RandomCam

No folks, dont bother adjusting your set, that thermometer reads correctly, its 20 degrees out. I took this on my aunt's porch in Maywood, NJ on Monday night. That was just the air temp, that didnt include the windchill. The winds were blowing about 20-25 mph per hour that day. For an Arizona desert native, thats cold!

1 Month and Counting

This day on the calendar, Feb 25th, marks a milestone for me. I last had a Coke or Pepsi on the 25th of January. I have never gone a month without drinking a Coke or Pepsi. I guess it took a dear sweet 7 year old to finally convince me that now was the time to stop drinking pop. When Sarah told me a month ago that I couldnt go a month without drinking one. Well here it is a month later and I havent had one. Debbie spouted that whats the point of going a month without one when Ill just drink one the next day. Well thats the next challenge. To continue on without drinking pop. We shall see how it goes.

I got to thinkin', If I order a rum and coke at a bar, does that count as having a soda? Not that ive had a rum and coke in the last month, I was just curious.

A Day of Firsts

Sunday February 15th was an interesting day. It was marked by four first time events.

I completed a half marathon in my home state for the first time. I have previously run 3 half marathons. One in San Jose, CA, the 2nd in Cinncinati, OH and the third in Philly. I wasnt training to run a half ( or walk one for that matter ) but it was the first annual IMS Marathon and HM. I thought it would be cool to take part in it. Plus they had a 2 for 1 registration special. A friend of ours asked me I would be interested in signing up with her so I said sure. She was running the half. Then Debbie got the bright idea that she wanted to sign up. So she and her friend Amy signed up too. We went to the expo on Saturday to pick up our packet. Sunday morning we arrived bright and early at Jobbing.Com arena to take the shuttle bus to the starting line. We got to the starting line about an hour early. We hung out and tried to stay warm as it was a bit on the chilly side. We met up just before the race with Christine and her husband Cornell.

It wasnt long after that the race started ( Christine was still on line for the potties ) Debbie, Amy and I started off together but it wasnt too far into the race that Amy wasnt going to be able to maintain my pace. So she dropped back. It wasnt but 30 seconds later Debbie informed me that she was going to run a few miles with Christine once she caught up. I wished Debbie good luck. Its a good thing I had my ipod, it was going to be a long race by myself.

Debbie wound up running almost 6 miles with Christine. This from someone who hasnt run in months and hasnt run more than 3 miles in her life. Those 6 miles would cost her dearly.

As I always do I manged to find folks to chat with along the course so I wasnt entirely alone. I wound up catching up to Debbie around the 9 mile mark. She was walking and was in pain. It was hard for me to slow down from the slow pace I was already doing to not leave her in the dust. But I hung with her to the finish. We managed to run the last 100 feet or so the the finsih line hand in hand.

We got our finishers medals and some tasty after race snacks. Amy wound up coming n 10 minutes after Debbie and I. Christine finished about 30 minutes before us.

So there were a couple of the firsts that day. Me completing a HM in Arizona and my wife and I do a race together.

The last of the firsts was that evening. When the day ended, it was exactly 3 weeks since my last Coke or Pepsi. The longest I had gone previously was 19 days. It still isnt easy but as the days go on, I keep thinking eventualy I wont have tho try so hard not to drink soda.

Thanks for reading

A different take on RandomCam

Last year I tried every so often to put up a pic that I took with my cellphone camera. Couldve been a pic of one of my kids, scenery etc. This year im going to do something a little bit different. Im still going to have the above mentioned pics, but Im going to toss in some really random ones.

Like this one...

This was my school picture from my junior year of high school. Huge difference from now huh? A lot less weight and more hair =)

Im going to try to throw in stuff like this from time to time

12 Years Ago Today

We were in Las Vegas for the first part of our honeymoon and getting ready to board a plane to So. Cal to spend time at Universal Studios and Disneyland. We spent almost two full days in Vegas and had a great time. We stayed at the Excalibur hotel and casino. Upon checking in we got upgrated to a larger room. Seeing as how we didnt rent a car while were there we were limited as to how much we could see. We did wind up doing a lot of walking and checked out New York New York, The Luxor, MGM Grand, Bally's and Ceasers Palace. We also did the medieval dinner at the Excalibur one of the nights and that was really cool. We only gambled with the money we got from our dollar dance at our reception. After the money ran out, we were done with the gambling. Although I did win 50 bucks as we were walking out of the casino. Debbie stopped to go use the restroom and I waited by the machines. A lady got off a machine and I walked up, put my last 75 cents and and hit max bet. It hit for 50 bucks! THe lady started hollering at me how that was her money. Uh I dont think so you got up and left the machine. He he. Next installement will be the ups and downs of our trip to So. Cal Thanks for reading

Happy Anniversary

It was on this day in 1997 that my wife and I exchanged vows and became husband and wife. It was a beautiful ceremony at All Saint's Espiscopal church in Phoenix, Arizona. We were surrounded by family and friends and had a great time. Well except for that little part of the photographer not showing up =) Lesson learned, dont hire your parent's neighbor as a photographer. After exchanging vows and having pictures taken by friends and family we made our way to the reception at the Wyndham Hotel. We were very fortunate that our d.j. happened to have a photographer friend who was available and agreed to come to the reception and take pictures of the wedding party. They turned out beautiful. The only downfall about it was that we were taken away from the reception for an hour. Some people came and went and we didnt get to visit with those people. Such is life. We did all the traditional reception stuff and then had a little fun on a friend who caught the garter. After we sat Donna down ( she caught the boquet ) we blinfolded Ray gave him the garter to put on Donna's leg. Well while he was getting ready to do that, I was waiting in the wings with my shoe and sock off and my pant leg rolled up. I then swapped places with Donna. Imagine Ray's surprise when we took the blindfold off and there I sat with the garter up around mid thigh =) Good times. All in all everybody had a great time. I wouldnt change the way our wedding turned out one bit.

February already?

Wow Janaury came and went really fast. It just seems like yesterday we were just celebrating the new year and now its February 4th. The Super Bowl came and went. Congrats to the Steelers on winning a record 6th Super Bowl. Congrats to the hometown Arizona Cardinals for making it to their first Super Bowl. Maybe the next time they make it the refs wont decide the game for them.

Debbies and my 12th anniversary is Sunday. Not sure what the plan is. We were talking about waiting until April to go to Vegas for the drag race up there as a way to get some alone time and celebrate our anniversary. Think we will at least go out to dinner Sunday after a meeting at church.

I didnt quite do two things I wouldve liked last month. I was hoping to read a book a month this year. I have about 4 started from last year but havent sat down and finished any of them yet. Guess I need to get 2 books read this month.

I also wanted to write 10 blogs a month. Last year I had 108 entries in my blog. Id like to see that up to 120. Not sure of the signifgance of the number, I just thought 10 blog entries in a 30 day period of time isnt mush. As much as I run my mouth on any given do I should be able to put something down on paper.

I havent had a Coke or Pepsi since January 25th. The first week was a bit rough with a major headache and haivng difficulty making a drink choice when I went to Burger King and McDs last week but I made it. Between Sarah telling me I couldnt make it a month and then Debbie telling me she didnt understand why I was going to quit for a onth and then start back up. I dont plan on starting back up. I want to continue down this road of no soda. I told Debbie im like an alcoholic when it comes to drinking Coke. I cant drink it in moderation. There is just noe 1 Coke a day for me. If I drink one, I have to have several the rest of the day. So we shall see how it goes.

Thats about if for now, thanks for reading!