When you learn something new, change your mind.

A few days ago I finished listening to the book Range by David Epstein, and it was good. Essentially it described to me something that I already knew, but in a way that I hadn't understood or articulated. People that do a range of different sports or jobs before getting to their current sport or job often have more success than people that specialize very early in their sport or job. 

One way this manifests is that people with a range of experience can give an analogy about a situation to describe it in a different way, and that might provide some insight to a group that they didn't have before to the current situation. He spends one chapter of the book talking about people that forecast different events, and the people that are able to forecast the best often have the largest range of experience, and relentlessly change their minds about thing as new information is presented. So I took some time to reflect on myself, do I have a good range of experience? Am I open to changing my mind on things? What have I changed my mind on in the past?

It both made me feel good about having changed my mind on a number of things, and also made me feel a little bad that I didn't seek out more diverse opinions on topics to intentionally change my mind more often. To give a big example, but also one that moved rather slow for me, 20 years ago I didn't think that universal healthcare made sense, it would be too expensive, end of story. However, over the last two decades, I've learned how much money insurance companies make, and how much money pharmaceutical companies make, and how much debt it takes to become a doctor, and how in many cases, like PEPFAR a dollar a day can actually save a person's life for decades. Would you save a person's life for $1.00 per day? I think that's a no brainer, yes, every single time. Raise my taxes to make that possible. I can pay an extra $10/day to save 10 lives a day. The United States is a wealthy country, how is it countries with half or a third of our average income per person can have universal healthcare, but we can't?

To give another example, I still can't believe I'm in manufacturing. In a few months it will have been five years, and admittedly my design skills are a little rusty. I always perceived manufacturing as dirty, dangerous, poorly illuminated, but the reality today is very different than the factories of 50 years ago. Plus there is a certain satisfaction to building something, you get to see the thing that you were working on come to fruition. In the design world you can spend years working on something, and then it can actually get canceled before it becomes reality, and that happened to me several times. Of course the risk in manufacturing is you build a whole new factory and never get to take the factory to production.

Another example is the three stage rocket. I need to write this one out more, but nearly three years ago I watched two coworkers debate a two stage versus a three stage rocket, and despite the fact that nearly every rocket company works around two stages, I've actually come down on the side of a three stage rocket. Why? Well, we know a first stage rocket can be reusable and land vertically, so now it's just a matter of making it more reusable and easier to reuse. We also know that orbital vehicles like the space shuttle can be reusable. However, due to the rocket equation, a two stage rocket just never really can get that much to orbit. So a solution that no one has implemented is make a three stage rocket, with stage one landing back on land within a few miles from the launch pad for easy refurbishment between flights. Stage two landing 1000 miles away on a barge, or better yet some piece of land, and then stage three being orbital, and either disposable, or reusable. Trying to make a second stage orbital and fully reusable means that the payload capacity will be small compared to the mass of the second stage, something like 5% of the dry mass of the second stage. It's like saying that you need a 5,000 pound SUV to deliver 250 pounds total to the destination... which is only two people and no luggage if the people are small. And the problem is reentry is always going to be harsh on vehicles, so that second stage in a three stage vehicle that is suborbital, you really want to minimize the reentry stress on that stage. 

The point of these examples are it's okay to change your mind, in fact, it's good when you are presented with new information. Often the ideal answer isn't clear and it can take a lot of research to find the best answer that incorporates all of the available data. It can definitely be hard to search out an opposing opinion at times, but it's often worth is to find a better solution.

Explaining Complexity

These last few days I was in North Carolina at a show trying to explain a complex topic, a continuously variable transmission with a hydrostatic assist. In short, it allows the engine to stay at a constant speed for improved fuel efficiency and the transmission does all the work of controlling the speed. There is no changing gears, even though there is a hard mechanical link from engine to wheels. 

Bigger picture, explaining something complex, how does one do that? I enjoy teaching and using analogies when I can, yet even I struggle to fully explain something that took a decade of development by a team of engineers. I really don't have an answer. 

I did an okay job explaining the new transmission, but there were some confused or glazed expressions, so I know I could have done quite a bit better.  Good experience I suppose. Teaching my work to others certainly helps me understand it better because the students questions refine my own explanation. Even bad teaching on my part helps me learn, and that has value, at least to me. 

Are You Sure?

How often is it we eagerly take on a challenge, an opportunity, only to learn how difficult it really is? I am in the middle of this situation now and it's not easy. The answers are not straitforward and I can't figure it all out myself in a timely manner. Which leaves me wondering, why was I willing to take this on in the first place?

