157.6 on the scale, 5.0 miles on the path, about 4.0 of them ran, and 150/100.

Jo's still in the hospital. Likely to be discharged tomorrow.

158.0 on the scale, 11.0 miles biking on the path, and 150/100.

Juggling

155.4 on the scale, 5.0 miles on the path, about 4.25 of them ran, and 150/100.

Today I spent hopping back and forth between work and the hospital to keep Jo some company. I made it over there twice, once before our Trivia Tuesday lunch, and then mid-afternoon through the end of the day. She was kinda out of it still from the meds, and drifting in and out of sleep, but at least she had some company.

I left there around 6:00 after helping Jo fix herself up in preparation for some visitors tonight. Jenny Sue came by, as did her Mom's Group friend Jackie, and her mom, Bruce and the boys.

I ran a couple errands, including a trip to Lakewinds where I purchased a bachelor's supper of miscellaneous schtuff, like pita, aged cheddar, egg salad, some 12-grain crackers for the cheese and hummus I already had at home, and a tiny little single-serving of Ben & Jerry's.

I settled down after eating to watch a couple episodes of The Office, one of Family Guy, and then got a wild hair up my ass to make some popcorn and play Guitar Hero on the PS2. I rocked out on some Weezer and Santana on bass! I even tried a few songs on the hard setting.

Watch out, I'm gonna be a rock star.

Quote of the Day

Best trivia question at Trivia Tuesday: "What does a spermologer collect?"

Not what it sounds like, but we had a hay-day with it around the conference room table.

HR did not approve.

"Yikes!" and "What is it about me?"

Well, I gotta say, my time sitting in this McDonald's in the hospital has been quite interesting.

After being here a half hour, an old guy with two seriously loud and RUDE kids chose a booth right across from mine. I mean like HOLY CRAP rude. This guy is barely giving a shit that they're gut-belching up a freakin' storm, honking their noses into a napkin, and generally acting like boisterous pre-teen morons. Although, I guess I'm not sure they're his kids, but still...

My kids would have been in total shit by now, probably pulled out of the restaurant by their earlobes. Whether they were my kids or not.

And then, fercripessake, what is it about me that attracts people like my pal Stan to just pull up a freakin' chair and offer up their take on current events and computers?

Enter this guy.



Out of the blue, he literally turns a chair from the next table at me, sits down and asks, "Is that a Dell?". Ok. There's a huge freakin' glowing apple on the cover. Yes. It is totally a Dell.

He then proceeded to tell me all about "Billy", this hacker that started Microsoft with 1's and 0's and spare shit that he found on the side of the road.

He THEN jumped to Brett Favre, and went on for a long time how if he were an NFL commissioner, he wouldn't let him come back, unless he would just be a coach. He determined that he's too old to play after doing some not-so-quick, out-loud math about how many years of life he likely had left.

Short of being a dick, how do I get rid of people like him? I need to know.

I need that trick in my arsenal of people management skills.

Surgery Day

157.8 on the scale, no exercise yet.

I'm happy to report that Jo's surgery went very well! I'd been waiting for about 2 hours with her friend from Mom's Group, Jackie, when the surgeon came in and let us know everything went smoothly, and she was being moved to recovery where she'll spend the next couple of hours before I see her.

For those that may not have known, Jo had surgery on her back to fix her sciatic nerve pain that she's been having for lotsa years. The procedure is actually called a Laminectomy, where they basically route out space in her vertebrae to relieve pressure on her spinal column, then they fuse the vertebrae together. He said he found only one spot with some nerve damage but he got in and repaired it just fine.

I also got a series of bits of good news via email while I was in the waiting room, so it has been a good day.

It appears we've had a job offer accepted by a developer candidate, we just got news that we got a game project for Kellogg's and Guitar Hero with Leo Burnett out of Chicago, we got another opportunity from a long-time pal-o-HAM, and we just had a buncha big chunks of receivables come in. Good day all 'round.

Can I hear a w00t!?

