Ad for my Jazzercise classes!

Tonight was my first full-fledged official Jazzercise class, and it was a lot of fun! We did Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" and Aguilera's "Ain't no other Man," among others. (I know you wish you were there! :)

Those of you who are in the Northern Virginia area, I'd love for you to stop by and check out one of my classes! I teach every Monday and Wednesday evening from 6:35-7:35pm at the Falls Church Community Center. Directions, prices, and other details here.

If you come wear whatever's comfortable to exercise in (spandex welcome, but not mandatory :). Be sure to bring a bottle of water. If you have cross-training or aerobic shoes wear those, but if not, just wear sneakers/running shoes.

update: my injured shoulder

Those of you who are regular blog-readers may remember that I injured my shoulder back in early July when I was visiting my brother in Alabama. Well, after 4 weeks, it's still sore, so I finally went to the doctor on Friday.

Here's the doctor's written diagnosis:

"You injured the tendon and the nerve in your left shoulder. You should recover completely from this and be able to teach Jazzercise on a regular basis. Now is the time to begin rehabilitation, and I've referred you to physical therapy."

(Okay, I admit, I added the part about J-cise.)

So yeah, I begin physical therapy on August 2nd. I'm kind of excited about it, actually. I've never done p.t. before.

Kind of a bummer of an injury, but could be worse. And it makes me more thankful for working joints!

some jokes for you :)

* Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in
the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you
can't have your kayak and heat it too.

* A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why," they asked, as they moved off. "Because", he said, "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

* A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

* Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him ..

A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

* There was the person who sent twenty different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least ten of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

All good things come to an end.

This evening I received an email from my grandfather with the subject "Farewell Mr. Moustache." He wrote,

"A year ago today, Marilyn and I were on a Carnival Cruise ship with our children and their spouses—Greg and Jo Conroy, Mark and Karalee Romaneski and Pete and Angie Romaneski. It was a wonderful time of fellowship in celebration of our bring married fifty-five years.. We were all at dinner when I suddenly realized that I was the only person—actually the only man—at that table who did not sport a moustache. The decision to grow one came quickly, and it soon grew to a beautiful bountiful adornment on my lip. Guess what? All good things come to an end. This morning on the one year anniversary, off came the moustache. Marilyn was witness to the demise.

Love, ALR"


Alas, the 'stache is gone. I must admit, I enjoyed its bountiful presence. And while I tend to be more pro-stache when it comes to my dad and grampa, I support his decision to "travel light."


And now, a photo tribute to the infamous stache (you will be missed).


Christmas 2005: A stache-ful Santa



At Jon & Jess's wedding: Gramma admires the white-hair above the lip...I bet she misses that lovely stache.



pre-stache days: May 2005



He still looks handsome stache-less. I think the bow tie really helps.

Whose Bottom's Up? (the answer you've all been waiting for)

A couple weeks ago I posted a poll concerning this incriminating photo:

After allowing time for you all to make your predictions and build suspense, I will give you the answer. It's not some random Alabaman man who lost his way, nor is it a Chuckie doll (they're found in Montgomery). It isn't Nick...




Here's the face behind the behind:

It's my brother, Daniel! Congrats if you guessed answer B., you're correct!


And here's the story behind the behind:

Dan had wiped out on the tube, but his drawstring wasn't secure, so his swim trunks were a bit...loose. And due to the force of the water, they lowered a bit upon impact. I snapped this photo while he was showing us what happened.

Good Times in Baltimore: 7-15

Rebecca, Bethany, Elizabeth & Sarah


Last Saturday (July 15th), my roommates and I ventured an hour north to Baltimore. We enjoyed the Inner Harbor, a seafood lunch, and free tickets to an Orioles baseball game at Camden Yards (courtesy of Sarah's company).



We had AMAZING seats, directly behind the Orioles' dugout. I mean, I could've reached out an given Miguel Tejada a high-five if I'd wanted to (and if he'd even made slight eye-contact with me). The game against the Rangers was awesome, with a winning score of 8-1. Go O's!



Hands down, the best part of the game was during the 7th-inning stretch, when the mascot danced on the dugout, just inches from us. Halfway through his spiel, he pulled Elizabeth up with him. She danced like I've never seen her dance before. Sarah got a chance to dance too!. It was awesome!





Good times, good times.

Stories & Polls: Alabama Adventure! 6/29 - 7/3

Over the holiday weekend, I traveled down south to visit my brother (Jonathan) and sister-in-law (Jessica). My other brother, Daniel, and Jonathan's former roommate, Nick, and I left Thursday morning at 6:45am, spent about 14 hours on the road, and arrived at Fort Rucker, Alabama that night.

Over the next three days, we had a blast enjoying each other's company, being entertained by the rambunctious pets (they have a puppy and two young cats), learning about helicopters, and exploring all there is to explore in and around Ft. Rucker.

