The Time is Precious I Know...

That's right. Culture Club.

I need more time. Am I the only one? Surely not. There's just too much I want (and often need) to do to fit in 24 hours or even one piddly lifetime:

1. Family time
2. Family devotions
3. Mountain biking
4. Trail running
5. Motorcycle/Classic car restoration
6. Creating art
7. So much reading (nearly 200 books on my to-read list)
8. Woodworking
9. Learning (art, martial arts, languages, etc)

How do I prioritize when it's clear there are things I'll likely never do? It's one thing to put something like Trail Running over Woodworking and say I'll do this first and the other second. That works if I have 90 minutes and I know I need 45 for each. Easy enough. But what if I only have 45 minutes? Then I'm really saying I'll do this instead of this.

If I try to fit everything in, it seems like I end up doing nothing all that well. I'm well rounded but mediocre. No focus. Also, I'm very tired.

I started this post about the time I took my break from publishing posts nearly 2 years ago.  It's sad to see how little has changed on my list in that time.

In the words of the bard: Time won't give me time.

Goals Twenty-Ten

I welcome 2010. I'm going to own 2010. I think it's going to be a good year.

Like so many others at this time of year, I'm putting together some goals for the future. Goals have been a popular subject on the Dave Ramsey show recently. You can read/listen to a recent call about goal setting here. It was a good call. Dave identified several categories for goal setting: Career, Financial, Spiritual, Intellectual, Physical, and Family. I've given these some thought and here's my initial list. I'll leave them open to ongoing review.

Career

• Do something with those picture books I've written. Write that cover letter. Send it out. That fits under Career, right?.

Financial

• Tweak our envelope system. Already done.
• Bump up college savings.
• Replenish our savings (just bought a new HVAC system for the house...ouch).
• Work on long range savings (vacation, car, etc).

Spiritual

• Finish this read-through of the Bible.

Intellectual

• Dig into my non-fiction reading list. At least one per month. Probably two with some fiction thrown in.

Physical

• Run a local 5k trail run in the spring.
• Put on another 10-15 pounds.

Family

• Family/Couples Devotions. Also falls under Spiritual
• Family Vacation!

A less tangible goal for the year would be to pursue my strengths. That is, spend less time worrying about my weaknesses and, instead, invest more into what I do well. That doesn't mean I'll slack off on things I don't enjoy activities where I don't feel gifted. I just not worry about it as much. God gave me my strengths for a reason.

The real question, of course, is whether I'll follow through with this goals.

Further Thoughts on Fitness

It’s been about a year since I started exercising with more intensity than I had for, well, a very long time. I kept with it for quite awhile. By the time summer arrived, I'd put on a few pounds and that was good. And, by a few pounds, I mean something like ten. I did slack off a little with summer when time was consumed with other activities like mowing the yard, building bookcases, and even taking vacations. Honestly, I'm hoping to put on another ten. That would put me close to my BSU graduation weight.

Fast forward a bit. I had my annual physical a few weeks ago and everything looked good with the exception that my HDL cholesterol (the good kind) was a little low. To fix it, I can a) stop smoking, b) maintain a healthy weight, or c) get regular exercise. Since I've never smoked and my weight is good, that narrowed the options down quite a bit. Anyway, I’m back at exercising and, in addition to re-hitting the weights, I picked up running again.

The running has been good. So far, I've managed to work up to around 3 miles in a run. I'm slow but I'm doing it. I did run cross-country in high school. By that, I mean I participated. I was never very good. I’m still not a big fan of road running, preferring grass, trails, etc. I've been circling the local school grounds in the early, early morning hours. It's actually pretty cool. I can stop for pull-ups on the playground between laps and there's also a good tree line that provides both a good slalom course and zombie-dodging practice. I'd really like to get in a 5k trail run race sometime. There's one locally in October but I’m not sure the schedule will allow for that. Maybe next spring. I probably won’t shoot for much more than a 5k…maybe a 10k. I think I'd find a fast 5k/10k more fun than a marathon. And, let's face it, I'm really training for the zombie uprising. If I haven't made it to a mall/farmhouse/prison/hospital/outpost/etc. within 5k, I'm going to have to stop and make a stand.

Speaking of zombies, the one drawback to the exercise is that I'm hungry all...the...time.

Cha..Cha...Changes

Yet another long gap in blogging. I am still around. Honest. Here's the rundown on the last few months. I'll keep them brief with the plan to post more on each later.

