2007 Pfalz Point Trail Challenge

This past Sunday was the culmination of 2 months of running training. The Pfalz Point Trail Challenge is in the Mohonk Preserve, 90 miles north of NYC and offers amazingly beautiful views while you sweat out 10 miles of intensive trail running. The run was hard and I wished I had ran up a few more hills in my training since over half of this trail run feels like you're either struggling up a hill or sprinting down the hill you just struggled up. In the end, I finished #117 with a 1:28:26 time. I was pretty darn happy with that seeing as how hilly the terrain was. My calves are killin' me!!! I even saw two doe jump across the trail right in front of me at mile 5-1/4... the conservationists wet dream (my brother would have shot 'em).

I'll have to say this run was a steal at only $25 which included a t-shirt, and a great chili feed after the race all going to benefit the Mohonk Preserve. Now I'm off to my next competition... the Men's Health Urbanathlon!

Prince Classic 2007

One short week ago marked the 2007 Prince Classic. The competition was hot on a nice cool Friday evening in Seattle. This years' tournament was our most comfortable ever, held at Eric Roberts place in West Seattle which had tons of room to accommodate all the cribbage at hand. The cribbage gods must have viewed this nicely as they endowed upon Eric the 2007 trophy as he went on to win his 4 final games. Eric was almost eliminated losing 2 of his first 3 games and barely squeaked into the finals coming in only 6 points ahead of Todd Bullock.

The final game versus Dan Wrenn (2005 Prince Classic Champion) was intense, with smack-talk around every hand. Dan had beat Eric by one point earlier in the night during the round robin (this is known as being left in the stink-hole) but he couldn't pull the trigger twice on big E. "Two-four-six-eight-ten... so that's eighteen", said Eric in an early hand; and the luck continued for Mr. Roberts as he took home the coveted engraved 29 board and $40 in cash. If you'd like to see more pics, go here.

Time Ticks Away, Things Change

I was in Washington for two weeks! Here's some evidence to prove it in case anyone has there doubts later on. I have to give a warning though. It seems that I have gotten a little nostalgic in my late twenties. I don't know what it is that made that happen. It may be that I'm getting smarter and I know when something is good, it may be that I moved across the country and don't see any of this any more. Regardless though, it has happened. I love my friends and family and the North West! Who would have thought?

First I went to Richland, WA where my parents live. I got some very good QT in with my folks and two of my oldest friends from the ol' days: Elizabeth Anne and Kristen Liv. (shown in reverse order with me on the right, in my parent's kitchen)

I spent the majority of the week going to various places with my Mom. Tagging along like a three year old that is too young to stay home by myself. It was fun and we had a lot of good conversation, which I hope was more intelligent than if I was actually a three year old but just as fun. Ah the old days. It was also pretty fun when my Dad would get home from work in the afternoons because then we would make dinner and talk some more. Sometimes he would go off into the back yard and "take care of" a squirrel that he caught in his cages, but I didn't get any pictures of that. (Here's a picture of them in their kitchen.)

At the end of the week we did some wine tasting which was excellent. Dad and I went on Friday since he didn't have to work and then we went again on Saturday with Missy and Richard while Mom babysat her newest grandbaby/puppy Cassie. My bro and sis-in-law had just given birth to her the previous weekend! (well they actually picked her up from a breeder in Ellensburg or something but it's the same thing) How lucky was I to have seen her while I was there? Very lucky. She is the cutest doggy niece I have and a Corgy to boot. Richard and Missy were kind enough to give me a lift back to Seattle on Sunday.

Here's what it looks like out near Richland and then you can watch the terrain change as we get into Seattle. It's pretty cool how such different environments are so close together and how suddenly they transition into each other. (That's the Columbia River flowing next to the road though the desert.) And Finally the mountains turn into a city!








I was very lucky during my time in Seattle and had the pleasure of staying with one of my best friends' from college days, Meghan (same one from the next photo), at her parent's house in Wallingford. Thank you so much Helsels! Unfortunately I don't have a picture of them but you don't need a picture when you can take my word for the fact that it did happen and they are great people. I made my time in Seattle having such a relaxing place to stay at.


Besides spending time loafing around the Helsel home while I was in Seattle I spent the first couple days helping my friend Amy find a wedding dress and throwing her a bridal shower! It was great! She lives in Alaska now so she just doesn't have the selection up there to get the gown of her dreams. Luckily they did in Seattle and the dress, along with all the bridesmaid dresses, are ordered and paid for! But it did take all week to find it. In reality a week is not very long, she did a great job. I think the average bride must take more like a month or two to find the right dress.

Here is Amy (in pink) with her Mom and our friend Meghan at the end of our first day of the dress search!








I also was able to find time to visit with lots of friends! Such as the fabulous Jernberg family (from left: Tim, Abby, Andrew & Elizabeth) and the wonderful Maureen Bennett (w/ A. Calder's "Eagle" in the background at the new SAM Sculpture Park).


Theo came into town so late on Wednesday night that it was actually a couple hours into Thursday by the time he arrived. He was sick and tired upon his arrival in Seattle, but he scored us a convertible so it almost made it okay.

Here you can see how happy our friend Corey is about the convertible.

This post is getting really long so I'm going to skip the cribbage tournament and Theo will have to do a complete post with it later.

I will briefly mention that we went to Tim and Michele's wedding up at Semiahmoo (that's north of Seattle for anyone that doesn't know). And it was awesome. They got married!!! We had a lot of fun dancing, drinking wine, eating good food, and especially seeing them get hitched and conversing with them. We also got to stay with Theo's Mom and Step Dad in Lynden which was great (though I don't have a picture of them...I remember taking one...I wonder what happened).

The long and the short of it is that we had a great time! Thanks y'all!

Update on Broken Lenox

Thanks to you all for your great comments. We are going with "not replacing" for the time being. However, you all may be interested in knowing that two of the wine goblets from the set were broken in the last two weeks. I don't quite know what to think of this. We went two years with out a single one breaking and now it's as though if you touch one it breaks. It's as though there is a universal law that says everything will be fine until something bad happens and then the **** will hit the fan. I don't like this law.