"Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away!"

Oy. Ya'll I've been unwell. And I'm still struggling with it. I kind of wish I had that crazy cough-flu-sickness from last year because this stuff, I can't do this. Those of you who get headaches, you have my ever lasting empathy. I never get headaches. I still don't think I've ever had a migraine... although maybe that's what this is and I just have no idea. I've been suffering from a massive headache that lasted through the past week, along with what I'm pretty sure was an ear infection for the past few days. It's just been awful, hard to look at the computer, hard to read, hard to have any lights on. And seriously, I'm a pain baby. That being said, I'm also afraid of drugs and don't like to take too much so I just end up laying on the couch moaning. It's great fun for Ed. He especially loves when my mind goes to that hypochondriac place it adores playing around in, and I rant and rave about how I'm like Hillary Clinton and the possible blood clot in my head is scaring me into telling him I love him every five minutes and how grateful I am for the life we have together. Poor Edward.

We've managed to have a pretty good week and weekend... my training for the half-marathon was seriously delayed but in the past couple days I've started running through a bit more and it feels amazing to get out there again. Using the Nike Run app is pretty cool too, when people 'like' it or comment on it on Facebook, I hear cheers during the run. Thanks Jeanne for introducing me to it! One of the days it was dreary and raining and that is perfection to me. It looks like a scene straight out of the Moors and I expect to hear Mr. Rochester calling to me! And the best part? No one on earth is out there but me. And Ed, but he runs twice as fast as I do so he's not out there for long. So I can be Jane as long as I want and I won't run into anyone to judge me. Especially when they see my crazy hat hair...

Ed and I tried a new place for lunch this week, Mongolian Hot Pot in Cupertino. I've never had fondue or anything similar to this so I thought it was highly amusing (and delicious). My favorite part? The mushrooms. So many delicious mushrooms. We'll definitely be back here.

We also made sure we stopped by the Tech Museum because it was the last weekend the MythBusters exhibit was in town. This was SO much fun. I wish we had kids to take there because they would have been ridiculously entertained. They had a ton of the props from the show and mannequins set up in the cast's outfits. One of my favorite props was the giant duct tape canoe they made and the tornado shelter. Past the props they had several stations set up to test out myths ourselves. There was the raindrop test where you could run through and walk through and then see who was wetter, the driving blind test where someone had to verbally guide you (I drove, Ed guided - I felt a LOT of curbs, heard crashing noises and he was telling me to take a lot of dramatic turns, so I think that means I did well...), the killer card throwing, the dodge a bullet test, the airplane on a conveyor belt model, and the tablecloth removal trick test.

He made it in just over a minute! You can't see it but he has shin guards on as well.

There was a little light in front of us that when it flashed you had to jump out of the way and it would time how long it took you to move. Saying I was slow is being nice. But I sure jumped with dramatic ineffective flair!

Yes, that 5 mph is my card toss. It wouldn't read most of them but Ed did pretty well as you can see below.

Oh I forgot about this one below! Too bad we didn't come here more often... this would be a great American Ninja Warrior practice area. Gotta keep up that grip strength!

The rest of the museum was also fantastic, with cool outer-space related set ups (including a jet pack simulation!) and a section related to Silicon Valley and the creation of computer chips. I can't follow most of it but hey, you learn something new every day. 

We kept a low profile the rest of the past week. I haven't even been reading thanks to this silly head problem. We met up with Ed's friend Brendan who was driving through the area and his girlfriend. It was really fantastic seeing friendly faces.

This weekend however, is a big, big weekend! There will be a concert at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, MD to celebrate and honor Joan Rackey and her incomparable contribution to the community and the lives of so many people - including my own. The current honors jazz band will play and then a group of alumni will come on stage to play. I'll be singing with the group and I am beyond excited. Joan is an incredible person who has always been there for me and for anyone that is struggling. She has helped my family, many of my friends... It is what we as a community should do, to show up and tell her how much better our lives are for having her in it. My fondest memories of high school are my experiences with jazz band. I'm sure I've mentioned it on here before but Joan is one of the most important people in my life, (hell, she provided my wedding cake!), and we all know how many lives she has touched and improved. For those of you from jazz band or band or theater, please come out and celebrate with us. Here is all the info from the flyer:

EINSTEIN ALUMNI JAZZ CONCERT

For the benefit of AEHS’ Instrumental Music Program

Saturday, January 12^th at Albert Einstein High School at 7pm

  Featuring musicians from Einstein’s award-winning jazz program—

—many of them graduates of your school as well—

Under the direction of the great Joan Rackey,

AEHS Band Director for 38 years—and counting!

The Einstein All-Star Alumni Band is likely to include:

Bass: Adam Neely, ’06, Elliott Seppa, ’09, Milo Johnson, ‘11

Piano: Jeb Patton, ’92, Jon Lieder, ‘12

Trombone: Dave Cannon ’78, Daniel Toresky, ‘11

Vocalists: Carly Neely,’04, Tina Termini, ’07;  Guitar: Gavin Fallow, ‘99

Saxophone: Simon Lahn, Joe Williams, Jacob Teichroew,’01,

Adam Kinner, ’02, Elijah Balbed, ’08; Percussion: Justin Wolf, ‘01

Trumpet: Andy Leach, ’64, Rick Gordon, ’78,

Richard Kessler, ’79, Max Kuzymak, ‘08

With guest artists Doug Elliot, Rick Penix, and Paul Carr!

Tickets: $10 adults, $5 students. Available at the door.

Sponsored by PACE, the Performing Arts Coalition of Einstein

I've got a couple videos on my youtube page if you want to check out the band... it's not the most recent, and the recordings are shaky but it's something if you want to listen. She's an incredible woman and we should all turn out to show our appreciation for all those times she helped us in music, sports or our personal lives. I know so many people who struggled with a song or with school and she was right there trying to walk them through it slowly and surely. This is the very least we can do to say thank you. :)