Gerry, the Running Machine

Lois has sent out an update regarding Gerry's last marathon. Wow! He's fast (for an old guy).

Hi Everyone,

Gerry ran the Jacksonville Bank marathon last Sunday (December 21st). He managed to get down to his running weight (it's so low, you don't want to know), ran speed work on the track after a full day at the office, and gave up wine and beer for weeks before the race (is that how one loses weight??).

The weather was good; the temperature was between 68 and 75. My Mom and Richard had flown in the day before so there was a crowd (three's a crowd, right?) to cheer Gerry on. The gun went off and we headed to the bleachers to await Gerry. Barely had we finished our picnic breakfast when the half marathoners started to come in (although as you can see with one of the attached photos, we had perhaps too much time on our hands....). Then the top marathon runner finished, then another, then another. Gerry was the 10th marathoner to finish!

His time was 2:54:20, about 90 seconds faster than his previous best. That was good enough for 2nd in his age category. What will we do with all those plaques that he's collecting?

Next race: Run 26.2 with Donna February 15. It will be my first. Gerry's still deciding if he'll do another spring marathon nearby before the hot weather rolls in. Stay tuned.

Have a wonderful New Year's.

Lois and Gerry and Schnitzel

p.s. Just in case you're wondering, Gerry finally beat the guy (Metzgar) who has beaten him in every race he's entered this year :-)

Our New Television - And All that Other Stuff

Well, we finally decided to join the modern age and go looking for a flat panel TV. Nothing wrong with our 800 pound TV we currently have, but we felt that we were probably the last of the western civilization to get a flat panel, so the journey began. Where to start? The whole process was very confusing and there were tons of options to wade through. We spent time going through the local ads for good deals and bought a few magazines to educate ourselves.

When we purchased our home a couple of years ago, the contractor that helped us with a few minor repairs, helped us get a great deal on some home theater equipment, including a receiver, some in-ceiling speakers and some wires. The stuff was still sitting in the garage and we pulled it out to integrate it into our TV purchase.

We finally made a decision on the TV we wanted and then started watching the ads. It was already reasonably priced, in my mind anyway, but every week or two it would drop another $50 or so. We made the decision to go visit a store the week before Thanksgiving. There were many deals around this time, and most stores offered pricing protection and would reimburse for price drops after purchase.

Upon arriving at the store (which was pretty empty - times are tough), we wandered around and looked at the various choices. We looked at the TV we wanted and discussed it with the sales person. His response "That's a very good TV, but look at this one too". Of course, it was a much better choice. Within minutes we had upgraded to a better picture, better refresh rate, better color, better everything TV. Decision made, time to leave..."Well, what about a receiver and speakers" he asks. We let him know we had both. With a little probing he determines we have the wrong kind of receiver; we can't listen to the TV in one room and the iPod in another room through our ceiling speakers. We need a different kind of receiver. And the speakers? They are not for the TV. We need surround sound. Ten minutes later we have a new receiver and a set of speakers.

Oh yeah, the DVD player. "Do you have Blu Ray?" he asks. Need one of those. We get the one that can stream Netflix movies from your cable modem to the DVD player. How does that work exactly? Not sure, but we can figure it out later.

Cables? Need special HDMI cables. $80 each. Three please.

The cost of our cheap TV was spiralling out of control.

Now we need someone to install all this stuff as we could not possibly figure out what to do ourselves.

We take our new purchases home and manage to hook up the TV, albeit with speaker wires all over the floor.

A few days later we get someone over to quote the install. He takes a look at the home theater speakers and says that we need different rear speakers. They should be mounted in the ceiling over the sofa, and not the box speakers we have on the floor. He can sell us ceiling mounts. The ceiling speakers to listen to music through the house? Not that good, but they'll do for iPod stuff. The fancy speaker volume adjustments we have to change the volume by each speaker? Not that good; he recommends a better system. Need to buy another box. That streaming Netflix thing on the DVD? Just run an Ethernet cable through the walls/ceiling to connect the cable modem to the DVD player. He can do that. We need outdoor speakers too. He can sell us those too.

The cost of our cheap TV was spiralling out of control.

Our cable TV now needs to be upgraded too. No sense in having a high definition TV without HD cable. We call up the cable company to upgrade. We need to upgrade the PVR too, because the Tivo system we have now and love dearly, doesn't work with HD. Of course, if you sign up now, they put together a package that is really affordable (?). By the way, for $2 more a month, we can get rid of our AT&T phones and switch to Comcast cable phones. We now have new phones.

The cost of our cheap TV was spiralling out of control.

It is all done and the picture and sound are amazing. Watching TV is better than going to the movies. While the TV is on, we have the iPod music streaming through the rest of the house. Very cool indeed. Even better, we purchased a programmable remote control a while ago, and I managed to set it up. All that stuff, one remote - how awesome is that????

