News

Tommy ran the Indianapolis Mini Marathon out at Fort Benjamin Harrison. It was very cold and windy. Unfortunately he pulled a muscle in his lower back in the first mile, but he soldiered on and finished at about 2 hours. He was quite annoyed as he was realistically shooting for 1 hour 40 minutes. At the finish he wasn't even tired or hungry.

We had a nice Easter in Terre Haute. We were able to see Z and Z do their Easter Egg hunt, and see Zashawn "wup" Uncle Jeff on the basketball court.

I received good news today at work. I was promoted to Director of Information Technology. It is a lot of responsibility but I'm looking forward to it.

My cycling team's training camp was very hard and very fun. We had three solid days of riding in the mountains.

Day 1 of camp: 80 miles, 6700 feet of climbing. Long day of a lot of steep climbs. Suffered as the day went on but learned a valuable lesson-carry my heart medicine with me on long hard rides as the last few hours were uncomfortable.

Day2: participated in a charity ride with a couple hundred cyclists. 6 hours, 80 miles, 7K feet of climbing. Up and down Fort Mountain was a BLAST! Finished the ride feeling good and ready for another day.

Day3: 3 mountains climbed, 40 miles, 4,651 feet climbed. Felt good until the last 6 miles of the last mountain. It was very steep and I started to have back spasms. Rumor has it that in my delirium I may have muttered an expletive upon FINALLY reaching the top. I can neither confirm or deny. Descending at 50 MPH.....interesting.

We celebrated Grams birthday at Ricks' Cafe Boatyard, then cake and ice cream at Jeff's house.

We had a fun time at the Pacers game against the Bulls. We were given a suite so we had a bunch of the family there for the fun. Naturally Jen ("The Spoiler") arranged for a special delivery for the kids: all the kids got bobble heads and Zashawn got a basketball autographed by all the Pacers. The Pacers won in overtime!

We had a good Christmas and New Years holiday. Tommy was home after a great 1st semester. He did well academically and enjoyed his classes and professors, He is good friends with his roommate, enjoys the food and the workout facilities.

He spent his vacation spending time with his friends, working for his grandparents (Bronsons), and working out at the Monon Center. He also enjoyed spoiling Chewy and Elvis (we barely saw the dogs when he was home).

We had fun at "Christmas at the Zoo". Jen especially enjoyed spoiling all of the nephews/nieces at one time.

We had a great Christmas Eve in Terre Haute including a great meal at Jade Garden since Grams/Paps were in the process of packing up for their move back to Collett Park.

We opened our presents Christmas morning, then went to Lauren and Grace's for breakfast. Then we had dinner at the Bronson's.

Jen, Bronson, Jimmy, Vickie, Lauren and Grace went for a weekend trip to St. Louis. They had fun swimming in the hotel pool, visiting with Aunt Lynda, and going to the Cathedral for Christmas Music.

Tommy came home for a few days for fall break. It was good to see him and the dogs were especially happy to see him. We all went to an open house for his friend Spencer who is getting ready to leave for the Army.

We went to the Hamilton Heights High School homecoming Friday night to watch Tommy crown this year's homecoming queen. It was a lot of fun for us and for him as he had a lot of students come up to him to say hi.

Jen and I returned from our trip to Greenville, SC. The Pro races were very exciting and I had a lot of fun doing the "Stars and Stripes" charity ride. I safely made it up and down Paris Mountain three times-but ate through a lot of my brake pads on the descents.

We enjoyed visiting some State Parks in the mountains, particularly at Lake Jocasse.

I just returned from Georgia. I went down there with my friend James to ride the mountains with our friend Jerry-who was kind enough to provide us with room and board. We climbed Raccoon Mountain, Fort Mountain and A LOT of hills. You are either going up or going down-there is no flat. We got in a lot of riding and had a lot of fun. I was the slowest coming down the mountains as I thought 40 MPH was fast enough on 1" wide tires. Hopefully this will help me for my charity ride in a few weeks going up Paris Mountain.

Jen and I are adjusting to our empty nest. It is a bit weird but we are getting used to it. Although, Jen calls him almost every day and doesn't understand why he doesn't call back immediately. ;-)

Tommy seems to be enjoying school. He likes his classes and sounds like he is keeping busy. He has been introducing his roommate (he is from Viet Nam) to American cuisine.

