We Are In The Home Stretch

Today is the last day of November, 2008. One of my fondest memories with my dad was going to the horse races at Del Mar. Without getting into all the details right now, I'm pretty sure that the phrase "home stretch" comes from horse racing. That last bit of the race is so important - if you're going to finish. The home stretch is when you can actually see the finish line straight ahead. From where we are running our race we can see December 31, 2008.

Let's make sure we finish this race. If you have done everything the way you set out to do at the beginning of the year, congratulations and keep going until the end of the year. Don't stop and don't coast. Finish your race the way you've been running all year or even kick it up a notch or two - your choice. If you're like me and you're not as pleased with your performance as you thought you would be at this point, don't give up and don't give in. Keep going or find a way to dig down deep and boost your performance from here. That's a great way to end your race and your year.

I'm not going to go into the exact weight that I'm at right now. I can take comfort in the fact that the number on the scale is smaller than January 1, 2008. Marianne and I have been cooking a chicken soup all night. In Jordan Rubin's Perfect Weight America this chicken soup is on page 132 and he calls it the Perfect Cleanse. This cleanse takes 10 days and it is how we are starting our home stretch.
I haven't given up on this year, but I have had to modify my goals. I believe that we do need to be safe when it comes to our health goals and encourage you to finish the race safely.

I don't know how long the metaphor of running and winning the race has been with us, but I know at the very least it's in the neighborhood of 2000 years. If you think it might give you a boost, here's a link that compares running the race to living the life of faith.

Lastly, how much will you be walking or running through the end of the year? I encourage you to find the time. You can even do a half a mile at a time. I was at my son's soccer scrimmage right before we left San Diego County for Idyllwild the day before Thanksgiving. We would drop off our dog on the way and while we waited, I walked Mellow half a mile. That doesn't seem like much, but it adds up. It probably took me 10 or 11 minutes. If you do that even twice a day that's 365 miles a year. If that extra mile a day is in addition to whatever routine you normally engage in, that can mean losing over 10 pounds in a year. Over five years that's FIFTY pounds!

Be intentional about how much you will walk between now and the end of the year. I created a survey to get you thinking about it. Please take a moment to answer my ONE question Walking-Running survey by clicking here.

Forgiveness Quote Stands Alone

"Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.”

C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis Foundation

Chronicles of Narnia preview

Twitter quote 108 at ThinkExist.com

Thanksgiving Plus One Day

Here's to hope. Somewhere on our planet there is always violence. It is also true that there is always a refuge from violence somewhere on our planet. I hope we can start anew on this Thanksgiving Day + 1. Below are some Tweets from just before we left for Thanksgiving in Idyllwild, CA. One education-related place of note here is AstroCamp. Our son got a great deal a few years ago through the homeschool program we were involved in. He had a very positive experience and that led to our nephew attending. Despite the sometimes funky linkage on the site I recommend the AstroCamp experience, especially if you can get a special group rate.

As for the Tweets below, they are from Twitter. If you don't know Twitter, you really should join. Don't worry if you don't understand it right away. I have met some great people and my blog traffic has grown. Also, sending messages through Twitter can help you craft shorter messages. Lastly, the Tweets are in reverse order. Enjoy...and keep walking!


@OroroDC Just added your blog to my blog list on my blog - how many times can I say blog after midnight? http://www.thehoipolloi.info/ :-) 10 minutes ago from web in reply to OroroDC



@OroroDC Excellent! Let's all keep encouraging each other to walk a bit more... Add 600 steps to your day? = approx 120 miles/3 lbs a year! 12 minutes ago from web in reply to OroroDC



Walk for better health no matter what size you are. Read this blog for encouragement in reaching your goals. Can you walk? Keep walking! 22 minutes ago from web



Thanks to the discipline of Twitter, I just condensed my blog headline a little - Thanks, Twitter. Thanks, Tweets. Have a great weekend! 24 minutes ago from web



#Happy Thanksgiving -Twttr glitches in Idyllwild -been smoothing out blog -be among first followers http://theBigManWalking.blo... :-) 35 minutes ago from web



#Happy Thanksgiving all frm Idyllwild, CA.Twitter is uncooperative here. Back 2 the turkey, pancakes, sausage, eggs, pie, etc... cocoon :-) about 11 hours ago from web



#Happy Thanksgiving @wbaustin @Eva_Abreu @missvibrant I'm Blog of the Day on Thanksgiving! Cool! http://tinyurl.com/BMW777154 Thanks, Bill! about 15 hours ago from web



#Thanksgiving - HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL! I may be cocooned in Idylwild or maybe I'll check in. Enjoy! Happy eating! Blessings to you all!

