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Goofy Challenge Training Log

2011-12-18T12:32:00.000-08:00

T Minus 3 Weeks

21 miles! I did a run this past Saturday of 21 miles (20.75 miles actual). Pace-wise, it felt REALLY good. I was under 11:00 per mile for pretty much the first 12 miles, but then my times started to drop off over the remaining miles.

This is incredibly significant because this is my farthest continuous training run, EVER. Between last week's split run and my previous training for the 2010 marathon, I've never done this far of a distance at one time.

Unlike training for 2010, I want to make sure that I get in at least a couple of 20+ mile runs during my training. For my last marathon, my longest run was just over 19 miles and I think I paid for it during the actual race. This time, I want to make sure that my distance total is increased and I'm more physically for the Challenge.

Goofy Challenge Training Log

2011-12-13T06:20:00.000-08:00

T Minus 4 Weeks

Overall, I'd say training has gone well. I haven't followed the plan EXACTLY as I initially laid it out and there have been several modifications along with way to account for holiday happenings and family things; however, I feel pretty good.

This past weekend I did a "double" training weekend. On Saturday, I did a 9 mile run/walk. On Sunday, I did right at 21 miles. I say "right at" because at the 11.5 mile mark, my GPS crapped out on me. So I did what I knew to be another 4 outside on the Trail, and then I went home and did the last 5.5 on the treadmill. In my mind (and what I tell people) is that I did the full 21 miles. My legs certainly felt like it was the full 21.

So we're just under a month out now from the big weekend. Race registration is done; airline tickets are purchased; now I just need to figure out logding. I'll probably end up sharing a room with Bob, but we'll see. If not, I may try and do something different and rent from the DVC (Disney Vacation Club) for this stay. I've been doing research and you can "rent" timeshare points and stay at one of the DVC properties for close to what you'd pay at a value resort. Since the value resorts are currently showing as fully booked, I may go that route.

Goofy Challenge Training Log

2011-12-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

T Minus 5 Weeks

Another good week for race training. I took Thursday off work since the weather promised to be sunny and decent that day and did almost 18 1/2 miles that day. The last five miles or so were a little bit of a struggle. My mile pace times were under 11:00 per mile until the nine mile mark. At that point, the time started to drop off significantly. That is pretty much how all my long runs go. I keep up a decent pace early on and then it drops off significantly. I don't know if that's the basic nature of long training runs of if its because I do most of my training runs alone and don't have anyone to pace myself with. When it comes to actual race weekend, that may be better because I'll be running with Bob and I'll have a partner to push myself with. The only problem with that is that Bob has said that his training has been lacking this time around and he's said that we'll take "frequent" walk breaks during the marathon. We'll just wait and see how it goes.

Goofy Challenge Training Log

2011-11-16T20:29:00.000-08:00

Minus 8 Weeks

This week would have to be filed under "unsuccessful" and/or "disappointing". I had intended to do 18+ miles for my long run this week, but I had to stop and get picked up by my "support vehicle" just before mile 15. This was the first time that I'd been faced with leg cramps and soreness to the point that I couldn't continue. That then prompted a call for help and and a ride home.

I can't blame all the ailments on the training, though. The biggest reason, if I had to guess, is because of a change in shoes. I've always been an Asics Nimbus guy but have recently been researching different shoes types; the gel in the Nimbus just seem to break down so quickly for me because of my size and beause of the volume of running that I do. So I've been looking at something with which to replace the Nimbus. After reading quite a few reviews and doing some research, I decided to give the Brooks Glycerin a try.

My results? Mixed at best, but trending toward negative. I haven't felt near the amount of cushioning that I had with the Nimbus. I've done 6 runs in them to this point and I'm just not crazy about them. I know the reviews were glowing, but I don't think I'll go with Brooks again...definitely not Glycerins, that's for sure.

Goofy Challenge Training Log

2011-11-07T06:46:00.000-08:00

T minus 10 weeks until race weekend.

My registration has been submitted. The tickets have been purchased. Let's do this thing!

I'm officially signed-up to the do the 2012 Goofy (Race And A Half) Challenge at Walt Disney World. I've done the two parts individually; the half-marathon on Saturday (2011) and the full marathon on Sunday (2010). Now, I'll attempt to do them both in the same weekend...on consecutive days (2012).

Training is now underway. As opposed to last time when I only got up to about 20 miles for my longest training run for the marathon, I want to get up to having done 24+ miles on two weekends prior to this one. I've got a solid base built having done 11 half-marathons this year. Time to take it to the next level.

Long runs from the first weekend of training....
Friday - 8.65 miles
Saturday - 15.02 miles

Goals for the races:
1. Finish
2. Half-Marathon - 2:30:00
3. Marathon 5:00:00

Fuel for the Fire

2011-05-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

So as this running has taken hold and the weight has come off (50+ pounds lost to date...woo hoo!), I've been reading more and more on nutrition and eating the right kinds of food to fuel my runs and to encourage weight loss. In recent days, I've come across a couple of decent lists for both of those that I wanted to compile into a single list. Over time, I'll be trying to incorporate more of each of these into my every day diet.

Best Superfoods for Weight Loss
Black beans
Oats
Blueberries
Broccoli
Brown rice
Pears
Grapefruit
Almonds
Green tea
Bananas
Eggs
Oranges
Potatoes
Cheese
Low-fat milk

Source: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/thumbnails/0,,20475957,00.html

Top Fat Burning Foods
Lean cut chicken
Low fat dairy products
Citrus fruits
Apples and berries
Broccoli
Whole grain
Green tea

Source: http://www.runaddicts.net/health-nutrition/top-ten-fat-burning-foods

Race (#3) Day!

2011-04-02T05:20:00.000-07:00

Today is race #3 in the "12 in '11 Challenge"....the Lincoln Presidential Half-Marathon in Springfield. Physically and mentally, I feel pretty good. Training has been steady and gone well. This will be my first half of the year in which I run alone. One of the Bob's ran with me in my previous two races. So we'll see what kind of self-motivation I have to make it through this. In setting goals for this one, I'm going to try and be realistic...

Goal #1: Finish in under 2:15:00
Goal #2: Have an average mile time of under 10:10

I'm ready...let's do this thing!

Race #1 & #2 - Running Mix

2011-03-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

The list below got tweaked a little between the the first and second race of the year. There was some Green Day on there previously that is now gone; however, this is the mix that I ran to for the second race and pretty much for the first race as well.

Today Is The Day - Lincoln Brewster
Beautiful Day - U2
Viva la Vida - Coldplay
I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas
Loser Like Me - Glee Cast
Raise Your Glass - Glee Cast
Firework - Glee Cast
Empire State of Mind - Glee Cast
Hey, Soul Sister - Glee Cast
Don't Stop Believin' (Regionals Version) - Glee Cast
So What - Pink
U + Ur Hand - Pink
F**kin' Perfect - Pink
Raise Your Glass - Pink
Live Your Life - T.I. (feat. Rihanna)
Firework - Katy Perry
Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z (feat. Alicia Keys)
Hey, Soul Sister - Train
Trouble - Pink
Don't Let Me Get Me - Pink
Not Ready To Make Nice - Dixie Chicks
Long Time Gone - Dixie Chicks
Water - Brad Paisley
Toes - Zac Brown Band
All Summer Long - Kid Rock
Amen - Kid Rock
Our God - Chris Tomlin
No Chains On Me - Chris Tomlin
Tonight - TobyMac (feat. John Cooper)
Get Back Up - TobyMac
Yours (New Verse) - Steven Curtis Chapman
Love - Chris Tomlin & Watoto Children's Choir
All My Fountains - Chris Tomlin
Set Free - Chris Tomlin & Matt Redman
Follow Me There - Third Day
Mighty to Save - Mac Powell
I Saw The Light - David Crowder Band, Robbie Seay & Shane And Shane
I'll Fly Away Medley - Glory Revealed Live

Race #2 : Frostbite Classic : Post-mortem

2011-03-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

Time: 2:16:00 - NEW PR (by 11 minutes)!

So this race was WINDY...40+ MPH winds and HILLY! Through it all, though, the race went pretty well. Bob stayed with me the whole time. Looking back, I'm very pumped about the results. On the other hand, my hoped for time of 2:15 is certainly attainable based on how this race went. Just look at the mile splits for proof...

1) 9:02
2) 9:39
3) 9:52
4) 9:43
5) 9:33
6) 9:54
7) 10:13
8) 11:08
9) 11:05
10) 11:05
11) 11:19
12) 11:15
13) 10:26

Next time, I may slow the times down to around the 10:00 mark and hopefully have more left over the second half of the race. If I can be between 10:00 and 10:30 for all my mile splits, then that may work.

Next race : Lincoln Presidential Half-Marathon in Springfield on April 2nd

Race day!

2011-03-20T06:28:00.001-07:00

Step #2 in the "12 in '11 Challenge" begins in about 3.5 hours.

All the training miles have been logged and we're getting ready to start the 2011 Frostbite Classic in Delavan (IL) in just under 4 hours. The forecast for today has the temperature in the mid-60s with high winds (20+ MPH) and a chance of rain and thunderstorms. I'm ok with it all except the thunderstorms...not crazy about running with lightning all around.

My buddy (and sometimes training partner) Bob is doing this race with me. The goal is to finish in under 2:20 and having done a run of half the race distance (6.55 miles) last Saturday in 1:04, I am feeling pretty good about that goal. Probably no pirates or picture stops or anything like that to halt my progress; unlike last time in Disney!

Runners take your mark....get set....

Resolved - 12 in '11

2010-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

My New Year's Resolution for 2011...

I hereby resolve to complete in and complete 12 half-marathons in the 2011 calendar year.

I am tempted to make this a "one half-marathon per month in 2011" resolution; however, I know that at least February and possibly March are going to be problematic because of the lack of local (or close) marathons. So I'll got with a total of 12 and double-up in a month or two if I need to. So far I have already registered for races for the months of January, April, and May and I have races in mind for August, October, and December.

The payoff to this resolution is race #12...the Rock and Roll Half-Marathon in Las Vegas in December. I've never been to Vegas and always wanted to, so that is my treat to myself for completing the previous 12.

Labor Day 20K - Week 4

2010-07-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

Weekly Total: 24 miles
Long run: 6.28 miles (66:31)

A step-back week this week. Ran 6 of 7 days this week with another long bike ride to break up the week on Tuesday. Still trying to get used to the Equalons. This the fourth week running in them and I'm not real crazy about them. I keep catching the inside of my ankle with the side of the heel and its rubbed a raw spot. These are rated highly by running sites for heavier runners, but I still think I prefer my Nimbus 10's to these.

Labor Day 20K - Week 3

2010-07-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

Weekly Total: 24 miles
Long run: 9 miles (98:16)

Ran 5 out of 7 days this week. Broke it up with a 13 mile bike ride on Thursday on the Trail. Got caught in the rain during Tuesday's run; had wanted to do 4 miles but only got in 3 before the skies opened.

Labor Day 20K - Week 2

2010-07-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

Weekly Total: 20 miles
Long Run: 6 miles (63:44)

A pretty decent week; felt pretty good. Still doing the 4:30 / :30 run to walk Galloway split. For this race, I want to try and really stick to that throughout and not let my ego get the better of me like I did in the marathon.

Labor Day 20K - Week One

2010-06-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

Here we go again...

I've registered for the Disneyland half-marathon that is being held Labor Day weekend. I just completed week one of the training program with a 6 mile run this past weekend. My goals (in no particular order)....

