ADAM DOES iT.

I Love Your Stupid Face: A Non-Fiction Story

2019-08-17T16:04:00.001-05:00

I am the proud parent of two kids, but let's be frank, sometimes kids are jerks. When my daughter, Emery was three years old, she was as mean to me as a spoiled rich kid in the movies. 

Objectively speaking, Emery was a beautiful little girl. She had big blue eyes and tiny little pigtails. Often times, when we were in public, people would stop and tell us how beautiful she was. 

It happened so often that it would get awkward, especially if she was with other kids. 

Her hair was so blond, it almost glowed. At the playground, Asian people would ask to touch her hair. However, for a whole year, any time that I did something for my adorable little girl, I walked on eggshells. Not literally, because as much as I loved her, there was no way that I would hand her a raw egg. 

Sometimes, it wasn't worth fighting her. A few times, Emery would ask for something, I would get it, hand it to my wife, Leigha, and she would give it to our daughter.

One time, she asked Leigha for a drink. I happened to be standing at the refrigerator, so I grabbed a sippy cup filled with milk and gave it to Emery. As soon as I handed her the cup, she threw it to the floor and yelled, "Not from you!"

Finally, it reached a point where I was done. I was in an abusive relationship, and I kept going back, expecting different results. That's the definition of insanity. I was a grown man that was being emotionally abused by a toddler. 

So one day when Emery was throwing both object and insults, I told her that if she wasn't kind to me, I wasn't going to tuck her in at bedtime that night. She continued with her behavior, and that night, when it was bedtime, I told her that I loved her, but I wasn't going to tuck her in. I also said to her that I hoped she was nice to me the next day, so I could tuck her in. 

That night, she learned that I don't give threats, but I give warnings. 

I assume it was this masterstroke of parenting that started her shift in behavior and not purely because of maturation.

When Emery and her older brother, Tate started going to school, I would wake both them and help them get started for the day. Every morning, Tate would wake with a smile, roll out of bed, ready to go and ask me to turn on the light.

Waking Emery was a different story. 

I would slowly open the door, careful not to make too much noise and tiptoe to her window. Next, I would let in a sliver of light to the room and creep next to her bed. Slowly, I leaned onto the bed and whispered to her. 

"Good morning, Pickle." 

She went through a phase where she named all of her stuffed animals Pickle, so I did the same to her. 

"Happy chicken nugget day." 

I tried to start every morning on a positive note and would change this daily. 

Happy hump day. Happy gymnastics day. Happy first day of Spring.

Without fail, this is how every morning followed:

Emery pulled the blankets over her head and rolled away from me.

"UGH! Stop yelling. Why is it so bright in here? I don't want to get out of bed. I don't want to go to school. I'm not done sleeping."

If I happened to have given her a kiss on the cheek:

"Why are you licking me?"

"Do you want me to get something started for breakfast?" I whispered.

"What do we have?" she'd say as she pulled a pillow over her head.

"Cereal. Yogurt.

"Do we have any oatmeal squares left?"

"No, remember, we finished that yesterday."

She would throw off her blanket and yell out in exasperation.

"We never have anything good!"

"I could put a piece of toast in for an Emery deluxe."

An Emery deluxe is buttered toast with sugar and cinnamon. She came up with both the recipe and the name.

"How about a dippy egg?"

Dippy eggs are what we called over-easy eggs.

I'd look at my watch. 

"How about this? I am going to take my shower now. Why don't you get up, get ready, get your lunch ready, then I will make you a dippy egg."

"Okay, but don't take too long. I'm starving to death."

For the entirety of Emery's life, she's been on the verge of death whether it was induced by boredom, cold, heat, but mostly from hunger. She gets that from my side of the family.

After my shower, I bypassed my own breakfast so that I could make one for Emery. I came into the kitchen and made her a dippy egg as she stood at my hip watching. The hardest part about cooking an over-easy egg is the flip. Avoiding the flip is the top reason for people to have eggs sunny side up. The key to flipping an over-easy egg is to be slow and methodical. I like to get the spatula under the yolk and roll the egg over. 

Before I flipped the egg, I looked at the clock and saw that we only had a few minutes before we had to leave for school. On this particular attempt, as I rolled the egg, the membrane popped and the yolk ran onto the pan.

"I guess that one's yours," Emery said.

"No," I told her. "I'm not having an egg." 

I slid it onto a piece of toast.

"Can you make me another?" she asked, her lips pouting, her eyes growing to the size of an anime character.

"Emery, I need to pack my lunch. Just eat it quickly before the yolk starts to cook. It's still runny."

She dropped to the ground as if she had been shot, tears flowing.

"They're not poppy eggs if you can't pop them," she yelled.

I kneeled down and ran my fingers through her hair.

"I'm sorry I popped it, but we need to move otherwise we'll be late. It will still taste the same."

"I'll just starve to death," she said as she stood and ran to her bedroom. I didn't follow her.

"Don't slam your---"

But I was too late, she slammed her door. 

Emery has always been developmentally ahead of other kids her age. She was potty trained within a week of her older brother. She learned to speak early, often, and clearly. She was athletic. When it came to storming away, mood swings, or temper tantrums, Emery was fully prepared for her teenage years at a young age.

Much like a teenager, Emery was a whirlwind of commotion. Often times, there would be a trail of clothes where she took off a jacket, stepped out of one shoe, and kicked the other across the room as she pulled her pants off because she was hot. 

"I know, I know. I'll pick these up after I get a drink. I'm about to die of thirst."

Then she would cartwheel her way to the sink. Emery has been doing gymnastics since she was three years old. One of the first skills that she mastered was doing a cartwheel. In kindergarten, I once got a note from her teacher that she had been moved to the back of the class during carpet time because Emery kept accidentally kicking other kids when she performed tumbling moves. She never intentionally attacked others, but you were always at risk of getting kicked when she was around. 

Despite her claims, she never picked up her piles after the first time she was asked. She was always doing something and about to do something else, and could never be bothered to be interrupted by something as trivial as picking up after herself.

Every Saturday, our household does chores. Things like vacuuming, laundry, and general cleanup. Eventually, instead of having her stop cleaning whatever she was working on, I would gather her things from around the house and put them on a pile in front of her bedroom door. I thought it saved her the step of doing this, and she only had to put the items away. 

She saw it differently.

Here is a typical scenario when she saw the pile in front of her door.

"Daddy!" she yelled, "How many times do I have to tell you, I hate when you do that? Why don't you put a pile of things in front of Tate's door?" 

"I do," I said as I pointed at the single item that he had left lying around the house.

"UH!" she yelled as she threw out her arms. "Can you close the door?"

"Sure," I said as I slid the pile into her room with my foot. I started to close the door and saw a collection of items piled atop the wooden stand outside Emery's room. "Actually---" 

But before I could finish, the door was slammed in my face. I pushed the door open.

"Excuse me?" I said. "It's not my fault that you leave your stuff lying all around the house."

Emery stared at me, her teeth clenched. Her head was tilted forward slightly, her eyes slits. Smoke may have been coming out of her ears.

"I'm so mad at your stupid face right now," she said.

"I'm sorry to hear that because I love your stupid face," I said as I grabbed the door handle. "Why don't you work on your pile and I'll come back in half an hour."

After an extended time of grunting and minor banging from the other side of the door, I came back to Emery's room. 

I knocked lightly.

"Come in," she said.

When I walked into the room, Emery was sitting on the floor, organizing something at the foot of her bed. The room was neat and orderly.

"Wow, it looks a lot nicer in here," I said and sat on the edge of her mattress.

She looked up at me and pouted her bottom lip out.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," she said. 

"I appreciate your apology," I said.

"It's just..." she trailed off. "You know I don't like it when you put a pile in my doorway, I don't know why you always do it."

"Much like how I don't like when you leave piles of things all through the house."

"Maybe next time you can ask me, and I'll pick everything up."

"Okay," I said.

She stood and gave me a hug.

I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

"I meant it, you know," I told her. She stepped back and looked me in the eyes.

"Meant what?"

"I love your stupid face."

Emery and I interact with one another in a much different fashion than Leigha and Emery do. We have a running joke where Emery asks me who my favorite daughter is. I tell her my best friend's kid. 

Another thing we do is call each other absurd names. 

"You're a stupid, ugly chicken face," she said to me.

"Oh yeah, you're a dumb, stupid poopy face," I returned. "And you have bad breath."

The crazy things we say to one another have to be so over the top, there's no way the other would actually believe anything that was said. It is also crucial to have a cache of positive things to tell one another built in advance. 

I tell my wife and kids that I love them every day, and I mean it each time. I tell them that they are smart, beautiful, and funny. And that I'm a lucky man to have them in my life.

But to prevent Emery from crossing over from confident to cocky, I have to sucker-punch her in the stomach every once in a while. To be clear, I never really hit her. Most times, I don't make contact with her at all, and when I do, it is a small bump. Every time she returns the favor with a full-blown punch to my stomach.

For some reason, Leigha and Emery don't do this.

I am also comforted in knowing that if hypothetically, I forgot to pull my punch, Emery could take the hit. 

She has rock-hard abs from all of her gymnastics. On top of the exercises she receives at her sport, she consistently self-manages her conditioning. Whether it is handstands against the side of the couch, crunches while she watches tv or doing pull-ups instead of walking past the laundry room doorframe, she is always pushing herself.

Emery loves almost everything about gymnastics. During her practices, she is focused and determined to make herself a better athlete. While she isn't unfriendly, she doesn't go to the gym to make friends. Emery is there to put in the work.

Roughly once a quarter, she has a gymnastics meet. The meets are a time to showcase her skills, and she loves them. To me, they are a time to watch her stand in line for half an hour while twenty other girls do the exact same routine. Then we get to watch her do her version of the minute-long activity. I enjoy watching her perform, but the wait between events is brutal. Typically, Emery is one of the top overall performers in each event, especially the floor routine.

During one of these meets, Leigha and I were cheering Emery on from the balcony. Our daughter had the top score on the floor and a third-place finish on the beam when we noticed that she was running funny. She was warming up for the vault, and it looked like she was trying to touch her shoulder to her hip every time she took a step. 

"Is she hurt?" I asked Leigha.

"I don't know," she said.

"She's running really weird," I said. 

"Yeah, I noticed that, too." 

I made eye contact with Emery and gave her a thumbs up. She returned the gesture with a weak smile. 

Eventually, when it was her turn to do the event for real, she started running down the runway toward the vault. It looked like she was running for the first time after being in a whole-body cast for six months. She pounced on the springboard and flailed her hands and legs as she flew over the vault. It was amazing that she landed on her feet.

On her second attempt, Emery trotted down the runway at a slower pace, and when she jumped on the springboard, she didn't have enough forward momentum to move past the vault. Pretty much, she popped up to the padded table, did a handstand, held it for a few moments, then walked to the end of the board with her hands and dropped to the ground. After landing on a padded mat, she threw her hands in the air, smiled, and ran off the main floor. 

The whole display was a complete mental implosion, and it was devastating to watch. 

"I'll go talk to her," I told Leigha as I pushed away from my uncomfortable plastic chair.

As I walked down the stairs, I could hear Emery talking to herself in the restroom.

"C' mon Emery, you can do this," she said. She let out a long, deep breath. "Comeoncomeoncomeon."

She emerged, her face covered with red splotches from crying. I opened my arms, and she buried her face in my armpit and continued to cry.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "Are you hurt? Did you hurt your leg or hip?"

"No," she said. She pulled away from me and wiped at her eyes.

"What happened?"

"I don't know." 

She fanned at her face and looked at the ground.

"I got scared," she whispered, a tremble in her voice.

I hooked my finger under her chin and raised her face to mine.

"It's just one event," I told her. 

"I can't get top overall," she said.

"No matter what happens with your last event, I'm proud of you. It's amazing what you can do. You can do things that I never have and never will be able to do. You're a great gymnast, and I'm proud of you. So you had a bad day on the vault. We all have bad days, but don't let it define you."

She leaned forward, and I wrapped my arms around her head.

"You can do this," I whispered to her.

She turned around, shook her hands, and took a step away from me.

"Emery," I said. 

She stopped and looked over her shoulder. 

"I love your stupid face," I said to her.

"I love your stupid face," she replied. She smiled, nodded, and walked toward the gym.

Hawaii, the Dream Vacation for Someone Else

2019-07-06T22:21:00.000-05:00

I dug my toes in the soft white sand. To my left, the ocean with clear blue water. To my right, mountains fuzzy with vegetation. It was beautiful, and I couldn't help but feel guilty because I knew that it wasn't my dream vacation. But let me rewind.

To start off, I want to say that this was a fantastic vacation. My sister-in-law is an incredible host. She planned nearly every single thing that we did during our time in Hawaii based off of a wishlist that we provided.

But this is the thing. I don't really care about the beach. I can appreciate the beauty that is found there, but my happy place is typically on a ride or in a restaurant. Unlike my in-laws or my older sister, I don't get rejuvenated by the beach, I usually get bored.

Day 1: Green World Coffee Farm

Despite not being a coffee drinker, I was interested to see what a coffee farm looked like. As we pulled up to the farm, I was a bit underwhelmed by the 7 acres of land. Initially, it seemed like somebody's back yard. But then I started to think about it, and you can't get much more farm to table than that. Not only does Green World Coffee Farm grow their beans mere feet away from their store, but they also roast everything there as well.
Inside, they had free sample of coffee, tea, and chocolate-covered beans. A few times a year, I take a sip of coffee, just to see if I suddenly like it.

Not yet.

But the good news is that they had Hawaiian shaved ice there, too.

Day 2: Shark Cove, Luau

Shark's Cove is a lava rock beach on the north shore. It is named as such not because you see sharks swimming around, but because its outline looks like a shark from above. Here there were tide pools filled with all types of marine life.

As soon as we had our tent set up, Emery, my brother-in-law and I all went snorkeling. We made our way out to a rock shelf and fought the waves to put on our snorkeling gear. The waves were a bit choppy, but it was worth it as soon as we got in the water. It didn't take long for us to see a bunch of brightly colored fish. But then a high point of my trip happened. A sea turtle joined our party. A fully grown sea turtle. Before coming to Hawaii, a sea turtle was never something that crossed my mind that I would see on vacation. It's because they live far away in a tropical place. As it turns out, Hawaii happens to be a faraway tropical place.

Paradise Cove is one of those places that is clearly a tourist trap, but you're okay with it. Several stations are set up to make your own lei, get a tattoo, and play traditional Hawaiian games. The kids and I all tried our hands at spear throwing. While I didn't hit a bullseye, I was one of the few people that actually hit the target with the spear.

They also had a few mini shows where you could see someone climb a palm tree barefooted, throw and retrieve a hand-crafted net into the ocean, or watch tourists dress up and do a silly dance.

But realistically, people were at the luau for one of two reasons. The first was the buffet of traditional food such as poi, lomi lomi salmon, kalua pig, taro rolls, and fresh pineapple. While the food was pretty good, I didn't feel like I could cross off traditional Hawaiian food from my list when I was eating at a buffet.

The second big draw was the show, which had two hours of dancing and singing, highlighted with fire play.

Day 3: Kaiwi Lighthouse Hike

Kaiwi State Scenic Shoreline is a two-mile round-trip hike. A paved walkway winds up the mountain while several stopping points are set aside to admire the shoreline. At one point, I looked down at people that were walking around the exposed tide pools. It looked as if they were animals crawling on the ground from as high up as we were.

In one spot there were large binoculars posted on the railing, allowing viewers to look at the waters below. From November to May, whales pass through these waters.
At the top of the hike, there is a lookout point that allows people to look at several corners of the island. From here you can also see the lighthouse. Anywhere that you look at the ocean, you can see that the ocean water is incredibly clear and blue. You could even call it aquamarine.

