Success Warrior: The Blog That Embraces ADHD

Parent-Teacher Conference

So,

We just had parent-teacher conference for Trey, which has renewed my conviction to finish getting my degree so that I'm free to home-school.  The teacher, who is a friend that we trust to be honest with us, announced that there isn't much more that she can do for Trey.  He's in second grade and his last test scores show that he's doing fourth grade math and at least fourth grade reading.  The reading test only covered the first quarter of fourth grade and he scored 100% on the test so next time, she's going to give him a higher level test to see where he tops out.  All of this sounded fantastic to me since we've been teaching him math and reading at home.  In fact, she pointed to some of the things and said that she knew he didn't learn this stuff in school. 

Then she hit us with the bad news.  In math, he's so far ahead of everyone that she won't be able to spend time teaching him.  In reading, there is one other student that is in the ballpark with Trey that she can pair up with him and have them work as a team.  Other than that, she said he'd just be sitting in class nodding his head and jumping through boring hoops showing that he understands what she's teaching him and this was not likely to improve until he gets to junior high school where they have advanced classes for students.

She did give us some advice for things to work with him that would make him stronger, things that they barely scratch the surface of in school, like science and nonfiction reading comprehension (wtf?).  She suggested that he be in some kind of music training because of his ability there.  He loves art too and every couple of weeks, we have to go visit his art teacher after school so he can show her what he has done.

Before school that day, we were out shooting hoops.  When we came home, we played Magic: The Gathering (which he is now obsessed with since he found out how many Magic cards there are in the house).  His nightly "homework" takes him about 5 minutes tops to complete.  He reads quite a bit each day because there is a reward for the top reader each month, which he announced on Friday would be him this month.  The student who consistently beat him in amount of time reading each month moved.

It would be disingenuous to blame just the competition for his reading since both of my daughters are outstanding readers and were reading several grades above their level when they were in school.

This is obviously a proud-dad post but there is more to it than that. 

The American school system is a failure in both its stated purpose and now, even its actual purpose.  The American school system is about indoctrination and not education.  The graduation rate is about 75%, which isn't saying much given the standards, and means even less for people in urban areas where the graduation rate is 25%.  There are over 1,500 high schools that are labeled "dropout factories" because less than 60% of the students graduate.  Less than 60% is an "F".

Knowing this about the school system gives parents the power to change things, to some degree.  I realize that the system has been set up to encourage single parent families (although I believe the UK may actually have a better system in place for destroying the nuclear family) and that corrupt practices of the government puppets of the 1% mean that many people have 2 or 3 jobs so school is more of a tax-paid babysitter than an educator.  However, for those of us that can find any time at all to spend with our children, it is possible to actually teach them.  It is possible to counter the government's dumbing down of generations of children. 

I've already covered the increasing failure to indoctrinate.  I certainly don't take part in it.  Most of the students in this city refuse to say the pledge of allegiance.  I don't know if Trey knows it or not.  I've never asked.  I suppose I should so I can tell him that it's bullshit to pledge allegiance to a flag or to a gang of criminals.  I think he's picking some of that up already, just in the little bits of ethics that he asks about. 

Speaking of ethics, how about a "Homework Help" question for the week?  I'll be posting my answer after I get some sleep but I'd love to hear your answers:

Where do individuals get their basic ethical instincts?  Small children are taught in the home, school, church and community.  The things they learn there are hopefully to do the right and ethical thing whatever the situation.  Now, as individuals mature and become decision makers in corporate world at mid and higher levels....where bonuses, incentives, etc. are tied to their performance appraisals....do you think they will bend those early childhood ethical convictions for that extra dollar?  If so....why?

Get Ready for Summer (Part 2)

So,

There are about 90 days left until June, which gives people enough time to make some dramatic changes in their body composition or fitness levels before summer if they start now.  We have taken it up a notch here to get ready, individually and as a family.

