On the Sixth Day He Rested

Today is a day of rest. Not that I really got much rest. Amie and I were up with Addi at 5:45. That's just one of the ways Addi is like her daddy. Neither of us like to sleep. I did pick up my 11-23 cassette though, so now my race wheels are ready to go.

Hopefully, the weather holds up tomorrow and we're not freezing on our Team ride. We just have to ride faster if it's cold I guess. Hot or cold I'm ready to ride.

Peace OUT!

Sleep

What exactly is sleep? According to Websters sleep is:

Sleep - 1) the natural periodic suspension of consciousness during which the powers of the body are restored.

The powers of my body have not been restored in a long time. For some reason I haven't been sleeping good. I am either sleeping very lightly and every little noise wakes me up or I wake up at some point in the night and I'm burning up. I don't know what my problem is, it's not that I'm not tired.

On a good note, this morning I woke up feeling pretty refreshed and ready to get started with today's workout. Mark had a 1.5 hour Aerobic Power workout scheduled for me and it felt really good to work. I made it out to the garage right on time, checked the temperature and it was actually already 40.6 degrees in there. That's an improvement over yesterday. I started my movie, The Bourne Supremacy. This week was my Bourne week I guess, I made it through the Bourne Supremacy and the Bourne Ultimatum, each in one morning. It's been a good week of trainer time and so far I'm happy with how I'm handling the new workouts. My legs have been a little tight, but other than that everything is peachy. No pain, no gain.

I decided this morning to skip my usual bowl of oatmeal and just slam a recovery drink. I had made plans to eat breakfast with my dad and by no means wanted to have the added 365 calories in one of my bowls of oatmeal. I'm Managing a project right now at the FAA and my dad is working out there also so we have had the opportunity to meet up a few times and talk over breakfast. It's been really nice. Plus, we found the best darn pancakes in all the land. They are so fluffy. We found them at some little cafeteria/snack bar thing in one of the buildings out there. They are made fresh to order. Throw a little butter on there and a lot of syrup and it's like pancake heaven. I wish I could make my pancakes like that.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Saturday Amie & Addi are having a baby shower in the morning. So, we'll get to see all the new stuff for Emily. Saturday night I get to spend with my hottie wife on date night. Sunday we roll Bicycle Alley Racing style and log some miles.

Random Thoughts

"Personal affection is a luxury you can have only after all your enemies are eliminated. Until then, everyone you love is a hostage, sapping your courage and corrupting your judgement."
Orson Scott Card

I heard this quote this morning and it got me thinking about what it meant to me. I think that the word "enemies" applies to more than just people. I think that any negative energy hinders you and every relationship around you. It will wear you down and eventually it will break you if you aren't able to find a way out. It's an interesting quote and I'll write more about it at another time.

Today was an Endurance/Tempo day. It was smooth sailing, just spinning away listening to an audio book. Yesterday, I started a new series of workouts designed to help increase my aerobic power. I really enjoy new workouts, it's interesting to me to see how my body responds to new things.

The sun has finally come out and the snow is beginning to melt. I'm looking forward to getting out of the garage and hitting the road this weekend with my Teammates. Hopefully, it's warmer than last Sunday.

Sorry, about the randomness of this blog...my mind is kind of wondering today.

Parenting 101

What do I know about parenting? Not really a whole lot but somehow Amie and I have managed to keep Addi alive, happy and healthy for almost three years now. It’s amazing to me to think that I have been a father for nearly three years. Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. Now, in just a few weeks we will be bringing Emily home. Our route to the hospital will be a little different this time, Amie has assured me she has a much quicker route that doesn’t include any stoplights. So, I’m sure she will be trying to force to me to break the law by speeding and running stop signs. Plus, this time I will have a bag already packed and I’ll probably start shaving daily so we avoid an instance like last time.