Even Shrimp Exercise

The Huffington Post first got my attention about a shrimp getting a lot of exercise and here's some informative and entertaining video. Whether we are walking or running or sitting, this has real implications for humans and our world.

The Truth And Gloria Steinem

I find this quote to be true quite often, but people won't always admit it in polite society (or a semblence thereof).


"The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off."

Gloria Steinem


Twitter quote 107 at ThinkExist.com

More Gloria Steinem quotes at GoodReads.com

Honey's Off And Walking

My wife has this week off and after my meetings this morning and checking email, off we went with our dog to Batiquitos. We had just enough time to walk two miles before I needed to get back. We saw a few more walkers and a two men on benches just enjoying what I assume was lunch hour for both. If you plan well, you can get away and get back to your other tasks. And, yes, it was a beautiful day for a walk. Again. Still is if you're reading this on Tuesday.

I switched from recording my miles at Lime to MyWalks.com. I wanted to support Lime because of their environmental posture, but I found them to be unresponsive and the site was slightly too slow/complicated for the simple task of recording your miles. If they upgrade their technology and customer relations I will give them another shot. I gave them almost 1 1/2 years to get it together. I honestly think they don't get it when it comes to customer service.

On another note, I had my 2nd networking group meeting and I learned some things. I will probably be starting a blog to teach SNAP networking. Keep walking!

Conan Says Walking Is Green

Even Late Night host Conan O'Brien calls walking green. Enjoy his "PSA's".

Einstein Is Right

e=mc2: 103 years later, Einstein's proven right

That's the headline at PhysOrg.com and it's being shouted all over the world. I did see one comment about the scientists using a computer model and now that computer model has to be proven correct, but most are willing to accept that what was a hypothesis is now proven science. This is/was a complex problem and it reminded me that not everything is as simple as many of us would hope. The quote below is one of my favorites because it's simple and pragmatic.


“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

Albert Einstein


More on Einstein

Related article

Twitter quote 106 from ThinkExist.com

Toastmaster And Fan Dancer

Whether or not you're as interested in history as me, you probably think of Adlai Stevenson, the Democrat who ran against Eisenhower for president, as not too exciting (if you think of him at all). Because today is my Toastmaster meeting I was looking for a quote with the word toastmaster in it and found the one below. If you let the quote sink in, I'm pretty sure you will see Adlai Stevenson as more interesting than we might have imagined.


“The relationship of the toastmaster to the speaker should be the same as that of the fan to the fan dancer. It should call attention to the subject without making any particular effort to cover it.”

Adlai Stevenson


More on Stevenson

Twitter quote 105 from ThinkExist.com

For Those Who Are Tired

Last week I was tutoring high school students at Reality Changers and one of the kids told me he was really tired. They each had to write at least a paragraph in a short period of time and I think he wanted to give up. I told him that this was an opportunity to push himself a little bit. I told him that I didn't know what his week had been like, but he could choose to stretch himself.

For those of you who are executives and business owners and stellar employees, this might not seem like a big deal. But I was glad I could say a little something to get him to make an extra effort. I hope that with ten thousand of those little choices to do a little bit more, he will alter his path and be the first one in his family to go to college. Maybe one day he'll be a stellar employee or business owner or executive, too.

I hope that the little something below encourages you to do a little bit more when you aren't sure you can or when you don't have the desire. I'm pretty tired right now and I'm glad I got this post done before I got to bed.


One may go a long way after one is tired.

French proverb


From ThinkExist.com

Twitter quote 104

Making Sense Of Life

Maybe that's what some of us bloggers are doing - making sense of life. Maybe, just maybe...


"Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.”

Nadine Gordimer


Nadine Gordimer won the Nobel Prize In Literature in 1991. Click here to find out more.

Quote from ThinkExist.com. This is quote 103 if you're following on Twitter.

What Makes You Come Alive

While we were driving yesterday, my son asked me what lights me up. I'm very grateful that he and others his age are asking this question. I don't know how many people were thinking this way when I was his age, so it's good to see things moving in this direction. Here's a great quote in that same vein from Howard Thurman:

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Howard Thurman

Click here to view a profile of Howard Thurman at PBS.


I found this quote at ThinkExist.com.

This is quote 102, if you're following me on Twitter and that's how I'll number them from here on in. Check out Einstein On Falling In Love for further explanation.

Keep Walking!

