Happy Holidays, signing off for 2 days

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

If you had told me on December 24th, 2009 that in a year I would get up on Christmas Eve and run 3.2 miles in 30 minutes to start  the day I would have said you were crazy.  But that's exactly what I did. I want to take moment to savor where I'm at from a year ago.

• Run an average of 14-15 miles a week
• Can do 30+ pushups and 20+ situps without stopping
• Down to around 180 lbs. (give or take a couple of holiday pounds)

That's pretty damn good, and real progress, and to be honest if that's where I am a year from now I won't be disappointed.  Although I would like to improve all of those numbers at least some over the next year. But the above is certainly nothing to sneer at, and something to be very satisfied with and thankful that I had the determination, focus, and support of my loved ones to get there.

Busy day of projects and tasks around the house today, in preparation for tonight and tomorrow. Glad to have pretty much all shopping done so I don't have to really leave the house (except for a quick walk). 

As my gift to my family (particularly Kim) I am going into Internet silence for 2 days: no Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr until the 26th. It's also a test of my own ability to do that, because that wouldn't be a bad thing. So, until then, have a wonderful couple of days, enjoy the Holidays, be Thankful for all that you have, focus on those you love, both within reach and out of reach, and above all: 

Have fun! It's a holiday! Enjoy yourselves!

 The world will still be there Sunday morning.

The Hoildays are starting to take their toll on the kids

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

There is a downside to getting the Christmas Tree up, and getting all of those presents wrapped and other things. It means that the routine of school Monday through Friday, regular bed times, etc. have all flown out the window. In the past couple of days Daniel and now Emily are definitely getting more touchy.

Daniel has needed some extra TLC at bed times, regressing as far as needing someone to carry him to bed.  He has also been a little more touchy when we tell him he can't do soemthing, or he has to eat something or whatever. And he has become attached to some stuffed animals, carrying themaround, or at least wanting them at bed time. All of this is pretty unusual behavior for him.

Emily has also been a little more touchy. Sunday, when Kim told her she was going shopping, and she was supposed to saty with me, and Em just broke down. Then on Monday the cousins were over, and when it was time for them to leave, there was another round of hysterics. And apparently today she had a breakdown at Dad's, with no prompting.

James at least has handled it all fine, one of the perks of getting older. We just have to suck it up, take a little more time with them, and be a little more patient. 

Batteries recharged by a day of full on TV slothfullness

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Took the most advantage I could of lightly scheduled weekend, doing as little as I could get away with. Had time for nice visit with my family. One run went well, second was overtaken by the weekend theme of laziness. Clearing the decks in final countdown as Holiday plans come into focus.

Family

I didn't plan on this, but with Kim having to work on Sunday so she could have Christmas day off Sunday was more relaxed than normal.  SHe is my big motivator, it never feels right to just sit around and do nothing when she is around, at least in the mornings.  Then she went off Christmas shopping after work, which meant I had a day with nothing really planned, extra kids, and the chance to watch my 2 favorite NFL teams lose (as the Rams were actually televised, in a rare occurence).  So I took advantage and spent all day SUnday just lazing on the couch, watching a movie, then football, then various other shows.  It wasn't like I didn't have things to do, I just wasn't motivated.

Saturday was focused on picking up prior to a family visit, and then some major Christmas present wrapping.  Then a little relaxed shopping, dinner out, and more Christmas light looking.  The biggest issue over the weekend was getting the kids to bed at a reasonable time, Daniel especially fought it.  Next week could be interesting with my being home and them having chances to really stay up late, since I won't be having to get them up early or anything like that.

Training

My Saturday run went quite well, handled the new, rougher route, and snow on the sidewalk with little problem.  I might have gone a little faster without the snow, but it was a good run regardless. Sunday was dealt a blow by the above laziness, I did finally get out for a run in the early afternoon but did not complete my scheduled run, cutting it short.  The key as always when these things occur is to not let 1 bad workout get me down, just pick back up the next day, which I did this morning, really pushing it with my push ups.

My holiday eating is definitely starting to add up, but since the focus is on changing my eating habits I am trying not to let that get me down either. It's all about the habits, so right now I am maintaining the exercise habits, and changing the eating habits, so when that kicks in, and the holiday indulgences go away I can return to healthier and lighter eating.  I mean the thing is, when I am running 5 miles, and doing 100 push ups and sit ups it is not as crucial that my weight is going down.  I know it will go down again, once my other habits get established.

