40 year old dreams

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, than to take rank with those poor, timid spirits who know neither victory nor defeat."  Theodore Roosevelt

Cycling has turned into something I really have fun with. 

Check out my OTHER blog.  http://cat5dreams.blogspot.com/  Everyone has to dream.

Josie's struggle

I haven't posted on my blog for over a year, so why post three times in the same day? I've been too busy with work to have the time to post but Josie's (9) now given me the time. About a week ago she started having some difficulty walking. I didn't pay much attention because it just looked like she was trying to walk on a leg she'd let fall asleep. She was very sick the next day so she didn't do much walking for me to observe. On Friday evening I noticed she had a marked gait problem so I told Jennifer we'd see how she was in the morning and if she wasn't better, we'd take her in. The first thing in the morning that happened was Nathan (7) telling me that Josie just fell in the front room by "slipping" on the carpet and that she couldn't get up. I went in and found her on the floor making an awkward attempt to right herself. I had to pick her up and carry her to the couch. I asked her if her legs hurt (since she'd been at soccer camp that week) and she said her head hurt and put her hand on the back of her head and started crying. That's when Jennifer and I decided it was time to see a Dr. We took her to the Urgent Care and after hearing her symptoms they told us to go to the emergency room immediately. Josie was able to walk into the Urgent Care with me holding her arms. 20 minutes later she couldn't walk out and I had to carry her. When we got to the ER they put us in a room and the parade of doctors began. We had about a dozen doctors and nurses through the room over the next 5 hours. They ran several tests including blood tests, CT scan and a spinal tap. Her coordination was very off at this point. She couldn't stand on her own without holding something and couldn't walk. Her arm coordination was starting to show signs of uncoordination as well. She was asked to touch her nose and then the Dr.'s finger rapidly as he would move his finger from side to side. She never hit his finger and rarely touched her own nose. Her speach has started to slur as well which I think is leading to her refusal to talk. She was admitted at that point and we've been at the hospital for the last couple of days. They started by giving her some heavy antibiotics and antivirals in order to cover their bases while they searched for a diagnosis. She had an MRI this morning as well. We don't know yet when we'll be leaving but we're hoping it's in the next couple of days. From what we've seen so far she may have Cerebellitis with Acute Cerebellar Ataxia. It's a form of encephalitis. She still has strength in her legs and arms but lacks the coordination to use them effectively. It's viral based and is self limiting. Even with it stopping to advance after a week or so, it takes weeks to a few months to fully recover. Bringing her home will present some challenges. We have a lot of stairs in the house but we will be converting the office on the main floor into a bedroom so she can have access to everything without the sairs being a big issue. She will likely need to crawl for a while assuming her arms and legs work well enough for that but she may not have the coordination for that for a few weeks. We ordered her a wheelchair today since she can't walk and it may be 2-3 months before she's fully functional again. This will allow us to get her to her Therapy appointments every day without needing to carry her as well as take her places with the rest of the family. She's been a happy kid throughout the ordeal. She likes having a TV in her room and trays of french toast being brought in every morning. She was sedated for the MRI and the medication for that has knocked her out most of today but for the rest of the time she's looked like this...

20 years to Oahu

Last month Jennifer and I celebrated our 20th anniversary. We went to Oahu for some R & R. Prior to going we were questioning whether or not we should waste our time and money going there when we could go to San Diego for less money and a similiar experience. After having now seen Hawaii we were wildly glad we went. As soon as we got there we didn't want to leave. California just seems like a warm place to hide from work for a few days. Hawaii was a full sensory break from life as I knew it. We spent the first three days on Waikiki. The picture below was the view from our balcony.

View from our condo on Waikiki. We had a rental car so we drove around Oahu several times. We went to the Temple in Laie as well as beaches on the East side. We visited Pearl Harbor and climbed Diamondhead on Saturday morning and visited the Polynesian Cultural Center. The North Shore was my favorite. Lined with surf shops and several shave ice outlets. We had shave ice at Matsumoto's and I had a pineapple burger at Kua Aina Sandwich shop. Haleiwa was so secluded from the rest of life. We ate at a restraunt in there at sunset. I had the Hawaiian fish of the day. I still don't know what kind it was, but it was very tasty. We were on the outside deck overlooking the water. Even though it was 8-9pm, the temperature never goes below 72 so it was absolutely perfect. We spent the last half of the week in a condo on the northeast side of the island. below is a picture from our balcany of the sunrise on our last day there.

