Running Towards My 2015 Goals

One of my 2015 goals included completing a marathon/2. The reason for the goal was to get in shape and generally feel healthier. I was well on my way with a training schedule that increased by 1 mile each week. Then...

Around the 6 mile week, my left knee started to hurt near the end of the run. Thinking nothing of it, I pushed through. By the time I hit the 9 mile week, it was hurting 3 miles in and making the rest of the run impossible. Not good.

After some research and talking with a friend who's a physical therapist, it became clear that I over stretched my IT band and it was pulling on my knee, which was where I felt the pain. It's strange how you can hurt yourself in one way, but feel the symptoms in a completely different place (this must be a good analogy for something in life...).

All that to say, I threw my training schedule out the window and played it by ear. So, when the day came for the Albany Half Marathon, I decided to walk and finish instead of push myself and get seriously injured.

I've also decided that it's much more fun to participate with a friend (I'm actually a social runner). So when I complete another one, I'll be looking for someone to run (walk?) with.


OTHER GOALS

2) I'm happy to share that I'm on track to memorize 52 Bible verses. This is what the wall looks like above my desk. Each card is a different passage with only the first letter of each word. That way I can quickly look up and review one of them. I'm not nearly as artistic and Jessi, but it works for me.

3) I can do 100 push-ups and am now focusing my efforts on the crunches. At first I thought I could ramp up both at the same time, but that didn't seem to work because I would be too tired from the first set.

4) I launched a website called Professional DIY Landlord that's dedicated to teaching new landlords how to manage their property professional: to maximize long term cash flow and minimize headaches.

My current focus in on content creation and promotion to build up a mailing list. To be honest, it's been a struggle to find the time to write regularly, especially with a new member of the family. So far the best solution has been to wake up at 5am and write for a couple hours before starting my official morning routine (verse memorization, working out, etc). However, I find that I can only wake up that early a few days per week before I start dragging and need to catch up on my sleep.

This is a project I'm committed to, and so I'll need to keep experimenting to find a sustainable solution.

5) My "improve eye contact" goal was never really track-able, so I'm not really sure how I'm doing. My guess is that it's hit and miss. Still, I'm continuing to practice.

6) I was doing great and only watching one show / movie per day... and then Elinor came along. It's simply easier to watch a show while holding her than doing anything else. I'm still watching less than I used to, which is good, but I'm off track on this goal. Any suggestions on things to do when you're on baby duty?

7) I'm a little behind on the book reading goal. I read Landlording On Autopilot and it's pretty good. There are definitely some good tips, like his new tenant introduction package, that we'll be implementing.

I'm currently in the middle of two books: The Reason For God by Tim Keller and Graphic Design for Nondesigners by Tony Seddon. One is for a new men's group I joined and the other is fun. I'll let you guess which is which.

I also recently made a small change with is having a dramatic impact on how much a read: Instead of keep my book on my desk, I put it next to my bed. Now, when I'm going to bed I see the book and remember to read. This is what I used to do growing up and in college and I read all the time. By simply changing the location of the book, I'm back to regularly reading 20-30 minutes each day. Amazing.

So there's a mid-year check-up on my goals. If you run into me, feel free to ask how I'm doing and hold me accountable.

(BTW, like the photo at the top? It's a free iOS app called Color Splash Effects.)

Happy 7th Wedding Anniversary (Lots of Fun Pictures!)

7 years... How time flies when you're having fun. :)

Enjoy a trip back down memory lane!

Thanks everyone for all your support and friendships over the last 7 years. Here's to many, many more! :)

Moving Beyond Apple iPhone's Tap & Hold of an App Icon

I love my iPhone and generally wouldn't change anything about it. However, there is one highly under-utilized feature I would like to see re-purposed.

Tap and hold an icon: It starts to jiggle and you can move it.

It's a neat visual experience and genuinely useful to be able to move icons around. However, here's the deal: I RARELY use it. My iPhone comes with a super convenient action (tap and hold an icon) that I don't use very often. That was the right move (pun intended) when the iPhone launched, but it's time to evolve in the direction of the Mac's icon right click menu.

What if tapping and holding an icon instead...

• Brought up an app-specific settings menu. Let me quickly change my app settings (like notifications and privacy) and developer specific settings. I don't change these often, but it's a pain to hunt down an app's settings in a long list of apps.

• Showed my current notifications and/or widgets that are in the main pull down menu.

• Gave me a option to move the icon which then goes back to the home screen with a jiggly icon like today.

• Let me read the latest app update notes, read about the developer, view other apps they created, and similar apps I might be interested in.

• Kind of silly, but it would be cool to choose different icons the developer makes available (maybe for free... maybe as an meta-app purchase).

• Obviously, an option to open the app.

There you go Apple. Those are some ideas to get you started. Tap and hold (or Force Touch in the likely near future) is a fantastically convenient action which can, and should, be used to do more than move icons around.

