Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls....

Welcome to Fenway Park!

This year for my birthday I bought Chris and I two tickets to a Red Sox game. We met a bus in Burlington at noon and from there rode to Boston. The ride down was only about 4 hours, even with four stops. I don't think I could have done any better.

Since we went on June 12th, and it was my birthday, I wanted three things:

1. Curt Schilling to pitch (Curt's been on the DL since spring training, so no luck there) STRIKE ONE!
2. Jason Varitek to catch (He came down with a random case of strep throat and couldn't play) STRIKE TWO!!
3. Jonathon Papelbon to pitch (we were winning so didn't need to rely on the star closer) STRIKE THREE!!!

Don't feel too bad for me though - I was at Fenway Park, the Sox won, and Mike Lowell hit a grand slam home run - so it was an okay trip overall!

May you live in interesting times...

Sorry for my long term absence...just haven't been feeling the blog bug lately, but since there is so much going on I figured it would be a good idea to update the few readers of this blog (okay - the one person who I KNOW reads it already knows 90% of what I'm going to say...).

Running
We'll start with the personal achievements first. As I stated in my last post I've been doing the Couch to 5K program from Coolrunning.com. I've stuck with it and I'm about to start week 8 of the 9 week program. That means that last week I ran for 25 straight minutes three times last week. If you've been following the weather in NE you know that it's finally summer which means that it's getting hot and humid - not such pleasant running weather. I had some trouble finishing week 7 of the program (that's the 25 minutes 3x/week) so I think I might go back to week 6 which is broken up walking and running for 8 and 10 minutes (depending on the day). I so far haven't let myself quit - I've even gone out when it's sprinking and icky outside. It feels mentally really good.

Florida
Florida? you say? What does that mean? Well that means that Chris and I are moving to Florida at the end of July. I've accepted a transfer at EverBank and will be moving to Jacksonville, Florida - in August - the hottest month of the year! This decision was made with a LOT of thinking. Chris and I are in just about the perfect position to make this move - Chris doesn't have a full-time job to leave, we don't own any real estate and don't have kids (relax grandparents-to-be...the time isn't right yet) so besides Mom and Dad there isn't a lot holding us here. Leaving Mom and Dad is NOT an easy thing for me to do, esp. since Dad's health isn't really great and Mom is just newly retired and has time to do all of the things that we haven't had time to do in the past - but as Mom said it give her an excuse to fly.

You'll recall (or read below) that I was exploring becoming an EMT. Well, that is still going to happen, but it's just had to be adjusted. I can't join Essex Rescue, but I can join the Jacksonville Emergency Medical Auxillary. It's essentially a volunteer rescue squad for the city of Jacksonville. Unlike Essex I have to get my certification before I join the squad, but the Florida Community College, Jacksonville (FCCJ) offers the class.

Chris and I are going to Florida on June 18th so Chris can get a lay of the land and try to find us a place to live. It's a very stressful time, but I think in the end it will be a good choice.

Birthday(s)
Chris' birthday was June 3 and mine is June 12. This year we are doing something that for us is pretty extravagant. We are going to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play the Orioles. I bought tickets from Milne Travel. It includes bus transport to and from Boston and right field box seats. At $4.00 a gallon for gas, we actually got a REALLY good deal. I can't complain. So - if you're watching the game on Thursday watch for me - I think I might make a big obnoxious sign proclaiming my birthday status.

Later days!