First Annual Taylors Lane Jingle Bell Jog

This past Saturday Mitch hosted a 1 mile (actually almost 1.2 mi) race for his friends. The race started on Taylors Lane by the side of our house and ran down Barrymore Lane  to the end of Taylors Lane and back.  It was really cold outside, about 20 degrees, but the sun was shining and the day was perfect.  The winner was "Fast Eddie" Cohen, followed by Timmy Lelley, Shelby Hackenburg, Declan Flood, and Jacob Herrera.  

In total almost 40 kids ran and every runner received a Jingle Bell and a race bib number.

After the race we gathered on our front lawn for awards, hot cocoa, donuts and coffee.  The race also celebrated a good cause as people brought old coats and food for the Mamaroneck Food Pantry.

Special thanks go to Rich Alter and Anthony Dunn for helping with the set up and coordination.

China Reunion 2008

Today Tracy, Mitch, Tess and I met up with the other adoptive families we met while in China in 2006.  Since we were coming from NY, MA and RI we all met at the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT.  The girls, Mitch, Ben (another big brother who's 11) enjoyed the aquarium, especially  the beluga whales followed by an early dinner at Mystic Pizza (the movie is 20 years old now).  Her are a few pictures of the girls and their families.  What's beautiful to see is the progress all of these wonderful girls have made and how happy they and their families are.  We are all blessed by their presence and our lives are fuller and richer with each of them.  

Although we don't live close by the other families, I think we will at least meet up once a year to catch up on each girls progress and remember the amazing experience we all enjoyed together in December 2006.

Here are the people in the photos:

Girls: Katherine and Tess

Girls 2: Mia, Ally, Katherine and Tess

Family photo: Melissa, Steve, Jeff, Mia, Ally, Maureen, Katherine, Ben, Marcie, Dan, Tom, Mitch, Tracy and Tess.

Winter in Vermont

Here's something to ponder (courtesy of Bon Appetit)..."How come you never see turkey on the menus of any high-end restaurants?"

This year the O'Brien's enjoyed Thanksgiving in Vermont at the Rose's.  Thanksgiving dinner was excellent (isn't it always?), but Friday's Jim Rose Italian feast was even better!  The Italian relatives know how to make meatballs, sausage and gravy!  Yesterday's left over lunch wasn't turkey, but rather meatball sandwiches.

I thought I'd post some video of Nick and Mitch sliding down a ridge up off of Smuggler's Notch. Winter has certainly come to Northern Vermont.  There was easily a foot of new snow in the Notch, so Mitch, Nick, the dogs and I went for a hike through the notch.  We had planned to summit up at Sterling Pond but we had more fun playing in the snow and hiding behind the caves made by icicle formations and sliding down the ridges.  I thought about skiing one day, but the trails and sloped looked scratchy. 

The Turkey Trot

Today Mitch, Tess, Tracy and I got up to run the annual Mamaroneck Turkey Trot.  Today, however the race temperature was unusually frosty...probably in the high 20's at the start.

Mitch ran the kids one-mile run and did great and finished with an 8:30.  I ran the 5-miler (as a bandit) in a near PR at 34:40. Amazingly, it was exactly 4 minutes faster than the Rye Derby!! That's a big difference for a short race!  It was the first race that I've run since Reach the Beach and today reminded my why I love running races. This is a great course through Orienta and back along BPR and the crowd is decent, but quickly thins out so runners can run their races.

I think I'll run another race in December up in Ward Pound Ridge which is  usually a wet and damp race that DB and Stanton ran last year in a blizzard.

Also running today were the Alter boys and Timmy Kelley (who came in 6th at 6:30) and in the big run Dave Burgess and Matt Lewis.

BTW--this picture is not from the race, but I had to post something.

The bitter Irony

Follow this link to see how "poorly" I was doing this year....

#1 in overall page growth...kinda sucks huh?

www.minonline.com/features/9108.html

LAID OFF, Permanent Vacation, early retirement, victim of the recession.

So the bastards, aka "The Man" got to me on Friday.  I was humming along as the Publisher of The History Channel Magazine delivering 67% growth over last year and 22% growth over my 2008 budget only to fall victim to the CEO's spreadsheet scalpel.  

