It Sucks!

I (we) are the proud owners of my grandmother's Kirby Sanitronic Model 562, which was first built in 1962 and means that my vacuum cleaner is older than my wife. But it still sucks.

The vacuum cleaner, that is, still sucks. Anyway...

In September, my best man was at the house and saw Kirby 562, and commented that I was just like him holding on to a friendly vacuum and refusing to upgrade to something new. Uncle Tom told me that his wife, Jennifer, insisted on a new vacuum cleaner, so they upgraded to a new Dyson. Tom said you could actually see the carpet fibers being ripped from the floor and sucked into the Dyson when they started using it.

After thinking about how often Deborah's been sick, we realized that maybe, just maybe, the Kirby 562 wasn't sucking enough. So, we excitedly added an Electrolux Nimble vacuum to our family. It's almost like getting a new puppy.

Except it doesn't pee on the floor.

Four Sherpas

A few Sundays back, Deborah and I laid on the floor watching TV and generally trying not to move. It was our chance to be ONE together.

Of course there's always an occasional, "Stop it right now!," mixed in and directed at the kids.

Anyway, we watch 5 episodes of "Everest - Beyond the Limit" and one episode of "Disaster on K2" or something like that. It started a whole mountaineering fascination around our house.

First and foremost, we both agreed that if we see Everest and/or K2 at 28 or 29,000 feet, we will be in an airplane. Call us wimps, but "dying to get there" is only an expression in this household.

Reading about high-altitude mountaineering on the other hand is absolutely allowed. So I read Into Thin Air, No Way Down, and One Mountain Thousand Summits. Deborah had already read Into Thin Air, but she did buy and read Touching The Void and Regions of the Heart. Deborah is a prolific reader. At any one time, she is reading 4 or 5 works of nonfiction, and our house is a regular stop for UPS to deliver books from Amazon.com. But I digress...

Today, Deborah's watching a show about a couple that managed to get off a trail and lost in the wilderness for 4 days before being rescued, and we started talking about our goal of climbing a 14er. I assured Deborah that we won't get lost on the trail and we will be safe.

She said, "Damn right we won't. We're going to have 4 sherpas carrying maps, cell phones, gps devices, homing beacons, gallons of water, food, medicine, cameras, and Charmin Ultra Soft toilet paper."

Princess, work?

An interesting start to 2011...

I was supposed to do a post about my running and climbing plans in 2011 since this is the year that I turn 50...

But as we welcomed the new year, I became sick. After about a week of fever in January, I decided that I needed to get up and move around to get better. The next day, I was in the hospital with an atypical pneumonia. I've never been that sick in my life. I've considered myself a runner for years now, and not being able to breathe was a new and frightening feeling. It took awhile, but by February I was getting better, and in mid-February, I was able to begin easy, like 10 minute, cardio workouts. In March, I was able to begin running slowly on a treadmill. I still haven't ventured out onto the roads or trails, but I am slowly ramping up the running and I will be running at least a couple of "races" this year.

Deborah had also been sick basically since the wedding--one sinus infection after another. Multiple doctors had looked at her, and multiple doctors had prescribed multiple antibiotics. January through February she didn't really get better. Just when we thought she was getting better in March, Deborah had another relapse. We're going to yet another doctor to see if we can learn what's going on. Deborah and I have a number of activities planned in 2011--working out, climbing, sex, etc.--so we both need our health.

Through all of the adult illness, the kids were rock solid. Never a cough, hiccup, broken limb, or anything. For that, Deborah and I are extremely thankful. Extremely!

During 2010, we decided that Deborah needed a new car. The old 2000 Neon with 104,000 miles, and breathtakingly attractive hail damage, was nearing the end of its useful days. Every time I got in the car, the Neon would groan. At the end of February, it was time to car shop, and Deborah picked a 2011 Ford Escape.

Deborah's been so sick that I bet she hasn't put 100 miles on her "escape" since we bought it. It does look good in the garage though, and she has been able to talk to it a few times. The car has the SYNC system, so most of the features are voice activated. Unlike kids, it's fun to talk to a car and have it respond. I talk till I'm blue to the kids, but the response is never quite what I intended. Does that change at some point?

After we had purchased Deborah's "escape" from the dealer, I picked up Lexie, Justin, and Jarrod, and we drove home in the "old" Expedition while mom cruised in her escape. One of the boys asked how much the car cost, and I explained that it was expensive, so now I had to go back to work to earn money for their college education.

Lexie said, "But I don't want to go to college."

I replied, "Lexie, you mean that you don't want to go to college to become a doctor like Dr. G on TV." (Note: Dr. G is a medical examiner with a reality show that explains autopsies and the search for a cause of death. It might seem kind of a weird show to watch, but it is very interesting and Lexie likes it.)

