My last real LONG run before the Marathon
I did a 12-miler on Saturday, and now I am officially in my two week taper before the Sundown Marathon on Sat, 31 May. Cool thing about the run? I was just shooting for a nice 8:30 pace, and ended up with a 7:59 pace! I cranked out 12 miles in under 96 minutes, which I never would have thought I could do right now. Temps were cooler than during last week's 20-miler -- a chilly 80 degrees at the start. Not bad. Anyway, I'm feeling up for the run, and can't wait to see what running 26.2 miles at midnight is like!!
Prom Dress Shopping
Cheryl has been uber-busy working on song-writing projects for music school, so I was given the unique opportunity to take my two gorgeous daughters prom-dress-shopping yesterday! Some dads might despise such an assignment, but I really enjoyed it. We managed to find the shop without TOO much trouble. Both girls tried on a lot of nice dresses. I am so proud to be their dad -- so hard to believe these two gems are mine... Anyway, Brooke found a nice purple dress before long, and we were left to find something perfect for Ashley's final HS prom. And..... I'm proud to say that I found the dress she ultimately decided to keep. How cool is that?! (NO I didn't just want to get outta there, you skeptics!)
The Last Lecture
I'm sure that many of you have seen the video of Randy Pausch giving his "Last Lecture". Pausch is the Carnegie Mellon professor diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, and given just 3-6 months to live. He will soon be leaving behind a wife and three kids. Such a heart breaking story. Anyhow, in the past week, I've read his book and watched the video. A&B saw the video with me. He really does share some pearls of wisdom about how to REALLY live life. If you haven't checked out the video or read the book, I highly recommend both. You can also read his blog here.
I'm sure that many of you have seen the video of Randy Pausch giving his "Last Lecture". Pausch is the Carnegie Mellon professor diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, and given just 3-6 months to live. He will soon be leaving behind a wife and three kids. Such a heart breaking story. Anyhow, in the past week, I've read his book and watched the video. A&B saw the video with me. He really does share some pearls of wisdom about how to REALLY live life. If you haven't checked out the video or read the book, I highly recommend both. You can also read his blog here.
The Wealth of Nations
Actually, I don't have much time to read books these days, but when I do, I want to read GOOD material. (No romance novels for me. Ha!) Something that Steven Sample argued in The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership (one of my all-time favorite books) was that if you were going to spend time reading, you'd better read the SuperTexts, the 50 or so truly great works that mankind ever has written. Now, I can't confess to really have done much of that, but I'm going to continue my slow journey. I'm now reading Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. Since I just earned my MBA a year or two ago, and since I'm pretty active in international business, I am quite interested in reading the definitive text that opened the world's eyes to to free market economics. Before ordering, I had no idea how long of a book this was, but at 1,208 pages I may have bit off more than I could chew. I'll let you know how all this works out.
Kerry Shook at Willow
Since Cheryl had a rehearsal last night, we weren't able to attend our usual Saturday evening church service. Instead we woke early today to watch Willow Creek's weekend service online. We had a blast seeing an acquaintance of ours, Kerry Shook, speak there. Cheryl and I have known Kerry and served alongside him in many, many events through the years. I think our first gig was mixing audio for Point of Grace when they stopped by FOTW (Fellowship of the Woodlands) way back in 1993 or so. Cheryl and I also manned the FOTW site for a couple of Willow Creek Leadership Summit conferences, and served for a time at FOTW as members. Anyhow, Kerry's message was brilliant. I hope to give his book a read sometime soon.
Chris is in Asia
My little bro is in Asia (Singapore) and is going to visit this weekend, after I return from China. Although the girls are going to have Prom on Saturday, this isn't something you can skip. Can't wait to have Chris here. I think we're going to let him do the girls' makeup. What do you think? Good idea?
China Tomorrow
I'm off to Guilin, China tomorrow, so it's really time to end this post now. I'll be a safe as possible, and try to post something while there. In the meantime, have a great week.
greg
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