The Long Spin

The Reality of Mortality

3 12 2010

I had the unfortunate experience of attending a funeral yesterday. This was one of those horrible unexpected funerals. To fill you in a bit on the story, a friend and fraternity brother from college, who was a couple years younger than me, was involved in a motorcycle accident this past weekend. To be brutally honest he was being reckless. I won’t go into all the details because frankly they don’t matter much for the point of this post, so we will just leave it at that.

In reality, him and I weren’t best friends. We were friends though. I’ve played golf with him, I’ve hung out with him, I was one of his pledge trainers in the fraternity. He was a good guy who always had a smile on his face and was always ready to have a good time. I didn’t see him often, but it was always a good experience when I did.

As tragedies often do, this ordeal set me to thinking about life and pondering the realities of this world. Last night I came to the conclusion that there are two very important lessons that can be learned from his death.

The first lesson to be learned is that we need to live everyday like it might be our last. I know it’s cliche but it’s true. This guy knew how to have a good time. He was very aggressive in “grabbing life by the horns” and “seizing the day.” We all need to live a little more like that I think. Life really is very fragile and can be taken on a moments notice. It could be like this friend who stepped over the line into the realm of recklessness, or it could be as simple as slipping on ice covered stairs. It could also be like my dear friend Chris, who was also taken at such a young age 11 years ago, by falling asleep behind the wheel. All things great and small carry a risk of taking our lives, but we cannot surrender to the fear of death. We need to be a little more like this friend and stare that risk in the face and refuse to back down. We are blessed with life, and we should feel duty-bound to live it to it’s full potential.

The second lesson is a bit of a contrast to the first. While we should be living everyday to it’s fullest we must also have a healthy fear of our mortality. Although we should refuse to succumb to the paralyzing fear of death we should also understand that when we take risks there are potential consequences for our actions. We still must remain prudent and cautious in our actions.

There is a delicate balance to maintain in life. The ambition to live life with excitement must be weighed against the potential consequences and repercussions of those actions. The balance of those factors is really up to each individual person to decide though. This friend chose to weigh the ambitious exciting side more than the cautious prudent side, and he unfortunately had to pay the ultimate price. On the other hand, how miserable would we be if we refused to find any joy in life because we couldn’t surmount the idea that we might die?

All I know is this: We are given this life, and we should not be afraid to live it. Are you living life heedless and foolhardy? Or are you too frightened and guarded? I leave you with one quote because I think it’s perfectly on point, and I think this friend who has passed lived it to the extreme.

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life.
A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
~Mark Twain

You will be missed, brother. Thanks for these lessons.

Comments : 3 Comments »

Categories : Uncategorized

The Ideal Working Relationship

1 12 2010

Quick Note: This isn’t about me or anything that happened to me. Not ranting because anyone was mean to me. Just sayin…

Time to get my rant on.

Everyday we are thrown into situations where we have to interact with other people. When facing these scenarios we have two very generalized paths we can take. The first option is to be humble, helpful and cooperative. The second option is to be rude, manipulative, and arrogant.

I understand that people have different management styles and some people interact differently, but I’m pretty sure I’ve come to the conclusion that there is never a proper time for being mean. In my profession you experience the whole spectrum of how people interact, especially in stressful situations. You have some people (who I feel I identify best with) that approach support staff and colleagues with equality and friendship. I don’t treat secretaries like they are below me just because their rank falls somewhere under me on the organizational chart. It’s much easier to coexist and be productive with your coworkers when you foster a friendly working relationship.

On the other hand you have some people who prefer to interact in a more aggressive and dominating role. These people can go berserk on a whim and oftentimes will exhibit deep anger for no important reason. These people treat others they work with like peons who are simply there to do their bidding. They have little understanding of the reality outside of their own world because they always assume they are correct. Most of the time everyone just gets by though with a little grumbling of dissatisfaction. No major blowups in day to day activity. In my opinion though, this is not a healthy way to treat people.

