Missing a hubcap, but we've got marathon pictures!

Tonight, Sarah and I went to the local grocery store. When we returned to the car, I was dismayed to find out that my right front hubcap had disappeared! We drove around the parking lot looking for it, but were unsuccessful. Why just one? And why even take one? Kind of rediculous...and annoying. Any ideas where I can pick up an extra hubcap for a Chevy Prizm?

In more positive news, we started our classroom ballroom dancing lessons today. Despite the mixed response at first, kids mostly enjoyed the time. The big issue was holding hands and dancing with a partner, but thankfully, the instructors are easing them into it. So far, no partners.

Jim and Teresa Sorge are coming to Philadelphia! Sarah and I know both of them very well--I lived in the same building as Jim for all four years in college, while Sarah danced almost every day with Teresa. Teresa will be starting her masters in dance at Temple in either January or September, and Jim is job hunting. If anyone knows of an open position for a biology, chemistry, french major who is brilliant, let me know!

The official marathon pictures are now online. Sarah and I will be ordering one of us crossing the finish line, even though it is the most expensive 5x7 I will probably ever buy in my life. If you want to see them, visit this website. Our bib numbers are 7648 and 7649.

Hell's Hollow

There's a hiking trail near Sarah's house in New Castle, PA (near Pittsburgh) that is called Hell's Hollow. I'm quite unclear about the etymological roots of the name, since the trails are in beautiful Western Pennsylvania hills with water, rock formations, and trees aplenty. Sarah has wanted to take me there for years, and yesterday, she finally did. We had a wonderful time walking through the woods before we stopped and talked in view of a waterfall. So beautiful!

Microsoft Office for $60...for students

If you have a valid .edu e-mail address, you can purchase the full version of Microsoft Office 2007 for only $60! The deal is good until the end of April. The full version sells for over $600. If you're interested, read more here.

Post-marathon update

So, post-marathon life continues. Looking back, running a marathon was a phenomenal experience. It's something that I wish more people got a chance to do in their lives. I believe that Sarah and I were blessed with great health and timing for our training (even her rotations at the hospital were timed perfectly so she had a less intensive rotation during the long run parts). Neither one of us suffered any injury beyond an ache or pain along the way. Plus, we were able to both finish with the help of our wonderful friends. I'm not sure I could have asked for anything more with it!

The dreaded question is: will I do it again? I don't know. I'm not sure I could commit to that amount of time and energy without a strong purpose. As of right now, I don't see something like that in the foreseeable future. So, we'll have to see what happens.

Ballroom dancing? At school?!?

Yep, starting on Monday, the 4th and 5th graders at Spruce Hill Christian School will begin learning ballroom dancing from two professional dance instructors for a combined gym class on Monday afternoons. This is the first time our school has done something like this! Laura (4th grade teacher) and I broke the news to students yesterday, to mixed reactions. 4th grade was super excited about the opportunity and cheered. My class, however, couldn't believe the school would subject them to such torture. I explained how thousands of 4th and 5th grade kids in New York City have completed the program and enjoyed it, but that sales pitch was unsuccessful: "But we're not like those kids! We're different!"

Fortunately, Laura had rented Mad Hot Ballroom, a documentary on the dance program in the New York City schools. We watched it together, and the students' concerns shifted to "do we HAVE to do this??" to "who will be my partner?" I saw that as a good sign. After talking one-on-one with some of the major voices of dissension, students agreed to give it a try. The movie helped a considerable amount; here's a preview:



Personally, I'm pretty excited about this opportunity. We'll be learning the cha-cha, salsa, tango, and swing! The schools who have done this before describe how behavior issues within the class decrease, boys start treating girls with more respect and dignity, and how kids love it! My students really enjoy dancing, but their definition of dancing is mostly hip hop. I hope this helps them expand their world view a bit, as well as help them mature into fine gentlemen and ladies!

Marathon finishers

Today, Sarah and I ran and finished the Philadelphia Marathon. Yes, that's right: we FINISHED a MARATHON! I still don't quite believe it, to be honest. The weather had threatened to rain the whole day, which would have probably been quite miserable. However, God held it off until we were done, and we only had to deal with a little bit of "spitting" once or twice. The temperature was as perfect as it could have been--a little cold before the race started, but when we were running, I wouldn't wanted it to have been any warmer or colder.

