Just for the fun of it

I never thought I'd say this, but running can be fun. Yeah, seriously! All it took for me was to get off the treadmill, and go for a run outside.

For the last several days during my alotted workout time at work, I've been finishing up with a two mile run down a dirt road that winds through the sage brush out here.

Tonight I ran as the sun sank below the Lemhi Mountains to my left. It's at this time of night the desert comes to life. I saw rabbits scurrying out of my path, and a huge desert owl of some kind gliding gently in the evening breeze on huge wings. I noticed that even the desert is beautiful in its own rugged sort of way. My lungs were engorged on sage scented air, and for the twenty minutes I ran, it was just me, and the desert, and the mountains in the distance.

I am realizing some things lately about fitness and staying in shape. If you can find something new, different, or enjoyable, then it goes from being "excercise" to a hobby or an activity. For example. I have fallen in love with mountain biking lately. As I pedal along the rutted paths, steering around and over different technical obstacles, I don't even notice my own heavy breathing, or pounding heart because I'm having a killer time!

The new goal is to continue to explore ways to make fitness fun, fresh, and enjoyable.

Shadow Spawn gets censored!

Today, I got up and first off mowed my 3/4 acre lawn. Then I hacked some brush on my property with a machete until I was a glistening sheen of sweat. After that I came inside, and hit the weights on my new olympic weight set. Did some back, biceps, and triceps. After that we packed up the kids and went to the lake. I swam for a while. . . nothing tremendous. Then we came home and I went on about a ten mile bike ride through the surrounding hills of my home.

Whew! What an active day, and I feel great! I think I ate pretty sensibly all day too. Just got to maintain this level of activity and I’’m bound to lose some weight.

Now for my topic of the day.

All this week, I have been engaging in political debate on another blog named americablog.blogspot.com These guys are extremely on the fringe of the left. Very liberal. It has been fun to take them on in the arena of words. While doing this I have been called a Nazi among other unmentionable names in the comments section. Our views are so different, that many of them think I am kidding and just trying to generate rage to attract attention to myself. By the way, if you are thinking about going there, be fore warned that it is a site laced with profanity and very adult topics sometimes, so be careful.

Anyway, I was involved in a debate over homosexuality yesterday that earned myself tons of criticism, and not to mention attacks from the creator of the blog John Aravosis, who supposedly has a law degree, been a guest on several talk shows such as O’Reilly Factor, and claims to speak five languages. Anyway, I posted a comment stating a belief I held about homosexuality that I won’t get into here, and boy did they all get angry with me. They all called me names and bashed me on a personal level, but nobody would counter what I had said. I even challenged them. I asked them to counter my point. All I got in reply was, “ You have no point.” I must have really gotten to them, because I little while later when I went back to continue my argument, I found to my shock and amazement that my comments on that post had all been deleted from the web site. Everyone else’s was still there, but mine were gone.

This is the final point I want to make. They continually rage on that web site about the freedom of speech, and the right to express yourself. Well, I just want to make this observation. They sure love the freedom of speech all right. . .unless you say something they don’t like. Then you get censored, and erased. Can you imagine how they’d behave if the tables were reversed?

Daddy, are there such things as monsters?

Last night my four year old girl got out of bed and came to me because she was afraid. I asked her what she was afraid of. " What if the orcs come?" She asked, her big blue eyes glistening, and wide expecting an answer.

"Don't worry about orcs ( it's pointless to tell her they don't exist ) Daddy can kill any orcs that try to come in here."

"What if they have swords?"

"Daddy has guns. Now off to bed."

As I tucked her into bed and gave her a kiss I thought to myself what an innocent time childhood is, when fictitious orcs are your biggest fear. Monsters aren't real, yet to her they are. Then a darker thought clouded my mind as I remembered the eighteen Iraqi children killed by a homicidal bomber on wednesday, and the score of kids that have been in recent news as victims of murderous predators. I grimmaced and thought to myself, monsters are real. And they are more terrible in real life than any imaginary orc.

The real monsters come in the form of terrorists, murderers, molesters, abusers, drug dealers, the porn industry, and many other nameless forms. As a father I wondered how to protect her from the real monsters. If she could only just stay afraid of orcs for the rest of her life.

Today I sit in fatherly indignation at the evils lurking in the world. Who would plow through a gathering of children and blow up themselves in a vehicle, killing all the kids, just for the chance to get at two Americans handing out candy? What monster is capable of such evil? I think of the sicko, Joseph Duncan, who kidnapped Shasta Groene, and while repeatedly assaulting her sexually over the next several days bragged to her about murdering her family. The real monsters are out there. The evil is real, and for crying out loud, the fight needs to start getting REAL.

I for one am sick of hearing that 9/11 was our fault. That we need to see what we did to make the terrorists mad at us. I am sick of hearing all the crying and weeping over the so-called poor conditions at GTMO! I am REALLY REALLY tired of finding out every time a child is murdered that it turns out to be a repeat offender, who should have been in jail!

This isn't about republicans, democrats, liberals or conservatives. I'm just a father, husband, and American and I know I'm not alone in my desire to protect my family, and my freedom. I see evil at the doorstep. I see the monsters in the dark, for who they really are. . .Monsters, and they should be treated as such.

