shagpop's Xanga

Christening Invitation

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:50:31 GMT

We received an invitation for Noah’s christening in November. Since we are the Godparents I have no idea what to expect. In the church I grew up attending we did not christen babies, so this entire process is entirely new to me. Anyone want to fill me in on how this works?

Biking for the MS Society

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:13:05 GMT

As most of you know, Darren and I are participating the 2009 BB&T MS Tour to Tanglewood THIS WEEKEND. We both will be enduring the heat, pain and agony for this 2-day, 90-mile bike ride to raise money for National Multiple Sclerosis Society, in honor of our close friend, Debbie!

If you are unfamiliar with the event, the The 24th Annual Bike MS: BB&T Tour to Tanglewood is a 2-day cycling event that raises funds to support people living with multiple sclerosis in Central North Carolina and throughout the United States. Money raised through this event funds MS research, programs, services, and advocacy. This year, over 2000 cyclists and volunteers will participate in the event and raising $1.2 million to create a world free of MS.

I am asking you to join us in the fight against MS by making a contribution to support our efforts. You can pledge any amount by visiting the website links below. If you would like to donate please visit our personal Tour to Tanglewood fundraising pages: Darren's Page or Laura's Page. (I have reached my goal, please donate to Darren’s efforts.)

Darren and I have been training for this event all summer and are ready for the challenge! Here are some photos from one of the training rides a few weeks ago at Cycles de Oro in Greensboro.

Getting ready to ride

Gathering Around

Almost Ready

This is my friend Ed (in the orange jersey). I met this guy when I was working my first job (age 15). He has lost over 100 lbs in the past 11 years!

And we are off!

Here's Darren!

Here I am...

This guy rides every year!

This is too much fun!

Estate Auction

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:11:07 GMT

The Estate Auction is officially set for my Great Grandmother's property. It’s such an overwhelming rush of emotions. I plan to attend and maybe even bid on a few items.

I walked through the house last weekend and collected a few items for personal keeping. I got some Christmas decorations, cups, baking dishes and a couple other whatnots. Darren and I got the dinning room table a few months ago, because it was actually an item we needed.

The last time I was in the house was Christmas last year, what a great memory. I’m quite thankful that I had my camera took lots of pictures. We knew that she was sick and at a 101 we never knew how much time we had left with her.

Random Thoughts

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:10:07 GMT

This was just too good not to repost!!!

1. I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.
2. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.
3. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
4. I don’t understand the purpose of the line, “I don’t need to drink to have fun.” Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they’ve invented the lighter?
5. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
6. That’s enough, Nickelback.
7. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
8. Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the “people you may know” feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?
9. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.
10. There is a great need for sarcasm font.
11. Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.
12. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I’ll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone’s laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I’m still the only one who really, really gets it.
13. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
14. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
15. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
16. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.
17. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.
18. Was learning cursive really necessary?
19. Lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.
20. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
21. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
22. My brother’s Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, “Cuz we beat you, and you hate us.” Classy, bro.
23. Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.
24. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?
25. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
26. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse)..ummm…Goonies”
27. What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?
28. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart.
29. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
30. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
31. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
32. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
33. I would like to officially coin the phrase ‘catching the swine flu’ to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: “Dave caught the swine flu last night.”
34. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.
35. Bad decisions make good stories
36. Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!
37. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?
38. If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.
39. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….
40. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
41. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.
42. There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
43. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
44. “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.
45. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV.. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’
46. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?
47. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
48. When I meet a new girl, I’m terrified of mentioning something she hasn’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.
49. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
50. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles…
51. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
52. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
53. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.
54. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
55. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it.
56. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…
57. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day “Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the hell do I respond to that?
58. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.
59. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
60. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
61. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

Bike Training Update

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:57:19 GMT

I just wanted to share this photo taken a couple Saturdays ago on a 36-mile Tour to Tanglewood Training Ride.

I estimate this photo was taken around mile 26, on the outskirts of Clemmons. I’m in front and Darren’s behind me, even though he quickly passed me after this photo was taken. I was able to ride the entire distance in about 3 hours with an estimated speed of 12 ½ -13 mile per hour (varying with the hill climbing).

Thanks to Roadskater.net for the photo!

Please Help the MS Society

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:08:31 GMT

Darren and I have some exciting news! We are participating the 2009 BB&T MS Tour to Tanglewood on September 26th (less than a month away). We both will be enduring the heat, pain and agony for this 2-day, 90-mile bike ride to raise money for National Multiple Sclerosis Society, in honor of our close friend and pet-sitter, Debbie!

For those of you know know the general Triad area, the ride starts at Volvo Trucks in Greensboro and ends at Tanglewood Park in Winston-Salem. The next morning the ride begins at Tanglewood Park and returns to Volvo Trucks in Greensboro.

Darren and I have already been training hard for the event. We try to ride at least 15 miles twice a week on the local greenways and in the county parks. On the weekends we participate in the official training rides that range from 25 to 50 miles.

I am asking you to join us in the fight against MS by making a contribution to support my effort. You can pledge any amount by visiting the website links below. If you would like to donate please visit our personal Tour to Tanglewood web pages:

Darren: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/NCCBikeEvents?px=1794501&pg=personal&fr_id=11140

Laura: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/NCCBikeEvents?px=6936245&pg=personal&fr_id=11140

Thank you for your support in advance!

Godparents

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:51:45 GMT

As of yesterday morning, Darren and I are offically Godparents. Our best friends had a boy (Noah Benjamin) yesterday morning in Frederick, Maryland. We could not be happier for mom and dad!

We visited them over the weekend (hoping the baby would already be born), but it was awesome to see how happy they were about the soon-to-be family addition.

More later...

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:17:00 GMT

Yay for new lamps for my living room!

Now it’s time to scout out new curtains/window coverings and area rug. By the way, never iron something on top of your area rug…it will melt! (I had to learn the hard way.)

Fun Times

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:56:47 GMT

I came across this photo last night and it brought a huge smile to my face. It was taken in February when we went with a group of friends to see a local band play.

This photo is ironic in so many ways:

1 – Look at all the empty beer bottles…neither Darren or I drink

2 – Darren was reading the newspaper in the bar before the photo was taken

3 – Apparently I’m holding another guys hand

4 – How often do you see a guy-on-guy kiss?

Motorcycle Time

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:52:38 GMT

I love my new motorcycle jacket!!! I also purchased a new helmet over the weekend. I’m set to hit the road!