Memorial Day

I had a pretty good little Memorial Day today. I had to work, but that was my fault for scheduling a business trip without consulting The Queen.

I called my sales agency this morning and found out that Memorial Day is also a holiday in Puerto Rico. We still worked what we had planned for today, but it is funny that all three of us failed to realize it was a holiday when we planned this trip. When we got done with what we had scheduled, they took me out for some authentic Puerto Rican food. We ended up having a plantain soup for the first course, several types of fritters and plantains for an appetizer, mofongos for the meal and sangria during the entire meal.

Restaurante Raices in Caguas, PR makes authentic food that my friends said was what the mountain people ate long ago. I have to admit that there was not a lot of flavor in the food. The sangria was brought to the table in a beat up old aluminum pitcher and we were given little aluminum cups to drink from, kind of like what you think of the California miners using during the gold rush. They were primitive, but they kept the sangria cold.

I ate mofongos from my hotel restaurant when I was here last and they were just ok. The mofongos I had today were much better. They were served in a large wooden cup. The mashed plantains were coating the inside of the cup and the beef was inside with a dried plantain for garnish. The beef just melted in my mouth and the plantains tasted just right.

After eating I headed out on an adventure to find El Yunque, a rain forest in a national park. My rental GPS unit made me do circles for a while before getting me there two hours later. I had time to hike very fast up to a waterfall and back. I hope I got some great photos to show everyone a legitimate rain forest. It was pretty amazing. There was some bamboo, a lot of ferns and a lot of palms mixed in with some other trees and vines. At times i felt like Indiana Jones on a treasure hunt. The waterfall did not compare to those in Yosemite, but not many do.

I drove back to the hotel and took some photos of the view from my balcony, then ended the day with a run on a treadmill and a walk along the rocky coast outside my hotel. Like I said before, it was a nice little Memorial Day.

- Posted from my iPhone

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Perfect Day

I finished reading The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau. I really liked this book, but I don't know how practical it is for me. I would love to sell all my stuff and just take off to someplace in the world where I could volunteer and help people. I would love to not have to work a "normal" work day. The problem is that I have bills to pay and people to support.

After I finished the book I started thinking about what my perfect day would be. I think it would be great to start my day at eight o'clock in the morning. Wake up and drop Meg off at school. Come home and do some sort of exercise. I would prefer if I lived in the mountains on a lake. It would be great to take a kayak out on the lake every morning. A good jog or hike would also be spectacular in the morning.

After returning home and taking a shower it would then be time to get to work with whatever I would be doing. This is the part that gets a little fuzzy for me. I don't know what I am passionate about. I know that I want to do something that I love so work does not feel like work. I have thought about becoming a professional photographer, but I don't know if that is my passion. I really enjoy it when I am doing it, but I go weeks without picking up my camera. I also don't particluarly enjoy photographing people, but maybe that is because I am not good at posing people.

I would then pick Meg up from school and help her with her homework. At that point I would either do some more work or other projects that I like to do. I would exercise again in the evening after an early dinner and go to bed about midnight.

I know I have a lot of holes to fill in this perfect day, but it is a start.

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Recap: Personal Goals for 2010

I think I failed miserably this year. In my post of January 7, 2010, I listed my personal goals for 2010 as follows:

1. Reed 1 Book a Month.
2. Run in 2 5K Races.
3. Volunteer.
4. Change a Child's Life.

Here is a recap of how I did:

1. Reed 1 Book a Month.
I did OK on this goal. I read eleven books, listened to one audio book and read three short ebooks or pamphlets. I learned a lot this year and I plan to keep on learning into 2011. I plan on keeping this goal as is this year.

2. Run in 2 5K Races.
I failed miserably at this goal. I not only did not run in any 5K races, but I stopped exercising and running the last quarter of the year. I have put on about five or six pounds since I stopped. I am slowly starting to get back into things again by using the Nordic Track, but I really need to start running again. I plan on keeping this as a goal for 2011.

