We had such a great day yesterday. A couple weeks ago, my daughter stated that she was ready to ride a bike without training wheels. So, we used the new bike for incentive for some good behavior and something to work towards for a couple weeks, then we ventured out to try it out. We got the new Trek Float, which is designed for the pedals to come off so they learn to ride it like a scooter first and learn to blance, then attach the pedals later. She spent about an hour scooting around on it without the pedals on Sat. and said she would be ready tomorrow. So, on Sunday, we went to the park to ride in the grass. After about 5 minutes and 10 push starts, she was all over it. She nailed it. What a fun day. She was so excited and proud of herself. This was a moment we truly enjoyed. Check the video.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
check out sandy's blog
Sandy is finally blogging. Check it out. Welcome Sandy!
http://www.bloggersandy-sandy.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggersandy-sandy.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Nightmares become art
on the heals of yesterdays video post, which you should still watch, I got a nice little art exercise with my 5 year old daughter last night. This was a wonderful moment, but I am so damn tired today. She woke up crying last night because she was seeing monsters in her room. This was a bad one, more so than normal. Mom was with her and she still wanted to talk to me about it. I was talking to her about it and assuring her that they didn't exist. I explained to her that when I was her age I thought I saw monkey all over the room... turns out there were never any monkeys (but I still recall many sleepless nights). They monkeys started after watching The Wizard of Oz and exposed myself to those damn flying monkeys.
She thought my story...and fears were amusing, but it wasn't solving the problem. She loves art (I love this about her) so we decided that I needed her to draw the monster so I would know what to look for. She spent a good half hour drawing the monster with such great detail and explaining every single line and color. The monster was wearing a green polka doted shirt, but we only had black markers at our disposal in that room at that hour. I assured her that I would remember that the polka dots were green and not black. The monster had large flowers instead of feed. This was good news to me since I'm not very fast. I pointed out that we could certainly outrun a monster with daisy fit or if cornered, we could just pick his feet. This helped.
I so want to show you here drawing she made but I'm having scanner problems at home. My all in one printer/scanner is about to bite the dust.... had it since 2000... pretty good run.
I love her creative outlet and it seemed to help. There's no wrong way to draw a monster and theres no way to truly define what's scary when your five, but art can be a nice distraction from fear.
I'll work on the scan and let you know how things go tonight.
She thought my story...and fears were amusing, but it wasn't solving the problem. She loves art (I love this about her) so we decided that I needed her to draw the monster so I would know what to look for. She spent a good half hour drawing the monster with such great detail and explaining every single line and color. The monster was wearing a green polka doted shirt, but we only had black markers at our disposal in that room at that hour. I assured her that I would remember that the polka dots were green and not black. The monster had large flowers instead of feed. This was good news to me since I'm not very fast. I pointed out that we could certainly outrun a monster with daisy fit or if cornered, we could just pick his feet. This helped.
I so want to show you here drawing she made but I'm having scanner problems at home. My all in one printer/scanner is about to bite the dust.... had it since 2000... pretty good run.
I love her creative outlet and it seemed to help. There's no wrong way to draw a monster and theres no way to truly define what's scary when your five, but art can be a nice distraction from fear.
I'll work on the scan and let you know how things go tonight.
Monday, April 23, 2007
If you have young children, watch this
This video is a great 20 min version of something I really believe in. Teach your kids the arts to give them an advantage in the future. Please, give this your undevided attention and you will learn something. I ordered Ken Robinsons books after reading this and will let you know more after I get to them. If this interests you, definetely read "A Whole New Mind" by Dan Pink and visit www.danpink.com
Friday, April 20, 2007
Amazing day. We started early and did some serious climbing. Started out very cold and I thought I was going to be miserable. I hate the cold. I'll take 105 degree's anyday. We did some pretty tough climbs and finished with the famous Brasstown Bald climb. Something like 25% or something like that and it goes on for miles. It's tougher than I thought it would be. I got to a certain point and I could barely turn the pedals over. This is the kind of climb that makes some pretty fit people have to get off their bike and walk.... serious stuff. I was happy just to stay on the bike and keep rolling.
You should see the pro's go up this thing. They make it look so easy.
In the pics... we got to hang out at the top of the mountain and had a great view of the finish. The guy in the pic with me is Phil Liggett. He is a very worldwide famous cycling announcer. He is absolutely amazing. He makes watching a race far more entertaining than when anyone else announcing. His love for the sport is so apparent and he is one of the greatest things to ever happen to cycling. I have always wanted to meet him and he couldn't have been any nicer. I like that he doesn't set his beer down for a pic, my kind of guy. He was being interupted constantly by people wanting autographs and pics and I could hear him mumbling something about just wanting to get drunk. I love this guy.
