2010 Ohio State Fair... or should I say Ohio State Fail

Jennifer took the girls to the Ohio State Fair this week to see "Aunt Morgi" in her horse shows. Jennifer's sister is 14 and was showing her horse at the fair. She is VERY into her horses and actually walked away with a Grand Champion ribbon and trophy this year! Way to go Morgan!!

One thing that surprised me is that Jennifer said it was like a ghost town when she was there. I guess the midway was nothing but tumbleweeds and rides that weren't even running. Upon further explanation, it all made sense: the prices.

The state fair is supposed to be a place where anybody should be able to take their kids. Not just the wealthy, or even middle class people. But anybody including kids that don't have a whole lot. It's a time for the city to get together in the middle of summer and have fun. Unfortunately it has gotten so insanely expensive that people are probably staying away because they simply can't afford it.

For example, Jennifer withdrew $100 to go and she said it was gone in no time. Here are some of the prices that she was telling me about:

• Admission: $10 adult / $8 kid
  
• Parking: $5
• Ice Cream: $3 / scoop
• Small Drink: $3
  
• Cheese on a Stick: $3.50
• Caramel Apple: $5
• Jumbo Drink: $13 / $6 refill!!
• Sky Ride: $4 / person
• Day Pass for Rides: $22
• Cheeseburger: $too much
• Etc..: $insane
  

I think it's safe to say that the fair has turned into a full blown money pit. It's a (damn) shame! How can they expect people to get excited about the State Fair if they can't even afford to go. I (for one) have no desire to go to the Ohio State Fair this year, or next year, or the year after... I'll wait for the Hartford Fair; prices are still high for the Hartford Fair, but not AS high.

Hardbarger Farms Open House

Jennifer and I are looking to move. However, before we can move, we have to first sell our house. We actually put it on the market last week. The reason for my post is to tell you that we have an Open House: Sunday, July 25th from 2pm - 4pm

Realtor.com: 1087 Toboso Rd., Newark, Ohio 43055

While I think that the pictures and write up from our HER Realtor is great, this doesn't give any of the goodness of what we're really selling. Here are the schematics, strait from the chickens ass (?):

Our House

We bought our house in June 2003 and we've done a lot of stuff to it. The first thing we did was waterproof it. We were in the house for about 7-8 months and we had the great 50 year flood. Jennifer went downstairs one night to throw in the laundry and she stepped in about 6 inches of water. Needless to say my office was down there, my drums were down there, all of our books, etc... We got it waterproofed that next weekend and haven't had ANY problems since. I dry as a whistle (if that's even a saying?).

That next summer we went on vacation and came home to a demolished pole barn. We tore it down and had a brand Pole Barn from 64 Metals installed. We used this barn to house all of our farm animals for years. We even had horses in here for a few months. The barn is a huge selling point to the house in my opinion because it completes the requirements for a "mini farm". It's a solid barn and houses all of our farm equipment.

After we got big into the "goat bidness", we decided it was time to build a fence. We fenced in a huge 2 acre lot for all of our goats. This fence was built by us and our friends and family. It's built real solid as well. We've kept horses, goats, and even cows in here over the years. Inside the pasture there are two small lean tos to keep the animals safe in bad weather. The one is in pretty bad shape right now, but could easily be patched up and working like new. The fence also helps sell this place as a mini farm. Anybody with any type of livestock or farm animals would benefit from this: llama's, goats, hogs, horses, cows, peacocks, mother-in-laws, etc... (just kidding Janet). :)

2+ acres of fenced pasture

It was around this time that we were expecting our 3rd child and we quickly realized that our living space was getting pretty crowded. One of my old buddy's (Corey) helped me build a little addition onto the front of our house. That project added an extra 180+ square feet of open floor plan. It really changed the feel of this house and we benefit from it everyday as we have nice meals in the dining room while we watch iCarly. The old Kitchen / Dining area was very crowded and very dated. Extending the dining room onto the front porch made a huge difference and I'm sure it will be a huge selling point when someone walks in the back door.

Last year for Jennifer's birthday, my buddy (Tyler) and I ripped up our nasty carpet in the living room and exposed some beautiful hardwood floors. Jennifer went out with one of her friends for her birthday and Tyler snuck over here and we cranked it out in about 3 hours while the girls kept themselves entertained. Needlesstosay, Jennifer came home and cried and laughed and cried and laughed. It was a great "Luc and Jen" moment. :) Not only that, but it looks really sharp in here now.

The Old

Just this past spring we had quite a bit done around here as well. We got our old 1950's bathroom updated to the 21st century. The way it was laid out before was a bit too crowded for us. The sink was too small, but the counter top that it was on was too big. We had these huge cabinets that were only being half used, and the entire bathroom was in pink / white / black tile. We got rid of the cabinets, put in a double bowl sink with a huge vanity. We flipped the toilet around to the other side of the room and slid the shower down to allow for maximum capacity in there. It opened up our our bathroom immensely and now the girls don't fight over who gets to use the sink anymore. We just love it!

