CadesDad

Corona

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:50:31 -0700

This weekend Cadesdad ran the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. It was fun. Esthers mom joined him for over half of the run - - great to have company, especially during those hard bits.

The first half was roughly 2 hours, the second half 2.5 hours. To me, this means I really wasn't in the shape to go out and do it. Amen to that, I DEFINITELY was not in shape to start a marathon on race morning. However, the first half or so, was quite enjoyable. It was a great two hours to stay in my head, feel STRONG, and run. Smooth and Strong. Its a motto I've heard before and it really is true. I'm going to hold on to that.

So TCM is history and done.

CadesMom rocked the TCM10, even though she was miserably sick, and still is a day later. She does rock and has unbelievable strengh. Unless of course you know her, then it is believeable.

So now, I'm watching the Vikes- Green Bay game with this guy name Jefe. Super cool guy Jefe although I think he is asleep now. During the game there have been a few Corona commercials. Seriously, why am I here? They make the carribean/mexico/etc. look so so so so so so so fantastic! Heres a video of someones corona like vacation. Am I jealous?

Continue reading "Corona"

The Maturation of Cade

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:53:08 -0700

Our little guy kindergarten experience has been fantastic to date. It is amazing to see how much he changes. I swear sometimes it seems like the boy you pick up in the after school isn't the same boy you dropped off. The word amazing isn't powerful enough to describe the changes day to day and how our little baby is becoming a little boy.

Fantastic.

The picture you see here is of the little guy "mowing" the lawn. No play lawnmowers for him. He knows the difference and he is strong enough to push the real thing.

2nd Day of School!

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:55:27 -0700

Yesterday was his first day. However the school bus never arrived and his Mom had to drive him in. Cade had been so excited to ride the bus that when it didn't show up he was extremely disappointed.

Well, this 2nd day of school morning the bus did arrive (hurrrah!). Cade proudly boarded (and I understand Fiona and Shea may have been cheering for him) and he is off on his 2nd day of school!

Minnesota State Fair

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:39:46 -0700

We visited the Minnesota State Fair and had a GREAT time.

Fit or UnFit

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:05:40 -0700

Its funny how ones mind can play tricks. Depending on how my last workout or run went the way I feel about myself varies wildly. I might feel like I'm in fantastic and strong shape on a great Tuesday workout and Thursday have a tough run and wonder why fat boy thinks he can run.

I really don't think that much about it or obsess, but its a weird phenomenon.

This week I did a workout with Molly that left me feeling sore sore sore & strong. I found this workout at Crossfit.org. I know its strange but I love muscle soreness. I know its strange. Here's what we did:

After a good warm up, you do 8 sets of 20 seconds with 10 seconds rest in between. This 10 seconds allowed just enough time to write our results before we'd have to start the next set. No rest between exercises, just move straight to the next exercise.

Pull Ups:

Push Ups

Sit Ups

Squats

I know it doesn't sound like much, but I swear its hard. Try it and let me know.

Best Run Evah

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:32:43 -0700

Yes. Another prolong haitus.

Well, the little guys birthday is coming up so Shawn and I decided it was time for another bicycle. He had a bicycle last year. I really really sweet 20" Haro BMX bike which our fantastic neighbors the O'Rourkes gave us. Sadly it was stolen from our front yard last fall. Sad.

So, we visited a couple of stores until Cade latched on to this sweet beauty.

Don't mess with the Mini Viper

After throughly testing the machine throughout the top floor of Dicks Sporting goods in Bloomington, riding the bike to and into the elevator, riding out and a another lap of Dicks 1st floor; he was convinced. After Mom and Dad paid for the orange beauty he rode it through the front doors, to the car in the parking lot. This now reminds me of his Uncle Pauls first car. Ask him about it, he loves to tell the story. Also ask him about Tang cake.

So here's my point. I'd shared with Cade that I wanted to sometime this summer go for a run and have him join me on his bike. Well it happened, and on the first day he had his new bike. We went to Nokomis talking the WHOLE way there. Once there we swam to cool off and then headed back toward home. We stopped at Adrians for cheeseburgers and cokes. All in all it was an absolutely fantastic day.

