Thin Air

Brad recently sent an article that was in one of the airline magazines about an author that reacts to 38,000 feet the way I do.  Can you say CRAZY? 

Yeah, this author totally stole my thunder.

I've been taking from ribbing from my brothers about the impact of elevation and planes has on my psyche.  How, at 38,000 feet I get a different perspective that, well, changes my perspective.  It also changes my pace.  Even though I'm traveling at 500 miles an hour it seems like the world is moving slower.  The landscape definitely moves slower from that elevation.  It's just a cool experience, assuming you aren't running into turbulence.

So the article just pointed out how the change in perspective changed the author's perspective and provided him time from his "hustle and bustle" daily life to think about where he came from, where he is, and where he's going.  I particularly liked the end where, much like I experience, the wheels touch down, everyone turns back on their smart phones, and the world goes right back to it's old and hectic pace.  Time is up, stick a fork in the experience, it's OVER.

Crazy how flights do that to me but it sure was comforting to know that I'm not the only one that is impacted in this way. 

So until I'm on a plane again (which actually is pretty soon) I'll just keep having 'ground zero' thoughts, pounding out my 'to do' list, and trying to keep up with what is my daily life.  Little reflection allowed. 

Ed on Happy

Brad,

LOVED this post, it helped me tremendously.  So much so that I showed it to Holly and the kids as inspiration.  Loved the videos and the songs too. Downloaded both to my iTunes account.  While the source of happiness appears to be complex and hard to attain, it really is very simple - just like the songs.  Enjoy and appreciate what you have, feel blessed, do what you love and be with the people who add to that feeling. Spread the feeling and your personality will become magnetic.  Everyone wants some more happy!

It's easy for the tide to turn, for us to focus on problems and the things that aren't going well in our lives.  To dwell on them and let that overtake anything good that is going on in our lives.  The key is to be aware this is happening, and change course to get back on the happy track.

I'm happy, very happy.  I have the best family anyone could ask for and they are the primary source of my happiness.  My immediate family, my extended family, and even my close personal friends who I cherish my time with.  I have a good job working for a good company and the money I make enables me to make investments in those things I care about most - my family and some activities I really enjoy.

I'm not doing my happy dance in my office as I type this, but I am thankful.  Thankful for my good health, my incredible family, and the life I am living.

Thanks for sharing Brad.  Reading the post brought me back to my happy place!

Holy Bracketology Batman!

I completed my picks this morning.  And then I went to ESPN.com to see how I did last night.  I was 1-1, picked Albany but also picked Xavier, who lost.  Oh well.  I'm looking forward to this year's tournament bracket.  As I told Brad on the phone this morning, 6-10 teams have a legitimate chance of winning it all - and one of them isn't IOWA.  But I've gotta say it ... GO HAWKS!

Another thing I learned this morning from ESPN.com.  My picks for the Elite 8 are exactly the same as the President of the United States!  Our Final Four picks are also exactly the same. Well, at least we agree on something!!!

I'm looking forward to March Madness.  Would be great if you both would post your brackets as well and we'll see how each of us fare.  Brad, I know you completed one at your wife's prompting and Marc, I hope you're willing to join in the fun.

Love/Happy

In February 2001 Dave Matthews Band released their album Everyday which included the song Everyday. It is a simple, happy song and the video that was made is fantastic. “All you need is love”, what a super message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXe8PFKsOIc

Well, there is a song now with an equally simple and fantastic message: Happy by Pharrell Williams. “Happiness is the truth, I’m happy”, another simple song with a simple message. And another great video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM

Watch both of these videos, go read the lyrics. Then give somebody a hug, and dance your happy dance.

Too much music

According to my iTunes, if I hit play right now and left it running for 14.4 days, I wouldn't hear the
same song twice (nearly 5200 songs).  But if I ventured a guess I would say I don't listen to more than 300 of them on a regular basis.

So I'm going to try something, a sort of music experiment.  During this deployment I'm not going to listen to the same thing twice.  It won't be difficult, because in reality I'll listen to approximately an hour a day while I'm in the gym, and maybe a bit at night before bed.  Even if that's 100 albums, I'll barely be scratching the surface.

We've talked about music management in the past...  are you guys still using iTunes?  How much music do you have loaded?  Are you still buying CDs?  I'm still pretty "hands on" with my iTunes.  I still rate music, and I still like to make sure that every song or album has associated cover art.  I know, I'm crazy.  I do buy CDs occasionally, but not new.  The CDs (and tapes) that I buy are from thrift stores, flea markets, and garage sales.  I rarely buy new music at all, but if I do it's digital.  When I started buying digital, I would burn a CD as back up in case my hard drive ever bit the dust, but I haven't done that for awhile.  For being a bit of a technology geek, you would think that I back up my computer, but I don't. That's pretty bad, huh?

So what are you guys listening to these days?  I just finished listening to Outkast's The Love Below.  Mostly garbage.  I'm not even sure how it's on my iTunes.  Maybe it's one of those CDs I bought at a garage sale.

Reading plans - yep

Well I have had 6 years running a goal of reading a certain number of books each year. I've succeeding in averaging 12-15 books a year read. Although I'd like to read more, other priorities perpetually take precedent.

I was however excited that I've read a number of these books, 13 in fact. Here are my results:

Born To Run - A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown - about 3,000 times to my girls at bedtime!
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley - I had an odd affinity for Malcolm X my sophomore year in high school. I read this and used to listen to a CD of all his speeches.
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank - inspired read after my visit to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan - all of Michael Pollan's books are a great challenge to healthy dietary habits. Great read!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle - a kid staple.
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein - a kid staple.
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak - a kid staple and all around great book.

In addition to the "have reads", here are the ones on this list that are on my "to read" list:

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain - Controversial figure in the culinary world.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - incredible medical story, Sheila has encouraged me to read this book. Also recommended by others.
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright

What about the Good Reads list? This one seems to be a bit more classics focused. Of this list I've read 15:

1984 by George Orwell
The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) by Suzanne Collins
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2) by Suzanne Collins
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) by Suzanne Collins

Any plans for reading??

Amazon has come out with a list of books that they've titled: "100 Books to Read in a Lifetime."  I flipped through them out of curiosity, and I've read four of them, in addition to seeing three others in movie form.  The four that I've read:

Hunger Games
The Little Prince
The Lord of the Rings
To Kill a Mockingbird

I might have read Great Expectations too, and 1984 (in school) but I'm not sure.  Brad, I noticed that Born to Run was on the list and I know you've read that one.

To be honest, there aren't a ton of things on the list that I saw and said to myself, "Ooooh, I want to read that one."  But there are a couple:

Catch-22  -  A classic that I've never read.
Daring Greatly  -  Brene Brown is one of the speakers that I loved from that leadership conference.
The Book Thief  -  What can I say, looks like an interesting story based on the movie preview!
The Catcher in the Rye  -  Another classic that I've never read.
The Looming Tower  -  I would like to understand the history of Al-Qaeda a little better.

I can live without reading the others.  Anything catch your rye?  I mean your eye?