The New

If you have animals, we just got invisible fence installed around our property too. We fenced in a 2 acre chunk in the front of our property. The layout gives the dogs pretty much full access to the entire living area of the property. They can protect the barn, the garage and our house. They even have a little chunk in our woods that they like to go to and dig for moles and other critters. They just love it and it's a great peace of mind for us knowing that they're not going to be wandering all over the country side, like our old dog Diesel loved to do (RIP bud). :)

This tree is gone now. :(

To top it all off, we just had a brand new roof put on top of this thing. Last month my Dad and I tore down a huge tree between the garage and the house that was getting a little too big for it's own britches. Once it was down and no longer a threat to the house, we put a brand new roof on the entire house to give it that nice "new shingle" glow. It's complete with all new gutters and warranty's.

Keep in mind that these are just the "improvements" we've made. I didn't even get into the "already kick ass" features of the property. The house off the road on a peaceful and safe chunk of land in Toboso. We are the only house for about a mile on this side of the road. I have a nice workshop style garage, complete with all kinds of "handy man" goodies. I'm a computer geek, so I only use it when I feel adventurous or Jennifer is getting on me to fix something. We live 1 mile from a state nature preserve (which I literally visit +5 times a week). We're 45 minutes from Columbus, 15 minutes from Zanesville, 15 minutes from Newark.

Oh yeah, I have to mention that we also have a killer area in the back of our property where we host our annual bonfire party. People park in the pasture and walk through the pine woods to the other side of our property to enjoy the sites and seclusion of east Newark. This is what sold the property for me 7 years ago. I still love to go up there and just get away from everything once in a while. It's relaxing to mow up there because there are no signs of life for as far as I can see...

This house / property has all the privacy and country feel that we could ever dream of. Little by little, we've turned this place into our own little log cabin. We can only hope that someone will come inside and fall in love with it the way that we did. The only reason that we're moving is because we have our eyes on the next big thing...

Swimming Milestones

We've been spending some fun times at Frosty's Lodge. This is Aunt Barbie and Uncle Doug's new place out on in the sticks. They bought a 100+ acre lot with a huge house that looks like a Ski Lodge. Their last names are Frost, so... Yeah, you get it now. Anyway they have an awesome in-ground pool that they let us use whenever we want. They live about 7 miles from our house so we make good use of it. Thanks Aunt Barbie and Uncle Doug!! :)

We've been taking the girls there on the really hot days and today was no exception. The temperatures were in the mid 90's, so we packed some lunches and headed to the pool. Today was an epic day for Lizzie and Jazzy.


Lizzie Mae (8) is able to swim in the deep end with no life jacket. Of course, I still have to be by her side at all times, but I'm literally there for moral support and have only had to "save" her 1 time. She was jumping off of the side of the pool today and swimming back to the surface. She was also able to swim from one side of the pool to the other side of the pool with no problems. GO LIZZIE!

Jazzy (7) is also kicking butt in the pool. She is able to swim from the shallow end to the deep end with her snorkel. I think that once she realizes that the floor is further from her, she freaks out and starts to panic. I had to help her to the side one time because she tensed up and got a little water in her snorkel once she got over the 'deep water'. Regardless, she did it a few times with great success and I think that both of the girls are going to be swimming by the end of the summer.

Jazzy swimming with her snorkel.

Daizi's big milestone today was that she was jumping off of the side of the pool into Jennifer's arms. She went under a few times as well and had a great time. She keeps her life jacket on the whole time and swims out into the deep end whenever she wants. This kid feels extremely comfortable in the water; so much so that it's a bit scary when she's in the deep end by herself (in her life jacket of course). I'd much rather them be comfortable, than tense in the water though...

It's great that the girls no longer have a fear of deep water. It is such a free feeling to know that if the girls fall in now, they'll know HOW to get back to the surface and not freak out. There's nothing like jumping in the deep end and just wade underwater and swim around upside down, backwards, however I want. I just love that my girls are learning to love swimming as well. I mean really holding their breath and using their limbs to stay afloat "swimming".

Congratulations girls!!

P90X Noob

I was so excited to start P90X this week. I ate right all weekend and got all the supplies I needed to get started first thing in the morning on Monday.

The night before I was to get started, I read the instructions and realized that I still had a bit of work to do in order to start the program. I still needed to take the fit test, and record all of my "before data" (weight, measurements, resting HR, etc..). It was also recommended that I do the fit test a few days before starting the actual program (assuming I pass).

I took the test and passed everything with flying colors... except the pull-up requirement. The program suggests that I should be able to do 3 wide grip pull ups. I couldn't do ONE! :'( I can do about 2 normal pull ups (shoulder width with underhand grip), but the wide angle pull ups are too much for my big 'ol butt.

Instead, I decided to just use this week to eat right, and do a few of the exercises anyway to get a feel for them. I'm glad I did, as I now realize that I can do the program anyway and use assistance on my pullups the first few weeks. I just need to use the chair technique for the more difficult pull-ups. After about 2-3 weeks, I should be able to do (at least) 1 wide angle pull up and then I'll be able to keep up for the next 10-11 weeks...

