Ryan, Debi, and Toren Cragun's Blog

Now that Toren is walking everywhere (when he does; he has wanted to be held a lot lately, probably because he’s been sick), he is more subject to injuries from falls.  After our most recent photoshoot (pictures coming soon), he grabbed the tripod, then tripped in the grass.  He sliced his cheek on the tripod on the way down, resulting in this:

Toren as Scarface

I called him scarface for a few days as a result.

A couple days after this, he fell at daycare and gave himself a nice cut and bruise on his left eyebrow.  Poor guy – welcome to the world of the walking…

Speaking of which, while I’m not new at walking, you’d think I am as I have my own injury to report.  I’ve been playing soccer with some people at the University of Tampa a couple times a week.  It’s fun and good exercise, even though right now the heat is basically unbearable.  This last Monday I collided pretty good with another player and very well may have cracked a rib.  It knocked the wind out of me, which I’ve had happen before, but I’ve had pain since then – basically just when I bend awkwardly or try to lift things (like Toren).  It could just be a nasty bruise, but the symptoms are those of a cracked rib as well.  I haven’t bothered to have it checked out as the treatment for a bruised ribcage and a cracked rib are the same – take it easy and let it heal for about 6 weeks.  So, I’m hoping that will work.

Just so you can get a taste of the weather in Florida at the moment, here’s a graph of the temperature over the last week (about 95 degrees everyday):

Unfortunately, it doesn’t include the humidity – 95%, all day, every day.  Try playing soccer in that!

Here’s another bike ride Toren and I went on:

View Wellswood 2 in a larger map

We didn’t go quite as far this time:

Total Distance: 10.36 km (6.4 mi)
Total Time: 51:34
Moving Time: 49:34
Average Speed: 12.17 km/h (7.6 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 12.54 km/h (7.8 mi/h)
Max Speed: 17.47 km/h (10.9 mi/h)
Min Elevation: -26 m (-86 ft)
Max Elevation: 1 m (5 ft)
Elevation Gain: 176 m (577 ft)
Max Grade: -5 %
Min Grade: -6 %
Recorded: Tue Jun 15 18:44:27 EDT 2010
Activity type: cycling

I took Toren for a bike ride yesterday and turned on my phone app to track it. Here’s the convoluted 7+ mile route:

View Wellswood in a larger map

Here are the stats:

Total Distance: 11.90 km (7.4 mi)
Total Time: 55:48
Moving Time: 51:52
Average Speed: 12.81 km/h (8.0 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 13.77 km/h (8.6 mi/h)
Max Speed: 24.37 km/h (15.1 mi/h)
Min Elevation: -30 m (-99 ft)
Max Elevation: -3 m (-11 ft)
Elevation Gain: 218 m (717 ft)
Max Grade: 4 %
Min Grade: -5 %
Recorded: Sun Jun 13 16:45:59 EDT 2010
Activity type: cycling

Thanks to my appearances on the local media recently about the pill mills, I was invited to be a guest on a local radio show: Prescription Addiction Radio.  I was on for about 20 minutes last Sunday.  I just checked the website to see if the show is available for people to listen to, but they have a note on the site saying they’re having technical difficulties, so I’m hoping it will get posted later.

I was standing in line at the grocery store Friday night picking up some stuff for Toren’s birthday party.  The woman checking out in front of me was chatting with the employee scanning her purchases – I think they were discussing recipes.  I wasn’t really paying very close attention.  I put all of my groceries on to the conveyor belt and was waiting quietly.  After a few minutes, another family pushed their cart up behind mine.  It was a mother, her daughter, the daughter’s husband, and the grandson.  The grandson looked to be about 5 or 6 and was sitting in the child seat in the cart.  I glanced back at them quickly, then turned back around as it was almost my turn to check out.

As the woman in front of me finished up and the employee started scanning my items, I turned around one more time to see the people behind me.  Little did I realize that I would be staring down the barrel of a fully automatic assault rifle:

toy M16

Yep, the 5 or 6 year-old kid was pointing his toy M16 at me and firing away.  His parents and grandmother were ignoring him, but for some reason the intent look on his face as he filled me full of 5.56 x 45mm (.223 Remington) bullets repeatedly was a little disturbing.  He looked like he was engaged in serious business – destroying the enemy.  Apparently the really white guy with the goatee buying groceries was the enemy.

This prompted an obvious thought in my head: Should a kid be allowed to play with a toy like that?

I had toy weapons growing up – guns, knives, swords, etc.  I also had army men.  By the time I was 7 or 8 I had a BB gun and by about 14 I had a 22 caliber rifle.  I never killed anyone, though I did almost shoot one of my best friend’s eyes out (sorry Tyler; I still feel bad about that BB gun fight).  I also had a paintball gun and played paintball.  I’m not, now, a particularly violent person.  In fact, I’m quite anti-guns.  But I’m not sure letting kids play with guns increases the odds of violent behavior.  Thoughts, anyone?

(Oh, and just so everyone knows, there are no plans to buy Toren any violent toys – no guns, knives, swords, or army men.)