Trying to Run

I am trying to run and it is not working out. The reason is the breathing. The breathing is bad, as I have stated before it feels like I am drowning. Today while I was retching at the top of the last hill an analogy popped into my head.

My lungs feel as though there is a layer of swamp mud settled at the bottom of them. Running up hills disturbs the mud and sets me to fits of coughing to dislodge it. After two or three episodes the foul matter is removed and I breath much easier.

I have decided running is sub 8:00 miles. If I can finish my three miles under 24:00 that would be good. A goal even. I read a description that the difference between a runner and a jogger was racing. This is probably true, if it is then I will remain a jogger for some time to come.

Responsibility

You are responsible for your disposition. The fact that you are angry, tired, irritable, overworked or whatever is on you.

There are different colored glasses you can wear to perceive your world. Life is easier if you wear a happy color.

Give it a shot, you might like it.

15 Minutes at The Pub

I walked into the local pub last night to pick up my wife's dinner. Heidi and her Mom have been sick since Christmas, last night I brought home some chicken soup. Turns out my wife does not like chicken soup. She has been telling me this for 12 years and I refuse to believe it. Everybody likes chicken soup when they are sick.

I walk into The Pub and wouldn't you know there are a bunch familiar faces standing around drinking and talking. I order a beer and wait for Heidi's food. The conversation revolves around daughters and how hard they are to raise. One of the guys was just involved in a big yelling and screaming fight with his fifteen year old and he had no idea where the relationship had gone wrong.

Part of the problem may stem from the time the guy spends at The Pub drinking beer instead of at the supper table drinking wine. Who am I to judge? Turns out he lost his temper, punched a whole in the wall and tore the door off its hinges. Another member of the conversation thought this was exactly how it should be handled. Let the child know you mean business.

Turns out the daughter called the police and it turned into a big mess. Go figure.

Another fellow engaged in the conversation has four daughters. He felt those types of disturbances were best dealt with by Mom. I think every issue concerning the girls is best handled by Mom in that house.

The next to last guy to speak on the topic has no children of his own. His niece, however, really has it together. I am not sure what his point was besides the fact that all daughters are not terrible and some do turn out all right. His opinion left the majority of the gentlemen shaking their heads.

As I collected Heidi's dinner I left the group with this thought. It is all about being there and listening to them from the beginning. Making them feel comfortable and heard. Constant signs of affection and care will make the difference, I hope. Yelling and smashing things only escalates the problem. Listening and working together towards a solution solves the problem. Then I left.

Who knows really, I can only hope Merry isn't calling the cops on me when she is fifteen.

Nice

As I was walking out the door for work this morning David yelled to me from the top of the stairs.

"Daddy, Have a good work today!"

That was nice.

That's It

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How much is your blog worth?

There are blogs that do not even exist anymore worth more.

For $12,000.00 the Tutu Blog is all yours. Email me and I will tell you where to send the check.

Thanks to Clare's Dad for the link.

Dad and His Boys

That was Uncomfortable

We had some family and friends over Christmas night. One of the guest, a 15 year old cousin, brought along her boyfriend. The two children, young adults, made themselves very comfortable on the couch in the living room. The couch in the living room is a large sectional that can sit six adults easy. Last night there was room for two uncomfortable adults and two, very friendly, teenagers.

Everyone pretended not to notice the petting and fawning going on in the corner, everyone except for me. I felt uneasy, they acted as though everything was normal. Things were not normal. In the course of the evening I made three quiet comments, reminding them that the lights were still on, that they were not alone and that I was feeling a bit uneasy. These comments did not get their attention.

I couldn't take it anymore, I stopped the conversation looked directly at the two young lovers and told them in no uncertain terms that I could not take it anymore, that they should sit up and keep their hands to themselves. An uneasy silence settled over the room waiting for her response. My request was ignored. Nothing changed, the silence was deafening. My father and an Uncle awkwardly started talking and everyone pretended nothing happened. Sad, really.

If I ever find myself in a situation like that again I will ask "Romeo" to come in the other room and I will tell him the rules and the consequences for disobedience. Nobody, including me or my other guests will be embarrassed if it is handled in private.

