Full Tilt obstacle at Rugged Maniac

Rugged Maniac, Part II

This past weekend, I ran – no really, I ran – in the fall installment of the Rugged Maniac in Phoenix. The event was held at Camelback Ranch where the White Sox and the back-to-back World Series losers L.A. Dodgers have their Spring Training facilities. This is the fifth or sixth time doing a Rugged…

First quarter report card

A couple of days ago, my wife and I met with our son’s teacher for a parent-teacher conference. Like all of these meetings, we reviewed some of his in-class work, discussed the good grades (and the bad), his progress, his attitude, his class participation and so on. After complimenting my son – who has autism…

Report card and grades
GoRuck Light 9/11 patch

GoRuck Light Challenge

By definition, the GoRuck Light is “an introduction to the team-based training found in Special Operations.” It is billed as a 4-5 hour challenge covering 7-10 miles. The GoRuck Light Challenge in Phoenix (Tempe, actually) on September 8, began and ended in the 9/11 Healing Field at Tempe Town Town Lake. A fitting – and…

Day one of grade five

As I walked through the door after a typical, grinding, hot commute, my wife approached me. After the usual, “Hi honey! How was your day?” small-talk, she paused and whispered: “Are you ready to cry?” That’s rarely a good sign so I mentally braced myself for whatever she had to say. Instead, she showed me…

Learning digital animation with Scratch
Terrain Race 2018

Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad

This past weekend, the twins and I ran Terrain Race in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was so good in so many ways and there are a lot of thoughts and mini-stories to tell. The Meat Loaf reference First and foremost, Terrain Race puts on a very good event. It is a 3.2 mile obstacle course race…

Taking Taekwondo

A couple of months ago, we enrolled Matt and his twin brother in Taekwondo. It was a way to help keep them active, provide some discipline and focus, and to learn a little self-defense a long the way. (Truth be told, I think they just wanted it to be all about weapons training so they…

Martial Arts class and beginning weapons training