Dancing with My Star…

Tonight Sheri and I start ballroom dance lessons. I have to say that I’m not really looking forward to the “dancing” part of this, but I am really looking forward to spending some time with my STAR and getting to do something out of our comfort zone.

What can you do that takes you out of your comfort zone and closer to your wife? What’s stopping you?

Lessons From a Hospital Bed…My Hospital Stay and My Life Manifesto

 

During our flight back from California this weekend, I had (what I thought was) a minor issue on the flight. I passed out. Not the type of fainting where you stand up too fast. No. I really was out for the count. As a result I was immediately diagnosed with a severe case of Worried Wife Syndrome.

My lessons from these past couple of days:

1. I’m in outstanding condition. I have no heart issues, no brain tumors, and no clogged arteries. I have a very low resting heart rate, and am fit as can be. Raw Raw Team Steve!
2. My health is extremely important to my family. My wife kind-a-sort-a-lost-it when I claimed there was nothing wrong with me. She wouldn’t hear it. In fact the only real reason I came willingly is because of my friend Brian who is fighting some very serious health issues. I didn’t want to repeat his mistakes (not going to the doctor early). I also saw the fear in Sheri’s eyes. She was seriously worried and when she gets worried, it means there’s reason for concern.
3. I have issues with cholesterol. While nothing urgent today, this becomes a bigger issue later. It’s strange to me because Sheri’s cholesterol is outstanding ~ we eat the same, exercise the same amount, and drink very little. This is an area I have to now make a life change in.

I never considered how important it is to my family that I am healthy. In My Life Manifesto I discuss life style and fitness as key parts of my life. I guess it’s time to pay closer attention to this thing called cholesterol. I assumed only unhealthy people had to deal with this stuff…

Go get your cholesterol checked today. Why? Because real men protect their families, and protecting your health is key to protecting your family.

What assumptions do you have about your health?

A question for church worship pastors and webmasters

I’m blogging this because it’s too long for twitter…
Question #1
As you do song selection every week, do you spend time being strategically matching the songs to the weekly message? If not: why not? If yes: next question.

Question #2
Does your church post the weekly message in iTunes or some other media outlet? If not: why not? If yes: next question.

Question #3
If you’ve gotten this far, this is really what I wanted to ask you…
Can you post an iTunes link with the message to the songs you played that week?

It would be awesome to download the message on Monday along with the 3 or 4 worship songs designed to support that message to recap the week with. Playing those songs all week on my drive to and from work will not only give me pleasure, but reinforce the message that most of us forget as soon as we start road ragging…

iPad vs. the Kindle…

Kindle and the iPad…

For me there’s no comparison. I’m a Kindle guy all the way. My wife is an iPad girl all the way. Why the difference in opinion? My lack of self-discipline – period.

We both enjoy reading and read what I consider enough to make the shelling out of the $ worth it. It comes down to my abaility to unplug at the end of the day. Having the internet in bed with me is a really bad idea. It will check my e-mail one more time, look at The Drudge Report, check Facebook, or some other crap that I needed to stop doing by 8PM. That’s why the Kindle is a much better tool for me. I don’t want the internet in bed with me. I’ll never get any sleep.

Besides the experts agree with me. So, don’t bring your latop, iPad, cell phone/smart phone, or any other “connected” device to bed with you. Who knows, you may find something better to do with your wife who’s right next to you! Good night all.

Lessons from Changing Schedules…

Upon returning from my weekend away with my girlfriend, I decided to change my schedule and move my workout to in the morning (running 4 miles). It means 40ish minutes moved to before work. Here’s what I observed by doing this:

• It’s dark: I have to run on the streets – instead of the dirt road in the Everglades
• It’s cooler: I almost had heat stroke a couple weeks ago running in 106 degree temps (that’s heat index heat – actual temp 94 degrees)
• Smoother Days: I’m more focused and alert through the day
• Hitting Snooze matters:  10 extra minutes=20 minutes late for work
• I have less stress in the afternoon/evening, because I have one less thing to do before bed

Overall, I forgot how much I enjoy working out in the mornings. I wish our gym opened by 6 instead of 7, then I could hit the weights. But for now, I need to lose the 7 lbs I have put on this summer and running is the most effective way for me to do that.

If you could make one change to your schedule, what would it be? Why? What’s stopping you?

Happy Earth Day

Well Happy Earth Day everyone

Last year I posted about the  Missing Dragon Flies on my run in the Everglades. Well today, I’m happy to report, they are back! Running in the worlds ONLY River of Grass, is an amazing experience. It’s a shame that we continue to harm this world treasure through, over watering our yards, using too much fertilizer, and releasing all types of crazy invasive plants and animals into the environment.

Next time you need to fertilize your yard, read the instructions. Don’t over do it. It ends up in the water and damaging the only River of Grass in the world (which happens to be across the street from my house).