Pictures

Uploaded a bunch more pictures on Picasa last week and the weekend. The interesting thing about Picasa is it has a facial recognition feature. So while I was working this I took the time to look at pictures of myself, and it is kind of astounding how much I have changed over the last year. 

It was also fun to compile the total of all our Chrsitmas pictures and put them on our digital picture frame for the holidays.  That has been fun to watch the kids, and how much they have changed over the years.  And also how much we have changed things like the decor of our house. 

Football

Well my teams did not fare any better having me watch them. It was fun to actually watch the Rams, instead of just following the scores at the bottom of the screen. Although it would have been far more fun had they actually played better.  I have accepted the fact that for whatever reason the Broncos just aren't very good right now. Getting Tebow in the game was fun, and he did provide a spark, but it is clear that at least from a play calling perspective he is limited in what they can do right now. But in the long run a day like yesterday was really my last gasp for this season, no more dedicating an entire day to watching the games.

Today's lesson: not an easy one

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

From the Tao:

Bearing and Nurturing

Creating but not owning

Giving without demanding

This is harmony

Not nearly as easy as it sounds.  When your life is as blessed as mine, with so many giving people in it. You would think that it would be easy to learn to give without demanding, and yet I find myself focusing not on what I am giving these holidays but what will I get? Admitting this shows that I am not perfect.

What I am is trying real hard to be better at these things. And my life is certainly full of splendid examples of people who give and give and give, with little or no expectation of anything in return. So, while I may not have much to give at this time, either because those who give to me and my family ask and want nothing in return, or need what I cannot provide. I will strive to provide what I can to those I can give to.

That means giving to my children: a loving home, comfort when they need it, education and wisdom, and examples of the way to live your life.

Giving to my wife: a loving home, support in all of her endeavors, comfort and support when she needs it, inspiration.

Giving to my extended family: support in their endeavors, thanks for all they give me, help when they call for it.

Giving to my friends: inspiration and support hopefully in their daily lives.

Those are all things I give, and my lesson is to teach myself to lessen my demands, conscious and unwitting.

Interesting conundrum: how to focus on the here and now, but not lose touch with the future

Dear James, Daniel and Emily

In all of this talk on developing better Focus, and learning to better appreciate what I am doing I have come across this problem, a problem best summed up in this quote:

~ Nobody seems more obsessed by diet than our anti-materialistic, otherworldly, New Age spiritual types. But if the material world is merely illusion, an honest guru should be as content with Budweiser and bratwurst as with raw carrot juice, tofu and seaweed slime ~

Edward Abbey

 

For most of my life, up until a couple of years ago the above quote represented an important point to me.  If you really believed in an after life, and wanted to focus on the here and now, who cared if you had that double cheeseburger and fries?  If you really and truly lived only in the present then the goal should be to enjoy that present, right?

Of course that sort of philosophy leads to the following:

Eat, Drink and be Merry;
End up Fat and Drunk

The lesson being to be focused on the present, in order to enjoy it, and savor it, but be mindful of the future, there are lessons to be learned, and consequences to be avoided if possible.

The opposite problem is to be too mindful of the past and lessons learned there. This coming from someone who treasures his past, whose greatest joy from Facebook comes from reuniting with old friends and acquaintances.  But you can get obsessed by that, and live in the past, and let past lessons paralyze you in the present.

In this I prefer to try to think like a child.  Kids really don't think much about the past, it's just a kind of hazy thing, because it is either very close, or because their sense of time is different it really doesn't mean anything to them.  You never hear a child talk about how great they were at something when they were younger.  You never hear kids sit around and talk about their 'glory days'.

All of the above can be summed up:

Learn from the past, Focus on the present, Consider the future

Reminding myself to pause and enjoy, instead of exhaustively focusing on the negative

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Just had a wonderful lunch out.  For the first time I put my new habit of not reading or watching TV or otherwise occupying my attention while eating to the test of eating out alone.  And I have to say that not only did I feel the effect of getting fuller, but I can honestly say I enjoyed the meal more.

And that is the key, the essence of what my new focus has become (unspoken, and more unconscious before now).  It's not like I live what I would call a hectic life.  My job and my wife's job is not especially stressful, the work pretty much ends as soon as I leave the office.  Other than the seasonal sports the kids do not demand an excessive amount of time any more.  So to a certain extent we do get a decent amount of free time.

But I have a tendency to focus on things well beyond my control, and allow that focus to zero in on the negative.  I become embroiled in following politics, and arguing about it. Or let sports overtake my life, again something well beyond my control.  And this wears me out emotionally and intellectually.

