A Quick Word of Thanks

  I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who made Thanksgiving special over the last two days. Thursday, of course, was the big day but we also have our annual Friday party.

  Cathy and I really enjoy having all of our family over to the house on Thanksgiving. It just makes it a little easier I think for everyone, especially Benjamin. This turkey day was much different than last year. As you may remember, last year we gave thanks just for getting some sleep. 

  Cathy does a great job of delegating culinary responsibilities to our guests. We take care of the bird and stuffing along with some other fixin's but our guests help fill the table with the other traditional side items of Thanksgiving.

  We had my mom, dad & stepmother, Cathy's mom and our neighbors Lisa and Bruno show up around 1:30 in the afternoon with the intention of sitting down to eat about an hour later. This would give everyone some buffer time if they were running late. It was also to give Benjamin enough time to wear out his grandparents.

  Overall it was a nice dinner. It gave us all a chance to catch up with one another. More importantly it was a relaxing afternoon of food and conversation.

  Now Friday night is completely different. The night after Thanksgiving has turned in to the annual Livingston Leftover Party (no family allowed). We started this a few years ago and liked the idea of having friends over to help finish up the leftovers the night after Thanksgiving.

  So last night Lisa and Bruno came back over. Our friends Adam and Amy brought another friend James with their leftovers. The Leftover Party is a little more relaxed than Thanksgiving which is saying a lot. It's like having a small, intimate dinner party for friends where you don't have to cook that afternoon. Just throw it in the microwave. Voilá!

  So there you have our Thanksgiving wrap up. Thank you to all that came through our front door. You helped make our home warm (not to mention the refrigerator but we won't go there) this holiday weekend.

Expanding my Digital Library

EDITOR'S NOTE: THE FOLLOWING IS A TECH ENTRY.

  As I  blogged about a couple of months ago our Samsung DVD recorder broke and the company did not want to offer any assistance. And so we went without a DVD player. That is until this week. 

  I liked the ability to burn shows from our DVR to DVD and then rip the shows to my iTunes library for posterity. It was great that I could archive some of my favorite 90210 episodes and watch on my computer, iPod or iPhone whenever.

  So this week I went to Best Buy and purchased a new Toshiba upgradable DVD player. (As a side note: I read many reviews about the pros and cons of going Blu-Ray vs Upgrade DVD players. The conclusion with some tech writers was the DVD had more bang for the buck but Blu-Ray was better just not by much. My thought is that in two years it won't matter Hi-Def video will be all on servers and hard drives.)

  (Back to the story) So after hooking up the new DVD player to the home system I pondered whether I made the right choice by not going the DVD recorder route again. And so I started researching how I could record the shows off our DVR to iTunes. What I found out was there was a way to hook up my laptop to the Bright House cable box and pull off the saved shows.

  The only thing I had to actually purchase was the MPEG-2 component for Quicktime for $20. The other two pieces of software I needed to accomplish my goal were free off the internet.

  I used a Firewire cable to transfer the video from the cable box to my Macintosh laptop. Once the video is saved to the laptop I then use another software to convert the file to another format that iTunes can recognize and won't take up a lot of space on my iPhone. Then I can pull it into iMovie and edit out the commercials before archiving it to iTunes.

  I know that many readers are looking at this and thinking, "Man Chris has a lot of free time." Probably true but I'm just looking to the future. And in my future is apparently 90210.

  

Taking Care of the Customer

  So I have to write a quick blog about a company that actually took care of this consumer. You see in this day and age it's rare that a company goes out of it's way to make sure it's customers are happy and satisfied.

  During the MLB postseason I was wearing my iPhone on my hip utilizing the Contour Showcase's holster. The case itself is one of the best I could find when I purchased my iPhone. Contour uses acrylic for the majority of the the Showcase with the edges wrapped in rubber to help protect the cell if you drop it (which isn't out of the ordinary for me.). 

