Goal Accomplished: Laugh Unitl I Cry

Friday night, the first one of my goals was accomplished. I laughed until I cried. It was because of a commercial -- Patch Genie. I don't even remember why it struck me as being funny, but what really pushed me over the edge was that when I started laughing, I started coughing and wheezing. It was a fun time.

Summer Goals

I figured that, instead of sitting idly by and watching summer come and go in a flash, I would make goals for myself. Then I figured that, if I just wrote it down for myself, and didn't share it with anybody, it would probably never happen. So, I thought why not post them on my blog? That way I have a little more accountability. We'll see how I do. This is before the first day of classes in August.

Goals:
Physical --
Be able to run a half-marathon (13 miles) in under 2.5 hours.
Ride my bike to and from work five times.
Do 150 sit-ups in one trip to the gym.
Bench press my body weight.

Mental/Professional --
Read 15 books (9 fiction, 6 non-fiction).
Read 50 physics journal entries (preferably related to research).
Develop my own experiment using the Scanning Electron Microscope.
Do teaching company chemistry lessons to prepare for chem clep exam.
Start and maintain own physics dictionary.
Start, push, and complete a project that will help John Deere Drivetrain Assembly reach accuracy goal of 91%.

Creative/Spiritual --
Write five songs.
Read Bible and pray w/ Allegra on a daily basis.
Reserve at least one day a month to do something cool for somebody else.
Watch at least 20 sunsets/sunrises in a beautiful place.

Fun --
Go camping/hiking for a weekend, just wifey and me.
Stay at the campground with Papa W. at least one night.
Go to Chicago and take Allegra to the surprise!
Go to my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary celebration.
Visit Caitlyn and Lee.
Go to Hayward at least twice.
Play football with the guys.
Have at least one movie marathon weekend.
Go fishing.
Go canoeing.
Go golfing (?).
Show my siblings the alligator in UNI's Science Building.
Laugh until I cry.

This is an ambitious list. I don't expect to get everything done, but I know I will get more done if I have a list of things that I want to get done in front of me than if I don't have anything to drive me.

Vick, part II

Featured on NFL.com today was a story about how former NFL coach, Tony Dungy, went to the prison where Michael Vick will be held for fifteen more days, just to offer a word of encouragement and advice to him, and to share his life story; to witness to him. The act of Dungy isn't surprising to me. What is surprising is that NFL.com featured a story about it! How exciting! Much was speculation, but all the speculation was good, and what Dungy, himself, said, was very powerful.

Check it out:
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d8102ff22&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true

Midnight Poem

Mist, rises from the morning creek,
Its sunrise yearning so soft and meek.
Breeze, gently runs cross my cheek,
Here I come close to what I seek.

A step away from the rush of living,
A moment reminding to be alive.
A silent mantra boldly proclaiming
"You were meant to struggle and thrive!"

Why, when we, as part of creation
are subject to the same frustrations,
think we ought, by some invocation,
to be exempt from trials and pain?

It seems to me an ignorant notion
to choose to ignore the depths of the ocean
to drink of a fake, shallow, happiness potion
and never know what you'd have gained.

It also seems just as foolish
to walk through life as foul and boorish
to stomp on a flower before it can flourish,
trying to cover the pain.

Life, like the river, winds around this bend,
Through high and low, everywhere it's been,
In my canoe, fighting the wind, my blustery friend.
Don't let it tip. Keep it afloat. Life is the river, the heart is the boat.

Let There Be Light

In my physics class, we just started a new unit on light.
It's amazing that something so basic and universal can be so confusing!
We know enough about light to know that we know nothing about light. Is it a particle? Yes. Is it a wave? Yes. How can it be both a particle and a wave? We don't know. Because of these things, modern physicsts have been led to believe that particles and "super-position" themselves into parallel universes, and other crazy stuff.
The more that I, personally, learn about the subject, the more I realize how truly complex and wonderful it really is. Light, with all its principles, properties, and possibilities, is something no human could ever have thought up.

Yet, God simply said, "Let there be light!"

...and there was Light!

Vick, for hire, earning $400/wk.

Former all-pro quarterback, Michael Vick, will soon be released from prison, after being convicted of supporting dog fighting. Upon his release, he will work 40 hours a week for $10/hr for a construction company owned by a family friend. Everyone else turned him down. A very humble position for formerly being one of the NFL's highest-paid players!

Vick hopes to make an NFL comeback, even as early as this fall. If he truly has turned his life around, he deserves a second chance. Until he tastes what it's like to try to live on $400 a week, I think he won't really know for sure if he is truly a different man. I am hopeful that, although the sad saga of the Vick family has had many a bad moment, Michael will be able to show the millions of watching eyes that just because someone has made bad choices in the past, they are not necessarily a bad person, and that life can change. Wise decision can be made.

I'll be praying for you, Michael!

First Post

Hello to my currently non-existent, future bloglings!

This is a random posting, but just something to get myself off the ground in the blogging world.
I'll be honest, I'm mostly doing this for my wifey. She has a blogspot blog, too. I'm her #1 fan.

Next one will be more serious, and probably longer.

-- Wilson, A.