May Debrief

May was pretty much defined by my first ever Half Marathon (more on that coming soonhere). After being reminded by Cindy Hughes last year that a Half Marathon was on my Bucket List, and that Mike had his sights set on the Bayshore Half Marathon in Traverse City, I decided to buck up and enter. Prior to registering, the farthest I’d ever run was about 4 miles. Again, more on the race later, but needless to say it was a defining moment, not just for May.

Going into May I limited my diet to try to go into the race in top form. No pop, no fast food, no sugary foods, no fried foods. As a result I lost 10 lbs.—the most significant weight loss I can ever remember having.

Speaking of bucket list’s, we saw the Barenaked Ladies for the second time and I’ll say it again, seeing them live should be on everyone’s bucket list.

Right there at the end of May I bought a new(er) car. The old Alero had definitely seen better days, and I was presented with a deal I just couldn’t pass up. I’m now sporting a fancy 2004 Pontiac Aztek (as seen driven by Walter White).

Since the race was in Traverse City, we made a vacation out of it. Camping at Ranch Rudolf was alright (they should clean their bathrooms occasionally), minus the spider bite that left my head looking like Placido Polanco circa 2006. We made it to the following eateries: Pangea’s Pizza, Bubba’s (hand’s down favorite), The Omelette Shoppe, Scalawags, Moomer’s Ice Cream, Don’s Drive-In, and La Seniorita’s. We also visited the Traverse City Beach Bums, Pirates Cove Adventure Park, a couple of beaches, and Tanner went horseback riding.

Running Totals
11 workouts / 9:16:12 duration / 66.24 miles / 8.30 per mile average / 7,458 calories burned

Tweet of the Month

FYI – Mixing jalepenos’s into your hamburger patties is a beautiful thing.
— @mudpuppy 8:36 PM May 20th

Books Read in May:
N/A

Movies Watched in May:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid – 2/5
A Nightmare on Elm Street – 3/5
L.A. Confidential – 4/5
The Peacemaker – 4/5
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father – 5/5
Iron Man 2 – 5/5
The Island – 3/5
National Security – 2/5
Ping Pong Playa – 4/5
The Ghost and the Darkness – 3/5
Daybreakers – 3/5
Out of Sight – 2/5
Crazy Heart – 5/5
Precious – 5/5
To Die For – 4/5
True Crime – 3/5
Robin Hood – 4/5
True Crime – 3/5
The Road – 3/5

Filed under: 2010, May, Movies

May Debrief

Well May was certainly busy.

I’m not sure how people with multiple children deal with it, but Tanner had Little League twice a week and that just felt a little crazy to me. We were constantly on the run. Regardless, we were still able to fit in some fun things this month.

1. We became the proud owners of Rock Band 2 this month. We haven’t come up with our band name yet, but we’ve been practicing like crazy for our tour. Our first single will be a cover of Eye of the Tiger by Survivor. Seriously, this is a great game, and we’ve loved learning it.

2. For my third year in a row, and first for Tonia, we attended the Change Without Compromise conference at NorthRidge Church. Every year I go it’s like a steroid shot of creativity, innovation, and mission. Kudos to Brad Powell, staff and volunteers for another great experience!

3. That same weekend our church continued to break the mold of what the local church looks like by closing our doors on Sunday. Instead went out and served our community in tangible ways. Our primary goal was to serve our community, but our secondary goal was to hammer home the fact that the church is not a building. For that we designed a shirt intended to compliment that idea, and as you would expect we got some feedback from it (more on that to come). It was a great day, capped off with some worship in the park! We hope to do many more just like it.

4. After 6 years at our house, I finally have a garage that I can store stuff in. Prior to that it’s been, well, a mess. It’s housed other people’s cars and canoes, raccoons and cats, dirt and garbage. After a nice long weekend it has been totally cleaned out and I’m now getting quotes to possibly take it to the next level—a poured cement pad, a new garage door, siding, and roof. Of course it will probably take another 6 years to complete that.

5. I celebrated a milestone on the blog in May, and for the occasion I wrote a ridiculously long post. At the end I attempted to give a bunch of stuff away and learned that I’m not very good at giving things away.

6. I read only 2 books this month, but they were both really good. The first was Twilight, and I was surprised to learn how close the movie was to the book (quite the opposite feeling I got after reading then watching Angel’s and Demon’s). The other book was Stumbling on Happiness, which turned out to be a lot different than expected, but that wasn’t a bad thing! I recommend both to anyone looking for a good read.

7. And finally, May was a huge movie month for me. I watched 26 overall (the most ever), but most surprisingly I watched 5 in the theater this month (the most ever). That’s more than I watched in a theater all of last year. UP was definitely the best of the bunch, but I had a great time at all of them, especially the company around me!

Books Read:
Twilight
Stumbling On Happiness

Movies Watched:
The Pacifier – 2/5
X-Men Origins: Wolverine – 3/5
Frost/Nixon – 5/5
Drillbit Taylor – 3/5
Duma – 4/5
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- 3/5
John Q – 4/5
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind – 2/5
What Doesn’t Kill You – 4/5
Star Trek – 4/5
Flawless – 3/5
Angels & Demons – 3/5
Yes Man – 3/5
Bangkok Dangerous – 3/5
Stand By Me – 5/5
Ace Ventura Pet Detective Jr. – 3/5
Terminator Salvation – 3/5
Sleepy Hollow – 3/5
Paul Blart: Mall Cop – 2/5
Pineapple Express – 2/5
Love Actually – 3/5
Domino – 2/5
Fanboys – 4/5
UP – 5/5
Apocalypse Now – 5/5
Sneakers – 4/5

Previous Months:
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009

Filed under: 2009, Books, May, Movies