So, I was having an electronic conversation earlier today with Kimmi and we somehow got on the subject of donuts. It shouldn't be that surprising that I was involved in a dialogue that had to do with food, but what may be surprising is that we both agreed to write a post in our blogs dealing only with the tasty breakfast treat. So once you're done reading my post, go check hers out as well. Here goes...
I quite often find myself to be more favorable to the cake donut as opposed to the yeast-raised donut. Now Kimmi was not familiar with the difference. The cake donut is like your old-fashioned donut, usually found plain, powdered, or, as Julie prefers, chocolate frosted. The yeast-raised, or YR from here forward, is a fluffier, airy donut. The YR donut will typically be glazed or filled with some delectable filling - jelly, custard, frosting, etc. The standard Krispy Kreme donut would fall into the YR category.
Before I go any further we should review the spelling of the word. You may spell it as "doughnut" or "donut". Kind of like a tom-ay-to v. to-mah-to deal - I don't think either is necessarily right or wrong. I prefer "donut" so that's how we shall proceed.
Regarding cake donuts - again, my preference if left on a deserted island with only one form of the breakfast pastry - they can come in all sizes and flavors. In my high school and college years I worked at a small family-owned grocery store and they would make killer blueberry cake donuts. Many a Saturday morning a few of us would buy a dozen of them - still warm from the fryer. Incredible. The whole back half of the store would be filled with the aroma of freshly-made donuts. Ahhh, the memories.
Cake donuts will also typically be your seasonal donut. For instance, in the fall you will find your pumpkin donut - another excellent choice. However, the best cake donut is, hands down, the chocolate cake donut.
There is a chain of donut shops (which, unfortunately, aren't here in MN) called Dunkin Donuts. They made the best chocolate cake donuts, and on occasion when I was a kid we would stop there on a Sunday morning to get some. Or was it on Saturday morning? Can't remember. Anyway, my mother would make eggs sunny side up and leave the yolk very runny. I would then break open the yolk and dip the chocolate cake donut into that yellow goodness. If you haven't tried it I highly recommend you do so. And don't forget a big glass of orange juice.
Now on to the YR donut. Lest you be confused or misunderstand my prose let it be known that in the absence of a good cake donut I am more than happy to sink my teeth into a good YR donut. A YR donut with chocolate frosting and a custard filling is most scrumptious, although I can only usually eat one as they are a bit too sweet if you try to eat 2 or 5 of them. The jelly-filled YR is OK but not a fav.
Some songs along these lines...
"Breakfast In America" - Supertramp
"Coffee, Donuts & Death" - Paris
"Donut Man" - Rita Coolidge
"Eat It" - Weird Al Yankovic
"Eggs & Sausage (In A Cadillac...)" - Tom Waits
"Hot Cakes" - Carly Simon
"Memphis Jellyroll" - Stefan Grossman
"Muffin Man" - Zappa
Yeah, I haven't heard of most of those either.
As I said before, Kimmi is also writing a post on donuts. Click here to check it out.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Dig It
So I took today off from work to use my last floating holiday before I leave. I'm going through all my work files (and there are a lot of them!) making sure things are cleaned up and in order. Since I'm at home I've got our home computer on listening to music.
I just have it set to play the entire library (about 12,000 songs) so I'm getting quite the diverse playlist. One of the songs was by a group called Cyrkle (yeah, I'm sure you've heard of them) and the song was called "It's A Turn Down Day". I believe the song was from the 60's and I really got a kick out of some of the words.
"It's a turn-down day
Nothin' on my mind
It's a turn-down day
And I dig it
There's nothing easier I can do
Than lyin' around doing nothing"
"Things that are waiting to mess my mind
Will just have to wait 'til tomorrow"
Gotta love it. I mean dig it. You gotta dig it, man. It's so heavy.
Ta-ta for now.
