I survived...

Yes, that is right, I survived. What did I survive you might ask? Well, I made it the entire weekend without cable tv, cell phones, the internet and all other forms of modern communication. What natural disaster occurred that put me in this awkward place you ask? Well, let me tell you.

I went camping!!

Yes, that is right, I did it on purpose. Am I into punishing myself you ask? Am I going to consider becoming a monk and shunning the modern world and I did this as a test run? Well, I did not do it for any of the above reasons. I did it to relax. I know, I know, how can one relax when disconnected from the world like that? And I will tell you it was not easy.

Take Saturday for instance. We had a great day on the lake, enjoying the nice weather. We were kicking back, relaxing, having a few adult beverages and then it occurred to me. I have no idea what Paris Hilton is doing right now. Is Victoria Beckham finally in America? Has Britney allowed her hair to grow in completely and what color is it coming in? I closed my eyes, scared to think about what might happen to me since I did not know any of this. Then I opened them, and I opened them slowly of course.

And to my surprise, the sun was still shining, the birds were still flying and people were actually enjoying themselves. How can this be, what secret source of information were they using to find all of the answers to the questions I posed. I thought about it and I thought about it for a very long time, maybe all of three seconds. Then it dawned on me. Honestly, who cares....

I got to see my daughter do some of the silliest dives she could think of off of the boat. I sat there and watched my son try to talk anyone he could find into riding his bike with him. I watched him as just a week ago I had to help him start on a bike ride and he jumped right on that bike and away he went. I caught up with friends. I sat down and made dinner. And it was done not using a microwave.

So, my advice to all of you, try it too. See if you can handle it. It may be tough at first, but it will be more than worth it.

Till next time,
Tuck out!

Don't Tell Me I Can't

As you can tell from my previous posts, I am not one to mention things to serious in here. Well, let me re-phrase that.

I talk about serious things, I just put a very light hearted approach to it. So hopefully as people read these things, they get a little smile and there is a small message in there that eats away at them and they see it eventually. Well, today is a little different.

For those of you that may not know me, I have recently started to get into more of an active lifestyle. I used to be the typical couch potato. Sitting on a Friday night, watching a movie, basically eating everything I could find. Well, that all changed after a picture was taken and gave me the motivation that I needed.

The old me did not have the most positive people in my life and when I said I was going to do trim down, run a 5K, etc. Was told that it could not be done. And for a while I listened to it. Then I decided not to listen anymore.

Now, I am not going to say that it has been easy. There are people out there that hate to see you succeed at things like this. They try to sabatoge your success. Simple things, have another piece of cake, would you like a big bowl of ice cream. Have another drink with us tonight. Some know what they are doing and some people do not. And the worst, people who know what they are doing. Those are the people that want you to be worse than them, so it makes them look better.

OK, you are probably wondering, where is this guy getting at.....

So, I have trimmed down. I went from a size 42 pants to a 34/36 depending on the lunch I eat that day. I ran my first 5k last September. I trained for the flying pig, but a bad ankle sprain ended that for me. And it was that point where I found my next thing. A 150 mile bike ride.

This is a ride where you ride 75 miles on one day and then return the next. Hence 75 plus 75 equals 150. It is probably not going to be easy, I don't know what to expect, but I am going to do it, and I am going to finish. Will not be the first to finish, and I know I will not be the last.

And when I finish, I get a simply little medal. But I also get the chance to look at those people that said I could not and simply give them a grin knowing they were wrong. So, stay tuned to the old blog to see how I did. Tell you about how my back side is killing me, you name it.

And remember, the only person that can tell you that you can't do something..... you.

Don out!

Ginger. Love her or Kill her?

For those of you out there that do not know me, I have a dog by the name of Ginger. She is a beagle mix that is going on 8 months old. Now, I will have to say that I adore this dog, while at the same time, I want to kill this dog most days.

I got Ginger for my kids around Christmas last year. We had a dog already, but Huggs was getting up in years and I thought a new dog would be a good idea for multiple reasons.

1. She will make the transition easier for the kids if something happens to Huggs
2. Huggs could help train the dog
3. Could give the kids something to allow them to understand the value of chores and
4. I am a typical male - I wanted a bigger dog.

Well, I got all of that and more. Before long it was clear, the kids did not get a dog, I got a dog. If I go somewhere in the house, Ginger goes with me. And she can surely keep the house interesting.

For everyone in my house, kids and animals included, they all have a special nickname their daddy gave them. Ginger's is simply "PIMA". For those of you that don't know what PIMA means, it is quite simple, 'Pain in my ass' and that she is. When I walk in the door, I yell PIMA and you better get out of the way. So, I wanted to share with you two funny things regarding Ginger. One she did, and one I did back to her.

Ginger's new Fence reinforcements
Ginger has a knack for breaking out of the fenced in back yard. Well, I decided to outsmart her (which is still debatable) and put reinforcements on the fence so she could not get out of them. I went to the hardware store, got the wood, stood there for a while analyzing the situation and then decided to get to work.

I was working diligently and at one point I was bent over nailing a board to one of the fence posts when all of a sudden I discovered that I was on the ground. Turns out someone knocked me over. As I got up, I looked to see Ginger crouched down and the minute we locked eyes, she barked at me. And although it was a bark, it really sounded like a laugh to me. I took off after her and she bolted the other way.

Well, to be honest, it was just what I needed. I was a little tense from stuff earlier in the day and after the initial few seconds, I realized what she did and started laughing. When I finally caught her, we both took a long needed break and decided to wrestle around a little bit. Now for how I paid her back

Ginger and the Laser Pointer
My son has a toy gun that has a laser pointer built into it. And like other animals, it drives Ginger nuts. Ben and I were playing with her and we got it out. We had her chasing it for a few minutes, you know, shutting it off at just the right time and such.

Well it was then that I decided to have it do large circles. It was then that Ginger started to follow it and simply started spinning in circles. The faster I moved that red dot, the faster she would chase it. Well, I kept this up for about a minute, when all of a sudden she stopped and simply fell over. She made herself so dizzy that she could not stand anymore. I have not laughed that hard in a long time. It also helped that Ben laughed so hard he was crying as well.

She was a little upset with me for a few minutes after that, but as Ginger and I always do, we made up. We sat downstairs later in the night and I brushed her while she layed next to me and we watched some tv and just took it easy.