The problem arises in a stressful situation. Maybe a deadline is approaching and things are behind schedule. Perhaps something has gone wrong with a project and some mistakes slipped by. It could even be that a simple miscommunication or misunderstanding has taken place. This is where the different types of people really make or break the situation. When I’m faced with a stressful situation or if something has gone horribly wrong I try my best to stay calm, approach this situation logically, figure out how to fix the problem, work with others to fix it, and move on. Seems reasonable enough. I’m not perfect of course and sometimes the stress can get the better of me. It happens, we make mistakes, we freak out in difficult times sometimes. Learn from it.

So what happens with the other personality type? Irate phone calls with lots of cursing. Emotional decisions based on quick reactions rather than carefully considered options. Hurt feelings. Bridges burned. Jobs lost/quit. Bad bad stuff. I think we can all agree that getting angry and upset is generally counterproductive. It’s also unprofessional and does nothing to foster good working relationships. One bout of yelling can permanently ruin a working relationship.

I don’t know why it happens. I know we are emotional beings, but as adults we need to do a better job of having control over our extreme emotions. Throwing a temper-tantrum and freaking out does little towards getting the job done.

It just seems so simple to me. If you are faced with a stressful situation, stop for a second and ask yourself, “Am I being a dick?” If the answer to that question is YES then maybe you should reevaluate how you are acting.

I’ve always been a bit of an idealist. I just want people to get along and have nice, happy, fun times together. Life should be all full double rainbows and unicorn farts. I know that’s ridiculously naive, but I think we could be a lot closer to that perfect utopia if everyone just got a grip on their emotions and decided it would best serve society if we worked together and treated each other with some respect.

I think my point is pretty clear, but just to sum it up in a quick sentence: Don’t be a dick.

/rant

And on a totally unrelated note, my Brown Leaf Wheat is officially bottled! I will be sure to let you know how it turns out!

Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: emotions, management, people, rant, stress, work, working with people
Categories : Misc., Opinion, Rant

It’s Time To Get Thankful!

24 11 2010

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Here we are, once again, at that special time of year we generally refer to as “The Holidays.” The holidays have a lot of very interesting implications for people. Each person views this time of year from Thanksgiving through New Years in very different ways. Some people dread the stress and hustle/bustle of this time of year from gigantic family gatherings which require abundant amounts of food, cleaning, and planning. The traffic and crowds associated with Christmas shopping can also add an extra helping of mashed brain stress. On the flip side of things we have some really enjoyable consequences of the holidays. This time of year let’s us reconvene with family members and friends that are often separated by vast distances. We also get the opportunity to enjoy some gridiron matches from our favorite football franchises, both college and professional.

So as I sit here contemplating what this Thanksgiving means I feel I should share with all of you some of the things I’m thankful for. Hopefully this will help you to forget some of the stresses of the holidays and remember what you are thankful for in this joyous time of year. Without further adieu…. THE LIST:

DOGS: That’s right, I’m thankful for dogs. Specifically big dogs. Dogs are great, aren’t they? In the movie Snatch the character Mickey, played by Brad Pitt, eloquently asks, “D’ya like dags?” My response would most certainly be, “Indeed, Mickey. I do like dogs.”

BICYCLES: You already know that I love my bicycles. Road bikes. Mountain bikes. All bikes. I offer you these quotes about bikes to help emphasize my passion for the two-wheeled human-powered velocipede:

The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man.
Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish.
Only the bicycle remains pure in heart.
~Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green

Why should anyone steal a watch when he could steal a bicycle?
~Flann O’Brien

INK PENS: I hate pencils. Pencils write like garbage. Not to mention you can erase pencils. What’s up with that? When I write something down I want it to be transcribed into the annals of history FOR-EV-ER. I don’t pencil you in, I pen you in.

THE WALKING DEAD: I love zombies. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. I hate zombies. I will slay any and all zombies with the merciless precision of the ancient Japanese samurai. If/when the zombie apocalypse arrives and you find yourself turned into a zombie, rest assured that I will end your tragic zombie existence with speed and efficiency. What I do love is stuff ABOUT zombies. The Walking Dead is a TV show on AMC about zombies. It’s one of the best TV shows I’ve ever watched. I’m thankful for it.

