Help.  I’m registered to run the Pittsburgh marathon’s 5k this Saturday, May 4th for The L.I.V.I.N.G. Ministry.  Fact is, I’m terribly out of shape.  When I signed up, I didn’t know we’d be expecting another baby in November.  I didn’t know we would be moving into a new house.  I didn’t know we’d be getting the old house ready to rent out.  I didn’t know Juliette weighed so much when I’d take her out for a run in her stroller!  I need your help to give me excuses why my running time will be so bad.

•  If I get $100, I’ll run in jeans.  Whoever breaks the $100 threshold decides whether those jeans are cut offs, and if so, how short.
•  If I break $200, I’ll wear a suit and tie.  I have no idea what the weather will be like.  But i’ll be the best dressed runner, I assure you.
•  If I break $300, I’ll skip the entire last mile.  No, not bail out, I mean skip like in hop scotch.  For a mile.
•  Guess what, I’m on call for work next weekend too.  It’s only fitting then, if I break $400, I’ll open a conference call and give all donors the info to dial in and I’ll give live progress updates for the duration of the race.
•  If I break $500, I will do ALL OF THE THINGS.

To donate, use this link and just put my name in the comments section – https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/TheLivingMinistry/OnlineDonation.html

You all have heard me talk about the ministry before.  It’s one of the best ministries to the homeless, struggling, hungry, and forgotten public in Pittsburgh.  Not only the mission, but the staff are by far the most focused, compassionate, and  passionate people I’ve ever encountered.  Yes, I really want your help with excuses for my own selfish purposes, but know, it’s just partly about my pride.

Thanks, and May the 4th be with you…and me!

Fellow Steel City LUG member, Greg, pointed on a contest for classic movie vignettes on a 16 x 16 base plate using a collectible minifig.  He did a great version of Tangled, but realized it wasn’t a classic movie.  I jumped in with E.T., after googling what movies were released in my birth year.  I fell in love with it right away because I knew I had a red bike and I FINALLY had a justification for having multiple hazmat minifigs.  I think they’re my favorite CMF.

So, here’s my entry.  It took all of 5 minutes to throw together. First, a view of the iconic moon shot, then a view where you can see E.T. under the blanket.

It has no chance of winning the competition, but here’s a list of all the amazing entries! http://toysnbricks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=8465

I saw this set on LEGO.com and I thought the front didn’t look quite right, especially using the white bricks. It’s also less functional since it’s only 1 brick deep. Here’s my modified version with instructions – http://joshuadhall.com/lego/Building%20Instructions%20%5Bheartshapedbox%5D.html

those 72 parts will run you less than $3 on bricklink.com. Here’s an inventory file if you’d like to try to save it.

I’ve only ever seen 1 guy ever do it at work.  I don’t think he was American.

I’ll admit, I have a toothbrush and toothpaste at work.  I’ll also admit that I’ve never used it.  It’s there in case I know I have some bad breath and need to take care of it.

Logically, it shouldn’t be weird.  It should be standard health protocol to brush after lunch.

Some might get all germy scared about the public bathroom situation, and I’d get it, if it didn’t get cleaned once a day.

I love to look at her.  She has no idea I love her.  She’s just thinking about that blue duplo brick in her hand.  That’s my daughter playing over there.  She’s very curious.  I’m entertained at her furrowed brow.  Then, she locks eyes with me and smiles.

What a bug.

I had a dream where Kallie and I were in New York City eating with the owner of some restaurant with a camera crew.  Somehow, we had won the opportunity to be on some reality travel show and meet this owner.  While we were eating, Kallie looked at me and said she was going to be late, that she had to be “there” at 2:00 PM and it was now 2:32 PM.  I was a little frustrated that she let it get to this point, but I jumped in to action and asked the owner if he knew the fastest route to Pennwood and Fifth Avenue.  He didn’t have a clue, but Kallie said it was really easy to get to and I started following her at a jogging pace through a back alley.