The hope is we will figure some things out and the situation will quickly become simply the learning curve, rather than real failure. That is the hope yet the magnitude... It's not a little issue.

Ambiguous I know, but pretty relatable to anytime we feel we have gotten ourselves in over our head.

Está Frío!

In Spanish that means "it is (temporarily) cold." It did not get above zero Fahrenheit here in Dubuque today. I didn't even run, but I'll blame that on the cold I am trying to recover from as much as the outside temperature. 

In Spanish there are two verbs that mean to be: ser and estar. Ser is a more permanent to be, like I am a US citizen, and estar is a more temporary to be, like I am at home. In other words, simply using a different form of be to describe the weather makes it a little more tolerable because it's not permanent. It is a small distinction but in English saying "it is cold" is so negative and permanent. 

I enjoy learning other languages because they show us the differences in how we see the world based on our first language. For example in Spanish there is no evening, they go strait from afternoon to night.

No Materialism in the Mountains

Its true. Stuff gets broken but I can never remember longing for anything, except a water filter, and that's more a story of inexperience that worked out okay anyway. I realized a few days ago that one of the things I like about going into the mountains is that we take everything with us we will need and then shut the door on wanting more. There is no advertising. There are no stores. We only have each other and what we brought at the beginning.

I feel all too often that I am too materialistic and selfish. Yet almost every day I go out on a run and for a brief time enjoy the simplicity of not wanting any given thing. It is interesting how I have been doing these things for years but only realized a few days ago that the material coveting that makes us unhappy in our life situation dissappears when I go into the mountains or go for a run. I am continuously learning.

37.6 Miles Per Gallon!! (Hypermiling)

I'm down here in Louisiana driving to various places around the middle of the state. Given our line of work we always rent vehicles with four wheel drive or all wheel drive. Well, we rented a Nissan Rogue this time around. The car rental company reset the odometer, I think, and we have done a lot of driving, but I didn't have to fill up the tank today until we had covered 433 miles over two days. When I did fill up the tank it only took 11.5 gallons of fuel. That is a whopping 37.6 MPG!

A little background, I've driven maybe 100,000 miles in my life. It's a high estimate, but realistic. Many of those on the highway. Given my van gets like 22-23 miles per gallon and gas has cost $3-4 the last six years, we're looking at a minimum of about $13,000 in gas in my driving life. I like to imagine that I am a somewhat frugal, conservative person and my driving habits reflect my physics knowledge, in other words conservation of momentum and the high cost of acceleration. So I have learned to drive so that I get the best mileage. On this trip I am the only drive due to the insurance policy.

A few simple way to get better mileage:

• Take weight out of the vehicle, example: most of the time I take the middle seat out of my van.
• Pump up the tires, just watch out you don't over inflate them too much.
• Turn down the air conditioning.
• Accelerate slowly, don't race out of stop lights!
• Coast instead of breaking, an extra 5 or 10 or 20 seconds per stop light or stop sign coasting will save more fuel.
• Drive 55 miles per hour, which is really only convenient when the speed limit is 55, and it is in central Louisiana all over the place.
• Drive on flat roads or downhill, and once again central Louisiana is very flat.
• Fly around curves, because breaking a whole lot then speeding up again on a curve recommended only 10 mph below the speed limit is a drain on fuel. 

That's about all I can think of. Combined, assuming the trip odometer was at 0 when we started, and there was no way it could have been more than about 25, we still averaged way above the stated 33 mpg for a Nissan Rogue on the highway. I don't track my mileage normally, aside from weekly to know how much I drive per week. So I really have no idea if my hypermiling does much good in my daily life, but the last two days it managed to be incredible. Moral of the story is, I think, I have learned to do hypermiling. Achieving 37 mpg in a crossover, I didn't think I could do that. Of course, a 14% mileage improvement doesn't compare to people getting more than a 100% improvement in mileage. 

My 10 Year High School Class Reunion

Sabetha High Class of 2004 10 Year Reunion

Wow! This was great! I was nervous before getting back to Sabetha because I call these people my friends, some of them I consider rather good friends, yet I hardly talk to them and haven’t seen many in ten years. I quickly learned, or was reminded, you have to live where you are, you can’t dwell in the past. There were several times I asked around about people only to find out, no one really knew what that person was up to. There were several people that no one at the reunion had talked to in several years. Hey! Next time we do this, please come everyone! We want to know what is going on in your life. None of us keep up with each other as much as we would ideally like, that's life. 