Postscript:

Two days before Christmas, our cable stopped working. We pulled out the receiver to check a few connections and snapped an HDMI cable and damaged the receiver input jack. On Christmas day the Comcast folks came out and replaced the PVR. On boxing day, the install came back and replaced the cables we broke.

All is well in the Glynn house.

Conner and the Meaning of Christmas

Sometimes Conner can make tears well up in your eyes.

For Christmas this year, Conner's class at school made gifts for their parents.  Conner decided that it would be better if the gift he made went to Bew instead of us.  He included a wonderful note with the present thanking Bew for being his sister.

He also hand wrote a letter to Kira,which I have taken a picture of and attached.  It is a little hard to read so I'll translate:

Dear Kira,

I'm very sad that this is your last year at the house.  I hope I never forget you because you are my only sister.  I hope you think about me everyday.

Love Connner.

Kira gave him a great big hug, told him that she would always think of him, and that while she was traveling over Christmas to London with the high school, Conner was to sleep in her bed.  No need to make it every morning and no need to clean up all the clothes all over the bed and floor. 

Conner was thrilled.

Christmas Day

Conner's Grade One Holiday Party

Friday was the Grade One Holiday party and farewell to Mrs. McGrath. The teacher, filling in for a sick Mrs. Vieira for the past three months, will be sorely missed.

Class activities included making gingerbread houses, reading stories, watching a short movie as well as a bunch of other handicraft projects. All the kids went home with arms full of stuff, excited for the Christmas break to begin.

As always, it's fun to volunteer in the classroom so that I get to know Conner's classmates and see how they are all doing.

Kira is Going to College!

Kira received a great e-mail today.  Actually, I received the e-mail and told Kira about it, but none the less, it was all good news and Kira was thrilled.  

Over the past month or so, Kira has been sending out applications to multiple colleges.  Today she received her first acceptance and it was from San Diego State University. She will probably not hear back from the rest of the schools until early Spring sometime.  First pick is still UC Santa Barbara. San Diego sent out early acceptances to all the top 20% of applicants and will send out the rest later with the rest of the schools.

It is always nice to get the first one back and now we have a great addition to our fridge.

Conner once again laid claim to her room starting September 2009.  Kira insists that we build a shrine and let no one enter the room ever again.

No decisions yet, but I think I'm leaning heavily towards the Conner idea.

Three Things You Didn't Know About Bew

Bew is now officially settled in and after many family conversations we have discovered there is lots to know about Bew.

1. Bew has three sisters, Bow, Bam and Bell. Bow spent a year in the US with a family in Carson City Nevada two years ago.

2. Bew learned to drive a manual transmission car at the age of 12, "for emergency purposes only"

3. Bew can handle and has used a firearm. Per Dad, "If a bad guy breaks into the house, shoot him and ask questions later!" Americans may be world renowned for owning guns, but the only people in California with a gun are criminals and the police. Bew's status was elevated to "Wow!" with that confession to a bunch of Canadians living in California. Maybe it's time to upgrade our home security system!

Also, anything below 90 degrees Fahrenheit is cold for Bew, but you probably already knew that, as Bangkok rarely drops below that temperature!

And One More Makes 6

There is another gaping hole in Conner's mouth.  At the rate he is going, most of his teeth will be gone before he turns eight.  He is currently tied with one other person in his class for the most number of teeth lost.

Unfortunately, no awful stories to report about how this tooth met its demise; just a lot of wiggling and out it popped.  

Stay tuned, I'm sure there are more coming soon!

Busted

Busted, Dianne's ankle that is. The gory details of an akle fracture:

"Occasionally with an inversion injury that would normally cause an ankle sprain, a piece of bone can be pulled off. We refer to this as an avulsion fracture. Sometimes the ligament actually is stronger than the bony insertion point and an avulsion fracture will ensue. Often these can be treated conservatively either in a walking boot or an Air Cast. A more significant fracture may be treated with a cast or surgery. The bone usually fractured here is the end of the fibula which we call the lateral malleolus."

Remember that post a month or two ago about Dianne's corporate athletic adventures where she sprained her ankle? Well, the ankle never got better, so it was good bye to the general practitioner doctor and hello to the area's renowned podiatrist. A new prognosis, and now a cast.

Anyone have a deal on half price shoes, preferably right feet only?

Next update in three weeks after a follow up visit to the doctor.

Snow in California

Who says it never snows in California? Cold rain at our house, but a couple of miles away at the top of Mount Diablo, there was snow all the way down to the thousand foot level, with several inches of the white stuff at the top.

The top was closed to mere mortals, so it pays to have friends in the weather business. Thanks Roberta!

Conner's 7th Birthday Party

On December 9th, Conner finally turned seven years old.  We held a small family birthday at the house.  

On Saturday he had a bunch of kids over to the house.  It's always hard to think of something new to do that one of his many friends hasn't already done.  With a little help from Google, we discovered Gamer's Express.  What could be better than a bus arriving at your door, filled with Nintento Wii game machines and Xboxes? 

