Amalia learns to drive

No really, she drove for the first time today! Before daycare I took her shopping at Kroger. She loves to ride in the kid's cart which has a car thing on front of the regular shopping cart. After shopping we were getting ready to leave and while I was putting the groceries in my bag, she was playing in the carts. Well, next to the kids carts are the electric carts for the elderly. Usually they are turned off but for some reason one was left on. Well Amalia climbed onto won and grabbed the throttle and started driving! I tried to stop it but electric motors have way too much torque to stop. So she was driving and steering until I could get her hands off the throttle. Afterwards she was laughing her head off and thought it was great fun... yeah fun.

Amalia's friday afternoon and weekend

This weekend, History Flight was here in Blacksburg with three planes, two T-6 Texans and a Stearman biplane. Amalia and I ditched out on daycare/work early and rode our bike out on Friday afternoon to check them out. As the pilots were doing some basic maintenance, they were happy to let us walk around the planes and check them out. Amalia was extremely excited, so they let her sit in the cockpit of the Stearman. That was fun! After she was done, she said "Okay, your turn daddy!" I'm only sitting in the cockpit if I am flying and it was too expensive for my taste. We went back both Saturday and Sunday afternoons and watched the planes fly. Sunday was pretty impressive because we sat at the end of the runway and watched one of the Texans land right over us. Good stuff.

Its all in your name

Sometimes I think your future is determined from the moment you are given a name by your parents. Although sometimes its your nickname that defines you. Paolo Savodelli was nicknamed 'Il Falco' because he could ride a bicycle downhill faster than anyone else. Now we have Usain 'Lightning' Bolt. The man just won the 100m at the olympics and set the world record, all with his shoe untied and running the last 20m sideways. Today he won the 200m and again set the world record. Nothing more needs to be said. 

tooth torture

So 6 months or so ago I had a root canal. I had had a cavity in the tooth before and dentist said it was deep and that eventually I would have to have a root canal. So when it started to hurt, I went in and he did the root canal. Basically they drill out the tooth and then fill in the roots, in this case two. One root filled in fine, but not the other. The tooth continued to hurt and I went back a couple of times for him to work on it. By hurting, I mean that I could feel my pulse through my tooth... not a good thing. So anyway, the dentist sent me to the endodontist for something more drastic. More drastic would be a root canal from the top!  So on wednesday the fun began. This new dentist cut a window in my gums, drilled and chiseled through the bone, and then filled in the root canals. There was lots of strange sounds, smells, and even sights. How do I mean sights? Well, the dentist used a dissecting scope and I could see the reflection of my mouth in the lens. I never really wanted to see someone cut a hole in my gums, see the bone and tooth and then have it all sewed up with 5 or stitches. It wasn't fun but hopefully this saga is over!

Here is a pic of my mouth as it is now. You can see the stitches through my gums. Tomorrow I go to get them removed. Interestingly, my mouth has not hurt since the surgery... not that I am complaining!

racing and its rewards

Last Friday, Aug 1, was the Draper Mile. This is a downhill running race that is associated with the downtown Stepin' Out festival and finishes right downtown. Tom and Ana were here to visit so Amalia and I decided to race. Amalia did the kids race which was a couple of blocks long. Lisa helped Amalia on track and she was probably the youngest competitor and thus won her age group! She got a medal and was very proud of it. Afterwards I raced the 1 mile event. I ended up 26th overall and 2nd in my age group with a time of 4:53. Thats 3 seconds faster than last year so I was overall happy. It was pretty hot and miserable. Amalia decided to celebrate with a fudge dipped banana and even ate some of it!