  Anyways, during the ALCS I was walking around when the case caught on something which caused the clip portion of the holster to snap. I was no longer able to put my iPhone on my hip. Not that I wore it there frequently but I liked having it as an option especially when shooting games where the ambient noise would prevent me from hearing the ringer. In those situations I would just put it on vibrate and feel it ring on my belt.

  OK so it's been a month since the incident and I had gone to the Apple store as well as other retailers to see if they sold a replacement holster but to no avail. The only option I had was to purchase a whole new Showcase and holster. I really didn't need a new case just a holster in which to put my iPhone.

  So this weekend I went to the Contour website and emailed their customer service department to explain my situation. Then this morning I received an email from Julie of Contour asking for some additional details about which model and my address. She informed me that Contour was sending me a new holster for my Showcase.

  It was so refreshing that a company was going to go out of it's way to make sure that one of it's customers was satisfied with it's product. Just for the record I asked Contour to help me find a retailer who just sold the holster and they offered to replace my broken one free of charge. I really feel that my money was well spent when I purchased the Contour Showcase. Not only is it the best case designed for the iPhone, in my opinion, but the company stands behind their product. Thank you Contour. 

What Was I Thinking?

  Well I haven't gone running since Saturday's 5K and I was feeling a bit out of shape. That was probably due to the pizza and inordinate amount of bread I had Wednesday with my tomato soup.

  So I decided to go for a longer than normal run after dropping off Benjamin at school today. I got back to the house and scarfed down a banana and four Ego waffles to build up some carbs for my long run. 

  After some stretching I plugged in my Schure earbuds in to my iPhone and headed out. I figured I should be reachable if I'm running for over an hour. The last time I went out running I lost an assignment for USA Today.

  I hit play on a couple of podcasts and headed out to the West Orange Trail. I usually would go running between 3-6.5 miles previously. On the last couple of runs I felt I was ready to extend my distance. And why not? The weather was gorgeous out there today. The temperature was around 65 degrees and hardly any humidity. 

  I quickly worked in to my pace and tried to keep it a little lower in anticipation of a longer run. I thought I would go to downtown Winter Garden before turning around which would give me a 9-mile run for the day. Not bad I thought. That was until I got to Winter Garden.

  As I approached my potential turn around point, I assessed my status. My breathing was good. My legs felt great and not showing signs of fatigue. I felt like I could maybe stretch it even further and if I over did it I'd simply pull up and walk a little bit. No biggie.

  I ran all the way to Oakland before turning around. This new point would give me a run of 13 miles or roughly half a marathon. The thought of me completing that run was inspiring. Now all I needed to do was keep a good pace.

  Honestly I was doing great with everything until mile 10. It was then that I felt some twinges in my going muscles. This then worked in to some aches in my lower back and my right calf. All the while I never felt winded which was pretty good I thought.

  I am proud to say that I completed my impromptu half marathon run in 2 hours and 10 minutes. It's odd for me to say that I ran 13 miles today. 

  Upon my return I soaked in an ice bath and took two Aleve to stave off any aches. Let's just say I don't want to know what it would've felt like if I hadn't taken those actions. My legs hurt so much right now. 

  Today was a test for me. I'm considering racing in next month's Florida Half Marathon in Clermont. I just wanted to see if I could do it. Apparently I can. Now all I need to do is to do it again. In the meantime I will maybe keep my runs to 9-11 miles for the next few weeks.

  I'm still impressed that I was able to run 13 miles. I guess it's the whole setting my mind to accomplishing that goal that's pretty cool to me. By the way, no one called me while I was running. Figures!

Seeing the World

  Well with the OK from Benjamin's pediatrician we decided to make the big purchase of a forward-facing car seat. To this point Benjamin was getting to be a handful putting him in to his car seat. He fought us like an Olympic wrestler. He would twist and turn in his infant carrier.

  So Cathy and I drove down to Babies R Us and picked up the new seat as I hoped it would in some way distract him while I buckled him in to the seat. Hey at this point if flaming baton torches could distract him enough to get him in to the seat I'd had done it.