On Wednesday I did the "Chest and Back" program and it hurt bad... I'm still feeling it actually. Yesterday I took a rest day; did some situps, and ran 3 miles, but let the upper body rest. This morning I did "Legs and Back" program and... ouch. It hurt. :) Tomorrow I think I'm going to do Kempo X (it's like kick boxing), and then I'll do the Stretch X program on Sunday. Assuming I can still move. Of course, I'm still running everyday and keeping up with my training schedule.

This is the first time that I've ever really kept track of my food intake, and I am discovering that it's amazing how much CRAP we (as Americans) eat when we don't pay attention. I've been a food Nazi and eating small portions of (rather) healthy food every 2-3 hours. Even when doing this, it's putting me over the 2,000 calorie limit almost everyday. The protein bars may have something to do with it, but Sodium, Potasium, Fat, and Calories add up very quickly when you're not paying attention; even from raw fruits and vegetables (I couldn't believe it).

I start the full program @ 6am on Monday. BRING IT!

2010 Mohican Runners

I just wanted to say a quick congratulations to all of my Mohican buddies who ran the 2010 Mohican 50 or 100 Mile Trail Race. I'd like to give an extra BIG congratulations to those that fought through the pain, the sun, the darkness, the heat, the chill, dehydration, nausea, lucid day-dreaming, and (in some cases) hallucinations to actually FINISH the race.

I don't want to get into a name dropping post, so I'm just going to say that if you're reading this and was a part of the Mohican Trail Ultra, then this is me saying: Congratulations !

Hope to see you soon and put in some miles together. I can't wait to hear all the stories...

An American Hero (Still) - Van T. Barfoot

I received this in an email and thought it was worth sharing on my blog. Please overlook the formatting problems, and focus only on the content. If you are reading it directly from my blog, then you may have to highlight the words in order to read it due to the dark background:

On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg -- probably didn'tmake much news back then. Twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, near Carano , Italy , Van T. Barfoot, who had enlisted in the Army in 1940, set out to flank German machine gun positions from which fire was coming down on his fellow soldiers. He advanced through a minefield, took out three enemy machine gun positions and returned with 17 prisoners of war. If that wasn't enough for a day's work, he later took on and destroyed three German tanks sent to retake the machine gun positions. That probably didn't make much news either, given the scope of the war, but it did earn Van T. Barfoot, who retired as a colonel after also serving in Korea and Vietnam , a Congressional Medal of Honor. What did make news last week was a neighborhood association's quibble with how the 90-year-old veteran chose to fly the American flag outside his suburban Virginia home. Seems the rules said a flag could be flown on a house-mounted bracket, but, for decorum, items such as Barfoot's 21-foot flagpole were unsuitable. He had been denied a permit for the pole, erected it anyway and was facing court action if he didn't take it down. Since the story made national TV, the neighborhood association has rethought its position and agreed to indulge this old hero who dwells among them. "In the time I have left I plan to continue to fly the American flag without interference," Barfoot told The Associated Press. As well he should. And if any of his neighbors still takes a notion to contest him, they might want to read his Medal of Honor citation. It indicates he's not real good at backing down. Van T. Barfoot's Medal of Honor citation: This 1944 Medal of Honor citation, listed with the National Medal of Honor Society, is for Second Lieutenant Van T. Barfoot, 157th Infantry, 45th Infantry: "For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 23 May 1944, near Carano , Italy . With his platoon heavily engaged during an assault against forces well entrenched on commanding ground, 2d Lt. Barfoot moved off alone upon the enemy left flank. He crawled to the proximity of 1 machinegun nest and made a direct hit on it with a hand grenade, killing 2 and wounding 3 Germans. He continued along the German defense line to another machinegun emplacement, and with his tommygun killed 2 and captured 3 soldiers. Members of another enemy machinegun crew then abandoned their position and gave themselves up to Sgt. Barfoot. Leaving the prisoners for his support squad to pick up, he proceeded to mop up positions in the immediate area, capturing more prisoners and bringing his total count to 17. Later that day, after he had reorganized his men and consolidated the newly captured ground, the enemy launched a fierce armored counterattack directly at his platoon positions. Securing a bazooka, Sgt. Barfoot took up an exposed position directly in front of 3 advancing Mark VI tanks. >From a distance of 75 yards his first shot destroyed the track of the leading tank, effectively disabling it, while the other 2 changed direction toward the flank. As the crew of the disabled tank dismounted, Sgt. Barfoot killed 3 of them with his tommygun. He continued onward into enemy terrain and destroyed a recently abandoned German fieldpiece with a demolition charge placed in the breech. While returning to his platoon position, Sgt. Barfoot, though greatly fatigued by his Herculean efforts, assisted 2 of his seriously wounded men 1,700 yards to a position of safety. Sgt. Barfoot's extraordinary heroism, demonstration of magnificent valor, and aggressive determination in the face of point blank fire are a perpetual inspiration to his fellow soldiers." If you got this email and didn't pass it on - guess what - you deserve to get your butt kicked! I sent this to you, because I didn't want to get MY butt kicked. WE LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE, ONLY BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE!