This weekend was like a shot of motivation to my heart. (Yes, Pulp Fiction reference.) When I talked to my classmates, their spouses and significant others I was stunned at how well everyone was doing. Taken one classmate at a time it all seems to make sense. I will try to keep this pretty vague because we are a small enough class I don’t want to single anyone out. Time and again it was like: this person, who was and is awesome, is married to that person, who is also awesome, and they have a well behaved kid, plus stable jobs. 

What impressed me the most was the relationship side of things. We took a class picture of most of the people that were there, although a couple showed up later. I looked at my classmates and I thought, ‘wow, what a group of beautiful people!’ The part that you will not see in the picture, was the group of spouses and significant others, that again all seemed to have their lives together. There were only a few of us, maybe three of about 25, that didn’t bring a spouse or significant other. I suppose we are 28 now, but I still didn’t expect that. 

Everyone seemed to be gainfully employed, or was a stay at home parent. We even have a couple of doctors in our class. It really seemed like everyone was doing fairly well in their careers. No job is perfect, but people seemed to be doing quite well. Again, taken one person at a time each individual success did not seem like such a big deal, but put together we have done really well. 

Don’t let me give you the impression it has been all roses. Of the 72 of us, at least two are dead and at least three have been divorced. There have been kids born outside of marriage. Multiple people had lived in four (and maybe more) places after leaving college. My guess is that I was not alone in struggling to find a job that payed in the wake of the Great Recession. As a side note, my van was definitely the worst vehicle in the parking lot. Quite a few people had moved in with their parents after college at least for a little while. I will even dare to say that most of our class spent time living with our parents as an adult. I felt so alone and failed moving in with my parents and being unemployed in 2010, but I think that quite a few of my classmates had similar experiences. Many people have also returned to the area of northeast Kansas because the economy is good and being closer to family is a bonus.

I think that as I talked to my classmates and heard of their stable jobs and marriages and kids maybe it seemed like everyone was so successful because we had been through struggles in the last ten years. Several people had gone to school for one thing, and either changed direction to a less daunting occupation or totally dropped the degree to pursue something else. Student loans came up a few times, and while I am in debt quite a bit, some others are certainly in even more debt. Only one person directly mentioned money being a difficult but important topic in relationships and I think she spoke for most of the class when she bluntly talked about some of the hard times in the last ten years with careers, marriage, and having a kid. 

Land prices came up a few times as people think about getting into farming. The reality is land prices have gone up so much that if you aren’t inheriting land (because you have siblings or your parents still farm) it is awfully hard to get into it. I never really appreciated farming when I was younger, yet the hundreds of hours I spent on my friends farms helped shape me into who I am today. Even to me the concept of having a “hobby farm” sounds like a great experience. 

Getting back to the positives, there were a couple people that I knew did not have the easiest life back in high school and shortly after. Seeing those people, married, with kids, and well behaved kids too, welled my eyes up with tears. If a measure of a parent is the kids, well done classmates! I was astounded, for the number of kids we had there they were all, without exception, well behaved. Plus, my classmates and their spouses seemed like pros when it came to parenting. They could hold a conversation and watch the kid run around, no problem. I look forward to the time in my life when I have kids, but I’ve never changed a diaper. Every time a kid would fall or hit a head or cough I could cringe a little because I don’t know what to do about it, yet my classmates and their spouses reacted like it was no problem and were back in the conversation a minute later.

I had the opportunity to apologize to a couple people for mean things I had done in the past. I have memories that come up every once in awhile and make me feel bad for things I have done. I also thanked a number of people for helping me become who I am. The person we become is in large part based on the people we are surrounded by, and I was surrounded by amazing people growing up. I feel like our class holds itself to a high standard. That means different things to different people, everything from solid parenting to becoming a doctor. 

On Sunday I waited around town until the early afternoon to go to a retirement party for a teacher and coach that had motivated me when I was in middle school. I also happened to see and thank a couple other teachers and coaches at the party. Every time I see my track and cross country coaches, I am so thankful. It took some time, and I didn’t always get the point, but I feel the overall extremely positive experience I had running growing up is why I got back into running less than a year after I quit, and haven’t stopped running in the nine years since. It also taught me about long term progress, which helped get me to Nepal this year. I also saw one of my math teachers, and he gave me an experience I will never forget. My freshman year of high school in geometry class, there were maybe a couple freshman, but mostly sophomores and juniors in the class. One day when he was going to be out for the day, he gave me the lesson and had me teach the class. It went quite well, but going into it I was terrified explaining to these older girls and big football players the volume of water in the tank! It was a leap for me, and an experience I treasure. I had amazing educators growing up!

