Hows my little Distance Runner?

This weekend was Illinois Marathon weekend. What fun it was! Last year I signed up to run the 5K last minute and surprised myself by staying injury free, so over the summer and winter I kept running and decided to run a whole marathon. That made sense at the time.

This year I signed up for a new event called the I-Challenge, you run the 5K on Friday and either the Half or Full Marathon on Saturday. I chose to run the Half marathon as a fitness checkpoint for Grandma's in June. Since I knew at least one other person doing this challenge we managed to get Laura and a few other friends roped into the 5K on Friday night, which was great!

I've had a great time watching Laura build up her running endurance from hardly a mile to running the entire 5K in only 34 minutes! To me there is nothing like having a friend or two shout your name while you're running and I was happy to be there at the end to hoot on Laura and our pals as they reached the finish exhausted and happy.

Saturday was the half marathon and due to a mysteriously appearing knee injury (same as my surgery knee) I was apprehensive to say the very least about this run. But my knee held up for all 13 miles and so did the rest of me!

Running events are so great to watch and participate in because of all of the great people watching. Obviously the fit bodies rocking their various forms of sexiness is a big draw. Everyone's different running forms inspire questions like, how did you make it this far looking like that. Then there are the fools who wear costumes. I always thought they were fun to watch for but this time I got stuck on pace with 'Waldo' for about 6 miles and holy shit if I heard WHERES WALDO yelled at me that often I would have flipped. It was a good costume, but boy did that get old. Needless to say it was good inspiration to pick it up for the last three miles and get away.

My chip time for the half was 2:07:10
My chip time for the 5K was 27:13 (a 9 second improvement!)

Since last year I did a body composition measurement I was excited to do another one this year to find any differences.
Here are my results:

Weight:....(2010) 199.4....(2011) 198.4
Height:....(2010) 6'4.7"...(2011) 6'4.3"(!)
BMI:.......(2010) 24.......(2011) 24
Body Fat%:.(2010) 16%......(2011) 15%
Body Fat:..(2010) 31.9 lb..(2011) 29.9 lb.

Warrior Dash and Grandma's Marathon will wrap up this guy's planned running season. Bring 'em on!

Hows my little horse?

Horseradish is a very strange herb. First off, is the very unique flavor, only somewhat comparable to wasabi. The most interesting versions of horseradish are 'spicy' or insanely hot. Unlike a chili pepper though, it doesn't scorch your mouth and the burning sensation won't linger afterwards.

When Laura and I moved to Oakwood her parents brought us a nice gift of a horseradish root. I wasn't well experienced with the herb at the time and planted it because I was excited to grow something. Yesterday I dug up the first real harvest of it. Boy was I in for a surprise.

I set out to make the hottest horseradish I could possibly muster. During my research I was constantly reminded, do this outdoors or in a well ventilated area! Naturally I thought the internet being what it is, full of pansies I ignored the warning. This made the rest of the process much more challenging.

The process was actually very easy.

First you hack up the horseradish into pieces.
I was surprised about how good its fragrance was at this point.

Next in a food processor/blender with a tablespoon or two of water (next time I'm going to try vodka) process to desired consistency.
This is the part you actually listen to the warnings. Naturally I huffed a big lungful to see what was going on with it and immediately began coughing, crying and dancing around the kitchen yelling WOO!!

This was Laura's first reaction after sniffing it.

After that add a couple tablespoons of vinegar. For a very hot experience add it a few minutes afterwards. For mild heat you can add it before processing or immediately afterwards.

The effects of the horseradish at this point are very strong and trying to spoon it into a container is challenging when your nose is running and eyes are streaming with tears, use caution and speed to minimize this.
Here I am trying to scoop it into a jar, not exaggerating the need to hold it that far from me.

Next up of course is the taste test! My only benchmark for crazy hot horseradish is from St. Elmo in Indianapolis. Their shrimp cocktail is delightful and almost intolerably hot.

Did I succeed in making the hottest horseradish I could?


I'd say so.

Hows my little Season?

This week I got a wicked sunburn pruning grapevines out in the vineyard. I learned a valuable lesson, you can get sunburn in March even if you aren't laying on a beach somewhere near the ocean. Sunscreen is still required.

Our plants are now emerging which is always a great sign to see we didn't kill them all at the end of the summer.

This year was the first year I didn't get out and downhill ski at least once since 1994. This is a tragedy since this is one of my favorite things to do in life. Good thing we just got Laura some nice skis.

Hows my little Island Survivor?

A few months ago Laura and I utilized Netflix to tackle the monster that is Lost. I made it halfway through season two and quit. Laura is still hooked for some reason but I don't see a point. I've had friends say 'wait until season four!' or 'season 2 and 6 are the worst' and another friend say as a whole it was a general waste of time. I'm calling it quits because it only limped along on a ridiculous story (fuck that button!) and several friend's hopeless reviews. If the last season is one of the worst what is there to look forward to? That is a lot of time spent watching something and waiting for it to get good, only to disappoint me again in the end.

Through each character and what I know of them thus far I will give you my reasons for giving up on Lost. Feel free to litter my comments with spoilers and rebuttals, because I don't care enough to waste any more time on this show.

