I like good people. I’ve been running across a lot of them since I launched Operation Jack. I was caught by surprise last Wednesday evening in yet another indicator that like it or not, Operation Jack is going to be a wonderful experience. OK, I like it.

Last Wednesday night, I was taking a minute to scroll through status updates on Facebook, when I saw an interesting bit of news my friend Kristy McLean was announcing:

Our foothill ranch Calif Yogurt Co. Will donate 20% in support of final night of www.bootcampforacause.com tomorrow night thu 9/10 – yay! More support for www.operationjack.com …so exciting!

That was news to me, but it was good news! So, a bunch of folks I know and a bunch of folks I don’t know went down, enjoyed some frozen yogurt and helped raise money for Operation Jack!

I went to high school with Kristy and now live about 6 or 7 houses up the street from her. She’s gone on a similar path with her fitness as me. She gained a fair amount of weight after her second baby, but took to eating right and working out, and really got herself into shape. When I say she really got herself into shape, I mean she really got herself into shape, winning a national Beach Body/Turbo Jam fitness contest and a pretty incredible prize that came along with it.

I remember the day she was announced as the winner, Tiff and I walked down the street to say hello and congratulate her. I don’t remember the specifics of our conversation, but I remember her telling us she was going to try to start something that would help people, and she’s done exactly that.

Along with fitness instructors Kerry Rocchi and Christine Bentley, she started up something called Boot Camp For A Cause, a boot-camp training program that raises money for charity. She’s helping people make lifestyle changes and get into shape while raising money for great causes. I knew a few weeks ago that Operation Jack was going to be one of her beneficiaries, but the frozen yogurt fundraiser caught me by surprise.

With Boot Camp For A Cause and Operation Jack, it seems like we’re both heading in the same direction. She was able to help me first with a random act of kindness. Someday, I hope I have a way to return the favor.

Running Update
I’m back on a nearly-full schedule. FINALLY. Ankle is pretty good, knee is getting better. I’m doing the things I need to do to get healthy and stay healthy. I have a green light to run 15 miles a day, plus a long run of up to 20 on the weekends.

Last week, I went 15-10-15-15 on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I’ve been a little bit slow getting back into the swing of things, but I’ve been feeling kind of OK. The knee pain and ankle pain aren’t too bad.

I meant to go 20 on Saturday morning, but I forgot to turn my alarm on and Benjamin had a soccer game at 9 a.m., so when I woke up naturally at 4:52 (is it a problem if I’m waking up naturally at that hour?), I knew it was too late.

So, I went 21 yesterday morning. I was 11 seconds a mile faster than my 15 on Friday, which was 16 seconds a mile faster than my 15 on Thursday. Mentally, I felt great about the run. I wasn’t particularly fast, but I turned the wheels here and there just for fun. I’m thinking I’ll be comfortable with my condition in another two weeks or so. This won’t be tremendously easy, but it’s not supposed to be.

Oh, and stupid me, not icing yesterday. My knee feels fine, but my ankle was a little inflamed. I headed out, not sure what I was going to do. I had time for 15, but thought I might cut it as short as 6 and just keep it as an easy recovery run. I could feel a tiny little burn in my ankle, so I did the smart thing and shut it down after 0.37 miles. I hate taking rest days, even if it’s the day after a 21-miler or a 28-miler or anything else. But like I’ve been saying, I’m smart enough to know how stupid I am, and I did everything possible to force myself to turn back.

And lucky you — I wrote this blog since I was already up.

Ice Cream Update
Yesterday, I had a bowl of the praline caramel Dreyer’s we have in the freezer. Good stuff. My streak of ice cream or frozen yogurt is up to 82 consecutive days now. That fundraiser was perfect, huh? I’m going to send a couple of letters off to some chains to see if they’d have any interest in sponsoring Operation Jack. We need an official ice cream or frozen yogurt!

Video Of The Day
I don’t think I really need to say much about this one. Thanks, Chris Fales, for passing this along!

