Looking out the Window

Marine View Drive

Yesterday I got in a 7 miler. Today, I did over 10 miles with almost 1200 ft of vertical up. The weather was terrible today. Temps around 39 degrees while I was running with a very strong wind. I ran south of our house to Shorewood and then over to Marine View Drive to Fauntleroy and Lincoln Park.
There were some great views on this run. There is a great grove of Madrona trees on the south side of Lincoln Park that are really cool when a strong wind is blowing. It was great running on the trails for that section. From Lincoln, I took Thistle all the way back. Thistle has this great section of a heck of a lot of stairs. A real lung burner.
The large vertical today was the result of reading about the course for The North Face Adventure Challenge in May. Supposedly, the trail is never flat in that race. I don't plan to race it, but want to be ready for a very challenging 50 km run if it works out to do it.

This afternoon, the whole family went for a walk to Riverview park near our house. It was still cold and really windy. We thought we were going to get deluged on the way home, but instead we had snow flurries. Crazy weather for March!
Once home, took the opportunity to light a fire in the fireplace. Of course, now the weather has broken and it is sunny blue skies out.

Bill, aka W.A., has been fussier since we got back from Houston. We think he might have had the cold that Mommy is fighting. But he is still a very good boy, just wants more attention. He is grabbing things and holding on to them a lot more now. And he just breaks out into talking away now. It's fun to listen to it.

I can't believe it is already Thursday. Classes start up again on Monday.

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Back home

For the most part, the recent pictures should tell most of the story of our Easter Trip.

Bill's first flight went well. He didn't fuss hardly at all on the flight down, and actually slept for the last hour almost to the gate. He was great and we got lots of compliments. We missed Mommy quite a bit. Once in Houston, Bill's Grandmother was so happy to see him. We got to visit and introduce him to my Uncle John and Aunt Claire.

Bill was so busy taking in all the new things, a new house, new people, new sites and
sounds. He was exhausted by bed time and didn't eat as much as normal. He woke up a couple of times during the night to eat.
Next day, we drove to Austin and visited his great grandmothers. That was alot of fun. To get there, we took the backroads to see what wildflowers were out and took some pictures in the bluebonnets.

Saturday, I got up early to pick Mommy up from the airport. Once home, she and Bill made up for lost time. I took a picture of the two of them that morning that has become one of my favorites.

We had a great dinner with my sister, her family, and my cousin Kimberley. It was great to see them. I especially enjoyed playing HORSE with Cameron in the driveway. Bill was overwhelmed with all the things going on.

Sunday, more food and time with family. Both days we got out for walks around the neighborhood in the nice warm weather.
Monday, we flew back. Bill was more fussy going back, he seemed to be fighting a cold. We're still trying to get him back to his routine of sleeping through the night.

Bill seems to have grown since we left. He is getting better at holder onto things for a while, swinging his legs and torso around and even laughing in a high pitched manner every now and then. Things change so quickly.

School starts back again on Monday, should be a good one. I'm probably forgetting some things but we are looking forward to Bill's maternal great grandmother visiting next month and in May we have my cousin's graduation. Lots going on. Take care everyone.

Dad saw prior picture

Aaaiyaiyaaaaiiii

Bill and Bluebonnets

Bill helping with laundry

JP calls Nanaa and Paupau to rub it in

Hiccups

Museum of Flight

Thursday is our day off together. The family decided that the Museum of Flight would be a great rainy day excursion. We dressed appropriately in tropical shirts.

Billed enjoyed himself climbing into the cockpit of an SR-71 Blackbird for the first time.

Lunch

We had our Tuesday lunch with Mom again today. Mommy's coworkers like to pick up and pass Bill around while Daddy stands there feeling awkward. Uhm, Uhm, that's my baby, my charge, my little dude. Well, they can't get away with him.

We bring Mommy lunch after we go to yoga. Yoga was good today. Bill is the envy of all the other Mom's because he doesn't throw a fit during the entire time.

We could talk about blockage and other things that cause Mom stress, but the dam already broke and things are great. Daddy got to clean up that mess.

Bill visits Portland

Bill and Mommy went to Portland to visit Lucy and Cora for the weekend while Daddy had to work on homework.
I haven't gotten the full report, but it looks like he is getting along swell with the locals.

Mercer Island Half Marathon

Bill's Daddy took a break from studying and ran his first 1/2 marathon this morning while Bill and Mommy went to Portland.

The run went well. The first half was fun to just watch all the people around me running. Second half, I was waiting for the hills. The hills weren't too bad compared to the ones in my neighborhood. Around Mile 11 or so, Big Head Todd faded out on my iPod and I switched it to Led Zeppelin. Good Times, Bad Times helped me ramp up the pace for a strong finish over the last couple of miles. The worst hills come at the end, but that section is one that I have ridden many times on my bike which helped me gauge my efforts.

Next, more training upping the mileage on the long runs and then try to find a marathon somewhere convenient.

15 lbs 5 oz, 17.5 cm and 26 inches

Some Recent Things That Bill has done

We have been visiting Mommy during her lunch breaks. Bill likes to ham it up for the ladies in the pharmacy.

He talked for over 30 minutes this morning, well making noises. A good portion of that was on the phone cheering up his Grandma. She talked to him and he had the biggest smile.

He is doing tummy time better now. He doesn't throw quite the fits, and he gets his head really high to check things out. He can also lean his head over to the side and roll himself over. He's done this 3 or 4 times in the last couple of days.

When playing with his jungle gym toy thing, he now grabs the pull-tab to activate the music every now and then on his own.

He lets us know when he is hungry.

He sucks on his fingers but still doesn't really like pacifiers.

Some Quick Thoughts on Frictional Unemployment and Health Care

Had an interesting situation this week that fits well into my Macro-Economics class I'm taking.

Technically right now, I'm frictionally unemployed. I'm taking care of my son and working on my Masters of Business Administration. Since I'm in school, I quit my job to further my studies, re-align my career, and take care of my son. Mom is a health professional with a doctoral degree. We can choose which one of us works and which takes care of Bill, we are incredibly blessed.

Thrown into this mix, a start-up opportunity this week that fits exactly the kinds of things I want to do. They are even willing to let me work 1/2 time while I'm in school. It sounds like a cool opportunity. But the only way we could make it manageable would be for Mom to go from 4 to 5 days per week down to 3 days per week, while I work 3 days per week. When you do that, then you lose your health insurance from both employers. It isn't really fair to the employers.

So my point is that if we had a national health care system, you could decrease the number of willingly skilled unemployed people in the economy. The health care would not be employer dependent. Maybe there aren't that many like me, but it is at least one argument for a National Health system. I know this is armageddon for some people, but my taxes already support health care for over 1 million military, 1.7 million civilian federal government employees, 1 million prisoners, the poor, and the elderly.

It's really just a fiscal policy decision that can affect employment rates and increase GDP.

Next Post will be back to the regularly scheduled writings about how cute our son is.