1. Finish
2. Finish in under 2 1/2 hours
3. Stick to the training and race plan better than I did with the marathon in January.

I'm feeling pretty good about this new adventure...I mean if I can do 26.2 miles then sure I can do 13.1 miles, right?

Same song, different verse

2010-02-24T06:20:00.000-08:00

So my fears have come true. The eye problems are back, but this time we’ve moved on to the lens. It would seem that the deflected pass has caused my lens to partially detach. So now, I’m looking at lens replacement surgery in that same damaged eye. The plan is to have Dr. Barba go in to the eye, removed the torn lens and replaced it with a artificial lens. Recovery time is a couple months (probably three the doctor says because of the previous damage to the eye). So once again, my adventure with the semi-bionic eye (it would seem) continues…

The path MOST taken

2010-01-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

So here we go again….

I tried to get back into the swing of things yesterday at lunch and went back to play some basketball with the guys at work and what should happen but I took a deflected pass to the face on the 3rd or 4th possession of the day. Sigh…. And yes, before you even ask, it was a hit to my surgically repaired eye. And now of course, I’ve been having some headaches and some strange vision issues again. I’m going to call Gailey’s and get an appointment to see Dr. Barba and have it checked out. I have that dreaded bad feeling though that I get sometimes when it comes to this eye. I hope it’s just Pessimistic Me talking and not something serious.

26.2 @ 40 - Marathon Recap - Part Deux

2010-01-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

So now, another week has elapse since finishing the marathon and I think I’m beginning to get a little more perspective. First of all, it certainly was an ordeal…a physical challenge like none other that I’ve faced. And I took a couple of short runs this past week (no more than 3 miles) just to try and loosen up. The ligaments still really hurt, but it feels good to be moving again and running a bit. When I first finished, my first thoughts were…never again. But now, I’m beginning to re-think that. Maybe not full marathons, but certainly half-marathons are do-able. I’ve identified my next target and that’s the Disneyland Half-Marathon that is held in California on Labor Day weekend. The two races (the full and the half marathons) are combined in what’s called the “Coast-To-Coast Challenge” and if you finish both events in the same calendar year, you get a special, third medal. That’s the current prize that my eyes are on. But I’ve got plenty of time until we start to gear up for that one.

Oh, and happy birthday today to my little brother, Mikey! It's been quite a year, fella'...let's hope this next one is better. What say ye?

26.2 @ 40 - Marathon Recap

2010-01-11T12:29:00.000-08:00

Mission accomplished! I did it! I finished a marathon! Now of course, back to reality... Yes, I finished, but I missed my time goal by almost an hour. I had all along set a personal goal that I wanted to finish in under 5 hours and 30 minutes. In the end, I finished in 6 hours and 29 minutes. I know, lots of people had said that even finishing a marathon is quite and accomplishment, and I personally agree with that, but I had just hoped for a better time. The problems started about mile 18. I had heard all along that there is a wall at about the 18-20 mile mark that most runners hit but then eventually break through and get a second wind and are able to finish strong. Not me. The second wind never came. The pain over the last 8 miles was so bad that I actually ended up walking almost as much of it as I did running. I was literally to the point where I would run for 30 seconds and then walk for 30 seconds. And that was the best that I could do. My knees (front and back) just hurt so badly that I can't even explain the pain. And then the ligaments in the back of my knees go so tight during that last stretch that I actually though they were going to snap.

I think part of the problem that I had (aside from the cold...and more on that in a bit) was that I didn't follow my gameplan like I had wanted to. I had wanted to use the Galloway method with walk breaks throughout the whole thing. But seeing all those runners and how easy it looked to them caused my pride and my manhood to get the better of me. I actually ran almost the entire first hour. I only took a two minute walk break each half hour. I think that was a large part of what caused me problems later on. I think I just burnt myself out.

Now, about the cold...holy frak. As I was getting dressed for the race early on Sunday morning, the Weather Channel announced that Orlando was reporting their coldes temperate EVER that day. Let me repeat that...COLDEST....TEMPERATURE...EVER. The wind chill was 20 degrees. I might as well have been running back home in Illinois. Sheesh. By about 11 o'clock though as I was on mile 24 or 25, it had gotten up to almost 50 degrees and I was actually getting overly warm because of the number of layers that I had on. I remember thinking, "Wow...I'm feeling kind of warm now" as I was coming around past the Boardwalk near Epcot.

I'll have more thoughts in another post about the weekend as a whole, but just let me again say....I DID IT!

26.2 @ 40 - Week Sixteen Recap

2010-01-04T12:17:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

One week to go. I hit my mileage goals, so I'm feeling pretty good. I'm a little worried about the forecast though. Orlando in January is supposed to be in the 60s and 70s; however, it has been down in the 30s and 40s the last couple days. And that's what the 10 day forecast is showing as well. All this time I've been anticipating warmer weather for the marathon, but that isn't looking very promising right now. My ulcers continue to act up as well. But the end is in sight....

Mileage
Scheduled - 9
Actual - 9

Vitals
Scale - 227.2
Wii Fit - 221.1

26.2 @ 40 - Week Fifteen Recap

2009-12-28T12:16:00.000-08:00

Still came up short again this week. Campus is closed so I can't run inside at Horton or the Rec Center, so I'm limited to treadmill runs again. The weather was equally snowy and crappy as it was last week. I can tolerate running in the cold but it's the wet conditions that bother me. Just a little over two weeks to go now, my nerves are really starting to act up and my stomach has been kind of bothering me.

Mileage
Scheduled - 21
Actual - 13

Vitals
Scale - 228.6
Wii Fit - 219.8

26.2 @ 40 - Week Fourteen Recap

2009-12-21T12:13:00.000-08:00

Came up way short again this week. The weather did not cooperate at all, so I ended up doing most of my training runs on the treadmill at the gym. That coupled with the fact that it was Christmas week really put a kink in the training plans. Trying to do an 8 and 12 mile run on a treadmill is NOT fun. I don't care what "Runner's World" says about training on a treadmill, it just isn't nearly the same as runnning outdoors. I hope the next couple of weeks give us better weather.

Mileage
Scheduled - 29
Actual - 19

Vitals
Scale - 230.0
Wii Fit - 221.1

26.2 @ 40 - Week Thirteen Recap

2009-12-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

This was the week for the big one. According to the schedule, this week was to be the longest single run of the entire program, 20 miles, and the most total miles for the week, 40. Rounding up, I hit the longest run mark when I complete a 19.67 mile trek. For the week, though I only hit 35 miles. I felt pretty decent after the 20 mile run, so I hope that that will tranlsate well once it's time for the full 26.2 miles.

Mileage
Scheduled - 40
Actual - 35

Vitals
Scale - 230.0
Wii Fit - 221.6

26.2 @ 40 - Week Twelve Recap

2009-12-07T14:57:00.000-08:00

Back on track this week. I exceeded my mileage "minimum" again this week, so I'm feeling pretty good. Of course on my mid-week long run, I ended up turning the 9 mile run into a 4 mile run in the morning before week and then a 5 mile run in the afternoon after work. There are some who would say that that doesn't count? I'll sheepishly say that it all adds up in the end.

Mileage
Scheduled - 33
Actual - 34

Vitals
Scale - 230.6
Wii Fit - 221.6

26.2 @ 40 - Week Eleven Recap

2009-11-30T14:45:00.000-08:00

Another "failure" week as I didn't hit the mileage totals for the week. The other big news for this week was the purchase of new running shoes. We were out at the mall on the day after Thanksgiving and the local running specialty store had set up a "holiday" kiosk in one of the empty store fronts and had a number of "high end" running shoes marked down on clearance. So I tried on a couple of pairs and after talking to the sales person, ended up purchasing a pair of New Balance 859s. They are advertised as being for "clydesdales" like me, so I figured I would give them a shot. "Runner's World" has them rated pretty decently, so we'll see how this goes.

Mileage
Scheduled - 36
Actual - 32

Vitals
Scale - 232.2 (29.8 BMI)
Wii Fit - 225.1 (28.9 BMI)

26.2 @ 40 - Week Ten Recap

2009-11-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

This is the first week in my training that I would call a "failure". I just didn't get all my mileage in this week. Saturday was supposed to be 16 miles, but because of family commitments, I only had time to get in 11. On that basis, it was a disappointing week. Otherwise, the week was good. My distances felt good and I'm really settling in to a groove with the Galloway method. Physically (and mentally for the most part), I'm feeling good.

Mileage
Scheduled - 32
Actual - 27

Vitals
Scale - 233.6 (30.0 BMI)
Wii Fit - 226.7 (29.1 BMI)

26.2 @ 40 - Week Nine Recap

2009-11-16T17:57:00.000-08:00

The Galloway method rocks! I used it twice this week on my two long runs. The first run was scheduled to be secen miles, but I upped it to 9. That was the mid-week long run and it felt pretty darn good. The weekend long run was a step-back to 10 miles, and while it wasn't at a faster pace that my previous 10 mile run, it was still a grea feeling. Of course, I was tired, but my legs REALLY seemed to bounce back and recover quickly. I'm going to continue to to use it on my long runs (and even mys horter ones too).

So far, I'm really pleased with the outcome and results that I'm seeing. Of course, this only encompasses about half the total run that's scheduled for January.

Mileage
Scheduled - 24
Actual - 27

Vitals
Scale - 234.6 (30.1 BMI)
Wii Fit - 225.8 (2.0 BMI)

26.2 @ 40 - Week Eight Recap

2009-11-03T17:46:00.000-08:00

Halfway there! The long run this week was 13 miles, or the half-marathon mark (minus .2 miles). And it went pretty well. At least as well as me running 13 miles can be anyway. I was intending to start the Galloway method this week by running four minutes and then walking for one minute. But I decided to hold off a week and start it next week after I've done the half-marathon. I'm kind of excited to try it.

The Galloway book is really an easy read and the author really pushes the whole "walk breaks" concept. He claims that people have finished in under three hours using his "walk break" method. The other key component is that by incorprating these "walk breaks", the runner's legs will feel MUCH fresher at the end of the race and it will only slow the runner down by 15 to 20 seconds per mile. I'll gladly trade that time to be able to finish.

Mileage
Scheduled - 25
Actual - 31

Vitals
Scale - 233.1 (29.9 BMI)
Wii Fit - 225.1 (28.9 BMI)

26.2 @ 40 - Week Seven Recap

2009-10-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

Had a pretty good week. Did a full, 12 miles for the long run this week. So the mileage keeps climbing, little by little. Surprisingly enough, I felt pretty good after this run. I remember how bad it hurt week #3 after my first 7 miler. What I think I'm going to do is that with next week's 1/2 distance, I'm going to start doing the run/walk thing that Galloway recommends for beginners. I'm thinking about walking 2 or 3 minutes out of every 30 minutes run.

Next week...HALFWAY THERE! The long run next week is for the half-marathon (13.1 miles) distance. That will be a great test to see how the Galloway plan works.

Mileage
Scheduled - 24
Actual - 30

Vitals
Scale - 235.6 (30.25 BMI)
Wii Fit - 228.6 (29.35 BMI)

26.2 @ 40 (Week Six Recap)

2009-10-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Another "step back" week. To "celebrate", I did my long run (7 miles) on Sunday afternoon with Riggins. Wow. What a difference it makes to go with a "real" runner. Typically, I start at about a 10:30 pace and work from there. With Bob, we were doing 9:00 miles for the first three miles or so. I was gassed.

