207

It's not an area code I want to visit (sorry Maine!) but more importantly it's not a number I ever wanted to see when I stepped on the scale. But the number 207 became a reality for me about three weeks ago when I decided to see where my weight was.

I can't say that I was surprised. Nobody can eat just one Pringle. But I was finishing off tubes of them in one sitting. I was also on a second plate at dinner most nights, not exercising like I should have, and in general just being lazy. But something had pushed me towards that scale in the bathroom. Actually a few things. The first was the Michelin tire I noticed growing around my waste and how hard it made it to squeeze into any of my pants that were not elastic. Secondly, I started to feel like crap after every meal. Like I was full and bloated and just wanted to go and lie down someplace. Not good when you've just eaten lunch at work and you've got 5 more hours to put in. I also noticed an uptick in my blood pressure. Usually health care providers ask me if I'm dead when they take my pressure because it's so low, but I was starting to get questions like "did you run to get in here"? Finally I had started using a sleep aid nightly and while it was supposedly non habit forming I had trouble going to sleep without it. Which kinda sounds like it was habit forming.

So what to do. I've never been a workout guy. My company provides a great gym and a fitness instructor right at the office but exercise isn't something that I'm interested in doing with people I work with. Is that weird? Nothing against anyone I work with. I don't exercise with anyone outside of work either.

The first thing I did was start to control my intake. I now count the exact portion size of my cereal in the morning instead of filling the bowl. I eliminated all but 1 of my standing lunches at work. I now only go out once every 2 weeks unless it's mandated as a working lunch meeting. Lunch at my desk consists of yogurt, fruit,  and perhaps a small portion of the previous nights dinner. I've slowed way down on the booze. Yesterday I had my first beer in 3 weeks. A glass of wine here and there is still allowed. The biggest change I made was a commitment to exercise 30 minutes a day for 30 straight days. Today is the 21st day of my challenge and I have technically missed only one day, but that night I did attend a concert given by the Offspring and I easily got the exercise by jumping up and down for 70 minutes. My routine is very simple. I borrowed from my companies annual biometric testing (push-ups, step test) and added in deep knee bends, squat thrusts, and some hip lift thing I read about. I alternate that exercise with a 2-3 mile walk so that I am never doing the same thing two days in a row. I keep track on a sheet of paper I hung in my closet.

The results? Well I had told myself I would not step on the scale again until those 30 days were up. I didn't want to get discouraged. But curiosity got the better of me and I checked on day 16 earlier this week. I was down 8 pounds to 199. There is some satisfaction there. But I also know from my prior attempts that those pounds were the easy ones. Honestly my only goal was to exercise for 30 straight days and see where that put me. I've got 9 more days to go. When it's over I'll need to decide what else I can do. I feel healthier for sure. I have been toying with eliminating all alcohol for 30 days and seeing what that along with the eating better and exercising would do for me.   

I'm almost 48. If you told me I was only halfway through this journey I'd be thrilled. But it's getting to the point where it is getting harder and harder to recover from poor judgement. Here's to seeing this new outlook through.

America turns 240 years old on Monday.

I consider myself a patriotic person. I love my country. I love the men and women who keep us free. I love our democracy. I look on our nations flag with reverence and will spend time staring at it whenever I can. And while I’m not a singer (trust me!) I happily will belt out America the Beautiful, God Bless America, and of course the Star Spangled Banner. One of my downtime activities is searching social media (YouTube mostly) for moments that simply give me the chills.

Here are a few I have found. The common denominator in all these videos is that it’s about the song. Not the performer. I admit that it bothers me when an “artist” changes or “tweaks” our national anthem.

 

The crowd steps in to help a young singer:

 

The Kentucky All State Choir takes over an entire hotel:

 

Our friends to the north:

 

The first sporting event in Boston after the Marathon Bombings. Includes tributes to the first responders and victims. The anthem starts at 3:40. Not sure how anyone who watches this can keep it together.

