NaNoWriMo Fail

I'm writing this about 4 hours before the deadline is up, but I know what's coming.  I'm more than 18,300 words into a novel and I am loving the mental exercise.  I had hoped to reach 50,000 words by midnight tonight to meet the NaNoWriMo challenge, but I realized a couple of weeks ago that wasn't going to happen.  I found out a few things though. Trying to write 50,000 words in a month takes up all your free time.  I felt like I was neglecting time with my family, which I seem to get very little time with as it is anymore.  I missed watching TV, one of my guilty pleasures.  I got behind on several other projects that vied for my free time.  The biggest problem though, was that the pace was too much for my creative process.  Writing that fast got the words out of my head, but I wasn't always satisfied with what came out.  I found myself editing as I went.  I wanted my first draft to be well thought out, though by its very nature a first draft isn't supposed to be a final draft.  I realized that most of what I write, letters to other doctors, blog posts, etc., is already in final draft form.  That made the NaNoWriMo experience unsatisfying.  I am however, grateful that they got me started on what is shaping up to be a very bleak, but cathartic novel.  I don't want to give to much away about it yet, but I do want all of your opinions after I come up with a draft that I am satisfied with.  I decided to post an excerpt here.

He reflexively snapped his biosensor bracelet back on and waited for the gray surface to change to green. He didn't like the idea of the bracelet at first, but he'd come to accept it as a necessary part of life now. They all had. He didn't even register the faint prick of the sampling needles. They were so small, he had trouble finding them in the housing when had taken one apart. He probably wouldn't have if he hadn't inadvertently laid out the pieces on some black cloth that Ruby was using to make him a suit for her sister's wedding. Clothing from Mexico and China was so cheap nowadays that he thought it was quaint that she made so many of their clothes. Nevertheless, she was unhappy to find a bracelet disassembled on that cloth on her table. He was fascinated by how things worked and frequently wrecked them to find out. Reassembly is always much harder. The sensor chip in the bracelet was truly amazing. On a chip one centimeter square were thousands of DNA or RNA sequences of as many diseases, mostly infectious, a few cancerous. The bracelet sampled body fluid from the skin on the wrist at intervals set by the wearer. John's and the kids' bracelets sampled twice an hour. He had tried to get Ruby to do the same, but she hated the whole idea. She had compromised and agreed to sample once a day, in the middle of the night. He often found himself laying awake at 3AM, and more than once had not been able to help himself from watching as her bracelet tested her. There was no way he could even think about going to back to sleep until it glowed green.

August Blog Posts Completed

During some downtime at Alex's school while we were waiting on him to get back from his field trip, I was able to finish out August's blog posts.  Please see this post from earlier this month to get caught up on the Montana trip. To catch up on the entire month, including back to school festivities and some cool shot from the pool, please come check it out here.

For those of you following along, I've got over 18,000 words completed on my novel.  While this is amazing, I know now that it won't be completed by the end of the month.  I've got major plot points outlined, and I plan to complete it, but it is great to have some of my free time back.  I'm thankful to NaNoWriMo for getting me started.  It will be interesting to see how far I take this.  If I like it, I may try to get it published.  Mainly because I think a little bit of rejection now and again will keep me humble.

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month and I've decided to tackle writing my first book this month.  The goal is to complete 50,000 words of a novel by the end of the month.  I'm behind on my pace, at just over 8,000 words, but I'm going to keep at it.  As such, I am going to drop further behind in my blogging.  I will catch up.  I plan to make my novel available to anyone who wants to read it. If I think it any good, I may try to get it published.  But for now, don't expect to see much here until December.  Until then, wish me luck.  If you want to check out the web site that started it all, go to nanowrimo.org.

