Paul's London trip

Our thermostat reads 86 degrees and its not lying. Its been in the 40's and we thought we had some time before we needed to go buy an ac unit, but this week we've been hit with a heat wave and we are hating life for not being prepared now. Poor Dilly's tongue hangs out and we move around like zombies. Connecticut has also been hit with a virus in the main source of drinking water supply, so we haven't had any drinking water since last week and we have no idea when it will be ok to drink again. It effects all the restaraunts and gas stations because no one can serve soft drinks...worst of all, the slurpee machines are even down at the local 7-11.

On a positive note, Joni made me the coolest quilt ever! plus England was awesome too! I have a bunch of t-shirts that I've had since a teenager that I absolutely love, but they were getting worn out. Joni decided to make me a quilt of some of my favorite past t-shirts, I love it.

London was soooo fun. I had a couple of days to just walk around and see all the sights. I took a train from the airport to my hotel and walked around until I was completely exhausted. I got lost so many times, there aren't any street signs and I didn't realize until the 2nd day that all the street signs are actually on the buildings. Some of the highlights the first couple of days included Buckingham palace, Westminster Abby, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Parliament, fish and chips, riding the tube, and a whole bunch more. Its not like any place I've ever been, it was really beautiful, unique, and surprisingly clean. I didn't notice any garbage/litter anywhere, and everything was in full bloom for spring. There were so many different accents everywhere I went, and I even used one of the red phone booths to make a phone call.

The rest of the week I spent in Chesham for work. We stayed in a beautiful red brick mansion/castle in the countryside. On Tuesday we went to Windsor Castle which was probably the highlight of the trip. Not only was it amazing to be in such a historic place, but Ben & Jerry's had free ice cream day for Queen Elizabeth's birthday just outside the castle afterwards. I made some great friends while there, and overall I couldn't have been happier about the whole experience. We ended it all with a James Bond themed party at a fancy country club, including a lousy lounge singer who sang all the Bond songs. While everyone else was drunk at the party I made a fool of myself by cutting a little rug on the dance floor to "hallelulah it's raining men", but unfortunately I didn't bring my camera for that experience. When I was at Windsor I just about got ran over by some guards, I'll post the video at the bottom, I wanted to march next them so bad but I was afraid of being stabbed by their scary looking guns.

Standing under a tree and looking up at the blossoms...

Latimer Place (my hotel) in Chesham, it was like a maze inside. It sure beat the closet I slept in while in London.

Our library at Latimer Place where we stayed...it was Professor Plum...with the candlestick.

Have you ever noticed how much better Reeses Easter Egg cups are than regular Reeses peanut butter cups? Every year thats the one candy that I crave more than any other. We drove around on Friday night to 5 different stores before finally finding our precious eggs, it was our own little egg hunt. If you haven't had one before I suggest you get some before they are gone until next year. Put together my eggs, golfing at the driving range in the rain, Five Guys Burgers, a tour of ESPN headquarters in Bristol, and going to my first female rollerderby...and this was definately one of my top ten best weekends ever.

I knew ESPN was close to my work, but I had no idea it was a mere 1/2 mile. Turns out you have to know an employee if you want to take a tour of the place, so we are lucky enough to know the guy who does the website for ESPN. This was like my own personal Disneyland, it was so fun to walk around all the sets and eat in the cafe. We saw John Saunders, Tom Jackson, and a bunch of faces I recognize but couldn't remember the names. Its crazy once you are inside the building how all the sets are just open and people walk in and out of them all the time.

I loved the hallway to the cafeteria, its made to look like a football field. Kinda makes you smile when you are on your way to eat...he's at the 40...the 30...

That same night we drove down to woodbridge to see the Poptarts play the Iron Maidens in an all female rollerderby showdown. There were tons of people there, and it seemed that every type/size/style/genre of person you could ever imagine was there. The DJ played 80's music all night while the crowd sang along, and everybody groaned and cheered in unison when a girl got plowed by another girl into the ground. We finished the night off at TGIFriday's and headed home. As you can see, even the ref's didn't use their real names, we are definately going back.

push-up challenge

Joni took this picture of our favorite bridge at Elizabeth Park in West Hartford, there are some crazy looking trees there, and its a fun park for a walk or just to hang around and play catch.
This weekend Joni and I were lounging on the couch on a Friday night when she told me she would give me ten bucks if I did 200 pushups before the night was over. It was 10pm, I was already exhausted, and I had just downed a doughnut, a Zinger, and a 32 oz. soda (healthy I know)...but I also tend to buckle under peer pressure and I couldn't pass up a chance to have ten extra bucks for the Pizzarama we had on Saturday night (I'm really sounding fat now). So I popped in the Superman soundtrack to see if I could work myself mentally into doing more pushups in one sitting than I had ever accomplished before, and off I went.

By the time I reached 50, I needed to move on to some different music, so Joni took it upon herself to be my own personal, motivational DJ. By 100 pushups I couldn't feel my arms, but I could feel the massive veins in my forehead pulsating to the beats of the random music Joni kept playing on the computer. By 150 I started feeling all of my past sins start to make their way back up my throat and spin my head in circles, it seemed hopeless, but I pushed on (no pun intended). I think the breaks between pushups 170-200 were longer than any of my breaks combined, but I made it! 200 pushups in one hour! Now as I write this blog two days later, my elbows remain close to my ribs as I type because the slightest movement makes me feel like I just got trampled by a stampede of buffaloes.

Now that I accompished what I thought was impossible, I'm motivated to create the pushup challenge. I challenge all who read this blog to do 50 pushups every night for the next three months. I'm gonna try to sprinkle...(hmmmmm, I love sprinkle doughnuts) some situps and running in there every once in a while, but the challenge is pushups. I froze my membership to the gym for 3 months to see if this works, I dare you to do it! If you can't do 50, then do 50 of something else. Three months from now lets see where we are, if you leave a comment I'll assume you are taking part and I'll check on you later to see how you did, deal?

Coming next week...ESPN tour, and The Poptarts vs. The Misfits female rollerderby showdown.