Happy New Year!!!!

Our days are decided in the first 15 minutes after we wake up every day.  If we wake up in a bad mood, then that will transcend into the rest of the day.  On the other hand, wake up bright and cheery, and odds are the day will be pretty great.  This just means that every day we wake up, the first thing we rise to is a decision.  How do we want our day to play out?

Personally, I try my very best to make a decision for it to be good each day.  I've never had a "bad day" that I've enjoyed.  Today was one of those days that I chose to have a great day and man, did it ever pan out.

Carri and I woke up to a pretty gloomy day.  It was starting to rain and the temperature was dropping.  We woke up and had a great breakfast of BELT's (bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.)  After that we went to the gym for our weekend workout which was awesome!  After a 2.5 mile run 4 miles on the bike, we went home and got ready for the rest of our day.

We went out to Brandon, SD today to look at places to have our wedding reception! We found a gorgeous location that overlooked an absolutely spectacular golf course.  It has everything that we could ever want; a beautiful dance floor, room for up to 300 people, scenic views of almost the entire front 9, a fish pond right outside the back door, a large patio for people to enjoy the day outside if they choose, and all at a very reasonable price.  I never could have imagined anything more perfect, especially for our first place that we looked at!

Now it's time for the evening and only time will tell where New Years Eve takes us.  It's time to celebrate the end to a wonderful year and the start of a new one that will bring many new beginnings.  2011 has come and gone like a hurricane and left a ton of great memories in it's wake.  Tonight is the night to be with friends and enjoy the last minutes of the year with the ones we love.

I know a lot of people that seem to constantly be in a bad mood.  Their days are never going well, they don't enjoy anything about what's happening in their lives, and they want everyone around them to know it.  If you're one of those people I challenge you to try with everything you have to choose for it to be different starting tomorrow morning.  It's the first day of 2012 and it's time for a change.  No one can do it for you, only you have the power to change; and it starts with a simple decision right when you wake up.

I hope everyone has a fantastic night and rings in the new year in a way they'll never forget.  Every day is a gift. May you have many more to share with your friends and family.  Let's make 2012 something to remember.  Stay safe, have a ton of fun, make good decisions, but most of all, enjoy everything about being given the gift to enjoy another year of Improbable Madness!

Burning Out in the Madness

Twenty-four hours of work in two days makes it a little tough to stay motivated to get to the gym.  I decided that I'd take the past two days off since the last thing I wanted to do after work was train.  Up until February when my training begins fully, I will be taking work days off.  It's important to keep a good pace and not burn ourselves out when starting to train for something.

I have found that in the past that's what happens.  I think it happens with a lot of people too, especially around this time of year.  We decide that we're going to make a change for the new year and get in shape and start out fantastically.  We go to the gym almost every day at first, pushing ourselves to the limit.  Then, after a couple of weeks, we go one or two less days because we're tired and not as motivated since we're past the new year.  Eventually most of us rarely go or just stop going at all.

Well, it's important to keep in mind why we're doing what we're doing.  My resolution is not "to get in shape."  It is to set and follow through and complete a major goal.  Today, I will get back to the gym after two days off.  I'm not sore like I was for the last 48 hours, I'm re-energized from a good night of sleep, and I'm ready to go!

I wanted to run outside this morning but I woke up to a gloomy and rainy day so I'm just going to wait for my fiancé to get off work and we'll go together.  Tomorrow I'll be running outside with her and my dog so that I have a variety in the training.  It needs to stay fun and exciting so that I may stay interested and motivated.

Just remember, if you're trying to get in shape in 2012, or whatever resolution you have for that matter, to always remember how you felt when you set your goal.  Try not to burn yourself out in the first couple of weeks and always find new and interesting ways to stay motivated.  It's a long journey so don't get discouraged if you don't see results overnight.  Personally, I imagine every day what it's going to feel like when I finally cross that finish line and can say that I did something I set out to do 6 months prior.  That is what keeps me motivated to stay strong and keep pushing despite all of the improbable madness.

 

New Years Resolutions!

Congratulations everyone! We made it through the holidays and hopefully only gained a few pounds.  Hopefully everyone got to spend some time with our families, be thankful for what we have, and got everything they wanted for Christmas.  Now it's time to get down to business.  New Years is THIS WEEKEND and it's time for those infamous new years resolutions.