  OK I have to give some advice to the uninitiated. NEVER TRY TO INSTALL A NEW CAR SEAT WITHOUT THAT FIRST CUP OF COFFEE! Believe me I speak from a frustrating experience. I mean whoever wrote that stupid instruction manual must not have a kid. Really!!! And the whole "let's bungee strap the booklet on the seat" is warped. Who really needs to be able to read that at arms' length anyways?"

  The end result is that Benjamin loves his new seat. In fact, he really likes to look out the front windscreen to see the action. Seeing the world as his parents see it is interesting to him. I think he just wants to be treated just like the other big people. 

  Some other observations I've made are he thinks his main source of entertainment is Daddy looking back at him in a peek-a-boo way. Also trying to find his travel buddies is probably not the safest way to operate a vehicle. And lastly I find it difficult to hand feed Benjamin in this new position. Just give him the whole container of Cheerios already.

  It's such a different world for both my son and I. I think it's such a different perspective and one that I have to get used to.

Continuing a Tradition

  Today I took Benjamin to Tampa for lunch with my Dad and stepmother. The bigger news was we were taking him to have his first hot dog at Mel's. For those who don't know Mel's is an institution in Tampa. They serve some of the best Chicago-style hot dogs around.

  My dad and I used to go there when I was a kid. Usually it was Friday nights when I was spending the weekend at his house. I look back on those dinners as some of the best times with my dad. We would have those father-son talks over a couple of Mel's Special Dog baskets.

  Mel's was also a favorite place to go with my grandmother. Granny loved to go up to Busch Blvd. and have a dog with me any time we had the opportunity. She loved to go for lunch and suffer the wisecracks from no other Mel himself. He always would put a smile on Granny's face.

  Back to the lunch at hand. We got to the dog stand right before the lunch rush. My dad and Sylvia had already gotten the order at the table when Benjamin and I walked through the door.

  Dad had the high chair setup for his grandson along with a kid's basket as well as a Special Basket ATW (All The Way) for me. I got Benjamin set up with his high chair cover and Sylvia started cutting up the hot dog and French fries for him.

  Let me tell you this kid can eat some Mel's. He gobbled up some of the dog, chewed on the fries and scarfed down the bun. Then top all that off with some juice and I had a great diaper change this afternoon.

  Overall it was a great lunch. I think I got more of a kick out of taking my son to Mel's than my dad treating his son and grandson to lunch. I look forward to taking Benjamin when he's older to have the some of the same dinner conversations that my dad and I had.

Middle of the Pack

  For the first time since the 1978 USF Bull Run, I ran a road race. While it was only 5km it was a start. I've gotten back in to running recently and decided to enter the Winter Garden 5K race with our friends Ryan Kelly.

  I felt a little intimidated as the Santurris have run marathons previously and I ended up chickening out of my second race, the 1979 Gasparilla 5K (Hey I was 5 and it was cold, loud and scary. Sorry Dad for making you take me back to find Mom.).

  So I made Cathy and Benjamin my personal cheering section and gave them a map of where to get pictures of me to document my deterioration along the route. I joke about that as I felt I kept a solid pace throughout the race. Heck my usual runs at home are around 10km.

  The horn sounded and everybody around me just stood there mildly walking. "Get out of my way people," I thought to myself. I wanted to run this race in under 30 minutes and they weren't helping me.

  The first mile of the race (for the metrically challenged that would be about 2km) I had a great pace going. It also didn't hurt that we were running downhill but hey I'll take my breaks where I can.

  Then my left shoelace started giving way. "Dang it! I thought I double-knotted." So a quick 5-second break to tie it and I was back in the race.

  This is the point where the hill went from down to up. I gradually rolled back my pace and tried to get my breathing in check. Meanwhile kids were passing me. Stupid kids.