Now, back to the parenting part. Probably the hardest part about being a parent to me is drawing that ever so thin line between being a friend and being a father. Everyone wants their child to listen to them and behave. Everyone wants their child to be respectful and mind their manors. Those are the things you hope for when raising a child. But how much time do you actually want to spend disciplining and getting onto them? Do you want the time you spend with them to be fun and full of happy times or to be spent in timeout and with tears? I mean think about it, in the average American family it takes both husband and wife working in order to pay the bills and put food on the table. That means that many families turn to daycare to raise their child. That’s 40 hours a week you are trusting daycare to instill in your child all the qualities that you hope to see. You lose all that valuable time each day with your son or daughter and when you pick them up from daycare are you really wanting to spend that time getting on to them. That’s the hard part for me. I want to come home from work and play with play-doh or be a pony, I don’t want to come home and have to hurt her feelings by putting her in timeout or getting onto her for something silly. I think a lot of time parents get caught up in trying to mold the perfect child and they forget that their child is only 2 or 3 or whatever their age may be, they are still just a child. You’ve got 18 years to try to teach them everything you can and help them become the best person possible, no need in trying to cram that all into a couple of years.

What brought all this to mind? This morning, while doing my morning workout, Addi woke up a few times. She rarely wakes up that early but today was the exception. Today’s workout was a good one. I like the workouts where you’re turning out a fairly high amount of wattage and holding it. It makes me feel like I’m really working and I love watching the kilojoules add up. Anyway, at 1 hour 11 minutes into my workout, I had just finished my first rep and was about 8 minutes into recovery, Addi woke up screaming. Not a normal cry, but screaming. I thought she had fallen off the bed or something, so I jump off my trainer and ran in the house as quickly and quietly as you can with cleats on. My eyes hadn’t yet adjusted from walking into the pitch-black darkness of her room and I couldn’t tell where the crying was coming from. I was scared I would step on her and know from experience that it kind of hurts when someone steps on you with their cycling shoes on. So, I made my way very carefully to her bed and felt around. There she was, just sitting there crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said, “It tickled me.” I’m not sure what she was dreaming about or what stuffed animal brushed up against her while she was sleeping but that wasn’t the response I was expecting. I got her calmed down and then patted & shh’ed her back to sleep. I’m not sure why but patting and shh’ing her always seems to make me more tired than it does her but falling asleep while standing isn’t something I’ve mastered yet. Anyway, while patting her, I got to thinking about how lucky I am to be able to spend that time with her. Pretty soon, she’s not going to want her daddy to pat her back to sleep. I’m guessing at some point that just isn’t going to be cool. When you think about it, it’s all those little moments that come and go so fast that really are some of the most special.

Rodney's Pizza Place

Along the northern border of Purcell, OK lies one of the newest pizza parlors to grace this fine state. It is there that you will find Rodney's Pizza Place. Rodney's Pizza Place was recently opened by Rodney Powers. For those of you who frequent the Purcell area for pizza you might know Rodney from Jo's Famous Pizza. Rodney had been working at Jo's for the last 36 years and could often be seen behind the counter working on an order or out mingling amongst the guest always with a smile on his face. If you've eaten at Jo's, you know Rodney.

My wife and I, a couple times a month would drive down to Jo's and thought of it as having one of the best pies around. However, a few weeks ago we left Jo's and decided to go through town to the interstate. We never do that, we usually go back south to I-35, but on this particular night we went north through town and just as we were about to hit the highway, there it was on the east side of the road, Rodney's Pizza Place. As soon as I saw it, I knew it had to be the same Rodney and we made plans to head back to Purcell the following weekend.

I'm not really sure why we went north instead of south that one time, but thank goodness we did. Rodney's Pizza is delicious. I'm not sure what has changed in his recipe but something is definitely different. It has some of the same similarities as Jo's Pizza but the taste is so much better, more fresh. Order The Works and just looking at it is intimidating. It is packed with so much more meat and veggies than most any other supreme pizza and everything taste so fresh. So far, we've tried his Works, Southwest Chicken, Pepperoni and Cheese pizzas and have yet to be disappointed. My personal favorite is the Southwest Chicken, but I think that's just because I associate chicken with eating healthy. The Southwest Chicken is made up of grilled chicken, green bell peppers, bacon (I know this blew the healthy part), onions and of course lots of cheese. Just thinking about it makes me hungry for the leftover slice in the fridge at home. Of course, Amie's favorite is the pepperoni. I will say this, order with caution when ordering at Rodney's, if you order a large pizza you are getting a LARGE pizza. There is more than enough to eat for dinner and take a few slices home for a rainy day. I briefly spoke with Rodney on our first visit and he excitingly told me about his ingredients and how he is only using the best of the best. For instance, his tomato sauce comes from Cali and from the time the tomato is picked from the vine is has a mere 24 hours before it is made into sauce, packaged and shipped to his door. I don't know much about tomato sauce, but that sounds pretty darn quick to me.

