From the Start Gun, To the Hand Gun, To a Shotgun Wedding

Sorry Nicole and Jordan...I know the wedding wasn’t under “shotgun” pretenses but I needed it to complete the title of today’s catch up post from my weekend in the deep south.

The PR
Another year and another Peachtree classic in the books and for the second straight year another Personal Record for yours truly. This year the 10k race was completed in the blurring time of 48:01 (or a 7 min 43 second per mile pace). That topped my previous PR from last year by over 3 min. The main difference I can point to this year is not having to start back in the 9th group but rather towards the front (1B). During the run I even had time to grab a couple of Moe’s T-shirts. But the best part of the morning was after my race was done, I back tracked out of Piedmont Park and began to run back along the sidewalks of the race course to get some more mileage in for the day. On the way out of the park I ended up running and chatting with another guy, Shaun, who invited me back to where his family was hanging out over near mile 4. We stopped and I enjoyed a cold Michelob Ultra (the beer that’s so close to water it IS Water) before heading back to meet the wife, SIL and MIL over at Mile 2. So 11 miles or so of running and then another 4 plus of walking with the family back to the finish line made for some tired feet. Meeting former US Senator (and Vietnam War hero) Max Cleland plus the guy near the end who gave me one of his Krispy Kreemes made up for any pain I was going through (mostly caused by mixing beer, water, and donuts).

The Firing Range
Friday was kind of a quiet day around the house so the BIL, FIL, and Scott all went a “shootin” down at the local range. I had handled 22 caliber rifles some years back so shooting wasn’t foreign to me, but I had never worked with handguns so it was quite a bit of fun. I think Carla should check Scott’s shorts for some marks as he seemed to jump a few times when he started to hear how loud the shots were. The video below is be shooting the little 380 Ruger. It always felt like it was going to slip out of my hand. I much preferred the glock. It was a little longer and had better top/bottom balance.




The Wedding
Leave it to anybody other then my Niece to steal the show. Why should the wedding be about the bride and groom (congrats to both Jordan and Nicole, we wish you lots of luck together and very few run-ins with the federales!) when it can be all about the Illana. She danced all afternoon long and when the band wanted to pack it up and go home, she went to the lead singer and said “mo pwese!” How can you turn down a request like that?? Needless to say she got a few more songs to run around to. You have never seen a kid doze off that fast in the car!

The Food
I would be remiss to wrap up this posting with thanking the food that made the trip even better. Here it is in no particular order:
Green Turtle
McDonald’s
Stacey’s Cupcakes
Sweet Tomatoes
Fox Brothers BBQ
Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer
The Chocolate Bar
Capozzi’s NY Deli
Cheryl’s Brownies
All the Food along the Peachtree Course
J Christopher’s
Bricktops
Starbucks
Moe’s

Odds, Ends, and Milkshakes

Just a few brief odds and ends today:

1) Following up on yesterday’s Peachtree rant; about 30 minutes after posting that, I finally got through the application process and received a confirmation. But I wasn’t done there, as I went ahead and signed up Mrs. Bloggerman for the race as well. Even better then that, we found that by sister-in-law and mother-in-law also signed up so we’ll have a small army out on the race course. The race isn’t until July so I still have some time to figure out costume choices. I will say though that a fully body stocking (ala Costanza) is still in play.

2) Since tomorrow is the honoring of all things Irish (especially their wonder-livers) we are going to celebrate here at NBLJ by sharing a cool little St. Patty’s Day treat with you courtesy of Spirit Magazine (Southwest Airlines) and the good folks at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas. I present to you the Guinness Milkshake

Guinness Milkshake
4 ounces Guinness
14 ounces super-premium vanilla ice cream
Whipped cream, for garnish
Green chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, for garnish

Combine ice cream and Guinness in a blender. Pour into a glass, then add a swirl of whipped cream and sunflower seeds to taste.

