We had an assortment of sick kids while on vacation (see tomorrow's post for details).
So I'm sitting next to Robert (8) at 10am Mass this morning. During the consecration he turns to me and says "dad my stomach feels sick". Normally I would tell him to chill at least until the consecration was over. Especially since we sit in the second pew right in the middle of the church. But I had him get up and sent him to the bathroom in the basement...he almost made it...
I tried to follow his progression towards the back of the church but lost sight of him. A few minutes later I see a few friends walking towards Sam who was at the other end of the pew. She gets up and meets then half-way.
Friends "Robert got sick"
Sam "Did he make it to the bathroom?"
Friends "Almost"
He tossed his cookies right before the door to the basement and behind the last pew. All over the floor and half a dozen people's shoes that were sticking out of the back of the pew because they were still kneeling.
Really it's their own fault for being typical Catholics and sitting in the back of church. There were plenty of seats near the front. If you are gonna sit in the back of church so you can be the first out of the parking lot...getting barfed on is a small price to pay.
After Mass a teen friend came up to Robert and told him "If puking was an Olympic sport, you would have won Gold".
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Day 7 at the Beach - Friday's Auto-Post
Happy 1st Birthday Eric!
Our baby is 1 today. He's been the sweetest tempered baby we've had yet. Apparently it took 11 kids to figure out what we were doing. Good thing we didn't stop at 10.
Of course this means the baby is 1 and Sam is not pregnant, which means she's going to be threatening to have me checked-out or she's gonna trade me in. There is no pleasing some people. ;)
Our baby is 1 today. He's been the sweetest tempered baby we've had yet. Apparently it took 11 kids to figure out what we were doing. Good thing we didn't stop at 10.
Of course this means the baby is 1 and Sam is not pregnant, which means she's going to be threatening to have me checked-out or she's gonna trade me in. There is no pleasing some people. ;)
Stuff Catholics Like - Day 7 at the Beach - Friday's Auto-Post
Daily Mass -
Since we are at the beach this week and have been going to 9am daily Mass as a family, I figured this would be a good topic for this weeks installment.
Catholics love daily Mass, that doesn't necessarily mean they actually go to it regularly. But they love to talk about going to it. It's kinda like a badge of honor to go to Daily Mass - like being a Super Catholic of something. It must have something to do with that daily infusion of Eucharistic Grace.
The blue-hairs and geezers go to daily Mass in droves at our church. I mean what else do they have to do all day. We kid cause we care. Actually they are a great example to the younger generations of how to live out their faith.
Lent is also a busy time at daily Mass. At our church, the pews of the chapel are packed during Lent.
Since we are at the beach this week and have been going to 9am daily Mass as a family, I figured this would be a good topic for this weeks installment.
Catholics love daily Mass, that doesn't necessarily mean they actually go to it regularly. But they love to talk about going to it. It's kinda like a badge of honor to go to Daily Mass - like being a Super Catholic of something. It must have something to do with that daily infusion of Eucharistic Grace.
The blue-hairs and geezers go to daily Mass in droves at our church. I mean what else do they have to do all day. We kid cause we care. Actually they are a great example to the younger generations of how to live out their faith.
Lent is also a busy time at daily Mass. At our church, the pews of the chapel are packed during Lent.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Day 6 at the Beach - Thursday's Auto-Post
Hello again from lovely Kitty Hawk, NC. I hope all of you are doing well and having a great week. Who am I kidding, I'm at the beach, I don't care how any of y'all are. No offense intended. But I am very self centered this week.
Speaking of me, I was really upset that I had to drop-out of the bidding on Elvis' Peacock Jumpsuit.
I would have look so good in it, really I would have. Once the bidding got over a Buck 3.80, I called it quits.
"Lemonade that cool refreshing drink"
Speaking of me, I was really upset that I had to drop-out of the bidding on Elvis' Peacock Jumpsuit.
I would have look so good in it, really I would have. Once the bidding got over a Buck 3.80, I called it quits.
"Lemonade that cool refreshing drink"
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Day 5 at the Beach - Wednesday's Auto-Post
Ok I may be getting too much sun. I knew that baby oil mixed with iodine would cost me one day.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Day 4 at the Beach - Tuesday's Auto-Post
I hope you are praying for us at the beach and in particular that you are praying for good weather. Cause if it's raining down here the whole week, I'm going to go all Jack Nicholson in The Shinning on the family.
I mean a man can only play Candy Lane and Go Fish and watch Leave to Beaver reruns so many times.
So stayed tuned to CNN to see if there are any 'domestic' spats at the OBX this week.
I mean a man can only play Candy Lane and Go Fish and watch Leave to Beaver reruns so many times.
So stayed tuned to CNN to see if there are any 'domestic' spats at the OBX this week.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Today's Workouts
Just got back from a 5 mile un with my bil. Heading to 9am Mass now with DW, then to the beach.
xoxoxo
xoxoxo
Day 3 at the Beach - Monday's Auto-Post
Don't hate me cause I'm lounging on the beach getting a savage tan.
I've uploaded a picture of me from today.
I know, I know...I need to work on the tanlines. But this is a family beach.
I've uploaded a picture of me from today.
I know, I know...I need to work on the tanlines. But this is a family beach.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Today's Workouts
6am - 4 mile run.
7am - Shopping for supplies at the local Food Lion with Dominic.
9am - Mass.
10:30 - To the local donut shop where they make them fresh for you.
11am - beach
2pm - T-storm just us back to the beach house
2:30 - Women folk went to Goodwill to shop for other people's junk ;)
KayleighJeanne - just a short post while it's raining. Lots of sand between my toes
7am - Shopping for supplies at the local Food Lion with Dominic.
9am - Mass.
10:30 - To the local donut shop where they make them fresh for you.
11am - beach
2pm - T-storm just us back to the beach house
2:30 - Women folk went to Goodwill to shop for other people's junk ;)
KayleighJeanne - just a short post while it's raining. Lots of sand between my toes
Silly Sunday - Day 2 at the Beach - Sunday's Auto-Post
I love Lucy (well actually I Love Sam...but you get the idea)
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Today's Workouts
Hello from Kitty Hawk, NC. 4 mile run before dinner. Ran along the beach road.
We made it safe and sound, an uneventful trip - 5 hours - quicker than expected.
We compromised and decided to leave at 5am - actual departure time was 5:28.
Oh and I'm able to connect to the wireless Internet that's running in the house next door to us. My sister is staying there.
We made it safe and sound, an uneventful trip - 5 hours - quicker than expected.
We compromised and decided to leave at 5am - actual departure time was 5:28.
Oh and I'm able to connect to the wireless Internet that's running in the house next door to us. My sister is staying there.
Day 1 at the Beach - Saturday's Auto-Post
Depending on the time of day you are reading this, we are hanging out on the beach working on our skin cancer or (God-forbid) still in the Family Truckster 'enjoying' the 5 hour ride down to North Carolina's Outer Banks. Which means I've probably threatened them a 100 times with 'turning this van around' or 'pulling it over' or 'I told you to go before we left'.
Not sure what time we left this morning since I typed this a few days ago and at that time departure time was still being 'discussed' between myself and DW. Her vote was for 4am - mine for 6am. We are both up early but I will be the one doing all the driving and she will be doing all the sleeping on the way their. We both want to beat traffic but we can't check-in to the house until 3-6pm. So I figure if we get there by noon and hang on the beach for awhile that will be good. Sam would like to get there around 10am. Either way by the time we are allowed in the beach house the kids will be sweaty, smelly, sandy, cranky messes......pretty much the norm actually.
We will be at the beach for one glorious week or it may feel like a week in one of the outer rings of hell. It's hard to tell with vacations...they can go either way.
There will me 14 of us (me, 1 wife, 10 kids (Josh is in NH), 1 mother and 1 SIL) staying in a 4 BR beach house. The good news is we are right across the street from the beach. Like 25 yards away.
My sister and BIL and friends of theirs are staying in a house right next door. Each couple has 4 kids, so we will have 18 kids between the 2 houses.
Like I said; it could be fantastic or it could be like pulling your fingernails off with a pair of pliers.
Not sure what time we left this morning since I typed this a few days ago and at that time departure time was still being 'discussed' between myself and DW. Her vote was for 4am - mine for 6am. We are both up early but I will be the one doing all the driving and she will be doing all the sleeping on the way their. We both want to beat traffic but we can't check-in to the house until 3-6pm. So I figure if we get there by noon and hang on the beach for awhile that will be good. Sam would like to get there around 10am. Either way by the time we are allowed in the beach house the kids will be sweaty, smelly, sandy, cranky messes......pretty much the norm actually.
We will be at the beach for one glorious week or it may feel like a week in one of the outer rings of hell. It's hard to tell with vacations...they can go either way.
There will me 14 of us (me, 1 wife, 10 kids (Josh is in NH), 1 mother and 1 SIL) staying in a 4 BR beach house. The good news is we are right across the street from the beach. Like 25 yards away.
My sister and BIL and friends of theirs are staying in a house right next door. Each couple has 4 kids, so we will have 18 kids between the 2 houses.
Like I said; it could be fantastic or it could be like pulling your fingernails off with a pair of pliers.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Thoughts on Large Families and Responsible Parenting and Generous Parenthood
With all the brouhaha over on Mrs. Bean’s site (and other places) regarding whether or not couples are being irresponsible or not by having more kids while on some form of government aid (or to very loosely paraphrase some of the more harda$$ commentators “I don’t want my hard earned tax dollars going to pay for your brats to have milk to drink because y’all keep breeding like rats”.
Against my better judgment I’ve decided to open my big pie-hole on the issue.
A little background. While people would probably call my Catholicism ‘conservative’ or ‘traditional’ (just plain Catholic is fine with me), politically I’m a Libertarian. I have yet to meet a government program that I like and I would have actually voted in a national election for the first time since ’92 if Ron Paul had been nominated. So if anyone should be opposed to Catholics getting ‘handouts’ for their large families, it’s me.
I would love to see all of the welfare programs done away with and the stolen tax dollars given back to their rightful owners. I think that going back to when churches and other private charities were the main helpers of the poor would not only be a wonderful thing but would work a lot better than the incredibly wasteful programs that the Feds run. People generally seem to want to help others, if they were allowed to keep the money that they actually earn, tithes and gifts to charities would skyrocket. But in the meantime, and until we elect good people, this is the system we are stuck with.
I think we can all agree that parents need to do their best to provide for their kids themselves. But what if they can’t for one reason or another for either a short time period or a long one? What if they need help with food or medical expenses or utility bills etc…? Why shouldn’t they use any help that is available?
And all you people whining about ‘the poor breeders’ using tax payer funded programs; I hope you aren’t using any yourselves. I’m sure your kids aren’t in public schools, play in public parks and playgrounds, take federal grants or loans for college, go to State universities, drive on public roads (you really think the gas tax covers the highway expenses) or any of a 100 other government programs out there. And if you are so against these programs in general, you should be happy then if more people use them. The sooner they are bankrupted the sooner people will wise up and vote to get rid of them.
And what’s up with all the bashing of people who are in Grad School? People were commenting on how we didn’t need any more Theology or Philosophy majors we need doctors, and God help us, more lawyers! Lawyers?! Are you serious? You know why we need theology and philosophy majors? To teach future generations the correct teachings in situations like this. If someone wants to go to a private Catholic college and rack up student loan debt, that is their choice. Sure it would be nice if these private colleges weren’t so darn expensive. But they aren’t and it doesn’t mean going to them is the wrong thing to do or that they should stop having children if they are having trouble making ends meet for now.
