Running Towards
The Google Chrome tabs community project has ended and has raised 60,599,541 tabs for charity in 2010. I participated this year and was happy to have contributed to the books that will be donated to schools and libraries across Asia and Africa.
If you did not get a chance to participate this year, keep a look out for next years project and make sure to get involved.
Original graphic from http://chrome.blogspot.com/
This week from December 19th thru the 23rd, WLTL radio will be holding their annual alumni week where all of us old DJ’s come back to host a show. We have 4 people form the class of ‘79 doing shows this time around. The schedule is a s follows for our class:
Sunday December 19th
Jane Freedland 6-8PM
Thursday December 23rd
Dan Morgan (me) 2-4 PM
Suzanne Stegman (my Chicago Half Marathon running partner) 6-8 PM
Tune in all this week after 2PM to hear past WLTL alums as they attempt to feel the magic again. WLTL can still be found at 88.1 on your radio dial or if you are out of range (or out of state) you can hear us on www.wltl.net.
A Christmas classic redone.
We were done at Purdue a few weekends ago to see the Boiler Women’s volleyball team compete in the NCAA Tournament (they beat Kentucky on Friday and Louisville on Saturday). My wife an I both went to Purdue so we like to walk around campus whenever we are down there and this time was no exception.She was in the AZD house which is not very far from where the matches were played, so we decided to walk by there after the game.
To our surprise, we came upon a nicely decorated house two door down from her sorority, but what really caught our eye was the house between the two. If you look closely at the photo below, just below the re added that I added in, you will see the word ‘DITTO’ and an arrow in lights pointing to the house with all the decorations.
I guess they thought instead of putting the time in to decorate, they would just let the neighbors do it and say they feel the same way. Made me laugh.
No more boring statistics. I saw the TED talk that Hans gave on this same subject where he used slides in the presentation and a semi-interactive statistics graph to represent the state of mortality, health and wealth for every country in the world since the year 1810. The numbers were interesting and eye opening, but when he presents the data in this immersive fashion, it really makes you sit up and say WOW. Get engaged by seeing the numbers.
I also found the data more familiar when he presents it from left to right, low to high in this new version. The original TED presentation was from lower right to upper left and just did not seem correct to me.
If all data was presented in this easily understandable way, I think we would find it more engaging and relevant. National Debt anyone?
Just like we do every year, we participated in the Bonefield Express Thanksgiving morning 5K this year. I either run with my son or my daughter but strangely enough never both of them at the same time. I ran with Jenna this year as she had a few friends who were scheduled to run it as well so she thought she would see them while she was there. But that was easier said than done, as there were over 4100 participants this year, up more than 900 from last years race.
The race starts on main street in Downers Grove just south of the Metra rail tracks at around 8:00am (8:30 this year), and winds through the business district and a few residential areas as well as Denburm Woods, which can be really beautiful if it has snowed recently. One year we had an ice storm the night before so all the trees were covered with shimmering icicles. The road was a bit trecherous that year but a wonderful sight.
This year the weather was pretty cooperative for an end of November day in the Midwest. The sun was trying to peak out with just a bit of drizzle and a high of around 40 degrees. I had a good day and set a PR for the 5K but Jenna had a bit of trouble as she had not run regularly since Volleyball season ended more than a month ago, and her asthma was acting up a bit. We broke off from running together at about the 1.5 mile mark and I met her at the end in the large paring garage where they have coffee, water, snacks and massages. This race has really become a community event with more than $120,000 give out in scholarships to local high school students since the race started in 2002.
If you have never done a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, I highly recommend it. It is a great way to start your day and in most cases a great way to say thanks by supporting others.
It has been a tough couple of weeks for me physically. I contracted some type of chest cold like whooping cough, that hung on for 5 weeks straight. That made it very difficult to stay on my training plan for the Disney Half Marathon in January. I was up to 6.5 comfortable miles and was looking forward to pushing on to 8 when that ailment struck.
