yeah! And lastly, the use of the Marauder's Map was awesome.

#3 - Sorcerer's Stone
The Bad: They are still just new kids on the movie scene and the acting is pretty bad. I'd like to count the number of times Hagrid says "I shouldn't have told you that", as if he's our very own narrator throughout the movie. Were the challenges that were blocking access to the Sorcerer's Stone really that hard? For first years, sure. But they should have been simple for professors or older wizards. And once again Dumbledore had to take 10 minutes at the end of the movie and explain everything.
The Good: Have you noticed how amazing the music is in this movie? The music was so awesome, they continued using the same tracks all the way through movie #8. Phenomenal. That alone is enough for me. But this is what started it out. It was a great introduction to the series. This series is complicated enough, but they managed to show entire first movie with very few loose ends. "Yer a wizard, Harry". You had me at wizard.

#2 - Goblet of Fire
The Bad: What is with Harry's mullet? He needs a haircut badly.
The Good: There is almost nothing to dislike in this movie. From the beginning with the port key and the Quidditch World Cup, this movie was amazing. There isn't a guy in the world who saw this movie and wasn't slightly turned on by the entrance into the hall by the girls of Beauxbatons Academy. Krum, Delacour, and Diggory were formidable foes in the ridiculously awesome Triwizard Tournament and I loved the challenges that were given to them. The end wrapped up well too with Diggory dying and Harry barely escaping. Everything about this movie was awesome and it would be at the top of my list if it weren't for Part II.

#1 - Deathly Hallows Part II
The Bad: It's over.What was with the massive ogres in the fight outside Hogwartz? I don't recall reading that.
The Good: You can tell a movie is good when you never look at the time. This movie FLEW. It lived up to my expectations as well as it could have. Dobby was the hero in Part I and Neville Longbottom captured Part II. Has any character come as far as Neville? He was the meager and helpless "Why does it always happen to me" character in the first movie, and here he is standing tall in front of Voldemort to laugh in the face of the death eaters and destroying the last of the horcruxes. I loved how they took Snape from the most hated man in the world to Harry Potter's ace-in-the-hole within seconds. All the fighting was awesome and while I hate seeing characters die, they really killed off the right number of people in the end. And finally, I liked that they used the actual people in the 20 years later scene at the end. Ron and Draco make the best looking older people. Harry and Hermione just look like they are playing dress-up.

I can't wait until the last movie comes out on DVD so I can watch it over and over like I have all the others. Harry Potter may be looked at like a series just for kids, and that's fine. But to me it's one of the greatest stories ever constructed, from start to finish. This may sound dramatic, but I will cherish it forever.

June 2011 Movies

2011-07-11T20:08:00.001-04:00

I'm watching the Harry Potter series all week to get ready for the last one that comes out on Friday. I couldn't be more sad and excited at the same time. I'd say more sad because I do not want to see the movies end. I will definitely be sitting there in the theatre thinking "this is it... this is the end." Sure I'm excited to see how the ending is portrayed, but most likely, we will never see new Harry Potter content released in a theatre :(.

Well usually the Summer is reserved for lots of movie watching with all the terrible TV shows out and good shows in re-runs. But I think we're actually watching fewer movies. I don't know why. Are these movie reviews worth while? Just curious.

Here are the movies we watched in June:

The Good Shepherd (2006) - 1 star - I never thought Matt Damon could appear in a bad movie. He's always awesome, but holy crap was this a wretched movie. It DID NOT need to be 3 hours.
127 Hours (2010) - 5 stars - I thought this movie was going to be boring. I was surprised how interesting they kept the movie despite the fact that it's about this dude who is trapped for 127 hours. The ending is graphic so beware, but the movie is well worth it. We enjoyed it a lot. Plus it was one of the first movies I've ever seen in Blu-ray, so that helped.
Repo Men (2010) - 3 stars - Mediocre action movie. I thought it'd be graphic and difficult to watch, but it wasn't that bad. I really like Forest Whitaker.
Made of Honor (2008) - 3 stars - This was a cute and predictable romantic comedy, although they always are.
Couples Retreat (2009) - 4 stars - I purposefully had this shipped to us a second time through Netflix. Combine a funny plot, good actors, and great views of the tropics, and this is a good movie to watch.
Knight and Day (2010) - 4 stars - It was impressive how much action was in this movie. It was just non-stop, possibly more than a Bond movie. We really enjoyed it.
The Queen (2006) - 3 stars - Wow did this movie try and change your opinion of the royal family. They painted The Queen as being controlling and paranoid and the Princess Diana as being out of control and flaky. The only person that came off well is British Prime Minister at the time Tony Blair and possibly Prince Charles. It's worth a watch though for anyone interested in learning more about the royal family.
The Dilemma (2011) - 4 stars -I'm in love with Vince Vaughn. His comedy is hilarious to me, the way he uses his fast talk and sarcasm. If you like Vince, then this won't disappoint.
Beer Wars (2009) - 5 stars - Who knew the beer industry had so much drama? I was surprised to learn about all the money the big beer companies like Miller, Bud, and Coors spend on government lobbying. I also am making an effort to never buy beer from them again and instead support the micro-breweries. The whole system is corrupt and it's infuriating to see what the big companies will do to crush the little guys. I highly recommend this documentary.
I.O.U.S.A (2008) - 5 stars - This would be a great documentary if it were up to date, but as it is, it's based on 2008 numbers. Although it's hilarious to hear their concern about the debt and deficit in this country when it was only 8 trillion in 2008. Now it's up to 14 trillion. Our country is screwed, there is no politician or political party that will fix this mess.
A Simple Twist of Fate (1994) - 3 stars - The end of this movie is infuriating. Custody of a child should not come down to who is richer than the other. Maybe I'm naive?

See Dane Run - 52 Marathons, 52 Weekends

2011-07-10T14:48:00.004-04:00

"This is the first time I have ever seen you not able to put a book down." -Liz

I've never really cared for books. I am a very slow reader and wretched at reading comprehension. Often times I'll say things like "Yeah, I read about that, I can't recall the exact information, but it was about this topic" ... good story loser. But this book kept my attention.

While in Seattle and browsing around the race expo we came upon a guy in a booth. His name is Dane Rauschenberg and he was promoting his book (which is the title of this blog post). In 2006 he decided to run an official marathon every single weekend of the year. He traveled all around the U.S. running races. On the weekend before Christmas, when no races anywhere were scheduled, he even organized his own sanctioned marathon with 21 other official runners in order to maintain his streak. He successfully finished the 52 marathon challenge and averaged a pace of 3:20 no less.

This story, this challenge, just absolutely intrigued me. It actually made me jealous for 3 reasons. I love setting sweet challenges like this that are difficult, I'd love to have the means to actually attempt to achieve goals of that caliber, and I want to stand up and conquer challenges that difficult. So as I was standing there listening to him, I got out some money and went up and talked to him. I told him about my Man vs. Machine challenge from last August and told me about his next big challenge. He is going to run from Titusville, PA to Titusville, FL. OK, I definitely wasn't jealous of that.

He signed a book and off I went. I didn't start reading it until we got back to Cincinnati, but I met Dane one more time. Dead tired and walking like a zombie, I made my way through the mile 24 out and back part of the marathon. All of a sudden, from a person passing me on the way back, I heard "Happy Birthday Mike! 2 more miles and you'll feel better!". I turned because it was a different birthday wish than I had before, and it was Dane running by. He had remembered my name. I don't think he was an official runner that weekend because I can't find his information in the race results, so I'm guessing he was just motivating a friend. And of course, he didn't look tired.

I finished the book in about 6 days between Cincinnati and home. I couldn't stop reading it. Dane writes like he's talking to you and uses humor well in the book, so it was a really easy read. He went through how he became a runner, his struggles in getting faster, and then went into detail about all 52 races. It was interesting to hear his opinion of different races, especially ones that I've run before like the Marine Corp Marathon and the Hatfield & McCoy Marathon (I did the half).

There are a few things I learned from his experiences though:

I can't run a marathon every 6 months and expect improvement. Sure marathons are hard, but if I want improvement, I need to run more of them.
Smaller races seem better than bigger races. Sure bigger races have better expo's and "swag". But in smaller races you'll feel more competitive, less crowded, and more likely to place in your age group.
Running the same race over and over again is silly. Going to different races, different states, different climates is a great way to grow as a runner.
Being a member of the "50 States Marathon Club" is something I aspire to do.
Some of the more popular races are not all they are cracked up to be.

So I realize this book will not be for everyone. If you don't run, you probably won't enjoy it as much as I did. If you are a runner, it will certainly make you laugh and keep you interested. Although halfway through you start getting immune to how awesome he is. Week after week he is smoking these races running faster than I ever have before, but I kept catching myself thinking "Wow, just a 3:26? That was slow." But it wasn't just his times that were awesome, it was clear that he's a great person as well. This whole "stunt" was done for the sake of charity which he ended up raising $44K throughout the year. You can read more about it in his book if you like.

To say his book motivates me is an understatement. Right now I'm in a transition period trying to get my weight down before I start running more marathons again, but I'm hoping to start running races around October or November again. I have a few in mind that I'd like to race.

I do have the Blue Ridge Relay to run again in September, but that has been planned forever and I'm definitely running that no matter what. I have a blog post coming soon about that race too!!

For any local runner friends, let me know if you'd like to borrow it.

Tools, I Can Wield Them

2011-07-09T15:39:00.003-04:00

Yeah OK, it wasn't that big of a deal, but Liz is excited about it, and that's all that matters.

We're beginning to renovate our kitchen by peeling off the laminate from the cabinets and painting them and yadda yadda yadda. Well we wandered around Lowe's today and Liz realized something she really wanted that we could install in the kitchen, one of those Pull Out Kitchen Sink Crap Holder Thing. That's my name for it. I think the box's official named though is "Sink Front Tray".

So I went to town and installed it when we get home. Here is the before picture. Notice the laminate still on it and the wood is completely nailed into the cabinet.

And here is the after picture with the laminate off and tray thingy installed:

And here is the crap that we'll hold in it.

Liz got motivated this morning and peeled off the rest of the laminate from all the other cabinets so we are gearing up for a big Lowe's trip where we'll get all our supplies. I also have some wood working to do for the kitchen too so I need to get started on that. Liz is starting to make a honey-do list. Bring it!

Man, I have so many blog posts to make...

Sweet Birthday Present

2011-07-09T09:40:00.002-04:00

My main reason for running the Seattle Marathon last week was because it was my 30th birthday. When we planned the trip, I figured there is nothing more awesome than doing something awesome on such a big day in your life. 30 years old is a considerable birthday, I'll admit.

Well anyone who knows me, also knows I don't like celebrating birthdays. I don't like the attention and I think it takes egotism to seek it on your birthday. I tend to think people who want to be treated like kings or queens on this one day, would probably have it that way the other 364 days of the year if they had their choice. It's just not an appealing behavior to me and I'd rather just not be bothered. I don't need a day to celebrate myself, the concept just sounds ridiculous.

So the night before the marathon, as I'm preparing all my things and getting my race outfit together, Liz busts out one more birthday present for me. It was a race shirt that was slightly different from the one I intended on running with. Needless to say, it took some convincing and time before I relented in wearing it during the race. Unfortunately, the only pictures we have are not of a high quality. So these will have to do.

And then here is a picture from on the course:

So let me just say that this little plan by Liz to make my birthday memorable was beyond successful. We got on our shuttle around 4AM and were heading to the start line. When I stepped on the bus, there was a row of 3 seats with 6 girls and they all yelled "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" in unison like it had been planned. That's a lot for 4AM. They didn't plan it, they just saw my shirt at the same time.

On the course, literally I had 30 or 40 people yell Happy Birthday at me per mile. Water stations were like a smörgåsbord of Happy Birthday's. My philosophy was to walk through the stations and drink my water slowly. This allowed each and every one of the volunteers to read my shirt slowly, and not only wish me a Happy Birthday, but then use my name as I walked by.

At the beginning of the race, I would give a thumbs up and smile and yell "thanks!". Later on in the race, when I was exhausted, I'd just give a thumbs up and any smile I could muster. One unexpected result of the t-shirt though, was the runners around me were starting to get annoyed at my attention. 30 birthday wishes per mile is a lot take for those running with me for more than a mile. After a couple miles one guy turned to me and said: "Let me guess, is it your birthday?"