So, next time you are thinking about pizza for dinner take the short little drive to north Purcell and treat your taste buds to a mouth watering slice of Rodney's pizza. You won't be disappointed.

From OKC, head south down I-35 to Exit 95 (left hand lane). After taking the exit you'll find yourself on Green Ave, as you approach the first stop light look to your left and there will sit Rodney's Pizza Place.

Enjoy!

Relief

Have you ever felt trapped or like something was weighing down on you? Like something was missing or you just couldn't obtain that one thing that you felt would really make you happy? I have. I know that feeling all too well and have been fighting with it for at least the last two years. I've felt like I was lost, like I lost myself and I really didn't know what the cause of that was. I thought maybe I had a problem with depression but was always too proud to see anyone for help. For people who maybe haven't known me for very long they probably didn't see it in me because well they only saw "that" chad, but for the people who have known me for years or a lifetime the change was evident. I was not happy and I couldn't find anything to fill that void. It didn't matter what you did, what you said, nothing could fill the void. It was always worse around the holidays or birthdays, anytime when you're supposed to be happy or excited. I hated those times, I hated them because I knew I was supposed to be happy. I knew people expected me to be happy and I didn't want to let them down. But I couldn't be happy and that stressed me out more and made me more depressed because I knew I was letting them down. Anytime I was asked, "what do you want for Christmas" or "what do you want for your birthday" it just made me angry inside. I don't want anything. You know why? Because nothing will make me happy. Why spend money on me when it doesn't matter anyway. Those were the thoughts that ran through my mind. I've hurt a lot of peoples feelings because of my attitude at those times of the year. It wasn't intentional, I just wasn't able to overcome or suppress my feelings. What made all of this the worst was the fact that I didn't know what was wrong with me. I mean, look at my life. I seem to have everything anyone could ever want to make them happy. I have a beautiful wife, an amazing little girl, another baby girl on the way, a great family, a cute little house, a good job, a couple of killer bikes, I've got some great friends, a great new race team with some exciting new sponsorships...in my world I seem to have most everything I could want to find happiness. But it wasn't there. I spent more time than I care to think of wondering what have I done wrong to deserve to feel like this. I've looked at every part of my life and questioned if it was the way I wanted it to be. I thought maybe something was wrong with my marriage, maybe I wasn't cut out for my job, maybe it was the people I work with, maybe we needed more money, maybe I'm missing God, do I need to go to church...anything you can imagine ran through my head. I was plagued with this problem. My temper was going through the roof and I was having a real problem controlling my emotions. My patience, well I didn't really have them anymore. It just continued to slowly spiral down hill and I didn't have a clue as to what to do.


I spent my weekdays at work just like everyone else. But my weekdays were filled with yelling, being belittled, getting walked on, and made to feel like you couldn't adequately do your job. No matter how hard you tried or how well you did it was never good enough. Oh of course, there was the occasional praise but they were few and far between. This type of job atmosphere had pretty much been there I guess since about a year after I started. With the exception of only a few times, I pretty much just took it thinking it's part of the job. This job pays my bills and puts food on my table and I guess this is just what comes with it. There was no peace in my life. Starting around 7 a.m. by day went to hell everyday. Every morning when my two-way radio would go off my day was over because you never knew what was going to come out of the speaker. Were you going to get a "good morning" or "where the hell are you"? I could literally feel my blood pressure rise at the exact moment that phone would go off. I would spend my day walking on eggshells or trying to fly under the radar so I wouldn't fall in the line of fire. It was, to say the least, a very unhealthy work environment. A work environment that never got left at work. I would carry my frustration and anger home with me and often times in one way or another it would get taken out or project towards Amie and Addi. Taking my feelings out on them didn't solve the problem. In many cases, it made it worse because then I had to deal with the guilt of hurting their feelings for no reason.