Over the weekend I had two two-hour conversations with people who were ironically not in my class. Some people, that I would have liked to talk to more, I only said “hi” to. Other people after a few minutes of talking we would get interrupted by someone else and never return to our conversation. I could have easily spent two hours talking with every single person in my class. That being said, I spent a lot of time just listening. I live my life, I already know what I’m doing, I don’t want to hear myself talk about it. I want to know what my classmates are up to. By the way, only two of the six cross country runners in our class showed up. Next time, you all better be there! Even listening to a few other people have conversations, I kept thinking, ‘well done, you guys all have your lives together.’ I feel marriage is probably only second to God when it comes to big life decisions and events, and it seems like most of my class just nailed it. The people they married are fantastic. Seriously, well done friends. 

Other news about Sabetha, Kansas itself, since my family hasn’t lived there in 9.5 years, it seems to be doing really well. Nemaha County was apparently listed as one of the top 10 counties to get a job a few years ago. There are two new manufacturing and engineering companies in town that employ around 200 people. For a town of 2500 people, that’s a big development. South of town quite a few houses have been built and there is at least one new "suburb". It is a little funny how developments there seem to go by one family or occupation. There is a new gym at the high school and a new baseball field. Otherwise most things are the same. The town has a little trouble keeping restaurants and they actually have a bit of a rental apartment shortage. Business is good enough that a friend said to me, “if you can weld in Sabetha and you don’t have a job, it’s because you smoke too much crack.” 

I was so nervous going into this. I haven’t kept up well with my friends. I don’t have a significant other to bring. I have changed. They have changed. We have gone our separate ways and I wasn’t sure what all that would mean. Well, I’m still smiling, sitting here two days later. It was great! I mean, I know we’ve had some tough times, but overall, well done friends! If possible I will make it to all the organized reunions that we have in the future, and I will certainly be going to my college reunions as well. In a class of only 72 graduates, you get to know people. It will never be what it once was. We have all matured. Fewer crude jokes. No putting other people down. There was a lot of positivity, and parenting. These aren't the same people I went to school with, they are better. I will be commenting on Facebook posts in the future, instead of just “liking” them and I look forward to the next time we do this. As an open invitation, if anyone from the Sabetha High class of 2004 is in Dubuque, Iowa in the future and I’m still here let me know, dinner is on me. 

Seventh Grade Basketball! (I'm #4)

Does Anybody Care About The Less Fortunate?

I want to start a charity. Sustainable South Sudan, because starting a country is hard. Why help some far away land that is constantly at war when there is so much need at home?

1. South Sudan probably is the poorest place in the world. It is almost the only place in the world the Guinea Worm still exists.
2. Having been to Rwanda I know how poor East-central Africa is. One dollar can feed a starving family for a day and ten dollars a family for a week.  Sending a kid to the YMCA for six hours a week just doesn't seem like as good of a deal.
3. No one else wants to go to a "war zone". I'm not saying I'm going anytime soon, but the point is the most vulnerable people are the ones getting the least help. Planes in and out of Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda are full of "do-gooders", high school and college kids and their parents on mission trips, Peace Corps volunteers, and some generous tourists. A country in conflict with no infrastructure has none of that support.

What do I want to do there?

1. Agriculture! If people can't eat, they can't do much of anything. Wether it is buying hoes, seeds, or something I don't understand, sustainable means eating on a regular basis.
2. Education! I feel that education is the key to so much in life. It is the opening to more productive agriculture, reading and writing, businesses, commerce, and an economy. 

That's where my head is. As I look around, maybe the right people to help get this off the ground are in plain sight, but I don't see them. I just see new cars, home renovations, and luxurious lifestyles. I'll be honest, I don't even really want to start a charity. I would rather just donate money to one that already exists. Alas, to the best of my knowledge there is nothing like what I am seeking.

Where am I supposed to find the time for this? Can someone else take this mission? You don't have to answer, the answer is no. If I don't do it, no one else will. I would love to be surprised, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I don't know. I have everything but time. People will die because I don't do anything; probably kids under age five. I need help. I can't do this alone. If I save one starfish, thousands more will still die. To be honest, life is happier not knowing some things. 

I Have a New Job!

I have a new job! I am now a structures and sheet metal design engineer! I will be working on the same wheeled full tree forestry machines that I worked on before but instead of doing the finite element analysis (testing) I will be doing the design. 