And speaking of gassed, I moved the long run this week to Sunday because I did the Town & Gown 5K on Saturday with Tim and Bill. I think we had a blast, although Tim was disappointed because he had to stop and walk a couple of times. We ended up finishing with a time of 32:30. Tim said his goal was to finish in under 35:00, so we accomplished that goal. The three of us are now talking about doing the Jingle Bell Run 5K together next month.

I was also a little disappointed because my weight went up a little from last week. I was hoping for continued weight loss, but it didn't seem to be meant to be this week.

Mileage
Scheduled - 18
Actual - 24

Vitals
Scale - 237.6 (30.5 BMI)
Wii Fit - 229.6 (29.5 BMI)

Amazed

2009-10-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight was Mom's visitation. I expected a big crowd, but was floored by the actual turnout. When we counted names at the end of the night, we were at almost 400 people who signed the guest book. The line stretched out the door of the funeral and down the sidewalk, from what I'm told. For a small town country girl, I'd say she made a huge impact. It was nice to see some of the old faces and to even put faces to some of the other names that she talked about frequently.

Saturday night after we got home from the hospital, I was going through the mail and there was an envelope from Chase Bank. Not thinking much about it, I handed it to Sherry thinking that it was a statement that needed to be filed away with the paperwork. I was a little surprised when she said that it was a check and started to hand it back to me. You see, just a couple of weeks earlier we had needed to buy a new TV (well, "needed" probably isn't the right word, but you know how guys are with TVs), so Bryan got a great deal on a new TV. We figured that we would pull some money out of savings and pay for it. Hold that thought....I'll tie this all together in a minute.

So on Saturday afternoon as we were making the final decisions about what to do about Mom's deteriorating condition, I asked Dad about the new gazebo. You see, for the longest time, Mom had wanted a screened in gazebo in the backyard. And for whatever reason, it just hadn't happened. Well, just a few weeks ago Dad had finally gotten everything arranged and had the gazebo put in for Mom. As it turns out, she got to sit in it just once before she back in the hospital for the last time. Thinking about that, I just got angry. And some of my thoughts on Saturday afternoon were not pleasant ones towards God. I couldn't reconcile why He would do that; how could a generous and loving God allow that to happen? And I kind of expressed that to Dad. He asked me if I needed to speak to a pastor or if he wanted me to call someone to talk to and I declined; I needed to process through it on my own.

So now back to the check that came in the mail and it was from the re-finance that we had done of our mortgage earlier in the summer and the check was for (almost to the penny) the amount that we had to come up with for the new TV. As with the story from the other day about the song selection on Sunday morning, holding that check in my hand was just a reminder on that very, very tough day that even though we don't see the whole picture and we can never understand why everything in our lives happens, there is a reason for it. The pieces may not all fit as we hope or expect them to, but every piece is laid out and constructed perfectly by THE Maker of it all.

26.2 @ 40 (Week Five Recap)

2009-10-13T22:52:00.000-07:00

Aside from having to re-arrange the training schedule because of events dealing with Mom's passing, the big news of this week is new shoes. I got a pair of Asics Gel Nimbus 9's. So far, I really like them. They took a day or two to get broken in but the difference between my old shoes (Asics Gel Phoenix) and these is amazing. These shoes are designed for "heavier" runners.

My long run was 10 miles this week, which I did today (Monday), and I felt much better after this run in the new shoes than I did after my 9 mile run in the old shoes.

Mileage
Scheduled - 21
Actual - 28

Vitals
Scale - 236.8 (30.4 BMI)
Wii Fit - 227.8 (29.2 BMI)

Peace

2009-10-11T19:57:00.000-07:00

Mom passed away yesterday. She took a dramatic turn for the worst early Saturday morning and her condition went downhill very quickly. She's at peace now; her pain is gone; and she's in a much better place. Even now, I miss her terribly, but I also know that it is for the best. Plus, I'm just now beginning to REALLY see God in all this.

I woke up this morning and was getting ready to head to church for sound check and worship team practice. As I was getting dressed, Sherry asked me if I was sure that I wanted to do this. Her comment to me was, "You aren't Favre." She, of course, was referring to the historic game that Bret played the day after his Dad died. I remember that game vividly and it is one of my favorite memories from my favorite player. Here's why I knew it was all ok: one of the songs that we did was "Victory in Jesus". An old-time, southern gospel classic that we did in the style of the Gaithers (Mom's favorite). We typically don't do southern gospel at church; we tend to lean towards more modern praise and worship. However, even before we lost Mom, God knew what was going to happen and had a greater plan worked out. This morning's worship was God's way of saying, "She's ok. She's with me. It's going to be just fine." I keep holding on to that thought through all this.

There's another part to this story that I'll also share in the coming days.

26.2 @ 40 (Week Four Recap)

2009-10-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

I'm officially in! The entry form was completed and submitted this week, and confirmation of registration was received. Absolutely not turning back now.

Back up to 9 miles for the long run for the week. I had some fairly decent pain in my knees and hips after the run. I'm thinking that it's time for some new (and more cushioned) shoes.

Mileage
Scheduled - 19
Actual - 25

Vitals
Scale - 239.5 (30.7 BMI)
Wii Fit - 229.5 (29.5 BMI)

26.2 @ 40 (Week Three Recap)

2009-09-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

A pretty decent week this week. It was a "step back" week. Only a five mile long run this week. Next week though is the BIG challenge. The long run on Saturday is scheduled for 9 miles. To date, my longest run has been 6.2 miles (10K). So next will be half again as long as anything I've done. This will go a long ways towards whether or not I can actually make this happen.

Mileage
Scheduled - 15
Actual - 20.22

Vitals
Scale - 238.0 (30.55 BMI)
Wii Fit 231.0 (29.66 BMI)

26.2 @ 40 (Week Two Recap)

2009-09-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

Ended up altering the schedule a little bit this week, but overall the result was more miles completed than was planned. On Saturday, I ran a 10K race which was a slighty shorter distance than what was called for (6.2 miles versus 7 miles), so I got in an additional run on Sunday to make up for it. My goal was to finish in under 1:06. Came in at 1:03:55, so I was happy with that. Went out a little faster on the first three miles than I had intended; averaged about 9:30 per mile over those three miles. Just after making the turn at the three mile marker, I started having the "runner's tingle" in my side, but I pressed on and made it through it.

Most mornings, I'm running by about 5:45 or so, which is an hour before sunrise. I'll be glad when daylight savings time kicks in and I get more sun during those early runs.

Mileage:
Scheduled: 16 miles
Actual: 18.39 miles

Vitals:
Scale: 238.0 (30.6 BMI)
Wii Fit: 232.0 (29.8 BMI)

26.2 @ 40 (Week One Recap)

2009-09-16T06:08:00.000-07:00

Week one is done, and it went pretty well. I had to adjust the schedule a bit because of traveling to Pennsylvania over the weekend, so I ended up doing the long run (6 miles) on day 2 instead of 4. Overall, it was a good week. My knees are a little sore, but it's probably because of playing basketball on Tuesdays and Thursdays in addition to running in the mornings.

Mileage:
Scheduled: 15 miles
Actual: 15.76 miles

Vitals:
Scale: 238.8 (30.7 BMI)
Wii Fit: 231.3 (29.7 BMI)

26.2 @ 40 (Day One || Week One)

2009-09-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

The quest begins today. Eighteen weeks from Sunday, it is my goal to run in (and complete) a marathon. I'm using a version of the Higdon method; running four days a week (short runs on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) with a long run on Saturday (or Sunday). I've been running anywhere between three and five miles a day three or four times a week since June to build up a "base" for this adventure. I'm doing it for no other reason than to be able to say that I've finished a marathon; and to "celebrate" my 40th birthday; and to lose weight. Ok...so three reasons.

I'll be using this a training log slash diary of the process. I've got a couple of friends (both named Bob ironically) who have done marathons as has my brother-in-law, so I've got some sources close to me to county on and help with motivation. If I complete all the training runs, I will have completed 427 miles.

My greatest concern (other than actually pulling off this crazy idea) is the long runs (or just running for that matter) in November and December; doing a 20 mile run on a Saturday (or Sunday) in December in the cold (and probably snow) seems a little crazy, doesn't it? Call me crazy.

3 down 424 to go...

Vitals:
6' 2"
Scale - 243 lbs. (31.2 BMI)
Wii Fit - 233 lbs. (29.9 BMI)

Ladies and gentlemen...

2009-05-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

Now THAT'S how it's done.

Conspiracy theorists unite!

2009-04-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

As I write this, we are a little more than 4 hours away from tip-off of this year's NCAA national championship game between the University of North Carolina and Michigan State University. I'm going to throw the following prediction out there and then offer an explanation that has nothing to do with any single person, coach, or statistic that will impact the outcome of the game. Michigan State will win. Bet the house on it.

This is one of those things that conspiracy theorists will look back on and say, "Yeah...it HAD to happen that way." It all boils down to economics and the "feel good" factor. You see, our country is in the midst of one of the absolute worst economic downturns that it has seen in many, many years (if ever). Banks are failing; people are losing their houses, their jobs, everything; and our automobile manufacturers are on the brink of total collapse. So add it all up....Michigan State is in the championship game which is being held in Detroit where some of the worst economic conditions exist because of the automotive crisis. What would be better for the overall general well-being and financial health of the state and people of Michigan, than a Spartan victory? Nothing.

It's almost the exact same situation as the 2002 Super Bowl when the Patriots came from almost nowhere to win our country's first post-9/11 Super Bowl? Who better than the Patriots to win when our country needed a morale boost? But that's another argument for another time....

Yet another story from the gym...

2009-03-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

With all these experiences that I've been blogging about that take place at the gym, maybe....1) I spend too much time at the gym or B) I should write a book about my gym experiences. Or maybe I should just be quiet and keep blogging...

Anyway, this past weekend I was in Orlando on a ministry related trip and while down working out in the hotel's fitness center, I witness another of those signs and/or experiences that made me just smile (and even question my sanity a little). I was on the treadmill and I had SportsCenter playing on the TV. At one point, they cut to a clip from the Houston Rockets basketball game. And sitting there on the bench was Yao Ming and he was sitting next to a much smaller man. The smaller man had an Apple laptop open and both men were looking at it while Yao was pointing and talking veru animatedly. I had my iPod on at the time and couldn't hear the voice over that the announcer was doing, but in my (somewhat snakry) head, I could almost imagine the stereotypical comment that was being made about Yao being the extremely saavy Chinese man who was doing technical support for the other's man MacBook.

It was one of those thoughts that just exaserbate a stereotype and really makes you wonder why you thought it. So what did I happen to think that way about that clip? Am I secretly as racist as the next guy for putting Yao into that particular caricature? If our thoughts reveal who we really are and if our character is defined by who we are, what we do, and what we think when no one but God is watching, then I failed...miserably.

Sending mixed signals

2009-02-23T06:59:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago, I wrote about being at the gym and seeing a Michael W. Smith video being played on the gym's in-house TV feed. It happened again...sort of...

A couple of days ago I was at the gym running on the treadmill and I happened to see what I thought was a familiar face on the in-house TV feed; I thought, that looks a lot like Rebbecca St. James, a Christian pop singer. As the song ended and the artist name and song title popped on the screen, lo and behold, it was RSJ singing "Wait For Me", a song about abstinence and sexual purity. So I got to thinking....how's that for ironic....

