A White... and SICK... Christmas!

Christmas, version 2009, has come and gone. How was yours? Well, if you were in the Metroplex, you had a white Christmas.

And, if you were in our house, you may have experienced a sick one as well!

Far be it for me to point fingers, but I'm pretty sure the "Dr. Kevorkian" in our little germ petri dish was my youngest nephew. You see, when I took the nephews to see Ice, he decided to lick everything. Why? Because there was a sign that said, "Do not lick the ice." He thought it would be funny/rebellious to do the opposite of whatever the sign, or his uncle, had to say.

So on Christmas Eve, he was hit with the Vomit Comet. Unfortunatley, it was viral... and by Christmas Day afternoon, the victims got nailed left and right. Carson, Rachel, Steve, and my Mom. It was so bad that I've been told they can never eat my pork roast again after seeing it in reverse. Awesome!

Well, I wasn't immune to it either. While I didn't get stomach bug, I was stuck in a car for a 5-hour drive with my coughing/sneezing/oozing brother. Within 24 hours, it hit me... and 48 hours later, I'm living La Vida Loca with a slight fever and a lot of crud coming out of my nose and throat. Yum.

I slept 3 hours today... and yes, I hope to go into the office tomorrow morning due to an important meeting. But after that, I'm heading home. Besides... would you believe we're getting more snow tomorrow??? Crazy!

So there you go... Christmas 2009... in the books. Thank goodness!

Loss...

Around this time every year, there is usually a review of the celebrities that we lost over the last twelve months. Most of the time, sadly, I usually already know most of them. I'm a "news junkie," so I probably have either read an article in my local paper or seen it via some other media source.

And, as gruesome as this sounds, I am always intrigued by the celebrity death. Not because I'm morbid (although it sounds like I am with a blog like this!), but because I'm interested in their accomplishments.

Because of this, I also tend to attract "Newsies," A.K.A other interested friends who know of my fascination of the dearly departed. They do their best to inform me when a celebrity passes.

So, with all of that said, I give each of you two items of interest (to me)...

In 2009, here is a slideshow of the celebrities we lost: Link

And, here is an even "bigger" list: "Curtain Calls" of the Decade. This one starts with 2009, and goes all the way back to 2000: Link

NOTE: For those of you that lost a friend, a loved one, or an acquaintance... I mean no disrespect. I, of all people, truly know what it's like to lose someone... and from a personal standpoint, I lost several people who I was very close to over the past 10 years.

ICE...

If you're ever in the Metroplex during the Christmas season, you should check out the annual "ICE" exhibit at the Gaylord Texan Resort. This year, as you can see, the theme is "The Grinch."

Today I took my two nephews. I don't really think they understood what they were getting into. On the way, one asked how long they would get to "ice skate." Hmmm....

It's an impressive production - it takes a team of 20+ artisans 30 days to carve out all of sculptures. EVERYTHING is made of ice... walls, ceilings, etc. Thankfully, the floor is just fine! Oh, and it's kept at a constant 9 degrees... hence, the blue parkas. They give those to you to wear.

One of the rooms features a castle! The kids/adults line up... climb stairs... and slide down one of the 4 slides to the bottom. I didn't think it would be wise for a gimpy-clutzy Uncle to participate in that little adventure!

Some of the pics above were taken by a budding 8-year old photographer. (That's what you do when you notice they need something to keep them busy)

Overall, I think they had a good time. I did. So much that I took a rather lengthy nap this afternoon!

Let it Snow... Let it Snow...

Have you heard about the snow in the Northeast? Well, take a gander at Chandra...

She's in Richmond, VA. For the first time in two years, she's spending Christmas with her family.

For me, I'd love to be in the cold like that... totally opposite for her! Ha!

I show you this picture because today I heard this song by Dean Martin called, "Marshmallow World."

It's a marshmallow world in the winter
When the snow comes to cover the ground
It's the time for play, it's a whipped cream day
I wait for it the whole year round.

We won't be getting a white Christmas in North Texas... but someday, I hope to experience something like this!

My Cousin Gail's Foot...

I don't know about you, but when I look at that X-RAY to the right, it just sends a chill up my spine...

OK... here's the story... in Gail's words:

I was walking my two dogs on Sunday before Thanksgiving and simply turned my foot. I had on sandals like a dummy instead of tennis shoes. I really didn't think it was broken. However, I have Jones Fracture, which runs across the long bone on the outside of my foot. I could have waited 6 weeks to see if it would have healed on its own. There was a 75% chance. However, if it didn't, I would have had to have surgery anyway, in which case I would be looking at a recup period of 12 weeks.

Now, when I received these pics, she didn't tell me what happened. I knew that she had been going through some "home improvement" projects this year, so I honestly thought a screw got lodged in her foot! In fact, I was thinking she was the victim of a nail gun!

Now get this: She still thinks that my break was much worse than hers. Which leads me to comment on something that I've wanted to say for a while...

I can assure you of this: When it comes to breaks, I don't judge or compare. Whatever you've been through, are going through, or will go through... I am not thinking, "Well... how does THAT stack up against what I went through?"