Here I am in the Apache cockpit.

Jess, Jon, Dan, Nick, and me at the beach.



A list of highlights from the trip:

1. Eating a great BBQ sandwich at a po-dunk restaurant in western Georgia. Until that day, I'd never before seen a warthog head mounted on a wall.
2. Trying Coca-Cola's newest experiment, "Coke BLAK." It's a weird combination of coffee and coke that left me wondering if I like it or not. (Please comment if you've tried it.)
3. Watching Jonathan in his element: wearing his flight suit and showing/telling us all about one of his biggest passions, the Apache helicopter.



4. Trying to "fly" a helicopter in a simulator. It's tough. Plus, I got a bit nauseous.
5. Going to the drive-in movie theatre! I'd never been to one before, and this one was NICE.
6. Spending a day at a GORGEOUS beach in Destin, Florida.
7. Having great conversations with my brothers, Jess, and Nick.
8. Grilling and hanging out in the backyard.
9. Worshipping at The Wings Chapel.
10. Riding in a speed boat!
11. Tubing (it was a first for me, but not a last)
12. Watching my brothers and Jessica successfully water-ski.
13. Seeing Jess and Jon's house and playing with their pets.
14. Eating crab at Joe's Crab Shack.
15. Daniel's hilarious and random comments.
16. Mingling with all the laid-back country folk.
17. Listening to almost all of the songs on my iPod (I knew long road trips were good for something!).



Here I am tubing.



Here I am wiping out.

(I actually hit the water really hard and jammed my left shoulder, which excluded me from further tubing and waterskiing activites.)





Sights that reminded us we weren't in Northern Virginia anymore:

1. Mullets.
2. Confederate flags.
3. "Get 'er drunk" bumper stickers.
4. lower gas prices
5. Lots of wide open space.

The weirdest sight of all happened in Montgomery, Alabama, about an hour and a half north of Rucker. We were driving along a main road when we noticed a car next to us that had a Chuckie doll stuck in its side window. It was an authentic Chuckie doll--just like in the movie--half of its body inside the car, the other half out. It totally weirded us out. About 5 minutes passed and we had just finished commenting about it, when all of a sudden, we saw ANOTHER CAR (this one was actually an SUV) with ANOTHER CHUCKIE DOLL sticking out, this time it was in the sunroof! We were stunned (and slightly disturbed). We later asked Jon and Jess about it and they were just as baffled. They'd never seen or heard of the Chuckie-Doll Epidemic before.

Poll #1: What do you think it meant?

a. It was merely coincedence.
b. It was some sort of cultural thing unique to southern Alabama.
c. It was a symbol of some sort (please describe).
d. It was perhaps a gang-related icon.


And now for something completely different...

Poll #2: In the following photo, whose is the displayed derriere?



a. Some random Alabaman man who lost his way
b. My brother, Daniel
c. Nick
d. Chuckie
e. My brother, Jonathan

Extra credit: What is he doing?

(answer to follow in a week or so)

When we saw this water tower in South Carolina, we couldn't help but notice the resemblance, although this one's a bit more...rosey.



To view more photos from the trip, click here and then select the "Alabama Adventure" album.

deeper thoughts from John Fischer

Called and Sent
by John Fischer

You are where you are for a reason. Your vocation, your neighbors, your community, and your many associations are a world you inhabit to which you were sent. Every one of us has a sphere of influence that touches many lives and that involvement makes our relationships eternally significant. If you ever heard about God sending people to the mission field and assumed that if you didn’t go you are somehow without a mission, this is simply not true. There is absolutely no difference between you and me and a missionary heading out to some dark corner of the world. We are all sent. (Besides, dark corners are every where.)
Wherever you go you represent Christ because you know Him, and your mission is to introduce Him to people who haven’t met Him yet. The opportunity to do this is generated by respect. As we walk through our communities and workplaces, we can generate an interest in Christ by extending the same respect for others that Christ has extended to us. We do this regardless of whether we like someone or not, or whether they have been mean or unfair to us. Respect is something every human being deserves, regardless, because everyone is made in the image of God and as such reflects something of the Creator’s likeness.
Peter wrote to us about always being ready to explain our hope, but to do it “with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:16 NIV). And if it is hard to respect someone, remember Christ initiated a relationship with us while we were dead set against Him, and still in our sin (Romans 5:6-8). None of us started off this relationship very well, in other words, and yet someone reached out to us through Christ’s love; we can do the same. And we do this—each of us—in the context of the particular cluster of people we know and operate in. No one else has your exact circle of influence. That is an influence all your own—like your own entire mission field. So never think lightly, or negatively, of your position or your place in life. We’ve all been called and we’ve all been placed right where we are for a reason. And the people around us are that reason.

May God open our eyes to the importance of our place in the world, and the importance and great value of everyone we encounter today.

"...Each one should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned to him and to which God called him." 1 Corinthians 7:17