This post was edited by my lovely wife in an attempt not to injure anyones feelings. Funny, how we worry about offending those whom offend. I do not get it. Worrying about offending the offenders is probably the reason they continue to offend.

Correlative

This correlation may seem obvious to all of you, however, to me it was quite a revelation. It became painfully evident to me this morning.

The more glasses of Cabernet, the more difficult the jog the following morning.

Urgh! I made it but just barely. Forget the watch, I really do not want to know.

My Santa

There is a lot of stress associated with Christmas, the kind of stress that I do not handle very well. Crowds of strangers make me mental, people standing in lines to buy things they do not want or need irk the hell out of me. When I am forced to stand in that line, I want to die.

I do not like to pull into the mall parking lot on a Wednesday in July, forget about during Christmas. Jockeying for a parking spot is not a sport I wish to involve myself in. I do not understand the rules of parking at the mall. I see cars tailing people as they walk out, following along behind as they make their way to their car. Waiting as they load up and pull out, only to have the spot grabbed by an old lady pulling in from the other direction. I do not get it and I certainly do not want to be a part of it.

When I was single I would put it off and put it off. Why do today what I could put off until tomorrow? The last tomorrow at this time of year is Christmas Eve, every year I would be at the mall on Christmas Eve scrambling to buy some piece of garbage for everyone on my list. A shirt here, some cologne there, maybe a pair of gloves or a watch or who knows what. Buying presents has never been a strong suite for me.

After the purchase, on Christmas Eve, I still had to get Mom's flower sweater wrapped. The waves of anxiety associated with Christmas were relentless. Hopefully my sister would be home, if she were, I could pay her to wrap my presents, if not, they would be easy to open.

My Santa came into my life just over ten years ago. My Santa handles all of the ugly details when it comes to the niceties that are expected during this Holiday season. My Santa is my wife Heidi and I am thankful for her. My job is to make sure there are cookies and milk under the tree, that I can do.

Throw Away

Who is Inktomi from Sunnyvale CA and what do they want with my blog? Statcounter tells me that they stop by every other day, they read Heidi's blog, which has not been updated in forever, they read the bug blog which has not been updated in forever and they stop by here. I wish Google would swing by half as much.

While I am asking, who is from Simon & Schuster, Pt. Chester N.Y. I see you out there lurking. Can I help you with something?

Just wondering.

Training

My cousin left a comment on the post titled "On Jogging" He had some good advice and sent me to Runner's World to read up on what I am doing. I got discouraged reading through the articles because I have no desire to compete, I just want to be healthy. I would love to plug in my routine and see what it means, maybe Bobby will come back and let me know how I am doing.

A few weeks back, I upped my every other day mileage to three. Depending on the day and how I feel, my pace is somewhere between 8 and 10 minutes per mile. On the weekend, either Saturday or Sunday depending on how the every other day falls I run four. I do not have a stop watch, I time my jog by approximation. I left about 6:30 and I was back in the living room by 7:00. I wheezed and stretched at the front door for a minute took the trash barrels back to the shed, lets call it 8:45 per mile. Last week I jogged 13 miles, three threes and one four.

Reading the articles and skimming the site has left me thinking I may need to take this jogging up a notch. Get a watch and time my runs, maybe mix in some "Indian" running. In high school we would run hard for two telephone poles and jog one. Why they called it "Indian" running I have no idea. It is good for you though and I think it is what Bobby meant when he mentioned "Interval" training.

The next thing I think about when I start to consider getting more serious about jogging is time. I do not necessarily want to spend more time exercising. I wake up at six, jog my three miles, stretch and do sit ups, shower and get ready to go to work, it takes an hour and a half. Now that I start at six instead of five the kids catch me before I leave for work. This means I have to help with the morning routine, which is nice, but time consuming. Instead of being on the road at 7:30, it is 8:00 after putting on clothes and starting breakfast. I do not want to wake up at five or five thirty and it is not in me to exercise in the evening.

On today's jog I actually felt like I was close to running, what I am going to do is start timing my jogs. This will give me an idea of where I am and what I need to do to improve. I have resisted for three months, I can not resist any longer, I need to know. How slow I am really going.