So mark this down as one of my most memorable birthdays thanks to Liz and the t-shirt. As Liz put it, "you're hating it and loving it at the same time." She got the biggest kick out of it. It was hilarious the attention it attracted, but it's just not inside me to enjoy that. I was getting used to it though. Later on that night while walking to dinner after having changed into normal clothes, I said to Liz jokingly "Why did that street vendor not wish me a Happy Birthday?!"

I probably wouldn't want to do this again but every 10 years, so hopefully when I turn 40, I can bust the shirt out again and change the number on the back. Maybe I can get Liz to wear it on her 30th birthday! Payback is coming.

Seattle Washington

2011-07-07T20:18:00.001-04:00

Somehow Seattle sounds even cooler with the word Washington on the end. I don't know why.

We finally got back from our really long trip on Monday and boy did we have fun. We drove to Cincinnati, flew to Seattle for a week, flew back to Cincinnati, stayed there over the July 4th weekend, and then drove back. We spent the entire weekend with our friends John and Allie (our nomadic friends, basically from NC) and had a fantastic time.

Seattle during the Summer is really awesome. The climate is my cup of tea. It may be cloudy most of the time and it may have rained a misty rain for a few minutes every day while we were there, but the temperature was between 50 and 70 the entire time. That to me is perfect weather.

I was blown away by the beauty

We arrived in Seattle on a Wednesday morning. We spent that day over on Bainbridge Island just walking around and hanging out. It would have been nice had not everything been under construction. Thursday and Friday of the trip we did as much site seeing as possible. Went to Pikes Place Market, Seattle Center (which includes the Space Needle, Science Museum, and EMP building), the marathon race expo, and went on our Argosy Locks Tour of Lake Union, the Puget Sound, and Elliot Bay.

To be honest, if we were to do it again, I would not go to the Science Museum or the EMP building. They were OK and all, but if I lived in Seattle, I'd probably not go there at all. I don't think tourists should go to a place where the locals don't go. If I lived in Seattle, I'd absolutely go to the Space Needle every now and then when I'm in the city, go on the ferries or harbor tours every now and then, or go to a Mariners game. I have little to no interest in the Raleigh Art Museum or Science Whatever, so I don't think it should be a tourist attraction for unsuspecting visitors. Also they are more geared toward keeping kids entertained and that doesn't apply to us.

"Sleepless in Seattle house! Sleepless in Seattle house!"

On Saturday was our races, the Rock and Roll Marathon and Half Marathon. Liz rocked the half. She was aiming to beat 2:20. Her previous best was around 2:47 and she ended up finishing in 2:16. She was very dedicated to her training and it was wonderful to see her hard work pay off. She ran the whole thing and even finished at a faster pace than she started. I wish I could have been there when she crossed the line. I on the other hand didn't exactly rock the full marathon. I ran 16 miles in the pace I was hoping for (about 2:15 or so) but it all went down from there. My pace dropped to about 10 minutes a mile and then I had to start the walking/running routine at mile 19 bringing my pace to about 12 or 13 minutes per mile. I just barely limped across the line in a time of 4:01. It's not awful, and is technically my 2nd best marathon out of the 5 I've done, but I was hoping for better. I will do better.

The rest of the day Saturday was spent napping and eating. We went to the Pyramid Brewery and met Corey (friend from college) and some other friends who were in the area. Sunday we went to the Aquarium and Pikes Place Market again, and the Zoo. I'll go ahead and lump the aquarium and the zoo into the same category as the Science Museum. Not worth it. The aquarium was surprisingly average for being near the ocean. Then that night we went to a Mariners game. Major League Baseball games are always a blast and Safeco Field did not disappoint. We really enjoyed our seats, even though they were the cheapest in the park. Also the Mariners won in extra innings, so that helped too. I'm sportin' my new Seattle Sounders jacket. I finally have an MLS team to barely pay attention to.

Monday we went on a 10 hour tour of Mt. Rainier National Park. The tour took us the entire way around the park, up to Paradise Inn and the highest point you can drive, and then back around the mountain to Seattle again. The mountain is very impressive and the amount of snow up there this time of year was surprising. There was a good 20 feet of snow on the ground in some places. Our tour guide said that in a month, all the snow would be gone at that elevation. Between the mountain, the glaciers, the trees and the trails, there really was no end to the beauty of this park. I think one day I want to hike/run the Wonderland Trail. It's 93 miles around the mountain. Who's up for it?

The best part of our tour, and it's surprising now that I'm saying this after looking at the pictures again, was our tour guide Brian. 10 hours of listening to one person talk is A LOT. But this guy was funny, engaging, and just a pleasant person to learn from. He even played trivia games on the bus on the (what is supposed to be) boring drive back to Seattle. Start to finish, he was a joy. If you are ever in Seattle and are interested in the tour company we used, it was "Tours Northwest" and here is the link, as if you don't know how to use Google.

Mark Seattle down as one of those places we'd be willing to move if the situation ever arrived. I would have a hard time getting over my fear of earthquakes or volcanoes, but I think I'd be willing to brave the elements for more time in Awesomeness, Washington.

If you'd like to see more pictures of our trip, check them out here.

I have to include one more picture. There was a massive snow slide that someone carved out... so we took advantage. The snow took advantage and made my butt wet the rest of the day. It was well worth it.

July Challenge: No Burgers & Fries

2011-07-02T20:50:00.002-04:00

The challenge is simple and I came about it simply as well. Last weekend after stuffing my face following the marathon, Liz and I were talking and she said "you get burgers far too often at restaurants". Now I wouldn't say it is "all the time", but I certainly don't stick to the "happy-meat" rules that she does.

Well she followed up that statement by saying: "I challenge you to go one month without a burger".

I am not one to back down from a challenge (that is manageable). So I responded with: "Throw in the fries too and we've got a deal".

Her response: "DEAL!" We shook on it.

I think I eat fries way more often than burgers, almost every time we go to a restaurant in fact! So the challenge is, no burgers and fries for the whole month of July with the exception that I can have a burger as long as it's happy meat from the farm. To be honest, that basically means never because we only ever make tacos with our ground beef from the farm.

Now I have to admit, we weren't thinking about the challenge at all yesterday (July 1st) and I had fries with my lunch. SOOOO, with the challenge fresh in my mind, it begins today (July 2nd) and will end August 2nd.

I am reading a new book right now that is lighting a fire under me and I am not messing around anymore with this running/dieting thing. I can't be running marathons at my weight, I just can't. I'll blog about the book when I'm done reading it, but it's the motivation I've needed to get my butt in gear (health-wise). This July Challenge is one way to help me accomplish that.

Marathon Ends & New Goal Begins

2011-06-19T11:45:00.001-04:00

Well we're only 6 days away from the marathon now and I must say that I'm no longer confident about the race. My 8 mile run yesterday and 5 mile run this morning felt like I hadn't been training at all. Granted it is crazy hot and I didn't run them as early in the morning as I should have, but it just felt uncomfortable and to be completely candid, my lower abdominal pain is not gone. In fact it's actually feeling worse now than it was during my 22 mile run 2 weeks ago. I'm never one to go to the doctor for anything, but Liz may convince me to go if it's not gone in a couple weeks.

I guess a consolation is the fact that Liz isn't feeling as confident about her race either. Her runs have gone just like mine, she destroyed her run 2 weeks ago but struggled last week and this week. So unfortunately we are both feeling nervous and anxious. I say that's a consolation because I have the utmost confidence in her ability to go out and destroy her race, so what makes me think I can't do the same?

Regardless of how I'm feeling now, there's no turning back or improving at this point. I've done what I've done and I have to accept that. I don't expect fist pumping happiness at the end of this race, which is sad because I've trained harder this time than any other race. As of Saturday, I will have run over 660 miles in 2011, so you can see why I have unrealistically high expectations for this race considering how much effort I've put into it

Well with Saturday's race, one goal ends and another will begin. I started the year at 187 and now I'm down to about 176. I've decided no more races or training until I'm at my goal weight of 160, because after all, that was my "Operation Reese Cup" New Year's Resolution. I always try and use races and training as a means for weight loss, but this time I'm doing it the other way around. I so badly want to keep training and racing but it's difficult to lose weight that way.

My original goal for Operation Reese Cup was to lose the weight by May, well that didn't quite happen so the deadline has been extended.

To accomplish this goal I'm going to start back up with P90X. It really seemed to do the trick 2 years ago when I tried it the first time and I want to try it again. Last time I made it 11 weeks before stopping, so hopefully I can make it all 90 days.

Once I hit 160, I'll set a new marathon goal and start training again. I would love to make this race my next goal, but we've traveled too much in the last year and another trip may be too much. We'll see, there's plenty of local races to run as well.

On top of my 160lb. goal, Liz has created a challenge for me in July that will assist me in my goal. I will blog about that separately though because I don't feel like writing a novel here.

Best Game Ever

2011-06-16T21:43:00.001-04:00

Well ever since we (more appropriately, I) ruined our cabinets, Liz and I have started a little game. It's called, "which cabinet did you ruin today?" Every time I'm in the kitchen now, I pull off a piece of laminate from the kitchen cabinets. The other day I came home from work and just cracked up laughing because Liz had pulled a major piece off of a lower cabinet. This slow-processed-renovation is turning out to be awesome. Check out Liz's handy work:

I can't recall who did this one, I think it was me:

I think this one was Liz:

Now all those little pieces of laminate that used to annoy me, instead of avoiding them, when I pull out a drawer or cabinet door, I use a lot of force and hold on tight! This is a really fun game because the normal operating procedure is to be careful with delicate things like laminate cabinets pealing. That's not how it is anymore bub! Here's completed the work on these two cabinets.

This is actually super exciting because I really believe that after we get all the pealing laminate crap off the doors and drawers, we'll be able to paint these cabinets white and make them look very very nice. It's crazy how easy the laminate peals off. All you need is a putty knife and a few minutes of your time. Although all this destruction and renovation may motivate us to get new countertops. One step at a time though because like I said, I don't really care what things look like.

Impromptu Renovation

2011-06-12T11:28:00.000-04:00

We've made it well known to many people that we hate our kitchen cabinets. They are an ugly color and even more frustrating is the fact that the laminate continues to chip away. Let me show you what I mean. Here are our ugly cabinets:

And here is a picture of the hideous chipping that goes on with them. Literally every single cabinet has chips just like these in them. I am not willing to touch-up or improve laminate cabinets that are already hideous in the first place. Let the chips fall where they may with these pieces of junk, I'm not going to improve them.

So while making toast this morning, my frustration got the best of me and I decided to give the chipping cabinets a little assistance. This action took me about 3 seconds in one fell swoop. Needless to say, Liz was a little shocked when she came downstairs. To be honest, I think she had a burning excitement inside that was masked by her "I can't believe you did that" shock. She may hate the cabinets more than I do, so to see me give in to my spontaneity was exciting to her.

Our plan has always been to strip the cabinets of the laminate, paint them white, and put some knobs and miscellaneous hardware on them. It's a pretty cheap way to renovate some terrible looking cabinets. But that plan was supposed to happen all at the same time.

I think what Liz wanted to avoid was months and months of the kitchen looking awful and completely destroyed when guests come over. My opinion is that I don't care what people think. It's not like we're living on straw beds with pigs in poop. We can do what we want with what we have and if people don't like it, then who cares. That's why we've gone 3 years with 3 holes in the carpet that the dogs dug up. The holes don't bother me and I am not going to spend a fortune on new carpet to avoid some sort of embarrassment from our carpets having holes. The conversations usually go like this "What's with the holes in your carpets?"... "Puppies, what are ya gonna do?!" In fact, I don't think I've ever posted their handiwork, each one is a little larger than a quarter:

So, this may have been a little spontaneous, and like the title states, a little impromptu, but soon we will be working to rectify the ridiculous chipping that continues to wreak havoc in our kitchen. We soon may have more cabinets that look just like the one I destroyed this morning, that is if my curiosity and proactiveness gets the best of me.

May 2011 Movies

2011-06-11T14:10:00.001-04:00

We didn't watch too many movies in May seeing as all our shows were wrapping up, but we managed 7 movies and 2 TV seasons. There are a couple movies below that I ruin in my reviews. More specificallly, "Fracture" and "Knowing". Lots of really good movies though, looks like only 1 below average one.