Great day. We get to do some more mountain climbs tomorrow. This is a great way to vacation. What a beautiful place.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
more from Ga, plus thoughts on other things
What a great day. We had our first epic ride in the mountains. So different from riding a bike in Austin. You can get into a climb and continue to climb for 7-8 miles. Incredible. In Austin, our climbs are maybe half a mile at best. This is a real treat.
We rode to the top of a mountain peak along the Appalachian trail. I say that as if I know what the Appalachian trail is... I really don't, but I know it was a big enough deal that the federal government made a bunch of wooden signs so the elderly would pull over and block traffic.
I guess this was a trail originated by explorers. I really don't know my explorer history, although I've gotten a few chuckles by making obscure references to Vasco DeGama (sp.?)
Being from the midwest originally I do know a lot about Lewis and Clark. I know enough to know this.... Clark was a dick. A lot of people don't know that.
He was always over accessorizing with pelts and often held his hand flat over his eyes to achieve the perception of exploring, even when in the bathroom. Really, Lewis was just trying to get to the end of the earth so he could jump off and get the hell away from Clark.
Everything is breathtaking around here. This is definetely the land of the haves and the have nots. Amazing farms surrounded by run down trailers. The have nots must be here to take care of all the haves crap. Either way, it's beautiful to ride through here. There are about three churches per person here. Definetely in the bible belt here.
They all have the same thing. A marquee with a saying about food or death, then a guys first name then some numbers. Ex:
"The bread of death never grows mold. Jacob 3:57"
My traveling roomate cracked me up and gave me a saying I will forever use. I was doing a shot of tequila by myself and asked him if that was weird. He stopped what he was doing, looked me straight in the eye and said "I do the same thing, it's not weird if you can find one other person in the world that does the same thing."
I love that.
We rode to the top of a mountain peak along the Appalachian trail. I say that as if I know what the Appalachian trail is... I really don't, but I know it was a big enough deal that the federal government made a bunch of wooden signs so the elderly would pull over and block traffic.
I guess this was a trail originated by explorers. I really don't know my explorer history, although I've gotten a few chuckles by making obscure references to Vasco DeGama (sp.?)
Being from the midwest originally I do know a lot about Lewis and Clark. I know enough to know this.... Clark was a dick. A lot of people don't know that.
He was always over accessorizing with pelts and often held his hand flat over his eyes to achieve the perception of exploring, even when in the bathroom. Really, Lewis was just trying to get to the end of the earth so he could jump off and get the hell away from Clark.
Everything is breathtaking around here. This is definetely the land of the haves and the have nots. Amazing farms surrounded by run down trailers. The have nots must be here to take care of all the haves crap. Either way, it's beautiful to ride through here. There are about three churches per person here. Definetely in the bible belt here.
They all have the same thing. A marquee with a saying about food or death, then a guys first name then some numbers. Ex:
"The bread of death never grows mold. Jacob 3:57"
My traveling roomate cracked me up and gave me a saying I will forever use. I was doing a shot of tequila by myself and asked him if that was weird. He stopped what he was doing, looked me straight in the eye and said "I do the same thing, it's not weird if you can find one other person in the world that does the same thing."
I love that.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
made it to Ga
Check these pics out. Stopping for fuel in Jackson, Ms and here is a shot of all our bike crap in the back of the plane. The flight out here was awesome. We got to the retreat and got an hour on the bike. Can't wait to get some good pics out here in the mtns.There's no freakin bar here! We're not sure what to do with our evening. Luckily, Mike packed a bottle of tequila. I love bars. I love beer. I miss bars and beer. Everything else is perfect. It's so dead ass quiet up here in the Ga. mtns it's eary. Hope I can sleep. God bless tequila.
So, I totally fell into this trip. I have been an avid cycling fan for years but have never made it over to the Tour de France or a European bike race. I have been to the USPRO Championships, which are always in Philly, but I was long overdue to catch a bike race.
My buddy, Mike offered to let me jump in with him in his plane and head to the Tour of Georgia. I really wasn't planning on going to this until last week. Mike offered to take me along and it looked like there were some accomodations along with some Austin friends of ours at AMD, big sponsors of the Discovery Team.