I just have it set to play the entire library (about 12,000 songs) so I'm getting quite the diverse playlist. One of the songs was by a group called Cyrkle (yeah, I'm sure you've heard of them) and the song was called "It's A Turn Down Day". I believe the song was from the 60's and I really got a kick out of some of the words.
"It's a turn-down day
Nothin' on my mind
It's a turn-down day
And I dig it
There's nothing easier I can do
Than lyin' around doing nothing"
"Things that are waiting to mess my mind
Will just have to wait 'til tomorrow"
Gotta love it. I mean dig it. You gotta dig it, man. It's so heavy.
Ta-ta for now.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Breathe Out
Hello everyone! Hope all is fantastic with you.
I have accepted a job offer from Target Corp and will be leaving my job at Eaton. I'm very excited about the opportunity, working downtown, moving from the manufacturing side to the retail side, learning new things, meeting new people, and taking the bus downtown! How cool is that going to be? Pretty cool.
I don't have anything against Eaton and would recommend it to others as a good place to work. It was time for a change and I needed to broaden my work experience. This should do the trick. Plus, I really am impressed with Target as a company - especially with their philanthropy.
Honestly, it's too freakin' cold.
"Breathe out/So I can breathe you in." - "Everlong" by Foo Fighters. Great line from an even greater song. The acoustic live version is especially sweet.
So, there is talk that the Oscars might be canceled or follow a format similar to the Golden Globes where none of the stars were there. I think it would completely stink if the only year I ever win an Oscar is the year when the show is canceled. You win the biggest award there is for your profession and you can't accept the award in person or give your victory speech. I think that totally sucks.
You guys stay warm. Got it?
I have accepted a job offer from Target Corp and will be leaving my job at Eaton. I'm very excited about the opportunity, working downtown, moving from the manufacturing side to the retail side, learning new things, meeting new people, and taking the bus downtown! How cool is that going to be? Pretty cool.
I don't have anything against Eaton and would recommend it to others as a good place to work. It was time for a change and I needed to broaden my work experience. This should do the trick. Plus, I really am impressed with Target as a company - especially with their philanthropy.
Honestly, it's too freakin' cold.
"Breathe out/So I can breathe you in." - "Everlong" by Foo Fighters. Great line from an even greater song. The acoustic live version is especially sweet.
So, there is talk that the Oscars might be canceled or follow a format similar to the Golden Globes where none of the stars were there. I think it would completely stink if the only year I ever win an Oscar is the year when the show is canceled. You win the biggest award there is for your profession and you can't accept the award in person or give your victory speech. I think that totally sucks.
You guys stay warm. Got it?
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Know When To Hold 'em
Can you believe how balmy the weather was this weekend? Man, I bet we hit 0 degrees today! I'm gonna have to break out the shorts soon...
So, Julie and I went to Las Vegas last weekend and had a great time. Neither of us had been there before and it was pretty much everything we imagined. Our friend Marc set us up at the Mandalay Bay and got us house seats for the Cirque show "O" which was fantastic.
We knew everything would be "big" in Vegas but the casinos and hotels still blew us away. We did a LOT of walking up and down the strip and tried to hit the major casinos like the Bellagio, MGM Grand (not impressed), New York New York, Paris, Luxor, Excalibur, and Caesar's Palace. They were all impressive in their own way with the exception of MGM.
We had a couple of buffets and the best one was at Bellagio. They had excellent food, and for an additional $2 Julie had an endless glass of champagne. We pretty much ate one big meal each day and snacked the rest of the time.
Our day's quickly got turned around as we were staying up into the middle of the morning and sleeping in late. The transition back to normal hours when we got home was tough. Another thing that was tough when we got back was the change in temperature - when we left Vegas it was 60 and when we landed at MSP it was 0 degrees. Nice.
We did ok on the gambling side of things. We ended up down for the weekend but thankfully Julie was hot on the last day we were there so it we didn't come home broke. One of the slots that we liked was the nickel slot Deal or No Deal. When you get three suitcases on the same spin you are taken to a board that allows you to pick suitcases just like on the TV show, including bank offers. Pretty cool and fun.
