Am I crazy or what?

Hi everyone,

On Sunday I did something crazy. I signed up for the 1/2 Marathon here in Raleigh. Tom and I ran 7 miles with some friends on Sunday morning. I have never run that far. The 7 miles were challenging, but we both did it. I did better than I thought and I actually enjoyed it. Someone told me that the endorphins kick in at 5 miles. I believe them. I figured if I could do 1/2 of a 1/2 Marathon, I can do the 13.1. I am little concerned about training. I have not been feeling well this week because of sinuses and work has kept me busy. Wish me luck!

This Sunday we are running the Hurricanes 5k or as we like to call it the Pancake run. It is a 5k around the RBC center then they make you pancakes. You can also win prizes and autographed items from the Carolina Hurricanes Hockey team. It should be fun, we had a blast last year.

We are the champions!

Hi,

This weekend I was privileged to take part in a very special event. It started as a casual comment by my friend Lisa. She mentioned that the she wanted to do the Charlottesville 4 miler. I told her if she was serious and trained I would do it with her. Lisa took me up on the offer. She trained diligently, by getting up at 5 in the morning to run. Well all that hard work paid off. On August 30th, our 11th Wedding anniversary, Lisa and I set out with 2,998 other women. The event was inspiring. There were women of every age, shape and size. People were running or walking for the UVA Breast Cancer Center. It was very humbling to see all the signs for those who were walking for their grandmothers, mothers, sisters, etc.. who were stricken with this cancer. Lisa was a trooper. Words can't descirbe how proud I am of her. She pushed through her fatigue and finished the race. We finished at 55:25, which was 10 minutes better than her training time. I cheerleaded her on. I reminded her how proud her family would be when she finished. I was right! Her kids gave us the biggest hugs and let us know how proud they were of us. We held hands at the end, because her daughter asked us to. Lisa did great and we are looking forward to doing it again next year.

Our anniversary was great. We went to a seafood restaurant with Tom's parents and Lisa, Mike, Jordan and Drew. I can't believe we have been married this long. I feel blessed to have a great husband, who makes me laugh and has seen me through some tough times.

New Bern

10-Aug-2008
Hi everyone! This weekend we went to New Bern to visit the Johnson side of the family. My dad, brother and sister live there. New Bern is about 2 1/2 hours from our house. My niece had a soccer tournament near Maysville. We like to catch her games when we can. Her team has been together for a while and are having some success. They won the beast of the East tournament in Wilmington a couple of months ago. Her team was short handed this tournament and only had one extra player. They did ok and came in third. My niece scored two goals in their second game of the day on Saturday. The day was hot and a thunderstorm blew through which delayed things. Some people lost canopies that they had left up at the field. The rain came down so hard and heavy it bent the poles.

Kathy's dad seems to be doing ok. He had a pacemaker put in in early July and he seems to be feeling better. I think he looks pretty darn good for being 79 years old. Tom and I ran 4 miles this morning. I am getting ready for the Charlottesville 4 miler and she needs to make the family proud. It will be a lot of fun to run with my friend. I am proud of her for sticking with it and training for it.

Well, tomorrow is back to work. Both of us have been really busy. I am trying to lock a study on which I have been working on for two years. Lock time is always busy because you are working on finalizing everything.

Take care and talk to you soon!

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Today's meeting went pretty well. It was nice to meet people who I have worked with for a year and half. Everyone was nice and I believe the meetings were productive. Hopefully we can get these studies locked on time. The pressure is on!

We went to dinner in downtown Ann Arbor. It was nice to seem visit with everyone in a more relaxed atmosphere. I learned that they are under the same pressures we are. The college area looks about like other college towns. You have your amin drag near the University. We rode by the stadium. It is pretty big. I am ready to come home. I fly out tomorrow night around 5:20. Wish me luck that we don't get delayed. Airline flying hasn't been that great for me lately.

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Well the fun never stops. The week of July 4th I found out that I had to go to Ann Arbor Michigan for more meetings. This is what happens when you have multiple clients. I probably won't get to see too much of the area. These meetings keep you pretty busy. Wish me luck that they don't grill me too hard. We are going out tomorrow night to a nice restaurant. It is nice to meet in a relaxed atmosphere.

We are home!

Hello everyone! We made it home. It was quite a trip back. Everything went fine over there, we should have known it was too good to be true. When we got to the airport in Sydney, we were told our flight had been canceled and that they had booked us on an earlier flight to Brisbane. They claimed they did not have any local numbers to call and tell us. I know they had my cell phone. They knew the flight had been canceled on June 27th. We had heard that there were canceled flights because of an engineer strike, but I was told it only affected domestic flights. We had met some ladies the day before who was also on the same flight and they did not know the flight had been canceled. Anyway, we were lucky and got on an United flight to LA. The bad thing was we had to sit apart. The United flight also did no have as many amenities as Qantas, but the seats were bigger. Tom had a good window seat with lots of leg room and my seat wasn't too bad either. I slept most of the way to LA. Then we got stuck in Customs at LA. It turns out that a Hong Kong flight and our flight arrived at the same time. Needless, to say we missed our connecting flights and had to be re-booked on later flights. We finally arrived at the house about 2:30 in the morning. The good news was that our luggage arrived with us. They were checked on the other flights. Someone realized we were re-routed and got our luggage with us.

It is good to be home. We slept pretty well today, so far the jet lag is not too bad. We shall see how we feel tonight and tomorrow.

Have a Happy July 4th!!!!!!

Last Day in Australia

Hello everyone! Today was our last day in Sydney. It is kind of sad that we have to leave. This is a wonderful city and our time here has been fun, however it is time now to get home.

We had another full day. We went to the Aquarium at Darling Harbour. It was a beautiful aquarium and we saw lots of fish that we have never seen before. We then did some exploring around the harbour. The area had lots of restaurants and some shops.

We had lunch at our Hotel and then got back out. We did some souvenir shopping and decided to take a Dinner Cruise. The cruise was a lot of fun and the food was very good. Now it is time to pack and get ready to go home. Tomorrow will be a long day. We leave at 1:20 in the afternoon and arrive at 10:20 at night on the same day. Hopefully the jet lag won't be too bad. We may not remember much about July 4th this year.