2015 A Year of Excellence

Greetings!  Wow, 2014 proved to be a stellar year in health, career and happiness. Along the way Shannan really embraced fitness. Both of us took on a new outlook towards food from seed to skillet, and your travels close and far offered great opportunities to enjoy life. 2015 arrived poised to be far better on each of those fronts and more. We are ready for all the great things to come.

I’ve toyed with semantics over the years. New Year’s resolutions, goals, objectives and so forth. This year I have a short (short for me) list of “intentions.” I fully intend to achieve and maintain each and every one of them.  They are: 

1.    Think it. Do it!

2.    Make it Happen!

3.    Be Positive.

4.    Abs!

5.    Live In Beta.

6.    Create Space!

7.    Work the List.

May this year bring you and yours all you imagine. 

Tom

Good Things Keep Coming!

Greetings!  Visiting the Louver in Paris has long been on my list.  While in France and visiting her grand museum many wonderful things came to our attention. As we complete items on our list, be they personal accomplishments, travel or whatnot, it seems we uncover some other kernel of interest. To no surprise, the new item immediately gets added to the list. More often that not, rather than one thing being checked off, we tend to add to our list at a rate that made Fibonacci famous.  For Shannan and me, that’s a good thing. In fact, it is the thing. We try to live life to its fullest. As we do life continues to reveal itself to us in a variety of ways. What a joy!

Follow your bliss.

Tom

A Blissful 2014

Greetings!  I hope your 2014 was a good one. Ours, like most came with its fair share of disappointments. We missed out on a few opportunities, and lost dear friends. Each of those occasion pressed Shannan and I to reflect on life and appreciate health, happiness in all the things that bring joy.  

Traveling is one of those joyful things for us. This year we did fair share of seeing new places and returning to favorites. I count myself fortunate to have enjoyed phenomenal opportunities to go running in Saint Andrews, Scotland, Mexico City, Mexico and Reykjavik, Iceland among some of the new spots. Each location proved beautiful and terribly interesting.

For me the highlight of running for this year came in our early summer trip to the southwest. Don't hear this as an ethnocentric American rant. No, it's far from it. I posted on this site about the triple digit heat while in Texas and New Mexico. Many times I've written about how the desert is my muse. She works a haunting magic on me. The Rio Grande, even as she was low, compelled me to wonder about her power, and history. Running in this landscape proved personally, emotionally and spiritually invigorating.

We still have travel planned before the year is over. Given the climate and setting of our remaining destinations, I have no qualms in making an early statement of the best running location of the year, for me anyway.

Find your bliss. Travel. Run!

Tom

Thank You

Greetings!  In the late 90s I took a graduate administration class with retired United Methodist Bishop, Bevel Jones. Across the term Bevel stressed the importance of gratitude. He insisted on using words of appreciation no matter what. However, he was even more adamant that some occasions demanded a written note. This was long before the age of texting. I took heed of his words back then and have made a practice of showing appreciation any and everywhere applicable. Those who know me can vouch that I say "thank you" a great deal every day. I do all I can to make each utterance meaningful to the person who I offer my appreciation.

In every class I have ever taught from public school to the university I push forward Bevel's admonition to show appreciation regularly and meaningfully. There are many folks you suggest that "thank you" are the most powerful words in the human language. In 2012, I read Rhonda Byrnes' book, The Magic. It was a follow up to her phenomenally successful book, The Secret. The newer book is a practical guide for fully incorporating gratitude into your daily life. Following the reading I use gratitude learned from Bevel Jones to daily lists, prayers and other regular activities. All that said, I am so grateful for this week where with family and friends we are all keenly aware and grateful for the joys of life. I am thankful for much.

Give thanks. Run.

Tom

Pro Wrestling Workout?

Spring 2010 marked my entry point into the world of home fitness on DVD. Shaun T.  was my first personal trainer. At present, I have a number of his workout programs. I also have several others from Shaun T.’s parent company, Beachbody, as well as some lesser known home exercise programs. For me, these in-home workouts add variety to my running schedule as well as fantastic options for rain and inclement weather.

In my professional life, I’ve conducted research related to pop culture and professional wrestling for number of years. This is of note, as recently Stephanie McMahon and HHH, of WWE fame or perhaps infamy, entered the increasingly popular realm of home fitness with the WWE Fit Series. The first rollout has a workout for men with HHH and another designed for women from Stephanie.  I’ve seen the 1-minute trailer clips.  The DVD exercise programs cost $9.99 each.  I find that to be surprisingly affordable. So I ordered HHH’s program. I expect it to arrive this week.

Shannan mocked me when I told her I made the purchase for research and for fitness. We’ll see how it goes.  I’ll review the workouts once I give each routine a test drive.

Work and Run.

Tom

Food Festival and More

Greetings! Shanan and I had a tremendous visit at Epcot's International Food Festival. This is the second time we’ve attended the annual event. We go for the get-away weekend, the incredible food, the nice FL weather and on both occasions Sister Hazel performed as part of the festivities. The band played three sets and covered a wide variety of songs from their canon. Those guys always make it feel like a family show, but the intimate amphitheater at Epcot creates a wonderful concert experience. 

On the way down we spent Friday night in Valdosta, GA.  We had a grand stay and I loved my pre-dawn run in a part of the city I had not explored previously. Sunday, before we returned home I had yet another lovely jog in Orlando, the city of happiness.  

Get Away. Eat. Enjoy Music. Run.

Tom

Return to Rome for Rocky

Back in August we had a Rome reunion. I posted a blog about the grand day we spent in Rome, GA August 12. In that post I mentioned the Desoto, Rome's Little Theater. The playhouse had a run of the Rocky Horror Show this fall. Joel, Shannan I purchased ticket for the final performance. The evening was especially interesting as it was the Saturday night of the Halloween weekend. That turned out to be a fabulous choice.

All of Rocky's quirky ability to empower the marginalized and outcasts came together to create a rather special occasion. Audience members dressed as characters from the show and just as characters in general. The cast delivered a tremendous performance of songs, choreography and pretty good acting as well. Richard O'Brien would be pleased, for sure.

Before the opening curtain our trio enjoyed dinner at Harvest Moon on Main Street. Let me tell you, this is not the Rome of my youth. Harvest Moon provided haute cuisine with starters such as black eyed pea hummus and entrée items that included tempeh. We followed our posh meal with a live, no holds barred, rendition of Rocky Horror. Rome has captured much of the city appeal while keeping the majority of big city problems at bay. 

Make a Trip to Roam Around in Rome.

Tom