It's a family affair

Thanks for our Hearth

2009-11-13T18:46:00.002-05:00

I've heard this song since Robert started at Vinton in 2005 but it never ceases to warm my heart(h). This is seriously one of their best collaborations so far.

Hearth from Sarah Cook Curtis on Vimeo.

The perfect Christmas card photo

2009-11-12T09:17:00.005-05:00

Photobooth

As as happened in many households throughout the United States, my kids are waking up a lot earlier in the mornings since we switched to daylight savings. This is exacerbated by the presence of the kitten at the top of the stairs when R wakes up to with his early morning full bladder. Instead of returning to bed, he plays with the kitten. And then well one thing leads to another and we're all up at 6 am. Keeping them entertained and not completely annoying is now a task of the mornings where we used to be rushing just to be on time. This is where Photobooth comes in.

The kids are kids of obsessed with Photobooth. They use both the video and photo capabilities of the application. They especially love the effects part where they can distort themselves and the video as a whole. It's fun to watch them as they brainstorm ideas or just freeform. They've been using it off on and since I bought my Mac about 2 years ago. Last night and this morning were no exception.

This morning, Don and I joined in on the action and we captured a really lovely family photo. I'm thinking Christmas Card.

just not in the mood

2009-11-10T12:46:00.001-05:00

Grumpy... or is it Grouchy?
Originally uploaded by devil dinosaur

I'm not in the mood for much today. No discernible reason, just not in the mood. I tried combating "my case of the Mondays" with productivity and that seems to have back fired. Two resumes emailed and half of a bathroom cleaned later, I think I'm pissier.

Oh well, better to just own up to being pissing.

Uncle Albert

2009-11-09T13:57:00.006-05:00

My blogittyness is not up to par at the moment. This nablopomo shit ain't easy.

But I'd be remiss if I did not send some bloggy love to my uncle Albert (allie pallie) today on his birthday.

I was outside raking the leaves trying to think about what I should write when I started giggling. Thoughts of my uncle Albert usual revolve with visions of him around age 30 in too short jean cut-offs with his stuff on display for all to see; him in a speedo; the absence of an appropriateness filter; and the use of the term "lover".

Those are all, mostly, childhood memories. I'm lucky to now know my uncle as an adult. He sure had grown up nicely.

He's also oft unheralded still documentarian of our lives. And for this I give him great thanks everyday.

Today he gets to enjoy is birthday on his actual day off which I see as a built in bonus. And he received some wonderful biking weather. Here's to uncle Allie hoping he had a ride worthy of his own greatness.

This appears to be all I've got for the moment besides

This video.

and link to an Alf episode which appears on google when you search for 'we're so sorry uncle albert'. "Well it's not like this place is Shangri-la"

"Grown ups say to me: Blah, Blah, Blah"

2009-11-08T21:59:00.002-05:00

As part of the awesomeness that was today we had a trip to the UCONN Dairy Bar. We were celebrating a wonderful Football season which had drawn to a close this morning/afternoon with a loss to Rham.

NOTE: we tend to celebrate with ice cream

After downing our ice cream we hung out side for awhile playing on the rocks and then went off to wonder the Horse Barn Hill surrounds. We found ourselves in a feed of milk weeds for quite some time (more on that later when I can get the pictures off the other camera) and then off to the cow barn. Don and R returned to car and M and I walked through the field down to the barn.

During our walk M found a longish white feather. After picking it up off the ground she looked at me and said, "Can I write with it with ink when we get home?" Luckily I was able to say yes, as we have ink courtesy of the hipster art student teacher at Vinton last year. Of course as soon as the owrds were out of my mouth, I forgot.

The feather ended up in my back pocket. At some point in the ensuing afternoon it must have made its way into M's line of vision rekindling her feather pen desires. The request for the ink came shortly their after. I have some good shots (one the other camera, I know) of her penning the following letters to her father and I.

First came this one. It's similar to a lot of what she writes when she asks to borrow my phone to practice her typing.

After presenting me with this one and blushing and saying "Well, it's true." She decided to write a note for Don (rather complied with his request). And penned this cutie.

This girl is such a treasure with her feather and ink and moxie.

