Aftermath USA

How's it goin', eh? Things are good on this end of the light box. We had Hannah's 4th birthday bash last Saturday. As with Lily's party last month, Deb and her sis-in-law Tricia masterminded another activity-packed event for the kiddies. There was a gardening theme, so the kids painted flower pots and later planted seeds in them. Tricia made another awesome cake, and I once again managed to save my cojones from serious injury during the smashing of the pinata. Best of all, Hannah had a blast. Her actual birthday is this Saturday, which should prove a little less chaotic.

The running's still going well, knock on noggin. I got a 15.5-mile run in on Sunday, and I'm looking to do 18 this weekend and 20 the next before tapering down my mileage before my marathon on May 28. And as always seems to happen during marathon training, my period of extreme self-doubt is replaced by a renewed desire to do more marathons: I just signed up for the Chicago Marathon in October. Looks like there's going to be a small crew of us from work flying out to the Windy City, so that should be a lot of fun.

Gabba gabba hey:

• Looking forward to another Redbones get-together with my former Webnoize cohorts this Friday. Should be a gorgetastic time.
• The NHL playoffs are off to a great start, with some exciting overtime games proving once again that the OT beats a shootout any day of the week. And who would have thought that Edmonton would be leading Detroit (who I pegged as the eventual Stanley Cup champ) 2-1? I have to admit that OLN has done a good job with its playoff coverage, offering doubleheaders (including picking up the CBC's coverage of late games). Speaking of OLN, the network announced this week that it's changing its name from Outdoor Life Network to Versus in September, to reflect its new emphasis on sports that are not played outdoors. Sounds kinda goofy to me, but so does OLN.
• I don't know which media circus I care about less, the Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes baby-havin' thing or the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie baby-havin' thing. Just sayin', is all.