And with the cold water at Lake Nokomis my ankle didn't hurt at all on the run home. FANTASTIC.

Poopy Head

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 09:12:28 -0700

Cade will be entering kindergarten this year. It feels like a big time for us, as Cade will be beginning school. Which as I've thought about it means lots of changes for us as a family. Vacation schedules, school and afterschool events, (official) homework etc.

Cadesmom and I have been touring schools to try to find the right fit for the uber dude. This week I toured Hale Elementary with a group of parents. I arrived early, so I was there when all the other parents showed. Being my first tour, I had my ears tuned in to hear what the other parents had to say about the schools they've toured etc. Well, this was probably a mistake, as the other parents shared they'd already toured 100 schools and were pretty sure they'd decided. This immediately had my head spinning in the realization that I am a bad parent due to the thought that I'd only thought to tour 3 schools. Ugh. The tour was great, but being around the other parents made me feel like the school we send Cade will make the difference between Harvard and Cell Block A. Its hard to at least hear the hype and get sucked in.

In the last few weeks the hot lingo around the house has been anything "poop". Poopyhead, poopybutt, poopy, poopy, poopy. I'm just sure that if we could go back to ancient greek, Mongols or caveman times and we'd find kids saying poopybutt, poopy head etc.

It never gets old.

Montana

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:33:21 -0700

Vacation always makes me reflect on my life. Nearly every time I've been away from home (particularly with Shawn) I've ended up making a goals list or rethinking something in my life. This vacation was no different.

We returned last Thursday from a week in Montana. I'll have to be honest and say I was a tad apprehensive about this trip. Shawn and I (and Cade) have always vacationed somewhere warm. But this trip was definitely a cool weather trip. We were headed to Big Sky, MT to ski. Mind you, Shawn and I don't ski. I think between us we'd downhill skied 2-3 times in our life. I've cross country'd plenty, but I never got the hang of downhill and consequently it was never any fun.

We met Jane and Esther at the Airport and together we flew to Billings. From Billings we drove a couple of hours to Big Sky and got settled in. The next day we decided to explore, get our bearings and plan. After checking out the slopes and town we sorted out the plan for the next day. Shawn and I rented Snowshoes at Grizzly Outfitters and hit a trail she had read about in a local magazine. Getting to this trail was crazy. We had to drive down a hill so steep that I was afraid we wouldn't make it back up. It was also covered in packed snow. Crazy. Once we found the trail we hiked in. It was fun, and quite a bit of work. I was huffing and puffing like crazy. It began to get dark and we decided we'd better head back to the truck - - the way back was SO much easier. Turns out we'd hiked up the whole way in. No wonder I was panting like a dog.

That evening Mark and Mike joined us. It was nice to have them as they're both so easy going and fun. It is too bad they weren't able to stay longer but it was great to have them with us, even if for a few days.

The next morning we all headed to Moonlight Basin. First we all trekked to Grizzly Outfitters (we ended up spending a lot of time there) for Skis and lift tickets. We got everybody all set and we were off! We got Esther and Cade signed up for ski school. Mark and Mike spent some time pushing Esther and Cade around on skis which was awesome. They were shortly released and freed to ski as they chose and Jane skied a bit as well. We pushed them around the Madison Base area where they had a magic carpet so the kids could ride up a small pseudo slope and come right back down. We had a couple hours until ski school started so we pushed them around, ate lunch etc. I think school began at 1(?). Once it was time to start, Cade had decided he'd had enough. Esther was a super trooper; she continued on to class and got a sticker for turning! Cade and I went back to the Condo while Shawn joined Mark, Mike and Jane to ski.

