Normal Rockstar

The Best Neighbors Ever

I've been wanting to write this post for a while, and I can't think of a much better "return to blogging" post (seeing as I've been noticeably absent for nearly a month) than a quick note to say thanks to the best neighbors in the world, Travis and Michelle.

My wife and I travel a lot (we've slept in our own bed probably a week and a half in the last 7 weeks) - therefore, we're not always home to take care of our yard, bring in the mail, etc. Travis and Michelle have been a huge blessing - when we leave we tell them how long we'll be gone for and they do the rest: they bring in the mail, they find random important papers and fax them to us on the road, they mow our lawn if it really needs it... And when we're home they bless us too - Michelle shares maternity clothes, Travis shares his power tools and manual labor (we recently helped each other stain our decks)... We're just so thankful for them and the way they go out of their way to help us carry the load of being gone all the time.

So - because I know they read my blog - here's to you, Travis and Michelle... thanks for all you do - we love you!

What about your neighbors? Are they better than mine?

Cirque du Soleil in Calgary, AB

(Erin in a $500 Italian handmade mask - we left it on the shelf)

Last night we went to Cirque du Soleil in Calgary - the Corteo show. It was my first time seeing a Cirque show live and it was fantastic! ("Cirque du Soleil" means "Circus of the Sun" and, although it originated in Quebec, it is known around the world as one of the premier acrobatic shows with permanent locations in Las Vegas and Orlando, among others.) It was done in the round (i.e. the stage is in the middle and the audience surrounds it) and the tent sat 2700 people. I counted 14 semi trailers - and that was just the ones I could see! I would love to see the budgets for these productions - I estimated that they gross $229,000/show in ticket sales ONLY. That doesn't include the overpriced popcorn, drinks, t-shirts, etc. And they did 2 shows on Saturday... crazy. Anyway, all that to say that if you get a chance to see one of their productions, don't pass it up!

Rural Week in Montana

This is where I am - internet is not easy to come by! But the views are breath-taking... We're leading worship at a camp this week as a band. I'll have lots to talk about when we get home next week. Until then it may only be pictures here... Enjoy!

Vacation in Winthrop

The scene on the lawn when we arrived at our vacation spot last night - "Release the deer!", as Chevy Chase would say! It's going to be a great week in Washington with the inlaws...

Pictures from Mongolia

I posted a week ago about my parents who are currently in Mongolia. Thanks to those of you who have been praying for them. I just got the first few pictures from there this morning and thought I'd share them with you. These are from a 2 week trip dad took with a few Mongolian veterinarian team members out to remote parts of the South Gobi Desert to check in with the veterinarians out there. You'll remember I mentioned that because of his afternoon with camels in the Calgary Zoo dad is now considered the camel expert - therefore, I present to you the following picture: "dad and camel".

 

My Traveling Family

I am very proud of my family. We are definitely a minority these days - we all love each other, those of us who are married are happily so, and we enjoy any time we spend together. Last time we were all together was June 2007 when we celebrated my sister's graduation in Canada. Since then, she spent over six months in Switzerland, various European countries, and Brazil before ending up in BC with my parents.

My brother and sister-in-law spent nine months traveling the globe before setting down roots in Montreal, Quebec. My other brother and sister-in-law are living in Saskatoon, SK and have done various mission trips to Mexico after enjoying a Caribbean cruise on their honeymoon.

And of course, there's Erin and I - we travel for a living and have been all over the world... sometimes for work, sometimes for play. If you've followed this blog at ALL you will have heard of our travels over the years.

But what excites me most is the travel that my parents are currently doing. For the next two months my mom and dad will be in Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia, serving the locals there with a veterinarian missions organization. My dad spent two weeks in India a couple of years ago, but this is my mom's first time in a country like Mongolia (she got to spend a couple of weeks in Europe with my sister before she came home). I just heard from them last night (the marvels of modern technology) - it sounds like dad will be spending two weeks in the desert with the locals tending to camels (his camel experience involves an afternoon with two at the Calgary Zoo!). Their names are Bruce and Donna (my parents - not the camels) - I would appreciate your prayers for them as they are there. I will keep you updated as I hear from them.

In the meantime, Erin and I are enjoying some rare time at home. No travel until next week - awesome!