1. Here's the big, big news. We're having another baby! That's right. Number Three is due in early November. Our oldest was born in late November 2006. If you do your math and Baby Three is reasonably on time, we'll have three kids under the age of three for about a month. Yikes!
2. Denisa and I went on vacation. We spent a few days in Michigan's Beach Towns while the boys stayed with my parents. Everyone had a blast. And we very much appreciated the time.
3. I'm constructing built-in bookcases to surround our fireplace. The first (of two) is nearly complete. I'm in the middle of working on the second. I hope to have everything except the doors done by the end of the September (of 2009).
4. I have a couple other creative projects in the works. Some writing. Some woodworking. Some artwork. A lot of general awesomeness.
5. Speaking of awesome, I wrote a Mission Statement. Here's the short version: Bring the Awesome. I'm debating whether or not to post the longer one.
6. I'm doing a six-week study at church based on Raising a Modern Day Knight by Robert Lewis. I read the book awhile ago. The study has been a good supplement.
7. I started running again. Not a lot but I'm steadily able to run longer, faster, and with less pain.
8. I've been reading some good stuff:

• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis
• The Silver Chair by CS Lewis
• The Last Battle by CS Lewis
• Me, Myself, and Bob by Phil Vischer
• Story by Robert McKee
• The Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman
• Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household
• The 39 Steps by John Buchan
• Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser
• Diamonds are Forever by Ian Fleming
• The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
• Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias

Farm Fresh!

We're trying something new at home. It's a service called Farm Fresh Delivery. It seems like a pretty cool idea. They deliver fresh organic produce directly to your door. They offer a number of different packages on either a weekly or bi-weekly plan. And there's no contract to sign...it's just a standing order you can cancel anytime. You can even make substitutions if there's something on your delivery that you don't like.

This really isn't a sales pitch...

Anyway, we signed up to have produce delivered every other week. Our first green tub of fruits and vegetables arrived this past Tuesday. In two weeks, I believe we simply set the old tub out on the porch and Farm Fresh Delivery swaps it out for another one with our new order.

So far, our experience has been very positive. We did make a couple substitutions in our delivery. I think we requested grapes instead of Brussels sprouts. Seems like we opted out of something else but I can't recall. What we did get included oranges, apples (2 kinds), pears, onions, potatoes, garlic, lettuce, and kiwi. We've tried a good deal of it. I know the the apples, oranges, and pears have been really good.

With no contract, we figured we didn't have much to lose by trying it out. We'll see after a couple months if it still makes sense for us. Will we use the food we get? Will it be enough? What's the budgetary difference between this an buying food at the supermarket?

Has anyone else tried it (or something similar) out? What was your experience?

Updates

So I haven't really been feeling the blog lately. I've had a lot of other things going on and keeping the blog updated hasn't exactly been a high priority. Here's a couple quick on various aspects of my life:

1. The family is awesome. Jonah had some stomach funkiness a few weeks ago but he's over that. He's rolling over now and even eating rice cereal. He's growing so fast. Jesse is picking up new words all that time. More than that, he's starting to put them together in actual sentences. We've been participating in MOPS date night recently. Ok, only once so far as the MOPS season has just started. But we're really liking that. If you're not familiar with it, it's kind of like a babysitting co-op. There are 18 couples working together and every couple weeks, three of the couples watch the kids of the other 15. Through the 18 week schedule, I think we'll work three and have 15 date nights of our own. I would highly recommend that kind of thing to parents.



2. Reading. I've read a lot of 007 books by Ian Fleming lately: Casino Royale, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, and one whose title would likely bump the blogs rating up a bit (Bond fans, you know what I'm talking about). They've all been a blast to read. They'd better be or would've been silly for me to read so many. The 007 books are a lot different the movies. Much more realistic. It's funny to see the covers of the books and their portrayal of the scantily clad woman when you know that it has absolutely nothing to do with the actual writing. I think they're just trying to play up the relationship to the movies. I also read Men and Cartoons by Jonathan Lethem. It's a collection of short stories in several genres. All were interesting and fun to read.

3. I've been exercising more. Ok, not necessarily more but definitely with more intensity. I'm putting a more concerted effort into it. For me, that planning, simplification, and turning off the television while I work out. It makes a big difference. I feel better and the bathroom scale has me slowly inching back up to my college weight.

4. Speaking of college, I went rock climbing with a couple college buddies at Climb Time this past weekend. It was the third time I've gone and the second time I've gone with this two friends. It is really a lot of fun. We had a good showing and we all successfully climbed walls that we really didn't think we'd do. There is one section of evil blue wall that I could never get. Next time, Blue! Anyway, I'm definitely feeling it in my forearms. I'm also feeling a nice bruise on my knee and another on my chest.

5. My priorities seem to be in a constant state of flux. Without going into too much detail, the shortness and preciousness of life have really been at the forefront of my mind lately. I'm not sure how I'll use that just yet. Part of me says "Why mess around with saving for retirement when I can enjoy things now? To heck with my Roth IRA, I'm buying an Alfa Romeo." But I also know that's not entire healthy. I'll keep you posted. And, if I get an Alfa, I'll take pictures.

Later.

Off-Roadin'

I’ve posted a few entries on this in the past but, recently, I’ve been trying to take better care of my physical self. Most notable is my attempt to keep at a semi-regular running routine. I did actually run cross-country back in middle and high school. While I wasn’t overly competitive at it, I’m sure Coach Shenfeld would be embarrassed by how I’ve “let myself go”. Anyway, I genuinely do want to shape up and I’ve found that running off-road is a lot more fun than running on.

