Jogging

I've been thinking about taking up jogging for awhile.

This idea originated a couple years ago when, for a month or so, I had an irregular heartbeat and shortness of breath. My doctor ran a EKG and found something "abnormal," so they sent me to the hospital in Owosso so that they could run a stress test. I had to run on a treadmill with a bunch of cords and stuff stuck to me, during which the doctors kept pointing at my overweight stomach. After the test was over, I was out of breath, and they concluded that I was severly out of shape and needed to start exercising.

Finally, about 3 weeks ago, I decided to start jogging. Based on the experiences I've had so far, I have a few suggestions for anyone that is thinking about starting. I'm not reinventing the wheel here - you could probably google "how to start jogging" and you'd probably get the same suggestions - but this is just my personal experience:

- You need a warm up/cool down period, at least 3 minutes for each. That's a given.
- You need a good breathing pattern. What's working pretty good right now is inhaling every 4 steps, then exhaling every 4 steps. If you don't develop a pattern, you get side cramps. I've gotten some of those and they put a damper on the remainder of your jogging session.
- You need a routine. Pick a time when you're going to jog, and stick with it.
- Start by doing an even amount of jogging/walking. If you have lamp posts, walk to one, jog to the next. We don't have street lights in our neighborhood, so I started jogging for one minute, then walking the next.
- Set a goal, but be patient, and don't burn yourself out. I'm up to 2 minutes of jogging, one minute of walking. I'd like to run a few 5Ks next year, but I'm nowhere near that point yet. It's going to take me awhile to get there, but I'm not in any hurry.

I hope that helps. If you have any running ideas for me, or if there's something I'm doing that I shouldn't be, please let me know.

Beijing Restaurant Prepares

My friend Ty told me about this restaurant that was nice enough to translate its name for all the English-speaking tourists in Beijing. Unfortunately, they used an internet translator instead of someone who actually knew English. This is what they came up with:


I'm still laughing. I wonder if I could get some core dumplings there.


Read more here: http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2008/07/then-well-grab.html

4 day workweek pt. 2

Today marks the end of my 4 day workweeks. If you didn't read pt. 1, you won't have to scroll down very far to see the intent and purpose of the condensed workweek (again, my life is not that interesting). As I mentioned, they will be asking everyone to give feedback about how it worked (or didn't work).

I thought it was great to have Fridays off. Last weekend, Heather and I went up north. Friday, we stayed with her sister, and I took my nephew Noah to Michigan Adventure where we rode the rollercoasters all day long. We then spent Saturday and Sunday in Manistee with my grandparents, which I was grateful for considering they're 87 and have traded trips to the hospital the past couple years.

When we didn't take trips, Heather and I found ourselves running errands and getting Saturday's stuff accomplished on Friday, and Sunday's stuff done on Saturday, leaving Sunday wide open. Most importantly, I got to sleep in 3 days out of the week instead of 2.

Working longer hours throughout the week wasn't that big of a deal either, because Heather took 9 graduate credits in a 5 week period, so she was plenty busy while I worked later. However, her classes got done last weekend, so this week she spent every day until 6:30pm (or later) by herself. Had she not taken those classes, she might have gone crazy. I sympathize for the other employees who have families. Is the extra day off worth the previous 4 days of lost time?

As for work, I was more productive and felt that it was easier to stay on task. However, this 5-week timeframe is also the slowest time of the year, so it probably wouldn't make a difference if you compared it to a normal workweek.

In general, for me, the pros of a four day workweek outweigh the cons. For others, though, it may be the opposite. At this point, I would support doing this again next summer. Now that we're going back to a full 5 day week, I wonder what I'll miss and what I won't miss. I guess I'll find out and let you know.

My green chair

Imagine an episode of The Office that goes something like this:

Michael Scott, to his dismay, finds that the employees in Accounting are sitting in green chairs instead of the normal purple chairs that everyone else sits in.  These chairs had been sitting down in storage, unused, and were more comfortable than the purple ones.  About a year ago, Angela discovered them and so did her colleagues.  

Michael, not realizing how long these green chairs had been around, orders that the chairs be returned to where they found them.  

Upset, Angela walks down to receiving and asks Darryl if he knows anything about the chairs.

"They're new chairs," he says.

"I don't understand," says Angela.  "I'm not giving up that chair."

Word gets to Michael about these new chairs, so he asks Darryl where the chairs came from.

"You ordered them," says Darryl.

"No I didn't."

Darryl pulls up the invoice.

"Ah, yes," replied Michael.  "They were for the new employees."

"What new employees?" asked Darryl.

Michael, not wanting to explain himself, rushes off.  "Gotta go!"  His branch was going to hire new employees before corporate decided to cut jobs.