Day 4: The Dole Plantation, Wahiawa Botanical Garden

If you are like me, you have never actually seen a pineapple grow. Fifty years ago, Hawaii was where 80% of the world's pineapple was grown. Today, it is less than 2%. But Dole is probably the most famous plantation in the world. I thought that it was interesting to see the varieties of the plant as we walked around. The Dole Plantation is home to the world's largest maze.
We opted out.

They also have a train tour that takes people through the plantation. As I am a tall man (6' 2"), I was not really excited to cram myself into a mini train. The kids were also not interested in the train ride, so we opted out.

The Dole Plantation is also home of the world-famous Dole Whip, which most people are probably familiar with from Disney. This is something that we most definitely did NOT opt out of.

Oahu has roughly a half dozen botanical gardens/Arboretums. Wahiawa is a 27-acre botanical garden. When people think of Hawaii, they often think of the beaches, but there is vegetation everywhere. As I said earlier, it seemed like the mountains were furry, there is so much growth. This garden had a beautiful path with information about the various trees from cinnamon, to banana, and a bunch of other varieties. As we walked through the garden, it felt like we were going through a small slice of the jungle.

Day 5: Kaena Point, bowling, poke

Ka'ena Point is listed as a wild coastline in the northwest corner of Oahu. I guess that what this means is that people don't lay on the beach and hang out all day. This is a place where people come to drive offroad, to hike, or look at the rugged beauty of Hawaii.

The beach wasn't white, soft sand, it was filled with hard rocks, shells, and coral. Definitely, a place to wear shoes. I would have loved to explore more of this location, but it was raining pretty hard, and we weren't going to have the kids hike in the rain. Especially because Tate was a fall risk with his cast.
So we went bowling at Schofield Barracks. While this was a fun reprieve, it isn't part of anybody's dream Hawaiian vacation.
One of the foods that I was really looking forward to eating while in the Aloha State was poke. For those that don't know, poke (pronounce poh-kay) is Hawaiian for 'to slice or cut.' This dish consists of slices of raw, marinated fish, generally tuna. Poke is available everywhere in Hawaii, much like barbeque is available everywhere in Texas. Bust just because you can buy raw, marinated fish at a gas station doesn't mean that you should. I had a few places scoped out to get the dish, but we ended up going to Times Supermarket. Here, they had a poke station with dozens of varieties of the marinated fish and fixings.

It lived up to the hype.

Day 6: Honolulu, Helena's Hawaiian Food

This was the only day that we spent in Honolulu that didn't have something to do with the airport.
Simply put, we saw the island minus the largest city. Leigha's aunt came into town because she was consulting at a teaching conference. Often times, when we are doing research on vacation places, one of my favorite things to do is looking for good restaurants.
Helena's Hawaiian Food is the perfect example of the type of place that I like to eat when I travel. It is a James Beard award-winning restaurant that you wouldn't be surprised if you received your food on a paper plate. It wasn't, but we did get styrofoam cups for our water.
Helena's Hawaiian food was in a working-class neighborhood filled with cars with clubs (steering wheel lock), household windows with bars across them, and locked gates. Theft is a standard part of Hawaii that isn't thought about much on the dream vacation. It is not uncommon for thieves to break windows and steal items from inside cars. I only mention this because we were not lucky enough to get one of the five parking spots in front of Helena's, nor within five city blocks.
It was worth the walk.
Once we arrived, there was a short wait outside that never seemed to die down.
I had looked at the menu ahead of time and picked Menu D as it had a sampling of most of the things that I wanted to try: Kalua Pig, Lomi Salmon, Pipikaula Shortribs & Luau Squid. We got this and shared. The only thing that I wasn't fond of was the Lomi Salmon because it was sliced small and mixed with tomato and raw onion.
Raw onion may be my least favorite food because it is a bully and overtakes the taste of anything that it is eaten with. After we were done eating, I couldn't help but smile. At the end of the meal, we were brought out Haupia with a slice of raw onion and pink salt. Haupia is a coconut pudding (think jello made with coconut milk) that I was more than happy to eat without the accompaniments.
After eating, we went to downtown Honolulu and walked around a bit. Unfortunately, Tate was hot, and his cast was getting heavy to lug around.
Leigha and I decided that our experience within the city would have been much different if we were actually staying there. If we had, we could have parked and walked around for the week. As it was, we (me, the navigator) got lost a few times. Or, more appropriately, we took a few wrong turns. The city reminded me of a mixture of Miami and Las Vegas, even though I've never been to the latter. Not until later this year for my 40th birthday.

Day 7: Likelike Hike

On our Likelike hike, was got to see our first waterfall. This was one of the items on Leigha's wishlist. Before we left, I was a bit confused as to why my sister-in-law brought three pairs of close for her daughter.
It's because the hike was through a rainforest filled with muddy trails and babbling brooks. There was a bunch of slipping and sliding by everybody. If you know me, I am a super laidback type of guy that doesn't get worked up or worried about too many things. I was worried about Tate for the entire hike. We were told that if he falls and braces himself with the arm that his cast is on, it would protect his already broken forearm, but break his humerus, the bone that runs from the shoulder to the elbow.
The good news is that we got to see a waterfall, AND he was the only kid that didn't fall down.
After the hike, we went to Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden. At first, it seemed like Wahiawa botanical garden because it had a variety of plants and trees with information about each. But then a short walk down a paved trail, I felt like I was in Jurassic Park or the TV show, Lost. Probably because both of those were filmed in Hawaii.
A grove was dotted with palm trees sitting next to a pond. As I walked toward the water, I saw that it was flecked with the color orange. When I got closer, I could tell why. There were thousands of Koi swimming at the edge of the water, waiting for people to throw them scraps of food, which they did.

Day 8-10: Bellows Air Force Base

For the last leg of our trip, we stayed in a cabin at Bellows Air Force Base. It didn't matter that the cabin was small, because it just had enough space for everyone to sleep. Plus we were there to hang out at the beach, anyway.

Over the three days, we did all sorts of beachy, hangy-outy things like taking walks on the beach, finding small Portuguese man of wars that had washed ashore, grilling, sitting under a tent on the shore, snorkeling, digging holes in the sand, and spearfishing.
Actually, I didn't spearfish, but I swam with my brother-in-law while he did. Despite not catching anything, it was like I had a personal guide that was there to point out the highlights of the sea. As I didn't bring anything to take pictures underwater, I have no pictures from this.
One of the nights, the base had a screening of Solo: A Star Wars Story accompanied by general fans in costumes to more serious LARPers (Live Action Role Play) that displayed for the crowd their swordplay.

For two nights, I slept with my head next to the window, lulled to sleep by the rolling waves of the ocean and understood why people dream of Hawaii.

Carnival Freedom Day 3 (My Birthday)

2015-12-29T15:10:00.000-06:00

December 21^st, 2015 (My 36^th Birthday)

Today, like most days, I woke up earlier than the rest and went to the Habana Club to write. After writing for about an hour, two little kids jumped out at me, yelling “Happy Birthday!” While I went to the room to change clothes, Leigha took the kids to get some breakfast. After I found them, I got some food as well. By the time that I had gone through the line to have an omelet made, it seemed like I missed my chance to have breakfast with my family. The worst part of a cruise is probably the lines. There are always hundreds of other people that want to do the same thing that you are planning on doing.

After breakfast, we left the ship for the first time. We were at Cozumel. The last time that we were on a cruise, it also ported in Cozumel, and it was my least favorite port. I thought of it as a port where everything was haggled for. “Hey, what’s your name? Hey pretty lady, would you like some jewelry? Hello family, let me show you something.” On top of that, the last time we were here, we left the port to walk the streets of commercialism in search of a free charm that was provided by being on the cruise.

This time, we got off the boat and were sucked into the photo-op props. There was a birthday cake that you could stand inside, and it only seemed appropriate for me to get inside. (As it turns out, this is a standard prop at each stop because there is a good chance that with thousands of people leaving the ship at once, there are a few people that are celebrating their birthday.)
As we walked through the shops, I thought that it was a bad sign that the kids stopped at the first shop. They were selling wind chimes made from shells. The people working there weren’t pushy at all, but they were the exception. The next shop that we walked by pulled the kids in with personalized bracelets.

“What’s your name?” the man asked.

“Tate.”

“T-A-T-E Yes? I’ve got one of those. What is your name?” he turned his attention to Emery.

“Emery.”

He reached down and grabbed one with her name and had it on her wrist in a quick fluid motion.

“How much?” Leigha asked.

“Twelve dollars.”

“For both?”

“Apiece.” Thus began a one-sided barter. Leigha wasn’t haggling or arguing with the price but refused to overpay. After a few rounds of the man lowering the cost, they agreed on a buy one, get one free deal. He looked around and told us not to tell anybody of such an agreement that he made us,
because we were now friends. I didn’t want to tell anybody because I didn’t want to be there. Ports of call are filled with American chain restaurants that I’m not interested in shopping when I am home. There are also an endless amount of shops selling what they think that people want such as authentic Mayan ponchos with NFL logos.

The man couldn’t find Tate’s name but told us that it would only take four minutes to make one for him. We acquiesced, and Leigha and I wandered around the store looking at overpriced trinkets, knick-knacks, and baubles. In addition to paying for the bracelets, the kids were getting a show. It was pretty impressive how fast the man was able to weave letters into the little strands of yarn.

After we left the shop, I pretended that I was deaf and blind. I wasn’t interested in buying anything from the shops or posing with a mariachi band or Mayan warriors. I wanted to see what excursions we could find for cheaper than what the cruise ship was offering. The first place that we stopped at only had water excursions. The second place took tourists to replica Mayan ruins for fifty dollars apiece. Finally, we found a driving tour of the island that was two and a half hours long that took us to the sole remaining authentic ruin. Our guide, Manuel was a former diver that was in his mid-fifties. He had moved to the island thirty years prior after Cozumel had built the first international port. Manuel told us that he had kids our age, twenty-five and twenty-four. Leigha loved this because it really didn’t seem as if he was pandering to us.

According to Manuel, Cozumel is a city that has roughly 95,000 residents few of which are locals. Wealthy Americans and Canadians own large houses while Mexicans from other areas live in smaller houses. We started off driving parallel to the coast. He showed us different bars where people snorkeled, looking at stingrays and tropical fish. As a former diver, he was knowledgeable of the water. He told us that he still like to dive, but for a guide to be profitable, they had to dive five times a day five days a week. He was simply too old to do this anymore, and he loved to show people the island.

“In this area,” he pointed out. “The water drops, and it is so clear that you can see one hundred feet

down with no problems.” In nearly every area of the coast where people dove, it was illegal to kill any marine animals. It made sense as the entire city relied on tourism to fuel their economy. As we were driving along, he started honking at a car that was driving towards us on the opposite side of the street.

“This is one of two roads on this island,” he told us. “On this road, you can only drive one direction. The other way is for bikers and runners only. We want people to be healthy and safe.

He took us to a resort called Chankanaab for a short pit stop. Chankanaab is a Mayan word for lagoon. Here, they had clean bathrooms, alligators in captivity, parrots and a beach full of chairs, bars and floating fun on the water. The beach had white sand and blue ocean water.

Our next stop was a reconstructed Mayan shopping complex. It was here that the city’s only remaining original ruin stood. I wanted to get a picture of the house, but a man dressed as a Mayan warrior stood in front of the house, asking people to take photos of him. I wasn’t interested in a picture enough to pay for it, so we went to the back of the building and got some pictures there.

Manuel showed us mossy stone replicas of Mayan calendars. He explained to us that the ancient Mayans had nineteen months. Eighteen of them were twenty days long with a single month that was five days long.

The plaza was filled with small shops similar to the port. People were selling junk made out of black coral. The difference was that the square wasn’t as clean as a place maintained by cruise ships. There was more of a rustic feel to the plaza. It seemed like many of the shop owners may live in the back of their shops. As we walked along, disinterested in buying the people’s wares, a woman told us that it didn’t cost anything to look.

“It’s only money,” she told us.

After leaving the plaza, Manuel took us to the less tourist-driven areas. He took us through neighborhoods where houses were small and in disrepair. He told us that many people started with a one-room house and built up. Roughly a quarter of the homes had some sort of shop in the front. People sold grilled chicken or tacos or had general stores. This is where the locals lived and shop alike. We drove by

water treatment plants. Manuel told us that the water was undrinkable and that the entire island needed to buy their water from one of the five locations that were open twenty-four hours a day. He showed us sports parks that were free to the public. They were filled with basketball courts, soccer fields, tennis courts and tracks to run on. He showed us statues of the first white man to marry a Mayan woman. He told us of the survivors of a shipwreck that became a wealthy monk. Leigha and I found it interesting, but Emery was bored and vocally so until she fell asleep. True to form, Tate was quietly accepting of the situation until he got hungry.

When the tour was over, we returned to the ship for a late lunch. Then the kids wanted to play a game of shuffleboard. The equipment was well-used, and the ground wasn’t smoothed out for better play. It was as good of a way as any to spend the time. When it wasn’t our turn, Leigha and I walked to the railing and looked down at the tropical plants and clear water.

Once the game was over, we returned to our room and the kids put on their swimsuits. Leigha wanted to relax by the pool. I tried to catch up on some writing. She took the kids to the pool, and after a few minutes of writing, I took a nap.

For the second consecutive day, Emery wanted to participate in a bag toss tournament. We returned to the same bar and formed a team of boys and another of the girls. Unlike the previous day, this group was filled with more young kids. Leigha and Emery won their first round. Tate and I moved on by default as the team that we were supposed to play never arrived. We each lost our second round matches but stayed around to watch the remainder of the games.

After the tournament was over, the kids weren’t done playing games, so we moved to the front of the ship and played more games. On a deck outside the kid room, we played foosball, ping pong and Tate showed another kid how to play chess with the giant pieces. It was great to see Tate and Emery play with other kids. It was a fun and relaxing atmosphere. Leigha talked to a woman that was single and had her three kids on the cruise with her. She refused to leave the ship because she was outnumbered and the kids were too young to listen to her.

At dinner, we sat next to a table with a couple, Joe and Ruby. Joe was a talkative man, and Emery ate up all of the attention that she could get from him. He told us how they cruise often and were considering buying a property at the Isla Roatan, the next port. Joe told us that he was gambling on the ship and winning big. All of these winnings he was setting aside and planning on giving to people in need. He was a successful man that was compelled by God to give his excessive possessions away. The more that we talked to him, the more that it seemed like he was a friendly man that enjoyed talking to strangers. He was too nice for me to point out the irony in buying a property on a whim was still accumulating possessions. He and Emery seemed to be great companions in that they both enjoyed talking and having people give them attention.

After dinner, they were playing a movie at the pool that I was interested in seeing, but I had a slow-building headache that convinced me to go to sleep instead.

Day 1
Day 2
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Day 5
Day 6
Day 7

Carnival Freedom Cruise Day 2

2015-12-29T15:03:00.000-06:00

December 20, 2015

Today I woke up at 4:15 thinking that it was much later than it was. At the time, I put some clothes on, grabbed my laptop and went to the Leto deck to look outside and do some writing. It was great being on a ship filled with thousands of people but not seeing other tourists. So instead of immediately writing, I started walking around the ship, exploring and finding shortcuts.

I walked through the different dining areas. I found an arcade with games that were bolted to the ground. There were claw games that you could win electronics. I wondered how low the probability of winning these expensive items was to keep it profitable. There were a few flying games that were fully immersive. One of them, you sit inside a pod and have screens bend around you to make it visually impossible to see anything else. As I sat down watching the demo, I started to feel a bit queasy. It may have had something to do with the ship moving as well.