So, taking the time to focus on my food today at lunch helped remind me to focus on the here and now, to enjoy what I am doing. And this also helps me in my eating choices, because many of the fast food choices out there really don't taste that great, but if you are not really paying attention, and instead are focused on reading, it becomes easier to just eat crap. But when you are actually thinking about your food you realize what you are eating just isn't that good and lose your appetite. 

The same can be said about pretty much every other aspect of my life. I just need to retrain myself to take the time and focus on what I am doing, not on what I am not involved in, or doing, or is beyond my control.  Because letting my energy focus on those things instead of what I am doing not only keep me from enjoying what I am doing, and making what I am doing worse, it also uses up my energy.

Habits, it's all in the habits

Dear James, Daniel and Emily.

Talking with some folks at the company luncheon today about exercising, losing weight etc. and the one thing that became clear is it's all about habits.  I didn't start losing wieght by running 5K's and eating 1000 calories a day.  I changed my habits, and unconsciously did so a little at a time, until those habits that could be expanded were possible.  And that's the essentials of how I changed my lifestyle.

I started off just eating less, and walking, at first less than a mile a day. From those humble beginnings I am where I am today: running 3-5 miles 4 days a week, and rarely exceeding 2000 calories net per day.  And that is how I dropped 50 pounds, brought my triglycerides from pre-diabetes levels to very healthy, and produced a net cholesterol number of 151.

Kim asked me how is she supposed to find the time to do that, I told her to just start, start with the 10 minutes a day, or even every other day. It's like saving money, if you told someone to save 1,000 or more dollars a year they would ask how? But if instead you said put 5-10$ a week into savings they wouldn't miss it.

Simple, Zen like phrasing:

Start small, stay simple, let habit take care of the rest.

I rock my runs, and other weekend thoughts

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

My weekend runs went very well, as did the rest of the weekend. Had a good time bowling, got the tree up and decorated, and had a good party.  Embarrassed to be a Broncos fan today, more so than at any other time.  Christmas is coming together, and approaching fast.

Training

Saturday I was scheduled for a long run, and decided to vary my route a little.  I was going quite well, and ended up hitting 5 miles, just as I was coming to the end of the run, so averaged 10 minute miles.  So that was very good, but I felt it a little the rest of the day. My Achilles just would not loosen up. So I was a little concerned Sunday, wasn't sure how much I would run, especially since it was mostly sprint intervals. I vowed to stop if I felt my leg show any pain.  Not only did the pain not appear, but I ended up cruising through the workout, achieving a record ~25 minute 5K! And my leg actually felt good the rest of the day, so maybe the run helped loosen it up.  I am quite pleased with this training phase so far.

Family

Had a good time at the birthday party on Saturday, the kids were actually very good.  Happy Birthday again to Megan by the way.  We ripped through the cleaning, got the house ready for the party.  Then went out and had a nice dinner and then tour of the West side looking at Christmas decorations. 

Sunday was the annual Christmas cookie and treat making party.  Which went very well, the kids had a good time, lots of good food was made (and sampled, good to have those runs under my belt).  These events are always fun.  And now we also have firmed up our Christmas and Christmas eve plans as well.

Emily is having a hard time at school lately, not so much problems with school work, but health wise.  She had to picked up early Thursday and Friday.  She doesn't really have any other symptoms other than a runny nose, which is pretty much a constant.  But the teachers said the color was green, and therefore they were concerned for her health, other kids, and since she doesn't do a great job of wiping her nose yet it does kind of get everywhere.  She was fine over the weekend, so I can only hope that the worst of it is past.

Football

I expected the Rams to lose a road game to the defending Super Bowl champions.  I would have liked it to be more competitive, but since the Seahawks lost the Rams are still in control of their own destiny.

I not only did not expect the Broncos to lose, I certainly did not expect an embarrassing loss like that. I was really pretty upset, the team just showed no heart, when you are outscored by the opposing teams kicker, it's just a sad state of affairs. I have stood by the Broncos through some bad times and losses (Super Bowls for example). But this season has been s new standard of low. Just horrendous, the entire franchise should hang it's head and go back to the drawing board after this, nothing is sacred, every facet of the team has pretty much failed.

Beginning the rapid ramp up to Xmas and holidays

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Busy weekend ahead: family birthday party, cleaning house, setting up Christmas tree, and then holiday cookie and treat making party on Sunday.  It is definitely getting close to that time of year.  First full week of new exercise schedule closes today successfully.  No time for hobbies this weekend, sigh.  Mostly successful with new habits for the week.