2010 Maine Vacation (Part 1 of 2)

Jennifer and I finally did it. We have talked about traveling to the state of Maine for years, and this year we decided it was time to just do it. We saved up our money over the course of about 8 months and took our girls on a 2 week camping adventure through the Appalachian mountains over to the Atlantic coast. We spent a week in Cape Cod, then another week in Bar Harbor, Maine. It was the vacation of a lifetime and one that we know our 3 girls will remember for the rest of their lives.

Starting our journey

Mountain Driving
We left bright and early on Saturday morning and drove all the way over to eastern PA. We ended up making it all the way to the east side of PA and stayed in a Comfort Inn. The girls got to swim for a little bit, and that's all they cared about. :) The camper pulled really nice behind our SUV and we were pretty amazed at how the mountains didn't put too much strain on it. Gas mileage was atrocious the entire trip, but at least we budgeted for it and it was not an issue at all. We had to fill up every 260 miles or so, which worked out nice anyway. Oh, and Daizi (our 3 yr old) get's credit for the "quote of the vacation" after only 2 hours into our 2 week vacation when she said:

"Mommy, I waaa go home."

We all got a good laugh out of that one. :)

A tornado forming just ahead on the highway in PA!

Woodstock, NY
The next morning we headed to Woodstock, NY and went through all the shops. The girls thought it was cool to see all the tie dye and we explained to them exactly what the Woodstock Music Festival was all about and all about what happened back in 1969 that brought all the musicians together. We tried to explain that the event drew a crowd of +500,000 people from all over the world. They did the "...woooooow" response, but I don't think they really understood what it meant. Once I was able to show them a picture of the crowd consuming a whole New York hillside, then we got the real "WOOOOW" that I was looking for. At that point they understood how many people "+500,000 people" actually looked like. :) We had a lot of fun here and got some cool souvenirs. About 1 day is all that was needed to see everything here in Woodstock. We spent about 4-5 hours going through the various shops, and that was enough for me.

That night we stayed in another Comfort Inn and and the girls got to swim again. Before calling it a night, we ended up eating at a place called Ninety Nine's. It's like a bar and grill style restaurant with an amazing menu. We all loved it!! It was cheap and delicious. The kids meals were amazing and beat the "sox" off of every other kids menu that we've seen on the entire trip. Best yet, when the Boston RedSox win a game the night before, the kids eat free anyway. We ate at Ninety Nine's two times and both visits were after the Redsox won a game. :) Bonus!!

Cape Cod, Massachusetts
The next morning, we woke up and finally made our way to our camp site in Cape Cod. We ended up getting a REALLY good site named Cape Cod Campresort and Cabins. Our site was huge and we have no real complaints with anything. The only downfall to this campsite was the prices inside the camp resort. A small bundle of firewood cost $7! A small bag of ice cost $3.50!! The washing machine cost $3, and the dryer cost another $3! Needless to say, we learned the hard way with each purchase. To offset the cost of the firewood, we all went foraging for wood around the campgrounds after dark. ;)

Free Firewood

Aside from the costs of the items, the place was a 5 star camp resort! They had a very friendly staff that took great pride in the campground. There were all kinds of sites for all types of camping: primitive tent, pop-up, RV's, and cabins. The bath house was immaculate as far as camping bathhouses are concerned. We've seen some doozies in our days, and this one is by far the best that we've seen. No creepy crawly's anywhere, and they were always clean. This resort also offers 3 different pools: a family pool with a slide, a kiddie pool for toddlers, and an adult pool separate from the other two for prime relaxation. There was a huge game room, free wifi, laundry, large pond with paddle boats and kayaks, a huge playground, horse shoes, basketball, volleyball, and more... I would definitely recommend this camp resort to anybody that wants to camp in Cape Cod. Again, be ready to spend some money if you plan to use any of the resources inside the campground though.

Bike Party

Napping at the campground

Writing postcards to family and friends.

Sparkler Party!!

Girls building a log cabin with twigs :)

Jazzy is in her element

Some crazy "Daizi Dance"!? :)

We did venture out in the truck around Cape Cod quite a bit. We got ourselves lost each time we did, and got turned around quite often. We would drive and drive only to be looped back around to where we started a few times. A few times we came into little harbor towns and it was need to see all the little shops and restaurants on the bay. Both of us were very surprised as to how big the peninsula actually was. On paper it looks like a 10-15 mile stretch of land, but it is actually like 75 - 80 miles long. We never did venture out to Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket Island; the boat ride was too pricey for our family of 5 and the islands were nothing more than money-traps anyway. We did go to a couple of beaches and of course we all ate some great seafood.

Beach Babes

Not too much happened outside of our little trips in the truck to various land marks. I did get to see where SteveRunner runs his Falmouth Road Race and it was neat to actually drive on the course that he has always talked about in his podcast. :) Other than that, Cape Cod was pretty much a nautical get-a-way along the Atlantic coast. This was quite a nice little pit-stop town on our way to Maine.

My Happy Campers

Boston, Massachusetts
On Thursday morning, we woke up and got checked out of the campground around 9am. We were going to drive through the gut of Boston, just to say we did it. Boston was pretty cool! We drove under a huge tunnel that spanned +3 miles under the city only to open up to a suspended bridge over other highways in the middle of the Boston skyline. The girls thought it was pretty cool, as did Me and Jennifer of course.