Race For The Cure 2008

Today we participated in the 2008 Northwest Ohio Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in downtown Toledo.  This year was surprisingly harder than last year, even though the pain of losing Melinda was so raw back then.  MAybe that was what was different.  I was so energized back then, but afterwards, the depression of living without her really set in.  I stopped exercising regularly until late this Spring, too late to have any hope of entering the Metroparks 5K which usually sets the tone for my final 2-3 months of training.  I did put in some raod miles this year which helped, but I was not as ready as I was last year.  This year for the first time, Becky, Alex, and Aaron decided to walk the entire 5K course instead of the shorter 1 mile course they had done with Aaron in a stroller in the past.  The morning was cool, but sunny.  This was a great day for Becky to wear the pink ribbon sun hat her mom had made her.  You can also see one of the pink ribbon pins they made that I blogged about earlier.

I ran the race almost the entire way.  Near the end my feet were getting painfully numb and I had to stop running for 5 minutes and just walk it.  I picked up the pace when I could feel my feet again, and was running when I crossed the finish line at 45:02.75, much slower than last year's pace. This year the race course looped on itself in such a way that I could go quickly from the finish line to the halfway mark and catch up with my Becky and the kids who were walking the entire course. I was able to finish their leg with them (and carry Aaron on my shoulders for part of it) which was a real treat.

Even the police horse got into the spirit with some pink bunny ears.  There were over 18,000 official participants this year.  While I know I could've done better, I was so proud of my family for going the extra mile (or two) this year.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

The family took me to breakfast this morning to celebrate my birthday at Marie Scrambler's - on of our favortie brunch spots.  The boys each made me cards with artwork, which I loved.



I've taken my birthday off from work for years now.  It's a little indulgent, but I don't indulge much the rest of the year.  I love spending the day with my family, especially since they love making it special for me.  Work will be there tomorrow. Tonight I'm blowing out candles on my strawberry pie.

Icicle the Snowman

We got a big snow last night which shut the schools down. I had already taken the day off from the office. This afternoon Alex and I went out (Aaron was napping and has a cold) and shoveled and played in the snow. (I did the shoveling and Alex did most of the playing). Alex built a small snowman by himself (fallen down to Alex's left in the picture), then he rolled an enormous snowball that looked perfect for the base of another snowman. I rolled the middle and Alex rolled the head. We used our snowman kit that we keep reserved for such occasions to place the decorations on and Alex named him Icicle. Unfortunately it warmed up a little and started raining and Icicle fell over a few hours later. Good thing we snapped a few pictures.

My Disaster Kit - The Blog

After the ice storm last month in Oklahoma, I've been thinking again about getting prepared for unforeseen emergencies. Mark and the cousins had to abandon the house for a night after their neighborhood lost power. I sent him some links to resources I had used to make some preparations. I realized that I had spent a lot of time thinking about this and putting together several emergency preparedness kits for personal use, for sheltering in the house during a blizzard or power outage, for getting stuck in the car during bad weather or a big traffic jam, and a portable 3 day kit for grabbing and bailing out of the house in the event of a disaster that damages the house. It has made me feel more secure, though I hope I'll never need most of it. I wanted to catalog what I was doing, and I can't seem to avoid wanting to share this stuff, so of course I decided to put it all into a blog. It is not meant to tell anyone what they need to do, but instead to get them thinking about emergency preparedness, and to catalog my specific efforts. I'm going to slowly add to it over time. I have a few posts over there already and will add more when I have time (sigh). Please check it out and comment at My Disaster Blog. There's a link to the right of this screen also that will get you there too.