How the hardware store and pop rocks are connected

2009-11-07T16:43:00.006-05:00

Don is the ultimate impulse buyer. This is part of the reason he doesn't carry cash and that I don't let him do the grocery shopping. The other part is the fact that I'm a complete control freak.

It not that he disregards price or sales, but that he just doesn't think about them at all. Usually he's moved to go to the store out of necessity whether it be milk, beer or button-down shirts. The hardware store seems to be the place where he grabs a few choice items at the check out. Usually this includes a Snickers or a Reese's; sunflower seeds, and a can of spicy & sweet peanuts. If Robert is with him there's generally a bag of Doritos or Cheetos too.

Today was no exception and Robert was with him. I'm told the peanuts are in the car. But the candy was different, this time they also brought home Pop Rocks. Once I saw the bags, my mind immediately went to Mikey because when Mena and I arrived home to find Robert knee deep in a bowl of Cinnamon Life for lunch clutching a bag of Pop Rocks.

The rule was he had to eat lunch before he could try the them. Don had also bought a bag for Mena, but as she'd just had Fun Dip after horseback riding I initially told her she couldn't have Pop Rocks, but ultimately caved.

The kids were quite cautious at first. Mena decided that she'd prefer to have them in a bowl over pouring them willy nilly into her mouth. Robert started off by taking small bits and putting them in his mouth. He'd then about how his mouth was electric and then open it for us to hear the snap, crackle, pop.

It's funny how amusing this candy was to all of us. We took turns and oohed and aahed. I'm pretty sure it'd been awhile since we had collectively experienced candy.

Later, Don and I drank soda and ate the remainder of the Pop Rocks.

Next week we all try Mentos but not because of this video.

Foo Fighters - Big Me (Official Music Video) - Click here for this week’s top video clips

Epilogue

Later in the day Don went back out to return empties and buy some beer. He returned with a fog machine.

Barbie Girl

2009-11-06T20:06:00.003-05:00

A couple of weeks ago the kids started singing Barbie Girl by Aqua. For the life of me I couldn't figure out where they were hearing the song. But it made me smile because it reminded me of Howard Stern. In '97 Stern used to talk about how his youngest daughter was crazy for the song and she'd sing it all of the time. I'm pretty sure he aired her singing the song. I miss Stern but back to Barbie Girl .

It appears that Mattel is now embracing Aqua's version of Barbie Girl and using it in commercials. So question answered, they learned about Barbie Girl from television. Thank goodness that TV is raising those kids right!

M has, of course, out done Mattel.

Hong Kong Phooey

2009-11-04T20:23:00.003-05:00

M loves to karate fight. Well her own interpretation of karate. Today when I finally submitted to this sillyness which involves me mostly getting whacked on the hands and kicked in the shin, I showed her some of my fancier moves. While flailing my arms randomly in the air and spinning, I scream "Hong Kong Phooey". M stopped and asked, "What's that all about?" I replied, "You don't know Hong Kong Phooey?" and then proceeded to Youtube.

So today is the day I introduced her to Hong Kong Phooey. She thinks it's just weird.

To each his own I guess. But that's coming from a girl who did NOT call the following video werid. Kids these days.

more birthday

2009-11-03T10:19:00.004-05:00

my mom got whopped with a big bill this past weekend. $9000 to have the oil tank used by the apartment at her store replaced. the store uses wood - wood which this coming sunday will dropped in the parking lot at the store and stacked by my mother, don, and randy. tradition.

so with this $$$$ bill and the continuing car malady, my mother arrived at our house after a full day of "keeping shop" in need of food, wine, and some thing funny. at first the kids did not want to oblige but slowly, ever so slowly they came around. mena did some dancing around the kitchen then robert told a joke or two (really recited lines from movies). and then after a stilted start due to not having the lyrics memorized they sang this one.

Kids sing Bad Day from Sarah Cook Curtis on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday Mom

2009-11-02T09:37:00.001-05:00

merrill01 copy
Originally uploaded by bobcook2006

Today's my mother's 67th Birthday.

Truth is, that it's hard to believe that she's 67 because 67 is really close to 70 and 70 just seems OLD. Seventy is one of those ages that really marks you as a senior citizen. Now my mom has been getting the senior citizen discount since before she was really eligible but that's because she's also frugal and doesn't give a shit about people knowing her age. Unless of course it means they're going to deny her some sort of discount.

