The Places I Will Run...

I think it started when I was 6 or 7.  In fact, it probably began earlier than that.  My passion to create began on my grandmother’s piano.  I remember hearing the story of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s life in my music class at a young age.  The way my music teacher told the story helped illustrate his passion for creating music.  I specifically remember her telling us about how when Beethoven got older he lost most of his hearing so he began to play harder so he could hear the music.  Beethoven also used to lay his head down on the piano so that he could and feel the music he was creating.  At a young age, this was very inspiring to me.  I never cared about logically creating though.  My only concern was that whatever emotions were contained in my soul came out of my creation in the purest most real form.  With that being said, painting has become my new outlet for creating and it’s great to express my soul in a different way.  Here’s my latest painting.

In the past 6 months I have taken on a new hobby.  I’m officially a connoisseur of cereal.  While I love all kinds of cereal…healthy cereal has saved me a lot of grief.  So this is my official tribute to my favorite cereals.

Kashi Cinnamon Harvest- My favorite!

Cinnamon Life- It’s classic and also dangerous when combined with Cinnamon Harvest. TRY IT :)

When I was a kid I hated them but with some fresh fruit. Cheerios are awesome!



So Nature Valley Granola bars aren’t technically cereal.  Here’s my secret.  Crushing a package of these and adding milk.  GREAT GOODNESS!

This stuff tastes a lot like Smacks but it a lot more healthy.  It also has more fiber in it than should be humanly possible.

I pity the fool that eats my cereal.  So I haven’t had this for 20 years or so but it was too irresistible not to post.

Til next time…

Wow!  It’s crazy how life can keep you so busy that you nearly forget to breathe.  This past week has been one of those times for me.  In the midst of a crazy travel weekend with the band last weekend and finishing moving out / in to our new residence - it seems like there has been any time to think.  Which is why my entries have been sparse this week.  

The good news is that I find myself with a few minutes before I go to bed tonight.  I’m not going to lie…the past 2 days have been pretty great.  Carie and I are all moved in for the most part which gave us time to just chill together.  What does chillin in the McDonald house consist of?  Super Mario 3!!!  That’s right, my wife can play video games like a champ.  Unfortunately, I misplayed one of the warp whistles in the first level and we had to play all of level 7!  Level 7 is HARD!  We actually just quit because we were ready to punch out the Wii.  

That’s right.  For those of you wondering what a unibrow is here is wikipedia’s definition.

 A unibrow (or monobrow) is a “confluence of eyebrows”; i.e., the presence of abundant hair between the eyebrows, so that they seem to converge to form one long eyebrow.

My unibrow is pretty sparse but it’s there nonetheless.  The older I get the more I realize that a unibrow should be revered.  I suppose the real question in all this is: would you rather have 2 small eyebrows or 1 GIANT eyebrow?  

Here are some famous unibrows…feel free to add to my gallery.

Also, check out this www.unibrowclub.com they are an authority on the subject.

Laces tied, legs stretched, and ready to run… That is how my mornings look and this morning was no different.  Today I felt like making a longer run so instead of making a left turn from our street I made a right turn which leads out to a busy morning traffic road.  I’m always hesitant to run near busy roads but if I wanted to have a long run this was my only option.  As car by car passed by I was feeling really good.  That is until my super long shoelaces tangled together and sent my body hurtling through the air.  I made a couple last ditch efforts to stay on my feet but this time there was no stopping the inevitable.  My palms were the first thing to reach the pavement and being as agile and quick-witted as I am - I decided my best move from here was to maneuver  a full on barrel-roll.  So with my palms on the ground and the rest of my body following quickly behind I put my shoulder down and did a complete summersault all the way back on to my feet.  I took a minute to gather myself and realized just how sweet of move I had pulled.  Now mind you, there was heavy traffic traveling both ways on this street.  I am truly thankful I wasn’t hit by a car, and even more thankful that so many drivers could witness my acrobatics!  I found a safe spot to lace back up and move on.  I estimate the entire incident only took 15-20 seconds but it seemed like a few hours.  I made it home with limited injuries and a good dose of humility.  In looking for a photo to capture this moment - I could only find this photo which really made me laugh. 

On a side note.  The 2nd to last episode of LOST is tonight but that is a completely different post to come.

It happened… It finally happened!  I took nap.  Let me start off by saying that this has been a great Monday.  I got to drive Carie to work (this doesn’t happen when the band is on the road obviously) and I got to pick her up from work.  I also took her car in to the shop and spent a couple hours updating this week’s New Video Monday

Luckily having some work to do made the waiting for her car to be done pretty quick.  Her car mostly needed an oil change but in addition to this she had a bad socket for her front right blinker.  I think they finally fixed it!  No more irritating broken turn signal clicking!

We headed straight from her work to get dinner (Mexican food).  We branched out and tried a new restaurant today and I think we may actually end up going back there.  In case you’re wondering what I got (i’m sure you aren’t but i’ll tell you anyway) - the dish I get goes under  a few names; pollo loco, arroz con pollo, special #5, pollo gringo etc… essentially it’s grilled chicken, rice, and beans.  Most of the time it comes topped with the super awesome white cheese but I ALWAYS get it plain and it tastes just as good.  Cheese is one thing I would encourage people to cut out of their diet.  I know it’s one of the best tasting foods (trust me I know) but you can save your heart some trouble by not eating most cheese.  Alright, back off my soapbox.  So we had a really good meal and then we came home.  

I have been reading Malcolm Gladwell’s most recent book “Outliers” which theorizes why/how brilliant people are just that, BRILLIANT.  I’ll dedicate a post later to this book as soon as I am finished reading it.  I’m also still in the middle of his other book “Tipping Point”…which is equally fascinating.  I’m really beginning to realize that I appreciate sociology more than I thought.  Understanding who people are, and why they do what they do can really help in learning to love.  At least it’s given me perspective on understanding other peoples perspective.

So there I was…in the middle of reading the book when IT happened!  The next thing I knew I was drooling on my pillow and it was storming outside.  I know that a lot of you out there nap frequently but for me, there has to be a cataclysmic series of events that take place.  I am for all intents and purposes a “busy-body”.  I am anxious and always working on something.  My brain is super ADD which get’s me working on about 20 things at once and always leaves me forgetting at least 1 minor detail.  But for just a moment today, I took a nap!  It was too good of a moment not to share with you.  Now back to life!