Jen and I took Tommy to DePauw! The move-in went smoothly. His roommate "Nick" is very nice and they seemed to hit it off. He doesn't start classes until Wednesday but they have a lot of organized activities to get the freshmen acclimated and mixing with the other freshmen. Jen and I handled it well, but it was a little weird going to bed that night because it was so quiet. The dogs kept barking and running to the front door every time they thought they heard something (thinking Tommy was getting home).

Zashawn and Grams came over for a visit. Jen took them to the State Fair on Thursday, then we all went out on the pontoon boat on Friday. Everyone enjoyed "tubing", but Jen insisted we keep the speed to an idle when she was on the tube.

Had fun at Pap's birthday party in Terre Haute. There are some good pictures of the pool in the 'recent pics'.

Graduation ceremony took place at the high school. It was a very nice program and a proud moment for the family. Thanks to both sets of grandparents and Jimmy and Lauren for coming. Afterwards Tommy hit a few post graduation parties before returning home to play pool with friends. He hit quite few Open Houses the next day.

The Military Officers Association had their scholarship banquet. It was a nice night with the Indiana Sec. of State as the guest speaker.

Tommy's Graduation Open House was this Saturday at our house. It was a lot of fun with way too much good food.

We had a nice Memorial Day weekend. Uncle Reid and Cousin Reid were in town for the race, so the Bronson clan came over for swimming and BBQ on Saturday. Sunday Baby Grace came over to play. Tommy spent most of the weekend sleeping as he is still recuperating.

Well, this time it wasn't me in the Emergency Room. Tommy went to the hospital with stomach pains that turned out to be appendicitis. It was removed that afternoon and he spent the night in the hospital. I spent the night on a mat in his room as he wasn't thinking clearly and the nursing staff was not very attentive.

He stayed home the rest of the week and slept most of the weekend, but is feeling better.

Tommy ran the Mini-Marathon. He ran the entire 13.1 miles without stopping in a time of 1 hour 52 minutes. It was cold and very windy-about 50 degrees with 20-40 MPH winds. Tommy was very cold waiting for the start, and then very cold waiting on us to find him at the end. It took us about 30 minutes to find him as we didn't see him finish-there were just too many people running. Once we found him we got some clothing on him and got him to a Starbucks to warm up.

Once he was warmed up, he was fine. His legs were a little tight the next day but that was it....oh to be young.

I won my first bicycle race. I won the Kokomo 20K Time Trial beating my previous best time by one minute. I don't think I can quit my day job yet...

Jen, Tommy and I went to see the Harlem Globetrotters with Jeff and Zashawn. It was a lot of fun for everyone and the souvenir cashier was THRILLED to see Jen......

Tommy was accepted to the National Honor Society! He is also on the Academic Team this semester.

We celebrated Grams' birthday at Ricks Boatyard Cafe, then cake and ice cream at Jeff's house.

We had a great Easter. Tommy and Jen did a great job at the Sunrise Service at church doing a dramatic reading. We then had brunch with the Bronson's at Sullivan's.

Tommy is continuing to run-he does anywhere from 5-18 miles at a time, 3-5 times a week. He is running the Mini-Marathon in May.

Jen is doing well. She had our niece Lauren over for a sleep-over and an "Aunt Jenny Super Fun Day" which included a trip to a nature park and the zoo. It took Jen a few days to recover afterward.

I had another visit to the emergency room. I went down in a group ride with 5 or 6 other cyclists at 25 MPH. I flew over the handlebars and landed on my shoulder, then bounced into the brush/trees. I bruised my shoulder pretty good and broke a rib. I had scrapes everywhere and two swollen knees, but those are in decent shape now. I'm healing well, but my shoulder and ribs are still sore. Fortunately, the bike was undamaged as it went into the grass, not the road. I took 5 days off the bike after the crash........

It is official. We sent Tommy's acceptance letter (and a check) to DePauw today.

We had a very nice Christmas and New Years holiday. Santa was good to everyone and we got to spend time with family. Being the party guy that I am, I made it to 10:30 before falling asleep New Years eve. ;-)

Big News! Tommy was accepted to DePauw. This is his number 1 option so he is very excited. Jen and I are excited as he received the Trustee Award, which is a $60,000 scholarship. We are quite proud!

Jen hosted Thanksgiving at our house. Her parents, my parents, Jeff, and our friend Patrick (from college) with his family came to dinner. Everyone did a great job with the food and it was great to see everyone.