Check this out - my mom sent me this picture of me as a kid playing with one of my new toys.
See? If you pray hard enough, it DOES come true!
Seriously... it will get warm again, right?
So, Julie and I went to Las Vegas last weekend and had a great time. Neither of us had been there before and it was pretty much everything we imagined. Our friend Marc set us up at the Mandalay Bay and got us house seats for the Cirque show "O" which was fantastic.
We knew everything would be "big" in Vegas but the casinos and hotels still blew us away. We did a LOT of walking up and down the strip and tried to hit the major casinos like the Bellagio, MGM Grand (not impressed), New York New York, Paris, Luxor, Excalibur, and Caesar's Palace. They were all impressive in their own way with the exception of MGM.
We had a couple of buffets and the best one was at Bellagio. They had excellent food, and for an additional $2 Julie had an endless glass of champagne. We pretty much ate one big meal each day and snacked the rest of the time.
Our day's quickly got turned around as we were staying up into the middle of the morning and sleeping in late. The transition back to normal hours when we got home was tough. Another thing that was tough when we got back was the change in temperature - when we left Vegas it was 60 and when we landed at MSP it was 0 degrees. Nice.
We did ok on the gambling side of things. We ended up down for the weekend but thankfully Julie was hot on the last day we were there so it we didn't come home broke. One of the slots that we liked was the nickel slot Deal or No Deal. When you get three suitcases on the same spin you are taken to a board that allows you to pick suitcases just like on the TV show, including bank offers. Pretty cool and fun.
Check this out - my mom sent me this picture of me as a kid playing with one of my new toys.
See? If you pray hard enough, it DOES come true!
Seriously... it will get warm again, right?
Monday, January 7, 2008
Happy New Year and Thank You!
Dear family & friends,
Happy New Year! 2007 was a year of many ups and downs and since we see some of you less often than others we thought we’d give all of you an update on how things are going here in the great state of Minnesota.
This past year we completed our first triathlon with Team In Training (TNT). Thank you so much for your support both through donations and with well wishes. It’s hard to believe we’ve been involved with TNT for over 6 years! We thought we’d take a look back.
As most of you know we got involved with TNT back in 2001 after the father of Julie’s friend Kelly lost his battle with leukemia. It was a devastating loss for her and her family and after making a donation in his memory to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society we received information in the mail concerning this program known as TNT.
We went to the information meeting and signed up on the spot. We were very nervous about completing a marathon and even more nervous about having to raise over $7,000. However, we had seen the brutal effects of blood cancers and knew we had to take on something larger than ourselves.
That first event was the International Marathon in Bermuda in January 2002. It was a tough marathon and we learned a lot during those months about training, fundraising, and about blood cancers themselves. Along with doing the marathon in memory of Kelly’s father we also had an honoree, Brian, who was in the midst of his battle. He was so thankful for what our team was doing, for the hope we were providing to him and his family. We were the last ones to finish the race but we were determined to complete it. We had worked very hard to get there and we knew if our honoree could go through chemotherapy we could finish a marathon. It was a tremendous experience.
In July of 2002 we moved to Minnesota and in January of 2004 we began training for our next event. The team we trained with, the staff, and the coaches were incredible. The event we chose to do was the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in San Diego. We again struggled with the fundraising but we not only met our goal but surpassed it! Again, thank you! At the event we shaved 90 minutes off our Bermuda time and had a blast listening to the 26 bands that lined the course. It was an even better experience this time and we were hooked on this great program.
Following the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in June of 2004 we immediately jumped into the next event and this time decided to be mentors within TNT. We signed up for the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n Roll Arizona Half Marathon in Phoenix. Our good friends Julie and Chuck joined us for this one and we had a great time in Arizona. Who wouldn’t want to be in Arizona in January?!