Why the change? Several reasons, after a big project this summer, doing something no one else has ever done in FEA, specifically fatigue on a specific ambiguously loaded assembly, I felt like I had reached a decision point, go farther down the FEA technical path (get a PhD) or do something else. My learning had reached a plateau. Secondly, there are about eight different design engineer positions at my company I would have been interested in and one was vacated. So I applied, interviewed, and next thing you know my computer is moved to the new group. Third, I will continue with the product group I have been working with the past two and a half years which will enable me to see more aspects of the product development process. 

It is not a promotion, technically it's called a lateral, but I will have more responsibility. I will also be exposed to more people and aspects of product development than my old position. There is a lot to be said for developing relationships and I look forward to the very human, listening aspect of this position. 

Today was my first day. I have much to learn and it is humbling to walk away from something I am skilled at to something I don't really understand. Here goes learning to do.

Education Matters

Here is a NY Times article about foreign education. In short, the difference between Americans in school and much of the rest of the developed world can be summed up in this small excerpt:

 “It’s school,” one of them (Finnish school girls) says. “How else will I graduate and go to university and get a good job?” It’s the only sensible answer, of course, but its irrefutable logic still eludes many American students, a quarter of whom fail to graduate from high school.

Ship, Ship, SHIP!!

Our goal is to get product out the door. Time is not only sensitive, it is critical.

I see an attitude of fear of shipping all too often in my life. I see it in engineering and manufacturing, running races, writing blog posts, and especially following dreams. As an investor, revenue matters. Having a larger cash flow is typically a beneficial thing for a business. Revenue is the result of shipping products and services.

Not all of my blog posts are good, some are downright boring and others are a waste of your time. A point of the blog today is that I ship every weekday. Get the imperfect product and service out there, so that you can test, evaluate and modify in the future. At some point on an oil painting the artist needs to stop tweaking. While there are certainly things that could change, perfection is unobtainable. Name one physical thing or human idea in history that is perfect? I can't think of any, yet many of the best things are the result of lessons learned shipping much lesser things.

Whatever your lot in life, ship today, it's well worth it.

The Opportunity

Give yourself the opportunity to _______. A few months ago I read From Last to First by Charlie Spedding.  It's about a guy that by many standards would be considered quite average, but he gave himself the opportunity to excel and he had a few really great moments because of that. Do the same for yourself.

Give yourself the opportunity to get an A, the opportunity to get the job you want, the opportunity to win whatever you are contesting. People seem to shut down and lower their expectations so soon in a process. It is fine to have low expectations, but don't let those low expectations limit your opportunities.

Maybe it is just me but I feel most people have a hard time conceptualizing more than a 10-20% improvement in any given area of life. Well, there are some things that are far more than 20% better than what you have now. What are the limits? What is possible? Only that which one has the opportunity to do.

Do Not Covet

It is a pretty simple concept, don't be wanting. This came up wednesday night and it struck home. I realized how often I have been desiring this or that lately.

Another factor is with the recent Papal events I have learned about Celestine V. Read or listen to more about him: http://www.npr.org/2013/02/26/172890937/the-hermit-pope-who-set-the-precedent-for-benedict-xvi

We can be so materialistic and self centered. Rather, I can be so materialistic and self centered that it gets in the way of helping people. What simple action item can I take away from this lesson? I already have plenty. Those things I want I do not need and thus will not buy. I accumulate far too much anyway.

In September 2010 after I repelled off a wall in Yosemite I called one of my climbing mentors. I told him of my failures and seeking advice. He told me, "If you aren't whole without it, you won't be whole with it." Referring to climbing this or that, but the concept is valid for a new iPad and car as much as a rock wall. Do not covet because if you do, in a practical sense, you will never be complete.0

When Long Term Becomes Short Term

I am an extremely goal orientated person. I set a goal and I go after it. Two easy examples, for more than a year I set my sights on breaking 33 minutes in the 10,000. At the outdoor conference championship I did it with 1.50 seconds to spare. Another much longer example, my second day of high school I said to my biology class that I wanted to be an aeronautical engineer, eight years later I walked across the stage with a degree in aerospace engineering. I didn't change my major in high school or college.

I'm getting older. There is no time to waste. If I want to do something, I had better do it or the opportunity will disappear. One of the difficulties of actually accomplishing a goal is the transition from long term to short term. I have struggled with this transition in both of my marathon training cycles. Early in the goal there is a lot of time to progress. Later in the progression the goal becomes more concrete and tangible. How does one make that transition?