Family

This weekend will be busy.  We have a family birthday party tomorrow, that I will be taking the kids to, since Kim will be working. After that it will be a family night of Christmas decorating and probably a movie.

Sunday we are having what is a tradition for Kim's family.  Every year we all gather together and let the kids go to town in making all kinds of Christmas cookies and treats and decorating them.  It's usually fun, but chaotic. 

The 2 events above (not the birthday party) are the signal that it is definitely holiday time.  Fortunately this year Kim has done 90% of the shopping so we at least have that out of the way.

Training

Week 1 of the new running Phase is complete, along with the first consistent week of every other day doing the push ups & sit ups.  Which means this was the first week of completely new training habit: get up every day, including the weekend, and do something.  And it went well, I feel some soreness and will look forward to a 2 day break from the lifting.  This weekend I will be getting a little more serious with a longer run on Saturday morning, but otherwise this is the new process.  And I like it, I like the way I feel after getting up early and doing some form of exercise every day. My only real obstacle has been that for some reason it is harder to do sit ups in the mornings, but by doing this new schedule that will come around.

Hobbies

With all of the cleaning, parties and entertaining there will be no time or room for hobbies this weekend. But I plan to make up for that with James come the week after Christmas as I have that entire week off and will have loads of time around the house to do that sort of thing.

Habit

The first week of not reading or watching TV while eating has gone well so far.  The only real problem is snacking at my desk at work.  I really have no choice there, I don't really have the option of getting up and going somewhere else for the snacks.  But that will be a habit for another month.  For now I am focused on this one habit, and specifically on meals.  I do really notice a difference as far as feeling fuller when my mind is actually focused on eating, instead of distracted by reading or watching TV, so it appears that there really might be something to this.  Of course we are talking about a nearly 40 year habit to break, so week 1 is only a small start, but as the philosopher says: 'a journey of a thousand miles begins with 1 step'. 

Teaching number 1 son: It's all about process

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

James is in third grade.  I remember third grade, I hated third grade.  I went from the freedom of a bizarre hippy free school with young hip teachers, to the rigors of a normal public school with an old, very rigid teacher.  Most of all I hated the fact that while I was able to read at a much higher level than most of my class mates I was stuck in the basics along with everyone else, repeating the same boring lessons over and over.  You might expect me to now say thanks for that repetition, that I learned a valuable lesson.  That would be incorrect, I am still bitter about all that and felt that I could have developed more as a writer with a different process.  But that last word is the key: process.

This year James has been handed some true writing assignments for home work.  And while the boy will blaze through his math homework like a house on fire (save for the tendency to miss/skip parts of the instructions), writing is a different problem.  We have tried different tacks.  Kim is not a writer, and just isn't comfortable helping him with it, so it falls to me to handle most of these assignments (which I don't mind, she'll get hers when his math advances to a certain level). 

This week I tried to get him to break down the assignment (a book report) into different components and tackle each one on separate days.  That didn't work very well, because I didn't do a very good job of explaining the components to him so he really knew what he had to do each day.  So last night we had to essentially do the whole thing in 1 night, not exactly easy for either of us.  After he was done I sat down and wrote out the steps, and what they meant, and had him read that and sign it, so he knows what I mean when I tell him he has to perform step 1 on Sunday.  Here are the steps:

1. Building Blocks
• Read a book if it is a book report
• Take Notes about the article, book, or idea
• Come up with the introductory sentence
• Come up with wrap up sentence
2. Framing the House
• Take each note and make it into a sentence
• Organize the sentences into a coherent order
• Write the rough draft
• Read the draft out loud at least once
3. Finishing touches
• Check spelling in rough draft
• Make certain title and other assignment requirements are written
• Write the final draft
• Review final draft: spelling, read out loud.

Does that work for everything? For everything he will ever write? no. And there are lots of implied pieces in some of the steps that could have been spelled out as well, but I wanted to stick to the essentials.  The thing is James is a very logical kid, he really enjoys these computer games that are all about starting small, acquiring pieces, and using those pieces to make himself bigger and stronger.  So I figured that this was the best approach, show him that writing these reports used the same idea of taking a number of small pieces and gradually stringing them together.  How this works going forward I can't say for sure, but I hope that this will at least make it easier on us parents as far as setting goals and tasks each night for home work to avoid nights like last night.

