End of an Era, Start of a Trend!

Next week I start a full week of vacation. This will be the first full week I've taken off from work since 1998. I'm not quite sure I will know what to do with myself, but I'm sure my wife will has plenty of ideas to keep me busy.

The best part of scheduling this vacation is that it opened the door for me to take another week off in August for an honest to goodness vacation without kids and out of the country. We'll be heading to Ixtapa in Mexico for 5 days at a beautiful resort. We will also be traveling with six others, close members of our family. I'm really looking forward to this chance to relax and have some fun. I have a feeling coming back to work will be very difficult for the rest of the year.

Run Forrest, Run

For those of you who may be trying to get in shape, I've found a handy tool that helps in mapping out jogging routes. Map My Run is a great site and uses Google Maps to plot your course. Simply pop in your zip-code and start clicking where you want to run in your neighborhood. It'll give you details on distance, pace and calories burned. I've been able to tweak my current morning runs with this site and it's helped a great deal. The hardest part is getting out of bed at the butt crack of dawn.

Required Reading

Being an insanely huge fan of comic books, every so often I will post a comic that I find to be exceptional in either story, art or both.

Today's entry is Silver Surfer: Requiem. This book features words by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Esad Ribic. The story is basically this: The Silver Surfer is dying. Ok, I know this sounds like a gigantic spoiler but it's not, and is the premise for the entire mini-series. The Surfer, once being the mortal Norrin Radd who was transformed into the Herald of Galactus, must now face the imminent failure of his alien technology and begin to decide how he will spend his last days. Straczynski's script is moving and portrays the Surfer with a depth I've never read before. Ribic's artwork is nothing short of spectacular, with the fully painted pages pacing the story perfectly. I've always wondered how much of a pain in the ass it must be to draw the reflective surface of the Surfer and Ribic really nails it.

Personally, I've never been a huge fan of the Silver Surfer, as a kid I was always enthralled by the Uncanny X-Men and more of the mutant heroes as opposed to the "galactic" heroes like the Fantastic Four and our Surfer. However, this book caught my attention and I'm glad it did, there aren't many comics out there that hit on such an emotional level. I highly recommend this one!

A Thousand Little Stars

We just arrived home after another successful dance recital for my daughter. It's really amazing to see all of these young girls and boys shine and enjoy themselves so much on stage, even if only for a few minutes. I'm always beaming with pride when my daughter performs, she's an incredible kid.