BEER: For obvious reasons.

MY BLOG: Without my blog… this post wouldn’t exist. MIND BLOWN!

So there you have it folks. Some of the things I’m thankful for this holiday season. I encourage you all to sit down and really put some time and hard effort into thinking about what you are thankful for like I did. It just might change your perspective on this holiday season.

I wish you all a very happy, safe, and zombie-free Thanksgiving!

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Beer, bicycles, dogs, ink pens, thankful, Thanks, Thanksgiving, the walking dead, zombies
Categories : Misc., Opinion

Oklahoma City Marathon via Team In Training

12 11 2010

As pretty much everyone who reads this blog knows, I did a 100 mile bicycle ride with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training program. It was an amazing experience where I accomplished something I said I would never do, I raised a bunch of money for the LLS mission of curing blood cancers, and I met some really amazing friends. Every year Oklahoma City puts on an incredible event in April/May called the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. This next year will be the 11th annual Memorial Marathon which was started to benefit the Oklahoma City bombing memorial and remember the horrible tragedy from 1995. They do a full 26.2 mile marathon and a 13.1 half marathon. It’s a really great and inspiring event. The streets are lined with thousands of fans to cheer you on and get you to the finish line intact. It’s a well supported run and a important tribute to the tragic 1995 bombing of the Murrah Building in OKC. It truly is a run to remember.

The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon is also a Team In Training supported event that has a very reasonable and low fundraising requirement of $1,000. If you raise $1,000 you will gain entry into the event to either run OR walk the full OR half marathon, you will get some sweet Team In Training schwag like technical shirts for running, you will get access to fully supported and organized training with coaches, and you will get to experience what is considered one of the most emotional marathons in the country while raising money to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It really is a heck of a deal.

The reason I bring all of this up is two-fold. 1) I’m considering doing this even myself, and 2) I think you should do it too or pitch the idea to someone else you know who would like to do it! It’s not too late to sign up, training is just about to get started (in fact, the first training run is tomorrow at 9:30am at Red Coyote in OKC, and there are training runs in Tulsa too). Even if you miss the first couple training runs you still have plenty of time. The actual event isn’t until May 1, 2011, so it’s even later than usual.

That’s pretty much it. I just wanted to give everyone the heads up that they should really consider getting involved in this program because it can and will change your life. Even if you have no experience running, or even if you aren’t in good shape you can complete this with great success. There aren’t many things I recommend more highly than Team In Training events. So once more I’ll post the links to the OKC Marathon website and Team In Training’s website and if you have any questions at all just leave a comment on here and I will get back to you. Or you can even call me, email me, text me, facebook me, twitter me, smoke signal me, tie a string between two cans and hollar at me. Whatever it takes, if you are even a little bit interested just do this, you will not regret it.

Team In Training Website: http://www.teamintraining.org/ntxok/

Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon Website: http://www.okcmarathon.com/

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Fundraising, Half Marathon, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Marathon, Memorial marathon, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City Marathon, Oklahoma City Memorial, Running, Team In Training
Categories : Cancer News, Fitness, Running

We Do It Like Monks

8 11 2010

The day finally arrived, friends! I have officially brewed my first batch of beer! Well, sort of. It’s sitting in a jug in the closet right now. No idea what it will taste like, but in about 4-6 weeks I will have beer, in bottles, ready to consume. So here’s a little recap of how the brew bash went down.

First, big thanks to my buddy Brandon who has been homebrewing for a couple years now. He has been talking to me about it for quite some time, and he came over last night to help out and walk me through the brewing process for my first time. It’s definitely nice to have a resource available for your brewing questions. And he brought homebrew…

Hey bro, I brought you some homebrew so you can have a homebrew while homebrewing your homebrew!

