you know that can't be bad

We got a new smoke detector today to replace the one that was here when we moved in... replacing it because it's so choked with cigarette dust from the 25 years of living in a smoky house that we wondered if it would actually be able to detect real smoke at all.  Unfortunately, the new alarm came with a nearly-dead battery, and the smoke alarm, being a modern and sensitive guy, feels the need to inform us every ten seconds or so that he has a nearly-dead battery inside him.  Chirp!  2, 3, 4, 5........ Chirp!  This necessitates another trip back to the hardware store to buy a nine-volt battery, and the hardware store is far enough away that I suspect we will be forced to live with the chirping awhile.  Ugh.

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We had dinner with the inlaws last night for Shawn's birthday, and breakfast with them again this morning.  I always thought we were the kind of people that didn't enjoy hanging out with family much, but now I think we were just the type that didn't have any family to spend time with.  Because we enjoy Shawn's dad and stepmother very much.

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We decided to get a membership at the YMCA near our house in an effort to combat the middle-age inertia that has been bearing down on us.  Though I really enjoy using the exercise equipment we have at home, the treadmill and the elliptical machine, Shawn is someone that needs a reason to work out beyond just doing it for its own sake.  He needs the competition of a game of some kind, and the YMCA provides that.  All kinds of court sports are now at his disposal.  (The women in Kenya thought it was hilarious that I would want to run for exercise - though I couldn't in the heat - because they all got so much exercise just doing the things they had to do every day.)

I know I will continue doing my own thing alone, because that's the way I am, but I'll be glad to see Shawn getting some exercise too.  And now I'll be able to do some weights as well as cardio.  Maybe I'll grow huge, like Hulk Hogan, and crush tin cans on my forehead.  Probably.

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