The Little 500
Indiana University
2009 Men's Results:

1) Cutters
2) Delta Tau Delta
3) Phi Gamma Delta

Swords, Bikes, and Sunshine.

I just had an amazing weekend. With mounting stress and deadlines, I needed a few days to focus on me. That is exactly what I did!

On Friday evening my Friendly Friday Fan Club was suspended while I attended a play with another club member and some local theatrical youth. The University of Evansville presented Shakespeare's Henry IV. Without a doubt, this was the best presentation of Shakespeare I have ever seen. (And I've been around the Shakespearean block) I was very impressed with the staging, and the modern interpretation of costuming. We attended in support of a friend, and left with a heightened perception of the human condition.

Saturday was filled with sun, fun, and bicycles. I was invited to attend the Little 500 at Indiana University. I have known about the Little 500 for years, so I jumped at the opportunity. It is the Superbowl of the amateur cycling world. I was warned by several past attendees that this was much more than a bicycle race. After all, it is only one part of "The World's Greatest College Weekend." While I am very proud of the college I attended, I can't help but think that I missed out on "the college experience" but not having attended a large Div I school. I have never seen a party that big. I know that Indiana is the party school, but really....I was impressed.

Sunday was to be dedicated to accomplishing my must-do list. Too bad it was sunny and I went for a nice long bike ride to the farm. Too bad I played at the farm for most of the afternoon. Oh well . . . there is always tomorrow.

:)

I've done it before...

For the last two or three years, I’ve struggled with the idea of becoming a vegetarian. And I don’t really know why.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with eating meat. It’s natural. It’s part of the cycle of life. There are countless carnivorous animals in nature.

Yet, I can’t help but feel a tinge of guilt when I consume flesh. Okay, maybe it’s more than just a tinge.

But then I ask myself, is it really any different to eat plants? Plants are living, growing creatures of the universe. If plants had mouths, they too would scream when being harvested. Is it really any different?

And then, at some level, we must realize that death is necessary in the planet’s cycle of life. It renews and restores the planet and allows for the beautiful world in which we all live. Without death, life would be a living hell.

Death is natural, but the way in which today’s livestock are put to death is not. Perhaps I would feel differently if I hunted for my food. But the images of cows being corralled into slaughterhouses haunt me.

The decision to be (or not to be) a vegetarian is a personal dilemma for me. I love meat. And having a high-protein, meat-free diet would be a challenge with my active summer lifestyle.

Perhaps it is time for me to test the waters of vegetarianism in stages. Last year, I experimented by giving up red meat. It was a resolution that was easy to keep until I attended a July 4th BBQ. I think it’s time to revive my resolution and give up red meat for a month.

If it feels good, I’ll continue. If giving up poultry feels like a good second step, then maybe I’ll go there. We’ll see. I really hate touching raw poultry anyway.

Wordless Wednesday: Earth Day

Happy Earth Day.
Go Play!

Nostalgia

A friend of mine just posted a video that absolutely made my day. On an afternoon when I was feeling low and in need of change from my daily grind, I found it. Nostalgia. In this video he didn’t say a word. It was just him, a catchy song, and an incredible series of post-it notes.
Much will be lost in translation, but below is the message that every adult (how ever grown) needs to hear. Thank you , Patrick.


***********************

Everyone is young at heart.

Somewhere deep inside you is a little kid

Trying to break out of you with a hammer made of Lego blocks and K’nex

Remember when you thought you could make tools out of Lego blocks and K,nex?

They never worked but – we didn’t care

We were already busy at work on a racecar

Everybody talks about missing those days

And everyone holds on to something from childhood

I, for instance, retained the poor handwriting

How on Earth did we let go of a time when the only thing more important than taking a nap was the snack right before it?

Today’s world is all work

Well, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

And its not just guys named Jack anymore

IT’s everyone!

GASP

I mean, ask any adult you know if

a) He or she would like to finish items on a list of chores, or
b) He or she would like to kick back and fly a kite.

To save you time, they are going to pick A

Well, that’s a big fat F- at the top of your test

That’s right. F-

But how can one avoid such an epic failure?

Listen up, because I’ll say this only once

Step one: Buy the sweetest coloring book you can.

Step two: Color OUTSIDE the lines.

You’re a kid again

You don’t have time for lines

Step three: Make a club that the opposite sex isn’t allowed in

Bonus points if your club house is made of chairs and blankets

Step four: Start singing along with a song you don’t even know the words to

Sing loud and be very annoying

Step five: Ride your bike to the end of the block and come right back

Repeat ad infinitum

Step six: (and this is the most crucial)

Switch to a different color of post-it notes

You’re a kid. You don’t have time for one color

Anyway, if you have properly completed steps 1-6

You are now ready to see the world for what it is

A Giant Playground

So go, play!