How about we help them through the rough times and encourage them? I’m thinking a few more potential saints for the kingdom is worth a few food stamps or subsidized prescriptions. At least it’s a deal I’m willing to make. Would it kill people to be positive and helpful? It’s bad enough that the world gives us such grief about our family sizes; do we really need it from our church brethren (so called)?
So some of you think having to use WIC to get some milk, cheese, eggs and lousy cereal is a Grave enough reason to stop having children? (I’ve noticed a troubling trend over the years of ‘dumbing down’ what are grave reasons to not get preggo.) Well yes it could be, since grave reasons traditionally have referred to issues of health or poverty. But how are you people out there in cyber-space in any position to judge others based on just a few sentences of information on their situation. Just how poor do you have to be for the situation to be grave? The kids looking like Ethiopian famine victims or not being able to afford 2 weeks in Vail this year? See a Grave financial situation means different things to different people.
Even if they are in poverty it doesn’t mean they HAVE to use NFP. It’s still their choice. They are the ones that are responsible to God and know their situation best. And in case you haven’t noticed people aren’t exactly starving in the streets in this country or dying for lack of medical treatment. Maybe they would be justified in using NFP and maybe it’s possible they even should use it but how is this your decision at all?
And since some people seem to think that ‘us’ couples with large families look down on ‘them’ families (when did it become us vs. them?) with ‘only’ a few or no children, a few words on that might be appropriate. My wife and I have 11 children and we have relatives and friends who have a few and want more but have secondary-infertility problems or have none due to infertility problems. We (and no one else we know – and we know a Lot of large families) don’t look down on these people. We love them and pray for them and encourage them and include them in our families. We can never know all the circumstances of couples with ‘small’ families just like we can’t know all the circumstances of couples with ‘large’ families and not a lot of moolah. I’m sure there are couples with ‘small’ families who don’t follow the church’s teachings. But I have no idea which families do and which families don’t. And it’s none of my business.
On a personal note, there have been times early in our marriage when we used various programs to help us out. Overtime, with smart financial choices and better employment, our situation has improved dramatically. And while we aren’t well to do, we are making ends meet without much trouble. The way some of the people out there think, we should have stopped having kids for year’s # 2-10 of our marriage. That was when I quit a good banking job and we opened a Catholic Bookstore. I took a huge pay cut and we ate a whole lot of PB&J and Mac and Cheese during those years. Well if we had stopped having kids during that time-frame, then I wouldn’t have kids’ #’s 3-7. Any of you people want to come tell my middle kids that?
I must say that all this fuss over NFP has caught me by surprise. I thought people used it for grave/serious reasons or they didn’t, end of story. There are a lot of people debating this and that about it. I guess since we have never in our 19 years of marriage used it (no seriously we haven’t – hard to believe I know), we have evidently been out of the loop. All this seems like another reason for a good solid spiritual director.
One other thing. There is a whole lot of bandwidth being wasted on a teaching (NFP/Birth Control) that most ‘Catholics’ ignore anyway. Nothing like Catholics eating their own.
Ps – I know this rambles but I’m heading to the beach in the morning for a week. I’ll ponder this deeply while baking myself on the beach and watching my blessings from above play in the waves. Hopefully I will be a Responsible Parent and not fall asleep in my beach chair.
Now if y'all will excuse me, I need to go buy a burgandy sweater for the beach. I hear it can be cold in August.
Update***See here for a much better article then I could ever hope to write***
Against my better judgment I’ve decided to open my big pie-hole on the issue.
A little background. While people would probably call my Catholicism ‘conservative’ or ‘traditional’ (just plain Catholic is fine with me), politically I’m a Libertarian. I have yet to meet a government program that I like and I would have actually voted in a national election for the first time since ’92 if Ron Paul had been nominated. So if anyone should be opposed to Catholics getting ‘handouts’ for their large families, it’s me.
I would love to see all of the welfare programs done away with and the stolen tax dollars given back to their rightful owners. I think that going back to when churches and other private charities were the main helpers of the poor would not only be a wonderful thing but would work a lot better than the incredibly wasteful programs that the Feds run. People generally seem to want to help others, if they were allowed to keep the money that they actually earn, tithes and gifts to charities would skyrocket. But in the meantime, and until we elect good people, this is the system we are stuck with.
I think we can all agree that parents need to do their best to provide for their kids themselves. But what if they can’t for one reason or another for either a short time period or a long one? What if they need help with food or medical expenses or utility bills etc…? Why shouldn’t they use any help that is available?
And all you people whining about ‘the poor breeders’ using tax payer funded programs; I hope you aren’t using any yourselves. I’m sure your kids aren’t in public schools, play in public parks and playgrounds, take federal grants or loans for college, go to State universities, drive on public roads (you really think the gas tax covers the highway expenses) or any of a 100 other government programs out there. And if you are so against these programs in general, you should be happy then if more people use them. The sooner they are bankrupted the sooner people will wise up and vote to get rid of them.
And what’s up with all the bashing of people who are in Grad School? People were commenting on how we didn’t need any more Theology or Philosophy majors we need doctors, and God help us, more lawyers! Lawyers?! Are you serious? You know why we need theology and philosophy majors? To teach future generations the correct teachings in situations like this. If someone wants to go to a private Catholic college and rack up student loan debt, that is their choice. Sure it would be nice if these private colleges weren’t so darn expensive. But they aren’t and it doesn’t mean going to them is the wrong thing to do or that they should stop having children if they are having trouble making ends meet for now.
How about we help them through the rough times and encourage them? I’m thinking a few more potential saints for the kingdom is worth a few food stamps or subsidized prescriptions. At least it’s a deal I’m willing to make. Would it kill people to be positive and helpful? It’s bad enough that the world gives us such grief about our family sizes; do we really need it from our church brethren (so called)?
So some of you think having to use WIC to get some milk, cheese, eggs and lousy cereal is a Grave enough reason to stop having children? (I’ve noticed a troubling trend over the years of ‘dumbing down’ what are grave reasons to not get preggo.) Well yes it could be, since grave reasons traditionally have referred to issues of health or poverty. But how are you people out there in cyber-space in any position to judge others based on just a few sentences of information on their situation. Just how poor do you have to be for the situation to be grave? The kids looking like Ethiopian famine victims or not being able to afford 2 weeks in Vail this year? See a Grave financial situation means different things to different people.
Even if they are in poverty it doesn’t mean they HAVE to use NFP. It’s still their choice. They are the ones that are responsible to God and know their situation best. And in case you haven’t noticed people aren’t exactly starving in the streets in this country or dying for lack of medical treatment. Maybe they would be justified in using NFP and maybe it’s possible they even should use it but how is this your decision at all?
And since some people seem to think that ‘us’ couples with large families look down on ‘them’ families (when did it become us vs. them?) with ‘only’ a few or no children, a few words on that might be appropriate. My wife and I have 11 children and we have relatives and friends who have a few and want more but have secondary-infertility problems or have none due to infertility problems. We (and no one else we know – and we know a Lot of large families) don’t look down on these people. We love them and pray for them and encourage them and include them in our families. We can never know all the circumstances of couples with ‘small’ families just like we can’t know all the circumstances of couples with ‘large’ families and not a lot of moolah. I’m sure there are couples with ‘small’ families who don’t follow the church’s teachings. But I have no idea which families do and which families don’t. And it’s none of my business.
On a personal note, there have been times early in our marriage when we used various programs to help us out. Overtime, with smart financial choices and better employment, our situation has improved dramatically. And while we aren’t well to do, we are making ends meet without much trouble. The way some of the people out there think, we should have stopped having kids for year’s # 2-10 of our marriage. That was when I quit a good banking job and we opened a Catholic Bookstore. I took a huge pay cut and we ate a whole lot of PB&J and Mac and Cheese during those years. Well if we had stopped having kids during that time-frame, then I wouldn’t have kids’ #’s 3-7. Any of you people want to come tell my middle kids that?
I must say that all this fuss over NFP has caught me by surprise. I thought people used it for grave/serious reasons or they didn’t, end of story. There are a lot of people debating this and that about it. I guess since we have never in our 19 years of marriage used it (no seriously we haven’t – hard to believe I know), we have evidently been out of the loop. All this seems like another reason for a good solid spiritual director.
One other thing. There is a whole lot of bandwidth being wasted on a teaching (NFP/Birth Control) that most ‘Catholics’ ignore anyway. Nothing like Catholics eating their own.
Ps – I know this rambles but I’m heading to the beach in the morning for a week. I’ll ponder this deeply while baking myself on the beach and watching my blessings from above play in the waves. Hopefully I will be a Responsible Parent and not fall asleep in my beach chair.
Now if y'all will excuse me, I need to go buy a burgandy sweater for the beach. I hear it can be cold in August.
Update***See here for a much better article then I could ever hope to write***
Life's a Beach
We are heading to the OBX (Kitty Hawk) in the morning for a week of sun. Don't hate me because I'm tan.
Those of you who know where I live, stay out of our liquor cabinet (that means you Mary Poppins and The Donk) and away from my running shoes - the pairs that I'm not bringing with me - couldn't fit all of them in the 15-passenger van. And Donk, stay away from my HED3 race wheels...I know you covet them.
I've got a post a day scheduled to show up while I'm on vacation, so the 3 or 4 of you people out there who actually read this schlock, stop by when you can. And try and behave :)
Those of you who know where I live, stay out of our liquor cabinet (that means you Mary Poppins and The Donk) and away from my running shoes - the pairs that I'm not bringing with me - couldn't fit all of them in the 15-passenger van. And Donk, stay away from my HED3 race wheels...I know you covet them.
I've got a post a day scheduled to show up while I'm on vacation, so the 3 or 4 of you people out there who actually read this schlock, stop by when you can. And try and behave :)
Today's Workouts
and yesterday's.
Yesterday - 21 mile running in the morning before work. Followed by a 12 minute ice-bath and a glass of chocolate milk.
Today - 11.6 mile run at lunch. Weather is fantastic out. Legs seem to be getting used to these back to back longish runs. I was actually able to walk down the stairs after my run today.
Yesterday - 21 mile running in the morning before work. Followed by a 12 minute ice-bath and a glass of chocolate milk.
Today - 11.6 mile run at lunch. Weather is fantastic out. Legs seem to be getting used to these back to back longish runs. I was actually able to walk down the stairs after my run today.
Stuff Catholics Like
Folk Music vs Choir Music -
(I know I'm going to get in trouble with this one, but I'm going on vacation for a week tomorrow so I don't really care about anything else right now.)
A good way to start up a conversation/debate/cat-fight is to bring up the topic of what's better; folk music or the more traditional choir music.
Our church has both. There is a folk group that plays at the Saturday evening vigil Mass. There is also another folk group that alternates the 10am Sunday Mass with the choir.
Some people like the Choir. Robed-singers with choir director and an organ accompanying the older standard hymns. Lyrically you get better songs with this group. The songs tend to be older, more reverent and better written while the folk songs are mainly from the 60's and 70's, have banal lyrics and can be almost sacrilegious (think Beethoven and Mozart vs. Haugen and Haas or the Ave Maria vs City of God).
A traditional choir can at times be painful to listen to also. Especially if the choir is small, the organist is bad or the song selection is poor.
Folk music was especially cool in the 70's when you had pantsuit wearing 'nuns' shaking their booty along to the music...heaven help us.
You don't see that these days (there is a God). But some of the churches still have things like bongo's, hand-clapping congregations, electric guitars and basses and other abominations.
Personally I prefer our 8am Mass that has no music or a nice Gregorian Chant Latin Mass, but we almost always go to the 10am Mass. So my choice at that would be the choir. Mainly because it sounds like 'church' music and because the lyrics aren't trite.
I'm not a folk music hater, I own over 30 Bob Dylan albums, I just don't like it during church.
