The Need For Speed

I know there are a lot of haters out there, but I love this sport.
Can't wait for the race tonight at Richmond International Raceway!

On the Road Again

In preparation for my next triathlon (Sprint in Tempe on Sept. 27th) I've been trying to get a nice decent road ride in every Friday morning. I've done this now for 3 weeks and had a great ride today. At first I found road biking to be rather boring and tedious, but I have really grown to enjoy it more and more. It provides me some good quality time to think and clear my head of all the clutter from the week. I rode today from my house over to the hills of Las Sendas. I did a few loops over the hills and returned home. Here is my route and elevation from mapmyride.com. Thank you iPhone for tracking it! Gotta love technology these days!

7AM-9AM (1:55:43)
Distance: 30.6 Miles
Avg Speed: 15.7 m/hr (my goal is to get this to 18 m/hr)



Click image to make bigger

Death By Meeting

In my job I have to attend a lot of meetings. Planning meetings, creative brainstorm meetings, strategical meetings, production meetings, impromptu meetings, etc... In other words A LOT of meetings. Some meetings I sit there and wonder "why am I even here? This has nothing to do with me! This is a wast of my time!" And then one of my biggest pet-peeves is when meetings don't start on time, or even worse, when they don't end on time. If I had a quarter for every meeting that dragged on and on I would be a rich man. Meetings that run over by 30 minutes or even an hour just aggravated me - ESPECIALLY if it's a "why am I here?" meeting. Haha, well you get my point...meetings aren't my favorite.

To be honest with you, I do actually enjoy meetings if they are the right type. I believe that it is possible to walk away from a meeting and feel confident, energized, and empowered to do your job better. There have been meetings (though they are few) that I have left feeling like we accomplished so much. These kinds of meetings are so important and valuable.

Two weeks ago, after having a stream of horrible meetings, a light bulb came on and I began to walk over to my bookshelf. "There it is!" I then dusted off the cover of a book I've had for a few years called Death By Meeting by Partrick Lencioni.

A friend and former boss, Ryan Russell, had the whole Youth Team read this book a few years back. I remember it being a really great book with loads of insights, but I couldn't really remember what those insights were exactly. Thus, I began to re-read it. Two days later I was finished - it's that good! It's written as a fable about Casey McDaniel, the founder and CEO of Yip Software. Casey is in the midst of a problem he created, but one he doesn't know how to solve. Through it Lencioni helps us see some of the biggest obstacles that we face in leading meetings and offers solutions on how to fix them.

I am excited to try his suggestions out in the meetings that I lead. I am also jazzed to give some feedback and suggestions to other meetings I am a part of. Not that the book provides all the answers to instantly make your meetings a success, but it does offer many foundational principles that can drastically change your meeting's outcome. But I shall wait and see if mine get any better. I will make sure to keep you posted :-)

On a side note, Partrick Lencioni will be speaking at this year's Leadership Summit. The Summit is put on by the Willow Creek Association and is an awesome leadership Conference. My church, Central Christian Church, is a host site for it and I encourage any one in leadership to go. But hurry! The earlier bird registration deadline is June 29th! Click HERE to get registered.

Here's a clip of Patrick talking about conflict - something he addresses in this book

Here Birdie, Birdie...Here Birdie

This weekend I went on a little Father's Day outing with my dad to the golf course to play 18 holes. I don't golf nearly as much as I would like to and because of this I am pretty darn inconsistent. Half the time my shots are sliced and shanked, but every once in a while I pull off a "beauty." As frustrating as golf is for me, it's these kinds of shots that keep me coming back for more.

This is after my second shot on a par 4. Hello Birdie!!!

PHASE 1 - COMPLETE

Well, yesterday I officially completed Phase 1 (of 3) of the Maker's Diet. I can honestly say that I feel great and am full of energy. It has been rather hard to stay away from certain foods and especially sweets, but I have done it now for two weeks - except for a few exceptions :-) Now, four more weeks and I will have completed the 40 day challenge. Yay for nutrition!


If anyone is interested in seeing what foods are "OK" to eat on the Maker's Diet, I found a blog that has the food list. Click HERE to see it.

WIPEOUT

I so wish I could be on the show WIPEOUT! It looks fun and I think I could win. You have to be a resident of California though...bummer! :-(

The Maker's Diet

A while back someone recommended a health book to me called The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin. I'm not really a "health nut" by any stretch of the imagination, but after reading this book I was fascinated by Rubin's claims. It is hard not to consider a healthier diet after some of his statistics and information about what American's eat. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is straight up harmful to your health. Even fruits and vegetables you buy at a local grocery store are filled with chemicals in order to mass-market them. To me this is pretty eye-opening.

Rubin is a naturopathic doctor and nutritionist who in college suffered from a severe case of Crohn's disease. After trying hundreds of medications, supplements, "miracle" drugs, and visiting doctors all over the world, Rubin turned to the Bible for answers. Through the aid of a doctor, Rubin began following the strict dietary laws that God commanded the Israelites to in the Old Testament. Through this and a few other supplements Rubin was completely cured of Crohn's disease. His "miracle" drug was an ancient book written for primitive people living thousands of years ago.

Through this he has created The Maker's Diet along with other supplements to help aid people towards the healthy lifestyle that God designed us to have. There is a 40 day health challenge at the end of the book that is extremely rigorous and I have decided to take that challenge. I'm not going to follow it to a "T" but I will be within 90% of it. I just can't afford doing it 100% - organic food is expensive! On top of that, there are 5-6 supplements that are required for it. Nevertheless, I am excited to see how good I feel after doing this and not having fast food for 40 days! So don't ask me to go to lunch at In and Out, ok!

If anyone is interested in health and wants an education about just how bad our diet is in America, then I highly recommend reading this book whether you do the 40 day challenge or not.

Here are some of the supplements that I am taking for the next 40 days:
- Perfect Food: A green food supplement. This is nice b/c I don't like many green vegetables
- Super Seed: A whole food blend of seeds, sprouted grains, and an excellent source of dietary fiber
- Vitamin Code (Men's Formula): a RAW multivitamin
- Oceans 3 Beyond Omega-3: This is more than just Omega-3. It also has OmegaXanthin from the ocean

OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES
www.makersdiet.com
www.gardenoflife.com
www.oceans3.com/
www.beyondprobiotics.net