Since training officially starts in February, I figured I should probably have some sort of fitness level before I begin.  I got my shoes and workout clothes ready.  I'm using the Brooks Adrenaline training shoes as they seem to have always done the best for me in the past.  If there's one thing I've learned, it's a good pair of shoes are just as, if not more, important as a good training schedule.

I went to the gym yesterday for a good cardio workout for the first time in a few weeks.  I thought I'd get a baseline of my fitness level and was actually pleasantly surprised.  You probably can't tell from the look of sheer joy on my face

 in this picture but the holiday season doesn't seem to have taken as much of a toll on me as I thought.

I ran for 20 minutes and did 2 miles.  The first three minutes were a walking warm-up.  I'm happy with a 9 minute mile right now.  After that, it was 15 minutes on the bike followed by 10 minutes on the elliptical.  Eventually I will be doing much more than this but I figured it's probably best to start off slow with a good baseline.  Afterwards, I did a few minutes of stretching and went home.  All in all a pretty good day for the first day back but I know I'll have to step it up if I hope to reach my goals.

I felt amazing after my workout.  I didn't realize how much I missed going to the gym.  I really think this is going to be a great experience.  The gym was empty, which is understandable, but I know it will be picking up soon.  Those New Years Resolutions are coming this weekend and I'm sure there's many people out there that are going to "get back in shape in 2012."

I truly hope that some of the ones that make this their goal follow through.  It's a rewarding experience that not only is fun, but also extremely important for our health.  We need to keep in mind that we're only here for a short period of time.  Working out, staying in shape, eating healthy, all are things that are not just good for you but are also a gift to our loved ones.

I'm going back for another cardio workout tonight and am going to push it a little harder to get a real idea of where I stand.  I'm really excited to share my experience with you and I'm thankful for everyone that has been reading this, this year.  My New Years Resolution is to follow through on my goals and do what I say I'm going to do no matter what.  It isn't going to be easy, but with a little perseverance, determination, and willpower, I know that 2012 will not be the end of the world like many have predicted, but a beginning to a new chapter in my life of improbable madness.

A Merry Christmas To All

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a great holiday weekend.  Carri, Gizmo, and I had a wonderful Christmas and can't wait to spend many more holidays together.  We recently lost a member of our family but we know Molly is up there watching down on us.  We made this video as a little something to be able to spend the holiday together!  I hope everyone has a great rest of the year.  May there be many more great memories for you and your family and once again MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Elf Yourself Music Video

A Guide in the Madness

August 7th, 2010 is a day that forever changed my life.  I was ending one chapter and starting another.  Without this day, I would not be here writing, I wouldn't be with my current fiancé, and I wouldn't live in South Dakota.  I may actually have been living an incredibly different life without August 7th, 2010.  I know that I would not be attempting this race on April 28th, 2012.

A little back story...  August 7th, 2010 was my first day working at a new job.  Before this, I had worked somewhere for about two and a half years.  The place I worked isn't important, or even anything in specific about the job.  The important thing is that if I hadn't made the change, my world would be a whole lot different.

During my first few weeks of training I met a good friend, let's call her, Zilem.  Zilem was actually my trainer at the time and taught me almost everything I knew about how to do my job.  Zilem liked to tell us stories of her life to lighten the mood of the monotonous training.  One day she told us a story that is why I am where I am at with my goals today.

You see, Zilem was training for her first half marathon and was set to complete it on her 30th birthday.  She was never a runner before this, but always had wanted to be.  She wasn't built for running, but that didn't matter.  Almost every night she would go home and spend time with her family and find a way to incorporate training into her everyday life.  Evening walks, nightly runs, etc... became a staple in her life.

Well, the day came.  Race day was finally here!  She's at the starting line and looks around to see the other people about to race with her.  There's "everyday" people and "every-other day people.  There's even a guy that has an Iron Man tattoo on his leg.  I remember vividly her telling me she knew she wasn't going to beat that guy.  And then she ran.

Zilem finished the half marathon on her 30th birthday exactly like she said she was going to do.  She ran her half-marathon, 13.1 miles, and did it without walking the entire way.  It was inspiring to know her while she stayed steadfast to a goal and actually saw it through.  Before her, I don't know of any other situation where I got to witness it firsthand.  This story is what inspired me to do my race.  I want to be like Zilem and be able to go home knowing I did something I said I was going to do. 