I remember being that the movies with her with Don and she turns to Don and says, "I'm going for it." Which meant that she was going to ask for a senior ticket even though she was only 60. After she got her senior ticket she explained to us that the teenagers see one grey hair and decide that you're just "old". I remember when I was about 25 and was insuring a car on my own for the first time, I had to meet with the insurance agent at her office in Hartford or was it Manchester. Whatever. The woman was lamenting menopause especially the hot flashes. She told how hard is is to be 50. My mouth nearly dropped as I looked the woman up and down in disbelief that she was younger than my own mother. I could have sworn she was 15 years older.

And that's how it is with my mother. My mother lives a healthy active life. Though she's slowed down a bit my her knees these days, she still hits the volleyball court at least twice a week. Over the summer she's still on the sand volleyball court. She eats healthier than anyone I know. I certainly wouldn't palate a lot of what she eats in the name of health. But that's her passion.

So where am I in this rambling mess of a blog post. I'm at the point where I say I admire my mother greatly and I apologize for all of the times I hung up the phone on her in high school when she didn't say yes to whatever asinine request I made.

I called my mom last night and asked how she'd like to celebrate her birthday. After talking around the question for a bit, I suggested that we supply her with a nice hot meal after she works a full day at the shop and then celebrate with the kids with some cake. I told her I'd make her a gluten-free pizza. There was a pause and sighed then she said, "That's exactly what I want to eat."

I knocked that one out of the park.

Here's a picture of my mom from this past weekend. Wondering about the dots?

The Candy Economy

2009-11-01T10:46:00.003-05:00

There's something about being a kid which means the world revolves around the acquisition on sugar. About six months ago my kids decided to find all of the candy in the house. Now if you don't know me well, here's a confession I'm a candy hoarder and squirreler. It took them a good amount of time, but they managed to find all of the candy in the house. They then proceeded to sort the candy by type which also took a chunk of time. But after sorting they realized it was all just going to be kept in one big bin to the sorting had really been for naught. And with this flurry of activity, the "Candy Account" was started.

The "Candy Account" has turned out to be quite fantastic. The kids rarely go into it without permission (OK, it's kept on a very high shelf); Don and I can use access to it as a reward for random acts of kindness and good behavior; the kids are allowed choose about three pieces from the account if we go the the movie theater which helps the household economy; and I know where the candy is.

Fast forward to this morning, the morning after Halloween. All of the candy from last night's trick-or-treating was dumped into the "Candy Account" last night as soon as we returned home so this morning was all about accounting and projecting account numbers. First new candy was sorted into groups by type. Skittles was the largest group coming in at thirteen. Then came the projecting.

First the kids wanted to know the order of holidays in the year by month beginning with January. As I prattled on about Martin Luther King Day and national holidays the truth came to light, they wanted to know "candy holidays". We determined that Valentines, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween and Christmas where the real high volume ones. And from this information came the following graph which projects the increase (by percentage) of their candy account by candy holiday.

Candy Graph
Originally uploaded by rojopelo

Uhm, hell yeah real life application of Math!!

NaBloPoMo

2009-11-01T09:36:00.004-05:00

NaBloPoMo is an acronym for National Blog Post Month. It's a month where you try and get into the habit of blogging daily. In some fit of insanity instead of pledging in my head to myself to blog daily, I actually registered. Gak!
Now I could have easily just have registered; given it a go lasted about a week and been done with it but I chose to write that I'd pledged. I have to accountable somewhere.
So blog post one of thirty, DONE! *wipes brow*

pictures

2009-10-01T15:30:00.006-04:00

Screwing around, as I often do, I stumbled upon this picture today. It's from our trip to Burlington, Vt in May. I just love it.

There's something about the contrast between the car, the mural and the graffiti that just strikes me.

I like this one too, but not as much!

And lastly a different shot from the bar that day.

MONKEY!

Truth

2009-09-30T13:27:00.004-04:00

Truth:

I started a food journal.

Because:

I've gained 10 lbs. in the last 18 months.
My clothes don't fit and I don't have the money to buy new clothes.
I'd have gained more weight if I hadn't exercised.
There were days that I ate two ice cream cones at night and then went to bed.

