Hi all! Sorry for the blog “outage” over the past week. From Thursday until today, Jenelle and I went to Boston to visit Sarah, who is Jenelle’s former roommate — she was also the maid of honor at our wedding.
We had a great vacation out there, even though the weather was about the same as it is in Wisconsin. I’ll have pictures up soon!
Valentine’s weekend was a blast. Jenelle and I went shopping on both Saturday and Sunday. We went to the Olive Garden for dinner on Saturday night. Wow, what a crowd. All things considered, we didn’t really have to wait that long. On Sunday evening, we had dinner with my parents at Cortese’s, a quaint Italian restaurant in Kenosha. That was also fun.
A story from our shopping trip. Jenelle and I were at Target purchasing clothing to donate to local school children in need. We found a lot of great items on sale, and we both felt great buying a cart full of things not for us. On our way to the checkout, we saw a shirt in the girls department. It was pink with pictures of cute baby chickens on it. Written below the pictures was the following phrase, punctuated exactly as I have it shown here:
CHICK’S RULE!
This is quite irritating for both Jenelle and me, since we both endeavor to use proper punctuation, spelling, and grammar in everything we do. I’m certainly not perfect, but how can we expect our kids to do any better when absolutely awful punctuation mistakes are printed ON A SHIRT? Just because something is plural does not mean that it gets an apostrophe. Argh.
I’m not really that bitter about it — but I hope you find this blog entry a bit more informative that my usual contributions.
First, something I should have posted two days ago:
Happy Birthday, Tony!
I’m happy to say that my exercise habit continues. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, I went to the SCJ fitness center. Each time, I walked/ran 4 miles in 45 minutes. This corresponds to a speed of roughly 5.3 miles per hour. If I can keep this up, I’ll be running in all of those 5k fundraising walks instead of walking. Let’s see — at the same speed, I could complete a 5k in about 35 minutes. However, since I wouldn’t need to keep up that pace for a full 45 minutes, I could probably do a little better. Hmmmm…..
Anyone out there have any exciting plans for Valentine’s Day? Bueller?
Jenelle and I are going to take it easy — we’ve both had a pretty busy week. In any case, I’m sure we’ll find some fun things to do. It’s our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple. 🙂
I didn’t have any trouble getting home from Philadelphia on Friday night, even though the weather was a bit ugly both departing and arriving in Chicago.
I worked out again last night at the SCJ fitness center. Over the weekend, I created a new playlist on my iPod called “Exercise”. It’s amazing how the right song can energize you for a workout. Here’s a partial list of the songs on the playlist:
“Gonna Fly Now” (from Rocky)
Survivor – “Eye of the Tiger” (also from Rocky)
John Farnham – “Break the Ice” (from the movie Rad)
“Phil’s Piano Solo” (from Groundhog Day)
Paul Colman Trio – “Run”
Third Day – “Come Together”
“Hospital Chase” (from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
I usually walk for 2 minutes, run for 4 minutes, and repeat the pattern. Yesterday, I was nearing the end of a 4-minute run when “Gonna Fly Now” came on. How can I slow down when that song comes on? Rocky never slowed down. In fact, he SPRINTED when he got near the museum. So, I kept running until the song was over. I managed to log over 4 miles in 45 minutes, which is the best I’ve ever done. We’ll see if I can do as well tonight.
By the way, I’d like to give a shout out to Mike Brinkley, a friend of mine who has participated in several marathons over the years. I sometimes think of his determination when I’m on the treadmill. Thanks for the inspiration, Mike!
There’s about four hours of class left. Once I learn a bit more about function modules, I’ll feel ready to demonstrate my skills at SCJ.
I hope the weather doesn’t cause any flight delays / cancellations tonight. There’s a flood watch for Philadelphia and light snow predicted for O’Hare and the surrounding area. Assuming there’s no issues, I’ll be seeing Jenelle just after 8:37 central standard time. Yay!
Yesterday, I went on the treadmill for the fourth consecutive evening, completing my second week of “regular” exercise (meaning three or more times a week). It’s tough to say if I’ll be able to keep this up if things get busy. In any case, I’m off to a great start.
I’m still having a good time in Pennsylvania, but I’m getting a bit eager to return home. This is probably the longest time Jenelle and I have spent apart since we got married.
Yesterday was fairly productive. I didn’t do any reading, but I did manage to walk/jog 3.8 miles in 45 minutes on the treadmill while watching two hilarious episodes of Seinfeld.