  I got to the second "shooting" spot and Benjamin was looking at the trees and didn't have a clue that Daddy was running past him. Cathy got some shots of me as I dramatically (for the pictures of course) grabbed a cup of water and threw it over my head. (Hey I needed blog material people it was a slow week.)

  Now the road was leveling out and it gave me a chance to keep my pace low to start a second wind for the end of the race. The route meandered through the surrounding neighborhoods of Winter Garden. There were some residents cheering from lawn chairs and then there was this one guy. 

  There he stood. Wearing a bath robe, t-shirt and ratty shorts. Drinking his coffee and picking up the morning paper. As if we were an impromptu parade to gawk at for a little while. Dang it I wanted that coffee.

  As we turned back towards the direction of downtown and the finish line I felt good. That was until I saw one of the top runners from the front of the pack now cheering me and the rest of the hacks on and running in the opposite direction. 

  "OK either we were getting close or he's taunting me," is what I thought as I hit fast forward on the iPod shuffle. (BTW, for some reason my iTunes that it would be humorous and shuffle in some Harry Connick Jr., Bob Marley and other mellow tunes for my run. Not funny!)

  The course took a right turn and in the distance I could see the finish line. I started ramping up my pace. Big Audio Dynamite was playing in my ears and gave me some added energy to finish strong. I felt like I had some stuff left in the tank to pass a large group of runners ahead (Stupid kids. I'll get you back.).

  "Uh oh Maybe I didn't have THAT much left in the tank," I thought to myself with around 2/10th of a mile left.

  I quickly hit the volume up button on the iPod and gave it my all. I ended up having something in the tank for a good kick and crossed the line with the clock reading 28:49. Not bad. I did better than my goal and didn't embarrass myself.

  The final result was that I was 81st out of 300 and 11th in my age division. Ryan was first in his age division and was awarded a first place medal. Kind of cool. Then I heard my name called for the award of "Middle of the Pack" for the 35-39 division. I received a $10 gift certificate to Tri & Run. Ryan was jealous. VERY COOL!

  So it's been 30 years since my last race. A lot has changed since then but it's still putting one foot in front of another. But I gotta say I don't remember it being that stressful when I was 5.

Happy Birthday Benjamin

  It's funny how to a one-year-old his first birthday it just another day. To his parents it's an incredibly special day. Or that's the way it felt to me yesterday.

  Benjamin rustled awake earlier than normal around 6:30 a.m. and wanted something to eat. I made a bottle of whole milk (I can't tell you how much I won't miss going to the store and spending $24.98 every fifth day for formula.) and some Cheerios.

  I went out for a quick run so that I could be back in time to celebrate his birth at 8:24 a.m. It was all we could do to keep him around until then as he wanted to take a nap around 8:22 a.m. 

  "Yea! Happy birthday. You were born at this time. Ok let's put him to bed," was about how the celebrating went.

  Later in the morning we had a date with the pediatrician for Benjamin's one-year check-up. He is right on track at the 50th percentile. He weighed in at 19 lbs., 12 oz. and was 29 1/4" long. The doctor said he was a little under the 50th percentile for weight but still fine. They attributed that to his activity now that he walks. And boy does he ever walk/run/fall down and do it all over again.

  Cathy took the day off and we had planned to go to Sea World after his doctor's visit but the shots did in Benjamin. He was tired and just wanted to go home to sleep which he did for two hours.

  Once he woke up we packed up the family and drove down to the community center to shoot some portraits. Well the talent really didn't want to sit still and have his pictures taken. He wanted to chase his shadow around the soccer field (it was so cute watching run after his shadow).

  Later in the evening Ryan and Kelly invited us over to their house to help finish with Bella's and Benjamin's leftover cakes. The two toddlers had a ball playing while the parents visited. It was really a great way to end Benjamin's first birthday. 

  It still sounds awkward to say, "I have a one-year-old." 

If There's Smoke there's a Party

  Today was Benjamin's first birthday party. Even though he turns one tomorrow we celebrated with family and friends today.

