You don't see this everyday

We heard something out back the other night thinking it might be raccoons we found this instead:

Cousin Pictures

Trader Joe's Boise

I am of the belief that Boise could support 2-3 Trader Joe's and it seems they will eventually get here but for now we are not on the suply line. So it is a little annoying to Boise that Bend, OR has broken gound on a Trader Joe's to open next year. The news it seems is that Trader Joe's plans to put a store in Boise after it puts a store in Spokane. Here are the news clippings that I could find.

Boise Trader Joe's 1
Boise Trader Joe's 2
Bend Trader Joe's

I suppose that Bend is closer then any other Trader Joe's (maybe SLC) and it is on our route to OR and only 4-5 hrs away. On a regular basis we lament the fact we don't have a Trader Joe's and every time we go out of town we make a trip to stock up. I have a feeling that once they do open here they will be overwhelmed by the hordes of shoppers on their grand opening.

Did I win the 5K race? Did I cure Breast Cancer?

The answers are no and maybe. I did not win but did post a personal best. As I have never run a 5k before it must be a personal best, right?
Well, after my extensive training which amounted to 2 short bike rides and wearing my new running shoes for a week to break them in..........I can say we finished. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what place or what my time was. In fact it was not the most organized event and there were 13000 people in the race that just kind of did their own thing. The kids and I hung around for a while waiting for a chance to start the race as people with strollers were supposed to go last but I saw plenty of others with strollers going so I figured I better hop in. The bad part is that a good many of the horde in front of us were walkers and it was next to impossible to pass with a bike trialer turned to stroller. I probably only got to run half of the race because of the traffic.
The winning time was something like 16.06 mins. The course doubled back on itself so we saw the leader coming back toward the finish line. He was screaming at the pace car "GO! GO! GO! for them to hurry up as he was about to run over the top of it. One of my coworkers from the hospital finished in about 10th place at 19 mins and we saw him almost wipeout as a little girl wandered in front of him and he had to essentially hurdle her to keep from colliding with her.

My legs are a little sore but not too bad. That night we also took a 6 mile bike ride that evening with some friends so I guess I am on a fitness kick.........I just need to keep it up.

If you watch all of the video clips you might see us but I didn't bother. Next year we will try it again but with a new strategy. Get out in front of the walkers. The nice thing is that it is just out our backdoor and the race route is the road off our backyard.

You are still wondering about my curing cancer. It is possible that my meager donation will pay for the reasearch for a cure. So, if there is a cure in the next year you can bet it was my 20$ that made the difference.

New Leaf? - We shall see

So here is the deal. Although I have lost a fair amount of weight in the last year the one thing that has not changed is my general couch potato attitude toward exercise (hey we live in ID we have to support potatoes right?). I work in an office where everyone else either plays tennis, mountain bikes or runs. Two are training for a half marathon and I can only get tired when they talk about 10 mile plus runs over the weekend. Now on occasion I do take a little 2-5 mile bike ride but that is about the extent. So at work the other day my coworkers sign me up to run a 5K in the Race for the Cure sponsered by the hospital. That may not sound like much to you but I have not run 5K consequtively ever and not collectively over the past 10 years. I am not really a runner. I tried a couple times in MI but never quite made it. I think I need someone to run with me to keep me going or something. In NV Jim got me to go a few times and I almost got to the point where I felt like I wanted to go but then I remembered that I probably didn't.

So here I am 6 days before my big run. My training has amounted to this:

1. Buy running shoes.

So maybe this is one of my problems. I have lots of shoes (at last count 25 pair or so) but no running shoes. Now that this is taken care of I think I am set. I don't think it makes sense to go out a try to do a bunch of running to get ready as it ain't gonna happen in 6 days.

One of our favorite family stories is about a Swiss brother in law (to remain nameless) that decided to see how many situps he could do in a minute the night before his military duty physical. He did great with 50 some situps that night but the next day struggled to make 10.

I have a feeling that walk or run as long as it is a start in the fitness direction that is a victory. We have no excuse as we are right off a great trial for running and biking. BTW my wife go some shoes as well so no more excuses for her either. I am not so sure that I will ever become a runner and do any marathons or anything like that but I would be happy in being in decent shape and not get so winded just listening to the women in the office talk about there weekend runs.

Blah blah blah

Well it was a very nice weekend and it has been great weather in Boise. The Spring is great except for the assorted allergies that seem to come and go for me but it is beautiful and we had a great bike ride tonight out on the river down to the park.
So I finished my 21 days in a row of work and now have only 8 days on and 1 day off in the middle. The life of a prn SLP. Feast or famine. I am trying to make up for the famine and getput back some of the savings that was sacrificed during the lean season. No home fixing going on until the finances are a little more secure and until we figure out what in the world we are going to do or at least where to start.
The sister, niece, nephew and grandparents were here for a week too bad I work most of the time. I tied to post some pictures but so some reason it is not working i will try later I guess.

What a Croc!

