Accident #1 - Check

Nobody was hurt.  Just a good lesson learned.

Out of curiosity, what pedal would you press if you were told "Stop...STOP, STOP!!!!"?

I warned you...

WARNING!! Everyone in Central Florida Should Move!

Jacob just passed all 3 tests. He's getting his driving permit tomorrow.

Holy Monster Jam Amazing Fun!!!

Thank you Aunt Annie!

What a great start to the weekend

We started the day at the Daytona International Speedway.  Ready to watch mom, Papa, Uncle Alan, Aunt Kristi-Anne and Albie run a 5k.

Uncle Alan won 1st place in his division (21:15)

Mom won 1st place in her division (21:55).  Mom had to stop to tie her shoe twice.  She wasn't happy about that.

Papa decided to lay down on the infield with Matt and Will after his first 5k in a very long time.  He had an outstanding first race at 23:30 (5th place in his division).

Matt finished 2nd in his race.

Will finished 3rd in his race.

We drove as fast as we could to Matt's basketball game.

Now it's time for a nap so we can get ready for MONSTER JAM!!!

At Matt's Basketball Practice

Unfortunately, Matt isn't going to be the main topic of this post. Here is a conversation I just overheard (and interrupted).

Scene: Man 1 (basketball player) talking to man 2 (basketball player).

Man 1: Look at my knee. I got hurt at work. A forklift ran into my knee. The doctors can't figure out what's wrong with it yet. I have been out of work for 4 days. I'm glad this happened at work and not at home.

(Here is where I asked 2 questions. Want to guess what those questions were?)

At Will's Award Ceremony

115 Reading Counts points in the first 1/2 of the year.

Great Job Will!

Will is not afraid of dogs

Jacob's presence gave Will enough courage to play with the neighbor's dog (Basil).  This is huge, because Will wouldn't even go in there house unless the parents put the dog in the garage.

Great job Jacob!

Jacob is a Golfing Machine

Jacob and I played 3 holes today at Victoria Hills. We tied on the first hole (bogey). One of us was happier than the other at that time.

By the way, I shot even par (bogey, birdie, par) on the first three holes from the back (black) tees.  That's a first for me from those tees.

Happy Birthday to Jacob!

15... Are you kidding me? How is that possible when I'm only 25?

Jacob has all of the resources available to study for his driving test. I'm sure it will change, but for now that seems like the last thing he cares about.

Did you want to drive when you turned 15? Do you think he's nervous or just doesn't care about it?

Mini-golf for Will's Birthday!

Who is missing from this picture?

Hint: Will didn't want to play mini-golf once we got there. That didn't stop the rest of us from having fun.

Getting Ready for Will's Birthday Party.

Age: 8
Theme: Pokemon

Lunch with the little'ns

Will is celebrating his birthday at school today. Jennifer and I decided to surprise him and bring him a cheeseburger kids meal from Checkers. He was more excited about the Sprite than the burger (or the company).

We sat with Will's friends Jake and Garrett.  Which of the following scenarios is more likely in your mind?

Scenario #1
Jake apparently has an autographed Tony Hawk skateboard that Tony himself used to ride. He also has a football signed by Tom Brady and the entire New England Patriots team. What a lucky boy.

Scenario #2
Garret also had a signed football, but his is from the coach of the Auburn Tigers. He lost that football when his family moved.  He was given this ball when he was in the hospital.

As an average poker player, I can sometimes tell when someone is stretching the truth.  One of those scenarios may have set off some alarms for me.

Jen and I stayed afterwards to have lunch with Matt. Matt was excited to see us, and decided he wanted to sit outside. He didn't care that it's cold outside today and he did not wear his hoodie to lunch. After a few minutes, and Jen pressuring him to go inside because she was cold, he threw in the towel. We tried a few spots outside before giving in, but we eventually sat inside with his classmates.

Basketball and FFA night. Woohoo!!!!

Warning: Boring post alert. Matt has basketball practice tonight. He has recently figured out how to throw the ball high enough to make baskets, which makes the game a lot more fun for him. Mom is taking Matt and Will to Matt's basketball practice while I take Jacob to an FFA meeting. Jacob has no idea what the meeting is about, or why there is a meeting, but he needs to go to it.

Yeah... I'm a runner.

Imagine running multiple marathons, being part of an Ultra relay team that ran a 200 mile race, and having PRs lower than most people dream of. ... are you imagining that? (Hint: You're imaging you're my wife. Just for running purposes of course. Please stop there with your imagination) Now imagine you go for a run with your husband (ME!) and get blown out of the water. Imagine you can barely have a conversation because the pace is just too fast. Imagine at the end you are not sure if that shape in the distance is the person you started running with or an extremely fast 1-person car. Yeah... I'm a runner. ---- Note: She claims we ran at about an 8:50 pace. I am pretty sure it was closer to a 5:50 pace. She didn't bring her Garmin so her guess was was based on the difference in shadow sizes per 32 steps, divided by pi or something like that. There is way too much room for error in that type of math. 5:50 it is.