Once we got outside of the Boston city limits, we kept heading north and did quick jaunt through the state of New Hampshire for a few minutes. Our next stop was going to be in the great state of MAINE!!

Living our dream

(to be continued...)

Projects and Fresh Ideas

Jennifer and I were sitting at the kitchen table after a stellar egg breakfast this morning talking about vacation and other stuff. We were also discussing where we saw ourselves in a couple of years, etc... You know, husband and wife talk.

We came up with some really cool ideas that would generate some steady income outside of the ol' 9-5. Jennifer came up with an idea that got my wheels spinning. It got me excited, and I decided to post something about it. The idea is to fill a gap that no other website has done yet and trust me we've looked. It would not only benefit local home owners, like ourselves, but would also benefit local businesses in the area. If we could advertise it and exploit it enough here in Newark, then there's no reason it wouldn't work in Columbus, or any other big city for that matter. I need to do a little more research to see what other gaps we could fill with it, but for now, the idea is very slick, and (most importantly) extremely valuable to all users that would log on. Remember, eBay was started up from a wacky idea to auction off a broken laser pointer. The underlying code was built in a weekend:

Omidyar was 28 when he sat down over a long holiday weekend to write the original computer code for what eventually became an internet superbrand — the auction site eBay. - Wikipedia: Pierre Omidyar

Twitter began in a "daylong brainstorming session"... - Wikipedia: Twitter

Check out the first sketch an idea that later became Twitter: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Twttr_sketch-Dorsey-2006.jpg

Stories like this keep me believing that our idea isn't so far fetched... Our idea is a service that everybody would be able to use, and would have a cool little twist on it that would keep people logged and coming back, much like they do on any other addictive site (eBay, CraigsList, Facebook, Twitter, My blog :), etc..). I'm very excited to sit down and visualize it's underlying architecture and start building the first set of pages. This will be my perfect excuse to master Ruby on Rails and MySql in my spare time. I also need to interview some of my friends and family who own their own businesses to see what I'm missing...

If I can come back from vacation with this much excitement, then it WILL happen. Sorry no more information right now. Feel free to post comments of ideas for such a website though. If that's no a vague request, then I don't know what is. :)

BP Oil Leak in the Gulf of Mexico

What is this planet coming to?

It's been over a month since BP began spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, we're no closer now at stopping the leak than we were the day it happened. Oil has now made its way to shore and has polluted all of the beaches along the Gulf coasts. Yet it's still pumping into the ocean, even as I type this. :(

Here it is Sunday night and the next attempt at stopping the leak isn't going to happen until Tuesday!? How many more hundreds of gallons does this calculate to? Why not try applying that fix RIGHT NOW!?.. Before you go to bed in your multi-million dollar homes another night? Ooh, better yet, why not have a solution planned out before you go drilling the holes in the first place? Greedy assholes! (sorry Mom)

This is incompetence and finger pointing at it's finest. It's simply unacceptable and makes me very angry. My children now have to live with the effects of this insane pollution problem. Thousands of species are being effected by this and will continue to be effected by this for years to come. Hopefully I'm wrong, but it seems like BP is giving about 65% of their effort to clean it up.

In one of the harshest government condemnations of the petroleum giant to date, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said BP had blown "deadline after deadline" and had not "fulfilled the mission it was supposed to fulfill."

"I am angry and I am frustrated that BP has been unable to stop this oil from leaking and to stop the pollution from spreading," Salazar said at a Houston news conference. "We are 33 days into this effort, and deadline after deadline has been missed."

The federal government could resort to taking over tasks now controlled by BP, Salazar suggested. "If we find they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, we'll push them out of the way appropriately," he said. - LATimes.com

I say push them out of the way tonight and take over. Somebody, FIX IT!

Quicken Essentials for Mac

I broke down and bought Quicken Essentials for Mac the other night and I must say that it's a breath of fresh air in regards to how easy it is to use and understand. The price tag was very inviting, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much "bang for the buck" it offers...

Microsoft Money was my app of choice for +10 years and I loved it and lived by it. I started using MS Money '98 back in the day and then upgraded to the 2002 edition. There were some cool new enhancements with the 2004 edition (don't remember now what it was), so I ultimately upgraded to the 2004 edition. I used the 2004 edition for 5+ years. It did everything I needed it to do with reports, budgeting, downloading transactions from my bank, and all that good stuff. Plus, as a developer, I saw greatness in the intuitive UI approach that it showcased. Whenever I wanted to do something, I was able to accomplish it with very little effort using one or two clicks. All of the complexity was hidden from me and I only needed to worry about the numbers being entered... Everything else just worked. This was software at its finest.

Unfortunately, as I was getting ready to upgrade to the 2010 edition, and I saw where MS Money was no longer being developed. It was time that I had to choose another financial software application. I dug around and saw a few good options, but Quicken looked to be the best option for me. My Dad had always used it in the past and really liked it. I remember using it for a year or two when Jennifer and I first moved out on our own, but hadn't looked at it in +10 years.