PS - all you folkies out there...I still love you.
(I know I'm going to get in trouble with this one, but I'm going on vacation for a week tomorrow so I don't really care about anything else right now.)
A good way to start up a conversation/debate/cat-fight is to bring up the topic of what's better; folk music or the more traditional choir music.
Our church has both. There is a folk group that plays at the Saturday evening vigil Mass. There is also another folk group that alternates the 10am Sunday Mass with the choir.
Some people like the Choir. Robed-singers with choir director and an organ accompanying the older standard hymns. Lyrically you get better songs with this group. The songs tend to be older, more reverent and better written while the folk songs are mainly from the 60's and 70's, have banal lyrics and can be almost sacrilegious (think Beethoven and Mozart vs. Haugen and Haas or the Ave Maria vs City of God).
A traditional choir can at times be painful to listen to also. Especially if the choir is small, the organist is bad or the song selection is poor.
Folk music was especially cool in the 70's when you had pantsuit wearing 'nuns' shaking their booty along to the music...heaven help us.
You don't see that these days (there is a God). But some of the churches still have things like bongo's, hand-clapping congregations, electric guitars and basses and other abominations.
Personally I prefer our 8am Mass that has no music or a nice Gregorian Chant Latin Mass, but we almost always go to the 10am Mass. So my choice at that would be the choir. Mainly because it sounds like 'church' music and because the lyrics aren't trite.
I'm not a folk music hater, I own over 30 Bob Dylan albums, I just don't like it during church.
PS - all you folkies out there...I still love you.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
$2,244,660
According to the Feds that's what it is going to cost me to raise my 11 children to the age of 18.
Who knew I was so darn rich! Man if I had know that we would have been living the high-life all a long. Fancy vacations, expensive jewelry, dinners out at nice restaurants and running shoes...fur-lined running shoes of course.
Just exactly what are these people spending $204,060 on? Therapy for their kids because both parents are working 60 hours a week? Ritalin? No they must have prescription drug cards. Those yuppie pre-schools for toddlers? Designer summer camps to entertain them? Gold-plated diapers? Soy Milk and organic tofu?
Lets do some more math. $204,060 works out to $11,336 per year over 18 years. Times 11 kids in my abode = $124,696 per year it should be costing me to raise the little darlings. Well that's the problem, I don't make near that much a year.
Even if we bought brand-new baby stuff with each kid (crib, clothes, stroller, car-seat etc...), I don't think I could spend that much,
I swear I think the feds just make up these numbers to frighten people away from having more kids. But that doesn't make sense. They should be encouraging people to breed. More babies = more future taxpayers and voters. Maybe they just need the publicity these types of numbers generate in the press. Got to keep justifying their existence and feed the machine.
And by the way, I was an econ major (granted a lousy one) so don't go preaching on the 'economies of scale' that I get by having so many kids.
I guess to save a few bucks I could kick them out of the house at 16. Does the French Foreign Legion still exist?
If having 3 kids makes one elitist and a showoff, just how pretentious does that make us? Worse than Al Gore? I would imagine.
Raising kids today costs a fortune. Last month, the Department of Agriculture estimated that each American child costs an average of $204,060 to house, clothe, educate and entertain until the age of 18.
Who knew I was so darn rich! Man if I had know that we would have been living the high-life all a long. Fancy vacations, expensive jewelry, dinners out at nice restaurants and running shoes...fur-lined running shoes of course.
Just exactly what are these people spending $204,060 on? Therapy for their kids because both parents are working 60 hours a week? Ritalin? No they must have prescription drug cards. Those yuppie pre-schools for toddlers? Designer summer camps to entertain them? Gold-plated diapers? Soy Milk and organic tofu?
Lets do some more math. $204,060 works out to $11,336 per year over 18 years. Times 11 kids in my abode = $124,696 per year it should be costing me to raise the little darlings. Well that's the problem, I don't make near that much a year.
Even if we bought brand-new baby stuff with each kid (crib, clothes, stroller, car-seat etc...), I don't think I could spend that much,
I swear I think the feds just make up these numbers to frighten people away from having more kids. But that doesn't make sense. They should be encouraging people to breed. More babies = more future taxpayers and voters. Maybe they just need the publicity these types of numbers generate in the press. Got to keep justifying their existence and feed the machine.
And by the way, I was an econ major (granted a lousy one) so don't go preaching on the 'economies of scale' that I get by having so many kids.
I guess to save a few bucks I could kick them out of the house at 16. Does the French Foreign Legion still exist?
What's worse, the desire to have another child opens one up to charges of elitism and status consciousness. In many major U.S. cities and their suburbs -- especially New York, where I live -- having three or more children has now come to seem like an ostentatious display of good fortune, akin to owning a pied-Ã -terre in Paris. The family of five has become "deluxe."
If having 3 kids makes one elitist and a showoff, just how pretentious does that make us? Worse than Al Gore? I would imagine.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Meetings, Meetings and more Meetings
In the past 2 days I've had 3 meetings totaling 4 hours. That's 4 work hours lost out of 16 possible. And I'll have at least 2 more meetings this week.
On Monday I had a One Hour meeting to plan what would be talked about on a One Hour meeting on Tuesday.
Tuesday I had a meeting from 1-3pm and one from 3-4pm. The first meeting ran over until 3:25. So for 25 minutes I had my cell phone to one ear and my land-line phone to the other ear. Having a wife and 11 kids, I'm well trained to carry on more than one conversation at a time. I wonder if I can get time and a half for those 25 minutes.
The only positive thing about the Tuesday meetings is that I work from home that day and I can sit around in my gym shorts on my living room floor with the phone on mute. I stretched, ate lunch, stuck my tongue out at the phone, surfed the web on my laptop and once in awhile chipped in a few words of wisdom for the meeting.
And I have at least 2 more meetings this week. Someone just shoot me. It's the same every week.
All of my meetings are tele-conferences. This software project I'm working on includes people from at least 10 states. Which is part of the problem. With everyone scattered around the country we do need to have a meeting every now and again. But we don't need 5 each week.
People just love to hear themselves talk (or blog ;)). These meetings seem to cover the same topics over and over (kinda like this blog) without ever deciding on anything. The main problem is a weak manager(s) on this project. But in a way it's a good thing. This project was scheduled to release the software on October 31st and then there would be 3 months of wrap up. After December 31st my bosses would then have had to find me another project to work on. Which shouldn't be a problem but you never know. Now it's looking like this project will run at least 3 months but probably more like 6 months over. So all these meetings and not getting stuff settled and worked on is actually great for my job security.
Without divulging what I'm working on and getting myself in trouble, let's just say that I work for a small software company that provides support and contractors to a large Federal agency. So there is a lot of political nonsense in trying to get decisions made and work actually done.
I guess it could be worse; Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers brass had a 5 hour meeting last night about his future with the team. 5 hours!? Why so long? Did they send out for pizza and watch the extended version of Lord of the Rings? Or was Brett just changing his mind about retiring every 5 minutes or so? Fish or cut bait dude.
Can someone wake me up when this Brett Favre/Packers saga is over? He's slipping into the same class of story as Lindsay, Paris and Britney. A Google news search returns 7,859 articles written about this. Britney 3,060, Lindsay 1,268 and Paris 3,050.
And Cheese-Heads, don't get all worked up over this. Go have a beer and a brat and play in the snow. You do still have snow on the ground, right?
On Monday I had a One Hour meeting to plan what would be talked about on a One Hour meeting on Tuesday.
Tuesday I had a meeting from 1-3pm and one from 3-4pm. The first meeting ran over until 3:25. So for 25 minutes I had my cell phone to one ear and my land-line phone to the other ear. Having a wife and 11 kids, I'm well trained to carry on more than one conversation at a time. I wonder if I can get time and a half for those 25 minutes.
The only positive thing about the Tuesday meetings is that I work from home that day and I can sit around in my gym shorts on my living room floor with the phone on mute. I stretched, ate lunch, stuck my tongue out at the phone, surfed the web on my laptop and once in awhile chipped in a few words of wisdom for the meeting.
And I have at least 2 more meetings this week. Someone just shoot me. It's the same every week.
All of my meetings are tele-conferences. This software project I'm working on includes people from at least 10 states. Which is part of the problem. With everyone scattered around the country we do need to have a meeting every now and again. But we don't need 5 each week.
People just love to hear themselves talk (or blog ;)). These meetings seem to cover the same topics over and over (kinda like this blog) without ever deciding on anything. The main problem is a weak manager(s) on this project. But in a way it's a good thing. This project was scheduled to release the software on October 31st and then there would be 3 months of wrap up. After December 31st my bosses would then have had to find me another project to work on. Which shouldn't be a problem but you never know. Now it's looking like this project will run at least 3 months but probably more like 6 months over. So all these meetings and not getting stuff settled and worked on is actually great for my job security.
Without divulging what I'm working on and getting myself in trouble, let's just say that I work for a small software company that provides support and contractors to a large Federal agency. So there is a lot of political nonsense in trying to get decisions made and work actually done.
I guess it could be worse; Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers brass had a 5 hour meeting last night about his future with the team. 5 hours!? Why so long? Did they send out for pizza and watch the extended version of Lord of the Rings? Or was Brett just changing his mind about retiring every 5 minutes or so? Fish or cut bait dude.
Can someone wake me up when this Brett Favre/Packers saga is over? He's slipping into the same class of story as Lindsay, Paris and Britney. A Google news search returns 7,859 articles written about this. Britney 3,060, Lindsay 1,268 and Paris 3,050.
And Cheese-Heads, don't get all worked up over this. Go have a beer and a brat and play in the snow. You do still have snow on the ground, right?
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Today's Workouts
10 miles running at the local HS track consisting of a 2 mile warm up, 3 miles at a hard pace, 1/2 mile recovery jog, 3 more miles at a hard pace, 1.5 mile cool down.
It's Raining Food
A follow up to yesterdays post. I mentioned how family and friends are always helping out. Yesterday Sam got a call from one of the local churches that also has a school attached to it. They had some extra food they needed to get rid of before school started up. Probably some Commie state regulation that only allows new food to be served,
Anyway we are now the proud owners of the following:
1 full box of fund-raising chocolate bars (50 count)
1 large pail of chocolate ice cream
Around 200 popsicles, ice cream sandwiches and chocolate éclairs
A large pack of ground beef
2 bottles of chocolate syrup
1 bottle of catsup
I jar of horseradish sauce
1 large bottle of pancake syrup
3 packs of hamburger rolls
1 jar of mayo
1 jar of relish
2 bottle of whipped cream
2 packs of tortillas
2 buckets of KFC chicken (leftover from a youth group party last week - not from last school year)
It all should make for an interesting dinner tomorrow night.
Anyway we are now the proud owners of the following:
1 full box of fund-raising chocolate bars (50 count)
1 large pail of chocolate ice cream
Around 200 popsicles, ice cream sandwiches and chocolate éclairs
A large pack of ground beef
2 bottles of chocolate syrup
1 bottle of catsup
I jar of horseradish sauce
1 large bottle of pancake syrup
3 packs of hamburger rolls
1 jar of mayo
1 jar of relish
2 bottle of whipped cream
2 packs of tortillas
2 buckets of KFC chicken (leftover from a youth group party last week - not from last school year)
It all should make for an interesting dinner tomorrow night.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Large Families Redux
An open letter to oglers and skeptics (and those who are just curious) of large families.
The pressures, expectations, and life in general of large families.
