Making the right turn

Last year I ran my first half marathon in San Antonio.  I posted about it so I’m not going to rehash it in this entry.  I also ran my second half in Okoboji.  I remember saying after San Antonio that I have no desire to ever fun a full marathon.  It just felt insurmountable.  Something has happened since then.  I have no idea why but I have this desire to complete a full marathon.  Think it has to do the fact that there is something about completing a marathon.  I consider it a great accomplishment.  There is a reason that people tattoo 26.2 somewhere on their body after they complete one.

At about the 10.8 mile part of the San Antonio race, the half marathoner turn left to finish off their 13.1 and the marathoners turn right for another 15.4.  I’ve decided to make that right turn.  It’s going to be tough but I love to challenge myself and I view a full marathon a tremendous challenge.  I view the race as the reward and the training as the work.  It’s going to be hard but nothing worth doing is easy.

This blog will become my journal as how training is going. How my body is responding and more importantly how my mind is responding.  I look forward to documenting this journey in my life.  Hope my words can do this experience justice.

A Midsummer Night’s Blog Entry

Never really a big Bill Shakespeare fan but I thought it was a clever title.  Blasphemy, I know.   No I’m not going to write about the great works of Shakespeare.  I just feel this blog calling me and it’s July.  Now that we’ve covered my lame attempt at cleverness (even a word?  I digress).  There are lots of topics to cover since my last entry and  I feel a potpourri post coming on so I’m going to go with it.

The University of Nebraska goes to the Big Ten

There is a ton of analysis out there on this subject.  My take on this whole situation is that it is similar to a divorce.  I hate to use such a comparison.  It’s a divorce where both parties ended up stronger in the end. 

Texas maintained their perceived board room power over the Big XII conference and got to keep the dream of their precious Longhorn TV network alive.  Texas will because of this network and their stronghold on the Big XII have their coffers full of revenue provided they continue winning.

Nebraska will receive many benefits from this move.  On the academic front, Nebraska gets to join the Committee on Institutional Cooperation.  In short the CIC:

“Simply translated, the CIC connects people with resources and opportunities, enhancing
the distinctive strengths, assets and expertise of each member university. Connecting people with resources and opportunities is an equation with tangible results:
• It means that campus researchers are able to handle huge datasets thanks to high-speed network collaboration.
• It means that underrepresented students are exposed to the rewards of graduate education through summer research programs.
• It means that scholars, the university community and the public-at-large will have access to books preserved by mass digitization.
• It means that administrators, faculty, students and staff benefit from increased efficiency and value achieved through collaborative purchasing efforts.
• It means that top-notch faculty leaders can enhance their academic leadership skills and network with colleagues from across the consortium.
• It means that students can access specialized courses beyond the offerings of their home institutions via distance learning.”

-2009 CIC Annual Report

Membership expands Nebraska’s academic profile.  It opens up higher quality research opportunities for students. Expands professors and researchers ‘sandboxes’ to allow them to use more resources on their research.  This higher level research then in turn brings in more industry to the state of Nebraska.  All of this represents a windfall to the state that cannot be undersold.

On the athletic side, Nebraska enters into highly reputable conference where membership has been stable.  There have been reports that the Big XII wanted a commitment through 2016.  The Big Ten has commitments from it’s members far past that.  It’s BCS conference with an elite profile.  It has it’s own television Network whose revenue is shared amongst it’s members.  These revenues increase the profiles of all the member institutions.  When the top-to-bottom is stronger, it gives the commissioner a much stronger portfolio to negotiate a TV deal with the likes of ESPN/ABC, etc.  Reports have it that the projected yearly revenues in excess of $20 million.  That amounts remains to be seen.

On all fronts, I view this move in a very positive light.  Time will obviously tell but all signs point to great.

Half Marathon in Okoboji on the horizon

My second half-marathon will be this Saturday’s University of Okoboji Half Marathon.  I will be running this race with my wife.  This will be her first half.  She is really excited.  She is a competitive lass and I think this will end up like our first 5K together (ie her taking off and waiting for me at the finish).  Training has went well and we are very prepared.  I look for Saturday to be an awesome day.

Kids and Pools

What is it about a pool that causes kids to go insane?  I mean they go nuts if we say we are going there or if it’s a reward for some sort of behavior.  They do everything me and my wife say if a visit to the pool hangs in the balance.  It’s a great tool for us as parents but I cannot figure out what the magical hold it has over kids.  It’s not just my kids either.  Our friend’s kids are the same way.  It’s a pandemic.