After a day or two of solid research, I broke down and purchased the Quicken 2010 Home and Business Edition. I instantly fell in love with it. It helped me import my years of transactions from MS Money, and then walked me through the steps to setup a budget and begin tracking progress on my credit and loans. The user interface was a lot different than MS Money, but I got used to it after a few weeks. It was around this same time that Jennifer and I started doing a "cash budget". Quicken (and Intuit) have a lot of online resources for managing finances, and I was able to read a lot about how to get out of debt and manage my money more intelligently. MS Money never really offered that type of online community... or if they did, it wasn't "all up in my face" like it is with Quicken. After using the resources offered to me from within Quicken, I started to care about where my money went again. It really changed the way we manage our paychecks now. Quicken Home and Business was a smash hit for me... and then I got a Mac.

When we bought our Macs, I debated on whether or not to return my edition of Quicken and get a refund since I was still within the 90 day window. As it turned out, the Mac version wasn't going to be available for another month or so. Therefore, I decided to keep the Windows version and then evaluate the Mac version when it would become available. This meant that whenever I needed to work with my finances, I would have to load up Windows 7 in Parallels just to get to my Quicken. This worked, but it was a lot of ceremony to start up my VM and wait for it, then open Quicken, enter some stuff and shut my VM back down. It sounds petty, but it was a lot of "prep work" just to reconcile my account or even enter transactions when I didn't have my VM turned on.

Two days ago, I broke down and bought the Quicken Essentials for Mac and must say that I'm pleasantly surprised with it. Sure, it's missing a lot of functionality in regards to setting up budgets, configuring reports, and managing multiple accounts, but it works quite well for my needs. Basically I just need to enter transactions, track upcoming payments, and see how broke I am at any given time. It does this. However, I'm hoping that the next version focuses more on the reporting and budgeting aspects of home financing.

Here are some of the things that I like about the new Mac version:

• I can create a budget to go against different Categories and Tags
  
• The filtering mechanism is MUCH more intuitive than the windows version.
• It feels like a Mac app (think iTunes or Mac Finder) and this is a big win.
  
• The "Search All" box is extremely useful for finding a specific transaction.
• Scheduled transactions are more like actual transactions.
• Provides a "Favorites" concept for Categories, Payees, and Tags for easy picking.
• Best of all, there is a big fat "Q" icon in my Dock now. :)

Here are some of the things that I do not like about the Mac version:

• It doesn't offer a two-line transaction view.
• Offers very little reporting options.
• Budgeting options are elementary at best.
• I cannot hide unused accounts.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the Mac version. I did use the reporting and budgeting features of the Windows version, but I understand that this is the first (big) release for the Mac since the redesign of the Mac 2007 edition. I hope they release an update soon with some enhancements in those areas.

Kudos Quicken!

The Rain

Call me crazy, but I love it! It's going to be even better once we get our roof repaired (along with the gutters). For now, I just enjoy looking out the window and seeing the puddles fill up in our yard.

Yes, I took a run in the rain this morning. Another one of my favorite things...

Pearl Jam - Columbus, Ohio

Oh. Em. Jee. One of the best live concert I've ever been to...

Jennifer and I went to the Pearl Jam concert last night and it was absolutely amazing! The night started by us meeting up TJ Mummy at his work around 4:45pm. We then headed to Nationwide Arena when his entourage showed up. We got some crazy parking spots that were right outside the venue; they were a little pricey, but worth it.

The Pearl Jam fan club members order their tickets, but have no idea where their seats will be. Since I'm not in the fan club, we relied on TJ's membership. He got us in row V (ie. 22nd row) on the floor! These were the best seats we'd ever had to any show, ever. :) Bonus that it was PEARL JAM!!

Once we got our tickets, we met up with Tyler and Liz and headed over to Boston's Pizzaria for some beers and pizza before the show. We had a blast and met some pretty funny people at the bar. It was PACKED! I actually saw some old faces from high school while we were there as well (Kris & Elizabeth Armstrong with Elizabeth's sister Debbie and her husband, John). It was a nice to see them after all these years.

From the bar, we headed over to Nationwide Arena to find our seats. As we were heading toward the floor, we saw this guy up on stage singing songs acoustically, as we looked closer, we saw that it was Mr. Mike McCready himself. Simply awesome!

Band of Horses
Band of Horses went on and opened up with "Ghost in my House". It's one of those songs that sticks in your head and it was a great opener for the night. They played "Northwest Apartment", "Loredo", "Compliments", and some other really great songs. I was really wanting to hear "Bartles & James", but they didn't play it. :( No worries, I'm still a fan and could see me going to another one of their shows in the future. If you've not heard of them, or know who they are, check them out!

Once Band of Horses cleared the stage, the lights came on it was time for intermission. We headed over to visit TJ & Crystal with their crew, and then headed over to see Tyler and Liz in their seats. It was kind of nice having floor seats, as we were able to move around very easily from place to place. We found out that Dan and his buddy were directly above us in the nose-bleeds. There was a strait line from Dan's seats, our seats and Tyler & Liz's seats. Literally, the same row from left to right. Very weird.