Have A Great Monday!
That’s all I have. Have a great Monday, if there is such a thing!

One reason I’ve done well with running is because I’m competitive. I’m not very athletic (shoot, I’m not athletic at all) and I don’t have any natural speed, but I’ve done pretty well. It’s because I push myself and I like to see results. The point of telling you that is back in the day, when I was a chunky 8th grader who cheated on the mile in PE and couldn’t beat out a grounder to left field, my competitive fire was obvious in my performance on the math team. Yeah, math team. I’m a geek. I’ll get to that in a minute.

Today’s Run
Well, I ran 10.1 yesterday, worked about 30 or so minutes doing all the stretches and exercises my physical therapist wants me to do, then spent some quality time with the foam roller and the stick. Oh, and I iced in the morning and in the evening and ate some ibuprofen. Ankle and knee are getting better and I’m not as worried as I was a few weeks ago. I’ve never been worried about running the marathons … I’ve just been worried about having to slog my way through them due to injuries. My dad is a little overprotective about this whole thing, and has asked “what if” a few times — what if I hurt myself, what if I’m too fatigued, etc. Unless I’m in a hospital, I’m there. But I’d prefer not to limp!

Anyways, the schedule for today was seven miles, per physical therapist (voice of reason) Jan. I ran with some running friends I haven’t seen in about six weeks because of my injuries, so it was good to see them. They went 5.74 on a loop at an easy pace, so I tacked on 1.26 hard at the end. I went up a hill, down a hill, up a hill and back down a hill, and really got the ticker going. I feel like I’m a car that’s been in the garage for a little while, and I need to floor the accelerator a few times to get the old, dirty exhaust out. I’ll get there. And for the most part, I’m feeling pretty good.

What Is Operation Jack?
Just in case you don’t know (if this is your first time here), I’m a marathon runner and a father of three young children. My middle child is severely autistic and in his honor, I’m going to try to run 60 marathons next year to raise money and awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. I’m the president of the South Orange County chapter, and I really want to help build strong chapters all over the country. This blog is my daily voice, I guess. I don’t know if y’all want to run these marathons vicariously through me, read my lousy jokes or try to figure out what goes through my mind. Whatever it is, the visits are increasing, so I should probably keep it up.

Ice Cream Update
I went with whatever the Praline Caramel flavor is we have in the freezer. It’s pretty darn tasty. I kept scooping more and more into the bowl, but my ball and chain wife told me it was getting to be too much, so I put a little back. I should have had a second bowl. It was incredible. And it marked the 70th consecutive day that I’ve had ice cream or frozen yogurt.

Sam: Junior High: Math Team!
Yesterday, I promised I’d tell the story of how I owned the county competition for the math team in eighth grade. That was more than 21 years ago, but it still gets me as fired up as much as a math contest possibly could.

Those of us in the math club had practice after school. Advanced algebra, geometry, logic … you name it, we went through the drills. As we closed in on the county competition, we took a test to determine who would represent the school, who would be the alternates, and who would be the losers who wouldn’t have the privilege of getting up early on a Saturday morning to go take a bunch of math tests with nerds from all over the county.

On the 40-question test, I choked. I only scored a 25. I knew I was better than that. It was disappointing. I mean, scoring 25 on that test isn’t something one of the cool kids in school would have been able to do. This stuff was at least 10th-grade level. But 25 was one less than what one my classmate Doug scored to earn the last spot on the team. I couldn’t believe that Doug beat me out. He brought his A game, and I apparently brought a broken slide rule. I begged for a re-test. I told the coach (well, teacher) that I’d beat him by 10 and she knew it. But she told me that if that test was on the day of competition, he would have scored higher than me. I folded when the pressure was on, and that was my problem.

