birthday blunders

Have you ever been guilty of committing a birthday blunder? Have you ever had someone commit a blunder on your birthday? Most people mean well on someone's birthday and never intend to make someone's birthday less special, but sometimes we make a mistake that ruins their day. We might forget someone's birthday or treat someone rudely. We might combine the two. The reason I bring this up is not because anyone has done this to me on my birthday today (at least yet...the choice is yours). I bring it up because it came up in discussion the other day and I thought it would be an appropriate day for me to post it. I want to give you two humorous stories (maybe not to some parties involved) about some birthday blunders (one is personal; one happened to someone I know, but I was not involved). Then I would love to hear some of your own, whether they occurred to you or by you. 1. During my junior year of college, I was blessed to have my brother Jon attend CBC with me. I was very excited that he had chosen to come and was thrilled to have family so close by. Also at school was my good friend Jesse Cook. My brother and Jesse shared a birthday...January 17. I had always thought of that day as my brother and sister's (Shan's birthday is also that day) birthday. But my first two years of college, I had taken that day to celebrate Jesse's birthday. During my junior year, they were both there. Thus, there were two people close to me whose birthday it was that day. The choice should not have been tough. Clearly, I should have chosen to celebrate the day by taking my brother out to eat, right? But I didn't. I ignorantly chose to go out to dinner with my friends to celebrate Jesse's birthday. My poor choice in whose birthday to celebrate wasn't the worst part of it though. The worst part was that I was broke and went to Jon and asked him if I could have some money so I could go out with my friends to celebrate Jesse's birthday. Looking back, that's clearly not one of my prouder moments. 2. As the story is told by my friend's son, my friend promised to take his son out for his 8th birthday. At some point and somehow, he forgot about it and proceeded to take his son's friends out for ice cream...WITHOUT HIS SON!!! When he arrived home, he realized his gaff and tried to make it up to his son, but it was too little, too late. I'm not sure that it gets much worse than taking your kid's friends out without you for ice cream on your birthday. These stories are sad but true (the first one I know for sure and the second is alleged, but I'm confident in its accuracy). Which of the two is worse? Do you have one that is worse than or on par with these? Let me know. Sorry again Jon.

i probably think this song is about me

"You need a new image today?" As soon as the woman across the counter at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles office asked me that question, I immediately followed with my response, "You bet...I've been waiting 5 years for this moment." I wasn't satisfied with my license photo since the day I took it in 2005, but there was no way to hide the fat and frustration that came with it. For 5 years I have looked at my license and waited for the day to get a new photo taken. I'm just happy I lost the weight before that moment came. I would be in denial if I claimed that yesterday wasn't a day of vanity for me. And anyone who goes through a period of extreme weight loss have probably fought that same vanity. I fight this battle, but my license photo take was a very big deal to me. I must have looked in the mirror 25+ times yesterday (this is fairly common practice for me anyway) making sure that my hair looked okay and practicing my smile. I wanted to make sure that the picture was something I could keep for a while (and in Mass, they let you keep the same photo for 10 years). In fact, the reason I went yesterday and not the beginning of next week was due to the fact that my hair's window of looking good was running out. You know what I'm talking about: you get a haircut and within a few weeks your hair looks perfect. Then within another week or two, it's time for a new haircut. I even brought a change of clothes with me to work so that I wouldn't be in a dress shirt and tie for my photo. I wasn't sure how much of me they would get, but I wanted it to look normal. I was excited at the opportunity to trade in my creeper, stalker-style license pic for a new normal looking one. Vain or not, I don't know...but I'm pleased with the results.

new mindset. new goal. same passion.

Around this time last year, I decided to run a marathon to raise money for Speed the Light. I was still losing weight and trying to get back into shape after spending 7 years of my life overweight (most of which I was over 200 lbs.) I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to train and it proved to be a difficult task. As a result, I finished in a slower time than I had hoped for. But let's be honest...the thing that really mattered to me was that I had finished! I learned a lot about perseverance. After a winter-long hibernation from all things running, I laced the running shoes again a month and a half ago and quickly fell in love again. I realized that I'm in a much different place. I'm not in the process of losing weight. In fact, I'm in the best shape of my life (both physically and spiritually). It didn't take long for me to want to do another marathon. At first, I just wanted to do it for myself. I didn't want to "hassle" people asking for support for Speed the Light again after having done so last year. But, in the last few weeks a lot has changed. I really feel like God's been laying it on my heart to run for him and not myself. As a result, I will be raising support for Speed the Light once again. People can choose whether or not to give. I will not neglect in giving the option. What's really cool though is that I have a new mindset and goal. I love running hills again. I have cut significant time off my normal running speed (2+ minutes). I don't give up when I feel tired or sore. I push through. That's because I'm trusting more in God and choosing to give him my best. Speed the Light is my passion...I cannot help myself from doing all I can to help support missionaries around the world. It's something I can do to impact millions of lives in a positive way. And by partnering with me in support you can do the same. So marathon #2 brings with it a new mindset. a new goal. but the same passion for God and for his heart (missions).