3. Volunteer.
All I can say is epic fail! I did not volunteer for anything this year. My excuse is that this year has just passed me by, but that is only an excuse. I really need to volunteer in 2011. I want to volunteer again at the Visalia Rescue Mission and I would like to do some work for Habitat for Humanity. I also have the idea in the back of my mind of an afterschool photography program at The Queen's school. Maybe I can figure out how to get that started this year. I really need to focus on this goal for 2011.

4. Change a Child's Life.
I don't know what to say about this one. We ended up getting two foster children for a little over a month. I really think we did change their lives, but I feel bad that we could not make a permanent change in their lives. I don't think we will get any other foster children for some time as it was much different than we expected. It was a learning experience. I think we can change a child's life without actually have them as a foster child. We can do this with some volunteer work or we can find another way. I would like to keep this as a goal for 2011, but I don't think it is realistic any more.

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SCICON Revisited

Most people who grew up in Tulare County visited SCICON when they were in the sixth grade as I did. I remember it being a fun time, but don't remember many details. The Queen went this year for her second time as a teacher and I decided to take a day off work and visit her up there.

I looked at a map and finally remembered the cabin I stayed in when I visited the first time, Winterhaven. I have a horrible memory, especially when it comes to my childhood, but I finally remembered the name of my cabin.

When I decided to visit The Queen I really started thinking about what I was expecting to see at SCICON. I remember thinking it was a cool place when I was in sixth grade, but would it still be cool or would it be run down. After all, it is run by the office of education which is a government office. We all know that our schools can become run down, so I thought SCICON might be the same way.

When we arrived I met the principal of SCICON, Rick, and found him to be a really nice guy. I later found out that he has been the principal for twenty-three years. He works long days since the SCICON day starts around seven in the morning and goes until about nine at night. He has a house on site, so he can go home throughout the day. His wife is the nurse there which means they get to spend some time together every day.

We made our way to the cabin where the teachers stay and I surprised The Queen. She had no idea that I was coming up to visit her. It was great to see her after a few days apart.

I was really surprised that SCICON was in great shape and was still very cool. As I walked around the main area and hiked some of the trails I started to remember little bits and pieces about my trip there in 1983. I remembered the bell and the dining hall.

The Queen and I decided to take the Sky Trail hike. That is the longest hike offered at SCICON. I took the hike when I was in sixth grade, but The Queen never had. It was a great hike and half way up I remembered the spot were we stopped and had a sack lunch when I made the hike as a sixth grader. We continued all the way up to Hermit's Cabin. I found the rebuilt cabin there. When I made the trip the first time, it was just a pile of wood with some pots around it.

In the end the hike took us a little more than three hours. It was a long time, but I really enjoyed it and took a lot of pictures. I would really like to take the trip up there for the day every year that The Queen is there. I even told her that it would be great if she got her administrative credential and became the principal of SCICON when Rick retires.

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Commitment

I understand commitment. I guess my understanding of it is different than that of other people.

Meg's soccer coach emphasized that everyone should be at practice by 5:30 yesterday. Not 5:45. Not 6:00. We got to practice a few minutes early and started kicking the ball around. The team mom got there a little later and said that none of the coaches would be there. I told her that I have no problem with coaching the girls, but a little notice would have been nice so I could prepare some drills.

The team mom asked me to coach and I agreed. I waited a while and the assistant coach for the other team showed up and took over. I asked him if his team was going to scrimmage, like they normally do and he said they were. I told him that when they do I could take the younger girls aside and work with them.

When it came time for the scrimmage I took over and set up a little scrimmage between the six girls that were there. They were disappointed that they did not get to scrimmage a real team. I was very sympathetic to them. The older girls scrimmage every practice and they never do. It seems that they older girls are the priority to the coach.

I had the girls scrimmage for a while and then I stopped them and taught them what off side is, how to handle the ball if they are the goal keeper, strategy for each position and strategy for throw-ins. They were all messing around quite a bit, but that is expected because of the way their coach runs practices. There is usually so much down time in between drills that they naturally mess around.

Near the end of the practice, they assistant coach from the older team told me that picture day was on Saturday. He said that he did not know what time, but asked me to hand out the order forms. I really came away from this practice disappointed in our coach.