Sunrise from our balcany in Punaluu on the windward side of the north shore. We'd love to go back. The calming after effects from that vacation have lasted longer than any we've had.

So I didn't do a duathlon although I did complete another Century ride. The Seagull Century in East Maryland is a beautiful ride and a very fun weekend with the family. My son and I completed it together then we all went to the beach. Low 70's and sunny is a pretty good way to spend a day at the beach in October. This year I sped things up a bit. I did the STP again although it wasn't the blistering pace I'd like to complete it in someday. My brother Stephen and I completed the 200 miles in about 11 hours of riding time. With breaks it was closer to 13 hours. The weather was absolutely perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better day. We averaged about 18 mph.

I believe...

The next big thing...

Each year I try a new thing, or try to try a new thing at least. The last few years have included the following:

2007 Eating: Got up to 190 lbs
2008 Running: Half Marathon, Marathon
2009 Cycling: Century, Double Century
2010 Cycling: Century
2011 Duathlon: (62 mile bike followed by 13.1 mile run)

I love cycling. It's been my friend over the last two years. We've laughed together, cried together, cramped together and traveled together. One thing I've noticed however, is that I miss running. There is something satisfying about the simplicity of running. It's just you, the road.....and a freaking awesome pair of running shoes. Ever since I started cycling two years ago I've had this nagging urge to run again. When I started distance running in late 2007 I was doing it just knowing that I was going to hate every mile and that as soon as I finished the marathon I would thumb my nose at the sport and walk away. Little did I know how much I would come to love it. First it was the 5 mile runs that I enjoyed. By the time I finished the marathon and looked back over my training, I realized that I absolutely loved and looked forward to my 10 mile runs.

I've biked from coast to coast, well I've biked on both coasts anyway. I've done the Seattle to Portland on the west coast and then I did the Seagull Century this last fall in Maryland. It went right along the Atlantic ocean on the east side of Chesapeake Bay. Time trial rides out to Flaming Geyser State park in Washington were some of my favorites for improving speed. Endurance training in Pennsylvania has been picturesque. I've ridden thousands of miles through Amish country. At times I've ridden right along side Amish men both young and old, on bikes, or passing Amish horse-drawn buggies. Of course I'm riding on my multi-thousand dollar carbon fiber racing bike listening to my ipod. Other cyclist are vocally envious of my bike; but the Amish seem to see through the pretense and realize that it's just an unnecessarily expensive form of transportation. It's humbling.

When I started cycling I did a lot of reading online. I read a lot of homespun blogs very similar to the one you are reading now. I wanted to know how long a rookie should expect to be on my bike while riding over 200 miles in one day. I read a few blogs and chat strings that indicated that for your first double century, you should be happy if you averaged 16.5 mph. That means over 12.5 hours of riding. Since I wasn't great at distance running, I assumed my body wasn't meant for any endurance event. For this reason I estimated my riding time at a conservative 14 hours.

As I started riding I was averaging 16.5 mph in my first few 20 mile rides. After eight weeks of training I was holding 17.5 mph over 40 miles. After 4 months I was averaging 18.5 mph on 70 mile solo rides. 5 months in I could maintain a 21 mph average over 20 mile solo time trials. I was able to finish the STP with a 19.5 mph average. After my initial estimate of 14 hours, I started the ride with a stretch goal of finishing in under 12 hours. I was surprised when I crossed the finish line with a total ride time of 10:23.

I'm now looking to partially return to my endurance training roots by entering a Duathlon. It includes a bike portion of a Metric Century which is 100 kilometers (62 miles), followed by a half marathon, (13.1 miles). As bad as I am at running, I miss it. It hurts, but to me, it's a more satisfying experience. The race is in Pennsylvania, midway between Lancaster and Gettysburg.

If anyone wants to join me in June, you can stay at our place.

West coast adieu

Well, we've moved to Pennsylvania. Breinigsville that is. Beautiful Amish country. We were at Costco the other day and there was a specific parking location just for horse and buggy's. I'm helping open a very large site for Amazon. We currently have around 3,000 employees in the building doing Santa's dirty work. Come to think of it, I haven't seen that jolly lump all year.