The next morning, Shawn woke up and went for a run to Grizzly Outfitters to pick up a couple of lift tickets. Mark and Mike skied at Big Sky, while the rest of us went back to Moonlight Basin. Again we pushed the kids around for a while. Esther the trooper when to ski school (where she earned her stopping sticker). This time Cade met his instructor, but again it was just too much for him. I don't think he wanted his parents to leave. The instructor assigned to him was way type A and loud which may have helped push him into his shell too. Anyway, he DID NOT want to ski, and DID NOT want to go to class. We knew there was a sledding hill nearby so we thought we'd try that. Shawn, Cade and I walked to the hill, but there were no sleds. So Shawn walked back to Madison to see about a sled, while Cade and I traipsed around the ski hill. Once Shawn returned we learned that sledding hill was closed. (Bad timing there) So we again made the best of it and had lunch at the base area (and the adults had a beer). It didn't take long and Esther's class was over and Jane was ready too. So we drove back to the Condo. Once there Shawn and I agreed to try cross country skiing at a nearby place called Lone Mountain ranch. Jane agreed to watch the bambinos. So Shawn and I again headed to......Grizzly Outfitters for x country skis. Once equipt, we drove the 2 miles to the ranch, paid our access fees and were off. I gave Shawn my Rod Hammer (my elementary Phy Ed teacher) 2 minute technique lesson and we were off. Shawn picked it up really fast and we both enjoyed it tremendously (even the EXPERT hill we descended). Shawn then went back with Jane that same evening for another run around - - so we all got a bit of exercise in.

The next morning Mark and Mike left early, leaving only the parents and the 4 and 5 year olds. This morning Cade went to Mountain Kids camp, while the adults and Esther skied in the AM. Esther, that super trooper 5 year old skied down with the adults. It was pretty cool. I have to say that I was TREMENDOUSLY (I can't capitalize that more) nervous about downhill skiing. I'd not had much experience at this and I had boat loads of anxiety. Once at Madison Base area, Shawn and I left Jane and Esther and headed up the Six Shooter lift. By the time we got down to the lift I was beginning to really enjoy this downhill ski thing. It was fun. I was able to snowplow as well as move from side to side and stop hockey style. It was really fun! Shawn and I did a couple of runs and then hit the restaurant to eat and have a beer. I don't think Shawn enjoyed it as much as I did.

The following day Cade and Esther went to Moonlight Kids (which they both enjoyed. Jane and I skied in the AM while Shawn choose to workout at the Lodge. This time skiing I felt like I got better with each run. To be fair the first run felt treacherous as there were icy parts and then lots of powder - - which made for quite a contrast. At noon-ish Jane got Esther for a ski lesson and Shawn and Cade swam in the outdoor pool (and Hot TUB!) I made a few more and different runs and continued to enjoy this downhill thing more and more.

The final day in Montana Jane and Esther skied, Shawn and Cade swam and I sat in the lodge and read a book in the morning sunshine. In the afternoon the kids went to Moonlight Kids and the adults decided to explore Big Sky Resort.

All in all this ended up being a good vacation - - although I'm sure our next one will be to somewhere warm. The people of the Big Sky area and employees of Moonlight Basin were just such cool laid back people. There was always a friendly genuine hello and often conversation. It struck me immediately on Monday morning when I returned to work where the norm is to listen to head phones on the way in, not make eye contact in the elevator or on any of the floors or hallways. Totally Unfun.

Here’s the score on what we rented from the good fellas at Grizzly Outfitters:

5 pairs of downhill skis
5 pairs of downhill ski poles
5 pair of downhill ski boots
2 pair snowshoes
2 pair snowshoe poles
2 pair cross country skis
2 pair cross country poles
2 pair cross country boots

Wow.

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:31:18 -0700

Check out this video. About 1:30 into this girl starts doing Ca-razy bike tricks.

BFF Block Party LA 2008 from rossangeles on Vimeo.

Moosh

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:23:16 -0700

I feel bad. It's been a long time.

Back running a bit after rolling my ankle badly this fall. Starting to think about 2009. The lady and I would both really like to do a half ironman provided we can race the whole time. Were contemplating it anyway.

For now here's this. A year old video of Cade riding his bike. I like it anyway.

b

Maxing the Envelope

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:39:00 -0700

I think it's natural for many of us to want push ourselves. See how fast we can move, far we can travel, or how long we can persevere.

In the last year, I've learned that I can push myself further and harder than I thought. I've learned that I need to. I want to continue to do so next year. I'll definitely do triathlons next year and likely participate in a marathon - - and PR.

