You Should Run. Too.

We're heading off to Chicago tomorrow for what should be a fun family wedding.  Given our muddled American mutt heritage, an Indian wedding on Easter Weekend sounds like the right spice to add to the stew.  Especially since I've done such a lousy job on Passover this week.  It all started last Friday when I was packing preschool lunch for Maya.  She was having a special pre-Passover break seder with her classmates, so a lunch was gilding the lilly.  Still, I asked Maya if she wanted a tuna sandwich.  She quietly withdrew into her own shell while still seated at the counter for breakfast.  When I finally noticed and asked her why she was upset, she told me that bread wasn't allowed for Passover.  I corrected direction as best I could and apologized to for not knowing the drill - she's really a good kid who so dearly wants to follow the rules.  Oh well.  At least I hadn't asked if she wanted a pulled pork sandwhich or a shrimp po' boy.

If you've caught wind of another blog I started last week, I hope you will check back as I look toward some upcoming goals.  For those totally unaware, I'm training for a half marathon in little more than a week.  And then a full marathon in early October back in Minnysoda (the Twin Cities Marathon on the 3rd).  My new project ("You Should Run") is envisioned as a runner's blog that hopefully will add a bit more zazz than just running shtick to the daily posts.  Please check it out if you want to track whether this not-so-long-ago big ol' load of a feller can pull it together for a full marathon given another six months of training.  Not that it matters, but ages ago I ran my one and only marathon (Seattle in late '96) well enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  But I trained so poorly and so ruined myself in the process that I had to skip Boston that following Spring.  This time around, I'm trying to show that I'm a decade and a half smarter about the grand arc of such an endeavor.  I know, I know - silly me.

Hope your own loops are new and tree-lined this weekend.  Rock on.

And no shoes were chucked at this particular Commander in Chief

Obama's tour through Europe was fascinating. Political impasses, minor chaotic protests, a constantly fawning public, and blossoming bromances across the spectrum of leaders. Not so much with Angela Merkel. But after doing a star turn in Turkey that we can already point to as a game-changer (they will once again let our military use their airspace as a pipeline in and out of Iraq) Obama flew into Iraq through that airspace. It wasn't much of a surprise to most of the press corps. Still, great theatre.

One quickie review - "Adventureland" is a bit over-rated. Great nostalgia for those of us that came of age in the late 80s. Great soundtrack, with both Husker Du and The Replacements in the mix. Jessie Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart are big stars in the making. Ryan Reynolds is lovable as always, even while playing a cad. But the middle was too muddled. My rating - B-minus.

Maya's on the leading edge of a two-week Passover break. So let the endless playdate scheduling begin! I'm sure by the end of next week we'll all be ready to get back to business. For now, it's fun though. Especially since Seattle's enjoying a serious dose of Springtime weather.

Hope your own windows are open and your juiceboxes are chillin'. Rock on.

"And joining me on the accordian, a topless Miley Cyrus!"

After an extreme Passover Break for Maya's daycare (TWO WEEKS!), we're back in the regular groove as of yesterday. So I'll catch up with y'all by offering a few quickies.

We saw Dan Zanes and Friends over the weekend perform at the Moore Theatre downtown. Maya's been excited for months to soak in a live show yet again. But once we got inside, she wasn't able to deal with the noise and essentially forced Sarah to do laps around various corridors until the show ended. Which gave me some time for a few observations. In no particular order.
1. White women still continue to dance considerably better than white men, even after childbirth.
2. Aging male musicians cannot not surround themselves with increasingly younger, hotter female bandmates, no matter the genre.
3. The soundman for Dan Zanes and Friends should be sacked immediately for gross negligence (even kids can tell you generally how to mike a tap dancer or guest vocalist with a set of bongos).
4. If 3/4ths of the African Americans at the show are on-stage, and the other one is sitting across the aisle from you - you're not exactly seeing a cross-over act.
5. Concert t-shirts are cool. Dood.

On an entirely different level, I'd be remiss if I didn't pile on the Reverend Jeremiah Wright media tour of the last few days. What. A. Trainwreck. If Barack Obama had done what everyone expected and thrown Wright under the bus many many weeks ago, it would have been ugly. Instead, Obama gave what I still believe to be his greatest speech in choosing not to do so. But then the media poked and prodded this obviously egomaniacal Pastor like a caged tiger ad hominem. The result? Ladies and Gentlemen - meet this election's Willie Horton. I watched the Bill Moyers interview and went to bed thinking Rev. Wright was trying to be dignified and still help out one of his past parishioners. Then I saw the NAACP speech. Then the DC Press Club speech. Oy vey. So I must now say that I was wrong. Throw this baggage under the bus. If Obama can't bring himself to do so, he'll end up carrying this distraction around for months and months.

Hope your own baggage is surprisingly light today. Rock on.