You've Got a Skillet, All Right

Happy Friday! I do like it when Friday comes but that means another week has gone by. Where does the time go? The year is just FLYING by!

Last night was the "travel meeting" for the Twin Cities Marathon team. Everyone is excited about the event and you could feel the anticipation in the air. One of our participants came up to Coach Mike and I and told us she was sick and wasn't certain if she'll be able to do her 10-mile run this weekend. She asked if that would cause her harm for the marathon if she didn't do her 10 miles this weekend, knowing that she's already done 20 miles twice. Of course, it wouldn't impact her marathon but we had to give her a hard time. We told her she might as well just forget about the marathon... All that hard for for naught. HA!

So, do you ever wonder how they make toilet paper and get it on the roll? The paper is wrapped tight but not so tight as to tear at the perforations. And then a small amount of glue (or other substance) is put at the end of the role to keep it from unraveling and yet that glue (or other substance) doesn't seep through any more layers than it's supposed to. How do they do that?

Tomorrow a bunch of us are going to the OSU/Minnesota game. Should be a TON of fun! Hopefully the Bucks will win easily. I'm really looking forward to it as this will be my first Buckeye game. GO BUCKS!!!!

I've really been on this kick lately listening to "Rock Lobster" by the B-52's. Not sure why, really. It's on a cd I have in the car and for the last few days going back and forth to work I've pretty much only played that song... repeatedly. Great song, but why I can't seem to get enough of it I don't know.

Ok, maybe I don't know enough about the species, but how do they go to the bathroom?

So a woman I work with has a daughter who is a senior in high school this year. Her daughter wants to attend Duke University and become a doctor. The undergraduate tuition with room and board would be $46,000 per year! Unreal. I have to seriously ask is it worth it? Does Duke really give you that much of an advantage to warrant such ridiculous tuition rates? I can't believe that it does. Do you know what school your doctor attended or do you look at that when you're deciding where to get treatment? I have to think for 90% of the population it doesn't matter.

Can you guess which one is me?

If you won a lot of money I'm sure you'd do the same thing. I mean, come on, isn't it obvious?

So, as a kid, I'd listen to Billy Joel's "Piano Man" and sing a long, just like everyone else. It wasn't until I was in high school that I thought about what I was singing and figured it couldn't be right. The last line in the chorus is "and you've got us feelin' alright". And I don't know why I thought "and you've got a skillet, all right" wasn't correct...

Have an oh-so-fab weekend! And GO BUCKS!!!!

It's Chocolate, By The Way

Last night we went to St. Paul and met a bunch of friends at Patrick McGovern's Pub to celebrate the accomplishments of the new Iron Men in our lives - Bob, Mike and Andy. The food was very good and the beer was nice and cold. Julie ordered the meat loaf sandwich and it was huge! Two gigantic pieces of meat loaf over bread smothered in gravy. Looked quite tasty.

We found out that Andy placed third in his age group within the Clydesdale division. Way to go Andy! All three of them did fantastic and the accomplishment does nothing but amaze me. To think they traveled 140.6 miles in one day - a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike, and a 26.2-mile marathon - is just incredible to me. I can't even imagine what the feeling of accomplishment was like as they each crossed the finish line. Congrats again guys! I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!

Bob and Mike will be doing it again next year and our friends Kimmi and Rachel have also signed up to do their first Iron Man. What a commitment to make. Even tho it's nearly a year away I would still be anxious about it. My hat's off to all of you!

You know, thankfully the woman in this story gave birth via caesarean section, but I sure hope the good Lord helped the poor woman who gave birth to the largest baby in the U.S. in 1879. Wow.

I think Julie is trying to tell me something. She had our street name changed to this.

Well, I should get back to eating my lunch. Mmmmmmm.... pudding.

My Arms and Legs Are Tire-d

Watched the series premier of Big Bang Theory tonight. Very funny. One of the nerds reminds Julie and I of a good friend. Absolutely hilarious. Good show worth checking out.

What the heck is up with this?! I'm thinking this may be a sign that the guy might have a screw loose somewhere. Just a hunch. Maybe it would be a good idea this guy is off the streets for a while.

This is something a 10-year old should never see. Therapy, anyone?

I thought this was a very interesting column by John Stossel of 20/20 fame concerning socialized medicine. Worth a read.

It took me a long time, but now it's done!

Are You An Iron Girl?

Julie and the rest of the TNT ladies successfully completed the Iron Girl this morning in Bloomington! The weather was just about perfect (a couple of windy spots that Julie didn't care for - Better than Sea Gull!) for a race as it didn't get overly hot until everyone was done. Congrats to all the Iron Girls!

One thing that surprised me about the Iron Girl was the relative lack of fan support. I think all the TNT folks were adequately represented but I found it interesting (and somewhat disappointing) that there weren't more fans out supporting the rest of the athletes. The transition area wasn't that big for spectators so I had anticipated difficulty in finding good spots to cheer Julie and the girls on but it wasn't an issue at all. Hopefully next year will have better support. Thanks to all that came out to support the TNT ladies! They appreciate it!