We started doing something new a couple of weeks ago that has been fun and that we'll continue.  It stems from, in a way, from watching The Biggest Loser.  Quite some time back, as I was walking through the living room to get a drink before returning to homework, I noticed that Tia and Trey were watching some kind of fitness show.  This went on for a couple of weeks and I found that I would stop at watch a few seconds more each time to see what was going on.  One day, I just sat down and finished watching the rest of the episode they were watching.  They were watching episodes on Netflix and by the time that I finally decided it was interesting enough, they were halfway through Season 2.  I have a whole post of information in my head about The Biggest Loser but the important point for today's post is that many of the people on the show have been obese since childhood.

Trey is incredibly skinny and I think that Tia and I provide a good example for him already but we thought it would be fun to do some exercise together as a family a couple of afternoons a week.  When the weather is nicer, it will be less like "exercise" and more just "activity".  Last year, we would go for walks together, play basketball, and go do some batting practice.  Yesterday it was snowing so we stayed indoors and tried to do one of Bob Harper's kettlebell workouts.  Kicked my butt.

I haven't done much exercise in the last 3 weeks other than the family exercise time because I have had some kind of nagging illness that has just made things miserable.  I think I'm on the mend now and Monday I'll be getting back to my morning workouts.  I'm going to change them up a bit.  I usually change them every 4 to 6 weeks anyway but I'm going to increase the intensity a bit this time along with changing the exercises.  I'll still be using Tabata Intervals because they fit my personality so well at the moment and have proven to be effective for me. 

As a family, we have cleaned up our eating habits a bit more over the last month as well.  Tia has been reading various cookbooks on healthy eating and we've been trying several different dishes a week.  Some have been good and some not so good as far as taste goes but it has kept things interesting and we are seeing results, especially Tia. 

She also drinks a BeachBody Shakeology shake every morning because it's something healthy that she can blend up and take with her out the door, which is so handy because morning's can be a little chaotic around here (like most families, I suspect).  Shakeology is a meal replacement shake with lots of good stuff in it like protein, fiber, prebiotics, vitamins, minerals, and plenty of other stuff.  BeachBody just came out with Strawberry flavor too, which Tia is really happy about.  I changed our monthly order to strawberry and it should be arriving next week.

We have also decided to run a 5K this year as a family.  We haven't decided when yet.  We've glanced over some of the 5K's that are coming up but we either need to pin down a date or a particular race/location/cause that we want to take part in.  After Tia and I were done working out last night, Trey decided to do intervals on the treadmill.  He was doing minute intervals and I was watching because he wanted to see how fast he could go.  He did 7 mph, 5 mph, 8 mph, 5 mph, 9 mph, 5 mph, and then tried at 10 mph.  He did about 20 seconds before he looked like he was losing control and I pulled the plug.  Earlier, Tia and I were talking about who would hang back with Trey on the 5K.  Instead, we may have to see who can keep up with the kid.

***

Follow me on Twitter to get updates on when new posts show up on this blog (plus get random thoughts on the life of Success Warrior) and feel free to "friend" me on Facebook.

Success Warrior is an Independent BeachBody Coach for BeachBody.com, a company that offers fitness programs, supplements, and equipment that have absolutely changed my life.

Have you heard of P90X? That's BeachBody. They also have Insanity, Turbo Jam, TurboFire, RevAbs, Brazil Butt Lift, and many more. They have some of the best exercise programs on the market. These aren't just DVDs but are complete programs to transform your body. They also have the hugely popular, and what they call "the most important meal of the day", Shakeology. Go HERE to learn the most inexpensive way to get Shakeology.

They have equipment and supplements in addition to Shakeology and popular exercise programs. Visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Shop" link to see everything they offer.

There is also a business side to all this fitness that you can take advantage of. Whether you're looking to just make a couple hundred extra dollars in fun money or are looking to take complete financial control of your life, BeachBody can help you get there. If you have a desire to be more fit and would love to help other people do the same while making some money at it, visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Coach" link. Team up with me and I'll help you reach your goals, in fitness and finance.

Get Ready for Summer

So,

This is your annual reminder that there are about 90 days left before June so if you have any fitness or self-image goals that you would like to accomplish by the beginning of summer, NOW is the time to start (if you haven't started already).