I started in this role on April 26th but my family didn't relocate until the beginning of July. That was a rough few months but nothing compared to my friend Dana who spend well over a year in Iraq while his family of 5 waited patiently for him stateside. My Hero!

I've done a bit of cycling including a century near Ocean City, Maryland. It was a beautiful weekend with lots of family fun although it was a bit odd to have the sun rise over the water and set over the land. New experiences every day on the east coast.

Rocky Mountain High...

I'm finally going on vacation. I've been going for 7 months straight now without a break. We're loading up the van and leaving to Utah to visit family and friends. I've put my bike on the back of the van so I can get some altitude training in. One of my instructors from BYU who happens to be my same age is training for the LOTOJA. It is a 206 mile race from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It starts at 4,000 ft and has three climbs over three mountain passes over 8,000 ft. I'll be riding with him for the next few weeks and getting back into the swing of things after taking two weeks off to rest my legs after the Seattle to Portland.

My legs felt a bit tired since the STP but they've recently been feeling a bit more bouncy and I'm really wanting to get out and ride. I would have gone yesterday but it was about 96 degrees and the family was all miserable. We've been sleeping downstairs for the past few days since it's about 85 degrees upstairs. The thermostat (inside the house)read 76 at 8am this morning. It is currently 102. Next year I will have an air conditioner.

Mile 68

This is about 30 seconds before a text was received stating that two members of our group had crashed and were out of the STP.

STP finish line

200 miles later...

Five days ago I rode my bike from Seattle, WA to Portland, OR. It was very cool. I decided to do this around Christmas giving me 6 months to train. This required that I buy a bike. January 7th I made the purchase and started my training in earnest. As my other posts show, I have been gradually improving each week/month and have really enjoyed the sport. On June 13th I rode in my first Century. (100 miles)(The Flying Wheels Summer Century) It took me 5:00:31.

As I got closer to the STP (Seattle to Portland) ride, I knew that I'd prepared myself physically but I was still concerned with my mental state. At that point I was hoping to finish in under 12 hours of riding time. 12 hours on a bike is a loooooong time and although I finished a marathon last year, I was very concerned with my ability to focus for 12 hours and not rub tires whith someone in front of me and take us both out of the race. You don't have that concern in a marathon. There's a lot more to worry about when you're going 20-25 mph while your front wheel is 6 inches behind the person in front of you.

I got to the starting line at about 4:55 am. The first wave of one-day riders left at 4:45. They don't want all 2,500 riders flooding the street all at once so they staggar starts in 10 minute increments. I noticed two guys wearing Utah State cycling jersey's and said hello. As we rolled across the starting line I found out there were six of them who were all riding together. Friends from various states who train for and then ride in big events. All of them are LDS and went to USU or BYU. I found out they were wanting to finish in a sub 11 hour time. With my initial goal being sub 12 hours I abandoned my plan and joined this group hoping that I could draft off of them and make up the extra time. At the mid-way point we had finished 100 miles in 4 hours and 50 minutes which was a good 10 minutes faster than the century I did in June. I ultimately finished in 10:23:30 of riding time. I was very surprized. At around mile 140 my right knee started to ache. I had to slow by 1-2 mph the rest of the day and was very sore for a few days. I still have a bit of pain in the knee, but I think with another week of rest, things should be back to normal.

I was directly behind 3 different people who blew tires, and I saw dozens of people on the side of the road repairing flats during the day. I was very lucky that I didn't have any mechanical issues. Two of the guys in the group I was riding with were taken out by a wild cyclist. They crashed and ended up with a bent rim bend derailer at mile 65 taking them out for the day. Including a few guys from work I connected with as well, there were 10 of us riding together. Two finished about a minute ahead of me, I was in a group of 5 who finished together, and the others didn't make it all the way to the end. Jennifer and the kids were there at the finish line with posters cheering me through my mid-life crisis. They've been very supportive of the entire training season as well. As soon as we got home Jennifer was online trying to find other rides for me to enter. There were about 150-200 who finished ahead of me, but I feel extatic about how it all went. I was not expecting to do that well at all. It's easy to see how a cycling team can work together for the benefit of the group.

I intend on doing this again next year. After my marathon last year, I expected to keep running too, but cycling is so much more fun. More expensive, but also more fun.

