Like many of you, I really enjoy listening to the radio on my way into work in the morning and back home again in the evening. It seems to keep me in a relaxed mood.
As a creature of habit, I normally turn on the station my kids call "the Oldies station" which I correctly point out that it's classic rock, not oldies. I mean, it's Journey, not Guy Lombardo.
Anyway, over the past month I've been trying something new. Each day when I get in my car, I hit the scan button and let it move to the next audible station. That's the one I listen to for the day. It doesn't matter whether it's talk radio, student radio, Christian music, rap, whatever - that's what I listen to for the day. If I have a meeting and need to drive somewhere, that's what I listen to that day.
I've found out that I've started to develop a little more of a balanced opinion of things when I listen to varying viewpoints on many of the same topics by doing this.
Yes, some days are better than others. Today, for example, was Radio Disney and I was in my car a little more than normal traveling to meetings. I'm pretty sure they only have about eight songs that they play because I know I heard some version of Cruella DeVille from 101 Dalmatians at least four times today.
Anyway, try if yourself for a month and let me know what you think.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Mini Marathon Training
Indianapolis holds the largest half-marathon in the U.S. on the first Saturday in May to kick off the weeks leading up to the Indy 500. I've had the pleasure of doing the mini-marathon a few times and always enjoyed doing it. It's a great atmosphere with bands, cheerleaders, students, etc. lining the entire 13.1 mile route encouraging the 35,000 participants to finish. A big highlight is running around the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and crossing the yard of bricks at the start/finish line there.
For me, it's not about racing, it's more about running (or maybe more appropriately, jogging). I really couldn't care less about trying to keep up with the Kenyans. And, of course, it's about being able to say that you accomplished it. While I can't say that I've had any earth-shattering times in the mini, I can say that I've completed it every time.
I believe I had mentioned before that I've signed up for the mini-marathon again this year. I had planned to complete it with Ed Sweetland, another surveyor and the past-president of the Indiana Society of Professional Land Surveyors. Our goal was to complete it in 2 hours, 30 minutes.
I was fairly confident that I could make that goal as I've been a pretty regular runner at the YMCA here in my hometown since we joined in January of 2003. As a matter of fact, I was running about 26 miles a week back in November and December and, using one of those running calculators you can find on the internet, it projected my half-marathon time at around 2:15.
A few weeks ago I had started getting some soreness in my achilles and down through my right heel. It was so tight that I couldn't walk down steps without pain because it just wouldn't stretch out. I was running 4 to 5 miles on a consistent basis and had my long run on the weekend up to 7 miles so I decided that it would be foolish at my age to try to train through the injury. I took a week off and it was still a little sore. I didn't want to re-injure it so I took another week off.
Still, it was a little tight and sore, although it felt much better. So I went back to the Y last Friday night and did five miles. My legs felt fresh and I didn't get winded much at all but the pain was there still. It was better, just not what I had hoped for.
I took another two days off to let it rest again and returned to the Y again tonight. I wish I hadn't. At just over 2.5 miles into the run, I felt a pain that went from the back of my heel to the inside of my ankle. Not just a tweak but a full blown pain, one that almost dropped me to my knees. I've had a broken ankle before and remember that when it happened, I immediately felt light headed and nauseous at the same time. It's the same feeling I had tonight.
Right now, I'm sitting in my kitchen, fingers on the keyboard and foot propped up on a bag of ice.
I believe my mini marathon training may be over for this year. Maybe that's what happens as your body gets older. I just wasn't expecting it to be this soon. As stated by my doctor and repeated in an earlier post - welcome to the mid 40's!
For me, it's not about racing, it's more about running (or maybe more appropriately, jogging). I really couldn't care less about trying to keep up with the Kenyans. And, of course, it's about being able to say that you accomplished it. While I can't say that I've had any earth-shattering times in the mini, I can say that I've completed it every time.