Star Wars: Revenge of the Nerds

Ever since about 1977 I've wanted to be a Jedi. 30 years later I got to at least dress up like one. Susan, my mother-in-law, found some McCall's patterns that got her close which she modified to look like the uniform of Jedi Knight Obi-wan Kenobi. She and Becky found the belt and I picked up the light saber for $5 last year. The costume consisted of a dickie worn around the neck (and a plain white T-shirt), a long-sleeved tunic, shoulder armor pieces that hung down in front and back, and an obi (like a cumberbund). The belt was centered over the obi and the hooded cloak went on over it all. I wore some light-colored cargo pants and my brown hiking boots to complete the look. Becky rigged a couple of S-hooks for my light saber on the right and my stethescope on the left so I could work in it. It was a big hit at the office and my patients loved it - some more than others.
Two of my patients are Star Wars fans as well and got wind from my nurse that I would be dressed as a Jedi. They pulled together a Sith Lord and Stormtrooper costume and we had to have a duel in the hallway. I'm sure the video from that battle will never come back to haunt me. I enjoyed this so much, it will be my default costume for a while. It was the coolest costume I've ever worn, and didn't involve zombie make-up.

Race For The Cure 2007

This year's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in downtown Toledo was an especially important and moving one for us. Last year we ran in support of Melinda's life and to celebrate her as a survivor. This year we mourned her passing and honored her memory. Becky's mom, Susan, came up from Texas to do the Race with us. Several people from my office staff came out to support us, as well as several of the families from the kids' school.
While Becky, the kids, and most of our supporters walked on the 1 mile Fun Walk, I ran the full 5K again this year. It started out cool but I was overdressed. I wore running shorts and sweatpants on bottom and a thin long-sleeved Susan G. Komen shirt, my Scott E. Vest Performance T-shirt (with a pocket for my iPod), and a team T-shirt that my staff had ironed Melinda's picture onto. The sun came out and warmed up the streets. I had the forethought to remove my sweats, but got too warm in the 3 shirt layer I had put together. The run itself was very uplifting - I think I expected it to be sad. I finished the race about 6 minutes faster than last year - in 40:34 officially. My office nurse, BJ, and my office manager, Judy, were at the finish line to get this picture and cheer me on. I was trying to wave at them but the lady near me in the picture thought I was trying to give her a high-five, so I obliged her. I placed 80th out of 82 timed runners in the 35-39 age group and 1,571st out of 1667 timed runners overall.
After the main Race, we made our way into Fifth Third Field stadium for the Survivor's ceremony and Kids Fun Run. The ceremony was tough on us. While it was great to see all of the survivors out there, it was awful knowing that Melinda should have been in that company. Alex ran around the entire perimeter of the field. A girl designed the Fun Run shirt this year. When we asked Alex how he felt about the butterfly pattern, he told us, "It's OK - I'm running for Aunt Melinda."
Becky made this pink ribbon from some, oddly enough, pink ribbon. She used bead letters to add the names of those of our family who have lost this battle - our sister-in-law, Melinda; my aunt, Carolyn; my grandmother, Reba; my great-grandmother Maude; and two of my great-aunts, Barbara and Wanda. We hope that they are the last of our family to be taken out by this disease. To that end, we raised over $1700 for breast cancer research and education through leading up to this day. Overall, over $135,000 was raised for the NW Ohio Race this year.

WTOL @ 11PM

I was surprised to see a WTOL 11 news crew outside my exam rooms when I was in the office this morning. They were going around town to find people who were dressed in pink for the Power of Pink day. My office manager had emailed them and told them about Melinda. They came and interviewed me about Melinda and the office participating in the Race for the Cure this Sunday. They only used a small portion of the interview but included a nice shot of the Melinda memory bands that Becky made and a picture of her that my staff put on the back of our team Race shirts. Click the play button below to see the clip.