That year, I met my fiancé.  We worked together over the next year.  There were ups and downs, but we both knew it would work out in the end.   Here's a picture of us this year.

Well, she came to me in July of 2011 and asked me to move to South Dakota with her.  I knew I loved this girl so it only made perfect sense.  I didn't give it a second thought and away we went and I haven't regretted that decision for an instant since.  I live a great, albeit extremely different, life.  Where I am today compared to just one year ago amazes me.  I think back to five years ago and would never have seen myself here now. 

Every day affects everyone.  Without any given day, our futures would greatly change.  Without August 7th, 2011 I wouldn't be writing this and you wouldn't be reading this.  It not only affects me, but in its own small little way, it affected you.  I try to remember this whenever  I'm having a bad day.  Everything I do affects those around me in some way, no matter how small.

I want to thank Zilem for the life lesson she taught me.  She did something incredible simply by putting her mind to it and following through.  Partly because of her I am attempting this race.  Because of the man with the tattoo on his leg of the Ironman and the way Zilem "knew" she wasn't going to beat him, I'm setting my goal of an Ironman by the time I'm 30.  Zilem inspired me to do something better with my life.  Thank you for helping to guide me through the madness.  

"Timely" Madness

Time can be simply put as a phenomenon that exists in order to keep everything from happening at once.  But how do we view time.  Is it a set speed that we can use to help us define when events happen?  Or is it how we, as humans, perceive the world around us taking place.  Is it possible for time to change.  Does time exist as a general constant or is it something we carry around with us and if so, exactly how much of it do we have?

This is an interesting topic because I try to think about how much time changes.  From an early age, time was taught as a constant.  The hands went around on the clock the same way every second, every minute, every hour, every day.  Then why, today, does time seem to slow down or speed up solely because of what I'm doing. 

I'm sitting at work, watching the clock.  Twelve hours I tell myself, that's not that bad.  After "seemingly" 4 hours have gone by, I look up at the clock and it's only been an hour.  Yesterday was payday.  Only two more weeks until another paycheck!  Why does that two weeks always feel longer than the two weeks I spend on a vacation?  How about Christmas?  When we were kids, it seemed like it would NEVER get here.  Today, with all of the shopping madness, it feels like Christmas comes in the blink of an eye.  And also, why when I wake up, do I feel like I just went to sleep 10 minutes ago?  It's all in our perception.

Scientists have been looking for a way to bend time every since Albert Einstein's law of Relativity.  The truth is, we've kind have already had the ability all along.  All one would have to do is learn to control their ability to perceive time how they want and boom! Time travel.  You're, welcome Harvard. Unfortunately, this blog isn't about time traveling, it's about how we can affect our daily lives.

I'm one of the worst offenders of wasting time.  I don't always make the most of the time I have, but I'm trying to change that.  I wouldn't throw away a brick of gold, would you?  Then why do I throw away my time.  Why do you?  Why aren't we constantly trying to better ourselves, constantly trying to see the world, trying to love more.  Why are we sitting on the couch or the computer, eating food that's bad for us, or treating other people poorly.  Why aren't we out there pushing ourselves and trying to live life as much as we can with the little amount of time we have been given?

Well, now, I am.  With this race I am going to run, I am taking the first step to living.  I'm so excited to cross that finish line.  Every day leading up to it is exciting to me because I'll be training for a goal.  I'll be out on morning runs feeling the sun rise and warm the Earth.  I'll be doing a couple open water swims when I train and will feel the rush of water in the evening.  I'll be able to see things on my bike on the hidden trails that I could never see driving.  I'll be able to say I accomplished something by myself.

Originally, I started this blog as a way to keep me motivated to train and document my successes and failures.  It will still be that way but I have another goal.  I hope that just one person reading this is inspired.  I hope that just one person wants to do something to better themselves, or challenge themselves, or live life a little more than they have been.

I have an activity that I recently did that I felt really helped me get a grasp on my life.  In fact it led to me being here writing today.  I took a piece of paper and I drew a line down the middle.  In the left column I wrote, ways I'm wasting my time.  In the right column I wrote, things I'd rather do with my time.  I wrote down all of the things that I did that wasted time on the left.  After that, I thought of things I'd always wanted to do and wrote them on the right.  I recommend doing this multiple times, and do it on broader and broader scales.  For instance, I started with my daily activities, then monthly, yearly, and at the broadest, a 5 year sheet.  Each of these sheets is now my "bucket list" for the time period they represent. 