Lebronnakah

What happened to a simple press release thanking the City of Cleveland and Cavalier ownership and stating your intention to go to Miami?  I wonder whose idea it was to contact a network about an hour long special.  I also wonder who in his representation signed off on this as a good idea.  ‘The Decision’ was the ultimate in narcissism and self promotion.  I wonder how this will play on Madison Ave.  Will this make it harder to market him?  Probably not.  Kobe Bryant has much worse haunting his past and he still makes millions in endorsements.  This whole thing rubbed me the wrong way.  I didn’t have to watch it.  I got a text message telling me where he decided to go.  I got to avoid this whole ridiculous ‘look at me’ circus.

49ers First Round Review

Well the first round is in the books.  In my humble opinion, the front office did an outstanding job.  Read a great article in SF Gate by Scott Ostler.  Love this approach.

“-- Here come the 49ers, and they trade up to select tackle Anthony Davis. This has Mike Singletary's fingerprints all over it. The 49ers' draft machine is like the U.S. government, with three branches checking-and-balancing one another. You've got Paraag Marathe analyzing players mathematically, GM-lite Trent Baalke analyzing them with a football eye, and Singletary plumbing the depths of the candidates' souls.”
Read more: Here

There is a saying in football that it all starts up front.  I’ll take it a step further that great teams are built from the line of scrimmage out.  Meaning put talent on the line of scrimmage and it will make your room for error on the skill positions wider.  It means more time for QBs to find receivers and backs to find holes.  I have to agree with Scott (writer of the article) that it may signal a move to more of a run to set up play-action passing style of offense.  I hope so.  These styles of offense when in place break the spirit of the other teams by brute force.  This philosophy will set them apart in their division which is fraught with teams that try to finesse you.  They will be a team to deal with if all these kids grow up right (so to speak).

Looking forward for more magic tonight in rounds 3 and 4.  Hopefully in the form of a safety

How do you capture memories?

In the days following our Rock and Worship road show experience, we had a couple of different people either ask if we had more pictures or say ‘I can’t wait to see the pictures.’  Well we didn’t take a whole lot of pictures save a few with our phones.  Those phone pictures do not take the greatest photos.  The are usually blurry, out of focus, or the lighting just isn’t great.  Looking back at my phone they were just that low quality.  The most frustrating thing is that the camera that does take great shots was in my wife’s purse an arm’s length away.  Granted I have great, lasting memories of the show.  I think if I were honest I don’t know if I wanted to be snapping photos.  I was drinking in the moment.  If I start taking pictures, I end up not paying attention to the moments but more ‘getting the shot.’  My focus changes from enjoying the experience to trying to get a great picture.  Now, I do think it is possible to do both.  In fact I think that is the way it’s supposed to be.  Photos are great way to provide something tangible to the moment in our memory.  Something that can be shown years down the road when our memory isn’t so good.  So these experiences can live on and not get lost in the shuffle.  I just can’t bridge the gap.  Seems foreign to me to experience and capture at the same time.  It seems apparent to me that it will have to be a learned behavior.  On the drive home, I made a promise to myself to just put the camera in my hand when I attend events like this.  Maybe just maybe, I’ll experience the serendipity where I experience and capture a moment all at once.  So I ask how is it done?  How is that gap bridged?  I will be trying to learn how but does anyone out there have any tips for me?

My Rock and Worship Roadshow experience

Friday, my wife and I went to the Rock and Worship Roadshow’s stop in Dallas, TX.  The show was at the American Airlines Center.  We were blessed enough to receive some VIP passes from some great friends.   Here is my review of a great night

Sidewalk Prophets

These guys played a three song set to start off the festivities.  Prior to the show, I had heard of these guys but never really listened to them short of some of their fill-in appearances on last year’s roadshow.  The opened with their rendition of ‘Man in the Mirror.’ It was a a great opener.  High energy got people up out of their seats.  Their song ‘These are the words I would say’ touched on the concept ‘be strong in the lord.’  Which really strikes a chord with those who are going through something tough or have gone through something.  This song brought tears to my eyes because it really struck a chord with me because my wife and I are going through a season.  Every single solitary word in this song hit on what we are experiencing at this moment.

