Happy Leap Day!!!

Nothing new to report. It snowed last night....supposed to snow again tonight...yippee. This pic was taken earlier this week in Dubuque, IA. On a side note, I heard the pigs outnumber the people 3 to 1 in Iowa.

Hunka-hunka Climbin' Love

So, I did another one of these things. The last one I wrote about was the Go Vertical Challenge at the Sears Tower in November. I did the Step Up for Kids at the Aon Building in January. The Hustle Up the Hancock this past Sunday concluded this year's climbing season. My wave started at 11:45, and I finished in about 45 minutes. I always meet some nice folks in the stairwells. There's usually a good mix of folks from the serious athletes trying to beat their best time to those who are closer to my fitness level. I even had one of the water girls compliment me on my shoes (I got'em on EBay). This was the first time I'd worn them out, even though I'd had them for over a year. I think they're snazzy. Some people got game, others just got gear.

As usual, I was looking for the exit somewhere around the fifth floor. The steps for this one are really steep. To give you an idea, this climb is 12 more floors than the Aon Building, but it's got fewer steps. Long story short, the steps are steeper. Back to the climb.... I took my usual breaks along the way. I know I stopped at least 3 times in the 30's.....I just wasn't feelin' it. I got out of the 30's, and once I got past 47, I was halfway home. It was five floors here, 4 floors there until the end. At the top, I got my medal, banana, bottle of water, and headed for the elevator line. It was down to the lobby and across the street to get my car out of the garage. The worst part of the whole day was the parking. Under 2 hours would've cost $17. I was there 2 hours and 2 minutes, which ran my parking bill to $23.....what a joke. I guess it's all for a good cause. I think they raised close to a million bucks for the American Lung Association and other lung health type stuff.

I've never had trouble getting going on the day after these things. For whatever reason, I was worthless yesterday. I was much better today.

The girls are staying with me for a couple of days as their mom is out of town for some kind of training for her job. As we were going to bed tonight, we read the Bible, then prayed. Gracy has a classmate who just lost her baby brother. Her name is Damaris, and the funeral is tomorrow, Wednesday. He had had heart complications since birth, and he just passed at 5 months old. Please say a prayer for them.

Back to tonight, we said a prayer for Damaris and her family, and I explained that God knows what it's like to lose a son. I asked Nora about it, and with a great big smile and all the pride she could muster, she said "He lost his Son for the glory of God!" Once again, with all the things that I've gotten wrong in my life, I continue to be amazed at how blessed I am to have such wonderful daughters.

Barack-WOO!! Obama-WOO!!

I like Barack Obama. I don’t know if he’d make the best president, but I don’t know that he’d be any worse than what we’ve seen recently. You can imagine my disappointment when I heard that longtime Cubs Superfan Ronnie “Woo Woo” Wickers was spotted in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency where Obama made his speech after the Super Tuesday voting. The Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908. If Ronnie’s tendency to get behind a loser bleeds over into the presidential race, this does not bode well for Obama.

It was a good race, Mr. Obama. There’s always next (election) year.

Rock the vote! Don't rock the vote, baby!

Today is Super Tuesday, and I did my patriotic duty. Is it really duty if you get a do-over in November? Anyway, I got up early to get to the polling place in time to vote and get to work, because I'm just that dedicated. I was there right at 6 and was the 3rd person in line. I thought no big deal. 5 people can vote at once, and this will take no time at all. The longest part of the whole deal was finding and signing my ticket. The guy who was looking for the ticket probably was around to vote for Lincoln. He was cheered on by four other 'judges' who were as old if not older than he. By this point, there were eight people in line behind me. I know they can only have one ticket for each voter, but they're divided into three books. Surely someone whose name was in a different part of the alphabet could've been helped while they were looking for mine.

A few months ago, I saw some information about serving as an election judge. I'm glad I didn't pursue it any further as there's no way I can handle this kinda stuff. I get frustrated when people take forever and don't work efficiently. I'm nothing if I'm not a model of efficiency.

I took a "Non-Partisan" ticket and did my voting. Little did I know that I'd only be voting against a $.005 sales tax for something, and for a bond issue to rehab the high schools.

There, I've done it. I've fulfilled my duty for another few months.

Jared Lorenzen: UK Wildcat, Super Bowl Champion!

A big hearty congratulations to Jared Lorenzen and the rest of the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. What is it about QB's from the Bluegrass and the Giants? First Phil Simms, then Mike Cherry, now J-Lo.

I wasn't so much ready to see history being made as I was ready to see the '72 Dolphins shut their traps. I guess they finally got to pop the tops on those bottles of champagne. My favorite part of the game wasn't Burress' game winning catch, or even Eli's scramble to keep the final drive alive. It was Bill Belichick's failed attempt to get his team off the field with 2 seconds on the clock. All season long, he's made other teams watch in defeat while he's run up the score in the name of fine-tuning their offense. Tonight, he got a little taste of his own medicine; and it's obvious, he didn't like it.

I didn't make it to any SB parties. I did my time at the Y, then headed to a friend's to catch the last 8 minutes of the game. There was no huge buffet spread, no open cabinet of beverages to choose from; just football on the big screen. Afterwards, I heaed home to rest up for another big Monday at North America's Railroad. I found this note from another company, and it motivated me. Take a read, I'm sure you'll feel the same way.

Super Sunday....

....includes dropping off the girls, going to church, working at the Y. After that, I'll probably catch the end of the game and clean up some leftovers somewhere. I don't really identify with either one of these teams. Belichick is about the most insufferable person to walk the face of the earth, and it wouldn't kill me to see the Giants bring home the Lombardi trophy. On the other hand, history is history. I've been having trouble getting into the spirit.....then I found this little nugget. Talented people amaze me; really talented people who put their talents to use on meaningless things that no one else would even try amaze and entertain me. Enjoy.....

More Snow

The videos below were shot on the evening of 1/29. 1/30 was fairly non-eventful, then it happened. Around 4 PM on 1/31, it started snowing. Picture a gentle, but steady, rain. That's what we were getting. It snowed off and on, much more off than on, all night long. I woke up at 5 on 2/1, looked out the window, and it was still snowing. It didn't stop until around 9. The snow clearing folks were out in force and left me with this and this.

Working from home turned out to be a good way to start the weekend. I picked up the girls around noon, took them to lunch, and we took the aboove picture on the church parking lot on the way home.

I tried a new recipe on Friday while I was home. It's for Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Stew. One of the raters of the recipe suggested using salsa instead of tomatoes. I tried that, and it worked pretty well. I don't know what kind of corn I got, but I'm going to look for something less sweet next time. I was unsuccessful at interesting the girls in the stew, but that just meant more for me. Of course, I've included a picture of my creation. There's a link to the recipe in the description. As a side note, a friend of mine bought me a box of crock pot liners. I love them!!!

Finally, Maggie and I have been working on a poster for an oral report she's doing on Mae C Jemison. She was supposed to get pictures from the internet, and her teacer said she could type in her information, print it, and put it on the poster. Of course, I helped a little, but I taught Maggie how to do some of the formatting, and she did quite a bit of it herself. I hadn't heard of Dr. Jemison, but I feel somewhat more well rounded for now knowing who she is. If you know who she is, kudos. If not, take a moment and educate yourself.