Total Slacker

I am hard-pressed to think of a time since college where I have just completely abandoned a fundamental responsibility. It's totally irresponsible of me and I wish there was a better excuse. Hundreds of thousands of readers have likely found a new guilty pleasure for business hours. I'd imagine the US Weekly subscription rate has increased; fantasy baseball sites are seeing a record number of transactions; iTunes movie purchases have gone through the roof. And here I am thinking my lack of attention to this space only has an impact on me. Selfish, selfish man.

However I have said this before: when Molly is healthy I am less likely to post and more likely to enjoy her health. And I have been consumed by my full-time paid job, my full-time volunteer job, and my full-time training job.

Since we recently came clean to the fact that this is all about me, I may as well start there (if I haven't already).

The Triathletes for Trisomy 18 program is off to a roaring start. The early and generous participation has been as impressive as it has been humbling. The number of people who stepped up and contributed early has completely changed the perspective of the program. Our original goal was $10,000 and thanks to the 49 people who have given in the last two weeks we are merely $100 from that total. With this continued motivation from teammates and generosity from donors, I would not be surprised to see the total go up over $15,000. This would be a nice base for the Foundation, and a tremendous kick-start to a national program. Bottom line: thank you, thank you, thank you.

In preparation for the big race in July I have run in two 5k fun runs in the last two weekends.

The first was part of a larger celebration at Giants Stadium as we broke up the offseason with a Draft Day tailgate party. Even though the season is still months away we got together with some adult beverages and grilled meat products and spent the morning talking about who the Giants needed to draft to improve on last season's 8-8 record. Then we went inside the bubble and watched the draft on TV. Anyway before all that started I ran a 5k.

Then this past weekend, as part of a larger celebration at Lawrenceville, I ran in the Big Red Race. This race was the end to Alumni Weekend where 1200 of our closest friends come back to school for a weekend of parties and dinners and sporting events on campus. Since I work in the Alumni Office I get to partake in this splendid event. And by partake I mean work from 8 am until midnight Friday and Saturday. Nonetheless, it's a lot of fun.

The best part of the BRR is the kids race. Last year Gavin ran with the "Under 3" crew in the 25 yard sprint. He got a little nervous half way through when he couldn't see daddy at the finish line, and he ran back to Mom screaming his head off. This year he moved up to the 4-5 year old group at 50 yards, and ran it three times. Well only twice officially, but after he ran it with the girls the first time, he had to sprint back to the start line so he could run it with the boys. So three 50 yard legs, two races, no spills, no tears, one medal. Next year he is running the 5k with me.

Saturday was Erin's birthday, but since I was at work all day we didn't do anything special. In fact, we only saw each other for like eight minutes all day. Colleen and Steve were in town for their baby shower, which was Saturday afternoon, so she at least got to do something fun on her birthday.

Everyone will be glad to know that a couple Fridays ago Erin and I finally went to Changs. We had an excellent dinner. It was a little loud, and a little dark. I think that basically means we're getting a little old. But good times, nonetheless.

Now for Molly. As I said, all is well. She seems to be tolerating her feeds better lately. She has been sleeping well. Thanks to the exercises her mother and OT do with her, she is starting to grab hold of things, and balance herself when she is propped up in the boppy. So she isn't exactly sitting up, but let's see anyone argue with me. We were supposed to take her for a feeding clinic last week, but our cardiologist, who works out of the same office, called to tell us that would be a waste of time and money. We'd have had to pay a co-pay for each of the five specialists who participate, and they wouldn't likely have been able to help much anyway. She also had a hearing test a couple weeks ago that she failed. It's a pass/fail test, there are no varying degrees. We're scheduled for a more comprehensive test in a couple weeks where they will hopefully measure the degree at which she can or can't hear. We know she can hear. I don't care what the test says.

Ok so I feel a little better. There are new pictures on the Shutterfly site; I have updated on a couple weeks worth of happenings. Perhaps I can get myself back on schedule and keep this space more up to date. I monitor the traffic on the site, so I know people are checkin in daily. Thanks for bearing with me.