Do you think that I’m a little late?

Posted on 08/25/2008 by RLW3

I am 48 years old. I have been working very hard since I was 12 years old. And today, I am embarrassed to say this, but I just set up my first IRA account with Charles Schwab.

We started out our marriage with a $7,000 nest egg.

We were a young, zealous Christian couple that was determined to reform the world starting with our family! We were going to practice natural family planning (no artificial birth control here!) and have our first child at home.

We payed the mid-wife $2,ooo. Everything was going according to plan until the contractions started! The mid-wife sent us to the hospital and our first born child was delivered via C-section! And we have had no savings account since then!

Oh, I know that I should have just put money in my 401K but for most of my married life, we have needed every last penny to pay the bills and feed the little rug rats.

And so now, at the very young age of 48, I am starting to save for retirement!

Well, who wants to retire anyway? Retirement was invented by Otto von Bismarck as a way to defeat his political opponents.

I agree with the Rascal Flatt’s lyrics: ” I wanna be running when the sand runs out.” I started out our marriage determined to reform the world, so I guess I will head into the next life with both guns blazing!

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Have I become a Charismatic butterfly?

Posted on 08/24/2008 by RLW3

Since the very beginning of this move, I have been telling my wife that I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up joining a different church and then spending time in the Prayer Room. Well, today we started looking for our new church. We will look at a few more and then make our decision.

The church we attended today is much smaller. However, it is very easy to see that we could help it to grow.

Well, see what happens. It’s just the latest little adventure with God.

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A good sign

Posted on 08/23/2008 by RLW3

I got dressed to go running feeling just like have for the past six runs: uninspired and tired.

However, when I actually started, I noticed that I had some spring in my legs. Wow!

And my lungs actually had a little bit of life in them! Well, what do you know!

And when I finished the run, I had my 10th best time of the year!

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Really? But it felt terrible…

Posted on 08/22/2008 by RLW3

I ran my full course for the third time this week.  Hurrah!

Howvever, all during the run, I was slightly disgusted with my slow pace. “How much slower would this be than the last run?”

Those type of thoughts plagues me right up until the time that I crossed the finish line and hit the button on my watch.

When I recovered enough to actually look at it, to my surprise, I ran38 seconds faster than the last time. How about that?

It just goes to show that you cannot trust your feelings. I didn’t feel like running at all. I felt like I was going slower than ever. To my credit, I ignored those feeling and just carried on with my plans and the facts showed up to prove that my emotions were wrong!

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This doesn’t look like progress

Posted on 08/20/2008 by RLW3

I was able to finish my full running course again. However, my time  was nearly one minute slower than the last time.

So much for being able to see progress.

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Her first day of school

Posted on 08/18/2008 by RLW3

Today, I dropped my youngest daughter off for her first day of school today!

While it is true that she is 15 years old…

and I dropped her off at the local high school…

but that didn’t seem to change how if felt to me. This is her first day at a PUBLIC school! I was so excited!

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I made it

Posted on 08/18/2008 by RLW3

Last week I tried to run my full 3.8 mile course three times and three times I failed. I did go a little bit further with each succeeding run. However, I just couldn’t make it the whole way.

Today, I finally succeeded in running the whole route. However, my time was…shall we say, less than inspiring.

Oh, well, I’m not training to be a contestant in the Olympics so I have time to improve.

Addendum:  I can’t believe that I forgot this! When I crossed the finish line, I was very weak. In fact, I started to faint. My legs grew weak, my knees started to buckle and I became very lightheaded! There was a woman walking her dog who quickly became very concerned!

“Are you all right.”

I smiled, held my hand up to wave as I tried not to fall down…

and then as I started regaining my strength, I whispered, “I’m just really out of shape!”

I have never experienced that before! Oh well, all for the cause.

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Who is Tim Allen?

Posted on 08/12/2008 by RLW3

When my son asked me what he should call his budding new business, I made him choose it. He came up with a great one-

HOME IMPROVEMENT.

His tag line underneath his name is “The Homeowner’s Best Solution”.

I told him that I thought that it was a winner.

I helped him format it on the computer. He is delivering them to his last customer as I type this. Pretty exciting!

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Man, I am sore!

Posted on 08/12/2008 by RLW3

I ran for the first time in six weeks yesterday.

I didn’t run the full 3.8 miles.

I didn’t even make 3 miles.

Nevertheless, today, my legs are S-O-R-E!

It’s like I am starting over, again!

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They must know something that I don’t

Posted on 08/11/2008 by RLW3

There is an amazing amount of new construction going on here in Overland Park. I mean, nearly everywhere you look, they are building houses, apartments, major retail and office sites. There are several large fields that have heavy equipment reshaping the landscape for still more new construction.

The puzzling thing is that there are “For Lease” or “For Sale” signs at nearly EVERY commercial property. And that is not much of an exaggeration. There are several 6-10 story office buildings that stand uncompleted and it looks like work has stopped. However, that hasn’t slowed the new construction. It is almost like very open field has to have something built by tomorrow!

I don’t get it.

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