I walked into an empty piano bar that had pianos hanging from the ceiling and walls. The bar encircled a piano that a performer could sit at and sing. The bar itself was lined with fake keys to make people feel as if they were sitting at the instrument as well.

Finally, I found The Habana Room. This room was designed to look Cuban. The chairs and couches were leather. The tables had bases shaped like cigars. Murals lined the walls with old advertisements for cigar companies and Jazz music played endlessly from the speakers. I found a seat in the corner and wrote about the previous day.

Around 6:30, I went back to the room. As soon as I walked in, Tate let out a big sigh.

“Finally,” he said. “I’ve been waiting forever.” He wanted to leave the room. As he was getting ready, Emery woke up, too. Leigha wasn’t feeling too well, so I took both of the kids to show them what I had previously explored. The first thing, of course, was that they had switched out the soft-serve ice cream machines to have strawberry ice cream. While they had a breakfast cone, we looked out at the Gulf of Mexico. The water was choppy, and the ship was definitely jumping up and down and swaying back and forth. There were plenty of waves and motion to the sea. Anytime the kids saw something dark, they swore that it was dolphins or a whale. I think that it was just water.

After we walked around for a bit and pretended to play games in the arcade, we watched them set up the breakfast buffet. The kids sampled a few things, and we went back to the room. Leigha hadn’t acclimated to the ship yet and was feeling seasick. We decided that it was probably best to move around, get some fresh air and food.

We were one of the first groups to arrive for the sit-down brunch. In our booth, we see the cups shift and vibrate as they touched one another. Up until that point,

I had assumed that they increase the speed of the ship while people sleep because less people are walking around. On a channel in each room and a few points in the ship, they show a map indicating where the ship is and how fast it is moving. It maintained a speed of about sixty miles per hour. As we were waiting to eat, Leigha braced herself and managed a lot of deep breathing. After a few minutes, Emery seemed to develop some sympathy seasickness as well and had a difficult time eating her breakfast.

For breakfast, I had eggs benedict and corned beef hash, and a dish that I associate with cruises as the first time that I had ever eaten it was on our Honeymoon cruise. Leigh had bagels and lox. Emery had eggs sunny side up, and Tate had fruit and macaroni and cheese.

After breakfast, we went back to the room, and Leigha rested, and the kids watched a movie on the t.v. There was a foosball competition that I had marked as a possible activity for us to participate in, but Tate preferred to stay back and watch the movie. Emery was torn. I explained to her that once we got home, we could always get the film from the library and watch it later. We couldn’t participate in the tournament then. So the two of us left while the others opted to stay in the room.

The foosball tournament was located in a bar on the ship. The good thing about bars on cruise ships is that they aren’t established nasty dirty places of overconsumption like a typical bar. The place was clean and filled with games that kids could play (Foosball, shuffleboard, bag toss). Emery and I played shuffleboard as we waited for the tournament to begin.

When the tournament began, people were paired into teams if they came by themselves. Emery was a little scared to play because she wasn’t that good. I told her that I didn’t care if we won and that we could rotate if we were goalie or not. I think that she was worried that she would lose the game for us. I told her that I only cared about having fun and spending time with her. Each match was played either the first to ten or whoever had the most points after five minutes. When the time expired, we lost by two points. I reinforced the fact that I just wanted to spend time with Emery. It was a nice mini date.

At the steakhouse, we went to a food demonstration. The head chef for the steakhouse was an Indian man that introduced himself and his sous chef, from Indonesia and his buffet chef from India. Pretty much, the buffet chef carved a watermelon as the head chef explained how they made certain dishes and the sous chef actually made them. He told us the virtues of clarified butter and truffle-infused oil. What I didn’t expect was that we got to have samples of the different dishes. First a cappuccino mushroom soup. Primarily it was a soup made with several different varieties of mushroom that was served in a cup with froth to make it look as if it was a cup of coffee. Next, there was a salad with a portion of mushrooms hidden inside. Third, a free range chicken and finally a tiramisu. The kids listened attentively, and the man sitting next to us was surprised that they ate each of the samples, not afraid of the mushrooms or other foods that kids may avoid.

Our next event was a hole-in-one competition at the mini-golf course. As we had yet to go the mini, it took a bit of exploration to find it. Eventually, we pushed our way through the high winds around the running track and went to the course. There were roughly twenty-five people that were competing in the contest. Everybody was allowed a single hit. If there were to be multiple people that made a hole in one, they would have a tie-breaker shoot off. A couple kids went before it was Emery’s turn. She, like them, hit the ball off of the hole. Tate was next and putted left-handed. And got a hole in one. Then Leigha and I went, unsuccessfully. As more people took turns, it looked as if Tate would be the only person that was able to make up for the high winds and the motions of the ship. As there were less and less people that had turns remaining, we watched the last person, a teenager become the second person to sink the putt. I may have been biased, but it seemed at that point, that everybody was rooting for Tate because he was a kid. In the following shootout, the teenager was able to hit a second putt before Tate and won. However, the guy running the competition still gave Tate a medal.

After the mini golf, we went to tea time. This didn’t go over as well as any of us were thinking. By this time, both Tate and Leigha were feeling nauseous, and Emery didn’t want tea. Pretty much instead of having a laid-back and slow environment, the kids were ready to leave as soon as we arrived. And they weren’t really enticed by the finger foods and desserts.

After the tea time, we decided that it would be a perfect time to have the kids check out the kid room. Tate was willing to go because it was the only place that had video games. Emery wanted to stay with me and participate in the bag toss competition. The teams consisted of mostly adults; thus team Wishful Thinkers was born. As with the earlier game, I emphasized that were there to have fun and it didn’t matter if we won. Then I told Emery that her goal should be to get one bag on the board. We didn’t make it past the first round, and Emery achieved her goal.

Much to Tate’s delight, tonight was lobster (and shrimp) night.
I think that Tate has loved the amount of seafood on this trip. Every night he starts with a shrimp cocktail, but tonight he got to follow that up with lobster and more shrimp. Emery got lobster as well. However, she was not a fan. The three of us split her lobster and shrimp, and she ordered chicken nuggets. Tonight was also a formal wear night. We haven’t paid attention to the dress code at all.

As soon as dinner was over, the girls rushed down to the room to change into swimsuits. At the main pool, they were playing the live-action remake of Cinderella. The girls sat in the hot tub during the movie, and I sat in a beach chair. It was so windy that I held the towels and girls’ clothes so that they didn’t blow away. Instead of sitting next to me, Tate stood next to the pool and watched the movie. Then halfway through, Tate decided that he wanted to get into the hot tub as well. I took him to the room, and he changed quickly. When Tate got in the hot tub, there was a weird kid that kept spitting water on Tate and rubbing Tate’s head. When I asked Tate about it, he said that he just ignored the kid.

Day 1
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Day 5
Day 6
Day 7

Carnival Freedom Cruise Day 1

2015-12-28T14:19:00.000-06:00

December 19, 2015

Although it was a Saturday, today started like any other school day. The whole house was up by 6:00 a.m. and going through the routine. Shower, breakfast, brush teeth and out the door by 7:30. Instead of getting backpacks ready, we had suitcases. The kennel that Dude (our dog) is staying at during our vacation didn’t open until 8:00, and we had a four-hour drive ahead of us. We pulled up at 7:59. Emery helped me bring Dude inside and held him while I filled out the regular paperwork. She told me that she missed him as soon as she left.

Leigha woke up anxious and nervous. She was afraid that we were going to arrive at the vet and they wouldn’t have our reservation on file or the down payment that I had made over the phone. When I got back in the car, Leigha was able to check off one more thing from a never-ending list of things that need to be done. As we started driving, I could see her looking up into her mind, scrolling through her checklist, worrying that she forgot to do something.

“We’re packed. Dude is dropped off. We’re on our way,” I said. The farther we got from home, the more she relaxed, either confident that we had done everything or appeased by the fact that it was too late to do something about the as-yet thing that we inevitably forgot to do.

In the past, we have relied on a set of dual screens that play the same DVD to occupy the kids’ time in the car. This time, I took them to the library and had them each pick out a book and a playaway. Playaways are essentially an MP3 player that has a book loaded on it. It is an excellent resource for kids that aren’t entirely comfortable reading everything that they would like. I had them each get a physical copy of the book so that they could follow along with the narrator.

Ten minutes into the ride, everybody was happy, and the car was quiet.

“I’m really sold on this over the movies,” I told Leigha. According to Google Maps, the drive from Round Rock to Galveston was roughly four hours long. Certainly long enough to get bored or a bathroom break was required. The kids were as good as you could expect. Emery alternated telling how good the book that she was reading was and how boring it was to read it.

The most stressful part of the drive was going through Houston. As one of the largest cities in America, we knew that it would be busy. The fact that it was a Saturday morning was offset by the fact that it was also the weekend before Christmas. There would be people coming out in droves, searching for last-minute gifts. Once we made it through the downtown area, we lifted the mandatory reading/quiet time and kept driving until we hit the Gulf of Mexico. Once we made it to the port, we were without the guidance of Google to tell us where to go, and the signage wasn’t clearly marked. After stopping twice to ask where we should go and being yelled at by a police officer, we found the parking lot that we had pre-paid to leave our car during the trip. It was a considerable distance from the ship, but there was a shuttle that immediately took us to where we needed to go.

We wheeled our bags inside the dock and started our series of lines. We timed the drive and our check-in time perfectly as we arrived just as our times started. We gave our passports and had our luggage scanned. We smiled and had polite chatter with other people in line. The woman in front of us, a retired teacher said that she could identify excited children from a mile away. It didn’t seem too difficult to identify people starting their vacation.

It didn’t take too long before we were done with lines and on the ship. Once we were on, we had half an hour before we were allowed into our rooms, which was fine because we were more interested in eating lunch that getting to our room.

Going on a cruise is like spoiling yourself with the mediocre. There is an overwhelming amount of things that you can do that may be fun, but you usually wouldn’t get too excited about such as bingo, hot tubs, and soft serve ice cream. And buffets. Cruise ships are filled with a never-ending supply of food that I wouldn’t typically pay for.

As we made our way to the pool in the middle of the ship, we were offered a glass of champagne. In our previous experience with cruise ships, we knew that upgrades and additional costs were everywhere. Despite being allowed to bring on a bottle of wine or case of soda apiece, we didn’t want the hassle that was associated with them. While happy hour is generally a part of our vacations, not when we are cruising. That is unless you can find the free champagne events. As it turned out, the champagne that was being offered near the pool was complimentary. Leigha was all over it. She stayed at a table and began to collect champagne glasses as I took the kids to get some food.

First off, I got a burger from Guy Fieri’s burger joint. Next to the line was an ice cream machine, which the kids helped themselves to. The kids weren’t interested in burgers, so I took them to the buffet area, and they filled a tray with jello, cakes and Asian stir fry. When we got back to the table, I helped gather more glasses of champagne.

“Your mom would be so proud,” I said as I looked at the five empty glasses at our table. Leigha’s parents are notorious for taking advantage of the free deals.

“Live it up,” Leigha said. I agreed.

When we were done eating, we took our bags to our room. The kids were equally disappointed with how small the room was and exited at the idea that their beds would magically get pulled down from the ceiling.

After dropping off our bags, we explored the ship. Leigha really wanted to hear the vessel sound off as we left the port, but we missed it because I was in the bathroom. As we were departing, I told the kids that we needed to keep a lookout for dolphins once we were out to see. This was something that I was always looking for on our honeymoon but never saw.

“I saw a dolphin,” Tate exclaimed.

Those two dark spots? Dolphins.

“Yeah right,” I said. “I believe that you thought that you saw them, but there’s no way.” Then he pointed out the window. I looked, and sure enough, dolphins were jumping in the water. I was able to get a few pictures, but when we show them to people, people will have to simply accept that the little black specks are dolphins.

We went to the kid area and confirmed that Leigha had successfully registered them online. We played a few games of giant connect four on a mounted board that was nearly as tall as the kids. The saw that the rooms had dozens of screens that had PS4s and Tate said that he would be spending plenty of time there. We were in no hurry, and the kids found a stack of magnetized plastic building blocks and quickly constructed a tower.

Back outside, we came across a game area where we played a game of foosball, boys versus girls. Then Tate and I started playing a game of giant chess. The pieces were nearly as large as he. But before we got to finish our game, we were interrupted by the mandatory safety presentation. For some reason, I grew incredibly irritated by not only the people that were late but more so, the woman that they kept telling to get off of her phone. Each time, she held up her finger implying that she was just finishing up with whatever emergency that she was dealing with. Then she made a grand gesture that she was turning off her phone. Only to pull it back out once the employees stopped paying attention. I started fantasizing about hitting the phone out of her hand. I think that I was equally annoyed that she was explicitly ignoring the simple request to stay off the phone during the presentation and the fact that people can’t stay unplugged for such a short amount of time. I was actually looking forward to being off the grid for an entire week. A week without the distractions of wi-fi, Facebook and cell phones.

After the presentation, we went back to our rooms and looked over the list of daily activities and excursions for when we port. The kids got a bit stir-crazy, and we decided to go sit in the hot tub before going to dinner.

As we walked onto the pool deck, we were all a bit skeptical about getting into the hot tub. By that time, it was dark, windy and cold. I thought of our trip to Colorado this summer. Often times, we sat in a hot tub or heated pool as we stared up to a snow-capped mountain. We each stripped down to our suits and ran to the hot tub. As soon as I put my foot in the water, I knew that it was a bad decision. The water couldn’t be classified as hot, but lukewarm. We should’ve taken heed by the kid shivering in the water by himself. We were committed to staying in the pool not only because we said that we were going to do so, but because it was still warmer than standing on the deck.

When we decided to go to dinner, we threw towels over ourselves and rushed back to our room. We changed clothes and made our way to the dining area on the floor above us. As it turns out, that dining area is only for people that have selected a specific time to eat. We did not. We were told how to make our way to the alternate dining area for those that opted for open seating. Unexpectedly, there was a wait. Emery was distraught that we had to wait and threw a tantrum, claiming hunger. I suspected that she was tired.

We were given a buzzer to let us know when a table was available to us. While we waited, we sat at a table and listened to a trio singing music in Spanish. From our seats, we could see nine floors above us and watched the glass elevators transporting people up and down. Leigha and I enjoyed the fact that we had nowhere to be with nothing to do. Tate enjoyed watching the people. Emery sat in her chair, arms crossed and upset about having to wait. It was a rare moment of silence for her.

As our buzzer went off, a woman approached us asking Leigha to take her picture for her. The woman was wearing an incredibly tight dress that accentuated her considerable bust. As the woman handed her camera to Leigha, she pouted her lips, thrust her hips to one side and leaned forward. She wanted her whole body in the picture, especially her boobs.

At our table, we were greeted with a dining staff that was hustling, polite and attentive. It seemed to be worth the wait for Emery as she said to Leigha, “I feel like I’m a Queen.” We reviewed our expectations with the kids for table manners. While the kids were impressed with the dining experience as a whole, they were tired and wanted to go to sleep.

Tate waiting patiently outside our room for the rest of us to catch up to him.

We went back to our rooms and got ready for bed. I stayed up later than anybody else, circling activities that I was interested in doing the following day and reading my book.

In the middle of the night, Leigha was coming back from the bathroom and was irritated.

“This is terrible, I can’t sleep,” she said.

“Why not?” I asked.

“First off, the ladder to Emery’s bed keeps squeaking. Secondly, the people next door have been having sex all night and are really loud.”