 

If you’ve never heard Wayne Messmer sing our National Anthem you’re missing out. He’s my personal favorite.

 

And finally….. I was there. It remains one of the best things I have ever experienced. We were at war. A war that wasn’t fully supported in America. Some thought the game should not be played. The game itself literally meant nothing. (It’s Wayne Messmer singing, not that you’ll hear him).

Happy B-Day America!

A Pause for the Cause

When I think about how fortunate I am my place of employment is at the top of the list. It's filled with tremendous people, has great leaders, and is truly a place that your excited to head into each morning. It's so good that even after leaving you can't help but jump at the chance to come back.

In my opinion one of the things we are best at is helping others. We have a team of volunteers who give up their lunch once a month to get together and discuss how we can help the community. Our CEO has granted 8 PAID hours a year to all employees who volunteer at one of our company sanctioned events. We host an incredible charity golf tournament each year that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to make sure kids in our community get to see a dentist. This event is so big we didn't have enough room for everyone who wanted to play this year. And it's so inspiring that our top sponsor not only came through with a huge donation but also were willing to contribute more just so they could tee off from the ladies tee.

And just this past week we held a taco sale for cinco de mayo. Employees ponied up $5 each to enjoy some high quality Mexican food that was prepared by.... you guessed it other employees (at their own expense).

The funds we raised will go to a local charity hell bent on ending homelessness. It's located less than a mile from where we all work so we're doing our best to help "our" community.

When I sit back and think of just these two events (we try to volunteer offsite at least once a month) what I am most impressed with is how many employees come out of the woodwork to help. I received a text from someone who I wasn't even thinking would want to be a part of our charity endeavors who not only requested to join our team but then brought a double batch of taco meet without even being asked.

I'm proud to be a part of such a great organization.

People will most definitely come….

Living in Arizona has many many perks.

The weather, the feeling of living in a smallish town yet having all the conveniences of a big city, the weather, the sunshine… the weather.

One of the best things we have in AZ is Spring Training. There are currently 15 MLB teams that train in the Valley of the Sun and as a baseball fan this excites me to no end. One of my favorite movies is Field of Dreams. The speech that James Earl Jones gives towards the end of that movie still gives me goose bumps. For the all the Hollywooding they did with the movie, that speech is pure. And it’s true. Give it a look…..

There is something about Spring Training. Growing up, I’d watch games on Channel 9 (Cubs) and Channel 44 (White Sox) in Chicago and everything on the TV was green. The Cubs trained in Mesa and the White Sox in Sarasota Florida back then. But it gave you hope that the long Chicago winter was coming to an end. Rebirth was on the horizon. Now that I live in a place that depends economically on Spring Training and the thousands of fans it draws to the area, I get to take part in the rebirth live and in person.

Recently I took in two games. One with a group of co-workers I enjoy spending time with. We took in a Cubs/Reds game at Sloan Park which is the (fairly) new home of the Cubs. The place is remarkable. From the huge (money pit) of a team store to the great views from the stands it’s a great experience. Close highway access does not hurt. We had general admission tickets and I took it upon myself to spend an additional $4 per ticket and secure something called the Budweiser rooftop. My friend and co-worker Kathy “worked from home” the morning of the game and then hightailed it up to the rooftop to secure this view.

Pretty sweet! Seeing as though it was a work social gathering we didn’t really watch most of the game. But we did have fun and some adult beverages were consumed.

Just a few.

48 hours later I was back at it. This time with my wife and daughter in tow. We took in a Cubs/A’s game at HoHoKam Stadium in Mesa. This used to be the Cubs home before they left for Sloan Park. And while the Cubs may have built an amazing park, HoHoKam stadium is a great place to watch a game. It’s small (around 10,000 capacity) but the seats are close to the action. My daughter has been playing softball for about a year now and she was really into the game. It’s one of the moments that just clicks for a dad and his kids when everything else going on takes a backseat and you are at a game and talking about strategy and players. It’s a moment I will always treasure and not take for granted.