The source of my problems at work stemmed from the General Manager. He was someone I always figured would be with the company forever. He was someone I thought I would have to learn to live with if I was going to be successful within this company. Then from out of no where some issues were brought to attention and before I knew he was out the door. Monday was our first day to not have him in the office. Monday was the first day I got to see the old Chad, the Chad that actually smiles because he is happy not because that's what people want to see or because he was supposed to. This week has been amazing for me. I have noticed within myself a change, Amie has told me she has noticed a change in me. I can't even remember the last time I felt like this. After everything I considered wrong with me and to find out this is what was wrong, seems crazy. I wasted two years of my life being unhappy because of this one person. I feel like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders, like that thumb that had me pushed into the ground was lifted. I don't know what I could compare this feeling to so that someone might better understand how I feel, but it is wonderful.

Mittens

Okay, the lesson for the day has to do with mittens. If you don't already have children then maybe this will help you in the future.



This morning started out like any other morning. I got up and did my workout and then got ready for work anxiously awaiting Addi to wake up so we could spend some time together. She finally woke up around six, asking for her mommy...I was hoping she'd want her daddy though. Anyway, we made us some hot oatmeal. Oatmeal is the perfect start on these cold mornings. Throw in a little cinnamon and brown sugar and it's good to go. After we ate breakfast I got Addi all dressed in her princess daycare clothes, brushed out teeth and it was just about time to hit the road. That's when the real fun started. So, I put Addi's coat on, then her hat and then I moved on to her mittens. We've never worn mittens before and they were a little tricky. It took us a few times to figure out how to get her thumb in the thumb hole but then when we got that figured out I couldn't get the gloves pulled up far enough because of her coat. Her coat is so fluffy I couldn't get her mittens to pull up over it. I tried smooshing it together and pulling but the mittens would just slide back off. After several attempts to put the mittens on this way it dawned on me, mittens and then the coat. I pulled her coat off, put the mittens on and BAM just like that everything worked out. So for future reference, first put your mittens on, then put on your coat.

Date Night

Tuesday night my folks kept Addi, so Amie and I had a night to ourselves. We had a gift card to Charleston's, so we headed south to Norman to see what was cooking. We both had the grilled chicken, it's really good. However, the Glazed Carrots are AMAZING. They are the same type of carrots that Red Rock has but these are a little closer to home. How can something like a carrot be so good? I don't know, but later this weekend or this weekend I too will attempt to cook some Glazed Carrots of my own. Amie always likes it when I experiment in the kitchen.

To Test or Not To Test

That is the question. I'm waiting to hear back from Mark to see if I test tomorrow or not. My legs haven't felt 100% since being back on the bike after being sick. I had the team ride on Sunday which I think threw my legs into shock, then yesterday I had a high cadence exercise and this morning was an endurance ride with a couple of intervals thrown in there. This mornings workout wasn't a problem and I cruised through it, but my legs did still seem a little tight. The tight area is on the front of my leg right in between my knee and hip, smack in the middle. I don't remember ever having problems in this area of my leg so it's something new. It didn't hurt or anything, just a little annoying. It drives me crazy to think I get sick one time this winter, take a week off to get better and I don't feel like my legs got anything good out of it. I would of thought they would of felt fresh, recovered and ready to go but it's the exact opposite. Either way fresh legs or not I'm looking forward to my test. I've got a goal and I'm hoping to reach it. It's going to be tough though. It's always harder for me to crank out high watts on my trainer so early in the morning but I'm gonna give it my best shot. We were initially hoping to test outside but then got to thinking that if 75% of my riding comes from inside on the trainer it might be more useful to get the numbers from there. We'll see!

Our First Team Ride

So, yesterday was our first team ride. I was pretty excited to finally be having our first Bicycle Alley Racing team ride. We were all supposed to meet up somewhere around 44th & Eastern and then head out to Lake Draper. Well, that didn't really happen. I got cut off by a train at I-240 & Eastern and ended up taking the service road around to Bryant and then cutting back to Eastern on 44th. That little detour ended up causing Zach and I to miss each other. By the time we got a hold of each other on the phone, I had just turned around at 29th & Eastern in Del City and was heading back south and Zach was at 12th and Eastern in Moore and was heading back north. Not too big of deal though I guess because at least we were still getting our miles in. We ended up meeting at 89th and Eastern and from there rode down to 104th and headed East to the lake. We still hadn't seen Ryan yet so we stopped for a second to give him a shout. He was at 59th & Eastern and was going to turn around and head towards the lake. Zach and I went ahead and started a lap around the lake and met up with Ryan about 3/4's way around. Mark had a 1 hour hard paceline team effort scheduled for us but that didn't really happen. Zach and I did about 15 minutes of that and I hit the wall. I was toast. I broke just about every rule I have for myself and my week sick and off the bike didn't help at all. I normally start eating at around an hour in if the ride is over two hours, that didn't happen, I didn't eat anything. Throughout the entire ride I only drank half...yes half, of one water bottle. I was totally out of whack and it sucked. At about 2 hours in we all split and went our separate ways home. I went with Ryan, Jarod & Melton and headed south down Westminster until we came to Franklin. Once we hit Franklin I took it west all the way home. That little trip home into the west wind is starting to get old. It seems like it somehow happens every weekend, whether I'm with a group or riding solo. Riding into the wind on my last leg home sucks. It's a good time to get a little more wattage but not when you're hoping to just cruise in.