Here's the cool thing about heading out in Mikes plane. We just got to throw our bikes in the back and all the crap we need and off we go. Airlines charge an extra $50 to transport a bike and it has to be all packaged up. We just pulled off the wheels and threw em in.
I'll have some shots from the N. Ga mountains coming soon. It's supposed to be some gorgeous scenery and I promise to bring my camera along on the rides. We are scheduled to do some great mountain climbs... I'm really looking forward to that. Austin has some great hills, but they never last more than a few minutes.
check back soon for reports from Ga. jb
The car I won!
Yes, I really did win a car! Unbelievable. Here's the crazier thing. I found out about the raffle for this car as I was doing some research for the upcoming raffle of MY TRUCK!
I was flipping through the Statesman a few weeks ago and they did a write up on The Odyssey School and how one of the parents was raffling off a '58 Pontiac Star Chief. I looked up the raffle to find out what the tickets were going for since my raffle will be starting soon. I thought, what the heck, I'll buy some tickets.
Well, I won the stinkin thing. I was out of town for a bike race and the owner of the car, Jeff, called my voicemail and said he was standing there next to Kelly Willis who just drew my name and I was the big winner. I thought it was one of my friends playing a joke on my since I said on the air that I was going to win a car over the weekend.
I called back Jeff, it wasn't a prank and I already have the car. The raffle for my '63 Ford Truck will be starting soon, so keep listening or check back to www.jbandsandy.com for details. Everyone keeps asking what I am going to do with the car. I DON'T KNOW. I just got the damn thing. I'm very focused on getting the raffle going for the truck right now, which will benefit Leukemian/Lymphoma. You could be the lucky winner just like me. I hope you will help me raise a lot of money. It will be fun to make this new car my own for a bit and look into some charity options with it down the road, once it feels more like my car. I'll keep you posted. You would be surprised at how many charities come out of the woodwork and ask for your car when you win one and you work on the radio. If you have been listening for a long time, you know what a car junkie I am. I have never owned a car from the 50's and this will make a nice Austin cruiser for a bit. I have to enjoy it for awhile before I decide it's destination.
Anyway, I thought some of you would like to see it.
We totally owe our listeners an apology. We made a bad boo boo on our "Best of" replay today. If you have been listening for a long time you know that we like to do a clean show. Sometimes we talk about "adult" things, but we always forwarn you and and we always do it late in the show after the kids are in school.
Sandy and I are out for the rest of the week and today on the the "Best of" show we replayed a segment talking about Autumn not understanding the appeal of porn and why guys are so drawn to it. Even worse it played at 7:20 or so. I only figured this out because my first day on this vacation I saw all the complaints rolling in through my email. We are aware of the mistake we made and we totally apologize. We see to it that this doesn't happen again.
Hope all is well. jb
By the way, I am at the Tour of Georgia for the rest of the week. I'll send some cool pics if you want to come back and check on the trip. Take care.
Sandy and I are out for the rest of the week and today on the the "Best of" show we replayed a segment talking about Autumn not understanding the appeal of porn and why guys are so drawn to it. Even worse it played at 7:20 or so. I only figured this out because my first day on this vacation I saw all the complaints rolling in through my email. We are aware of the mistake we made and we totally apologize. We see to it that this doesn't happen again.
Hope all is well. jb
By the way, I am at the Tour of Georgia for the rest of the week. I'll send some cool pics if you want to come back and check on the trip. Take care.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Very funny Will Ferrell video
Thanks to Autumn for hooking me up with this video. Will Ferrell is king.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Wish I had found Kurt Vonnegut sooner
So, this is the strangest thing. My mother in law is always giving me great books to read and she's always dead on with thing I would like. Just a couple weeks ago, she brought over Kurt Vonnegut "A Man Without a Country" and thought I would like it. One weak after she brought it over, he's in the news because he passed away at the age of 82. I've always heard his name, recognized that he was a great writer, but had never read him or knew anything about him. This was his last book I believe that he wrote just a couple years ago. I love it, I love his style and he really makes you think. Only sad thing is that he will really make you realize how destructive we are to this wonderful planet we've been giving. It's a real eye opener.
It's hard to explain what this book is about. It's a lot of random thoughts on various topics. I will share with you a couple of my favorite things that jumped out at me immediately.
Here's an excerpt I loved:
Okay, now let's have some fun. Let's talk about sex. Let's talk about women. Freud said he didn't know what women wanted. I know what women want: a whole lot of people to talk to. What do they want to talk about? They want to talk about everything.
