books...

My Mom would tell you that I'm a reader.  I doubt my kids would though...

Last year, my new years resolution was to read 3 classic novels.  I will tell you that it got me back in the habit.

This year I've been listening to books on tape while I run.  Since I'm not training for anything right now, it's easier to just go... zone out... and listen to the story.  Some of the books I've picked are garbage.  Some are good.  Some are so good that I listened to them while I drove to Oakland the other day.

Erin told me that it's the most boring thing she's ever done.  I disagree.  If I'm doing a half marathon I doubt I'll do it... so I'll keep the running mix on my iPod, but if I'm not training I think I'll be spending a good amount of money "reading" books.

Cutting out the extra...

For those of you that are Ramsey Acolytes, you know the steps for the "Debt-Snowball."  And you also probably know that you only stop to save up money for an emergency.  Well, I've listened to quite a lot of Dave Ramsey over the last few months (long runs only people!) and I've also uncovered another reason to stop the snowball.  Major life events.  Moving across the country is included in that.

I'll bet the followers are saying, "Didn't you JUST move?"  Yep.  We did.  But I got new orders and we'll be moving to Annapolis, MD.  Where I'll be teaching in the engineering department.

While that's really neat and stuff, I DREAD moving.  In fact I'll say that I HATE it.

To make this story short, I'll conclude with my new school schedule.  I'm taking a Military Strategy Course (fancy way to say History), a Controls course (think of an auto-pilot for a sailboat), and Naval Architecture.  Busy schedule, but I'll still have time for running!

Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

I've been meaning to write...

So this blog thing isn't so easy. It would be if I could find something funny all the time. But alas, I can't. I'll give you a few updates so far. The first is Guitar Hero World Tour.

Okay, so I know what you are thinking... Guitar Hero is just a popular thing that I should have been playing about a year ago. Well, I hadn't ever actually played the game other than at a family reunion and that was the game Rockband. For those of you like me, Rockband and Guitar Hero are competitors and have slightly different benefits and drawbacks, but my Mom bought me the Guitar Hero World Tour version which is the first in the series to have the original songs and not the covers.It also has a drum set as you've seen from the above.  The kids loved it.  The game has a "beginner" level that lets you just strum or hit the drum set anywhere and doesn't kick you out if you miss a lot of notes.  It's perfect for the kids.

Anyway, I really like the game and find it's hilarious to play with a group of adults.  That's even better.  The selection of music is unique too.  From Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again," to Michael Jackson's "Beat It," to "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters, to Beastie Boys, or Lincoln Park.  It's great.  Anyone else play this game?

St. Jude Memphis Marathon

I've been meaning to write for some time now. Last week I took a trip to my parents house and had an entry in the St. Jude Marathon. It's pretty exciting to run two half-marathons in 4 weeks. Let me explain...

Sorry no pictures, but I ran the half marathon on December 6th. The trip, which I took by myself, was a short one but a good one nonetheless. I left school early on Thursday after my Materials Science test and flew to San Francisco where my flight couldn't get to the gate for about 15 minutes. It's already only a 30 min flight there so you can see how many of us were anxious. I missed my plan to Denver by about 2 minutes, but took the next available one 30 mins later. In Denver I had no problems (that I knew of) but the plane I was supposed to board didn't take off from Idaho Falls until I landed in Denver so the flight out was about 2 hours late. All of this was sorted out, crazily, but nothing was really a problem. Then finally when I landed in Memphis Friday morning (the 5th) at 12:22 my luggage didn't come out on the belt.

That kind of sucks. STILL I wasn't worried because Denver flies in to Memphis all the time. After a day of waiting, I got my bag late Friday night and was ready for the race the next day.

If you've ever run this marathon or half, you know that it's the rare morning SATURDAY run. Gassia drove me to the race and I was pretty much on my own. I had some friends that I met there and ran with them for a few miles.

All in all I had a GREAT run. I trained for 2:10 and ran a 2:18 officially. WAIT! I forgot to tell you that I stopped at mile 4 to use the potty. When I say, "potty," I mean #2 people! I HATE that part about running... having to go in the middle! UGH! Anyway, after the line... I probably took 5-7 minutes total there!

Once I was back in the race I ended up running a 10 minute pace and finished REALLY strong. I'm happy about it.

After the race, it didn't really feel like I had run a half marathon, it felt like a long run and that's it.

The flight back was great and I have only run 3 time since! Talk about a break! yikes! I have to jump on the wagon again!

Thanksgiving

I LOVE THANKSGIVING! Mostly because I love to eat. One of the many reasons I run stems from that too. I hope everyone had a great holiday yesterday.

Xbox

I got an Xbox. Yep. Abbey said I could do it and I did. Am I an idiot? Yes, of course... but it's SO fun. I don't exactly play online, but I do sync it to the online content for the NBA game I have. It reorders rosters and stuff like that. Man, it's great. I used to spend HOURS going online and finding out the current trades and stuff like that. HOURS. This was before I had children, but that's not the point. I got two games with the Xbox and bought two others.

Here's a picture of Hannah singing the new Disney "Sing It" game. It's like Rock Band or whatever but only the vocals. If you get another mic, you can do duets, etc. It's all songs from the "tween" movies that Disney's produced lately and also includes Miley Cyrus songs (with and without the Hannah Montana outfit). For the record, Kung Fu Panda and Lego Indiana Jones are pretty darn fun too.