Las Vegas Rock & Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon!

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Rock & Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon + Las Vegas + Early December + Taking Over The Strip + Nighttime Start + Good Charity + Best Race Web Address Ever = Possible the Coolest Race in the World

Check out the details for the Las Vegas Rock & Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon at… wait for it… StripAtNight.com.

This year’s race is scheduled for Dec 4. Yes, they are actually closing the Strip in both directions for the race. The organizers expect 30,000-35,000 people, making it the largest nighttime race in the world. For a variety of reasons, I don’t plan to go this year, but I might next year. We’ve talked about renewing our vows in Vegas for our 10th anniversary, so we might combine the two trips and bring some friends and family.

Haiku Tuesday 20 – Spring

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Yeah, I know it’s not technically spring yet, but it feels like it. Let’s celebrate!

Great time of year, but
Please can we eliminate
Daylight savings time?

Your turn!

Yogurt Story

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As a treat for ourselves the boys, we took them to a frozen yogurt store called Yogurt Story. I can’t explain the name. Just go with it. Its business is delightfully simple: about a dozen flavors of self-serve frozen yogurt and sorbet, a huge variety of toppings, and a scale. The customer picks some flavors and toppings, sets the cup on the scale, and pays 35 cents per ounce. (The lone sign behind the counter says “.35c”, but I decided not to press the issue by offering a dime as payment)

It’s good yogurt. My favorite flavors were NY Cheesecake, Snickerdoodle, and Strawberry. I think I tried eight or nine different flavors before we left. Not nearly the sugar addict that his parents are, Brenden took a few bites and then preferred to wander around the store. Because I am a good daddy, I volunteered to finish his.

A steady stream of customers came through, mostly couples and families. Jonathan flirted with some 18-month-old twin girls. One family came through straight from the son’s first baseball game of the season, the son still in uniform. Someday we hope to do the same.

Haiku Tuesday 19 – Favorite Movie

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In honor of the Oscars, pick one of your favorite movies and write a haiku about it.

“I need your clothes, your
Boots, and your motorcycle.”
“Forgot to say ‘please’.”

“Have you seen this boy?”
Creepy liquid metal dude
Got to melt him down.

Grab your minigun
Skynet watches over all
Hasta la vista.

(Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

You’re up.

Oscars 2011

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An assortment of Oscar thoughts, two mornings after:

  1. Although I haven’t seen any of the other four performances nominated for Best Actress, I was very pleased that Nat won for Black Swan. I finally got to see it Saturday night, and she was amazing – obsessive, vulnerable, violent, childlike, sexy, terrified, passionate, barely sane. You root for her, then yell at her, then pity her, then fear her. I haven’t liked all of her performances (don’t look so shocked!), but she was born to play this role. Her Oscar speech was very gracious and professional, as well. It’s cute to see her in love and pregnant.
  2. I really need to see The King’s Speech. Period dramas like this aren’t typically my favorite, but I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews, and now the film has a truckload of hardware to back them up.
  3. Inception won a few well-deserved technical awards, although Christopher Nolan was strangely left off the list of finalists for Best Director.
  4. As many other commentators have noted, I wasn’t a big fan of James Franco’s hosting duties. He seemed tired and apathetic. Anne Hathaway, on the other hand, lit up the night with her tremendous energy and enthusiasm. I’d like to see her host again with someone else (and some better material). Any ideas? How about her and Tina Fey? Or Billy Crystal?
  5. Trent Reznor won an Oscar? Seriously? Does that make him a sellout or simply a well-rounded badass? Will “Wish” still sound the same? What about “Closer”?
  6. How is it that Annette Bening has never won?
  7. Someday I want to do a Oscar marathon of all ten Best Picture nominees, either a two-day version or a full 24-hour one. This year I hadn’t seen most of them, just Inception and Black Swan.
  8. The Dude abides.