We Grew Up

Like the majority of America, my eyes were glued to the television to watch the changes that would affect the U.S., and possibly the world, with the electing of a new president. I voted, and for the first time in my life I felt great pride in having the ability to do so.

I voted for Obama , and though it might not have mattered because of where I live (a very "red" state), I felt that I exercised my rights as a citizen and was steeped in pride by doing so. I should disclose that I'm not a politico at all, so if you want to debate me on my decision, save your breathe. I don't follow all the issues, etc., but I felt that Obama was the best option. We'll see if I was right. I sure hope so.

As the news came in that Barack Obama had won, I felt that we, as a nation, grew up. History was made and I'm proud of the country that I live in to know that we looked past the color of one's skin and elected that person to the highest office in the country, if not the world.

I'm hoping this starts to rid the U.S. of the ugly stain that we've put on ourselves: slavery and discrimination. I know there will always be discrimination and racism, but we grew up last night and that gives me an overwhelming amount of pride, and I believe that is something the entire world is feeling.

I think I've become more sensitive to race and discrimination having two sisters that are adopted from Latin America and having a brother-in-law that is African American and a nephew that is part African America and Latin. I hope that from last night's outcome this will provide a brighter future for him...as well as the rest of us.

The Bet

I recently competed in a sprint triathlon with a client of mine. I'd always wanted to compete in one, but I made the mistake of making a wager with him to make it more interesting. We didn't put money on it, but I wish I had. The loser had to wear a Josh Groban t-shirt.

Needless to say I got beat. In fact, when he passed me on the bike, he serenaded me with a little with a Gorban fan..

Today I had to pay up and so me and my client went to lunch and I was paraded around in the local Kneader''s. When I went to order, the cashier saw the shirt and did everything she could not to laugh and until my client said that it was OK to mock me.

I now remember why I don't bet.

Happy Mother's Day, Grandma!

Out of the blue, my brother asked my to send him an invite to our family tree on Geni. I haven't looked at it in a long time, and to my surprise, I had messed up on the living status of the infamous Granny Goose. The Goose is alive and well.

My brother alerted me to my folly with a "That's just cold!"



Sorry it is so small.

Pet Peeves

I haven't ranted in a while and have been wanting to do this for a while now. I might add to the list and welcome your pet peeves.

• People who WRITE in CAPS every OTHER word.
• people wholl write in lowercase without using punctuation especially in emails
• People who use the exclamation point after every sentence!!!!! Are people really that excited?
  
• People who signal after changing lanes.
• People who chew gum loud.
• One-uppers.
• People who purposely talk with a lisp.
• Blue Steel.
• People who don't separate paragraphs in blogs or emails. Don't you realize if you break up your story/blog/e-mail into smaller paragraphs more people will read it?
• People who forward chain e-mails and ridiculously, outlandish stories that claim to be true. Check Snopes.com before sending it to me.
• People who spell DVDs and CDs "DVD's and CD's". DVD's and CD's what?

I feel better now.

Look what's back!

I'm wearing this at my mom's wedding.

A Six-Month Recap

I figured since I was waiting around for IT to configure a computer, I would take the time to post something. It'll be interesting to see if anyone notices since I've appeared to have fallen off the blogging radar. Truth is, I've been busy and blogging for clients, so it seems to be that blogging has turned into work as opposed to a leisure activity.

So here's what has happened in my life since October in no particular order:

Worked lots
Competed in a triathlon against a client and lost our bet. Now I have to wear a Josh Groban shirt.
Ran the Moab Half Marathon (2:01).
Worked some more.
Found out I have another kid on the way.
Been to Vegas on business three times -- man, I hate Vegas.
Got fatter.
Got an iMac
Got an iPhone
Did I mentioned I worked?

Talk to you in a few more months.

Based on my feelings the few weeks leading up to the race, I'm pretty happy with the time I posted. It's not my slowest time -- that was a 4:09 time at the Salt Lake City Marathon in 2006 -- but it's still 17 minutes slower than last year's St. George. I joked that I'm a minute slower for every pound I've gain in the last 12 months.

Here's a recap of the race:

Before the gun
It was unusually cold for the start of the race -- 39 degrees -- and so when my time wasn't spent waiting in line at the Port-a-Potties, it was spent by one of the fires getting the muscles warm for the outside in.

Miles 1-7
It's really funny how good I feel after seven miles when running a marathon; I wish I could feel that good every time I run that distance. Most of that time was spent talking, laughing and expending a lot of energy. I went Hulk Hogan on the extra layer I wore, giving the crowd a little something to cheer about. I was right on track to finish under fours hours at this point.

Miles 8
I put this alone because at around mile 8 you have to run up the dreaded Veyo. It's a mile-long hill that has a 6-8% grade. From what I hear, Heartbreak Hill in Boston has nothing on Veyo. I lost a little ground at Veyo and ran it pretty slow, especially near the top.

Miles 9-13.1
After recovering from Veyo, I got back on track and picked up the pace a bit and at mile 10 or 11 me and my uncles started running with a guy pushing his friend in a wheelchair. The two have run 17 races prior to St. George, but never before had they attempted a marathon and their long run was only 11 miles. The man in the wheelchair had cerebral palsy and it was his idea to have his friend push him. It was very inspiring to see them and I hope to have a friend working in T.V. do a story about them. At the halfway mark we were two minutes over our pace, but that was because we planned to do negative splits.

Miles 13.2-18
In years past this stretch has always been my fastest because it is mostly downhill and this year was no different. About the time I round the bend and head down the hill I get a mental boost. At mile 14 a guy running the marathon with no shoes passed me.