Shameless gift promotion time

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

First of all, I don't need anything for the holidays, I really have all I need with my wonderful family and life.  But for those of you out there who feel the deep seated desire to buy me something this link (leading to other links) is a good place to start.  Particularly the apparel, any of the linekd t-shirts would be fun to have.

Links for a Geeky Xmas list

Fighting the unending fight, with a new strategy

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Good return to solid running this morning, felt good, but did lose energy at the end, that week off definitely took a bigger toll than I would have thought.  Yesterday was successful in first day of eat first, read later, we'll see how it goes the rest of the week.  Today's topic: attempting to regain focus again.

Focus

As always the eternal battle for me is Focus, how to get it, and how to keep it.  Well in reading more from the Zen Habits books I have decided to employ some new strategies. 

The first thing is to develop some new habits, but also recognize that these habits cannot be learned all at once.  So for now my first habit to develop is to limit my browsing time, both at work, and mobile with the phone. 

My initial goal is to limit myself to checking in on my various social networks no more than once an hour, ideally giving myself greater time between check ins.  It's not easy, but it's something I feel I need to do. 

Once I can tame that monster the next step would be to tackle the general browsing: Sports, news, politics etc.  I did make one change on that yesterday, moving the various blogs I visit regularly to Google Reader so I can limit myself to 1 site visit instead of several.  The biggest thing is to fight the urge to keep multiple browser tabs open.  Which is counter intuitive to what I can do, but let's be honest, having multiple tabs open to Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Tumblr etc is not multi-tasking, it's overkill, and unnecessary for what I want out of life in general.

New Era of productivity (maybe) combines with Phase 2 of training

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Very productive weekend, got lots done around the house.  Had time for some fun, a couple of movie nights and a trip to library.  But also started Phase 2 of the training program in earnest.  Only briefly noted that there was football on TV. 

Projects

Sunday morning dawned bright and clear.  After I returned home from a brisk run I found a nice breakfast already made by my wonderful wife.  Only to find that there was an ulterior motive: she had projects to do and wanted an early start.  After that nice breakfast it was time to buckle down.  The goal: paint the laundry room and repaint the stairwell.  We had been planning on the laundry room for quite a while, and Kim decided that the day had come.  Plus we had picked up some new light fixtures for the stairwell and I had to move the banister so it made sense to paint it again at the same time.

So by the end of the day the stairwell was done except for the banister.  And the laundry room was painted, although Kim might do some more decorative painting.  And that felt good to get all of that done, the laundry room was the last room in the house that we have not painted, so we have finally completed that.

Training

First 2 runs of the next phase were handled well.  It's a different type of training, more geared to calorie burn, so the pace of the runs will be harder.  And managed the push ups & sit ups Friday and today, so that is continuing to progress (although the push ups were tough today after spending several hours painting yesterday).

I am going to try something new with my eating.  I came across this in one of the Zen Habits books I am reading, and it makes sense, although will be a real big change.  I am resolved to stop reading/watching TV while eating.  This is an effort to break a roughly 40 year habit, so it won't be easy.  But I have seen over and over that eating while watching TV was bad, and occasionally note that reading is almost as bad.  And in an effort to improve my eating habits this is my next focus. 

Family

Aside from spending Sunday on painting it was a good weekend.  Had a couple of family movie nights.  The kids had plenty of chances for playing and relaxing.  I didn't do any games with James, which upset him some, but I explained that I couldn't play games with him every weekend, he needs to work on playing with his brother or finding things on his own.

Football

Well the Rams are on a roll, for now.  Unfortunately the Broncos are on the opposite roll.  Sigh, well I guess it would be too hard for me to focus if both teams played well at the same time. 

I am guardedly optimistic about the CU Buffs new coaching choices.  I think it will help as far as alumni expectations, and ideally recruiting to have a couple of former All America's and alumni leading the staff.  But obviously, having been burned by the Hawkins era, I am restrained in any optimism until the wins tart showing up.

Ending the week(s) of rest and beginning phase 2, plus return to #Bloodbowl

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Between the holiday week, ending one training cycle, beginning 2 new challenges, and being sick this week I have grown somewhat lax, but that ends now.  This weekend I plan to teach James another game: Bloodbowl.  Otherwise it is a slow weekend, with no plans as we take a breath before the Holiday weekends kick in.  And this week marks the beginning of the end of football as we know it for this season.

Training

So, between the Holiday weekend, and then getting sick, I have lost a little of my training momentum.  But I have mapped out a new phase in my running training, which starts Saturday.  This phase is less about building up, and more about just running, burning calories etc.  Plus next week I will be able to really start my new training/workout schedule: Run 4 days a week, load bearing 3 days a week. 

