Running Photo Shoot

This is the first time I've run barefoot on the beach. It's safer to wear shoes so you aren't worrying about what you're stepping on but it was a great feeling to be barefoot in the waves and let everything splash up.

Colleen
Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Colleen
Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Colleen
Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Me
Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Me
Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

EWSB

At the ACB in Muskegon, MI in May 2012 (Photo Credit:  EWSB)

We are done playing with East Winds Symphonic Band. It's something I will definitely miss.

At Twin Lakes Park (Photo Credit: EWSB)

I joined the group in 2003. I'm not sure how many people realize but I was at one of the lowest points of my life, ever, and the group gave me such a boost. I was down on self esteem and confidence, in particular with music. I felt like I wasn't very good. But I found a niche in the group, and made some amazing friends (as well as met my husband).

The percussion section at Ligonier

At one of our Christmas concerts (Photo Credit: EWSB)

Dave playing timpani (Photo Credit: EWSB)

Our last concert was this Sunday at the Chautauqua Institution. I had never been there before and the campus was so impressive. The amphitheater was just amazing to play in- the resonance of the music was unreal. It took a bit to get used to, and everyone had to really watch Susan conducting to stay together. Also, knowing it was the last time I'd be playing was actually hard. I have to admit I teared up DURING some of the songs as we were playing, just thinking how fun this is and how much a part of my life it has been the last almost 10 years. 

Turtle Trot 2012 (Recap)

I didn't get to run the Turtle Trot last year because I dropped a cymbal on my big toe and had stitches. We did go last year and watch, cheer the runners on. When we went last year, our friends Randy and Judy walked it.

So this year we decided to walk it. Actually, Dave said he would walk it if I would walk it. When we got there, I was itching to run and tried to give Dave puppy dog eyes but he said if I signed up to run then he wasn't going to walk. So I circled the "Walker" category and said ok.

They had the runners start, first, and then the walkers started about 2 minutes later. As walkers, we were not allowed to run at all. We actually walked with Randy and Judy the whole time. That was a lot of fun. It was pretty relaxed; we were talking the whole time, and Randy kept asking people for a ride. ;)

When the horn sounded, I felt my adrenaline go just like it does when I'm running a race. (This is the first time I've walked one.) So I automatically started fast- thank goodness I didn't actually break into a run- they would have seen that and said nope, disqualified already! Thankfully Randy said, whoa, whoa, be patient! And I realized I was chomping at the bit to go. But I slowed down and stuck with the group from that point on.

This course is extremely flat, and out and back. It starts in Turtle Creek but I have no idea what the building is or how to describe where it is. For any Pittsburghers, it's near the Palmieri's, kind of. It takes one road (not sure what the name was) out to Banquets Unlimited, does a little circle around, and comes back. I have never even driven on that road so I was looking at what was around. (Now we know where Wilmerding Beverage is! And Dave pointed out places that are closed now. "Oh, that used to be an old ice cream stand.")

Most of the way where there were stores, bars, restaurants, etc., the employees were standing outside watching. At the hardware store, near the turnaround, one of the guys was out there and Randy told him to clap for us. He was kind of grumpy, did clap, but walked back into the store and we heard him complain to someone else about how they shouldn't have to close a road for walkers. LOL. I said (to our little group), well, we're out walking. He's not.

We went fastest the third mile- I was walking with Judy a little bit ahead of Randy and Dave. When we were about .1 miles away, Randy decided he better catch up and beat us so all 4 of us started walking faster. Dave and I hung behind a little, and Randy and Judy were trying to push each other out of the way, fighting for who between the two of them would finish first. I also tried to step it up and wouldn't you know it, Dave kept up! But I did push ahead just at the finish line. I'm not sure if the people at the end were laughing or rolling their eyes.  I would have laughed.

We stuck around at the end and it's a good thing we did- Dave ended up getting 2nd place for his age category! I couldn't believe it. His category was Men's ages 20-50. So now he has a trophy, for his first full 5K ever. And I still don't have one! ;) Congrats, Dave!

Dave with his trophy. Randy is actually in the Pitt hat to the right of Dave (and that's Judy's head on the very side of the picture)

I did take data on my Garmin and told the group whenever we hit a 1/4 mile (that's what my laps are set at and I didn't change them for the race). Since I have it, here are our mile spilts. I did not stop the watch at the end of the race, oops. So I don't know what our official time was. I think around 53 minutes?

Distance	Time	Total
1	17:26	17:26
2	17:13	34:39
3	16:48	51:28
3.15	02:37	54:05

Look at the negative splits. ;) I kind of have to ignore the last .15 just because I did forget to stop the watch for a bit.

The walkers got timers, too, so when I got an official time I'll put it on the race recap page on the blog.

Running Photo Shoot

We started to warm up so we changed into shorts and t-shirts. I was so excited about running on the beach I just ran into the waves. It's a good thing I had a second pair of running shoes to change into.

