I had a lovely vacation in Florida with my girlfriend and her super fun family for the 4th of July.  I’m sure it is safe to say that we all had a great time and wish it could have lasted much longer than the week it did.  All eight of us stayed with her Uncle Charlie who lives in Lauderdale by the Sea.  So you can imagine the fun times that must have happened with almost ten people living together for a full week.

Day 1:
We went to the town parade on the 4th which was pretty amusing, especially since Charlie and Melissa were actually in the parade supporting a political candidate.  We also went to the beach for a bit of relaxation and sun.

Day2:
We went headed to Orlando so we could get an early start on Day 3.  I had the pleasure of riding with one of the coolest kids ever, Kat’s oldest nephew, on the way to Orlando.  This means of course that I got to play games the entire ride up which is a big win in my books.  Once we got to Orlando we stayed in a great hotel with a super cool pool.  We stayed in the pool for the rest of the day going in and out of the waterfall and sliding down the slide even with a friendly game of tag. Kat, Melissa, and I had a craving for some ice cream at night and snuck away for some Ghirardelli time, shhhh… don’t tell anyone!

Day 3:
We all excitedly woke up for a day at Universal Studios Island of Adventure!  For those that haven’t been before you get to do all kinds of fun things like: meet superheros, play in Seuss land, ride crazy rides, get soak on some of the rides(Sorry Angela), watch a show, explore the world of Harry Potter (complete with a cold glass of butter beer and tour of Hogwarts) and much more!  Only sad thing about this day was the lack of 1 ride that required a child and our child didn’t want to ride with us…

Day 4:
I honestly don’t recall this day that much…  I think this was a resting day where we played at the beach.

Day 5:
We went on an air boat ride and got to seem some alligators!  It was a pretty sweet ride, and we got to see other animals in a zoo like environment once we were done with the tour.

Day 6:
Also a resting day? We did a water balloon toss two days somewhere between day 4 and now.

Day 7:
This is the day that Kat left We went to a casino at Kat’s request.  It was pretty fun and I think everyone came out with some money.

Day 8:
This is the day I drove back home.  A very long sad drive.

Turns out all of us suck at the game and yet it is still quite amusing!  I plan to play a bit later with Kate so she’s not all alone while her roommate is at work.  Plus she is pretty close to some courts as well that are a bit nicer than my courts here.  Should be interesting to see how this works out.  Wish us luck!

As you may have guessed by the title of this lovely story, these shoes are none other than Vibriam’s FiveFingers shoes!  I currently have the KSO model which are very comfortable and are useful in many different outdoors events.  Infact here’s a list of activities these shoes are “best for”:  Running, Fitness Training, CrossFit, Light Trekking, Bouldering, Water Sports & Travel.

The first full day I had these shoes I went for my normal run and didn’t come back for 2.5 hours!  That’s right, they were so comfortable that I was jogging and walking for over two hours and didn’t even notice it.   My feet were not sore or anything!  I did however find new muscles in my legs the next morning when I woke up but that’s a good thing… I think.

Second slacking thing I’ve been doing is actually running.  I’ve found a few excuses on a some of the days to not go out.  Like today, it rained so I didn’t do anything yet.  It’s not raining now… but it did before.  I did get a few pics from some runs so I can show you a bit of my travel.

Okay, so maybe fame is a bit of a stretch but I’m pretty sure that just completing this will be impressive none the less.  I’m also curious to see how much 7-8 months of actual training will do for me.  I’m a bit pudgy in the center so hopefully I’ll be able to tone that up a bit while achieving a life goal.

Now, to get an awesome Team Name.  Toss me some ideas and we shall see if they stick!  I also would like to invite all that can to join in on this half marathon.  If you can great, join up and we can even compare how well we did!  If you want to join but you don’t think you have what it takes, or aren’t quite sure how to get ready let me know and I’ll point you in the right direction!

For more information on the Secret City Half Marathon check out their site! http://www.secretcityhalfmarathon.com/

To help keep me on track I’m going to use Training Peaks schedules to track my routes and my daily exercise.  I’ve conveniently already set up an account and have added the Free 30/30 plan to my calendar.  Should be interesting  Wish me luck!

After the amusing and slightly messy marshmallow drop we went back to Angela’s house and Owen (previously mentioned 5 year old) had us play all kinds of games ranging from jumping on a trampoline to playing hockey.  After a bit of persuasion we talked Owen into letting us visit Kat’s parents (He just wanted to stay and play all day).   I was really glad to get the chance to meet her Father and her Mother both.  Her entire family is fantastic.  There really isn’t any better way to describe them.

We went back to Angela’s and had some dinner with Kat’s brother and his wife who were also pretty great.  Her brother is a trip, super energetic and amusing while his wife was very cute with her little baby bump and very nice as well.  We played some hardcore soccer with all the siblings, Owen, Noah (Owen’s friend), and myself of course.  It was very intense and I’m pretty sure everyone walked away with a few injuries but I know 100% that everyone enjoyed it thoroughly.

Saturday was a bit calmer since Owen went to visit his dad for a bit. Before he left we got to color some eggs(and fingers) which was fun especially since I haven’t done it in so long.  Kat and I took advantage of the day and met with some of Kat’s oldest friends.  I got a chance to meet Mindy and Missy who are both extremely smart and pretty funny too boot!  We went to lunch (Melissa included!) which was a great way to play catch up and get to know each other a bit.  After this we went back to the parent’s and relaxed a bit getting to talk with Mr. Takach a bit before we headed out for drinks with another friend of Kat’s.  Natasha was a bundle of energy (probably so excited to get to see Kat, I mean who doesn’t get excited for that?).  We had a nice talk for an hour or so and then we all parted since it was getting a bit late.