In the fall of 2004 a TNT position became available and Julie jumped at the opportunity to work for the organization that had inspired us in so many ways. In October she accepted a position as a Campaign Coordinator and her work has been challenging and rewarding. With her working at the Society and Pat assuming a role as Mentor Captain we have been busy but so blessed to be able to work with such a great organization.
In the summer of 2005 we participated in the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. This event was created by Nike to specifically benefit the Society and to honor women. The ratio of women to men for this event was around 15 to 1 so to say Pat was outnumbered is an understatement. We became very good friends with many people on the team, as we have with each team we’ve been on.
One of those good friends we made during our training for Nike is Jim. He was a cyclist who did the half marathon with his wife Sandy who is a cancer survivor. He didn’t much care for the marathon training and told us that since he did a half marathon we had to do a century ride with him in 2006. We were nervous and hesitant at first but decided to join him for the Sea Gull Century Ride in Salisbury, MD, in October 2006.
It was exciting to get involved with a new sport and a majority of the team was alumni of TNT. Our dear friend Louise (who is a marathon walker like us) did the 100-mile ride with us. We were the slowest on the team but we finished in around 9 hours, in terrible weather conditions – it was the first nor’easter of the season. When the Weather Channel is televising live from where you’re going to be riding you know it’s going to be a tough ride!
When we finished Sea Gull and started thinking about our next event we decided to go for the Triple Crown award – a special TNT award for those participants who have fundraised and completed an event in all three sports – marathon, century ride, and triathlon. The one of the three we were missing is the one that scared us the most – the triathlon.
In January of 2007 we signed up to fundraise and complete the Olympic distance course at the Life Time Fitness Triathlon here in Minneapolis. We would swim 0.9 miles, bike 24.8 miles, and run 6.2 miles. The bike and the run we weren’t as concerned about, but the thought of swimming nearly a mile in open water was a little daunting.
By the time event day came in July we were prepared and excited, definitely nervous but determined to finish. It seems rather appropriate that at our first TNT event nearly 6 years ago we were the last to finish, and for our 6th event and first triathlon we were nearly the last ones on the course as well.
We may never look the best or be the fastest while we’re out there doing our events, but we’re out there anyway. We’re out there not just to challenge ourselves but most importantly to raise money for cancer research, for patient aid, and to increase awareness of what the Society does every day. We’re very proud of the work the Society does and of our involvement with TNT.
Over the last 6 years, thanks in large part to the generosity of folks like you, we have been able to raise nearly $36,000 for the Society! Thank you! We continually hear of the benefits and advancements this money provides and we are forever touched and inspired by the many – too many – cancer patients, young and old, that we’ve met over the years. On behalf of them we thank you as well.
But sometimes the ending isn’t what we hope and pray for. We’ve had to say goodbye to far too many people who fought courageously but in the end lost their battle with cancer. One of those people is McKenna Johnson, a beautiful and brave 10-year old girl, who fought a rare form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for over 7 years of her short life. After receiving her second bone marrow transplant in September she had complications and on her 10th birthday was put into an induced coma and placed on a breathing machine.
Before being sedated her mother asked her is she was scared and she just shook her head “no”. It would be the last time she was awake. She earned her angel wings on her mother’s birthday. We attended the funeral, her celebration of life, on one of the snowiest days this winter. Never has the song “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know” moved us to tears like it did that day. She was an amazing little girl, and it’s for children like McKenna and for patients of all ages that we continue to fundraise for the Society.
It’s been a long journey these last 6 years and it’s one that has changed our lives. We’ve made life-long friends, pushed ourselves in ways we never thought we would, set and surpassed numerous goals, and been part of something that is so much bigger than ourselves. We look forward to continuing this journey with the Society and thank you again for supporting not only us but also those that truly need our help – the patient heroes.
2008 is the 20th Anniversary of Team In Training. It has grown to become the world’s largest endurance training program and is the biggest fundraising program of the Society. In those 20 years TNT nationally has trained over 340,000 athletes (80% of them beginners) and raised over $800 million for cancer research and patient aid. By the end of their 20th year they hope to pass the $1 billion mark, thanks to so many generous people like you! If you would like to get involved with TNT and change your life while saving another, then please visit their website at www.teamintraining.org.