My time is now, your time is now, our time is now.  Time is not going to wait for you, it doesn't make friends.  Whether you choose to make the least of it or the most of it, it always keep going.  Only we can decide what we do with the little piece we're given.  An article I read from "Exposing the Truth" talks about the top 5 regrets of the dying.  Number 1 is, "I wish I had the courage to live life true to myself, not the life others expected of me,"  and number 2 is, "I wish I didn't work so hard."  By living life to its fullest potential, we can avoid having these two regrets at our end and in turn avoid wishing we had just a little more time to experience all of this madness.

Tomorrow's Madness

 I've been getting prepared to start training for the April 28th triathlon and it's starting to look like a daunting task.  I sat down over the past couple of days and hammered out a three month training schedule that has also been posted for everyone to see.  If everyone has any feedback it would be much appreciated.  All I've got this far is my shoes, my gym membership, and my schedule.  I've got drive, desire, and I like to think some physical ability.  What else do I have? The "H" word... Holidays.

It's hard to stay motivated with an unlimited amount of ham and turkey, potatoes and gravy, pie, cookies, beer, and egg nog for the taking.  There's football to watch and a basketball season finally about to start.  I don't have my bike yet and can't get it because of Christmas presents to buy.  There's cold weather and cuddling up to watch light shows.  I have Christmas specials to watch, pop corn to pop, and oh so many reasons NOT to go to the gym.  I can go next month right?

I almost said yes to that question.  I always say yes to that question.  My favorite riddle has always been, "what comes but never gets here?"  The answer is tomorrow.  I know I do it all the time.  I follow the trap of tomorrow like a moth to a flame and it's pretty safe to say most other people do as well.  Well, there's only one way to see tomorrow and that's to do it today.  My last cheesy line I'll use... Today is the tomorrow that you dreamed about yesterday.  Whoever said that originally hit the nail square on the head.

This triathlon isn't about just doing something I've always wanted to do.  It's about breaking old habits and starting new ones.  The accomplishment of doing something I said I'm going to do and starting to rebuild my character; that's the real reason for what I'm doing.  As of today I have 4 months and 15 days until I have to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.  HOLY HELL that's close!!

Have any of you played the game of tomorrow?  Ever said you'd clean the house on Saturday and come the following Friday it's still the same as it was, if not worse?  Ever say you're going to start walking the dog every night when you get off work and find him still sitting there waiting by his leash?  How about saying you'll call your loved ones more often but never really find the time to "get around" to it?  Me too.

What if we lost the chance of tomorrow?  I'm not trying to be negative or even hint that it's going to happen, but what if?  What if we lost the chance run some race because we got hurt?  What if, whatever we said we "could put off until tomorrow" was taken away from us?  We'd have to spend the rest of our lives wondering what might have been had we done them today.  Odds are, none of this will happen.  I'm just trying to make a point.

There are people who don't understand the connection between my goal and real life.  I still don't think I even truly do.  I am finding however, that as each day passes on my journey, it brings me one step closer to understanding.  The time we get is short, and it's not how much money we make or how much stuff we have.  Money doesn't buy life. You can only live life.  We need to make the most of the time we have and the people we share it with.  We need to not take "tomorrow" for granted and make the most of the time we do have.  Most importantly, we need to relish and make the most of the fact that we are given the opportunity to have a seat on this ride into the improbable madness.

A Journey Into the Madness

I have recently decided that it's time for me to achieve something.  I need to set a goal and see it through.  Too often, I say I'm going to do something only to find it fade away after a fairly short period of time.  At 24, it's time to DO something.  I want to do something real, something exciting, something not everyone can say they have, or even, can do.  I have decided I will be attempting my first triathlon in April of 2012.

It's going to be a challenge, that's for sure.  The race I am attempting is a 500 meter swim, 12 mile back ride, and 3.1 mile run.  Back... to back... to back...  I have set a bigger goal for myself of attempting an Iron Man by my 30th birthday.  An Iron Man consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a full marathon at 26.2 miles in a 17 hour time limit.  A daunting task, but one I truly believe I can achieve.  This blog is going to follow my successes and failures as I try to reach this goal.