Sunday morning started bright and early for Easter Mass (yay for getting up at 7am right?).  The service wasn’t bad but I did find out that I am a Christ Chin which was pretty amusing.  After Mass we went to Kat’s parent’s house to prepare for Easter dinner where Mrs. Takach made a lot of super yummy food (enough for like 50 when there was only 14 of us) but no complaints on this side I made sure to eat up and enjoy the company.  After dinner and dessert we all took a small break to talk and socialize then we broke out some more games to play in the backyard.  Kat and I failed to beat Mr. Takach and her”Crazy Uncle” at a game of Ladder Golf but we had fun and were able to watch Angela and her boyfriend Kevin kick some butt so all turned out well.  After a while we started up some more soccer, this time in a larger back yard but I don’t think that helped the deadlyness of the game any.  Either way it was great even though Melissa and Kevin won against five other players they just have crazy skills I tell you.

The hardest part about the whole trip was leaving though.  It was very hard to say goodbye knowing that I wont get to see my Kat when I wake up and knowing that both of us have to head back to work which isn’t fun for anyone after a great weekend of family fun.  I look forward to another visit and hopefully this time I’ll get a bit more time to talk with her parents since I neglected them a bit this trip without really noticing until now…

I think I have given a pretty good summery of the weekends events (though it is a super condensed version of everything that happened).  Now that you know what I did, how was your Easter?

I ran across this quote today and it made me think a bit.  If I was to be judged right now, this very moment what would the ruling be?  What have I done in my life? What am I doing with my life?  What will I do with my life?  I can tell you something right now,  I’ve not done much.

Sure, I have done some pretty basic things and met a few interesting people along the way but I really haven’t DONE anything of worth.  I haven’t helped people in need.  When I really think about it I don’t even try and better myself.   Sure, I’m doing “fine” as it is.  I have a decent job (something to be thankful for in this economy).  I manged to gain the love of a wonderful woman (something to thank God every day for).  My family is overall in decent health, nobody has to have constant care we have our own health problems but nothing super serious.  These are all good things to have in life but I sometimes feel like something is missing.

I feel like I need to go out and do something.  My only problem is I have nothing I really want to do.  I have no real passion.  I am very content with my life as it is now.  Well, I guess that’s not entirely true.  I would like to have Kat closer to me but other than that I really don’t need much else.  If I could spend every day with my Mom, Sarah, and Kat I would be set.  There is nothing else I need or could really even want.

Anyway, I’m needing to take action.  We are all marked by our actions and  I’ve been slacking off my entire life.  This really needs to come to an end.  I must find the key to it all.

I’ve been thinking that I really need a change.  Luckily I have a pet project that is now coming back from the grave (See TekZor.us) that I get to spend some time on.  The really good part about it?  It is something I get to do with some of my friends which gives me yet another excuse to hang out with them and call it “productive”.

The fact that I’m also without the girl I love right now probably doesn’t help my current mood.  I’ve never been one to promote a long distance relationship and I always said I wouldn’t be in one.  Now here I am in a pretty long distance relationship (over 700 miles apart).  Luckily I do get to see her on Easter Weekend!  I’m also pretty excited to meet her family.  I tried a trip once before but it failed due to uncontrollable circumstances but this trip will be made no matter what I have to do.  So, for Kat’s family, I hope you are as excited to meet me as I am to meet you.  For Kat, I love you and will see you in less than a month.

For everyone else, I didn’t forget about you.  I love you all as well and since I love you I will let you in on a secret.  You can forget a lot of worries and pass some time playing some Tetris over at TetrisFriends.com.  As a bonus, if you visit TetrisFriends.com and register now, we’ll both become eligible to earn 100 Tokens if you add your address to the end of this URL (or just toss me an email and I’ll invite you over)

http://www.tetrisfriends.com/users/register.php?invite_referrer_id=1000074&invite_email=

I’ve not really been doing too much lately. I did get to spend a day or so with my friend Charaya on her Spring Break. We went to the mall and a few other stores to get her a new camera! It was pretty fun and we ended up only buying Girl Scout cookies and chineese food when we were at the mall but it was still amusing.

After the mall we watched a Alice in Wonderland in Disney Digital 3D. The movie wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t super awesome either. Definately one of those movies that is made by the company you watch it with. If you are unlucky and don’t have a fun-loving Charaya in your life you may not like the movie very much.

Note: All the pictures above were taken with the new camera!

I also went to “The Top of the World” with Fluffy and Charaya (the last three photos above are from there). It’s basically a lookout point here in TN that lets you see a few different cities. It was pretty nifty. Poor Charaya is afraid of heights but she wanted to go anyway. She just clung to the middle of the tower and had to be pulled away when we were doing pictures

Outside of fun times with Charaya I’ve been playing on the 360 a bit more. Mainly with Saints Row 2 because well… it is an awesome game and my roomie purchased the game from a friend. This game is very adictive so please play at your own risk. If you haven’t ever heard of it and you like GTA games you will definately like this one. Check out both Saints Row and Saints Row 2 if you can.

That is all. Hope you enjoyed the update.