I ran on the local high school’s cross-country cross a couple times over the past few days. The excursions were painful but, also, a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed the clean air, the woods, and the quiet. I even spied a doe and her fawn. The other thing I like about running in the woods is that the trees have an interesting effect. Having them “rushing past” on either side at least makes it feel like I'm really going fast even if I'm not. That sense of velocity is a good motivator. If you happen to be someone interested in running but, like me, find road running incredibly boring, I recommend finding a trail and taking a jog.

A friend of mine, a personal trainer, recently recommended Do Indiana Off-Road (DINO), an organization committed to mountain biking and trail running. They apparently host events in various parks throughout Indiana. I’m thinking I might be interested in a 5k trail run. Maybe not THIS weekend…but sometime in the future.

Fitness to get the Heart Racing

There's a cemetery across the street from my apartment complex. I went jogging on its paths last night when it was already a little dark and stormy. Is that creepy? It didn't feel too creepy. In any case, it was a great run and I'm feeling pretty good about it.

As a side note, my previous comments about running and the zombie uprising have prompted me to refer to the workout as "going on patrol".

The Longest 400 Seconds of My Life

After warming up with a short jog, I hit the track last night. Utilizing the wicked slick sports watch I got for Father’s Day, I clocked myself at a 6:39 mile. Ok, so it wasn’t quite 400 seconds. Very close, though.

While certainly not horrible, that’s really not that great. Especially since I only ran a mile. That is, my goal was to run 1 (and ONLY 1) mile and it wasn’t part of a 5K or anything. Here’s what I learned from the experience:

1. I am out of shape. Those middle 800 meters hurt like the dickens. My legs didn’t feel that bad but I thought my lungs were on fire. My cardiovascular strength needs the most help.

2. I am simply out of practice. It’s been so long since I’ve run a mile (and paid attention to the distance) that I had difficulty estimating what I could do. Am I running too fast? If I speed up, will I collapse? When it was done, I’m pretty sure I had a little left to give. Had I known, I definitely would’ve pushed myself a bit more.

Anyway, it wasn’t a bad run. There’s certainly room for improvement and now I know.

Fitness? Fit-THIS!

Despite my previous entry regarding my views on jogging/running, I have failed to follow through with my plan to run parking lots. There really is no excuse for this. I fear I will find myself woefully unprepared for the zombie wars.

That being said, I went running the other night. It was the first time I’d done so for quite awhile. Much to my surprise, it went pretty well. I’m not really of fan of road running so I jumped the fence behind the apartments and tackled the practice fields of the local high school. I can’t say how far I ran. Nor can I even document the length of time I ran. I do know I ran far enough to make that post-run fence jump back appear pretty intimidating. (Note to self: Zombies probably can’t climb fences!)

I’m planning another run for tonight. I’m contemplating a trip to the school’s 400m track to see check my mile time. It's well know that zombies excel at the distance runs so I’ll really need to put some space between myself and them within the first mile.

Fitness by Brett

I scored a great deal on a second-hand Bowflex a couple months ago and I love the thing. I need to use it more often but that but that’s another entry altogether. What’s become painfully clear, though, is that I need to work on some sort of aerobic activity. I ran cross-country in high school and that was good. I’ve since dabbled in running but never with the kind of commitment needed to gain real health benefits.

I think the biggest problem with that kind of long-distance running is that it’s really “jogging”. Honestly, I don’t find jogging to be all that fun. Mind you, I do like to run but it really has to be running. I need to feel the air rushing by. I need to see the scenery lose focus. I need to feel like I actually have to lean forward to keep my legs from leaving my body behind (notice the italicized "running").

Besides, when do you ever really need to jog? When, in real life, will I ever need to travel 8 miles on foot and at a pace faster than a walk? When my car breaks down? And my moped breaks down. AND my bicycle breaks down? That doesn’t seem likely. C’mon, mopeds run forever.

Now, running is a skill you can really use. Chasing the dog in the back yard…running. Catching my kid before he falls down…running. The impending zombie horde uprising (believe me, they’re just biding their time)…definitely running.

So, here’s my new workout plan. Whenever I’m out on errands, I’m going to run the parking lot. Yep. Instead of searching for a good spot, I’ll just park and book-it to the entrance. When I’m done, I’ll bolt to the car. It’ll be top speed or nothing, even if I have to push a cart. Sure, it’ll be awkward to leave my wife at the car while I run to the store but she’ll probably appreciate me getting back early enough to pick her up at the store exit. Otherwise, I’m thinking people will just assume I’m in a huge rush without actually realizing I’m just checking out the stock of Hot Wheels cars.

With the stops at Target, the library, and work, I bet I can get in multiple 100-yard dashes each day. And think of the time savings!