I had heard noises, but I didn’t associate it with knockin’ boots. I went to the bathroom, and when I came out, I noticed the sound again. I opened up the closet and realized that hangers were shifting with the sway of the ship and bumping into each other. We pulled a towel through them and the neighbor’s sexy time was over.

Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
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Day 6
Day 7

The Writer: A Water Balloon That Plays With Fire

2015-09-30T14:40:00.000-05:00

Being a writer is like being a water balloon with holes poked in it. For each hole, you can let a story escape. If you start too many stories without finishing, you’ll drain yourself. If you don’t let the stories out, you may explode. A good writer can write about anything. They can be given a mundane topic and make it interesting. They can talk about what they know and make up what they don’t. A creative writer can make the story interesting in a way that you never expected.

Have you ever woke up from a dream and thought that it was a fascinating story? Then when you try to tell somebody else about the story, it ends up being uninteresting or confusing. This is what it’s like to be a writer. Every. Single. Time.

One of the most common questions that people ask writers is where their stories come from. While this is person-specific, I feel comfortable stating that there really isn’t a place that stories don’t come from. This is where people confuse creativity with writing. Creativity can be spawned from anything. It can be the dream that you couldn’t explain. It could be the thought of what you would do differently as you read a story or watched a movie. It could be that trail that you were led down during a drunken discussion. Creative people know how to let their minds wander. They let themselves have thoughts like ‘What would happen if a person ate a zombie’s brains?’ or ‘What do circus freaks do when they retire?’ This is harnessing creativity, but not being a writer.

A writer has to put in work to create a story. They have to add details and trim unnecessary ones. Most stories start as an ember, a spark that’s not really that different from the bed of ashes that it sits upon. A writer’s job is to breathe air onto the spark and to give it kindle. Stories are like fire in that they have life and will take you places that you don’t intend, or sometimes, don’t want. While their beginnings may start as spontaneous combustion in your brain, stories are built. I have never had a complete story come to me at once. They may exist, but they are the literary hole-in-one. In the history of the world, there has never been a golfer that has hit a hole-in-one the very first time that they’ve swung a club. Likewise, the first story that anybody writes won’t be the greatest story ever told.

A writer is rarely happy. They will spend countless hours working on a story knowing that they will have to go over it later, to edit, revise and hone. A writer will spend countless hours talking to themselves to see if dialogue from an imaginary character sounds real. A writer will spend countless hours crossing out words or phrases and drawing arrows across their words. They are rarely happy because they know that they’ve failed to fully capture the feeling that they possessed in their dream. A writer’s hope is that nobody else has had the same dream and explained it better.

Euphoria is the exact moment when a story is finished. It wears quickly because, after countless hours used to put all of those words in the exact spot that a writer wanted, those words are released to the world. Released to people that may not like or understand what they had written. While it’s a great moment when that euphoria is passed on to somebody else that makes a connection to their writing, it doesn’t matter because the writer has moved on to the next story.

Do you agree? How do you tell people what it's like to be a writer?

As always, if you would like to receive my newsletter fill out the form on the front page of the blog.

The Writer's Lease

2015-08-17T16:44:00.000-05:00

Last week, I started my new job as a writer. By this, I mean that I get to sit at home and play pretend. I can make up anything that I want. I talk to myself to hear if written conversations sound real. I get to flesh out stories that have been lingering for more than a decade. I get to work my dream job. But how did this happen? What does it mean to turn a dream into a reality? This blog is meant to be a writer’s journal. Because I can’t post what I am working on, I will mostly be talking about the writing process. My hope is that people can follow me from being an unpublished writer to an author.

When my wife, Leigha agreed to let me pursue a career as a writer, it came with several stipulations. First,

I had a year to prove that I could make money with my writing. As I said above, I have never had anything published. Back in 2004, I tried getting one of my stories published without any luck. At that time, submissions were sent through the mail and became costly to send a pile of papers in large manila envelopes. I sent a story out to a dozen different places for publication and got a dozen denials. Or at least that is what I thought at the time. As was looking through my writing box, I came across all the denial letters and noticed that two of them requested that I send in more work. My twenty-four-year-old self only saw the stack of denials and gave up. In the last ten years, my skin has had time to toughen up and not take things so personally.

The second agreement was that if I was going to stay home all day, then there was no need for us to pay for after-school costs. Essentially, my writing day is over when school is over. After that, my job is solely as a Dad. I think that this is good for me for several reasons. First, I get to spend more time with my kids. With the more activities that my kids were involved with, it was becoming more stressful to get everything in before bedtime. There were nights where we rushed from one thing to the next. Pick up, kids. Come home and make dinner. Help them with their homework. Take them to football/basketball/soccer/gymnastics. Come home and get ready for bed. I can still do all of these things, only I will have at least three more hours to do so. This shortened amount of time to write will force me to become a little more focused on my writing. As most people can attest, a deadline is a great motivator.

The third agreement was that I had to bring in some money. While it was understood that nobody is an immediate success with writing. First, you have to actually write that thing that you are writing. For months, we have built a nest egg that would let us pay off all of our bills for several months if, worst case scenario, neither one of us are working. This is meant as a buffer for my sudden lack if any guaranteed money. However, the longer that we are able to maintain the nest egg, the better. So I am heading back to the Plasma Center. Although their payment amounts vary month-to-month, I will be able to make a minimum of $200 a month with plasma. Secondly, I will be watching my daughter’s best friend after school as well. While doing these two things are certainly not enough money to make a living, they afford me time to write what I want to write. To focus on my stories and not to get paid as a freelance writer to write other people’s stories. I am not above writing for others and may have to rely on that in the future.

Run A 5k

2014-08-09T23:05:00.000-05:00

When I was born, I was broken. I had a club foot, and I used it as an excuse. When I was a kid, I didn't have excuses for anything. As a baby, I climbed stairs with a pair of shoes that were connected with a metal bar. I didn't know any different. When I was thirteen, I had reconstructive surgery and had to learn how to walk again. That was when I started to use my club foot as an excuse to be a lazy teenager that didn't get a job and stayed home playing video games. I used my foot as an excuse to not get a driver's license until I was twenty years old. I used my foot as an excuse to not run, because it would hurt. By running a 5k, I would eliminate all excuses and just run.

I had finished winning my second Biggest Loser competition and want to come up with a way to not gain back the weight. I wish that I could say that there was something super inspirational that happened to me that drove to me starting the Couch25K program. In fact, two things that had nothing to do with me. The first was a Chris Pratt selfie. This was a picture that he took while training for the Guardians of the Galaxy Movie. When I saw it, I was surprised that the lovable chubby Andy Dwyer was ripped. I remember thinking "if that guy can do it, why can't I?" The second thing was a post that a friend of mine had written on Facebook that said something like, "You know that you're getting old when you have to take an Advil BEFORE your run." I decided at that moment to download the Couch-2-5k App and start running the next day. This was not my first time starting this program. I had started it on two separate times when I lived in Iowa, only to be halted by winter. I laid some ground rules for myself from the onset:

1. I would just run outside during the next 9 weeks.

2. My running days would be Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

3. I would not weigh myself before starting.

4. No matter what, I would not allow myself to stop running before the allotted time.

The way that I saw it, if I could make it through the hottest time of year in Texas to do my running, nothing could stop me. As for the days, I merely wanted to establish a routing until running became a regular part of my life. I did not want this to be a weight loss plan. I wanted it to be a way to get me into shape. The fourth rule was the one I was most determined not to break.

Before I moved to Texas, I threw myself a going away party in the form of a Do-Deca-Pentathlon. This was 25 events that were meant to by mental and physical challenges as well as tests of skill. One of the events was running a mile. My six-year-old son participated in this event (along with most others). As we were running, he stayed a few steps ahead of me. At first, I thought that it was funny and decided to use him as my little pace car. Then I ran out of steam, and he didn't. I know that my children will be better than me at things in their lives, but it is a humbling thing to be beaten in a race by a six-year-old. I thought about this a lot during the first few weeks of my runs. I thought about how both of my parents were morbidly obese. I thought about how much time I had left in my runs. I did a lot of mental calculations as to how many more songs until my race was over. Then a funny thing happened. I stopped worrying if I would be able to finish the run. This is not to say that I didn't think about it. At some point in every single run, I thought about quitting. But I didn't. Not once. I also never thought about my foot.

During week seven, I visited my sister, Amber in Miami, Florida. This was the third city in the second state that I ran during this challenge. One day, I was talking to my sister about what I was going to do once I had finished the Couch-2-5k program. I told her that I had no intention of running a 5k, but I would probably repeat the program, only faster. Then she asked me if I had considered running a half marathon. This had never crossed my mind as a possibility once in my life. She told me about Jeff Galloway's half marathon training program. I wasn't that interested.

After returning to work after vacation, I got an e-mail from my work stating that anybody that was interested in participating in the Rock 'N Roll Marathon in December, they would pay the entrance fee. Two minutes later, I got an e-mail from my sister the 19-week training program for running a half marathon. I counted the weeks until the Rock 'N Roll Marathon. 19 1/2 weeks. The training program assumed that you could run three miles (5k) at a time. It was then that I decided that my first organized run would not be a 5k, but rather a half marathon.

Have you ever ran a 5k or Half Marathon? What recommendations would you give?

An Argument For Same-Sex Marriage

2013-03-28T16:32:00.000-05:00

Those of you that know me or have gotten to know me from this blog, it is safe to say that I am extremely laid-back and don't get upset or offended by much. But this is a different type of thing that I've ever posted before. With the Supreme Court reviewing same-sex marriages in the US, it is an even hotter topic than usual. Let me give you a back-story to how this post originated, as much of it is in response to this article and these people's comments. It started when I posted this on Facebook:

When I first saw this, I thought to myself "they aren't gay." Then I realized that they were talking about bi-racial marriages. I am glad that it never seemed weird to me that this couple could be married. I have several bi-racial cousins, and when I was a kid, my best friend's dad was gay. I never thought of these as my "black cousins" or my friend's "gay dad." They were just friends and family. My dad is old enough to remember segregated bathrooms/drinking fountains, etc. but the thought of such a thing is absurd to me. A lot can change in one generation. I hope that when my kids are my age, they think of same-sex marriages the same way that I saw this bi-racial couple. Just two people in love.

This was the response I got:

o Person 1 Hey Adam! Don't know if you've heard any of the points from the other side of this debate but thought I'd share a really well written article I found the other day. I always like to hear both sides of the story, so I figured I'd share http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/07/19/gay-is-not-the-new-black/

o Person 2 Ahhh religion!!! If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” is found in John 8:1-11. Dear Nathan...perhaps you too should dig deeper into your Christian believe!!! Who are you to judge when Jesus himself choose not to cast the stone on the prostitute woman, because there was a "LAW" in the book!!! BTW, I am a Catholic but not one who follows the bible teaching blindly because it is written in there.

o Person 1 [Person 2]...I didn't judge anybody. The Bible was written by God, and His people are tasked with defending it and sharing the good news. Read Romans 1:18-32 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%201:18-32&version=ESV God is a perfect and just Judge...It's His words, not mine.

o Person 1 Yes, you are judging when you have made the decision not to accept gay marriages. Let God be the judge and choose to love all our neighbors!

o Person 2 [Person 1], I'm not trying to have a debate on Adam's link here. I just wanted to share an article with him I found to be very fact-filled and interesting to both sides of the debate. I wont comment any further after this one unless Adam wants to discuss something and he chimes in, but I must tell you that you are wrong - I am not judging anybody.
I am using the DISCERNING mind that God has given me to see Sin for what it is: Sin. Discernment is not Judging. For example, when a police officer pulls somebody over for speeding they are not actually "judging" anybody...they discerned that somebody was violating a written standard or rule (just like what is written in Romans 1) and set up a meeting between the Judge & the person in question. This is the task of anybody who truly knows Jesus Christ & believes that the consequence of Sin is death and eternal separation from God in hell. If you read that passage I linked no other determination can be come to - If you claim to know Jesus then you need to start loving people by pointing out that their running headlong into an eternity of paying for their sins and that Jesus paid for them all already! It is the BEST news! All that is needed is to accept that they are a sinner, admit Jesus is Lord and look to Him alone for their redemption from Sin. Nothing else is needed but Jesus. He paid it all! Only that relationship and those terms will stand before God - all else will end up in Hell. A supplemented Christ is a Supplanted Christ.

First off, in reaction to the article the Person 1 posted, I have to say that I respect him trying to provide an open forum for discussing this matter. I find the article, on the other hand, a hard pill to swallow if it is supposed to represent both sides of the argument of same-sex marriage. Before I start my dissection of the article, let me make something clear. Most people, regardless of their stance on homosexuality, have come to agree that it is not a choice. I am operating under the guise that we are all in agreement of that.

First, I would like to address the most fallible topic in the entire article equating pedophilia and homosexuality. Generally, when pedophilia is concerned, sexuality is not. I don’t know of any group that would like to be associated with an abhorrent practice. The Jerry Sandusky trial wasn’t about him having sex with other males. It was about him raping children.

Second, I don’t understand the importance in identification. The only merit of this seems to be one of limitation. This has been done several times throughout history. The Scarlet letter of an adulterer, women with moles/birthmarks for witch hunters and the Star of David for Jews during the Holocaust. None of these are proud moments in history for anybody. To stick with your police analogy, the Gestapo was a special police that were sent out by Hitler to enforce a clearly written law. This is an intentionally extreme example. The Bible (in this country) isn’t law. I think that it is foolish to believe that the Bible isn’t influenced by man. I think that it is an excellent guide to live life. It teaches people to be good and be kind unto others. But if you take everything as literal, that would believe that somebody really lived inside a whale and that people lived to be 700 years old. The Bible is filled with allegorical tales with historical basis. One passage that is used to support the argument against homosexuality is Genesis 9:20-27. This tells of Noah’s son, Ham sodomizing him. Much like the pedophile argument, I read this story not as anti-homosexuality, but as anti-drunken rape. Today, if Ham raped his father, he might go to jail. Once released, he would lose his right to vote, to be part of a jury or to possess a firearm. But unlike the homosexual, he would still be able to get married and receive all of the financial benefits that are allowed a married person.

As far as showing the marriage is already discriminating against people that are too young or closely related this is another laughable argument. Everybody can agree that a child’s capability to make sensible, well-thought-out non-emotional decisions varies but aren’t made until they are older. These capabilities are influenced by the biological necessity of hormones and growth. This is why children aren’t allowed to drive, drink alcohol or other things that could be dangerous to them. As for incest, I am not even going to warrant the argument with the medical evidence showing why it shouldn’t be allowed.

As for the historical aspect of homosexuality, a same-sex marriage between the two men Pedro Díaz and Muño Vandilaz in the Galician municipality of Rairiz de Veiga in Spain occurred on 16 April 1061. They were married by a priest at a small chapel. The historical documents about the church wedding were found at Monastery of San Salvador de Celanova. Homosexuality was also openly practiced in ancient Greece. This is neither a new nor a local topic. This is an old and global topic. There are 11 countries in the world where same-sex marriages are legal: Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, and Sweden. Studies conducted in several countries indicate that support for the legal recognition of same-sex marriage increases with higher levels of education. Based on the standard of living, seven of these countries consist of these countries are fall under the highest possible category, “very high human development.” Norway (1), Netherlands (4), Sweden (7), Canda (11), Iceland (13), Denmark (15), Belgium (17), Spain (23). There are only 24 countries that make this list. The United States (3) and Israel (16) have areas that perform or recognize same-sex marriages.

One thing is sure: love can be unconditional, but hate has to be learned. As I stated above, I hope that one day, our children will genuinely see love as a blind and inevitable thing that affects everybody.

Please comment this below, but please keep this a respectful argument.