I drove down to Tennessee with my cycling buddy James to pick up my new bike. We have a friend down there who got me a great deal on the bike. We drove down Friday morning and then rode up Raccoon Mountain that afternoon. Saturday we rode up Fort Mountain and then drove home. It was a lot of fun but very tiring between the mountains and the 14 hours of driving. My hip is not 100% which made it even tougher.

I got a surprise in the mail-prize winnings for a bike race . I finished 3rd in the Kokomo Time Trial Race Series. I don't think I can quit my day job as the check was for $15.

We went to Tommy's last Fall Sports Awards night. It was nice but bittersweet. The coach praised him as a leader for the younger players (and joked about him being an idol to some of them).

Tommy has signed up for the Mini-Marathon in May. He has been running a lot since the tennis season ended, including an 8 mile run last week.

Jen and I took Tommy to DePauw for a 2nd college visit. It was a nice visit and a pretty day. Tommy participated in a mock class regarding Pompeii. DePauw is currently Tommy's top pick.

***Tommy was selected as the Hamilton Heights High School Athlete of the Week for his win at Sectionals.

Jennifer celebrated a birthday-I won't say which. She had a good birthday-topped off with reviewing Tommy's senior pictures. Friday night we had dinner with the Bronson's at "Kelties". Sunday we had Beef Stroganoff at the Bronson's, which is Jen's favorite. This coming Saturday we will have more festivities in Terre Haute AND get family portraits taken as well.

Tommy's high school tennis career came to a close on a positive note. The team lost in the Sectional semi-finals 2-3 versus University High School. However, Tommy crushed his opponent at #2 singles: 6-3, 6-0. Both sets of grandparents braved a cold and windy Saturday morning to see the match.

It was a great year as Tommy started well and got better as the season went on. He won a lot of grueling tie-breaker and 3-set matches. Numerous team wins came down to his match-which was usually the last one on the court.

Hamilton Heights finished the tennis season with a winning record. This is their first winning record in A LONG TIME (last year we had one victory). Tommy also had a winning record, so a great year all around.

In the last 4 years, Hamilton Heights entire tennis team (Varsity and JV) have won ZERO sets against Westfield High School. Tommy not only won a set, he beat his opponent at #2 singles 6-4, 6-0. Tommy played his best strategic match and hit a lot of fantastic shots. It was very windy and Tommy was mentally a lot tougher than his opponent.

We had the tennis team family over for an end of the season party. There were about 30 guests and it was a lot of fun. They played 'Rock Band', shot pool, and acted like teenage boys in the pool (basketball, football, chicken fights, etc). All in all, it was a lot of fun and a lot of food.

Tommy was voted Homecoming King at Hamilton Heights High School! The festivities started with the homecoming parade in which he rode in a convertible with his escort, Cheyenne Jackson. Both sets of grandparents were able to attend as well as his cousin Lauren. Lauren wanted to know from Aunt Jenny if Tommy liked having her (Lauren) there.....then asked if he liked having 'his princess' there.....and then wanted to know who he liked having there the best? Aunt Jenny of course replied 'He liked having Lauren there better than his princess.'

The tennis team chanted "Tom-my Dun-bar" and "Legend, Legend" while riding the tennis float (apparently, "Legend" is one of his nicknames on the team........).

We then had dinner at Jackson Street Cafe, then relaxed at our house for a few minutes before the football game.

At half-time of the game they announced that Tommy was King, which was very exciting. Tommy suspected he had won based on all the students who told him they voted for him. One of the tennis players told me his entire English class voted for him. The crowd reaction was very loud and enthusiastic. In fact, a friend from church informed me that the ladies in the band were VERY excited that he won. After the festivities, Tommy watched the rest of the game in the student section (while wearing his crown) and had a lot of fun. Note: this is the first high school football game that he has attended. ;-)

Senior picture day. Tommy was very handsome in his suit (that he picked out with Grandma Bronson). It was a tough day for his parents as their 'baby' is growing up.

Tommy won his first tennis match of the season. He defeated his opponent from Elwood 6-2, 6-2. He played very well and it is clear that is long hours of running and lifting weights are paying off.

We've completed the first round of college visits. So far, the leaders are: 1) DePauw, 2) Miami of Ohio, 3) Butler. I'm exhausted from driving all over the state, and walking miles upon miles on college campuses.

I raced in the Indiana Stage Race this weekend. It consisted of a criterium race on Saturday morning in Eagle Creek park, then a Time Trial that afternoon. Sunday morning was the road stage in Fort Benjamin Harrison park. I was pretty wiped out by the end of the weekend, but was able to finish 5th in the overall standings. Not bad for an old fat guy (at one point I was riding and chatting with a kid who races for Marian College---he was less than half my age...).