But, I got to go as an alternate and compete individually. When I got to the competition, I felt like a little bit of an outsider, because I wasn’t really on the team. I was just there competing solo. But another junior high was one member short and needed somebody to compete. My teacher asked me if I wanted to compete for the other school, and I said sure — it would give me an opportunity to make it real. I aced the test that was the equivalent of what we used for tryouts, scoring something like a 37. I think Doug probably scored in the low 20s. I knew I’d smoke him.

There were various tests and exercises, and one of them was a speed round, where they’d show a problem on a screen and the first person to buzz in would get to answer and get points. In my round, I was representing the junior high I didn’t go to, and sure enough, Doug was representing my school. Every time I answered a question right, I was hurting my actual school, because I was shutting Doug out. But I was on a mission to prove that I was The Man. I probably answered 8 or 9 of the 10 questions. I was money. I was like the basketball player who drained 3-pointers on seven consecutive possessions. I was in a zone, and nobody — not Doug nor any of the other people who probably make a lot more money than me now — could stop me.

When all was said and done, I finished second overall in the county individually. The top two teams and the top two individuals advanced to state, so I got to go. My new team members, a couple of ditzy girls, weren’t very good at math, but I was still able to help them surge to fourth place. It was pretty cool showing off my skillz like that, but despite being such a great numbers guy, I couldn’t get any digits. Anyways, my school finished in third and was so close to second that my shut-down of Doug in the speed round almost certainly kept the team out of second. My points instead of Doug’s would have absolutely netted my school a higher finish and a trip to state. But that didn’t happen — I went individually while my classmates stayed home.

State was tough and the competition was incredible. I didn’t do too well. But I was there. I made it to the show. And my team that didn’t want me? They had to stay home and sleep in that Saturday morning. So yeah, I rule. And I’m a dork.

Happy Birthday Uncle Micah!
I have an uncle (well, I have a few, but you know what I mean). His name is Micah. Today is his birthday and he checks in here frequently. I hope he has something better to do on his birthday than read my blog, but just in case, happy birthday!

Help Me Out!
– Facebook: Become a fan!
– Twitter: Follow!
– Sponsors: Yeah, I need them. But it’s super-easy and not very expensive and you get a snazzy t-shirt!
– Register Here: Free and easy! And of course, no obligation.

Video Of The Day
OK, it’s college football season now. I’m a K-Stater and I love my Wildcats. This play, from 9/13/97, is probably the most amazing play I’ve ever seen. I was lucky enough to see this one in person from the press box. Michael Bishop broke about four tackles, threw the ball across the field from 23 yards behind the line of scrimmage while being hit to convert a 3rd-and-40 or so. About three people reading this blog actually care about this play. I’m one of them … I know you are too, Fritch. Looking forward to seeing you on the 19th!

Is That Enough For Today?
I hope so, because that’s all I’ve got. See you tomorrow!

I go back and forth trying to decide what I should typically focus on in my blog. Running? Operation Jack? Autism? My family? My daily adventures? Well, definitely not my daily adventures, because I’m pretty boring. I guess I’ll just try to write enough without falling asleep and hope y’all keep coming back. Today, I think I’m going to tell a story about how much of a dork I was in junior high.

Running Update
Well, as I mentioned yesterday, I’m getting a greenish-yellowish light from my physical therapist to run. I’m only going to do what she allows me to, because I’m smart enough to know how stupid I am, and I don’t want to spend all of next year in pain.

This morning, I was allowed 10 miles, and for the first time in 38 days, I went on a double-digit run! Yeah! 10.1 on the hills I always run on. It was a little warm out there — 73 degrees before 7 a.m.? Felt a little slow at 8:30/mile and a moderate-to-decent effort, but I know I’m rusty and I’ll be where I need to be soon enough. Tomorrow, 7 miles.

That reminds me, Sally, I didn’t see you. I think I left a tiny bit too early. Let me know what time you’re running tomorrow and maybe I’ll just drive over and meet you at the start.