Einstein On Falling In Love

A while back I had another blog that was mostly motivational quotes and I miss that, so I'll be sharing quotes here and on Twitter.com. I have recently been sharing quotes on Twitter, so for my Tweets, this is number 101. For those following my blog, this is number ONE. To see previous quotes, you can click on the title of this post and scroll down my Twitter profile. Here is the love quote:

"Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love."

Albert Einstein

I found this quote at ThinkExist.com.


Keep Walking!

Great Retreat, Healthy Honey Now Walking

Our church had the most attendees ever at Forest Home last weekend - around 420 people and lots of kids. Our speaker, Jim Burns, had a great acrostic for maintaining/improving relationships - AWE. AWE stands for affection, warmth and encouragement. I really appreciated when he said, (my paraphrase) "If you have reservations about affection, I have three words for you. Get. Over. It." I agree wholeheartedly. Human beings need that good stuff. Jim Burns's stuff can be found at: HomeWord.com. I find him to be much more conservative than me and still, he's got something to say that's truly worth hearing.

My honey and I worked KP for all the meals. I was the big enchilada for KP and got good reviews. Just like the retreat itself, we had the most people I've ever seen setting up and cleaning up at meals. They made it so easy to lead. The KP'ers took initiative and hardly a discouraging word was heard.

Marianne and I have been playing a game we call Password. It's been a long time since I've seen that show, so it may not be exactly Password according to Hoyle(?). One person thinks of a word and then gives a one word clue. The other person gets one guess and then the "giver" gives another one word clue to the "receiver". Sometimes you get the word on the first try like when I said "Redenbacher" and she guessed the word was popcorn. She only took two word clues, sidewalk and concrete, to get pavement. (Guess which word took her six clues?!) We even played Password as we were falling asleep.

Monday morning after we got home I weighed myself and found things going in the right direction. I was down to 117.1 kilos vs. 118.5 last week which means a loss of approximately 3 pounds. Tuesday was our anniversary and we started off by walking almost three miles at Batiquitos lagoon with our dog, Mellow. It was great to spend the day together and nice of our country to have a holiday on our anniversary. (A Veteran's Day aside - Marianne's brother-in-law was in Vietnam and her grandfather was in the horse cavalry(!) in WWI. We are not quite sure if we got the whole story about her uncle who we were told died after hostilities officially ended in Korea when her mom was a kid. My dad was in the Navy, but didn't see action in Brownsville, Texas and my uncle Fred served, too. Kicked my dad across the room with only his reflexes coming out of a nap once, but that's another story. My brother almost went to Vietnam. I'm pretty sure he got a low-medium draft number and then the war was over.)

We went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse and shared some mild wings and the Alice Springs Chicken. More Password with just the two of us. The Alice Springs Chicken works for the high protein/low card lifestyle if you substitute broccoli, which they serve crisp, the way we like it. Oh, remember not to use that sugary dipping sauce to keep the carbs low.

All of the above and technology problems combined with Palomar College being closed MONDAY meant that I didn't get back online until yesterday. You should be hearing from me more often in the near future. Keep walking.

Forest Home Weekend

Let's see. How to start...

Sunday of this week I weighed myself and it was not great, especially keeping the whole year in mind. I weighed 118.5 kilos. I started the year at 123.2, so there is SOME progress. (It's definitely better than going backwards.) The difference between those two measurements is 4.7 kilos, so multiplying by 2.2 we get 10.34 pounds. That's 1 pound per month. I'm back on high protein/lo carb and expect to get some walking in this weekend at Forest Home. Forest Home is a christian camp in the town of Forest Falls, which is above Redlands. My wife, Marianne, and I are doing KP this weekend at Solana Beach Presbyterian's all-church retreat as we usually do and that will keep us on our feet a bit. There's quite a bit of walking back and forth in the normal course of the retreat. I've never really kept track before so I will be curious to see how much walking we do actually.

I do believe it's time to modify the goal for the year. With all that's going on in life I'm not prepared to lose nearly 40 pounds in under two months. That's ok. I'm in this for the long haul as I hope you are not matter whether your goals concern physical health or something else. I had a physical a couple months ago and everything was in the normal range. My hdl cholesterol (the good kind) was slightly low, but nothing to be concerned about.

I think 15 pounds from here to the end of the year is doable. I've done it before as I'm sure many of you have. I'll be thinking about 15 or 20 over the weekend.

I'm excited about the new president and excited to be going on retreat. "See" you when I get back. Keep walking. Keep moving ahead.

Go Vote!

HelenKay Dimon said it concisely. Go vote!

Visit her blog:

HelenKayDimon.com

Keep walking.