Say What?

Finally! I was able to get outdoors on my bike a couple times over the weekend. Our temperature climbed out of the single digits (and considerably more) long enough to thaw out our frozen, snow-covered shoulders giving me ample room to do my thing. It also gave me a chance to get my 1998  red Serotta out on the road after having a bunch of work done to it over the winter. New fork, bars, stem, and saddle. I'm very pleased with the upgrades and the help of Adrian at Flanders Bros. Thursday's route took me south to Castlerock then west toward Webster. There were a few icy patches to negotiate but traffic was light enough that I never had an issue taking the lane when I needed to ensure I had good footing. It was close to 30 degrees for most of the ride. That may seem cool to some but from the perspective of anybody who has endured our winter, it's nearly short-sleeve weather. It was a 44-mile day. I got out again yesterday for 49 miles in 22-degree weather. I'd on...

Today's sermon at Hosanna was about idols in our lives and what sort of things are competing for our attention. It came at a good time for me. I never thought it would happen but I'm becoming bored with the internet. In the last few weeks I've cut my online time down considerably, and I'm seriously liking this trend. Something I wouldn't expect to happen to me in the dead of a Minnesota winter. I still check my email daily in addition to Facebook and some forums I participate in but aside from those interests and my weekly blog updates, I don't have a whole lot drawing me back. If this trend continues (and I want it to) I'll also be pulling back from the forums which will leave me with just Facebook and my blog as regular stops. My blog will no doubt be the last man standing as I'm growing weary of Facebook as well. As Tammy and I were walking to our truck at the far end of the parking lot after church we were exchanging thoughts about idols in our l...

Rachel is heading back to college in the morning after having been home for the last month on Christmas break. It doesn't seem like we got to spend much quality time with her. Between our jobs and her being off with friends, the time came and went too fast. She's had a busy break from school and I'm sure it's been nice for her but I have a sense that she's ready to go back. Her Facebook status from a few days ago read: "k im bored of lakeville." I think a record number of jigsaw puzzles have been assembled in the short period of time she's been home: 5, maybe more. We did manage to go out to dinner together Friday night at Mongolian Grill. Tammy was going to drop her off near Mall of America tomorrow so she could catch an early morning bus for the 75-mile ride back to Rochester but she's going to take her back herself. The drive down will give them some time together and I know Tammy is looking forward to that.  Plus, the bus trip with Scooter on...

Until a few years ago I used to listen to a good amount of talk-radio going back to the early '80s. Names like Dick Pomerantz, Bruce Williams, Bob Yates, Michael Jackson and Sally Jessy Raphael were regulars on KSTP 1500's lineup. I enjoyed them all but Bruce Williams' nightly program where he discussed money matters was my favorite. As much as anything, talk-radio was a regular part of my week. I remember when Rush Limbaugh first came on the air nationally in the summer of '88 and how even though I didn't find his show all that interesting initially, I kept getting drawn back to it. Nobody else was saying the things he was with the exception of maybe Morton Downey Jr on TV although in a much more abrasive way. I'd take Snickers on our daily hour-long walk and use that time to get my dose of Rush from the yellow Sony Sports AM/FM/TV/cassette player I'd clip to my waist. I came to question little of what he said and my devotion to his show continued for ...

2010 was a big year for us with Rachel graduating from high school and going off to college. Our lives didn't change much if any but I know we could all sense the closing of a chapter. But more than anything it's been an exciting time. One thing I'm especially grateful for in all of this is the technology that allows us to be just a text message away. We've taken over her dance floor in the basement and officially turned it into our workout room. I moved our treadmill into it from out of the glass shop which helped to open that space up for me to better move around in. Charlie will have to find something else to stand on from which to taunt Toby and Allie. When I first got the treadmill I was still a runner but these days it's only being used for walking. My running days have been over for a while. That was something that took me a long time to come to grips with. I used to have dreams where I'd be running and they were the best dreams but they always left me ...