In theory, people go to the gym to become more physically fit and healthy...right? Well, based on some of the people that I see there and some of the conversations that I overhear, I'm thinking that there's a great number of single people there who are trying to meet people for the purposes of a relationship and/or who are trying to make themselves more attractive, also for the purposes of a relationship. And I'm also guessing that given the way many relationships in our society progress today, that the message of sexual purity and abstinence is lost on that crowd. So as I did those many weeks ago, I'm praying that maybe that message might have gotten through to someone watching somewhere on the Gold's Gym network. Maybe it will make a difference to someone...

The magic of Facebook

2009-02-13T13:15:00.000-08:00

A couple of interesting occurrences within my life revolving around Facebook from the last few days (and I hope I'm remembering all the events correctly and in order, but you'll get the idea)....

First, it was an early evening and we were all home from work and school. Sherry was cruising around on Facebook when she popped into the kitched and said, "It's happening." I asked, "What's happening?" "Chris's status on Facebook said that he is heading to the hospital to have a baby," she replied. She continued, "I've gotta call Mom and see if Grandma knows." To further set the stage, Chris is Sherry's cousin. Sherry's mom (Karen) and Chris's dad (Ron) are brother and sister. Ron, Chris, and the rest live in West Virginia. So the story continues and Sherry calls Karen who calls Faye (Grandma from above) who called Ron who had NO IDEA what was going on with the impending birth. So all of us (me, Sherry, Karen, and Faye) here in Central Illinois all knew this was happening before Ron did, who happens to live just miles away from Chris. That whole episode just made me chuckle.

Then, I had one of those similar Facebook moments impact me directly. It was late in the evening and I was working on a project for school and had Facebook open at the same time. When all of a sudden, the instant messenger within Facebook popped up and read, "Tracy...this is Michael Snow...I'm in Costa Rica...could you call Diane at XXX-XXX-XXXX and tell her to get on Facebook so we can talk....no emergency." Again to set the stage, Mike is Karen's brother and Sherry's uncle while Diane is his wife; the live in the Charleston (Illinois) area. So I called Diane and said, "Diane, this is Tracy Rosenberer...Mike just sent me an instant message on Facebook and wants you to get on-line so he can talk to you...no emergency." So Diane proceeded to tell me that I was actually the THIRD call that she had gotten on that exact nature. One from me; one from Iowa; and one from someone in their church their in Charleston. The power (and speed) of the Internet (and Facebook) is amazing....

Book O' The Blog Club - February 2009

2009-02-02T14:34:00.001-08:00

Since the last book club update, I've finished off the Tim Downs book and I've started and finished "Into The Wild" by Jon Krakkauer.

The Tim Downs book did not disappoint. I really like the Nick Polchak character...think of a thinner and less people friendly (if that is possible) version of Gil Grissom from CSI and you have Nick. This particular book included some political intrigue about someone trying to escape their smalltown background...yeah...I know...imagine that...me...enjoying a story about escaping a smalltown....in any event, I highly recommend this latest installment in the "Bug Man" series.

The "Into The Wild" book was kind of a departure for me. I usually don't read non-fiction but this one appealed to me for some reason. It was a good read, too. A story about a young man's tragic journey into adulthood and his desire to challenge himself physically, mentally, and spiritually. I enjoyed it too.

So now, I'm into "The Gate House" by Nelson DeMille. It's a sequel to his previous novel "The Gold Coast". The jacket describes it as "The Great Gatsby" meets "The Godfather"...and that's not far off. I'm about 1/3 through it right now...and I can't put it down. And my class is probably suffering because of it.... ;)

Next month...THE NEW JOHN GRISHAM BOOK! I'm quivering with joy and anticipation.

More braggin' rights

2009-01-27T08:47:00.000-08:00

File this one away under "proud papa"...

This past Saturday, Abby made her first-ever basket in an organized and semi-competitive basketball game. This year, she is participating in the Upwards program at Calvary Baptist here in town. She is the youngest member of her Lady Volunteers basketball team. On her team, there are six 3rd graders, two 2nd graders, and a 1st grader (Abby). She is the third tallest on her team; imagine that...

So this was her third game but the second that she had been able to make it to after having a JBQ conflict last week. She actually took three shots and made one. The smile on her face and her reaction when it went it was priceless. Adding to the overall goodness of the day was the fact that my folks were there since they had driven over to see her play and for us to celebrate Mom's birthday.

What an awesome and memorable day it was....

The (not so) world premiere video

2009-01-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is a video of the worship band that I play in performing at the youth group service at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Merna. If you look closely, you will see yours truly at about the 1:05 mark playing acoustic guitar.

The next leg of our tour

2009-01-13T08:14:00.000-08:00

So this past Sunday, our band played two more "dates" on our worship "tour". First, we led worship at church on Sunday morning. Let me just say again what an amazing and annoited leader, musician, and friend Doug is. Our musician line-up this time consisted of keyboards, bass, acoustic guitar (me), two electric guitars, flute, violin, accordian, drums, percussion, trombone, and trumpet. We did a "live" 5 minute countdown before church again, but this time we took it in a REALLY different direction. Our inspiration came from the embedded video below. It didn't come off quite and lively as I had hoped, but we still had a good response from the congregation. Anytime you get a good old foot stomp and clap going on a Sunday morning, it's all good.

Then Sunday night, we went back out to St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Merna and let worship for their youth service. This was a follow-up to the last time we were out there and led worship; I guess they liked us after the first time because they invited us back for not one, but TWO dates: last night and we'll be going back again in April. Our set list last night consisted of "Praise You With The Dance", "Your Grace Is Enough", "Trading My Sorrows", "Jesus Messiah", and "At The Cross". As before, the kids really started to warm up and get into it as we went along. Their youth pastor had sent us a list of some of the songs and artists that they listened to, so we tried to tailor our set to what they liked. "Trading My Sorrows" again drew the best response of the evening as the kids were singing and dancing along and having a great time (it seemed). I don't know if it will come through if you don't have a Facebook account, but you can see some video of the evening by going here. And yes...the guitar play at the 1:15 (or so) mark is me. I've got more video to pull off the video camera...I may try and post that here. Overall, what an amazing night it was...

Who do YOU hate...and how much do you hate them?

2009-01-08T06:47:00.000-08:00

So I'm on the exercise bike this morning at the gym and one of the stories from one of the morning news shows (Fox News, I believe) that caught my attention was a story about a man and a woman who are going through a divorce. From what I could deduce (and I had my iPod on at the time and only read the text overlays that accompanied the story) the man had given his wife one of his kidneys and now that they were getting divorced, the man was demanding his kidney back or demanding "adequate" financial restitution (reportedly a seven figure dollar amount) from her. Now I understand that divorce is painful. I understand that it can bring about feelings of anger and hatred and spite and revenge. Really, I do. But here's my question...how can any person, anyone with any sense of humanity and civility make such a request of another person; a request that could likely kill the other person? How is that possible? Before answering that question, let me spin it a little differently for you....

Recently, I came across a posting of a story that Penn Jillette shares (see embedded video below). For those that don't know, Penn is the taller (and talkative) one of the Penn & Teller duo. Penn is notoriously outspoken about basically anything that crosses his mind and is seldom at a loss for words. In this video, Penn tells the story of a man who came up to him after one of Penn & Teller's shows and gives Penn a small Gideon Bible. Now, Penn is a noted atheist and frequently shares his views on and against religion. Two things that Penn said really struck me...

1) (And I'm paraphrasing here...) If you believe there's a heaven and a hell and you think that it's really not worth telling someone about eternal life because it would be socially awkward, then how much do you have to hate someone NOT to share the Gospel with them?
B) (Again, paraphrasing Penn...) I know there's no God, and one person living his life the right way doesn't change that.

My commentary of the above...how much did the guy above have to hate his wife to make a request of her that would most likely kill her? How is that much hatred possible? Especially for someone that you once claimed to love? And what's more, how is it possible that any of us can hate any one else at all that we would NOT share the Gospel and not show them that there's an option to an eternity in hell?

The final thing that I'll comment on is Penn's demeanor. Maybe I'm just mistaking the "on stage" Penn for the "real" Penn. Maybe he is always subdued off-stage and he is in the video blog. Maybe his stage persona is just that...a persona...an act. But I've been a Penn & Teller fan for years and I'd like to believe that the Penn on-stage is the REAL Penn. I honestly believe that the subdued Penn that you see in the video is in direct response to what the man shared with him; maybe one man's "living his life the right way" DOES have an impact. Maybe Penn has been genuinely touched and impacted by the simple gift of a Gideon Bible. Maybe Penn will open it...read it... see that his athetistic aways are flawed. That's what I'm praying for. That's what I'm hoping for. Now if you'll excuse me...I've got some enemies that I need to go show some "tough love" to and there's something that is much greater than the dislike that I have for them...

Life imitating art - revisited

2009-01-07T07:07:00.001-08:00

There are many that argue that "Bull Durham" is one of the greatest sports movies ever made. To fill in the backstory, Kevin Costner plays an aging minor league baseball player who is brought into a Class A (the lowest level of professional baseball) team to mentor a rising star pitcher (Tim Robbins) and provide an example to the rest of the team of how a professional ball player tackles the day-to-day activities of a season. One of the sub-plots to the story is that Costner's character (Crash Davis) is very close to breaking the minor league career home run record; as it turns out, Crash has spent almost the entirety of his professional career bouncing around the minor leagues. Towards the middle to later stages of the movie, Crash finally hits the one that breaks the record. Shortly thereafter, Nuke (Robbins' character) is called up to the majors as the season winds down. At that point, the team (and larger organization) that Crash is no longer needed and other, younger players need to be given time to develop; so Crash is let go and released by the team.

The sports section of our local paper today featured the headline, "Parsons Released By Prairie Thunder". To fill in these blanks, Don Parsons is a 39 year-old hockey player with our local minor league hockey team, the Bloomington Prairie Thunder. The Prairie Thunder play in the IHL, which is the equivalent of Class AA baseball...not quite the lowest level, but it's down there. Parsons has bounced around the minors for almost all his career. The parallel continues as Parsons broke the minor league career scoring record two weeks ago. Te team has struggled this year (just like the Durham Bulls did in the movie), has a losing record, and is dangerously close to missing out on the playoffs....yet again.

So management, it seems, decided to pull a "Crash Davis" and release Parsons after he broke the record. Being a Prairie Thunder (and hockey in general) fan, let me say, good luck, Don. You have been a joy to watch play and I hope you land somewhere that allows you to be successful and one day you are in a position to stick it to us.

Book O' The Blog Club

2009-01-05T13:37:00.000-08:00

Every so often, I'll post a few comments about some of the books that I'm currently reading. In doing so, you'll get a little glimpse into what I got for Christmas. Yes...I'm a self-professed bookworm and a great deal of what was on my Christmas list included....tah dah....books! Here's a list of the books that I'll be "reviewing" over the coming weeks (and maybe months depending on how much reading I have for class):

1. Less Than Dead - Tim Down (reviewed below)
2. Notes From The Road - Nigel James (previously examined)
3. Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer
4. Jesus Wants To Save Christians - Rob Bell
5. The Gate House - Nelson DeMille
6. Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller

Tim Down's latest, "Less Than Dead", is the novel that I'm reading at the moment. This latest is a crossover of sorts and the author combines the main characters from his "Bug Man" series and his "Plague Maker" novel.

