Here Comes the Floor

The bathroom is coming along nicely. The walls were taped, mudded and textured this week. Then, the folks doing the tub surround (the three walls around the tub) were able to get in and do their measurements. They are off fabricating the walls now (along with the matching vanity top).

Next step is the the floor. We're off and running on that today. Here's the prep work; laying the mortar bed for the tiles.















Here's the completed, leveled mortar bed. We'll let this set up tonight.



















The tiles are waiting and ready to be deployed - though. So, this week should see a floor going in!

Persistence

I am not naturally gifted in many areas. Certainly, this week I've learned another area I am not gifted in: drywall. In fact, I would venture to say that I am profoundly not gifted in this area.

However, while slogging through the bathroom (yay! I'm finished!) - I have come to realize that there is one character trait that you can possess that assists in coping with the absence of other gifts. Persistence.

At the end of the day I am relatively willing to just keep going. Keep moving forward. Keep waiting and keep hoping that things work out. Keep trying.

There is no question that having unlimited skills would be ideal. But that is not within my control. What is - is whether I am going to quit when things are hard. Or boring. Or .. just a test of my will.

As I was using twice as much dry wall (thankfully it's cheap!) and 3 times the amount of time a skilled person would probably require to get the job done - I was tempted to get frustrated. Instead, I decided to simply keep moving. Eventually it would be done. It couldn't take forever. So, just keep going. I wanted to do it myself. I wanted to finish.

The final result wasn't great; but it is acceptable - maybe even good. More importantly, it's done. And now I know that if I just keep going when doing my next dry wall job... I will succeed. That, I think, is the very best payoff of being persistent. It infuses you with a sense of hope for the future. What is better than hope?

PROGRESS:

I called in an expert - Brian, who led the charge on the plumbing and electrical changes. He is a true 'sicko' who 'loves plumbing!'. I was just the shopper/helper-bee!















As a result of his expert help the tub is in! and the bathroom has been re-plumbed with copper and some electrical changes are complete (adding a ceiling fan/light as well as moving some of the existing fixtures).

With those tasks completed.. it's time to put things back together. Step 1: drywall. CHECK!

I am not insane. This guy is!

After my little walk to San Francisco a couple people told me that I was 'insane' or 'crazy'. I can understand that comment to a certain extent. However, I just thought of it as a bit of a challenge.

One of my colleagues at work is an avid runner and thought the walk was hilarious. The day after hearing about it she brought me the book 50 50 by Dean Karnazes to read. I don't know if she was thinking it might inspire me - or what. So, I read it during my lunch walks this week.

Well, I immediately discovered something wonderful. I am not insane. Dean Karnazes is insane.

In the very first chapter Dean is in the process of embarking on a family vacation and is reflecting on past such trips. He says 'Sometimes I would leave home on foot before the family and they'd pick me up along the roadside a few hours later. .. Once in awhile I would run all night and meet them in the morning'.

That, my friends in an insane person.

The book itself is about Dean's efforts in Fall 2006 to run 50 marathons on 50 consecutive days in all 50 states. It definitely was an impressive fitness display if ever there was one. On the face of it you might think that was the insane part of the book.

As it turns out - as I finished reading the book during my lunchtime walk on Thursday I found the truly insane part in the last few pages. Immediately upon getting back to the building I went to Dora's (my colleague's) office and asked 'did you read the last 6 pages of the book?'.

'No.' she said. 'It was getting kind of repetitive after the first 20 or 30 marathons - so I just kind of abandoned it.' she admitted.

I just started laughing.

'Holy cow, Dora! You biffed in a huge way if you didn't read the end. Take the book back and check them out' I said.

She then asked me to simply tell her what the last few pages said and so I did. I'll share them with you as well.

You see, the last marathon Dean ran was the New York City Marathon. Having completed the marathon he did a number of media interviews (The Today Show, David Letterman, Conan, etc.) the next day. As the day was coming to an end he was alone - for the first time in the last 50 days. His wife and children had returned to the San Francisco area; the kids were still young and in school. His support team for the last 50 days had departed and returned to their families as well. He was alone and didn't know exactly what he would do next. So, the day after running 50 marathons he went for a run to clear his head. He ran through Central Park in NY City to the starting location of the NY City Marathon.. and then proceeded to retrace his steps.

