PAX

Not only has it been confirmed earlier in the year that Pax exists as a person, we found out today that he should end up male when he's ready to come out. That is unbelievable. I am super happy. I'd have been happy either way but this is just so awesome. I feel super great now. I like thinking that things are happening, aligning and 'I'm on'. I am absolutely going to buy some lottery tickets right now and ride this!

Trilogy - Part X of 3 - Boy turns 11

The boy's birthday was approaching so I had to think of something special to do for him. He wanted to invite his friends over so even though I suck at talking to people I did my best to try and help him get the word out so this can happen. We did this last year with some success. He wanted to make out his own invitations and pass them out so that was good for me. We made 5 and 3 kids actually showed up and only 1 of them couldn't stay for the sleepover, Ayden and Dylan stayed and Gavin had to leave.

Those kids were cool and nice and I didn't have a problem with them. They only broke 2 things, Isaac's bedroom door and someone stepped on a Disney Infinity character. They played games and Legos and hung out in his room and watched videos on the computer. Due to Ale's pregnancy and relaxed dieting rules we even were allowed to order pizza and make a 'real' cake from a box of Betty Crocker. I haven't tasted anything like that in a while. We ordered way more food than we thought we'd need but they ate it all and drank 2 cases of pop anyway.

It was all very nice and I was very happy that Isaac had a good time. He got some Legos and Minecraft stuff and some gift cards so his friends were very nice.

I even got to eavesdrop on some of their conversations where they tried to outdo each other on how late they stay up at night hiding the fact they play games on their phones all night secretly after their parents put them to sleep. That sounds like a boastful claim I would have made back when I was their age.

Trilogy - Part X of 3 - Indigenous People Day

So I've just wanted to make a note here as I have been alive for quite some time and I have not heard such a backlash before regarding the celebration of Columbus Day. We used to sing happy, funny, rhyming songs about that in school. What the heck does everyone have beef all of a sudden or did I just miss it? I know they are up in arms about changing the name of the Washington Redskins but what's wrong with Columbus Day.

Well apparently instead of being a nice guy and discovering the Americas, etc he was actually a real jagoff. He killed people etc. and the Native Americans really hate him for coming here and starting the whole 'stealing their land' thing. They have been protesting this for a while and apparently some states have already switched over to this new holiday. Well that's something new I learned today. I have no stake in it either way so it doesn't matter to me.

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Trilogy - Part X of 3 - Tim's Tour

I took my biking TO THE NEXT LEVEL this weekend. I signed up to do a 3-2-1 Ride that was held in Pittsburgh on 2014/10/12.

There were 3 options:

1. Rita's Tour - Only 7 miles, not what I was looking for.
2. Metric Century - 62 miles. Maybe a bit much for me yet.
3. Tim's Tour - 25 miles. Seems just about right.

So I signed up for Tim's Tour. I almost didn't. I was nervous. I couldn't get Joel to commit to go with me. I had my co-worker Neil interested but he had plans to go camping that weekend so he couldn't go either. It wasn't like I couldn't do it myself but it'd be nice to have someone to ride with. My main concern was knowing where to go in riding the streets of Pittsburgh. I've never done it before. I don't know where anything is. I wasn't tired of my regular trails but I definitely wanted to go check out something new, the trails down Pittsburgh. This was my chance. I figured they would have to mark it well enough. When I emailed the lady she assured me that 'No one would be left behind'. That was what I needed to hear. I paid my $25 and filled out the form. I found out later that this was a fundraising thing and I had to commit to another $10 but that was okay. They even had scheduled early packet pick-up at the bike shop right by my work, the one I bought my bike at. So I was able to make it to that and acquire my free shirt, water bottle, stickers, race bib, etc. 

I woke up on Sunday and got ready to go. I was a bit nervous as I hate driving down Pittsburgh but with no home Steelers game today there were no problems. I paid for a spot in the lot rather than park on the road and the stupid toll guy tried to give the wrong change but whatever. Since I was early I got to ride around Heinz Field by myself and it was awesome!! This was fun as all hell. It was a little cold in the shadows of big buildings when the wind blew hard but I'm sure my body would heat up once I started riding in earnest and things would be okay. I was already drinking water and had to pee so there was another pre-race situation where I had to find a place to go. I saw other people searching for restrooms and eventually did find an unofficial place to relieve myself. Now it was ride around until we were ready to start. 

I lined up on the road where it looked like everyone else was lining up. Some lady started talking but I couldn't hear her so I went the whole way to the front so I could. I hoped I was in the right place. And WE WERE OFF!!