Behavior-
My kids have extra pressure on them to behave in public. Most of it brought on by their mother and I. We stress to them (and stress them I sure) the importance of being well behaved when we go out. It's not really fair to them - actually it's kinda sad in a way. But people are just waiting for them to act-up, like in those unrealistic Cheaper by the Dozen and Yours, Mine and Ours movies where the kids run wild (the remakes not the originals). So to be a good witness to the joys of large families we stress-out our kids so they mind their manners in public, hardly seems right.
But if they don't behave in public you can just read the looks on people's faces (usually their are yuppies with 0.0 kids and a few designer dogs). "See what happens when people breed like rats" or "I bet they get hardly any attention at home".
So as we are driving in the stereo-typical 15-passenger van, the vehicle of choice for large families, we give them The Talk - no not that talk. The jist of which is, act-up and I'll tear your face off.
Fortunately our kids are pretty well-mannered when we go out. We even get people stopping and commenting how nice it is too see a large family with well behaved children. These are always older people who make these comments. The younger childless couples probably just think we are freaks...that's OK at least we'll have someone to take care of us when we are old. Let's see their dogs do that.
And if they act like they don't want to talk to you in public, it's not because they are being rude, it's cause you are embarrassing them with all your questions. They aren't a carnival sideshow. The younger ones will probably talk to you but the teens...forget it. They want nothing to do with the 100's of questions that come their way. Heaven help my kids if people find out they are homeschooled too. They leads to whole set of new and rude questions.
Discipline-
No we don't beat our kids or make them kneel for hours with their hand stretched out holding bricks - although some of them sure could use it at times.
We use the same old techniques as other families; timeouts (kinda lame), counting to 3 (super lame), taking away of privileges like desert or going places (works ok), being sent to their rooms (some of them like that too much), or giving them extra chores (a favorite around here which if it doesn't change their attitudes - at least it gets our house cleaner). And yes on occasion we...gasp...spank them. I'm sure they will grow-up to be societal misfits who need years or therapy to overcome their dramatic childhoods :-P
Money-
"Wow you guys must be rich to have all those kids". "You must have a fantastic job, how much money do you make"? Why do people think those questions are acceptable? They probably wouldn't ask them of someone with 2 kids. When did it become ok to butt your nose in other people's finances?
And for the record I have a good but regular paying job. Nothing special but it works great for us.
We are blessed with lots of great family and friends who live nearby and help us out. Grandparents, Aunts Uncles etc...who are always dropping in to lend a hand or take a kid or five to do something special. But for some reason I'm thinking other families do this too.
Oh and we are rich, we have everything but money.
Food-
No we don't own a cow or live on a farm. We live in a regular old suburb like most of the people in this country and we buy our food at grocery stores and wholesale clubs like everyone else. We just buy more of it - but not as much as you would think. Sure the teens can eat a lot but the little kids aren't exactly gluttons.
We don't cook outrageous amounts of food. Our breakfast's' aren't 3 dozen eggs, 5 pounds of bacon, a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk. A normal breakfast would be something like a dozen and a half eggs, 2 pounds of bacon and half a loaf of bread and some milk or juice. Or maybe just a box of cereal. Yeah one box of cereal can feed the whole family.
The hardest part isn't the shopping (you just throw extra food in the cart) or cooking (doubling or tripling recipes is pretty easy. No the hardest part is serving it up. You've got 11 kids asking for their food different ways plus you have to cut up any meat for the little kids (and the 18 year-old)
There aren't food fights at the dinner table, unless dad is the one to start it.
Housing-
No we don't live in a McMansion and now we don't live in a double-wide trailer in a trailer park or in a shoe. It's even worse, we live in the suburbs. We bought our current house 8 years ago just after our 7th child was born. The house was a 5 BR 3 BR foreclosure that seemed like a good deal at the time. We spent many months fixing it up while living in it at the same time. Fortunately we had many relatives and friends (now former friends) helping us out. A year after we moved in, with #8 child on the way, we added on 2 more bedrooms. We didn't add a bathroom since we have 6 boys and plenty of trees outback.
clothes-
No we don't make our own clothes; this isn't Little House on the Prairie. Sure a lot of their clothes are hand-me-downs, from thrift-stores, or presents from relatives. Just like a lot of other families, big surprise there. And the close we buy are more than likely to be from places like Kohl's and Target instead of Nordstrom’s or Niemen Marcus. Somehow they all survive.
Don't feel sorry for my kids if their clothes look a little (ok a lot) dirty or worn out. It's not because we are poor and can't provide for them. It's cause they are kids! And kids get dirty and wear out clothes.
As the kids enter their teen years and start earning their own money, they buy their own clothes.
Pregnant again-
Announcing another pregnancy when you have a large family can be stressful occasion. You are sometimes met with confused or pitying looks. I expect it from people we don't know too well or people we meet out in public. It's when it's from fellow "Catholics" that it can be painful.
Fortunately our family and close friends are great about - or at least their are used to it by now - so they take it well.
...and no we aren't expecting...as far as I know...
Feeling sorry for us-
We don't want your sympathy or pity. We love our lives the way they are - most of the time - sure we have our tough movements like all families but we get through them. We don't want anyone feeling sorry for us and our choices we've made. We aren't worried about them so why should you be.
And just as importantly we don't really want your admiration or respect either. I'm not saying this to be mean, it's just that we don't think what we are doing is any big deal or makes us special. Having people come up to us all the time telling us how much they admire our family or how inspirational we are just makes us uncomfortable. We aren't special or some super family - you should see us in our private moments, we are more than human. We just want to be treated like a regular, albeit larger sized family. Don't get me wrong, we don't mind people complimenting us or asking for advice on parenting or homeschooling, it's when it is taken to the excess that it starts to get kinds creepy and stalker-ish.
We are not even close to being saints (well Sam is for putting up with me but that is a whole other post) although that is what we strive for (some days). We aren't extra patient. We lose our tempers just as easily as anyone else. We don't have any special parenting wisdom although we are happy to share what little we have.
We are just like every other Catholic parent out there. We are trying to raise our kids the best we know how and help them to get to heaven. We have learned a lot from older couples who have gone down this long and winding road before us. But a lot we are learning and trying to figure out as we go. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we screw-up (big time). We try and learn from our mistakes and get it right next time. Hopefully the first few guinea pigs, I mean kids, aren’t too angry with us for not knowing what we were doing. So far they are good kids.
Stop back 50 years from now and I'll let you know how it's turned out.
See Sam's post today on the same topic
The pressures, expectations, and life in general of large families.
Behavior-
My kids have extra pressure on them to behave in public. Most of it brought on by their mother and I. We stress to them (and stress them I sure) the importance of being well behaved when we go out. It's not really fair to them - actually it's kinda sad in a way. But people are just waiting for them to act-up, like in those unrealistic Cheaper by the Dozen and Yours, Mine and Ours movies where the kids run wild (the remakes not the originals). So to be a good witness to the joys of large families we stress-out our kids so they mind their manners in public, hardly seems right.
But if they don't behave in public you can just read the looks on people's faces (usually their are yuppies with 0.0 kids and a few designer dogs). "See what happens when people breed like rats" or "I bet they get hardly any attention at home".
So as we are driving in the stereo-typical 15-passenger van, the vehicle of choice for large families, we give them The Talk - no not that talk. The jist of which is, act-up and I'll tear your face off.
Fortunately our kids are pretty well-mannered when we go out. We even get people stopping and commenting how nice it is too see a large family with well behaved children. These are always older people who make these comments. The younger childless couples probably just think we are freaks...that's OK at least we'll have someone to take care of us when we are old. Let's see their dogs do that.
And if they act like they don't want to talk to you in public, it's not because they are being rude, it's cause you are embarrassing them with all your questions. They aren't a carnival sideshow. The younger ones will probably talk to you but the teens...forget it. They want nothing to do with the 100's of questions that come their way. Heaven help my kids if people find out they are homeschooled too. They leads to whole set of new and rude questions.
Discipline-
No we don't beat our kids or make them kneel for hours with their hand stretched out holding bricks - although some of them sure could use it at times.
We use the same old techniques as other families; timeouts (kinda lame), counting to 3 (super lame), taking away of privileges like desert or going places (works ok), being sent to their rooms (some of them like that too much), or giving them extra chores (a favorite around here which if it doesn't change their attitudes - at least it gets our house cleaner). And yes on occasion we...gasp...spank them. I'm sure they will grow-up to be societal misfits who need years or therapy to overcome their dramatic childhoods :-P
Money-
"Wow you guys must be rich to have all those kids". "You must have a fantastic job, how much money do you make"? Why do people think those questions are acceptable? They probably wouldn't ask them of someone with 2 kids. When did it become ok to butt your nose in other people's finances?
And for the record I have a good but regular paying job. Nothing special but it works great for us.
We are blessed with lots of great family and friends who live nearby and help us out. Grandparents, Aunts Uncles etc...who are always dropping in to lend a hand or take a kid or five to do something special. But for some reason I'm thinking other families do this too.
Oh and we are rich, we have everything but money.
Food-
No we don't own a cow or live on a farm. We live in a regular old suburb like most of the people in this country and we buy our food at grocery stores and wholesale clubs like everyone else. We just buy more of it - but not as much as you would think. Sure the teens can eat a lot but the little kids aren't exactly gluttons.
We don't cook outrageous amounts of food. Our breakfast's' aren't 3 dozen eggs, 5 pounds of bacon, a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk. A normal breakfast would be something like a dozen and a half eggs, 2 pounds of bacon and half a loaf of bread and some milk or juice. Or maybe just a box of cereal. Yeah one box of cereal can feed the whole family.
The hardest part isn't the shopping (you just throw extra food in the cart) or cooking (doubling or tripling recipes is pretty easy. No the hardest part is serving it up. You've got 11 kids asking for their food different ways plus you have to cut up any meat for the little kids (and the 18 year-old)
There aren't food fights at the dinner table, unless dad is the one to start it.
Housing-
No we don't live in a McMansion and now we don't live in a double-wide trailer in a trailer park or in a shoe. It's even worse, we live in the suburbs. We bought our current house 8 years ago just after our 7th child was born. The house was a 5 BR 3 BR foreclosure that seemed like a good deal at the time. We spent many months fixing it up while living in it at the same time. Fortunately we had many relatives and friends (now former friends) helping us out. A year after we moved in, with #8 child on the way, we added on 2 more bedrooms. We didn't add a bathroom since we have 6 boys and plenty of trees outback.
clothes-
No we don't make our own clothes; this isn't Little House on the Prairie. Sure a lot of their clothes are hand-me-downs, from thrift-stores, or presents from relatives. Just like a lot of other families, big surprise there. And the close we buy are more than likely to be from places like Kohl's and Target instead of Nordstrom’s or Niemen Marcus. Somehow they all survive.
Don't feel sorry for my kids if their clothes look a little (ok a lot) dirty or worn out. It's not because we are poor and can't provide for them. It's cause they are kids! And kids get dirty and wear out clothes.
As the kids enter their teen years and start earning their own money, they buy their own clothes.
Pregnant again-
Announcing another pregnancy when you have a large family can be stressful occasion. You are sometimes met with confused or pitying looks. I expect it from people we don't know too well or people we meet out in public. It's when it's from fellow "Catholics" that it can be painful.
Fortunately our family and close friends are great about - or at least their are used to it by now - so they take it well.
...and no we aren't expecting...as far as I know...
Feeling sorry for us-
We don't want your sympathy or pity. We love our lives the way they are - most of the time - sure we have our tough movements like all families but we get through them. We don't want anyone feeling sorry for us and our choices we've made. We aren't worried about them so why should you be.