But I will never ever participate in a DecaTriathlon. This is taking place in Mexico as we speak. The DecaTriathlon is 10 Ironman races! So, there swimming 24 miles in the pool. Then 1120 miles bike, 262 mile run. Ah.... no this event will not be on my life goals list. Nope. Never.

Here's a picture I found of the feet of one the participants during or after the swim

Duck!

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:11:33 -0700

If you want to smile, check out this story.....

Burrito Union

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:01:57 -0700

I spliced together some of the video we have when Kyle, Shawn and I did the Burrito Union 10 hour triathlon. Its my first attempt to put together a movie with music and titles etc. Against my better judgement, here it is.

Meet the Robot.

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:48:54 -0700

I have to imagine that my during the course of my grandparents long lives there were moments when they thought, "Well, by gosh, I never thought I'd see the day....". My guess is that thought may have crossed their minds at any number of inventions that changed their lives. Just my grandparents alone saw great change in their lifetimes. Please note I haven't researched this, so this list is composed of my guesses: Electricity via powerline, Telephone, televsion, color television, mass produced automobiles, Engines replacing human and animal labor, refrigeration, gas and electric ovens, clothes washers, sewer services and water services, Microwaves, Nuclear power, Nuclear weapons, Space Travel, Air Conditioning, Records

Recently I had a, "I can't believe we really..." moment, when a package arrived via Fedex. Inside, was our very own cleaning robot. Thinking that we had a robot to vacuum the floor reminded me of the Jetson's and their robot, Rosie. We got an IRobot Roomba. Its definitely not like Rosie; it doesn't talk or look human, er, or cartoonish. Its like a giant wafer. Somewhat larger in diameter than a frisbee and probably 4 inches tall. Just low enough to get under most furniture. We didn't get the fanciest Roomba either. We may have bought the lowest Roomba in the line, I don't know. Its not programmable as some are. When you want it to work, you press a button and it vacuums. It does a pretty good job, going over rugs, under chairs, and doing a suprisingly good job of getting in between chair legs and table legs. Once its complete or if the battery starts to go low, it returns to the docking station to be recharged. Pretty cool.

Getting back to my first point. I think my generation has been around for a great deal of change. It's pretty easy to forget it though. Here's a list of items that were invented or made it to mass production in the last 35ish years. Think of your own list too, its pretty crazy to think about whats changed during our lifetimes:
Microwaves
Fax Machines
Internet
Broadband
Cell Phones
Personal Computers & Laptops
Cell Phones
GPS
Video Games
Satellite Television, Cable Television
VCRs/DVDs
CD's
Instant Replay
Artificial Heart
Artificial Limbs, etc
The Granny Gear

Great Urban Race

nospam@example.com (Cadesdad) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:40:43 -0700

We arrived at Town Hall Brewery early. This wasn't entirely my own fault. It's my fathers, and I'm merely the victim of genetics.

We were able to walk right up to the registration table, sign away our life in exchange for two t-shirts and matching numbers 2612. We dutifully pinned the numbers to the front of our tshirts. After walking the new "Great Urban Race" t-shirts to the Subie. We sat outside in anticipation of pre-race announcements. It was 11, we were set to start at 12 pm.

Soon more participants arrived. Some were like us, in matching t-shirts. others were in full costumes of varying tastes and efforts. Obama and McCain joined forces on the race which was nice to see some unity, although I'm sure noone cheered for them to win. We served as a case study for the power of suggestion. As we ordered drinks immediately after we saw two racers with a bloody mary and a screwdriver. Raeann and Mark found us. After they signed in, they joined our table. As I was approaching the bottom of my second screwdriver the race announcements started and the clue envelopes were handed out.

The race is set up that you're given 12 clues to 12 separate destinations in town. Each is different. Some require you to have your picture taken in front of a place, person, thing, others send you to a park and ask you to complete a stunt.