Triathlon Training - Day 1

...for the kids of course.

On April 6th, 2013 the boys will be competing in their first triathlon.  Triathlon training for the boys started today.

1. We practiced jumping the gun a little.  I figure the guns owe us a little since our kids have spent the last few years watching everyone else start the races before they start running.  Apparently the assumed process was "Ready... Set... Go... Wait until everyone else passes the start line... Look at mom and dad... Start running".

2. 6/10 mile run.  Pace is nothing more than salsa for this family.  We sprint, hop and jump.  We don't jog or pace ourselves.  Probably something to work on for Triathlon Training - Day 2.

- Jacob did amazing.  His 1 mile runs aren't great yet, but 6/10 of a mile is easy for him.

3. 6/10 mile bike ride.  Much easier than the run.

- I am pretty sure Will could ride his bike for 50 miles without a problem.

4. 2.5 mile swim.  Well, not exactly.  I think Matt and Will touched the water once.  The cold water didn't bother Jacob.  Even though we're in Florida, it's still the middle of January.  The pool heaters have been turned off until 3/1/13.  We'll have to complete that part of the training some other day.

Jacob is learning how to take notes

Sometimes as a parent I make poor assumptions.  Examples include:

- He will stop eating sand eventually.
- You don't need rules like "Don't throw people down the stairs".
- All high school students know how to take notes.  At least one that is used to getting straight As.

Sorry to disappoint any earth connoisseurs or emergency room enthusiasts.  This post is will be dedicated to the last bullet item above.

Jacob's first high school report card consisted of 5 As and 2 Bs.  For (what I thought was) obvious reasons I assumed he knew how to get good grades.  Apparently the first nine weeks of high school includes coloring books and Hopscotch.

(Zoom into the future past his Fs, and Ds, and all conversations about how a C is better then an F)

The software engineer in me decided we needed to build something that helps Jacob get better grades*.  I used the Salesforce.com platform to build an automated test generator out of student notes.  So far the only notes Jacob has entered are about Harry Potter movies.  I'm sure that will soon change to something that improves grades.

Come on Jacob.  Everyone knows you are a genius.  Our challenge is to determine what makes you lazy alot of the time**.




* If I had a blog 10 years ago this exact sentence would have been typed regarding http://www.freemathtest.com.  What a great success that was/is.

** alot was misspelled intentionally.  The topic is one of the best blog posts I've ever read.
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

Nana and Grandpa are coming over for dinner tonight

After watching the kids for 4 days we decided Nana and Grandpa deserved a free meal.  They are coming over for dinner tonight to tell stories about the last 4 days.  So far we know:

- Jacob fished for about 72 hours and caught 1 fish.
- Will and Matt got either 8 or 15 packs of Pokemon cards (They can't remember exactly, but it's one of those numbers).
- Wendy's stock may have gone up over the last 4 days*

* If you purchased Wendy's stock because of the current spike you may want to sell it now.  The volume of sales in Central Florida should be dropping.

I think Ragnar is spanish for "The Best Race Ever!"

I spent the last few days driving a 14 passenger van for a Ragnar relay team.  I failed to do a lot of research ahead of time, so a lot of what I experienced was a surprise.

Here is a quick summary of events:

Our van was decorated to match the team theme (Shanghaied)

When we started there were 495 teams ahead of us

Our team had somewhere near 175 road kills

After 29 hours and 19 minutes of running we won the race (for our division)

Made it to Miami

The drive wasn't easy. I am used to driving a 2 door sports car 1/2 mile to the golf course. Today I drove a 14 passenger van through Miami traffic.

First Post - Setting Expectations

Day 1 of being a blogger...

I expect most of my posts to be short and to the point.  Today should fit that description nicely.

I just finished packing both vehicles.  We will be dropping off all 3 boys with Nana and Grandpa for the weekend.  Based on their excitement I'm guessing Nana and Grandpa aren't as strict as Mom and Dad when it comes to meals, desserts, and bedtimes.

Jennifer is competing in her first Ragnar race this weekend.  The race is a 200 mile running race.  It starts in Miami and finished in Key West.  She is part of an Ultra relay team* and expects to place in the top 3 in their division.

*Standard Ragnar relay teams consist of 12 people.  An Ultra team is only 6 people, meaning each person runs twice as much as he/she would on a standard team.

Short - check

To the point - check

10 grammatical errors or less - maybe

SUCCESS!!!