The Switch (2010) - 4 stars - The plot of this movie is completely silly, but if you get past that, it was cute and enjoyable.
Fracture (2007) - 4 stars - This movie mad me very angry up until the last 2 minutes. I was waiting for redemption and justice. I started thinking it wouldn't come... but it did, as usual with most movies.
Parenthood: Season 1 (2010) - 5 stars - This show is freakin' awesome. I didn't think I'd enjoy it. I can't think of any other drama similar to it that I've enjoyed in the past. The characters are endearing, the comedy is subtle and sarcastic, and the story lines are realistic. I highly recommend it!! It's still currently airing on NBC, starting it's 3rd season this Fall. We can't wait until season 2 comes out on DVD.
The King's Speech (2010) - 4 stars - It's very clear why Colin Firth got an Oscar as the best actor. He did a phenomenal job for sure. I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars because it was kinda slow and boring at times. I don't think the movie was worthy of it's Oscar for Best Picture, but it was still good.
Knowing (2008) - 3 stars - This movie was really intriguing and great up until the last 10 minutes. I'm about to ruin the movie for you. It is a total cop out for a movie to be well constructed, intriguing, and mysterious, and then for aliens to be introduced as the explanation for everything. I mean SERIOUSLY!? That also happened in the last Indiana Jones movie, and it's just pathetic. Whoever wrote this movie needs to try a little harder.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) - 2 stars - Not a whole lot to say about this movie, I never bought into what the plot was dishing out. Just was silly and boring.
Salt (2010) - 4 stars - I'm not a huge Angelina Jolie fan, but she kicked major butt in this movie. There were also 4 or 5 complete plot shifts that made it difficult to figure out what was actually happening in the movie, which was really cool.
Without Limits (1998) - 4 stars - I love me some sports movies. This was the second Prefontaine movie I have seen and I think it beats the other one (named "Prefontaine"). I just remember Prefontaine being somewhat depressing and not uplifting. I felt like this movie really did a better job of telling Pre's story (assuming historical accuracy).
Merlin: Season 2 (2008) - 5 stars - This show is very silly and predictable but I love it. The characters are just so likable and the story lines are intriguing. I also don't know what it is about movies about ancient Rome or English Kingdoms or medieval times, but I love them.

It's All About Preparation

2011-06-11T13:43:00.000-04:00

Today was the first week of the step down towards the marathon which required a long run of 12 miles this weekend. I definitely didn't prepare for this 12 mile run the same way I did last week for the 20 mile run.

Last Friday I ate healthy and drank 200 ounces of water before the 20 mile run. Yesterday I did basically the opposite. I had some pretty unhealthy food, ate way too much, and drank only 20 ounces of water all day. In fact I had a couple beers last night which tends to dehydrate you. It might not have been the best idea considering it was high 70's and pretty humid this morning, which is much different from last weekend's cool temperature!

Today's terrible run reflected my terrible preparation. When I had 5 miles left, I felt like stopping and I had almost nothing left in the tank. I pushed through it and ended up finishing with a dreadful time (relatively) considering how much I had to stop and walk. To be honest, I didn't prepare well on purpose. I figured that it would verify that good preparation is the key to my success. I also felt like I needed to push myself and there's no better way than running when tired and dehydrated. I'm not disappointed at all by the bad run. I feel like last weekend reflects my true fitness level and I'm confident I'm going into the marathon in really good shape.

Next week I have my last long run of 8 miles. You better believe I'll be preparing like crazy for it to make sure I knock it out of the park.

Running Figured Out

2011-06-05T11:10:00.004-04:00

Bear with me... this is a long post. If you want a synopsis, just read what's in bold.

This weekend is the biggest weekend in our race training schedule. It's the last and longest run before our races, 20 miles for me and 12 miles for Liz. I've had to run 20 miles twice before in the training, but obviously the last one is supposed to feel the best. The plan was to run early early Saturday morning so as to avoid the stupid 90+ degree heat and gross humidity that accompanies it.

If you asked me on Wednesday night if I would be running this weekend, I would have said definitively... no! Wednesday night I played an indoor soccer game and somehow strained my lower ab muscles, the part that's below the waistline. I don't know how it happened, but it hurt so bad that on Thursday I was struggling to walk. Thursday night I was supposed to run 5 miles and play two softball games. I skipped the running, sat out of the first game and played first base in the second so I wouldn't have to move much. I don't know what I did when I hit the ball but I sure wouldn't call it base-running.

So waking up Friday I felt a little better but just sitting up or jogging in place was painful. Needless to say I was nervous about having to run anytime soon. As Friday went on, it was loosening up and I was feeling better but it was clear that I wouldn't be running without pain. So my plan was basically to prepare as much as possible for the run and if I can do it, great, if I can't, then oh well. It's not like I've had great 20 mile runs in this training program so far, so what's another bad one?

Just to back it up a little, Thursday morning Liz went out for a 5 mile run at 6AM and came back absolutely drenched in sweat. Just because it's cooler in the early morning, doesn't mean it's nice out. When she walked in the house, I think her exact words were "it feels gross out there, we better run early Saturday".

That alone was alarming enough that on Friday I just chugged as much water as I could. If I'm going to be running with stomach pain, I need to do everything I can to set myself up for some level of success. I drank my 32 ounce bottle twice throughout the work day and then got cup after cup of water when I got home. For dinner Liz made a MASSIVE pasta meal with garlic bread and we filled ourselves sick. I continued my water drinking ways until I was peeing every 15 minutes the rest of the night. I would estimate I drank roughly 200 ounces of water on Friday.

The pain in my abs wasn't gone but regardless, Saturday morning we got to the trail at 6AM and went off on our routes as we always do. To our surprise, it wasn't hot or humid at all, in fact it was in the mid-50's and quite cold. My fear of the heat disappeared pretty quick. I started slow, although I didn't want to, because I was just trying to work around the pain and get into my stride. I was hitting a 8:30 to 9 minute mile. The run pretty much felt the same as all my other runs for the first 15 miles. My ab pain subsided to a tolerable level and of course I was tired while running but felt fine and had no problem with the pace.

With a little over 5 miles left, there was a turn around point where I head back to the car. I had already run 15 miles and had finished the most recent 5.5 miles in 47 minutes. This is where the run felt different than the rest. Usually at that point my mindset would be "how far can I make it before I have to start walking?" Swigging some water and chomping on my GU during a short break, I stood there realizing it wasn't a question of whether I could run back to our car, but how fast?

With only 2 miles to go, I was smoking it, running faster than I had been the previous 18. "Should I really stop at 20? I feel way too good to quit now." I sprinted the last couple hundred yards and finished that last 5.25 miles in 40 minutes. I got to where Liz was resting from her run and I was just pumping my fist with excitement. I turned a corner in my training and it felt fantastic. I dropped my belt of bottles and GU and went back out for 2 more miles. I figured, I need to rock a long run, but I also need to push myself and see if this good feeling is what I suspect it was. Although there's no reason to push it too far, so 22 was perfect.

The last 2 miles was exactly what I needed. No pain, no muscle cramps, no spasms, nothing happened except running fast and strong. I ran the last mile in 7 minutes flat and got my confidence back. Even better, I felt like 4 more miles would have been easily achievable. Now I can't wait until the marathon!!

What was different between Saturday and every other long run? I had never taken such a drastic hydration approach to any run before. I was worried about the heat so I drank as much water as possible to prepare. I was worried I overdid it because I actually had to use the bathroom twice on the run and twice in the middle of the night. But it didn't bother me if it helped accomplish my goal.

I must say, I have no worry whatsoever about the marathon anymore. I am going to take the same ridiculous hydration approach during the two days prior to our race and I feel comfortable that it will easily get me through the race. Liz also rocked her 12 mile run and she's going into the half marathon with just as much confidence. It's nice to know our race weekend will be filled with excitement and happiness rather than fear and anxiety.

Help Bring My Herbs Back To Life!

2011-05-26T20:56:00.010-04:00

Can someone please tell me why my herbs look like this?

And this?

They were perfectly fine and thriving for so long. Then they just flopped over and wilted. It has been in the 90s all week, so I'm sure the heat has something to do with it. Yes, I'm watering a normal amount. Will they come back?

In other garden news...much better garden news:

And The Answer Is...

2011-05-20T22:10:00.000-04:00

...$905 dollars in change.

Here are the breakdowns for the amount of each coin:

Coin	Total Value	Total Coins	Percentage
Gold Dollars	$8	8	<1%
Quarters	$570	2280	20%
Dimes	$205	2050	18%
Nickels	$66	1320	12%
Pennies	$56	5600	50%
Total	$905	11,258	100%

So looking into the comments, the winner is... Scott! His guess of $853.98 was the closest for the change amount and his guess of 11,044 coins was the closest for the coin totals. Apparently he had a little help (http://www.coincalc.com/) but I give him props for a good guess on the totals even on the website. Scott, I'll have to figure out a cool prize and send it to you.

So with the change from the container and the cash from the container, we're starting to renovate our sweet room with some big improvements. We immediately got to work this past week and I wouldn't be surprised if we were done by Memorial Day Weekend. Woo hoo!

Back up to our bedroom the large Coca-Cola container goes, maybe in another 13 years we'll be able to reap the benefits again!

Take a Guess - 85 Pounds of Change

2011-05-16T16:57:00.000-04:00

Back in 1998, I was given a change bottle by one of my sisters since they didn't want it anymore. At the time, filling that container to the top was laughable. Well who has the last laugh now Mr. Coke-Bottle?!

13 years later, the masterpiece is complete. Between Liz and I, we managed to roll all the coins in about 6 hours over the weekend. This morning, in a plastic crate, I lugged it into our bank and deposited it all. The manager helping the teller even said "this is hands down the largest coin deposit I've ever seen at a bank." Here is the bottle in all it's glory:

So here's the fun part. Post a comment with guesses on two things:

Guess how much money in coins is in the bottle?
Guess the total number of coins in the bottle?

This does not include the cash that was in the bottle, only the coins. You have until Friday, at that point I will reveal the totals.

Here are a few stats to help:

The bottle weighed 85 pounds.
The bottle is 24 inches tall.
The bottle is 7 inches wide in diameter at the bottom.

There will probably be a prize for the winning guess, but I haven't decided what yet. Liz and I both had guesses but I'll post those with the results on Friday. A few silly people have suggested I give the winner a cut of the money, yeah right!

Guess away!

Testing Testing 1-2-3

2011-05-13T13:51:00.000-04:00

Some of you may or may not be able to relate to the difficulties I am having training for a marathon, but I need to vent anyway and the blog is the best (and only) place... so... I am having difficulties training for the marathon. Miles 1 through 17 are pretty easy for me assuming my normal pace of 8 minutes a mile. But for some reason, no matter what pace I'm running or how I'm feeling that day or anything, once I get past mile 17, I struggle.

My history of running reveals the same. The farthest I've ever run continuously is 22 miles. For some reason my body and muscles fall apart at that point. Call it what you want, but it's basically bonking. I run out of energy and my muscles start cramping and spasming. Every marathon I've ever run has been the same story: run really well for 17-ish miles and then start going down hill until I hit the muscle-spasming-wall. At that point it's just a walk/jog lightly combo until I finish the race.

Right now I'm training for my 5th marathon in June and my sole goal in training is to figure this problem out. I've had two long runs so far in training, one 19 miler and one 20 miler. I've never been in better shape for running so the first run of 19 miles I just ran like I normally would with the average consideration for what I need for a long run. They both were around 10AM on a Saturday, and here were the results:

In the 19 miler, I drank 32 ounces of Gatorade and took 4 total GU's as I normally would. I ran the 19 in 2:31 but the last mile in my 19 was brutal and I could feel the first sign of spasming coming on. I do not remember what I had for breakfast but it's usually the same thing the morning of a run, a bagel.
In the 20 miler, I decided I might not be replenishing my fluids very well, so I drank 64 ounces of Gatorade and took 5 total GU's. At mile 17 I completely fell apart. I had no energy and after a mile more of running I could feel the spasms starting again. I finished the 20 in 2:47.

What's ironic is last Fall when training for the City of Oaks Marathon, my fastest 20 mile training run was 2:47. It's funny how my perspective has changed. 2:47 then was flying. 2:47 now is a major disappointment (especially when I was on pace for a 2:35-ish).

I refuse to believe it's impossible for me to run past 22 miles. There's too many people that can easily do it for me to decide that I can't. I also refuse to believe it's in my head. Your head can convince you that you don't like onions or asparagus, but it cannot cause your muscles to writhe in pain.

So I have 2 more long runs in my training that will give me a worthwhile test, 2 20 milers. I would love to be able to run 22 or 24 miles in one of them and successfully conquer this problem, but who knows what will happen.