I don't do blog posts on fitness very often anymore because I found it hard to keep coming up with new thoughts on the subject but I am just as committed to fitness as ever and I'm still a BeachBody coach (I should go back to putting the links at the bottom of my posts so people don't think I've quit because, you know, Look!  Something shiny!).  I still field questions on fitness by email and in person and, in fact, I did both this last week.  Some questions are specific to BeachBody and some are general fitness questions.  I do not consider myself to be an expert but I do know a thing or two and if I don't know the answer, I will go look it up so that I can help someone and so I know the answer for myself.

This week's email question was about recovery drinks following an intense workout.  There are lots of them to choose from and BeachBody has the P90X Recovery formula which tastes like an Orange Julius, which I found to be very yummy.  However, when it comes to basics, chocolate milk can be used as a recovery drink, oddly enough.  It has the 4:1 quick carb to protein ratio that is the current advice for recovery drinks.  The P90X recovery drink has that and also has glutamine and creatine, which are both great if you are exercising intensely.  You should drink your recovery drink within 45 minutes of exercise.  If you are going to put sugar in your diet, this is the time to sneak it in because it can actually help speed up recovery and replace glycogen levels.

My wife started on her goals far earlier than today because her goal date is prior to June.  When I told her what the theme of today's post was though, she loved it.  She thought it was a great reminder for people because summer tends to sneak up on them.  By the time the weather starts turning warmer, a lot of people give up before they start because there doesn't seem like there is enough time to make a change.  It snowed here today and it's really easy to forget that summer is on the way.  90 days is enough time to make a huge difference in your body composition or fitness level.  P90X has proven that over and over.  Check out these before and after photos:

This post was twice as long as what you see here but when I hit save, Typepad logged me out instead of saving and I lost the second half of this post.  I don't have the energy to type it all back in at the moment so I'll try to recreate the thoughts tomorrow.

Good night.

***

Follow me on Twitter to get updates on when new posts show up on this blog (plus get random thoughts on the life of Success Warrior) and feel free to "friend" me on Facebook.

Success Warrior is an Independent BeachBody Coach for BeachBody.com, a company that offers fitness programs, supplements, and equipment that have absolutely changed my life.

Have you heard of P90X? That's BeachBody. They also have Insanity, Turbo Jam, TurboFire, RevAbs, Brazil Butt Lift, and many more. They have some of the best exercise programs on the market. These aren't just DVDs but are complete programs to transform your body. They also have the hugely popular, and what they call "the most important meal of the day", Shakeology. Go HERE to learn the most inexpensive way to get Shakeology.

They have equipment and supplements in addition to Shakeology and popular exercise programs. Visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Shop" link to see everything they offer.

There is also a business side to all this fitness that you can take advantage of. Whether you're looking to just make a couple hundred extra dollars in fun money or are looking to take complete financial control of your life, BeachBody can help you get there. If you have a desire to be more fit and would love to help other people do the same while making some money at it, visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Coach" link. Team up with me and I'll help you reach your goals, in fitness and finance.

2:00 a.m. Laundry

So,

Trey was sick last night.  Quite sick.  I found myself doing 2:00 a.m. laundry.  I'm sure the parents out there can relate to me on this one.

Tonight, he seems to be doing better and I'm going to cut this blog short to see about getting some sleep.

G'night.

Blogging in 2012

So,

Blogging has dropped down the priority list and while I can't say that I'm going to elevate it back up, I can say that I miss it and will be putting in some time here on a more regular basis.  Family, school, and fitness take up the large chunks of time but I think there just may be some time in there somewhere to throw out bits of randomness.

Speaking of random . . .

Please keep your hands and legs inside the ADHD roller coaster at all times.

And enjoy the ride.

The Great and Powerful Oz hired a new chief-of-staff.  Guess where the guy worked before landing a job with the 1 percent's mouthpiece?  You'll never guess.  Never ever.  Well, maybe if I gave you two guesses, you would get it.  Since it seems like most Obama's top advisors come from Goldman Sucks, that would probably be the first guess and you would be wrong.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The Global Nuclear Disarmament Fund?*

Dude is going to need a lot more guesses.

Jacob Lew was a vice chairman of JP Morgan.