Everybody got there own seat with a Wii remote and Xbox game.  The consoles were all wired so that they could play each other.  Conner (in the Santa hat) had a great time playing multiple games on multiple systems.  I think all the kids had fun playing.

After a 90 minute session of gaming, it was into the house for singing, dancing, eating pizza and then cake and ice cream for all.  Dianne won the prize for best dancer.

"Service to Your Country" Night at Cub Scouts

Today's pack meeting involved getting to know a soldier and learning what it means to serve your country. This Sargent in the US Army, originally from Danville, has done three tours in Iraq and will be heading back again soon. He brought in lots of pictures and a bunch of his equipment (no guns!). Everyone was allowed to try the stuff on. Did you know that the bullet proof vests are modular and have chest, groin, back, shoulder and neck armor. With it all on, it can weigh in excess of 80 pounds. Throw on the helmet, guns, Camelbacks with water, ammunition and all sorts of other stuff, and I'm not sure how any of them run, let alone walk. This guy was pretty tall and strong, so he got to carry the big machine guns too.

He also spent time talking about the Blue Star Moms and everything they do. Soldiers love parcels and mail from home and especially love bags of candy.

After the presentation all the scouts wrote a letter to an active duty soldier.

Lighting of the Old Danville Tree

A Town of Danville annual event, not to be missed! Well, it is usually cold and miserable, and nothing changes from year to year, but if you live in Danville, you have to go to the annual lighting of the old oak tree. It is always held on the Friday evening after Thanksgiving and is meant to kick off the Christmas spirit (after shopping all day on the busiest shopping day of the year).

Every year the streets are closed to traffic and hundreds, maybe thousands, of people gather around this big old tree in the downtown area. After a bunch of short speeches, which no one can hear, they flip the switch and thousands of lights turn on. Everyone cheers, and then head back out to town to watch carolers, sip hot cider and munch on cookies.

Lots of fun, we tell ourselves. See you next year!

Finding the Perfect Christmas Tree

The hunt for the perfect Christmas tree started a little earlier this year. We normally wait another week or two, but we wanted Bew to get the holiday festivities started early and Dianne and I were heading out for a weekend away the next week.

We have gone to the same tree lot for the past several years, so we decided to start there again. There was a lot of looking around, poking and prodding and figuring out the ideal tree for our house. In the end we picked a big bushy 7 and 1/2 foot tree to haul home.

We had it strapped to the top of the SUV, paid our tab and then went to drive home. At this time I noticed a slight problem; I couldn't find my car key :(. Luckily the lot was pretty small and even though it was getting dark, I was pretty sure finding it would be pretty easy. Bew, Conner, Parker, Dianne and I fanned out over the lot. 20 minutes later I decided that I was doomed, and all was hopeless. Luckily, Kira was at home and so I gave her a call and asked that she drive down to meet us with my last remaining (broken) key (the subject of another blog post, I assure you!).

Another 20 minutes or so of waiting and Kira drove up. I was very happy to start the truck and head home.

The search for the perfect tree was over, not quite as joyful as I had hoped, but a successful mission, none the less.

The next day I called the car dealership to get new keys.

Day In Napa

Today was a family outing to show Bew one of California's largest wine areas, Napa. Unfortunately Kira had to work and was unable to join us. We visited the Berringer Winery. Dianne and I, being over the legal age of 21 were allowed to sample some of their wines, the rest of the family just got the tour. Berringer puts on a great show for the first time Napa visitors. It is one of the oldest wineries in Napa. The tour included a little history, a chance to wander through some of the wine caves and then see of of the past and present family housing. The first picture attached is in one of the wine caves and shows a locked room filled with hundreds of bottles of very old, dusty wine bottles, all filled and ready to drink.

The last picture is of us trying to get a group photo as Parker and Conner ran in various directions. It didn't turn out that well, but we had the best of intentions.



Next up was a stop at the famous hamburger chain, Taylors. See our blog from a couple of months ago on our first adventure to find this restaurant!

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving was a traditional family day at the Danville Glynn house. AK (aka Adam), Julian and Grandma, as well as the San Ramon Heckenlively family joined us for an afternoon of family gossip and then a very large meal. Bew also got to meet a few more members of our extended family and share in her first American Thanksgiving (put on by a bunch of Canadians).

When Parker saw the turkey the first thing he stated was that he wanted the leg. As you can see by the attached picture, he did in fact get the leg. Judging by the expression on Bew's face, Parker's eating habits are a little weird, to say the least.

Today was a typical meal with lots of turkey and all the fixings. Great wine before and during dinner, followed by dessert, just in case we didn't get enough for dinner.

There was plenty of food left over to ensure several more meals over the course of the weekend.

Next extended family dinner, Christmas at Grandma's!