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Another Year Down

I know this blog title may seem odd as New Year's Day was six months ago, but my birthday was last week. So in reference to age, another year has come and gone. As I think back about my thirty-ninth year, I believe it was a pretty good one.

As far as family is concerned, the year was great. We did not have any major emergencies. Nobody got hurt too badly. We actually made the decision to add another child(ren) to our family. I think we grew a lot as a family this past year.

My career remained on track. Nothing major happened. I think I am becoming a much more integral part of the company in my boss's eyes. He has really leaned on me for more decisions this past year. I feel good about where I am in the company, but would like to move higher. I guess that will be my goal for this year.

I feel like I have grown a lot in my personal life. I really started to exercise seriously this year and I feel much better than I have in a long time. I am in better shape than I have been since about 1996. That is a big accomplishment for me. I just need to stay on this path and continue to feel even better.

I have also been able to maintain my goal of reading twelve books this year. So far I have read five books and listened to one audio book. I have been reading the newest Intellectual Devotional as well. I am on pace to exceed my goal and even have the audio book as a bonus.

I have learned a lot from the books I have read. I have even been able to use some of my new found knowledge in my job. I have been acting as a mentor to our Assembly Manager. He comes to me for advice about the operation a lot. He just came to me again this last Friday. I told him that I may not have all of the answers, but I can give him an opinion based on a broad knowledge base and an open mind. I really think he appreciates my advice.

It was a great year. Here is looking forward to an even better fortieth year!

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I Love Chicago!

I really do love to visit Chicago. It is one of the cleanest big cities you will find. My only problem is that on this trip to Chicago, I am not really in Chicago. I am stuck in Rosemont, IL which is at the airport.

I am in town for some meetings. The trade association my company belongs to has two days of meetings every year and it seems like it is in Rosemont about every other year. I had to attend because I am a member of a committe that is also having a meeting in the same location. So I get three days of meeting in Rosemont.

The weather yesterday was great. The only problem was that I was stuck inside for most of the day. I did get out of the hotel in the morning and took a taxi ride to Target to get some supplies. I also got out of the hotel yesterday evening and took a 3.3 mile run around the neighborhood. This area looks like the typical Midwest from TV and the movies. The houses are all brick with some rock work and most of the yards have some nice raised planters. All of the grass is green and the flowers are in bloom.

Today the weather is not very good. It has been raining all day. I really wanted to take another run today, but I guess I will have to settle for the treadmill in the fitness center. I am really trying to get back into my fitness program on this trip so I can continue it when I get back home.

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Writer's Block or Rough Week?

I don't know if I am experiencing writer's block or if I am just having a rough week. Whatever it is, it is affecting most aspects of my life. I am really struggling to get up in the morning and exercise. I am also struggling to write on this blog. I guess maybe I just need a kick in the pants.

I have been exercising regularly for the last three months. I really enjoy most of my workouts, but it is getting tough to wake up in time to work them into my day. Maybe my boredom is that I am still stuck on the same workout. I need to change to my new workout next week and maybe that will solve my problem.

As for the writer's block, I blame the weather. It is very obvious that we are experiencing global climate change. We have had more rain than normal this year and the temperature is unseasonably low. This weather change is really affecting a lot of people where I live. More people than normal have been sick and allergies really seem to be hitting people hard, including me. I am struggling to breathe through my nose because I am always congested. I am also sneezing many times per day.

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Final Track Meet

Meg had her final track meet on Friday night. We invited my parents, my sister and neices and Unk Timmers to the meet. They all made it and were very supportive of Meg. I was scheduled to help time events.

Meg did not act like she was into her event very much before the meet. She did not ask me any questions. I gave her some advice and she was not very receptive. The one thing I told her that she paid attention to was to not let the tall girl from her school pull away from her again like she did the last race. That really sunk in.

I ended up having to time her race. For some of the races each timer took a lane and for the other races we took a finishing place. For Meg's race we ended up taking a finishing place because there were so many boys and girls running. I ended up timing for the fourth place girl.