The cafeteria at the training site has lots of free stuff. You can get any kind of drink whenever you want (coffee, milk, OJ, soda, etc.), and there’s always a bowl of fruit. Lunch is also free. You can get salad, a sandwich with any kind of bread/meat, and there’s also a different hot dish every day. Yesterday, I skipped the breakfast buffet at the hotel and just ate the free stuff until dinner time. When dinner rolled around, I decided to eat some of the groceries I bought on Monday. There’s still plenty left for the rest of the trip.
To sum things up — besides the cost of the class and the cost of the hotel, I didn’t spend a penny yesterday. Since the company pays for my expenses on trips like this, it’s easy to buy expensive and/or fattening meals every day. This time, I’m trying to do things differently. I wouldn’t say I’m eating extra-healthy while I’m out here, but this is the best I’ve ever done on a business trip in terms of minimizing weight gain. Since I’ve spent time in the fitness room in each of the past three nights, perhaps I’ll lose a pound or two.
We’re learning screen maps in ABAP today. It should be a blast. 🙂
There’s advantages and disadvantages to finishing your class exercises early. The advantage is that I’m done 45 minutes early. The disadvantage is that the shuttle bus leaves for the hotel at the same time every evening (about 5:15 p.m. local time), so I have an hour to kill. So, I’ll probably spend it trying to do some neat things with ABAP code, or perhaps mess with the blog template.
I can view tonight as one of two things:
1) A boring endeavor.
2) An opportunity to be productive.
I’m obviously shooting for #2. I’ll let you know tomorrow how I fared.
After another enlightening ABAP class, I decided to go to a nearby mall for dinner. The King of Prussia Mall, that is. Those of you Wisconsinites who read this: pick any major store that you can find at Mayfair, Brookfield, Southridge, or Regency. I can almost guarantee that you’ll find it at this mall. The most amazing thing about it, though, is that at 6:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night, the place was practically empty. It’s apparently the largest mall on the east coast, and there was no waiting at any of the stores I visited. I spent about an hour there. If Jenelle had been with me (and I really wish she was), we would have spent at least three hours there.
I came back to the hotel and did another 5K on the treadmill. I wish that I had brought my swimsuit with me, because there’s a pool that has been empty every time I’ve walked by it.
Class is starting…adios!
After two nights in PA and one day of class, things are going well. I’m not going to bore anyone with the details of Advanced Business Application Programming, so here’s a few notes from my trip so far:
I left the airport at about the same time as the Super Bowl started. Thankfully, the shuttle driver had a portable TV in his van, so all of the passengers got to watch the game. Since a few people were staying in downtown Philadelphia, I got to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and quite a few other neat buildings.
My hotel is about 30 minutes from downtown. Since there’s a free shuttle to the training site (about 20 minutes from the hotel), I’m here without a car. The classes run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the shuttle doesn’t leave until 5:15, so I get back to the hotel around 5:45. Last night, I walked to a nearby grocery store called Acme. Yup, that’s right, ACME. There was plenty of fresh produce, snacks, and drinks, but I didn’t see any of the items that Wile E. Coyote used to try to catch Road Runner. No jet packs, rocket-powered skates, or batman suits.
There’s a fitness room at the hotel. I walked/jogged a little over 3 miles in 45 minutes on a treadmill. About five minutes into the workout, a gentlemen walked in front of the fitness room door, briefly looked at me jogging on the treadmill, and then walked back the way he came. My guess is that he heard the noise from the treadmill (even the best treadmills make noise when they’re operating) and walked by to check out what was going on. He must have the room next to the fitness room. I hope I didn’t bother him too much. I’ve got the room across the hall from the ice machine, so I know how it feels.
Anyway, class is about to begin. Until next time!
Okay, campers, rise and shine! And don’t forget your booties ’cause it’s COLD out there today. What is this, Miami Beach? Not hardly. And don’t forget about that big blizzard thing… oh, here’s the report: The National Weather Service is calling for a big blizzard thing.
Now, there’s another reason why today is especially exciting (especially cold), yes, especially cold, but the big question on everybody’s lips (chapped lips), yes, their chapped lips, is do you think Phil’s going to come out and see his shadow.
Punxsutawney Phil. That’s right, woodchuck-chuckers, it’s
GROUNDHOG DAY!
