Camping

Tonight is the first of 6 nights of camping that I'll be doing in the next 9 days.

Tonight: Ward Camp-Out. I seriously would not be doing this - but I just can't forget about the Dutch Oven dinner from last year.

Tuesday - Thursday: Girl's Camp. sigh.

Friday - Sunday: Lake Powell. Yes, we camp at Lake Powell. We have been doing this my whole life - I have no idea what a house boat is like. I have a feeling that it involves lots of cooking and cleaning (or at least that's what we like to tell ourselves).

Good thing Hot Dave takes care of me so well. I have a killer sleeping pad and lots of camping gear to make me comfortable in the outdoors. Here's to sleeping under the stars.

June 16, 2011

Day 1:
and every other day since (literally).

Happy Weekend

Best Conan in a long time last night. 2 key things
1) The appearance of Pierre Bernard - not on the "Recliner of Rage", but carpooling with Conan.
2) Finally an off-site skit where Conan can work his improv magic.

It's the perfect thing to watch on a Friday before a Holiday weekend. USA!

All Summer long

There are few other things in life that I love more than Conan and Capitalism. Swimming is one of them. Not race/exercise swimming. Just being in water - pools, lakes, oceans, water-slides, whatever. My preference is the ocean, but since I live land-locked - I wanted a pool. My entire adult life has been revolving around how I can get my own pool. So, this weekend, I crossed it off my Bucket List and look forward to years of memories.
Here's where I will be all summer long. Come by and join me!
More pics to come including the pool's co-owner with his shirt off and the inaugural swim.

Dartmouth Class of 2011

Conan makes his second Commencement Address at an Ivy League. Good stuff
click here

Highlight:
"But then something spectacular happened. Fogbound, with no compass, and adrift, I started trying things. I grew a strange, cinnamon beard. I dove into the world of social media. I started tweeting my comedy. I threw together a national tour. I played the guitar. I did stand-up, wore a skin-tight blue leather suit, recorded an album, made a documentary, and frightened my friends and family. Ultimately, I abandoned all preconceived perceptions of my career path and stature and took a job on basic cable with a network most famous for showing reruns, along with sitcoms created by a tall, black man who dresses like an old, black woman. I did a lot of silly, unconventional, spontaneous and seemingly irrational things and guess what: with the exception of the blue leather suit, it was the most satisfying and fascinating year of my professional life. To this day I still don't understand exactly what happened, but I have never had more fun, been more challenged—and this is important—had more conviction about what I was doing. How could this be true? Well, it's simple: There are few things more liberating in this life than having your worst fear realized...disappointment will come. The beauty is that through disappointment you can gain clarity, and with clarity comes conviction and true originality."

He concludes with his famous parting words: "Work hard, be kind, and amazing things will happen."

This is actually happening

My good friend and fellow Conan lover alerted me at 9am on Saturday of this:


An entire movie about Conan. dang, this guy is everywhere.

Redemption

I ran my first marathon in 2008. It was sort of a disaster - picture yourself running around Bear Lake by yourself (there were only 100 runners total) - the whole time you can see the finish line across the lake, but it seems to be getting further away. Then you get hit by a truck. Finally you finish at a sad time of 5:17. It was not a fun experience and I decided then and there I would never do that again. That was until my Brother Zach signed up for a marathon last year. It got me excited about running again. I just had to redeem myself.

Do you see that city across the lake? It's getting further away.

A couple of Ogden enthusiasts recruited me for Ogden Marathon 2011. Thanks to our Saturday morning running group: Emily, Melinda and Amelia. I could actually get through the long training runs without killing myself. Plus these girls are fast - so they pushed me to run faster.Here we are at the finish line:

Final times: 4:04; 4:19; 4:29

My final chip time was 4:19 - It was a fabulous race and I had the time of my life. Ogden runs a first class race, and you can't believe the scenery. I had an enthusiastic support team who arrived in Huntsville bright and early. I pretty much had a personal photographer documenting the entire race (maybe too many photos of my tired, swollen body).

Thanking me for not having to run 5 miles in sandals this time around just to make sure I finished

The biggest shout-out goes to my brother, Alex. Who got a lot of ridicule and nay-saying for not training enough for the race. Boy, did he show us. His final time was 4:39.