One step at a time. Let's go for the first Tri.  I need benchmarks or else I'll never be able to measure my progress.  Two days ago I did my first major bike ride.  I wanted to see how far I could ride a bike in 30 minutes.  After a crazy, shirt soaking, heart pumping, hardcore ride, I went 10.5 miles in 30 minutes flat.  Not bad for a first timer right?  I fear to think of what it would be like after the swim and if there were to be hills and curves and wind, etc...  Oh well, let's stay positive.  I really didn't think I would get that far in that short amount of time.  From what I have read, the top finishers are usually doing the biking leg of their race in about 40 minutes.  I'm 4 minutes ahead of pace!!!!!

Most of my experience resides in the running portion of the race.  Even though I was mainly a sprinter, I ran some long distance during high school and hopefully can translate that to this goal of mine.  Tomorrow I am going to see what my benchmark for a 3.1 mile run on the treadmill is.  My goal is 25 minutes.  By the time of the race I will need to get this down to 21 minutes to reach this goal but at this time finishing is all I can really hope for.

The reason I'm doing all of this is to prove something, but not to you; I want to prove it to myself.  I want to prove that I'm not all a bunch of talk.  I don't want to say I'm going to do things and just let them fade into oblivion anymore.  It translates into something much more than a race.  Who wants to be the kind of person that never actually finishes anything major they set out to do?  We all WANT to set ourselves apart from the crowd but how many of us actually do it?

As I said before, I went to school to be a veterinarian, and while I wouldn't change anything that has happened since that endeavor, it's the start of my list of things I said I'd do but never did.  I've said before I was going to be famous and make a million dollars, boasted I was going to run a marathon, said I'd travel to a rainforest, and dreamed of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.  All of these things are above and beyond what we do in our everyday lives, but I feel each of them are something that, if I were to set my mind to it, could be attained.

Don't we all have a list of things that we've always wanted to do?  Yes. And we all have just as many, if not many more excuses as to why we haven't done them.  Well, for me personally, and I pray at least one person that reads these, it ends two days ago.  Let's go on a journey of finding ourselves and ways to achieve our goals and stop finding excuses to put things on the back burner.  It's going to be tough.  Real life still exists and I still work in a factory making plastic.

On April 28th, 2012 I'm going to be swimming, biking, and running my tail off.  Between now and then, I will be sharing the experience as best I can.  I hope I don't bore anyone, but I'm not worried, because I think it's going to be a fun and entertaining journey.  This is just the next chapter for myself and I hope you're ready to share in my Improbable Madness.

Christmas Shopping Madness

Last night I laid in bed attempting to force myself to sleep but simply couldn't.  I had a million ideas running through my head about what I wanted to write next.  I thought about ways to try to inspire people with what I wrote, what direction the blog should go, funny stories about my past, etc...  After a while, everything started becoming a giant yarn ball of junk.  Today, I spent my time attempting to unravel that yarn ball.

I tried to write today on multiple occasions only to find that what I was writing was boring and preachy.  I don't know exactly what I want this blog to be, but I do know I don't want it to be like that.  So, in an attempt to unravel the yarn ball, I went Christmas shopping.  I didn't get much shopping done, but I did do a whole lot of people watching.

This time of year is probably the most fascinating time to people watch.  Every which way people run about attempting to get everything on their Christmas shopping lists checked off.  Bell ringers stand outside of every store hoping for passerby's change, and every cashier asks me to donate to some charity I vaguely know about.  Even people in parking lots think that everyone else needs to follow the laws of the road but for some reason a stop sign is more of an optional yield only when they approach.  'Tis the season right?

I saw people in stores they clearly have never been to, buying things they've definitely no idea why they're buying.  I saw a grandma in a Spencer's gifts today while "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot blared in the background.  There were men, myself included, attempting to pick out women's clothes in hopes of picking out something that didn't ACTUALLY need that gift receipt.  There was a kid, I swear wasn't even ten, attempting to  pick out which coffee maker came with the best features.  My favorite was the mom at the local Hookah kiosk.

People range in emotion everywhere from stressful to excited and anywhere in-between during the Christmas season.  Starting on black Friday, there's the "Target Lady" wannabes and the "keep me as far away from the madness"  home shoppers; the "I'll let my wife do the shopping" husbands to the "he better get the perfect gift no matter the cost" wives.  As soon as the Turkey is down and football is over, people basically lose their minds.