I have finally bought some new shoes for work. The others almost had holes in the bottom and I really needed some new ones but being cheap I didn't want to spend too much money. I just happened to get a dividend check from REI so I decided to buy my shoes there as I had 15$ in store credit to spend. So for 20$ I got a pair of these Crocs. They look a little funky and some would say downright ugly but I like them well eough and they are quite comfortable. They are very light and have little knobbies on the sole that kind of give you a little foot massage as you walk around. You can also throw them in the diskwasher to clean them up. So with 2 days of wearng them I reccomend them.

Work, work, CEU'S and more work

Well, I have gone from being nearly unemployeed to working everyday for what looks like it will be a 14 day strech. When it rains it pours. The sad part is that my sister will be here to visit in the middle of my 14 days. I will get evenings and 1 weekend with her but the weekend I am home my wife will be in TX so it is a bummer. This is all good for the bank acct or I should say the Visa people.
I am quite enjoying work actually as I have fun colleagues and people are generally happy to have you try to help them to get better. I was in a 2 day training course in Seattle this weekend and am now a certified E-Stim provider for dysphagia therapy. It was rather a long trip to Seattle on Fri about 8 hours and an even longer trip home on Sunday (arriving home at 1AM) with work starting at 8AM the next day. They kept us busy on Sat from 7:30 AM to 6:00PM for the course but it was interesting and the time went by quickly. For those interested in Estim I will place a link so you can read more about it. VitalStim

Unfortunately, Bryan of Moments of Adequacy fame was out of town and I did not get to see him. There is not so much to report except to say the weather has been stinky and no roof down driving has been occuring except with heater and heated seats on which is a little silly.

Warning: Ranting and Raving Ahead

Today you are the beneficiaries of a rant. I have cell phone service through Sprint. I can't complain too much but I may or may not stick with them after my 2 yr contract is up. I like them much better then my former carrier AT&T but that is another rant.
Here is the situation. About 2 months ago I started receiving text messages all of the sudden that were your basic spam messages. Not ever using texting I just thought they were annoying because they drained my battery due to the ringer and phone light come on when they are received. I didn't really think that I was paying for the privilege of receiving junk spam text messages. But lucky me I spent between 15-20 dollars last month for this scam.

So I call Sprint and I say, "Turn off the texting which I didn't sign up for." Randy told me I have to call, email, or use website to opt out of the service I hadn't opted into. So I took the 800 number. I call the 800 number. Hmmmmm what a surprise. No such number. So I call back wading through the computer lady asking me to "Para Espanol presione por favor el número dos" and tell me my little problems before I can get to the real person, then I have to give the name number and SS# for the acct holder and explain the situation again. The second time around I get, Ebony, she says yeah, 'Those companies change their numbers alot". Hmmm doesn't sound like a scam to me. This time I get the text number to text and ask them to cease and desist. I get off the phone and try to text them only to realize I have blocked the texting so back through the hoops to talk to Mark. I go through the scenario again (Take 3). Mark agrees it seems like a scam (as if they are not dealing with this daily from disgruntled customers) and he agrees to refund me 5$. Whatever. I am not going to refuse. I get off the phone send my text message (which I don't think I had ever done before) and then hope that Mark remembers to block my text messages in 30 min as we agreed. I plan to call in an hour just to make sure.

In the end I think that Sprint and probably all of the other phone people out there are in cahoots with these companies to make extra money off me. The original scamsters get advertising money for sending spam text messages, sprint cashes in on the charges and tries to look good refunding some minimal charges and bad mouthing these companies but I don't think they try to hard too keep the spam from happening.

I guess I will wait for the next class action suit in which I will receive my 32 cents and feel only slightly vindicated. The moral of the sorry respond to any junk email with the reply "STOP/CANCEL/UNSUBSCRIBE". You will be out 30 cents for the 1 incoming and one outgoing message unless it is a premium message which is 9.99. Then you can wait 2-3 years for your class action suit check of 32 cents and make about 2 cents on the deal. This is just my 2 cents.

IKEATOWN - Bloklok

I came across this at another blog. IKEA sells prefab homes (apts). I guess it is not really new in Scandinavia(1997 first one built)but they are expanding to the UK. No talk of coming to the US. You can put them up in about a day. Ships in flat boxes with one allen wrench. Just kidding. (I guess the IKEA prefab house division is pretty sick of that joke). The concept is interesting with the idea behind it being inexpensive and compact. My wife and I have been interested in the concept of living big in a small place. I am not saying that is what IKEA does but if you look at books by Susan Susanka. Her ideas are interesting although we have no plans to build any "Not so big houses". For now we are sticking with our 80's home with the goal of doing some upgrading some day as finances allow.

Talk about insulting!

I am approaching one of those monumental birthdays. It is in the distant future not until December. So at this point it is not too much of a sore point but you really don't want to think about it and you certainly don't want people pointing out your advancing age.
So today I got this letter that I find highly offensive:

I am not sending any of my money away but I think I will carry this card around and see if it will afford me any senior benefits.

Out with the old in with the new

After the last 6 months we have been sitting up to a metal patio table to eat our meals. We have had plans to get a new table and we finally had an excuse to go to IKEA in Sacramento and got a new table and chairs. Here is a picture of the old and the new.

