New Caroline video
Nothing new to report, just a new video. YouTube nailed it AS IT WAS UPLOADED as containing copywritten material (the background song), so now I'm using Vimeo!


Caroline the showoff from Mark Fitz on Vimeo.





 Updates, etc.
So after not having to snowblow for the LAST TWO DAYS, I'm feeling well rested and finally a little relaxed (sorry for the woe-is-me stress post last time around).

Yesterday, went to the dentist and got a thumbs up (yay), and they removed a kind of permanent retainer that has been glued to my lower teeth for probably about 15 years, that some old dentist had clearly forgotten about and my dentists since didn't want to mess with.

After the dentist, I took a drive out to Hayden to check out the property that we bought (with Dana's business partners) to see how the remodel is going (they're opening a satellite clinic to better serve the surrounding areas). It's looking really good.

The space is a building from 1914 that had been a deli, so needless to say, a lot of work had to be done to get it turned into a medical office. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures, maybe I'll try to get out there again soon. Anyway, they're due to open in March(?), which is pretty exciting. Right now Dana drives out to neighboring Craig, CO (also known as CRAIG, AMERICA) where they rent space, so having their own space about 20 minutes closer to Steamboat will be a welcome change for everyone. Except, well, the patients in Craig, I suppose. But it's better than their having to drive to Steamboat!

Anyway, not much else to report on. The treadmill is still getting used(!!), but I need to work out a schedule so I get on more often during the week.

Oh, and Caroline is walking. I took a short, crappy video because my parents NEEDED to see it - I'll try to get better stuff up soon. I don't have a video of her saying "NO" yet. But that should be easy enough to make happen, unfortunately.





That's it!





 Yowza
weird picture a result of google search for 'stress'
Whoa.

It's been a little rough the last couple days. Without even mentioning the feet of snow we've received, Dana's been on call a lot and Caroline has been a little sick. Late nights (D on call) and early mornings (snowblowing, taking the kid to daycare, rounding on patients in the hospital) have made for some ragged parents.

We are working hard at putting together a pretty strict budget, we're both trying to work out more and cook at home more, all while trying to recover from the holidays. Today I learned that the post office intentionally destroyed a package for us (because we don't have local delivery, and it was sent to our physical address via a method with no return-to-sender).

Last night I accidentally wiped out a couple months of pictures and music (and almost ALL of our pictures and music), while trying to be responsible and back it all up! Though no fault of my own (a pretty major software defect), I still beat myself up for it, and am looking for a way to fix things.

Not to mention our house is kind of a mess, with us in a 'half-cleaned-up-from-Christmas' mode, and the office in disarray due to the addition of a treadmill in there.

Then there's work! But don't get me started. :)

Anyway, just a little ragged, trying to do too many things at once, etc etc. (and no vacation coming until April!)

OK, complaint session over. Back to our regularly scheduled blog.





 New Year's mischief
From the Steamboat Pilot:

Steamboat Springs — An unidentified Oak Creek man who spent 18 hours in the snow overnight through the New Year’s holiday survived, suffering only severe hypothermia, fire officials said Thursday.

The 44-year-old man apparently left his house in the 100 block of Virginia Street at about 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve to feed horses, Oak Creek Fire Protection District Chief Chuck Wisecup said Thursday. The man’s horses are on adjacent land just outside town limits, Wisecup said.

The man was intoxicated and never made it back to the house Wednesday night and was found frozen but alert and conscious in the snow on his property at about noon Thursday, Wisecup said.

The man was transported via ambulance to Yampa Valley Medical Center and did not appear to have any other injuries.

“All we could tell is, he had severe hypothermia,” Wisecup said. “He didn’t have any indications of frostbite, but sometimes you can’t tell until they get warmed up.”

In Steamboat Springs, New Year’s Eve was “pretty uneventful,” Steamboat Springs Police Sgt. Gerard Geis said Thursday. No bar fights or serious problems among revelers were reported.

“There was obviously a whole lot of people in the bars, but everyone behaved, and we didn’t have any of the mischief we might have expected,” Geis said. “Having it fall midweek, I think, helped.”

“We chased some guy dressed up like a bumblebee around and took him home to his mom. That was about it,” Geis said. “Really, people were well behaved last night.”



Well, beats Aspen.





 Game On.
So.

The makin' babies thing is currently on hiatus for the next 6 months or so for a number of very boring, adult responsibility reasons. The good thing about this is that it frees up my year to do some other notable things in my life.

Here's a picture of me one of the times I ran the Chicago Marathon and trounced Hutch with my mediocre times. I haven't done a marathon since spring of 2006, when Hutch and I ran the renowned Fargo Marathon. Which, by the way, was actually really well organized and was a super-fun time. Regardless, in the midst of moving to Colorado, havin' a kid, and various shin-digs, I have, shall we say, let myself go.

So my New Year's Resolution (or one of them) is to run the Steamboat Marathon, which I've wanted to do for the last couple years, but always had an excuse not to. And I just officially signed up. This was the main reason for buying the treadmill--since I'm on call and glued to a cell phone for 1/3 of my life, trying to get runs in is pretty difficult, since, well, running with a cell phone outside really sucks. The rec center in town has a strict no cell-phone policy, so working out on the treadmills there was not an option either, and let's not forget that often my free time to run is when C is asleep for naps or for the night, which does not allow for getting outside for a run. Hence the treadmill--couldn't do this without it. And to be honest, even with a treadmill, couldn't do this without Mark agreeing to help, since some of those weekend long runs can take 3 hours or so, which will give him some good Daddy time with C.

The other thing is just that running has always been my biggest and best stress reliever, and not being able to do it when on call has been frustrating. No more excuses, and Lord knows I could use a major stress reliever with all the craziness of my job.

So there you go--if anyone wants to come and cheer me on, the run is June 7th, and Mark may even run the 10K. We'll see about that.

Wish me luck! Training is no easy thing--I still need to build up my base more (I'll do anything from 0-12 miles in a week lately), and the official training schedule starts the first week in February. At least my cross-training can be on skate-skis, or hey, maybe even snowboarding on the mountain, right?