I was told that my job elimination had nothing to do with performance or conduct, and that I was simply a salary that the company could no longer afford.  Private equity assholes and McKinsey goons that manage via data analysis.  Too bad life isn't that black and white. They'll flame out in the end. Whatever the case, I'm pissed and now unemployed.   

Friday was surreal and the weekend was the weekend, but today I'm realizing that the job search is going to really suck.  Time Inc is laying off 600-1000, Conde has cut 5% of salary budgets, T&E and has a hiring freeze and the others are no better.  

I will take this time to enjoy Mitch and Tess' company and help them with everything they need during the week.  Mitch and I have been locking horns lately so this will be good for us (or maybe not?) and Tess needs all the attention she can get.  

More importantly, I don't have any bullshit to worry about for the present time.  Maybe some stress will go away and I'll get back to running more regularly and will be a more likeable person again.  Maybe I'll look and feel more like the person in the picture above.

Wish me luck and if you have any job leads, anywhere in the country...you know where to find me.

Thanks.

Reach The Beach 2008

So I haven't posted in a long time, all summer really. So I thought I would write about my annual adventure in New Hampshire, a 210 Mile 12-Person Running Relay race from Cannon Mountain to Hampton Beach, NH.

The race typically begins with coordination, recruitment and logistics, but I'll spare the details only to say that on Thursday afternoon my cousin Greg Mitchell and I went to LaGuardia to pick up two very large passenger vans that would carry the 12 smelly runners for the next two days. The rest of Thursday afternoon people met and we left for New Hampshire in good spirits and full of optimism.

Our race officially began at 3:00 pm on Friday the 12th, however before the being allowed to race we had to sign in, attend a safety and rules orientation and then get our paperwork released and OK'd. The party like atmosphere at the start is great as teams load up on RTB logo gear, pose for team photos and posture with other runners while listening to cool grooves and cheering on the heats in front of you. This year, however, the party atmosphere was a bit less as the weather was cold and damp--perfect running weather!

Every year the race is a little bit different. This year returning RTB'er Greg Stanton would be the one to lead us off and run legs 1, 13, and 25. The Sound Shore Sand Seekers, as we call ourselves, started in the second to last heat (only 13 teams raced after we started) based on our collective 1/2 marathon times. As soon as the gun sounded for our heat Stanton was off and the race began.

At that point Van 1 (Stanton, Charlie Scott, Mark Thompson, Joe Moore, Pierre Antoine Boulat, and Eric Turkewitz) quickly jumped in their van and raced off to meet Stanton for the hand-off at transition #2.

Van 2 which included me, Greg Mitchell, Patrick Kaufer, Mark Loehr, Gregg Rubin and Chris Belisle had 4 hours to kill so we drove toward the Van transition area #1 to find a pasta dinner and grab a power nap before running. Around 6:45 on Friday afternoon van 2 finally had to throw on the running gear and make tracks across NH! We ran from Bartlett, NH (across from Attitash Ski area) down through North Conway and to a handoff in Meredith (near Winnepasaukee).

After each leg, no matter what leg, the refrain was "I ran great but I couldn't believe all the fricken hills!" Or..."Thank god it was dark because I didn't want to see how steep that hill was!" Or in Charles' case, "Who cares about the hills, I didn't get hypothermia so it was fine."

As one van runs, the other rests, so we slept in some very interesting places...like a gravel parking lot at Attitash, a cafeteria at NHTC and on the grass behind Exeter High School. For the sore and tired this was like a 4 Seasons! (I for one am a talent and know that I am a very strong sleeper so I was snoring shortly after hopping in my sleeping bag).

The race to the uninitiated sounds crazy, but to those of us who have run this, the RTB is an addiction. You'd think that after 26 hours we'd hate one another, but the opposite happens...the RTB is an amazing bonding experience and each year I make new friends and strengthen existing relationships. Before the weekend, Mark Loehr and Charles Scott were strangers, now, next year, Mark has invited our wives to join us at "Foxchase" before and after the race!