I say all of this because I've heard, "Believe me... this doesn't compare to the problem you had with your knee." Maybe that's what people expect from me... but I hope to change all of that.

You see, "empathy" is now in my vocabulary. I don't want anyone to go through "pain" like this... it's uncomfortable, it's awkward, and it just changes your entire life from the get go!

Before my little blooper, I probably wasn't the best listener when people talked about their injuries.

"Oh, you tore your ACL? That's nice. I mean... sorry about that."
"Broken wrist? That's a bummer..."
"What do you mean you can't go out? Oh... still in the hospital."

All right... maybe it wasn't that bad. But seriously, I guess you never know what someone is going through until you walk a mile in their shoes.

So I feel very badly for my cousin. However, she's in good hands. A lot of people are helping her out, and she's be waited on big-time by friends, coworkers, and family.

Please lift her up in your prayers - as well as her helpers! And if you're a dog walker, be careful out there!!!

Chandra's Half Marathon... Finally!

This weekend was the White Rock Marathon... and FINALLY, Chandra got to run her Half.

If we all remember, I ruined Chandra's "half" this year when "Clumsy Dumbsy" decided to climb over a barrier... and down goes Regan! Ahh... good times.

To make sure Chandra got to the race on time, I stayed overnight. We got up around 5:30, and departed around 6ish. Well, as she gabbed, I sped... and made sure she was there WAY before her desired time. So we arrived around 6:30 to the American Airlines Center (AAC).

After fighting a little traffic, we parked. Kevin and Becky arrived around 7:30, and we left Chandra before her 8am start time so that we could catch her at the 3-mile mark.

It was exciting... thrilling... and I was NOT at all jealous of all of the runners while I spectated. Seriously! I was fine and dandy to cheer and clap and encourage those doing what I can't do right now.

Chandra came by (you can see it in one of the pics above) and we were all excited. Then we left... we wanted to catch her at that 6. Unfortunately, we ran into a lot of traffic. After a while, we realized we missed her and should re-focus our attention to the 9.

Well, we parked A LONG WAY from the 9. Once we got there, we waited patiently... and waited and waited and "what the hey???" We started noticing people walking. What's going on?

What was going on was the idiocracy of it all... we were standing at the wrong spot. We were at the 6! Son-of-a...

We then headed back to the truck and decided we needed to head back to the AAC. I drove fast... and once we arrived and parked, Kevin and Becky looked out in the distance. And what did their eyes see? A streaking (sprinting) Chandra...

As if it was in slow-mo, I screamed and passed the camera to Becky... "RUN BECKY, RUN!!!" Well, she ran as fast as she could... but Chandra was quicker... and made it across the Finish Line before Becky could find her.

So Chandra finished in 2:29... that's very good! Congrats Chandra... I'm so glad you didn't break anything, and you finally got your Half in for the year!

Back to the Gym...

Yesterday was a big day for me...

I returned to my gym.

This was my first time to walk through those doors since April. It was my own "right of passage" that I felt I needed to accomplish in order to be on my way for recovery.

The first thing I wanted to do was to figure out how strong my leg is. Earlier this year, when I was training, I would do various leg exercises to strengthen my leg muscles. Knowing that I'm not allowed to do any sort of "knee bends," that limited me in some respect.

I sat down on the leg extension machine... in the past, I would usually put 60-70 lbs or more on it. The least amount of weight that it would take with a pin in it was 30. Well, I tried it... and I barely got the extended.

I'll be honest... it shocked me.

I then pulled the pin and I figured that just moving the bar up and down was about 15 lbs. I did one set... and my heart was speaking to me big time. I know I should have been prepared, but it really was working on my emotions to know how far back I am in my conditioning. Even a year ago, when I first started training for a Half Marathon, I could at least do 50 lbs.

I did a few more sets... and all the while, I kept thinking, "My gosh... I've got a lot of work ahead of me." And so, by the time I got off the machine, I was determined to put it all behind me. The past is the past... what's done is done... and I can't compare myself to my old body. This is what I've got to work with, so I might as well make the best of it.

I then went to another machine and worked my hamstrings and calves, and then decided to head upstairs - bikes and treadmills.

Plopping down on a "sit down bike," I set the timer for 20 minutes. I then started it up... and biked. It was a very odd feeling - letting the knee go in the "bicycle" motion. Halfway through, it was starting to hurt, but not too bad. I pressed on... and finished with 5 miles! That felt like a big accomplishment to me.

I then headed over to the treadmill... set it for 20 minutes and a bit of an incline (I'm a man of routine). I walked and walked... by 10 minutes, I was feeling pretty tired. I almost quit, but figured I'd go for 12 minutes. After that, I felt good enough to go another 2... and I just kept doing that. Sure enough, I made it to the 20 minutes... 1.10 miles!

And that was it... I couldn't go anymore. I went down the stairs, and came home. I was done. But I felt really good... and I was able to accomplish something I haven't done in a long time.

Today? I'm pretty sore... but I'm hoping to maybe go back in a few days. For the "moms" out there, I'm not going to overdo it.

So I'm on my way... one small step at a time.