We hope this Christmas season was everything you hoped for. We wish you all the best and that you have a happy and healthy New Year.
Love,
Julie and Patrick, Molson and Gracie
Happy New Year! 2007 was a year of many ups and downs and since we see some of you less often than others we thought we’d give all of you an update on how things are going here in the great state of Minnesota.
This past year we completed our first triathlon with Team In Training (TNT). Thank you so much for your support both through donations and with well wishes. It’s hard to believe we’ve been involved with TNT for over 6 years! We thought we’d take a look back.
As most of you know we got involved with TNT back in 2001 after the father of Julie’s friend Kelly lost his battle with leukemia. It was a devastating loss for her and her family and after making a donation in his memory to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society we received information in the mail concerning this program known as TNT.
We went to the information meeting and signed up on the spot. We were very nervous about completing a marathon and even more nervous about having to raise over $7,000. However, we had seen the brutal effects of blood cancers and knew we had to take on something larger than ourselves.
That first event was the International Marathon in Bermuda in January 2002. It was a tough marathon and we learned a lot during those months about training, fundraising, and about blood cancers themselves. Along with doing the marathon in memory of Kelly’s father we also had an honoree, Brian, who was in the midst of his battle. He was so thankful for what our team was doing, for the hope we were providing to him and his family. We were the last ones to finish the race but we were determined to complete it. We had worked very hard to get there and we knew if our honoree could go through chemotherapy we could finish a marathon. It was a tremendous experience.
In July of 2002 we moved to Minnesota and in January of 2004 we began training for our next event. The team we trained with, the staff, and the coaches were incredible. The event we chose to do was the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in San Diego. We again struggled with the fundraising but we not only met our goal but surpassed it! Again, thank you! At the event we shaved 90 minutes off our Bermuda time and had a blast listening to the 26 bands that lined the course. It was an even better experience this time and we were hooked on this great program.
Following the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in June of 2004 we immediately jumped into the next event and this time decided to be mentors within TNT. We signed up for the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n Roll Arizona Half Marathon in Phoenix. Our good friends Julie and Chuck joined us for this one and we had a great time in Arizona. Who wouldn’t want to be in Arizona in January?!
In the fall of 2004 a TNT position became available and Julie jumped at the opportunity to work for the organization that had inspired us in so many ways. In October she accepted a position as a Campaign Coordinator and her work has been challenging and rewarding. With her working at the Society and Pat assuming a role as Mentor Captain we have been busy but so blessed to be able to work with such a great organization.
In the summer of 2005 we participated in the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. This event was created by Nike to specifically benefit the Society and to honor women. The ratio of women to men for this event was around 15 to 1 so to say Pat was outnumbered is an understatement. We became very good friends with many people on the team, as we have with each team we’ve been on.
One of those good friends we made during our training for Nike is Jim. He was a cyclist who did the half marathon with his wife Sandy who is a cancer survivor. He didn’t much care for the marathon training and told us that since he did a half marathon we had to do a century ride with him in 2006. We were nervous and hesitant at first but decided to join him for the Sea Gull Century Ride in Salisbury, MD, in October 2006.
It was exciting to get involved with a new sport and a majority of the team was alumni of TNT. Our dear friend Louise (who is a marathon walker like us) did the 100-mile ride with us. We were the slowest on the team but we finished in around 9 hours, in terrible weather conditions – it was the first nor’easter of the season. When the Weather Channel is televising live from where you’re going to be riding you know it’s going to be a tough ride!
When we finished Sea Gull and started thinking about our next event we decided to go for the Triple Crown award – a special TNT award for those participants who have fundraised and completed an event in all three sports – marathon, century ride, and triathlon. The one of the three we were missing is the one that scared us the most – the triathlon.