Miles 19-21
I started to mentally have issues during this stretch. I tried to turn on my iPod Shuffle and zone out, but the thing wouldn't work. I was very close to throwing it into the crown or selling it to a spectator for 20 bucks. I eventually put it in my pocket, grabbed an Otter Pop from a little girl handing them out and trudged forward.

Miles 22-24
My uncles and I seesawed a bit: they would pass me and then a half mile later I would pass them. At mile 24 we stabilized and ran together -- misery loves company.

Miles 25-26.2
At this point I really asked myself, "Why am I doing this?" but having my uncles to commiserate with helped a lot. At mile 26 I saw my wife and child and seriously thought about crying when I saw them, but sucked it up. The plan was to run with my daughter through the end -- I did this a few races back and she liked it -- but she seemed like she weighed a ton. We crossed the line, her in tears because she wanted her mommy, me almost in tears because I was beat our of my mind.

Post Race
It was windy and in the low 60s so I got pretty cold quickly, but still decided to get an ice massage -- glad I did. I ate some ice cream and bread and longed for a shower. After the shower I indulged in my post-race meal of choice: Chalupas from Taco Bell.

I'm glad I did it and will continue to run the St.George Marathon each year. I'm semi disappointed in my time, but based on my last few weeks I've got be happy I finished upright. Two days later I can walk and will probably do a few runs this week.

More on Bob Marshall

If you remember, a few months ago I blogged a bit about Bob Marshall and running the Boston Marathon with ALS. I mentioned in one of the two posts that Kathy Aiken was going to do a story on them. Well, here is it. What a great story.

Beep Beep!

Like every Saturday morning, I woke up early to inflict pain on myself by running a long run. The distances range between 10 and 20 miles, depending on what race I'm training for -- in this case it was the St. George Marathon. I don't have a set route I take and lately I've been driving miles from my house, leaving my car in a parking lot and running back.

Yesterday I parked at Snowbird and then ran to my in-laws, where we would be having breakfast before my brother-in-law's wedding. First off, it was a dumb run because seven of the 14 miles were a steep downhill grade that has brought me to a limp today. About two miles into my run, I passed Tanner's Flat, a popular campsite, and on the other side of the road there was a coyote. I think that was the second time in my life that I've seen a coyote in the wild and thought it was pretty cool to see. It seemed skittish, but accustomed to people.

I rounded the next bend in the road when I heard a sound. I looked behind me to see either the same or another coyote. I didn't think much of it and continued to run. A half mile later my shoelace came untied and I stopped to tie it. As I started to bend down, I looked behind me to find that the coyote was following me.

As I got on one knee to tie my shoe I saw the coyote's pace quicken towards me. I finished tying my shoe, stood up, grabbed a cantaloupe-sized rock and started running again. I figured if he attacked me, I'd bludgeon him. Two hundred meters later I ditched the rock and picked up my pace. A minute later, I think a driver that was coming up the canyon realized what may be happening and passed me and veered off at the coyote and scared him off.

All I could think was that my wife and her family wouldn't be happy if I stole my brother-in-law's thunder by being mauled by a coyote.

More Baseball

There's been a lot of talk about Barry Bonds lately since he's on the cusp of breaking Hank Aaron's home run record. As I was doing the datacast for the Bees the other night, I started talking about what I would do if I were a mediocre pitcher and was facing Bonds tonight. First off, I should make it known that I'm not a huge Barry fan.

So, what would I do? I would serve up batting practice pitches to him until he hit broke the record. I figure that way I would at least be remembered for something and be able to tell my kids and grandkids that I did something notable in sports.

Baseball Story

As some of you may or may not know, I do some work for the Salt Lake Bees as the Internet datacaster. You know, the version of the game you watch online that shows where the pitches are coming in and what's happening with the game. I do that.

Today, as the official scorer and I are waiting for the game to start, out of the blue he says that two good guys are going into the Hall of Fame -- Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. The official scorer, who's been around baseball for years and is a scout for the White Sox, then starts to tell me a funny story about Gwynn, who is now the baseball coach at San Diego State University.

A few years back when San Diego State was playing at the U, a San Diego State player gets thrown out at first on a close play. Tony emerges from the dugout and says to the umpire at first, "Hey, Blue, I think that the runner is safe." The umpire disagrees with Tony and says that he was out.

Tony then asks the umpire, who was a local, where he could get a nice steak. For the next five minutes the ump explains the directions, using his hands, to a local joint and Tony, making sure he has the directions right, copying the ump's gestures.

At the end of the inning, the home plate ump walks over to the guy at first and says, "So, how did it feel to get bawled out by a former major leaguer?" The first base ump responds, "Oh, he wasn't bawling me out, he was just wondering where to get a good steak."

If you had to spend the rest of your life listening and watching one of the three videos which would it be?
	Average Homeboy
	Baby Blues
	Wanna Love Me Tender
pollcode.com free polls

YouTube's "Blazin'"

Here's another something something to put a smile on your face. I don't know where to start with this one, but like the others I posted I can't stop watching it.

Another Little Something From YouTube

I thought I'd share this little morsel with you. Hope it brightens up your week.

A Little Something From YouTube

This video is like sour milk in that you know it's going to stink, but yet you still smell it. It's a horrible music video, but I can't stop watching it. However, there are a few things that I've learned from this; one, we now know where the Wiggles got there start, two, Zod from Superman has a gay younger brother.

I hope you enjoy it as much I do.