Win a Sweepstakes

2013-01-14T00:00:00.000-06:00

Within the last five months, I have won ten different sweepstakes. Let me start off by differentiating between a sweepstakes and a contest. A Sweepstakes is a random drawing that is completely won by luck. A contest is won as an accomplishment based on merit. Sweepstakes are an embodiment of the American Dream. You can win something for doing nothing more than filling out a form with your name, address and by living within the United States. A contest requires more active participation. For these you need to submit the best picture, recipe, description or essay. If you are skilled and willing to work a little harder, contests are easier to win due to the number of entrants. I think of myself as skilled and NOT willing to work harder, so I stick mostly to sweepstakes. I’m not really interested in writing a well-thought out essay as to why I prefer this brand of toilet paper or why these are the best insoles and how this battery has changed my life. Therefore, I primarily stick to sweepstakes.

I got started sweeping by seeing the winning firsthand. We went to visit Leigha’s aunt in Colorado and she kept receiving small things in the mail. One day she got a candy bar another she got some pencils. She told me that she entered about twenty sweepstakes a day and on average, she won something every week. I wasn't too interested in winning knick-knacks and trinkets so I wasn't yet convinced. Then she started to list off the different things that she’s won. Gift cards, a kindle fire, $1,000 cash, etc. I was sold. After careful consideration, I decided to start a new e-mail address that was solely for entering sweepstakes. By my calculations, if I entered twenty sweepstakes a day for a year, that meant seven thousand entries turning into a ton of junk e-mail. Next, I started following a couple different Sweepstakes Websites. SweetiesSweeps.com and JustContests.com e-mail me a list of sweepstakes every day they save me the work of having to find sweepstakes on my own. I also follow JustFreeStuff.Com. While this is not a sweepstakes website, per se, there are sweeps as well as free samples. The samples aren't generally as desirable as the things that you can win otherwise, but they are guaranteed.

Three months after I started entering sweepstakes, I won my very first one. I opened my mailbox and I saw an envelope from Larabar. Inside was a note saying that I won a sweepstakes with an enclosed coupon for a free bar. While it may seem like three months is a long time to enter things every day with a small payoff of a single protein/candy bar thing that wasn’t really that good. But I knew going in that many of the sweepstakes that I was entering didn’t end for at least a month and it takes time to get a good payoff. This also brought something to light that I wasn’t aware of: sometimes you win and they give you no notification. They just send you what you win. This makes every day like Christmas when you go to the mailbox. You never know what you might get. Next, I won a free pack of batteries. For anybody that has two young kids, you can appreciate free batteries.
Next I won two sweeps that I never actually used in the same week. A free music download and some free photo prints that you had to pick up at a store that didn’t exists within 100 miles from me. I was starting to think that spending as much effort every single day was, perhaps, a waste of my time when I won my first sweepstakes of value: The SodaStream Source. This was a pretty cool machine. Essentially, it carbonates water and it comes with flavorings to make your own soda.

Next, I won a free bottle of cologne from American Eagle.

Then a sippy cup. While I am done having kids, many of my friends are just starting. (Gift!)

Then I got a 24 pack of Keurig Coffee Cups and some Biscotti. (Another unannounced win). Because I don't have a Keurig coffee maker, it ended up being an awesome Christmas gift.

Then a Welch’s pack. This consisted of a jar of both strawberry and grape natural spread. As well as a container to take your PB&J to go with a little spreading knife. Then there were four coupons for a free Welch's Jam, Jelly or Spread (any size). With two young kids and a personal love for Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, this was a big win for the Williams household.

Go To A Shooting Range

2012-07-08T00:01:00.001-05:00

Before this excursion, I had never shot a gun in my life. That is, unless you count the BB gun that my brother got when he was thirteen. By the time that I got to shoot that gun, the barrel was bent and a BB ricocheted off of the garage that I had a target propped against and hit me in my shoulder. As a kid, I spent a lot of time home alone. My worst fear was to have somebody attempt to break into the house while I was home. I would have imaginary knife fights while jumping off of the couch. When somebody eventually broke into our house, I wasn't home. These events led up to more scared alone time until I moved into a safer neighborhood with my mom. At the time, I was an awkwardly large kid that was afraid to put my feet on the ground when the lights were out because I didn't want to 1. step on a mouse or 2. have a mouse run over my foot. Although there were mice in the house, this never happened. Despite all of fear that I experienced when I was home alone, I've never considered a gun as a solution to help me feel more secure. I did grow up with a gun in the house, though. I don't think there were ever bullets to accompany it. Its purpose wasn't for protection, its role was more of a reminder of the harm that could come from them. This particular gun was the gun that my aunt used to commit suicide before I was born. Let me be clear; I will probably never have a gun in my house, but I'm not against there use by others. On the flip side, I doubt that I will ever be a gun advocate. I simply feel impartial on the topic. When my future brother-in-law, Nate asked me if I wanted to join him at a shooting rage a couple of days before his wedding, I was excited. As a gift to me for performing his wedding ceremony, he told me that he would also pay for me. I was even more excited.

When I started to do some research, I was surprised to find that the first Sporting Clays shoot was held in Connecticut in 1980. So despite the fact that Sporting Clays have been used by the British since the early 1900s, they have been in the US for a shorter period of time than I have. Wikipedia calls sport clay shooting as "golf with a shotgun". As I've never really done either, I can't disagree. Although I've only gone to a driving range, I got much angrier on the golf course than while I was shooting a gun. Highland Hideaway Hunting is located about twenty miles south of where I live. It is situated on over a thousand acres of prairie and wooded areas. Here they had ten different shooting stations set up for different hunting simulations. At each station, upon the shooters call, two clay pigeons are thrown into the air (or in the case of one station, across the ground). The goal is obviously to shoot as many of them as possible.

Before we started shooting, we met at the clubhouse and were shown the guns that we would be shooting. They were all shotguns. The man recommended that I use the Stoeger Condor Semi-Automatic. He said that this was the most basic and easiest gun for beginners. The second gun was Baretta Over and Under. What this means is that gun has two barrels where the bullets are stacked vertically. As I was the only one of the six guys there that had never shot a gun, I requested for the man to explain how to shoot the gun. He told me that besides using protective gear (ear plugs and sunglasses), there were only two things that I had to keep in mind.
First was to hold the shotgun in the cup of my shoulder. "Hold it where it is comfortable, but keep it snug, otherwise the kickback might throw out your shoulder." Then he told me that the second thing to keep in mind was to keep my face on the gun and stare down the barrel. "Besides that, you'll be alright," he said. That was it. Time to shoot. Next, we broke up into two groups of three. I was with Nate and his best man, Joe. The other group had Nate's dad, Jeff, his brother-in-law, Thomas, and another groomsman, James. As it turns out, Nate, James and Joe were all in a trap club in high school so I mentally divided the groups into two different groupings. The experienced group and the casual shooters. I wasn't sure how to set my expectations.

In general, I've got pretty good aim. But I didn't know how much this would carry over to a gun. The closest basis for comparison that I had was playing Duck Hunt on the Nintendo. I thought about the time when I was a kid that I spent an entire day trying to get to the highest possible level. As it turns out, after level 99, the game freaks out on you. I never played it again after that day. As I walked up to the first shooting station, I kept repeating over and over in my head, "Face on the gun. Gun against my shoulder". The station was made out of PVC piping and it looked like a mini plastic goal post. Its purpose was to provide a visible area of where (and where not) to keep your gun. I decided that if I hit one clay pigeon that day, I could walk away happy. These were my first two shots of me ever firing a gun. When watching the clip, the first two shots are coming from the other group.

I know that it is difficult to see, but I hit the clay pigeon with the very first shot that I ever fired. Booya. I immediately knew that I was going to have to adjust my goals. Maybe I could get the best score. After the first two shots, Nate showed me how to take the used shells out of the gun. I flipped a latch and folded the gun in half to expose the shells. Smoke wafted up in my face and I couldn't help but think that it smelled exactly like a firecracker. Which, I suppose, isn't too far off. After the success of my first round of shooting, I forgot to hold the shotgun against my shoulder and got punched. Then I forgot about the second pigeon. Once again, I was going to have to adjust my expectations.

After a few stations with decent success, our guide, Danny, told me that he couldn't believe that I had never shot a gun before. Danny was nineteen, had been shooting since he was fourteen and had been working at Highland Hideaway Hunting for most of that time. He told me that I was doing really well for a beginner and awesome for somebody that had never shot a gun before. At that point, I decided to adjust my expectations for one final time. I decided that I wanted to finish with the top score of the second tier of shooters. There was something primal and manly about wielding such a powerful object of destruction and watching the pigeons explode as they were hit. When we were done, my adrenaline was pumping. We compared our scores and I did, in fact, get the highest score of the second tier. I had a lot of fun and being a natural didn't hurt, either.

Childish Letters From An Adult

2012-07-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

One day, when I was looking for an empty folder that I could store one of the many recipes that I had been printing off for the Food Blog, I came across a folder that had some printouts of some things that I had written back in 1999. They were some crazy letters that were inspired by a series of 'Nut' books. In these books, a guy wrote a bunch of crazy letters to business that were funny to read. What was even better was the responses from these companies that had to treat them seriously. I thought that these were really funny and it inspired me to write a few letters of my own. I also addressed all of these letters from Dirk Williams. My thought was that not only was this a funny name, it was also a way that I could easily identify a response for one of these letters when it came in the mail. My first letter is as follows:

October 20, 1999

Metro Transit Authority
1100 Metro Lane
Des Moines, IA
50309

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have just recently moved to the Des Moines area, and I would like to get some more information about its busing system. I have a situation that i would like to address to you, and find a way to work around it.

A few years ago, I was involved in a car accident in which both of my arms had to be amputated. This poses a problem for many day-to-day operations, such as writing this letter. (I happen to have a loving wife that is always willing to do a little secretarial work for me.) This inconvenience unfortunately makes driving an impossibility, forcing me to use public transportation. I do not mind using the buses; in fact I find it quite relaxing. My problem is this:

When riding on a bus, it is impossible to avoid the stop-and-go driving. This is fine, except when stops are made too quickly. This many times causes a person to fall off balance, leaving them helpless to the laws of motion. Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to grab a pole, or put my hand down to stabilize myself.

I do not believe that it is necessary to use the paratransit bus, because of my ease of mobility, perhaps all I need is a seat belt or strap, and some help getting it attached. I have always heard that the MTA goes out of its way to please its passengers, and any help would be appreciated.

Thank you, MTA for getting back to me on this. I appreciate any concern you can give me in this area. Also...do you have yearly passes? If so, how much do the cost, and is it possible to get a string or lanyard to hang my pass on?

Sincerely,

Dirk Williams

and here was their response:

Dear Dirk,

I want to thank you for your letter. I hope we continue to live up to your kind words. I want you to know that we will be glad to assist you in anyway we can. I hope that each ride aboard the MTA is a positive experience.

I would like to offer some suggestions that could help with the stop and go motion as you ride the bus. The front side facing seats, just as you enter the bus could prove to help with this problem. The panel directly behind the driver could be used to brace yourself against. The seat by the front door would offer the same results. There is a pole at both locations, which extends from the floor to the ceiling that you could wrap your leg around in order to feel more secure. Also, if you have a safety belt or strap, the driver would be glad to help you get them attached. All you need to do is ask the driver for assistance.

We do not offer a yearly pass, only a monthly pass for $30.00 and weekly pass for $8.00. Also, we do not offer a pass holder as you described. However, I have enclosed an MTA bus pass holder in case this will help.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 283-8111. Also, if you are having any problem getting the assistance you need from any driver, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Jim Tishim

Transportation Manager.

While the pass holder was a nice thought, there wasn't a hole hole to use this in a lanyard. Making it pretty pointless for a double amputee.

Left Handed Week

2012-06-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

Did you know that the word “sinister” originally meant left-handed? After centuries of negative association with left-handedness, it came to be associated with evil. Most people are familiar with the term ambidextrous, two right hands, but few have heard of ambisinistrous. This means two left hands, or clumsy or unskilled on both sides. I came across this word with my word of the day app, and it really stuck with me. I have always been fascinated with the fact that my dad writes with his right hand and draws with his left. It made me wonder how long it would take somebody to truly become dual-handed
Every day of my left-handed week, I started frustrated. It wasn’t because of something that was right-handed exclusive like a rifle or scissors, but the lip on my yogurt container. The frustration came purely from inexperience and my wanting of, for lack of a better work, dexterity. Every day, I struggled to get that last bit of dairy goodness that lies on the bottom of the container and under the lip. I scraped away, only to feel as if I wasted some yogurt as I threw it in the recycle bin. It made me wonder what other trials lefties go through.

Mike Pottorff is in his early sixties, but he has never felt stigmatized due to his left-handedness. He has never been forced to do anything with his right hand in school or otherwise. Those things that he has learned to do with his right hand only came out of convenience.

“As a kid, there were only right-handed baseball gloves around, so I learned how to throw with my right arm,” he told me. When he grew up, Mike became a carpenter and general handy man. In my research, I found that a lot of claims that tools are difficult for left-handed people to use. Mike told me that this wasn’t really the case. “It might be safer to use a skill saw right-handed, but it is easier to see the blade when you use it left-handed.” While he is more conscious of where he sits when he is eating out because he doesn’t want to fight for elbow room, Mike feels as if he is dual-handed. He doesn’t claim to be ambidextrous, but he says that he can do much more with his right hand than right-handed people can do with their left.

It goes beyond the use of tools and accidentally erasing what was written on a chalkboard or dry erase board. There are more sinister examples ingrained in our language. When something has been done correctly, it was done the right way. By juxtaposition, that would suppose that something done improperly was done the left way. In French, the word for left is gauche. This is used in English as improper, uncouth, inappropriate, or clumsy.

On day one, I completely forgot to use my left hand until about 10 p.m. I was needed a reminder. That day counted as day zero. I figured that I would need a bracelet or wrist band on my right hand so that I would notice it every time that I started to write or do anything that I could use my left hand for. Then I remembered that my son, Tate had a few bracelets in his room.

This worked out well because I wanted it be snug; I didn’t want to grow accustomed to it by the end of the week. During this time, my daughter, Emery became fixated with the wristband. She kept asking me if she could wear it, but I knew that she only wanted it because she couldn’t have it. I told her that when the week was over, that she could wear the wristband. Every day she would ask me how many more days until she got to wear the thing. When it was her turn, she didn’t care anymore.
On the real day one, it didn’t take long to realize how little people actually write. Computers and, to an extent, cell phones have replaced the written word. I came to the conclusion that I needed to make it a complete left-handed week. This meant opening bottles, jars, and doors alike with my weaker hand. Being left-handed was suddenly much more difficult than I had anticipated. At work, every computer was equipped with a sliding base for a keyboard to sit on. Built in this was a mouse pad on the right side. I wasn’t able to use my left hand for the mouse without moving around the shared work station, which I wasn’t willing to do.

Surprisingly, the left-handed week was an activity that Leigha was against from the day that I thought of it. The two of us have spent most of our working lives in management positions, and it was difficult for her to imaging me doing my job efficiently and productively if I was left-handed. She told me that if one of her employees was doing it, she would be irritated. I told her that I wouldn’t draw attention to the fact that I was doing everything left-handed and, if necessary, I would switch back if it was affecting my work too much.

That is exactly what happened on day three. I work in an ER. One of my job duties is to go into patient’s rooms and register them. What this entails is printing out a sheet with all of their information and verifying it with them. If any of that information has changed, or they are a new patient, I write down the new information by hand. Sometimes these patients are in pain or critical condition and it isn’t fair for anybody to prolong the process. Day three happened to be an especially busy day that I encountered a lot of these patients. I felt that it was better to switch back to my right hand for the remainder of my shift.