Rollin' Down the Highway

156.8 on the scale, 11.0 miles biking on the path, and 150/100.

My day today was spent road-trippin' to Fargo, to retrieve the chilluns from my parents. I got to Fargo a little early and stopped at Best Buy to get another car charger for my phone, which I forgot to bring, and then met Dad and the boys at Granite City for lunch.

Had me a scrumptious Chilled Shrimp & Cucumber Salsa Salad, as well as a few bites of the kids pastaliciousness. The boys and I had a good trip back, filled mostly with them playing Nintendo DS and me singing out of tune to my iPod.

We did hit a really horrible traffic jam around Monticello, where we were literally stopped on the interstate for a long time. Then we'd be going 60. Then we'd be stopped dead again. It was frustrating, to say the least.

When I got home, I grilled up some pork brisket that we'd bought at Costco yesterday, and then quickly got on the bike to take advantage of the remaining daylight. While riding, I noticed my tires were really kinda low, scarily so. Although, I also noticed that there's a new sort of air valve on my tires, for which I have no pump.

I stopped at Ric & Mary Jo's on the way back to tap Ric's expertise and see what's what. He was kind enough to let me have an adapter thing-a-ma-jig to adapt the new kinda valve to my old kinda valve's pump.

THANKS RIC!

Rockin' at the Huschka's

158.4 on the scale, 5.0 miles on the path, about 4.0 of them ran.

Today was a quiet sorta Saturday, at least during the day.

I ran, I ran so far away, I mowed the front and side yard, I went to Costco with Jo...

But then evening hit, and we drove all the way to Michigan to visit the Huschka's in their new house in Woodbury (I know, NOT Michigan, but it seems that far east) for a BBQ.

Had a lotta fun conversations, a few drinks, a lotta food, and then the night culminated in some Rock Band on the XBox 360. I was a Rock Band virgin until tonight, but after playing guitar, bass and drums (oh no no no, no singing), I found that my instrument of choice is the bass. And I did alright!

I'm no expert like Ryan, who both played guitar AND sang (both on expert mode) on a song or two, but I managed to hold my own on medium for a couple of songs and got as high as 98% accuracy.

That's more success than I can tout for other times I've lost my virginity.

Ba da boom! *cymbal crash*

I am SOO not funny.

156.4 on the scale, 5.0 miles on the path, about 4.0 of them ran, and 150/100.

Who Invented Meetings?

156.6 on the scale. No exercise.

But, I ran that 5K last night. I DID have to stop and walk about a block, but I did good!!

Today was another of those back-to-back meeting days. It started with a trip down to Edina to interview a developer candidate at a coffee shop near Southdale.

Afterwards, I headed back to the office for a 10:00 meeting, then into a Resource Allocation meeting, then into a Business Direction meeting for the rest of the afternoon.

Then Jo and I went to a little delicatessen/pizzaria in Excelsior called "Johnny Nova's" (I think) and each had a tuna melt.

I dig the tuna melt. I do.

Day of Rest and Glee

159.0 on the scale, and no exercise.

Taking a day of rest before the 5K tomorrow evening!

I saw The Hold Steady at First Ave tonight! wooo!

I bought two tickets awhile ago, but Jo hates First Avenue because of how crowded it gets so she didn't wanna go. I tried to get someone else to go, but failed, so I ended up getting on craigslist this afternoon and finding someone to buy my spare ticket for $50. So, I essentially saw them for all of $19.50. Wooo!

Anyway, I left the office around 5:45 or so and walked to the general area, and plopped myself down at the bar at Bar 508, and ordered myself a plate of spaghetti and meatballs (for my pre-race carbo load, ya know!). I'd arranged to meet the ticket buyer around 8:30 in front of First Ave, so headed over there and made the transaction before heading in to enjoy the show.

The opening band, "The Loved Ones" (I think), were okay, but not my cuppa tea. But then The Hold Steady came out a little after 10:00.