I can honestly say that I am shocked.  Shocked I tell you!

Shocked that President 1% hired another Wall Street racketeer?

No, not that.  I was going to add something snarky and a cult member tazed me.

That's not shocking.

Speaking of President 1%, Chris Hedges gave a guess as to why Obama would pass his "Look, I'm a third world tyrant" law that allows him to use the military against Americans and make them disappear without anything resembling due process or the Constitution:

"And I suspect it passed because the corporations, seeing the unrest in the
streets, knowing that things are about to get much worse, worrying that the
Occupy movement will expand, do not trust the police to protect them. They want
to be able to call in the Army. And now they can."

Obama has managed to do something that not even Bush could do in Cheney's wet dreams.

Here's something I've heard in a couple of different places.  The United States government created over 40,000 laws in 2011.

Jeezus!  I think it's illegal to be alive now.

If you're a tax payer, it's probably illegal to die.

Remember, ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand . . .

Please remain seated until the ride comes to a complete stop.

And enjoy the rest of your blogging experience here at the SW blog.

Blogging may have to be a post-exercise cool down experience where I share bits and pieces of the latest things that I have read.  It will have to do for the moment.

*One of the key people at the Global Nuclear Disarmament Fund was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize the year that President "Let's see how many countries I can attack in four years" won the prize because He was able to read about peace from a teleprompter.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

 
So,

I was going to put this out yesterday but I lost Internets service until now.  Now, I'm onto other projects so you get the super-abridged version.

Our Christmas tradition continues and this year Trey will be joining in.  We will be sitting in the first row which means we should come away from the show with a suntan.  =)

Homework Help: Persuasion

 

So,

It's been a while since we've done some homework help and it seems I have been asking last minute this term.  As an oddity, I'm going to think ahead and ask a couple questions for next week's assignments.

But first, a word from out sponsor.

We have a sponsor?

No.

I've been working with Trey on his mad math skillz this summer.  Nothing too strenuous.  He is on summer break, after all.  Right now, he's up to his 8's.  He can do them but he has to actually figure some of them out instead of having them memorized.  To speed up his calculations, I've been teaching him things like x = (8 * 10) - (8 * 1) to figure out 8 * 9.  He's pretty good at it and what I found on previous levels is that after figuring it out a couple of times, he ends up memorizing the answer and no longer needs to figure it out.  He's looking forward to getting past 8's and 9's because he says that 10's, 11's, and 12's are going to be easy. 

Wait until I show him the finger trick on 9's.  Easy peasy lemon squeezey. 

I'm hoping that we can get through division before he heads back to school. 

Okay, on to your homework:

What techniques have you found to be effective in persuading others to accept your views?

What techniques have you found that did the opposite?

Spring "Break"

 
So,

I took my other test today.  Philosophy.  It actually took me near the entire 2 hours available to complete, which is unusual for me.  It was an essay test though and, well, me and words are tight, y'all.  I feel like I nailed it.  I was all kinds of stressed last night with the "foul, foul, filth, and foul" as I once again tried to figure out what the hell Aristotle was talking about and, more importantly, trying to figure out how to apply his 2,000 year old start-and-stop, sometimes circular, exemptions for the rich and politicians, theory of morality to today's ethical concerns.

I feel like I nailed the test but I don't really know.  I'm not even sure when grades will be out.  I'm not sure that it matters other than for the sake of curiosity.

I have two weeks off from school now so it's party time. 

To start my party, I'll be doing my weekend thing at work for the next few days where all I do is work and sleep.  However, after that, it's going to be party time.  We'll be celebrating Trey's seventh birthday next week.  He has chosen to go with the same plan as last year.  Miniature golf, go-carts, video games, and this time, we'll be adding in the batting cages.

I am actually going to take a week off from work too.  What kind of fun do I have planned for my week off from school spooned with a week off from work?  I'm going to repaint the interior of the entire house.  Yay!

Maybe even tear out all the old flooring to make way for new flooring. 

No promises there though.  Let's see how the painting goes first.

***

Follow me on Twitter to get updates on when new posts show up on this blog (plus get random thoughts on the life of Success Warrior) and feel free to "friend" me on Facebook.

