Ella is here!

January 20^th 2011 started like any other day with Mike and Kisti arising early.  Kisti was headed to the hospital as usual, only this time Mike was going with her and she wasn’t at the hospital to deliver babies. She was going to have a baby. They arrived at the hospital and showered (as their shower was being repaired).  Kisti said hi to all her friends then her doctor kicked them out so he could give her the medicine.  Boredom prevailed as Kisti was not used to sitting around, she checked the board to see if she could do a C-Section while she as waiting.  Then the contractions began.  She walked around to distract herself.  However, this proved fruitless after the doctor broke her water.  Walking,
standing, sitting, laying down, it didn’t matter, she wanted the anesthesiologist.  Her buddy, the chief of anesthesia came down.  Ever the planner, Kisti asked him about an epidural when she was twenty weeks pregnant.  Five minutes later she could not feel her legs or the contractions.   

The day passed and finally she was fully dilated.  It was time to push.  While pushing, the doctor
told Mike and Kisti that the baby had lots of dark hair.  They didn’t believe him.  Sure enough, at 1036 pm Ella was born with a full head of dark brown hair.  Mike watched the delivery and even cut the cord without losing consciousness (there was a bet going at the nurse’s desk about when during the delivery he would pass out…Kisti had warned them of Mike’s aversion to blood). Ella tipped the scale at 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 21 inches long. 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This summer I am taking a class through UConn’s School of Business, entitled Management Information Systems. One of the assignments was to Google your name and write a blog entry about the experience.

As you can probably imagine, Mike Fuller is a common name. In fact, Google returned over 780,000 hits. I found many Mike Fuller’s including;
The former NFL DB who played for the Chargers and the Bengals.
A Grammy Award winning sound engineer who has his own recording studio in Florida.
An architect in Aspen Colorado that specializes in green designs.
A magician from Macon Georgia
A musician
An astronomer
A DJ from Seattle
And a professor from Hawaii

Obviously none of these guys are me. So I refined my search to see if this helped me to find me. I typed in “Mike Fuller UConn” and this was first search result:

OFFICE HOURS - Department of Communication Sciences UConn
FULLER, MIKE 486-4370. PCSB 227 mike.fuller@uconn.edu. COMM 1100-08 MWF 11 CHMT 112. COMM 1100-11 MWF 12 STRS 002. Office Hours: MW 9:15-10:45 ...
coms.uconn.edu/office_hours.html - Cached - Similar

This is a link to my office hours and contact information for my graduate assistantship.


Lastly I searched for “Mike Fuller Triathlon” and got several results that were mine:

Health Net Triathlon. ... Detail, 81, 12, 255, FULLER, Mike, WEST HARTFORD CT, M35-39, 00:33:56.627, 00:01:23.322, 01:10:19.387, 00:01:01.385, 00:50:47.101 ...
www.trifitness.net/HealthNet%20Results%202009.htm - Cached - Similar

Cool Running :: Pat Griskus Sprint Triathlon Race Results
Jul 8, 2009 ... Complete 2009 race results for Pat Griskus Sprint Triathlon ... 23:53 1:13:59 118 276 Mike Fuller M 37 15/36 M3539 West Hartford CT 2 15:51 ...
www.coolrunning.com › ... › connecticut 2009 race results - Cached - Similar

Obviously with a common name like Mike, I have to be more specific when I search, hence the millions of hits just using Mike Fuller.

First Triathlon of the Summer

This past weekend I competed in the first triathlon of the summer. It was held at a local amusement park. The swim was fun, the bike consisted of rolling hills where I was going 8 mph one moment and 45 mph the next. I took the bike out a little too fast and payed for it on the run. It was 6.2 miles which lulled me into a false sense of security with the first two miles going downhill. Things changed around mile 3 and got worse from there. But it was a fun, tough triathlon one that I would like to do again next year. Here are a few pictures.

Two minutes before the horn.....

Only the bike and run left. I was surprised by how fast I did the swim, that is why I am checking my watch, I wanted to make sure it was correct.

Trying to get my wetsuit off, these things are tricky at times.

Exiting the transition to start the bike portion.

