I'm so very happy that we got a snow day today!

I set a new record for my commute last night - 3 hours, 15 minutes.  That's approximately 4x my normal commute time.

And although I have to get up before the time that they make decisions on snow days and was already dressed and had eaten breakfast by the time I got the call, I'm still deliriously happy.

Having the morning off allowed me to finish up a little project I've been working on for the past few days.  Our friend Jen compiled her pictures from a recent trip to Paris and Rome into a cool little photo book.  It was pretty awesome, so we decided to make one for our Paris pictures.

The site I used is run by Jostens (since I'm a big yearbook nerd and a loyal Jostens customer).  It is called Our Hubbub - www.ourhubbub.com.

Basically it allows you to create a mini-yearbook (scrapbook) for anything - a trip, an anniverary, a sports team, a new baby, a birthday - literally anything!  They have templates to choose from, or you can set everything up yourself.  It's very easy to use.  You just upload the pictures and start putting it together.  The cost is around $40 for a 23-page book.  (If you are interested, I have a link that could get you a discount of $5!)

I'm very excited to order ours!  I highly recommend the site to everybody!

The final installment of our trip pictures have been uploaded.  We haven't captioned all of them yet, but will be working on that this evening.  Go see our day at the Louvre and Orsay, our stroll down the Champs Elysees, our climbing of the Eiffel Tower, and various other stops.

We've just uploaded a lot of new pictures.  Sights include Versailles, The Orsay, Napolean's Tomb, Pere Lachaise Cemetery (with cats!), and New Year's at the Eiffel Tower!

Check them out!

We spent the day in the Montmartre area of Paris.  Pictures of Sacre Couer, Moulin Rouge, Adolph Sax's Grave, and the Rousseau Family Grave over at our picture website. 

Versailles tomorrow.

We arrived this morning around 8:30 AM local time (that's 1:30 AM for you Chicago folks).  Took the RER line into the city center, walked up the stairs and right smack into Notre Dame.  Our apartment is just south of the Ile de la Cite, so naturally our first stop was Notre Dame followed by the Archaeological Crypt just outside the catherdral.

See our pics and check back often for updates!

Now it's time for a nap.

I just signed up for two 5K runs with Tony K.  Tony and I have been doing the "Couch Potato to 5K" program, and we're just starting week 4.  The two runs are the Cantigny Veterans Day 5K and the Bonfield 5K Express.  The Cantigny run is on November 3rd and will be our first "real" run after finishing the program.  The Bonfield is a "turkey trott" run on Thanksgiving day, which will be a good way to make us early our dinner(s).

I don't particularly like or dislike running at this point.  Still waiting for that "runners high" to kick in.  Probably have to run for more than 3 minutes at a time to really get it.

Click here to see them!

This may be old news, but it's new news to me...

Guitar Hero III Details Revealed...

(Slow Ride!  Sweet!)

(Online Multiplayer!)

http://www.twitchguru.com/fringedrinking/2007/05/guitar_hero_iii_details_revealed.html

Thanks to my wife's diligent monitoring of airfare prices, we scored an incredible deal on a non-stop flight to Paris.  Non-stop from ORD to CDG is usually around $2150 for two people (thats with taxes and fees).  Early this morning that same non-stop flight dropped to $1447 for two people!!  That just saved us over $700!  The non-stop was even cheaper than the 1-stop, which we were originally going to choose.  Way to go wifey!

We had seen the rumor on the internets that Wednesday morning was the best time to buy overseas tickets.  Something about the airlines releasing tickets just after midnight.  I guess that rumor is true!!

Now it's time to find the best seat on the plane.

As if one piece of awesome entertainment news wasn't enough, now we have two.

Daniel Tosh is in town.  This guy is ridiculously funny.  He's got a three days of shows lined up in Schaumburg this weekend at the Chicago Improv.  Anyone interested in going tomorrow night?

Oh my god oh my god oh my god!!!!!

Store here (yahoo)

Why do they always release these on wedding weekends???

Just in case...pwned defined.

So the Children's Memorial Stepup was this past Sunday.  Thanks to all my friends and family I was able to raise $320 for the charity.  My company did over $18,000 and overall the event raised $360,557 for Children's Memorial Hospital.

The event went well.  The wife and I got a hotel room at the Hyatt, which is literally next door to the Aon Center so travel to the event was not an issue.  We arrived around 8:15 am, I got in line and was on the stairs in no time.  My only mistake was starting off too fast.  It was kind of hard not to with everyone waiting in line behind you and loud music pumping you up.  I bascially bolted up the stairs at first, which was a very bad idea.  I blew up after about 8 floors and didn't really recover from that for another 20 floors.  Around the 50th floor I was in a groove and didn't stop much.  My pace was slow, but sustainable.  My total time was 33:07.  You can see the full results here.

I was a killer cardio workout.  I'm very happy that my legs didn't really hurt at all.  Even in the days following (it's the second day out now and I feel fine).  It shows me that all the gym time I've been putting in really amounts to something.