Meg got off to a pretty rough start to the race. I did not see the actual start, but by the time I looked for her she was kind of lurching back because there was such a crowd around her. She struggled for ten seconds or so and then started to run her race. She has always run her eight hundred meter race at a good pace. It shows me that she has really practiced well.

She ran a really good race and as she got to the final straight section of the tack she really picked up her pace. She finished strong and ened up passing another girl to move into fourth place. She was almost sprinting as she crossed the finish line. I ended up being the one who timed her race. I met her and gave her the time for her race and told her that she finished in fourth place. I told her that she ran a great race and told her I was proud of her.

I had to keep timing races, so I did not get to spend much time with the fam. I texted them all her results. I never heard the announcement of the results for her race. We all went out to dinner when I was done timing. At dinner the fam told me that they announced that Meg got third place. I told them that she actually got fourth, but the person timing the second place finisher did not time them. It was a real mess trying to figure everything out. We don't know what ribbon she will end up receiving. I guess we will just have to wait until tomorrow to see what she brings home.

Meg's principal was in charge of receiving all of the times for the races and recording them. He was a somewhat passive person, which really surprised me. That was the first time I had any interaction with him and he was not what I expected. I guess I am used to take charge people in the business world and maybe the leaders in the education world are just not that way. Or maybe it was his first time performing that job at a track meet and he was just a little over his head. Either way, I was surprised.

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Track Meet

Before I get started, I want to announce a change I am making. I am tired of referring to people in my life with code names, so unless there is a real reason to protect identities I am dropping them. The one exception is that I will probably continue to refer to Tina as The Queen.

Meg had her second track meet this past Friday night. On Thursday night she asked me how she could get faster. I told her that she has done everything she could possibly do at that point because she has been practicing. I told her that the only thing left was to keep telling herself that she was not tired. That she could run faster. That she could pass the girl in front of her. She said that she would try that.

On Friday night, Meg was her typical self. She was full of energy and could not sit still. When they announced her even, the 800M, her and a friend told the coach that they needed to go to the restroom. I don't even think she heard her event announced. By the time they got back the announcer had already given the second call for the runners. I rushed down to her and her friend and told the coach that I would take them to the even. We hurried down to the infield.

The school track coach was just letting the runners do whatever they wanted to do while they waited for the even to start. Meg and her friends were stretching some, doing jumping jacks, doing jump kicks and doing shoulder rolls. Not at all what I would consider the proper warm-up activities. I was just hoping that she was not going to wear herself out before her event.

She had quite a long wait for her event, but the announcer finally called the runners to the starting line. Meg lined up about five runners in from the outside of the track. She got a decent start and made her way to the inside of the track. I thought she was running a great race. She held her pace pretty steady for the entire length. When she was coming around the last turn, she caught up to one of the other runners from her school. They spoke to each other briefly and then that girl picked up her pace and pulled away from Meg.

Meg finished the race in sixth place. I think she was probably the first third grader to finish the race, unfortunately the race is for both third and fourth graders. I am curious to see if she improved her time from the first track meet. It really appeared to me that she ran better this time, even though she finished two places later than her first race. She did a great job.

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How Obesity Affects My Life

Let me first state that I am not obese. I have been a little overweight for most of my life, and am still a little out of my target weight range now. I would not consider myself obese at this point, but obesity affects many parts of my life. I am not just talking about sitting next to an obese person on an airplane.

Most of my friends are obese. I don't know why it happened as we were all about the same in high school. Over the last twenty years since we graduated they have steadily gained weight. A few have lost weight, then gained it back several times. One has had lap-band surgery and is doing pretty well. She is not at her ideal weight and I don't know if she will ever get there, but she has lost a lot of weight.

Here is how their obesity affects my life. This weekend The Queen and I were looking at some patio furniture. We were sitting in the chairs to see how comfortable they were. I tried several before I found the one chair that I thought was the most comfortable and looked to be the best built. I was sitting in the chair when The Queen said that we could not buy that set. I asked her why and she told me that our friends would not fit in them.