Finishing the bike, smiling for Kisti.


Now the fun begins, 6.2 mile run. The course was tough, the steepest climb was a half mile from the finish......brutal.

Sprinting...ok more like a brisk jog to the finish.

Finished! Kisti was no slouch, she ran 8 miles while I was on the bike.

One Year Anniversary

It is difficult to believe that we have been married for a year. It certainly evaporated quickly, with Kisti busy in her third year of residency and Mike working on his PhD as well as teaching. For our anniversary we decided to take advantage of our Canadian proximity and visit Montreal. We had an enjoyable four days sampling the French cuisine, hiking Mont Royal, visiting old Montreal, the many shops and markets as well as the botanical gardens. We even managed to attend church and do a French session at the Montreal temple. Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Waiting at customs.

Notre Dame.

Overlooking Montreal.

Hiking in Mont Royal above the city.

Kisti was attacked by a butterfly at the botanical gardens.

Kisti eating the best turkey sandwich ever. We found this little place near our hotel and ate there at least once a day after. Great food!



The Peel metro station, Mike liked the architecture of this stop.

Riding the metro.

More old Montreal

Preparing to watch the 3-D IMAX movie, SPACE.

Montreal Temple.

Returning to the States.

Happy Holidays

The Following Post is Six Months late, it just started warming up here so it felt like winter. Additionally, Mike should be studying for finals and Kisti should be reading about pelvic anatomy, lets face it though you can only study for so long.

Kisti enjoying Christmas treats




New PJ's!

Kisti stuffed my stocking with the best gift ever, the cookie of the month club, the gift that keeps on giving!!!

This is kind of a scary picture, Mike is rocking the awesome bed head. On the other hand Kisti always looks good despite lack of sleep.

Kisti's favorite gift, an electric blanket, she used it all winter and most of spring.

Kevin soaking his legs after a 20 mile run with Mindi. Kisti and I felt like slackers only running 8 miles.

Thanksgiving with the my parents, Michelle, Josh and Wyatt, hiking in North Carolina.

Kisti excited to be in the sunshine.

Henry's Smoke House, the best barbque in town, I had to take Kisti here. She loved it.

NYC Marathon

Kisti ran in the NYC marathon (thanks to our best good friend Keith Meyer who works for Timex). She tricked Mike into doing some of the training with her-he actually got up to 14 miles before he bailed. Mike was no slouch though. He did bike spotting for the T.V. crew. He got to ride his bike all through NYC.

Post-race in Time Square. People kept stopping Kisti and congratulating her.

Kisti outside of Central Park with her medal. We had to walk 25 blocks from Central Park to the hotel-which was very painful for Kisti. Mike offered to put her on his bike and push her. Kisti stopped twice for snacks and water during their walk.

Kisti was glad to be done with her third and final marathon. No one believes her but Mike, at least he hopes it is true, those 14 mile training runs are brutal.

At the finish line! Mike had a press pass so he could get to the finish line and wait for Kisti. Marci gave Mike live updates via text so he knew when she was coming.

Mike rode his bike along the marathon route to give real-time updates to the T.V. crew. His job was to follow Edward Norton. Mike finally found him an hour after he had finished the race.

Mike with his radio and headphones. While he was riding spectators kept yelling at him that he was cheating. They were so loud he could hear it with the sound-proof headphones on. Kisti couldn't hear her IPOD over the crowds either. Crazy New Yorkers.

Mike first NYC taxi ride. He realized that his dad missed his calling as a NYC taxi cab driver. He would have been the best with his propensity to slam on the gas and the brakes and tailgait.

Mike had fun driving though Time Square. His love of driving in NYC ended when he had to drive around 2 miles to get from the parking garage to the hotel, which was one block away.

Rockport, MA

We went to Rockport after seeing how beautiful it was while watching The Proposal. It is just 30 min past Boston. We spent one Saturday seeing the sights, eating fresh food and candy, and taking a kayak tour.

Kisti enjoying a very, very, very fresh lobster.

Enjoying dinner overlooking the harbor.



The best and biggest reese cup ever!

We love chocolate!

Kisti in the harbor.