School of Shock

I thought this was going to be a nightmare, but the shoot for this spot went surprisingly well (despite the fact that one of the little booger eaters gave me a cold). However we did run into a little trouble when we tried to get a shot of Wu out on the playground—it was like Ben and Jerry had just been spotted at fat camp.

Craig

Turkey Time

We had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. First of all, Craig and I got to spend the evening of our wedding anniversary playing the 1960s version of Trivial Pursuit with the Howard family. I'm thankful I was able to get at least one answer right (even if it was a guess). The next morning, Dad, Craig and I lined up at the starting line for the Sprint Thanksgiving Family Walk and Run for the fourth year in a row. Before the gun went off, Craig realized his iPod shuffle was missing. I'm thankful he found it back in the car (and was able to get to the car and back to the start line in time to run the race). He still passed me and had his best time ever. This year might be the biggest family get-together the Howard family has had in a while. Dad and his four siblings (and their spouses) were in KC to celebrate together. We also had Erin's fiance, Scott, and his daughter, Kailey, join us for their first Howard Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for all the time we had to catch up with family and that Erin has found her match. I'm also thankful that Kailey isn't grossed out by slobbery tennis balls. Zoe loved playing outside with her. But I think Kailey enjoyed eating turkey right off the bone more. After having pancakes with our friends Whitney and Chris and their two adorable kids, we headed back to Wichita and had a belated Thanksgiving dinner with Sam and Barbie (Craig's parents) that Friday. I'm thankful that Whitney and I have stayed in touch long after our one semester together at MU, and I'm thankful that Sam and Barbie were up for trying something new and going out in the snow, that their crazy puppy Kobe was excited to see us, and that they sent us home with their yummy chocolate peanut clusters. For those family and friends we didn't see over the holiday, we hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Carrie

Four years fly when you're having fun

This is the guy I married four years ago today. The same guy I dated for 9 years (patiently), befriended for four awkward high school years, and stalked for one year (it was a harmless 8th grade crush, really). Lucky me, my persistance paid off. But instead of boring you with 18 years worth of stories from our past, I thought I'd share some of the highlights of the last four years of marriage.

- Riding what was an equivalent to a go-kart on water just one hour after our wedding in Florida (there went the hair-do)

- Surviving a miserable honeymoon and laughing about it now

- Sanding, patching, and painting every wall and piece of trim in our house (sometimes more than once)

- Training and running our first marathon together -- well, at least within a half mile from each other

- U2. Front Row. 30th Birthday. Miami.

- Learning how to live with only the clothes on our backs in the middle of the ocean

- Discovering the joy of yard work together (it's a work in progress)

- Making goals and plans for the years to come

Happy anniversary to us.
Carrie

I married George Castanza.

Some random thoughts.

• This weekend it was 80 degrees in Wichita—good thing global warming doesn't exist, otherwise I would have been raking leaves in my Speedo.

• The all-Christmas-music-all-the-time radio station was playing Alvin and the Chipmunks on Sunday. I'm thinking if you're already delving into your catalog of singing chipmunks you probably shouldn't have started playing Christmas music on November 17th.

• During this morning's run I passed two groups of runners/walkers who did not return my "how ya doin?'" wave. Seriously? If I'm gonna get my ass out of bed before six to go running, I better see some jazz hands people.

• Speaking of running, one of my favorite new running songs is "Bouncin' Back (Bumpin' Me Against the Wall)" by Mystical—mainly because he gives a shout out to Theo Huxtable and the "Jammin' On The One" episode of the Cosby show.

• The latest 40th anniversary edition of Rolling Stone featured a collection of interviews with people ranging from
economists and physicists to actors and musicians on their outlook on the current state of the world and its future. Reactions were grim across the board. One of the most interesting quotes related to the public's general apathy toward the actions of the Bush Administration saying "if we had a draft, there would be 200,000 people protesting in the streets every day." Sad, but probably true.

• Speaking of the end of the world, why is it I can't turn on the TV without seeing either "I Love New York 2" or "Shot of Love?" If I really wanted to see these people, I'd head down to the free clinic.

• One last comment from atop my soapbox. Carrie and I were watching a show the other night called "Small Ideas for a Big Planet" and one thing really struck me—the idea that how we live is completely counter to nature. Think about it, we manufacture things that can't be found in the natural world and when we're done with them, we dig a hole and bury them in the ground. What exactly is the thinking behind that?

• Tomorrow is Carrie and my fourth anniversary, what does it say about our mature, adult relationship that the only way we want to celebrate is by going out and getting a wii?

Craig

Looking @ 32

So, as many of you probably already know, yesterday was my birthday and all in all it was a good day—a little stressful at work—but good none the less. Got to celebrate with Carrie and the dogs, have a little cake with Mom and Dad, and take in a Shocker game (hence the cake decoration). It was no front row at a U2 concert (http://www.flickr.com/photos/atu2com/63138988/in/set-1363398/), but I'll get over it.