I'll go with my favorite to least favorite:

Kate:
I loved Kate's story! She had this mysterious criminal past, and wouldn't open up to anyone about it. Plus, she is a fox. When I found out she held up a bank for a stupid little toy airplane that she and her long lost married sweetheart buried, she completely lost her interest factor.

John Locke:
I really loved that this guy knew everything about wilderness survival despite his past life was at a box factory. I didn't watch enough to find out why he had all those knives or how he got put into that wheelchair. His whiny past, ohhh Dad! You used my Mom to steal my liver! Woe is me I'm so bitter (rightfully so) but then he creepily stalked him? Come on!! Then all of his crazy 'the island will tell us' rants got old. Then his obsession with the stupid button, that whole part just killed it for me.

Mr. Eko:
Big badass dude who spoke very little and caused almost no commotion. What was there not to like about this guy.

Killer Jungle Polar Bears:
Rawr!

The Others:
The fact that they had a boat with an engine was impressive. The fact that they could quietly surround people in the dark and disappear without a trace was the only thing left that me interested in the show. Why did they take Walt? Who cares.

Smoke Monster:
I liked this character because all it did was scare people, shake trees, demolish trees, and zip around looking all black and smokey.

Shannon:
She is high up on this list because of her swimwear scenes alone. Other than that I hated just about everything else about her.

Sun:
She was so innocent and rarely complained, plus she was super fine, I understand why Jin didn't want people looking at her. Her lack of backbone was a bit frustrating. A flower kept her with him?! COME ON!! She secretly learned English to escape that guy. Lame Lame Lame.

Hurley:
I would've liked to have played a drinking game for every time this guy said dude. Drinking double if it was the first word he said. I would've liked to have known more about the origin of his numbers more but oh well, seems like they curse everyone who encounters them, what more is there to know?

Charlie:
I feel like he will either die or turn to the dark side soon. His hopeless drug addiction was pathetic and was very easy to give up on. It was a bit endearing how fatherly he was with the baby. This guy had the best untapped creepy potential.

Sayid:
I never understood this guy, he set off to walk around the island, got distracted and never tried again. For all anyone knows they are on an island three miles off the coast of Australia and they are all just facing the wrong way. Why didn't he try again instead of getting tangled up with Shannon and torturing people even though he "hates" it.

Sawyer:
I disliked this character because he was a Jackass. I liked Freckles the best of his nicknames. At the end of my watching he had the only story worth hearing beyond my viewing.

Jack:
Jack was so annoying, he made a terrible leader because no one listened to him but Charlie. He was a giant pushover. Worst of all he kept the tension high with Kate for far too long. His back (ha!) story with his wife was boring, and who can feel bad for a guy who got his own father fired from his hospital. Not me.

Mike:
This guy is hopeless. After Walt was taken I don't understand why he ever listened to anyone. I would have gotten myself killed trying to find that kid, what happens after he does inevitably find him again? I'm sure they get rescued or something just in time to bring all of the other stolen kids with too so that they are all safe. Happy Ending.

Michelle Rodriguez:
She can only be typecast as a bad-ass who drives fast things, kills things, or blows things up. Trying to get her to act in something beyond that is hopeless. She single-handedly ruined several episodes of season two by talking too much. I'm sure she dies. I disliked her presence on Lost so much I've refused to look up her character's name.


As many of you know I'm not a fan of many TV shows, especially dramas without much excitement. Lost kept me going with hopeful excitement but followed with let downs and frustration. Sure there was a lot of mystery and some great character twists and development but so few of those were worthwhile it was time for me to stop. I hope you'll understand.

Hows my little goat?

BockFest 2011 was a great success by any standard. It was fun, the beer was good, the food was good, people were tied up, someone barfed, and there was fire.

The day started out with a tasting of the 5 homebrewed Bock Beers. I was very excited that all of the beers we sampled were delightful. I ranked mine last. Nathan's brew won the grand BockFest prize of a giant Beer Stein! Everyone was very excited for him since it was his first brew he made on his own. My beer failed to carbonate in time for the event due to many reasons, I also forgot to get it chilled in time, two big negative strikes, my brew earned last.



During this time we ate and ate and ate. Some of my favorites were a cheesy pretzel and this pocket of food thing that was amazing. There were tons of good desserts too which I munched on all night as well. Laura made a delicious Potato salad that I really wish we could have had tons of leftovers.



After the tasting we broke out the penis stick and began caramelizing our bocks. As the night wore on and the copper began heating more thoroughly we got some really great caramel flavors from the beer. My favorite part was the warm caramel head and the cold body.





Next up was one of my favorite parts, the obstacle course around our house. It involved hopping, spinning, blindfolds, and some knots. It was done in pairs and we had a really fun time watching people navigate a simple figure 8 dizzy and blindfolded balancing a beer on a tray. Ryan and Jana won the grand prize of two Paulner 16 oz. beers.

The weather didn't cooperate with us the best and it was cold and windy (it didn't rain!!) but the fire prevailed and the heaters we had in the garage were a great help. I actually really enjoyed the bit of snow we had falling around us as we were standing around the fire, it made a great atmosphere for the evening.

Since everyone had a great time I think we will try and make the second annual BockFest happen in 2012.

I'll see you there with your beer and food!

Hows my little hair?

I recently found out I have a patch of grey hairs.

...

On my butt.