FINISHED!

At the finish line of the 3Day Walk for Breast Cancer at UMass-Boston. This was the first year I didn’t stay for closong ceremonies because I had to be back for a meeting at 4 in Worcester.
It was an interesting walk in Boston… Compered to previous years, this year we had only half the walkers, two-thirds the medical staff, but the same challenging climate (this time, thunder, lightning, and downpours on Saturday night). After 100+ degree heat in ’11, like one staffer said, it wouldn’t be an event in Boston without some sort of epic weather.
But the walkers finished and brought in needed funds for breast cancer detection and research.

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Faceboob

On the 3 Day Walk for Breast Cancer, each of the four pit stops has a volunteer-designed theme. In the weeks leading up to the event, the food and hydration crew put a lot of time and effort into making their stops fun for the event. This year Pit 4 is Social Media. Yesterday we were “Tit”ter and today we’re, well, you can see for yourself…

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2012 Boston 3 Day Walk for Breast Cancer

In 2002, my friends @DaveMakar and @DonnaSymolon invited me to join them on the Avon 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer in Boston. I didn’t have time to fundraise, but learned that because at the time I was studying for my Massachusetts EMT license, I could shadow the medics in the medical crew. That May we got a freak snowstorm no one was prepared for. Besides blisters and dehydration, we treated so many walkers with hypothermia there wasn’t enough trained medical professionals to help. This observer got a quick promotion to the frontlines of mass care and I was hooked.
After I returned from Japan in ’04, I came back to help in ’05 , ’06, ’07, ’09, ’10 (in Philadelphia), ’11; and in ’12. Over time, the nurses, doctors, physician assistants, physical therapists, athletic trainers and EMT’s have become a little family, emailing during the year and looking forward to our “reunion” every summer. Walking is something I have a little experience with, and I’m always inspired by the selfless people I meet and their stories of friends and family members couragously battling this horrible disease. From unexpected snowstorms to fierce winds, from pouring rain to searing heat, here’s to the volunteer crew, the dedicated walkers, and all those fighting the goodfight against cancer – here’s me with nurses Jean, Nicole, Ada and Chantelle.

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New Wheels

So happy for Jen and her brand spankin’ new 2012 Ford Focus.

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3rd Annual Drive-In Extravaganza

Josh, Jenn, Jen and my chair at the Leicester Drive-In. We watched Ted and Brave, and shared a phone call with special birthday guest @JaredNabel.

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DuhDuhDuhDuhDuhNAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Kristy, Jen, Becky, Amy Beth and I at the showing of JAWS on the Common.

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Languange Arts, indeed….

I feel like I should mail this to Jay Leno.

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Something you don’t see everyday…

While Jen and I were driving to CT the other day, this pickup pulling a plane wreck passed us on I-84. Wherever this came from, I hope everyone was OK.

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Collinsville, CT

While Jen went to a bridal shower this afternoon in Canton, CT, I explored the antique shops and farmer’s market in nearby Collinsville. The factory, and later town, was founded in 1826 by two Collins brothers and a cousin, who built a mill on the nearby river and created, as described by a book published in 1872, “one of the greatest industries of the United States… The [Collins Company] was renowned for having produced the first mass-produced and pre-sharpened axes and became the largest manufacturer of edged tools in the world.” The town’s streets, hotel, and Congregational church sprung up around the factory, and the company even owned some of the homes it rented out to its employees. The corporation ceased production in 1966, after 140 years of supplying tools and weapons (you can still find on EBay Civil War bayonets and WWII machetes made by the Collins Company). This is a photo of the old factory, built around 1904(?)

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Happy Birthday, Thea

This afternoon Jen and I drove to Connecticut for her cousin Rachel’s high school graduation party, then to the coast for our friend Thea’s birthday party. Happy Birthday, Thea!

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