12 July 2011

Independence Day Week 2011

Early Monday morning, and by early, I mean around 1100, I decided that I would participate in the annual Omaha Jitterbugs 'float' in the Ralston Independence Day Parade. I had to be there by 1230, so no problem, I had plenty of time to get there. I have learned over the years that being in a parade is a lot of hurry up and wait, and this year, we were #65, nearly at the end, so there was no hurry at all.

P1060700
Here is some of the waiting part. Photo credit: Matt

P1060757
Wow! A girl smiling while dancing with me, who knew? Photo credit: Matt

P1060757
Remember, always look professional when performance dancing. Photo credit: Marcy

P1060793
The survivors! We're pretty sweaty for a 1.5 mile walk. Photo credit: Matt

The parade was followed up with the usual visit to Dairy Queen afterward.

P1060797
Jitterbugs love ice cream! Photo credit: Matt

IMG_0324 P1060802
Two pretty amazing pictures of Jenny, for different reasons.
Right side photo credit: Matt

IMG_0332
That moment of discovery when you figure out my hat is wet from *sweat*!

I didn't get many pictures, and most of those were taken by VK in any case, but you can find them here. Matt had many, many on his camera, most of those were taken by Vivian, they can be found here. You can find a bunch of pictures on Facebook from my friends, and who really knows how many pictures were actually taken and put up on the internet. I came home, took a very short nap, then headed out the door to pick up Joe.

Is it good to be predictable? I told Joe that I would pick him up at 1745, I pulled in his driveway within a few seconds of that, and as I pulled up, he was opening the garage door to let himself out. He knows I will be on time, in fact he relied on it. We got the car ready to go and headed out to CJ's parent's house. We arrived at dinner time, and just after a game of Betrayal at House on the Hill was started.

I ate lots of food, watched the game, and wandered around in and outside until Kaleb organized a game of Liar's Dice. I didn't win, no surprise, but I did make a pretty nice comeback in the third game. Finally, it was time for CJ and friends to blow stuff up.

100_2479
I think this is going to be loud.

100_2491
Kids with sparklers and mom in high heels.

100_2512
This should win some sort of timing prize.

100_2514
Meanwhile, in the Glowing Chipmunk Cheeks Nebula...

100_2533
It's tough to capture all of those little explosions.

The neighbor lady, who disapproves of fun, called the cops and turned on her sprinklers, we were told we couldn't sit in the street by the police. So we stood there instead. You can see all of my photos of stuff getting blown up at CJ's parents house here.

Tuesday was back to work, and I am working an hour earlier than usual this week. Ugh, who invented the morning, or at least working in the morning. I made it into work on time and lasted through the day. As I was leaving, it was slightly rainy, at least enough to prevent me from doing lawn work. So I mostly just blogged when I got home.

Wednesday was going to be day two of running, but when I got to work I discovered that I had forgotten to pack shorts. Bummer, no running for me. I walked a couple miles instead. Wednesday after work I did lawn work and then wasted time on a Flash game.

Thursday I finally got out and ran at lunch. My goal was 4 (200m) laps at a 1:20 pace, achieved 5 laps at a 1:09 pace!!! Yay! I also ran an additional sprint lap in 44 seconds, I took it pretty easy, so I think I can got that down to the mid 30s. There was also quite a few walking laps, so it was a good 30 minutes of mixed exercise.

Thursday evening I went to Rome and Coke. I don't like the venue (Brazenhead), but I do like the discussion. This weeks discussion was on angels, and I cannot fail to learn something new every week. I also like the fellowship that follows. I tried to get a table at Old Chicago outside, but more than a couple of the Rome and Coke attendees did not want to be outside even though the weather was fabulous. It sure seems to me that fewer and fewer people like being outdoors. I am not one of them, I'll be outside all day long, maybe in the shade, but I love it. I got home too late and didn't get enough sleep for Friday.

Friday at lunch I got my oil changed at lunch. After work I came home and took a short nap, then went out to the Friday dance. There were not a ton of people, but there were a few unexpected people there, from Rome and Coke...

IMG_0341
...including Jenna who did a very slow moving cartwheel.

Saturday during the day I went to the zoo with Jenny and her little sister. Jenny's little sister was a very typical 11 year old and was bored with the whole thing ... or at least that's what she wanted us to think.

100_2558 100_2563
100_2585 100_2587

100_2602
Was it hot? It sure was ... I'm not lion.

You can see all of my zoo pictures here. I left there, got home, took a quick shower and a quick nap, and then headed over to Saint John Vianney for Mass at 1700 ... oops, it was 1730. I did get to see one of the Mass Chaos FOCUS missionaries, Amy. We all went out to dinner afterward at Jason's Deli. The rest of Saturday evening was uneventful, except for that sign of my impending doom.

Sunday was a scorcher, and a random last minute visit to the Saint Bernadette's parish festival. The heat index was 101°F when we got there. It was just Maggie and I for a while, then Joe showed up. We ate a lot of watermelon. By the time Maggie had gone and Marilou and Lisa showed up, the heat index was 111°F. I did try to ride the Zipper with Joe, but as soon as the cage closed, I got claustrophobic and started whining to get off the ride ... I think Joe captured this on video. The ride is just too small for me. I felt bad because I let Joe down, so as soon as Marilou showed up, I agreed to go on the Tornado with the two of them. Bad idea for me, bad idea for everyone. About 2/3 through the ride we all started looking a little green. Mercifully, the ride ended, and the three of us sat down near the band. Joe left shortly after, and myself, Marilou, and Lisa went to another tent where it was quieter to chat. We left and that was pretty much the end of the weekend, I laid down the rest of the afternoon in the cool and dark of my room and tried to get over my bad trip.

Sunday was also the finish of a two week period where I did some sort of exercise every day. I've walked nearly 25 miles in that time.

No comments: