After church and few errands, Carol and I headed over to Kroger for a little shopping - we needed to get things for dinner tonight, a few supplies for the week, and to get stuff to bring to Kings Island Wednesday so we could eat a healthy lunch in the picnic area instead of paying $8.00 for a hot dog.

Always wear your seatbelt, it’s the law!

And keep your eyes on the road and hands at 10 and 2

Cart selection is important, you don’t want a dirty one or one with 3 wheels that go right and one that goes left.

Give us this day our daily bread

The bananas looked appealing… (D’oh!)

Lettuce give thanks

The peppers looked good today

And we needed some tomatoes for dinner tonight

Beef jerky time!

Carol seems confused by the vast array of salad dressings

Grover and Elmo would like your child to eat healthier

Just for Chaz - he’s a big fan

Mmmm steak (note: No cow parts were actually purchased)

Checkout time

Yeah, guess who ended up pushing the cart.

That guy in front of the cart had some awesome shoes

Having a pickup makes it convenient to load groceries

Gotta put the cart back

And here’s part of dinner right before it went in the oven - sprinkled with Old Bay and drizzled with olive oil.

And it was delicious!

What was your day like today?

My good buddy Helen found a great yard sale score. A trikke for $35.00 - apparently these normally are in the $300 range, so this was a major find.

Anyway, Helen brought it to church Sunday, and Helen, Melanie, and I took turns riding it around the parking lot. It was a bit of a workout, and apparently it’s all the rage with the ultra-fit set, so now Helen is a trendy elitist. (She’s not, really. She drives a Saturn named Esther)

So here’s a video of me tooling around the parking lot. Note the lack of any safety gear, for which I received a stern talking to from Carol. Next time I will wear a helmet, because she loves me and doesn’t want my brains splattered in the parking lot.

It’s harder than it looks, you have to do this kinda roller-blade/skiing motion, which supposedly you’ll find a sweet spot and just zoom off into the sunset. I think I need more than 2 minutes to find it however.

And the reason you should wear protection…

Thanks to an excellent nursing job by Carol, it doesn’t hurt as much as it would have otherwise And I will be sure to wear a helmet next time.

Here’s my little reminder of my first, ill-fated attempt

I cannot wait to ride the new Diamondback Roller Coaster at Kings Island!  80mph, 5,200 feet long, 231 feet high!  This is gonna be one wild ride!

… just how we play the hand.”

That’s a quote from Professor Randy Pausch.

I’m not sure if you’ve heard of Professor Pausch. In August 2006 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which is almost always fatal because it usually has no symptoms early on, and by the time it is detected, it’s already involved several other organs.  Typically, most patients have around 3 to 6 months to live once it’s detected

Professor Pausch was diagnosed in August 2006.  Knowing he was facing the end of his life, he gave what is now know as “The Last Lecture”.  What he did was speak of life, and how to face and overcome obstacles.  He acknowledged he was dying, but spoke of how to achieve our dreams.  He had a terminal illness, but shared a positive message, one of hope and love.  He’s in the final stages of his life, but he’s saying to live day-to-day and enjoy the simple things.

Professor Pausch died July 25, 2008.

Set aside an hour and watch this.  That other stuff can wait.  Watch this.  Buy the book.  Live your dreams.

A Sugar Daddy.

The life you save may be your own

After going through my various online accounts today – Facebook, Myspace, and email, I find myself duty-bound to speak about a subject that has been vexing me of late, but I have not yet said anything about… Those emails, bulletins, and quizzes usually sent from friends and family that you are supposed to read and send to everyone in your address book, plus the person that sent it to you.

Almost always, these arrive with the guarantee of some kind of blessing, be it from God, financially, or from Bill Gates, for forwarding it on to others. They can contain oblique - and sometimes not so oblique - warnings of death, disaster, and dismemberment if you do not immediately comply with the instructions.

I am not completely against forwarding email and I do sometimes forward emails that I feel are useful, but I will typically delete chain emails without even reading them. Since I am a Christian, a lot of these emails include a reference to God or Jesus, and how I must not be ashamed to let everyone know about the fact that I am a follower of Jesus. My friends and relatives are already aware of that, and I really doubt they require my forwarding an email in order to validate that fact.

So for all my friends, relatives, and acquaintances who may be reading this, don’t think that I don’t care about you, I would rather let you know this personally and not by forwarding chain emails and cluttering up your inbox. If any of you understand where I am coming from please let me know that I am not alone.

Thanks.

Peace.

Forward this to all of your friends and receive this lovely gift.

That cop is actually Jenny…

Chuck Norris is indestructible

At the risk of turning in my Man Card, I did something over the weekend that I’ve always been curious about. Plus I had a discount, so it made the decision a little easier…

I got a pedicure.

Yep, I went to Alverno Salon & Spa and got a pedicure. And it was pretty cool. Kim is awesome, and I highly recommend going to see her. She started me off with a foot whirlpool kinda thing. The water was hot and bubbly, and had some kind of soak in it. Dunno what it was, but it felt pretty good!

After about 10 minutes of that, Kim came back in and started on my right foot. She did some work on my cuticles that involved some kind of metal spoon-looking thing and a lotion of some sort. I probably should have asked more questions about what she was doing so I could have documented this better, but I was really enjoying it too much. She trimmed my nails, which wasn’t a whole lot of work since I had done that prior to going there - I wasn’t sure what the protocol was, and I didn’t want to look like I never trimmed my toenails!

She took a file and worked on my callouses, saying they weren’t too bad. I guess because I don’t force my feet into high heels There was a different kind of lotion applied to me feet and legs; this one was purple and felt a little gritty, like there was crystals in it. As Kim was applying it, she said she’s not used to doing this for people with hairy legs… I guess that’s a good thing

She put my right foot back in the bath, and proceeded to repeat the process with my left foot. Back to the right foot with another kind of lotion and a calf and foot massage. Oh, bliss! That was probably the best part. Left foot got the same treatment, and I opted out of having my nails painted, there is a line, yanno. Since the polish was skipped, Kim had time to trim my hair, since I was getting kinda shaggy.

Ok, now my feet felt all soft and pampered; I can see why women enjoy that so much. I’d do it again, but probably not monthly. Manicure next? We’ll see…