It was my intent to publish this post yesterday since Wednesday is hump day. My hump day entries will therefore be ‘Get off your rump’ days and will contain something relating to improving health or well-being in an attempt to motivate me (and maybe others) to get some exercise, have some fun or basically escape the daily grind.

Lately I’ve been in a downward spiral of exercising less and eating more. This trend has had a deleterious effect on my physique and energy levels, not to mention my self-esteem. I go through this cycle every few months, and it seems to be getting harder and harder to turn the ship around. It’s going to take something serious, like a Mexican cruise or something, to motivate me to get in shape.

To help those out there that may share my struggle, I have a couple of tried and true tips for giving the old ticker a workout.

Tip #1: Play flag football. I thought this would be a great idea. I remember having some pretty good hands and some pretty quick wheels back in the day (that day being high school). Well, 15 years later it seems the hands may still be there, but somehow the performance wheels and tires have been replaced with all weather radials. In other words, they get me places safely as long as I don’t try to do anything fancy. Apparently running up and down the field a few times is essentially exceeding performance parameters. I played last Thursday, and it took until yesterday for the lactic acid to dissipate. But it is good exercise. You should just take plenty of time to stretch before and after.

Tip#2: Don’t use the self-propel feature on your lawn mower. This can be accomplished by either simply opting to push it. Or, more effectively, break the drive cable, thus ensuring you can’t cheat. I appreciate Allie recognizing my expanding gut and committing to help me trim down (at our lawnmower’s expense.) I actually pulled a groin muscle mowing the lawn last night, so you know it must be an effective way to up the pulse rate. (And, as a bonus, now I get to learn more about lawnmower repair - physical and mental exercise.)

So there you go - two fine tips to help you get off your rump and turn lazy into lean. Write me with your personal success story.

Let’s see, I tried to think of something to write about on Tuesdays, and I’m thinking it will have to be about an issue that is the news of the day. Today it the news seems to be focused on Governor Sarah Palin and what Senator McCain must have been smoking when he chose her to complete his ticket. The associated press didn’t put it quite like that, but we all know that’s what the rough drafts say before the editors make the story suitable for print or presentation. Indeed, the little that I know about Gov Palin (and granted, all that I know is based on what the liberal press has told me) has caused me to question my preferred choice in the next leader of our country. (Hey, liberal press . . . it’s working!)

It just seems with so many likely and prepared candidates (i.e., Romney - hey, I’m a fan) McCain went out in true Maverik form and drew a 6 of hearts from a deck of aces - ok, maybe a couple aces and a lot of jokers. Certainly these next few weeks and months will prove under which suit our republican candidates fit.

Although it does appear that Govenor Palin was the ‘lucky’ name hit by McCain’s errant dart, the reality is that the vetting process is quite an ordeal. It’s true, I saw a snippit about it on the NBC Nightly News. A team of advisors posing as expert character judges and investigators assemble a 40-page report on all the top prospects. The report lists such things as political allies and enemies, battles won/lost, experience, personal background, finances, media coverage, yada yada. Apparently, the report is not so extensive to bring up things like, oh, I don’t know . . . children with substandard morals or pending wrongful termination lawsuits. Now I agree that parents - especially busy politician parents - can’t control children’s actions (take Jenna Bush, for instance) but it does show a general breakdown in the basic family moral structure. And goes the old Chinese Proverb (why are there no old American Proverbs?): “… if there is harmony in the home there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation there will be peace in the world.” Now I’m not necessarily saying that there isn’t harmony in the Palin household, but I’ll bet the Romney household just sings right in tune. But, you may ask, are a candidate’s family affairs really that important? Well, if the Chinese were right, world peace does depend on it.

To clarify, I am by no means judging Gov Palin. I hope she has the opportunity to be come vice president and does a bang-up job. But I am already doubting Senator McCain’s decision-making strategies. Although a pretty, feminine face definitely brightens up his campaign posters, I can’t help but wonder what in Mitt Romney’s 40-page report was so unattractive? My guess: his faith. Let me tell you, Senator . . . a running mate with a little divine inspiration, along with proven leadership experience and a squeaky clean background would have greatly complimented your chances. Good luck dude!

Ok, so it has been months since my last blog entry. I’ve gone back and forth on the whole issue of maintaining/resuming a blog. There seem to be many compelling arguments to both keep and abandon this effort. I like to be consistent at everything I do, and blogging seems to be a challenge in that regard. There are other things I would rather do with my time. But I also recognize the need to keep some sort of account of thoughts and activities. Some blogs are for the benefit of the readers; other blogs are for the benefit of the writer or his/her posterity; and still other blogs seem to serve no purpose at all. I don’t want to fall into this latter category.

That being said, I have ambitions to resume blogging with a mix of entries that benefit me and any happenstance readers. Allie has re-committed to keeping an account of some of the interesting things that go on in our household. So to help avoid redundance in this respect, I have ambitions to maintain a structured blog dealing with 3-4 recurring topics each week that may be of interest to readers and provide me with enough motivation and material to continue more than one or two weeks. At this point I’m thinking of topics like: Tips for Dads, Beliefs and assumptions (be it religious or otherwise), career/productivity-related, and possibly a health-related topic (the latter two will be primarily for my benefit.

For example, Mondays might be my Tips for Dads day. And since this is Monday, here is the first tip: If you are a sore loser, do not, under any circumstances, challenge your 4 year-old daughter (or any of your children for that matter) to a puzzle race. I tried this, and my confidence and ambition were quickly reduced to humilation and poor sportsmanship. You may notice from the picture that the puzzles were not overly difficult, but the fact is that I didn’t have a chance from the start. I had to hide a piece of Hannah’s puzzle to buy more time for myself; but she had time sufficient to search, find and place her ‘missing’ piece. And to add insult to injury, when Hannah completed her puzzle she came over to help me finish mine. So dads, if you can handle losing gracefully to a 4-year old, have a puzzle race. It was worth it for me to see the satisfaction in her smile. Good times.  

Every once in a while I get an email with some sound advice and words of wisdom. Today I received one that contained the following tidbits of wisdom. I like numbers 3, 8 and 9 best.

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone.
2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.
3. It’s always darkest before dawn. So if you’re going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it.
4. Don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.
5. Always remember that you’re unique. Just like everyone else.
6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
7. If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car payments.
8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.
9. If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you
10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
11. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
12. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.
13. Some days you’re the bug; some days you’re the windshield.
14. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
15. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.
16. A closed mouth gathers no foot.
17. Duct tape is like ‘The Force’. It has a light side and dark side, and it holds the universe together.
18. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.
19. Generally speaking, you aren’t learning much when your lips are moving.
20. Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
21. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
22. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night

Some of you may have glanced at my fun stuff page where you might have seen a link to the website howstuffworks.com. I had forgotten about this site until just recently when I wanted to know how an ACES II ejection seat in fighter jet aircraft works. After learning about the ejection seats, I studied up on 4 cycle engines, air traffic control and automatic and manual transmissions.

With ten different categories and literally thousands of very informational articles complete with diagrams, photos and flash presentations, this really is a great site if you have ever wondered how stuff works. Check it out.

Welcome fellow bloggers and blog readers. I am in the process of setting up my new home here so please stay tuned for some really amuzing, insightful, intellectual and informative blogs. However, even with all these attributes, I still can’t promise that anything posted here will be worth the time it takes to read it. But thanks for stopping by anyway. See you soon.