Our two goals were to (1) finish and (2) possibly get done before noon. We accomplished both! Our final chip time (the time when we crossed the start to the finish) was about 4 hours and 30 minutes. We averaged just over 10 minute miles for the entire race!

One of the best parts about the race was all the people who came to cheer us on. Dan and Krista Carter (who we got to cheer on last year) ran the last 11 miles with us. Sarah's roommate Michelle ran the last 1.5 miles. Melanie and Christian ran a mile at the halfway point. Plus, a bunch of friends from Liberti came to cheer at the start and finish!

The best part of the day for me was the last .2 miles. I had started to cramp up in my left calf, but the last part of the race ended in a tunnel-like opening with people on both sides. Sarah and finished without anyone else around us, which was really, really cool. I don't think I've ever felt anything like it!

Afterwards, my body started screaming at me, and the first 20-30 minutes after our finish were pretty painful. By the time we made it back to Sarah's apartment and I took a shower, I felt much better. Some delicious tomato soup with grilled cheese, Advil, pretzels, bananas, chicken broth, water, an apple, and a 90-minute nap later, I was feeling pretty good. Right now, I'm a bit sore in the legs, but much better than I had anticipated.

Three days before the marathon

I'm pumping my body with fluids, anti-inflamitories, and carbs. Feeling nervous...feeling pretty excited...feeling a little chilly (it's supposed to be 32 when the marathon begins!). My main goal: finish. My second goal: finish before noon. Tomorrow night we have a spaghetti dinner with the students. Here we go.

Ron Paul rally!

While touring downtown Philly yesterday, we stumbled over a Ron Paul rally! His moniker is the "defender of the Constitution," so he fittingly had a rally directly in front of the Constitution Center. We weren't planning on the event, but none of us had been to a campaign event recently. Despite the fact that we were against some of his views, we managed to join in the hostile crowd environment and cheer on the man who says he would abolish income tax and the IRS if he were elected president.

Here are a few photos from the event:

Russ and Lori's visit

This weekend, Russ and Lori came to visit. They are Sarah's old youth group leaders from high school, and we've had the opportunity to hang out with them on several different occasions. They're a spunky couple with a passion for people and laughter. Needless to say, we had a great time. First, along with Ryan and Elissa--two friends who just moved to Philly from Sarah's old church--we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the new Urban Saloon. Saturday morning we toured Eastern State Penitentiary, Independence Mall, and the Liberty Bell. They wanted to hear all about our lives here in Philly and our relationship...and we love to talk about ourselves! We enjoyed our time with them.


Here are a few pictures from our stay at Eastern State:

This is Sarah and Lori trying to escape:

And here are two latest incarcerated bums.

House concert

Liberti's worship leader Dave Braud hosted a house show with his wife Sarah. They had three artists that Dave knew from his time in Nashville, TN. All three were high quality! Sarah and I had heard two of them perform last fall here in Philadelphia and we bought their CDs. We bought another one at the house show last night, too. The artists are wonderful. They are on a three-week tour throughout the northeast. Some of their work has played on Grey's Anatomy as well as other prime-time TV shows! Check out Katie Herzig, Matthew Perryman Jones, and Peter Bradley Adams. Katie's song "Sweeter Than This" is simply beautiful--Sarah and I decided that it's our #2 song together. =)

Sarah and I sat two feet (TWO FEET!) from the artists as they played. After they were done with a set, we talked with them for a while. Then when the show was over, we talked with two of them for almost an hour about their touring, inspiration, etc. The whole atmosphere was very personal, laid-back, and intimate...I liked it a lot.

The procedes of the event went to a documentary a friend from Liberti is making called Women in War Zones. It's an ambitious project that two Liberti guys decided to undertake last year when they went to Africa to film treatment of women in conflict situations. More to come when that's completed and released!

Philadelphia's finest?

