since I have posted anything here.

In the nearly a year since my last post, I think you should know, I DID complete the Lung Association ride (by doing 100 miles on the first day and then another 35 the second day) and raised over $500 for them.

More spectacuarly than that, I did a ride in August I do believe to benefit the Autism Society of Maine. My 12 year old son has Autism (Asperger's Syndrome to be exact... it's a mild form of Autism), so this one hit close to home. I didn't get much warning about it, though. In fact, I found out about the ride only 2 weeks prior. Then it took me a week to get the command to allow me to do the ride. That gave me only one week to gather up donations. I managed to scrape up almost $1100 in donations to support the Autism Society of Maine. I had the second highest amount... the highest amount coming from a guy who worked for a big firm, hit up people in Portland, ME, and in Boston, and had over a month to do it. He only had $3500. The same guy finished the 30 mile ride 2 minutes before I did... I finished the trip, with a 15 minute break at the halfway point, in 1 hour 45 minutes.

So... I just wanted to share what things I did that made me feel good about myself in 2007. I wish I could do those things again in 2008, but as I type this, I am in Kings Bay, GA, waiting for my submarine to pull in so I can take her back to Honolulu. I get to live in Honolulu, sans family, for 6 montths to a year. Wish me luck!