Redneck Sledding

Last night, in case you haven't heard, Georgia was covered with a blanket of beautiful white snow.  At Casa de Butler, we personally got 5+ inches.  It's awesome.

Today happens to be one of my regular exercise days.  The sidewalks are ice.  The gym is my normal bad weather option, but the roads are "officially unsafe", so I didn't feel like I could really head down there either.  So...options?  It's obvious, isn't it?

I put on my cold weather gear and headed outside to run in the snow in my yard.  Because of my habit of wearing shorts year-round, you may find yourself surprised that I own "cold weather gear".   Well, I do.  Here's the breakdown of my sub-arctic wardrobe:

• ski-mask (a gift from my wife)
• knit gloves (not the best for snow, but they help a little)
• long sleeve t-shirt (I got if for doing the Gobble Jog 5k)
• sleeveless t-shirt (custom, it originally had sleeves)
• Captain America Wal-mart hoodie (only for when it is sub-0 and I am going to be outside for an extended time)
• sweat pants (hand-me-downs from my buddy Don)
• tennis shoes covered with 1 gallon Ziploc bags, held in place with duct tape

I was absolutely toasty!

I headed out in the yard and started running around the yard.  It was hard work!  The snow had a nice 1/2" crust on the top that I had to break through.  I had run while it WAS snowing, but it was the first time I had ever run IN the snow.

I was only out there a few minutes when my son joined me.  We grabbed a big Rubbermaid tub, tied a tow rope around it, and BAM!  Redneck sled.  I drug him all over the yard.  The only problem was that the bottom of the tub didn't have quite enough surface area, so unless I pulled up as well as forward, the front of the tub would break through the ice and our sled turned into an ice-breaker.  That led to him getting dumped out on any corner.  

This just confirms that winter weather is the best weather ever!

Post Gobble Jog Update

Well, my friends...Thanksgiving has come and gone, and with it, the Gobble Jog.  My first 5k was a blast and I really enjoyed.  What a great group of supportive people I have around me.  There were lots of my friends waiting to cheer me on at the end.

One friend really went the extra mile.  About 200 yards from the end, Becky was standing on the side cheering me on, but it didn't stop there.  As I passed her, she jumped back in the race with me and encouraged me all the way to the finish.  It was awesome.  Thanks to her, I made my goal time of < 40 minutes.

Tonight, as a reminder to myself, I framed my number, d-chip, and a picture of me and Cheryl just before the race.

My 42nd birthday is February 10th (please, no gifts).  As a present to myself, I am signing up for the Marietta 5k Mardi Gras Run, benefiting the Junior League, on February 12th.  I've changed my countdown clock from the Gobble Jog to this race, and today it is sitting at 78 days and counting!

Thanks to everyone that has encouraged me, exercised with me, and listened to me babble on about getting in shape and the Gobble Jog.   One race down, a lifetime to go!

Labor Day Update

Hello everyone!

We are at approximately the 10 week mark of my journey to health and fitness, and I thought I would give everyone an update.  But first, let me start by saying thank you to everyone that has supported me, encouraged me, and/or just put up with me blabbing on about getting in shape.

There are also a couple of special "shout-outs" that I would like to do.

1)  Terran Messer.  My longest and most faithful workout partner!  I've rualked many an extra mile because of his encouragement.  (And a mini-shout-out to my other private track peeps:  Justin Clarke, Lee Westberry, and Joshua Perkins.)

2)  Brian Edholm.  My coach/accountability partner/encourager/mentor/friend.  We really ought to come up with a better title for you.  Brian has met with me faithfully every other week from the beginning.

3)  Cheryl Butler.  That's right...my wife!  She's a constant source of encouragement, and always manages to sincerely say, "That's great!" whenever I go on and on about getting new running shoes for the third time in a single day.

4)  Molly, Molly, and Becky.  You've consistently encouraged me. I appreciate your encouragement, as well as your example.

Now for the update.

My goal was 50 lbs by Labor Day.  Saturday morning I did my regularly scheduled weigh-in, and I am happy to report that I had lost 50.6 lbs!!  Wahoo!  I made it early.  Here are the "stats" in a more stat-like format:

Weight lost:  50.6 lbs (I know, I just said that.)
Inches lost:  6" in my waist, a good 3"+ in my neck
Blood Pressure:  from an average of 140/90 to an average of 120/75

The "before" picture attached to this post was taken last summer.  The "during" picture was taken tonight.  I'll let you figure out which one is which.



Thanks again to everyone!

It's Like Direct Deposit

I learned something today which you may have already known.

I went for a rualk in Alexandra Farms, the neighborhood behind our house.  I mapped out my course before I left and found that it was 1.6 miles long with only one tiny little shortcut available.  When I started out, I just set a goal in my mind of reaching the end of the 1.6 miles...which I did.

Here's where the fun starts.  I had no choice but to come back.  I had "direct deposited" 1.6 miles into my workout plan.  I guess I could have called Cheryl to come pick me up, but there were a few problems with that scenario.