Despite what the IRS might think,

You can find time for your taxes later

Right now, you’ve got forest to explore

Monsters under your bed to vanquish

And somewhere

Someone needs a fifth Power Ranger

(I told them you’d be perfect)

So, go be a kid at heart

The world will wait for you

And embrace your inner child

Because it’s like what Walt Disney said,

“Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.”

That has got to be true

That man built the most magical place on Earth!

And kids always believe in magic.

Lesson Learned

Today I learned a very important lesson.

While having your fingerprints taken for an FBI clearance it is best to keep comments to one's self. When the officer taking my prints commented on one of my long fingernails, I mentioned that it was my 'crack' nail. Oops.

Good thing I've known the officer my whole life...

Just Do It.

Just a friendly reminder: Today is Tuesday, April 14, 2009. And today is the opportunity of a lifetime; it’s the perfect day to do whatever it is that you want to do.

If you want to be an artist, grab a camera. If you want to exercise your first amendment rights, then join the crowd. If you want to continue your education, then go back to school. If you have always wanted to dance, then dance. If you have always wanted to travel, then start packing. If you want to love, reach out. If you want to fly, then jump. If you want to help, then touch a life.

But no matter what you want to do, just don’t wait!

Yes, Drew can read.

Someone asked me yesterday, “Andy, what is your favorite book?”

I gave a few titles of books that I enjoy. But the true answer to that question is “whatever book I am currently reading.”

I love to read. I am always in the middle of a great book! I read at home, at work, in my truck, on planes, at coffee shops, outside of coffee shops, in the park, on the beach . . . I love to read.

I just finished reading Mississippi Sissy, by Kevin Sessums. His memoir of growing up in the American South is an amazing story of strength and honesty in a culture that is less forgiving. Sessums provides a narrative that needs to be heard.

Another favorite book that I have read a few times is John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Every character in this book is painted brilliantly. No detail is withheld. I happened upon this book by accident. I was a sophomore in high school and on vacation with my parents. We left Florida and were headed up the coast to Virginia when we stopped in Savannah for a few days. The movie adaptation of the book had just come out, and Savannah was all abuzz with excitement. I picked up the book, but I didn’t read it for about a year. While in Savannah I used my sophomoric ability of looking well beyond my years to enjoy some night life. Unbeknownst to me until I read the book, that night I met the Lady Chablis.

I do indeed judge a book by its cover. One of my favorite book selection methods is to walk into the fiction section and locate a book that is askew in the shelf, or perhaps one that is turned outward with the cover facing front. The latest book I found placed cockeyed on the shelf was Meg Rosoff’s What I Was. Set in the 1960s at an English boarding school, this novel chronicles an unlikely friendship between two youths, and a scandal that shatters the idyll that has shielded and nurtured their relationship.

Great Big Small Things is a book that changed my life. It is a biography about a small college football coach. My college. I never had the opportunity to meet Coach Fred Selfe, but this book written by former player Dale McGlothlin is a moving tribute to a man who touched the lives of hundreds upon hundreds (no one was cut from the team) of young men from across the country. While I never met him, I did live in his house for two of my years at Emory & Henry College.

Those are just a few of my favorite books. Perhaps I’ll share more in the future. What are some of your favorite books?

Dream a [big] Dream.

I’ve long said that the real issue isn’t dreaming big and missing, it’s aiming low and achieving. It’s better to aim for the stars and reach the moon than to aim for a hilltop and reach it.

The only limitations that exist are the ones you accept as true.

There is far too much magic in this world for me to accept the possibility of impossible. Too many avatars have levitated. Too many ill people have spontaneously healed. Too many modern-day miracles have been documented.

Back when I was at [college], I loved lying on the grass watching the clouds - especially this time of year. On one occasion, a few friends joined me. We talked about everything under the SW Virginia sky... I asked Sarah what she wanted to do after college. She gave the standard answer... I asked Mitch what he wanted to do.... very much the same. I asked Julie what she wanted to do after college. "Change the world," she said. We all nodded in agreement and continued our cloud watching.

The bottom line is this: If you believe in a limitation, than your life will forever be restricted by that belief. The possibility of living outside that limitation is suddenly nonexistent. Select your limitations wisely.

Wordless Wednesday: Accidental Art

Is there accidental art in your neighborhood?