Inner Child VI: Pull My Finger…

I know I said this series was done but this one just popped in my head and I had to draw it.

Inner Child VI: Pull My Finger

Knowing my head, there are bound to me more so I declare this series as open for the duration.

The Shoes Run a Marathon…

and were kind enough to take me along for the ride.

We ran the Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday, November 23, 2008. Their first and my ninth. Now that my legs are less sore, I can say that all in all, it was a good time. Philadelphia does a nice job organizing a race. The temperature at start time was right around 30 degrees and didn’t get too much warmer by finish. By far the coldest marathon I’ve run.

The start was very easy to find, right by the Museum of Art on the Ben Franklin Parkway. Bag check was a breeze. They had a bunch of school buses lined up on either side of a park path, each manned with two or three volunteers. My only real complaint about the start was a lack of port o’johns. I got in line at 6:30 and got back out at 6:40 after the line failed to move more than a couple feet. I, and a bunch of other guys, ending up waiting to go until we got to the expressway bridge at mile two.

The crowd was awesome. People lined the city streets and cheered us on, many with their hands out to give a high five. That part is always fun, especially when it is kids. I also like looking for family members who show up throughout the course to cheer on a runner. This year, it was Karianne’s family. I saw them probably at five or six different locations. Very cool.

You can also almost always be guaranteed an irate driver at a blocked intersection. This time, it was a gentleman by Drexel University. I don’t know what he was screaming but he was not happy. The police officer standing post just smiled.

My shoes, marathon finishers

The shirt we received was cool, too. It had a course map on the back so every so often I would look at someone in front of me to figure out where we were on the course. Very helpful.

We finished right back by the start line. The food tent had soft preztels and hot soup. Awesome. The medal is pretty cool, too.

If you are so inclined, I highly recommend running Philadelphia. It is run almost as well as the Marine Corps but with a lot less people.

My New Shoes…

They are a couple days old, with about 10 miles on them already. I really needed a new pair before I run Philly on the 23rd of this month. I thought it would be cool to kind of document the life of a pair of running shoes. It is amazing how shiny and new they start out and how beat-up they are at the end.

They are a pair of ASICS Gel Nimbus, red and silver. Jenny says they look like Spiderman’s costume. If it makes me run faster than, cool by me!

My New ASICS

Wash, Rinse, Repeat…

This is my view about people’s reactions during our current financial mess. Instead of accepting the fact there is going to be volatility with big swings up and down, people see ups as problems are over and sing hallelujah. The next day when it all goes away, we’re in the worse depression ever. People’s emotions are as volatile as the markets, maybe even more so.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat or Stop Watching Cable News

The guy at the end is repeating something that was actually said to me. I was told that Revelations speaks about all of this. Um, ok.

A Couple More Doodles…

I’ve been sitting on these for a few days. No time for scanning and posting. They are in the same style as past doodles.

No Name or Date Nov 08

 

No Name 8 Nov 08

Fighting the Negative Gorilla…

I use a mug from Life Is Good, the Smiling Jake© folks. Today, while drinking my coffee, the question popped into my head, “Should I put the mug away until my situation changes for the better?” On the back it says, “Do what you like. Like what you do©.” Needless to say, I’m not doing what the mug is telling me to do. The thought was, put the mug away and once things change, pull it back out. But then it hit me. That would be a step backward. The 800-pound negative gorilla would win the day. So, instead of feeling that the mug is mocking me, I will keep using it, let it motivate me and keep hope that things will change for the better.

Take that stupid, negative gorilla. 

(picture courtesy of the “Life is Good” website. Check ‘em out. Their stuff is awesome!)

Seven…

Seven

Talker…

This is another request from Jenny. She wanted one that in someway talked about a family joke or the boys.

Talker

Here is the back-story.

When Linc was little, around four-years-old, he had this knack for talking to anybody. We would be somewhere and he could talk to any adult in the room, basically telling them his life story. One time, he talked to this sweet older lady almost the whole way on a flight from Orlando to Baltimore.

After awhile of this, Jake would start to roll his eyes and say, “Mom” in that slow, dragged-out way big brothers can say things, make the “blah, blah,blah” motion with his hand. It became a family joke and is one our cherished memories of Jake and when the boys were little.

No Title #1

Just another doodle. Couldn’t come up with a title for this one. I added a new shape, a half-circle, to go along with the squared shapes. Just to be a little different. Like the others, 6″x6″ paper, pencil and sharpie.

No Title #1

Laughing…

Laughing