It's All About Lifestyle

Wahhhh! The vacation is on its last gasp now. Only three of the twelve days left! And I didn’t get to do half the cool stuff I was hoping to do. The white water trip got postponed, and the paintball game fell through. Jeeze! I did make it up to Mesa Falls for a day with the family. Mesa Falls is a gorgeous waterfall up in the mountains of Idaho that border Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks. Took some pics and amazed the kids, and realized it’s been way too long since I’ve been out in the mountains. Gonna have to start planning some backpacking, and camping trips. Right now though the temps are in the high nineties, and so we’ll most likely wait for things to cool off.

I’ve got a new diet and exercise program I’ve been trying out for the last couple weeks. It’s called the JUST WATCH WHAT YOUR EATING, AND BE A LOT MORE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE program. So far it’s been great! I have started biking every day now. I started with a six mile ride into the rolling hills near my home. that’s been now increased to ten miles and includes spontaneous excursions onto dirt paths that wind away mysteriously into the hills. I have been trying to include the whole family in my new program, so my wife accompanies me on many of these rides, and the kids follow behind in a bike trailer. We also go to the pool as a family now about every other day or so, and swim. My wife spends time with the kids in the kiddy pool at the beginning, while I head to the lap pool and swim laps for fifteen or twenty minutes. The other day started with a swim, then got home and went on a bike ride, and then later walked the dog for two miles. I figure hey! you gotta notice a change if you start having days like that. Right?

On top of all that, I bought a three hundred pound olympic barbell set on Saturday. I am still shopping around for a bench though. But, once that’s all set up, my days will also include quick, high intensity weight lifting routines. I got a mega deal on the weights, and the sale was ending that day, so I just bought em.

Last and finally on my list of ridiculousness is I have been itching for a kayak lately. Once the white water rafting trip got postponed, I realized how much I was really looking forward to doing it. Now I unexplainably find myself on the internet reading articles and blogs dealing with white water kayaking. I don’t have a lot of “river” experience, or boating experience at all, so the thought is a little daunting. Am I going to get myself killed? Luckily I have a neighbor who is an avid river runner, and former guide. At least I have his brain to pick. And maybe, just maybe he’ll agree to take me along some time to show me the ropes.

Final thought: My prayers go out to the people of London. They deserve our honor. They stepped up in our defense when we needed them, while others turned their backs to us in fear. I hope they catch the cowards responsible.

The Lettermen Leave an Impression on Gen X

Last night my parents took my wife and I to a Lettermen concert that was held here at our civic auditorium. Yep, that’s right. . . The Lettermen, as in “ Put your head on my shoulder”, and “When I Fall In Love” Lettermen.

As a member of the much misaligned generation X, I must admit, that I wasn’t sure what to expect as my wife and I took our seats on the sixth row back from the front of the stage. Oh, I’m no complete stranger to the works of the Lettermen. I remember hearing those unforgettable ballads on my Dad’s vinyl records while growing up. I have to admit, I was almost frightened on their behalf, as I waited for the concert to begin. Yes, I was doing the math. “ Let’s see. Not sure when they hit it big, but let’s say maybe 1965 they were maybe 20 - 25 years old? That would put them somewhere in their sixties? Maybe getting close to seventy? Can they do this?”

Suddenly they were announced, the music started, and my fears seemed on the verge of realization when I saw three bent-over, bald, or gray-haired old men walk out on to the stage in tuxedos. But. . .Then they started to sing. I was astounded and amazed. The same melodious, harmonizing voices from my childhood filled my ears. My eyes refused to see the truth for what it was at first. I leaned in towards my wife and whispered, “ Those voices don’t even match. I can’t believe those voices are coming from those bodies.”

For the next two hours I sat enthralled with the music, a stupefying grin plastered on my face. They sang a mixture of patriotic tunes, and some of their hits from the sixties and seventies. When it was over, they got a standing “O” from the audience. I rushed home to bu y a CD from Amazon. Yeah, I’m a sucker for music.

What has happened to that kind of talent? Yes, there are a lot of talented contemporary musicians out there, don’t get me wrong. But still, after seeing this show I was left with a feeling that there is a void in today’s world of entertainment. A feeling of longing and nostalgia gripped me as I drove home, the dial on the radio tuned to KUPI 98 Gold. I laughed to myself as I thought that maybe someday I’d be taking my kids to see a bent over, balding, gray-haired Jon Bon Jovi perform at the local auditorium, and my kids would be wondering, “ What’s happened to the music? “

A Much Needed Break

ahhhh. Two more hours and my vacation officially begins. I'll have the next 12 days off. I can't wait. Gonna do some paintballing, some camping, some swimming, and even some white water rafting. I also am hoping to use these next 12 days without the interuption of work to try to get ingrained back into a solid work out routine. I won't have my job to contend with, so getting out there to the gym, or on the bike, or hitting the trail head should be a lot easier to do.

Biking has been my latest thing to do. I live in a quite hilly area, and have been trying my best to get in about six miles a day so far. I can already feel my endurance building and am getting ready to up it to eight miles. I know this doesn't seem like a lot, but try pulling sixty extra pounds worth of kids in a bike trailer behind you up steep hills. It gets my heart beating sufficiently.

Final thought today is on the 4th of July celebration. God Bless America, and all who defend her.

-Out