We've started the college visits for Tommy. This week we went to Notre Dame and Valpo. We will visit IU, Purdue, Miami of Ohio, DePauw, and Butler over the next two weeks.

Rode this year with my friend James. Weather conditions were very favorable with a high in the mid-70's.
Averaged 19.5 MPH. Ride time: 8:22. Total time: 10:05.
Beat previous best by 78 minutes ride time, 72 minutes total time. Finished 525th out of the 1130 who finished.

A tree removal company hired by our neighbors to the south hit our house with a tree. A foot left or right and it would have been a lot worse. See the 'recent pictures'. It was loud enough that it actually woke Tommy up from sleep.

I participated in my first bike race. It was a 6 turn circuit in downtown Ft. Wayne that was very fast. We spent Friday night at the Minger's, then we were treated Saturday to a mini tour of Ft. Wayne historical sites by Terry before the race. I did okay at the race despite not feeling great. It was a combined race of category 4 and category 5 racers (I'm a cat 5/beginner). I finished close to the top of the cat 5 racers.

Father's Day: we had a fun day in Terre Haute. We all ate at a Japanese steak house, then back to Grams and Paps for fun.

We celebrated Tommy's 17th birthday with a party at our house. Check the site for pictures. As was tradition, Tommy requested chicken wings as the meal. It was a lot of fun-including shooting pool, swimming, and assembling one of Tommy's presents-a workout station for doing pull-ups, ab work, dips, etc.

We went to Grams and Paps' condo in Longboat Key for Spring Break. We took it easy and mainly enjoyed the beach and the pool...and the convertible. Naturally, we hit our favorite spots for dinner: Tommy Bahamas, Dry Dock, Moore's Stone Crab, Ciao's, and Columbia. I developed sinus problems and an ear infection and almost completely lost my hearing when the plane descended into Indianapolis. Thanks to some antibiotics from Jen, I'm starting to feel better and my hearing is back to normal-but it was interesting landing when I couldn't hear the plane's engines!

Very much against his will, Tommy shaved for the first time. Santa brought him an electric shaver for Christmas. After much arm twisting, he finally shaved.

Sadly, my Grandfather passed away after a stroke. E. Howard Taylor was 93 years old. He was a great guy who taught me how to shoot a pistol and drive a truck...both while I was in 3rd grade. :-)

We had a great Christmas. We were in Terre Haute on Christmas Eve, then Christmas morning at our house, then at Baby Lauren's house. Christmas dinner was back at our house. Did I mention the stomach flu we all got? Tommy got it Christmas afternoon, Jen the 26th, Jay and the Bronson's got it the 28th. Fortunately, it was on a 24 hour bug, but it was NOT fun.

Tommy finished a good semester at HHHS. His GPA was 3.7 while taking two Advanced Placement classes (Chemistry and History).

Tommy started off the school year with a good report card: 3.89 GPA while taking Advanced Placement Chemistry (A) and Advanced Placement History (A-).

Jennifer and I spent the weekend in Dalton, GA. I took part in the 'Raisin Hope Foundation' charity bike ride. Unfortunately, Jen had to study for her re-certification exam, so she spent the entire weekend studying (including during the 7 hour drive). The foundation was started by Saul Raisin, who is a professional cyclist who suffered traumatic brain damage in a crash during a race in France a few years ago. http://raisinhope.ning.com/

It was a great experience. I got to talk with Saul Raisin, and rode with his dad a good portion. I also got to ride and talk with Timmy Duggan's dad (Timmy rides for Garmin Professional Cycling team and is the guy who crashed terribly at the Tour de Georgia and almost died. Timmy is doing well and passed me on the climb up the mountain-I had the last laugh as I passed him when he flatted. Yes-I stopped to see if he needed anything). http://www.slipstreamsports.com/garmin-chipotle-pro-team?action=detail&bio_id=16

A friend of mine, Jerry, lives in the area. He and I rode a little early with Saul's dad and a few other of Jerry's friends. Mr. Raisin wanted to ensure the course was set up properly. He was super nice and a heck of a rider.