Why am I sharing this?

My weaknesses are not things I'm proud of, but they are real. I figure if I share my truths then I'm no longer burdened by them. It's not that I'm putting that weight on to my readers, but that I'm no longer denying my own truths to myself. That's a bad habit of many years that I need to break.

In my mind, I hear many of you saying, "Well, 10 lbs isn't that much." And in many ways,you're right. But for me, who's been in recover from an eating disorder since my early twenties, there is a lot more intertwined into those 10 lbs. It's not just straight up Newtonian physics. There's so much psychology it's overwhelming.

This is where my food journal comes in. It's a place where I disclose truths about what goes into my body. It forces me to no longer pretend that I'm not eating a bag of cookies at 9 pm while watching Biggest Loser. What it is not, is a space where I meticulously track calories, grams of fat or grams of carbohydrates.

So far, the simple act of keeping the journal has changed my habits. The late night binges are both less frequent and tracked without guilt or retribution. They just are.

Noah and the Whale

2009-09-18T09:54:00.002-04:00

Catching up on NPR's All Songs Considered.

Noah and the Whale has a new album next month. I think I shall buy it.

The Hardware Chefs . . . the TV pitch

2009-09-17T14:47:00.008-04:00

So I was finally able to get the production copy of the Hardware Chefs converted. Only took over a year. If you don't know about the Hardware Chefs, you can read Justin's tribute to my dad for a bit of a better understanding of its origin.

The Hardware Chefs: The origin

My father (Dennis Foran, Bob’s very close friend for over 30 years) was headed over to the Cook’s for a fish fry. I believe it was a Sunday afternoon, during the summer. I was visiting from New York that weekend, and was on my way back to the city that day. As I was about to leave, my father asked me if I wanted to go along with him. I hadn’t seen Bob in awhile, and thought that it would be great to stop by, so we headed over to the Cook’s for some fish and some beer. Upon arriving we immediately met up with Bob who was trying to configure some kind of device (not a surprise at all). Peanut oil was splashing all over place, Robart was using a case of Labatts for a marinade, and of course Don was getting yelled at for not doing something that Bob had told him to do, even though Don had already done it. I guess it wasn’t up to Bob’s standards. So Don was fired… but only for an hour.
I watched Robart and Bob interact while they cooked, drank (a lot), and yelled at one another in a playful, childish manner. There was something about their chemistry that was very unique and spirited. I had my camera with me, and started shooting… asking them questions about their friendship, their cooking skills, why they did what they did. Some great lines started to come out as well: Bob and Bob (one spelling, two men). I shot for the rest of the day, gathering footage, watching these two wild men do their thing. Later that evening Bob showed me some other tapes from their exploits together. I asked him if I could borrow them because I wanted to try to incorporate it with the footage that was shot that day.

I went back to New York and began to digitize the footage and piece it together. It all came together into this trailer about two guys who love to build devices and cook with them. As the edit moved along, we needed a name for the show. I remembered asking them during the shoot if they had a name for their duo, something along the lines of “The Hardware Chefs”. (I think they preferred “Bob and Bob”).
I sent the trailer to Bob. He called me soon after, and we spoke about the show. I asked him if he would be interested in shooting a longer version. We discussed how the show could work, and what we’d have to do. He was interested in doing a pilot shoot, and thought that we should start with the smoker, since he still had a lot of pieces left from earlier that year. We set a date for the shoot.
We showed up at Bob’s house with a camera crew and production staff. Bob, Robart and myself would serve as the hosts of the show. They would build and cook, and I would guide the audience through the process. As we worked he reminded me that the real reason we were doing this was to have fun and be with our friends, and share it with our families when we were done. He told me that whatever happened with the show, that you have keep going… you have keep building, let your creative ideas flow. Keep making things with people that you like. “Projects are a good thing, Justo,” he said.
After we finished shooting and editing, I took the show around to see what the response would be. It can be rather treacherous when you’re dealing with TV executives. They seem to always care about technicalities such as the length of someone’s beard. They wanted everyone smiling all the time, like Ryan Seacrest. They thought that the show should be shot in a more urban area. They had their own ideas, which didn’t reflect the show we made, or wanted to make for that matter.
I remember seeing Bob at my Grandfathers funeral. I had been living in Los Angeles at the time. It was the first time I had seen Bob since he was diagnosed with cancer. We started talking about how much fun we had making the show together, and how much he enjoyed viewing the original trailer, from the fish fry with his family and friends that summer. I remember watching Bob and Merrill leave that day, after the funeral, walking to their car together. I thought about all the memories I had shared with Bob, his friends, and his family. All the fun we'd had.
I guess that was the idea after all, to have fun; To make something together, and keep creating to keep life interesting. In some respects, I wish the show made it. I always felt deep down that Bob Cook was the real deal… and it would have been really neat to share that with everyone. But then, I also think that Bob Cook already had his own show in a way. In fact, he was the show. And his studio was located in Mansfield, CT. And his audience was his family and his friends. And if you ever wanted to see an episode, all you had to do was stop by.