Improvement

A few posts ago I mentioned that I had dropped my 15 mile loop time from 60 minutes to 49 minutes. About 2 weeks ago I did the same ride in just over 45 minutes. I did that loop twice today with both being around 46-47 minutes. By comparison, Lance Armstrong just did a time trial today in a stage race in New Mexico. It was 16 miles long and he got just over 34 minutes. This means I'm fast for a late 30's guy with 3 months of biking experience, but I'm a 3 year old with training wheels and an 8 foot tall orange flag when compared to Lance.

I'll just work on personal improvement. :-)

A Metric Century and Aerodynamic Legs

A few weeks ago I did what is called a Metric Century. It was 100 Kilometers or 62 miles. It went well. The first 50 miles took me 2:47 which is pretty good for a person of my experience (3 months worth). My legs are slowly rounding into shape but that ride pushed me a step back in my training. I overdid it a little trying to maintain my pace and my left knee was a bit sore for about 10 days. Hopefully it will stay away for good.

I have finally gone completely over to the dark side by shaving my legs tonight. I'd been thinking about it for a month now, but during one impetuous moment I grabbed my wife's razor in the shower and just went to town. I've never done that before, but now those babies are as smooth as can be. A little lotion and welcome to Supple City!

I did a short ride of 15 miles yesterday, 30 miles today, and I plan on doing about 40 tomorrow. I plan on stacking rides on Friday and Saturdays from here on out to improve my legs ability to handle long rides. I'm loving my bike. Riding just feels liberating with the speed and the exertion followed by the endorphins. Good for the soul.

768 Miles Per Hour!!

The speed above is that of the speed of sound. I didn't quite hit that on my ride yesterday, but I did get up to 42.5 mph. That was scary enough. I went a total of 52 miles and I could have gone for a while longer, but I felt my legs becoming sore and I didn't want to get into any over training problems. When I started my ride it was about 48 degrees. Cool, but not cold. Ten miles in I had to remove my long sleeve riding jacket. I went the rest of the way in just a riding jersey and riding shorts. It ended up about 58 degrees when I was finished three hours later. The loop I do had a few pretty wicked hills that are about a mile long and very steep. I have a compact crank set so I don't get to take advantage of a granny ring. The agony lasts for about 10-12 minutes when it usually takes me less than 3 minutes to go the same distance on a flat.

It would be nice to have 3 or 4 people to ride with but I think the drafting would make me too lazy. I'm having to do all of the pulling on my own and I think it will make me stronger once I get into some group rides. Currently I am pedaling almost constantly with no time to rest. My heart rate stays between 150-160 bpm the entire time. When I'm able to draft off of a few people that should drop by about 20 bpm.

With my marathon training, I think I had a solid program, but I think it assumed a better fitness foundation than I had when I started. I should have been running for about a year before just throwing myself into it. My body type wasn't meant for distance running so I should have given myself more lead time. Having said that, I am extremely happy I did it. It's pushed me into a better level of fitness that has continued since December of 2007.

Without doing all of that running, I would have never considered doing a 200 mile bike race when the opportunity presented itself. There are now about 5 of my friends who want to be involved as well. Lots of people are looking at expensive bikes and making their wives very uneasy.

Unlike a marathon, I think endurance riding is something anyone can do, once you get use to the saddle on your bike. ;-)

Tin-Man or Ironman?

I went 40 miles on Saturday. It was pretty fun with the exception of a 30 minute segment during which it rained like a dog. I was a mess when I got home. It took me a little over 2:20:00. I went up the most wicked hill I've conquered yet. It was about 2 miles long and about as vertical as anything I'll ever want to do. After doing that hill though, it makes everything else I'm going up look like a speed bump.

Of course with a hill of that sort there is always an equivalent descent. I hit 39 mph on the way down and I'm not all that confident at high speeds yet so I was riding the brakes. I did break the speed limit in 2 or 3 locations however. The speed limit was 35 when I hit 39. I was also well over 20 mph in a few posted areas as well. I carry identification with me just in case. I bring my drivers license, my Visa, and a piece of paper that lists my name, address, my wife's name, her cell number and my blood type (in case I'm not able to tell them myself). :-)

I'm trying to convince my wife that it would be fun to go to Hawaii. For some reason she feels it would be a big chore. My 2nd great-grandfather served a mission there so besides the obvious attractions in Hawaii, I thought it would be fun to visit his old mission. I would really like to go during the first part of October. That is when they have the Ironman Triathlon. Jennifer is refusing to go, fearing that if I see it, I will be convinced I have to start training for it as well.