And this couldn't come a minute too soon as I am noticing a very slight uptick in weight.  And while some of that may be due to the push ups, since I know muscle weighs more.  I think it is more likely due to the unplanned prolonged downturn.  Which is coming to an end now.

Miniatures

This weekend I decided that it is time to teach James a new game: Bloodbowl .  This is a fun little game, incorporating a mix of American football, Rugby, and soccer, with fantasy gore and violence.  It's at once simpler than Warzone, but also more sophisticated in certain ways.  Because there are fewer options and less likelihood of winning on pure luck you do have to be more careful with what your figure do.  I like the game, and it has the added appeal of my only having to paint a few more figures to complete what I have.  We'll see how it goes, and I will take some pictures as always and upload them.

Family

No real plans this weekend.  Have to keep things low key for budget reasons as much as any.  I'll probably drag the kids to the library on Saturday for a short trip out, and that's really the sum of my ambitions beyond the game plans above.  Probably do some house cleaning, maybe tackle a few projects around the house.

Football

Well College football is virtually over now, just a couple of league championship games, then bowl season and the farce of the BCS.  CU and Ole Miss are done though.

The Broncos are down to playing out the string, although not mathematically eliminated there is virtually no chance of their winning out to get into the playoffs.  Which is really for the best I think, They need a real bad year to realize how bad things have gotten.  Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a bad team is to get lucky a few times, and string together enough victories to seem competitive.  Sometimes you need to have a really bad season to realize how bad things are, force out the dead wood.

Which is what the Rams were forced to do over the last couple of years.  And they are seeing the fruits of that this season, as that core of improved players is really starting to play well this year.  Which is why they are on the upswing, with a chance of actually making the playoffs the year after winning only 1 game.  They hit rock bottom and are reaping the rewards of that, which I think the Broncos need to do on some level. 

Back to work after holiday, sickness, etc.

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Relaxing holiday weekend, capped by fun Broncos - Rams game.  Spent much of the relaxed time giving TLC to sick Emily, likely leading to my catching same cold.  Put running on hold, but now have reorganized training plan.  Kind of relaxed due to mostly ignoring politics for a couple of days. Played a game of Warzone, and did loads of painting over the weekend.  Just a good number of days.

Training

Caught cold from Emily, with it sneaking up on me on Sunday.  So I rescheduled my training schedule, putting all running on hold until the weekend.  I figured it was more important to be healthy and there was a real chance that I might make things worse by pushing myself on the runs.  But I did resume my push ups, and sit ups yesterday.

After thinking it through I decided to revise my schedule again.  4 days a week running, 3 days a week doing push ups, sit ups (maybe eventually pull ups too).  I figure that is the optimal way to approach my fitness schedule as I transition from the one plan to another. 

Actually had someone call me an athlete the other day,  Weird, I have never thought of myself that way, but when someone who knew me very well at one time, but still is in touch and follows the blog makes the comment I guess I can take the label without a grain of salt, no matter how weird it feels.

Family

Certainly the most relaxed Thanksgiving break in several years.  Which was nice for a change.  Nice not to host, or stress about running all over town.  Emily being sick added some incentive to our staying home as much as possible and really just taking it easy.  Of course all that time with the sick child resulted in my catching the same cold, which put me out of work on Monday.  And yesterday I was out helping Mom, so there is some catching up to do today.  But at least I can feel that I got the cold nipped in the bud.

Miniatures

Played 1 game, I lost horribly, just a terrible combination of bad scenario, army design, and tremendous dice rolling by James.  But that comes with the territory, and actually provides incentive for James to play more if he wins.  So I'll take it for that, not the first time I lost a game of Warzone and won't be the last.

Got in lots of painting time as well.  Even got James and Daniel painting some.  James isn't bad if I can get him to slow down and take his time. Daniel is 5, which means he really needs supervision and control when attempting to paint.  But they both had fun doing it. 

Football

The game was great fun.  Thanks again to Bill & Nancy for the chance to go, and brave the cold and occasional snow flurry.  I couldn't really lose as my 2 favorite teams played, so I was just hoping for a good game.  And it turned out that way overall.  At first the Broncos got off to another good start.  But the Rams fought back, and eventually took a big lead.  At which point it seemed like that was all over, but the Broncos staged a furious comeback attempt, making it a great 4th quarter.  The beauty was that with the Rams win they made it to first place in their division, and if they can keep up their momentum, actually have a shot at the playoffs.