A jazzy version of the Inspector Gadget theme song. My old band, Tim the Pie, used to play a version of this, which is where the inspiration came from. Apologies if it gets stuck in your head.
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I’ve finished up a few new songs over the last month, which I’ll be posting over the next couple days. The first is a song called “Floating”. It’s more of an atmospheric interlude that briefly teases a song, written for my unborn son. I tried to convey a feeling of floating around in an amniotic sac with brief moments of activity that go away as quickly as they appear.
I’m also trying out a new media player for the site, so click the play button below to start the song and let me know if it gives you any trouble.
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A lot has happened since I started being a complete slacker. Ironic, no? Well… no. Not really. Because I actually haven’t really been a complete slacker. I’ve just been a different kind of slacker. The kind that eshews all forms of triathlon training in favor of preparing to be a father. You see, we’re having a baby in about 15 weeks. And therefore I’ve b… HOLY BALLS IT’S ONLY 15 WEEKS AWAY.
In honor of the little man’s arrival (it’s a boy!) we’ve been doing things like painting, reflooring, getting together the baby registry and learning about ridiculous things that you’ve never, ever had to think about unless you’re having a child. Or ride a bike. Like which butt paste is best.
In the nursery, we arrrrrrr going with a pirate theme because our kid is going to be awesome. In fact, he already is awesome and he’s not even born yet. How do I know? Because he kicked me in the face when I said ‘hi’ to Dee’s belly the other day. How could he NOT be awesome with strong future triathlete legs like that? So I spent this weekend painting a mural in the nursery for him.
It’s almost six feet tall and took about 17 hours. And the sign on the tree is chalkboard paint! Just getting a headstart on being the World’s Best Dad.
It took 5 weeks after Ironman Rhode Island before I felt like doing anything. Like… anything. So I didn’t. And then finally on Sunday, when the armageddon rain stopped for a little while, I went for a run.
Surprisingly, the run went well. I kept it short and fast, around two miles, and felt pretty strong. Unsurprisingly, I’ve been sore from it for about 3 days now and my IT band has decided to stage a revolt against this uptick in activity. Even still, like an old friend, ‘the urge’ to, you know - do stuff - is slowly making it’s way back.
But like that old friend who never seems to make it anywhere on time, ‘the urge’ has shown up much too late. I’m registered for the Cranberry Country Triathlon. Which is… oh, lets see here… THIS SUNDAY.
While I haven’t completely ruled it out, chances are good that I’m going to be watching this one from the sidelines and playing cheerleader while everyone else suffers for 3 hours. Which poses another interesting dilema. I’ve already paid for the race. There’s at least a t-shirt coming my way (a nice tech t-shirt, if they’re like last years). Can I wear the shirt of a race I didn’t actually do? It certainly wouldn’t feel right. But I paid good money for it! Maybe if I only used it for working out or something. Hmm. This not doing stuff is hard.
Even though Michael Phelps got me all pumped, I’m still not ready to get back in the pool. And my bike might stay in the basement until Hub on Wheels rolls around again in September. But I definitely feel like running again. And that’s good enough for the time being. This waistline is starting to get a little tigher than I’d like. And I can’t be having that! I gotta look good in my kid’s first pictures come March! 
I’ve been dying to write this post for about a week now. But I kept pushing it off, waiting until I knew exactly what I wanted to say, because I was afraid of not getting it right. When you’ve come across one of the biggest life changing moments a person can ever have, surely the only post good enough is some grand pontification about the meaning of it all. But frankly, I don’t have it in me at the moment and I really can’t hold it in any longer. All I want to do it shout it out to the world, soooo…
We’re having a baby!
How f-in cool is that!? Actually, we found out for semi-sure the morning of Ironman Rhode Island five weeks ago. But we wanted to wait a little longer to make sure thing were progressing normally before saying anything. And so far, it’s all good. We had an ultrasound two weeks ago and saw the heart beating. A little beating heart… inside a blueberry-sized alien looking thing… inside of Dee. That’s absolute craziness.
The baby is due March 20. And right now, Dee is about 9 weeks along, which means it’s slightly less alien-like than a couple weeks ago and more grape sized than blueberry.
(7 week ultrasound. The baby is the measured blob. The thing above it isn’t a head, it’s a yolk sac. Yeah. I said WTF is a yolk sac too)
On Sunday, I did it. I finished. 6:07:32. Holy crap, that was a tough race!
More to come soon…
I saw these signs all along my route in Carlisle today. Weird.
I did it! 157 miles in two days. Almost $1,200 raised for MS. Mark and I rode and the girls volunteered (rest stop 2 is the best!). We had an awesome time. With over 8,000 feet of climbing according to my GPS, the ride was certainly challenging, but totally worth it. The MS Society had some nice things organized for us, including great food all weekend, free beer on Saturday night, and a comedy show with some quality comics that I’ve heard on XM before. Good stuff.