We did the hardest route-62 miles-which was very challenging-not even counting climbing Fort Mountain. I always wanted to try and climb a mountain, so it was exciting. I rode the mountain fine, but it HURT. My main problem was that my back was tight from the drive down from Indy (we got in at 1 AM). The feel of gravity was such that several times I swear that my tires went flat-my saddle slipped down a few inches, and my dog tags felt like they weighed 10 pounds around my neck.

Coming down the mountain was AWESOME. We were going 30-40 MPH most of the way-topping out at 42.8 MPH. There were a lot of curves, which was cool. I didn’t burn through my brakes like I expected to, but I did hit them a couple of times. In all, I climbed 6,893 feet, but felt okay when we were done.

Tommy started his junior year of high school. Check out 'Recent pics' for a picture of him getting in his car to drive to school. It will be a challenging year as he is taking AP History and AP Chemistry.

Tommy returned home from a trip to Washington DC with the Bronson's. Despite the heat and humidity, he enjoyed the trip, and especially liked visiting Mt. Vernon.

Sadly we had to get rid of the cockatiel as I am allergic to it. I was sick for two weeks and thought it was just sinus issues. Fortunately our neighbor Jordan-who had been helping Jen with it, took the bird.

Thanks to the Bronson's, Tommy spent half a day following two vets at the Fishers Veterinary Hospital. He saw two surgeries and numerous examinations. He enjoyed his experience and thinks he would like to be a vet. He is very good with all animals and is bright enough to do it.

I completed the Ride Across Indiana bicycle ride. I rode it solo this year as James was sick. The weather was not good. It poured rain for the first 40 miles or so. Then the heat and humidity were bad, 90+ degrees.

I felt great for the first 60 miles, then okay for the next 50 miles. After that, the heat started to affect me and I got quite saddle sore, causing me to spend a lot of time out of the saddle.

Jen spent a long day in the SUV driving the support vehicle. A poor choice in shoes caused a blister for her, but she gutted it out.

Jennifer was given a cockatiel by an appreciative patient. We are not sure if we are going to keep it, but Jen and Tommy both seem to like it. We shall see. The dogs are VERY interested in it, so we have to keep a close eye on them.

Tommy got his drivers license. He is driving Jen's 'old' Lexus-poor kid. He is driving quite well.

We had a great Father's Day weekend. I rode 106 miles Saturday morning while Jen swam in the pool, then we had grilled steaks for dinner at the Bronson's. Sunday we went to Terre Haute for another cookout and enjoyed the sun and the swimming pool.

Jen drove down to Pensacola with the Bronson clan. They are showing off baby Grace to the Andereck's. She is enjoying her time with the family, especially with baby Grace and baby Lauren. Jen is doing her best to keep her nickname of "The Spoiler". Tommy and I are surviving our week as bachelors-we have a no pants rule once you are in the house, and you have to eat over the sink. Tommy is studying for finals next week...against his better judgment.

Two weeks of studying paid off last week as I easily passed a Microsoft certification test. Before, I was certifiable-now I am also certified.

We celebrated Mother's day by having family over to the house. The swimming portion of the party was rained out, but we still had fun. Jen prepared flower arrangements for all of the mothers and I fixed hot dogs and brats. In all the excitement, we forgot to get our camera out-so no pictures.

I participated in an Ultra Marathon bike race called "Calvin's Challenge" in Springfield, OH. I got up at 3 AM and drove to the race with my friend James and Coach Kevin. We rode in the worst weather any of us had ever faced on a bike. Temperatures were in the 50's, heavy rain, and the wind was steady at 20-30 MPH with gusts that blew cyclists clear across the road. Due to the weather, everyone ended up short of their goals. The three of us each did 100 miles, although Kevin was done A LOT sooner than James and I.

For our efforts, Kevin and I tied for 9th place in our age group, while old-man James finished 3rd in his group.

It was extremely challenging given the conditions as we were soaked to the bone with frozen feet and hands. If you stopped too long at the checkpoints, you would shiver from the cold. Can you believe we paid to do this? However, the post race camaraderie was great-once we thawed out and downed some hamburgers from Wendy's.

We just returned from Spring Break at Long Boat Key, FL. We stayed in Grams/Paps condo. Grams joined us for a few day to help fend off Tommy's boredom. We had fun, the highlight being the trip to Myakka River State Park to see gators, bald eagles, and much more. Jen and I were both sick for part of the trip, but still managed to hit the beach.

Jen and I drove to Spencer, Indiana, then I rode my bike in the hills from Spencer to Bloomington. It was quite challenging, especially with the cold, wind, and piano on my back....