Remedy Drive

Nebraska was in the house.  I have to confess I’d never heard of these guys until a week ago.  I have since realized that I’ve heard ‘All Along’ while listening to my Pandora or radio before.  I was really impressed with their musicianship and I really liked their tunes.  Plus they are from the greatest state in the union, Nebraska.  Which by default moves them up in my book.  One thing they said has stayed with me after the concert and that is that ‘after the darkness comes the dawn.’  Which said another way is that good times are right around the corner.

Fee

Steve Fee came on and blew the doors off the place.  He opened with Rise and Sing and I felt like I was at a true, authentic arena rock show.  The only exception is that the love songs we sang were about Jesus and not some other human being.  It was an incredible set.  After the band left the stage, I began to wonder why I don’t have any of their music in my collection.

Francesca Battistelli

This was my wife’s most anticipated artist.  She loves her music especially the ‘dents in my fender’ and ‘it’s your life.’  Francesca’s set was very well done and I came away impressed with her vocal abilities as well as her backup band’s ability to create a jazzy groove.  My favorite song of the set had to be ‘It’s your life’ with it’s great rock groove.

Family Force 5

It’s probably because I’m a thirty something but I had never heard of these guys prior to the show.  I did some obligatory YouTube and Google searches to see what these guys are all about.  But to say I knew all about these guys would be disingenuous.  After seeing them live, I came away impressed and a fan.  The kids (I guess I can say that now) went nuts when these guys took the stage.  I can see why.  I grew up on hip hop and rap music.  I really like how they mixed musical styles.  I may not fit their demo but man I could bob my head to that music.  I feel like I have to justify my midlife crisises (not a word but I’m going with it).

David Crowder*Band

Okay I’ll admit this was the most anticipated set of the night for me.  Everything Glorious is one of my favorite songs of all time.  I’ll leave out why because I think it could be a blog entry all on it’s own.  Love their songs and how they layer different instruments in the composition.  They really mixed musical genres all keeping Christ centered.  It was a thing of beauty.  I think my favorite was their cover of Hank Williams ‘I saw the light.’  I really enjoyed listening to the band talk during their set.  We seem to share the same worldview (that is to say uber-geekiness).  I take this stance on the inclusion of the Mario Bros. theme music and their robotic drummer Steve-3-PO.  Which is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.   Overall their set was incredible and I came away more of a fan if that’s possible.

MercyMe

MercyMe continues to be one of my favorite bands.  So so many of their songs apply to my life (which is to say my own walk with the Lord).   Their performance was really awesome and I really loved how they kept Christ at the center and made it a point to do so.  My favorite was the inclusion of a ‘Homesick’ intro to I can only Imagine.  Their set list had a great mix of their hits and new stuff.  It also did a great job of covering a great spectrum of styles they have in their catalog.  MercyMe was like the exclamation point on a great night worshipping God.

They of course as the headliners had the coolest stage setup.  A massive LED board behind them that really did a great job illustrating what the band was playing and singing about.  It really added to the experience and the worship.

Summary, conclusions, and personal feelings of the night.

Now that my very weak attempt at a newspaper review is over, I can get to meat and potatoes of this thing.  Quite simply I have never worshipped my creator like that.  I know that is bad to say (especially since the worship leader at my service at church is a friend and might read this blog).  But there is something about church that makes me hold back.  I know we should hold nothing back because we are in his house but I do.  It doesn’t hold back tears especially if the song sings my heart. But I for some unknown reason keep my hands down.  This wasn’t the case on Friday night.  I held my hands and I sang as loud as I could with everything I had.  I was in a room with thousands of other people but I was able to sing to one guy.  And it was a beautiful thing.  The whole night was so moving.  Every song allowed me release and sing to my creator.  I couldn’t even take pictures because it was so surreal that I wanted to see it through my eyes instead of my viewfinder.  I walked out of AA center changed because I have tasted true worship.  Something I want to taste more of.

Who finds whom?

I’ve heard a lot of people end their salvation stories with, ‘…and that is when I found God.’  One of my favorite songs, ‘You found me’ starts with the words, ‘I found God on the corner of 1st and Amistad.’  Hearing this stuff really has me thinking and pondering who finds whom?

So which is it?  Do we find him or does he find us?  I know the natural response is that we find God because he is all knowing.  God’s omnipotence means that he knows where we are and where we are going to be.   So we aren’t lost in a location sense.  This regular guy’s opinion is that we are lost because we take our eyes off of him or believe we can walk without him.  Jesus talked in parables chasing after the lost sheep.  The lost sheep doesn’t know it’s lost.  The sheep is wandering off chasing some bright and shiny object.  The shepherd sees the sheep wander off and has to go in pursuit to recover his property.  Cross the streams, climb the rocks, and cut through the brush to bring his sheep back to the fold.