The process was actually pretty straight forward. Basically, you boil some water, you add your ingredients, then you put it in a big jug to chill out and turn into beer courtesy of our little friends the Yeasties. The actual brewing doesn’t take too long, theres a lot of waiting that goes on in the process. Wait for your water to boil, wait for the wort (the malt, hops, grains, water mix) to boil up nicely, wait for the wort to chill.

I almost burned the house down. But just once.

There’s plenty to do while all this waiting is going on though. For instance, when brewing beer sanitation is supremely important. You mix up a bucket of sanitation solution and make sure everything that touches the beer is clean. Getting infections and other little nasties in your beer can ruin the batch if you aren’t careful about cleanliness. Speaking of little nasties in your beer, one of the joys of brewing outside is the wind which saw fit to throw a leaf in my kettle. No biggie, it just adds a little flavor and provides the name for my first beer: Brown Leaf Wheat Beer.

The smell of freshly boiled malt and hops is heavenly.

The absolute best part of all this waiting is the chance to sit back and enjoy a tasty homebrew while taking in the scents of the new beer being brewed. The earthen and wheaty smells of the grains and malt combined with the floral and woody scent of the hops creates something that can’t be replicated elsewhere. It shows you how natural and perfect beer is. It truly is a creation of the earth itself.

All things considered I had a really great time brewing up my first batch of beer. It currently sits in a closet in the garage where it will hang out and relax for a few weeks while the yeast goes to town on the sugar. Once that fermentation process is complete I will be ready to bottle it, and everybody knows what comes after bottling. Drinking it!

So for now I’m just going to wait and let the magic happen while doing my best to observe the timeless mantra spoken by old homebrewers to the new: Relax. Don’t worry. Have a homebrew.

Comments : 5 Comments »
Tags: Beer, Beer Brewing, Brewing, Homebrew, Homebrewing
Categories : Beer, Homebrewing

My Kate Spade Kindle Cover

4 11 2010

As I sit here enjoying cookies and hot tea for breakfast while checking my personal email I came across a targeted marketing email from Amazon.com. Let me start by defining what I mean by “targeted marketing” because that is probably not the correct term for it. I pretty much just made it up, it sounded good. Targeted marketing, in my book, refers to the emails you get from retailers and e-tailers that show you specific things you might be interested in based on what you’ve searched for on their website. For instance, I’ve recently been browsing Amazon looking at desktop gaming computers (NERD!) and so every other day I seem to get an email from them with 10 of their hottest PCs listed to entice me.

This morning’s targeted marketing email is where the system broke down though… I purchased a Kindle (Amazon’s e-reader) about a month ago. I also bought a case to go on the Kindle to protect it. My email this morning is showing me great deals on Kate Spade New York Kindle covers. What?! There are two fundamental problems with this. 1) I already own a Kindle cover, and 2) Why would I want a Kate Spade cover? I’m a dude! Here’s a couple examples of the covers I’m referring to:

These cases are quite lovely and I do like stuff that is both chic and charming, but COME ON! Seriously Amazon? You know everything about me. You know that I browse for gaming computers, you know that I already purchased a Kindle cover, you know that I only read nerdy fantasy novels, and I’m pretty sure I once searched for Macho Man Randy Savage on Amazon just to see what would happen (maybe that’s where this came from… he is chic and charming!)

This is my personal favorite! If you read My Reading Rainbow blog post you’ll know how much I just LOVE Great Expectations.

I guess I’ll get to the point. We’ve come a LONG way with technology. Targeted marketing like this is really interesting to me, and truthfully I look forward to seeing these emails every day. 90% of the email I get is marketing and junk from various websites and organizations and I love it. On the flip side, it gets a little wonky sometimes like when I get an entire email devoted to Kate Spade Kindle covers. It can even be a little creepy when I’m on some random website and a Zappos ad pops up showing me the exact shoes I was looking at two days earlier.

The reality is we are being tracked, put into databases, and sent menacing emails with stuff we sometimes might want to buy, and I guess I’m okay with that for some reason. Just stop trying to sell me stuff from Kate Spade!

Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: advertising, amazon, email, Kate Spade, Kindle, kindle cover, marketing, reading, targeted marketing
Categories : Misc., Opinion, Rant, Reading

RE: Voting and Daylight Saving Time

2 11 2010

The part about voting…

Today is November 2. The first Tuesday in November. Election day. We knew that already though. Today is quite the historic election for the State of Oklahoma. By the end of today we should know who our next governor will be, and no matter which candidate wins we will have a woman governor for the first time in Oklahoma history! That’s huge and I’m really excited about. Obviously I have my preference on which candidate wins but I have no intention of turning this blog into a political forum for me to impose my will upon you so I will leave that out.

It’s a very exciting time in American politics these days. We have become used to ultra-partisanship and negative campaigning, and I believe this is really starting to try the patience of the citizenry. The boisterous minority on both the left and the right are starting to alienate those of us I consider to be the “moderate masses.” There are some political academics out there who truly believe the two party system in America is dying. Both the Democratic and Republican parties appear to be shrinking while people who consider themselves Independents are becoming a force. I approve of this and I hope the trend continues. We need some moderation in politics and hopefully in the coming years those of us who use logic and reason to consider political issues will eventually win the battle for control.

So anyway, back to the historicalness (not a word…) of this coming election. Our President is black and our Governor will be a woman. I just can’t stress how important and amazing this is. The walls of the “Old White Man” establishment are crumbling and American politics are becoming more open to everyone. I’m very excited to see where all of this leads in the future even if we have some difficult times ahead of us while we get through all the growing pains.

Finally, please educate yourself before you vote or don’t vote on a position you are unfamiliar with. Check out resources such as www.votesmart.org, www.ballotpedia.org, and www.factcheck.org to get more info if you need.

The part about Daylight Saving Time…

I originally had this idea to write a letter to Daylight Saving Time telling it how much I would miss it and it turned out really sappy, whiny and generally undignified. I figured just a little blurb about DST would be more appropriate and would make me sound less like a 10 year old crying about not getting a new Lego set on this week’s trip to Wal-mart.

To be honest I don’t really even understand Daylight Saving Time. It shows up in the Spring, as the days get longer and the weather gets nicer, only to make the days one hour longer. Then, when Fall comes around making the days shorter and colder, there goes our dear friend DST making the days one hour SHORTER?! What kind of sense does this make?

I understand there are practical arguments for having Daylight Saving Time. Something about “saving money” on the cost of “heating and cooling” our buildings. Whatever, it’s nonsense. Forget heating and cooling costs and let’s think about what we are going to do after work. By my count I have 4 days left of post-work daylight to enjoy before Daylight Saving Time flees from Oklahoma turning my world into a dark abyss every day when I leave the office. This does not please me. Not to mention the hell this plays on my senses when my sleep schedule is thrown off by an hour twice a year. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but they know that I HATE mornings!

Here’s my proposal. Instead of going on Daylight Saving Time in the Spring and off of DST in the Fall, I say we go on Daylight Saving Time in the Spring and DOUBLE DOWN ON THE DST IN THE FALL! Heck yeah boys and girls. Let’s set those clocks back DOUBLE TIME this weekend. Why not?! Who wouldn’t want an EXTRA hour of daylight every evening in the middle of Winter?! I know I would!

So screw the man! It’s time we start fighting back against whoever decided to take away my hour of daylight over the Winter. This is my plea to you, dear readers. This weekend, on Sunday, instead of doing what we’ve always done and “falling back” by setting your clocks back an hour, set those bad boys forward one more hour and seize the daylight!

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: daylight, daylight saving time, politics, vote, voting
Categories : Misc.

A Day In The Life…

26 10 2010

Today is an experiment, so please bear with me. This is an idea I dreamed up to try my hand at some fiction-ish writing. I call it “A Day In The Life…” and it’s a series I hope to continue that gives a day’s worth of perspective from someone or something. It’s completely made up, although I’m sure we can all relate to the subject of today’s post from time to time. To set the stage, this story basically follows a gentleman through his workday and the turmoil he feels about his life. He isn’t named and it’s basically a third person observation of his life by someone who kind of knows his thoughts. Anyway, I hope you like it and thanks for reading!