Success Warrior is an Independent BeachBody Coach for BeachBody.com, a company that offers fitness programs, supplements, and equipment that have absolutely changed my life. 

Have you heard of P90X?  That's BeachBody.  They also have Insanity, Turbo Jam, TurboFire, RevAbs, Brazil Butt Lift, and many more.  They have some of the best exercise programs on the market.  These aren't just DVDs but are complete programs to transform your body.  They also have the hugely popular, and what they call "the most important meal of the day", Shakeology.  Go HERE to learn the most inexpensive way to get Shakeology.

They have equipment and supplements in addition to Shakeology and popular exercise programs.  Visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Shop" link to see everything they offer. 

There is also a business side to all this fitness that you can take advantage of.  Whether you're looking to just make a couple hundred extra dollars in fun money or are looking to take complete financial control of your life, BeachBody can help you get there.  If you have a desire to be more fit and would love to help other people do the same while making some money at it, visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Coach" link.  Team up with me and I'll help you reach your goals, in fitness and finance.

Kid Stuff

 
So,

From the folder labeled, "Al Pacino Sez It Best," there's this:

Each week day, Trey has homework.  They don't give him homework on the weekends, which I think is wrong, because that's when he has more time to do such things.  Right?  He disagrees with me on this point.  Not that time matters anyway because his homework takes him about 3 minutes to do.  Some of the math homework asks that someone at home check the work to make sure that it's correct.  He has to do 2 + 2 and 9 - 0 and stuff like that. 

Easy peasy lemon squeezey.

In addition (get it?) to that, we are supposed to keep track of how many minutes each day that we read to him and that he reads by himself.  I try to read with him a little each night and he has gotten into the habit of reading by himself for about an hour each night. 

My kid?  Reading?  Weird.

Now, let's add these two together to get to the point of the first segment of this post.  Last week, I checked over the 20 math questions he had to do for his homework.  Later that night, we read a bit from the second Harry Potter book (still trying to learn how to cast the Wii Petronus) and we write down the minutes on his tracking sheet.  Then he goes off and reads for over an hour on his own and comes back to record the time.  They get prizes at school for their reading so he wants to know where he is for the week.  He checks his tracking sheet and for the week.  He has 20, 15, 20, and tonight's 80 minutes.  He adds them in his head to get 135.

Um, okay, why are we practicing 2 + 2?

 I tell Tia that we'll be meeting with Trey's teacher to figure out what he should actually be practicing because it ain't 2 + 2.  I'm not saying that he's a rocket surgeon or anything but this is a waste of time and a waste of my son's brain.

Here's a small something from the huge folder labeled, "You're Shitting Me, Right?":

I'm not going to go into the whole history behind this because that would take an entire book.  I will just give you the very short version.  Years ago, everyone around us fought to destroy our relationship with my daughters, including my own family (who, at this point, are called "family" only because we share the same last name).  Tia and I put up a good battle but about 5 years ago, they all won - or so they thought.  My daughters moved out and pretty much cut us out of their life.  My "family" helped take my daughters from a safe stable environment and put them in a living hell.

Now, I get it that the family of my ex hates me (well, not really, but I can see how, if you chose sides that vehemently, which side you would choose - this does not, however, excuse any of them from the emotional abuse they threw on top of my daughters and I'm sure some of them will rot in hell for what they did - where was I?).

What I don't get is why my "family" would choose that side.  Right?  I mean, I could see a whole, "We don't want to get involved," kind of attitude, at worst.  We got suckered.  "Come out here where you have support," they said and then Blam!  Right upside the head with a Louisville Slugger.

Anywho . . .

Fast forward to last night.

My youngest daughter, Alex, has decided to add (again with the add?  Really?) us back into her life.  We're sitting there visiting in front of the fireplace last night and Trey is in bed reading.  Alex decides this is a good time to broach a delicate subject.  Members of my "family" have told her not to act like she and Trey are sister and brother because Tia and I haven't told Trey that he has sisters.  They pretty much told my daughters that I had created a new family and that my daughters were not part of it.  Nice stuff to heap on teen-agers that were both "Daddy's girls".  You would probably be freaked out by some of the mind-fuck strategies people (and here I use the term "people," like, "family," loosely) have used on my daughters to try and trick them into cutting me out of their life.  Of all of the emotionally abusive tactics used though, Alex said that this one was the most hurtful.