pavlov 2.0

So, most people are familiar with Ivan Petrovich Pavlov who famously conducted an experiment using dogs. The term "Pavlov's Dogs" is commonly used to refer to situations which display the accuracy of his findings. If you have no clue who Pavlov is, I would recommend you google his dog experiment, but in short here's the basic explanation (hopefully I remember it correctly, a few details may be off, but it's basically what happened): Pavlov would ring a bell just prior to feeding the dogs for a period of time. In time, once he would ring the bell, the dogs would begin salivating. They associated the ringing of the bell with eating time. Even if he rang the bell during a non-normal feeding time, they would become hungry and begin to salivate. Homer Simpson also stated this theory when he noted that cats come running into the kitchen when they hear the can opener. He then went running outside when he heard the ice cream truck. So, why am I bringing up an age-old experiment, you may ask. Well, I believe that his premise is generally accurate and there is an annoying occurrence in traffic which proves it. Police cars, especially when the lights are flashing. In the same way that the ringing bell would cause the dogs to salivate, the sight of a police car makes people hit their brakes. And quite frankly it's annoying. It causes so much traffic. A person can be driving 55 mph in a 65 and they will still hit their brakes at the sight of a cop. It can be a cop driving down the highway, one sitting and doing radar, or one with someone pulled over or assisting a broken down vehicle/accident. Lights on or off, people's first reaction is to him the brake. WHY?!?!?! We need to break ourselves out of this cycle. Let's prove Pavlov's theory wrong for a change and keep our feet away from the brake pedal the next time we see a cop. Thank you.

across the finish line

Thanks again to everyone for the support for my marathon run, both through donations and encouragement. Things didn't go exactly as planned and I learned a lot about perseverance, but as I said, I finished the run. And I can assure you, the pain was less and sense of accomplishment was greater once I was finally across the finish line. I'll write more about my full marathon experience later. In fact, now that my training's done, hopefully I'll be back to blogging a little more regularly. Below are a couple pics from the marathon.

it's not a sprint...

After months of running and training, the marathon is just around the corner...only 3 weeks away. There have been a lot of awesome things as result of the training. Obviously I've trimmed down and my overall health has improved significantly. I've had some lessons in patience and discipline. It's been fun at times. And there have been a number of frustrations as result of the training. My free time has been eaten up and well, I have to run a lot. Weighing those things out, I've come to the conclusion that I cannot wait for the marathon and will be excited when it's over...haha.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported Speed the Light through my run. I love you guys!

Also, when the marathon's over, I'll probably have time to update my blog again!!!

thanks, i think

I was talking to a friend who's wedding reception I recently attended. We were discussing how relieving it is to finally be done with all the planning and effort. He then mentioned how he and his wife were only almost done as they still had the thank you cards to knock out. And that got me to thinking... I sort of hate the whole concept of thank you cards. I mean, I'm all for being appreciative and grateful, but I think it's a waste of time and money to have to write out cards. Saying thanks at the party should be enough. That being said, people put a lot of weight into the thank you cards. Let's look at this from a gift giver's perspective: When I get a thank you card in the mail, I open it, say to myself "of course I got you a gift, I didn't need a card" and discard it. (When I originally wrote these words, there was no intentional pun, but I believe one may exist with "card" and "discard"...you decide.) At first thought, this made me think, "See the thank yous are unneccessary." But then I was thinking about when I haven't received one. I feel like the person is so unappreciative and ungrateful. I judge them instantly. Why is it that when we receive them we act like no biggie but when we don't, it's the end of the world. As further evidence of this, I had people ask if I got/enjoyed their wedding gift and then when I confirmed that I did, they brought up the fact that they never got a card. Now, I assure you that we sent a card to everyone and it probably got lost or something, but seriously, why do people make a big deal out of a little card? That being said, you can expect a thank you card from me next time you "deserve" one because I will stand in line and meet the status quo like everyone else.