The thumbs-up mono

Ryan Henry Ward (aka, Henry) is a Seattle artist, and for the past years, he's been adding some humor and color to the Fremont and Ballard neighborhoods in the form of funny-looking murals on random walls, garage doors, trucks, etc. I don't know much about him, but in my book he is a cool dude, who paints cool doodles, and adds a little character to our neighborhoods.
In Mexico, 'mono' is a term loosely used for a doodle/characture (among many other things). Donovan and I loved the mono below, the focal point of a larger mural. And every time we'd drive past it (at least 1x day), we'd give each other thumbs-up while saying "Eh", like Fonzie.
It's the " mono that says 'Eh'," we used to call him.

Sadly, this mural would constantly get tagged with worthless spray paint crap, and constantly restored. It's now completely gone, unfortunately, to make way for a residential project.  At any rate, it's a tiny little memory with Donovan and I felt like blogging about it. If you'd like to learn more about Henry, here's an interview I found.

jc

Slight niggle...

Ugh. Injuries or sickness are always hard to deal with. I think minor injuries are harder than being sick, b/c when sick, at least you feel your entire body hurting and your mind knows it is down-time, but with a minor injury, it is just plain annoying.

I got one of those annoying injuries, around the 3-4 metatarsal aread of my left foot. It bugs specially b/c I literally have no idea why it happened. Changed biomechanics? No. Worn out shoes? Perhaps, but did all my pairs suddenly break? Too much, too fast efforts? Hardly. Well. Whatever. Time to lay off the running, concentrate in the water and on the bike, and rethink some races.

Donovan's been a little sickley. As a parent it just tears you up inside when your little one can't sleep and is all snotty, and coughing. Ugh. And more ugh.

A long time, in a galaxy far away....

Donovan and some other youngsters, indentified by the Jedi Council as showing promise to one day become knighted into the order, gathered at our humble dwelling this past Saturday for some training. Among other activities, they assembled and personalized their own light sabers, and then went through a rigorous basic Jedi training camp, summersaulting, bounding over obstacles and practicing with their weapons.

Padawans at the ready!

We were then surprised by the appearance of a powerful Sith lord, who foolishly entered the Jedi camp.

"You don't know the power of the Dark Side...."

Unfazed, the Jedi recruits charged and beat the snot out of Vader, clobbering him into retreat.

"And, apparently, you underestimated the power of a small troop of Jedis"

Post combat, the young Jedis replenished their energy by devouring some cake in the shape of the Death Star, and then used their light sabers to beat the candy out of a pi~ata, in the shape of Darth Vader's head (of course). Everyone had a pretty good time. No injuries, no casualties. Peace in the universe was restored.

The day was still not over for me, as I still found myself having to wrestle mexican lucha-libre legend Huracan Ramirez himself.

La llave del oso dormilon!

We had a fun weekend. Thanks for reading.

Obi-JC

Dear Blog,

Life has been super busy in our corner of the world, haven't had a whole lot of time to write entertaining stories for all 2 of you loyal readers. I was able to pull off a surprise dinner party for Theresa's birthday. I managed to cook for ~25people, and I think the food turned out pretty good. My brother- and sis-in-law Chris & Christina gave me a hand with some of the last minute details, and it all came together. I stressed out about it for about a whole month, but it was great: She was totally surprised, she had no idea, it was cool. Next up is Donovan's 5th birthday. We will do a 'Star Wars' theme for his party, since that is what he is mostly into these days.

Other than that, the swimmin, bikin & runnin is gettin done. I've had to make some adjustments to our race schedule, and will not be kicking things off at Oceanside this year.

Happy New Year!

Go rabbit, go rabbit!

Tonite we will be celebrating the beginning of the year of the rabbit with yummy treats for dinner. Theresa made awesome dumplings last nite. Donovan has decorated his lion mask and is ready to do his dance to the beat of loud instruments (and collect red envelopes promtply afterwards). I love that Donovan enjoys the mix of cultures within him.

Windy + Cold = Just another day.

Life's been on cruise control for a while now, just doing the routine. Other working parents with an endurance sport alter ego can probably relate to what I mean. In the last few weeks I've hit old man status, with a birthday that put me at 37, and though I don't feel old, that number definitely lands me in the grown-ups group.

As part of our typical 'weekend routine', Donovan and I made and devoured hotcakes and waffles, and went splashing at his favorite pool. Lately he's into spending more time underwater than above, which leaves me sitting down in knee-deep water while the little fish gets his fill of exploring the bottom of the pool.

I went out riding long yesterday in what was, IMHO, a very cold and windy day here in Seattle. How cold? A couple snowflakes stung my face on the way home. I was glad to hit a warm shower afterwards. Another good day of low carbo training at ~60kcals/hr with EFS Drink, given I was hovering btwn a Zone 2-3 effort due to the strong wind.

Monday, here we come.

JC & Donovan's Awesome Waffles (Gluten free)

I've decided to share with all 2-3 of my readers the recipe for the awesome waffles Donovan and I have one day of every sinlge weekend (the other day we eat hot cakes, and I'm not sure I'm ready to give out that recipe).

Ok, ingredients:

3 eggs
2 cups milk w/ 2tbsp vinegar. We sometimes use Almond milk.
¼ cup oil
3 tbsp agave or maple syrup, or honey

2 cups brown rice flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
Cinnamon (I leave this up to Donovan, who goes nuts with the shaker)

How to:
*Fire up the waffle iron. This here is the waffle iron we got. We usually set it on 3.

*In the meantime, mix wet ingredients, mix dry ingredients.
*Pour wet on dry ingredients, mix gently.
*Throw on waffle iron (we use ¼ cup batter per waffle).
*Wait impatiently, fork and knife in hand.
*Pour maple syrup in each little square. Cut. Enjoy.
*Ponder whether inventor of waffles/waffle iron has received nobel prize.

This makes ~18 waffles. I usually eat ~8, and I am well fueled for a workout. If the workout lasts ~1.5-2hrs, I use water+NUUN. Over 2hrs (and depending on the effort), I switch to water+EFS (grape flavor, please). For a while now I’ve been trying out First Endurance’s low carb strategy for my lower intensity sessions.

And when the workout is over, I usually whip out the toaster to have waffle seconds. That’s how we do it at the Ramirez household.

Dia de los Reyes Magos

In my primarily-catholic homeland, on January 6th, we put one of our shoes behind the front door in hopes that los Reyes Magos (the three wise men) will stop by and drop off a little something. I was never clear if they were on their way to -OR- from visiting baby Jesus, but it was always something to look forward to after Xmas, the arrival of Melchor, Gaspar and Baltazar aboard their elephant, camel and horse. This tradition too is one that I have instilled in my family. So... we placed our shoes, and we all got a little something yesterday morning. Sweet.

This past weekend, on New Year's day, I was talked into going cyclocrossing on mtb trails, on frozen mud and snow. It was fun, and cold. I was surprised the tires tracked so well on the terrain, and managed to fall only a couple times, loosing grip on ridiculously steep grades my mtb buddy made me go up. I only managed a couple pictures, this one from a park we rode to take a quick break.

Puget Sound, Olympic Mountains in the background.