  Cathy and I decided that we would have a cookout-type of party with hotdogs and hamburgers. In theory that sounded great but reality was much different.

  We had so many people come to celebrate Benjamin's birthday. All the grandparents (with the exception of Sergio who was in Croatia) were in attendance. Let's just say Benjamin didn't need to walk if he choose. There were plenty of people who wanted to hold him.

  Once the guest arrived I had put burgers and hotdogs on the grill. My dad took over on the cooking in order to free me up for hosting duties. 

  In defense of my father I hadn't thoroughly cleaned the grill in a while which lead to heavy smoke pouring in to our house. Thus causing the smoke alarms to go off all throughout the house. Seriously it was laughable the noise in the house. We ended up having to pull all the batteries from the smoke detectors as well as pull the breakers. The noise was deafening.

  I have to say that even though it was a baby's party I think that the adults had fun. Cathy and I tried to make it as entertaining as possible with the toddlers running around the house. 

  Thanks to all of Benjamin's grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and loved ones who came to his party. We appreciate every one of you.

  As I am typing this I remember a year ago. I was driving my very pregnant wife to Winnie Palmer and we had just settled in to our delivery room. It would become the longest day of my life. I never felt the fear I did that night and never felt such joy when the sun rose and my son was born. This has been such an incredible year for me. I look forward to all the years ahead of us as parents.

Back in the Pool

  Today I went back in to the pool for the first time in a year. Before Benjamin was born I used to go down to our community pool and swim laps as an alternative to the biking and running. It was a great cardio workout.

  Back in high school I use to swim a lot as the sole diver on the school swim team. It was lot of hard work but very fun. Our practices usually started off with a 500 yard warm up. Then we would have other exercises with varying yardage for the remainder of the two hour practice.

  So today I decided to give my legs a bit of a rest and head back to the pool to swim today's workout. I told myself that if I could complete the 500 I would be satisfied. I felt that getting 500 yards in was decent for someone who hadn't swam laps in a year. It'd give me a good entry back in to the swim of things (pun intended).

  I started out the set a little sluggish and slowly worked in to my pace. By the time I kick turned at 300 I felt good. So much in fact that I almost forgot where I was in my routine. 

  You see with swimmers there's a lot of thinking time involved in workouts. When you go out on a run you can put on some good tunes or a favorite podcast to pass the time. Not really an option underwater (although they do now make waterproof headsets and cases for iPods). All that you have are your thoughts.

  I think about many things swimming. "Did I mail off the power bill? Shoot we're out of bunny food. I've got a great idea for a movie." Swimming allows you to get out all of the stupid stuff in your head.

  So here I was now kick turning 800 yards and still going strong. I felt great. I had a good pace going. My breathing was efficient. The only thing truly stopping me from going to 1,500 was time. I had to pickup Benjamin at school in a little over an hour and I was starving. "What do I feel like fixing for lunch? We've got that sliced turkey breast..." See what I mean about thinking time.

  I completed 1,000 yards and called it a day. Over half a mile of swimming I felt was beyond my expectations for the first time back. As I walked around the pool in the 68-degree water I remembered that back in high school we used to do somewhere between 2,000-2,500 yards in a practice. Not what I used to do back in the day but that day was 20 years ago. Man that sounds old. I guess at this point I should feel fortunate I didn't forget to breathe.

A Witness to History

EDITOR'S NOTE: AS MANY ALREADY KNOW I TRY TO SIDESTEP POLITICS ON MY BLOG. I FEEL THAT THERE ARE TOO MANY POLITICIZED BLOGS ALREADY OUT THERE AND I DON'T NEED TO ADD TO THEM. HOWEVER I FEEL I WOULD BE REMISSED FOR LETTING THE OPPORTUNITY PASS AND NOT TALK ABOUT THE ELECTION.

