Author: Jeff

No matter how old we got, Joe was always a big brother to me.

He always looked out for me, and over the years we had a lot of great times together.

I learned a lot from him and I’m a better person because of him.

I’ll miss having him to turn to when I need a big brother around to reassure me.

He had his struggles and setbacks recently, but I was always proud of him —

Proud of all the things he was able to achieve, proud to call him my big brother.

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Years ago, Joe showed me around Manhattan and I learned to love the city.

He made me fly alone for the first time to meet him in Las Vegas and I learned to love traveling.

He came with me to a Stevie Nicks concert when no one else wanted to go.

He took me to see bands in Philadelphia and I learned to love local music.

But mostly, Joe encouraged me to have confidence in myself and to push myself in my career – which I’m still working on………..

Those are just a few examples of how he always wanted me to experience the best of life.

Can’t believe the year is almost over - the last entry I posted was to recap the 1/2 marathon in June and now the Twin Cities 10-miler has come and gone. I did very well in the 10-mile this year despite the rainy weather, so I’m looking forward to the next race in the spring of ’09 when I can do another 1/2 marathon. It helps to have the great trails in Elm Creek park so close to the house to do my training runs.

Thanskgiving was great as usual, now we’re ready for Christmas, and then my favorite time of year – snowboarding season!

The 1/2 marathon wet well despite the tough course — Lots of bridges to crosss back and forth over the Mississippi and a lot of steep hills. My finish time wasn’t too shabby, but next year will be better.

Otherwise, we FINALLY got around to staining the deck – I’m sure the neighbors are thrilled. It looks great – we’ll see how long a 5-yr deck stain lasts in MN.