Batman Birthday

I am well overdue on this post...nearly a month in fact. Nigel celebrated his 4th birthday in full Batman style. We invited over a few of his friends and their families for a cookout, cake and the all important opening of the presents. Fun was had by all and I feel can be best summed up in picture form.

Enjoy.


Nora added her artistic abilities to the decor.


Nigel just opened his "Batpod". Thank you Yoders!


Nigel in his Batman shirt...I have a matching shirt.


The Batman cupcake cake. This thing was so cool. It came with a Batman motorcycle toy on top.


Nigel's new costumes helped turn this into a costume party.




Party's over.

Spinach Is Merely a Plecebo...

Recently I found myself thinking about Popeye and his battles with Bluto and other ne'er-do-wells. Inevitably Popeye would find himself in a tight spot or in the process of being completely pummeled. Every single time he went for his can of spinach, consumed its contents, and then rained "h", "e", double hockey sticks down upon his over-matched opponent.

I contend that he never actually needed the spinach in the first place. Let's put aside the biological aspect of the picture. We all know the human body would not be able to digest the spinach, process the minerals and vitamins and then send them throughout to provide the needed power. That goes without saying, right?

My point is this:

The man just popped open the can with his bare hands, or...
He generated enough lung power to turn his little pipe into a blow torch.
I think he was doing just fine in the strength department. Popeye, stop toying with Bluto. It's just plain mean.

This is just a sample of the random thoughts that go through my head on a given day. And people wonder why I am always in a good mood.

Martini Time!

Cheers

Overruled!

The votes are in, were counted, and a decision was made. Batman was the victor over Superman. However, I felt the Chrisophiles chose poorly. I mean come on, how do you pick a guy in an armored suit with fancy gadgets over the Man of Steel, faster than a speeding bullet, it was a race you know. Besides, I had to be fashion conscience. My running shorts are either red or gray and my Batman shirt is gray. I just would not look good. So, Superman was the new winner. You did not really think the No Worries blog was a democracy did you?

Superman served me well and the race was a success. This was the first time I had tried to run this distance at anything more than a 10 minute/mile pace, so I was not too sure how I would hold up. I held up well.

There were 418 people in the Pumpkin Festival 10K this year. I placed 104 with a time of 49:20. I was able to maintain a similar pace for the 10K that I ran in my 5K runs. I slowed up a bit in the last two miles to just over a 8min/mile pace, (had to save energy for the pumpkin pancakes). This will most likely be my last race for the year and I am very happy with what I have done in my first 6mths of running. I will maintain my training and focus a bit more on Nora and her progress. She really wants to be able to run a mile and eventually be able to be in a race with me.



Superman preparing to wave to his fans at the finish.

I still owe you all a post for Nigel's Batman birthday.

Cheers for now.

Extra! Extra!

Nora and her friends have made the paper!

Last Friday we went to see American English, a Beatles tribute band with some good friends of ours the Yoders. It was part of a free outdoor summer concert series put on by the local electric company. Before the concert started we had a picnic dinner and the kids ran around and had a bunch of fun. Once the music got going the kids began cutting a rug. Claire, the Yoders youngest, had some serious dance moves. Well the kids dnacing caught the eye of a photographer for a local newspaper. He came over, gave us his card and asked if he could take some pictures of the kids for the paper. Of course we said yes. All of our kids are adorable and we could not deprive the world of their cuteness. Follow this link to see for yourselves.
Nigel is noticeably missing from the pic, he was hanging out with Robin listening to the music. They got the names reversed in the caption, but I bet you all figured that out.

Cheers

Race Day Approaches

The big day is approaching quickly. The race that started this whole running thing for me is this Saturday, the Pumpkin Festival 10K. The training has gone well and I am in good condition for the distance. I am looking forward to a nice run. However, the question of Superman or Batman still lingers. Who should it be? Now I normally do not campaign for one or the other, but how do you vote against "faster than a speeding bullet"? Although, Batman does have all those wonderful toys....

Go Vote!

Cheers

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