I hope you all enjoy the videos that I had the honor of making with Bob, Robart, his family, and all his friends. Bob Cook inspired us to keep going, to keep building, to make our own show, and for that I’m eternally grateful.

Also, here you can watch my dad's video from the same day. it is presented sequentially as it was shot. Thanks for so much documentalisting Dad.

NOTE: The "throw away" mussel steamer is still in a closet at my parents house.

Birthday cards

2009-09-16T13:08:00.008-04:00

I can remember the bewilderment upon the receiving the card in the mail. A birthday card from my brother for my daughter. On her 6th birthday, we had a first.

I spied the card in my overspilling top of the desk organizer this morning and it made me smile. (I'm pretty sure that Don actually brought it into work to share when it first arrived). So I share the best recycled birthday card EVAH.

Was I right or was I right?! 100% Awesome!

We've never been card senders. Truth is I'm pretty sure I've never sent my brother a Birthday card in my adult life. Of course is birthday is December 27th so I might have uttered "Happy Birthday" to him in person on a few occasions, but I doubt a card.

In that same unkempt organizer, I keep this card. My brother sent it to me a few years back. It was sent during the hazy days of my father's cancer. A time when we talked a bit more often and started to share a few things. On the back "it would be nice to hear from you some time $500 bottle of wine."

Pretty sure it was the first card he'd sent me as an adult.

In this way my brother and I are so very a like. We don't get the cards out. We don't call a lot. We might not even send email. But it doesn't mean we don't love you or that we're not thinking about you. WE might have learned this from our parents.

He also sent my dad 61 cards (I think it was 61 maybe it was 56 but whatever) on his birthday. One card for each year that he'd never gotten him a birthday card. I was living with my parents at the time and my father smiled and chuckled every day a card arrived.

The unexpected in my mind sometimes trumps Miss Manners.

NOTE: I'm not saying I don't like Birthday cards, because I do.

Come on mood shift . . . .

2009-08-26T11:47:00.007-04:00

The negativity monster in my head keeps chattering away:

Should have run yesterday.
Should have biked the day before.
Shouldn't have eaten the ice cream.
Should have done more work around the house this summer.
Shouldn't have wasted so much time on the computer.
Should have finished refinishing the cabinet.
Should have a job.
Should handle money better.
Shouldn't be blogging now.
Should be blogging more.
Should have cleaned the house.

I've in one of those dips in life where nothing seems good and I can't quite seem to find a silver lining. It's not a deep malaise, but more of just a numbness. I'm more underwhelmed than overwhelmed.

A lot of has to do with work or the specifically the absence of full time work. Worries about money. Worries about success. Trying to define success. Worries about the color of my underwear. I know most of it is just bullshit, but it's just one of those down turns you have to get through.

Mulligan

Finally got myself out of the house for some exercise yesterday. I took a six mile walk in hopes of it helping to sort out my head. Oddly, I think it did work. Once I arrived home, I just felt more productive and focused. The truth is that exercise is my therapy. Without walks, runs, bike rides or trips to the gym my balance is off and the darker of my thoughts will rule the day. But we all know that once once your down it's a lot harder to get motivated and get out.

It looks as if my personal dark stormy cloud has passed. Now to get outside before the real rain starts.