Happy Earth Day 2010.

Our 2009 World Adventure

Sheri and Savannah on the Abercrombie and Finchbillboard in Times Square NY Dec 2009.

We have had an unusually busy year for travel and adventure. We’re excited for 2010′s adventure. Are you going to live your life to the fullest this coming year? You have to plan to do so otherwise busyness will rob you of the most important things.

In May Sheri and I celebrated our 20^th anniversary on a cruise to Alaska and a long weekend in Seattle. We went to Glacier Bay, watched Margerie Glacier calve and spent the day on deck drinking wine and then in the spa whale watching off the bow of the ship. We went kayaking in Sitka and saw a humpback whale about 150′ from our kayak and had lunch on the cliffs overlooking the bay watching the eagles. We saw John Hopkins glacier that is over a mile wide with 14,000′ peaks behind it. The scale of Alaska cannot expressed and must be witnessed to comprehend. After our cruise we enjoyed Seattle, went on the ferries and had a wonderful sunset dinner in the Space Needle.

In August we took Savannah on a Caribbean cruise. We visited Key West, Jamaica, and the Cayman islands. We climbed Dunn’s River Falls, swam with stingrays, visited a pirate museum and a turtle farm, and enjoyed the bluest of blue oceans. There is no other blue like the deep blue of the Caribbean sea.

This past weekend, we went to New York to attend The University of Cambridge’s 800 Year Anniversary Gala in Gotham Hall. The event was outstanding. The story telling of 800 years of history in 9 minutes was incredible. The theme of the key note speaker: “Cambridge is a verb” It’s less about the place and more about the relationships and how people are changed during their time there. We went to Ground Zero, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, discussed our history as a country, went to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, spent time shopping, walking 5^th Ave., visiting the museum, Central Park and Times Sq. and Savannah and Sheri got on a giant billboard in Times Square. It was a wonderful weekend spent with Sheri’s good friend and us as a family.

In retrospect: I heard a quote from the lead animator from Disney’s A Christmas Carol,

“the wonderful thing about animated movie making is that you can make anything.

The curse is that you have to make everything.”

I wonder if God viewed having to make everything as a curse? Somehow I doubt it. I believe He enjoyed every moment. He created everything for our enjoyment and pleasure so that He would be glorified. We have taken great pleasure in our travels and adventures this year and are humbled as a result.

A movie doesn’t happen without a designer. How could everything on this earth (not to mention the universe) happen by random chance? I challenge you to answer that question? If you don’t have an answer, you’re not truly enjoying the adventure of life and the master piece of this place we call Earth.

Family Dinner

Dinner in our house is simple, but there’s one rule that we as a family very rarely break. That is eating together at the table with the TV OFF. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s something that Sheri and I have always done. When we were first married, we ate together. There was no real reason other than we enjoyed each other’s company. As our family grew, we maintained the concept, but also started enforcing it. Sometimes it means we eat early or late, regardless we eat together.

During dinner we converse. We ask each other how the day was and all engage in what’s going on. We laugh, cry, get upset, express frustration, discuss politics, church, leadership, business, friends, you get the idea…Stephen jokes that Sheri and I speak a ‘foreign language’ when we discuss business during dinner.

The point is that the time spent eating together has been priceless for our relationship as a family. If you don’t eat dinner together, I suggest you try it one day a week.

Here are the rules:

1. Eat at the table – everyone no exceptions
2. The TV and all outside sources of distraction (TV, radio, iPOD, cell phones) are OFF – no exceptions. You want the only sound to be conversation. We don’t even answer the phone during dinner.
3. No one leaves the table until everyone is done eating and the conversations are over

Try it 1 day per week for 1 month and see how it goes.
Disclaimer: You’ll learn more about your kids and their friends than you probably wanted to know.
It takes some getting used to, but you can do it and I assure you that it will be worth it.

Blog Launch

Welcome to my blog
I decided to do this not because it is popular (which if that were the case I am several years behind the curve), but at the urging of Seth Godin. Seth challenges his followers/readers to be extraordinary and do something that matters. This blog is my attempt to meet Seth’s challenge to be unique, special and extraordinary.

My purpose is to challenge myself to be a better man, husband, father, friend and human. I hope that during this adventure, you find information that is useful, makes you think, mad, inspired, happy, sad, worthless, priceless, and most importantly drives you to make a difference in your life and world.

All content and tags will link back to this post.
To those who decide I have something of worth to say and follow me, I promise to:

• Post one meaningful well thought out post per week on Thursdays
• Read all comments and feedback and take it into consideration (after all I am growing/learning too)
• Be honest with all my posts.

I retain permission to not respond to comments, and delete inappropriate comments as I feel fit
Thanks for reading…here we go
“Hold on to your butts” Samuel L Jackson in Jurassic Park
Steve