This is not the first time we have had that conversation. We have looked at patio furniture several times over the past few years and this topic comes up every time. Why can't I buy a piece of furniture without worrying if my friends will be able to sit in it. It is my furniture!

I have been working out pretty religiously for the past six weeks or so. I wake up at about four-thirty in the morning to fit it into my day without taking time away from family. I am tired most days because I wake up so early. I am really trying to get healthier and I finally feel like I am getting their. I have talked to coworkers about the subject from time to time and I don't feel bad about it.

We were at some friends house on Saturday for a birthday party. We were all in the kitchen and I started talking about my exercise program and how I am starting to see some positive changes. I wanted to share my excitement with my friends. Everything was fine until we got home. The Queen told me that I should not have talked about my exercise to my friends. She told me that me talking about it could make them feel bad.

She told me that she has heard the comments from them before when she has talked about exercising. If these people are my friends, why can't I talk to them about something that I am excited about? I can talk to my coworkers about it, so why can't I talk to my close friends about it? I see The Queen's point, but it just frustrates me.

It sure seems like we are all walking on eggshells around obese members of our society, which make up the majority of people in the valley. You see people criticize models for not being real people. There have been pushes for plus sized models. There are plus size stores popping up all over the place. Why are we catering to these people who are "sick" instead of trying to help them? It just doesn't make sense to me.

The Queen told me a story of a wife that got mad that her husband ate some fast food for lunch instead of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that he took to work. She was mad because she is trying to lose weight and he is supposed to be supporting her and keeping her motivated. This is so wrong for many reasons. If you are not motivated by yourself, you will not succeed. You cannot blame other people for your behavior. You must take responsibility for your own actions. So if he starts to lose weight faster than her is she going to make him stop exercising? Where does it all end? When will obese people stop affecting my decisions? Is it selfish of me to think this way?

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Excellent Debut

Earlier this year, Cheeseball informed The Queen and I that she joined the school track team. She is in third grade this year and it is the first year they let third graders join the team. Several of her friends joined with her.

This was a big surprise to me since after our Thanksgiving 5K run she told me she didn't want to run again. I was happy she decided to give running another chance because she is pretty good at it. She tried several distances until she ultimately decided to run the eight hundred meter, which is two laps around the track.

They have practice twice a week and were scheduled to have three track meets this year, the last of which was supposed to me a type of championship meet. Her first track meet was rained out last month. She was both excited and nervous for that meet. When we go there she started to relax after hanging out with her friends. She was really disappointed when they announced that the track meet was cancelled. I was a little relieved since I signed up to help with the timing of some of the events.

Her second meet was this past Friday. It was a month after the first meet was rained out. She did not seem either nervous or excited for this meet so I did not know what to expect from her. Before we left her with her friends, I gave her some quick advice. I told her to keep the girls in the lead within reach. Do not try to keep up with them, but keep them close. I told her to sprint to the finish. That was all.

I watched with a nervous excitement as her group was waiting to be called to the starting line. She actually had to stand their waiting for a few 100 meter races. It was finally her turn. They called her group to the starting line and got them set. The race started and she did just what I told her to do, although she was a little farther back in the pack. She kept a great pace for the first half to three-quarters of the first lap. Then she got caught behind some slow runners and she slowed down a bit.

She was finally able to move around them and then picked up her pace again. I was excited for her because she was running a good race. She continued her pace for most of the second lap. She was in front of the pack at this point and was using another girl to pace herself. That girls started slowing down, so Cheeseball slowed down with her instead of passing her. She didn't sprint to the finish, but kept pace with the girl in front of her. I really thought she could have passed her, but I was happy with her race.

She made her way back to the stands where we were and actually ran with one of her friends. She was not as tired as I thought she would be. We waited to hear the results of her race. It was hard to hear, but she ended up finishing in fourth place. If she would have known that the girl she was using for pacing at the end was in third maybe she would have passed her instead. I was really happy for her though. She did great for her first race and she ended up with the best finish from her school in that race.

I think the race was very confusing for all of the runners. The race included third and fourth grade boys and girls. There was a big crowd at the start of the race with a lot of runners.