So far (and I'm only through chapter 3), it's really good. Our "Bug Man", Dr. Nick Polchak, has been called in by the FBI to help investigate a mass burial site found on the property of the leading Presidential candidate and Senator from Virginia. So far...so good....really good....

A divine coincidence

2009-01-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

No...this isn't about a New Year's resolution. Well...at least not in the traditional sense. I don't know if you can call it a New Year's resolution, but I started a membership at Gold Gym's the Monday before Thanksgiving and have been trying to stick to a workout routine ever since. I try to do at least 30 minutes (but actually closer to 45) on the treadmill/bike and/or pool every day but Sunday. I don't want to talk about that...what I want to talk about is something that I witnessed at the gym this morning.

At Gold's they have TVs having all over the place that play different channels from DirectTV. One of those channels is the in-house Gold's Gym channel that plays mainly music videos with some workout tips and announcements thrown in. The channel tends to lean more towards hip hop and/or alt rock in terms of musical tastes and genre(s). The musical selection tends to be more dated (than not) when it comes to the up-to-datedness (is that even a word?) of the music.

So this morning as I'm running, the Gold's channel starts playing "Place In This World" by Michael W. Smith...a Christian artist and song that is neither hip hop nor alt rock not even remotely recent. And on the TV right next to it, is CNN where they are doing a piece on an atheist who has filed a lawsuit to not allow a prayer to be said at the upcoming Presidential inauguration because the inclusion of the prayer (according to the lawsuit) violated the separation of church and state.

Personally, I do not believe in coincidences...I believe that everything happens for a reason; and we may never know the reason(s) why something (or a chain of events) happened. So what I'm wondering about is that atheist who's out in a Gold's Gym somewhere in the world who happened to witness that at the same time that I did. What I'd like to say to that person is...God does exist. And He loves you very much. And to paraphrase the song...there's a place for you in God's world...and He welcomes you with open arms. Will you embrace Him? He wants to embrace you. Mr. (or Ms.) Atheist...I hope you enjoyed your workout. I'll be praying for you.

Happy New Year.

2008 - The year of....

2008-12-31T14:28:00.000-08:00

change? You certainly could argue that. What with the presidential election that we just finished. "Change" certainly was the buzzword throughout that particular season and campaign.

No...instead I think that 2008 was more adequately summed up as "The Year of The Governor." At least from a pop culture and humor standpoint.

During the first part of the year, you had the whole affair with then-Governor Sptizer from New York. Then the middle half of the year was dominated by that Tina Fey-wannabe governor from Alaska. What was her name again? ;) You know the one that I mean...the one that could see Russia from her house. Then the last half of the year was dominated by our own governor, Blago the Great (at least in his mind). And finally, we had all the controversy surrounding the SNL skit depicting Governor Paterson from New York. Governors sure seemed to dominate the news this year, didn't they?

So I'm going to continue that push and and start my (former Governor) Jesses "The Body" Ventura for President in 2012 campaign. Who's with me? No...didn't think so.

Happy New Year, anyway!

(American) Idol Worship

2008-12-28T20:58:00.000-08:00

No...this isn't about Randy or Paula or Simon or that crazy show that's about to start-up again and take America by storm. No...this is going to try and go a little deeper...

One of the things that I got for Christmas was a book that's now listed on my reading list to the left. It's by Nigel James, who is the road pastor for Third Day when they are on tour, and it's called "Notes From The Road". In the book, he takes one of Third Day's songs and then shares some stories (and a brief devotion) about the song (how it was written, meanings behind certain lyrics and choruses, and so on). I'm currently on chapter two and it's about the song "Rock Star" from their album "Wire".

The devotional that Nigel shares here is about success; and how we define "success" in our normal, everyday lives. He not only spins it in terms of success on a concert tour, but as a father, son, brother, husband, and so on. What defines "success"? Is it defined by selling a million albums? Is it defined by bringing home a six figure income? Is it defined by raising kids who love God?

I find it interesting that this post-Christmas season some of the top selling video games were ones such as "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" and the like. It just makes me wonder is we are setting the wrong priorities for our kids. Are these games pushing them to idolize the rock star life style and to try to emulate them? I don't have the answers...just a little bit of a conscience twinge this evening. While you think about that...I'm off to play some more "Guitar Hero"...

The second date on the (not so worldly) worship tour

2008-12-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

Tonight we are playing the second date on our (worship) tour of local youth events. But this evening will be a complete 180 degrees from the last event. Tonight we are playing a worship set at the local juvenile detention facility (JDC). One of the lay pastors in our church preaches regularly at the JDC and we've finally been able to hook up with him on a date for us to play. Tonight's the nite. So we'll be playing to a crowd of teens and youth who are being held for a number of different offenses and reasons. Think "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison" but to a much, much younger crowd. Pray that the message and music tonight might reach just one young person's life and make a difference. Would you do that for me?

Happy (half) Birthday!

2008-12-11T12:19:00.000-08:00

A very happy (half) birthday to our oldest, Abby. She turns a very precocious six and a half today.

For those of you who don't know, a half birthday is a day that is celebrated by those school kids whose birthdays happen to fall during summer break and can't celebrate during the school year with their friends. Abby's birthday (June 11th) falls during the previously mentioned summer break, so she doesn't get to celebrate at school.

Happy (half) birthday, princess!

Acoustic Guitar Hero - The (Worship) Tour

2008-12-08T23:54:00.000-08:00

Two words....amaze...ing.....

Picture if you will, between 250 and 300 junior high and high school students in a room singing and dancing and laughing while music blasts in the background and images are projected on a big screen. A concert by the hottest rock and roll or hip hop act? Nope. A group viewing of one of the new "High School Musical" releases? Not even close. A victory celebration after a hard won varsity football game? Nada.

The scene I'm describing is one that I witnessed from the stage when we (and by we, I mean the band in which I play acoustic guitar) led worship for a youth event here in our town last night. You see, we were invited to lead worship for a Sunday night service at St. Patrick's out near Merna. So yes, we had a pentecostal Christian band (made up of adults ranging in age from mid-30s to over 60 and whose musical style tends to lean more towards rhythm and blues, what with our horn section and all) leading worship for a Catholic youth group event. And the kids dug it. Our set list consisted of "Praise You With The Dance", "Trading My Sorrows", "Jesus Messiah", "O Come Let Us Adore Him", and "Your Name". It was during the second song that it got downright crazy.

There was a group of about six or eight high school kids up in front who were really getting into the song and worshiping and they had some gestures worked out to the song. So Doug invited them up to the stage and they then proceeded to teach the movements to the entire room and we had the whole room joining in. It was absolutely amazing. I wish there had been video or pictures of the night. Words just can't do it justice.

The most amazing thing about the whole evening is that Doug had some real anxiety going into the evening about how it was going to go. I don't know if I'd call it outright fear, but trepidation surely is a good descriptor. To briefly share some of what he and I talked about before the evening started, you're got a mostly middle aged R&B band trying to reach a room full of teenagers and you've also got a band that the youth group from our own church describes as "lame" (an adjective that Doug said he heard some of our youth describe us as that actually kind of surprised me) ...it seems that the deck was stacked against us. By wouldn't you know? A strange thing happened....God showed up. Things happen in this world that makes us all just kind of scratch our heads and wonder how it happened...well, this was God.

The evening went so well and we got such a good response that Doug and Scott are already talking to them about us going back to lead worship for them on a regular basis and there's also been a discussion about us doing a "mini-concert" at an autism event that someone from that church is putting together at the Interstate Center sometime in the spring.

More details on our "worship tour" to follow....

This one's for the girl...

2008-12-03T06:04:00.000-08:00

Overheard this morning at the gym between two muscle-bound, muscle-headed idiots...

Musclehead 1: "Yeah, I left the gym yesterday and went home and was at work by 6. I didn't shower or nuthin'. Just threw on some cologne and went. I worked all afternoon 'cuz Jamie had a job interview at 3. It seemed like a really long day. Felt like almost 12 hours. I mean, I was there from six until six."
Musclehead 2: "Yeah, dude. That's a long ass day."

This is usually Sherry's rant what with her being the math teacher and all, but I'm going to steal it for a minute. Why do we as a society tolerate such a "don't care" attitude about even the most basic of math skills? I mean, come on. Sherry will tell you that one of her biggest pet peeves is when someone says, "I hate math...I never was any good at it." Why is that we as a society tolerate that attitude? Do you ever hear someone say, "I hate reading...I never was any good at it." It never really bothered me, even being a math major, until here recently. But still the more often that I hear those types of statements in public, I just want to interrupt and ask, "Really? How about reading? Spelling? Are you functionally illiterate in all areas or is math just your specialty?"

Testify!

2008-11-29T21:30:00.001-08:00

At church, we had our traditional Thanksgiving eve service a couple of days ago. At the end of the service, Pastor has us break up into groups of two or three and have everyone in the groups tell something that they were thankful for and also name something that they'd like to have prayed over by the group. Since I was working back in the soundbooth, my group consisted of me, Doug, and John...the guys that I've become closest to over the past several months; since we basically comprise the nucleus of the Tuesday night worship band.

Well, my prayer request for the group was for my Mom. Mom's been struggling with kidney problems for the past couple of years and not only does she have to undergo twice-a-day home dialysis sessions but she's gotten herself put on several transplant lists around the midwest. Recently, the transplant list that she was on at the hospital in Springfield closed, so she had to change to one of the lists out of Peoria. I told the guys that I'd like to have them pray for Mom and her kidney condition. Since she's been dealing with this for the last several years and I've been praying about it regularly, I guess my faith in this area just wasn't as strong as it should have been; so I figured that I'd share my burden with the guys; especially with me having John and Doug in my group...two incredible and powerful prayer warriors. One of the things that John prayed for was that we (myself and my family) would be comforted in the power of what God can do. Little did I know how the power of prayer was going to be made real to me over the next few hours.

So the next day, we headed off to Havana for Thanksgiving lunch with Mom and Dad. When we got there, the first thing out of Mom and Dad's mouths were, "Well, we almost had to call you and cancel today." "Huh?" was my immediate response. They proceeded to tell me how, at 8 AM that very morning, they had gotten a call from the transplant center at St. Francis in Peoria and that they had a potential donor match for Mom and that they needed to run a few more tests, but she needed to start packing and be ready to be at the hospital for a noon surgery that very day. I stood there listening to this in awe, only knowing myself what had transpired the very night before during "prayer time". Mom continued with her story that they hospital had called back a little later with the bad news that one of the final tests thay they had to do had come back in a way that the doctors were afraid that her body would reject the kidney, so they were calling off the surgery. Needless to say that Mom was disappointed but at the same time she was excited because she also said that she had just found out on Monday (four days previously) that she had officially been accepted to that transplant list and the nurse that called her on Thursday morning was very upbeat about the prognosis of them finding a kidney for Mom.

All the while I just stood there listening and reflecting on the power of prayer; my faith in that power was renewed. I feel a little guilty for not having more faith and believing. I just thank God for those faithful and powerful prayer warriors like Doug and John and all the prayer warriors out there. For those of you reading this, I hope you have a Doug and John in your life that you can count and call on when your faith (like mine) might wane. What an awesome God we serve...and what amazing ways that He shows Himself and His power through prayer...

A three-for-one day

2008-11-27T23:37:00.000-08:00

Just a few random, yet possibly connected musings from today....

1. First of all, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my baby girl, Elly. Our peanut turns a very big 2 today. The last few weeks has been a little more difficult than usual as she is definitely showing her "terrible twos". But still she (and her big sister) are a true joy.