Craig's Cruisers and Musical Fountains

We really like the kind of vacation where nothing is rushed or highly scheduled - especially with kids. We slept in and went to a late (for us) breakfast in the hotel. It was raining this morning so we started looking for alternatives to the beach. No one was too disappointed as we had a great day at the beach yesterday. I was looking around on the Grand Haven, MI website at area attractions and found Craig's Cruisers just down the road from yesterday's beach. We packed a lunch and spent the afternoon there. Just to warm up I modeled good batting posture for Alex and smashed a few 50 mph pitches in the batting cages. I was mildly affronted when Becky suggested I used to show off for her as a teenager by doing that, until she added that it really impressed her at the time. Then we all got in a round of minigolf on one of the best designed outdoor courses we had ever played on. It spiraled around a Island Mountain in the middle of a pond and spiraled down again without crossing your path. Our favorite feature was that most of the holes were shaped in a gentle cone which drew your ball in if you hit it close by. Subsequently, Alex beat us and got the Hole-In-One award with 4 total. Aaron got frustrated at the skill level minigolf requires, but amused himself by hopping all over the course's rock gardens and near the waterfalls.
Next we tried the bumper boats, and Alex and I got in trouble for bumping Becky and Aaron into the spraying water from the nearby bridge. We made up after racing on the go-karts - our favorite event of the day. Someone else bumped Becky and Aaron (a big no-no on the track) and we got to be indignant at him instead.
After pizza, Alex raced on the kiddie track by himself. He was hesitant to go fast at first, but that reluctance soon disappeared. We finished up with a rather successful run in the game room, racking up almost 300 tickets to spend at the toy & candy counter.
From there we drove to the Boardwalk at Grand Haven - much less crowded today now that the Coast Guard celebration was over. We strode along the public marina admiring the sailboats, yachts and quacking at the female mallards. We hoped there would be cute shops and sights along the beachfront when we decided for a little stroll downtown. There were quite a few – and most of them were closed on a Sunday evening. There was a cute little Italian boutique (in Western Michgan - go figure) that served gelato, of which we all took advantage.
We went back down to the river and attended a performance of the Worship on the Water, featuring a full band (including an amazing horn section) and a large choir belting out modern and classic church songs. The clouds that had been threatening us all day started to spit on us, which was a little risky for the musicians playing electrical instruments, so they ended a little early.
Finally at 10 pm the rain let up enough for us to witness the performance that we can to the marina for in the first place. Across the channel on the hillside, Grand Haven has a wide fountain that has articulated nozzles that are lit and choreographed along with a musical tract. The Grand Haven Musical Fountain was a big hit, and unlike anything we’d seen before.

Camping on the Ball Field

Today was Cub Scout Day at the Toledo Mudhens stadium. Alex has been looking forward to this ever since he first learned about Scouts and the activities they do.
Soon after we arrived at the ballpark, Alex and I got to go on the field to participate in a Scout parade around the front of the stadium. Behind home plate, Alex took a pretend swing and hit a pretend homer.
Unfortunately it rained for much of the game. It was warm enough that we threw on our jackets and toughed it out (the red jacketed figured to the left of Alex is Aaron, and the blue jacket to the left of him is completely covering Becky). The Mudhens lost, which put an even bigger damper on the wet evening. The rain let up and we got to watch another great Mudhens fireworks display.
Then we all went to the vans where we said good night to Aaron and Becky and hauled our tent and camping gear into the stadium. We could hammer stakes into the outfield, so I had worked out a system of weighing down the tent from the inside with 2 liter bottles filled with water that worked surprisingly well, especially when supplemented by our change of clothes, sleeping bags, etc. The biggest danger to the integrity of the tent didn't turn out to be the lack of stakes, but rather the enormous game of tag that was going on around us. As it turns out, this spontaneously erected village of tents made a unique maze that proved tempting for at least half of the kids there that night to run through. We sat in camp chairs and drank hot chocolate while they played the Cars movie on the big stadium screens. The night was noisy and bright because we were still in middle of downtown, but the movie was over after midnight and we were tired enough that sleeping really wasn't a problem.
The next morning we had breakfast in the Roost above the field after packing up our gear. We were well fed, slightly damp, and happy that we could spend the night camping on the baseball field.