So I've come up with only one more viable solution for my problem: nutrition. Nutrition not only the morning of the run, but throughout the week before the run. To be honest, it's something I've never paid much attention to. I run so much that eating as many nutrient rich foods as I can is never a huge priority. Hopefully some changes will prove to be just the change I need. Here is my plan:

Based on what I've read, drinking 20 ounces of water/Gatorade per hour of running is appropriate, so I will keep that up.
I think 5 GU's is enough for 20 miles. 1 before, and then 1 every 4 miles.
The week before, eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible.
Starting the day before the run, eat as many carbohydrates as possible.
I am now taking a daily vitamin, fish oil, and iron supplements to help with my nutrition building up to the run.
The morning of, eat a very large breakfast that includes at least a bagel, a banana, orange juice and more to be determined. Maybe my morning nutrition is bad?
A large loss of sodium is something that has been highlighted as a potential cause of cramps and spasms, so include pretzels in both dinner the night before and breakfast the morning of.

Anyone have any suggestions for what else I might try? I guess technically slowing down is an option but I don't feel like that would help me. I think this is strictly a matter of distance and not timing.

I am hoping these changes are enough, but if I were to guess, it's not. I love challenges and this is certainly one of the most difficult I've ever faced. It pains me to think that there may not be anything I can do about it and will have to face the fact that I'm just not designed to go farther than 22. I hate that prospect so much though, and it's a conclusion I will not come to without a fight.

Well, Hello Beautiful!

2011-05-07T13:13:00.001-04:00

Yay for strawberries in the garden!

Happy Birthday Daisy

2011-05-06T21:11:00.001-04:00

Today is Daisy's 4th birthday. This little girl is such a bundle of joy for us. She is easily in the top 5 for best decisions we have ever made (as is Gryffin). She has her own way of living though. She loves to roam around and be independent, but when the time comes, she is so incredibly gentle, loving, and dependent. I can't imagine our lives without her, she is such a blessing.

She's had a good day today too. She hung out in the backyard all day since Liz worked from home. I took Daisy and Gryffin to the dog park when I got home but unfortunately there weren't many dogs there. She still got some good exercise though. And tonight for dinner, they got new food from Blue Buffalo. They LOVED it! Daisy usually doesn't wolf down her food, but tonight she certainly did.

I looked back through our archives and here's a picture from her first birthday:

And yet in a matter of months, she'll be older than me in human years. Our little girl is not so little anymore.

April 2011 Movies

2011-05-05T19:57:00.002-04:00

This list is divided into two groups: the movies we got on DVD and the movies we watched through their instant streaming. The DVDs are at the top, and you can probably tell at which point the instant streaming movies start. I think there's a reason for that. The instant streaming service mostly serves up movies that are undesirable anyway. All the good movies (the valuable ones) are only on DVD. So while Netflix instant streaming is technically popular, they still have tons of problems. They are streaming more and more TV shows, which is awesome, but they need to beef up their inventory of movies.

Only 15 movies this month, was weird as it is, that's a down month for movies!

Mr. Brooks (2007) - 3 stars - It was weird seeing Dane Cook not be funny. He did a good job of playing a serious character. Kevin Costner also did well as a creepy character.
Kick-Ass (2010) - 3 stars - This one surprised me. I thought I would hate it like I hated Watchmen. It actually was fairly comical, but ended in a very average way.
Due Date (2010) - 4 stars - Robert Downey Jr. and his quick talking, quick witted ways is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors. Although part of his shtick is making his supporting actor look like an idiot. Fortunately it worked well for this movie, which brings me to Zach. I also think Zach Galifianakis his freakin' hilarious and he didn't fail in this movie either. I might have to watch this again at some point.
The Social Network (2010) - 4 stars - I was pleasantly surprised with this one as well. I really want to hate everything Facebook, but it was a good movie. Slightly boring at times, but Jesse Eisenberg was phenomenal and I understand why he was nominated for best actor.
The Fighter (2010) - 4 stars -What is there to not like about boxing movies?! I love them. Christian Bale won best supporting actor and he certainly deserved it. He was completely another person, a different accent and everything. As for the movie, I was tempted to give it a 5, but there was something about it that just didn't click for me. Usually by the end of boxing movies I am completely drawn in, for this one, I wasn't so much. I realize it was more about the characters than the boxing story, but that to me hurts the movie.
Waiting for "Superman" (2010) - 4 stars - If you want to know why the education system is messed up, you need to watch this movie. What I came away with though is that no matter what the solution is, there's hardly a chance it'll ever be implemented. There's too much complacency and not enough power to the people who can make positive changes.
Law Abiding Citizen (2009) - 4 stars - Not entirely sure why I gave this 4 stars, because now that I think about the story line, it's pretty ridiculous. But I did enjoy the movie and Gerard Butler is awesome.
Unthinkable (2010) - 2 stars - Totally unrealistic and silly, didn't enjoy it.
Just Cause (1995) - 3 stars - I probably should have seen the end coming in this one, but it took me by surprise. Sean Connery can make a bad movie good.
Sleepers (1996) - 3 stars -Good movie based on a true story. It was tough to watch just because of the subject of the material, but overall I enjoyed it.
Demolition Man (1993) - 2 stars - This movie was so awful that it was laughable. Going forward and backward into the future is a recipe for disaster.
The Other Guys (2010) - 3 stars - This had some CLASSIC Will Ferrell moments. He will never not be funny.
Passenger 57 (1992) - 2 stars - Didn't this movie do really well when it came out? I have no idea why, it was pretty bad.
Casino (1995) - 1 star - When you are 15 minutes into the movie, and the narrator is still trying to describe what's going on at the beginning of the movie, you know it's bad. I stopped it. I was too bored. Stop telling me what's happening, show me.
The Last Song (2010) - 3 stars - Oh Miley Cyrus. This had some unintentional funny moments, like when she tries to storm away down their dock, as if she had somewhere to go. But in the end it was enjoyable and not too bad of a movie.

Driving Frugally Conclusion

2011-05-03T19:33:00.005-04:00

Well I'm about as furious as I can be, "pissed" would be the best way to describe it. I know I had all my receipts from gas for the month saved but during my last budget update around April 25th, I must have thrown one of them away. So unfortunately I can't give all my true results for the month. AAAAARRRRRGGGG!!!! (hitting the keyboard really hard right now!) I guess I'll just have to try and figure it out. Here's what I do have in writing from the month:

Date	Distance:	Gallons:	MPG:
04/12/11	ARG!	ARG!	0
04/21/11	354.9	11.93	29.75
04/26/11	354.6	11.38	31.16
05/01/11	145.4	4.89	29.7
Totals:	854.9	28.197	30.3

So for the month my average was 30.3 if you don't count the first week. I do recall after getting that receipt that my average for the first 11 days was in the 31's. So lets just figure out what my driving would have looked like had I done about 350 miles on my first tank averaging 31 MPG.

Date:	Distance:	Gallons:	MPG:
04/12/11	350	11.29	31
04/21/11	354.9	11.93	29.75
04/26/11	354.6	11.38	31.16
05/01/11	145.4	4.89	29.7
Totals:	1204.9	39.49	30.5

That 30.5 is a 20% increase in fuel efficiency. Now to see how much I saved in the month by averaging 30.5 MPG.

I bought 39.49 gallons and averaged paying $3.80 per gallon making the amount I paid in the month for gas $150.06. Now in the last week of March I had averaged 25.45 MPG on my car so if that had continued in April I would have had to get 47.34 gallons of gas instead of 39.49. That means I saved 7.85 gallons for a total of $29.84.

Now that April is over, I've found myself still using the tactics from over the last month. I haven't been hitting the accelerator as much, speeding off the line at lights, or driving as aggressively. So I guess the month was a success. $30 in itself is certainly not motivation enough to drive frugally, but I feel like all the benefits together is good enough for me. Not to mention I think my car is feeling less stressed by not using the engine as much and that's a better thing as well.

I can't imagine getting 31MPG for the rest of the life of the car, but I do like saving money so I'll do my best to keep it up.

Driving Frugally Update

2011-04-22T13:21:00.000-04:00

In case you missed it, this is an update from my April challenge called Driving Frugally.

There's no doubt this month is going to be a success, the question is whether or not the numbers will be enough to make a difference. I actually think they will be. This might just be a lifestyle change of mine, hopefully the numbers can justify it too. I'm going to try and keep the numbers under wraps until the end of the month.

The reason I haven't blogged about it yet is that there is no real big secret to getting good gas mileage. Whenever you are driving, for the most part, if you are touching the accelerator you are using more gas than your average MPG, and when you let the car coast you are using less gas than your average MPG. So basically do your best to coast more and accelerate or use the gas pedal less. The reason I say "for the most part" is because when you are on the highway, it's possible to increase your speed without using more gas than your average MPG. It's a very small window of opportunity there, but it's possible.

Here are probably the biggest tips I can give though on getting good gas mileage:

This tip I have to give a name because it's the best one I can give. It's called "FIND A BIG SLOW TRUCK". That's the game I play on the highway. Obviously the highway is the most efficient gas mileage you can get, well if you want to increase it by a HUGE amount, then do what the title says: find a big slow truck, and stay behind it. I'm not saying you should tailgate, but give 3 or 4 car lengths, but you wouldn't believe how much that helps your gas mileage!! You ever try and hold anything out the window? It's almost impossible to maintain your grip with that much wind resistance. When you hide behind a truck, that resistance disappears. My car is supposed to average 29MPG on the highway. The other day I drove downtown and on the way there, my car barely ever dipped below 40 MPG. I can't WAIT to test this out on a road trip to see what I can average for a whole tank. It's going to be CRAZY.

My other tips are not so revolutionary so they only get bullet points:

You'd be amazed at how well your car can coast. You might initially feel like you are going too slow when you start coasting, but eventually when you approach a stop, you'll be going so fast you need to brake.
Timing lights really does work (despite how dumb I think traffic light sensors are). I never used to watch the lights as far as I could see up the road, but changing your speed adjusting for when you'll hit a green light is really helpful.
Pay attention to how often you needlessly hit the accelerator, it's amazing. Like when you pull in the driveway for example. I used to pull up, wait for the garage door to open, and then give little accelerations to get in the garage. I've cut down on doing that and now I time it so that by the time the door is open enough to pull in, I can just roll in without touching the accelerator. This is even worse in the open road. Every time you touch the accelerator, you're killing your gas mileage.

Now this isn't really a tip as much as it's an argument. There is one thing tip about MPG that people suggest and that is to accelerate "low and slow". Meaning to accelerate slow and change gears while the RPMs are low. I'm not convinced this is the most efficient way to accelerate.

Being able to watch the gauge in my car is super helpful in being able to see what my current MPG output is. What I've learned throughout the month is that going from stopped to the speed limit keeps your MPG output below your cars average, no matter how quickly or slowly you accelerate. So what I'm wondering is: "is it really more efficient to accelerate slowly?" If your car is at it's most efficient when you are trying to maintain your speed, wouldn't it be better to intelligently accelerate to the speed limit as fast as possible and then maintain than to accelerate slow and keep your cars MPG output below the average for longer than necessary? I say intelligently because obviously jack rabbit starts are bad where you rev the engine a ton, but getting to the speed limit and still keeping your RPMs at a reasonable level to me seems the most efficient. Intentionally going slow while still trying to accelerate is really not efficient based on what I've seen.

This is not a question I expect to solve, and I don't even think there is anyway to run a test using human input. You'd have to use a computer simulation or something. But the differences between the two ways I've suggested to accelerate your car I believe would be very small. My argument is that "low and slow" probably isn't the "most" efficient.

I like how this month has gone. I feel like I've made a permanent change too. I still get annoyed with other drivers cutting me off or driving as if I'm going the speed of a snail, so if I can just get over that, then there's no reason I can't keep this up every month.

Smelly Goodness

2011-04-10T20:46:00.005-04:00

Remember when a few weeks ago I decided to make more room in the garden for veggies? I am so glad I decided to move the herbs to the deck because I had FUN at the greenhouse yesterday picking out my new herbs.

I may have gone overboard, and some of these plants might get bigger than I’m expecting, but that just means I have to cook more delicious food to keep them trimmed.

In the first planter we have parsley, thyme, oregano and rosemary. In the middle there is lemon basil, traditional basil, and chocolate mint. And in the last planter are chives and cilantro. I’m pleased with my variety and absolutely love how close they are to the back door. Since I planted yesterday, I’ve been going out every once in a while just to go smell the goodness.