I couldn't stop smiling through at least half of the show, and I swear to God, I was gleeful for at least half of that half.

If I were a rockstar, I'd be that guy. A regular guy, on fire from within. Watch his arms.

Dave Ewald, if you're reading this and YOU were a rockstar, you'd be that guy way more than me.

Just sayin'.

Quote of the Day

At The Hold Steady show:

"This song is so sad it takes 18 strings."

Totally a Monday

156.4 on the scale. 5.0 miles on the path, about 4.25 of them ran, and 150/100.

So, after the morning routine, I approached the car to head to work, pressed unlock on the remote, and nothing happened. That's happened before, so I just stuck the key in the door the old fashioned way, hopped into the car, stuck the keys in, and discovered it was stone cold dead. No dings. No lights. No nothing.

Awesome.

After I emailed the team to let them know I wouldn't be there for the Monday Morning Meeting, I jumped it with the van, got it started and let it run for a little bit, then headed downtown without a hitch.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I shut off the car and for good measure, I turned the key again and was happy to hear it fire up again, without issue.

I left the office around 11:45 or so to meet Jo for lunch, and after it fired up again with no problem, I thought I was in the clear.

Yeah, not so much.

After work, I walked up to the car and hit the remote, and again, nothing. So, since I was a dumbass and didn't bring the jumper cables like my gut told me I should, I had to call and get a jump. $64.40 later (what a racket!), I was up and moving, and headed straight to Park Chrysler Jeep in Burnsville, the only dealer service department I could find that was open past 5:30.

They tested the battery while I was standing there and found it was just fine, so they had to sleuth for awhile, which was my cue to go get something to eat. I'd just finished my Garlic Pork from The House of Wu when they called to tell me the found out it was the switch that controls the blinkers and lights. It had a short that would turn the fog lights on even though they were off.

$243.17 parts and labor later, Pete's purrin' again. Total cost: $307.57.

Peace of mind: priceless.

Don't wanna know what I weigh, but 27.0 miles biking to Fort Lincoln and 0/0.

Headed back to MPLS right now!

First Full Day in Bismarck

154.0 on the scale, 6.0 on the BISMARCK path, about 5.0 of them ran.

This morning was everyone's first sighting of Brady and Dez, who arrived sometime after 1:30 a.m. last night. So, first order of business was a few rounds of hugs and hellos and stuff, then we helped ourselves to a buncha strawberries and delicious bran muffins mom had prepared in advance. Grandma R. arrived mid-morning too, and spurred another round of hugs and stuff.

Anyway, I went for a run, then while I was getting cleaned up, the ladies left for some shopping which left the boys (Brady, me, and the boys) alone with nothing to do. SO, we decided to go to see WALL-E and eat popcorn! Cory had seen it already, but the rest of us hadn’t, and I gotta say, I liked it a lot! After the movie we headed to the bridal place to get Brady’s tux, which turned out to be sized incorrectly so they had to order a couple new pieces.

While he was getting that taken care of, I was getting some business stuff taken care of, prepping to make a job offer to a couple of people for our development team.

Anyway, we went home and I napped for a bit, until the ladies got home, then we got ready to go to Pat & Bern’s (Grandma R’s sister) for a BBQ to celebrate Pat’s 70th birthday. Had some deeeeeelicious sloppy joes and brats (yes, I had both) and some scrumptious potato salad and more chips than one man should eat. We also played some blongo ball and chatted with the rellies, and had a good time until the mosquitos started coming out. The little buggers ruin everything. Grant and Abby had fun playing with Cole and Cory (and Brandon!), and Grant was his usual full-contact self, which is fun. He’s a huggy, tackly little bugger.

After we got back home, Brady and Dad and I headed out because Brady had a bug to play some blackjack. Dad and Brady sat down at the table at the Expressway Suites and I had a beer and watched. I’d have played, but I’m a novice and I’d have slowed the whole table down with stupid questions. That, and I didn’t have the bug. I would have rather gone to the casino and dumped some coins into a slot machine.