Afterwards, we strolled around campus to find almost all of our memories destroyed. Our dorm was gone as well as our apartment. Oh well, time marches on. Jen did get to savor "Pizza Express" breadsticks which was the staple of her diet back then.

Jen bought a "new" car. She bought a one year old Volvo hard-top convertible. It is very sharp. We needed a 3rd car for Tommy. The tentative plan is for him to drive my SUV and I will drive Jen's Lexus to save money on gas.

I had a great 38th birthday. I met my goal of getting down to 190 pounds. The next goal is to be 180 pounds by Tommy's bday (May 19th). Saturday we had dinner at Mark-Pi's with the Bronson clan. Baby Lauren was in fine form, but Baby Grace was at home resting. Sunday the Dunbar's had lunch at Rick's Boatyard. Paps and Tommy enjoyed raw oysters....Jen gave me a dream present-a Power Tap bike computer that measures how much power I put out on the bike. All the Pro's use it to gauge performance and tailor their training.

Tommy has started drivers education, and I have started to take him on the road. He is doing quite well.

In a rush to fill up her bird feeders before the snow storm (that never materialized), Jen slipped on a patch of ice on our back stairs and tore up her knee (torn MCL and meniscus). She is currently doing rehab and hoping to avoid surgery.

I had cycling coach Kevin (www.twowheelscycling.com) over to my house to do some intense testing on me, Todd, and James. Basically, you hook your bike up to a trainer that is controlled by the laptop. You ride a course and collect a ton of data on your power, efficiency, etc. The catch is you have to give it multiple all-out efforts to get good data. We all wanted to throw up, but it was fun watching the other guys suffer. The neat thing was that we hooked up the laptop to the 62" high def TV, so the 'race' and all the data was displayed for all to see.

Armed with all of this data, we can better prepare for the 6 day RAINSTORM ride (700 miles)

I took Tommy to the DMV to get his learners permit. He starts drivers ed. in two weeks. Despite his Joe Cool exterior, I think he was excited.

All is well. Tommy is doing well in school and staying busy. He and I lift weights 3 times a week, he plays tennis twice a week, and runs on the treadmill twice a week. He has grown several inches taller and lost weight since summer. Jen works out several times a week as well.

My friend James gave me an old road bike for Tommy. So, I'm in the process of getting it ready for him to start riding in the spring. Hopefully he will like it as it is something he could be good at (he is mentally tough and has a high pain threshold).

I've started training for an endurance ride in July. Basically, you ride 700 miles in six days across Indiana. Much of it in hilly southern Indiana. I'm looking to do it with friends James and Todd. We've not committed to it yet, so we will see.

Jen is anxious to get the pool open so she can do some laps. We are headed for the condo in Florida during Spring Break, which she is very eager about.

The year ended quite well. Thanksgiving and Christmas both were very enjoyable. The day before Thanksgiving, we helped Grams and Paps move into their new palatial estate. Thanksgiving we had dinner at the Bronsons.

Saturday before Christmas, we had the Dunbar Clan get-together. Then off to Paps and Grams for more food and presents.

Christmas morning the Bronson clan came over for breakfast (first Christmas in our new house).

Tommy's favorite present was Xbox360 LIVE. Jen's was 'Dance Dance Revolution' for Xbox360. I had a tie: Tour De France DVDs, and the complete series on DVD of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker". Elvis and Chewy enjoyed their rawhide bones.

Tommy had a good 1st semester. On his finals, he got all A's and one A-, with a final GPA of A-. He is currently playing tennis twice a week at Five Seasons.

Tommy completed his Sophomore season of Tennis at Hamilton Heights. It was a tough year for an inexperienced team. Tommy played well showing a lot of leadership, and bounced between number 1 and 2 doubles. He played particularly well in sectionals against Hamilton SE. All of our matches were lost either 6-0/6-0, 6-0/6-2, etc. Tommy's double team lost 6-3/6-3. The first set score actually would have been 7-5 as the Hamilton SE (inadvertently?) called the wrong score and Tommy's team didn't catch it. I did, but couldn't do anything about it.

Tommy has started his off-season training. He is lifting with me 3 times a week. Tennis lessons will start in November at the 5 Seasons.

For Fall Break, Jen, Tommy and I drove to Pensacola to visit Jennifer's grandmother. We had a good visit with 'Great Grandma from Florida' and Aunt Linda.