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Gotham Nights (Toonseum)

Saturday night Dave and I went to Gotham Nights, a fundraiser for the Pittsburgh Toonseum. (Current exhibits are for the Care Bears 30th anniversary and Batman.)

Scott McDaniel lent some of his original work on Batman comic books to the museum and it was really neat to see it on display.

We attended the VIP event, which started at the museum itself and Jim Krenn spoke for a little bit. It's the first time I've seen him in person (he's one of the people on the morning show on WDVE here in Pittsburgh).

Jim Krenn dressed as the joker

With Scott in front of some of his artwork

After Jim Krenn talked, we looked at some of the art and met some local and national celebrities.  I'm not sure what ties George Takei had but he was there and we even got to shake his hand and talk to him for a minute.

with George Takei

with Jim Krenn, Sally Wiggin, Scott McDaniel, and Joe Wos

Rick Sebak and Rob Rogers were also there but weren't in any pictures with us. Although, we did get a picture of Rob Rogers similar to the one above but without Dave and me.

This is the mask that Christian Bale wore in the Dark Knight rises. It's hard to tell but it would be pretty big on me.

Then we moved over to the banquet hall for the Toonseum where they had a number of auctions and more food/drink.

Joe Wos and George Takei posing for the camera

There was a clown at a keyboard dressed just like the guys from the bank robbery in the start of Batman: The Dark Knight. I have to say, it was a little creepy to see him up there. You couldn't even tell who he was looking at because of the mask. Below is a picture showing where he is compared to everyone and then a close up.

Bane breaking Scott's back (like Batman in the comics)

They had a set up to make masks and pins. So here I am in a pin and a mask. Thank goodness one of the wives of the board members helped me make it. I'm terribly at that artsy stuff. I think this will be my Halloween costumer this year.

Do I look like Catwoman at all?

And they had a bunch of these posters with a cut out for a face. Dave decided he wanted to get a picture as the hulk. Rob Rogers actually took a picture of me taking a picture of Dave, but it was so dark in there I'm not sure how Rob's picture turned out.  Everyone there was really nice and down to earth.

We bid on one of the items that was a night in a hotel; I can't remember if the one we bid on included dinner. It was a silent auction and we didn't stick around until the end to hear who the winners were. But we never got a call so I guess we didn't win. I also wonder how much all the auctions ended up going for. There were some neat prizes- some comic related and others not at all. One was a week in a condo near Disney along with 4 park hopper passes. Another was a cast Jim Krenn wore that was signed by a lot of Pittsburgh celebrities. And I kind of eyed up a Care Bear basket, although a lot of it was really for kids (backpack, flip flops, etc.) but it had two decent sized stuffed animals.

You can see some of the auction items in the background.

A balloon artist was there who did an amazing job making a lot of the characters from Batman

Brewstone Restaurant and Tap Room

Dave and I went to Brewstone Beer Company, which is where John Harvard's used to be located in Monroeville. (John Harvard's left without any notice at least a few years ago, it was a really good restaurant!)

It opened this weekend and they had a limited menu to get the cooks used to the dishes. The limited menu was actually good- I'm pretty picky and I had a few things to choose from.

I would have taken some pictures but all I had was my phone and it has been screwing up. When I do take pictures, it even screws up old pictures on the card. I need a new phone.

I ordered meatball sliders and Dave ordered chicken tacos. They were $10 each, which in my opinion is a bit pricey for lunch, but they were both very good. I've never had meatball sliders before. These had one big meatball, with mozzarella cheese, a big slice of pepperoni for a little kick, and some leaf/lettuce type thing on top. The bread was a little bigger than the meatball so I didn't eat all of the bread for any of the sliders, just until I was out of meatball. They were very good though.

Dave said that his chicken tacos were very good- they had some seasoning that was apparently pretty tasty. (I didn't try any of his meal although I gave him one of my sliders and he said that was really good, too.) Both of our meals came with french fries, which were thinner than most places and also good.

They have a good list of craft beers and I think they are all $4 for a draft beer (craft, not sure about the more plain beers because we didn't order any). They had a good number of local beer as well, which was really nice.

I went in the bathroom and wasn't crazy about it. Everything in the bathroom is black, including the toilets themselves. It made the place feel kind of weird and it was very dark. I actually thought I locked myself in the stall and was going to have to call for help. The door lock twisted really weirdly and it was hard to move. Eventually I got it though.

I can't wait until we can go back again and order from the full menu. I also tried looking for a picture online but didn't find one, so no pictures in this post. Sorry!

Gotham Rogues

So I've caught the film bug for the latest Batman movie, Dark Knight Rises, which comes out this weekend. A lot of it was filmed in Pittsburgh and seriously I can't wait to see it!

There is a scene at Heinz Field that some of the Steelers had cameos in and Under Armour is selling some of the clothes for the football team, the Gotham Rogues.