But, a good first full day!

Game On Catalyst

153.4 on the scale, 5.0 miles on the path, 4.25 of them ran, and 100/50.

155.8 on the scale, 14.0 miles biking on the path, and 150/100.

Mickey Rooney has taken up biking on the path lately. Yeah, ok, a look-alike.

156.4 on the scale, 5.0 miles on the path, 4.0 of them ran, and 100/50.

HAMBBQ!

Forgot to step on the scale, but 5.0 miles on the path, 4.0 of them ran, and 100/50.

Had another encounter with the bluebird today! I most definitely think it is a good thing, having this bluebird appearing in my life.

So, this morning, after the run, I had to cut my post-path exercises short to get to a doctor's appointment on time. Afterwards, I took care of some things that had needed doing for awhile, including dropping off the final missing pieces for our personal taxes to the accountant dude.

Then, I headed home to spend the afternoon getting ready for the HAMBBQ, which included sculpting my beardy goodness into something which embodied the word "Boy Band" for the second round of Hairypalooza judging.

I chose to model my face after the face of one Joey Fat One (oh, oops, I totally mean Fatone) of everyone's favorite boyband, NSYNC.

It felt dirty, but I did it.

I'll post pictures as they become available.

Anyway, people started arriving around 6:30 or so, and I figured I better get the grilling underway because there was imminent threat of thunderstorms. Fortunately, we made it through two grillfuls of burgers, brats and dogs, as well as a good half-hour of post grilling consumption time before the skies turned yellow-green on us again and winds picked up, which forced us into the garage.

The round II judging for Hairypalooza happened there, where Stephen came out the ultimate winner. I'm happy to say I won my category for "Boy Band", but I think that was only because my competitor, Eric, did little more than to put on a pair of shades.

The storm dumped on us, but then let up, and we started a bonfire which ended up burning until about 1:30 or so. Granted, the last hour was only me and Brad, but hey, it was still burning and therefore the party was still going. Len's kid, Colton, and Cory and Cole were burning the midnight oil too, and were up until at least 12:30 or so.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for a great time! It is always a blast!

Hairypalooza Judgement Day

155.0 on the scale, 14.0 miles biking on the path, and 150/100.

Today's adventures mostly had to do with logistics (which were conquered), emergency evacuations (which I participated in), and beard pageantry (which was hairy - ba da bum!).

As for logistics, I had a pretty full day, with calendar events stacked back-to-back, including coffee with an employee, a conference call with Target, lunch with a friend and former employee, a new business meeting with Best Buy, and then the Hairypalooza Beer:30 first-round judging. I had to do some juggling and do the conference call from my cell in the car, and relocate lunch to somewhere closer to Best Buy headquarters, but managed to keep everything on the books and mostly on time. Well, aside from getting lost on the way back from the Best Buy meeting due to construction closings and detours.

Anyway, I had a very enjoyable lunch with Laura, our former office manager and friend and fellow Spring Hill School parent. We went to Tandoor for some Indian food, which I'd been craving, and she'd never tried. Man, I loves the naan. Just sayin'.

As we were leaving the restaurant, the skies grew dark and started spilling a few raindrops, while threatening to really open up. I drove across 494 in it to Best Buy's corporate campus, went in and got checked in, and then sat to wait for the rest of the HAM crew while I watched the skies outside turn an eerie shade of yellow-green and the wind pick up significantly. Seth dropped them all off at the door then went to park, and shortly after they got in, rather than being able to head up to the meeting we were supposed to be in, Best Buy's emergency system kicked in and prompted us all to evacuate to the emergency location specified, namely, the basement. Seth was stuck in the parking lot in heavy driving rain. So, I got to see parts of Best Buy's headquarters that I've never seen, thankyouverymuch.

After about 20-25 minutes down there, we were allowed to come back up and we crammed an hour-long meeting into the remaining time we had. Despite the adventure, the meeting seemed to go well, and hopefully we'll get the project.