I may be way off but this is why I believe the God finds us.  He sees wherever we are at.  He crosses the streams, climbs the rocks, and cuts through the brush to bring us back with him.  The sheep may realize that it’s in danger and my try to find its way home or run further away.  Ultimately the shepherd finds the sheep and brings it home.  No matter what we do he brings us home.  So in my mind he finds us.  What do you think?

Week 1: Firing from the hip…

We’re going to go bullets for the first blog post of twenty-o-ten.  I’ve made a resolution to be better at expressing ideas that bounce around this noggin of mine.  I don’t want to lose these thoughts so I resolved to express myself once a week.  We’ll see how it goes because I’ve never been a resolution guy. 

So here we go….

Mark McGwire – You were  one of my heroes when I was younger.  I begged my parents to take me to an Oakland A’s game when I was in sixth grade to see you and Canseco play.  While what you did was technically not against the rules back then, it was wrong.  I am glad you are finally talking about this.  I have no doubt you took your cues from Major League Baseball as they wanted to see how this panned out.  I think you could have diffused a lot of this if you came out in the forefront and be the first to admit and discuss this.

 

 

 

Pete Carroll – Pretty big jump with some pretty big repercussions on the coaching carousel.  He leaves a pretty big seat on that carousel.  Granted there looms the big possibility of some NCAA sanctions on the horizon for the Men of Troy.  I think those gathering clouds affect the potential prospects to take that job.  Let’s look for Chris Petersen of Boise to become a player in this.

 

Huskers – Wow did three weeks off do them some good.  Drubbed the Arizona Wildcats 33-0 with a previously unseen offensive explosion.  The Arizona defensive staff looked dumbfounded.  I don’t blame them though.  If anyone watched film of us down the stretch, our playcalling was bland at best.  This game will do wonders for them this off-season. 

 

Wearing Jerseys in Public – I had a facebook status update that besmirched grown men wearing jerseys in public.  I referred to going Kroger to pick up some groceries on a Thursday as opposed to actually wearing it to the game.  I gave a pass to those who wore them while in the stadium.  Here is another example of why one shouldn’t wear a jersey in public.

 

Resolutions – Now I know I just said that I’m resolving to write in this more, but do resolutions really work?  I don’t think so.  Resolutions come off as a half-hearted attempt to commit to something.  If you really want a change, you need to commit to that change and let nothing stand in the way your desired change.  I may be on a soapbox here but it’s what I’ve learned in my short time on this ball. 

 

Harry Reid – Why does he get a pass for what he said about Obama?  If it were a Republican or Conservative that said the same things there would be a firestorm.  A firestorm that would ultimately lead to a resignation in shame.

 

 

Have a great new year.  Hopefully we will see more frequent observations this year.

A Pirate, a Pony, and a Chancellor walk into an equipment shed…

 

Pride comes before destruction

Proverbs 16:18

This situation has been rehashed 14 different ways on TV, print, and the blogosphere.   Here is my take.  There are five characters at play in this tragedy.

The Pirate :  The Head Coach.  He has built an impressive program that competes at the highest level in one of the top conferences in college football.  He took what was once a backwater program and brought them into the national discussion.  Attributed to an interesting personality and offense to match.  This success has afforded a great following with a fan base in west Texas that was looking for a collegiate outlet for their friday-night-lights football obsession.  This following afforded him some capital in the public forum.  Capital that led people and press to overlook a snide personality with his penchant to publicly explore other jobs.

The Pony:  A former football great.  A former golden-boy running back who was deemed so worthy in high school that a University literally sold it’s soul to get him on campus.  He moved on to NFL glory and a career as a talking head on a major sports network.

The Receiver:  Son of the Pony with the attitude to match.  Largely been reported that he had an air of entitlement to his personality and practiced that way.  His attitude drove his position coach and the Pirate nuts.

The AD:  The poor soul who had to be the boss of an individual, the Pirate. who thought he had no boss.  He was fired from his old job as Basketball coach and received his previous job largely out of pity.  His predecessor leaves the school and puts him in the catbirds seat.

The Chancellor:  A spectator in this whole circus.  A guy who loved the success of his schools football team but had to have heard what it was like dealing with the Pirate.