So, last night Sarah and I were coming home from the house concert when we heard a firetruck's siren behind us. As required by law, I pulled over to the side to allow the truck to pass. The rather aggressive driver behind me decided to use this opportunity to pass me, but halfway past me decided to allow me back in my rightful place on the road. In all this commotion, however, I neglected to notice that the "no left turn" signs as I turned left from Ridge Ave. onto Girard Ave. (why I can't turn left there...I don't know!) No sooner did I do that did a police car turn on its lights and search light and pull me over. The Michigan driver's license and perfect driving record did nothing to deter this persistent police officer: after a half hour in the petrol car, he handed me a $119 ticket worth 3 points on my license! Yikes!!! Sarah suggested that we get a warning with all the commotion, our ignorance and such, but our officer had made up his mind. Fortunately, he did recommend that we contest the ticket in court and that the judge would probably throw it out. If he believes this, then, why did he still give us the ticket? With all the crime in Philly, I felt like we wasted over a half hour of two officers' time! Alas, alack...

The G-phone

The latest rumor buzzing around the Internet was Google's so-called "Gphone"--that Google was developing its own phone to compete with Apple's iPhone. Well, today Google announced that they aren't designing their own phone: they're designing an operating system, applications, and a platform for many other companies to use to design their phones. Here's the announcement from Google. This has the potential to change to mobile phone industry, making it cheaper for companies and ultimately, consumers, as well as providing an opportunity for any high school tech wiz to write software for a phone!

Now that anyone will be able to write software for phones in this alliance, people are free to dream bigger dreams! Here's a cute video Google made asking kids what their magic phone would do:

Google Street View comes to Philly!

Perhaps the best news of last week was when I discovered that streets in Philadelphia were added to Google's Map website. Street View is the newest addition to Google Maps. They drive around with a car taking hundereds of pictures a minute. Using photo-splicing software, they connect all the pictures together to create a seamless image of the actual street people can drive on. This is unbelievable. Try it out! Go to my house on Google Maps. Then click on the street view button. What you'll see is a view from my front porch! Turn 180 degrees and you'll see my front door--complete with a beware of dog sign. Seth and I guessed that the picture was taken this summer, as you can see his new air conditioner in the 2nd floor window.

The possibilities of this are quite fantastic! Imagine getting directions to a location, then pulling it up on the map to see exactly what the landmarks are near your turn!?! Pretty amazing.

Sarah's birthday, part 2

I had to share this picture taken by our friend Kelly Thayer. It captures the most memorable part of Sarah's birthday, as eight of us attempted to spell S-A-R-A-H with our bodies (unfortunately, I drew the short straw and attempted to form an S with less than moderate success). Sarah wooed the crowd by slipping into the splits at the last second. She can do it all!

Marathon training

The Philadelphia Marathon is in two weeks. Yikes.

Last weekend, we did what most marathon-ers say is the hardest run: 21 miles in a non-race situation. Sarah and I were out at her parents' house near Pittsburgh. We managed to find a nice, flat bike course through the beautiful hills and colorful trees of Western Pennsylvania. The run went amazing well, except that we made the mistake of poor hydration. Since we were what some might call the "boondocks", there weren't many water faucets to be found. We stopped at a town on our way home, but it wasn't quite enough. I had to do a walk/slow jog combo for the last three miles, and Sarah was more than understanding and comforting for me. I scarfed down a few funny-tasting apples in her car after we got back. Unfortunately, I puked them back up a half hour later. Besides that, it was probably our best run we'd had yet. Sarah and I both felt strong, and we managed to run 21 miles in less than 3 1/2 hours (I forget our exact time, however).

Today we ran a 2PM race with mostly other students run students. It was a simple loop around the Schuylkill River. What was surprising about it was that since there weren't many people in the race, Sarah and I both received medals for our age group! We arrived at the finish line at the same time (Sarah technically crossed a split-second ahead of me). Sarah got a 3rd place medal, and I got a 2nd place one. What's crazy is that I've never run in a race expecting to win or even get anything. So, it was a nice surprise.

The last two weeks before the marathon are supposed to be tapered--running less so your body is at peak capacity for the 26.2 miles. We're both nervously excited about it, and it seems that the students share our feelings. Since the course is long, we're looking for people to help cheer us on! If you're interested, please come!!! We'll be running from 7AM until probably noonish.

Soccer game

Yesterday, Mrs. McGreevy (4th grade teacher) and I attended one of our school's soccer games. A few of my 5th graders are on the team, which goes up to 8th grade. Unfortunately, we lost, but one of my students scored one of the two goals!!! Here are some snapshots from the event:

Two of my students.

Another student with a soccer player's younger brother.

Two excited teachers.