On day four, I went on my previously posted police ride along. At the beginning of the night, I tried to take notes as I sat in the passenger seat. I found that it was difficult not only because I was writing with my weaker hand, but because it is difficult to write while in a moving vehicle. I opted to take mental notes instead.

On day six, I noticed that things weren’t as burdensome to do left-handedly. Except getting the last bit of yogurt. As it turns out, a large portion of people that are right-handed and have an accident that requires them to use their left hand for an extended period of time, continue to use their left hand after they are healed. I imagined myself going through life doing everything right-handed except eating my yogurt. Then I started to wonder if there was anything that was beneficial to be left-handed. Initially, I thought of sports. The term “southpaw” is one of the most common terms for a left-handed athlete. I thought that its origin was pretty interesting. Most baseball diamonds have been built so that the afternoon sun is not shining in the pitcher’s face. Therefore as he is standing on the pitcher’s mound, facing east, his left hand is on the south. It is generally accepted that left-handed pitchers have an advantage over right-handed batters.

Another interesting tidbit that I came across was that five of the last seven Presidents were left-handed, with George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter being the exceptions. Even if there is no connection between handedness and politics, it can give hope to that young kid struggling with their left-sided proclivities. On August 13^th, they can celebrate National Left-Handed Day by putting on a shirt that says something like, “Once You Go Left, You’ll Never Be Right” and dream about their future presidency.

Are you left-handed and were forced to learn how to do something with your right hand? Can anybody think of something that might be advantageous to be left-handed?

Biggest Loser Finale

2012-06-18T07:29:00.000-05:00

It is official; I am the Biggest Loser. In two months, I've lost 25.5 pounds (or 9.91%). As I've said many times, this was the second time that I participated in a Biggest Loser competition. The most significant difference between the two (besides me winning the $400 pot this time) is that this time around, I focused entirely on my diet. For as long as I can remember, my weight has fluctuated back and forth. It has been directly associated with how motivated I've been with dieting or working out. Losing weight has never been difficult for me, (although gaining it is still easier) it has always been keeping it off that was the tricky part for me.

What Does iT All Mean?
A lot of people around work have been asking me what I am going to do with the money that I won. What I've told everybody is that last time that I had competed in the Biggest Loser competition, I thought that I had won before the final weigh-in and had eased up on my diet and started to make plans for the money. Then I lost. This time, I suffered through two events where I couldn't eat BBQ, my favorite food in the final week of the competition. I made no assumptions of winning nor plans for what to do with the money. Now that the contest is over, by the belt is down to its final hole. The leather has become wavy as it conformed to the different holes as my waist shrank. The problem is that I like this belt. I have one that is smaller, but I don't like it as much. So I've decided that if I need to move down to another hole, I will make it myself instead of using the less favorable belt. Without my belt, I can pull all of my pants down over my hips despite them being zipped and buttoned.
People keep asking me what I am going to do with the winnings. My crowd-pleasing answer is that I am going to take my wife out to eat at a nice place. While this is true, in reality, I don't need to use this money for that. I am using this money to pay off my school loans faster. I think that most people think of this money as winnings, while I think of it as earnings. I worked hard to win this competition and just because I have gotten this extra money doesn't need to spend it. My next task is just keeping the weight off. Which, as I've already stated, is the hardest part.

10 Health Questions From A Cyclist

2012-05-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Adam: What do you do (Professionally)?
Paul Mostowyj: I work in insurance. Yuk! How boring is that? Does anyone actually dream as a kid of getting in to the insurance industry? I know I never did, but I must say as a claims manager I do enjoy my role and I don't get up in the morning and dread going to work.
Adam: What is one thing that you think that everybody should do for their health?
PM: Simply be active! If you have the option between moving and not moving, then MOVE! Instead of watching TV with the kids, take them to the park. Instead of driving to see family and friends, bike. Don't drive to your local shop, walk. Make it fun, go for a walk on the beach with a loved one, discover the hidden world of Geocaching, go dancing with your friends, plays sports and the list goes on and on. By being active you are keeping the body moving and exercising naturally.
Adam
PM: From the age of 4 to 22 I cycled everywhere locally. I cycled to school, I cycled to work, I cycled to friends and family, sometimes I just cycled. Then I learnt to drive and had a string of jobs where it wasn't always possible. A couple of years ago I moved jobs and began working in an office that was about 6 or 7 miles away from my home. My partner needs our car for the children and getting to work herself and we can't afford a second car, so I was kind of forced in to it. But I was excited to be back on my bike. It means that 5 out of 7 days I am going to be ACTIVE and actually get in some pretty good exercise, cycling 14 miles a day. Plus it doesn't take me much longer to cycle to work than it does to drive. Also by cycling to work I feel fresh and ready to go and then by cycling home I've had chance to clear my mind and be ready for my family. I couldn't imagine not cycling to work now.

Adam: The US (30.6%) has the highest percent of obese people in the world. The UK is 3rd (23%). Why do you think that these two nations are getting bigger?
PM: Both nations have become a nation of consumers. If we have the option between consuming something or doing something for ourselves, then the majority of the time we will take the easy option to consume. For example instead of going out and playing the sport that we love, we become "arm chair critics" and only ever watch the game. We consume so much that we've forgotten how to do things for ourselves and expect everything to be done for us, but personal health can only be achieved by you.
Adam: What is your biggest challenge from biking?
PM: Being prepared. Change of clothing, getting washed, punctures, bad weather and picking up the kids after work. I wont lie to you, driving to work is by far the easy option as I've no need to worry about getting washed up and getting changed at work nor I do I have to work out how to collect my youngest from nursery. With a little time I've worked out (and still working out) better ways of doing things and becoming better prepared as a cyclist. LOL I sound like a boy scout.
Adam: Do you think of bikers differently now that you are a biker? Or do you still get annoyed when they hold up traffic?
PM: I'm quite a laid back person so I generally don't get annoyed when I'm driving, even if I'm stuck in traffic. I do look at cyclists now though and have a much greater respect for them, as well as see them as an equal road user, more than I did before.
Adam: What is the biggest change in your life since biking?
PM: My base fitness has improved. My overall fitness has gone up and down more times than a roller coaster over the years and even recently whilst I've been cycling to work. But before cycling to work my base fitness would have fallen quite low. Now my base fitness is at a much higher level, that doesn't make me a super fit athlete, but does mean that I always have a level of fitness where I can say yes to most challenges without a worry.

Adam: How do you stay motivated?
PM: I simply enjoy it. It's easy to stay motivated about something you enjoy. Don't get me wrong there are hard days when you're tired or it's raining cats and dogs. On those days I do two things. One, I remind myself I enjoy cycling and of all the benefits it brings. Two, I remind myself I don't have a choice as I don't have a car!

Adam: How often do you exercise?
PM: Twice a day, 5 days a week through cycling to work. Once a week I've been going for a long run whilst training for a marathon and a once in a life time Olympic run. On a much more irregular basis I complete body weight exercises and even tried 30 days of yoga.

Adam: How would you rank the importance of physical activity versus mental/spiritual well-being?
PM: Equal. I used to hold it above all else and aim to be an ultimate athlete (secretly I still aim for this). The problem is that if you don't have a balance between the three, then you will never be truly happy even if you do have the body of a god. If you're not happy, what is the point?: Why did you chose to substituted driving for biking?

10 Health Questions With A Doctor

2012-05-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

Adam: What do you do (Professionally)?

Chris Hogrefe: I split my time between practicing Emergency Medicine and Primary Care Sports Medicine in an academic, University setting. I have the privilege of caring for some of the most ill people in our state on one day, and then caring for a wide-variety of athletes ranging from Division I athletes to 70 year-old Ironman participants to middle school kickball extraordinaires. Sprinkle in a little healthcare information technology and one has loosely described my professional responsibilities.

Adam: Are health-related New Year’s resolutions a good stepping stone or just Holiday Remorse?

CH: I actually do not think that New Year’s resolutions constitute “Holiday Remorse”. A large number of people formulate health-related resolutions (specifically weight loss topping the list), which could certainly be construed as a reflex after binging on homemade cookies, turkey, etc. over the holidays. But, if you focus on the frequently cited weight loss resolution, the fact of the matter is that obesity is a rapidly growing problem in the United States (Please excuse the pun.). If you polled Americans on July 1^st for a Mid-New Year’s Resolution, contextually withdrawn from the calorie-laden holiday season, I surmise that weight loss or health-related resolutions would still top the list. The start of a new year is simply a prime opportunity to wipe the slate clean and tackle the biggest issues in our lives that warrant improvement (Again, pardon the pun.). Perhaps the most difficult issues to fix, and implement on a long-term basis, involve our health.

Adam: What is one thing that you think that everybody should do for their health?

CH: Full body massages with Hans or Gretchen, your pick. No, actually that is a difficult question. Common replies immediately jump to mind, including walk as much as possible; exercise every day; eat a hardy breakfast, a reasonably-sized lunch, and a small dinner; never smoke; the list goes on and on. But, let me go off the board and say that one should stop eating when he or she is 80% full. While difficult to judge at times, if people could master that idea (and therefore avoid gorging oneself), as a society we would be well on our weight to addressing the obesity epidemic.

Adam: Sports Medicine is a relatively new piece in health care, only emerging since the latter half of the 20^th Century. How is it different than general healthcare?

CH: Sports Medicine is a subspecialty just like Geriatrics, Cardiology, Critical Careh, etc. in focusing on a specific subset of the population. We focus on the injuries, disease, and disorders that affect athletes. Athletes is a loose term, it does not necessarily imply that we only provide care for elite, Division I athletes destined for the professional ranks. Of course, we do care for the professional and collegiate athletes, but we also provide care for the weekend warriors, high school participants, and even the middle school tetherball players. Some Sports Medicine physicians also dabble in music performance, as those highly-skilled individuals have conditions (e.g. repetitive use injuries, etc.) that require medical expertise as well. In short, Sports Medicine provides another level of expertise for the population described above. It is the case that some physicians without Sports Medicine training can provide similar care. But, the analogy that comes to mind is that as an Emergency Medicine physician I am certainly able to deliver your child. However, if given the choice, you would much prefer an Obstetrician to perform that complicated procedure. And truth be told, I would be just fine with that as well.

Adam: What is the biggest concern for a student athlete that doesn’t move on to professional sports?

CH: First of all, I am not sure that my experience level is sufficient to provide a truly insightful or particularly novel response to this question. With that caveat asserted, I will not completely duck the question. I do think that the vast majority of students that do not advance/pursue the professional ranks have significant issues being successful in life outside of sports. The same drive that propelled them to succeed in the athletic realm often leads them to prosper after sports. But, there can be issues regarding weight/metabolism. The obvious examples involve larger athletes (e.g. football lineman) who cannot possibly remain healthy carrying 300 pounds of weight around on a daily basis. However, the inverse can be just as dangerous. Consider the health implications of the significantly underweight track or cross country runner. While obesity is cited as a major health epidemic, and rightfully so, having a BMI (body mass index) that is too low actually carries a higher mortality rate than being obese. The point here is that athletes need to remember to adjust their diets after their playing days have concluded. For instance, while working as an intern at a local business consuming 4,000 calories a day is probably a bit excessive. However, six months earlier that would be a completely normal daily allotment while playing competitive basketball for three to four hours per day.

Adam: In 2011, obesity overtook smoking as the #1 affect for the most preventable health conditions. Like smoking, should a person’s weight affect people’s health plan?

CH: You have asked me to tread on controversial ground here, sir. I think that a person’s health plan should be affected by his or her weight but in an incentive-laden fashion as opposed to a punitive one. For instance, I think that people are more apt to adopt healthy practices (e.g. increased exercise, better dining choices, smoking cessation, etc.) when they are rewarded for these behaviors (e.g. an insurance premium reduction, etc.) as opposed to a tiered system charging overweight or obese individuals higher rates. This may seem like semantics, but if you think about it there is a key fundamental difference. With all that said, there is another underlying difference between smoking and obesity, the examples that you provide. The science of genetics is evolving, and there does appear to be a congenital component to obesity, at least on some level. This is not a nature versus nurture argument, but more likely a case of both nature and nurture combining to contribute to the obesity epidemic. Penalizing people, prima fascia, for a component of their health that may be partially out of their direct control seems punitive. Hence the more incentive-based approach to health plans. To date, the science linking nicotine dependence to genetic factors is less concrete, seemingly place more of the control in the hands of the individual. As a caveat, there are genetic studies suggesting that some individuals are more prone to addiction, but again, that is less proven to date.

Adam: Healthy options are more accessible than ever; why is the US getting fatter?

CH: Are healthy options really more accessible to everyone? I would argue that a lot of folks do not have ready access to fresh fruits and vegetables. But, if I take the premise at face value, a few factors play into the increasing girth of US citizens. Habit obviously plays a role. If one grew up on the “typical” American fare (pizza, hamburgers, french fries, etc.), these eating habits are hard to break. Let us face it…These foods taste good. However, I think that the biggest contributing factor to the dilemma you pose is cost. While McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc. have healthier options than were available even ten years ago, I have yet to see snap peas, fruit salad, or even low-fat hamburgers on the dollar menus. The food that often tastes the best is also often the cheapest. That is a dangerous combination in the face of a growing obesity epidemic.

Adam: We both have young children; How do you feel about schools with vending machines?

CH: The strict paternalist in me thinks that they should be removed from school on the back end of the largest tractor available. You are dealing with a captive audience that is growing and constantly hungry. One can reinforce good eating habits at home until he/she is blue in the face. But children spend most of their time at school. Flashing high fat, high sugar foods and soft drinks in front of them all day will trump good home eating practices most of the time.

But, then I realize that we live in a capitalistic society and as soon as my son or daughter strolls out of school they will walk past a convenience store with vending machines chalk full of the same things I suggest should be removed from schools. In the end, I think the most important principle I attempt to implement is steeped in pragmatism. Individually, I will not be able to remove my children from the omnipresence lure of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups drowned in a Code Red: Mountain Dew. But I can teach them about self-restraint, a principle that will serve them well on numerous fronts. Outlawing these treats is likely not the answer, but reinforcing the notion that they are just that…treats, something to be enjoyed occasionally. As Aristotle once wrote, “Everything in moderation…”

Adam: How do you stay healthy in your life?

CH: I enjoy long walks on the beach…Wait, that was for a different blog…

In all honesty, chasing around two toddlers keeps me fairly fit. So, I suggest everyone get a pair. Check Craig’s List. No, besides helping to rear my kids, I play basketball approximately three times a week. My family and I take regular walks for extended periods of time as well. I still take on the whippersnappers in Intramural sports regularly as well (flag football, basketball, dodgeball, and softball). But there are a lot of little things that I do outside of exercise as well. We try to frequent the local Farmer’s Markets. This infuses fresh produce into our diets while supporting the community. While remarkably difficult for a bread –loving clan like ours, we do attempt to trim down our carbohydrate intake. And lastly, I have found that standing while working has increased my activity level and the number of calories that I have burned daily. There are actually a handful of studies in the recent literature that have espoused the virtues of this workplace modification.

Adam: How do you stay motivated?

CH: Likely attributed to my father, for as long as I can remember I have been a fairly self-motivated individual. I genuinely do whatever it is I do because it seems to be the right thing to do. Often times I would have a difficult time placing my finger on the exact reason for my choices/behaviors. But now, as I have “matured” in life and have a fantastic wife and two amazing children, I find them to be my greatest motivation. Wanting to exhibit good behaviors to role model for them and to be around for them as a resource for as long as possible is my ultimate motivation. My wife, on the otherhand, may have other plans.

