Happy Birthday to Laura!!!

2 years of linear time = an eternity of memories and hapiness. I think that's a pretty good deal. Happy birthday baby.

Baby Gallery: Laura - August, September and October 2008

It's been a while, but here is a new Laura gallery. It covers August through mid-October. Enjoy.

http://www.therhodeislandreview.com/?page_id=205&g2_itemId=10437

Recreation: Running for a year

It dawned on me the other day. I have been running continuously for over a year now. This is monumental for me. In the past, I have taken up various exercise-related activities for months at a time. Even when we were members of the YMCA, we would take multiple months off. If I lie to myself, it always happened because I got busy or preoccupied. In reality, it was because I just got bored.

I mention that because lately I have been getting bored. I am still running, but it feels like maintinence instead of improvement. The only thing really keeping me running is racing. I have the Thanksgiving Day pie run coming up. After that, there is a Christmas 10K and the Super 5K. I may try to find a New Years Day race to pull me through from mid-December to late January.

Anyway, I've had some ups and downs, but generally, I am happy, healthy and strong. While I can't attribute that all to running, every aspect of my life is certainly improved because of it. So, happy anniversary to me and many happy returns!

Here is a photo of the happy couple:

Random Thoughts: Voting

I voted today. It took an hour and forty (1:40) minutes to get through the line for those of us unfortunate enough to have a last name starting with the letters A-I. For those with names starting with J-R, the wait was about 20 minutes. If you were one of the lucky few in the S-Z category, you walked right in to the front of the line and waited about 5 minutes for a free booth. I think someone needs to rebalance the names in each book.

In addition to the long wait, I found myself figuratively assulted by campaigners blocking the walk-way to the entrance to the polling place. I find it annoying that they are even present, but to present an effective blockade is just rediculous. OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little when I call it a blockade. At the very least, I had to walk on the grass. If it had been raining, I would have gotten my shoes wet and dirty!

My final and most significant annoyance was the presence of the completely uninformed electorate. I'm not talking about the fact that people don't know their prospective council members. I'm talking about the big game. A woman behind us in line grabbed a sample ballot while waiting. As she looked at it, she exclaimed, "Who are all these people running for president?!? I thought there were only two people running!" Another worman, obviously missing the words in each section stating as much said, "How many of these people do I vote for?"

Seriously, is it that hard to be just a little bit informed? Why bother voting if you don't care about the input or the output? If you don't know who the incumbents are and you don't know who the challengers are and you don't even know how many people you vote for, shouldn't you just stay home? On a plus note, I was entertained by all the dumbasses who over-voted their questions and then just told the marshal to accept it and not count that question. They intend to vote twice, but end up not voting at all. Good effort!

Recreation: SNA 5K Results

Place No. Name                   Div Div   Team Name       Time    Pace
===== === ====================== === ===== =============== ======= =====
   20 145 WILLIAM GAUCH            5 M3039                   20:58  6:45

Overall, I can't compain. I did pretty well, although it still wasnt a personal record. I am still hoping that I can break the 6-minute mile pace. Actually, I guess I have a set of goals which I want to break, in order as follows: 6:30 pace, 20:00 finish, 6:00 pace, 17:00 finish. For those keeping track, a 20 minute finish is about a 6:27 pace, so my first goal and my second goal will probably fall simultaneously.

The 17 minute goal is a "magic number" goal. The powers of the racing world have defined the term "competetive runner" as one who completes a 5K in 17 minutes or less. I honestly don't know if I will ever get there. I know I have the fast twitch muscles in my body to be able to do it, but I just don't know if I could follow a training plan to take me all the way there. The problem is made worse by the fact that most people's prime racing years are in the late 20s to early 30s. As I approach the category of mid-30s, I will only likely get slower.

If I had a little more free time, I would seriously consider volunteering as an assistant high-scool cross country coach. I would have the opportunity to run more frequently. At the same time, I would have to get faster because I couldn't let those punk kids beat me! For now, I think I am going to keep that thought on the back shelf of the brain. I could see dusting it off when Laura gets a little older. She seems to love to run. She spends long periods of time running back and forth down our long hall. All she will need for training is to learn to run with clothes on.

News: Theme Update

If you couldn't tell, I updated the theme on the page. I got bored with the plain theme and general appearance. The layout is pretty much identical, but I think it looks nicer. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. After all, if I don't post content, at least I can make it look pretty.

Random Thoughts: Nebraska

I leave tommorow for a 2-day work conference in Omaha. I'm looking forward to getting away from the normal weekly routine, but I'm really not looking forward to getting away from my family. This will be my first time away from Laura. I know it had to happen sooner or later, but I really am going to miss her. I love Erin and will miss her too, but I can have a thorough, worthwhile conversation with Erin on the phone. Conversations with Laura, while getting more involved, are short and cursory. They go something like this:

Me: Hi, Laura! How are you doing? Are you having a fun day?
Laura: Yeah.
Me: What did you do with mommy today.
Laura: Have breakfast.
Me: Are you going to
Laura: Mommy ready this.
Erin: Hold on, Laura. You have to finish talking to daddy.
Laura: Bye. Mommy read this.

Yeah, you get the idea. Anyway, I know it's only a couple days, but it's still going to be tough. Hopefully, Erin will get by without me. It's always nice to have someone to share the efforts of life with.