Jan got a cool new bathroom scale today. They had a coupon at Costco. We've never had a digital before. It's top is glass. I'm a little uncomfortable stepping on this thin pane of glass, but the paperwork says the maximum is 400 lbs. so it must be okay.

5. Loose Weight -I've lost 25 pounds or so. That goes back to the end of 2006. I'd like to keep it up. My doctor wants me to eat heart healthy which I think means lots of oranges and bananas.

Good time at church today, we were asked, "What will have happened by this time next year?" (I'm paraphrasing because I can't figure out how to ask the real question without spending much time explaining the context for it. I'm pretty sure this is an incorrect use of parentheses, but I don't know what to do about it.)

These are the areas we were challenged to think about:
In my Spiritual Life,
In my Intellectual life,
In my Physical Life,
In my Relational Life,
In my Financial Life.

We filled out cards answering what we thought would have happened by next year. They will be mailed back to us mid-year.
I thought it all fit nicely into my lists of things to do, so here they are.

4. Walking- I figure this is the easiest so far. I have a course near home that takes me about 40-45 minutes depending on how I change it up and how much I jog. I usually go out in the evening sometime between 7 and 9. I hope to go for my walk or be on my bicycle (Maybe that's tomorrow's blog.) everyday.

Buckets and Buckets

Today I eliminated a possibility. I won't be putting in-line skating on my list. I saw a young couple out skating and began wondering if that wouldn't be a good thing to learn. So I called a friend to see what he thought since he's about the right age to have done some skating. He said he had trouble with his ankles not being strong enough so that's enough for me because I had the same problem whenever Jan and I would go ice skating.

3. Back Packing- I haven't been back packing in probably 25 years. It feels like it is time try it out again. I wasn't an avid packer, but went a few times, twice with Jan. Our first trip together was as part of a geography (That was her major.) class at Fresno State. We hiked about 50 miles. I think we started at a trailhead at a place called Horse Corral Meadows to Lodgepole in Sequoia National Park. I know we hiked up Deadman Canyon (There's a grave, a shepherd I think.) and camped a couple nights at Big Bird Lake. The next night we stayed on the Tableland before hiking out the last day.

A friend, Shawn, is quite an outdoorsman and keeps telling me we'll do a weekend hike this summer. It's starting to sound like a good idea. At least there won't be sharks.

More for my Bucket

2. Volleyball- Years ago we were volleyball players. Our little group would get together at Millbrook Presbyterian for volleyball on Friday nights. As far as I know, none of us were necessarily experienced but were pretty good and enjoyed it immensely. In five years I imagine we only missed 20 or 25 Friday nights. We also got together on some holidays if enough of us had the day off. Winters were interesting with the fog and such, but we were steadfast, braving most everything. Those were great times.
So I'm putting volleyball on my list of things that can keep you from aging too fast. This year I'll see if I can find some interest in playing at least occasionally. Now that there are sprinklers in at church, maybe we'll have grass too. That would make a great place to play.

Bucket List

Mike Wise and his list for this year has me thinking. So here is the beginning of my list.

1. Surf Lessons- Last summer on our yearly camping trip to the coast, my friend Wil and I found the Anderson Family Surf Camp. Since then I've been thinking that learning to surf during our camping trip would be a good thing. They don't have this year's dates posted yet but I hope I can work in at least a day's worth of lessons. My cardiologist thinks I should stick to long boards. That's what he rides.
I'm thinking that if you only do old people stuff, it starts to rub off on you. So I'm going to try to think of some other less elderly things to do.

Swarm

We had a great Christmas. All the girls and their families were here. This one of my a Christmas presents. It is a remote controlled bee called Swarm. I also got a kite, a Starbucks Card, and a sweatshirt. I like them all.

58 minutes cycling

30 minutes shooting

10 minutes walking (I broke the left crank off my bike so I had to walk to get home.)

Yesterday

60minutes cycling

30 minutes shooting baskets

High Chair with Tray

I finally got a tray made for Georgia's high chair. Everyone says they like the way it turned out. This week I am going to varnish the whole thing. I think I'll spray it. A friend at church suggested a clear finish that he likes to use.

I've been under the weather since Monday and today was my first back on track.

22 minutes cycling

17 minutes shooting baskets

Tomorrow I'll get high chair pics up.

I've been trying to live a little healthier. Today I did the following.

60 minutes cycling
25 minutes shooting baskets

I've been trying to live a little healthier. Today I did the following.