Feelin' Special on Father's Day

Today I awoke to breakfast in bed made by Becky and the kids – ham and cheese omelet and toast – garnished by my favorite sections of the paper and a photo framed of me and the boys at the Mudhens Stadium from my birthday weekend. We went to Alex’s final soccer game. They won 4-2 after their best display of teamwork all season, and Alex got a trophy for playing. We had an end-of-season picnic on the grounds of the soccer field. Then I wanted to go out and just play at a park with the kids. We went to Swan Creek Preserve Metropark where they had a “Window on the World” – a building with a large window facing a small pond and bird feeders. We had a special chance tonight to see a special visitor – a groundhog!
We picnicked and played on the playground. We took a cool break when an ice cream truck trolled the parking lot.

Alex tried his bike again, fell hard, and got back on. I told him later that night that watching him getting back on that bike was my favorite moment of Father’s Day.

Metroparks Happy Trails 5K 2007

Last year I ran this race as my first competitive 5K - OK I walked/ran it, alternating between songs on my iPod. I was happy to finish, but it wasn't as fun as I would have liked it, because Becky and the kids were out of town. This year was different. They came and cheered me on as I left and were waiting for me at the finish line. I was nearly wiped out by that point, but seeing them there spurred me to sprint the last few yards to the finish line. I was able to run the entire course and finished in 42:24, my best time yet. It was a beautiful day and the Wildwood Metropark is gorgeous this time of year. I plan to keep coming back for next year's race and beyond.

Strawberry Pie

Today my family celebrated my 36th anniversary of my arrival on the planet with breakfast, presents, a song composed by Alex and performed by all three of them, and of course....
...strawberry pie! Becky has been making one of these for my birthday for years. This one is decorated with candles in the shape of my age. Here's to the next 36. Pass the Cool Whip.

Center for Lessons Learned

Almost 7 years ago, I tried to remove the metal ring at the top of a glass olive oil bottle to prepare it for recycling. To do this I held the bottle in my left and and a paring knife in my right hand. I stuck the tip of the knife under the edge of the ring and pushed, attempting to break the aluminum ring free from the bottle. I accomplished this much easier than I expected, and the momentum of the knife plunged it into the side of my thumb on my left hand, causing a 1 inch wound that required 6 stitches to close.

The Army has a special department called the Center for Army Lessons Learned where they literally compile valuable lessons from the field and apply them to future missions. If I were following their example, you'd think that I would have resolved not to cut something with a sharp knife that is otherwise aimed at my other hand. You'd think that, but you'd be wrong.



Today I wanted to water the strip of grass between our driveway and the neighbors' yard, so I tried to cut a nozzle from a cardboard package in exactly the same way - and exactly the same thing happened. Almost. This time it was my index finger lacerated by the sharpest blade on my Leatherman multi-tool. Becky was picking Alex up from school, Aaron was upstairs napping, and I couldn't drive. The sides of the fingers are where the blood vessels run and this bled vigorously. I was in the garage and I made it to the kitchen sink in about 10 seconds. I got lightheaded from the pain and the sight of the rate of bleeding. After rinsing the wound, I wrapped a wad of paper towels around it and squeezed it tight. After about 8 minutes, I lifted the compress and the blood started pouring out again. I knew where this had to end up so I called my doctor's office and they could get me in. I called Becky and she hustled home and took me to get these 3 stitches.

When I did this seven years ago, I felt stupid for stabbing myself. I wasn't thinking. I'm extremely careful with sharp items at work, to avoid cutting a coworker, or sticking myself with a contaminated tool. My dad taught me how to use a knife. I'll be teaching the same thing to my children someday. I feel about 10 times worse today. I should have filed this under Lessons Learned. Hopefully I won't have to learn it again in 7 years.

Fourteen Years Building a Happy Life

Fourteen years ago today I tricked convinced my wife to spend the rest of her life with me. I don't have tremendous ambitions. I want a happy life with a family that loves each other and I married a wonderful woman who wants the same thing. We put our kids in storage Kidz Watch and celebrated our life so far at Biaggi's. She looked gorgeous (as always). Happy Anniversary, Becky!!!

