Day 365 - New Year's Eve

Dunno what I weigh, but 2.75 miles on the treadmill, about 1.75 of them ran, and 150/100.

Again, cold getting crappier, so I didn't feel up to doing the remaining .25 miles to hit 3.0.

So last night was Jo's turn to be up in the middle of the night. Then, this morning she slept in and a little before I got on the treadmill, I went in the room and found she'd just puked all over the bathroom floor. Came upon her suddenly.

Not sure what she got, but it put her in bed most of the day.

The rest of us met Dad for lunch at Peacock Alley, which I'd never been to. Unfortunately, the restaurant part was closed, but we got to eat in the bar. Pretty good stuff. I had me a pulled pork sandwich and fries. It'll be interesting to step on the scale again, eek!

Afterwards, mom and I stopped at Papa Murphy's to pick up some pizzas for dinner. We figured delivery would be tough on New Year's Eve, so best to do some take and bake.

We intended to meet Uncle Brandon at the hotel he was at to swim around 3:30 or so, but when he checked in shortly after 3:00, he found that indoor pool completely drained. They were in the process of painting it. Why they'd choose to do that over the holidays, I don't know, but... No swimming. Instead the boys played outside for awhile and we napped and lounged about.

After the pizza, we played games all night, a round of Zilch, and a couple rounds Mille Bornes to the wee hours. We missed the ball dropping unfortunately, and we really didn't have fanfare ourselves, except that we could finally put the kids to bed.

Anyway, here's to '07, and may 2008 be even better.

Day 364 - The Anatomy of a Pretty Good Day

Dunno what I weigh, but 3.0 miles on the treadmill, about 2.5 of them ran, and 150/100.

Last night we did our gift opening after Mom's Swedish meatball dinner. I got some great campfire stuff (fire poker, wiener and marshmallow sticks, and a portable beverage stand), and some practical stuff and the usual pack of socks and giant candy bar among other things. Also got an yard game that looks pretty fun.

Afterwards we played the pirate game we got Dad, "Dread Pirate", which was a rather long (but fun) game.

This morning, I slept in. Mostly because I was tossing and turning with this cold (that is getting worse) and stuff on my mind, so I got up around 1:30 and was up for like 4 hours into the wee hours.

Anyway, after a visit from my cousin Monica's family who was in town, I jumped on the treadmill to get the blood moving again. After I showered up, Dad, Brandon, the boys and I went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets. It was an enjoyable flick if you ask me, Indiana-Jones-Style. I didn't realize it was a sequel, so I think I'll actually go back and watch the other.

After we got back to the house, I jumped back in the van and headed to get a haircut -- I was getting poofy.

Then, after Mom's monstrous spaghetti dinner, I met Bob, a high school friend, to catch up over a few beers at Applebee's. That was an enjoyable conversation. We finally had to take the hint of them turning on all the lights, then turning them off slowly that we better wrap it up and head home.

By the end, my voice was a cross between Barry White and a wheezing mouse, so all for the best that it got cut off.

Anyway, a nice, full day.

Blurry Old People

I am speeding (12 over), and I just totally got passed by a car with ND plates full of 70+ geriatrics. That's SO wrong.

While trying to get on the road this morning, Ginger escaped by Cory's hand, so he's been running around for 15 minutes to catch her. Good times.

Day 362 - Ewald!

161.5 on the scale, no exercise yet.

Dave visited us over the lunch hour, and we shut the place down in his honor and went to Nami for sushi.

What I miss most about Dave is his stories. He's got good stories. And even better than the stories is his delivery of them. Cracks me up.

Day 361 - It's a Wonderful Movie

161.0 on the scale, 3.0 miles, most of the ran, and 150/100.

I watched another half hour of It's a Wonderful Life again tonight. That is such a great movie, one of my all-time favorites. It's because they did such a great job with Jimmy Stewart's character development, and portray these real, heartfelt little moments between him and his dad, he and his Mom, he and Donna Reed... all of it. Even when his brother gets off the train and he learns he's married and has a job waiting for him, which means George Bailey is still stuck in Bedford Falls.

Anyway, you've all seen it. I needn't tell you how great it is.

I'm only halfway through it, but I cry every time at the end. That'll be another first for me -- crying on a treadmill.

Day 360 - It's a Wonderful Run

163.0 on the scale, 3.0 miles on the treadmill while watching It's A Wonderful Life, most of them ran, and 150/100.

Day 359 - Santa Gets Philosophical

Not sure what I weigh, and no exercise today.

We spent a very nice day over at Jo's parents, starting with a brunch and ending with a delightful turkey dinner. But the hilite of today was this morning's Santa story.

The boys have been starting to hear rumors of Santa's do-good-ings from their public school friends, and I happened to be walking by Cole's room last night when I overheard them plotting about how, once and for all, to determine whether Santa was indeed real.

Seems they decided to put the man himself to the test, and so they left him these notes:



Cory's note: "Santa, if you're real, please bring me 3 pairs of underwear." (Then he counted every pair of underwear he had in the house.)

Cole's note: "Dear Santa Claus, if you're real, please bring me a Santa Suit. P.S. (not a kiddish one)."