Would completing an Ironman be cool? Yes. The biking portion is 112 miles (a snap), the running portion is a marathon, 26.2 miles (trained for and ran one last year), the swimming portion however is over 3 miles and I am not a good swimmer. Putting all of these events back to back is another story. In order to be given the title "Ironman" you have to complete all 3 disciplines by midnight. I think that would be doable.

Swimming at 2 mph would mean 90 minutes in the water, followed by about 7 hours to complete the bike stage. Subtracting another 30 minutes for transitions, eating, and the possible flat repair, I would have about 7 hours to complete the marathon. It took me a little over 4 1/2 hours to complete my marathon last summer, so I think a brisk walk could get me over the finish line by midnight.

Don't tell Jennifer I've been breaking this down. ;-)

Improvement

About 6 weeks ago I went on my first long-ish ride. It was only 15 miles, but I hadn't been over 5 yet so it was a big deal. It took me 60 minutes and I was fatigued when I was done. I did that same ride yesterday and completed it in 49 minutes. I felt much better when I was done to boot. I still need to get a new helmet. The one I have was a cheapo when I bought it about 10 years ago in a bookstore. It weighs double what a good helmet would weigh and it creates quite a racket with the airflow around the sides of my ears. It always sounds like there is a car coming up behind me even when there isn't.

I got myself a heart rate monitor so I can be warned if I'm about to have a heart attack.

Spandex and Carbon Fiber

Seattle to Portland is a 3 hour trip in a car. It's going to be much longer on a bike. As some of you know, each year I pick a new "thing" to keep me physically occupied. Last year was the Ogden Marathon, this year it's the STP! The STP is a bike race that usually attracts close to 10,000 participants. About 8,500 complete the trip in two days taking a mid trip slumber overnight near Centralia. The other 1,500 attempt to make the trip in a single day. That is my white whale.

About a month ago I paid a king's ransom for an all carbon fiber bike seen here. My wife is not impressed. Since starting my training at the end of December, I have been officially labeled a disturber of the peace. (Me and Gandalf share that distinction.) A neighbor of mine who was training for a triathlon has decided to join and there are two or three others heavily considering it. Their wives are also unimpressed. I will post my training program in the next few days so you can follow along with my progress. I went about 27 miles on Saturday, and although I was a bit tired and sore on Sunday everything went well for a solo ride of that length at this stage in my training. I'm no Lance Armstrong so don't expect any world records to fall, and the only performance enhancer I am guilty of using is Gatorade.

I've been averaging between 17-20MPH on my rides, but those are only for 30-60 minutes. The entire race will be closer to 15 hours so I've got some work to do.

MWC vs. Pac 10...No Contest!!

The Mountain West Conference gets no respect. For any of you familiar with the BCS and their "National Championship" shennanigans, I would like to state as a fan, that the remainder of this season is being observed under protest. It seems as if there is a bit of a ceiling when it comes to non-BCS conference schools; and why the Pac 10 is currently one of the "it" conferences I'll never know! BYU shot up to #7 in the coaches poll and has been languishing around 8 or 9 ever since. This is in spite of winning each week and having several teams ahead of them lose. This past week for instance, BYU was ranked #8, & #9 in the two main polls going into the weekend. BYU then won 21-3, and three of the top four teams lost and BYU is still ranked #8, & #9. Teams leaped ahead of BYU and others fell back, but with all of the commotion going on in the rankings, BYU has remained eerily motionless.

The only hope comes in that several teams (the Big 12 in particular), have to play against each other, so several of them will pick up a loss (or a second loss) before the end of the season. One exception to this is USC. They should not have lost to Oregon St., but with a win the following week, they bounced back up to the top 10 and their schedules shows no sign of slowing them down. Playing in a weak PAC 10 conference with only an average Cal team on the horizon, they shouldn't lose another game. Since the year began, the MWC has a 6-1 record against Pac 10 schools including a 59-0 BYU thrashing of UCLA as well as a UNLV victory over an overrated ASU team who was then ranked #15.

So do I think the MWC is that good, or is the Pac 10 that bad? It's a little of both.