And in other gardening news, my AWESOME husband surprised me with a compost mixer last weekend! I’m very excited that my vegetable scraps won’t be wasted in the disposal anymore.

Other vegetable plants and seeds will go into the garden tomorrow so stay tuned for more garden updates!

March 2011 Movies

2011-04-09T17:29:00.004-04:00

I've noticed that anytime I write down the movies we watch, I sometimes reveal a little too much. So you have to assume that with some of my comments, I may reveal move than you would like me to. Also, every month I feel like we haven't watched that many movies, but here there are 17 movies and a whole season of Anthony Bourdain. Here's what we watched in March:

Crazy Heart (2009) - 4 stars - We watched this movie because it was critically acclaimed and was up for many awards. It's awesome and just as advertised. Technically the story line was somewhat boring, but the acting and music was phenomenal. Really enjoyed it.
Welcome to Durham (2006) - 1 star - We didn't finish this. It was awful. It was made to outline the history of gang violence in Durham. All they did was get gang members to spit garbage into the camera. It had no story line or information of any kind. The only interesting part was the beginning where they outlined the brief history of Durham.
Ninja (2009) - 2 stars - The one thing I remember about this movie is how ridiculously ripped the main character was. I've never seen a white guy more ripped than that. I like the idea of ninjas, but it rarely translates into good movies.
Predator (1987) - 5 stars - Awesome movie. I hadn't seen it in a while. As it turns out, this is the only predator movie where the predator actually does any hunting of any kind.
She's Out of My League (2009) - 4 stars - This was a lot funnier than I thought it would be, but as you can expect, the plot was totally ridiculous. It was refreshing to see the movie put the main character into a 21st century job as a TSA security guard. That definitely contributed to the comedy.
The Wolfman (2010) - 3 stars - This movie won an Oscar for best make-up. I can tell why. Decent werewolf movie.
Kindergarten Cop (1990) - 3 stars - "Take your doll back to the carpet." "I'm not a policeman I'm a princess." "It's not a tumor." Love this movie.
Monster's Ball (2001) - 2 stars - This movie gets talked about like it's amazing. What was so great? The boring middle or mediocre ending? We were not impressed.
Burn After Reading (2008) - 2 stars - There are a few actors that I cannot stand to look at in a movie. John Malkovich is one of them. I've never liked anything he's done, including the movie "Being John Malkovich". So as you can imagine, I didn't like this either. The Netflix overview called it an "irreverent tale", more like irrelevant.
Dempsey (1983) - 2 stars - I love boxing movies, but this was boring. I don't recall having finished it either. I lost interest.
Prince of Persia (2010) - 3 stars - This was better the second time around. The ending is absolutely absurd, they could have improved that, but every other part was enjoyable. I've never been a huge fan of Jake Gyllenhaal, but he did a good job.
Grown Ups (2010) - 3 stars - It had it's funny moments, but for the most part it was silly.
Zombieland (2009) - 3 stars - I didn't know what to expect with this one. How can a zombie movie be funny?? Now I get it. There were a few jumpy moments, but it was genuinely funny, most especially following the rules of Zombieland. Like rule #1: cardio. I love how they portrayed this one.
Paper Heart (2009) - 1 star - Terrible movie. How did this female lead get famous? Charlyne Yi. She is a wet blanket on a movie. She has no charisma and has a monotone voice. I can't stand her, maybe it's because the first role I saw her in was as a pot junky in Knocked Up.
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (season 1) (2005) - 2 stars - I love learning about other countries and the foods that they serve, but I can't stand Anthony Bourdain. That poses a problem, and I think I've decided to stop watching his show. He has no redeeming qualities, he's only funny because of his self-deprecating tendencies. What bothers me the most though is the fact that he smokes. Not only that but they actually show him flicking away his cigarettes on camera. "The world is your ashtray" has never been more true. I am tempted to keep watching so I can see more of other countries, but I don't think I can do it.
Thirteen Days (2000) - 4 stars - I thought Kevin Costners accent was going to ruin the movie for me, but after I got over that, it turned out to be a good movie. Although one thing to note, it's not too common you can make a movie where the climax is something that DOESN'T happen. I can imagine the director struggled with that one. If this is historically accurate, I feel more informed over what happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Facing the Giants (2006) - 5 stars - I don't cry watching a lot of movies, but you couldn't help getting choked up by the ending. This movie is overwhelmingly religious, and basically mirrors the story of Job. The best scene in the movie is the one on the football field where he breaks down the star player. This movie is a classic sports movie and is a can't miss.
The North Avenue Irregulars (1979) - 2 stars - I think this movie was made for kids, and it showed.

Let Me Shock You: Dog Food Information

2011-04-02T16:32:00.000-04:00

The other day, at the same time we got Gryffin's bomber jacket, we got into a conversation with the Assistant Manager of the Petco, her name was Melanie. It was one of those conversations that I had more questions than there was time for her to answer. I will try to divulge as much as possible. Just a FYI, I can't recall the word-for-word conversation, but I feel like dialogue is the best expression here, so I'll just do my best.

We were standing in line with our bag of "Organix" made by the company Castor & Pollux. The reason we buy that brand is because it's the only bag (that we could find) in Petco that specifically says they do not use antibiotics, hormones or steroids or anything in the meat they use for the food. I'd like to limit how much of that crap I eat, so I want to use the same standard for my pups. We figure it's gotta be decent. We pull up to the counter and Melanie says "This is excellent dog food right here."

She's referring to the food we're putting in our beloved pups, so I had to ask.

me: "Why do you say that?"
Melanie: "Because they use real food and good meat and is quality nutrition for dogs."
me: "What food isn't good quality?"
Melanie: "Most of what we have here, although I'm not really supposed to say that."
me: "We used to use Purina Pro Plan and used Nutro a few times before that, is that good food?"
Melanie: "Well it's good that you switch up the foods, but no, both those brands are awful. They use rendered meat and meat byproducts from dog food rendering plants. Things like roadkill, dead farm animals, euthanized dogs from shelters, feedlot waste, and stuff like that."
me: "Ewww roadkill, seriously?"
Melanie: "Yeah, all those companies are required to do is heat the byproducts to 500 degrees to kill any bacteria and diseases and then the 'meat' is labeled as OK to use in dog food. Dogs really shouldn't be eating that crap though."
me: "What about Science Diet, that's gotta be good right? A friend of ours uses that."
Melanie: "No they do the same thing, it's awful for your dog."
me: "So you do recommend this food then? What brands are OK?"
Melanie: "Yeah this stuff is great. The other brands that we sell that I feed my dogs are Halo, which is co-owned by Ellen Degeneres, and Blue Buffalo. Those are the only foods that are good enough to feed to dogs in my opinion. Blue Buffalo was started by a guy who had a dog that died from a bunch of tumors at the age of 4. He felt his dog became ill primarily due to the food he used and disgusting practices the company used to create the food. He decided to pursue making food for his dog on his own that he knew was nutritious and properly made. (by the way, here is a link to the story).

See what I do with my dogs is give them a very balanced diet. People can't eat the same thing day after day for years and think they get a balanced diet, so why do we do that to dogs? I give my dogs different foods for breakfast and dinner and they absolutely love it. I wouldn't recommend doing this immediately, but if you switch up their diet enough so that they aren't sensitive to change like that, then they can handle it.

These foods, because they are higher quality, are more expensive. But Petco has tons of sales all the time on these foods, and I never pay more for the good food than other people do for the bad food. Bags of dog food can stay fresh for up to a year, so just look for the sales and buy a little more in bulk, and it's just as cheap."

That's just about the whole conversation I can remember. She was totally right though. All you have to do is search for "dog food rendering plants" on google and get nailed by all the crap companies throw in dog food. It's sickening. I seriously recommend looking into those 3 companies when it comes to dog food, or at least look for the words "byproduct" and "meal" in the ingredients on your dog food. Most large companies follow these same practices, they have to make money right?

Some people say "well dogs are different creatures, it's good for dogs". Well then you go feed your dog other dog's dead bodies, and I'll maintain my ignorance as to what they can or cannot handle, because I don't want them consuming that. If for no other reason than just the ethics and morals of it all.

The reason I post this is because if someone I knew found this out, seeing as I have two dogs that I care deeply about, I'd want to know this information. I knew that dog foods were probably gross, but roadkill? euthanized animal shelter dogs? I'd rather Daisy and Gryffin not be cannibals. I'm going to research dog food products a lot more in the future, that's for sure.

Brett Eldredge - Raymond

2011-04-01T20:58:00.001-04:00

Every now and then, when Liz and I are doing something in the kitchen, we turn on the country music channel. This song comes on all the time and it hits me hard every single time. There's not a person in the world who can't relate to what is being expressed in this song. There's always someone in your family who might have gone through this experience, and it's really a devastating situation to see happen. I always think of my Gramma and Grampa. If you get a chance, it is well worth the time to watch the official music video because it's awesome. Youtube won't allow the official music video to be embedded, so here is a link to that. Below is another version of the video with just the lyrics. Give it a shot, see if it gets you too:

I sure don't know what got me listening to country music 1.5 years ago, but man do I love it now. There's rarely a song that I don't enjoy, it's just the twangy/redneck stuff that gets annoying every now and then. It's also lucky that Liz enjoys it now too, otherwise I'd be driving her nuts with how much it's on.

April Challenge: Driving Frugally

2011-03-31T22:38:00.001-04:00

It's a fact, and you don't say the word "fact" unless you mean it, that driving conservatively is better for gas mileage than driving fast and furious-like. I have to admit, I fall much closer to the fast and furious side than I do the conservative side. I don't like being passed at normal speeds. If you're going 75 or higher, go get yourself a ticket, I don't want to be involved. I don't like being burned off the line at a stoplight only to be also beaten to a merge in the road. And I don't like driving behind people who drive as if they have nothing better to do and hitting every stop light is their desire. All these things are very competitive driving concepts that I realize are stupid and are not the safest and conservative ways to drive. Which brings me to my point, that my desire for competition is in direct contrast to my desire to live a frugal, money-saving lifestyle.

The question I am aiming to solve in April is: Is it really worth my time and money to drive as conservatively as possible? How much money can I save in gas by driving slower and accelerating slowly?

You've probably heard of the "hypermilers" right? People who squeeze out as many MPG's as they can on their cars. There are stories of crazy people getting 60 MPG using a Honda Accord. Some of their methods are nuts and should not be attempted, like turning off the engine when you realize you are going to be stopping soon. But I'm wondering, if I tried to maximize my MPG on my Mazda 3 by driving intelligently, what would my MPG for the month look like?

So here's the plan:

Drive as much as a hypermiler as possible without using insane tactics (like over-inflating my tires).
Keep track of my MPG every time I get a tank of gas.
Translate the saved miles into gas money, will it make a difference?

What I would love to have happen is for me to realize that driving frugally can save $50 a month. I'm sure I'll get more MPG, the question is how much? Somehow I don't see $50 happening though, more realistically, it'll be something like $25. Just doing the math on $50, it would mean that I would have to get 37MPG out of my car. I don't see that happening.

So what is the math I'm dealing with?

According to fueleconomy.com, my car is supposed to get 22/29 MPG and average out to 25MPG.
My car has a MPG calculator on it, and reports that for the life of my car (the last 5 years), I have averaged exactly 24.0MPG.
Over the last week, after filling up today, I have gotten 25.45MPG.

I have to set a goal of some kind before doing this challenge. I think my goal will be 30MPG. I believe that to be a realistic number. What would my car savings be if I were able to hit 30? For the month it would come out to about $21 based on the $3.59 gas prices up the street.

So starting on Friday April 1st, I will be resetting my car's MPG calculator and begin collecting my gas receipts and doing the math on just how much money I save by driving frugally. I'll also be blogging periodically on what techniquess I'm using to save MPG and what I've learned along the way. Who knows, if it's enough, I may just convert and make driving frugally a lifestyle change. I just need my car to... SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Our Little Fonzie

2011-03-31T22:34:00.001-04:00

Last time we went to Petco we walked by an aisle that had the cutest dog jacket/harness. It made Liz stop in her tracks. When we first got Daisy, she was dead set against wearing clothes. We tried several times, but she froze and wiggled until she was free. This jacket had Gryffin's name all over it, afterall we haven't ever tried clothes on him. One look at the price though was enough to pass it up, but it was tough.