2. The previously mentioned big sister, Abby, lost her third tooth tonight (pictures to come). We were sitting on the couch just relaxing after a long day of Thanksgiving and birthday celebrations and she just piped up, "Dad....look!" And she held a newly pulled tooth in her hand. It has been loose for some time and she just finally played around with it enough that it popped out. So of course, she asked if she could leave it under her pillow for the tooth fairy, and I had to quickly come up with the story that since it was Thanksgiving, the tooth fairy had the night off, just like Mommy and Daddy had the day off work; so did the tooth fairy. We agreed that we'd leave it under the pillow tomorrow night as the tooth fairy will surely be back to work on the day after Thanksgiving.

3. And finally, a very joyous and happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there. God bless you and your families and friends today (and everyday). As a little teaser to try and get you to come back, I'll share a story sometime over the next couple of days about a HUGE praise report and time of thanks that entered our lives just today....

Life imitating art imitating life

2008-11-21T06:32:00.000-08:00

There's a new show on TV this fall that I've totally gotten into..."Sons of Anarchy"...it's kind of like "The Sopranos" just on motorcycles. It's the story of the happenings in Charming, CA as they revolve around the Sons of Anarchy motorcycle club. Thus the name of the show.

Well, this past Saturday night here in town there was a stabbing outside a local downtown bar during which a man died. I happened to be driving through downtown Bloomington just after it happened and saw all the police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks at the scene. I say all that to say this...as I was reading the obituary of the man who was stabbed and murdered, I happened to notice that he was listed as a member of a certain motorcycle club. This particular MC (that's what they refer to it on the show, so I'll steal it as my own) is well-known as being...how shall I put this gently....outside the law in a number of their activities. Although they just announced today that an arrest has been made in the stabbing, not many details have been released, but there's a part of me that wonders if the incident was in response to something that happened with his membership in the MC or if it was random. Further, I wonder if some sort of MC-inspired retribution will come about on the man who was arrested for the killing. I wonder if something will happen to him down the road at the hands of some MC brother who's dealing out vengence.

Braggin' rights

2008-11-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

Last week, we had our first parent-teacher conference for Abby as a first grader. If I can put on my daddy bragging hat for just a minute, I'm proud to say that for her first set of standardized tests that she took this year, her scores were all higher than an 87%. And she peaked out at like 96% on her language arts one. Of course, here's the one that shocked us the most....her lowerst score....the 87%....was in MATH of all things. How could this be? Both her mother and father were math majors in college?!?!? But seriously, were are so very proud of her. The funniest part of the whole conference? One of the comments that Mr. Hovey made was that sometimes she is too eager to help those students around her figure out answers and offers help without even being asked. Sounds kind of like a little teacher doesn't it? The apple never falls far from the tree it seems....

Guilty as charged

2008-10-21T06:08:00.001-07:00

As I've stated here before (probably repeatedly), Greg Stier is one of my favorite authors/speakers/bloggers. And he's gone and done it again...

In his latest posting, he talks about a recent trip to a youth convention on the west coast. While there, he decided that he wanted to but a Bible. After 20 minutes of searching through the exhibit/retail hall, he finally found one. He made the point that if he had wanted to find information on an online degree, on a "cool" youth camp, on the hottest topic in social justice then he would have been buried under the mountains of pamphlets, brochures, books, and DVDs that he would have stumbled across there. But to find a Bible...simply the most important document in the history of the world and the blueprint upon which all of the other "stuff" is built, well you would have needed a map, a GPS, a flashlight, and a Tibetan guide to find one.

How true is that throughout the rest of our lives? How often do we get caught up in all the extraneous fluff that we lose site of what's at the core? I'm just as guilty as everyone else in that convention hall. I think about the books that I'm reading right now (and yes, the word "book" is plural on purpose...I've got a bad habit of reading multiple books at one time...I finish them all eventually, but still I juggle more than one at a time) the books that you'll find on my nightstand include "The Shack", "The Life of Reilly", "The Godfather Returns", "Band of Brothers", and "Praise Habit". So what's missing? Yeah...the one thing that Greg couldn't find either.

Again, I'll point the finger of condemnation squarely at myself first; I fail when it comes to reading the one book that I should be reading; the owner's manual to our lives; THE BOOK. In my defense (and here comes my self-justification) I do try...the alarm is set for 5 every morning, but for some reason that snooze button is just too tempting. I even went so far as to put an audio Bible on my iPod so that I could listen while I run in the morning; but even that gets pushed off most days. Shame on me. Shame...shame...shame.

And the bronze medal goes to....

2008-10-20T05:39:00.000-07:00

....Abby Rosenberger! Actually, she got a bronze medal (3rd place ribbon) in the individual competition and her team got the gold medal (1st place trophy) in their division. In what competitiion you say? Well, I'm glad you asked...

Our church has a program called Junior Bible Quiz (JBQ). And this is Abby's first year at competing in JBQ. She is in the X Division, which consists of kids in kindergarten through 2nd grade. She and her teammates had their first real meet this past Saturday against other churches (in this case it was again Peoria, Bloomington, and Danville) and she did incredibly well (see above)! We were so proud of her. How does JBQ work and what happens at a meet, you ask? Again, I'm glad you asked.

For those of you who don't know, in JBQ each team member is given a set of about 40 Scripture questions (at least that's what it was for the first meet) that they have to memorize the question and the answer. The quizmaster then starts to ask a question to both teams and the quizzer who recognizes the question first then buzzes in, tries to finish the question, and then give the correct answer. If the question and answer match exactly, then the quizzer's team gets 10 points. Each "match" consists of 15 questions that are given to both teams. Once a quizzer gets 5 questions correct in a match, then they have "quizzed out" of the match and their team gets 10 bonus points; however, the quizzer can no longer participate in that match. So in theory, a quizzer could score a max of 60 points for the team each match. If a quizzer is incorrect with either the question or the answer, then 5 points are deducted from the team's score and the other teams gets an opportunity to give the question and answer correctly and get 10 points.

In this past weekend's meet, we played every other team in a match twice, so we had 6 matches and we finished with a 4-2 record, which gave us the best record overall in the X Division and we got to bring home the travelling trophy. Abby scored a total of 250 points over her six matches and quizzed out of three of the six. She was awesome! Pictures to come....

Paging Dr. House

2008-10-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

After thinking a little more about the "rant" against all things modern, I had one of those "whoa" moments about the marvels of modern medicine that hit pretty close to home.

1) Mom - Since she's been on daily kidney dialysis for the last several years, I'm fairly confident in saying that she'd probably be dead from her body breaking down through kidney failure if it wasn't for the miracle of dialysis.
B) Me - Having been through an appendectomy to remove a nearly ruptured appendix and through two fairly servere eye surgeries (cataract surgery and detached retina surgery), I can also say with a pretty great deal of confidence that I personally would either be dead following the results of what happens to your body after an appendix bursts and/or blind in my right eye from the cataracts and detached retina.

So maybe the modern medicine isn't truly that bad after all. Therefore, I hereby withdraw my criticism of that particular advancement in the field of medicine....

Modern medical miracle

2008-10-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here recently I was talking to a friend about his kids and some of their dietary requirements. These kids don't really drink milk, they don't eat white bread, the try not to eat any foods that are processed or contain steroids. With apologies to Dennis Miller, I don't want to get off on a rant here, but....

I am just truly amazed at how my generation (yeah...I'll be turning the big 4-0 next year) ever survived and made it through. Truly survival of the fittest, maybe? With apologies to Brad Stine, we never had airbags; our airbags were Mom's arm. We never had car seats in the back seat that kept us safely strapped in; I remember riding to school in front seat and calling "shotgun" in a race with my brother to see who got to sit up there. We never had anti-bacterial anything; if we got dirty or skinned up, it was usually Mom's spit on her hand or on a handkerchief that was used to clean us up. We never had bike helmets, elbow pads, knee pads or any other protetive device; we would have gotten the crap kicked out of us by kids in the neighborhood if we came outside with that junk on. And we certainly didn't have any of the ADHD or ADD drugs that kids have today; we were usually told to calm down and sit down by an increasingly frustrated parent. It just makes me kind of scratch my head in wonder and amazement...

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go put Elly in her car seat in the minivan for the trip to the ER to have Abby checked out after I take the time to put some antibacterial spray on the pinhead sized scrape on Abby's finger that she got from trying to keep herself from sliding down the sidewalk on her kneepads after falling off her bike with training wheels on....

Random thoughts from the weekend

2008-10-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Just a couple random thoughts from the weekend...
1. Gettin' the band back together - The experience with the worship band went pretty well. We received quite a few compliments after the services, so I think it was a success. Personally, I just had one minor "boo boo" and that was when I unplugged my guitar too quickly after our set during 2nd service and there was a loud pop over the sound system. Whoops.

2. Speaking her mind - Here recently Elly has gotten to the point where she's putting her first and last name together. It's really cool to see her being able to that. And she's also starting to put three and four word sentences together. She'll be two next month (amazing how that time has flown) so it's only a matter of time before she follows in the footsteps of her sister, her mother, her grandmother, her great grandmother (all on the maternal side)....

To the next level

2008-10-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

This Sunday marks a new (and scary) challenge for me. A couple of times in the past, I've played 2nd keyboard in "big church" on Sunday mornings. I've always played with the CR Band and you may or may not know this, but I've been playing guitar with the band every Tuesday night since the first of August or so.

Well, this Sunday, we (and by "we", I really mean "me") are taking it to the next level...literally and figuratively. It's the CR Band's day in the rotation to lead worship upstairs. So my guitar playing career is moving out of the basement, where CR meets, and heading upstairs into the main sanctuary. Pray for me. We've got some incredible guitarists in our church (I'm looking directly at you Adam and Bob...even though one of you is now in Central America) and I've got some HUGE shoes (and licks...on the guitar) to fill...

The faith of a child

2008-10-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite authors/speakers in all of Christiandom is Greg Stier. I'd easily put him in the top five for me with others such as Rob Bell, Max Lucado, Steve Farrar, and Dan Seaborn. Greg is the president of Dare 2 Share ministries; they are devoted to equipping today's youth to go out and evangelize the world. I first encountered Greg probably four years ago when he was one of the speakers at a Promise Keepers event that I was working at. Since then, I've been a regular follower of Greg's blog. In it, he frequently talks about his "adventures" with his son, Jeremy. One of the tools that Greg uses to share the Gospel is called the "gospel hand". With it, you hold up your hand and wiggle each finger and share the following: God loves me (thumb)…I have sinned (index)...Christ died for me (middle)...if I believe (ring)...I will go to heaven (pinky). Pretty simple, no? Yet incredibly powerful. And easily transportable. ;)

Well, Greg shared this tool with Jeremy and Jeremy decided to use it on his class at school. You can read the whole thing here. But let's not stop there. There's an older post that Greg made a couple of years ago, again focusing on Jeremy's adventure with sharing God with others. I encourage you to read that one here. I've said it before and I will continue to say it....oh, to have the faith (and fearlessness) of a child....

Karma with a capital "K"

2008-10-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

For most of my adult life, I have been a die hard fan of the New York Yankees and the Green Bay Packers. Living in Central Illinois and surrounded by the hordes of Bears fans as well as the Cubs/Cardinals fans has made it very challenging. Recent events (namely the dismissal of Joe Torre and Brett Favre, respectively) have caused me to really lose my interest in those teams and even to want....no need...to see bad things happen to both franchises. I'll even go so far to admit that I now no longer consider myself to be a fan of either franchise. I am happy (no....ecstatic) to report that karma is finally allowing me to enjoy my revenge...albeit from a distance.