Coming Soon: GoWagon.com!
Train 4 Autism and Operation Jack have teamed up with a website called GoWagon.com to help you with your training. I’m going to be working on integrating GoWagon.com with the Operation Jack website. In doing so, we’ll post training plans and help you log your workouts online. If you’re on one of the teams here at Operation Jack, you’ll be able to see how everybody on your team is doing through a Facebookish news feed type of feature on the team page.

It’s gonna be pretty cool once we get it up this fall. Of course, I’m the web developer here, so “we” is “me” … put another project on the pile!

I’m On A Team … Now What?
Buy a shirt! Or recruit friends. I know I keep saying this, but I’m going to help you soon. I really am. I’m just putting the finishing touches on my project and then I’ll be able to dive back into this full-time. I’m super antsy about all of this, because making Operation Jack a success is a HUGE deal to me and I know I need to support you. I’m trying, I swear. I’ll be able to help you better very soon and I REALLY, REALLY appreciate your patience.

Platoons!
I guess one of the benefits of running 60 marathons is that I get to name the endeavor after my own child and I get to put pictures of him up on the website. But let’s be realistic: You care more about your kid than mine (well, except for you, Tiff, because your kids are my kids!). So, if you want to be a part of Operation Jack and support a great cause, I want to put some spotlight on your kid/grandkid/nephew/niece/etc.

Take a look at the Platoons page. It’s super easy to put one of those up. Drop me a line and I’ll tell you how!

Ice Cream Update
Vanilla/chocolate frozen yogurt swirl at Costco for lunch yesterday. Streak is now up to 69 consecutive days eating frozen yogurt or ice cream.

Mississippi Anybody?
I’ve still got four months until the start of next year, but those four months are going to fly by. So, I need to get going on building teams for the courses that come earlier in the year. I’ll start with the Mississippi Blues Marathon on January 9 in Jackson, Miss. I need people for that team! They have a 1/2 marathon, full marathon and marathon relay. I’ve been in contact with their Elite Athletes Coordinator, Bryan Lagg, and he’s been very kind and accommodating. I’m really looking forward to this race — they’re going to do a number helping Operation Jack and I want to pay Bryan back with a good turnout.

If any of you are in Mississippi, or if you know anybody in Mississippi, please join the team! A lot of you ask, “what can I do to help?” Well, here’s something you can do!

Facebook/Twitter/T-Shirts!
If you’re not a fan on Facebook, hop to it! If you’re on Twitter, follow @operationjack.

And of course, none of you would upset me if you bought a t-shirt!

Talking With Erin
Yesterday, I started off my blog with a brief mention of a conversation I had with Erin on Sunday. So today, I’m to go more in-depth about a conversation I had with her yesterday.

Sam: Yeah, I’m back from the dead. Glad you read it — if I’m gonna call you out in the first sentence, it would be a bummer if you never saw it!

Erin: yeah. just glad you didn’t make fun of me. You didn’t, right?!

Sam: No, not at all. I just like putting people’s names in there every here and there for fun. If I was making fun of you, you’d know and it wouldn’t be anything insulting. Only person I’ll insult in my blog is me. Maybe tomorrow I’ll do that and make fun you at the same time.

Erin: ha ha! now I better be mentioned tomorrow!

Done. Now, as I promised you, Erin, I’ll insult myself. This brings me to how I mentioned up at the top how I’d talk about what a dork I was in junior high.

Sam: Junior High: Dork!
OK, I know this isn’t much of a surprise and it’s not really like a magician revealing his tricks, but I write my blog the night before and I word it as if I wrote it the day I posted it. Well, I write the running part in the morning, but that’s it. So, what’s my point? My point is I’m tired. And I’m also looking at this blog thinking it’s already getting pretty long. So, I think I’ll save this story for tomorrow, because it’s awesome and I shouldn’t shorten it.

To sum it up, though, I’m competitive, and I was on the math team, and I OWNED the county competition in eighth grade and I got to stick it to a team that didn’t want me. It was awesome, and the only time in my life anybody was more dominant than I was on that day was Reagan vs. Mondale in 1984. It was awesome. And so is the bowl of ice cream my wife is about to bring me. Caramel praline something or another … that’s awesome too.

