Goals for 2019

Tags

2019, failure, goals, resolutions, writing

Goals, resolutions, commitments. We all have set them at one time or another in our lives.  I remember when I had a gym membership how ridiculously full the parking lots got every January, only to be thinned out by the second week of February.  You hear the stats on how often new years resolutions fall to the wayside so quickly.  We have all gotten frustrated as weight hasn’t dropped off, or not been able to run or bike as far as we would like, or lift the weight and developed the physique we wanted to.

So what do so many of us do?  We quit. Why? Because it’s easy. Easy to throw up our hands, make excuses, say “well, most people fail at resolutions, so I don’t feel as bad”.

I am VERY guilty of this.  I can’t tell you how many years I have tapped out by mid February.

I have been thinking long and hard about goals for 2019. I have come up with a short list of them. I won’t share them all here, but I can and will share a couple.

1. Run.  I want to run at least six(6) races/events this year.  As I mentioned in recent posts, my nephew has really started to take a liking to running, so my goal is to be able to run a 10K strong with him, not a 30%run/70%walk but a STRONG run.  This will take dedication to train. I have found it much easier to train when you are registered for events, so I believe the secret to achieving this goal is to register for events throughout the year, time to check the Renegade racing calendar!!!
2. Write.  I really enjoy writing. I promise I do.  So what makes me come to a complete stop? I get on these tears where I write for a week or two then I come to screeching halt.  When I was in Arizona for family earlier this month, a few people told me they really enjoy the blog and say they go on just to see if there is new content.  That alone should be enough motivation to write, or you would think.  I also feel better when I write. I suppose it is because I am able to get more out of my head.  SO here is my goal. 104 blog posts in 2019. That is writing twice a week. If I start a short series, I could bust out five in a week (ok, lets not get too crazy, lets just shoot for 104).
3. The classic “get healthier”. this one is tough. but having a 6 (soon to be 7) year old is the motivation I need. Recently we were all watching something on television when the little guy said “that character is fat, like daddy” !!!!GUT PUNCH!!!! I don’t want to be the fat dad anymore. I already have cornered the market on the old dad.  this makes it even more difficult.  So my goal is to make small well planned steps to get healthier, slimmer and fitter. He is only going to get faster and stronger and I don’t want to be the dad who everyone has to wait on to catch up.

I feel that most people attack goals and resolutions in the wrong way. They go “all in”. We live in an instant gratification society, where we want it and we want it now.  Very often they burn themselves out and sometimes do much more harm than good. this ‘fast food’ culture drives us away from planning and puts success that much further away.

 

If I plan this right, take small steps rather than dive directly into the deep end, I have a much better chance of achieving everything I set out for, and will make 2019 the best year so far.

Have you made any resolutions/goals for 2019? Are you still on track for them even though we are still so early in the year?  Share them in the comments section.

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Opening 2019

Tags

'East Coast New Years', Cotton Candy, Goodbye 2018, Rose Bowl

2019 has already been very busy with loads of adventure.

We opened with ringing in the new year with my cousin and his wife who were in California for the Rose Bowl. We celebrated a ‘East coast’ new year as they were still on East coast time.

After they left the little guy once again reminded me that I promised to build one of the last Lego sets from Christmas, so from about 11:15 through the end of 2018 we built some Jurassic Kingdom Legos.

Last Legos of 2018!!

The ball dropped in times square, kisses were given and cheers to 2019 were made. Not too long after midnight, the little guy crashed for the night. New mom and I stayed up a while longer and went bed.

We woke up on New Years morning and the decision to go to Pasadena to watch the Buckeyes play in the Rose Bowl was made.  The drive up to Pasadena has NEVER been easier. I consulted with a friend who has purchased tickets at the game many times and assured us we should not have too much difficulty.  We ran into a scalper who sold us three REALLY great seats at a REALLY great price.  So off we went.

TICKETS!!!!

At the game, the seats next to us remained empty, so at halftime, my cousin and his wife joined us. it was a great time and memories I will cherish for years to come.  The little guy seemed to enjoy himself, but I have to be honest, I think the highlight of the day for him was the cotton candy.

Look Dad, COTTON CANDY!!!

After a nail-biting 4th quarter, we saw a Ohio State victory and history, as the Urban Meyer era at Ohio State came to a close. After a long hike to the car, we had no problem getting back into traffic and on our way we went.

All in all, a fantastic way to kick off 2019!!!

The day after the game, the fun came to a stop, as it was time to head to Arizona to say goodbye to a family member. See my post Tragedy in a season of Joy.  for more information on that.

