I'm An Idiot!

That statement may be a blast from the past for some of you. Robin has commented that some of my, "I am an idiot" stories are legendary. This story may just fall in that category. However, it just may lend itself to a new brand of story, "Chris is a wuss".

Last evening, or to be more specific, this morning, I was eased into that awake/asleep/still dreaming state by a series of strange noises. The first of which was a high pitched squeak. It was followed by a fluttering sound. This happened a couple more times until I was jerked completely awake by two cats galloping across me. Now fully awake I am able to here a constant fluttering noise circling our bedroom. The cats were running in circles to match. I am still a little groggy and thinking this is one heck of a cricket in our room. Finally the sound focuses against the window wall of the room. I can now make out both cats watching the proverbial tennis match of this giant bug flying back and forth in front of our bedroom window. Then, I catch a glimpse of our visitor as it makes its way across our windows. Now the high pitched squeaks and and fluttering make way more sense. We have a bat.

With this realization I decide to wake Robin. I mean you cannot very well catch a bat without waking up others in the room. I nudged her and said, "We have a bat". Her response was, "huh"? I repeated, "We have a bat". Robin countered with, "what do you mean"? So, I was a bit more specific, "We have a bat in our bedroom". With that Robin got up and it kinda went downhill for me. I asked her what she was doing and she told me she was going to go get something to catch the bat.

She returned armed with a small pail and a rolled up Captain America comic. Very logical as Cap does wield on heck of a shield. The following events happened simultaneously:

Light went on...
Bat went crazy (as did the cats)...
I went under the sheets.
Give me a break, I did not want to get it stuck in my hair. I had not trimmed my beard in weeks.

Meanwhile Robin is bravely swinging away with the Cap at our bat. I eventually gathered myself enough to climb out of bed to join the fight. I grabbed the closest weapon at my disposal, a pillow, and begin taking swings. After a few blind flails I connected. The little fella ricocheted off our bed and land on the floor partially under the dresser. In came Robin with the Captain and the pail to scoop him up. He revived a bit during this and at one point was laid out, wings spread on the floor. He looked just like the Bat symbol! Awesome!

Robin eventually got him in the pail and we walked him outside. The pail was dumped and our bat flew off into the night.

I must admit my time under the sheets while Robin was battling the bat was not one of my stronger moments. However, I feel I redeemed myself with the pillow shot. Who am I kidding....
I am an idiot wuss.

Cheers

Say That Again....

I have two random and non-related issues to complain about tonight.

First:

A Walking Taco is an acceptable lunch for grade school children. What is a Walking Taco you ask? Well it is a bag of Fritos with some meat and cheese dumped into it. How in the world is that considered a balanced, good lunch? I understand that these lunches need to be inexpensive for the schools, but they also need to be nutritionally sound. It seems at times that the emphasis is on the inexpensive and not so much on the nutrition. An apple, a slice of good cheese and some whole grain crackers would cover both the objectives. I think the main sticking point for people may be the idea of an entree. We need to get past that and fix our kids lunches.

Second:

Why is the 1960's Batman not on DVD or at least on T.V. anymore? The answer to the first part is copyrights. There are a few people who will not sign over the rights. Have they no foresight? Do they not realize how many Bat-fans will buy that series? Batman is very popular, again, and they could make a mint. As for the second part of this conundrum, I have no idea. It was in syndication at one point, why not now. Holy Bat-withdrawals, I need some "Pow, Biff, Bam and Splat" in my life.

Speaking of Batman, he is leading the way as the Superhero for me to channel through a t-shirt for my 10K. There is plenty of time left to vote. Be heard Chrisophiles!

Cheers

Wow

Nora floored me yesterday. I was getting ready to work out, she and Nigel were down in the workout room and I was upstairs getting my mp3 player. All of a sudden I here a very excited yell from Nora, "Daddy, I just did a one-arm chin-up." Now not that I consider my daughter a liar, but a one-arm chin-up from a 6 year old? I figured at best she was holding on to the bar and hopping up and using the momentum to complete the chin-up. So, I went downstairs and asked her to show me. Nora walked to the bar, grabbed on with her right hand, gripped her right wrist with left hand, hung for a moment, and then pulled herself up. No hop, no jump, just a good clean one-arm chin-up. Then, just for good measure she did one with the left arm. Gotta have good balance you know. WOW! My little muscle girl. During the remainder of my workout she would do one-arm chin-ups, and on one occasion did two in a row.

On the running front, Nora and I have hit a little bump in the road. She had been using her old Wal-Mart tennis shoes and the heel support had broken down. Due to that she hurt her left heel. Therefore we took most of last week off and have got her some good Nike running shoes. Her heel now feels fine and we will begin running again tomorrow.