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Daylight Saving Time and New Exercise Routine

I hate Daylight Saving Time. I lose more than an hour when the time changes. I get so tired this time of year. I think it may be due to allergies, the time change, and the weather change all together. I usually struggle to wake up and get to work at my normal time for a few weeks. This year I wanted to change this.

I decided that I was going to start doing my exercises in the morning. The only problem is that this change was going to coincide with the time change. I decided to press forward and use it as a way to let the time change affect me less.

I woke up yesterday at about three o'clock and could not go back to sleep. I just laid in bed until my alarm went off at four o'clock. I finally got out of bed about five minutes later and got ready to exercise. It was tough to wake up this early and be ready to exercise, but I struggled through. I yawned almost the entire hour.

I felt good after I was done, but I was tired most of the day. I started getting groggy around ten in the morning. It was a real struggle to make it through the day. I picked up Cheeseball at her after school program and headed for home. I thought I might fall asleep and even asked her to wake me in time to make dinner if I nodded off. It didn't happen even though I was very tired. I made dinner and had every intention of doing some abdominal exercises, but I got tied up paying bills and doing some financial work.

Today is day two of my new exercise plan, and I must say that I am extremely tired. I woke up this morning at about a quarter after four. I felt more tired than yesterday, but I did not yawn through my exercise. I guess this means that I will be able to stick to my routine.

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At a Crossroads

I am starting my second week of P90X, and I just don't feel like I think I should at this point. I ended up skipping 3 of the workouts last week due to sickness and commitments. I substituted a 2 mile run for one of the days, and really struggled after not running for a week.

I just don't feel like I have gotten the aerobic workout I was hoping for at this point in the program. I also feel like I am not losing any weight, but I know I need to give that some time. I am going to keep up with the workouts this week and next and then reevaluate it again.

I am at a crossroads, because I was really disappointed that I struggled with my run on Saturday. I had to walk for part of it for the first time in a long time. Although the walk was because I ended up tweaking my shoulder, which may have been due to the P90X workouts I did last week. I don't know what the cause of the injury was, but I felt really tight just before it happened.

I spoke to a friend of my father-in-law's last night who is a runner and he said that I was probably tensing up just before the injury happened. He said it happens to him sometimes and he just needs to drop his arms and loosen them up sometimes to prevent it from happening.

Maybe I should wake up a little earlier and run a few miles in the morning and do the P90X workout in the evening. That would be the best of both worlds and would probably do me the most good. I guess I will have to give it a try starting this week or next, depending on how I feel after my second week of workouts begins.

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P90X

I started a new exercise routine on Monday night. I bought the P90X program a few months ago, but just have not been able to start it. I have been lazy. I started running again a few weeks ago, figuring that I need to exercise more again. Last week some people at work started talking about someone else who started the program.

I am motivated to continue with the program, but the first night was really tough. I took all my measurements, starting photos and previewed the first DVD, back and chest. It really did not look that tough and the people on the video were not doing very many reps of the push-ups and pull-ups. I thought is was going to be challenging, but that I could complete it.

I was very wrong. I could not keep up with the number of reps they were doing. I had to use their approved cheating methods for most of the exercises and I was still not able to do them all. It is much tougher than it looked and it almost took a full hour.

At the end of the back and chest exercises I moved on to fifteen minutes of abdominal work with the Ab Ripper X. They do twenty-five reps of all of the exercises and I could not finish any of them. I had to take breaks, which they allow, in the middle of each one. Some I really struggled with because I have never attempted anything like them before.

During the workout, they encourage you to record your number of reps and wight that was used. I did this on paper then transferred all of the numbers into a spreadsheet when I was done. I really need to keep records so I can track my progress.

I mixed some Lemon-lime Accelerade with water after my workout as a recovery drink. It was tough to drink because it was a little grainy, but I got through it. I was very tight the next day, but was not sore at all. I think the Accelerade really helped me in this respect, so it was well worth the money.

I will keep writing about my progress with this exercise program throughout the 90 days.

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