I want this for myself:

Or maybe this:

Does anyone want to chip into the Jen fund???

And I think Dave should get this:

Here's the Under Armour link if anyone is interested in buying themselves. I am definitely doing some oogling.

Growing up in a motel

When I was 5 or 6 (between kindergarten and 1st grade) my parents bought a motel from my grandparents and we moved into that. I grew up there and my parents still own it today, although now rooms are rented on a monthly basis instead of a nightly basis. Where we lived was the size of a house. The motel is L shaped and our house was in the corner of the L and extended into the backyard. There was a breezeway with the office on the other side.

This was the motel, before we moved into it or early on after we bought it.

Growing up in a motel was very unique and I didn't realize just how unique until I got my first apartment in college and then eventually my own house. I thought since most people have no idea what it's like growing up in a motel I'd just talk about some of the interesting/unique things growing up there.

The phone system was multiple lines with at least a personal line and a motel line. At one point we also had an 800 number, there was a fax line, etc. So from the time I started using the phone we had to dial a 9 before the number to call out. It took a bit to get used to just picking up the phone and dialing the actual number (especially considering when I went to college between dorm living and work study jobs there were other codes to dial out). Along with that, we had to think before we answered the phone, how to answer it. When I was younger I only answered the personal line but as I got older and learned how to help with the office and reservations, I also answered the motel line. In addition, my parents did some stuff outside of the motel for additional money; my dad tuned pianos, they both taught lessons, etc. So we got calls for those businesses. I remember I didn't even answer the personal line with "Hello." At one point, in college, I had to actively think where I was before answering any phone since I had a work study job in addition to another desk job on campus.

With the amount of garbage from all the rooms (daily emptying of garbage cans, etc.) we had a dumpster outside. I didn't understand the concept of "taking out the trash" each week until I had an apartment in college and even then the landlord had to explain what that meant. I'm sure he thought I was a bit crazy. They did empty the dumpster every week but since it was a dumpster we just took out garbage whenever a bag was full.

We had an ice machine, soda machine, and candy machine. In the summer I would take a plastic cup and just sit outside and eat ice. And my dad would go once a year to buy candy in bulk from one of those special stores and let us each pick a box of what we wanted. And if we wanted soda or candy we could just get it out of the machine- we had a bucket with the coins from the machine that my dad would empty money into every so often so that it wasn't filled in the machines and we'd just use that money. We didn't get candy/soda unless it was ok with my parents but that's how we would do it. Always had a decent selection to choose from...

Our doors to the house/apartment were marked PRIVATE but sometimes people would just walk in anyways. Even when I was more than old enough to be home alone it took awhile before I felt comfortable being home alone.

We had a big commercial laundry room with a commercial washer and dryer for the sheets and towels. When I'd come home from college I just threw ALL of my clothes in at once. Mutliple loads at one time. The washer was hooked up to dispensers for soap and bleach so you never filled them with soap, etc. And you had to be careful which cycle you chose so you didn't bleach out clothes if you were bringing home all your clothes from college to wash them. Luckily, I never made that mistake.

We always had to be more conscious of noise so we didn't disturb guests. Early on there was a motel room that was right behind our kitchen (shared a wall) and my poor parents, whenever my sister and I had a fight. The people in that room could hear everything. Ultimately, partly because of that, they turned that room into my sister's room and we built on another room that became my room. 

We had a big swingset outside but if other kids were out there we usually didn't go out. Although I did meet some kids that way, but most of the time we would stay away unless they were regular customers we got to know.

The motel really established work perspectives for me. When we first moved there, we had another company provide clean sheets and towels. When I was around 10 or so, to save money, my parents built on the commercial part of our laundry room and started doing laundry themselves. I helped fold towels for them. When I was big enough to handle sheets, I started folding sheets.  When I turned 14, I got working papers and started cleaning rooms. And when they decided I was old enough, I started help run the office if they were busy or had to be away and would take reservations over the phone. 

The motel was a 24/7 job so we took a week's vacation every year and it felt like we were a normal family. Eventually we got a time share condo and would swap weeks around, and buy groceries for meals.  It was so nice to eat a meal without the doorbell or phone interrupting. (Although I was a picky eater and that made it hard to hide that I didn't always eat everything on my plate.) My parents had to find someone to watch the motel for a week and would call back daily to make sure things were ok. 

If I think of more, I'll make another post someday. I actually wrote most of these to a friend describing somewhat what it was like growing up in a motel.

Running Photo Shoot

We moved from the road to the sand/beach. It was pretty hard to run in the soft sand. When I've run on the beach in Rehoboth, Tybee Island, etc., I've stuck closer to the water where the sand is packed down. It also helps to run at low tide. I also tend to walk until I'm in the packed sand, just being cautious about turning my ankle or something like that. 

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer

Photo Credit: Paul Meyer