It felt as though he went to sleep just minutes ago, yet here he is laying in bed listening to the incessant shrieking of his alarm. It happens like this every morning. He should know to expect it, but it’s never that simple. He hits snooze. Nine minutes later he hits it again. He finally accepts the inevitable as he rolls out of bed with sleep laden eyes open just enough to hopefully not run into a wall or stub his toe on the mess that is strewn across the floor.

He finally stumbles his way into the bathroom and reaches into the shower, fumbling around for the knob to get the shower just hot enough to provide solace from the day that is about to pass. The ritual of his morning shower is his last bastion of peace and tranquility before being bombarded with the sounds and stresses of the day that will rain harder than the torrent form the shower. He bathes in the warm comfort of the streaming water with his eyes still closed, a last ditch effort to impose his will on the day. It’s a fruitless effort, but he eventually emerges from the shower a little more awake and slightly more prepared to venture from the quiet confines of his house.

The work day always starts the same. He arrives at least fifteen minutes late. He doesn’t mind though. I guess he figures for every minute he’s late it’s one more minute he doesn’t have to spend at work. First things first, check the personal email. Work email can wait. Check the stock market, check his favorite blogs, check his email again, check his stocks again, check his email again. He loses count of how many times this routine repeats itself throughout the day.

He gazes out the window longingly. It’s another beautiful day. A day ripe for the picking. One of those precious few days that can actually be described as pure and simple perfection. A light breeze, not a cloud in the sky, that ideal temperature that feels neither hot nor cold. But here he sits, a captive in the brick and mortar walls of his office. Always separated by no less than a window from the glory of the outdoors. He remembers a time when he could enjoy days like this. So many of those days he squandered away on silly things. If he could only go back, he would be early to rise just to bask in the beauty of each and every perfect day.

Times have changed. The opportunity to seize the priceless joy found in those rare days is gone. He snaps back to reality. He comes to the bitter realization that by the time he gets out of work it will nearly be dark. There will be no time to enjoy one of these critically few days that come around each year. Inside his office the air is stagnant and suffocating. The fluorescent lights clash with the natural light from outside creating a clear line at the window that might as well be bars on a cell. There is no beauty in his office. Chained to his desk like a lion in a cage who knows well enough that greatness awaits him if only he could find some way to get outside of these thick and imposing walls.

He turns back to the task at hand. He stares down at the work on his desk. The work stares back mocking his childish and naive wishes of a fate greater than this tiny little bubble that is his existence. He’s apathetic and finds no motivation at hand. Just like yesterday, he ponders if this excruciating labor can be put off until tomorrow… again. Begrudgingly he begins to work. At least he can accomplish one thing today to possibly relieve some of the pressure building in the back of his mind. Then the phone rings.

He stares at the number, trying to remember why it looks familiar. Is this somebody he needs to talk to? Is it really that important? He ignores it. They will leave a voicemail. He won’t check it until tomorrow. He may even wait another day after that to return the call.

He looks at the clock. It’s finally getting late in the afternoon, nearly time to escape from the dungeon he has created out of his office. He looks back at his work. This time it looks poisonous, too dangerous to touch or consider at this time of day. He decides it can wait until tomorrow.

His hour of salvation finally arrives. Three minutes until the appointed time to cease working. Close enough. He sits in the elevator in silence pondering where the time escaped to today. Another wasted day. Another unproductive day he demonized into something much more hideous and unbearable than was necessary. His head hurts and his body aches from slouching in his chair for so many endless hours.

He begins his commute home wondering how to put the final measly hours of the day to good use. Will he squander them like the bygone beautiful days of his youth? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Although many days feel hopeless he still manages to squeeze joy from the fleeting moments in the time between work and slumber. He realizes this is what life is about. This realization is what forces him from the comfort of his bed where he could remain hidden from the world each day. This realization is the life force that fuels him and allows him to keep his head above water.

