Random acts of kindness

I was really touched the other day by a random act of kindness. It has meant more to me than the lady that did it will ever know. Haley and I were having lunch together at the mall while Karyn shopped. As we were finishing up, a lady came up to the table and said that she had been watching us and was really impressed with how well behaved Haley was being. She then put $10 on the table and told Haley to buy a treat. As parents we sometimes get so caught up in all the things we are doing wrong, that we overlook these great moments we share with our children. The actions of this lady really brought a good moment into sharp focus. The $10 was unimportant, but the act of taking time out to provide kind words to complete strangers was priceless.

Life's a piece of shit when you look at it, always look on the bright side of life...

Valentines Celebration - movie and dinner with my lovely wife, can't go wrong, right? Wrong! Went to see Hotel Rwanda. It is a great movie, important story, incredible acting, but it totally devestated me emotionally (more than any movie I've ever seen). Went to The Library for dinner. They neglected to tell me when I made the reservations that there was a set meal for Valentine's weekend. The food and service were very good - I would have preferred a better table (the restaurant was half empty since it was 9:45 when we arrived, yet they sat us right next to another couple that happened to be loud and obnoxious) and to have had a menu. The real shocker was the price - over $150 and we only had one glass of wine each! I'm not used to bills that high unless I've had enough alcohol to dull the shock of receiving it.

Laptop - Dead, won't boot-up.

Left shin - Not quite sure why, but the muscle is swollen and hurts like hell (could it have been the 12 mile run, followed by over an hour of rollerskating on Saturday? or the 5.5 mile run Monday, followed by 15 minutes of swimming? or the 5 mile run Tuesday, despite the pain?). I'm taking today off in hopes of healing. I'm not used to injuries and pain like some folks are, so this is a real drag.

Weekend - Not going to Snowshoe, bummed.

A Pirate Looks at 40

More like a teen heart throb looks at 40. Based on my running experience yesterday, I guess I am a heart throb, 25 years too late. I happened to run by the middle school as it was letting out and a group of girls looked my way and one of them said "he's hot", then some the others voiced their agreement. The whole experience was weird. First, I hope my daughters aren't talking to their friends about an older man being hot in 6 years. Second, where were these girls when I was in middle school? No girls ever accused me of being hot back then - have I changed that much or have girls standards been reduced that much? Who knows, but I did take a different route today...

By the way, I think I'm finally back to where I was in the fall running wise - I ran 4 miles in under 32 minutes today! The great weather of late sure does help.

D&D Weekend

Nope, not Dungeons and Dragons but Daddy and Daughters. Karyn took a well-deserved mini vacation over the weekend and me and the girls worked on projects, spent time with grandparents and did the usual running around. We got to enjoy the fantastic weather by playing on the playground, hiking on the parkway and taking Henry (our greyhound) to play with his buddies. Ended the weekend up by going over to Sam's (see Sam - I finally mentioned you in my blog) house to watch the Superbowl with his family. Not that anyone payed too much attention to the tv - the kids were engrossed in playdough, chips and cookies and Sam was catching us up on the latest in performance enhancing drugs.

I was really glad that my dad, a retired minister, got the following question from Haley - "Who made God." Unfortunately, I didn't hear his answer...