In January of 2007 we signed up to fundraise and complete the Olympic distance course at the Life Time Fitness Triathlon here in Minneapolis. We would swim 0.9 miles, bike 24.8 miles, and run 6.2 miles. The bike and the run we weren’t as concerned about, but the thought of swimming nearly a mile in open water was a little daunting.
By the time event day came in July we were prepared and excited, definitely nervous but determined to finish. It seems rather appropriate that at our first TNT event nearly 6 years ago we were the last to finish, and for our 6th event and first triathlon we were nearly the last ones on the course as well.
We may never look the best or be the fastest while we’re out there doing our events, but we’re out there anyway. We’re out there not just to challenge ourselves but most importantly to raise money for cancer research, for patient aid, and to increase awareness of what the Society does every day. We’re very proud of the work the Society does and of our involvement with TNT.
Over the last 6 years, thanks in large part to the generosity of folks like you, we have been able to raise nearly $36,000 for the Society! Thank you! We continually hear of the benefits and advancements this money provides and we are forever touched and inspired by the many – too many – cancer patients, young and old, that we’ve met over the years. On behalf of them we thank you as well.
But sometimes the ending isn’t what we hope and pray for. We’ve had to say goodbye to far too many people who fought courageously but in the end lost their battle with cancer. One of those people is McKenna Johnson, a beautiful and brave 10-year old girl, who fought a rare form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for over 7 years of her short life. After receiving her second bone marrow transplant in September she had complications and on her 10th birthday was put into an induced coma and placed on a breathing machine.
Before being sedated her mother asked her is she was scared and she just shook her head “no”. It would be the last time she was awake. She earned her angel wings on her mother’s birthday. We attended the funeral, her celebration of life, on one of the snowiest days this winter. Never has the song “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know” moved us to tears like it did that day. She was an amazing little girl, and it’s for children like McKenna and for patients of all ages that we continue to fundraise for the Society.
It’s been a long journey these last 6 years and it’s one that has changed our lives. We’ve made life-long friends, pushed ourselves in ways we never thought we would, set and surpassed numerous goals, and been part of something that is so much bigger than ourselves. We look forward to continuing this journey with the Society and thank you again for supporting not only us but also those that truly need our help – the patient heroes.
2008 is the 20th Anniversary of Team In Training. It has grown to become the world’s largest endurance training program and is the biggest fundraising program of the Society. In those 20 years TNT nationally has trained over 340,000 athletes (80% of them beginners) and raised over $800 million for cancer research and patient aid. By the end of their 20th year they hope to pass the $1 billion mark, thanks to so many generous people like you! If you would like to get involved with TNT and change your life while saving another, then please visit their website at www.teamintraining.org.
We hope this Christmas season was everything you hoped for. We wish you all the best and that you have a happy and healthy New Year.
Love,
Julie and Patrick, Molson and Gracie
Thursday, January 3, 2008
The Adventures of Chuck, Part 3
Back by popular demand - it's the Adventures of Chuck the Chicken, Part 3!!!! If you have yet to read the first two installments you'll need to click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2, then join us back here for the final installment of this critically acclaimed 3-part Chuck miniseries.
A quick refresher of what has happened with Chuck to this point. All the events detailed in these posts occurred during a long weekend in San Francisco where Chuck took part in the Nike Women's Marathon.
After flying for the first time in his short life he visited Alcatraz, met new friends, and did the marathon. The stories written below begin with the post-marathon Victory Party and end in a not-so-pretty fashion. Be warned, what follows is not for the weak of heart, or stomach for that matter.
After the marathon the team headed over to the convention center for the Victory Party. Everyone was there to celebrate the fact that they had just finished either the half or full marathon and most of us had a couple barley pops and relaxed. Well, most of us except for Chuck, that is.
Chuck hadn't done a lot of drinking prior to this evening and let's just say his tiny frame can't absorb the alcohol the way an ostrich or flamingo can. We ALL know how flamingos love to drink those fancy umbrella drinks. Anyway, it started out innocently enough with a beer...