They left the notes by the plate with the goodies and a glass of milk (instead of a bottle of beer like last year), and laid down for their long winter's nap.



In the morning (at 5:45 a.m. mind you), they found this note written on the back of theirs:



Santa's response:

"Dear Cory and Cole,

Silly boys, I only have the suit I'm wearing and I'd freeze my knees without it. Cory, if you want underwear next year, you'll have to give me some notice. I was already flying when you thought of that one.

It seems to me you boys are unsure if you believe in me anymore. Instead of asking for last-minute feats even Santa can't pull off, you need to look in your hearts. Believe in what your heart tells you, and you'll always know the truth.

See you next year!

Santa

P.S. You didn't leave me a beer, but thanks for the goodies! Rudolf always likes the apple."

You'd think Santa could spell Rudolph's name by now, but...

When asked what they thought about Santa's note, they just plain said "I don't know."

No talk of him not being real though.

Unfortunately, while the boys were still revelling in their Santa bounty, Jo-Anne discovered that Joey, her pet rabbit, had expired sometime in the night of old age.

So, if you come over and happen to be digging in the deep freeze in the garage and stumble across a rabbit, there's a perfectly good reason for it.

Minnesota winters are not conducive to pet burials.

Day 358 - Christmas Eve

162.0 on the scale. 3.0 miles on the treadmill, most of them ran, and 150/100.

Today was a really good day. I slept in a little bit, and when I got up I whipped up some gingerbread pancakes for the boys, and snuck one for myself. They were pretty good, but I think the boys were only mildly impressed. They had like 3/4 a stick of butter in them.

So that made me wanna get on the treadmill. Which I did.

Then I got showered up and went sledding with the boys until I couldn't feel my fingers anymore. That was fun. The circular plastic sled was my sled of choice for speed, stability, and distance.

After we got back, I inspected our mailbox -- which apparently got hit by a snowplow and was dangling by a single overly-stressed screw -- to figure out what I needed to do and buy to fix it. I ran to the hardware store and got the stuff I needed, then went next door to Lakewinds to pick up some stuff and figure out what to do about supper on Christmas Eve, which we were spending alone.

I settled on a homemade Turkey pot pie (and vegetarian alternative).

After I got home and fixed the mailbox, I worked on a puzzle with the boys that we'd started a day or two ago for a few hours. That's sort of become a tradition. Big-ass puzzle over the holidays.

I got so engrossed in that that it got dark on me without me realizing and I had to rush out and light the luminaries. Our whole 3-block neighborhood does that every year, and I think I was one of the last people on the street to light 'em.

Those goddamn Hummels.

Anyway, I then came back in and started whipping up the turkey pot pie, which turned out scrumptiously, thank you.

Afterwards we cleaned up, and played an excruciatingly long game of UNO because of a misinterpretation of a rule. I threw the game and gave it to Jo at the last minute, just to end it. Otherwise I'm sure I would have won. :)

The, the boys got stuff ready for Santa. I inadvertently ate the last molassess cookie that they had intended to leave for Santa, so instead they left him some ribbon candy, a few storebought gingersnaps, a big apple for Rudolph, and a couple notes for the fat man.

A little last-minute wrapping, and that pretty made it a day.

So, it was a non-traditional Christmas Eve, but a pretty good day if I do say so myself. On to the big day tomorrow, when we'll celebrate at Jo's parents and do the gift openings.

Merry Christmas!

Day 356 - Ouch

160.5 on the scale, 3.0 miles on the treadmill, most of them run, and 150/100.

So yeah. I spent the majority of the day sleeping off the "A-game" that I brought to Lisa's graduation/birthday shindig last night. Yeah. Ouch.

So on and off in bed, reading, sleeping... I got on the computer a little bit, and by late afternoon I was feeling better and decided to get on the treadmill to sweat the remnants out of me. After that I was fine again. *whew*

Hagels get me in trouble. :)

Day 355 - OMG I'm Old

163.0 on the scale. No exercise again, wrenched back still. Sucks being old.

Day 354 - Happy Hour

164.0 on the scale. No exercise.

I'm not exactly sure what I did, but my back was absolutely killing me today. Mid-back. Spasms. The whole works.

Today, I spent a good portion of the day working on a series of spreadsheets to help us get better at allocating our resources. I'm a geek that way. I likes me some formulas.

I also attended a fun "Unofficial Target Happy Hour" at Bellanote. I got there around 5:30 or so with Kate and started 'a minglin'. Left around 11:00 or so after talking to a lot of people and having a fair amount of drinks.

Then, the final bunch left and decided to go to another bar, but I opted out and instead headed towards JD Hoyt's for some gumbo and cornbread because I hadn't eaten anything. Unfortunately for me, by the time I got there their kitchen was closed so I turned around and headed over to Runyons instead, where I sauntered up to the bar and ordered an olive burger.

A few stools down from me was a girl taking a "bar break" from work, she said. Where did she work that she could do that? Well, at Sinners, the strip joint next door.

