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Showing posts from July, 2011

Miles of Motivation

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Numbers associated with my bicycling sometimes frustrate me - like when I realize that my average pace still hasn't gone up as much as I'd like or when I realize that the numbers related to my weight haven't gone down even though I'm biking a ton. But when I get close to reaching a mileage milestone, numbers don't frustrate me - they motivate me instead! I really like seeing my bike computer's odometer turn over to big numbers. When I first got my road bike last April, it was a big deal to see 100 on my odometer's screen. Later that year when the odometer turned over to 500 and I realized I had biked 500 miles on my road bike it was another big deal. Whenever my computer turns over to a number with zeros after it I let out a whoop, smile and ride on - and start logging miles towards my next hundred mile milestone. Today I woke up with the goal of kicking that road bike's odometer over the 1,000 mile mark. I knew I was close -  within 40 miles of reachi

A Change in Plans

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My kids, Rose and Ryan, started a theater day camp today called Young People's Theater Workshop (YPTW). YPTW is a program put on through the Northfield Arts Guild  during which the kids, grouped by age, write a play, rehearse it, and then perform it at the end of the three week session. Rose loves the camp and this is her fourth year. In her first year I saw a huge change in her confidence from the beginning of the session to the end. She has grown each year since and I expect she will benefit from the camp again this year. Ryan has never been in YPTW and has been somewhat reluctant to go. But, to save on gas (it's a 30 mile round trip to town), make our schedule easier and give me time to work, Owen and I decided that Ryan should give YPTW a try. Given how good the program has been for Rose, we're hoping Ryan will benefit from the program as well. I dropped the kids off this morning and right off the bat Ryan found two friends from his class at Greenvale. He found

A Win Win Situation

My writing career has opened up so many opportunities for me. Through writing I’ve learned new things - like how to make metal garden sculptures with artist Jennifer Wolcott and and how to cover an airplane with an eco-friendly aircraft finishing process . My writing has given me a chance to write and record family stories, to be creative, to capture a moment or the essence of a lifetime and tell a story the best I can. Perhaps best of all, I've met so many cool people who, through the things they do and say, remind me that there's a lot of good stuff going on in our world.  My writing career has also opened up more career opportunities for me.  Less than a year ago, I was offered the opportunity to write for a newly launched, community news and information website, Northfield Patch . Though I already had plenty of work, I was excited enough about Northfield Patch that I told editor, Corey Butler, Jr., that I would write for Patch anyway. I’m glad I did!  My Patch stories h

Short Wing Family

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We had a great time at the Short Wing Piper Club convention , the annual gathering of people who own, fly and simply admire " short wing" Piper airplanes. This year's convention was held in Spearfish, South Dakota. About 170 people attended and 42 Short Wings airplanes. The convention is full of social activities, some meetings and presentations and a lot of hanging out and looking at airplanes. It's the ninth convention our family has attended, last year we flew to Middletown, Ohio and other years have brought us to Vancouver, WA and as far northeast as Kingston, Ontario, Canada. We figure that since 2003 we've flown over 8,300 miles in our little Pacer just attending conventions. That's about 80 some hours in a little airplane. This year I, Owen and the kids did a presentation titled "Short Wing Family" at the convention. The secondary title, by the way, was "How to fly all over the country with your family and still like each other when