"Bullshit!" Tia said.  She's subtle like that.

Speaking of subtle, I read a funny article today.  The thrust of the article is that giving to charity is too important to leave in the hands of individuals so the people in the government should reduce tax deductions for charitable donations and use the money better cuz they're so much better at knowing what's important to spend money on.  No, that's not the funny part.  That's just plain stoopid.  Here's the great line:

"Tax deductions for charitable giving effectively put the public good in the hands of wealthy donors and their pet causes – at the expense of government revenue for the fair and reliable provision of services."

I busted up.  I'm hoping that Susan Froetschel, the author, meant it as a tongue-in-cheek joke.  It's either that or she's an idiot or she gets money to write way-too-obvious propaganda bullshit.

Speaking of bullshit, let's get back to the story, shall we?

Alex and Ellie have been tip-toeing around the sibling topic for the last couple of days but were spending so much time here that it was getting awkward for them, mentally and emotionally.  In fact, after it was all over, Ellie said she was getting to the point where she was going to kind of test the topic in front of Trey and risk pissing us off.

Trey was still up so I brought him out for a short visit.  We talked for a couple of minutes and then I said, "Trey, do you have any sisters?"

"Yes," he said.

"Who are they?"

"Alex and Amber," he said, like "Duh!" which is appropriate, I suppose, when you ask someone who their siblings are.

You see, we did quite the opposite of what we were accused of doing.  Trey doesn't have "half"-sisters.  We don't refer to any of our kids as "half".  Trey has sisters and they have a brother and we have always spoken of them in that way.  It was something that we discussed and decided when Tia was pregnant.  Our thinking at the time, which hasn't changed, was that calling our kids "half" would create an artificial division that could possibly create a very real emotional division later. 

So, there's that . . .

And, finally, in the folder marked, "Damn If He Didn't Pull It Off":

The night before, Trey challenged the whole family (and this time I mean family) to a game of Skip Bo so that he could prove to all of us that he is, in fact, the Skip Bo Champion of the World, or at least of the family (you know? the real family  - is that ever going to get old?  I doubt it).  Unfortunately for him, I happen to be pretty darn good at the game, unlike Phase 10 (although, lest you forget, I shall remind you that I tied for first the other night). 

To add to the excitement of the game, I told him that the winner of the game would get double ice cream and the person that came in last would get none.  Now the game was serious.

I should point out to Alex and Ellie that they should not get used to the ice cream thing.  It's not a normal thing around here.  We bought it in celebration of their return.  I will say that we have very much enjoyed it though and it gave Trey an irresistible goal.

The lead changed several times as everyone (except Ellie - sorry, it's true) had a run here or there.  Then, Wham!  Trey took off on a run that didn't seem to end and left us all watching in amazement as he played card after card and to top it off, the last card that he had to find a home for was a "Wild" card. 

Trey was the champion!

I did talk him into sharing his double portion of the winnings with Ellie so that no one was actually left out of the continuing celebration.

And, close the files for today.

***

Follow me on Twitter to get updates on when new posts show up on this blog (plus get random thoughts on the life of Success Warrior) and feel free to "friend" me on Facebook.

Success Warrior is an Independent BeachBody Coach for BeachBody.com, a company that offers fitness programs, supplements, and equipment that have absolutely changed my life. 

Have you heard of P90X?  That's BeachBody.  They also have Insanity, Turbo Jam, TurboFire, RevAbs, Brazil Butt Lift, and many more.  They have some of the best exercise programs on the market.  These aren't just DVDs but are complete programs to transform your body.  They also have the hugely popular, and what they call "the most important meal of the day", Shakeology.  Go HERE to learn the most inexpensive way to get Shakeology.

They have equipment and supplements in addition to Shakeology and popular exercise programs.  Visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Shop" link to see everything they offer. 

