Fall 2010 Craziness: Marathon Relay

Marathoning for Miracles

Somehow Evan (the runner/marathoner) convinced Jacinda, Mandy, and I (um, not runners) to run the 4 person relay at the Marathoning for Miracles in Abilene. Mandy to fly down from Oregon, Halloween fun...It actually sounded like a good idea and an excuse to make myself run, at least it did when we first discussed it...in June. Come time for the race on Halloween weekend well, I was hoping I was still standing let alone able to run 5 miles.

Yes, for any quick mental math people, 26.2 divided by 4 is not 5. The legs were instead split 5, 6, 7 and 8; I was able to convince the others I didn't have as much time to train and really needed that shorter leg :)

So, hours after tearing down Mario's World, I was in Abilene. With a carb-filled pasta dinner, the Abilene High/Cooper football game, a few hours of sleep and it was time for the race.

Dark, early, and cold. But we are smiling!

Running like the wind...or into the wind?


First exchange - I was really happy to see Mandy!


Mandy got to run through the beautiful Abilene "countryside." Aka. gravel roads :)


High fives and tradeoffs


Oops, not that road


Everyone coming in for the finish!


Team medals
(In case anyone's confused, our fourth person kept changing and we had to have a last minute substitution, an ACU runner who didn't mind the 8 miles!)


After some hydration, snacks, and a long nap, we were ready for the next weekend event: Hillcrest's trunk or treat! Inspired by Disney's newest version, we all went as characters from Alice in Wonderland:

Mad Hatter, White Queen, Alice, and Red Queen


Running the cake walk


Everyone's in "character"



Thanks, Mandy and Jacinda for letting me "borrow" the pictures :)


Calendar check, after all this fun, it was back to DFW for the World Series the next day!

Fall 2010 Craziness: Halloween

Mario Bros. Halloween
Coinciding with the lead up to the October Classic was a little event known as Southwest Airlines Halloween. In my three previous years, this amounted to brainstorming a costume idea, a little shopping, and some last minute sewing. However, this year (much, much earlier in the year when things were calmer - like March) those of us on our Department Halloween Committee decided we should participate a little more, with a Department Walkthrough. The best way I can describe this is a themed haunted house, though not always scary and typically somewhat elaborate.

As children of the 80's, we reached back to our younger years to that great eye-hand coordination developer and time waster: Nintendo's Mario Bros.

With lots of butcher paper, paint, felt; a little creativity and lots of time, not to mention some great special effects and sound effects that I could never have figured out, we transformed our cubicle work space into Mario's World. Let me take you on the tour:




Luigi greets you with candy and introduces you to Mario and your game controller.


Collect the coins through this familiar path, but watch out for the turtle.



Haha! That was me :)


Jump for the coin to pop out of the box.



Through the first castle


and into the dungeon level.


Bowser is waiting, and he has spikes! Atomic fireball candies defeat him, but the princess is in another castle.


Through a warp zone,


Collect lots and lots of coins,


And we are underwater!


Where there are flying fish...


and a piranha plant!



Finally, we find the right castle...



and the Princess!


Long lines = Mario is a hit!


Even Woody came to see it :)

Mario Morning Crew

Mario Afternoon Crew

Fall 2010 Craziness: MLB Playoffs

Post-season in the life of baseball fanatics
Turns out it is really, really exciting when both of your favorite teams make it to the playoffs. But it is also rather stressful, hectic, and well, crazy!

I've already related some of the Atlanta Braves playoff experience in this previous post. Which, I will admit was nothing short of momentary insanity. Following a full weekend of intense Texas baseball, we flew in Monday morning, went to the Braves/Giants game, and then I flew back Tuesday morning in time for work. But we did see Bobby Cox's last game ever and got some great foam tomahawks. Plus, I think the awesome Braves atmosphere, nothing like 50,000 fans doing the Tomahawk Chop, convinced our family's lone nonBraves fan (aka. Mom) that they are a pretty good team to root for. Not that she'd admit it - she bleeds for those Texas Rangers.