Survivor Miakonda

We've been looking forward to this weekend for a couple of months now. Alex started Cub Scouts when a program opened up at his school a few weeks ago. I noticed on the area Scout website that they were hosting a Dad & Lad campout this weekend at the local Scout camp - Camp Miakonda. This camp is located in the middle of the Toledo metro area, just 10 minutes from our house. However, once you leave the parking lot and cross the wooden bridge into the camp, you are definitely in the woods. They do have electricity, running water, flush toilets, and cabins to sleep in, so we were only partially roughing it. We got our stuff in our cabin and assembled for a flag ceremony. This may have been Alex's first, because they don't do this in his school. We were divided into tribes and scheduled into a variety of activities that the tribes all rotated amongst.
We started with two of Alex's favorite activities from the whole day. First was a turn at the archery range. He's going to get another chance at school this year, but this was his first time holding a bow and arrow. The boys sat for a safety speech and a history of bows and arrows. Then we took turns in groups of 8 with a compound bow. The bow was a little hard for him to pull back, but I helped him. The targets were mounted on a long rubber block and one of his arrows hit the block, three fell short and one went over the block. Next we snuck into our cabin to change into warmer clothes. Even with our jackets on, it was a chilly morning. From there we went across the camp to the BB gun range. We knew that BB guns would be a part of Scouts from stories we'd heard from other parents and kids. We had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, we have become very anti-gun, just about from the moment of Alex's birth. We don't let the kids play with toy guns, not even making "guns" out of Legos or sticks. We don't permit any shooting games where the boys pretend to shoot each other. The BB gun range also began with a safety lecture, including the use of the gun, the prone position they would be laying in to shoot, and the safety goggles that they had to wear. Alex did a good job and hit the target once. He let me shoot once as well (and yes I hit the target). [I told him about the Red Ryder BB gun that I had when I was growing up. Dad (Papa) also taught us about gun safety and kept the guns and BBs out of reach. He used to take us to a dirt road outside of town during the day that was frequented by cruisers in the evening who threw their various bottles and cans out the window. We used them for target practice, and then carted them home to put into the trash.] Then we went to the Council Lodge building (back on the other side of camp) to do a craft. Alex made a story skin with sticks we found outside and a rabbit pelt they provided. Alex put a CM in the middle for Camp Miakonda, lightning bolts above it and arrows below it. I drew stick figures father and son at the bottom and we signed and dated it.
After lunch (hot dogs with the works) we went to the Fort. This fort looks like one that might have sprung up during colonial days, though it was built about 13 years ago. The boys learned how to make frybread from flour, salt, baking powder, and water. They flattened their piece of dough and a scoutmaster fried it for them in a dutch oven on coals. Alex put sugar and honey on his and we shared it. Then boys had free time to run around the fort before the scavenger hunt.
Next we started a lame scavenger hunt. It could have been kinda cool, except that the Boy Scout running it wasn't informed that additional clues were hidden all over the Camp, with each clue leading to the next. After finding 2 clues near the starting line, we were told that was it. Most of us went back to the cabin to rest off some of the hiking and lunch/frybread that we endured so far. Then it was time for games. First the boys divided into teams and had to find puzzle pieces on the ground blindfolded with the help of a sighted caller. Then they moved on to throwing balls through hoops that were tied between two trees. Then we all raced through an obstacle course and put in the best time for a tribe our size so far that day. Alex's favorite was a rope swing in the middle of the course. Then they ran a race to fill buckets with water carried in a styrofoam cup on a paint stick.
Next we practiced a skit that we needed to perform for the entire camp that night at campfire. Our skit had the Emperor (in the chair) reject various offer of food until he found raisins that he liked, but was upset when he found out that he couldn't get more because their rabbit died. Think about it for a minute. Alex was a guard to the left of the Emperor. We had dinner (tacos - Alex ate taco shells and pudding, not at the same time) and then went to the "Survivor Challenge". There we answered 30 trivia questions in teams to win a bag of candy. Our team fought hard but lost. However, the winning team was generous. They also let the kids roast marshmallows over a small campfire they had built there.