Two prominent stories caught my attention on SportsCenter this morning...

1. The Dodgers beat the Cubs in game one of the NLDS. Joe Torree...manager of the Dodgers...makes the playoffs and sees his team to victory...while the Yankees sit at home this post-season and watch the playoffs on TV. How's Joe Girardi working out for you now, Steinbrenner?

2. Aaron Rogers may miss this Sunday's game with a separated shoulder while Brett threw for a record-tying six touchdowns last Sunday. Hey, Ted Thompson....hey, Mike McCarthy...how you feeling now about casting #4 aside this off-season? Idiots.

So if I had a list like Earl's....well, I'm not quite ready to move on to forgiveness just yet....

Fire up!

2008-10-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago at church, I saw one of those things that just made me go, "Wow...that's a God thing." You see, there's this couple that I've known for several years; I've actually known him (Ty...and yes....that's his real name as you'll see if you follow the link below) for several years and got to know Wendy through him. I would say that Ty and I are close...our kids have played together....they've come to the small group at church that we belong to...and I've played softball with Ty for a number of years. Anyway, Ty and Wenday got divorced over a year ago. Ty has been coming to church off and on since then, but she hadn't. She moved back to their hometown during/after the divorce and he had stayed in our town. Well, this past Sunday, they showed up at church...TOGETHER. They sat next to each other, held hands, the whole ball of wax. Stunned, I was. I found out later that they are trying to "work things out"....Ty's words. I also found out that they had been on the Dr. Phil show (that explains the link that follows) and have quite a story to tell. It all kind of ties into the movie "Fireproof" that just came out. I invite you to follow the link below and make your way through the whole story...it's quite interesting. I also invite you to join me in praying for Ty and Wendy and their family through this all. Pray for healing...pray for restoration....pray for God's continued touch and His work through all of this. Good luck you guys! We're praying for you.

http://drphil.com/slideshows/slideshow/4631/?id=4631&showID=1130

Pimpin' ain't easy

2008-09-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

I was driving home from Chicago a couple of days ago listening on K-LOVE and I heard something that really made me scratch my head. First of all, K-LOVE is a Christian radio station that syndicates its signal and broadcasts all over. The song that happened to spark this thought from me was "Lose My Soul" by TobyMac. In the song, Kirk Franklin does a guest rap spot where he says, "You a pimp, a hustler..." I know this song well because I've liked it since the album first came out over a year ago and it's actually on my iPod on one of my running playlists. The thing that got me was that the radio version had been edited to be, "You a punk, a huster..." and that really struck me as just being wrong.

I just wonder what was it about that lyric that someone found so blatantly offensive that it had to be edited and re-recorded? It's not profanity....it's not vulgarity. In the context of the song, it's a warning not to focus on the ways of the world but to maintain the focus of life on higher things; things that are more eternal in nature. Heaven forbid that we actually use the language that the world uses to warn against becoming those very things and living that exact lifestyle. Speak to your intended audience in the language of that audience. Sure? Why do that when you're trying to get an important message across?

Pimp pimp pimp pimp pimp pimp.

No editing allowed.

Die a happy man

2008-09-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

As I was going for my morning walk a couple of days ago, I was listed to my Bible "on tape" on my iPod...and yes, I realize the contradiction there in that there isn't any tape on an iPod...but it is the idea that is more important. Anyway....

I was listening to the story of Jesus's birth and when it got to the part about Simeon's enounter with Jesus in the temple and my translation essentially said, "God, I can die a happy man"....it really struck me and maybe me wonder how many of us actually die happy? When we look back on life, are we happy with what we see? If we were to live through the cliche that our life flashes before our eyes upon our death, is what we see something that we are proud of? Better yet, when we stand before the throne on judgement day, what about all those things that we think are "secret" and "hidden"...

I know there are many, many, many things that I'll see again that I won't be proud of.

Out of the mouths of babes...

2008-09-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

It was quite a day yesterday. We got up to go to work/school respectively and Sherry discovered that her bag got stolen from out of our van. In her bag were her driver's license, all her credit cards, the keys to the van and our house, and her school keys. On Monday, she had left the van unlocked while we had worked at cleaning out the garage and then in the backyard. It seems that someone pulled a snatch and grab. There was also a Kohl's bag with some new clothes for the girls that was taken, too. I share that to tell this story...

While Sherry and the girls were driving home after picking Elly up from the sitters, Abby piped up and said, "Mommy....the people who stole your bag don't know Jesus, do they?" When Sherry got home and shared that story with me, my heart just broke. To hear Abby talk like that and to be able to think in an (almost) evangelical way like that just gives me goosebumps. Maybe everything that we trying to teach her is actually making a difference.

Thank you God for the faith of a child. Help us all to have that innocent, unfailing faith in You...help me to learn from that simple thought.

Vlog....or.....CURAHEE!

2008-09-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

Since the last couple of posts have related to video posts, I thought I would continue that trend...

Today's vlog (video blog...although this isn't a true video blog in the sense of the word) would actually be more appropriate if it came the day after Memorial Day rather than the day after Labor Day....which is what today is. There is a phenomenal video series called "Band Of Brothers" can played on HBO several years ago. It's the story of the men of Easy Company from the 506th and their "adventures" prior to D-Day and through the end of World War II. I've read the book of the same name by Stephen Ambrose that the and the video series is based upon a number of times and the series is incredibly true to the book. It is amazing story of what these men went through and the sacrifices they made. The point made throughout the book and series is the leadership of Richard "Dick" Winters. He's an amazing man and his leadership abilities throughout is something to be witnessed and emulate...even in a non-military setting. My hope and prayer is that I'm a leader more like Lt. Winters rather than Capt Sobel. The embedded video is part one from episode one of the series. Enjoy.

Given To Fly

2008-08-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

The embedded video is particularly interesting and noteworthy to me because 1) PJ RULES! and B) we tried teaching both Abby and Elly some early language skills using American Sign Lanaguage from the video series "Signing Time"....HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended by the way. (http://www.signingtime.com/) And oh yeah...."Given To Fly" is one of my favorite songs....EVER.

Alcohol is my friend...

2008-08-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

First of all....IT'S NOT MY QUOTE! There....the disclaimer is out of the way.

Go to the 6:32 mark of the embedded YouTube video and listen to the story that Seth MacFarlane tells. Wow. Imagine living with the thought of how close you came to being on that flight for the rest of your life...

Guitar Hero

2008-08-12T17:28:00.000-07:00

Place another check mark next to one of those "Bucket List" items...honest to goodness acoustic guitar player in a worship band at church. After CR tonight...that's me. Tonight I had the distinct honor of playing guitar with the CR Band at church. Typically, I play Hammond organ on those Sunday mornings when the band leads worship at church. But Doug decided to pull me out of my comfort zone, so far out in fact that it would take an airplane ride, a three house cruise on the SS Minnow, two taxi transfers, and a monorail trip to get back to that zone. John was out of town (he's the usual guitar player) and Doug asked me to fill in...I didn't go too badly. I had the capo set wrong on the 2nd song of the set and it took me 'til the 2nd line of the first verse to realize it...once I got it corrected, all was well. I video taped the evening and may be posting it later. For now, I passed the audition and will be playing probably every week with them from here on out. Rock on!

It might be....it could be...

2008-08-11T17:29:00.000-07:00

I've played rec softball for a long time...16 years now, if my numbers are correct. I'm not much of a hitter; mostly slap singles and the like. Just put the ball in play is what I try to do. But tonight was a first...

Mind you, I'm a BIG guy...6'2" and 255 on a good day...so tonight...AN INSIDE THE PARK HOME RUN. Granted there were two throwing errors involved, but still....cue the SpotsCenter theme. Dah dah dah....dah dah dah.

Marching on Atlanta

2008-07-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

As I type this, I'm sitting in an airport waiting to board a plane to Atlanta. I'm off to do another webcast at a PK event. What an amazing run it's been with my buddy Greg and the adventures I've been able to go on with PK stuff. I was in Mobile (AL) just days before Katrina hit and will never forget the look of the horizon as we flew home that Sunday morning and I saw Katrina off in the distance. There's a picture somewhere that I should link and archive. What an incredible experience it has been....Peoria, Mobile, Phoenix, Atlanta, Orlando, Charleson, Memphis, San Jose, St. Louis...good times, excellent memories, and even better people.

Getting the band back together

2008-07-27T17:31:00.000-07:00

We just got home from an incredible week in Green Lake. We went camping with Mom and Dad and we even (psuedo-) suprised when my bother, Mike, and his family drove in for the week from Vermont. It was incredible having everyone together. We had a blast...and Mikey and I even got to smoke some cigars and play some golf. I can't wait for them to move back from VT....and I'm sure Mom feels the same way, too.

On a related note, it was amazing to see how badly the facilities at Green Lake have slipped. I've been camping there for a week every summer for about 12 years now. The facilities and services have really fallen on hard times. It's kind of disappointing.

Manage this

2008-07-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

The re-org took effect today at work, so I'm now a full-blown manager again. My official title is "Application Development Manager for Student Affairs". How's that for a mouth full? My prayer today and everyday....don't let me be a boss like Bill Lumberg...ummm....yeah....Peter....I'm going to need you to come in this weekend. And even worse would be Michael Scott....that's what she said! Just shoot me if it ever comes to that...k?

Happy Birthday, Princess

2008-06-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

My beautiful oldest daughter Abby turns a very percocious 6 today. We're still down in Orlando at Disney World on a family vacation to celebrate this occasion and our anniversary. What an amazing trip (with the exception of Elly's near accident) it's been so far. Hopefully the girls will treasure these memories the rest of their days.

A parent's worst nightmare

2008-06-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

One of the most frightening moments of a parent's life happened to me tonight. We were at the pool at Pop Century at Disney and Elly, Sherry, and Abby were playing in the kiddie pool. Elly and Abby were out in the middle and Shery and I were along the side. Something happened and Elly slipped and fell and couldn't get up. Sherry rushed in and pulled her up and out, but I saw one of those moments tonight where a parent loses a child in an accident. My heart skipped several beats as Sherry pounded on Elly to get her to caught it up. Thankfully, she coughed it all out, but it was one of those truly terrifying moments.

15 down, ??? to go

2008-05-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight marks the end of my first semester back as a grad student. I say back because I made an attempt back in 2002-2003 to get my degree, but circumstances prevented me from finishing. So now that I'm back and ISU and getting free tuition (woo hoo...LOVE being a state employee) I'm trying to finish it up. The REALLY cool thing is that the 12 hours that I took previously are going to count towards my degree....so as of tonight, I actually got 15 hours done towards my MS in Proj Mgmt.

39 and NOT holding

2008-05-10T17:35:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to me! Today marks my 39th anniversary of entering this world. Yippee! It's a time to pause and reflect. Is the world a better place now that I've been in it? Up until about 12 years ago, most people who look at my life and see all the gritty little details would say a resounding "NO!" But if more recent history is any indication, there is hope for me. You might even say that I've turned the corner.

Happy Birthday, My Beloved

2008-03-29T17:36:00.000-07:00

To my best friend...without you, I have nothing...with you, I have everything.

An enjoyable VD...

2008-02-14T16:19:00.000-08:00

...although any act by which you might contract VD should be enjoyable, right? Anyway....