A few suggestions:

• Instead of thinking about ideas and theory as people do in long term planning, think about specifics, like the workout last week or the exam in four days.
• If you are capable of accomplishing the goal as planned then just do it. If you are not, well you have come this far you might as well give it a shot.
• Recognize most of the pressure is internal. Others don't care nearly as much as you do if it works out exactly as you planned.
• The meaning of the goal has probably changed since you set it. Recognize there is a difference between then and now and learn from the journey so that the next time you set more appropriate goals at the beginning of the process.

How to Develop Excitement and Anticipation?

I don't really know. My best guess is talking about something that is going to happen. I'm working on a few things, small things, but very personal things that will expose me more than I have exposed in the past. Three are articles, one about the forestry industry, one about dating, and one about losing weight. They are all things that are emotional, factual, personal, and involved, or still involve, significant learning on my part. Another thing is a surprise. It has words, but it's not an article. It's very exciting for me and more adventurous than I have been in the past in one respect.

In other words, you may have to suffer through some shallow posts like this before you get the magnum opus articles. Why even bother writing this shallow piece? Well, if I get a few of you excited, I will get more excited. Positive energy spreads. I'm at the point in all of the articles that just a little positive motivation to get me to write a conclusion paragraph, edit them, and add anything I might have forgotten is all that needs to happen. I don't want these to turn into another project I do 90% and leave sit on my hard drive.

Yep it worked. Trying to get you excited got me excited. Another successful social experiment!

Education and (or versus) Experience

There are many angles to approach a problem. Two of the primary ways are to learn about what someone else did or do something yourself. Both have value. Education exposes us to things in an extremely compressed period of time that took decades and centuries to learn. Experience teaches us lessons that are so detailed and often complicated no classroom will teach them.

Both have merit. I am so incredibly fortunate that in two of the things I spend most of my time on, engineering and running, I have had both a strong formal education and significant experience. It gives me an exciting perspective on what I do. 

To give two examples from running, a person can read about running and workouts and efforts and intensities, but the first time you run lactate threshold and really really feel that you are at the right pace and you understand why it is an important pace, it will blow your mind! September 2007 for me. Second, after wondering why I had injury after injury over three years I tried a radical approach I had heard about, a low heeled shoe, with not enough support for my pronation, at least many shoe salesmen would tell me. Three and a half years later the only significant issue I have had was tendonitis, and that was because I wasn't doing the foot exercises I need to do weekly. In both cases the education combined with the experience made the difference. 

So often we feel we can be an expert by reading an article about something. I am chief of the guilty in that case. Alternatively, we think, this has worked in the past, I know what I'm doing. Again I have made that mistake. It is amazing how close to failure something can be time and again and we still have a false sense of security or at least durability when a seemingly minor factor changes.

The point is, they both have value. As my alma mater WPI says, "Lehr und Kunst" which is German for Theory and Practice. Neither one can exist in a vacuum. 

I Live in Iowa: Week 83

I had a really great week! I am so blessed. Taking a couple hours to write down 100 things I am thankful for helped reinforce that. Obviously the highlight of the week was spending two long days with my parents and my sister. Our family is just amazing! Where to start? We are really supportive of each other. When others tells me I am too crazy, my family understands and accepts me. Of course we are great on paper too. At least six different college degrees between the four of us, capabilities in at least four languages, way more income than four people need (but nowhere near the richest 1% in this country), a diversity of experiences and careers that help each of us better understand others, and a lot of love. 

I worked three days this week. It was funny I left work around 3:30 PM Wednesday and at least 80% of the office was gone, maybe 90%. Yet, in our little group, I was the first to leave. I am getting rather proficient at what I do. I am finishing projects in hours that took days, more than a week really, 18 months ago. It is exciting. It is nice to get good at something so that I can produce results timely and effectively. 

Janzen Gear Hangboards are for sale! This is great! This is big for me because it represents yet another thing that I started and finished. Sometimes I dwell on the failures, like the ice axe, more than the successes. In fact, I am so excited to have a stack of cut boards sitting in my apartment, that even if no one buys one (unlikely) I still have one set up that I can use. It is all a process: design, production, marketing, sales, shipping. I have learned so much about business from the more or less failed money sink that is Janzen Gear that when Janzen Automotive or Janzen Aerospace or whatever my next endeavor is starts I will have a much better idea what I am doing. Alternatively, maybe I will be a 40 year company man with my present employer, at some point along the way I suppose this entrepreneurial side of me might matter.

Running, I had a great week. I had several runs that ended with me running low 6 minute miles. I also significantly upped my mileage to a whopping 72 miles. That is 31 more miles that last week. A huge increase. An asking-for-an-injury size increase. I know this and am spending the time rehabilitating and prehabilitating myself to avoid an injury. 

