Greetings once again Earthlings. Today is 29 January and I feel like crap. Our special today is sinus infection with a post nasal drip side and pressure headache for dessert. I knew this was coming. Yesterday I had a bike ride all planned out. I had my outfit on, my water bottles topped off with Gatorade and my heart rate monitor was just warming up. As I made my way out of the neighborhood I waved to Karen and the kids as they were returning from a visit with Karen's sis-in-law's family. I think I made it 200 or so yards past the front of our development before I turned around and headed home as that's how long it took for the good Karma to drain from this ride. Right before I started to ride, dark clouds came in quickly. What was a high of around 56 degrees F started dropping. I wasn't feeling particularly good, but didn't feel bad enough to not ride. Common sense more than Karma told me to turn my ass around and go home. The thought of being 15 miles away from home on my bike in the rain at 40 degrees while getting a cold started to sound like the ill-advised plan it was. For the record, I've been working out quite consistently for the past 5 weeks. I've been been doing some runs of up to four miles, bike rides as far as 30 miles (in temps of less than 50) and a couple of half miles in the pool. I've lost about a dozen pounds and I feel a lot better.
Karen has started working out again also. She and I ride our bikes inside several nights a week and the mind always feels better after using the body. Karen has a tough job and I don't know how she keeps her sanity every day. The boys are both challenging albeit in different ways. David is now two and three quarter years old and is testing his limits by way of testing our limits. By and large David is a joy to be around, but he conducts rather obvious experiments to see just how much he can get away with. Karen has the patience of Job and it is a good thing she does. Camden is now coming up on five months old and is doing very well. As a refresher, Camden was born with only one kidney, but all subsequent tests have indicated that the other kidney has assumed its full responsibility and he's doing fine. I think it's more apparent to Karen than it is to me that having a second child is a greater task than simply two times the effort of the first. When we had David and he had times of being all consuming there was no other entity also demanding care. With Camden's arrival, Karen has had to learn how to spread her time as necessary by priority and I know that's very challenging at times. I have always loved my wife and the greatest surprise is that she contines to grow and develop with the boys in beautiful - although sometimes challenging - ways. I love you honey!!!
Work at BCBSNC is going well and I'm starting to get a grasp on my place in the Blue universe. The people continue to be outstanding teachers and the company really gives you the opportunity to take ownership of your success. Part of the benefits package at BCBSNC are various educational opportunities and I plan to exploit those opportunities in the near future, so stay tuned for more details.
All in all the family is doing well and we miss anyone that reads this page. As Camden becomes more portable we plan to travel a little more this year visiting family and maybe even a Summer or Fall vacation. Thanks for taking the time check in on us and give us a call sometime.