And just as importantly we don't really want your admiration or respect either. I'm not saying this to be mean, it's just that we don't think what we are doing is any big deal or makes us special. Having people come up to us all the time telling us how much they admire our family or how inspirational we are just makes us uncomfortable. We aren't special or some super family - you should see us in our private moments, we are more than human. We just want to be treated like a regular, albeit larger sized family. Don't get me wrong, we don't mind people complimenting us or asking for advice on parenting or homeschooling, it's when it is taken to the excess that it starts to get kinds creepy and stalker-ish.
We are not even close to being saints (well Sam is for putting up with me but that is a whole other post) although that is what we strive for (some days). We aren't extra patient. We lose our tempers just as easily as anyone else. We don't have any special parenting wisdom although we are happy to share what little we have.
We are just like every other Catholic parent out there. We are trying to raise our kids the best we know how and help them to get to heaven. We have learned a lot from older couples who have gone down this long and winding road before us. But a lot we are learning and trying to figure out as we go. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we screw-up (big time). We try and learn from our mistakes and get it right next time. Hopefully the first few guinea pigs, I mean kids, aren’t too angry with us for not knowing what we were doing. So far they are good kids.
Stop back 50 years from now and I'll let you know how it's turned out.
See Sam's post today on the same topic
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Today's Workouts
4 mile with Joey, Robert and Dominic following along on their bikes.
62.5 miles running for the week, which is a new high for me.
62.5 miles running for the week, which is a new high for me.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
What to do? What to do?
#1 child has #'s 10 and 11 at the pool.
#2 child is in NH.
#3 child went to the pool with friends.
#'s 4 and 5 are shopping with grandma.
#6 child went to a friends house to ride bikes and play Lego's.
#'s 7, 8 and 9 are at their aunt's house for the afternoon.
Let's see - that's 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11 - all accounted for.
What to do? It's just me and the Honey here. What to do?
Well for one thing, I need to get off this computer....Oh Honey....
#2 child is in NH.
#3 child went to the pool with friends.
#'s 4 and 5 are shopping with grandma.
#6 child went to a friends house to ride bikes and play Lego's.
#'s 7, 8 and 9 are at their aunt's house for the afternoon.
Let's see - that's 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11 - all accounted for.
What to do? It's just me and the Honey here. What to do?
Well for one thing, I need to get off this computer....Oh Honey....
A Picture is Worth $14 Million
$14 million for baby pictures!!! That’s supposedly what Brangelina have pimped pictures of their Twins for. No babies are that cute.
Yeah I know the money goes to charity…I’m still not feeling all warm and fuzzy about this. Why do I get the feeling these twins are gonna end up worse off than the Olsen Twins...doing the Springer, Montel, Riki Lake tour...rehab...naughty pictures on MySpace...
Here are some recent pictures of our baby. Free of charge. Although you can send me some money if you want.
Yeah I know the money goes to charity…I’m still not feeling all warm and fuzzy about this. Why do I get the feeling these twins are gonna end up worse off than the Olsen Twins...doing the Springer, Montel, Riki Lake tour...rehab...naughty pictures on MySpace...
Here are some recent pictures of our baby. Free of charge. Although you can send me some money if you want.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Today's Workouts
Lunch time run of 11 miles. 90 degrees and humid. Legs were pretty sore and tight from yesterday's 23 miles. I probably looked like a geezer running for the first 4 miles or so. After that my legs loosened up and the rest of the run was pretty good.
Stuff Catholics Like
"The Rosary", says the Roman Breviary, "is a certain form of prayer wherein we say fifteen decades or tens of Hail Marys with an Our Father between each ten, while at each of these fifteen decades we recall successively in pious meditation one of the mysteries of our Redemption." NewAdvent.org
Catholics love their beads. Large ones, small ones, stone or plastic or wood, most Catholics have lots of rosaries in their house. Lying near the family bible, around the neck of a Mary statue, hanging from a bed-post, dangling from the rear-view mirror in their cars. The may never use them or even remember how but they are there. The might have been a hand-me down from a dead grandmother or a 1st communion present or maybe they bought themselves a new pair when they started having kids and wanted to teach them.
The blue-hairs in particular are fond of them. You can see them before, during and after Mass fingering their beads. Praying for deceased husbands, wayward children, the grand-kids, their arthritis, to be regular again and a myriad of other intentions. Hopefully some of them are praying for me also.
Kids of course love rosaries, the large wooden painted ones and the plastic glow in the dark ones in particular. They wear them around their necks, whip their little sisters with them, play tug-of-war with them until they break and the beads go flying all over the place. This happened to my good pair at Christmas morning Mass around 10 years ago.
We were at 8 o'clock Mass in the 250 year-old chapel that is used for special occasions. This is a popular and crowded Christmas Mass. We always go to this Mass and we always sit up in the choir loft. One of the little ones was acting up so I gave her my rosary to hold. And of course another one of the little guys decided he wanted it too. So a tug-of-war ensued and my black onyx and sterling silver rosary was the loser. Beads went fling everywhere, including a few that fell down to the pews below. The worst part is it was during the middle of Mass and I couldn't yell at or whack them...ok maybe that was a good thing...at least from the offenders point of view.
Catholics love their beads. Large ones, small ones, stone or plastic or wood, most Catholics have lots of rosaries in their house. Lying near the family bible, around the neck of a Mary statue, hanging from a bed-post, dangling from the rear-view mirror in their cars. The may never use them or even remember how but they are there. The might have been a hand-me down from a dead grandmother or a 1st communion present or maybe they bought themselves a new pair when they started having kids and wanted to teach them.
The blue-hairs in particular are fond of them. You can see them before, during and after Mass fingering their beads. Praying for deceased husbands, wayward children, the grand-kids, their arthritis, to be regular again and a myriad of other intentions. Hopefully some of them are praying for me also.
Kids of course love rosaries, the large wooden painted ones and the plastic glow in the dark ones in particular. They wear them around their necks, whip their little sisters with them, play tug-of-war with them until they break and the beads go flying all over the place. This happened to my good pair at Christmas morning Mass around 10 years ago.
We were at 8 o'clock Mass in the 250 year-old chapel that is used for special occasions. This is a popular and crowded Christmas Mass. We always go to this Mass and we always sit up in the choir loft. One of the little ones was acting up so I gave her my rosary to hold. And of course another one of the little guys decided he wanted it too. So a tug-of-war ensued and my black onyx and sterling silver rosary was the loser. Beads went fling everywhere, including a few that fell down to the pews below. The worst part is it was during the middle of Mass and I couldn't yell at or whack them...ok maybe that was a good thing...at least from the offenders point of view.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Today's Workouts
23 mile long run. I took in 72 ounces of fluid while running and another 24 ounces right after the run, for a total of 96 ounces or 6 pounds. I weighed myself before the run and after. I was down four pounds. So I figure I sweated out 10 pounds of liquid. Which equals 1.25 gallons of sweat...Cool!
I took a 12 minute ice-bath after the run to aid recovery.
I took a 12 minute ice-bath after the run to aid recovery.
So You Can't Smoke Afterwards Anymore?
An oil painting of a nude woman went back on show yesterday more than 60 years after it was banned for being “too brazen” – only to receive complaints about it because she is smoking.
***warning the page that comes up when you click the link above, has a picture of the nude painting***
Ok now that y'all are back. Whats the deal? Explain this to me. Smoking upsets some peoples sensibilities so much now that they are going to complain about the cigarette in a 60 year-old painting instead of the nudity? People it's art. I'm sure after viewing this painting in an art museum, teens are rushing right out and blazing up a Marlboro or a Kool.
Maybe they should airbrush it or photoshop the cigarette out. And while we are at it lets go back through all the old movies and edit out all the scenes that have smoking in them. Should make for some really short movies. Heck we might have to cut Bette Davis and Rita Hayworth right out of the movies. I'm sure we could dub in Miley Cyrus or Paris Hilton and no one would notice.
Davis
Hayworth
This fits in nicely with what the schools are teaching the kids. They teach the kids how to have sex but heaven forbid if you light up a smoke afterwards.
And for the love of Pete spare me the anti-smoking tirades. No one in my family smokes (cigarettes at least ;)), and just like everyone else out there, we have lost friends and family to cancer. I'm not prompoting smoking, if you want to smoke
But as they say in the Army "Smoke if you got em"
***warning the page that comes up when you click the link above, has a picture of the nude painting***
Ok now that y'all are back. Whats the deal? Explain this to me. Smoking upsets some peoples sensibilities so much now that they are going to complain about the cigarette in a 60 year-old painting instead of the nudity? People it's art. I'm sure after viewing this painting in an art museum, teens are rushing right out and blazing up a Marlboro or a Kool.
Maybe they should airbrush it or photoshop the cigarette out. And while we are at it lets go back through all the old movies and edit out all the scenes that have smoking in them. Should make for some really short movies. Heck we might have to cut Bette Davis and Rita Hayworth right out of the movies. I'm sure we could dub in Miley Cyrus or Paris Hilton and no one would notice.
Davis
HayworthThis fits in nicely with what the schools are teaching the kids. They teach the kids how to have sex but heaven forbid if you light up a smoke afterwards.
And for the love of Pete spare me the anti-smoking tirades. No one in my family smokes (cigarettes at least ;)), and just like everyone else out there, we have lost friends and family to cancer. I'm not prompoting smoking, if you want to smoke
But as they say in the Army "Smoke if you got em"
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Soy Will Ruin Your Love Life
Soy Linked to Infertility
WEDNESDAY, July 23 (HealthDay News) -- Eating half a serving of soy food a day lowers sperm concentrations and may play a role in male infertility, particularly in obese men, Harvard University researchers report.
We've been down this Soy is Bad road before.
So I can eat tofu, soy milk (how in the heck do you milk a soy bean? do the beans have teats?) and risk losing my Man-Card or I can stick with steak, ribs, sausage etc...and stay a whole man.
This might explain the abundance of kids we have, since we are a soy-free house. Well other than soy sauce. I was on a toe-cheese, I mean tofu, kick around 15 years ago...it lasted about 2 weeks.
No matter how much sauce or flavoring I put on the tofu it still tasted like The Donk's old running shoes. Yes, that bad.
So according to the two latest studies, soy will make you lose your mind and not be able to um...you know (yeah I know the article mentions infertility not dysfunction - allow me a little fun please). On the bright-side, at least if your memory is gone you might not even remember that you ever could do the other thing.
I'm having a hard time deciding which one below to have for supper; the scrumptious steak or the block of tofu that looks like the modeling clay my kids use to make spiffy Christmas gifts with. Actually I'm sure the modeling clay tastes better than the tofu. I base this on the fact that the paste I used to eat in kindergarten tasted better than tofu.
There are around 25 other reasons not to eat soy
To quote Mikes Hard Lemonade Commercials "We don't do Soy"
WEDNESDAY, July 23 (HealthDay News) -- Eating half a serving of soy food a day lowers sperm concentrations and may play a role in male infertility, particularly in obese men, Harvard University researchers report.
We've been down this Soy is Bad road before.
So I can eat tofu, soy milk (how in the heck do you milk a soy bean? do the beans have teats?) and risk losing my Man-Card or I can stick with steak, ribs, sausage etc...and stay a whole man.
This might explain the abundance of kids we have, since we are a soy-free house. Well other than soy sauce. I was on a toe-cheese, I mean tofu, kick around 15 years ago...it lasted about 2 weeks.
No matter how much sauce or flavoring I put on the tofu it still tasted like The Donk's old running shoes. Yes, that bad.
So according to the two latest studies, soy will make you lose your mind and not be able to um...you know (yeah I know the article mentions infertility not dysfunction - allow me a little fun please). On the bright-side, at least if your memory is gone you might not even remember that you ever could do the other thing.