Assorted pics from vacation

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE DUSTIN

CHEESER





CINDERELLA




Robinhood and Little John

Fireman

We had a great trip to CA and back. It was short but sweet. Too bad we didn't get up to the ranch but we were all sick and not too excited about spending more time in the car. We did manage a trip to IKEA and Trader Joes. We got a new table which I will feature in the next post.

If you have some time a fun thing to do is to spend 15 hours in a sitting behind the wheel of a car. It is even more fun if you you choose to drive southeastern ID and northwestern NV. So basically the route was Boise to Stockton to Oakland and back to Stockton. With 2 previous nights of short sleep it was actually not that bad. It is also better considering that we are in a nice car and that we are not driving a wagon with a team of oxen.

Grandparent plague

It has been a consistent pattern. The grandparents come and everyone gets sick. We made it through the entire winter without a single cough or runny nose since the grandparents left last fall. As I predicted within a week of the grandparents arrival the noses started to run and the coughs started to bark and throats turned sore. It starts with the kids, then moves to the the grandpa and the dad and eventually to the grandma that has the cold until the next season we see them. So no more sickness is expected until later this summer when the granparents might return.

For those requesting pictures of the "No Roof Car"

I have posted a few pictures to the new blog "No Roof Car". I decided to document improvements and maintence etc on the blog so I can see how far we have gotten and where we have been. So far a few little things have been fixed and the 5 times over the car washx2, clean, polish, wax. There are many things to get it into the shape it should be but these things will take time and money. At least it is now able to legally ride on the road and it doesn't act like it will leave me stranded yet.

Back from blogging vacation

I am back froma blogging vacation. It is not as if I have been too busy working or due to lack of Bloggin ideas it is merely laziness and time spent doing other things. the grandparents are here and we try to get in a Settlers game each night. I finally lost tonight. We have done a couple of home projects and also some auto work. I will try to get some pictures up tomorrow.

I have also been losing weight which takes up a lot of my time. In the last year I have dropped around 20 lbs. So you are all dying to know the answer. For me it has amounted to portion control and watching what goes into the mouth. the less you eat eventually you get used to it and aren't as hungry. So now I am in the normal weight range and no longer over weight. I am guessing it has been about 13-14 yrs since I have been at this weight and I am still losing. Now if only I could get myself to exercise and gain some muscle mass I will be set. The weather is great so that excuse is gone. So for those of you keeping score at home I am at 191. Ten years ago at my fattest I was pushing 230. I was looking at my passport photo today and noticed my face was pretty chubby.

Ok enough of that. I will try to get some pictures up.

For those of you that are wondering we did get a "No roof car" and it has been pretty fun. It needs some working over and the projects have begun. I will get some pictures up tomorrow.
I am comtempating a blog regarding the car to help me document resoration and maintenace etc. I haven't thought of a perfect title for the blog but am thinking about "The no roof car" as this is what we refer to it in our house. I will keep you posted.

Howdy Pardner!

Spring has almost Sprung

This is the time of year when you think it should be spring. When we lived in MI it was hard to get to March and know that spring was really another month and a half away. Well, apart from having an easy winter it is exciting to see the bulbs poking up and buds swelling on the trees and a weather report that says 67 degrees by Sunday. And the good news is that I don't have to work this weekend. Anyway, the worst part of the MI winter was that it would not go away. There was usually a thaw this time of the year followed by a couple other winters before spring came. When spring did come it was wonderful.
The old grandparents are coming on Thursday afternoon for a few weeks. That will be fun as we have had no company since late summer except for a one night stay by the FIL sometime late fall. No one in the house has been sick this entire winter. That is a new record since kids have been with us. I am sure that when the grandparents come everyone will get sick as this has been the general pattern. Well, I think this post is dull enough for 2 or 3 of my usual posts. I will sign off for the night and remind our dear friends in MI that time cannot be stopped and spring will be there soon......only another month or two.

Confucius says: "Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart."

Figured I would start out with a quote....Not that it means much of anything in relation to the post but we met our son's Cardiologist today. Many of you know that when our son was a 20 week old fetus we found out that he had some interesting abnormalities. Not what you want to find out about your 20 week old fetus. Anyway, to make a long story shorter he has a number of abnormalities that are totally functional and the only thing he has to worry about is Endocarditis with dental or other invasive medical work that could cause infection. Given all the other scenarios this is pretty easy to live with. Our son will have a repeat cardiac echo in the next year to determine if he has a bicuspid or tricuspid heart valve.
The Cardiologist was a young personable man that went over everything with us and talked about what further plans might be. I already mentioned the need for my son to take prophylactic antibiotics but the other main concern of the doctor was not medical but financial. We hadn't even remotely thought about this. He said that people like our son can have a hard time getting life insurance if it is not spelled out in black and white that his condition is not really any great threat to his life expectancy. We had never even thought about that but interesting none the less. The other interesting thing we found out is that we found out that our Pediatrician (who we haven't even met yet) is the fairy God mother of the Cardiologists son. Small town, small world.