1)  Macho men don't ask for directions, much less call for rides.
2)  I wouldn't be polite to ask my wife to drop what she was doing and come rescue me.
3)  I didn't bring my phone.  (See how I planned that?)

If you are a fledgling runner like myself, it's great having a track that you can do laps on.  But what's even better is if you have a course that is the complete distance that you want to go, with no shortcuts available.

Does anyone else have any suggestions along those lines?  Are you thinking about giving my technique a try?

Back to School Bash

Today my church hosted a "Back to School Bash". We had free hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, snowcones, and drinks. There were not 1, not 2, but 3 bouncy-house-thingys for the kids. There was face painting (that was incredible, I might add) and carnival games for the kids. And let's not forget the live music from the Easy Pieces, Sheri Carr and Diane Thiel (and friends). To top it off we had a prayer booth and a dunking booth. I'll let you guess which one got the most traffic.

Zaxby's donated sweet tea and free kid's meal coupons, as well promoted the event with a special coupon good during the event. The Zaxby's chicken, "LZ", was out shaking hands with the kids and hanging out. They even put the event on their Facebook page!

Our next-door neighbors, All Star Pizza Co. also chipped in, letting us store our ice in their coolers , as well supplying some wonderful baked ziti and rolls.

But the main thrust of the afternoon was to give away backpacks with school supplies for local children. That's where Cheryl and I worked, and it was great fun. I don't know how many backpacks we had to start, but we gave them ALL away. Everyone was very excited and appreciative to receive them.

We didn't solve world hunger today, or end war, but we blessed our community, offered hope to some people that might not have had it, and possibly eased the financial burden on some families going through some tough times.

Over all, I'd say that's a good day.

A special "shout out" and "mad props" to Ali, Skye, and Elizabeth for helping take care of Nathanael (and to anybody else that chased him down). It gave me and Cheryl a chance to do something we both love: serving together. Thanks!

On a Similar Note

Last week I blogged a little about my feelings toward the military, and my appreciation for those that serve our country. I mentioned that my nephew was in serving with the USMC in Iraq right now. He just re-enlisted while he was over there. Apparently, they take pictures of that, so I thought I would just share a couple of them with you.

We're very proud of him.

It's Just Some Comic Books

When I was 9 years old, my family became friends with a family named the Sweets. They had a son named Woody who was a couple of years older than me. He collected comic books, so I started collecting comic books.

I loved to read, and I already had quite a few comics, but the idea of collecting them was new to me. Woody introduced me to price guides, correct storage and handling, etc. I wanted to collect everything, but that of course was impossible, so I decided to focus on my favorite: The Avengers.

The Avengers had all the greatest heroes: Iron Man, Captain America, Ant Man, Thor, The Wasp, and more. Of course, the Avengers also included The Vision, who was my favorite.

After I had been collecting for a year or two, my family took a trip to a large flea market/trade day/swap meet in Pearland, Texas. It just so happened, one of the permanent stores at this location was a comic shop! Wahoo!! Comic books!

In this comic shop, like most, comics were organized alphabetically by title, starting from the lowest numbered issue and going forward. When we entered the store, I went straight for the Avengers, and started looking through the most recent issues. I only had a few dollars with me, and I knew I could get more book for my buck by buying the newer issues, which are usually the least expensive.

So, as I was looking through the 150's and 160's, my dad walked up and started looking through the box to my left. He pulled out a comic and laid it on the box.

"Do you have this one?"

I glanced over, it was Avengers issue number 23!

"No sir," I said, thinking to myself, "Of course not, Dad, that's number 23!" At that time, my oldest issue was number 127. I went back to sorting through the 150s: 152...need it...153...got it.

"Do you have this one?" He had laid issue 24 on top of 23.

"No sir."

Okay...154...got it...155...got it.

"How about this one?"

Issue 26. Now I started to get suspicious.

"No sir."

Issue 27 joined the pile. "This one?"

I just shook my head.

"These the other ones you need?" he asked, picking up the stack I had created.

I just nodded.

Dad walked up to the counter and purchased them. I was now the owner of issues 23, 24, 26, and 27!! No way!!

Almost 30 years later, I can still tell you the numbers of those four issues. It wasn't the fact that my dad spent some money on me and bought me some comics. It was that he participated. Even though it was only for a few minutes and in a small degree, he demonstrated that he knew something about what I was interested in. My dad was not a "comic book kind of guy". In fact, in his life, I don't know that he ever read a single comic.

Of course, this wasn't the only time my dad ever participated in the things I liked. He was my t-ball coach, and came to see me play the trumpet every time I played. But there was something about that day, that moment, that has always stuck with me.

I think it is for two reasons. One, he surprised me! I had no idea he was going to do what he did. And two, I didn't ask him to do it. Not only was he willing, he initiated it. Oh yeah, there's a third reason...it involved the Avengers!

Visitors from the East

This weekend, my nephew Travis and his wife April stopped by on their way from Texas back to North Carolina. He's a U.S. Marine, and will be shortly shipping out for his second tour in Iraq. They arrived Friday night and left Sunday morning, so we basically had Saturday to spend together.