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This is one tough granny!

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Two weeks until the Twin Cities Marathon. Whoops, I mean the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. We'll have roughly 50 TNT folks participating on the current TCM team plus I'm sure more than a few alumni who are doing it on their own. Julie is staffing the event this year so I'll be out and about that day going from one cheering station to the next.

One thing we're looking to do is rope off a couple of large areas - one at the finish area and one around our cheer station at about mile 23. I need to come up with an inexpensive and easy way to rope off the areas. If you have any suggestions please let me know!

There are a few areas where you can come and cheer with other TNT folks that morning. Any support we can give to these marathoners and fundraisers would be much appreciated. Hope to see you out there!

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Here is a picture of my mom nudging me out of the house for my first day of kindergarten.

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Well, that's it for tonight. I'm off to bed. Adios!

Magic

Well, we're off to see the Boss!! At 10 AM this morning tickets went on sale for Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band who will be playing here in St. Paul on November 2nd. Myself along with some friends (sans Julie) will be going to what will be another AWESOME concert I'm sure! His new CD (called "Magic") will hit the stores on October 2nd. Can't wait!

If you've never seen Bruce before I highly recommend it. He puts on an amazing show, especially with the E Street Band. His historic 4-hour marathon concerts have been reduced to about 3 to 3 1/2 hours, but the intensity and excitement are still intact. The band is tight and loud - definitely one of the best live acts ever. Keep your eyes here as I will surely be blogging on the highlights of the concert.

If April Showers Bring May Flowers...

On Sunday we held the 3rd annual German Dinner at Gasthof to benefit LLS. Each year the event has increased in size and this year we had over 400 guests and 300 items in the auction! All the TNT participants who took advantage of the event did a great job of selling tickets and getting items donated. We had well over $20,000 in auction items! Great job everyone!

We're still tallying the money but we know it will be another record year. We're flirting with the idea of having two of these events each year which would be a lot of work but we know we can come close to selling the place out each time. Everyone has such a great time at Gasthof and people who attended in prior years are always asking when the next one will be. It just keeps snowballing which is awesome!

I've been reading a book over the last few weeks that is a collection of war letters from U.S. soldiers from each of our wars, from the Civil War to Desert Storm. I find myself in awe of what these men and women endured and it makes me appreciate all the more the sacrifices they make. It's very humbling. Right now I'm reading letters written during WWII. There is usually some commentary between the letters to give you an idea of what was going on or what the letter is referring to, which really helps to put you in the right frame of mind. As I'm reading them I'll share with you any that really affect me.

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I found the historical tidbit below to be very interesting. Perhaps you will too. This is from a daily email I get from Bill Federer.

SEPTEMBER 16, 1620, according to the Gregorian Calendar, 102 Pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower.

The 66-day journey of 2,750 miles encountered storms so rough the beam supporting the main mast cracked and was propped back in place with an iron screw of a printer's press.

One youth, John Howland, was swept overboard by a freezing wave and rescued. His descendants include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Humphrey Bogart, Franklin D. Roosevelt and George W. Bush.

On the Pilgrims' voyage, a boy died, and a mother gave birth.

Intending to land in Virginia, they were blown off-course. Of their landing, Governor William Bradford wrote:

"Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element."

Though half died that first bitter winter, Governor William Bradford wrote:

"Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations...for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world."

The Veteran Voice

I have a lot to blog about and hopefully over the next week you'll be hearing a lot from me. Anything would be more than what I've been doing over the last month. Very bad of me. Please do forgive.

This first post will be a short one as I need to get back to work. I wanted to point out a new blog I've added called Vox Veterana which is Latin for "The Veteran Voice" or "Voice of the Veteran". I just learned about this blog and it seems to be a really good one from what I've read so far. Please check it out if you can. It is worth your time.

This coming Sunday Julie (along with some TNT alumni) will be participating in the Iron Girl in Bloomington. Here is the website. Come out and cheer everyone on if you can! We'd love to see you!

Men Made of Iron

We had three great friends complete their first Ironman in Madison on Sunday. A hearty "congrats!" go out to Bob, Mike and Andy. Julie and I got to see Bob cross the finish line on the computer. They were doing a live feed of the finish line over the internet which was pretty cool.

The thought of swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and then running a full marathon (26.2 miles) sounds downright crazy, but it was pretty amazing to watch these normal (term used loosely), everyday folks completing this incredible endurance event, most of them taking 14, 15, 16+ hours to complete it. I can only imagine the sense of accomplishment they must feel. Congrats again!!

And people who say they could never do anything like that or that they're too old to exercise should just look at Frank Farrar, a 78-year old man who came in just under the 17-hour time limit. I mean JUST under...

I Frank can do it....