Speaking of which, how 'bout them Rangers?! Through some perseverance and a bit of luck, we were able to attend two AL division games, three AL championship games, and one World Series game (except for Dad, of course, who gets to to go to all of the games, lucky). Which made for three very busy weekends and some very long days.

The playoffs were everything from deflating (ALCS Game 1 - blowning a 4 run lead in the 8th inning) to exhilarating (ALCS Game 6 - Feliz catches ARod looking to win the AL pennant). Complete with lots of hot dogs, sweet potato french fries, rally rags, temporary tattoos, flyovers, scorebooks, red shirts, antlers....

From pregame cookouts to celebrations, here's some of our playoff experience in pictures:

Grillmaster Evan

A Game of Catch

A Family Affair

Rangers win the pennant!!

Still smiling post celebration (note all the confetti in the outfield)

Ready for the World Series

Fall 2010 Craziness

So, I wasn't too great about posting last fall. A few things contributed to this and I thought I'd share details on a some of the very time-consuming but oh so fun events.

Turns out the best stories are told through pictures, which makes for long posts. So, I'm breaking it up:

1. Post-season in the life of baseball fanatics


2. Mario Bros. Halloween


3. Marathon Relay


4. Treking Through Europe

New Year = An Excuse to Plan

There's just something about a new year, a blank page just waiting to be written. Whether literally or just in their head, most people set some sort of resolutions for the year. I usually don't take this approach, although I might have a few "goals" in mind for the year.

What I mostly love in January is to start planning out the year. Primarily, of course, the places to go and books to read :) 365 days open for travel and reading adventures!

At first, the travel possibilities seem limitless. Every and all destinations are options. So, I start with the trips that didn't happen in 2010 (Iceland, Little House on the Prairie Days, Blue Ridge Parkway, The Biltmore, Tom Sawyer Days) and add a few "2011 is a great year to see this" places (Climb up the Statue of Liberty before it is closed for renovations, Glacier National Park before it melts away). And then there's all of those international destinations - I mean, I have only visited 10% of the world:
Plus all of those domestic places I love to revisit for food, family, and just fun (Kansas City, Chicago, Philly, Boston, Austin, Lubbock, Orlando, DC...) Not to mention warm places in the winter, I really am becoming at wimp in the cold!

And even though no one would believe it, I do stay at home the occasional weekend. Really, I promise. Only 52 weekends a year, how to fit it all in?!

Perhaps planning my reading will be easier. I mean, I can read every single day; whereas my fabulous job does keep me at home some of the time. Two years ago I tried the "100 books in a year" strategy (came close, very very close). Then there was last year's "read whatever whenever and any recommendations which sound good" which amounted to about 50 books.

For 2011, I think I'm going with a "every genre, every month" approach. Realize, of course, my genres are what I want them to be, so this will be limited to six categories. The general thought is one of each every month, but being practical I've factored in a little adjustments. Longer non-fiction and literature works (aka those 800+ page ones) will span two months and many in the children's/young adult will be a series during the month rather than just one book.

Right now the list (okay, I'll admit it - spreadsheet) looks to be about 75 books, but flexible for any great recommendations that come along. As well as rereads of some favorites (Witch of Blackbird Pond, Persuasion, Blue Sword, Rifles for Watie, Les Mis when I can find the time...) every now and then. I know some people never reread a book, which I really don't understand. Even with something I've read 20 times I still discover something new each time...and remember why it is a favorite :)

Here's what I'm set to tackle in January:
Career/Business - Lead with LUV by Ken Blanchard & Colleen Barrett
Fiction - Walking with the Bible by Bruce Feiler (so I goofed, this is actually nonfiction, but I didn't realize it until after I started it)
NonFiction - Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack by Charles Osgood
Children's - The Indian in the Cupboard series by Lynne Reid Banks
Literature - Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas
Book Club - What a Girl Wants by Kristin Billerbeck



Anyone have travel/reading suggestions? The calendar and bookmarks are waiting!