There is also a business side to all this fitness that you can take advantage of.  Whether you're looking to just make a couple hundred extra dollars in fun money or are looking to take complete financial control of your life, BeachBody can help you get there.  If you have a desire to be more fit and would love to help other people do the same while making some money at it, visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Coach" link.  Team up with me and I'll help you reach your goals, in fitness and finance.

Motley Monday

 
Wait a tick!  I think she might be hiding a card in her ace hole.  Cheater!

So,

Last night, we had Alex and Ellie over for dinner and some cards with the 'tards.  We played Phase 10 and we did it in two phases, if that makes any sense whatsoever.  I'm going to be right up front here, since we're all friends, and let you know about how well I play Phase 10.  I'm awesome not known for my ability at the stupid game.  My family plays with me because its the ultimate challenge  out of sympathy because I'm related.  Trey and I were running neck-and-neck for last place when Tia announced that she needed to take an emergency college break. 

Car!

The rest of us headed to the living room where I could demonstrate my mad butt skillz on the Wii.  We were playing winter games, which included sledding and tubing.  You sit on the Wii fit board and control the game with your butt cheeks.  In sledding, I was almost as awesome as I am in Phase 10 struggling because it either wouldn't turn so that I smacked into the big blue obstacles (who the hell puts big blue obstacles on a sled path?) or it would turn too much and I would smack into the barrier safeguarding the spectators (who I think would be softer to hit than the barrier). 

Tubing now, I actually rocked didn't suck as bad as everyone else and managed to win.

Then, there's the biathlon.  I'm going to say right now that the Wii controller is a poor substitute for a gun.  Who holds a gun like that besides Harry Potter?  I'm standing on the Wii fit board trying to cast the Wii Petronus at targets while the screen is moving up and down to simulate breathing. 

Oh, and I just plain sucked at the whole shift-your-weight-side-to-side thing and to make sure that I don't forget that, Alex took video with her phone so I'm sure that my complete ineptitude is going to end up on YouTube at some point.

That'll hurt.

But not as bad as this.

Right?

As if it's not bad enough that dude smacked his head dropping a hundred feet while going a hundred miles per hour, did you see the rescuers trying to run on the ice to get to him?  Yeah, and the ambulance is . . . where?  The helicopter?  That's not landing? 

Weird how I've never learned to ski.

Plus, there's the whole cold thing goin' on.

When they invent skiing that doesn't involve massive blunt trauma to the head in warm weather, I'm there.  Kind of like surfing but without the sharks.

We were getting ready for some snowboarding so I could demonstrate more awesomenessthat I suck at everything Wii puts out when Tia returned.

Game on!

My awesomeness complete inability in the Phase 10 worked to my advantage early on because the best players kept skipping each other instead of me.  No need to skip me because I'm no threat.  

Muahahahahahahahaha!

The game slowly took a weird tack.  I started to win.  <Insert shocked look HERE>

Damn, Jack LaLanne died. 

He was 96 and I thought he was going to live forever.  He was crazy-strong and did some wild things like swim from Alcatraz while wearing handcuffs.

In the end (please, shift your mind back to Phase 10 - focus people!), I didn't win . . . at least not exclusively.  In a bizarre twist of fate, after playing a game for about 20 hands, I was leading by 5 points and had one card in my hand.  Ellie was also on Phase 10 and had one card in her hand.  If I played my card first, I won.  If she played her card first, it was a tie.

Oh, and what were the scores of the two best players at this point?

Who cares?  They weren't going to win anyway.

Ellie managed to play her card first and I tied for first place.

"Can you feel that?  Can you?  Huh?  Huh?"

Tonight, there will not be a rematch.  Trey has challenged everyone to a game of Skip Bo and has declared that he is the Skip Bo Champion.

Shah!  As if.

Yeah, and Democrats are actually outraged by violence.  Hypocritical Bastids!

A sphincter says what?

Trey has won Skip Bo before but he had a little help from his dad.  If he's going to throw down the gauntlet, we may have change tactics a bit.

In other news, Ellie hasn't seen the movie Paulie yet.

That will have to be changed.

***

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