Kim got married! And it's a...

I am very excited to announce that last Friday, my sister Kim got married! She's been dating Bob for a while now (a few years?) and we are totally excited to have him be officially part of the family. He has a daughter named Summer who is John's age, and all our kids love. So congradulations to Bob and Kim! Welcome to the family!

Speaking of family, Jennie and I just went to the ultrasound to see the baby. We went to one of those 3-D things, it was pretty cool! As opposed to a 2-D image that looks like a blob, this machine makes a 3-D image that looks like a blob in 3-D. I'll put pictures up when they are available. But most importantly, now we know the gender of the child. It's a GIRL! Yes, the Rice famliy is becoming more feminine as it gets older, it seems.

Speaking of being feminine, I'm afraid that I'm becoming slightly more Europe, or at least that's what I was accused of receintly. I was getting out of my Mini Cooper wearing a soccer jersey, and someone asked me where I was from in Europe. In my defence, it was a US soccer team. But then I thought about how I'm in to cycling, soccer, and I suddenly have the urge to not bomb something. Am I becoming like them? Thank God the football season is about to begin. That should toughen me up.

Speaking of being tough, I ran 15 miles yesterday. 15 miles! I mentioned this to a parish in Manchester, NH that I've been speaking to for the past few nights, and I had to beg them to respond. I mean, this is a big deal. I ran for 2 1/2 hours. But what is scarier is that for the marathon, I'm going to have to run another 2 hours. Why am I doing this again? Oh, that's right- because my sister asked me to.

Speaking of my sister, did I mention she got married on Friday? It was really cool.

New blog...

...as if I update ever update this one!

But I have published a new blog, and the difference is that this blog is about my life, and the other is kind of a "review" page for movies, books, video games, TV shows, etc. I'm trying to get in the habit of writing more, and people who know me know I'm a bit of a critic when it comes to things like that.

Go get to it, go to my web page (which I just redesigned- tell me what you think) and click on the "reviews" button on the top of the page.

The New London Triathlon

Today, I and my sister Kim did the New London Triathlon in New Hampshire. For the long time readers of my blog, you'll remember that I did this race last year, and it was the first athletic event that I ever did. How did I do then? Well, I finished, and that was the point. But truth be told, I came in dead last, except for a guy named Richard Simek who didn't even finish the race, and some older ladies. Not much consolation there.

But today, I found redemption.

Last year I did the 3 mile run, 6 mile bike, and 1/4 mile swim in 1 hour, 11 minutes, and 34 seconds. This year's time: 53 minutes and 22 seconds! I was only a person away from being in the top third!

VICTORY!

But then I had a crazy allergy attack, and spent the rest of the day sneezing, on the verge of sneezing, or sleeping off a benedryl high. Still, it was a good day.

Kim let me run without her- she wasn't feelling as in shape as she did last year. We're training together for the Chicago Marathon, which is the next big athletic event. But for now, I'm relishing in my run and eating cookies my wife made for me. Life is good.