About 30 minutes went by and then the lights started to dim...

PEARL JAM!!
They came out on stage and the crowd went nuts; including me and Jennifer! I've been listening to their music since 1991 when the "Ten" album was released, and I've bought each of their albums, including the "Greatest Hits" and "Live" albums. I took a 3-4 year break but then came right back to them and made up for lost time. I literally know every single song that they sing. They opened with "Oceans" (which was on the "Ten" album), and I must admit that I teared up a little. It's insane that this is the first time that I've been to one of their shows after all these years...

Pearl Jam literally rocked the house! The crowd was amazing. Nobody was sitting down anywhere in the venue. Eddie Vedder is an amazing front man, and he interacted with the crowd quite a bit. All the band members were packed full of pure energy and were jumping all over the place. I can honestly say that they have gotten better with age. Back in the day they were just kids, but now they are all adults and have really become a better band. After years and years of practice, they proved that they know how to put on a show. At one point, Mike McCready had a guitar solo and he literally turned his back to the crowd and played the entire guitar solo with his guitar behind his head! I think it's safe to say that he's played that solo once or twice before.

The energy at Nationwide Arena last night was simply amazing. It was great being able to scream along with every song that they sang. They played songs from each of their albums, and then some. I later found out that "Alone" was a very rare song to hear at a show. The last time that they played it was November last year, but before that was a 3 year window. This is what keeps the Pearl Jam fans coming back, I guess. They keep stats of how many times they hear a song, and where at. I (on the other hand) was just happy to hear them play live. I got to hear one of my favorites: "State of Love and Trust", so that was a huge one for me. Another song that I loved hearing was "Marker in the Sand". I've always liked that song, and I had just rocked that song out the day before in my car with my girls in the back seat. They played "Once", "Spin the Black Circle", "Given to Fly", "Black", etc... The entire set list can be found here: http://pearljam.com/tour/show/nationwide-arena-may-06-2010.

Now, I have to go to more shows so I can see them play "In My Tree", "Nothingman", etc... Uh oh, I got the bug!

Soundgarden - Beyond the Wheel

Good luck trying to hit these notes...



Friggen awesome!

Volunteering at Mohican Forget the PR 50k

David, Ralph, Katie, Steve, Leigh, Lindsay, ?, Me

As I stated in my last post, I ran my Forget the PR 50k race last weekend at Mohican State Park because the official race was the following weekend and I would be volunteering. I had planned on going up after my work day on Friday, but the weather had set in and they were calling for high winds and a possibility of hail. Since I wasn't needed until Saturday morning, I decided to spend Friday night in my own bed and wake up early to be at Mohican by 10am instead.

Saturday Morning
At 8am I woke up and left the house to meet up with Don, Rob, and Kim at their cabin at 10am. We got all jacked up on coffee and went our separate ways. My duty was to mark the Purple loop with flags and white lime to help runners stay on the course. After my love/hate relationship with the Purple loop, this was a perfect choice for me. I knew this loop by the back of my hand since I'd screwed up on it so many times in the past. :) I took my hospital boot off and tied up my work boots real tight so that I could walked the course with a canister of lime and a handful of orange and yellow flags. It was a beautiful day to be out marking the course, and I had a blast.

After we had all marked the course, we met back at the Start/Finish to pack the aid station boxes full of supplies. It was a lot of fun, and I had a great time hanging out with other volunteers that showed up to help. Rob didn't cut any corners when it came to ordering supplies and there was plenty of food and drinks for every runner at every aid station. I really learned a lot about what goes into a top-notch aid station.

Once the aid station boxes were filled, the runners starting coming in to register for the race. Rob opened registration from 5pm - 7pm on Saturday, and we had quite a turn out! It was quite chaotic at first, as many runners pile in at once. We struggled keeping them all organized for about 20 minutes, but then we figured out a good system and it got easier.

After registration, all of the volunteers headed back to Rob's cabin for a feast. We all had a great time and shared various running stories. It was a lot of fun to hear some of the adventures that go down in a 100 mile race. I met a lot of cool people and really enjoyed the day!

Around 8:30 or so, I was starting to get pretty tired. Don and Betty Baun were nice enough to offer their backyard to me to setup camp. I headed over there around 8:30 and got everything setup. It took me all of about 10 minutes to get everything in order, so I decided to start a fire and just chilled out for about an hour or so before calling it a night.


Sunday Morning
It was way too cold to get good sleep. Each time I turned my head, the coldness of the pillow would wake me up. I woke up at 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, a few times in between then finally at 5:15 (thanks to the Crazy Rooster that Nick told me about last year). :) Once I got my tent broke down, I headed over to the cabin for some donuts and other sugary breakfast items before heading to the start finish where runners would be showing up shortly to register for the race. We did a lot of things before the runners got there, then when they started piling in, I sat next to Elizabeth and Michelle and we got runners to sign their wavers. Once the waivers were signed, Kim and Betty would hand them their race packets. We moved through the line pretty quickly. I saw a lot of familiar faces at check in and had a great time.