Tonight we went to Petco to get them dog food and as we stood in the checkout line, we noticed the same jacket sitting there with a crazy, ridiculous sale price. This time we couldn't resist. Not only is it a harness, but it's also a warm jacket. Gryffin LOVES being covered up and being warmed, so we thought it'd be perfect. When we put it on him, he didn't squirm or get upset and he ran around pretty much like he didn't have it on. We eventually took it off because he wouldn't chew his bone with it on. But from now on, in cooler weather, we'll use this harness for walks.

So here Gryffin is, with his brand new harness. He's too cool for school. He's our little Fonz.

"I bet you wish your doggy was hot like me"

Ditch #31 - Old Wood Scraps

2011-03-31T22:25:00.000-04:00

Last one! I have too many scraps of wood in the garage sitting around from old projects. I've always kept them around just in case I might need them, but seriously, when am I every going to use this crap? It would have to be quite a project to use a bin full of scraps of wood.

So I rounded up a bunch of wood (as much as I could in the short amount of time I had tonight) and threw as much as I could into the garbage. We have a few might empty shelves in the garage now, and it's kinda nice. Not all of it could fit into the trash can so next week I'll scrap the rest of the wood.

Well apparently there are a few items that have tickled the fancy of some of the people who read this blog. For example, Jason has claimed the Plaid Avenger's World Textbook. So if something looks interesting and you want it, feel free to let me know and I'll save it for you. But hurry, because things will start to be taken to Goodwill in bulk soon.

A Ditch A Day month is OVER!! Woo hoo! I think this month has made me realize one thing overall. That what we have in the house is just stuff. I even got to the point where I could start ditching things we actually use all the time and live without it. I started not caring about material things. But I tried really hard not to turn the corner from motivated to wasteful. That's where I drew the line, if we use it or plan to use it, I shouldn't ditch it, but everything else can go. So am I glad it's over? For sure, but I can honestly say that I learned something from it and that made it worth while.

Ditch #30 - Old Clothes

2011-03-30T16:40:00.001-04:00

I cannot express how difficult it is for me to get rid of clothes. For some reason, above all other things, getting rid of clothes just hurts. Somehow I get the idea that clothes are a part of me and by getting rid of them, I'm losing part of myself. I have that complex where I sometimes think inanimate objects have feelings, and my clothes are about to get very angry that they are being ditched.

Liz can create a Goodwill pile out of her clothes as easily as she picks out outfits for the day, but these two piles were a struggle for me. These clothes have either not been worn or they have been worn too much and are stretched out. I really don't like t-shirts where the necks are larger than they should be and some of these items fall into that category.

So a few of these clothes I never knew, and a few of them I knew way too well, but to the ditch pile they go!

This is random, but one day I was walking upstairs and saw Gryffin laying down on the arm rest of our chair in the living room. This chair and the ottoman are considered their window watching area, but this was just too funny and awkward looking not to take a picture of.

We've caught him doing this every now and then in the sweet room, we call it his "Gargoyle Pose".

Ditch #29 - College Christmas Tree

2011-03-29T22:12:00.000-04:00

This was Liz's college Christmas tree. She said she has ornaments to go with it but I'm too tired and lazy to get them out and make this look pretty. Actually, that sounds a lot like me in December too.

I'm so ready for this month and all this ditchness to be over. I can never remember to do it before 10PM when I'm going to bed anyway. I feel like we've gotten rid of a lot of crap and I'm done with it. I have my last two days all lined up. They aren't extraordinary or mind blowing despite my willingness to make them somewhat significant. I can't bring myself to ditch my Chad Johnson jersey. Deep deep down I still love the Bengals. It's just that recently, everything they've done has bothered the crap out of me. I'm really going to need strength if they draft Cam Newton. He just seems like a big huge bust to me.

Ditch #28 - Beanbag Pillow

2011-03-28T21:37:00.000-04:00

Another item contributed by Liz. This was a beanbag pillow she used in college and we haven't used it since. It seems like it's actually pretty nice but she said it was like $5 at Target a long time ago and qualifies as something worth getting rid of. Who am I to argue when I need more ditches? To the pile it goes.

Pesto Party

2011-03-27T19:53:00.007-04:00

A crazy thing happened in the garden over the winter. At the end of the summer growing season last year, I pulled out the plants that were slowly dying or had no chance of producing anymore fruit. It didn’t take very long for the garden to be emptied of the dead plants – except for one. For some reason, parsley just didn’t die. So I left it alone and figured it would die over the winter and I’d pull it out when I was ready to clean up the soil for this year. Apparently parsley is a super herb because it absolutely flourished over the winter. To the point of having a huge amount of it:

At first, I thought this was awesome! Except then I realized I never really used it that much in the first place. And I really don’t need so much just to garnish a dish. And, I decided I didn’t want any herbs in the garden at all this year because they took up too much veggie real estate! I want them here:

Yep, more room for just herbs right off the deck. This way, I won’t have to put on my shoes and go for a walk to the back fence just to get a few herbs when cooking dinner this summer.

So now the question was…what to do with all that parsley?? After a little searching, I found this recipe for parsley pesto. It looked promising, even though I’ve never made pesto, and I’ve never eaten a parsley version.

I followed the directions almost exactly, with the exception of adding a bit more oil and salt to the final product. It turned out pretty good! After thinning it out a bit, I put it over a tortellini sausage dinner. I even froze most of it in ice cube trays to prevent having to eat a ton of pesto in the next week.

Stay tuned for more garden updates. I plan on putting a lot of new herbs in the planters on the deck. When at our local greenhouse the other week, we saw chocolate mint. I don't know what I'll use it for, but I'm getting it anyway!

Ditch #27 - Dog Pillow

2011-03-27T10:31:00.001-04:00

Maybe it's just me, but I get attached to things like this. It would be very difficult for me to ditch a pillow like this. Liz on the other hand doesn't care even a little bit. This is a pillow she had in college and voluntarily tossed it in the ditch pile. I'm not going to argue, because as the month winds down, I'm finding it harder and harder to find things to ditch.

I thought about trying to come up with a HUGE ditch for the last day of the month. Something that would make people go "WHAT?!". But nothing has really come to mind, it's not like I'm going to ditch my car or something. I did bring up the topic of ditching my Chad Johnson jersey but Liz thinks I'd regret that. I just know that it's getting harder and harder to support someone so psychotic as him. If I'm wearing a jersey, I at least want to have respect for the person I'm representing.

Do people think these month challenges are dumb? That question is dumb because no one except someone named "anonymous" would comment and say "you're wasting your time, these things are stupid". I really enjoy doing these challenges. I feel like the second we stop trying to do new and cool things, is the second you realize years have passed by with nothing to show for it. I want to make the most of my days/weeks/months and having something to shoot for and challenge myself is my way of doing it. The challenge I have planned for April should be a fun and interesting one. I think whoever reads this blog will benefit from it. I'll blog about it sometime this week.

Ditch #26 - Notebooks

2011-03-27T10:25:00.000-04:00

We've kept A LOT of college stuff around and most of it is unnecessary. Neither of us have any plans of using things like this so to the ditch pile it goes!

Fulton Family Rule #1

2011-03-26T07:20:00.003-04:00

After Liz and I started dating 7 years ago (holy cow that's a really long time ago), there was one rule we established very quickly. It was created to help keep me from annoying her and driving her insane. The rule is:

No betting/gambling/competing on results that we have control over.

Betting in general is looked down upon no matter what it is, but betting dependent on our own actions is strictly prohibited. Here are some examples of unacceptable bets:

I bet you don't think I can eat this entire Grands biscuit roll in a minute.
I bet you I can get to church in under 20 minutes.
I bet I can run 5 miles faster than you can bike 9 miles.
How many push-ups do you think you can do?

These are all examples of stupid and meaningless bets, obviously, but they are all dependent on what we have control over. I'm a competitive person so some of these things would make me turn into a monster causing me to scarf down biscuits like it's my job. That competitiveness would also inevitably create unnecessary tension. In general, even without control over the results, we completely steer clear of bets or gambles of any kind.

But we have found a happy balance. That balance is the NCAA tournament. Last year, Liz filled out a bracket for the first time. It was more my goading her into doing it, but she relented and created one. To put it mildly, it was a huge success. In fact, remember that little small school from Indiana that came within 6 inches of winning the title on a last second shot against Duke? Yeah, she actually had Butler winning it all in her bracket. That experience alone has gotten her obsessed with the tournament. Although somehow she forgot about her Butler love, and had them getting knocked out in the first round this year, which has been a source of amusement for us. How could she forget Butler after her magical first year?! Somehow though along the way last year, we upped the ante and the winner got an extra $50 in their personal budget.

It's not $50 taken away from the other person, just an extra $50 budgeted for them. The winner gets a prize, and the loser is unaffected. It makes for a healthy competition.

You'd think this would bring out the monster in me, but I have absolutely no control over the results so how can I get competitive in any way?? Last year, when I completely lost hope, I started rooting for her teams. I already lost, who cares. So last night, our brackets started coming down to the wire. This year's winner basically hinged on who would win Kentucky (who I had winning) or Ohio State (who Liz has winning it all). Right now I'm winning by just a small margin, if Ohio State had won, she pretty much would have passed me for good. But alas, it looks like I might squeak it out and we'll be all tied up 1-1 in the yearly bracket bet.

What will I do with my $50? Much to Liz's dismay, who thinks I should splurge and get new underwear or something, I'm putting it toward the mortgage. As fun as this bracket bet is though, we never forget to adhere to Rule #1.

Ditch #25 - Beach/Pool Bag

2011-03-25T22:29:00.000-04:00

If there are two things in this house we have plenty of, it's blankets and bags. This beach bag is super old and we have tons of options so we don't really need it. We'll probably donate it to Goodwill.

Gardening Excitement

2011-03-25T16:52:00.004-04:00

At the beginning of last year, Liz started her garden. My role was strictly to build it and then Liz will maintain it. That's how the year went until I butted my head in every now and then to say "you aren't watering enough, it needs more water". So she watered more than how much she felt she should water.

Well the end result was that the year, to me, was about 25% successful. We got a good number of veggies, but all the plants were dead by June/July due to the Summer.

This past weekend we went to our local garden center(Gunters Garden Center) and picked the brain of the owner since we could tell he loved to talk. We quizzed him on so much that it's hard to remember. He basically made us realize we didn't know a lot about what we were doing. Here is the inside scoop on some of the questions we asked, and a rough overview of the answers he gave us:

The question of the day: How much should we be watering? We watered about once or twice a day for a good long while and it didn't help at all.
That's way too much. Everyone asks this and there is no good answer, but in general, EVERYONE waters too much. You rarely see anyone watering too little. When you first plant, you should in general water for 3 seconds every other day. The plant has the roots near the top, you don't need to water long for the plant to absorb the water. After about 2 or 3 weeks, add another day to water every 3 days. And every week or two, keep adding a day until you are finally only watering once a week. The big BUT here, is as you add days, also add seconds to the amount of time you are watering, so that by the time you are watering once a week, you should be watering each plant for about a good 30 seconds or a minute. The reason is that as the plants grow, you want the roots to go way down deep where the water lasts the longest. If you water for a minute, you know that water is going to get down deep, and that's where you want the plant to seek the water.

In addition to that, not only does following that plan build roots that seek water deep down, but it also gives the soil enough time to dry out and gives the plant room to breath. Take a sponge for example, it's a lot like soil. If you keep putting water on it, all the holes are going to have water and no oxygen. But if you let the holes dry out and oxygen gets in, then the plant can breath. Your plants probably couldn't breath at all last Summer, another reason why their root system was insufficient and why the plants didn't produce as much fruits and vegetables.

Our plants didn't survive the Summer heat, why do you think that is?
Well last Summer was unusually hot in the first place, but it's mainly because you were watering so much, your roots never went deep into the ground, and therefore weren't strong enough to survive. If you water less frequent, and force those roots to drive into the ground, you'll have a large root system that can withstand almost anything.

Birds destroyed our tomatoes, what do we do?
Birds hate shiny objects and moving objects, so the more of those you put into the garden the better. So get some of that shiny ribbon and string it from all the posts that hold your tomato plants up. Also get something that moves and have that in your garden like a mobile or something. Enough of that stuff, and you'll drive the birds away.

Other than getting good soil, we didn't fertilize at all, should we?
[laughter] oh yeah, you should definitely fertilize. You can either get the spray Miracle Gro stuff or get the slow release pellets you put in your soil, but you should probably be fertilizing once every 2 weeks if you use the spray stuff.