I'm having a hard time deciding which one below to have for supper; the scrumptious steak or the block of tofu that looks like the modeling clay my kids use to make spiffy Christmas gifts with. Actually I'm sure the modeling clay tastes better than the tofu. I base this on the fact that the paste I used to eat in kindergarten tasted better than tofu.
There are around 25 other reasons not to eat soy
To quote Mikes Hard Lemonade Commercials "We don't do Soy"
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Today's Workouts
10.2 mile run consisting of 2 mile warm up, 12 X 1/4 mile hill repeats with 1/4 mile jog back down. 2.2 mile cool down.
Hot and muggy out today.
This one hurt. Happy June?
Hot and muggy out today.
This one hurt. Happy June?
Family Picture Day
A week ago my extended family met at a local pond with a professional photographer. I also brought my camera along. Here are a few shots.
The Bunch of Us
Mom and Her Boys
Dad and His Girls
Summer Time Feet
Ok This one Might Need an ExplanationWe all wore white shirts and kaki bottoms of some sort. During the pictures this guy came running up saying "why did we start the picture taking with out him"? So we had him jump in for a few pictures. See if you can guess which one he is.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Keep on Trying
Yesterday Joey (10) and Robert (8) did their first kids triathlon.
The race distances were:
50 meter swim
2 mile bike
.5 mile run
They both did a great job. Other than Josh who is in NH for the summer, the whole family was there plus The Donk and his family.
Joey came in 2nd in his age group and Robert came in 4th in his age group.
Joey on the ride home "Dad, now I know why you do these races".
Here are some shots from the day.
The two studs getting ready for the big challenge
Joey running from the pool to his bike
Robert out of the pool and heading to his trusty steed
Joey finishing up the bike
Robert done with his bike ride
Joey crossing the finish line
Dad putting Joey's finisher's medal on him
Robert wrapping up a hard days work
Tired but proud
The race distances were:
50 meter swim
2 mile bike
.5 mile run
They both did a great job. Other than Josh who is in NH for the summer, the whole family was there plus The Donk and his family.
Joey came in 2nd in his age group and Robert came in 4th in his age group.
Joey on the ride home "Dad, now I know why you do these races".
Here are some shots from the day.
The two studs getting ready for the big challenge
Joey running from the pool to his bike
Robert out of the pool and heading to his trusty steed
Joey finishing up the bike
Robert done with his bike ride
Joey crossing the finish line
Dad putting Joey's finisher's medal on him
Robert wrapping up a hard days work
Tired but proud
Sunday, July 27, 2008
A Husband's Dream?
Fla. woman attacked by fox, then shot in the leg
MORRISTON, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say a Levy County man accidentally shot his wife while trying to hit a fox that had attacked her. The couple told deputies they had spotted an animal in their yard Friday morning and went outside to see what it was.
The fox bit the woman on the left leg and wouldn't let go, so she told her husband to get a gun.
The man fired a .22-caliber rifle seven times, killing the animal but also hitting his wife in the lower right leg.
The woman was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The dead fox will be tested for rabies, but authorities say the results won't be available until next week.
What kind of wife in her right mind gives her husband permission to take a shot at her, let alone 7?
But if you are the husband you got to take the shot. I mean how many chances are you going to get to do that.
Don't worry Honey, the only fox that's going to be chewing on your leg will be me.
MORRISTON, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say a Levy County man accidentally shot his wife while trying to hit a fox that had attacked her. The couple told deputies they had spotted an animal in their yard Friday morning and went outside to see what it was.
The fox bit the woman on the left leg and wouldn't let go, so she told her husband to get a gun.
The man fired a .22-caliber rifle seven times, killing the animal but also hitting his wife in the lower right leg.
The woman was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The dead fox will be tested for rabies, but authorities say the results won't be available until next week.
What kind of wife in her right mind gives her husband permission to take a shot at her, let alone 7?
But if you are the husband you got to take the shot. I mean how many chances are you going to get to do that.
Don't worry Honey, the only fox that's going to be chewing on your leg will be me.
Tour de France 2008
And the Winner is...
Carlos Sastre of Spain who ride for Team CSC.
It's been a great sports year for Spain. Nadal won the French Open and Wimbledon and the soccer team won the Euro Cup.
145 of the 180 riders who started the race finished the ordeal today.
The Final Jersey Standings
The Jersey statuses
Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC
Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.
Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner
Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC
Carlos Sastre of Spain who ride for Team CSC.
It's been a great sports year for Spain. Nadal won the French Open and Wimbledon and the soccer team won the Euro Cup.
145 of the 180 riders who started the race finished the ordeal today.
The Final Jersey Standings
The Jersey statuses
Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC
Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.
Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner
Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC
Silly Sunday
The Jetsons - Who had a crush on Judy or Jane or maybe Rosie?
Scooby Doo - Who had a crush on Daphne?
Flintstones - Who had a crush on Wilma?
Scooby Doo - Who had a crush on Daphne?
Flintstones - Who had a crush on Wilma?
Saturday, July 26, 2008
How Much Caffeine Will it Take to Kill You?
"After 95.23 cups of Brewed Coffee, you'd be pushing up daisies."
I guess I need to try harder. The 6 or so cups a day I drink just aren't cutting it.
Take the test at Energy Fiend
Not just for coffee drinkers
Friday, July 25, 2008
Tour de France 2008
Stage 19 - Friday, July 25: Roanne - Montluçon, 165.5km
The Tour heads back into the centre of the country almost to where it was two weeks ago as the peloton makes its weary way towards Paris. The profile is almost as rolling as yesterday's, beginning with a third and a fourth category climb inside the first 42 kilometres. The mid-section is fairly flat, but then the final 50 kilometres become much lumpier, although there are no classified climbs in this part.
Today is more suited to the sprinters than yesterday, but with a potentially decisive time trial tomorrow the overall contenders may not want a hard day and so a breakaway might succeed.
Roanne is yet another first time stage town, but Montluçon has been visited five times before. Last time was in 2001 when Belgian Serge Baguet (Lotto) beat Dane Jacob Piil (CSC) in a two-up sprint after the remains of the breakaway was swallowed by the peloton. A similar scenario may well play out this year.
Stage description lifted from cyclingnews.com
This will be one of those stages that only serious tour watchers will enjoy. I know I will. Not a lot will seem to be happening. Riders will try to break away but depending on which teams are represented, will decide if they are allowed to get away
As a side note, Damiano Cunego had a nasty crash yesterday. He did Man-Up and finish the stage but withdrew from the race this morning. It was his 4th crash of the tour. Bad luck for the lad.
A great day for the host country. 2 Frenchmen, Sylvain Chavanel and Jérémy Roy, broke away from the peloton and battled it out for the stage win with the Team Cofidis rider Sylvain taking his first ever stage win. It’s good to see Chavanel get the win. He’s been attacking off and on for 3 weeks and never could quite get the win. Well done young warrior.
The Jersey statuses
Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC
Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.
Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner
Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC
Tour tidbits
Individual time trials
In an individual time trial each rider rides individually. The first stage of the tour is often a short time trial known as a prologue. The prologue is to decide who wears yellow on the opening day, and provide a spectacle for the organizing city.
There are usually three or four time trials during the Tour. One may be a team time trial. Traditionally the final time trial has been the penultimate stage, and effectively determines the winner before the final ordinary stage which is not ridden competitively until the last hour.
On a few occasions, the race organizers made the final stage into Paris a time trial. The most recent occasion on which this was done, in 1989, yielded the closest ever finish in Tour history, when Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon by eight seconds overall. Fignon wore the yellow jersey for the final stage, with a lead of 50 seconds, and was beaten by LeMond's superior time trial performance. LeMond's unusual handlebars which placed his forearms close together and reduce wind resistance, and his streamlined helmet, were considered to be a large factor in his victory.
The Tour heads back into the centre of the country almost to where it was two weeks ago as the peloton makes its weary way towards Paris. The profile is almost as rolling as yesterday's, beginning with a third and a fourth category climb inside the first 42 kilometres. The mid-section is fairly flat, but then the final 50 kilometres become much lumpier, although there are no classified climbs in this part.
Today is more suited to the sprinters than yesterday, but with a potentially decisive time trial tomorrow the overall contenders may not want a hard day and so a breakaway might succeed.
Roanne is yet another first time stage town, but Montluçon has been visited five times before. Last time was in 2001 when Belgian Serge Baguet (Lotto) beat Dane Jacob Piil (CSC) in a two-up sprint after the remains of the breakaway was swallowed by the peloton. A similar scenario may well play out this year.
Stage description lifted from cyclingnews.com
This will be one of those stages that only serious tour watchers will enjoy. I know I will. Not a lot will seem to be happening. Riders will try to break away but depending on which teams are represented, will decide if they are allowed to get away
As a side note, Damiano Cunego had a nasty crash yesterday. He did Man-Up and finish the stage but withdrew from the race this morning. It was his 4th crash of the tour. Bad luck for the lad.
A great day for the host country. 2 Frenchmen, Sylvain Chavanel and Jérémy Roy, broke away from the peloton and battled it out for the stage win with the Team Cofidis rider Sylvain taking his first ever stage win. It’s good to see Chavanel get the win. He’s been attacking off and on for 3 weeks and never could quite get the win. Well done young warrior.
The Jersey statuses
Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC
Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.
Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner
Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC
Tour tidbits
Individual time trials
In an individual time trial each rider rides individually. The first stage of the tour is often a short time trial known as a prologue. The prologue is to decide who wears yellow on the opening day, and provide a spectacle for the organizing city.
There are usually three or four time trials during the Tour. One may be a team time trial. Traditionally the final time trial has been the penultimate stage, and effectively determines the winner before the final ordinary stage which is not ridden competitively until the last hour.
On a few occasions, the race organizers made the final stage into Paris a time trial. The most recent occasion on which this was done, in 1989, yielded the closest ever finish in Tour history, when Greg LeMond beat Laurent Fignon by eight seconds overall. Fignon wore the yellow jersey for the final stage, with a lead of 50 seconds, and was beaten by LeMond's superior time trial performance. LeMond's unusual handlebars which placed his forearms close together and reduce wind resistance, and his streamlined helmet, were considered to be a large factor in his victory.
Today's Workouts
10.2 mile run at lunch time. On top of yesterday's long run this was just a joy. It took 8 miles for my legs to loosen up and stop hurting. The last 2 miles or so were some what enjoyable.
And I used up a big portion of my Gatorade squirting it at a dog that was chasing me. Stupid dog owner (he was in the front yard). I should have just let the dog chase me but he was running around in the middle of the road with lots of cars heading his way. Too bad the nitwit that owned him didn't chase him out into the road (kidding). I did notice that when I came back that way a little bit later the dog was inside. Maybe my calling the owner and irresponsible so and so. Dude owes me some Gatorade.
It was kinda like this but my shorts are much shorter and my legs are waaaaaaay tanner (dude get some sun - seriously) and better toned.
And I used up a big portion of my Gatorade squirting it at a dog that was chasing me. Stupid dog owner (he was in the front yard). I should have just let the dog chase me but he was running around in the middle of the road with lots of cars heading his way. Too bad the nitwit that owned him didn't chase him out into the road (kidding). I did notice that when I came back that way a little bit later the dog was inside. Maybe my calling the owner and irresponsible so and so. Dude owes me some Gatorade.
It was kinda like this but my shorts are much shorter and my legs are waaaaaaay tanner (dude get some sun - seriously) and better toned.
Stuff Catholics Like
Large Families
(In solidarity with my sister from another mother.)
Ok in general Catholics are know to have larger families than on average. Do statistics support this? I have know idea. Let's not let facts get in the way of my fun people. Besides to be above average in the US you only have to have 2.2 kids. The current 2008 birthrate for the US is 2.1. So all you people with 2 and half kids...give yourself a gold star. Congratulations, you are above average.