Moments before the 50k start

Starting Line
When it was about time to get started, Rob got up on his truck and gave the rules of the race. He introduced all the sponsors and explained some of the tricky parts of the race. Once he had briefed everybody on the course, Don Baun got up and had some words to say. Don asked everybody to keep their eyes open and really enjoy the beauty of the course. He is so right, sometimes people get caught up in the race itself that they don't see the actual beauty of the forest. Don gave a few good words of advise and then counted down the runners for the race. Off they went, the 50k runners were moving through the course! The 25k runners would start their race in 30 minutes. Therefore, we hung around for a while and then sent them on their way at 8:30.

Don Baun

Covered Bridge
After the 25k runners left, I took Fred (he's a beat up pylon) to the Covered Bridge, and met up with the other aid station volunteers. The theme this year for the covered bridge aid station was M*A*S*H. So we all wore our finest camo's.

This was my first volunteering experience and I was quite honored and surprised that Rob asked me to be the "Course Marshal". It sounded pretty important, and I guess to think about it, it was a pretty important role. However, each person at this aid station played a key role and my role was just one of many. The biggest difference between my role and the others was that I would be wearing an orange vest. Basically, whenever somebody had any question about where to go, I would be the one to go to; they weren't to 'trust' anybody else. :P The 50k runners would be coming through the covered bridge 3 times, whereas the 25k runners would come through exactly one time.

50k front runners at the start

My vest came in handy a few times, as there was a lot of traffic at the covered bridge, so I got to "use my authoritay" to stop traffic as runners came out of the woods. The only thing I was missing at times was a whistle and a billy club.

The Covered Bridge aid station was on the ball. Two of the runners that I met last week on the race (Steve and David) were manning this aid station as well with their wives (Katie and Leigh). Ralph was the aid station captain, and Lindsay was on her toes the whole time tending to the runners needs. Katie and Leigh ensured that every runner was accounted for and their time was recorded. They could tell you where any runner was at any time. Ralph ensured that the food supplies were up to par and made sure that nothing ran out. Steve, David, and Lindsay were all there to see to it that the runners were taken care of as soon as they entered the aid station. As the runners were approaching the aid station, the crew would find out what the runners needed before they got there so that they would be ready with water or Heed. I, of course, just stayed visible to all runners and managed traffic as best as I could. I was able to save a few runners races with my eagle-eye skills. But other than that, I just had a great time talking with runners and cheering them on.

The Race
One of the most exciting parts of being at an aid station volunteer is that you get to see the actual race. Especially being at the Covered Bridge (again, runners came through here 3 times). We saw all the excitement of the race. The front runner was Shaun Pope, and he made it look effortless each time he came through our aid station. Second place was last year's winner, Jay Smithberger. The race between Shaun and Jay was awesome. Shaun was 5 minutes ahead of Jay as they came through the aid station the first and second time. The third time through, Jay had picked up 3 minutes on Shaun. There were only 2 minutes between them at mile 27. Shaun came through the last time looking pretty spent, but Jay came through looking strong and ready to make his move. Ultimately, Shaun won the race by 1 minute!! I later heard later that Jay might have caught up to him, but took a bad spill (blood, mud, and all) with only about 2 miles to go and lost his momentum. It goes without saying that both guys kicked butt!

D'Lyn and Luca

Another great thing about volunteering is that I got to see was my running buddies come through. I saw Mike McCune (The Dillon Runner), Mark Carroll, Mike Keller, Gianluca Blengio, Tim Harber, and many others. Mike McCune was coming off of a knee injury and this was his first race since it had happened. He looked strong each time he came through and he finished with a very respectable time. It was great seeing Luca, Tim, and Mike Keller as well. Mark Carroll ran a hell of a race! This guy came into the aid station the second time and looked like he was pretty much ready to kick ass til the finish. Sure enough, he did; coming back into the aid station for the 3rd time he had moved his way up the chain of runners. This man is a machine. Mark finished very strong and he proved that he's a force to be reckoned with. Great race man!

Post Race
After Matt (ie. "The Michigan Sweeper") came through our aid station in his high fluting kilt :), we knew there was nobody else out there. Matt was a volunteer that ran behind the last runner and his job was to pick up all of the flags on the course. I can't imagine how hard that job must have been for a non back-of-the-pack runner, like Matt. As he came through the last time he said that he's mostly been walking all day; not much running at all. Once he left, we immediately broke down our station and picked up all the trash. It took a total of about 15 minutes. Once we broke down, I went back up to the Start/Finish to help with a few final things and say good bye to Rob and crew. After 8+ hours of "feet time" I was happy to sit back in my car and make the hour drive home...

Congratulations to Rob, all the 50k and 25k runners, and a great job to all volunteers. This was an amazing experience for me and I look forward to doing it again next year. It was nice to be on the other side of the race for once. Most all runners (with the exception of a few) were very appreciative and friendly to all of us. This experience gave me a whole new appreciation as to what the volunteers do before, during, and after these ultra races.

Oh yeah, Rob, here's that picture I took the morning of the race. I fixed it up a bit because it was pitch black; it turned out "kinda" cool actually. :)

Rob Powell (Forget the PR Race Director)