I was able to get over the chest ting and start up training again, but now I have the flu and only 8 weeks left before the race. I know I can easily finish the half, but I wanted to really enjoy it this time and not struggle through ANY of it.
My lack of sleep is what always seems to bring on the cold and/or flu. At the suggestion of my brother I am going to try Calcium/Magnesium/Zinc tablets before I go to be each night. He swears by them so I figure what do I have to loose and it is better that trying to slurp some Nyquil every night.
What do you do to help you sleep?
I had a day trip to Toronto that I need to accomplish and wanting to keep costs down, I select Porter Airlines out of Midway to get me there. I have flown Porter a few times before and was very impressed by their enthusiastic staff, comfortable planes and convenient location. Porter is based out of Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre airport (YTZ). The airport is right next to downtown Toronto and is actually separated from the city by just a thin canal of water (YTZ is on an island). Once you land, you take a short 1 minute ferry ride across the canal to Toronto. From there you can either take a cab into the downtown area or take the free shuttle bus that drops you off near the center of Toronto.
Porter is the only airline that is serviced by Toronto City Centre airport so you will have no issues finding the correct airline or gate for your departure.
When you get off the ferry onto the island, you go through security as usual but with much less wait and crown lines. After security, you take an escalator down into the Porter lounge to await your flight. The lounge is very modern and comfortable with plenty of flat panel monitors showing upcoming departures times and gates. There is a large snack area that has free coffee, bottled water, soft drinks and snacks while you wait for your flight. They also have a bank of 20 plus iMAC computers for customer use over in a quiet area. I found the lounge very comfortable and a welcome change to the usual sparse waiting area that the non elite customers have to endure.
Once on the plane, Porter provides another perk that you usually only find in first class; free food and in the evening free alcohol (a limited selection of beer and wine).
My ‘dinner’ on the way back consisted of a small portion of very tasty potato salad, a chicken chibata bread sandwich and a small chocolate bar. I opted for the red wine, which came in real glass not plastic and was even offered a refill.
The only downside to the flight was there were only 10 people on the return to Chicago. How is that a downside you may ask? Well, I want the airline to stay in business and with that few customers I don’t know how they can keep it up.
Had a fantastic day today at the Chicago DO Seminar in Elk Grove Village. I was there to learn more about some of the tips and tricks that frequent flyers use to maximize their miles, trips and membership points. Some of the data was review for most of use but there was quite a bit of new information that I found very useful.
Since both kids will be in college next year, I plan on taking more frequent trips with my wife and knowing some of these strategies will help us do that less expensively and more often. I also want to get the kids familiar with what I am learning from the seminar presenters and other attendees so they can get a leg up on accumulating miles. I made sure to get them signed up early for all the free travel programs (airline, hotel etc) that they are eligible for, so that they can start accumulating now.
One of the presenters has been a 1K member on United since he was 17, so it is possible if you plan and execute correctly. I only wish I had known some of these things when I was younger so that I could have started accumulating points, miles and free trips at an early age.
But, let’s not dwell on the past. I like to keep moving forward, and for me that means making the most of what I know now.
Today I turn 50. It is a bit difficult to put that down on paper, or in this case to type it into my Live Writer software. 40 came and went with little fanfare, but this one has reminded me that I am halfway dead (I plan on living to 100 then going out in some fashion that would be considered scandalous for a 100 year old man).
I have been fortunate in many ways over the past 50 years. I have been able to provide a comfortable living for my family, I have been able to coach and attend my kids sporting events from pee wee soccer up through varsity competition, we have been to some amazing places together as a family, I have made some lasting friendships in high school, college and beyond and I even recently convinced my body to become a marathoner. I have a great wife and two amazing intelligent, funny talented children. I have three awesome brothers and two wonderful parents who are actively engaged with their grandchildren.
By all standards life is good. So why does it bother me? I’m not 100% sure but it may be because there are now less days on the downside of the hill than there were on the upside. so what can I do about it? Be a good person, be a good parent, be a good husband, stay in shape, don’t stop doing things that are important, do something crazy, do something fun and make every day count.
Keep Moving Forward.