We spent Ashley’s birthday relaxing around the apartment because Murphy is recovering from getting fixed – which explains the cute “onesie” she is wearing. I got up early in the morning for a 12 mile run… my last big run until next Sunday!! Apparently, while I was on my run, Murphy wrapped a gift and wrote a birthday card. I have no idea how that happened..
After my run, I made birthday breakfast and gave Ashley my gift, a LeCroset dutch oven. While Ashley watched Anne of Green Gables in preparation for our vacation to PEI next week I headed up to Chelsea Markets to pick up everything that we needed for dinner. When I got back, I spent the afternoon cooking and baking a birthday cake. We had a pork tenderloin roast in an onion and raisin sauce with mashed potatoes and sauted squash. Except for Murphy being really groggy and pathetic, it was a very enjoyable and relaxing day. And Murphy is already improving… she just hates the itching.
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For the last 8 months, I have been training to run my first marathon. I’ve run for countless hours, gone through four pairs of running shoes, and recently hit the 500 mile mark on nikeplus.com… (I’m actually at 555 miles right now and there are a lot of miles that didn’t get recorded on the ipod.) On Saturday before Carl and Uncle Jim come to visit, my training runs peak with a 20 miler (say WHAT!) And then I taper for the next two weeks before the finale on August 26 in Quebec. Wish me luck… well, actually wish me a safe run.
If you’re interested to know more about my training or if you are interested in training for a marathon yourself (John?, Jay?,) drop me an email or leave a comment.
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You are going to have to get used to posts about Murphy because we find her cute and interesting, so we make the assumption that you will too simply because you know us.
Anyway, Murphy went on her first real bike ride last Sunday following an afternoon in Prospect Park on Saturday. Pictures from the park coming right up.
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Carolyn Guy convinced Jeannie to do a girls weekend out in New York. They bought hotel reservations at the midtown Hilton and Broadway tickets to see Wicked. And they were even gracious enough to let us spend some time with them. We went to Mama Mexico’s on 103rd/Broadway which we’ve mentioned is our favorite Mexican restaurant in the city. We did the infamous Staten Island ferry ride that we do whenever someone comes for a visit, and then made some delicious pasta for dinner. Sunday was the Five Boro Bike Tour where 35,000 cyclists bike through all the boroughs. We met them in front of their hotel which was on the route for our goodbyes.
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I will be updating this post soon, so don’t worry. You’ll get more than a single picture.
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(line courtesy of David Harris and oft-repeated by Jerry Osborne)
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OK, I’m starting a new series of posts (that’s right… a series as in more than one post.) I want to introduce some of the little things that I enjoy about New York that aren’t published in any books. And the first one is that quintessentially nerdy sport that inspired an equally nerdy movie – Dodgeball.
Yeah, you read that correctly. I’ve been playing on a “league” dodgeball team this winter, and it has been a thoroughly enjoyable and humorous experience. Haven’t you ever gotten the urge to hurl something at someone as hard as you can? Well, maybe you haven’t because you are one of those rare and wonderful people who never harbor any negative thoughts toward anyone (I’m looking at you Hatcher.) Well, I certainly have! And in dodgeball, I can even hurl something at girls. I know it sounds vicious and cruel, but it’s actually a lot of fun. This week someone on the other team wore a University of Florida shirt which was a mistake on her part that I tried to help her realize. (OK, I’m not actually a very good aim, but I did throw it at her a lot.)
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I didn’t mention this in my last post, but I finished “War and Peace” at about 11:15pm on New Year’s Eve. It was the one New Year’s resolutions that I actually kept. And this year I’ve resolved to not come up with resolutions. They are silly things.
As much as I enjoyed the experience of reading it (yes, Ashley, I did enjoy it,) “War and Peace” is not one of my favorite books from 2006. I managed to read several really entertaining and illuminating books this year, but “War and Peace” was neither illuminating nor generally entertaining. Here are my top five favorite books from 2006. I’ll give a quick summary of what the book is about, but I’m not going to bore everyone with reviews… that would take way too much effort. But I would love to hear what books everyone enjoyed last year.
- “1491” by Charles C. Mann – North and South America before Columbus. It’s an incredibly complex look at the people who were here before the Europeans
- “No god but God” by Reza Aslan – a well thought out and rational introduction to Islam.
- “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer – the fictional story of a boy who lost his father on September 11
- “Island in the Center of the World” by Russell Shorto – the Dutch founding of New Amsterdam. It’s part of my self taught New York history course.
- “Motherless Brooklyn” by Jonathan Lethem – a detective story with a tourettic narrator. What a great way for an author to use language to convey subtle meaning.
OK, your turn.
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I just can’t bring myself to call the Georgia Bulldogs “Dawgs.” I always feel like I’m redneck fraud when I write it, and someone will eventually call me out. “You ain’t no redneck, boy.” So, I will put this aside aside and get to my original point. I was at the UGA/GT game this weekend. It was so much sweeter to watch this game and Reggie Ball’s 4th straight implosion than my last game at Sanford Stadium… Vanderbilt.
I was so disappointed with our team after the Kentucky loss. I expected us to finish our season 6-6 with a losing SEC record, but the Bulldogs surprised me. They pulled off upsets over Auburn and Georgia Tech. Redemption! And we may have a shot at the Chick-fil-a Bowl… my fingers are crossed, dawg!
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