Thank you once again for all of the great Christmas loot!
Sorry for the delay in loading the Christmas photos (see the gallery!). Our digi cam has been dying these last few months and it finally dropped dead around New Year's; to the point where I couldn't even use it to transfer the photo files to the PC's HD. I tried tinkering with it with limited success, but it wasn't enough. Finally I had to get a card reader to salvage the photos.
Why did the camera decide to die? Well... LGF's Dad sort of let him experiment with the camera a few times. During one of Lucas' durability tests with the camera, things went astray. So Lucas decided to repeat the experiment in reverse to see if he could get it back to it's original condition....this did not produce the desired effect.
Click on the gallery link for more pics. These are a little old Nov/Dec but there are some good shots in there. Most of the pics are from our trips to Hawaii and Kyoto. Enjoy!
Rheagan has been teaching Lucas sign language over the last several months. I have been trying to keep up so as not to stand in the way of progress. However, Lucas has outpaced me. A couple of days ago he gave me the sign for ‘help’ and I had no idea what he was doing. He gave me a confused look, probably thinking: “ Gosh daddy is stupid, he doesn’t even know how to talk!”. Then he turned and gave is mother a big exasperated look. Rheagan graciously fell over sideways due to a bad case of the giggles.
I've been trying to get back into the whole running thing. It has been painful! It’s too cold right now to push running outside for any extended period of time without risking sickness. So this leaves me the treadmill at the base gym.
My goal is a 32.5-inch waistline, which is what I need to get 100% on the AF fitness test. The only way that I have effectively been able to reduce my waistline is by running while steering my diet away from excessive sweets and fermented beverages (pretty much just like every one else).
The trouble is that I have not had a 32.5 inch waist line since my sophomore or junior year of High School. Being 73 inches tall and having a waistline of this caliber is bordering on anorexic (or so I have been telling my self). I've been fluctuating between 34 and 36 inches for about 9 years now. Last month I was tagged at 35 inches by my unit fitness monitor....but I think that he was being a little generous. This is about minus 9 points away from the perfect score I desire. I'm still able to get all of the points for running, sit-ups and pushups. But I cannot suck my gut in to 32.5 inches.
I say "waist line", but it is not really a waist measurement that the AF takes. It is more of a love handle measurement. They select the largest part of the midriff to measure (4 or 5 inches above the actual waist). So every can of beer, soda drink, slice of banana bread and piece of Christmas cake is counted.
So in December I was making good progress on my running plan. Here is my log.
Week one: 11 miles
Week two: 21 miles
Week three: 23 miles
Week four: 0 (ate a bunch of holiday badness)
And then pretty much nothing until last week when I eked out 13 miles. This week I only have one 5 mile run but I'm on track for 5 days of kendo so I don't feel too bad about the low mileage. My intermediate goal is to keep the mileage up to about 21M (35K) a week. So in the name of a 32.5-inch waistline, please do not seed any more chocolate or candy to Japan!...at least for a little while :)
This is #2 as of 14 Dec. Look closely, this is the head of a future Nobel laureate, Pritzker Prize wining Olympic Gold Medalist
It’s a new year. 2006! I feel myself forced to ask small dense questions: Hungh? What? How? and Hungh? I am now 100% convinced that the earth now travels about 2Xs faster around the sun than it did 10 years ago. Why aren't folks getting worried about this alarming gravitational phenomena!?!
2006 is already shaping up to be a very hectic year. Here is my list of the top 5 projected exciting items for this year:
#1 #2 will be born on or about 30 April
#2 #1 turns 2 on Feb 22nd (he likes anything round or rolling: Balls, trains, trucks…)
#3 By December, the four of us should have a clean idea of where we are going following our time in Japan: California? Virginia? New York? Kansas? Spain? New Mexico? Alaska? Hawaii?....... I guess we have some narrowing down to do.
#4 I have, despite some of the Air Force’s best efforts, managed to complete the Architect’s NCARB Intern Development Program. This means that this summer I will take the registration examination and (should I manage to pass) become a licensed Architect and AIA member. There will be a bit of studying and cramming in my future.
#5 This is not so much an event as it is a non event: It looks like I will not be deploying as previously expected. This is a very long story that really should not go on a public web site... The bottom line is that I do not have to go to x as was previously expected. So everyone please do a little dance for me :)