We worked together to solve the clues and quickly decided to head for our first destination. Eliot Park. We were pretty sure we knew where it was, so we ran right for it. Unfortunately, the park we thought was Eliot Park was actually Franklin Steele Square. After a few phone calls and bit of running we found Eliot Park, Phew! This clue "closed at 1" and we made it with 10-15 minutes to spare. At Eliot Park each teammmate had to balance an apple on our head and walk 10 yards without touching or dropping the apple.

After completing this stunt we worked on our next clue. This one was a cryptogram involving the movie, "Fargo". We deciphered without completely solving the clue that we needed to take our picture in front of a sign on a parking ramp used in the movie. Again, we consulted friends and family who uniformly had us heading to the Daytons (now Macys) parking ramp. We ran a few blocks and were informed that in fact it was the Minneapolis Club parking ramp. We ran back a block and snapped the picture.

Next we were off to our 3rd stop. This clue was something like, "Take your picture next to the statue of the person mentioned in the hit Weezer song." That wasn't hard. Had to be the Mary Tyler Moore statue. What out of town based contest couldn't have picked that? Again here a photo of both of us with the bronze MTM.

Next clue we tackled was getting a photo of 4 people doing cartwheels in front of Candyland. We could have opted for this or getting a photo of 12 people in front of the orpheum. Since there we already some people doing cartwheels and we were there this was easy. Or, I guess to be fair, easy for me. Shawn and Raeann had to do cartwheels.

Next we were off to GameWorks to find a Game called Monkey Ball, and get our picture with it. We stood in a short line of racers and got our photos snapped. We also had to get 3 tickets from any game. There was a guy handing out tickets from skeeball. Not sure if he worked there or was just a bystander helping out. Either way we were out of the quickly.

The next clue we tackled was a riddle. It went something like this, "Juan like Dr. Pepper, but not Coke. He likes Strawberries but not Watermelon. He eat Cheese but not Milk. He likes pepper but not salt." We then were instructed to take a photo of both teammates in front of a street sign that Juan would like. We noted that old Juan like things with double letters, like pePPer, beRRies, chEEse, etc. So we took a picture of ourselves in front of a Hennipen Avenue street sign.

I'll have to say it was nice to have Raeann and Mark with us as we were able to get our photos taken quickly and didn't have to get bystanders or wait for another team.

We were off to Loring Park. As a team we had to hop on these skis that had ropes attached and walk them 20 yards or so. We made quick work of this and quickly went to the next stop.

The sculpture garden. Again, what out of town hosted race couldn't resiste the allure of the spoon and cherry sculpture. The clue was to have your photo take in front of the sculpture picture on the GreatUrbanRace website. Check!

Next we needed to scoot on up to Golooneys pizza. Before we got to Galooneys we had to have our photo taken at the park across the street from the pizzeria. We were instructed to count the benches in the park and hold up the number of fingers equaling the number of benches. I don't recall how we solved to go this park, but Shawn figured it out and counted the benches.

Now! On to Galooneys. The task here was to have one teammate feed the other a slice of pizza. Shawn fed me a bite and a bystander took our picture. Deliciouso! I devoured the rest while we waited for bus to take us back down Hennepin. Man the pizza was GOOD. We hopped the bus, this was the only bus ride for us.

Our next and last stop was to get our picture taken in front of the name and address for the Campbell Mithun building. We ran 9th to the building with Mark and Raeann. Took our last picture and ran back to Town Hall Brewery. On this run we somehow lost Mark and Raeann. I think they may have taken a slightly different route. Shawn and I zig zagged through Twins traffic and mercifully made it back to the finish/start.

Since we were allowed to skip one stop, we deleted the picture of us holding the number of benches (although we found out we got it right). After a review of our photos (yeah no errors!), we sad down outside for refreshments. Kevin and Heather joined us. It sounded like they had a great time as well! Beer, sweet potato fries (SWEET) and goat cheese nachos (wonderful!). It didn't take long and we got a bit cold. So we moved inside for more beer and a bit of warmth.

We bought a growler of oatmeal stout on the way out and listened to the awards. We were disappointed we didn't get top 25. I think we would have it we hadn't had the mix up finding Eliot Park, but whatever. We had fun, and beer and food. I think Team Mabusi would do it again if they return in 2009!

And we got in 9 miles!