28 Days - Day Twenty-One The Final Week

There's really nothing more frustrating than having the internet down first thing in the morning and last thing last night and 3 or 4 times during the week, and it's just ridiculous. And we pay a lot of money for internet service and we just aren't getting very good service. And the bad news is where we live, we don't have a whole lot of options, so I guess we're just stuck with crappy service. I was just going through some, uh, old files trying to straighten some things up while our internet was down, and I found an old Toastmasters file. This was my icebreaker speech. I still have the original notes. Actually, who am I kidding? They aren't notes, they're the actual word-for-word speech. But all the notes that members passed me that day, and just looking back over it, really, this period of my life touched me in a very strong way, made me a believer in myself when I really needed it. And just I think this was, I think it was October 30th, 2001, just about a month and a half after 9/11 had happened. And I don't think I was a member on 9/11, so I think probably 9/11 prompted me to realize that it was time to do some of the things that I wanted to do because life's short. It's funny how those life-shattering moments have a tendency to wake us up and get us busy. We should be busy all along. At least the way I feel.

This may be my greatest literary writing ever. February 10th, 2009 press release. Economic stimulus package helps chambers. Chamber executives applaud leadership for membership focus. Dateline Washington, D.C. Leaders in both houses have announced today a new economic stimulus package that will bring powerful benefits to business owners through their local chambers of commerce. A rare unanimous vote was entered in support of this new program. The new program is offered by the Inspiration Agents, a Florida-based firm that works with chambers of commerce and associations throughout the world to help them grow and retain their membership by offering first-class membership value experiences. Then it's quote, we're just pleased somebody is finally doing something, said a chamber president under terms of anonymity. And it goes on to say things about a White House official and things like that. And I wrote it and sent it out to all chambers. It apparently was so effective because I got a call from Johnny Isaacson's office, our senator at the time, wanting to know if that was true that they had passed this in Congress, which is troubling because he would have had to have voted on it. But anyway, I've reached a rather dangerous point. I find that every day that I don't run, I find frustration, and I think that it's tied to the fact that I didn't get my endorphin rush rush from running. I gotta fix that somehow. What are your thoughts?

I didn't have any, but, uh, yeah, I agree with whatever he said. Dad, I have to have one.

That would be fun. Was what I did there confusing? No. Why was it so hard?

I don't know.

In our continuing criticism of vehicles, that one looks like a big washing machine.

Cut! Hey!

Didn't open quick enough— You want me to have the cart? No no no no no no don't do it Tom... There he goes there he goes here you go no no no no no don't do it leave it alone leave it alone it wants to be stranded I can't it doesn't wanna be put into slot Leave it alone OCD man Sunday afternoon, we're out for a walk. We've had a busy day returning some things and going to the grocery store and just haven't really had a chance to spend time together. We've been fighting with our internet provider all day long, pretty much all weekend, and we're gonna do something about that tomorrow, I can bet. But we're gonna go out for a mile, mile and a half, and have a good time. It's very warm. I think Carson's gonna regret having that jacket. I can finally finish the puzzle now.

The notice on the door, Mom, over on the other end.

Mama, what you doing?

Inquiring minds want to know. Because you see, you must always get approval from the wife before you do anything. These people have the Christmas spirit all year long apparently, because it's almost March. This kind of looks like a toilet of some sort. Sometimes I find I just have nothing to say.

I have to walk. And I have a damaged foot. I have rocks in my shoe. How is that fair? I ask you.

We're celebrating because Carson and Tammy have just gone their first 2-miler, and we're really proud of them. They just really did step up today and had a great workout. I don't know if I can do it again.

That was kind of like— I haven't finished my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I haven't finished my peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

Well, we made it. This is Marathon Week, the last week. Sunday, day 21 of 28 days, and this is the last Sunday before the marathon. Of course, the marathon is next Sunday, and today was a good day. We got out and Tammy and Carson had their longest walk yet. They went 2 miles. Really, really proud of them and the way they're stepping up and Grant and I just kind of recovered from yesterday's long run. We did a lot of work around the house today, just making sure that we got things ready so that we'll have an easy week and make sure that we get off and don't have too much stress this week. That's our whole goal this week, is just not to have things to stress out about, just focus on what we're trying to accomplish and focus on enjoying this week because we want to make it a full life experience. Tomorrow is, uh, back to running. We're going to run a probably a 5-miler in the morning if the weather holds out. It's supposed to rain tomorrow morning. If not, we'll get 4 miles in on the treadmill. And just get back to routine. I know it seems to be redundant, but it's really important to make sure that you just stick with that routine. Diet is going well. I had a pretty good day today, didn't go off of it too much today at all, just yesterday. So that's a good sign. And that wraps it up for day 21, 28 days, and we'll see you tomorrow morning.

Am I going crazy?