Elinor Ruth Furlo

Well, well well... It's been a little while since my last post. But it's for good reason! As you know, we had a daughter on the way. Due to Jessi developing Cholestasis, we decided to induce and deliver 3 weeks early and avoid trouble when going full term.

So, at 9:00pm on May 28th, 2015 Elinor Ruth was born weighing 6lbs 4oz at a height of 17.74 inches.

We are so thankful for everyone who supported us with prayer and support. It's been a long three weeks and I finally feel like I can barely bring my head above water and admit the rest of the world exists.

OK. Now for the part you really want: pictures! :)

Jury Duty

(Image: outbrain.com "I want the truth!")

This week I had the honor and privilege of serving as a juror for my local county.

In some ways it was exactly like the movies and TV shows. In other ways, quite different.

There was no background music unfortunately.

Also, they only selected 6 people instead of 12.

They started out by putting us in a random order. I happened to be #6 on the list. Then they only asked general questions to the entire group of 50 people. One of the guys in front of me happened to know one of the witnesses (the defendant shared the same doctor). They never actually asked me any direct questions. This took about 30 minutes. The lawyers and judge chatted in the chambers for about 5 minutes. They came out and announced the set of jurors - and I was one of them.

Totally random.

After everyone else left we proceeded to opening statements where I learned that the defendant was being accused of driving under the influence of alcohol where he failed his field test (after being pulled over for speeding on his motorcycle). BUT it turns out that he also had been in an accident months earlier where some brain trauma and coordination issues remained. So... did he fail the test because he was drunk? He did admit to drinking one beer 10 minutes before being pulled over. Or, did he fail because of prior health issues?

Further complicating things: he took a breath test at the jail house one and a half hours after being pulled over where he blew a 0.07 BAC and in Oregon you need to blow a 0.08 or higher to be legally considered drunk.

It was up to the 6 of us to decide this man's fate.

We then started with witnesses where the first was the police offer who pulled the man over. In addition to his verbal testimony and written report, we also got to watch a video of the entire event. Pretty cool! They explained what happened. Then play that part of the video, then ask clarifying questions. Having the actual video was very helpful.

Then came the cross examination which was pretty cool because that ended the rehearsed part. Overall, I thought the officer did a good job of explaining what happened. You could tell that he's done his job for a while and knew what to pay attention to. I actually thought that entire questioning process was extremely fair because both sides got to continuously ask questions until everyone was satisfied.

We also listened to the testimony from a CSI who explained how alcohol works its way through the body. We also heard from the man's doctor who explained that because of his prior injury he could not complete the physical field tests. We heard from many people who described the man as acting the same way during regular hours without alcohol as the way the police officer saw him.

It's strange. Everyone seemed to agree that he was impaired to the point where he should not have been driving, but the reason why was critically important. An injury doesn't count, but alcohol does.

"Are You Not Entertained?!"

I also needed to constantly remind myself that I wasn't being entertained. This wasn't Law & Order and I wasn't evaluating the attorney's presentation skills. Instead, I was there to discern the facts and determine if he broke the law beyond a reasonable doubt, even if I didn't agree with the law only using the information presented to us. This was a very difficult feeling to shake.

The entire process took two and a half days of selecting, testifying and deliberating. In the end, we came to a unanimous decision. I did what I do best: I created a framework the group used for determining what happened. We then put the evidence into the framework and evaluated. By the time we finished it became very clear, even after discounting his physical issues, that he did indeed drive under the influence of alcohol.

Another difference between reality and TV was the amount of information we get. Usually the show is from the lawyer's perspective where you, as the viewer, know all the facts (even what couldn't be shown), what's trying to be proven and what's on the line.

For example, I have no idea what his penalty is. I can guess from reading about it generally later online, but I don't actually know because the judge took us out of the room for all of those discussions.

I also later looked up a BAC chart to see if 1 beer would get a 190lb man anywhere close to .07 BAC. The short answer is no. So clearly he was stretching the truth when he said he only had 1 beer.

I don't know why they didn't use a table like this. There were other pieces of evidence I was surprised weren't included. I guess that's because including more evidence and witnesses takes more time and money that just may not have been worth it given the penalty.

Jury Duty is a Cornerstone of Freedom and Justice

The legal system was fantastic to participate in. I was honored to be selected to serve (even though it was random) and would be delighted to participate again as a juror. I highly recommend you do it if given the chance. I got a certificate of appreciation which I think sums op my feelings well:

"Your public service as a juror is one of the most important functions of our democracy. A right to a trial by jury is guaranteed by both the Oregon and United States Constitution and is a cornerstone of freedom and justice. You should not view your jury services as an obligation but an exercise of your right to participate in government. Your service assures the fairness of the judicial system and is a safeguard of the freedom we all enjoy. Thank you for your service."