Does Miracle Gro have any chemicals that are harmful to the environment or us that we shouldn't use on plants?
No, really when it comes down to it, it's all just salt. If you let it sit out and it dehydrates, that's really all it is. Plus all the stuff that's in Miracle Gro is naturally occurring anyway, except you're just putting it on your plants.

We built our garden last year and still have really nice soil, what kind of compost or fertilizer do we need?
What you need depends on how your soil is. If your soil is tough to hoe and is just solid dirt, then you need peat moss and lots of it. After a couple years of peat moss, you should start developing some really nice soil. If you already have nice soil, then just fertilizer or manure is all you really need. (we got 4 bags of manure, yum).

(this one was from me): What's the hottest pepper plant you sell? That's going to be my baby.
Habaneros, we're just about to seed them and they'll be ready for planting first week in April. We have some other pretty hot ones, but those are the worst by far.

Our yard sucks, how would you go about making a pretty looking lawn?
If you go over to Brier Creek, they have the same problem with their grass that you had with your garden, they water way too much. They water many times a day and all that does is teach the grass that where you'll need water is right at the surface. If they stopped watering in the Summer for 2 days, everything would die, because it has no root system. So you should do the same thing with grass that you do with the garden in regards to watering. But first you start out, early Fall, maybe September, you get a aerator that pulls the plugs out of the ground. That gives your ground some air and deep pockets for grass to grow. Then you lay down a generous number of seeds so they get into those holes. Follow the same watering practices as your garden until the grass is full grown. Then you have to follow a fertilizing plan that feeds every month or two like the Scotts plan. Follow that same routine for about 3 years, and you should have quite a lawn.

So needless to say I'm psyched about the tips he's given me on the yard. I still stand by my opinion that unless you pay someone to fertilize and you get a sprinkler and irrigation system, that you cannot maintain a nice looking yard in NC. The ground is so awful and the Summers are so hot, just seems impossible. BUT, he has given me hope.

All this knowledge has caused the year to start a little differently than last year. Liz has maintained her level of enthusiasm and is eager to get the plants started in early April. I, on the other hand, have flipped from mildly interested last year to almost taking the hoe right out of her hands this past weekend. I am very excited to see what the year holds, and with our new found knowledge I'm confident the garden is going to be bustling with some green (and red, and yellow, and orange etc..) quite soon!

Ditch #24 - More Books

2011-03-24T18:09:00.001-04:00

These books are all religiously or politically motivated. The two books on the outside are books Liz read. The one in the middle is actually an interesting story.

I started reading "Somebody's Gotta Say It" at Barnes & Noble and the chapter on smokers convinced me to buy it. I read the whole book without knowing anything about Neal Boortz. Little did I know he is an uber-conservative radio host. It was a nice test though because some of the things he had to say I totally agreed with but other chapters I thought he was crazy. That's kind of how I am with political parties. I like and dislike little things from most parties. So to get that same opinion from the book was a good reinforcement of my feelings.

But I have no reason to read it twice, so to the ditch pile it goes!

One more week until the end of Ditch Month. I've got a new challenge for April that I'm VERY excited about. It'll have to wait until next week :).

Ditch #23 - Old Textbook

2011-03-23T17:26:00.000-04:00

Liz dug this up while cleaning a week or two ago. It's a textbook from a Geography class in college, but it's no normal textbook. Let's first say that the teacher of this class, Jon Boyer, is the highest rated teacher at Virginia Tech (Check out the link, it's his page on RateVTTeachers. If you look at the "best" section on the left, he's at the top). The dude is amazing. I took the class when I was a sophomore and Liz took it when she was a senior. He was hilarious and engaging and made you actually want to go to class. He taught the class in a massive auditorium of 500 students and the room filled up every time. I actually went to his class once when Liz was a student, he's that cool. Some students wait years to be able to get into his class because it's that one class that EVERYONE HAS to take. He used ways of teaching that made you remember what he was talking about. When teaching about the middle east, he threw quarts of oil into the crowd. I remember one day he was talking about meat production in some country, and he started throwing McDonald's Hamburgers at the students.

During Liz's year, he had a semester long tic-tac-toe type game where each square was a face of a very old and decrepit leader from around the world. If by the end of the semester there were 3 X's in a row, denoting the leader's death, then everyone got A's. It never happened, obviously, but it certainly made you pay attention to who those people were and to see how their health was. It was right around the time Fidel Castro left office due to illness, you can bet there were a lot of very anxious VT students around that time.

Anyway, Jon Boyer is awesome. So in between the time I took his class and the time Liz took his class, he wrote this book called the Plaid Avenger's World. That's actually him on the front. It's a geography book written for real people using real language (yes, he even cusses in it). You can't read a page or two without laughing once or twice at what he has to say about the material he's teaching. It's genuinely funny and informative stuff. Here's a couple random excerpts from the first few pages:

"Africa, largely believed to be overpopulated, is a huge-ass place, but with half the people totals of South Asia or East Asia."

"The Demographic Transition is a lovely little model that goes a long way in explaining lots of things about human population change around the world today. Be forewarned: it is just a theory, but damned if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense when applied to just about anywhere, just about anytime."

So here we've held onto this book thinking it was a keepsake that we'd have to remember one of our favorite classes. But who are we kidding, we're not going to go back and read through this book. All I have from the class is what is in my memory and that's good enough for me. So the Plaid Avenger traveled all around the world, and found himself in the ditch pile.

Ditch #22 - Christmas Trees

2011-03-22T19:43:00.001-04:00

I feel bad including these in the ditch month because these are Liz's. They are ceramic Christmas trees that she made on a Girl Scout trip when she was little. Her Mom made one and she made the other. They no longer have the little colorful lights sticking out the top and the light inside doesn't work on one of them. We've never used them before and have no plans to. They'll probably go to Goodwill, I'm sure someone will get good use out of them.

Ditch #21 - Old Remote Controls

2011-03-21T21:56:00.000-04:00

We don't even own the TV and DVD player that these things controlled, why do we still have the remotes?!? Oh who knows, but they will be discarded properly.

Yay 300th post on our blog since it's inception back in July 2007!

Ditch #20 - Old Blanket Material

2011-03-20T21:17:00.000-04:00

Back in the day, Liz made some pillows for Daisy and Gryffin. For some reason we kept the leftover material. It's not even good enough material to use for another project. I'm not sure why we held onto it. It's probably going in the trash. Ditched!

Ditch #19 - GPS Tracker

2011-03-19T17:45:00.001-04:00

Back in 2005, around the same time I got the MP3 player, I also got a Timex Ironman watch. It was revolutionary at the time to be able to run and have your watch display how many miles you've gone. I also had the luxury of running not only based on my speed and distance, but also based on my heart rate. I don't think I would have done as well in my first marathon without it.

Well about a 2 years ago the watch completely died. The seal that protected the watch from water had worn away, water got inside, and the screen went black. It's not because I jumped in a pool or anything, it's because I got so sweaty that my salt water got inside the watch. I even replaced the battery thinking that might be the problem, but it never came back on. So I tossed the watch.

And here I am STILL holding on to the GPS part of the watch. It's ridiculous to think I strapped that thing to my arm for 20 mile runs since it is crazy heavy and bulky, but back in the day, that was sweet technology. Not sure what to do to get rid of it. I'll probably recycle the batteries and then dispose of the rest at a recycling drive for computer type parts.

Ditch #18 - Old MP3 Players

2011-03-19T17:34:00.002-04:00

In December, Liz got me an awesome Christmas present, an iPod Shuffle. She also gifted herself one as well. Which means both our old MP3 players are no longer needed.

We got them around the same time in early 2005 maybe? They hold 256MB which comes out to about 3 or 4 CD's worth.They are still in perfectly good condition so they won't go to waste. We are looking into giving them away right now, but if that doesn't work out, I'm sure we could sell them for 10 or 15 bucks each. We still have all the cords needed. Liz still has the software CD for the RCA and the software for my Rio can be downloaded. We'll have to make sure to clear the songs we already have on there.

These babies have gotten us through a lot of good long runs. Mine accompanied me on a lot of training runs for my first 4 marathons. They might seem old and outdated, but boy did they hold up well.

Ditch #17 - Some Basket

2011-03-17T22:22:00.000-04:00

This is a lazy ditch, just some basket. I don't even know what we used it for. It's depth is laughable, it can barely hold a basketball.

I really need to start thinking about these things before 10PM... bed time.

Ditch #16 - Old Backpack

2011-03-16T21:04:00.000-04:00

I'm beginning to see a theme with all the things I am ditching, "things Liz has always wanted me to get rid of".

I got this backpack around the end of middle school or beginning of high school (that's 15 years folks). It got me through high school and college. I can't believe how well it has weathered all that wear and tear. Since then it has always been my travel backpack until December when I got a new backpack for Christmas. It has just sat for 360 days out of the year in our front bedroom, but now with my new backpack, there's no point in keeping this around.

So off to Goodwill it goes.

Ditch #15 - Corduroy Cowboy Hat

2011-03-15T18:08:00.001-04:00

This is one post Liz has been waiting for. You might be asking yourself "what in the world are you doing with a corduroy cowboy hat?!" And my answer is basically, I have no freakin' clue.

When Liz and I moved her stuff a few years ago from Virginia to North Carolina, we started in Cincinnati so we could get some things from both our parents. Somehow in the moving process, this hat made it's way onto the truck in Cincinnati and has lived in our front bedroom ever since.

I have never worn this hat before. Under what circumstances would it be OK to wear this hat? The only acceptable time I could wear this hat is if we went to the City Limits Saloon in Raleigh, but even then I'm not sure. I'm just not awesome enough, and I can live with that.

So to Goodwill goes the cowboy hat, I'll just have to get my boot-scooting-booty going without a sweet cowboy hat.

Ditch #14 - Dumb Hats

2011-03-14T23:03:00.000-04:00

It's late (11PM) and I'm tired so I'll make this short and sweet.

These hats are dumb. Their colors are ugly and they don't fit right. There is a 0% chance of either of us wearing them, so there's no point in holding onto them. As you can see, one of them still has the tags on it. I think Liz bought that back in 2007 too.

Off to Goodwill they go.

Ditch #13 - Old Cell Phones & Accessories

2011-03-13T14:03:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Liz's super-cleaning-frenzy she has gone on this weekend, the pile of ditches has grown. By the way, this now ties the record for the most number of posts I've had in a month. Woo hoo!

I've kept these phones for the same reason I kept my old computer, thinking one day I could convert back to them if my current phone ever breaks. Phones are CRAZY expensive if you aren't also starting a new plan, so if our phones break we have to have a backup plan. But keeping these are ridiculous.

The phone in the middle was my first cell phone ever. It's a Nokia I got it in 2002. The phone on the left was my third and is the Motorola Razr that I bought in 2006. The phone on the right is Liz's phone she got when she graduated college and she had that from 2007 to 2010. While they all will function, they probably aren't acceptable enough to donate anywhere. The Razr's send button doesn't work, so at the end I could only ever answer the phone. The old Nokia is so old that it doesn't do digital signals well, only analog. And the LG on the right had some serious reception problems at the end. So all 3 should be ditched.

Just like all the other ditches, I'll have to decide what to do with them. I do have a "scrap logic" bin at work where I can toss computer-like parts to be recycled, so I may do that. I feel like I should also take the batteries out if I do that and recycle them properly too. Decisions, decisions.

Ditch #12 - College Computer

2011-03-12T10:34:00.001-05:00

When was the last time you met a computer that was 11 years old that was still running strong? Well meet the Gateway 2000.

This one was tough. I have held onto my college computer for 5 years now. It actually has sat in our bedroom the entire time completely untouched. Why I didn't get rid of it sooner, I don't know. I can't quite explain it. It's not like I'd ever revert back to it. Maybe I was just emotionally attached. It got me through some good years of computer science, no easy task for any computer. I also had a lot of personal data on it like school pictures, old website development code, music, etc... but in going through it this morning, I had already made copies of everything. There really wasn't anything I didn't already have saved on the 3 hard drives on our newer computer (newer being 2004).

So with 2 hours of work, all the files, programs, and personal data have been cleared and it's ready to be redeployed. Check out the specs on this baby: it's got 933 megahertz, 2 hard drives of 50GB each, Windows XP, a DVD drive, a CD-WR drive, and the ever important floppy drive. I bet I could sell it for about 50 or 100 bucks, but I'm thinking about giving it away. There's got to be some sort of school programs that could use it.