Yep, he ran another marathon the day after finishing 50 in 50 days.

That's not the insane part.

You see, he still couldn't sleep after doing so (Monday night). He had a sense of uneasiness. What would he do next? He was confused.

So - as he had mentioned earlier in the book - he took his own advice. Sometimes he thinks better when he's out running. He checked out of his hotel on Tuesday morning pushing a little three-wheeled baby stroller with a couple extra clothes items, some food and some essentials (cell phone, etc).

And he went running.

.... a page or two further in the book ... it states: '30 days later he crossed the Mississippi River and ran into Missouri'!

Dean Karnazes - after finishing 50 marathons in 50 days - ran another marathon on Monday - then ran another 1300+ miles (roughly 50 more marathons) in 30 days - averaging approximately 45 miles a day!

Yes, in the last few pages of the book - Dean ran another 51 marathons before coming to an emotional point where he had 'closure' and decided to fly home to his family.

People - I submit Dean Karnazes as the insane one. As it turns out - one walk of 44 miles is completely normal by comparison.

I rest my case.

Social Networking Situation

These days everyone is signing up for email, blogs, myspace, facebook, skype, twitter and a host of additional social networking 'services' intended on us all staying connected - electronically. But they also create some interesting situations at one time or another we all are going to need to address.

This morning I was faced with just such a situation. Some woman, that presumably I should have remembered from my days in Schoolcraft (my home town), had 'found me' on facebook and was interested in how my life was going. Unfortunately, I couldn't cough up a memory of her after trying for a few moments.

I found myself in that awkward situation where you know, they know, that you've received this email and friend request. So, what do you do?

Interestingly, this social networking and instant community is supposed to make us all more connected; more close. However, my experience is that all this technology (caller id, email, etc..) actually creates a buffer between two people that inserts a critical step into the basic communication protocol. That step is 'decide if I want to interact with this person or not'. If not, I can just ignore them; let the phone go to voicemail, delete the email, ignore the facebook request. So, something that was designed to foster improved communications amonst groups of people also allows us a certain freedom to be cold to people we'd rather not deal with.

As with most situations in life - it calls upon us to decide how we are going to treat other people. So, oddly enough - whereas yesterday this person knew nothing of me (presumably).. today she was going to learn something - one way or the other.

The best I could think of was to return her email with a short message. I simply acknowledged her message and shared with her that it was unfortunate - but I did not have any recollection of her from the old days. Thanks for writing.

Nothing more. Far from graceful, I readily admit. I guess she learned something. I didn't want to rudely ignore her. But, at the same time - I didn't feel any connection or desire to create one at this juncture.

And then I ignored her facebook friend request.

Right? Wrong? What do these words even mean anymore as it relates to electronic relationships?

Do you have any such stories to share? Suggestions?

Thursday Tweets

Okay people... you know what to do.

Please feel free to tweet away - and tell us a little about your day today!

Tod: Will The Office tonight be about how Michael and Dwight embarrass themselves during the honeymoon?

Tod: Technically, you could take a bath in the front bath at this point. Perhaps by next week there might even be walls in there :D

Balderdash

Ever play Balderdash? It's a game where you make up the definition of a word or expand an abbreviation.

Example: UAW --> University of Awesome Women

Get it?

Okay.. now let's play. Your prompt for today is the abbreviation: T.A.T.E.R.

Go!

Further Reflections on the Walk

not to be too philosophical - but joel made an insightful comment about my previous post (worth the walk) and the picture with the joking sign 'down and out', you can find his exact point by reading the comments for that post. his comment was on my mind as i did my normal lunchtime walk this afternoon.

what is the value of the 'stuff' we all just 'carry around' each day? here's everything that i took on this walk. admittedly, the camera is unusual - but the rest is not:

a) clothes $173 total:
sweatshirt ($20), shirt ($15), shorts ($15), two pair of socks ($8), running shoes ($70), sweatpants ($20), hat ($20), and underwear ($5 - no comments please)

b) consumer electronics $1,200 total:
ipod nano ($150), cool earphones ($90), digital camera ($600), 2 GB Memory card in camera ($30), cell phone ($~300 actual value although I got it as part of my cell phone plan at a greatly reduced price) omron pedometer ($30)

c) misc $350 total:
cash for food and drinks along the way ($20), sunscreen ($10), glasses - with graduated lenses for old folks ($300), backpack ($20)

that means that for a little walk to SF i carried on my person $1,723 worth of 'stuff'.