I believe I had mentioned before that I've signed up for the mini-marathon again this year. I had planned to complete it with Ed Sweetland, another surveyor and the past-president of the Indiana Society of Professional Land Surveyors. Our goal was to complete it in 2 hours, 30 minutes.
I was fairly confident that I could make that goal as I've been a pretty regular runner at the YMCA here in my hometown since we joined in January of 2003. As a matter of fact, I was running about 26 miles a week back in November and December and, using one of those running calculators you can find on the internet, it projected my half-marathon time at around 2:15.
A few weeks ago I had started getting some soreness in my achilles and down through my right heel. It was so tight that I couldn't walk down steps without pain because it just wouldn't stretch out. I was running 4 to 5 miles on a consistent basis and had my long run on the weekend up to 7 miles so I decided that it would be foolish at my age to try to train through the injury. I took a week off and it was still a little sore. I didn't want to re-injure it so I took another week off.
Still, it was a little tight and sore, although it felt much better. So I went back to the Y last Friday night and did five miles. My legs felt fresh and I didn't get winded much at all but the pain was there still. It was better, just not what I had hoped for.
I took another two days off to let it rest again and returned to the Y again tonight. I wish I hadn't. At just over 2.5 miles into the run, I felt a pain that went from the back of my heel to the inside of my ankle. Not just a tweak but a full blown pain, one that almost dropped me to my knees. I've had a broken ankle before and remember that when it happened, I immediately felt light headed and nauseous at the same time. It's the same feeling I had tonight.
Right now, I'm sitting in my kitchen, fingers on the keyboard and foot propped up on a bag of ice.
I believe my mini marathon training may be over for this year. Maybe that's what happens as your body gets older. I just wasn't expecting it to be this soon. As stated by my doctor and repeated in an earlier post - welcome to the mid 40's!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Shopping is so much fun!
Like most men, I've not stepped foot in a mall for a long, long time except for the food court. Shopping, obviously, is not at the top of my list of fun things to do.
Lately, however, I've had a great time shopping with my 16 year old son, Kyle. We've been college shopping!
Since he's finishing his junior year, Kyle has been fully engulfed in trying to decide exactly what he wants to do for a career. Since he's been very young, my wife and I were pretty sure he'd do something in the area of mathematics. At one time, he thought his dream job would be as a statistician for a professional sports team.
And then he met my friend, Andy.
Andy graduated from Purdue with a degree in mathematics and was a fraternity brother with my business partner, Greg. Being young and living at home, he was able to "find himself" for a few years. During that time, he worked with Greg and I as a surveyor and, with the math background, was very good at it. After a couple of years, however, he realized that it was time to put on some big boy pants and try to find a career. I think he knew all along what he wanted to do - be an actuary.
Once Kyle found out what an actuary does, he decided that's what he wanted to go to college to study.
So back to the college shopping.
Our first trip was to Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. It's probably best known as the college that David Letterman attended. Anyway, we listened to the people from the admissions office and then took the tour of the campus. After the tour, we were able to meet with a professor in the area of actuarial sciences. Ball State has about 18,000 students or so and has outstanding architectural and education programs.
Last Wednesday, we went over to the University of Dayton. It was a beautiful day and the students were all out in the courtyard areas between classes, throwing frisbees and footballs and generally enjoying the great weather. We met with the chair of the math department there and enjoyed the ride over and back. It's only about a two hour drive from Indy. The campus is fairly small and it has somewhere around 10,000 students.
I can't wait for our next trip as we're headed to Notre Dame. Following those, we'll be at Butler and Purdue. I'll let you know how those trips go.
Off the record, the best part of making these college visits is that it gives Kyle and I a chance to do some geocaching, which has quickly become a favorite hobby of ours. For those of you who don't know what geocaching involves, it's basically a huge scavenger hunt. There are containers hidden throughout the country. Some are as large as a thermos, others are small like a film canister. Normally, there's a sheet of paper in each one so a log can be kept of anyone who finds the cache. All caches are documented on www.geocaching.com with a short explanation of what you're looking for and maybe a hint. The most important part of the location of the cache is its latitude and longitude. With handheld GPS units fairly commonplace anymore, anyone can load the lat and long into their unit and go off hunting. It's a great activity for kids and lets you roam around to places you might not normally see. Try it and let me know what you think.