What do men want? They want a lot of pals, and they wish people wouldn't get so mad at them.
Why are so many people getting divorced today? It's because most of us don't have extended families anymore. It used to be that when a man and a woman got married, the bride got a lot more people to talk to about everything. The groom got a lot more pals to tell dumb jokes to.
A few Americans, but very few, still have extended families. The Navahos. The Kennedys.
But most of us, if we get married nowadays, are just one more person for the other person. The groom gets one more pal, but it's a woman. The woman gets one more person to talk to about everything, but it's a man.
When a couple has an argument nowadays, they may think it's about money or power or sex or how to raise the kids or whatever. What they're really saying to each other, though without realizing it, is this: "You are not enough people!"
...And here's another quick quote I love from this book:
We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different.
It's hard to explain what this book is about. It's a lot of random thoughts on various topics. I will share with you a couple of my favorite things that jumped out at me immediately.
Here's an excerpt I loved:
Okay, now let's have some fun. Let's talk about sex. Let's talk about women. Freud said he didn't know what women wanted. I know what women want: a whole lot of people to talk to. What do they want to talk about? They want to talk about everything.
What do men want? They want a lot of pals, and they wish people wouldn't get so mad at them.
Why are so many people getting divorced today? It's because most of us don't have extended families anymore. It used to be that when a man and a woman got married, the bride got a lot more people to talk to about everything. The groom got a lot more pals to tell dumb jokes to.
A few Americans, but very few, still have extended families. The Navahos. The Kennedys.
But most of us, if we get married nowadays, are just one more person for the other person. The groom gets one more pal, but it's a woman. The woman gets one more person to talk to about everything, but it's a man.
When a couple has an argument nowadays, they may think it's about money or power or sex or how to raise the kids or whatever. What they're really saying to each other, though without realizing it, is this: "You are not enough people!"
...And here's another quick quote I love from this book:
We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
TV personalities vs. animals... enjoy
VIDEOS OF THE DAY: TV PERSONALITIES VERSUS ANIMALS:
Why can't people on TV and animals just get along??? Enjoy these FIVE videos. . .
Elephant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUCeRHKSslU
Cat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ynz2Vvz9xo
Bear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26Vpu6ZSIEA
Another cat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRWB3rtCwTY
Lizard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6BnxJd6-wo
Why can't people on TV and animals just get along??? Enjoy these FIVE videos. . .
Elephant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUCeRHKSslU
Cat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ynz2Vvz9xo
Bear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26Vpu6ZSIEA
Another cat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRWB3rtCwTY
Lizard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6BnxJd6-wo
Monday, April 2, 2007
Where does energy come from?
This is not a scientific poll, this is an honest to God human to human question. I need help with the energy. As I have shared with you previously, I have made leaps and bound with the health and fitness. Next thing to tackle... I want some energy. I want the ability to focus on my things to do list and the immediate task at hand.
I know I am not alone with this. I don't think I have a unique problem that calls for everyone to drop what they are doing and come to my aid. Life is hard and tiring, especially with a 5 year old.
I'm determined to tap into more energy and accomplish more. I'm open to suggestions of anyone reading this who has dealt with this with some level of success.
It's not my diet which is ridiculously perfect, other than the copious amounts of beer I enjoy. I have to have one vise....right?
I want...."Barista" energy. I guess they just get hopped up on the employee coffee or something, but that's the kind of energy I want.
I want... "Gay guy energy". I don't know how they do it. Have you ever met a gay guy who was lethergic? It must me something in the genetic makeup.
I'm so tired. I have a million things to do and I really only want to sleep... yet I don't sleep enough.
I'm so open to your suggestions....
I know I am not alone with this. I don't think I have a unique problem that calls for everyone to drop what they are doing and come to my aid. Life is hard and tiring, especially with a 5 year old.
I'm determined to tap into more energy and accomplish more. I'm open to suggestions of anyone reading this who has dealt with this with some level of success.
It's not my diet which is ridiculously perfect, other than the copious amounts of beer I enjoy. I have to have one vise....right?
I want...."Barista" energy. I guess they just get hopped up on the employee coffee or something, but that's the kind of energy I want.
I want... "Gay guy energy". I don't know how they do it. Have you ever met a gay guy who was lethergic? It must me something in the genetic makeup.
I'm so tired. I have a million things to do and I really only want to sleep... yet I don't sleep enough.
I'm so open to your suggestions....
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