For no apparent reason, Michael confiscates the green chairs and gives them to Goodwill.

The End.

A similar event actually happened today at work.

Boss visits our work area because it will be undergoing minor renovations.  She notices that several of us, including me, have green chairs (yes, they are green too!), accuses us of stealing the chairs from another department in the building, and orders them to be returned.  (We didn't steal the chairs, they were in our department storage area.  And yes, they are more comfortable - it actually helped to get rid of my lower back pain).  Our head custodian informs us (and her) that these are new chairs that she ordered.  Long story short, she realized that these chairs were never needed, and donates them to the other departments in the building, so that all of us can have matching purple (and painful) chairs.

"I'm sorry that I ruined everyone's day," she said later.  "Oh well, back to work."

Thanks boss.

Fireworks

Ever wonder how fireworks got their start, or how long people have been using fireworks? Check this out. I was contemplating this question during tonight's fireworks display, and am now informed.

4 day workweek

My life isn't really that interesting these days, but I thought I'd share some sort of update to tide you over until something more insightful comes along...

This week marked the first of 6 four-day workweeks. This week happened to be one of them because of our nation's 232nd birthday (thanks JR for the correction - I originally put 332), but the next 5 weeks I'll be condensing 5 days of work into 4. My work is doing this in a effort to save energy for both them and their employees.

I've never done this before, so I'm interested in how this is going to work out. Am I going to be so tired and burnt out after 4 days that I'll need an entire day to recover? Or am I going to have a relaxed, but productive day off?

The plan is to have this "trial" 5 week run and then everyone will give their feedback. If it turns out well, maybe next year they'll implement it for the whole summer.

Oh happy day!

Our stimulus check was direct deposited today.
Payday for Heather and I.
We're driving to Mackinaw City tomorrow.
I don't have to go back to work until June 16.
Heather's last day of teaching for the summer.
Our house has air conditioning, and it's turned on.

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away...
Today, He decided to give.

Dancin' like a fool

Most of you have probably heard of this cheesy phrase at some point in your life:

"Love like you've never been hurt, Dance like no one is watching, Sing like no one is listening."

Whether I like it or not, I follow the part about dancing to a T. I'm not a good dancer. Not even close. In fact, I make this person look good:



I consider myself to be a fairly decent at DDR, and people tell I play drums really well. So why the bad dancing? I feel that my common sense level is a little lower than most people, which means that for many things in life, I can't just do something I've never done unless it has first been demonstrated by someone else. For example, I didn't know how to mow the lawn, tie a tie, or change the oil on my first car until my dad showed me. I didn't know how to efficiently paint a wall until someone with painting experience showed me. So until I get dance lessons (which I have no desire of paying for), I will continue my awkward, avant garde style dancing. Apparently it's quite entertaining for the people that have seen it.

Thanks to YouTube, I should be able to perform the Cha Cha Slide in time for the next wedding.

Baseball

On Saturday, I had this incredible urge to hit baseballs.  Unfortunately, the only batting cage in Cadillac wasn't going to be open until Memorial Day.  I was thinking about borrowing my brother-in-law's golf clubs and go to a driving range.  I don't play golf, but hitting golf balls feels somewhat similar to me.

Heather and I went to La Fiesta Grande on Sunday to support people from Riv going to Mexico and hang out with friends.  I was hoping for a small chance that people would bring baseball or softball gear and have a game.  And it happened.  I got to feed my baseball fix.

Now, 3 days later, I'm still sore from running and swinging the bat too hard.  But again, well worth it.

Wedding weekend #1

I had a good 4 day weekend.

Friday and Saturday were spent up in Cadillac.  Heather was a bridesmaid in her friend's wedding, and I got to watch...part of it.  We had a little miscommunication, or let me just say, I didn't realize my dress clothes weren't in my car until a half hour before the ceremony started.  So I had to rush to a clothing store to find some emergency dress clothes (which will be returned later) and as a result, I showed up 15 minutes late to the wedding.  5 minutes after I arrived, the wedding was over.  It was shortest wedding I've ever been to.  

The rest of the weekend was great.  Heather got to spend time away from school, both physically and mentally.  Anytime she's not stressed out, I also feel less stressed.  I think I try to bear some of her stress, whether it works or not.

Anyway, we got to spend time together and on Monday, were able to get caught up on stuff that had been neglected.  For Heather, it was school stuff.  For me, it was working on the yard and taking my car into the shop to get an alignment.

Yesterday, however, I got hit by a truckload of emails, meetings, and work orders when I went back to work.  I still haven't been able to dig myself out.  Oh well - the 4 day weekend was worth it.