... but he succumbed to peer pressure and moved to shots, which quickly did him in.
By the time Chuck was doing the shots we had all moved from the convention center to a small Irish pub. Chuck had lost all sense of reason at this point and became hysterical at the site of one of the bar's Halloween decorations. As you can see below he really was quite frightened...
Chuck looked at me and pleaded for me to protect him. His speech was very slurred and he was looking quite droopy, and he had a hard time staying on his feet. It began to seem quite obvious that Chuck was going to fade fast.
But somehow Chuck found his second wind. Unfortunately, the evidence below shows how this wasn't such a good thing. Chuck began telling stories of how he raised the money to buy his plane ticket out to San Francisco. None of us could believe what we were witnessing as Chuck demonstrated his many "dance" moves that he used at the Chicken Ranch where he worked. Even though watching him made us a bit uneasy he did earn some extra money to buy another round of drinks...
The last round was the one that did poor Chuck in. It wasn't long and he was in the bathroom praying to the porcelain god, swearing he'd never touch another drop of alcohol in his life.
Chuck quickly disappeared, but on our way back to the hotel we found him passed out.
It was a rough night for Chuck, and the next day he wasn't doing so well on the flight back to Minnesota. We told him the stories from the night before, and he tried to hide his beak under his wing, but eventually he admitted that he had a good time.
We had a lot of fun that night with Chuck, and there have been some good times since then as well - times that will be making appearances in future posts. But until then we hope you enjoy reading Chuck's adventures in San Fran. Chuck sure has a lot of pluck.
A quick refresher of what has happened with Chuck to this point. All the events detailed in these posts occurred during a long weekend in San Francisco where Chuck took part in the Nike Women's Marathon.
After flying for the first time in his short life he visited Alcatraz, met new friends, and did the marathon. The stories written below begin with the post-marathon Victory Party and end in a not-so-pretty fashion. Be warned, what follows is not for the weak of heart, or stomach for that matter.
After the marathon the team headed over to the convention center for the Victory Party. Everyone was there to celebrate the fact that they had just finished either the half or full marathon and most of us had a couple barley pops and relaxed. Well, most of us except for Chuck, that is.
Chuck hadn't done a lot of drinking prior to this evening and let's just say his tiny frame can't absorb the alcohol the way an ostrich or flamingo can. We ALL know how flamingos love to drink those fancy umbrella drinks. Anyway, it started out innocently enough with a beer...
... but he succumbed to peer pressure and moved to shots, which quickly did him in.
By the time Chuck was doing the shots we had all moved from the convention center to a small Irish pub. Chuck had lost all sense of reason at this point and became hysterical at the site of one of the bar's Halloween decorations. As you can see below he really was quite frightened...
Chuck looked at me and pleaded for me to protect him. His speech was very slurred and he was looking quite droopy, and he had a hard time staying on his feet. It began to seem quite obvious that Chuck was going to fade fast.
But somehow Chuck found his second wind. Unfortunately, the evidence below shows how this wasn't such a good thing. Chuck began telling stories of how he raised the money to buy his plane ticket out to San Francisco. None of us could believe what we were witnessing as Chuck demonstrated his many "dance" moves that he used at the Chicken Ranch where he worked. Even though watching him made us a bit uneasy he did earn some extra money to buy another round of drinks...
The last round was the one that did poor Chuck in. It wasn't long and he was in the bathroom praying to the porcelain god, swearing he'd never touch another drop of alcohol in his life.
Chuck quickly disappeared, but on our way back to the hotel we found him passed out.
It was a rough night for Chuck, and the next day he wasn't doing so well on the flight back to Minnesota. We told him the stories from the night before, and he tried to hide his beak under his wing, but eventually he admitted that he had a good time.
We had a lot of fun that night with Chuck, and there have been some good times since then as well - times that will be making appearances in future posts. But until then we hope you enjoy reading Chuck's adventures in San Fran. Chuck sure has a lot of pluck.
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