The best of the best:

The class of the Pac 10 is clearly USC. Their annual oversight of a poor team (see Oregon St. '08, or Stanford '07) notwithstanding, they should never lose a game in that conference. The class of the MWC is BYU, Utah and to a lesser extent, TCU. They are currently a combined 19-1 with wins over Michigan, UCLA, and the same Oregon St. team that beat USC, with the lone loss coming against a then #1 ranked Oklahoma team.

The worst of the worst:

The bottom of the Pac 10 includes the University of Washington who is currently 0-5 still having to play USC. They have what may well be considered a lame-duck coach in Tyrone Willingham since everyone knows he can't survive this season. Keeping them company at the bottom of the heap is Washington State who has one victory in 7 tries and it came against PSU; no, not Penn State University, but Portland State University, a I-AA team. This last week WSU gave up over 60 points for the third time this season, this time to Oregon St. WSU resorted to playing a walk-on at quarterback when their third stringer went down with significant knee damage. The dregs of the MWC includes Wyoming and San Diego State who lost a tough 21-13 game at Notre Dame earlier in the season.

I've got high hopes for BYU and the rest of the MWC. The way I see it, either BYU or Utah will go to a BCS bowl while the loser of their season finale will beat up on another Pac 10 team in the Las Vegas bowl. TCU will bowl somewhere as will Air Force and possibly Colorado State. If MWC teams only had to play Pac 10 teams all season and vice versa, the Mountain West could have several undefeated teams this year. :-)

Homeownership, Pneumonia & Forest fires...

I am a homeowner! Well, the bank is anyway, but I get to live there. We do have quite a bit of painting and carpeting to do, but it is nice as it is anyway. The previous owners had some interesting color choices for the front room. (purple and mint green)

I went on the annual BYU MBA rafting trip with all of the OB/HR hopefuls. It was reminiscent of vikings raiding passing boats what with all the carnage on a daily basis. I ended up with Pneumonia and a broken nose. Not bad for $235 bucks.

My wife thinks I'm competitive and I suppose I am. One student on the trip was much more competitive than I'll ever be. Five minutes into a week long rafting trip he was bleeding from both knees in a failed attempt to attack another boat. The irony in this story is that this young man happens to be my wife's first cousin! I love repeating that story to her. She's still trying to find who in her family was adopted in order to bring their families together, because she's certainly not related to him.

My broken nose was mostly my fault. It was sustained while performing the "Flying Dutchman" maneuver on the recruiter from Microsoft, Jason Carson. While pulling the unsuspecting swimmer what he thinks to be into the boat, he is unceremoniously tossed clear over the boat into the water on the other side. My injury happened when his lagging heel caught me in the face. I was swallowing blood for the next 20 minutes and am still very tender to the touch three weeks later.

As you can see from my previous blog entries, I ran a marathon just a few months ago. I've been a bit tired lately, but felt that a short, two mile run would lift my spirits. I had to stop twice during my run due to shortness of breath. This, I felt, was not normal for me so I went to the doctor. He listened to my lungs and sent me for chest x-rays and diagnosed me with Pneumonia. About halfway through my antibiotics, I'm beginning to feel that little bounce in my step again.

If you're a forest ranger the last thing you expect to see from a group of MBA's from BYU is a forest fire that was started by a smoldering cigar. This is exactly what happened the Sunday we were there. Most of us were down enjoying a lovely devotional down at the rivers side when one of the students came running down in a panic yelling that their was a forest fire about 50 yards from our campsite. We all ran up the hill back to camp and started a bucket brigade to douse the flames while the rangers were on the way.

Come to find out, the fire was started by one of our guides no less. He had been smoking a cigar and tried to extinguish it on a bone dry, dead fallen log. Yikes!

Corporate Housing

For the last 6 weeks we have lived in corporate housing just outside of Seattle but things are about to change. Jennifer and I are putting the finishing touches on our financing for a house in Auburn which is about 40 minutes south of Seattle. It will be nice to get all of our stuff back which has been in storage since we moved up from Reno. I've been rotating through what was suppose to be 3 weeks worth of clothing which will ultimately be 7. Commuting on the bus is a new experience. When we move to Auburn my commute will be about 40 minutes and will include a 30 minute train ride.

Note #2, Tomorrow is Nathan's 3rd birthday. Hopefully he'll be interested in being potty trained soon.

Note #3, Jennifer wants to watch Catwoman tonight. Hmmm. Does that qualify as an action flick? I'm trying to convince myself that it is.