My family went to see Skyfall the new James Bond movie and it is good! SPOILER ALERT!! They brought back, or kept, a few of the old classic elements, like the Walther PPK, a radio, Aston Martin, the ejection seat, shaken not stirred, and a few other things (I won't tell you everything), including a person or two that set the stage for at least a decade of really good Bond movies. Personally, all of the plots recently have been somewhat realistic, and I would kind of like to see a moon base, nuclear weapons, or maybe a plausible plot of a global corn and rice crop disease. Anyway, the movie is good.

On Saturday I went to a wedding. I am very excited and happy for the newlyweds! Strangely I do have mixed emotions from my observations and I am not sure what to make of it all. Not negative at all, but they look so young! I am sure I will write more in the coming days and weeks.

I uploaded a few videos to my YouTube channel. Here is one of classic American consumerism. I have mixed emotions watching this. I have mixed emotions because I was there. 

You Don't Understand Poverty

I am generalizing based on the Americans that I know, but I don't understand poverty either. I was laying on the couch as one of my parents read my blog and asked what I meant by an enclosed house (#74).  I mean the houses we live in are so luxurious in this country. When we lived in Oklahoma we had a chicken coop in the back yard for a couple of years. It had standard wood slats wall construction and a corrugated sheet metal roof. That is exactly the type of house that probably a billion or more people live in throughout the world. No one in the undeveloped world drives down to Lowe's or Home Depot to pick up sheet rock or more insulation. This picture of a slum in Jakarta, Indonesia is an extreme example, but it's real. People live there. The Wikipedia page for Poverty is a good one. Lots of pictures and numbers.

Poverty is a strange phenomenon. The worse it gets the more irrational people become. Few suicide bombers come from middle class families. What does make a difference in the war on poverty? Education seems to be the one thing that makes the biggest difference. Of course, it takes two or three decades for an education system to really make a dent.

An education teaches people to wash their hands to avoid getting sick. An education teaches people how to read so they can be informed about whatever is relevant to them. An education opens up economic opportunities that shut the door on poverty. A farmer that learns about crop rotation, irrigation, and erosion stands to be more productive and successful than one that does not have an education about such things. A business person that understands math well enough to manage a loan and balance the sales and expenses will be able to measure profit and thus likely have more success. People are more likely to invest in a person with more education and jump start one little part of that economy.

I hope that my international travels can help convey an idea of what these other countries are like. I hope that in some way I can help improve communication across international boarders and provide some education to create wealth for others. I have so much. I am so blessed. I hope that I don't forget that or take that for granted.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the spirit of celebrating the United States holiday of Thanksgiving I am going to tell you about some entities and ideas I am thankful for. Sometimes, when I am bored on a run or want to be reminded of how well I have it I think of a list of things I am thankful for. I usually aim for 50 things, but seeing as how this is once a year, I will give 100 things. The list is in no particular order although the first few things are in order because they do rise to the top. I am thankful for...