Trees

We got the trees up early this year. They have been dropping needles for two weeks now and are starting to look a little thin. Below is the photo evidence of the Christmas tree hunt and set up at The Old Blue House 2006.

What Kids?

Tuesday morning I was up and out of the house before any of the little ones awoke. I went directly to a meeting after work and did not get home until everyone was asleep.

I got up early Wednesday, jogged and left for work before any of the children awoke. I went to a meeting after work and did not get home until they were all asleep.

Today, I was home when they got up and it was really nice. Good morning's and hugs for everyone. Dear Thomas gets so excited to see me, he does a little dance, with his hands over his head. I can not help but smile.

Merry talked through breakfast about all that has been happening and even David seemed glad to see me. As I sit here typing I am smiling, these kids make me feel Great. I am proud to be their Dad.

What Kids? My Kids!

On Jogging

My body does just fine while I jog, my lungs on the other hand are not doing any better. I have trouble processing oxygen. It sucks, literally. I can not get the air through my lungs cleanly. I get the air in and it does not get processed, I gasp for more and it does not get processed.

This feeling of drowning is the worst at the top of the hills along the route. The journey down the other side is spent trying to recover from the trip up. I spend the downs recovering and trying not to hurl. Good times, good times.

A Problem

David has decided he does not like his bed. This is proving to be a gigantic pain in the ass. He says it smells like poop. His bed does not smell like poop. He says he wants to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

If and when he finally falls asleep in his bed, when he wakes up he remembers he does not like his bed and it starts again. Not a lot of fun for those of us involved.

I spoke with Santa and he is going to bring a new bed. Until then little David needs to get over himself, and get some sleep.

Spinning

Thomas has learned a new trick, a trick his sister Merry perfected at about his age. This is a game that David has avoided, this game is spinning until you fall over. Getting dizzy, to the point where you have trouble focusing your eyes, forget standing up.

Merry was drawn to the spins at a very early age. We had a jumpy seat that hung from a beam in our house. Instead of jumping up and down Merry perfected revolutions. She could spin it like a top. When her brain was good and scrambled she would giggle until the effects wore off. Thomas is enjoying the same brain scrambling fun. He spins around in circles to the point that all of the adults get nervous he his going to bang his head. Then he falls over giggling. If Merry catches him she joins in. David, mostly just watches.

I can remember loving to get dizzy, lying on the ground and watching the sky spin by. I wonder if it is a sign of bad things to come for these two, it certainly shows an affinity for jumbling brain cells which is unhealthy. The two that enjoy it are the two I worry about least. David is the sad and sensitive one, David is the child I envision as the brooding teen. David does not find getting dizzy to be the rush Merry and Thomas do.

These kids are all different and a couple of them love to get fall down dizzy, just like their Dad.

Here We Go Again.

I spend a lot of time thinking about my families future. I worry about being able to get away from this desk and traveling, I worry about making enough money to live a lifestyle, that at this point in time, I can not afford.

I would love to know that I had the money to pay for whatever education my children aspired to. On the selfish side, with the snow falling outside my office window, I would love to have the means to provide season passes to a New England ski area for my children. A place to sleep, close to the mountain, would be good too.

Instead of simply wishing, Heidi and I are working towards these dreams. Everyday I work hard at my family business to make it better. Currently we are under going structural change. To handle the increasing work and in hopes of making the men more productive, we are changing the structure of the business. This new system will provide the leadership and direction, the individuals involved, need to reach their goals.

Heidi has the The Tutu Boutique rolling along. The more time the site is up the stronger its presence becomes in the search engines. Traffic at the site today is five times what it was a year ago and sales have tripled. This trend will continue. In the future I see another venture along the same business model.

Then there is Heidi's baby, the business she loves the most because she sees it as having the most potential to earn our family money. It is more than the money for Heidi, the relationships she is building, the products she represents and the opportunity to change people's lives make Arbonne a very fulfilling part of her life.

The most enticing part of Direct Selling is time leveraging. Time leveraging is earning money while other people work. I get a piece of my service technicians efforts in my business. I have the the search engines and tutu makers time working for me in the e-business. With Arbonne, as long as someone that works for you is working, then you are working too.

