JULIE - warrior

When I first got to town I had asked Julie what was on her upcoming calendar. "Henry's soccer game,  Johnny's dance class, maybe Toronto lake on Sunday, ohhhh and on Saturday I'm running in a 4.1 mile race called HARD CHARGE at the Kansas coliseum. You can come and watch if you want. There are 25 obstacles spread out over the course." what??? My good buddy DC John had done a race called a "tough mudder" and it turns out this HARD CHARGE is sorta similar except this is filmed and crunched into a reality TV show for the top competitors. Somehow Julie agreed to do the race in solidarity with some of her gal pals. Race day dawned and it was cloudy, windy, and cold when I rolled into the parking lot of the Coliseum. The last time I'd been to the Coliseum was in 1984 to see Van Halen in concert. This day I wasn't wearing any bandanas or parachute pants. I dressed for the cold. I made my way to the outdoor course where the public had immense access to the course. 

the charge begins - can you spot Julie?

I waited for Julie to make it to DEEP FREEZE

Baby Jesus, that's cold

going down

insert your favorite expletive here

that's Robin in the blue top - Julie's only amiga that followed thru

totally soaked and back on the track

charging over cars - Julie and Robin do it side by side

up

down - "is this almost over yet?"

no shortage of mud on the course

all the mud made everything so slippery. this fence climb took some doing

more mud

military style swinging tire crawl

hit the wall was no JOKE. a little help from a friend

once the leg gets over, it's a done deal

thank goodness that's over.....

over then under

up the incline

I got this!

fireman fantasy

a mad dash from the pole drop and it was over.

 I'm so proud of Julie. A few years back Julie inspired me to get my backflip back and take it to the highdive. For that I'm indebted to her. But after seeing what I saw on that windy Saturday, I can safely say I won't be signing up for a HARD CHARGE. 

BONUS DEEP FREEZE AGONY photos......enjoy.

diving in proved to be the most efficient despite the shallow depth

sequence A

sequence B

sequence C

sequence D

Despite the blistery day, the entertainment value was high. Never a dull moment when observing near the DEEP FREEZE

V-Day Wichita

Before I left San Diego, my friend Schane had invited me to an event in APRIL called "V-Day Wichita : A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, A Prayer" This made me confused, because I narrowly thought that all V-Day events had to be on Valentine's day. On 2-14-13 I attended a V-Day rally in San Diego. From my experience I assumed this event was a once a year sort of thing. But upon further investigation, I see that when V-day events happen is irrelevant. What's important is to gather people and raise awareness and demand the end to violence against women.  www.vday.org

Schane & Mark - cohosts

Schane & Stacy - cohosts

before showtime, Schane was taking photos

Schane photos Stacy while I photo them both

fantastic performances from a broad range of actors - wichita community theatre

project creator Eve Ensler TED TALK #1

TED TALK #2

Schane shot a sneaky one of us during the performance

 As the performance let out, it was softly snowing. Schane agreed to walk with me in the snow so that I could show her something I discovered earlier in the day.  I was curious if she already knew about them; she hadn't and was psyched on the idea. What idea - that of the Little Free Library. Who would have guessed there was one 3 blocks from the Wichita Community Theatre. I feel like her frontyard would make for a great new location.

a daylight view of the  LITTLE LIBRARY in College Hill

 The next day was the final performance of V-day and I was on the fence about wanting to invite my niece, Kelly, to the last performance. The issues voiced in the performance are very sobering and heavy topics. I was nervous and unsure of myself. Should I be the person to expose Kelly to such things. I decided that I had to try to so I asked if she'd like to go. I wasn't sure if she was free from homework or would have the interest. I was pleasantly surprised to get her text reply
"Sounds good:) I'm in !"

the sun was out, so I did some boarding over to Riverside

where another Little Free Library is located!

and inside, I found a book I've been needing to finish!

I picked Kelly up early and we made the walk down Fountain to the Little Library

When I asked Kelly if I could photograph her, she turneed the tables on me and said, "HOW ABOUT I TAKE A PHOTO of you?" In the end, I think Kelly had a positive experience. I sure did. Each of the three nights of the performance featured different readers. Plus some of the readings were different each night. So I do recommend attending more than one night if you can.

Want to get involved?

Wichita

two hour drive ended with donating a pint. 5.53mins

watched FIRST BLOOD with Lucy & Jeremy

met WES for Vegan WED donut day

makes me think of Lucy Alonso

lots of people thought I ate many donuts, but this vanilla was the only one

Kelly ran the relay race at her track meet.

got in some HORSE with Patrick and Will

then moved it inside where they taught me GOLF

ended it with FARKLE

concrete garden

spotted this ditch off the interstate

didn't really work to blunt on a tree branch

sweet architecture

captivating mural downtown

bianca picked me up and I hung during bowling

zep loves to bowl

ended the night at Garden Grill where we both got the special

went to the Orpheum for the STING and they told me I had to see the bano.

never had I been to a film where they played the star spangled banner

PROM NIGHT!

while Kelly & Patrick went to PROM, Will and I went to the movies

Will beat me in pinball at the Donut Whole

UMMMMM... calzone #2

Julie is a warrior... look for the full blog on this event

Uncle/Coach Louie gives props to Henry the goalie! I burned down Louie's backyard when with him when we were Henry's age.

3 mushroom pasta from Garden Grill

Sunday morning buffet at Garden Grill

oriental theme - curry for breakfast!

avoided hail by a few blocks one night

SPEED with Will.... he's a mean card player

WES filling the kong for Gracie

woke up with some snow on the van

upped my ration to two at the Donut Whole

i was the first customer to redeem the frequent buyer card

ended up down by the river and saw the Keeper of the Plains

info tablet on the Plains Indians

I think this memorial is forgetting the Vietnamese civilians killed

Bianca can bowl with a baby on her back!

bowling party with ZEP

Bianca got a shot of me on one of my better games. 175

COLEMAN started in Wichita and they have a museum and outlet store near Garden Grill

so I took a self guided tour

this probably won't be my last time with Bianca at Garden Grill

picked up two books at Book-a-holics

lots of quotes on Kansas in Prairyerth

spent an evening with Julie's family - played ball with Ernie

Julie's tramp backflip was flawless and first try

playground time with Henry and Johnny before baseball practice

they taught me 2 new games, SEQUENCE & Rumikub

went out to south Wichita to see if the 3rd Little Free Library was still there. NOPE

patrick burns made the PAJAMA GAME program

that's Patrick on the left.

I caught the beginnings of the EARTH FAIR before I left town

there is a cool water story at Herman Hill Park