Intergalactic

BoyScout got me an ice cream scoop! Rock on.

Help Me Obi-Wan Kenobi, You're My Only Hope

I'm fairly out of touch. One way that this was recently pointed out to me was when I went up to the ticket booth at the movie theater earlier this week and saw that the new Clone Wars movie was out, and promptly purchased a ticket to a musical.

I neither knew that Clone Wars was out, nor had I kept up on the internet hype enough to even be excited about it. I finally watched a trailer last night, but I do think it's suspicious that I haven't heard anything about the movie at all.

That's definitely one of my standards for culture: if it can't get to me in cultural isolation (no T.V., no radio) then it probably isn't worth finding. So, has anyone actually seen this movie? Is it any good? Give me the skinny and I'll try to find someone nerdy enough to see this one with me.

Progress Report:

We talked last week around this time about what goals we had for the near and far future, and how unless we get some accountability we're never going to achieve them. Well, it's accountability time. So, if you posted last week, let us know how you're doing and if you didn't, just go ahead and post your new goals.

Last week's goals for me were:
Day: Week's worth of lesson plans.
Week: Hang out with someone.
Year: Be able to run 10.5 miles.

How'd I do?
Well, I've probably done that same week's worth of lesson plans about five times since then, but I did have it finished that day. We'll check that off. As I posted on Saturday, I hung out with Jose and did some spelunking.

But, what about my year-long goal? Well, I've made progress. I can now run about 3.5 miles without actually passing out somewhere along the way, but, as exhausted as I've been from working in my classroom for 9 hours a day, I've only been running every other day. I'd like to kick this up a notch, but I'm waiting for my body to get used to it. I'll let you know.

New Goals:

The general idea of this isn't that we have one sweet day or week where we get a lot done, but that we are making continual progress in measurable ways. So, here are my new goals for the day, week, and month.

Day: Nail down my finances well enough so that I can make a list of home improvements I want to make and the order in which I can do them.
Week: Cook. I need to increase my culinary repitoire, so that means cooking this weekend. Possibly cooking bread...
Month: I would like to say I just want to make it through the next month. Kids come back to school on Monday and surviving would be nice, but that's a little weak as far as goals go. What I'd really like for the next month is to be able to keep my content on this blog up to quality, to stay in contact with all you guys, to start planning the high school reunion for the class of 04 (yup, it's that time already) and to find Brad Hall (thanks Big E for the lead on that one).

So, if you posted your goals last week, give us an update and your new goals for the day, the week, and the next 30 days. If you haven't posted before, feel free to jump on in.

Also I'm going to need help with my goals so:
1) If you know a Mexican dish that would be a convenient party-type dish, give me the recipe.
2) If you are a member of the Carson City-Crystal graduating class of 2004, then e-mail me your mailing address and any information you might have about people who are going to be harder to find, like Brad Hall (though I know he didn't graduate with us).

Thanks, and thanks.

And now, your moment of zen:

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

I'm not obese. For my height I'm probably technically overweight, but most would call me "cuddly". Or at least most people in Michigan would call me that. But, unfortunately, I've moved to the most ripped state in the Union, from, by far, the most pleasantly plump. While I can't back that up with authoritative data, I can say that living amongst these people, despite their boisterous (doesn't that word have to do with sound?) armpit hair, I've developed a bit of a complex. So the other night Brad and I went for a run.

I haven't run regularly since my internship at Grace Church (where running was mandatory), but when I was doing it I loved it. We ran as a group three days a week and in the course of the summer I went from being the second slowest person to the second fastest of the eight interns. I was even running on days when we didn't have mandatory runs. I even started running twice a day about half way through the summer. Then, one Saturday, I decided I was going to do a homemade half-marathon. I had run 10 and 1/2 miles during my long run the week before that and I knew that I could do it. The only problem was that during the course of my run, which took a couple hours, the temperature rose from low 80's to the high 90's. I got dehydrated, pulled my ACL and haven't really run since.

Today, as sore as I was from running with Brad, I got up at 5:45 and ran again. Two miles has never seemed so long. But I did it.

Since mid-July I've been waking up five minutes earlier every day. My goal is to be able to execute a morning routine which includes running, showering, shaving, ironing, making a lunch, and arriving at the school before 7am to get done whatever I need to do for that day. 5:45 is definitely not early enough. I'm guess it's going to be more like 5:00AM.

What's my point?

To function in this world, to be an effective teacher, doctor, pastor, construction worker, nurse, artist, writer, whatever, you need to be a little bit better today than you were yesterday. But, like most, I'm seldom on track. Sure I get a couple boosts of resolution during the year: New Year's, first day of school, my birthday, etc. but I've never been able to really succeed at progressing unless it was in a situation like running with the interns at Grace Church. With the interns I always had someone to measure myself by, someone to compete with, and 8 someones (including our running coach) to keep me accountable.

My goal with this blog is 50% communication (of ideas and thoughts with people I care about), 50% blatant and shameless self-promotion, and 50% just loving to be able to stay in contact with the people who read it. People who I otherwise might talk to once a month, once a year, maybe once again before I die.

So, today's 'reader response" isn't for people who are witty, well-read, or especially into some niche of pop-culture. It's for whoever wants to stay in contact with me in a meaningful way and do something today about making yourself a little better today than you were yesterday.

If you'd like to do this (and if you're reading this I would like you do this), just leave a comment telling me one goal you have for today, one goal you have for the week (before next Thursday) and one goal you have before New Year's.

Here are mine:
Today: I will have a week's worth of lesson plans done for at least one of my English sections.
This Week: I will hang out with someone this weekend, despite the fact that Brad and Leroy leave tomorrow (I have made approximately zero friends in this land of 5% body fat).
Before January: I will be able to run the 10.5 miles I was able to run before I attempted that half marathon two years ago.

I'll keep you guys updated. Do the same for me. And if you don't want to post your goals for the whole wide web to see. E-mail me at zogood@gmail.com


Oh, and if you really want to do something to improve your life, never watch August Rush.