  Last night we hosted a small, quiet election-watching party. Our friends Brian and Christina brought their 6-month-old son Joseph over to eat dinner and watch the returns. As we flipped around the networks we watched states turn red and blue. Eventually the Equis left around the time the networks were trending an Obama victory.

  Benjamin didn't even make it for the first state to be called for either candidate. He had enough of all the campaign commercials and called it a night.

  Cathy and I stayed up to watch as all the major news organizations called the winner of the Presidential race at 10pm. Cathy was able to make it to Senator McCain's concession speech but headed to bed soon after.

  I stayed up and watched as 200,000 people listened in Grant Park to President-elect Obama talk to the country. I listened to the 44th President talk about how he came to this point and more importantly where we as a country needed to go.

  No matter if you are Republican, Democrat, Green Party, Nader lover or none of the above you had to take in what was happening. A new chapter in our country's history was being written.

  After turning off the television, I walked into my son's room to make sure he was sleeping comfortably. I looked down at him, rubbed his back and told him, "You will never remember this night but you'll always be able to say that you were there when President Obama was elected."

Crazy Anthony

  Last night was our friend Adam's annual Halloween party. Yes it was the day after Halloween but it was still fun. 

  In years past we went as Drs. Livingston. Last year Cathy went as a drunk and pregnant Britney Spears while I dressed again in my surgical scrubs (Just in case Cathy went in to labor early.). 

  This year I started planning our costumes back in August. I thought Cathy could go as alleged child murderer Casey Anthony and I would go as Casey's father George. The costumes could be made with stuff we already had and would be comfortable.

  If you don't know who Casey Anthony is allow me to fill you in. The national story first broke back in July when Casey was arrested for child neglect when she waited a month to report her daughter Caylee missing. Since then her soap opera-like story appears nightly on the Nancy Grace show. If you need more info just Google Casey Anthony and read all about it.

  The party was a lot of fun as always. Adam went above and beyond last year's effort. Guests entering through the garage found themselves walking through a scary maze and I hate things that scare me. Inside the Avitable house Amy and Adam decorated the walls to look like the inside of a tent to go along with the theme of the Neverwas Fair: A Sideshow of the Forgotten.

  The catering was yummy with meatballs, bacon-wrapped chicken and Halloween mixed drinks. In one of the guest rooms Adam had a photographer shoot portraits of us in our costumes. 

  Well we couldn't stay all night as my mom was watching the sickly one. It kind of felt like I was back in high school and had a curfew. I had fun at the party but was glad to get home and wash the baby powder out of my hair.

PS- Benjamin is much improved since Friday night. The medicine seems to really be helping.

A Croupy Halloween

  Well Benjamin's first Halloween was not what we planned. Instead of dressing him back up in his monkey suit and trick-or-treating in the neighborhood we stayed at home and ran the humidifier for our barking seal.

  Yesterday morning he woke up with a congested sound. I would've taken him to the doctor but I wanted him to spend the day with Cathy's folks before her dad left today for Croatia. Tell me I didn't feel guilty about that decision last night.

  I have to say our pediatrician, Dr. Yarckin, is very patient with first-time parents. He talked me down and let me know that he'd seen this hundreds of times over the years and it was nothing new. (It also didn't help that we were watching House.) Dr. Yarckin told me he'd see us in the morning.

  So with a little Vick's and some Robotussin we put Benjamin in his humidified room for the night. Cathy decided she'd sleep on the floor while I took up all of our bed. Throughout the night she refilled the humidifier and gave him Robotussin.

  We were the first ones in the office this morning. Dr. Yarckin gave Benjamin a steam treatment to help open his breathing passage and told us that he had Croup. He sounded so much better after the steam and fell asleep in the car on the way back to the house.

  So now I've gotten through my first real bout with sickness and Benjamin. It was a bit stressful. I felt a little helpless as I rocked my sick little boy. All he wanted to do was breath more easily and sleep. I just wanted to do what ever it took to help him. Just like any parent.