There are a lot of things to do in the Atlanta area. It's rich in history and quite metropolitan in culture. Plus, the countryside itself is beautiful But we decided to have a low pressure, low cost, no agenda day. Here's what we did.

We started out with pancakes with blueberry syrup and bacon. Yum!! After our late breakfast we loaded up in the family truckster and took a short driving tour of the area we live in. I showed them where I work, our cool downtown area, etc.

We drove down Mt. Paran Road, which winds through the north part of Atlanta, and has some of the most beautiful homes in the area.

After our home tour, we headed to the Varsity. The Varsity is the world's largest drive-in restaurant. It's right across from the campus of Georgia Tech. On game days, they serve 30,000+ people. That wasn't a typo. You read it right: 30,000. It's been around since 1928, and can service 600 cars and 800 people dining in at the same time.

We had some "strings", "rings" (the best onion rings I've ever eaten, BTW), and some other things I can't remember the slang for, all served by our car hop that had been an employee for 34 years.

When we finished up there we headed over to IKEA. A pretty cool store, I must say, even to someone like me that doesn't like to shop.

After that we did a little more general site seeing and then stopped by the house for a few minutes. We played around on our laptops, played a little Xbox 360 and rested. Then we went to my Pizza Hut (I don't own it, I just work at it) and had breadsticks and a large pan Meatlover.

After stuffing ourselves, we came back to the house, relaxed, watched some TV, played around on our laptops, had some ice cream, and just enjoyed each others company.

It was the first time in years I had really had a chance to hang out with my nephew and the first time I had ever gotten to hang out with my niece-in-law for any length of time.

What did I learn? I like them. I enjoyed spending time with them.

It's always nice when you like the people you are supposed to love.

It was definitely a good day.

Happy Birthday to Me

It's not my birthday today. (It's February 10th, in case you want to make a note of it.) But a few years ago, my birthday was especially special.

My parents and some of my in-laws were in town for my birthday, and my wife was cooking homemade pasta e fagioli soup (even better than Olive Garden's). It was set to be a nice day.

Then about the time we were going to eat, up to our door walks a crowd of people. All my best friends, my pastor, coworkers, pretty much everyone in Tyler that I cared about. Once the dust had settled, my wife had somehow managed to coordinate tables and chairs being set up in our dining room and living room, and about 35 people sat down and enjoyed my birthday soup with me.

My wife went through an unbelievable amount of trouble just for me. I'll never forget my special surprise birthday party.

It was a good day.

By the Zeppa Center

In college I was walking to the practice field (I was in the marching band) when I walked by a new freshman girl. She was cute, so I said hello to her. She respond with a "Hi" back, but with this really cute southern twang that made "Hi" a two syllable word.

That made her even cuter.

A few days later, I twisted my ankle playing wallyball, and had to sit on the sidelines during marching band practice for a couple of weeks. She and a couple of her friends started talking with me during water breaks. One day I asked her if she was going to a recital at the music building that evening. She said that she might, and later that night she did show up and we ended up sitting next to each other.

While a group of us were talking and waiting for the recital to start, she mentioned that she was taking trigonometry. I volunteered to tutor her if she needed any help. (From purely selflless, motives, I assure you.) She looked at me very strangely. I later came to find out that she was shocked that I thought I could tutor her in a math subject. To her I just looked like a big dumb jock.

Anyway, the tutoring began, and after a few weeks, she invited me to go to the Texas State Fair with her and some friends. I agreed, but then asked if she would meet me by the lake at the Zeppa Center (our college rec building - which has now been demolished and replaced) to talk a little bit.

We did, and the conversation was a pretty long one, but basically went like this:

Me: I was in a long relationship, and I'm not really interested in dating just to date. I really plan on marrying the next person I date. If that's not where you are right now (being just 18 and all), I totally understand. But if you want, we can still go to the fair, but just go as friends.

Pause...

Her: Let's be friends.

So that's what we did.



Fast forward a bit...



November 20th will be our 15th wedding anniversary.

I'd say overall that the day by the Zeppa Center turned out to be a good day.

A Good Day

One day, when I was about 10 (I think), I woke up early in the morning. My dad left for work very early, and I could always tell that I was up too early if he was still there. That morning, I found dad and mom at the kitchen counter eating breakfast.

I stumbled in and sat down. I'm sure I started helping myself to whatever was on the table. Mom stepped out of the room for a few minutes and then came back. She told me to put on some old clothes.

When I asked her why, she responded by saying that I wasn't going to school that day. She had just phoned my best friend's mom and gotten her okay for my mom to take both of us to the reservoir fishing for the day. I stood there with my mouth open for a few minutes, then ran to my room and got dressed.

Why did she do that? When you are ten and your mom says you can skip school and go fishing, you don't ask questions (and I still haven't), so I don't know particularly. However, even though I don't remember the details (how many fish we caught (if any), how long we were there, etc.), I remember the fact that she did this. It was awesome. She was the coolest mom in the world (and still is). That simple act of her spending the day with me definitely made me feel loved.

FYI, it was the only time I ever skipped to school to go fishing, but I'll always have that as one of my favorite memories.

It was a good day.