Yesterday was very hectic for Heidi, she did not get a chance to work her Arbonne business, however members of her down line approached three people about the opportunity, hence, Heidi got some Arbonne work done.

Do not be fooled, it is work. There needs to be a plan and a tried system in place for success to happen. There are no magic wands or fairy God Mothers in this world, "Hope is not a method".

I have witnessed Heidi's success and enthusiasm towards her Arbonne business and I have decided that it would be crazy not get involved. Say hello to the newest Business Builder in Heidi's down line.

I may have contacted you already, I may not have. The first step is to try the products and determine if you like them. There is no obligation, I will send you the products and the postage to return them after a week. If you like it and are interested in altering your future we can talk more. If not, that is fine, I am not interested in being pushy or leading a person down a path they are not interested in traveling.

I plan on showing the path to as many people as I can, if you are interested? Let me know.

At Work

That was an interesting phone call. An elderly man, speaking with a voice ravaged by years of smoking, asks if I have ever heard of a mouse mat. Oddly I never have and inform him of such. We begin to talk about the problem he is experiencing and ways he can solve it.

He tells me that the mice are all over, that they do not bother him, however they are making his wife f'ing crazy. He says that their little turds are everywhere and that these mouse mats are not doing shit to solve his problem. When he hears that he would have to part with money for me to help it strengthens his resolve to solve it on his own.

He describes the mats to me as eight inch by eight inch slabs of foam rubber and that he has purchased a whole bunch of them. At first, I thought they may be glue boards, now I am sure that they are not. While he talks, I Google mouse mat.

After I explain to him what he has purchased and that he will not catch any mice with them he apologizes for taking my time and hangs up. Do you know what a mouse mat is without turning to Google?

Princess

Friday, following her morning obligations the princess will head to the Salon to have her hair, toes and fingers attended to. Her "Knight in Shining Armour" will pick her up and whisk her off to the city.

They will tour the Museum of Science and then head to the The Ritz for the evening. They will sit for a formal dinner and then rest. Saturday will be a very busy day.

After brunch, they will search for an appropriate dress for a princess to wear to the The Nutcracker. There are many fine clothiers on Newbury Street in Boston and I am sure the highest levels of service will be provided.

After the show its back to The Ritz for dinner and an evening with Dora The Explorer. Sunday, after brunch they will head back up to the North Shore and retrieve the princesses not so special little brother.

Little Lord Fauntleroy and his Princess sister will have an audience with Old St. Nick himself. Enjoy a dinner at The Club, and then get dropped off at home to once again be reunited with their parents, littlest brother, dogs, and the avalanche of "No's" that come when the world is no longer your play ground.

You Better Be Good

The Holiday season has officially begun at The Old Blue House. The Christmas trees are up, that is right, plural, we got a Charlie Brown tree for the kids and another for the Mom. The kids have taken over Mom's tree too.

All of the boxes were dragged from their resting place in the attic, their contents are displayed around the home and it is good. I love to bitch and moan but the finished product is great. The Carollers, Santa's and Angel's are all happy to be back on display.

I got the fireplace set up for another season of fires, and I started splitting and stacking the wood. Even had a fire, the first of the season. Burning firewood heats you up three times. First, when you split it, second, when you stack and third, when you burn it.

I jogged Sunday morning further than I have jogged in 15 years. I went all of four miles, 25% further than I have been jogging. It just about killed me, that one extra mile felt like ten.

The Patriots beat Detroit by the hair on their chiny, chin, chins. Heidi brought the Tutus to a home show in town. Merry, David and I watched Micheal Baryshnikov(?) dance the Nutcracker on PBS. Merry loved it and David was entertained watching Merry copy the dancers moves. Bedtime was a breeze.

Then sitting in my chair, watching Sunday night Football on NBC, in front of a blazing fire, I was overtaken by a terrible chill. It rocked me right to my core, the kind of chill that has terrible illness associated with it.

I staggered upstairs, put on my sweats, brushed my teeth and along with my daily vitamins took a "Get Well Soon" pill. I was under the covers by 8:30 pm. It was an uncomfortable night, alternating between sweats and chills. When the alarm went off this morning I felt fine, catastrophe avoided. Thank you, Arbonne. I sort of wonder what is in those pills, sort of.

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