Jen, Tommy and I traveled to Charleston, Missouri to watch the inaugural Tour of Missouri bicycle race. It was fun to watch (at least for me). We got to see the last US race the Discovery Channel team rode. They brought a good squad to the race, including: George Hincapie, Levi Leiphimer, and Tour De France winner Alberto Contador.

I completed the Ride Across Indiana with my friend James. It was a tough day covering 160 miles and almost 6,000 feet of climbing. I got a bit overheated and couldn't take in enough calories (rumor has it I had problems speaking coherently at the 132 mile rest stop). I ended up losing 6 pounds during the day (even after having dinner). Jen drove the support vehicle and took a lot of pictures (which you can see on the Picture Links page).

We have a lot of news. We are in our new house. There are a few things remaining to be done on it, but it is great and we are really enjoying it-especially the pool table and the pool. We've had a few encounters between the dogs and raccoons, but everyone is fine.

Jen's restaurant opened this week. It is called Tossed, and is a fancy salad/health restaurant (www.tossed.com). So far it is doing very well. Fox 59 did a live remote during their morning show that went quite well.

The house is coming along well. The trim carpenters are working inside and the masons are putting up the brick outside (despite the -2 degree weather). Tommy is playing tennis at The Five Seasons several times a week and is showing great progress. He has developed a lot of power in his serves and forehand.

Jennifer and I flew to Florida for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary. Grams and Paps' condo was under renovation, so we stayed at The Colony. Jen told them it was our anniversary, so they gave us a condo on the beach, which was great.

This past weekend we had breakfast with Santa downtown at the Skyline Club. The food was great and it was a lot of fun. There was a faerie that made balloon animals, and Santa visited as well.

Tommy received his Varsity Letter for tennis. He was the only Freshman to get a Letter. Check 'recent pics' to see him getting his Letter Jacket.

The house is going along quite well. It is framed and they are now working on getting the sides, and then getting it under roof.

Tommy had a successful Tennis season. The team had a tough year, but Tommy got a lot of experience, including playing about 5 varsity matches. He even got to play #1 varsity singles at the Husky invitational due to an absence.

The house is starting to come along after a few weeks of rain. We have been picking out the pool, hot tub, audio-visual, and other fun stuff.

Work is going well for both Jen and me. I have to do a presentation at our user group meeting next week, so that will be fun.

We've had a lot going on the last few weeks. We spent 2 weeks on vacation in Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons. We had fun and saw a lot of wildlife and beautiful scenery. We returned last Monday morning at 2 AM (we will never fly Delta again). Tommy and I had to get up at 6 AM for work and tennis practice.

Tommy has had two-a-day practices with the high school tennis team last week and this week. The morning practice is two hours of running, then they play for two hours at night. Tommy has been playing great and is a big hit with the upper classman (he is known by all as "Tommy Boy"). He had to fight blisters on his feet for most of the first week, but that is resolved (we found out he has corns on both feet, so we've had his shoes stretched to avoid the friction of them rubbing against his corns). The coach asked me to hit with the varsity players, so I've been getting a workout as well. Jen is trying to play catch up at her office. We have our finalized plans for the new house and they look great. We will break ground in a few weeks.

Once again I failed to complete the 160 mile Rain Ride. I made it to the same point as last year (Lunch stop at 92 miles). The good news is that, despite the tougher conditions (98 degrees temperature plus a headwind), I completed it 30 minutes faster than last year. I'm on the fence as to whether I will try again next year.

I completed my first century (100 mile ride). I rode with James and Steve to Crawfordsville and back. It was 105 miles and took 5 hours and 50 minutes. I burned 5481 calories, with an average speed of 18.2 MPH (thanks to all the pulling done by James and Steve).

What a weekend! We moved from our spacious house to a 3 bedroom apartment. Its been a lot of work, but we are mostly done. There are some small things we still need to move over, and some boxes that still need to be opened and put away. Big thanks to the Bronson's, Jeff, and friends James and Todd for their assistance.

Tommy had a nice 14th birthday. We gave him a remote control boat, which was a big hit.

Eye update: at my last checkup a few weeks ago, my vision was a slightly blurry 20/20. They've gotten even better since then, so the surgery was a big success.

We are in the process of packing up the house for the big move this coming Monday. Tommy is gearing up for his 14th birthday. In two years he will be driving. In four, he will be going to college.....