Not that it's a contest though. Too bad, I never win anything. Radio contests, Irish sweepstakes, basket of cheer, Russian mail-order bride, lotto etc...zilch, zip, nada, nothing. Well other than Sam's heart which is the coolest prize ever.
"Are All Those Kids Yours?"
"Don't you know what cause that?"
"How do you do it?"
etc...
We get the above questions or some variation of them all the time.
A few of the responses I've come up with:
Yes, they are all ours
Yes, we have a TV; we just don't need it to entertain ourselves
Well, they are all hers at least
No, they keep following me and I can't ditch them
Yes, except for Sam she's the Mother
Yes, I know what causes it and I like it
No, this is not a daycare
No, we aren't Mormon we are Catholic
We had planned on two; but my wife can't count
Yes, we are just trying to be open to life
You should enjoy our large family; they will be paying your social security
We didn't plan the first few; why start now
We have too many? Maybe I should off a few
Kids? What kids?
How do we do it? Well Sometimes I'm...oh never mind
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tour de France 2008
Stage 18 - Thursday, July 24: Bourg d'Oisans - Saint Étienne, 196.5km
The Alps are behind us now, but this stage is by no means flat with a third, a second and a fourth category climb to deal with. The course doesn't suit the sprinters, but neither is it tough enough for the climbers and overall contenders, for this reason it has breakaway written all over it. Anyone who has managed to save a bit of energy over the preceding few days will have a go here and in all likelihood the time gap allowed will be enormous providing nobody of any note is in the break.
Bourg d'Oisans has been a stage start time 19 times before, but has never hosted a finish. Sitting as it is at the foot of Alpe d'Huez, it is a natural choice for the next day's stage. The last time a stage started here was in 2006 when the course headed north to another mountaintop finish at La Toussuire. Danish super-climber Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) took the victory alone on his way to taking the polka dot mountain jersey.
Saint Etienne is another regular Tour host, having been a stage town 23 times before, partly because it used to be the centre of the French bicycle industry. Last time the Tour was here it saw Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel) cement his seventh and final Tour de France by taking victory in the final time trial of the 2005 race. That day also saw the tragicomic end to Michael Rasmussen's (Rabobank) hope of a podium place, as a disastrous ride saw him crash twice and change his bike three times.
Stage description lifted from cyclingnews.com
Today was a status quo day. Other than the sprint at the end by the 2 riders out in front, not much happened. I suspect tomorrow will be the same as everyone is saving themselves for Saturday’s individual time trial.
Marcus Burghardt took home another Tour stage win for Team Columbia on the 196.5 kilometre trip away from the. Burghardt bested his breakaway companion, Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) in a hotly contested sprint. The Quick Step rider, desperate to salvage his team's lackluster Tour, attacked repeatedly in the final kilometres, but just could not shake the big German.
The Jersey statuses
Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC
Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.
Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner
Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC
Tour tidbits - There are three riders away on their own, why isn't the peloton chasing them?
There may be any number of reasons why the peloton doesn't chase down a breakaway. The first is that nobody has decided to chase it down yet. A few riders will often escape in the early part of a stage, tear up the road for a while, gain some valuable exposure for themselves and their sponsors and get reeled in later in the day when the peloton decides to start taking the race seriously.
Alternatively, it may be that the break is composed of little-regarded riders who are no threat to any of the leaders. If that's the case, it may simply not be worth anyone's while to make the effort to chase.
The Alps are behind us now, but this stage is by no means flat with a third, a second and a fourth category climb to deal with. The course doesn't suit the sprinters, but neither is it tough enough for the climbers and overall contenders, for this reason it has breakaway written all over it. Anyone who has managed to save a bit of energy over the preceding few days will have a go here and in all likelihood the time gap allowed will be enormous providing nobody of any note is in the break.
Bourg d'Oisans has been a stage start time 19 times before, but has never hosted a finish. Sitting as it is at the foot of Alpe d'Huez, it is a natural choice for the next day's stage. The last time a stage started here was in 2006 when the course headed north to another mountaintop finish at La Toussuire. Danish super-climber Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) took the victory alone on his way to taking the polka dot mountain jersey.
Saint Etienne is another regular Tour host, having been a stage town 23 times before, partly because it used to be the centre of the French bicycle industry. Last time the Tour was here it saw Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel) cement his seventh and final Tour de France by taking victory in the final time trial of the 2005 race. That day also saw the tragicomic end to Michael Rasmussen's (Rabobank) hope of a podium place, as a disastrous ride saw him crash twice and change his bike three times.
Stage description lifted from cyclingnews.com
Today was a status quo day. Other than the sprint at the end by the 2 riders out in front, not much happened. I suspect tomorrow will be the same as everyone is saving themselves for Saturday’s individual time trial.
Marcus Burghardt took home another Tour stage win for Team Columbia on the 196.5 kilometre trip away from the. Burghardt bested his breakaway companion, Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) in a hotly contested sprint. The Quick Step rider, desperate to salvage his team's lackluster Tour, attacked repeatedly in the final kilometres, but just could not shake the big German.
The Jersey statuses
Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC
Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.
Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner
Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC
Tour tidbits - There are three riders away on their own, why isn't the peloton chasing them?
There may be any number of reasons why the peloton doesn't chase down a breakaway. The first is that nobody has decided to chase it down yet. A few riders will often escape in the early part of a stage, tear up the road for a while, gain some valuable exposure for themselves and their sponsors and get reeled in later in the day when the peloton decides to start taking the race seriously.
Alternatively, it may be that the break is composed of little-regarded riders who are no threat to any of the leaders. If that's the case, it may simply not be worth anyone's while to make the effort to chase.
Today's Workouts
22 miles on the local High School track. 88 mind-numbing laps. I normally run out on the roads but due to the sore ankle I wanted to run on a flat surface.
The ankle felt good for the first 5 miles, miles 6-15 it hurt and the last 7 miles it was numb. The last four miles my thighs and hips were trashed.
When I finished I collapsed on the side of the track and crawled to the Long Jump pit and threw-up in the sand. Then I staggered to the car and tried to drive home. A cop pulled me over for suspicion of drunk driving. When getting of the car for the field sobriety test, I stumbled and fell on the cop who promptly pepper-sprayed me. I was then placed in a holding cell where some 6’4” bald dude named Bubba wanted to make me his girlfriend. Fortunately Sam bailed me out in time. I just made it home. (J-Cleaver this paragraph is for you – is that better).
Hopefully I’ll recover somewhat for tomorrows run.
The ankle felt good for the first 5 miles, miles 6-15 it hurt and the last 7 miles it was numb. The last four miles my thighs and hips were trashed.
When I finished I collapsed on the side of the track and crawled to the Long Jump pit and threw-up in the sand. Then I staggered to the car and tried to drive home. A cop pulled me over for suspicion of drunk driving. When getting of the car for the field sobriety test, I stumbled and fell on the cop who promptly pepper-sprayed me. I was then placed in a holding cell where some 6’4” bald dude named Bubba wanted to make me his girlfriend. Fortunately Sam bailed me out in time. I just made it home. (J-Cleaver this paragraph is for you – is that better).
Hopefully I’ll recover somewhat for tomorrows run.
Best Darn Shaving Gel Ever
Mini Review
I scored some free samples of some men's facial products from a company called Arbonne.
My favorite it the Shaving Gel. It's a white gel that kind of goes on like Noxzema, but not as greasy. When you put it on your face it looks like you have applied some Ivory soap. There is just a thin layer of product, so I was a little sceptical of how it would work. But it worked better than any shaving cream or gel I have ever used. I use cheap disposable razors so this was good test. The razor just glided over my face. No pulling of the hairs and no nicks or cuts on my face. To put the gel to a harder test. I used the same cheap Bic razor 5 times in a row and I only shaved every other day so there was more growth to hack off. Each time it felt like a was shaving with a good quality brand-new razor.
Ok all of us pretty much hate shaving. But if you are looking for a higher end shaving gel to make the chore a little bit more pleasant, this one is for you!!! I'm not getting any $$$ for this. I'm doing it cause I like the goods. And cause I'm a sweetheart of a guy...just ask my wife and kids.
I don't want to make outrageous claims about this shaving gel, but I'm so smooth-faced and good looking now, that I wouldn't be surprised if number 12 is on the way soon.
Next I'll try it on my hairy gorilla like legs. I was able to shave part of my back for date-night with my Honey.
I've also been trying some sea-salt exfoliate that Sam as been using. It definitely leaves my face feeling softer and looking cleaner. I'll let Sam post more on it.
I'm also tyring out some face toner after-shave product and some skin moisturizer. It's going to be hard to tell how this is working since I already have such a pretty face. But I'll post again after trying it for awhile.
(does this make me a metro sexual?)
For more info on the products, and to order with a 15% discount contact:
Susan Brennan
suefoxb@gmail.com
I scored some free samples of some men's facial products from a company called Arbonne.
My favorite it the Shaving Gel. It's a white gel that kind of goes on like Noxzema, but not as greasy. When you put it on your face it looks like you have applied some Ivory soap. There is just a thin layer of product, so I was a little sceptical of how it would work. But it worked better than any shaving cream or gel I have ever used. I use cheap disposable razors so this was good test. The razor just glided over my face. No pulling of the hairs and no nicks or cuts on my face. To put the gel to a harder test. I used the same cheap Bic razor 5 times in a row and I only shaved every other day so there was more growth to hack off. Each time it felt like a was shaving with a good quality brand-new razor.
Ok all of us pretty much hate shaving. But if you are looking for a higher end shaving gel to make the chore a little bit more pleasant, this one is for you!!! I'm not getting any $$$ for this. I'm doing it cause I like the goods. And cause I'm a sweetheart of a guy...just ask my wife and kids.
I don't want to make outrageous claims about this shaving gel, but I'm so smooth-faced and good looking now, that I wouldn't be surprised if number 12 is on the way soon.
Next I'll try it on my hairy gorilla like legs. I was able to shave part of my back for date-night with my Honey.
I've also been trying some sea-salt exfoliate that Sam as been using. It definitely leaves my face feeling softer and looking cleaner. I'll let Sam post more on it.
I'm also tyring out some face toner after-shave product and some skin moisturizer. It's going to be hard to tell how this is working since I already have such a pretty face. But I'll post again after trying it for awhile.
(does this make me a metro sexual?)
For more info on the products, and to order with a 15% discount contact:
Susan Brennan
suefoxb@gmail.com
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tour de France 2008
Stage 17 - Wednesday, July 23: Embrun - L'Alpe d'Huez, 210.5km
This is the stage that all climbers want to win. Those mythical 21 hairpin bends have become synonymous with the Tour de France and a year without the Alpe seems somehow to have something missing. This is a long stage that takes in the familiar – but no less brutal – Cols du Galibier and Croix de Fer, although as a change they are tackled in a different order from usual.
In all likelihood, the main contenders will sit behind their team-mates for as long as possible and look to make their move on the final steep climb to Alpe d'Huez. The non super-climbers high up in the overall – if there are any left at this stage – will be looking to hold on for as long as possible. For the sprinters however, this will be a day of pure suffering.
The small town of Embrun must think all of its Christmases have come at once as this is their second stage of the Tour this year (they have been awarded the start of stage 15 due to rock falls in the Alps forcing a course change.) Alpe d'Huez on the other hand has hosted the Tour 25 times since that first time in 1952 when Fausto Coppi won, this equates to almost every other year.
Last time the Tour finished here, in 2006, it saw the emergence of Fränk Schleck (CSC) as a future major force in Grand Tours as he dropped riders like former Giro d'Italia winner Damiano Cunego (Lampre) on the way to victory.