As for my running I am well on pace for the Pumpkin Fest 10k. I am not going to have the same kind of success as I have in the 5k, but I think I will do just fine. I have not yet decided which superhero I will channel for this run, but I have narrowed it down to Superman or Batman. In fact, I think this calls for the input of the Chrisophiles, check out the poll and help me decide. The poll will be open until the night before the run. Which t-shirt will it be?

That's all for now.

Cheers

What A Difference A year Makes

Today Was Nora's first day of school. This year she is a big first grader. One year ago as Nora lined up with her new class mates to go off to class for the first time there was a look of worry on her face and tears in her eyes. This year she ran into her new class with a huge smile on her face and barely glanced over her shoulder to say goodbye to us. Our little girl is growing up. I would like to take this opportunity to file a formal protest...she is not supposed to grow up! We did not authorize this nor have we filed the proper "aging" paper work. This needs to stop now.

I would write more, but I am too enthralled in the Olympics!

GO USA!

Cheers

The Week In Review

I got some very good news early in the week. Brett, Jori, Kiernan and Grayson are coming back to visit in September. While here they will take in the Morton Pumpkin Festival, visit friends and family and take care of a few errands. Most importantly they are going to have Grayson baptized at Bethel Lutheran, Brett's and my childhood church. He and Jori have asked me to be Grayson's Godfather. It is a great honor and I gladly accepted. Grayson, as your Godfather, be aware that someday I will need a favor...maybe not today or next week but.....

Nora and I have continued our running. Today we will wrap up week two with a 8 minute run. She has made nice improvements in her stride and endurance. Yesterday we covered the most distance to date, .62 miles. The best part of it all is she is having fun and we are able to do this together.


Off we go.

On Monday Robin and I surprised Nigel with an early birthday present. We got him his first bike. To say he loves it would be an understatement. He is pretty fearless on it and is already cruising around on his training wheels. It works out for Nora as well. She has her own, but it is much bigger and she does not feel as stable. Nigel's is lower to the ground and Nora feels much more secure. They both love riding it and are making great strides. We also bought a scooter for them to aide in improved balance.


Nigel and his new bike.


Nora scooting along.

Early Tuesday morning a big wind storm blew though Central Illinois traveling at 61 mph and bringing 60+ mph winds with it. I am fairly certain that our little town of Eureka got the worst of it. 2700 homes were without power for most of the day, including ours, and you could not drive by a house without seeing limbs and branches all over their yard. Many people lost entire trees, including a huge one in the high school parking lot. We were lucky and only had branches down in our yard. We did have a big branch down on the roof outside Nora's window, but no damage was done.


Down tree at Eureka High School.

Today we had a few big plans for the weekend that are in jeopardy due to a light rain. I volunteered to mow the lawn at our church, and wanted to put up our tent for a little camp out tonight. They say this rain is supposed to pass quickly, but it has been coming down for about an hour now. I need everyone to send their clear skies vibes this way.

I do have a back-up plan. The OLYMPICS! Robin and I love the Olympics, particularly the summer Olympics. We watched as much of the opening ceremony as we could stay awake for, and I am watching women's volleyball as I type. The US women are playing Japan and have a 1-0 lead, but are trailing in the second set. USA! USA! USA! I think my affection for the Olympics is tied to two major events in my life. First, the Robinson family moved to Illinois prior to the '84 summer games. Those were the first games I really remember watching and they are tied to a major change in our lives. Second, my personal branch of the Robinson family tree moved to Colorado just before the '96 summer games. Robin and I broke newly weds and did not yet know many people. So, our entertainment for two weeks consisted of a 6-pack and the Olympics. Oh the memories.

Update: Japan has tied the US at one set a piece.

Cheers!

Aging

Last night we had a nice dinner at my parents house. Cousin Tom and Barb were in town so we were able to have a nice visit with them as well. When we arrived we exchanged pleasantries, hugged and then Tom hit me with this..."Chris, you've gotten grayer since the River". I prefer to think of it as more distinguished. Distinguished? Who am I kidding? I am too much of a goofball to ever be confused as distinguished. Well, I guess that is what happens when you are the oldest of the youngers. Tom is right, I am grayer and believe it or not I like it.

Nora and I went for our third run yesterday. This one was a four minute run that covered 1/4 mile. It went very well. We did a better job of pacing and did not end up with a pain in her side. Most importantly she had fun.

Thank goodness for these runs with Nora or else I would not have done any running this week. I started the week being sick, so I missed Tuesday. Yesterday was the dinner and we only had time for Nora's run. I need to get out Saturday morning and put in some miles. The Pumpkin Fest. 10K is just around the corner.

Well that's all for now. Time to get moving for work.

Cheers