Packers/Ravens on MNF!

Justin was kind enough to let me join him at the Monday Night Football Packers/Ravens game. Being December, and all, it's bound to be cold. For reference, the jump to the last cold weather game I went to, or take a look at all the layers I'll have on.

There's 4 to 5 layers there. Not shown are the insulated boots, but I had all that on at once.

My coworker Ricci and his wife Connie also made the trip out, as did some other Minneapolis friends of ours. Of course, Justin and I beat them to the tailgate by 3 or so hours.

Justin's seats are in one respect amazing. Right on the corner of the end zone, looking down the goal line. If the action is on the other side, well, you're screwed. Fortunately for us, all the scoring was on our side!

We also happened to sit next to the Raven's Fan Man. He's their ultimate fan! Can you tell?

End score, 27-14 Packers. Kelsey wasn't so happy (she's a Raven's fan), but fortunately she wasn't there to take her anger out on me!

Grandad Bluff

We went to LaCrosse over Thanksgiving, and Kelsey had never visited Grandad Bluff, one of LaCrosse's finest attraction (after the World's Largest Six Pack, of course).

It was cold, and a bit hazy, but we got a decent view of LaCrosse.

A panorama, which covers pretty much the whole city.

Pumpkin Carving

Soon it was time for our annual pumpkin carving party! Lots of people came with autumnal brews, and I made cider, as always. The carvings this year were quite intricate, especially one of Jake's, which has some neat shading. I wish I could remember who cut each one, but there were a lot.

Hello! Is it meeeee you're looking for? Yes, Lionel. We're looking at you.

We'll see you all again next year!

Larson/Boyd Wedding

Continuing the move forward in time, mid-October brought the nuptials for Kristen and Cameron. Their wedding was at the Mill City Museum, which was fabulous. A great time was had by all.

Here's the Larson family portrait.

Kelsey's niece and nephew, Tessa and Camden.

The sister picture.

First dance.

And all of us having a good time afterwards.

Oktoberfest '09

No commentary required here. Just the annual drunkfest. A fun time, for sure!

Ceiling Fan!

In my quest of catching up on blog posts, we must head back to September 2009, when I successfully installed a ceiling fan!

Previously there was a "boob light" in the master bedroom. Ugly and not a great light. Kelsey wanted a ceiling fan, and they're not that expensive, so I thought why not.

Removal of the light and installation of the fan was straightforward.

Although the fan motor was heavy, and I got a little confused with the wiring, it all seemed to work.

Tada! And four months on, it still hasn't fallen on us or burned the house down!

House Changes Color

It was time to paint the house. The white paint was peeling, fading, and in generally really bad shape. The grey trim was also not doing well, and the whole red stain thing wasn't great. Since we were planning to do a whole house paint job, the idea of changing colors came to mind. Now, changing the main color would've been hard, and expensive. Basically, going to or from white requires multiple coats, and more prep.

A before picture, for reminders.

We changed all the trim to blue. Very blue. Way bright blue. We didn't expect the color to come out this way at all, we were aiming for something darker, more toned down. Maybe it's just the shock of the color change. In any case, the white is nice and bright now, and you won't miss our house on the block! It'll fade, right?

Ragnar Recap

Well, we survived! 195 miles. 26 hours, 45 minutes, and 37 seconds. An 8:20 min/mi pace. Not that we were in it for competition, but we placed 69th out of 216 teams.

The team was, in order of running: Kurt, Donnie, Mike, Kam, Andrew, Rob, Kevin, Justin, Jon, myself, Zimm, and Shawn. Here we are at Levee Park in Winona, blissfully unaware of the pain we would be enduring just over a day later.

Although the weather in this picture looked a little ominous, it was actually perfect. Not too hot and a light sprinkle for Donnie's first leg. About 12 other teams had a noon start time, some with great costumes, like the Lazy Pigs. We'd see them at most of our exchanges.

Donnie running along the highway. Much of the running was done along WI 35, which is not exactly a little used road. There's a good shoulder, though, and we always ran into traffic.

Mike running through a cornfield, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. At least it's a beautiful area we were in.

Kam to Andrew transition in Alma, WI.

Disaster almost strikes as Rob and Andrew fumble the handoff! We had to pass a slap bracelet (yes, an ACTUAL slap bracelet) between runners. I felt very elementary school!

At the first major exchange, and Van 2 is ready to rock! Kevin was the lead runner for our van, taking off from Modena.

He's enjoying it here, little does he know what awaits. Oh, a 500 foot hill?

Justin, you're up!

After Justin's run, it was after 7 pm, so we had to don our "night gear". A reflective vest, headlamp, and butt light. It certainly didn't make the run any better. Jon was the first sucker to need it.

My turn! Despite being about 7:30, I was running straight into the setting sun, so I had the light (which wasn't really needed to start) and my sunglasses. As you see in the next pic, it got pretty dark by the end of my run, so I ditched the glasses about halfway thru.

Go Zimm, Go!!

Shawn, in full get-up.

At this point, it's about 10 pm when Shawn finishes his first leg. Not a lot of night pics, because they don't turn out well. So fast forward a bit to Shawn's second leg. Van 1 has finished their second legs, van 2 has slept and is near Stillwater. Shawn gets another nice run, with the sunrise and a trip over the lift bridge!

Kam starting his final leg. This one was pure punishment, for what, I don't know. 3 miles nice and flat, then a 280 foot climb in under a mile. As we drove it, we felt sorry! But he gutted it out, like a boss!

Rob pulls into Exchange 30, and van 1 is officially done! By this point, we're running about 30-35 minutes ahead of our estimates, which is nice.

It's getting later in the morning, and the previously cool temperatures are rising quickly. While 70 may sound perfect (and it probably is), after 11 miles, and with no cloud cover, it gets pretty hot.

I'm really not excited for Jon to finish. My third leg was only 4.5 miles, but over 2.5 of that was through the Mississippi National River and Rec Area, with no hope of water, or seeing other people. That was surely the worst part of my run. But I did make it!

This is Shawn BEFORE his last run! Something tells me he's wondering why the hell he decided to do this.

And Shawn leads us to the end!!

So we all made it. Personally, despite the pain of Saturday afternoon, all of Sunday, and most of Monday, I had a great time and would probably do it again. I ran significantly faster than I planned, which I was really happy about. I had trained and expected to run about 9:30 a mile, but was about 8:30 over the course.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but bring on Ragnar 2010!!