Here is where I see the mistake was made.  Leach (The Pirate) let a lazy, entitled athlete with a reportedly overbearing, stage-dad get into his head.  If Adam James was such a bad teammate, Leach had many options to deal with him.  Sit young Adam on the bench, suspend him, or give him a signed release and leave it up to Adam to decide if he wants to stay or not.  Instead it appears he went Col. Nathan R. Jessup and tried to train Adam by locking him in various closets and sheds around the Lubbock Metropolitan area.  A big misread by the Pirate in this case.  The Receiver makes a call to the Pony and the public hype machine at the WWL gets fired up.  This unwanted hype and years of abrasiveness made the decision pretty easy to part ways.  All they asked him to do was apologize to the family and he refused (and not to diplomatically either).  Leach brought lawyers into it and filed a restraining order.  Leach’s representation said he couldn’t be suspended  because he didn’t have that clause in his contract.  So the Chancellor said exercised the termination clause.  IMO Leach has no one to blame but himself and his foolish pride.

2009 in Review

Boy a lot has happened over the past year.  I know you the reader sees a lot of these this time of year.  I’m going to give my spin on what I’ve seen over the past year.  It’ll end up being mediocre but then again I’m not the greatest writer (probably could tell by reading this).

Family

This year was really great for my family.  My oldest started 1st grade this year.  He and I are beginning to hold conversations now versus me ordering him around.  He is an interesting cat.  I love his take on things.  It keeps me young.

His younger brother is 3 going on 15 now.  He has such an advanced view on life because of his older brother.  They will be partners in crime when they get older.

My wife and I continue our journey together and it continues to be great.  I could write a whole lot more here but it wouldn’t do us justice.

Me

Lots of things happened this year.  I ran a half marathon in San Antonio.  It was as grueling as expected.  I went into it kind of hap-hazardly.  A friend of mine told me to run with him in it and I agreed for some reason.  The thought of running 13.1 miles continuously scared me to death especially since I’d never run more than a 6 mile distance in my life.  I found a Hal Higdon training program and stuck to it.  This experience taught me how to rely preparation.  John Wooden is famous for saying ‘Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.’  This became my rallying cry for this race.  I’ve applied this experience to all of the other aspects of my life.  Preparing for something only helps and never hurts.

Goals for 2010

I’ve made only one resolution for this upcoming year.  It is to write a blog article at least once a week about ‘whatever strikes a chord.’  I think I’ve figured out where ORaN fits in with my Facebook and Twitter pages.  Spent most of 09 trying to find it’s place and we’ll see how it transpires.  I hope you like it.

Brett Favre part 76…I’m back

 Well it’s official.  Brett Favre to the Vikings.  I remember hearing several times after he agonized over his decision that this wasn’t over.  One of my friends stated that this was just a ploy to get out of training camp but that he will be  in purple this year.  Well it turns out that Chicago Bear fan was right.

If you take a step back and look at this whole situation, I believe something went really awry with the front office in Green Bay.  I see a front office who eagerly wanted to move on with Aaron Rogers and a future Hall-of-Famer who wanted to leave on his own terms.  Who was right?  I don’t know.  It is the prerogative of the front office to make sure that they put a competitive product on the field.  From Favre’s perspective, is Aaron Rogers really an upgrade?  Hasn’t he earned the right to call his own shot? 

Well we know how it has played out.  The Packer front office got their wish and convinced him enough to leave.  Favre then played his hand.  He played the NFL’s retirement system very well so he could dictate how and where he would go.  What better place than Minnesota, hated rival.  What a great way to get back at the front office than show up to Lambeau on a day that was supposed to honor your Packer greatness in the jersey of your enemy.   You say but what about his fans?  Won’t this alienate his fans?  In a word, no.  He is their hero.  He led them to greatness.  Brought championships back to ‘Titletown.’  I would be willing to bet that after the initial sting has worn off the ill feeling held by Packer fans will turn to management.  As time wears on, I would be willing to bet the prevailing thought in Wisconsin is that the Packer front office blew this one. 

Either way this is a great situation for Favre.  The Vikings possess the two things that take pressure off the QB, a premier running game and a stout defense.  The defense will keep opponents out of the endzone and Adrian Peterson and that O Line will control the clock and punish the enemy.  This puts Favre in a position where he doesn’t have to make 50 throws to be competitive.  In fact, the play action game becomes the knockout punch in their gameplans.  This means only a few throws a game for Favre which is perfect for his high mileage arm.  This addition makes the Vikings a contender in a big way.