Anyone have suggestions? The last thing I'm going to do is scrap a perfectly good computer, so selling it or giving it away is the only option.

Ditch #11 - More Books

2011-03-11T16:02:00.001-05:00

Part of me feels like I'm cheating having 3 different days of ditching books, while the other part of me says "Shut up logic, at least you're getting rid of something!"

We did have a lot of books we didn't need to keep around the house, as I'm sure everyone who reads this blog does. Lets be honest, most books you only need/want to read once. There are VERY FEW books I have ever read twice. The same can probably be said when it comes to movies for a lot of people. That doesn't really apply to me, I like watching movies more than once.

Funny story about the book on the right, "A Tale of Two Cities", I got it at Barnes & Noble thinking "I really feel like reading a classic that I wasn't force to read in High School". I got about 1/3 of the way in and realized why most people read it out of necessity. It's almost like reading the bible, where some sentences you have to re-read several times to really digest what is trying to be communicated. And the slightest daydream ruins about a page and a half and you have to go back. When it comes down to it, the book is boring so I stopped.

Ditch #10 - College Pillows

2011-03-10T19:12:00.000-05:00

Gryffin is practicing for Halloween, he's planning on going trick or treating as an alien attempting to eat your soul, how's he doing? I just realized how shiny his coat is... he's a pretty boy.

These pillows were Liz's in college. They have been in a bag in the laundry room ever since. They are super comfortable but we have no plans to ever use them. Off to Goodwill they go.

I need to go rummage through the house again... we're running short on ditches with 21 days remaining in the month!

Music to my Ears

2011-03-09T20:03:00.002-05:00

The other day Liz said something that was just so beautiful, it almost made me fall over. Here's roughly how the conversation went:

Me: "Oh hey, the mortgage company sent us a check, something about our escrow account being too large."
Liz: "Sweet... well just send it back with the next payment and it's like we never got it."

I've made it obvious on the blog that I'm a big fan of continuing to pay the mortgage down as fast as possible, and we've had many many conversations about our plans and how we want to handle money, but it made me so happy to hear her express exactly what I was thinking. There's a lot to be said for being on the same page, and it's something I really appreciate.

Ditch #9 - More Books

2011-03-09T19:51:00.000-05:00

I think Liz read the two books on the right, but neither of us read the left one. I believe that was given to us for free. What's funny, is right before I took the picture, the book accidentally popped open, and I read a couple pages. It was actually pretty interesting stuff about how sleeping works and the benefits it brings you. We'll see if it makes it to the ditch pile or if it teetering on the edge of the ditch pile will motivate me to read it. At least we have two books that are going away.

Ditch #8 - Aluminum Can Thingy

2011-03-08T19:05:00.001-05:00

In case you can't tell, we're never getting rid of our pups, so it's the big red thing in the middle we're ditching. I actually don't recall having seen this enter our house, but I am definitely watching it exit. Apparently this held popcorn and based on the look of it, probably happened around December some year. My observational skills are hot like whoa.

In case you were also wondering, the can is empty inside. So should we recycle it? I'd love to see the look on the recycling center employee's face as this thing comes down the assembly line. Ehh, maybe we'll take it to Goodwill, haven't decided.

Ditch #7 - Medieval Times Chalice

2011-03-07T20:01:00.001-05:00

I know a few people who are not going to be happy about seeing this chalice on the blog, me included. On the other hand, Liz has been waiting for the day when this left our kitchen.

I got it at John's Bachelor Party when we went to Medieval Times back in November 2009. When I got home, I set it on the top of the kitchen cabinets where it has stayed ever since. With 'El Presidente' sitting in the cupboard, this goblet will just always play second fiddle. As much as I'd love to keep it, it's just not necessary.

In case you were wondering, El Presidente is a "cup" that holds 50 ounces of liquid, and it's amazing. It's called 'El Presidente' because it deserves respect.

By the way, did anyone notice Daisy's face in Ditch #6? She's too cute.

Ditch #6 - Pint Glasses

2011-03-06T17:45:00.001-05:00

We have way too many glasses that are faded, cracked, chipped or are an awkward size for a drink. All these pint glasses fall into that category. So they have got to go.

The nice thing about ditching these items is that they can go right into the recycle bin with the glass.

This "A Ditch A Day" challenge is getting more and more difficult. For a lot of reasons including that I don't feel like we even have that much crap in the first place. I also struggle getting rid of something that I know we'll use in the future. If we're eventually going to use it, there's no point in getting rid of it. And lastly because some of the things I feel like we don't need are possibly gifts from friends or family. I could scrap something I personally bought in a heartbeat but I feel bad ditching something that was given to us. Oh well, it's all a part of the challenge.

Alright talk to you tomorrow, bye.

Ditch #5 - Dog Bowls

2011-03-05T08:05:00.000-05:00

In 2009, I built the dogs a new dog bowl platform. It was partly due to the fact that we hated having to fill two water bowls when they always share anyway, but also due to the fact that these bowls were nasty and difficult to clean. So instead of getting rid of them when I built the new platform, we set these in the garage thinking we'd take them on trips with us. We didn't. Instead we brought just the bowls because believe it or not, they are able to stand up on their own without a platform.

So after finding these all dusty and gross in the garage, I washed them in water for the picture, and now they are ready to be ditched.

I have an issue just throwing them in the trash though. What should we do with these things? I feel like if I'm going to be doing this challenge and be throwing some things away, I should dispose of them correctly. For example, find a place that recycles metal and rubber and dispose of them that way. They have recycle bins at work for all those things. I think some research is necessary.

Ditch #4 - DVD Rack

2011-03-04T17:32:00.003-05:00

What's the point of owning a DVD rack when you can only fill 2 of the rows. We have enough room in our TV cabinet so all the DVD's were moved to that and the DVD stand is getting ditched.

Incidentally, this Summer we have to give the TV cabinet back to Jon and Julie, since we were borrowing it for the 2 years they were away. So whenever we get a new one, DVD space will have to be a consideration. Maybe at that time I'll get fed up with owning movies and get rid of the rest of them... probably not.

Liz is very excited to get this thing out of the house! I'm OK with it, it's growth.

Ditch #3 - Books

2011-03-03T20:26:00.001-05:00

What's the point of holding on to books from college? I definitely do not have any interest in the 4 novels. As for the Personal Finance book, I am tempted to hold on to it, but I really don't have any interest in what it has to say. I've kept it for 6 years thinking it would be helpful, and I haven't even cracked it open once. If I am curious about something, I can just look it up online.

So these books are going bye bye.

February 2011 Movies

2011-03-02T21:39:00.000-05:00

Since we ditched 20 movies today from our queue, I thought it only appropriate to post the movies and shows we watched in Feburary. It was a month full of terrible movies, most my reviews are really critical and negative. Only 2 4 star movies and no 5 star movies. It really was a lame month.

Cop Out (2010) - 3 stars - Funny, but forgettable.
Eat Pray Love (2010) - 3 stars - Experts were very critical of this movie, but it wasn't as terrible as people make it out to be. It was long and slightly boring at times, but for the most part it was enjoyable.
From Paris With Love (2009) - 2 stars - John Travolta can't go from this movie to "Old Dogs" and expect both of them to be good.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) - 3 stars - This was by far the worst Twilight movie. You should be disappointed if you liked the first 2.
Killers (2010) - 3 stars - In casting for this movie, they should have chosen a serious guy who can act like he's goofy. Instead they went with Ashton Kutcher, who is naturally goofy and was bad at acting serious.
Dinner for Schmucks (2010) - 3 stars - I really like Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, but this didn't live up to their normal high standard in comedies. I gave it 3 just because I still like them.
Predators (2010) - 2 stars - The first predator movie was amazing because he moved around and hunted. They decided to go in a different direction for this, where the predators stood still and did very little hunting. Most grunted and moaned and set dumb traps.
Crocodile Dundee (1986) - 3 stars - You can't help but like Crocodile Dundee, but this movie had NO plot. He hangs out in Australia and then hangs out in New York. That was about it. Where was the climax?
The Burning Plain (2008) - 2 stars - A very downer of a movie, but I liked how they interwove the plots.
Surrogates (2009) - 2 stars - Flat out silly movie. Was one of those movies I almost stopped.
Billy Elliot (2000) - 3 stars - Liz liked this more than I did. The comical part was Mrs. Weasley was in it.
Brooklyn's Finest (2009) - 3 stars - Average and forgettable.
Daniel Tosh: Completely Serious (2007) - 4 stars - This guy is HILARIOUS. I really enjoyed this guy's stand-up comedy.
This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006) - 3 stars - My opinion of the politics behind the rating system? Yes, it sounds like it's easier for big companies to get better ratings than independent films... but boo hoo. You make movies with nudity, foul language, and gore and stuff... don't be surprised if you are on the border of rated R and NC-17. If you want a PG rating, make a PG movie.
Super High Me (2007) - 2 stars -Doug Benson's goal? See how it feels to smoke pot for 30 days. Surprise surprise, he enjoyed it and it changed nothing.
Zach Galifianakis: Live (2006) - 2 stars - Zach is hilarious, and it doesn't even look like he ever tries to be funny. He's just naturally goofy.
National Geographic: The Lord of the Rings (2001) - 3 stars - It was neat seeing how they compared the characters in the movie to historical figures of the world.
Unknown (2011) - 4 stars - Saw this in the theater, it was a great movie, but reminded me a lot of Taken. Liam Neeson kicking butt in Europe. Also, Liam Neeson is AWESOME.
Real Genius (1985) - 2 stars - This was lent to us from our friends Penn & Mary Jo. It was kinda silly. It was definitely not made for adults. I can see how it would be that movie you loved when you were little.

Ditch #2 - DVDs

2011-03-02T17:00:00.001-05:00

Oh, this one is a toughy (for me at least, Liz couldn't care less).

I love movies. I love movies a lot, but ever since we became members of Netflix in February 2006, there has just been no need to purchase movies. We have probably watched an average of about 15 movies a month since 2006 and we are only paying $16. That's enough to buy 1 new movie every month. So it economically doesn't make sense to buy movies anymore. We also aren't even watching most of what we have anyway, so why hold on to them?

Our "collection", if it can be called that anymore, has continued to dwindle and this month that trend continues. Here are the list of movies we are ditching:

Batman Begins
A Beautiful Mind
Battlestar Galactica - Season 1
Bewitched
Bruce Almighty
Da Ali G Show - Season 1
Da Ali G Show - Season 2
Eight Below
Friends - The "Best of" Collection
Lost - Season 1
Kate & Leopold
Legally Blonde
Million Dollar Baby
Ocean's Eleven
Serendipity
Signs
The Simpsons - Season 3
Spiderman 2
Stripes
The Terminal

Of course this is only round one of movie ditching that we are doing. The second round will include the movies I want to ditch but I also want to watch one more time before I do it. Look for that later on in the month.

A Ditch A Day

2011-03-01T19:00:00.003-05:00

Everyone knows how much I love a challenge. Well 2 days ago I was reading our friend Jess' blog and one of her posts inspired a new challenge for March.

Her post (which I link to here) referenced a blog she discovered (which I link to here) called "What I Got Rid of Today". The point of this blog is for this guy to get rid of 1 item in his life every day for 1 year. I think that's BRILLIANT. Everyone always has something they don't need anymore. There's no reason for us to have crap lying around that builds up dust. I think our house in particular is pretty empty as it is. We don't even have a couch in our living room and we went 3 years without a table in our dining room. But regardless, this has prompted my new challenge for March.

I will call the challenge "A Ditch A Day" and everyday I will post on what I have gotten rid of out of this house. I think at first it will be easy because I can already name 5 things I'm looking forward to getting rid of. As the month goes on, I think this will be more difficult.

When I say "get rid of", I mean either trash, donate, or sell. The goal is to get it out of the house regardless of the means. I actually don't have time to take items to Goodwill every day so anything I'm not throwing away, I will probably set in a box in the garage until the end of the month and then take care of them all at once. I hear some libraries takes books so that might be easy if we get rid of some books.

So here's my Day 1 Ditch:

There is absolutely no reason for me to own 3 pair of yard-work shoes. I had 3 pair piled up in the garage and yet every day when I go to the gym I pass a box that says "PLEASE DONATE YOUR OLD GYM SHOES HERE!" I passed that box one too many times, but today that box received one pair of old running shoes and another pair of old walking around shoes. Coincidentally, my gym bag now reeks. Goodbye shoes.