Each person made this an excellent race and I'm thankful to have run it with some old timers (Patick, PAB, Joe, Gregg, Stanton) but I am equally glad to have have such great rookies (Nails, Charles--the Pro, Chris--the anchorman, Funnyman Greg, Turkey and Zydeco Mark).

So 26 hours, 12 minutes and 21 seconds later the SS Sandbaggers crossed the finish line exhausted and elated. We celebrated by jumping in the Atlantic Ocean to enjoy our first "shower" in several hours and from there we shuffled to the hotel for a real shower followed by some long overdue beer and a dinner at the "Old Salt". I had the surf and turf.

Sunday we all got up, showered and made a bee-line back to New York because by now our absence from our families makes us feel very guilty!

It looks like next year we might need a second team...which will be interesting, but I know that we have a sub 24 hour RTB from among this crew and I am eager to get closer to Hello Kitty and I am looking forward to seeing Patrick in a tail and bunny ears!

Here's the website for anyone that is interested. www.rtbrelay.com

And a link to Turkey's photos:
http://gallery.me.com/dturkey#100517&view=carouseljs&sel=0

Until then...Marine Corps Marathon and more importantly...9-28-2008: PAIN TO PAINE!!

See you on the streets....

Celtic Pride

Here we are half way through game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.  As great as the Red Sox and the Patriots have been recently, the Celtics have been horrible...until this season.  Today I went to the NBA store in NYC to get Mitch a Celtics jersey.  Mitch has not been a bandwagon fan, he's been watching and following the Celtics all season.  Unlike after the Super Bowl all the stupid NY fans have been very quiet.  Here's to happy endings!

May 2008

It seems like we've had a lot going on lately...The Rye Derby...Mitch's First Communion and our Trip (minus Tess) to Walt Disney World.  Rather than a lengthy and wordy post, I will let our pictures do the talking.  Enjoy!

Walt disney world

Walt disney world
Originally uploaded by obrienonfaxon

Mom and Mitch

Walt disney world

Walt disney world
Originally uploaded by obrienonfaxon

Mom and Mitch

Teenager

Here's a picture of  typical high school senior.  Around family and parents they are very much like the Sasquatch or the Yeti...rumored to exist, but no one is really sure.  I'm not looking forward to having teenagers, all they do is IM, Facebook, Text and sleep.

Spring Skiing

Last weekend Mitch and I decided to have a guys weekend away and squeeze in a few more days of skiing.  With all the rain we had recently, Vermont got dumped on with snow.  We drove up to Kathy's on Thursday in quite the storm, snow, sleet, rain and ice.

Friday morning Mitch and I got up and went down to Sugarbush and enjoyed an awesome day of skiing.  Snow all morning giving us fresh tracks on all our runs and then the sun came out after lunch to reveal a beautiful day.  

When we got back to Kathy's we decided to go online to check out some other ski areas because Sugarbush didn't have enough staff and the lines for everything were outrageous!

On a whim I decided to look at ski areas in Quebec (Last year we skied at Mont Tremblant and really enjoyed it).  I came across some reviews of Mont Sutton in Suttyon, Quebec.  I heard before that this was a good mountain and the reviews I saw online confirmed my hunch.  Google maps said that Sutton was a little more than an hour away from Kathy's so Mitch and I decided to make a run to the border.  

Mont Sutton was great, a wide open mountain the looked north across the flat St. Lawrence Rive plains.  There was about a foot and a half of fresh powder and more in the trees.  Unlike some glade skiing in VT, Sutton's glades were wide open and easy to pick clean lines through.  Mitch, though still learning to ski was able to keep up and he had a great time picking his own lines through the trees!  This winter Mitch has made some great strides on skis.  He now uses poles to plant and turn and he has learned to use the fall line of a slope to manage his speed and control.  

After a great day skiing the trees we headed back to Vermont and across the border.  However at the border we ran into some issues because I didn't have a birth certificate for Mitch and Tracy was not with us.  The border agent asked me to pull over and come into the office to answer some additional questions.  Realizing that we could be in trouble I decided not to be my usual smart ass self as the agents wanted to be sure that I was not trying to abduct Mitch.  They even asked Mitch where his mom was and where he was coming from and and to where he was going.  After about 15 minutes of Q&A and a lecture the borer patrol let us continue on our way home.