Biggest Loser Week 3

2012-04-29T00:01:00.141-05:00

Week 3 is when things got serious. This is when I started juicing. And upped my total loss to 18 pounds. That puts my total percentage to 6.74%. I have found that juicing seems to be a polarizing activity. There are those that tell me not to do it because it isn't safe. There are those that tell me that it is cheating for the Biggest Loser Competition. And then there are those that commend me for doing something so challenging.

I would first like to say that this is the third time that I have done juicing for an extended period of time. Before the first time, I did an extensive amount of research on the health ramifications to juicing. I came to the conclusion that juicing is NOT a crash diet. It is incredibly demanding and it takes a lot of commitment, fortitude and mental toughness. That being said, it is not a diet that can or should be maintained for too long. A juice diet is like a restart button. It is a detoxification diet that cleans out your system and establishes the proper mindset for dieting. For a good comprehensive explanation for the biological effects of juicing, click here.
Let me address some of the most asked questions when I tell people that I am juicing.
Q:Am I hungry?
A: Yes and No. To juice properly, it is essential to give your body the proper amount of nutrients and vitamins. I did a lot of research on what foods have those different things. To simplify, similar colored foods have similar qualities to them. The important thing is to have a variety of foods. You can't alternate between apple and orange juice for every meal. On a normal day, I drink two 32 oz. bottles of juice and another of water. One of those juices is a vegetable-based one, while the other is fruit-based. If you are getting enough variety, you are giving your body enough of the essential vitamins and nutrients that it needs. When you do this, you aren't biologically hungry. So no, I am not hungry. This doesn't mean that you aren't mentally hungry. When your body goes for too long without various foods, it starts craving those foods. After juicing too long, I want grains. A piece of bread or some crackers.
Q: How do you get enough protein?
A: Both fruits and vegetables contain protein. Here is a chart of characteristics of both fruits and vegetables. I am a plasma donor and these are things that they check before each time that you donate. I had been tracking these numbers for several weeks leading up to my vegetarianism and then juicing. As it turns out, both my protein and iron levels spiked up once I started to juice.
Q: Do you really like the drinks, or are they as gross as they look?
A: As I said earlier, this is the third time that I've juiced. I have learned what a lot of foods taste like once they are juiced. I have a couple go-to juices such as Carrot-Apple, Pear-Grape-Cucumber and Watermelon-Strawberry-Mint. My first time juicing, I tried to make a juice gazpacho. It had tomatoes, garlic, cucumber, bell peppers, carrot, and onions. Let me give you a simple piece of advice. Never juice an onion. As you can see on my food blog and my 101 Foods To Eat Before You Die, I am willing to try any food. This gazpacho was the worst thing that I've ever eaten. ***DRINK JUICE, NOT ONIONS*** I do like the fruit juices a lot more than the vegetable ones, but you need to have both. If you are thinking about trying out juicing, make sure that you read up on it first.
A few tips: foods change their taste when they are juiced. Essentially, they become more concentrated. While the pineapple-orange combination is really good, it is so acidic that your tongue will start to hurt if you drink too much. Herbs are nice additions to the juice. You can still not only get juice, but impart its flavor in everything that you juice after it. Those fruits that turn brown when you leave them out will likewise turn into brown juices. If this grosses you out, run a lemon through the juicer before you do these fruits. Freshly juiced drinks taste better than older ones. The nutritional value also drops for some things after they get too old. And finally, remember to stay away from the onions. If you want to add some spice to your drinks, I recommend. ginger.

10 Questions From A Fit Person

2012-04-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

Adam: What do you do (Professionally)
Rae Kane: Pipefitter

Adam: Are health-related New Year’s resolutions a good stepping stone or just Holiday Remorse?
RK: It's good to have goals but why wait till the new year to make them? I never have.

Adam: What is one thing that you think that everybody should do for their health?
RK: Your body is like a swimming pool, if you've never taken care of one you might not know what that means. But basically you have to balance your acidity with your alkalinity. So if you're too acidic you get sick. Alkaline comes mostly from green vegetables. Sugar and meats make you acidic. A miracle cure for just about everything (including cancer, because cancer is a fungus) is sodium bicarb (baking soda) ironically they use that in swimming pools too.

Adam: How often do you exercise?
RK: 5 - 6 days a week. I work out that much because I have athletic goals. Someone who just wants to loose weight wouldn't have to work out that much.

Adam: What is your favorite exercise and why?
RK: Bike riding is my favorite because you can burn a lot of calories based on the fact that it's so easy... the hard part is finding the time to ride 15 miles. Running because we were born to run.. run barefoot that is... but again you have to find the time... 1 mile only burns about 100 calories. Insanity, the philosophy behind this fitness approach is to perform bursts of high intensity exercises followed by short rest periods. This type of routine helps you burn fat faster than any other conventional approach. P90x is based on muscle confusion which keeps you from plateauing.

Adam: How would you rank the importance of physical activity versus diet versus mental/spiritual wellbeing?
RK: Diet and spiritual wellbeing is more important that exercise. Many people think they can eat what ever they want if they exercise. But what they are not aware of is that there are 3000 calories in one pound. It takes a lot of exercise to lose one pound and as you get older it's even harder.

Adam: Healthy options are more accessible than ever; why is the US getting fatter?
RK: The US is fatter because they are counting calories and not nutrition. Our food is nutrition poor but full of calories. You are hungry because you need nutrition not calories.

Adam: You have two children in school. How do you feel about the availability of junk food in schools?
RK: We have one child in school, she won't eat school lunch but the lunch she takes isn't much better. I try to educate her but her mom/grandparents won't enforce anything. They think that since she is skinny that she can eat whatever she wants. They don't look at food as unhealthy/healthy.. like most they consider calories.

Adam: How do you stay healthy in your life?

RK: Paleo diet, meditation, exercise

Adam: How do you stay motivated?
RK: In order to be motivated you have to be invested in the future. My mom had a stroke 9 years ago and is confined to a wheel chair. Often you will ask someone why they do something unhealthy and their answer is.. I have to die some day... It's not about dying, dying is a bad thing for the people left behind but it's not necessarily bad for the person who dies. It's about the quality of life you have and will have when you are older. My mom was a very active person and I feel like a part of her died when she had that stroke. Even though she has her mind, she is not able to enjoy life to it's fullest and we are not able to do the things we used to together. Her stroke was cause by the HRT therapy she received, so besides the things you have listed medications can be unhealthy. It's not that I think Dr's are evil, but when people go to the Dr they want simple answers. They want everything to come in a pill, so that's what they give. Most people aren't willing to make life style changes or do the work to be healthy. Just like they are not willing to look inside themselves to fix their mental health issues.. they'd rather take a pill for that too.

Biggest Loser Week 2

2012-04-22T00:01:00.002-05:00

My weight is now down 3.74%. Leading up to this time, I had been letting myself go. By that, I mean that I was ignoring portioning and eating my favorite meat dishes. I would wake up with headaches, and my body hurt. I felt pretty miserable, and it made it easier to start dieting. As I saw last week as a buffer week, this week came easier than I expected. There was no point during my first two weeks of dieting that I got tempted to eat meat. I guess that I’ve found my solace in cheese. On Tuesday, we went out to eat. Initially, I felt limited to where I could go, as there had to be an excellent vegetarian option. Then I realized
nearly everywhere has a vegetarian option. But when we decided to get {pizza} at one of my college hangouts, it was no problem. I have found that Italian food is the most natural type of food for me to eat without meat: pasta, pizza, no problem.

The biggest temptation this week came from the freezer. On a morning after working late, I woke up to Leigha bringing the kids home with a big box of frozen foods that had been damaged in transport and/or discontinued. Leigha was able to fill up the box with any of these items for $5.
This week, a new motivator emerged in the form of a Groupon. During the winter months, Leigha and I had purchased a Groupon to go skydiving. This was something that is on my list. Well, this expires next month, and there is a weight limit. That I currently don't meet. The two of us are notoriously cheap, and that is why 1. I will lose enough to jump out of a plane. 2. Leigha will overcome her fears.

10 Health Questions From A Vegan

2012-04-18T00:01:00.007-05:00

1.) What do you do (Professionally)?

I am a clerk in a very busy Emergency Room.

2.) Are health-related New Year’s resolutions a good stepping stone or just Holiday Remorse?

I think they can be a great stepping stone, especially with diet changes, since most of us have probably overindulged in ways we're not proud of during the holidays. However, veganism is not a fad diet, entered into solely to lose weight. You can begin a vegan diet for that reason, but I don't think you'll be able to stick to it, as a true lifestyle change, without having a deeper philosophical, ethical and/or health-related conception of it over the long haul, however you might personally define that. The beginning of a new year though, when most of us in the northern U.S. are a bit more hermetic or introspective and have some time on our hands, would be an excellent time to begin.

3.) What is one thing that you think that everybody should do for their health?

Learn to cook and, if you can, to garden, just like most of our grandparents, great grandparents, and their parents before them did. And, if you don't think you have space to garden just see the internet for all of the flower-pot & roof-top garden options. In other words, eat as little processed, refined and commercially preserved food as possible. And of course exercise-just walking is great- anything to move, it seems to me.

4.) You were a vegan for years; what made you decide to go vegan?

A friend and I had both been vegetarians for years and then we started to hear more & more about the unhealthy conditions factory-farm animals were being raised in, plus all of the steroids & hormones used, not to mention the fairly unregulated, much more egregious, and extremely dangerous conditions that slaughter house workers have to endure, and we decided to go just one step further, into veganism. This was during the time that books & movies like Fast Food Nation & the locally produced movie King Corn were coming out, and our minds were set. Even if you're not into animal rights activism (and you might be surprised to know that myself & some of my vegan friends are completely fine with hunting, because it has nothing to do with factory farming), we must be concerned about the quality and safety of the meat, dairy and eggs we consume. I don't mean to sound too self-righteous or heavy-handed in all of this- too each his own- but I really do believe that our health, individually & communally, both short & long-term, as well as our local economies, our lakes and rivers, and our air-quality are detrimentally effected by such practices. For those who don't want to give up meat or dairy, I know some physicians here in Iowa who advocate eating organic or pasture-raised/free range meat, dairy and eggs as much as possible, as those animals are usually raised under safer, more sanitary conditions & without steroids/hormones. They state that we either pay the higher prices for eating healthy now, or we pay much higher ones later, usually at the onset of middle-age, for decades-worth of medical bills & pharmaceuticals.

5.) What is the hardest thing about veganism?

Well, the most disheartening thing is definitely eating out at restaurants, especially now that our only local vegan restaurant has closed due to apartment developers buying the downtown building they were housed in. The hardest thing though would just be having to read the fine print of every food label of every store-bought food item, and actually finding store-bought food items that are vegan.

6.) A common “cheat” for vegans is candy. Is it just me, or does that seem counter-intuitive?

Again, I guess it depends on why you’re a vegan- as I’ve gotten older I’ve become something of a health food advocate, while still sticking to my ethical conceptions, but I know many vegans & vegetarians, and I was definitely one when younger, who are ‘junk-food vegetarians/vegans’, and, what I call, non-meat eating ‘carboterians’, all of which you can pull off when younger but I do think it will catch up with you, just like any ‘junk food’ diet, as you age. A grain-based diet when supplemented w/ lots of chips, fries, vegan desserts, etc., can be just as fattening as a meat-based one. Also, as some environmental advocates have pointed out regarding the "market," both the brick & mortar grocery store and the virtual for-profit niche market of ‘health food’ diets, is that they are being inundated with processed, preserved & packaged vegetarian & vegan meal options. Unlike just a few years ago, I can now eat a 100% vegan diet by eating frozen dinners every lunch & dinner, though they’re pricier. The market has filled that niche & is making a pretty penny off of it. The point is that in terms of the environmental impact of the packaging as trash, the pollution in manufacturing and transporting pre-packaged food, etc., a “convenience” vegetarian or vegan diet is as problematic as any other on multiple levels.

7.) Veganism is an extreme form of vegetarianism. Do you think that vegans look down on those that aren’t?

Some might, especially the young, who are very passionate & ideological about animal cruelty and factory farms. As I’ve gotten older I’ve come to realize that there are myriad ways of addressing & combating such issues, and to not get too self-righteous about it.

8.) Healthy options are more accessible than ever; why is the US getting fatter?

Well, I do think that most of us want to eat a healthy diet but I'm beginning to think that much of it comes down to convenience & time. Our fast-paced lifestyles really do not bode well for cooking & eating health-conscience meals. Going through a drive-thru on the way home from long day at work is so much easier than cooking your dinner when you get home. But it absolutely can be done, and with only very moderate lifestyle changes. It just takes a bit of weekly planning ahead, cooking in large amounts for multiple meals and, in a family setting, everyone pitching in. If you have family members who love to cook, then even better. I was just joking with my sister, who has 5 kids of all ages in her family, about getting my teenage niece or nephew to pre-cook some meals weekly for a significant boost in their allowance, which isn't a bad idea actually. They would be learning to cook too.

9.) How do you stay healthy in your life?

9. Training myself to live healthily, and I think 'training' is probably an appropriate word for it, has taken most of my adult life. It wasn't until I hit my early 40's that I really started to have to think about diet & lifestyle in ways that weren't just ethically, environmentally or politically motivated. Crohn's disease and colon cancer run in my family, and I felt I had to start concerning myself with my diet for my health's sake as well. Getting older and wanting to stay healthy for friends & family, are all great motivators, and I was eating way too much junk food and desserts, even as a vegan. So I began paying attention to some local physicians here in Iowa, who are doing wonderful work themselves, as well as advocating for cutting-edge work being done scientists throughout the U.S. & in Europe, who say that a Raw Vegan diet, as well as a "Paleo" or "Caveman" diet are 2 of the healthiest diets one can begin today. Obviously the Paleo diet is not a vegan diet but it's advocates & creators are part of a current movement urging meat-eaters to consume ONLY all-natural, preferably organic, hormone & antibiotic free meat and dairy that has been healthily and humanely raised. So there really are healthy options for everyone.

10.) How do you stay motivated?

Well, I just feel better, which is a huge motivator. In the last few years I've lost 30 pounds, am at a very healthy weight, and can easily run again, at 48, though I usually just do a sort of race walk on a tread-mill, as well as lots of hiking in decent weather. I'm also going to start biking and swimming again. Just having more energy and less achy joints is wonderful. I would just urge anyone, obviously, especially people getting older, to attempt diet &/or exercise changes slowly and incrementally, and with ineffable amounts of patience, as well as to consult their Dr first of course. Certain diets and health regimes don't work for everyone and are not healthy for everyone, but thanks for the chance to pass on what's worked for me, and to throw some vegan & humane eating notions out there as well!

Biggest Loser Week 1

2012-04-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

During my first week of the biggest loser 2012, I lost 2.37% which is a better start to the competition than last time (which I ultimately lost 32 pounds). I wish that I could be happier with that. But quite frankly, I decided to play the game a little more this time around. Let’s just say that before my initial weigh-in, I may have been super hydrated. Some people would say that this is like wearing ankle weights and is cheating. I must respectfully disagree. Putting on ankle weights is adding artificial weight. The difference is between artificial and superficial. The water weight is superficial but still legitimate because I had actually to imbibe the liquid.

All questionable actions aside, I still lost weight which is the real goal. During this week, the only changes that I made were dietary. I eliminated all meats from my diet. Annoyingly, the unseasonably warm weather ended the week before the competition, and I only went on one bike ride. It was exhausting, sweaty and brief.