i don't reveal that financial data in any prideful or boastful way. please understand that. instead, i mention it because it challenges me in a profound way that sometimes in my life i consider myself just scraping by - or just making it in this difficult economy and world. perhaps that's a lifetime of financial insecurity brought about by my upbringing creeping through.

but, moving the focus off me and this one event and making a more broad point - joel makes a very interesting case that most people in america - many far less blessed that we might be still have many or most of the items i took along with me last friday. and yet we routinely are able to think of ourselves as 'poor'.

i meant my little sign as a joke - but maybe the joke is on me upon reflection.

your thoughts?

Seriously

I kid you not.. here is a memo that just arrived to all ITT employees this morning:

To help promote wellness here at RSS we will be giving all employees pedometers. Along with this we will be instituting a friendly competition. Beginning the week of Oct. 19th we will have a white board posted in the cafeteria where employees can post the distance they walked in the previous week (Monday through Sunday). The intent is to encourage aerobic activity by employees thereby improving overall wellness. Obviously we will be conducting this friendly competition under the honor system. That is to say it would not be considered fair play to clip the pedometer on your 5 year old child or grandchild as they run around the backyard. This competition is entirely voluntary but even if employees choose not to take part in posting their numbers please use this opportunity to challenge ourselves to get in some regular exercise and thereby improve the wellness of our population. Our health and welfare are precious and every little step helps.

Does this mean another trip to SF? :)

Gorgeous Gals and $5 Challenge

Just thought you might enjoy a picture of my gorgeous girls from a recent trip we make to Berkeley!





























Now that you have a good visual image of her... here's your challenge: find Hannah among a few thousand of her fellow students during the Cal v USC game. $5 to the first one that can find her. Best of luck!

Worth the Walk

I've been bugging Rachel to make me one of her inspired thin crust pizzas for awhile now. She offered to make me one if we came up to eat at her place. That was an offer I didn't want to refuse! So, last Friday I made the trip to get my pizza. The one interesting twist was that I decided to get to her place on foot. I live in Santa Clara. Jon and Rachel live in San Francisco. As it turns out - that's quite a walk.

How far? Well, here's my pedometer readings at the end of the trip. Including potty breaks and a couple minor navigation goof ups it turns out it's right about 44 miles while burning almost 6000 calories.











In steps.. its almost 93,000!












As it turns out, however, it's actually a very straightforward walk. You can get from Santa Clara all the way to San Francisco by walking down historic El Camino Real (the King's Highway). Then you have to do a bit of jogging through the streets of San Francisco... and you're there.















Here are a few of the sights along the way. I didn't know that See's Candy are made in California - right on the El Camino. Sweet.












One town just short of San Francisco is called Colma. Colma is basically the graveyard for the bay area - as far as I could tell. There are many, many cemeteries you walk by as you traverse the city. It definitely puts things in perspective to pass by so many people that have walked the earth; had their time; and now are gone. It was a good time of reflection.















I also had the good fortune to walk right by Harding Park where they were playing the President's Cup this weekend (America won!). Here's the closest I got to the course.. the visitor entrance!















A few minutes after passing Harding Park - Rachel called and we figured out she was about a block behind me on her way home. So, I was able to quickly grab the camera from my backpack and snap this horrible picture of her waving to me from her car. But, it was inspirational to know that I was in her neck of the woods. Just a couple more miles and I would make it.















Finally, here's my favorite spot along the route: Rachel's home! I made it. It took me 12 hours and 45 minutes - give or take. A good pace. But I was soooo glad to stop ;D My feet were extremely sore - but other than that I held up pretty well.



















When Rachel saw me out front with my sign.. she let me in and started cooking!















Oh.. and so the big question.. was the pizza worth the walk? Ohhhhh you betcha! Rachel Rocks! Check this beauty out she made just for me. Yummmyyyyy!! However you have to get there.. driving, riding, walking or crawling.. definitely take her up on it if she invites you for dinner. It's that good!