This Moment

First time trying Cheerios. He loved them. However, I think he's allergic to 'em; he got quite the little rash.

Max's First Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had as good a Thanksgiving as this little guy:

He may not have had any turkey,

and he had to put up with goofy looking uncles,

but Max still had a great Thanksgiving.

Thank you so much to my cousin LeAna for hosting and also to everyone who brought the food that is still leaving me feeling stuffed today.

El Tour de Tucson 2010

El Tour de Tucson. 109 miles. On a bike. You know who rode in El Tour de Tucson this past Saturday?

This guy:

Here Jeff is at the start:

And here he is at the end:

Jeff finished all 109 miles of the Tour de Tucson. We are all so proud of him. It was hard and it kicked his ass, but he did it. He finished the race. He is an inspiration and sets a great example for Max. I can't wait for them to go on rides together. Congrats Jeffry! You're amazing!

This Moment

This Moment

Living Like Ed

A few months ago I borrowed Chris' copy of Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life by Ed Begley, Jr. In it, he lists a number of things people can do to save energy, and categorizes them by ease and cost.

One of the more cost-effective but beneficial changes is to change from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent (CFLs). Today we replaced 17 of our 30 indoor incandescent lights with CFLs. Once we figure out what kind of CFL we can install in our weird, non-CFL-compatible ceiling fan and three bathroom vanities that Kerri doesn't want ugly spiraled bulbs in, our house will be nearly incandescent-free*.

Overall, we've reduced our wattage from 1110 to 234 (a decrease of almost 80%), saving an average of $0.56 per hour that these lights operate. It almost makes up for those times I run the oven wide open to warm up the house on cold mornings!**

Anyway, if you want the book, you can buy it from Amazon for less than 15 bucks and it's got a bunch of great suggestions.

* the only exception being the small bulbs in the stove, microwave and fridge.
** this is obviously a joke. I only leave it open halfway - I'm not wasteful.

This Moment

Training for El Tour

Since it's only about three weeks away, I decided that it's time I start at least trying to train for El Tour de Tucson. I'm participating in the 109-mile ride, which will be the longest I've ever ridden.

So my friend Jamie and I hit the streets yesterday for a warm-up. I hope to take on progressively longer distances to prepare for the event. This ride pretty much kicked my ass, but I didn't really prepare myself nutritionally for the day. Hopefully I'll feel a little better next week.

On another note, I'll also be riding in the Tour de Cure for Diabetes in March of this year.  This is a very important cause for me, as my father and a number of my friends live with the effects of diabetes every day. My fundraising page is here, for those who can help me support this worthy cause.  My initial goal is $200.00, but I expect that to probably go up as we go along.