I didn't make my goal of doing this in under 30 minutes, but I came very close.  I wasn't timing myself while climbing and perhaps I should have been.  I did make a few stops (not counting my initial blowout) to chat with coworkers and rest (1 bathroom break), but I don't think my stops amounted to more than 3 minutes.

Next year - 25 minutes and $600.

Thanks to Marc, I now know that you can in fact subscribe directly to a category in Bloglines.  So, without further ado, if you only want to see Cindy's posts use the following link...

http://www.rousseaufamily.net/SyndicationService.asmx/GetRssCategory?categoryName=Cindy

...if you only want to see Rich's posts, use this link...

http://www.rousseaufamily.net/SyndicationService.asmx/GetRssCategory?categoryName=Rich

According to my site stats, most of you have updated your bloglines accounts since my last posting on richardrousseau.com.  Well done.

So I tried out the stair machine at the gym this weekend.  Eventhough I haven't been to the gym in two weeks I found that I could comfortably do 50 stairs per minute.  I ended up doing about 10 minutes worth of stair climbing (before going back to the elliptical).  In those 10 minutes I did 40 stories, so I'm pretty confident that I'll be able to handle the real climb (80 stories) even if I don't workout from now until then, which is unlikely.

Since some folks have been asking me for details on what is involved in this Step Up for Kids I'll list out a few details below...

I'll be climbing the stairs (not the side of the building ala Spiderman) of the Aon Center (aka Amoco Building) in downtown Chicago.

80 stories.

1,643 steps.

Last year the fastest male did the climb in 9 minutes and 45 seconds.
The fastest female did it in 11 min. 40 sec.

I don't have a goal time yet as I haven't acutally done any stair climbing.  As soon as I get to the gym I'll have some time goals.

Each year my company is part of the Children's Memorial Step Up for Kids fundraiser.  In past years I've donated to coworkers, but this year I'm fully participating and I need your help.  I have copied the text of their template email message below.  If any of you can donate, it is greatly appreciated.  Just click on the link provided below.


<begin cookie cutter email message>

On Sunday, January 28, 2007 I will climb to the top of Chicago's second tallest building to raise money for the patients and families at Children's Memorial Hospital. As a not-for-profit organization, Children’s Memorial relies on philanthropy to help provide care to more than 103,000 patients and their families every year.

Proceeds from this event will benefit K.I.D.S.S. for Kids, an affiliated organization of Children's Memorial, and support the hospital's Family Services programs.

Please join in my efforts and help me support this special cause. You can make a difference in a child's life by helping me reach my fundraising goal of $50.00.

Thank you for your consideration and support,
Richard Rousseau

To support me with a donation, click on the link below or copy it into your browser.
https://secure.childrensmemorial.org/stepup/sponsors/sponsor.asp?ID=6884

Don't forget to check out our picture gallery.  I've got that up and running now too.  More pictures to come including Christmas 2006!!!

Part of my master plan for this blog was to allow users to subscribe to individual categories.  This would allow you to only view posts marked as Cindy or Rich.  So, if you happen to not care about one of us you could ignore us.  However, I have just tried to subscribe to a single category in my Bloglines account and Bloglines appears to strip off the category part of the rss url.  I may have to rethink how we're going to organize this blog if this is the case.  But first, more research.

Worst case scenario is that we have www.rousseaufamily.net/Cindy and /Rich.  Big deal.

Welcome to the Rousseau Family Blog. 


The Rousseau Family Blog is here to be your one stop shop for all your Rousseau Family news needs.  At the Rousseau Family Blog we have everything you need to keep up with the Rousseau Family including...

Cindy's Blog
Rich's Blog
Pictures
Links to Family and Friends

And if that wasn't enough, you can also leave comments that will be read by members of the actual Rousseau Family!

You may be wondering how much you'll have to pay for this wonderful service.  Well friends, if you act now you'll be in for the low low price of zero dollars and zero cents!  That's right folks, all this information is yours absolutely free.

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand this is an incredible deal.  So load up your bloglines right now and add the Rousseau Family Blog to your feeds list.  You won't regret it!

This offer only valid during select non-blackout dates.  This offer does not guarantee frequent or entertaining posts.  This offer may turn into nasty little beasties if fed after midnight.  The Rousseau Family Blog is a trademark of the Rousseau Family.  Side affects may include drowsiness, nausea, carpal tunnel, pink eye, and procrastination.  It is recommended that noone actually read the Rousseau Family Blog.  Please return Rousseau Family Blog to it's original refridgerated case when finished.  Do not make direct  eye contact with Rousseau Family Blog.  Consult a physician if reading of the Rousseau Family Blog lasts for more than four hours.  The Rousseau Family Blog should be taken with copious amounts of alcohol.  You should not operate heavy machinery while reading the Rousseau Family Blog.  Swimming should be avoided for at least two hours after reading Rousseau Family Blog.  Offer only valid in the Principality of Sealand.

Hooray!  2007!