 

 

 

Podcasts of 2018 (some Favorites)

Tags

cocaine and rhinestones, dirty john, Podcasts, Rockin the Suburbs, The Ringing ear, your favorite band sucks

Podcasts.  A new channel to share information, data and opinions. I LOVE them.  I am fortunate enough to have a job where I am reading and analyzing for extended periods of time.  This allows me the opportunity to turn something on in the background. I can’t say I always listen or comprehend everything on them, but they are on in the background.  I listen to at least one a day Monday through Friday.

It all started with my first recommendation, a great music podcast (you will note a trend) called ‘Rockin the Suburbs’. Jim and Patrick have been doing the Podcast thing for quite some time, before this one they had “Dad Rock” which can still be found online and is quite good as well.  They do a show every weekday and each episode varied in length from 16-50 minutes.  I have recommended it to a lot of friends, and tune in most days (every now and then, they just have a subject that does not interest me).  I use Audioboom to find and tune in.

Through ‘Rockin the suburbs’, I was introduced to the insanity of Tyler Mahan Coe. this guy does an INCREDIBLE podcast about some of the seedy underbelly of old country music called ‘Cocaine and Rhinestones’. It is extremely fascinating and the level of detail he gets into is incredible.   I use Google music to listen to this podcast and HIGHLY recommend it. Season one is available and I am impatiently waiting for season two to begin.

Tyler does another podcast that is a lot more tongue in cheek humor and very opinionated called “Your favorite band sucks” I absolutely laugh out loud at least ten times an episode.  They just tear apart some of music’s sacred cows (The Beatles Suck was their very first episode). I don’t always agree with much of what they have to say but then they hit on something that is so on point that I go “oh yeah“.  And if they are going after a band you love, it is absolutely infuriating until you they say something you can’t really disagree with.   You can find this on most platforms but again, I use Google Music.  they post about once a week but have taken a couple of breaks.

Dirty John is a true crime podcast that was recommended to me by my uncle, who listened to it as well.  It happened right here in Orange County, California and it was very interesting.  James Patterson could have written this storyline, but it happened in real life.  It was a single season, but if the writer does another true crime series, I will definitely check it out.

 

I left the best for last. Why is it the best? because a good friend of mine is one of the hosts. He is a writer for the daily beast and other sites/magazines and he and a good friend of his launched killboringmusic.com. and from that came ‘the Ringing Ear’ podcast.  It’s not the most polished podcast (which adds to its authenticity), but it is truly in its infancy, and I don’t get to hear from this friend very often, so listening makes it feel like I am having conversations with him every week.  They publish a new episode every Monday, and right now are taking a year-end break. Listen on many podcast platforms and catch up in time for season two to start early in 2019.

 

Tragedy in a season of Joy.

Tags

christmas tragedy, Faith, Family, heartbreak

Oh the end of December. A time that old blue eyes himself sang is “The most wonderful time of the year”.  A time where we are focusing on the birth of Jesus Christ and of course presents and family. A time filled with great joy.

It is not supposed to be a time of great sorrow. But unfortunately that is exactly what our family is going through. On December 21st new mom’s cousin was killed in a car accident. There is never a ‘good’ time for something like that to happen, but four days before Christmas makes it all that much harder to deal with.  At a time where families come together, we find ourselves saying goodbye to a member of ours.

New mom has explained it hits her harder at times than others. And there are triggers that  bring it forward.  She told me that just seeing a picture made her lose it at her work earlier this week.  This is not unexpected. I still have great waves of sorrow at times when I see something that reminds me of someone I have lost, friends or family.  At Christmas dinner, we were having a prayer before eating and New Mom’s father was saying the prayer. He stopped mid prayer because he was just so overwhelmed at that moment he could not continue.  I placed a hand on his shoulder and finished it for him. I apologized later, telling him I hope that I did not overstep my bounds and he said he was very thankful I was able to finish it for him, he was just so sad thinking about his sister and brother-in-law, who lost their son.  I love new mom’s aunt and uncle and can totally relate to his sentiment, for my heart just breaks for them. 

This brings me to  another remarkably sad part of this all. It just does not feel natural that a parent should or would ever bury their child. It feels, wrong. I just don’t have any other word to describe it.  In our family, one of my cousins died early in an automobile accident. It was and has been a remarkably difficult thing for my Uncle and their family.