49 minutes cycling
22 minutes shooting baskets

Here is a website that calculates calories burned.
Fitness Jumpsite: Calorie Calculator

Milestones

We passed a new milestone today. Georgia grabbed a good handful of beard hair. I've been wondering when that would happen. Her mom and aunts were real good at it. It looks like the skill didn't skip a generation.

Yesterday and Friday I worked in the garage some. Among ather things, I rewired an old ceiling lamp that my dad had made out of an old acetelyne lamp. It used to hang in my parents house. Actually I have two. I hung the first one in the garage and have the second ready to go too.

I may blog some more later, right now I'm off to the mall with Sara, Rebekah and Georgia.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. All the kids and baby Georgia were here. We had Christmas dinner and breakfast Christmas morning.
Christmas Eve mom, Doug and Janie, and Heather and Randy were here. It was a real good time of seeing and talking to everyone. We had barrel cooked tri-tip, and other delicious dishes. Rebekah had done apple and pumpkin pies for dessert. After dinner we opened presents.
Christmas morning Jan made a great breakfast with Swedish Pancakes, bacon, saugage, English Muffins and bagels. Anna and Ken cooked the sausage at their house and brought it over. When breakfast was over we opened our stockings. It is always fun to see what stocking stuffers everyone has come up with.
By early afternoon everyone had left for other festivities and we spent a peaceful afternoon at home.
It was a great Christmas.

Wireless

Rebekah and Jan got me a wireless router for Christmas. They decided I should open it early, so I did. It works very well.

Over the weekend I was part of the Urban Mission Fresno project. We started on Friday evening at the Mennonite Biblical Seminary. For dinner we were sent to restaurants that were supposed to broaden our horizons. My group, made up of more veteran Fresnans decided the Chinese buffet we were assigned to was not outside our box so we went to a Pho restaurant on Kings Canyon. It was good. A couple of us think nezt year we'll offer a list of restaurants that really should broaden a few horizons.
Saturday the team I was with spent the day in downtown Fresno near Broadway and Divisadero at the World Impact building. We helped get ready for their Christmas Open House. We cleaned up, hung lights, and generally decorated. As 5:00 pm approached we also helped get food ready.
When the doors opened at 5:00 most of us worked food booths. I served egg rolls. People loved them. Lots of people from the community came and enjoyed the evening.
When we were finished, about 7:30, we cruised a few neighborhoods. We were given directions that took us to the westside, the Rowell neighborhood and the downtown area.
On Sunday we went back to World Impact and cleaned up, then had a touring church service giving us a look at some of the areas in town that World Impact is impacting. We were greatly blessed by the opportunity to see their ministries. Our weekend ended back at the seminary at 3:00 pm.
It was a great time. The staff was well prepared and worked hard to give us a missionary experience.

Thursday Afternoon

This afternoon I met at Starbucks with my men's group from church. We meet every Thursday. Mostly we talked about Acts chapter 20. That's where Mountain View is in our annual Bible reading. It is always a great time. It is good to get together with the men and talk about God and come to him in prayer. I look forward to it every week.

Cookies

Tonight I made Scotch Shortbread (p. 674,Boston Cooking School Cookbook, 1944). I used the wooden mold my Aunt Sibella gave me when she found out I like cooking shortbread. It has a Scotch Thistle carved in it. I plan on taking the cookies to school tomorrow. I made enough for home too.

Since a week ago yesterday I've been meeting with a friend and going for a walk before work. He is a former Calwa student, although he was a middle schooler when I started working there so I didn't have him in class. He is a fire fighter and in lots better shape than I, but he seems to be okay with me as a walking partner. We have settled on a route that takes us down Cedar Ave. to the railroad tracks on California Ave. It is a little less than a mile one way and gets me back at work by 7:30 which is a little later than I'm used to, but plenty early nonetheless.

Newness

We had a great weekend. Saturday Sara sent me a text message asking if we felt like having company, which of course we did. So, the Woodys came up.
I got to have Georgia at 5:30 or so on Sunday morning while Sara got to get a little sleep. I greatly enjoy those mornings. Sara, Ricky and Georgia came to church, making everyone happy. Lots of people had been praying for and looking forward to getting to see the baby. It was a great day. Georgia's aunts had a wonderful time showing her off. They really love her.
I imagine everyone who has ever been a grandparent can relate to what it has been like these last few weeks. Even before the birth, I was realizing that this is a new amazing time of life with interesting things around every corner. I think grand babies make you pay more attention to life.