Say What?

Our limited glassblowing skills are slowly making a return as we've recently been able to get back into the studio much more regularly than we've been over the last few months. Last week I was working on a 3-gather piece (as large as I'll attempt at this point) when Steve walked by and commented: "Go big or go home, Kevin!" I had to laugh. I was struggling to get the piece under control because I hadn't let the second gather set up enough before going back in for the third gather and it was all I could do to keep molten glass centered on the pipe. Tammy was a big help, seeing me struggling and lending the extra pair of hands I needed for just a few critical seconds. I was curious to see how it turned out when we returned to the studio last Thursday. I was very pleased. I don't get to say that too often as I'm often critical of my work, always seeing where I could've done better but not so much with this piece. My largest so far standing 14" ...

It's become obvious to us both that for our glassblowing skills to improve it's necessary that we not miss even one week of glassblowing; something we've been doing too much of lately. But what's also becoming apparent is that for us to push our abilities beyond where they're at, we're going to need more instruction and not necessarily from Foci. Anoka Technical College has a 16-week course that we've heard some very good things about and which has us both interested. It will be a bit of a hike each way (38 miles) to get there but the larger problem is finding how to fit it into our schedules. It's likely we'll have to wait a couple of years until we're both retired before we'll find the time. Until then we'll have to be content to flail away, learning what we can from our mistakes. Between my CompuTrainer, the elliptical and my walking, I'm finally getting in some regular workouts. I noticed this past week that my lungs are no long...

As a kid I was very persistent; just ask my mom. If I wanted a cookie I'd ask. If she said no I'd persist. "Can I have a cookie?" Like Chinese water torture, I was relentless until I got what I wanted. "Can I have a cookie?" I grew up in a family where going to church every Sunday morning and attending Sunday school afterward was a way of life. It wasn't anything that I ever questioned; I just accepted it and what I was being taught. Unlike Hosanna where I attend now, I recall the churches I grew up in as places where the emphasis was on "God" rather than "Jesus". Several years ago Hosanna embarked on a Bible reading lesson plan where a person would finish reading the Bible in a year with only 15-20 minutes spent reading it each day. I was all-in having already tried a few previous times to do it on my own but always coming up short, usually crashing and burning in Deuteronomy or was it Leviticus? I managed to get through Hosanna...

I went over 30 years with the FAA last Wednesday. I sometimes feel like I'm living in a time warp because I imagined that 30 years would feel so much longer than this. Warren Zevon's suggestion to "enjoy every sandwich" rings truer all the time. I left work Thursday morning happy to begin my weekend but slightly stressed that I was over-scheduled going into it. I need downtime (especially now) but there was precious little of that built into the next couple days. I would manage. Driving home just south of Cub Foods on Cedar Ave an ugly sound suddenly filled the cab of my truck...whap!whap!whap!whap!whap!whap! It sounded like a flat but my truck wasn't handling like it had one. I quickly worked my way to the shoulder to get out and have a look. It was too dark to see much but the right rear tire where the noise had been coming from appeared fine. I limped into Cub's parking lot to have a better look under the lights. Sure enough, I'd picked up some larg...

I woke up last Monday morning at 4:10 after only four hours of sleep. I laid there trying to drift off again knowing that I'd need more sleep than what I'd had if I was to make it through the day in a somewhat coherent state. It wasn't happening. I headed downstairs and shoveled a bowl of Kashi cereal into the machine before lacing up my shoes and stepping out into the predawn darkness to go walking.  There would be time to catch another hour or two of sleep before work when I got back if I needed to. Maybe it was the idea of being out there when most everybody else was still asleep that was appealing to me most but there was a definite tranquility that was working for me and I was feeding off it. My music collection on Google Music keeping me company. I passed another guy walking toward me on the lighted path along Highway 50 as I made my way toward the McDonald's on the south side of the city; my halfway point and where I had a date with a medium orange juice and ...

I had to take my 2001 Nissan Frontier pickup-truck in on Tuesday to replace the rear main-seal. I'm determined to get at least another couple of years use from it. I brought it to a friend Keith recommended; a friend he used to race with years ago—Bruce at Ultimate Automotive in Apple Valley. Rather than have Tammy drive me home I decided to walk and rather than take a direct route home, I took a roundabout way. Since I can't ride outdoors and I really do need my dose of sunshine, I think I'll adopt walking as something in addition to my CompuTrainer that I'll do this summer to stay fit. My Google Music collection kept me company—all of my music totally accessible while I meandered the 8.5 miles home. Having spent so many years as a runner ( a recent post about those days), I never seriously considered walking as an alternative. Funny how one's perspective changes over time. I see myself getting as excited to go for a walk as I used to about a run. It occurre...

I'm probably more of a weather geek than most but that's because of the amount of time I spend outdoors on my bike. I appreciate a site that provides good wind and temperature forecast details as well as one that maintains a history of this data. I think I've stumbled onto the pièce de résistance of weather sites. Check it out . Note the slider along the bottom that takes you back in time; in this case (Minneapolis) as far back January 1st, 1948. My retirement countdown is on and as of this writing, I have at most 661 days left before I push back from the scope one last time. Not that I want to wish my life away but how fast will 661 days pass by? My blog is a perfect tool to help me put into perspective my time remaining. Using this calendar-calculator I can plug in the number of days I want to go either forward or backward in time to see what the date would be. 661 days in reverse takes me to May 19th, 2010. Looking at my blog I find this post from May 16, 2010. Not ...