Luck O' The Irish

Here's how we celebrated St. Patrick's Day 2008...by wearing Green T-Shirts and having a couple Guinness at.  New York was full of 20-something drinks stumbling around midtown in the worst green outfits you eve did see (and it's only Monday) so I was happy to get out of town today.

You can't see from the pictures, but Tess is doing amazingly well.  She's pulling herself all around the house using the furniture for balance and she can walk holding hands so very soon she'll be running around unassisted wreaking havoc in her wake.  She's also got quite a bit to say, unfortunately we still can't  understand her so maybe it's still better that way.

What you can see in the pictures is that Mitch is a wonderful big brother who really enjoys the company of his sister.

It's nice that spring is right around the corner...Steve and I (along with Liz and Chris) will set out to prove to the Village of Mamaroneck that we're the best coaches in town--we did go undefeated in soccer this fall!

Mitch getting ready for spring

Here are a few pictures of Mitch modeling his new Easter and First Communion clothes.  We took him over to J Crew and he got a nice gingham shirt, khaki pants and this fancy blue blazer.  Of course Mitch liked this blazer the best because it has a nice silk lining and shiny brass buttons.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to every one!  We are celebrating today by having  a nice corned beef dinner.

Mom, Dad & Tess

Mom, Dad & Tess
Originally uploaded by obrienonfaxon

Here's a picture of me, Tracy and Tess. Funny, this picture finishes the last requirement of our adoption. The Chinese government and our agency, Alliance needed 6 month updates with pictures of Tess¹ progress. I guess they can see, thanks to her chubby appearance and adorable smile that she is loved and more importantly, well fed!

The "old" man of Battleship Cove

The "old" man of Battleship Cove...

beware of what lurks in the bowls of an old ship!

Cub Scouts visit battleship Cove

Mitch at Battleship Cove, February 2008

On the way home from Massachusetts

The boys on the way home from Battleship Cove, Fall River, MA

Feb 2008

Tess' 2nd B-day

Tess' 2nd B-day
Originally uploaded by obrienonfaxon

Happy Tess with fork

Tess stealing cake

Tess' Birthday

This weekend we celebrated Tess' second birthday by showering her with presents and filling her full of cake!  Mitch enjoyed the Tess-a-palooza weekend, but reminded us several times that his birthday only lasts one day. I guess this year we'll have to celebrate Mitch-a-palooza.  Since the super birthday celebrations began in Mexico for Steve we might as well let everyone enjoy an extra few birthdays.

Here are a few pictures of Tess at her birthday dinner and hopefully the "Happy Birthday" song video will upload.

Accepting the defeat

I decided that I would begin my more regular blogging with a post about the Patriots' loss with a few simple pictures.  Here's one of Tess getting ready for the big game, another of Mitch sometime during the game and lastly a picture after the sad and terrible ending to the game. What's worse is living in Giants territory...no one has let this game go away anytime soon. There are stupid Giants hats all over New York City and Mamaroneck.  Mitch even tried to play sick last Monday so he didn't have to see his Giants friends.  At least the Celtics are playing well and the Sox begin the defense of their World Series in a couple months.

I still can't believe that the Pats scored so few point and that Brady got the crap kicked out of him.  Maybe 2008/2009 will be the undefeated season.

I started my new job today and I think I'm going to like it...quick decision making...no politics and a great group of people...what's not to like?!

New Job

Well, it's been almost a year since I've updated this blog...I guess we've been busy.  As far as resolutions go, I think I'll try to update this blog more often.  I thought I'd take a moment to share a brief update.  I've given up on the drama and nonsense that has engulfed me at the Conde Nast Media Group and have resigned from the company and will begin as the Publisher of The History Channel Magazine on Monday, February 11, 2008.  I will miss working for Conde, but at the same time I couldn't be happier.

On the home front life is great, Tracy, Mitch, Tess and the dogs are all doing well and we're looking forward to a great 2008.

Big Yellow

Big Yellow
Originally uploaded by obrienonfaxon