And then the day ends. Eventually he must succumb to the grasp of sleep.

Once again, there he lays, listening to the shriek of his alarm.

Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: A Day In The life, fiction, life, turmoil, work
Categories : A Day In The Life, Misc.

I Am My Own Worst Enemy

21 10 2010

Well, lately I’ve been pondering what things I’m involved in and what things I’m committed to. I have a lot of hobbies. A lot more than I used to anyway, and there are more hobbies that I am considering adding to my repertoire. As most of you know I’m a bit of a cyclist, and lately I’ve also become a mountain biker. And now I’m a rec league soccer player. I’m atrocious, but I play! (It hurts my ego and my body equally…) As we’ve learned I’m also into reading and writing. Soon I plan to add home brewing beer to the list. We all want to be really good at the things we do. We all dream about being the best at what we do, but I’m starting to hit my face on the reality wall.

For instance, I’m an average cyclist. I’m not fast, I don’t have amazing endurance, and I don’t have great handling skills. I land somewhere between not-embarrassing and serviceable on a good day. Do I want to be better? Obviously. Am I committed? Not at all.

Here’s the thing about commitment. It requires sacrifice. In most cases, big sacrifices. To be an amazing cyclist you need a lot of things I don’t have and you have to make a lot of sacrifices I’m not willing to make. It would require a dedication to training 6 days a week, maintaining a restrictive diet, and investing more time and money than I’m comfortable with. That’s not to mention the superhuman, freak genes the true greats have. And BAM! That’s the reality wall. Coming to the realization that I will never truly be great at some of the things I love to do can be a real downer, but I’ve also come to the realization that it’s acceptable to not be great at everything I love to do.

I may never be a competitive cyclist. I may never shred the double black trails in Colorado. I may never be a truly great writer. I may never own my own beer brewery. Does that mean I shouldn’t ride my bike, write blog posts, or brew beer? Of course not! It’s okay to be mediocre! Embrace it! Laugh about it.

So I’ve decided to be happy with my mediocrity. Will I challenge myself to improve and grow in my hobbies? Absolutely. I will push myself on my bike, I will go faster and take bigger risks on the trails, I will try new hobbies like beer brewing, I will read everything I can get my hands on, write every chance I get and I’ll do whatever else I feel like doing. Will I be disappointed when I have off days or if I don’t show big improvement? Maybe a little bit, but I refuse to let it ruin my day. If I have a bad day on the bike I will be thankful that I have the time and ability to ride a bike. I will not let a bad day get in the way of my satisfaction and self worth.

I guess part of this came from me thinking that we tend to be hyper-critical of ourselves. So often we judge ourselvesto be inadequate before even trying something. If I tell myself I’m terrible I’ve sabotaged everything I try to do before I even start. My whole life I’ve always said things like “I’m a terrible writer” and “Writing is not my strong point.” It’s time we let our insecurities go, and it’s time to get out of our own way. We cannot be afraid of the unknown. We cannot let timid thinking get in the way of trying new things. So maybe I turn out to not be great at writing. Does that mean I shouldn’t write? I will not quit just because I’m not great. I will revel in my mediocrity and tomorrow I will try something new.

It’s fine to not be a pig about everything. You don’t have to be completely committed to everything you do and you don’t have to be the best. Just being involved is fine if you love being involved! Then when you find that niche that you really feel great about, go big and be committed. But until then, just keep trying new things and have fun doing what you’re doing!

Comments : 5 Comments »

Categories : Uncategorized

My Reading Rainbow

19 10 2010

And now for something completely different. +1 if you get the reference.

That’s right, this post isn’t about cycling or anything else you’re used to reading on here. Remembering my last post where I told you I was interested in expanding my writing I’ve decided to take this post in a different direction. Maybe this is about how our tastes and hobbies change as we mature, maybe this is about our broken education system, and maybe this is just about the greatest books I’ve ever read. To the point, I’ve recently rediscovered my Reading Rainbow.