Her name was Layla, and she scooted over to sit next to me and tell me about how slow a night she was having, and tried to talk me into visiting her in the V.I.P. room after I finished my burger. Only a $160 bucks she said, and I could lay down and everything. She reminded me that it was the holiday season so she needed some money to buy presents, so I should definitely visit her. It'd be a good time.

I'm sure she was heartbroken that I never showed.

But now when I'm walking by there on the way to a meeting or something and I see the girls taking their smoke break like they do, instead of averting my eyes like usual, if I see her I can be like "Hey Layla!" and make whoever's with me wonder.

Quote of the Day

On the back of a 1980-something Ford truck - "YES this is my truck. NO I won't help you move."

Day 353 - Crispy, Salty Indulgences

161.5 on the scale, no exercise.

Alternatively, I ate a plate of tator tots at lunch.

Day 352 - Talk, Talk, Talk

162.5 on the scale. No exercise yet, but I'ma do it after supper.

I spent most of the day today talking. Yes, talking.

To employees, both in person and online, about everything from workload to transition plans to holiday parties to interpersonal dynamics. To another agency owner over a sushi lunch. To yet another agency owner about an opportunity he may have wanted us to get involved in. To people I talk to all the time, and one I rarely get a chance to talk to anymore. To a guy I worked with at my first job over 10 years ago, briefly. To the printer of our holiday poster which unfortunately still hasn't gone out because of a problem gluing them.

Speaking of our poster, I changed my avatar in my chat programs to my festive illustrated self (from the poster).



Anyway, in the late afternoon I was able to fall silent for a spell and spend some time doing business planning stuff, including further modifying the org chart and finishing up the job description for the Account Director we need to find.

So it was busy all day all 'round.

It started with a nice surprise though. When I got in this morning, I found a bottle of champagne on my desk, and a couple of bags of bagels and cream cheese in the kitchen, courtesy of a project manager we've used many times. Thanks Sue! You're a peach!

Now I have a bottle of Malibu AND a bottle of champagne on my desk.

And a pineapple.

Day 351 - Ann Curry X-treme

164.0 on the scale. 3.0 miles on the treadmill, most of it ran, and 150/100.

Ann Curry bungee jumped off a bridge this morning, and I watched.

So today was a good day. We had our HAM Holiday Potluck over lunch today, in which it was revealed who our Secret Santas were. Mine, Matt, paraded into the conference room in a Spongebob costume with a pineapple and a bottle of Pineapple Flavored Malibu as my biggie gift.

Of course, I couldn't NOT put the costume on too.

Day 348 - Nickelodeon Universe Re-Kickoff

162.0 on the scale. No exercise.

So today we have a meeting at the MOA to get back on track with the Nickelodeon Universe site after a significant delay waiting for approval from Nickelodeon on the designs.

They were happy with them and had very little feedback, but it took like 30 days to get it!

OOF!

Anyway, it is kinda cool that I get to go to the Mall of America as part of my job. I got there a little early and thought I'd get a cup of coffee so I walked towards the Starbucks near their stage area and got swarmed by kids in tights with band instruments. I thought the place was a zoo, but it was just that a performance just got out. The mall was kinda quiet on a Friday afternoon for the week before x-mas.

I took the opportunity after the meeting to get a little bit more x-mas shopping done before heading home.

Anyway, today was the last day of the Secret Santa stuff. We reveal ourselves on Monday at a company potluck! Wooo!

Day 347 - A Real Post

162.5 on the scale. About 3.5 miles on the treadmill, 2.75 of which were ran, and 150/100.

Yes, I still have been exercising, although winter puts a definite damper on what I had been doing on the path. Stationary treadmill work just isn't like running/walking out on the path.

So today I notified the team of a resignation that I've known about for upwards of a month now, that of Kate, our Account Director. She's moving on to pursue some entrepreneurial passions of hers, and while I of course wish her well, she'll be missed.

The team took it relatively well, although everyone is sad to see her go, and Alexis is now on "quitter watch." Go Alexis!

We've been doing Secret Santas at work this week, and it has been fun to see what kind of crazy stuff is getting secretly dropped on people's desks. We have a potluck lunch on Monday at which identities will be revealed.

Jo worked on getting the Christmas Letters out tonight, so they'll be on the way soon! We've also been getting ready to send our HAM holiday greeting out. We get them back from the printer on Monday and packages will go out next week. It's a pretty cool poster showing our building and incorporating each of us Hamsters and some hidden surprises - go ahead and click for a little preview. Nice work Stephen!

Anyway, there, howzabout that? A REAL post!

Where The Hell Have I Been?

Um yeah, I've fallen hard off the blogwagon.

Why?

Well, I don't know that I have a good excuse, so I readily accept the hand slaps owed me. I guess I thought people weren't reading it anymore anyway, and I felt I didn't have much interesting to say, or things to chew the cud about that were appropriate for this sort of forum. So I lost the motivation and wit necessary to kill a half hour on this every day.

However, I'm starting to get comments (on the blog and off) from more than just my mother wondering where the hell I've been.

I'm here! Stuff is still going on! I'm not in a coma or sleeping under a bridge in St. Paul! Nor am I hibernating in the treehouse for the winter (although that sounds kinda nice).

I'll start doing better. I promise.