Tomorrow, math team, I promise. I RULE.

Video of the Day
OK, I do dumb things, like running 26.5 miles on a sprained ankle. And I do things that might be tough on the body, like planning on running 60 marathons in a year. But I’ve got nothing on my friend Ray:

That’s All I Got
Well, that’s not really all I got, but that’s all I got for today. Yeah, bad grammar. Thanks for stopping by!

Erin, I promised you yesterday I’d write a blog for today, and how could I let you down? You didn’t make any special requests for subject matter, so I’ll just go with something light, like politics. Or, maybe I’ll talk about my recent running, what I did on my summer vacation and how there’s only three degrees of separation between Operation Jack and Sandra Bullock. Yeah, I’ll probably stick with the safer topics today and save the politics for later.

New Here At Operation Jack?
I haven’t blogged in three weeks (that whole “busy” thing) and there are a lot of new fans on Facebook, so some of you might be coming here for the first time. If so, here’s a quick explanation of what Operation Jack is: I’m a father of three (Benjamin, 8, Jack almost 6, Ava 3 1/2) and a marathon runner. Jack is severely autistic. I’m going to try to run 60 marathons in 2010 to try to raise money and awareness for Train 4 Autism. I’ve only run 25 marathons in my life, but based on my training, I think it’s realistic to give this an attempt.

Running Update
So, how do I train for running 60 marathons? By running 17 miles over the past five weeks? I sprained my ankle pretty badly WALKING THROUGH A PARKING LOT AFTER LUNCH and I’ve been working to get it back to full strength. I need to be healthy for next year, and if I start with the ankle in bad shape, it won’t get any better and an already-long year will get even longer. So, I’m taking care of it (and battling frustration) now. I’m also battling tendinitis in my right knee, but that’s more of a nuisance than a problem.

I went four weeks without running (per my physical therapist’s orders) and finally got the green light to run a week ago. I ran two miles at the track on August 23, three miles in a flat area locally on August 25, five miles on that same flat course on August 27 and SEVEN this morning!

I have no issues with the running. Speed is close enough, maybe a little slow at lower heart rates, but fine at marathon effort and faster. My cardio fitness is a bit down, but I’m not concerned. That’s rust that will shake off fairly easily once I have the green light to go full throttle.

I started riding the bike at the gym a couple of weeks ago, which is incredibly boring, but it helps me keep from going crazy. Fortunately, though, my physical therapist gave me a semi-green light this morning to keep rolling. I can go 10 tomorrow, 7 Wednesday, 10 Thursday and 7 Friday, and I can run on the hills I’m used to running on. I have my exercises I need to do at home, and I’ll do them. If she’s gonna hook me up and let me run, I’ll do what she tells me to do! The tendinitis in my right knee is a little frustrating, but I’m working on it and it’ll be fine. I’ll be back in routine and in good shape pretty soon.

I’m running the Long Beach Marathon on October 11, and hopefully with my wife, who is attempting her first marathon (as long as injuries don’t get in the way) and aiming for a 3:40. I really hope she runs it, not only because I’m REALLY looking forward to running a marathon with her, but because I’m not in the mood to test myself in six weeks. But if I must, I will.

Ice Cream!
For those of you who have been here before, you know I have a soft spot for ice cream. Well, the streak is still intact. With some vanilla ice cream at lunch yesterday and some caramel/prailine type of Dreyer’s Yogurt Blends last night, I’ve now had ice cream or frozen yogurt 68 days in a row.

What I Did For Summer Vacation
I see all the Facebook status updates from people about taking this vacation or that trip or chilling at the pool or whatever. I don’t do that. I guess it’s just part of life, but I’ve spent the whole summer on the computer, working. Part of me knows there’s not much I can do about it — working too much is part of the joy of living in Southern California and feeding five mouths. But part of me gets upset because I feel like I’ve let my 8-year-old son Benjamin down this summer.