Lexie thought about it for a minute and said, "Where does a princess go to learn how not to work?"

Questions For My Dad

My dad died October 1, 2006.

I often think about him, but recently, I've wanted to talk to him, ask him a few questions, and listen to his comments.

A few weeks ago I finished Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", and it occurred to me as a read that her philosophy, objectivism, encompasses the ideas and beliefs my dad passed along to me. I know my father read many books, but I'm curious if he ever read "Atlas Shrugged." I do know that he didn't have a copy on his bookshelves when he died, but I'm thinking he must have read the book.

It makes me feel closer to my dad having read the book. So much so, that I now have started "The Fountainhead," which is another of Rand's novels.

A Wine Club - Caduceus Cellars

During my recent trips to Italy, I watched the documentary "Blood Into Wine" on the plane, and I tasted 30 or 40 Tuscan wines. My favorite wine during the trip was Torciano Bartolomeo, which is a sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon blend.

After returning from my first trip to Tuscany, I joined the Velvet Slippers Club at Caduceus Cellars, which is home to a relatively new winemaker, Maynard James Keenan. Maynard's also known as a singer/songwriter/co-founder of tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer.

Since joining the club, I've received the fall and winter wine shipments, and for my first Caduceus wine to taste, I selected the Nagual de la NAGA - 2008, which is a California sangiovese and cabernet blend. Admittedly, I'm only an ignorant consumer, and my knowledge of wine comes from the film "Sideways" and the documentary "Blood Into Wine", but I thought the NAGA was very good. The Torciano Bartolomeo remains my favorite, but I also received a bottle of Caduceus Nagual de la NAGA - 2007 that I can't wait to taste.

Turkey Trot X 5

I'm really kind of proud of this. Today marked the 5th Thanksgiving in a row that I have completed my own personal turkey trot before Thanksgiving dinner.


I told Lexie last night that we would have to go to Life Time Fitness this morning because I still can't run (see It's Broke). After the doctor gave the Ok, I started out on an elliptical machine, and last week I began combining a stair climber with the elliptical machine.


When I was up and saw Lexie this morning, she asked when we were leaving for the trot, and I told her I didn't think we were going to go. I was trying to wimp out, but Lexie, at 6 years old, reminded me how important it was for me to keep the streak alive. I said, "Lexie, you're right," and off we went for Life Time Fitness.


For my personal turkey trot today, I complete 45 minutes on the stair climber and walked 0.5 miles. The picture below is after 45 minutes on the stair climber. I sweat profusely when I exercise, which means the looks I get in the gym aren't the "he's hot" kind of looks. More like the "is he Ok" kind of looks, or the common "ewww" look. Deborah loves me, but she still falls into the "ewww" look category.


Happy Thanksgiving!

Pictures From Italy

Don't have too high of expectations, but here are my pictures from Italy.

Grapes right before harvest in the Chianti region. I never tasted a wine grape before, but I picked one off the vine, and it was incredibly good. Very sweet.

The bishop's church in Arezzo. Most of the tours involve looking at churches. Usually, I would say "boring," but it wasn't. The construction of the churches was fascinating--start, stop, fight a war, start, stop, fight a war, start. And the artist (forgot the name) painted the ceiling, which is at least 60 feet in the air. I feel confident that scaffolding in 1300 was not as good as it is in 2010. And the stain glass windows were amazing. I also learned it's really hard to take pictures of stain glass windows with bright sunlight outside.




View of a cemetery from Cortona. Those are olive trees in the foreground. The olive harvest was underway, and many of the roads up to Cortona had harvesters placing nets under trees and shaking the tree to allow the olives to fall onto the net. It reminded me of harvesting pecans when I was a young teenager--my grandfather put down a net and made me climb my young ass up the tree and jump on the branches (when your grandfather says climb a 100 year old pecan tree and jump on branches, you do it, but it's probably why I'm so scared of heights now).



Here is a picture of the town of San Gimignano, and it's famous towers (grapevines in the foreground). The personal tour guide explained that the richest, most powerful men built the biggest towers. As if I couldn't figure that out. It was either that or the dude with the biggest...

...and speaking of David, here's the replica. The detail is amazing--Michelangelo must have studied the male...er...parts...for hours, days, weeks, and months. Modeling for Michelangelo was good work if you could get it during the Renaissance.

And finally, the hotel band on Saturday before departing. They didn't take requests.


Like I said, don't expect many good pictures from a lonely honeymooner, but we did go to Tuscany, and I did tour a little while Deborah was miserably sick in the suite watching Italian television.