Alexa……. Tell me everything I need to know

My daughter has officially hit the age of having to write reports for school. Book reports, famous people reports, etc. I guess the days of coloring and stick figures had to end sometime.

So the latest report is on Albert Einstein. She choose to write about him from all the historical figures in the history of world. When I asked why she choose him the answer was typical, at least from her “I don’t know”. That’s followed up with me saying “how can you not know”? Which is quickly answered with   (voice becoming agitated) “I don’t know dad, I just picked him….”. Alrighty then, I’m sure whatever is happening on Teen Titans is really important and impossible to break away from. But I’m digressing away from my original topic.

I think back to when I wrote reports in school. The trusted resource in my house was the set of World Book Encyclopedias that were proudly displayed on a bookshelf in our den. A-Z and then some supplemental years delivered after my parents bought the original set. I loved those encyclopedias. Sure they helped write reports. I basically copied them right into the report. But they were so much more. You could go and look up countries you wanted to study and most of them had those clear plastic pages with map layovers showing the different history of the country’s borders. You could read about athletes you never saw play. If you wanted to know about it you could find it in those faux leather bound books.

The times…. They have changed. As my daughter prepares to write about Albert Einstein she grabs pen and paper, sits down and very softly says, “Alexa, when was Albert Einstein born”? Alexa is of course our home based personal assistant. Developed by Amazon, they were the rage of this past holiday season. As card carrying Amazon Prime members my wife and I thought it would be a great way to listen to our Prime music accounts. So I bought one, wrapped it, and my wife acted surprised when she opened it Christmas morning. I’m always excited to have new technology in the house. My father in law was amused by it. My daughter was interested but there were video games to play at the time and I thought she had forgotten it was even in the house. So imagine my surprise when she starts using it to write her report. I had to stop myself and decide if it was right that she was doing so. I mean, someone is telling her the answer! But is it really that different than googling something? Or copying it out of the World Book of Encyclopedia? So I allowed it to continue.

“Alexa, was Albert Einstein married”?

“Alexa, what did Albert Einstein invent”?

“Alexa, when did Albert Einstein Die”?

After each question, furious scribbling took place to make sure to capture everything Alexa had to say. And in the end a quality report was completed. It’s funny when I think back how I got my information (newspapers, magazines, etc.) and how my daughter will never understand what it was like to have to chase information. With Kindles, IPads, IPhones data is instant. Don’t get me wrong, she’s an avid reader and I can already tell she’d rather have a book in her hand than to read it off of a device. And for that I am thankful.

After the report is completed I read it and am impressed. I tell her so and I tell her to say thanks to Alexa. She does, and Alexa replies “you’re welcome”. “When I was a kid we didn’t have the internet” is what I tell my daughter. She looks at me with a pained “that world never existed” look on her face.  

The next day I google to see if they still make World Book Encyclopedias. I’ve decided that maybe they’d be a good addition to our bookshelf and the memories I’ve had of my youth have played no small role in that decision. They are available!!! The 2016 version can be had for the low price $1,099.95.

“Alexa, does Amazon sell old World Book Encyclopedias”?

My First 10K Playlist

Signing up to complete any kind of race in any fashion (walking/running/crawling) is not overly exciting to me. I hate running. HATE IT. And walking is frustrating because everyone else is either running or walking way faster than me. But my employer makes it too easy. They pay the entry fee, provide education, and really value employees who make the commitment to train and finish. You even get to have dinner with the CEO the night before the event at his house (nice perk).

So determined to make the best of things I thought about how I could make the race itself fun. I color coordinated my race day gear to match the colors of my favorite sports team (Chicago Blackhawks baby!! 3 Stanley Cups in 6 years!!!). But the thing that I felt would make the biggest difference was the music I would walk to. I should mention that the event I was taking part in was the P.F. Changs Rock and Roll Marathon, ½ Marathon, 10k, and 5k in Phoenix. I didn’t know what to expect from the bands along the course and wanted to be sure that what I was listening to would be both stuff I liked and inspiring me across the finish line. So I sat down and opened I-Tunes and created a playlist. I started the process in November (the race was in January) and adjusted over those two months. A few caveats. No more than one song from any artist (broken once, but if you know me you’d be surprised at which artist it wasn’t), and I could not listen to the playlist until race day. I wanted it to be the first time I heard the list play (a celebration of my pain!!).