We’ve done some fun things together, but nothing major and it’s not what I would have hoped for a couple of months ago. But I just now asked if he’s had a fun summer and he said he has. If he’s happy, I’m happy. Well, kind of. I know never is a long time, but I don’t think I’m ever going to do side work like I’ve been doing again. It’s just not worth it. I missed this summer and it’s not going to be too long before he’d rather hang out with his friends than his dad. It’s been an upsetting summer, but I can’t go back in time. And of course, next year is going to be tough.

I talked with Tiff (my wife) over the weekend and I’m going to do whatever I can to bring them along to races next year. Not all of them, but at least some of them. There are several that are within driving distance that will be family trips (San Francisco, Tucson, Phoenix, Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, San Diego, etc.). We also decided that I’m going to make serious attempts at getting Ben and Tiff to fly to various races with me. He’s going to remember 2010 forever as the year his dad ran a marathon every weekend. I have an opportunity for him to remember it as the year he got to go to a bunch of cool places (hopefully one per month or two every three months) instead of the year he never saw me. Might as well do it the right way.

Does Anybody Want A Free Operation Jack T-Shirt?
We have t-shirts and other gear coming in September. I know, September is tomorrow, but it won’t be tomorrow. Still, they’re coming soon enough. So, help us out and make a donation and get yourself one! We’ve received our exemption from the IRS, so your contributions are tax deductible. You can get more information on our Sponsors page. You can also get clothing at a discount if you’re signed up for a team.

These were designed by a friend of mine, Tara Larivee. She’s super talented and (my favorite part) is helping for free! She designed the Operation Jack website, and in my opinion, she did it rather well. During the day, she works for West Coast Choppers as Web/Art Director and leads all of their design efforts. Jesse James has good taste (heck, he married Sandra Bullock), and he made it to the final four on the Celebrity Apprentice, so you know Tara does great work if he hired her!

Anyways, I figured I’d give her a little bit of a plug for everything she’s done for Operation Jack. If you need any graphic design work, drop her a line through her site. But don’t bring her so much work that she doesn’t have time to volunteer here!

Oh yeah, the free part. If you want a free Operation Jack t-shirt, post a comment here to let me know you want one (or to any subsequent blog I post this week) and I’ll pick a winner at random at the end of the week. Next week, I’ll give away a free Operation Jack dri-fit/technical shirt.

Who Has Friends?
OK, at this early stage of Operation Jack, I’m trying to spread the word as much as possible. Eventually, I’ll start showing easy ways to raise money, but right now, I’m not worried about that. I just want as many people as possible to jump on the bandwagon.

A super-easy way to help right now is to send people to the Facebook fan page. Just doing simple math with hypothetical numbers, supponse only 1 out of every 50 people who become a fan of Operation Jack actually participate, and only 1 out of every 5 people who actually participate raise money for Train 4 Autism, and the average person who raises money raises $250. Using those conservative numbers, each person you get to the fan page is worth an average of $1, and that’s assuming none of them ever bring anybody else along. Raise $50 by simply suggesting the page to 50 friends.

What’s The Point?
This morning on my run, a woman was walking her dog off-leash. She was holding the leash in her hand and the dog was about 50 feet behind her, doing its own thing. We weren’t on the busiest street, but cars fly by at about 35-40 mph at least once a minute. What’s the point in the leash, why would she put her dog at risk and why would she put other people at risk? I don’t get it.

I Guess I Had More To Talk About Than I Thought
I knew the things I wanted to talk about, but I’m running out of space. Well, my space is actually infinite, but I’d probably lose readers if I went beyond 10,000 words.

Tomorrow (well, tomorrow, or the next time I blog), I’m going to talk about Platoons, what I’ve got cooking with a great service called GoWagon.com, a few races that I’m trying to build teams for, plus a few more things.

If any of you have any subjects you want me to discuss, let me know.