Stage description lifted from cyclingnews.com
The tour might not be won today but lots of riders could definitely lose it today. The top riders will need to stay close. If the top riders finish the day within a minute or so of each other than the race will be decided on Saturday during the last Individual Time Trial. Hopefully it will be close otherwise watching a time trial can be real boring.
Cadel Evans is only 9 seconds back. He is very good at time trialing. If Teams CSC wants Frank Schleck (or even Sastre) to have a chance to win, they are going to have to try and get rid of Cadel today.
Riders have been fallen off the back of the Peloton all day. The sprinters especially are getting hit hard. They just need to hang on and make sure they don’t miss the time cutoff and get booted from the race.
2-4 riders have been around 5-6 minutes in front all day. But I got a feeling they are going to get reeled
in.
Yes they were caught by all the contenders. And Sastre broke away from that group.
The crowds are nuts on these final KM’s.
Sastre has a 2 minute lead with 2 mile to go. Evans is trying to cut the lead so he can get the yellow jersey back during the time trial on Saturday..
Carlos Sastre of Spain and Team CSC takes the stage win and the Yellow Jersey so is he the team leader of CSC or is Frank Schleck? I guess it’s Sastre. He’s the better time trailer of the two.
So the top five overall are as follows. Evans is the best at time trialing and Saturday’s time trial is a decent length () so he might be able make up the time.
1 Carlos Sastre (Spa) CSC-Saxo Bank
2 Fränk Schleck (Lux) CSC-Saxo Bank 1.24
3 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 1.33
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto 1.34
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 2.39
The Jersey statuses
Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC
Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.
Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner
Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC
Tour tidbits
What's the protocol for kissing the podium girls? Sometimes it's left cheek, right cheek... other times, left, right, left... or maybe it's right, left, right. Anyway, what gives?
Generally speaking, the custom for kissing an "acquaintance" in France is on the cheek, three times, starting with the left cheek. In Italy, it's twice, also starting with the left cheek. So in the Giro d'Italia you'll see that most of the Italians will kiss the podium girls twice, and in the Tour de France, most of the French riders will kiss the podium girls three times. But if you win, whatever you do, no kissing on the lips, and definitely no tongue!
This is the stage that all climbers want to win. Those mythical 21 hairpin bends have become synonymous with the Tour de France and a year without the Alpe seems somehow to have something missing. This is a long stage that takes in the familiar – but no less brutal – Cols du Galibier and Croix de Fer, although as a change they are tackled in a different order from usual.
In all likelihood, the main contenders will sit behind their team-mates for as long as possible and look to make their move on the final steep climb to Alpe d'Huez. The non super-climbers high up in the overall – if there are any left at this stage – will be looking to hold on for as long as possible. For the sprinters however, this will be a day of pure suffering.
The small town of Embrun must think all of its Christmases have come at once as this is their second stage of the Tour this year (they have been awarded the start of stage 15 due to rock falls in the Alps forcing a course change.) Alpe d'Huez on the other hand has hosted the Tour 25 times since that first time in 1952 when Fausto Coppi won, this equates to almost every other year.
Last time the Tour finished here, in 2006, it saw the emergence of Fränk Schleck (CSC) as a future major force in Grand Tours as he dropped riders like former Giro d'Italia winner Damiano Cunego (Lampre) on the way to victory.
Stage description lifted from cyclingnews.com
The tour might not be won today but lots of riders could definitely lose it today. The top riders will need to stay close. If the top riders finish the day within a minute or so of each other than the race will be decided on Saturday during the last Individual Time Trial. Hopefully it will be close otherwise watching a time trial can be real boring.
Cadel Evans is only 9 seconds back. He is very good at time trialing. If Teams CSC wants Frank Schleck (or even Sastre) to have a chance to win, they are going to have to try and get rid of Cadel today.
Riders have been fallen off the back of the Peloton all day. The sprinters especially are getting hit hard. They just need to hang on and make sure they don’t miss the time cutoff and get booted from the race.
2-4 riders have been around 5-6 minutes in front all day. But I got a feeling they are going to get reeled
in.
Yes they were caught by all the contenders. And Sastre broke away from that group.
The crowds are nuts on these final KM’s.
Sastre has a 2 minute lead with 2 mile to go. Evans is trying to cut the lead so he can get the yellow jersey back during the time trial on Saturday..
Carlos Sastre of Spain and Team CSC takes the stage win and the Yellow Jersey so is he the team leader of CSC or is Frank Schleck? I guess it’s Sastre. He’s the better time trailer of the two.
So the top five overall are as follows. Evans is the best at time trialing and Saturday’s time trial is a decent length () so he might be able make up the time.
1 Carlos Sastre (Spa) CSC-Saxo Bank
2 Fränk Schleck (Lux) CSC-Saxo Bank 1.24
3 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 1.33
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto 1.34
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 2.39
The Jersey statuses
Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Carlos Sastre of Spain who rides for CSC
Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.
Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner
Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC
Tour tidbits
What's the protocol for kissing the podium girls? Sometimes it's left cheek, right cheek... other times, left, right, left... or maybe it's right, left, right. Anyway, what gives?
Generally speaking, the custom for kissing an "acquaintance" in France is on the cheek, three times, starting with the left cheek. In Italy, it's twice, also starting with the left cheek. So in the Giro d'Italia you'll see that most of the Italians will kiss the podium girls twice, and in the Tour de France, most of the French riders will kiss the podium girls three times. But if you win, whatever you do, no kissing on the lips, and definitely no tongue!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Tour de France 2008
Stage 16 - Tuesday, July 22: Cuneo - Jausiers, 157km
After an Italian rest day, the Tour heads back over the Alps to France. After a fairly flat, but gradually rising 50 kilometres, the course tackles the first of the day's two hors catégorie climbs: the Col de la Lombarde, which marks the border crossing. After a long descent, the roads begin to rise again to the second of the day's massive climbs: the Cime de la Bonnette-Restefond, the highest point of this year's Tour, which at 2802 metres is also the highest paved road in the Alps.
There then follows a 23.5-kilometre descent to the finish in Jausiers, the smallest town to host a stage finish at just over 1000 in population. Once again, the high mountains should provide plenty of opportunity for the favourites to attack one another, but that long descent will allow any dropped riders a chance to make up some ground, keeping the gaps relatively small.
Unsurprisingly, it is the first time that either town has hosted the Tour – although Cuneo was the venue for yesterday's rest day. One of the Cuneo's most famous sons is Michele Ferrero, whose eponymous company has given the world Nutella, Ferrero Rocher and Tic Tacs.
A big couple of days in Alps. Today and tomorrow could decide this thing. The next 2 days should pretty much trash already tired legs.
The stage winner was Cyril Dessel of France.
Christian Vande Velde had a rough day and dropped back to 6th which doesn’t sound too bad but he is now 3:15 back and in big trouble for the overall race.
Only the top 5 have realistic shot of winning the whole thing. But we will know more tomorrow.
The top 5 are and their times are:
1 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 68.30.16
2 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 0.07
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0.08
4 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa)Team CSC - Saxo Bank 0.49
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 1.13
It’s been a good tour so far for the Schleck brothers. Older brother, Frank, holds the yellow and Andy wears the white.
The Jersey statuses
Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Frank Schleck of Luxumborg who rides for CSC
Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.
Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner
Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC
Tour Tidbits –
Feeding. What are the rules or etiquette for feed zones/stations? For example, do all the riders hold their position while everyone eats, or is permissible to attack?
Just as with taking a comfort break of the urinal variety, the same level of etiquette applies to a comfort break of the gastronomic kind. It is considered very bad form to attack in a feed zone, and you will normally hear about it further down the road if you're brave enough to try. Once the peloton has collected their musette bags (cloth bags that contain water bottles and various items of food) in the feed zone, the race is back on; there's no requirement to ask the whole peloton if they've finished their meal before attacking. In general, feeding is permitted at any time starting from the 50 km marker up to the distance marker indicating "end of feeding", which is 20 km from the finish.
After an Italian rest day, the Tour heads back over the Alps to France. After a fairly flat, but gradually rising 50 kilometres, the course tackles the first of the day's two hors catégorie climbs: the Col de la Lombarde, which marks the border crossing. After a long descent, the roads begin to rise again to the second of the day's massive climbs: the Cime de la Bonnette-Restefond, the highest point of this year's Tour, which at 2802 metres is also the highest paved road in the Alps.
There then follows a 23.5-kilometre descent to the finish in Jausiers, the smallest town to host a stage finish at just over 1000 in population. Once again, the high mountains should provide plenty of opportunity for the favourites to attack one another, but that long descent will allow any dropped riders a chance to make up some ground, keeping the gaps relatively small.
Unsurprisingly, it is the first time that either town has hosted the Tour – although Cuneo was the venue for yesterday's rest day. One of the Cuneo's most famous sons is Michele Ferrero, whose eponymous company has given the world Nutella, Ferrero Rocher and Tic Tacs.
A big couple of days in Alps. Today and tomorrow could decide this thing. The next 2 days should pretty much trash already tired legs.
The stage winner was Cyril Dessel of France.
Christian Vande Velde had a rough day and dropped back to 6th which doesn’t sound too bad but he is now 3:15 back and in big trouble for the overall race.
Only the top 5 have realistic shot of winning the whole thing. But we will know more tomorrow.
The top 5 are and their times are:
1 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 68.30.16
2 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 0.07
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0.08
4 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa)Team CSC - Saxo Bank 0.49
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 1.13
It’s been a good tour so far for the Schleck brothers. Older brother, Frank, holds the yellow and Andy wears the white.
The Jersey statuses
Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey - overall leader) – Frank Schleck of Luxumborg who rides for CSC
Maillot Vert (green jersey - points leader for sprinting) – Oscar Freire of Spain who rides for Rabobank.
Maillot à pois (red and white polka-dot jersey - best in the mountains) – Bernhard Kohl of Austria who rides for Gerolsteiner
Maillot Blanc (white jersey - best young rider - under 25) – Andy Schleck of luxumborg who rides for CSC
Tour Tidbits –
Feeding. What are the rules or etiquette for feed zones/stations? For example, do all the riders hold their position while everyone eats, or is permissible to attack?
Just as with taking a comfort break of the urinal variety, the same level of etiquette applies to a comfort break of the gastronomic kind. It is considered very bad form to attack in a feed zone, and you will normally hear about it further down the road if you're brave enough to try. Once the peloton has collected their musette bags (cloth bags that contain water bottles and various items of food) in the feed zone, the race is back on; there's no requirement to ask the whole peloton if they've finished their meal before attacking. In general, feeding is permitted at any time starting from the 50 km marker up to the distance marker indicating "end of feeding", which is 20 km from the finish.
Today's Workouts
8 mile run at the local track this morning. 2 mile warm-up. 4 X 1 mile repeats with a 1/4 mile jog in between. 1 mile cool down.
The ankle was stiff and a little sore but tolerable. It gets a little better each day.
The ankle was stiff and a little sore but tolerable. It gets a little better each day.
If it's the 20th of the Month
It must be date night! Or date day in this case. And yes I know it's not really the 20th of the month. On the 20th we were trying to drive back from WV and our van broke-down...keep up people.
Sam and I just went out to lunch at the little Italian grille in town that we both like. She had a chicken vinaigrette salad and I had half a Greek Salad and Half a Pizza. The pizza had artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, black olives and mushrooms.
Lunch was great and the view across the table was even better.
Sam and I just went out to lunch at the little Italian grille in town that we both like. She had a chicken vinaigrette salad and I had half a Greek Salad and Half a Pizza. The pizza had artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, black olives and mushrooms.
Lunch was great and the view across the table was even better.
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