So with all that in mind and before I tell you if I lived through the experience I give you my playlist for my first competitive walk/run.

1. It’s Five O’clock Somewhere (Alan Jackson w/Jimmy Buffett) 
2. Complicated (Avril Lavigne) 
3. Hello, Goodbye (The Beatles) – Needed a Beatles song, so many to choose from.
4. A Matter of Trust (Billy Joel) – Discovered this song because of MTV. Remember when they played music videos? My favorite BJ song.
5. Closer to Free (BoDeans)
6. Home (Daughtry) - Daughtry is the best thing to ever come off of American Idol IMO.
7. Grey Street (Dave Matthews Band) - Again, so many to choose from. My favorite DMB song.
8. It’s In the Way That You Use It (Eric Clapton)
9. Tuff Enough (Fabulous Thunderbirds) 
10. Chelsea Dagger (The Fratellis) – The goal song for the Blackhawks. Pretty catchy tune.
11. Calin Baton Rouge (Garth Brooks)
12. Basket Case (Green Day)
13. Hold My Hand (Hootie & The Blowfish) – Did everyone think Darius Rucker’s name was Hootie like I did?
14. Hurts So Good (John Mellencamp)
15. Lonely Ol’ Night (John Mellencamp) – Doubled up on JM. Found his greatest hits CD and could not help it. He’s so good.
16. Pirate Flag (Kenny Chesney) – Found this tune while making a playlist for my Caribbean Trip last year.
17. Rock’n Roll All Night (KISS)
18. The Kid’s Aren’t Alright (The Offspring) – I love the Offspring!
19. Good Time (Owl City w/Carly Rae Jepsen)
20. Jessie’s Girl (Rick Springfield)
21. Dance in the Middle (Rusted Root) – Introduced to Rusted Root by my better half. Good Stuff.
22. The Warrior (Scandal) – Did you know that Patti Smyth from Scandal is married to John Mcenroe?
23. Interstate Love Song (Stone Temple Pilots) – God…. Scott Weiland was so talented. And this song was amazing.
24. Walk On (U2) – Will always tie this song to 9/11.
25. Shut Up and Dance (Walk the Moon) – My daughters influence.
26. When Can I See You Again – (Owl City) – And more of her influence.
27. Slide (Goo Goo Dolls)
28. Baba O’Riley (The Who) – Who does not love the opening to this song?
29. Man On The Moon (REM)
30. It’s My Job (Jimmy Buffet) – So hard to pick one JB song. But this one is an absolute favorite.
31. These Are the Days of Our Lives (Queen) – Freddie was the best.

So it’s obvious at this point that I survived. The event itself was really well put on. Very organized and the weather was amazing. I cranked through the 10K in 1:23:50 which was 6:10 ahead of my goal. I ran all the downhill parts of the course (I highly recommend this) and also the last mile. It’s hard not to get pumped up at the finish when all the spectators are cheering the runs/walkers on. Getting the medal (bling!) and having a Gatorade after the race was the cherry on top. The following day at work the talk of course was would everyone be doing this again next year? I think it’s a forgone conclusion that we will.

My music made the race fly by as I had hoped it would. There were a couple of times my legs and brain got weary and I just told myself to concentrate on the song that was playing. Next thing I knew I was 3 songs further along. I could not envision doing a race/walk of any kind without music to help me focus.

By the way, I hit shuffle on my playlist as the race got underway. The song playing at the start was Interstate Love Song by STP. The song playing at the finish was Grey Street by DMB. Pretty fitting.