A series of random thoughts . . . feel free to mute me

2009-08-11T18:32:00.006-04:00

******really just one random thing I wrote over a week ago*****

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

One day last week Mena started thinking about skiing. She went on in glorious detail about how excited she was to ski this year. We reminded her that is was August, and she just smiled and said, "I know, but I'm still excited."(Paraphrased due to short term memory loss.) Later that day she asked me if it was alright if she tried on her boots to see if they still fit. I watched her try on a pair of ski boots. She then turned and looked at me ecstatically and said, "My toes don't touch the end. Call dad and tell him they fit." I called Don to let him know Mena's discovery about her boots and he questioned the accuracy of the fit and feel of the boots. It appears she had tried on R's.
I can't help but think of my father whenever M talks about skiing. Sometimes my eyes tear up thinking about how happy he'd be to know about her love of skiing. He didn't discover it until in his 50's but boy did he love it. I'm pretty sure if he was alive he'd be talking with her about the best mountains to ski and they'd be planning a few trips together.

On a separate note, she's also singing "Deck the Halls" and madating that Uncle Tucker, Grandma, Auntie Mauli and Auntie Maria come for Christmas.

Unicorns and Rainbows

2009-08-08T08:09:00.005-04:00

I really need to know if anyone has noticed the cornify button I added to my blog. It's the lovely little rainbow button the the top right-hand corner. Just push it once . . . beware though it's like Lays potato chips.

Other things:

Holy crap, summer is winding down. How'd it go by so quickly and how'd we survive.
We went to Maine. It was awesome.
Don's almost done with the roof on stone shed. It must be noted that this shed has ZERO right angles. Now he can move on to putting a roof on the wooden shed. I'm pretty sure he's glad he married into the ultimate "Fear Factor" DIY family. Where's your plumbob, boy?!
My cat is insane. She now sleeps behind my computer and then pounces on my hands when I try and type. It was funny the first time. Stupid lolcats.
It's not raining today.
My brother-in-law was in Alaska. My husband was annoyed because he didn't feel his brother blogged enough. 21st Century livin'

Keep Me in Your Heart

2009-08-01T08:29:00.005-04:00

This is a quickie post. I have longer more detailed posts in the back of my mind, but I wanted to get this up today before the day got away from my and many of my good intentions faded to things left undone.

My uncle Albert is riding the first and longer leg of the Pan Mass Challenge today. He's done this for a few years now as part of the effort to raise more for cancer research and to feed his need for speed. This morning I saw his Facebook post which mentions that his mind was full of thought of his father who was taken by cancer 25 years ago this month. (wow, my eyes swelled just typing that.)

If you are able please support Albert's efforts donations can be made at:

PMC.ORG rider ID# AC0077

For Jennie: "If I leave you, it doesn't mean I love you any less"
Warren Zevon - Keep Me In Your Heart

100 miles

2009-07-13T10:19:00.006-04:00

What's 100 miles, you might be asking yourself

100 miles is:

The amount of free towing I have with my PlusAAA membership
The distance between Storrs, CT and Brattleboro, VT (give or take)
The furthest distance from which your food could come if you adhered to the 100 Mile Diet
A Bad Company song and an NWA song

And it is really far to ride on a bike.

This past Saturday I rose at 5:00 am after a craptastic nights sleep to head off to ride my bike 100 miles. I didn't have to ride 100 miles. That's the part that needs to be emphasized, I chose to ride my bike and finish what felt entirely impossible at many points.

WHY?

Why would a sane (I know many of you are shaking your heads going, you're not sane) person choose partake in an event like this.

For me the answer is many fold:

The Fitness Angle . . . it's not just your body

I like being fit. It improves my attitude. I also enjoy new challenges to my fitness and athleticism. For the past few years, I've been running 1/2 marathons a feat I truly never imagined. Around February, I registered for the VT marathon, but I had to bow out of running it due to a foot injury. The idea of not exercises did not rest well with me, so I went back to my old stand by the stationary bike. Then as the Prouty approached it seemed like a great alternative. I needed to have a goal something to focus on and to actualize. When have concrete goals I'm able to of positive a mind, body and soul and to approach life more balanced. I tend to suffer from extreme syndrome, either I'm completely dedicated to fitness and eating healthy or I'm just way off the wagon sitting in the corner hugging my running shoes as I eat a half-gallon of ice cream. It's not a new story, it's my constant struggle. The battle to be level.