I can't describe how much fun it was. It was really fun. I tried to stay in a pack but then I saw people moving up. Eventually I figured I better make a move too or I'll get left behind. We rode on bridges and trails and roads. There were easily visible signs where changes in course were required. I slowed down a bit going up some hills but I never stopped or had to get off my bike. I skipped the halfway rest stop. There was no reason for me to stop. I was able to stay in a pack until the last straightaway and I arrived back at Heinz Field in 2 hours and 23 minutes. People were taking our picture and I felt great. I could keep going. I rode around and saw they had some stuff laid out for us but I wasn't socializing. The whole ride was perfectly documented in my RunKeeper app and that made me happy. I couldn't wait to go home and analyze it and tell Ale all about it. I was surprised that it turned out it wasn't even my longest ride at that point. It was a few tenths of a mile short. 

I loaded up the car and drove home, calling the 6 pack shop to have a sandwich ready for me when I got there to grab some beer for the Steelers game. I made it back just in time. What a wonderful experience. I would absolutely do this again. I'd do it again next week if I could. 

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Media coverage

Upcoming Comic Book Movies

Wow this list is insane. I am really excited for a lot of movies on this list. 
UPDATED 2014-10-28 Link

2015
May 1: Avengers: Age of Ultron
July 17: Ant-Man
August 7: Fantastic Four (actual title unknown)

2016
February 12: Deadpool
March 25: Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice
May 6: Captain America: Civil War
May 27: X-Men: Apocalypse
August 5: Suicide Squad
Nov 4: Doctor Strange
November 11: Sinister Six

2017
March 3: Wolverine 3
May 5: Guardians Of The Galaxy 2
June 23: Wonder Woman
July 14: Fantastic Four 2
July 28: Thor: Ragnarok
November 3: Black Panther
November 17: Justice League Part One 

2018
March 23: Flash 
May 4: The Amazing Spider-Man 3 (maybe)
May 4: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1
July 6: Captain Marvel
July 13: X-Men? Maybe X-Men/Fantastic Four? 
July 27: Aquaman 
November 2: Inhumans

2019
April 5: Shazam
May 3: Avengers: Infinity War Part 2
June 14: Justice League Part Two

2020
A pril 3: Cyborg
June 19: Green Lantern

Known Unknowns and Unknown Unknowns:
Venom Carnage: 2017?
Spider-Man universe movie with female superhero: 2017? 
Lego Batman: 2017. Not sure if part of DCCU
The Amazing Spider-Man 3: 2018 is a questionable date
X-Force (might be the 2018 Fox Film)
Man of Steel 2 : TBA
Batman : TBA
Gambit: TBA?
Sandman: TBA, not sure if part of DCCU
Justice League Dark: TBA?

Link

Mario Lemieux 6.6K 2014

2014/10/05



I ran this again. This time I trained more definitively. I could do even better. I went once every 2 weeks for 5-6 sessions to the track at McCullough. I ran for 30-50 min each time. It helped me pretty much run the entire time. I think only 2-3 times did I have to slow down to a walk and even when I did it was only for a couple seconds to catch my breath. I was proud but not unexpectedly so that I crushed my time from last year. This was definitely the best run of my life. I was totally on. I was super happy the whole day after this.

I enjoyed running this course better than last year. It seemed easier and not much uphill. My GPS (and I bet a lot of other people's as well) glitched out going through the Armstrong Tunnel but I went to the website after and fixed it as best I can. I don't know what they are thinking with the 2 Bridges, 1 Tunnel motto though.






















Results

2015
http://www.runhigh.com/2015RESULTS/R100415AA.html

Bib    Place Class Place Name Age City State              Clock Time Chip Time Pace

1067   930   61  Marc Cartwright, 40, Jeannette, PA            39:09        38:52    9:29

1066  2932  281  Alejandra Cartwright, 33*, Jeannette, PA      56:13     1:18:02      1:13:58   18:02

out of 2955

2014

604  1456  106  Marc Cartwright, 39, Jeannette, PA             42:20    39:49    9:43

603  3841  349  Alejandra Cartwright, 32*, Jeannette, PA     1:12:22    1:07:24   16:26

out of 3977

2013

409  2247  137  Marc Cartwright, 38, Jeannette, PA             51:48    48:12   11:45

408  2899  279  Alejandra Cartwright, 31*, Jeannette, PA     1:05:57    1:02:21   15:12

out of 3051

Runkeeper

Ale did great for a person in her condition (which is pregnant). She started to get sick right before it started but then she felt better and walked it. 

Books and How to Keep Track

I feel as though I am reading more books since I went digital. I read a ton of books last year and I'm doing okay this year as well (2014).

First thing you need to do is start a Goodreads account.

Start adding all the books you read and want to read.
Friend me


Then download the program Calibre
It will help you keep track of the ebooks, move them around and put them on your device.


BONUS: Plus the mother of all reading devices was just announced: KINDLE VOYAGE


Finally, read a lot and be smarter.