As we ran, we encountered a group of 5 or 6 male teens who I assumed were also going to the same place and we needed to get in front of them to beat them there.  As the alley zigged and zagged, I told Kallie to follow me and we basically parkoured through some building windows, fire escapes, and ramp railings to get in front of the teens.

We came to a top of a hill, with a few trees spotting a clean cut hillside.  At the bottom was a road, which I recognized as Fifth Avenue.  Slightly to the left, along side the road, was a white building with no windows, kind of resembling a gymnasium.  As we went around to the front of the building, I knew that we were at Kallie’s American Idol auditions, because I had hadmyauditions in the same building a week or so prior  (I actually do think this was another dream I had previously).  So we enter the first large room, that is half the size of the building, and approach the registration table.  Kallie’s all set and we move into the second room, which is dimly lit and set up like a gym with a stage in the front.  It’s pretty empty, considering the event, with maybe 60 people standing or sitting around the room with a few folding chairs scattered around.

At this point, Kallie no longer looks like Kallie.  She is instead a 6’7″ African American woman, who has to be near 300 pounds.  I still have this sense of loving her so much and being so proud of her.  She got up on stage and sang this super energetic and soulful song, just like some diva.  As she was performing, some 40 something blonde homely mom came up to me, said her name was Susanna, and she recognized me from my audition and thought I was great.  She also introduced me to her mini-her daughter, named Susanisha, or something similar.  It was a little awkward.

My mom ended up showing up and bringing Juliette.  My mom then yelled at me for not paying the $5 to get into the audition room.  I dismissed her by pointing out that no one cares and they weren’t enforcing it.

I wish I could say this was one of my weirdest dreams.

TED talks are great.  There’s just so many of them, that it’s hard to know which ones to watch.

Well, here’s the 10 most viewed:

http://www.news.com.au/business/executive-lounge/brains-trust-ted-talks-most-viewed-videos/story-fng3e17m-1226520145281

Do you still sign in to instant messaging programs from home?  I still use IM at work, but that’s it.  In my single life, I was signed in 24/7 and I’d be up all night talking to anyone that wanted to chat.

Recently, I guess I linked gchat to my google search profile or something, because I was searching for something and an IM popped up from a friend.  I didn’t know what to do with it.  I had been so removed from the whole IM interface outside of work and I forgot it existed.

I still have no desire to introduce that back into my life of distractions, but I was curious if anyone else had dropped off the IM radar too, or if I was the only one.  I know a few people still plan times to do video chat, but I think that’s a separate category since it’s planned and it’s video.

When I was kid, we had an uncle that would give us a $100 bill if he were in town during our birthday. He was in twice for my birthday, and both of my $100 bills got spent at the fine establishment of Toys R US. In 1 trip each. The first time, it was $100 worth of Micro Machines and the second time it was $100 worth of LEGO sets. I Can’t believe my mom didn’t say a word. I think the Micro Machine packages were $3.99 each, with 3 or 4 cars in each package. I still remember the young blonde cashier’s expression as her eyes got big as if to say, “Really?? You’re buying that many?!?” I proudly returned a satisfied smirk as if to say, “Yep, ring ‘em up.”

I grew out of micro machines after a few years. I enjoyed them immensely, but it was certainly a toy that required you to “act out” and I wasn’t so into that. I enjoyed displaying, collecting, and building. So, yeah, I still have the pieces for the LEGO sets, but the micro machines were all sold at a flee market that my mom took me and Travis to. Yet again, I’m surprised she didn’t say a word when I let my entire micro machine collection go for dollars. I don’t remember the exact amount, but I’m sure it wasn’t $100. I’m sure it wasn’t $50.

That said, thanks, Mom. Thanks for letting me take risks, make mistakes, and learn from them on my own. In a time where we were on food stamps, living on potatoes and onions, you let me live. You let me play. For those that know me well today, just think how uptight and boring I could have been if I were told my whole childhood I couldn’t have anything because we needed to save every penny or else.

“Home is where your heart is; work is where your laptop is.”