First, shoutout to Levar Burton (you can be cool like me and follow him on twitter @levarburton). This guy is great and always has been. Everyone should remember him as the host of Reading Rainbow (Nerd Reference: and Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation!), a show that was designed to entice kids to read by showing them different book recommendations always followed by Levar’s tagline “But you don’t have to take my word for it.” Top it off with an amazing and inspiring intro video (see above). Amazing! I loved this show. The show garnered literally hundreds of awards and the greatest thing about it is Levar Burton was (and still is) legitimately passionate about getting kids to read and learn. Much respect to Levar and company for such a great long-running show.

Here’s the problem though, I NEVER READ (like red, not reed). For whatever reason I generally did not like reading as a kid! I’m pretty sure I actually read one assigned book my entire time in high school (Ender’s Game, incredible book). Outside of reading the actual assigned books I read a lot of Cliffs Notes…

It was that way for most kids though. Maybe it’s the short attention span? I think my problem was being assigned to read stuff from genres I had no interest in. No offense to Dickens but I wanted nothing to do with Great Expectations. I’m sure it’s a fantastic book, but am I the only one who sees a problem with getting a 16-year-old to read a book from 1860? Don’t even get me started on Ivanhoe. (I should really go back and read it again, I’m sure my perspective has changed.) This is where I tie it in to our sketchy education system. We all want the youth of America to be intelligent, free thinking, productive, literate members of society. We want kids to grow up respecting literacy and the written word. If you are religious you want your kids be able to read the words in the Bible/Qur’an/Tanakh/Dianetics/The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster/Etc. We want our youth to grow up to make smart, informed decision when voting. We want all of society to not only be able to read the words that are written but also to analyze, understand, process and respond to those words.

So where does this leave us? In an ideal world we want our kids to read and respect great works of literature from great historical authors. Reality check: kids are not going to read books they don’t like! I think it’s time we all start being Levar Burton’s and let kids decide what to read based on where their imagination wants to take them. Most people I know loved To Kill A Mockingbird, I didn’t. So what did I do? I skimmed the pages and half-assed my way through that section of the class. Perhaps if I had designed my own reading assignments from books I wanted to read I would have read more, read faster, learned more, and respected literature more. Bottom line, we need to start being realistic about fostering literacy among society’s youth. Let’s tailor reading assignments to the kids who are doing the reading. Let’s help them become better by using their desires and imagination as a guide. Will it require a lot of work and a complete redesign of the curriculum? Probably. Is it worth? You bet it is!

I’ve recently rediscovered my Reading Rainbow. I read what I want now. I read nerdy fantasy books about knights and wizards and all sorts of other nerdy stuff. Whatever, I do what I want. Here’s the nice part: Instead of skimming the pages and being bored to tears reading something I think is boring, I am now reading faster than I ever thought possible. I can breeze through books at an astonishing pace when they really grab me. I actually love reading! I now have an emotional investment in the characters lives that play out on the pages. That imagination I had as a kid is coming back. I can escape from reality for a brief venture into the pages of a book that I truly enjoy, and when one story ends there is no shortage of other books to pick up and find another compelling story.

Levar and Reading Rainbow were right. I can go anywhere. I can be anything. Books have given me friends to know and places to go. So go pick up a book. Find time to escape. Get anything you want, don’t be embarrassed. Maybe you didn’t read much as a kid either, but there’s no reason you can’t start now. Just take a look, it’s in a book. But you don’t have to take my word for it.

Update: So, I randomly decided to tweet my blog post to Levar Burton since he was such an inspiration. I woke up this morning to find that he not only read my post, and not only retweeted it to all of his followers, but he also sent me a message that really is life changing. (Also tells you how freaking cool he is!) The part about “I can be anything” really is true. Thank you so much to Mr. Burton and everyone else who has come through here and read this post. I really do appreciate it.

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Tags: books, education, levar burton, reading, reading rainbow
Categories : Misc.