For Valentine's Day we did this really cool thing at church this year. We had a dinner, followed by a jazz quartet concert, and then a stand-up comedian, Scott Gregory. We had him in for a night of stand-up last year and he was back. He repeated some material from last year, but it was still a fun evening. The highlight of the evening was the mini-concert by the jazz quartet. Tom Hemby, an incredibly gifted and award winning guitartist came in and played with some location musicians from our church. How I wish I could play guitar like that....

AMEN!

2008-01-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

To paraphrase "American Pie"....I'm a band geek. Not that kind that went to band camp, mind you (had to get that out of the way), but I did spend eight wonderful years playing trombone in the school band. So music has a very important place in my life. Quite frequently, I'm referred to as a music nerd; and I'm ok with that.

What I came across today was a new song that I'm just rocking out to....and I'm going to go ahead and go so faras to put it on my "best of 2008" mixtape already! (And yes, the 2007 list WILL be coming soon, just like I promised.)

Here then, for you viewing and listening pleasure, is my latest song to obssess over..."Amen" by Kid Rock! (Make sure and check out the whacka whacka guitars that play in the background....)

Co-inky-dink....

2008-01-07T12:14:00.000-08:00

I had one of those weird "deja vu" moments over the weekend. We went to see the new "National Treasure" movie over the weekend (which is very good btw....not as good as the first one, mind you, but very good, nevertheless). And if you'll remember from Friday, I talked about currently reading "The Stand". Well, I had an interesting "cross over" moment between the book and the movie. In the movie (and I'll try not to give too much away), they are looking for the rumored lost city of gold, which they referred to as "Cibola". Well, in the book, I had just read a passage earlier in the week about how Trashcan Man was wondering through the desert and blabbering on about finding Cibola. It's just interesting to me how those two kind of intersected at this point in my life....

What I'm reading right now...

2008-01-04T11:45:00.001-08:00

I was going to do this soundtrack of 2007 thing, but maybe I'll wait until Monday to do that. So instead, I'll do something else that hopefully will be a regular item; what I'm reading now....

"The Stand" by Stephen King - Yes..it's not exactly a new book of his and I did get a bunch of new books for Christmas, but in my defense, I did start this one before Christmas, so it counts. I'm a pretty big fan of the King, but I don't necessarily read ALL his stuff. It's a toss-up between this and "The Shawshank Redemption" over which one of them is my favorite by him. One of the things that I most enjoy doing is relating to people that Shawshank comes from a King short story. That just freaks people out when I tell them that. They can't believe it. But anyway, I like "The Stand" because of the conflict between good and evil that it portrays. It's those kind of storylines that appeal to me most; not necessarily the outright horror ones. I don't have to read horror stories for horror's sake; I'm not that kind of reader....

(262.6)

Still looking ahead....

2008-01-03T12:58:00.000-08:00

The title says it all.

3. Mixing it up - One of the reasons that I left the University before was because of an on-going re-organization within the central technology areas; I was concerned with the direction that it was going and didn't think that I could be a part of it. Looking back, I should have just stayed because it wouldn't have been as bad as I made it out to be. Ironically enough, two weeks after I came back last fall, a re-organization of the technology units in the division that I work in was announced. So I left before to avoid it, but on coming back, I got sucked into another one. Ironic, huh? Actually, this re-organization that I'm about it be part of could hold some good things and some exciting opportunities for me. I'm actually kind of stoked about it and looking forward to it.

(263.2)

Lookin' ahead...

2008-01-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

Continuing to look forward into 2008....

2. Hittin' the books - I'm starting up my Master's program again this year. Being back at the University brings with it some perks....FREE TUITION FOR ME! So, I'm back in the M.S. program in Tech and will be studying Project Management. My biggest fear is that they won't let the 12 hours of credit that I accumulated during my previous stint count and I'll have to do those again.

(265.3)

Just like starting over (again…and again…and again…)

2008-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

With the new year, it’s as good a time as any to make a resolution and to start this thing over (again). I’ll try and keep it short and sweet each time; but I will definitely TRY to write on a more regular basis. So with that, we’ll start 2008 off by looking at a few things (in no particular order) that have me geeked (and that may be a good geeked or a bad geeked)…

1. 10 years down – This year marks 10 years that Sherry and I have been married. It’s really hard to believe. It seems like it’s just flown by. I can’t say that I’ve always been the best husband, but I do think that I’ve learned a few things along the way. Being married to me, all I can say is that she has the patience of a saint. More than anything, I want this year to be special, but I’m not quite sure how to make that happen exactly…

(265.2)

A Death In The Family

2007-10-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, we had our first direct experience with death that hit very close to home. The backstory...

Friday night was the school carnival at Glenn (the school that Sherry teaches at and Abby is a kindergartener at). There was food and games and prizes and stuff. Well, at one the games, the grand prize was a goldfish. And Abby wanted one.

So she played the game and won one of the goldfish. She immediately named in "Princess". We had an unused fish bowl at home that we had gotten months ago as a "take home" gift at a friend's birthday party. So Abby was making her real first entry into being a pet owner.
We brought Princess home and got the bowl setup and Friday night, Princess became a real member of the Rosenberger family. That night, Abby fell asleep in a chair in front of her dresser just starting at Princess in her bowl. Saturday was a busy day and we weren't home much, but we did go through the steps of learning how to feed Princess. Little did we know that the very next morning, our happy little family would meet tragedy face-to-face.

I was downstairs this morning getting ready for church when all of a sudden, I heard Abby crying in a way that I had never heard before. I ran upstairs and I was confronted with her horror....she had woken up to find Princess floating upside down in her bowl. So after getting her sufficiently calmed down, we had the first in what I'm sure will be a series of what we will call, "The Talk"...

Between bouts of sobbing, her questions flowed out. Why do animals die? Where do they go when die? Are there goldfish in heaven? And the Dad in me struggled to ease her fears and pain.

So after a quick discussion on the logistics of heaven and a very heartfelt prayer, we gave Princess a proper burial and we used a variation on the "Finding Nemo" theme of "...all drains lead to the ocean." Ours was "...all drains lead to heaven..."

So today, we are off to purchase "Princess II"....

Back Into The Flock

2007-08-13T11:13:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago (back in May, I believe), I wrote about a couple opportunities I had to get back on at ISU. Well, today I write to you once again as a member of the Redbird flock! I started today in my new position as the Lead Developer of the Campus Life Tech Support programming team. Woo hoo!

So after a seven year hiatus...I BE BACK!

You can take the boy out of the country...

2007-06-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

In what has to be one of the worst fashion disasters than I’ve ever been a part of, today I got to be a groomsman in a good friend’s wedding. Let me preface this by saying that Jeff and Lindsay (names have been changed to protect the guilty…or not) are both wonderful people whose proclivities run towards country music, pickup trucks, cowboy boots, and Cardinal baseball. So here’s what they groomsmen wore…

Long black duster formal tux jacket
White pleated tuxedo shirt
Green, mossy oak camouflage vest and tie
Black, Wrangler cowboy jeans
Black, pointy toe cowboy boots

Now I grew up in a small town and understand the mentality, but I haven’t lived there since 1987 and haven’t worn cowboy boots since I was 4! How incredibly painful (on many levels)! Such is the price of friendship, I guess….

Warped sense of humor or irony????

2007-06-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

We are having our men’s golf outing at church in two weeks. In preparation for that, I made a video that was played during morning worship that used several clips from “Caddyshack” to make fun of the pastors’ respective golf games. Included in that video was a blurb about Pastor Ed working on his mental game and a clip of Bill Murrary’s character Carl “winning” the Master’s while “golfing” on the flower bed. Most guys and/or golf fans will get the reference.

Here’s where the humor/irony comes in. During his sermon then, Pastor Ed got up and while talking about expectations and told a story about how he joined the Gold Club with Avis and got one of his rentals upgraded to a Kia Sportage. Except he described it as a marriage between “Sporty” and “Garbage”. I happen to own a Kia Sportage. So I thought he was taking a shot at me and getting back for the golf game clip. Adding to the fun of it all was that when I went out after church and tried to start my Kia, it was dead. Completely. Would not turn over at all. I turned the key and nothing. The lights, air, and radio all came on; but it wouldn’t turn over. I tried jumping it and nothing. So later on that day during evening service, I mentioned it to him and he claimed ignorance of me owning a Sportage. Claimed it as complete coincidence.

If it was a coincidence on his part, then God SURE does have a warped sense of humor and/or irony.

When it rains....

2007-05-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

Since about two weeks after I left my job at ISU to take a consulting job in 1999, I’ve wanted to go back to ISU. I’ve scoured their job boards, been through several interviews, and even taken civil service exams. But, I haven’t had any luck and remain on the outside looking in. That may all be changing, and in what I can only describe as a God way….

This morning, I had the opportunity to sit for the LAN II civil service exam for a job on campus. I know this job was going to be coming open and have been VERY interested in it. When it appeared as a vacancy, I polished my resume and sent it in. I was chosen and invited to take the exam. The exam turned out to be much easier than I anticipated. I’ve got a pretty good feeling coming out. But here’s where it gets interesting….

After I took the exam, I got back to work and checked my email. In my personal account, I found an email from a guy at ISU that I know and that I interviewed with last November for a programming job on campus. He wanted to know if I was still looking to get back on at ISU and wanted me to know that his programming job was going to be posted again. I was stunned! I couldn’t believe that he had sought ME out. With civil service jobs, that’s truly an anomaly. So I polished my programming resume and applied for the programming job as well.

Either of them would be AWESOME jobs and again, I’d love to get back on at the alma mater. I’m just stunned and amazed at the timing of it all. God really knows how to throw us a curve ball at times, doesn’t He? We plan and God laughs.

The more things change...

2007-05-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I just got back from my 20 year high reunion and I can say is….Wow! I had some severe reservations going in. There were only about three or four people that I really wanted to see, and I went there under the belief that maybe one of them would be there. And it turns out that it as the other way around. Only one of them didn’t show. And we had a blast!

As we were walking up to the restaurant/bar where it was being held, I told Sherry that I gave it 45 minutes TOPS before we got out of there. Well, two and a half hours later, we were dragging ourselves out. Honestly, I could have stayed longer, but we had to go rescue grandma and grandpa from the kids.

What really amazed me about the evening, was how quickly we all fell back into our cliques. It was really like no time had passed at all. The smart kids all congregated together. The jocks hung together. And the stoners all banded together. It was 1987 all over again!

But it was really cool to see what everyone was up to. The large majority of them hadn’t moved far from home and still lived and worked in the area. And by far and away, the personalities were EXACTLY the same. Those that annoyed me, still did and those that I liked then, I still did now. The most telling part of the night was went I got voted “least changed” since graduation. That really stunned me as there was another guy whose senior picture we held up next to him and he looked EXACTLY the same. But me? Well, take away a bunch of weight and the graying hair on my face and maybe I did look the same. Maybe it was just my personality that pulled me through. Ha!

All in all, I’m now totally looking forward to 25…

It was 20 years ago today...

2007-05-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe not today exactly, but it WAS 20 years ago.

Saturday night is my 20 year high school reunion. I didn’t go to my 10 year or 15 year, so I went ahead and signed up for this one. Mom and Dad still live where I grew up, and they run into my classmates who seem to be always asking about me. So, I’ll go, but I have some reservations. I have a feeling that the people that I REALLY want to see won’t be there. I can’t say that I’ve stayed close to any of my former classmates, so it should be interesting.