I do have to say that I'm beginning to feel the pressure though—the pressure that comes from feeling that time is getting away from me and it's time to kick things up a notch. Partially, I think this comes from the fact that both Carrie and I seem to have been seduced by the movie "Into the Wild." If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend checking it out and then downloading (or if you're old-school go to the store and pick up) the soundtrack Eddie Vedder put together. Both are amazing and incredibly inspiring. In short, it's a true story about a guy who, after college graduation, donated his life savings to charity and hitchhiked across the country on his way to living in solitude in the Alaskan wilderness (think "On the Road" but with a purpose). Now, this doesn't mean that Carrie and I are ready to go live in a bus and start cooking up squirrel, in fact, I don't really know what it means, but it's just empowering to see someone so tied to their convictions and willing to roll the dice and take a chance.

Craig



I made this music player at MyFlashFetish.com.

Man's Best Kid

A colleague asked me yesterday if I was one of those "dog parents." You know, the kind of person who takes their family Christmas photo with their dog (guilty), or the type of person who dresses up their dog for holidays or, really, any occasion (guilty again), or the kind of person who lets their dog sleep on their bed when one of the humans is allergic to their dander and the other human always gets left with one foot of the mattress (guilty, and sleep deprived). Yep, that's us. Craig and I are dog parents. And we're not ashamed to admit it.

Zoe's been with us since 2002. She's a chocolate lab from Texas, and she's got the BIG attitude to prove it. She's a sensitive girl that seeks shelter under the kitchen table whenever the vacuum comes out or when our voices go up when watching a game on TV. But throw her a ball or Frisbee, and you'll be amazed at her athleticism. The girl can run. And run. And run. She's been known to play so hard we've had to carry her home from the park because she couldn't walk straight. She's a sweetheart, and she is definitely Craig's little girl. Some day we'll have to show you why she's earned the nickname, "Zo Boogie."

Then there's Luka. Our shadow, and a true mama's boy. One weekend in 2006, Craig and I visited the Kansas Humane Society just to check out the puppies needing homes. We should've known we wouldn't leave empty-handed. While we walked around looking at all the dogs, we noticed most of them were either jumping up on the door for attention or wrestling with their kennel mate. Not Luka. The little blond fur ball (named "Cutie" at the time) just sat at the back of his kennel and stared at us with a big smile on his face. To follow the trend in designer dog breeds, we like to call Luka a GOLLIE -- part golden retriever, part border collie. You also might call him a pain in Zoe's ass. But she's tolerated him from day one, and he worships the ground she laps him on.

Those are the kids. It's hard to believe they haven't made this blog sooner. Does that make us bad parents? Stay tuned for the 2007 Christmas card and more photos and stories to come.

On the shuffle during this morning's run.

With sunset coming so early last night, I decided to brave the temperatures and head out for an early morning run. Here's what was running through my ears

"Zak and Sara" (Ben Folds): Nothing like a white guy ticklin' the ivories to get you movin'.

"All Night" (Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and Stephen Marley): With so many Bob Marley spawns walking the earth, you would think a couple of them would be crappy musicians, but I haven't found one yet.

"Come On and Love Me" (Lenny Kravitz): A good drumbeat from back in the days when Lenny still had dreads.

"Express Yourself" (NWA): Dre's in da 'hood and hez up to no good.

"Get Up I Feel Like a Sex Machine" (James Brown): Quite possibly my favorite running song. Take me to the bridge now.

"Did You Ever Look So Nice?" (The Samples): Carrie and I heard this song when we were lining up for the Chicago Marathon. It was a little sign that everything was gonna be all right. Love this song.

"Born Losers" (Matthew Good): A nice little addition to the music library thanks to iTunes' free download of the week.

"It's the End of the World As We Know It—And I Feel Fine" (REM): Insert your own politcal commentary here.

Running Tip of the Day: Chewing gum while you're running is great, but if you have nasal drainage, at some point you can't be completely sure it's the gum that you're chewing.

Finally, our Saturday nights have purpose.

Go to dinner, go to Borders, go to bed before the first skit of SNL, rinse and repeat. That has pretty much been our Saturday night routine for the past eight months or so, but just when the very real threat of having to venture into the unchartered territory of the self-help section was staring us squarely in the eye, we were granted a five-month reprieve thanks to the hallowed ground that is Charles Koch Arena.

That's right, it's time for some Shocker basketball.

Last night was opening night of the highly anticipated 2007-2008 season which saw the hometown heroes go up against the always-dangerous Wonder Boys (seriously, that's their name) of Arkansas Tech. While sadly any game, even an exhibition game against the Wonder Boys, would normally have me plenty excited, last night had the added caveat of being the first game under our new coach Gregg Marshall a guy who took Winthrop to the NCAA tournament seven out of nine years and has been named national coach of the year. On top of that we only return five guys who played last year, so this was the first time we were going to get to see a lot of the guys who, in a sense, are going to be our Friday, Saturday and occassionally Thursday-night dates.

The game itself was a little sloppy and provided little insight to how the year is going to go—we could have a team that's anywhere from average to pretty good, but I'm almost positive that the future is bright, what Mark Turgeon started (a conference title and a trip to the Sweet 16) was just the beginning. In fact, I personally think the program's in better hands this year than last.

All of that aside, it was great to once again spend a fall evening with my head filled with Jock Jams and my knees lodged firmly into the back of row 26, section 119.

And yes, Dad, I too can't believe that anyone would leave a Shockers/Wonder Boys match up with 1:24 left in the game.

They should be shot.