Keeping up the tradition

According to folklore in the White house, I may have been a bit selfish in my younger days. In fact I was probably pretty much unbearable for about 6 months leading up to Christmas as I would begin scanning catalogs, fliers and magazines compiling a comprehensive list of all the things I felt I needed. To help battle this growing problem, my parents decided to take our family and buy toys, not for me, but for the Toys For Tots toy drive the US Marines do every year.

So for about as long as I can remember, my family has been keeping us this tradition of getting together and buying lots of toys for kids who aren't as fortunate. Last year Jill & I did our toy shopping back in Oklahoma with my parents, but this year has us staying in Colorado for the holidays so we'd do our shopping here on the Front Range. So Sarah, Jill and I loaded up on a sunny Saturday and headed off to take part in what has become one of my favorite things to do every year.

We don't take this task lightly, we pick things up, push buttons, pull cords and find stuff that we think would be fun to play with. We get lots of toys that are throwbacks to our own childhood days, and generally just have a great time in giving a little something back.

Between us and Sarah, we pretty much filled up the entire bin of toys. We had nearly 100 toys between us, which hopefully will make Christmas a little better for some kids out there this year.

Lots to be thankful for

A big weekend packed with food, family and sporting events. My parents flew in for the weekend and my sister cooked up an impressive spread for the big dinner. We took in a lot of sporting events, some with good outcomes and some with the bad guys winning. While not the typical on the go weekend we usually find ourselves submersed in, but it was quite nice to have a relaxing time with the family.

When you get down to it, Thanksgiving is for eating too much, being thankful for all the great things in your life and lounging around with friends like Yack & Sarah's dog Dora...


Or Sarah and her other pooch Mia


Or Molly and her latest favorite toy


And despite the binge-fest, I did the impossible. I somehow lost weight despite my best efforts to do just the contrary. Not a lot of weight, 1 measly pound, but progress is progress. I was off my training program for 3 days, but I was due for a couple days rest anyway. I got back on the trainer for a couple hours tonight, and I'm going to be doing that routine quite a bit in the upcoming week. Now the next step is to alter my lunch diets to stop taking in so many calories and the poundage should start falling off even more quickly.

Before the trainer session, Jill and I took the dogs out for a quick hike at Lion's Gulch. We didn't get started until 2:30, so we weren't going to get too far, but the dogs got to expend some energy and play around which made them quite happy. Grabbed a couple pics from our outing...

What are you up against?

It seems that all the Boulder County cyclists have gone from competition mode to rest and now are ramping back up. While I haven't been in competition mode by any stretch, but 3 weeks deep into my base work for the 2007 season I feel like its an uphill battle trying to manage my time. I commented on Pivvay's Blog recently about how I couldn't imagine how he had enough time/energy/etc to do all the training he does. I think it comes down to perspective, and that we all play the hand we are dealt the best we can.

This week my friend and ex-coworker Jake lost his father suddenly, and I have been impressed and amazed at how he has handled the situation. I wondered if I could be as strong and collected, but I think we all rise to the occasion when we are required to do so.

Reading about Boulder Pro Nick Martin embarking on the early stages of 400 Hours of base preparation sounded impossible to me. But then at the end of the post, I clicked through on a link that puts everything into perspective. Real perspective about what the human spirit is really capable of when it needs to be.

So take the time and click through to this link and read an article about a father's love and dedication to his son.
Read the story and watch the video

Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.

Jill & I took off last Friday morning for a brief trip back to Oklahoma, for the first time in nearly a year. We had a lot of people to see, lots of things to do and seemingly not enough time to do it all. Of course our vacations/trips are always like this so I'm not sure why I would expect something different.

Friday starts with a quick flight into Oklahoma City from Denver. Yack picked us up from the airport and we hit Charleston's (first stop on our food tour of Oklahoma) for some lunch with Martha & Georgia. Choke down some food and off we went again.

Next destination would be Bartlesville to see Jill's parents and Grandma. We stopped over in Tulsa long enough to see a couple of the Solarcers. In BVille, we were treated to some mighty lasagna, as we continued our assault on our waistlines.

Saturday had us spending 1/2 day in BVille then heading to Stillwater to catch the OState/Texas A&M homecoming game. Duke had hooked us up with some ridiculously good tickets, so we'll be enjoying super views of the game. On our way to the game, we snagged some Eskimo Joe's pasta salads, which we snarfed down as we walked to the stadium.



I won't go into details on the game, as the wounds are still fresh. Two missed extra points and a OT loss is enough details. I've found its much easier for me to be an OState fan from a distance. The game was a great game, entertaining and kept you interested, but the outcome pretty much sucked. Oh the life of a Pokes fan...

After the game we took off, grabbing a bed at Shorty's in Yukon before arising and spending the better part of the day with my parents around Oklahoma City. We hit another food destination, Abuelos, to round out the trifecta of restaurants on our trip. Sunday night we settled for some Chilis as we were all still too stuffed from lunch, but we were joined by two more extended pseudo-family members Tony & Denise Baustert.

After dinner we gathered at Shorty's place for a bit, before turning in. We had a flight at 7am the next morning, which meant we'd need to be on the road at 5:30 CST which would be equivalent to 4:30 for us Mountain Time Zoners. We made the flight, Jill went to work, and I ran some errands.

Great to get back, even if it was a whirlwind tour. I started my new job at MarkWest the following day, so I've been a bit behind but trying to get caught up. The new job hasn't been the typical slow start, its been a "hit the ground running" experience thus far, which is great as my days literally fly by.

More on the new job and all that later.

Vagabonds on our doorstep

Jill & I pulled up in the driveway from work yesterday to find two rough and tumble mountain men who had taken up residence on our front porch. Jill's Dad & Brother, Jim & Justin, rambled through Colorado briefly after a month plus of living out of a tent all across the Alaska, Canada and the NW United States.

We got to hear some of their stories, including being on a hunting trip 100 miles north of the Artic Circle and getting snowed in, from their summer of adventure. The two are currently traveling from Alaska to Oklahoma before Justin heads off to his new home in Kentucky after a couple years in Fairbanks, Alaska.

After seeing these two journeymen, I think its clear that if you want to lose weight that you should just spend a summer with these two. Jim & Justin are both big kids, but they were as svelte as I've ever seen them. Of course, they did do an honorable job of devouring a substantial amount of food at the Walnut last night in Boulder.

Although it was a very brief stay, it was certainly good to see them and catch up some. Now why the heck didn't I think to take a couple pictures....