Video Of The Day
Since I’m talking about Benjamin today, I picked a video that he’d like. He loves the show Wipeout, and, well, this one is pretty funny.

Four More Days Until A Three-Day Weekend!
Yep, it’s already Monday and this week is flying by! Have a great day!

Another donut — zero miles today. And of course, a bowl of ice cream last night. Yep, that’s exactly what you’d expect out of a guy training to run 60 marathons for charity next year.

Today’s Non-Workout
This is as good a time as any to (hopefully) get injuries out of my system. Better now than next year, right? I went to physical therapy for my knee yesterday just to be safe, and since I rolled my ankle after I saw my doctor for my knee last week, I figured I’d try to sneak in some ankle advice. Well, the knee is no big deal and it’ll be fine.

I’m crazy tight, so they’re going to work with me on breaking through that and stretching better. She told me the tightness is impacting my stride length, so maybe with any luck I’ll find some new speed as I get through this. But whatever, not a major concern. The concern is the ankle, which I don’t have a PT prescription for, and I’m afraid that I’m one bad step from something really bad.

She took a look at my ankle, and that was the immediate problem. It reminds me of when I went to the doctor when I was 16 and wanted to get the cut on my head looked at but the concern immediately became my, uh, broken neck. The ankle isn’t serious like that, but it’s more of an issue than my knee.

It’s definitely sprained, but it’ll get better. I’m on the shelf for the rest of the week with specific icing and home-care instructions. Here’s what I’ve done the past three nights:

Frustrating not running right now, because I’ve been off and on for a couple of months now, but it will be nice to get to 100%. I go back tomorrow and I’m three times a week starting next week.

So yeah, I didn’t run this morning. I worked, though. Fun stuff.

Talkin’ Jack
In case this is your first time here, or if you’ve never been to the rest of the site, I’m planning on running 60 marathons next year to raise awareness for a charity called Train 4 Autism. My son, Jack, is severely autistic and I want to do something to make a difference in his honor. In this spot in each blog, I’ll talk about Jack a little bit.

Yesterday, Jack had the fun day most typical kids normally get in the summer. Summer camp, swimming in the kiddie pool in the backyard for an hour, gymnastics (at Us Too Gymnastics, a special-needs gym) and NO THERAPY! Yeah, yesterday, it was good to be Jack!

Ice Cream Update
Another day, another dish of ice cream. Peanut butter fudge swirl last night during the Cardinals-Dodgers game. Bonus ball in that one.

The streak is up to 36 consecutive days now eating ice cream or frozen yogurt. Baskin-Robbins corporate headquarters, if you’re reading this, you’re more than welcome to sponsor me and become the official ice cream of Operation Jack!

Here’s the ice cream bowl I got for Father’s Day. Who else has one of these?

Happy Birthday Rachel!
OK, so I don’t know if my friend Rachel is going to read this today. But typically, she does. So Rachel, if you read this, happy birthday! And if you don’t read this, I’ll never talk to you again.

Am I Allowed To Make Fun Of My Father-In-Law In My Blog?
My father-in-law retired in March and decided to teach traffic school to have something to do. He knows California’s traffic laws. In fact, he lectured my wife last week for holding the phone while she was driving. That’s illegal in California.

So we were surprised to hear that he was pulled over by the Highway Patrol yesterday … for holding the phone while driving. Maybe he’ll be a student in his own class.

Video of the Day
Well, since I can’t run right now and I need to ice my ankle back down to size, I figured I’d take the old-school route. MC Hammer tomorrow?

Yeah! It’s Thursday!
For me, that means only one more day until I can work all weekend! Hopefully, tomorrow is the last day of your work week. Thank you so much for coming by and reading the blog. I know that you come by because you believe in the cause and support what I’m doing. It’s certainly not to read my bad jokes. For now, if you’d like to help, the biggest favor I can ask is for you to bring somebody new to the site. One person at a time, we’ll grow our base to help us make something big happen!

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