When I got home it was almost time for Addi to wake up from her nap. That was awesome. That meant that I hadn't missed much and I'm always happy to be back home and see her and Amie especially after a hard ride. Once she woke up, it was time for Princess Addi wearing princess pants to change into Princess Addi & her princess Dress. She is addicted to dresses and shoes. I mean the girl changes shoes like 5 times a day and getting her to wear pants instead of a dress is like pulling teeth. But I guess who can blame her, she looks so cute in her little princess dress. Then I got to thinking, you know what, in less than two months I will have another little girl running around, another possible princess. It blows my mind every time I think about how fast time has passed since the day we found out we were expecting, through all of the high risk pregnancy stuff, into what is now a little more smooth going pretty normal pregnancy. But then while talking to Amie it dawned on me, pretty soon I will have two little girls to load up into my bike trailer and take on trips through the park and to the local t-shirt rides. Addi has made it six miles in there by herself and then she's ready to get back to the house, but with a little side kick back there to keep her company maybe she could make it 12 miles or something. That would be perfect. And if I'm going to be pulling a trailer around I probably would want to get some sort of all aluminum frame bike, I don't really want to be pulling my girls around on my all carbon SL...now do I? So, could there possibly be a cross or single speed in my future...we'll have to wait and see.

After yesterdays ride, this wasn't really what I was wanting to wake up to. I mean it's a good thing to see first thing in the morning because it means things are getting back on track, but taking anytime off in makes getting back on hard. It takes a little while to get back in the swing of things of getting up so early. It physically and emotionally takes my body a few days to get back up to par. Physically my body is used to sleeping in until 5 o'clock and I have to re-adjust to getting up a couple hours earlier. Emotionally, well hell, who can focus at 3 a.m. So, this mornings ride took a little extra effort just to complete the workout. Really I wanted to just get off the bike and crawl back in bed. That will all change though in a couple of days. I just have to get my focus back in check and look towards the season and realize my goals and I'll be good to go. Mark and I are hoping that with yesterdays group ride and this mornings high cadence workout we get all the "my legs feel like crap" flushed out and everything loosened up again. Hopefully, I test this week and have some good numbers.

First Photo

Here is the first photo taken with my brand new camera. That's my Lilly and she actually looks pretty innocent here. I'm sure she's thinking about something mischievous though, like jumping off the couch or trying to find out which drawer the suckers are in. She loves having her picture taken and she loves looking at her picture even more.

So far, Amie has refused having her picture taken...but I'm watching and it will happen when she least expects it. She's not a big fan of having her picture taken while she's pregnant.

Now that we've gotten that first picture out of the way there will be a lot more to follow.

Feeling Good

Okay, today I am totally stoked. For the first day in a couple of weeks I actually feel pretty good. I can breath, which is something that I haven't been able to do in quite some time. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the fried mushrooms, fried mozzerella sticks, fried pickles, and the 98% fat free turkey hot dogs I ate last night or not...yes I said the hot dogs were 98% fat free and made me feel just a little less guilty about everything else I ate. The fact that I'm feeling better could have something to do with the fact that I took everyone of the cold medicines I mentioned in my previous post this morning at 7 and then again at 11 o'clock. But I'm hoping it has nothing to do with either of those and I'm actually about to kick this cold. I am finally thirsty again. I drink water like crazy and lately I just haven't been able to get myself to do it. I went from three Nalgene bottles a day to not even one. Something else that is great about being able to breath is I will hopefully be able to taste my food again. It sucks still feeling hungry but not being able to taste anything. To top it off tonight is pizza night at the Hodges house. I can't wait. I'm going to have to do a pizza review on here sometime...we eat quite a bit of pizza in our house.