There's also something to be said for pushing yourself beyond where you truly thought you could go. Thus, biking 100 miles.

The Cancer Angle

I hate Cancer. Seriously hate this fucking disease.

Cancer is mean and it is indifferent.
Cancer doesn't care how old you are.
Caner doesn't care how many people love you.
Caner loves to grow and strip you of your strength.

While I know chemo is a successful treatment for many to fight cancer, chemo is also brutal. And if the chemo doesn't make you sick the drugs you take to stave off its side effects usually do.

Having watched people endure the ravages of both cancer and chemo, the physical pain of riding 100 miles doesn't compare. For the physical and the psychological agony of the ride have a concrete and definite end when you cross a finish line. For the Cancer patient even remission is not the end. There's the unfair yet constant fear of cancer.

The images of real people

And the ride was painful. After about 80 miles I had to dig into the deepest depths of both my physical and mental perseverance. With about 10 miles to go, I had tears streaming down my face and was screaming aloud that i just wanted it to be over. To me at that moment it felt like the ride was never going to end. My body wanted to just stop but there was no way that my mind was going to allow that to happen. At that moment I thought of my father and the more painful moments of his life with cancer and how much he fought to have just one more day. I thought of our friend Katie whose life was cut and ravaged by ovarian cancer. I thought of Daniella whose brave battle against cancer left behind two young victims. I thought of Andrew enduring everything that could possibly go wrong.

As grave as these images are, they were what I needed to push through for my pain. It reminded me that my pain was temporary and a choice. None of them had chosen cancer but they had all risen to the occasion with every ounce of energy to fight for their lives. The least I could do was finish a 100 mile bike ride.

(me at the finish line)

The Fundraising Angle

Last year I biked the 50 mile ride at the Prouty and just wrote a check for $125 fundraising pledge. Initially, I contemplated just doing the same this year. I don't like asking people for things well anything. I'm told often and by more than one person, I'm quite difficult to help. My decision to actively fundraise was a very conscious one. It was to force me into doing something that i wasn't quite comfortable with. I mean who likes asking people for money, not me. I started with sending out a few broadcast messages on Twitter. Thought I'd give this whole Social Media for Social good thing a try. It didn't seem to be making much of a difference, so I started to send a few direct messages. The responses were of course, but my donations page didn't change too much. Somewhat discouraged, I put up a message on Facebook and sent out a mass email. With those two simple messages, my donations began to flow in. I followed these up with another email, some broadcast tweets, some DMs and a few more Facebook posts.

fundraising for newbs

In the sense of traditional fundraising this really required very little effort on my part. The biggest and the most donations resulted from my emails. And I only sent two. These were to people who I know and who know my family. My Facebook posts and Tweets were about neck and neck in donations. But all of my efforts resulted in a landslide of kind words, much praise and inspiration. The lovely Phil Campbell even wrote up a little blog post about my efforts.

Through all of my effort and with your dollars, we raised an amazing $1865.00 for cancer research and patient services.

Now, of course, all of this has me thinking of how I could do it better and what I would have done differently to have capitalized on social and giving aspects of the internetz. If I was really good, I'd have some screen captures of my twitter stream and FaceBook. (I like to leave room for constant improvement.)

What now . . .

We arrived home on Sunday and I registered for the Hartford Half Marathon. And on she runs, on she blogs, on she goes . . . .

I found the source of the ticking . . .

2009-07-08T21:17:00.007-04:00

R came home the other day, well yesterday really, and was singing, "Harry Potter, Harry Potter. Ron Weeeeeasley, Ron Weeeeeasley. Snape, snape severous snape." Now if you know R at all he was singing this incessantly and without explanation. Finally, with nerves frayed, we asked him what the fuck it was that he was singing. There's a possibility that we phrased that question a bit differently when we posed it to him but we certainly asked that question to each other.

He explained that it was a part of the skit that he was going to be performing at camp. Our reaction was "Oh, OK." Then slowly over the course of the evening we learned more part of the skits. As each part was revealed we wondered aloud about what this skit was based off of (poor grammar). Finally around bed time, it was revealed that his counselors had told the kids to check youtube for the skit, but been a bit sketchy about how to search for the video. Don had initally told Robert no when he asked to search for it concerned for what we might find. I decided to skip the Youtube search and just do a Google search of all the stuff Robert was reciting (over and over and over again).