This week was all about being a vegetarian, which every time that I try, I am amazed at how easy it is for me. I think that because I am always trying new recipes that when I am testing out the meatless waters, it gives me a chance to try all of those dishes that I've put in my someday pile. Another thing that has made it easier is that the food has been stinkin' good. (Soyrizo Pizza, Falafel) This has been the only throwaway week; I have one more week of eating food, and then it gets serious.

Sleep Outside For A Week (Winter Edition)

2012-04-12T00:01:00.001-05:00

During the summer, I thought that sleeping in the cold would be easier because you can always add more layers to warm up. Do you know what they call such thinking? Stupidity. There is a reason why people only camp outside during warm weather. It didn’t occur to me until I had already done both that the biggest difference is the gap in body temperature to the weather outside. In the hottest places in the world, it may be slightly higher than 100 degrees outside during the overnight hours. This is only a few degrees higher than a person’s body temperature. The entire week that I slept in January, it was around 27 degrees, or roughly 70 degrees lower than a person’s body temperature.

A couple days before I was to start my winter edition of sleeping outside, I took a shovel and cleared an area to put the tent on top of as well as a path to get to the tent. The day that I started my week of freezing I had off work and had the entire day to set up the tent. As technically unsound I am, it is still not very difficult to erect a tent once you’ve done it several times. It becomes a little more difficult when you it is windy outside and more so when you start worrying about exposure and frostbite from the metal poles that are the tent’s skeleton. So in my living room, I pushed all my furniture to the edges of the room and rolled out the tent on the floor. I clicked together the poles and laid them in order of assembly. Then I bundled up and went outside. First, I put down a plastic sheet to work as a barrier between the hardened and wet ground. Next, I went inside to get the tent, carefully folding up to make it easier to carry outside and not drag on the ground. When I got outside, the plastic sheet had blown into the neighbor’s yard. So I put the tent that I had carefully folded up onto a pile of snow next to the cleared area. Once I grabbed the piece of plastic, I had to find things that were heavy enough to hold it in place while I put the tent on top of it. I found myself contorting to stand on different areas of the plastic while trying to put the tent over it. I chuckled to myself as I imagined being one of my own neighbors and watching myself.

The first night I slept outside in freezing weather, I learned several key things for the rest of the week. Number one: there was a happy accident when I put the door to the tent mere inches away from the house. This served as a wind barrier and while it was harder to get in and out of the tent because of the smaller space, I wasn’t as exposed as I would have been if I had faced the tent as I had intended. Number two: memory foam pillows turn into bricks when they get cold enough AND they lose the function to form to your head. Number three: when the ground freezes, it turns into a frozen memory foam pillow with bumps. Sharp bumps. Number four: batteries don’t like the cold. Like many people, my cell phone has replaced the need for an alarm clock. Generally, it sits on the end table next to my bed, charging overnight. I had enough foresight to charge the phone during the day, allowing it to be fully charged as I started the night. What I didn’t expect was being awakened at 3 a.m. to the sound of my phone dying. As it turns out, electronics don’t like freezing weather. So, on my first night sleeping outside in sub-zero weather, I made my way back to my phone charger and the bed next to it. Leigha was actually relieved because, like a normal person, she was worried about me sleeping in such extreme weather. Like a wife, she wasn’t worried that I would get frostbite, she was worried that I would freeze to death.

Yes, that is ice on the face of my watch

On the second day, I had to figure out how to set the alarm on my watch. I also brought out an inflatable bed. The way I saw it, sleeping on a more comfortable surface didn't diminish the fact that it was so cold outside. After what seemed like a full hour to fall asleep, I woke up because I had to pee. I played out the scenarios in my mind. There were really only three options. 1. Hold it. This wasn’t an option for very long. 2. Try to come out of my blanket cocoon as little as possible and stand at the door of the tent and go out the door. Then I imagined getting frostbite in the worst possible place. Not only would it be painful, it would be incredibly embarrassing as I went into work (The University of Iowa Emergency Room) to be seen as a patient. Then I thought about slipping on frozen urine as I left the tent. So I went with option 3, go inside. I was filled with equal part dread of walking outside as making my way through the dark to the bathroom. After many deep breaths and clenched teeth, I ran to the door of the house. Once inside, I tried to make my way to the bathroom as quickly and quietly as possible. Since childhood, I’ve had a perverse love for sneaking up behind people and startling them. This has translated into a silent step. That is completely negated by darkness. After stepping on one thing and kicking another, I made my way to the bathroom. As I was washing my hands in warm water for much longer than usual, I was faced with an all or nothing moment. I could go lie down in a warm bed next to my wife, or go back out to the tundra for six more nights. I thought about when it started raining during my summer edition of sleeping outside for a week. As a whole, that single night was worse than any of the cold ones had been thus far. I remember my mantra during the storm. I have to do it for the blog. So I headed back outside.

After the first two nights, there was only one adjustment that I made to make it easier for me to sleep. I unzipped the sleeping bag and used it as a blanket. This sleeping bag was loaned to me by my dad, an avid camper. It was one of those specialized sleeping bags that was supposed to allow you to sleep in weather as cold as twenty degrees below zero. I had already read up on ways to maximize my heat efficiency and most things stated that if you climbed into the bag fully clothes and removed them once you were inside the bag, your body heat would maintain itself at a comfortable temperature. What it didn’t account for was that I rock in my sleep. I constantly shift positions from which side that I am lying on while I sleep. This is something that I do naturally during a normal night. When I was hindered from doing this, I woke up annoyed and cold.

The second part of the week came with a lot more ease than the beginning. That is not to say that it was easy, but it sure made me look forward to a warm shower every morning and a warm bed with Leigha at the end of the week. One thing that I learned from this whole test was that people can adapt to most situations. Where I started the week freezing and miserable at night, it progressed into an annoyance and duty that I needed to complete.There is a moral in there somewhere for my kids. This is proof that you can do whatever you put your mind to. Or...Dad is so awesome in that crazy/weird type of way.

Have you ever slept outside in freezing weather? Why?

My Biggest Loser Competition, An Introduction

2012-03-22T10:15:00.001-05:00

BIGGEST LOSER 2012

At my work, April 1st brings the second bi-annual biggest loser competition. Last time, I placed second losing 32 pounds and 12.6% of my total body weight. This coincided with my month of vegetarianism, where I progressively got more strict with my diet. This was something that I already had planned for the blog and I extended out to two month for the sake of the competition. For the first week, I maintained a pescatarian diet (fish but no other meat), the second week I was a normal vegetarian, the third week a vegan, then I juiced for the rest of the time. But, as it turns out, I kept putting off writing about it and I gained back a lot of the weight that I had lost. I had already decided to do this again when there was the announcement for another biggest loser competition. This time,

I am taking the opportunity to write weekly updates on my progress. There were several things that I had wished that I had checked at the beginning of the competition last time such as blood pressure and standing heart rate. These are all things that I will be checking weekly along with my weight loss. First off, let me talk a bit about my last time doing this challenge. As I said, I lost 32 pounds which is something to be proud of. While I didn't win the competition and the $640 pot, I was happy to pay $20 for two months of motivation. During those two weeks, I learned a lot of things about myself and how I eat.

First, I learned that, despite my Iowan upbringing, it is NOT necessary to have meat with every meal. Or even daily. I also learned that vegan food was a lot better than I had ever imagined, but there was no way that I could ever maintain this lifestyle. It drove me crazy to look at labels for EVERYTHING that I ate. Forget it. Once I started to juice, I was no longer craving meat. I wanted cheese, yogurt and other dairy goods. This was not the first time that had juiced. I had done a week of juicing several years ago, and I had an idea of what I was getting myself into. For the first biggest loser competition, I juiced for six weeks; or, at least, juiced primarily. By the end I was snacking daily but maintaining my vegetarian vow. The problem with this is that while juicing is a low-intake of food, it a high caloric intake. Any snacks that I ate in conjunction with juicing counteracted the positive effects. For juicing as long as I did, I should have lost more than I did if I was more strict. I think that this is why I put off writing about it for so long. It wasn't until later than I realized that losing 32 pounds when my goal was 50 was still an excellent job.

I haven't quite decided how I will organize my eating for this competition. At this point, I think that I will go in two week cycles where I rotate between vegetarianism and juicing. I believe that this will help my stay focused longer and eliminate the inherent want to gnaw on anything after juicing for too long. During this competition, I will be posting health-related interviews with different people. I will also give weekly updates to my progress. And if I find any good recipes, I will share them at Adam Does Food Porn. Please feel free to give any feedback and/or suggestions throughout the process. I hope that you enjoy reading about my second weight-loss journey.

Have you ever gone through this before (or right now) and would like to tell about it? Feel free to leave a comment, post on my Facebook page, or e-mail me about a guest post.

-Adam

Do A Polar Plunge

2012-02-22T00:01:00.012-06:00

For over one hundred years, Americans have been participating in Polar (or Arctic) Plunges to raise money for charities or organizations or because they are just nuts. As soon as I added this onto my list, I started to look for some in my area; I found two. The first was for the Special Olympics in the early spring. The second was for the Hawkeye Wrestling Club (HWC) in the middle of January. You could make a case for both that they were crazy or stupid. As I try with all of my bucket list activities, I want to take the most extreme road as possible. So the HWC was getting my money. Like me, they take everything to the extreme.

While some people may say that the Special Olympics are a better cause, I have lived in Iowa my entire life. I wanted to have my second child’s middle name to be Hawkeye. Leigha agreed to go along with it as long as it was a boy. I’m not saying that I wish that I didn’t have a daughter, but I still wish that her middle name was Hawkeye. Apparently, it isn’t feminine enough.

For my entire life, the University of Iowa has had the premier wrestling program in the country. Since 1979, when I was born, they have won twenty National Championships. To put that in perspective, during that same time there were several professional sports that had dynasties. The Lakers won ten NBA championships, the 49ers won five NFL, the Yankees won five MLB and the Red Wings won four NHL. It is not an exaggeration to say that Iowans consider any season that does not end in a National Championship as a down one. The HWC supports wrestlers once they graduate as they train for the Olympics or other such events. To actually participate, a $100 donation was required. So I created a Google Checkout account and asked for donations on here. At work, I had set up a canister asking for $1 donations, which many people gave. Because of the generous donation by Move360 Fitness, I was able to freeze in front of a cheering crowd. My friend from work, Betsy decided that she wanted to take the plunge with me, and I glad that she did. I’ve realized that when participating in activities such as these, it is always nice to have a partner.

Several days before the event, I e-mailed the organizer of the event, a former wrestler, and asked him for some information.

Hello there, my friend Betsy xxxx and I are both planning on participating in the polar plunge on Saturday, but we don’t really know the details. According to your website, the event is at 11 a.m. at the Riverside Casino. Where should we meet? And should we come before 11? Are we jumping into the pond? Will there be a place available inside the casino for us to change our clothes? Should we bring our own paparazzi? Betsy wants to know what to wear. I realize that you are a guy as well and might not be able to answer this, but I told her that I would ask. Thank you for you help.

-Adam J. Williams

He maintained a level of professionalism, but I can only assume that he thought that I was crazy.

January 28^th 2012 was the day of the big event. The jumping was planned to start at noon, with us registering up to an hour ahead of that. Unfortunately, the kids had swimming lessons that conflicted with the plunge. So while they jumped into water assisted by lifeguards, I jumped into freezing water with men specially equipped with scuba gear.

Betsy and I parked in the middle of a field, next to snow-covered bails of hay. It was 24 degrees outside. There was a huge white circus-like tent set up near the Iowa River, which flowed through the field. I looked at the river. It looked a glass of water that had been sitting in a freezer for a few hours. The edges were iced over and covered with snow while the middle was placid and cold. Next to a tree stump, I leaned my bag that contained my change of clothes. I started to walk towards a bonfire that a group of people were standing around, when one our co-workers, Michele came up to me and Betsy and told us that she had come to cheer us on. Then Bev came up to tell us that she had come, too.Bev is like the ER mom. Her daughter and sister both work there with me and Bev always stopping by to drop off treats. It made me think of my e-mail. I guess that I was bringing my own paparazzi, after all.

As the crowd of people got bigger, Betsy and I decide that we should go register. In the tent, there was a check-in station. We were told that we would be jumping in groups and we were in the fifth and sixth section. As far as I could tell, we were two of the three people that didn’t have any connection to the athletic department. We had half an hour before people were going to start jumping into the water and Betsy decided to strip down to her swimsuit. She wanted to get acclimated to the weather. As I was only wearing swim trunks into the water, I had no plans of disrobing any earlier than I needed. I had done some research on hypothermia and was less worried about that than exposure.

When it was nearly time for me to jump, I stripped down to my swim trunks. My entire life, I’ve been overweight and ultra-aware of that fact whenever I am shirtless. As I looked around, I thought about the biological effects of jumping into freezing water. When jumping into cold water, people inhale or gasp. This is what causes many people to drown in freezing water, regardless of how deep the water is. I kept thinking to myself that I needed to remember to breathe. I looked around at the other people that were getting ready to jump themselves. I realized that most of the guys were either former NCAA champions, All-Americans or Olympians. But nobody was taller than my shoulders. I felt like a giant amongst elite athletes. It was an odd feeling.

When it was my turn, I wasn’t nervous. By that point, I was just cold and wanted to get it over with. In the water, they had set up a pole that was the farthest point that we were allowed to go. I stared at the pole until they called my name, at which point I ran and dove into the water. It felt like thousands of tiny needles stabbed me over my entire body. If you’d like to experience the feeling in a much milder way, soak your hand in hot water for a few minutes and then put in a bowl of ice water. I didn’t remember to breath, but I didn’t choke. At this point, my body was on automatic. The only thing that I needed to do was get to that pole. My shoes (a good idea when going into dirty water) sank into the mud and made it difficult to move. As soon as I made it to the pole, I turned around and looked at the cheering crowd. Then I decided that I might as well dive in the water again.

As soon as I got out , I kept moving through the crowd. I needed my towel. I needed my hat. I needed something to cover me. The time from entering the water to exiting may not have even been a minute, but it was a really long minute. It wasn’t because I was cold or the fact that the water actually hurt to be in. It was like I stepped outside of myself and watched as I waded through the water. I figured that this was a combination of the surge of adrenaline and the body going into autopilot survival mode. This was the reason that people do crazy and life-threatening things.

After we changed, Bev joined Betsy and me inside the giant tent to have some hot food and drinks. We sat amongst the wrestlers and their family. Betsy commented on how, despite not actually knowing anybody, they were incredibly nice to us. It felt like, if only for a day, we were part of the team.

By participating with this, I managed to make it to the cover of the Daily Iowan. I am the guy on the bottom picture that looks like he is about a foot taller than anybody else.

THIS POST HAS BEEN SPONSORED BY MOVE360 FITNESS.

1855 Lower Muscatine Rd

Iowa City, Iowa 52240

319-325-2231

30 Days Of Thanks: Marie's Response

2012-01-16T17:00:00.000-06:00

Thank you. thanks you for your letter. I got to read the blog post before the real thing arrived, and it was very touching to see the handwritten thing, along with cards and all.
I remember fondly my time with you and your family, nearly 18 years ago....it was indeed an adventure, where i found myself in what could literally have been the bizarro version of the life i had just left in France. Huge house to tiny one, a small estranged family to a large caring one. It was an extremely enriching experience, and even if didnt get into politics, language skills became indeed my competitive advantage for a long time.
I’m glad you kept good memories, such as rpg gaming and movies from me. These two items are important elements in our generation’s culture and it flatters me to think I played some role in shaping the person you became today.
I’m happy you lead a fulfilling life, and hope that one day, our paths cross again.
In the meanwhile, you can definitely count me as a regular reader of yours!