Lately, however, I've had a great time shopping with my 16 year old son, Kyle. We've been college shopping!
Since he's finishing his junior year, Kyle has been fully engulfed in trying to decide exactly what he wants to do for a career. Since he's been very young, my wife and I were pretty sure he'd do something in the area of mathematics. At one time, he thought his dream job would be as a statistician for a professional sports team.
And then he met my friend, Andy.
Andy graduated from Purdue with a degree in mathematics and was a fraternity brother with my business partner, Greg. Being young and living at home, he was able to "find himself" for a few years. During that time, he worked with Greg and I as a surveyor and, with the math background, was very good at it. After a couple of years, however, he realized that it was time to put on some big boy pants and try to find a career. I think he knew all along what he wanted to do - be an actuary.
Once Kyle found out what an actuary does, he decided that's what he wanted to go to college to study.
So back to the college shopping.
Our first trip was to Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. It's probably best known as the college that David Letterman attended. Anyway, we listened to the people from the admissions office and then took the tour of the campus. After the tour, we were able to meet with a professor in the area of actuarial sciences. Ball State has about 18,000 students or so and has outstanding architectural and education programs.
Last Wednesday, we went over to the University of Dayton. It was a beautiful day and the students were all out in the courtyard areas between classes, throwing frisbees and footballs and generally enjoying the great weather. We met with the chair of the math department there and enjoyed the ride over and back. It's only about a two hour drive from Indy. The campus is fairly small and it has somewhere around 10,000 students.
I can't wait for our next trip as we're headed to Notre Dame. Following those, we'll be at Butler and Purdue. I'll let you know how those trips go.
Off the record, the best part of making these college visits is that it gives Kyle and I a chance to do some geocaching, which has quickly become a favorite hobby of ours. For those of you who don't know what geocaching involves, it's basically a huge scavenger hunt. There are containers hidden throughout the country. Some are as large as a thermos, others are small like a film canister. Normally, there's a sheet of paper in each one so a log can be kept of anyone who finds the cache. All caches are documented on www.geocaching.com with a short explanation of what you're looking for and maybe a hint. The most important part of the location of the cache is its latitude and longitude. With handheld GPS units fairly commonplace anymore, anyone can load the lat and long into their unit and go off hunting. It's a great activity for kids and lets you roam around to places you might not normally see. Try it and let me know what you think.
Yelling & Screaming
First of all, yes, I know it's been a long time since I've had a blog entry.
A couple of weekends ago, my wife was yelling and screaming my name from one of the back upstairs bedrooms. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear her because we had gone to the nursery that morning and I was in the front of the house planting a new viburnum bush at the corner near the garage.
The kids thought mom had either lost her mind or had injured herself doing something. They soon realized that she was not injured as she came running down the stairs yelling "Where's dad, where's dad?" That led them to believe that she had lost her mind. When they told her that I was in the front of the house, she came flying out the garage door and whispered, "Dan, come here." She walked me carefully around the back side of the house and there they were - two deer standing in the back yard!
I finally got my deer this year!
A couple of weekends ago, my wife was yelling and screaming my name from one of the back upstairs bedrooms. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear her because we had gone to the nursery that morning and I was in the front of the house planting a new viburnum bush at the corner near the garage.
The kids thought mom had either lost her mind or had injured herself doing something. They soon realized that she was not injured as she came running down the stairs yelling "Where's dad, where's dad?" That led them to believe that she had lost her mind. When they told her that I was in the front of the house, she came flying out the garage door and whispered, "Dan, come here." She walked me carefully around the back side of the house and there they were - two deer standing in the back yard!
I finally got my deer this year!
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