Here's what we found

So apparently the skits at camp in the year 2009 are re-enactments of Youtube videos.

Oh my, the times they are a changin'.

Vote for Mena

2009-07-06T12:59:00.004-04:00

Well, the 4th of July has come and gone. New happy memories created along with a few tears shed.

Mena and I marched in the Boombox Parade on what was a gorgeous sunny day. We missed having our entourage from last year to join us and dance in the streets. We were back to our humble beginnings as a two person float.

I found some video clips from last year of Auntie Mauli, Auntie Maria and Nerissa and mixed them up with some photos and bit of music. Enjoy.

Zen and the Art of Bicycle Manintenance

2009-07-02T11:31:00.010-04:00

I am currently covered in grease. I've washed my hands about 4 times already, so I'm thinking I really need to invest in GoJo.

"Why are you covered in grease", you're probably wondering. Because I bought a new bike. And apparently buying a new bike means changing flat tires all of the time. I hadn't been on my new bike for more that 30 minutes before I got my first flat. This has been followed by three more in relatively short swift.

The first flat had to be the most frustrating as I had been so excited to get out on my new bike for a long ride, 60 miles to be exact. I'd bought this bike so that I could do long rides through the ridiculous hills of northeastern Connecticut and not be gone for 10 hours. But as noted above, the wind was quickly removed from my sail. Instead I spent about an hour walking to the bike shop pretty humiliated because I didn't have a flat tire repair kit on me and even if I'd had one I wouldn't have had a clue how to use it. I'd just never had a flat tire before therefore had never needed to learn. Excuses, excuses, excuses, I know. This was information I didn't want to share with the bike shop, but that I'd have to. I'd have to suck it it up admit that this was one among many things that I just had no clue how to do and actually had not really anticipated. I was also pissed because I'd plopped down a chink of change for this bike and it was not working. Not working in a way that was normal for a bike but abnormal for a consumer like myself who expects if you put the money what you buy should just work, you shouldn't have to work at it working.

Given that I had some time to think about all of this as I walked my spandex bike shorts clad ass back to the bike shop, I realized that this was truly an opportunity to learn. I needed to learn what kit I needed to carry with me and what kit was just superfluous; I needed to learn how to patch my tires; and I needed to learn how to change my tubes. I walked into the bike shop slightly defensive (shocking as that may be to many) but slowed moved into my new position as learner. I was helped by a nice bike shop girl and yes, her gender diminished how intimidated I truly felt by all of this. As I kept repeating nervously, "I need to learn. I've to be able to do this myself", she showed me step by step how to patch my tube; put it on and then the tire back on. Yes, I felt like an ass; Yes, I was overcompensating for my humiliation by being overly enthusiastic; Yes, I babbled. But even with all of these nervous ticks against me, I learned.

First, I learned that as far as bikes go most people are ignorant, I'm not that bad comparatively. Secondly, I learned that this was something I definitely could do. Lastly, I learned that I really need to own up to stuff I don't know how to do because it bites your ass in the end. I also need to not be so defensive about what I don't know, it's not the worst thing in the world to not know how to do something. Most people want to help you and they enjoy sharing their knowledge specially what they've learned from experience.

This last bit was the most important bit for me that day as this part is what is what i actually do for a living teaching and training. It's important to be reminded how hard it is to really learn.

If only the bike saga ended there with the newly empowered me wheeling my bike out of the shop looking bravely and confidently at the at the road as I put my feet into the pedals and bike off into adventures unknown. Sadly, my first biking day does not end on that high note as a total asshole cut me off I slammed shoulder and neck first into a telephone poll. Thankfully, I wasn't injured and with the help of Arnica and Tiger Balm I was able to get out and ride the 60 mile route that I'd been longing to ride the next day and without incident.

That first flat tire led to two subsequent flats: one more front and another rear. I now know how to change both; carry the right equipment; and cycle far and strong.

To support my 100 mile ride for cancer research and patient services on July 11, 2009 simply click on this link for my Prouty Ride donation page.