One of the few consolations of this tragedy comes through faith.  During a very difficult time in his life, he was born again, reconnecting with Christ and accepting him as his savior.  We definitely are at ease knowing he has been welcomed home in the kingdom of heaven.  I know faith is a touchy subject for many, but this is a perfect example of faith not making you exempt from tragedy, but rather giving you the tools to handle it.

Our little guy has shown amazing grace through this all. He is old enough to understand the situation and when new mom starts to get upset, he will say “mom, mom, stop. He is with God now.”  He also surprised me on the day the accident occurred. New mom was putting him to bed, she was very upset. I was in the front room watching something on television when the little man yelled “Dad, we need you!”.  When I went into his room he asked if I would pray for our cousin and mama because she is so sad.  So I prayed with them and as I finished he curled up around new mom and gave her a big hug. It was a very proud dad moment for me.

This is not the first time our family has experienced loss during this season. Many years ago (32 to be exact) my Grandmother passed away exactly one week before Christmas. Recently new mom lost her Grandfather right before the Christmas holiday as well.  It was a very crappy holiday season those years.

As we wrap up 2018 with so many questions as to how and why, we find ourselves without answers and attempting to find the joy of the holidays through tears and forced smiles.  But we have our faith and our family to lean on and have been able to smile genuinely.

This was the first time the little guy met New Mom’s cousin 

 

 

 

Another reason why I love where I live

Look at this beauty

Another beautiful end of the day.

Just cause (a picture)

Tags

just because, picture

I was looking through my pictures and I really liked this one of newmom and our little stormtrooper. This was taken right after we saw Solo, a star wars story.

A great break in the day

Tags

funny chats, lunch date, spent time with son

Today new mom had an appointment. She asked me last night if I thought our little guy would be ok waiting in the waiting room for her with his leap pad. I knew that would not be an issue, it is a safe place and someone would have an eye on him the whole time. I suggested that he just be brought to my work, as it would be around my lunch break and my work is a pretty cool place, just see my post about the slide, I need not say more.

Well, instead of dropping him off, I met him at a burger place near new moms appointment…

…and it was awesome! Such a wonderful break in the day. He was very funny as we chatted about many things, including his upcoming entry to first grade and eating too much ice cream.

Made me realize I need to do things like this a little more often.

Who is your favorite lunch date? How do you takebreaks in the day?

A big thanks

Newmom’s grandmother had her 90th birthday this past week and we went to Arizona to celebrate with her family. While I was there, I stopped by the office of the company I used to work for and saw friends I had not seen in an extended time. Made me realize I really missed them.

But one friend I saw mentioned this blog and commented on the post about the slide. She also commented on the blog overall, saying it was nice to hear a male perspective on aspects of parenting. I was really touched by the very kind words. It has inspired me to pay more attention to this blog and post more.

Starting with a big thank you to Krystal!

Another beautiful day.

I am truly blessed to call southern California home. Not too long ago I celebrated my 20th anniversary of moving here.

There were five of us in total, and I’m the only one who stayed.

It turned out to be the best decision I ever made.

Life lesson from a Slide?

Tags

life lessons, loanDepot, lovewhereyouwork, slide

A couple of years back I was let go from a job that I had for 13 and a half years.  It was a punch in the stomach and an opportunity to teach our little guy some lessons about change.  Instead of Momma being around it was dada. In between looking for a new job, I got to learn a number of new life lessons about being a stay at home dad. I won’t lie, there are certain aspects I miss about it.

Fast forward two years and a new industry later, and I work in honestly the greatest job ever! Such a great company, for a great salary and awesome people.  One of the more interesting things in the office is a slide.

Yes…

…you read that right, a slide. In our office. To get from the 2nd floor to the 1st floor, there is a stainless steel slide.  And it is FAAASSSSST!  I try to make sure I take it at least twice a day. Never have I been happier to have to go to a meeting on another floor.  This past Friday our little guy got to come to the new office for the first time. He rode the slide over and over and over again.  So what are the lessons here? What does a stainless steel slide teach us?

The first that comes to mind, is that you are never too old to play. You are never too old to ride a slide. As long as you are physically able, take advantage of doing the fun thing. Take that slide, ride that roller coaster, ride that bicycle, play that game.

The second, and something I consider pretty important, work can indeed be fun. Love what you do and where you do it.  I am so blessed and fortunate to love where I work. Love who I work with, love what I do.   I know so many people who feel trapped and unhappy in their job. I want my little man to know that work does enable you to pay the bills, but it doesn’t have to be soulless.

I know there are going to be many lessons to teach him about life as we continue the great adventure we are on. but I hope these two sink in and I hope to be able to reinforce them over the years.