3) I had the pleasure of attending a meeting today in the Old Executive Office Building (next to the White House) and I happy to report that security was relatively easy to go through and not at all obtrusive (however it was thorough which is good to know). Why is it then when I walk into other Federal (and some private) buildings, I have to practice my striptease routine just so I can be scanned and gain access? Just a thought here: if it’s good enough for the President, it’s good enough for everybody!

4)Last week I promised you Spring Training pictures. Here they are. Enjoy.

AJC, Active.com, and the Atlanta Track Club: Eat THIS Peach!

Do you all know there is a special place in hell for idiots like you?? While trying to register for the 2009 Peachtree Road Race, I noticed the following which I am now going to complain about.

1) The registration link was supposed to go "live" at 7am this morning. It was live at least 10 minutes earlier then that because I got in at that point. But that wasn't the end. Nope. While you could get to the splash page, when you tried to get to the registration form you were told that "volume was higher then expected, please try again.". Volume was higher then expected? Really? You mean you weren't ready for at least 50,000 people to log in at 7am when you routinely have that many run your race? How is that possible? Do you even have a clue about how many people rush out on Sunday's and pick up the AJC when the entry forms used to be printed inside?

2) When you get into the form and fill out all the info (including your credit card numbers) you end up with a java script error. Really? See the above reference to the 50k people (or more) that are trying to apply this morning. Do you think that, maybe, perhaps, possibly you should have tested this from numerous computers, in numerous locations, running numerous web browsing software? I don't know about you...but the answer is YES you dopes!

3) When you go back to the registration page after having your problems, might it be a nice thing to not clear all the data off and allow for "One-touch" reentry? You must have those giant, "padded" keys on your computer which allows for easy typing. I don't and my fingers are starting to get sore (irony is that I'm typing this now). Someone get my Dictaphone (giggle).

My Niece is a Germ Carrier

This is not to mention that she’s also very dainty and lady like (first time ever) when it came time to eat her first birthday cake. Instead of pulling a “Me” and smashing her head right into the cake (Mom, you can attest to this one!), she took small handfuls and “sampled” the icing. Alton Brown

would be proud to see that even at one-year old she’s mastered the “cake as an icing delivery system” concept.

We had a great time in the ATL this weekend and Bloggerman even got his first experience running the world famous “Peachtree Road Race.” This 10k runs through downtown Atlanta and as Mrs. Bloggerman said, “If it wasn’t for the start and the finish the race would have been great.” Note to the Atlanta Track Club: Either give everybody a timing chip or don’t time anybody. I thought it took a lot of nerve for the organizers of this 57,000+ runner race to announce the “winners” before our wave of runners made it to the starting line. I would point out that while it’s not likely, somebody from the later groups could have placed or even won the race (net time). But as the locals say you run it for the T-shirt. Well the T-shirt was the worst choice of the 5 designs voted on. Never fear though…Bloggerman is resourceful and it only took a few minutes after crossing the finish line that I was able to swap shirts with a volunteer. Their “race team” shirts were more along the lines of what I thought the race shirt should look like. Special thanks go out to the in-laws for housing/feeding us this weekend, to the Boigs for watching the Mookster and an extra special thanks to the folks at Moe’s at Terminal C of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport for staying open long enough for us to grab a quick snack before our flight out late Saturday. They know that the way to my stomach is through my mouth. Yeah...you heard me!

Speaking of Food….My Knish is soggy. Truth be told make it a combo. For those of you who want closure from the Wendy’s fiasco of last week…you can now rest easy. The district manager at DaveCo Restaurants wrote me a personal letter to apologize for my experience at the drive thru and to “make it right” he sent me two coupons, each good for a combo meal. I’ll forget for the record that this whole thing started out because I didn’t want the combo when I ordered and say that I appreciate not only their quick response but that they genuinely seem to want to keep me as a customer. I’ll be back but next time I’ll go up to the counter to order