Back from my Blogging Hiatus

It has been a VERY long time since I last posted - an eternity as far as the blogosphere is concerned. I'm actually rather afraid to look at my stats - I don't think I'm going to check until AFTER I've posted this just to get the ball rolling. I've been finding it pretty intimidating to post something after having been absent for some long - but I'm waiting for new tires to be put on my car and I'm caught up on everything else (even responding to band MySpace messages!) so I sort of ran out of excuses.

I still feel like I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things here at home. I've basically been away from home for the last 6 weeks on a tour for which I was wearing two hats: rockstar (40 minutes playing, 30 minutes signing autographs/day), and road manager (the remaining 22 hours and 50 minutes/day). Needless to say, it was all I could do to stay on top of the tour and get enough sleep to survive - blogging quickly became a luxury and fell to the wayside.

It was a great tour, though, and thankfully my wife was able to travel with me (she was the merchandise manager for the tour which meant she was swallowed up by CDs and t-shirts every day). Over the course of the 13,000 miles we traveled, we enjoyed a number of highlights and reconnected with various friends and family around the country. I discovered that one of my college buddies is now a motorcycle cop for the California Highway Patrol, so he gave us a "tour" of his bike while we were out there. I think I could get into riding a motorcycle if I ever end up with enough disposable income to buy one (and enough time at home to take the driving course!).

That's about it for now - I'm hoping my car is going to be done soon and I don't want to make this a lengthy post about the past... let's talk about the future, baby! Just thought I'd let you know I'm back - and Twittering away as usual. Come back, dear readers, and let's continue this conversation!

Back on the Road with Shawn McDonald

It's time to get back on the road. My band has spent the last couple of months in the studio working on our next studio release which is sounding KILLER (I'm a little biased, but I think you'll like it). So it's been nice to be home and do regular 'home" things... however, the coffers are empty and it's time to get back out on the road and sell some t-shirts!

And we're hitting it pretty hard... In the next 37 days we've got 27 shows (and 4 of those "off" days are GMA Week) from Florida to Washington State, Montana to California, and many stops in between. We're supporting an artist named Shawn McDonald and will be joined by a good friend of ours, Jason Gray. Along with drumming, I will be road managing the tour, so it's going to be a busy next few weeks for me. I will do my best to blog consistently, but if I disappear for a few days, you know what the deal is - it's called self preservation! I'd love it if you came by one of the shows and said hi though... Or just sign up to follow me on Twitter and keep tabs of me that way. Thanks - time to get back to work!

downhere, music, shawn mdonald, Twitter

Disney World Marathon Results

Well, I finished. That's about the only thing I can say about my race on Sunday at the Disney World Marathon. I was shooting for a sub 4-hour race and was on track to accomplish that at mile 13. But it was SO humid that by that point both of my shoes were soaked with sweat and the balls of my feet were already blistered. I realized that this would not be the day that I got a PR and really backed off, just aiming instead to finish under 5 hours.

Some lessons learned:

1. Training, training, training - admittedly, I was not as prepared for this race as I should have been. My longest run was only 20 miles, and I simply didn't get enough miles in before race day.

2. Location, location, location - I feel like I could eliminate the humidity factor if I trained a little more frequently in humid conditions. In the month and a half leading up to the race the majority of my runs were done in Montana, Calgary, and Nashville (during a cold spell). I haven't run in humidity since the summer, basically - not helpful when you're running in Orlando.

3. Keep the shoes dry - it's time I figured out how I can keep my shoes dry (or at least driER) on race day. Any suggestions? I'm wondering if there are sweatbands for legs or something like that. I've got the "moisture wicking" socks - but they really didn't do much for me. This will be the thing I'm going to be working on figuring out in the next couple of weeks.

So, that's the end of that run - it's over, in the past, and now I've got to start thinking about the Country Music Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in Nashville in April. To read more about how the rest of the Rockstar Runners did, check out the website.

[This post is part of Works-For-Me Wednesday - check it out!]

Disney World 1/2 Marathon Update

Here is a quick update from  Orlando, FL where Erin and I are participating along with some friends/teammates in the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. More to come tomorrow - I've got to go to bed so that I can run my race!