We had almost 2 hours left before the evening presentation. At the beginning of the day we were given a blank piece of fabric, some leather cord, two markers, and a pile of yellow beads to make a tribe flag. All day the kids traded their yellow beads for different colors from other tribes and special beads from the scout leaders. One of the scout leaders wanted a handful of trash for a bear claw or seashell. During this down time the kids played around the cabin, strung their beads, and signed and decorated the flag. The dads helped them mount it on a frame and we got them to pose around it before the evening campfire. During this evening presentation, we watched and participated in several skits. Awards (more candy) were given to the tribe with the best flag and to the one with the best time (per Dad) on the obstacle course. A thunderstorm moved through which canceled a planned evening hike. The evening movie would have been the 1960's Disney scouting movie "Follow Me Boys", if they brought a DVD player instead of the VHS player. Oh well. The glitches gave Alex and I a chance to go stargazing in the parade field with our star chart from the planetarium. Alex slept well in the cabin, but I had a hard time getting comfortable on the bunk bed - spoiled I guess by my foam mattress topper. The next morning, we packed up our gear and had breakfast on the way out (after hiking all over camp one more time looking for Alex's sunglasses). Alex already wants to come back next year for the Dad and Lad campout.

Jason's 101 in 1001 Project

I found a blog post suggesting a way to lay out several large projects in a manageable timeframe. I had several things that were in my someday/maybe pile that I wasn't getting any traction on. I also had several lynch pin items that would open new doors for me if I could just get the ball rolling on those key items (I think I just mixed 3 metaphors). The post suggested laying out 101 things you wanted to get done within 1001 days. The poster suggested the following guidelines:

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as new year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Some common goal setting tips:
1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.

2. Stay Focussed. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.

3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.

4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.

5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

These seem like reasonable guidelines. I posted my list on a new blog and I will use this blog to update my progress on it. Since I started my list today, then I have until Christmas Day 2009 to complete it. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

A New Face At Home

I let my facial hair grow my 1st day of college, thinking that it made me more grown up. I long since lost that need, but I became accustomed to that face in the mirror. Except for a couple of instances when I felt I had to shave off the 'stache and beard (and then promptly regrew it), I have had some form of this on my face since that day. At one point I felt that it was such a part of my face that I would just as soon cut off my nose as shave it off. Lately I've been shaving with a Fusion 5-blade razor instead of my Norelco electric one, and I like the closer shave. It's hard to shave around the goatee with a razor though and I was encroaching on it in ways that left it a little lopsided.

Last night after we put the kids down, I shaved it all off. There were parts of my face that had not felt a blade, or wind for that matter, for years. I shocked Becky while she was reading a book, but she really liked it. The boys however, had never seen me without it. When we woke up this morning, I showed Alex, who giggled, then hid his face in the covers for a little bit and sobbed. When I asked him later about it, he said that it was very startling for him. I sat with him and rubbed his back and talked to him until he relaxed. What really sold it for him was the opportunity to tell his brother about it. We both went in and Alex broke the news. I picked him up just as he was waking up and he made a startled noise and said, "I'm scared!" I asked why and he said, "You're different!" I explained it to him and he came around quickly. He repeated the "You're different!" refrain several times this morning and kept wanting to see my face. He didn't want to touch it at first. He asked me where my mustache went. When I told him that it went into the sink when I shaved it off, he wanted to rescue it so I won't be different anymore. Both boys have gotten used to it and Becky was sold from the beginning. I like the way it feels, so I'm going to try this for a while. It confirmed for me that it had nothing to do with who I really am. Same Daddy. Same Jason.