Something else that is totally awesome is that Amie, my 31 week pregnant beautiful wife, totally surprised me last night with a new camera. I had been wanting one but just couldn't bring myself to get it and last night she took me to pick it up and it is super awesome. It is a Casio Exilim 10.1 Mega Pixel digital camera. It's very sleek and cool. I've been carrying it around with me all day trying to decide what I wanted the first picture to be of and I think I'll wait till I get home and take a picture of Amie and Addi. To me that sounds like the best way to use the very first picture. There are a lot of exciting things going on in my life right now and it will be great to have this little baby along with me to capture some memories and help keep my blog hoppin. We've got Emily on her way and she should be here within the next couple of months...maybe sooner, I've got Addi and you always need a camera on her, Amie and I haven't taken a self portait of ourselves in forever...now we can, I joined a new cycling team and will for sure have some great pics of races, travels and teammates. It's going to be great.

Tired of being Tired

I have had a cold now for about three weeks. The first week was kind of a drag but I did everything like normal and didn't let it bother me. Last week I was off work and was able to get some good miles in and by about Thursday I thought I was over it. Then BAM, Friday rolls around and it's back. It's mainly just a head cold and my cough is pretty much gone so I wasn't too worried about it and thought it would just pass. So, Saturday I go to Norman for the usual 1o o'clock Buch's ride and I get about four hours in that day. That I guess was a mistake because this cold is still here. I haven't been on my bike, with the exception of an easy hour Wednesday, since then. It sucks and I'm starting to get a little frustrated with it. I can't rest anymore than I already am, I mean I don't have time to rest anymore than I already do. Even sleeping in until 5 a.m. only gives me 2 more hours of sleep than usual. Work is work, I have to do what it requires to get my job done. After work, well, I like to do my share around the house to help get everything done before bed time. With Addi, that means you stay pretty busy. But it's a good busy and you wouldn't want to miss it anyway.

I have tried just about every over the counter product there is. Mucinex, Sudafed (with Pseudoephedrine and without), Zicam, Afrin, and Alka Selter Plus Day & Night . Not to mention I've upped my Vitamin C and have even started drinking orange juice and Naked Juice, despite the unwanted calories. None of it has worked. I usually feel pretty good until around 3 o'clock or so and then it all starts going downhill pretty fast. Hopefully, it's gone by this weekend because laying around the house really isn't an option.

12 Days

This year my office shut it's doors for 12 days giving all of us a nice LONG holiday break. I have never been off for 12 consecutive days in my working career. I don't know that I've ever spent 12 "almost full" consecutive days with my wife and I know I haven't with my daughter. The only times we were apart was my occasional bike ride and maybe a few trips to the store. Other than that, it was just the three of us. We made it through 4 Christmas's, New Years, and one funeral...all together. I'm not sure how much time was spent in the car but it had to be equal to at least one full day. Addi has become Princess Addi, I'm now Prince Dad, and Amie has gone from MaMa Hodges to King Mom to Princess Mom...I guess depending on Addi's mood. I would say all together we had a great time getting to bond with each other. Of course, we all had our share of emotional break downs and rants but aside from that it was peachy.

On December 31st, Amie had a 4-D Ultrasound scheduled for us. We each invited our folks and made an outting of it. It was really awesome. We got to see Emily. She didn't entirely cooperate though, she kept putting her hands and feet in her mouth, but we did end up with some nice pics. I wish we would of had the opportunity to do this with Addi to compare the pics. To me, Emily looks like she is going to very strongly resemble Addi. It looks like they have the same nose and lips. She looks beautiful! It's crazy to think that within the next 1-2 months I will be a father again. I could go on and on about that. There are a lot of things that run through your head, or my head, when I think about becoming a father again. I'm scared, anxious, nervous, excited...you name it and I'm feeling it. But it's one of those things that you take all of this into the delivery room with you and then when that little girl comes into the world you totally forget about everything except how lucky you really are. It's just making it to the delivery room.

I'll have more tomorrow about a few other happenings during the "12 Days".