I guess it's a noble cause for all of this.  At the end of the day, what we all really want, is to give that perfect gift to that special someone and try as hard as we can to be able to afford the bill at the end of it all.  What we don't always realize is that, that special someone doesn't need us to go through the madness.  They don't need two months' pay worth of gifts.  They don't need to go to work the next day with the fanciest watch or come home to the newest video game.  All any of us really need is to spend this special time of year with the ones we love.  I think that's what the spirit of Christmas is.  I hear it's the season for giving, but I think that's mainly something made up by some really good marketing people somewhere.  Really what it is, or at least what it ought to be, is the season of togetherness.

Even after all of my people watching today, I still know that I'll be doing plenty of Christmas shopping for my loved ones, but I know that even if I can't afford everything on their wish-lists, they'll still be my loved ones come December 26th.  This world is constantly going 100 mph and this time of year we're doing more like 150 mph, but it's the simple things that keep us grounded and these times of the year that really ought to ground us as we travel through all of this improbable madness. 

Improbable Madness

Remember when we all had to take those surveys in elementary school that asked about our likes and dislikes and based off of the results it would supposedly predict our future career?  I don't think making plastic in a factory was even a possible result of the test I took.  Well... here I am, 24 years old, turning 25 in a little over 4 months and making plastic 15 days a month. 

I wake up at 4:45am, take a shower; not to get clean but to wake up, eat a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, watch 10 minutes of Sports Center and then drive across town and make absolutely enormous rolls of plastic.  I then drive home after 12 hours of work, and at this time of year I haven't seen the sun since it's set before I get off, and walk up three flights of stairs to my apartment that's on the second floor.

Anyone else have this as an option on their career prediction test?  I honestly didn't know there was a need in a year for as much plastic as I make in a single day.  I often find myself wondering where it all goes once the companies who buy it are through using it...  but that's a topic for another day.  Personally my test said I would make a great Veterinarian.  

It would seem that the test failed... I disagree.  Because of my test, I went to school and had aspirations of going to Vet school.  I met a lot of great people, some of who may or may not be reading this now, and I learned a lot about myself and who I am.  I worked full time while in college and gained an incredibly strong work ethic.  I realized I didn't HAVE to have a piece of paper to tell me I was a success. 

There were a few steps in between, some of which maybe we'll talk about one day, but all that matters is I wouldn't change my life now for the entire world.  Every morning I get to see a time that I truly believe some people believe doesn't exist.  I get to watch the newest edition of Sports Center before anyone else that day.  I eat Honey Nut Cheerios and keep my cholesterol down (according to GM).  But best of all I wake up to the love of my life every day.

I always had the dream of working in the field of science, not in a factory.  I was led to believe that without a science degree this would be impossible.  I would like someone to tell me how to turn a box of 1cm plastic pellets into 110,000 foot rolls of plastic in an 8 hour time limit.  Science. 

I work 12 hour days, I only work 15 days a month.  I work for a great company and I can pay my bills. I come home to a loving fiancé, an incredibly amazing dog, a warm home, and comfortable bed.  Every other week I get three day weekends, and I live in a state where I can hunt just about anything there is to hunt.  I love art and when I come home, my apartment is apparently the real life version of a M. C. Escher painting.

I saw a picture of a child in Africa that I only clicked on because I truly thought we had found aliens.  It was so malnourished that it was basically a little skeleton with skin around it.  Unfortunately this still isn't uncommon in today's world.  I don't say this to be extreme, I say it to make a point.  There are so many people out there who really do have it rough.  It's sad but it's a fact of life.

It's time for me to take a step back and look at my life in a broader scope and take it in for what it really is.  I have only recently realized how lucky I am.  I have decided to focus on health and vitality in order to live a long and fulfilling life and enjoy every minute of it.  I will be starting to train for my first triathlon which will be this coming year.  I have set a major goal for myself and it is to attempt my first Iron Man by my 30th birthday.  This is what I will talk about in my next blog.  It's time to get out there and take risks and LIVE LIFE!

We all can, and probably do, go into life expecting to be Veterinarians.  The truth is, some of us are going to come out making plastic.  Those plastic makers may very well end up being happier than any Veterinarian out there; and that my friends is why I look at life as Improbable Madness.