So then, heading back, I got lost. The ramp for 35W north was closed, so I took the Lyndale exit and headed north on that, then ran into a stretch of Lyndale that was completely tore up, and that's when I went astray. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 45th and Lyndale, my adventure started, one that led me into relatively unknown territory weaving around Lake Harriet and neighborhoods unknown to me. I finally hit a major thoroughfare, which I knew would take me back to Lyndale, and from there I knew how to get back downtown, but by then I was already late for Hairypalooza.

They waited for me to start the festivities, thankfully. The judges (Tiffany, Alexis, Anna and Pete) closely inspected all of our beards to judge for "longest" (Stephen), "fullest" (Matt), "most celebrity resemblance" (Kevin), "most natural" (Brad) and "sexiest" (Eric). I was not named winner in any of them, and so did not come away with a prized wife-beater tank top, like the winners received. Funniest moment was when Kevin won the "most celebrity resemblance" category for looking like Burl Ives.

Anyway, the rest of the day, we played some Wii, and I responded to a couple of emails, then headed home.

155.2 on the scale, no exercise yet today.

156.0 on the scale, 12.0 miles biking on the path, and 150/100.

153.6 on the scale, 5.0 miles on the path, 4.0 of them ran, and 150/100.

Song of the DayBelle & Sebastian - If She Wants Me

This song is about letting go of perfection, and just holding on to what makes you happy.

There's something really appealing about that.

Song of the DayXTC - My Bird Performs

The bluebird incident and the insight people were giving me about what it meant (thanks by the way!!) made me think of this song, which has been on my selects list since last winter.

"The cage is open, but she's no desire to fly."

That's when you know you're lucky.

Celebrity Sighting

I saw Eric Perkins at the Deephaven 4th of July festivities! Man that guy's tall.

I guess he lives in Deephaven, and attends every year.

Who knew?

That's two Kare 11 personalities that I've seen in person now.

A number of years back I saw Ken Barlow, the suave Kare 11 weatherman of days past, now in Boston.

Song of the DayPatience and Prudence - Tonight You Belong To Me

This randomly came on this morning. I remember when I first heard Patience and Prudence, I had to ask if they were for real or were some kind of parody or something.

No, they're for real. From the late 50's I think?

152.6 on the scale, 5.0 miles on the path, 4.25 of them ran, and 150/100.

What's it mean when running, if a brilliant blue bird is in your path?

Wall of Women

154.2 on the scale, 12.0 miles biking on the path, and 150/100.

So, you may remember me mentioning the cast of characters that are regulars on the path. One of the phenomenon I regularly run into, and detest, is what I call the "Wall of Women." The one I referred to last year was a group of four or five older women, but this year a new group has formed that I run into just about every other day, and they seem oblivious to the fact that they share the path with other people.

This morning, I managed to capture a picture of them.



This is most irritating. So is encountering a couple that walks smack in the middle of the path so you can't get by them on either side without disrupting their bliss.

I mean, seriously. Keep your bliss to one side or the other, so I can have my bliss.

Momma Said There'd Be Days Like This

154.4 on the scale, 5.0 miles on the path, 4.25 of them ran, and 150/100.

So today was packed. As you can see in the snapshot of my calendar, my first meeting started at 8:30, and from that point, I was pretty much booked back-to-back all day.

The good news is that all of the meetings were internal so there was no crazy travel involved, and that three of the meetings I was scheduled for were developer interviews, one of which I was unable to attend due to good old fashioned double-booking.

It is great that we're getting a number of interested candidates, so I'm happy to pack in as many interviews as possible, but man, days like this are just grueling I think.

So, YES, I saw the two comments posted to last Thursday's mini-post. I know I've dropped the ball again, but yesterday was just as back-to-back as today was, and last week Thursday and Friday were pretty jam-packed too.

However, some fun stuff happened, of course, and so I's gonna do some back posting. RIGHT NOW dammit.

Song of the DayPsapp - Leaving In Coffins

Everyone is growing old. I know I am.