I completed my first... and last triathlon. Take a look at the pics. Triathlon Pics I'm glad I did it, but it (and the training) got to be too much for my knees and Achilles tendons. Coach James completed it as well, in a much shorter time. He only cussed me 5 or 6 times during the run for talking him into doing it. But, it served its purpose of making me lose weight (20 pounds and 5% body fat). Note-I went to the doctor a few weeks after the event to look at my knee. It turns out I had runners knee (softness on the underside of the knee cap) which caused a 20% loss in muscle mass in my left quadriceps. I knew I was feeling weak on the bike-now I know why!

Great news! After less than a month on the market, we've sold our house. We will have to vacate our current house in the beginning of June. This works out great as Tommy will be able to finish the school year in our current house. We've seen the preliminary plans for the new house and they look GREAT.

Big news: we've purchased waterfront land on Morse Reservoir in Cicero (technically, on a feeder creek a few minutes north of the big water). We are meeting with the builder this week to start the building process. The lot is next door to our good friends, the Clevenger's. Those of you who've attended any of Tommy's sporting events in the last nine years will know them as Todd and I have coached Tommy and their older son Jonathon forever (Cicero has already passed an ordinance that will prevent us from EVER coaching together within the city limits).

We are very exited. The Clevenger boys are especially happy as we will probably put in a pool. Tommy is excited to get a Sea-doo for cruising the reservoir. Jennifer will be able to kayak whenever she wants (without needing me to load it for her....). I will be able to jump on my bicycle and ride without worrying about traffic (dogs are another matter, but I will have Todd to protect me).

I went to the eye doctor this morning. My vision currently is 20/30 in the left eye, 20/40 in the right. It looks like once my eyes are done healing, I should be 20/20. I was roughly 20/1200 before surgery. Very cool.

Triathlon training is progressing. I'm able to get back in the pool again (after eye surgery). I've dropped about 20 pounds, and decreased body fat percentage by 5%--which was the reason I decided to do a triathlon. I'll be glad when April gets here as I'm sick of running!

We are currently looking at houses on Morse Reservoir. We're not completely committed to moving, but we are seriously considering it. It would be nice to get Tommy into a smaller school district, and Jen would be able to Kayak any time she wanted (without me having to load it on the truck and take her to Eagle Creek!). Also, it is a much better place to ride my bike-more cows and deer than cars.

It has been an eventful weekend. On Friday, 2/10/06 I had PRK Laser correction surgery on my eyes. I was one of the few cases (one in fifty) that had a "severe pain reaction". In conjunction with a lot of pain, we were all sick with the flu as well-Jennifer also has a touch of pneumonia.. My eyes no longer hurt, and we are starting to feel better. My eyes are still healing, but my left eye is already 20/40 and improving. I go Friday for my next checkup. Good news: I've found that a combination of the Flu and extreme pain leads to weight loss as I dropped six pounds over the weekend.

Jen and I enjoyed a getaway weekend in Sarasota, FL. Jen got us a free room at the Ritz Carleton, so we lived it up. Grams was at the condo the same weekend, so she came over and enjoyed the Ritz private beach with us. It is VERY nice. We particularly enjoyed having our lunch brought to us at our beach chairs. I enjoyed the exercise facility-complete with treadmills with individual LCD televisions. Take a look at the pictures.

We had a great Christmas this year. Everyone is healthy and Santa was good to us. Tommy wanted an Xbox360, but will have to wait until they are in stock....Jay wasn't going to camp out for 16 hours to get it. ;-)

Jen enjoyed spoiling baby Lauren on Christmas morning. The drum/musical instrument set was a particular hit, literally and figuratively.

Jay did his Master of Ceremonies duty at the company Christmas party again this year...and is still employed despite roasting the CEO.

Our renovation is almost complete. We gutted the entire first floor of our house. I will post pictures when I get a chance. Jen did a great job picking out everything.

Tommy is doing well. He is in the eighth grade and very active. He plays tennis in a weekly group at our club and does karate and kickboxing twice a week. He is also doing a spinning class once a week with his old man.

Jen is doing very well in her practice. She will be very happy when all the little details are finished on the house. We've both vowed to NEVER do it again. She is working out with a trainer three times a week and getting buff.

Jay is doing well. He still works for GEMMS (they've not fired him yet....). Despite the fact that he hasn't ran a distance greater than 30 feet in 10 years, he has decided to do triathlons next year. So he is currently in training on the bike, on the treadmill, and in the pool.

Chewy (aka 'Puddin') and Elvis are adjusting well to the newly renovated first floor. They got new beds as the wooden floors aren't cozy enough.