1. God and his son Jesus. I am so blessed. In regards to this, everything else fades away.
2. My family, specifically my immediate family because they have seen me through so much, but the whole group is a blessing.
3. The United States. We have it so good in this country.
4. Running and the ability for me to run.
5. 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. The Sun.
7. My blog. I pour myself out here. I hope the world is better because of it.
8. Asia, for their different perspectives and opportunities. 
9. The cross country and track and field coaching staff at UD.
10. My engineering job at John Deere.
11. The opportunity to go to Indonesia.
12. Videos, so that experiences can be shared.
13. Leeks, who knew?
14. Pasta, especially the whole grain style.
15. Ladies, women, girls, females whatever the preferred vernacular is now. 
16. My van with 291,007 miles on it.
17. Turbofan jet engines. Still one of the coolest things I have ever learned.
18. National Public Radio. 
19. My training partner(s) because 5AM is better shared.
20. My carbon fiber bicycle.
21. Group bicycle rides.
22. The organic vegetable section.
23. Sea bass.
24. Scallops.
25. Wood furniture.
26. The positives, negatives and more positives of Janzen Gear.
27. Wikipedia.
28. The general sharing of information and ideas.
29. The running locations around Dubuque like the Mines of Spain and Heritage Trail.
30. The athletes that I work with as a coach.
31. The college kids in Dubuque, you all make the city a better place.
32. Toilet paper.
33. My iPhone.
34. Wine, like a good Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec.
35. Steak. I tried vegetarian, I like steak too much.
36. Electricity.
37. The Internet.
38. Peace in the Middle East ...at least for the last day ...not counting Syria.
39. Progressive taxation.
40. Dividends.
41. Employment.
42. Conservation from natural resources to personal finances.
43. National parks, and not just in the United States.
44. Rock climbing.
45. Mountaineering, alpine and high altitude climbing.
46. Renewable resources.
47. Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
48. Paying off the second of my 11 loans last month.
49. My 1966 motorcycle, which helped me appreciate antiques.
50. Suffering, so I know how well I have it.
51. Pain, so I know what no pain feels like.
52. Fear, so I know what it feels like to not be afraid.
53. The truth.
54. Headlamps with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).
55. Failure, because it makes the success so much sweeter.
56. The running community.
57. The mountain climbing community.
58. Teaching Sunday School. I'm new to it, but I like it.
59. My church community, I'm one of maybe five 20somethings, but I like it.
60. Volunteering, from serving free meals this afternoon to going to Indonesia.
61. Charity. It still boggles me that I was out of engineering (unemployed) for 57 weeks. I understand how hard it can be for others. 
62. Africa and the runners they send to race me.
63. Streaming video and audio.
64. Drug testing.
65. Jail time for DUI offenders.
66. Freshly mowed lawn.
67. Running shorts.
68. A well fitted shirt.
69. Holding the door for a lady.
70. Daily news, specifically Runner's World and the Wall Street Journal.
71. Prana pants.
72. The Patagonia R1 Hoody.
73. Passing 50,000 visits and 100,000 page views this year.
74. An enclosed house with heating, air conditioning, electricity, hot water, and carpeting.
75. Food. The volume of food available to me is just staggering.
76. Electric cars. 
77. The smell of a book. 
78. The fact that my sister and I paint with oils and acrylics. 
79. Pomegranates.
80. Persistence. The idea of continuing with an idea or plan even when it is hard.
81. Minimal (low heel) running shoes.
82. Not getting struck by lightening on Humboldt in 2006.
83. Not breaking anything on Cannon Cliff in 2008.
84. My friends who are so strong they can push me more than I imagine.
85. The flicker of an idea, that 'ah-ha' moment when I realize the solution.
86. A good hearty laugh, maybe even one that hurts or makes me cry.
87. Massages.
88. Empathy. When someone can relate to another's issue and they can emotionally connect.
89. Down clothing, because it is so warm.
90. Ten uninterrupted hours of sleep.
91. Running as fast as I have at every event.
92. The marathon.
93. Mexican food and drink.
94. Stories from one friend to another.
95. Meetings that end early with all items accomplished.
96. The freedom to express beliefs and ideas without government backlash.
97. Friends who taught me about mental disorders. 
98. The idea of gifts and generosity.
99. People who care about changing the world for the better.
100. That we made it this far. A lot had to go right in the last thousand years to get us here.

I hope that you have something to be thankful for today. I am incredibly blessed. I do feel that I have the best life in the world, and I hope you feel the same way about your life.

Thank you all for reading my blog. It is your positive support, mostly in person and usually not related to this blog, that motivates me to write on those days when I don't feel like I am living the best life. Thank you!

Why I Doubted My Sister

I said several times over the weekend that I could not believe that my sister graduated from college. Quite a few people from my parents to my sister's friends asked me why I doubted. They all had the reaction that I should have had more faith in her. On the other hand, Saturday night when things calmed down my sister told me that it was nice I was her brother because I "get it" which means understanding what she went through more than any of our relatives. In other words people, I don't think most of you understand. Here are my reasons for doubting.

1. Engineering school is hard. A private college science and engineering only school is very hard. I distinctly remember doing Intermediate Physics Mechanics II homework at midnight on a Saturday! Similarly, Spacecraft Design and Mission Planning at 2 AM on a Tuesday when I was the first of five people in our project group to go home for the night. This kind of work load is more than most are willing to suffer through.  Whether my sister suffered more than most or not I do not know, maybe she just articulated her suffering more than most. Either way, most at some point in an education like this harbor feelings that perhaps he or she should drop out and follow some other dream, like climb mountains. I suppose I considered my sister susceptible to this because sticking with something for four and a half years is more commitment than I saw her exercise while we both lived at home with our parents. Seeing her get through it... her effort makes it so valuable and rewarding for her. There were times the first few years when I worried she would take a semester off and not come back. However, she consistently kept at it and pulled the degree off. The effort that she brought to college to graduate will propel her into the next challenge, which will propel her through to the next after that. In other words, she will be a huge success in industry.
2. My sister is one of the more social engineers. She is a social person in general. I feared that her extracurricular life might interfere with her graduating. 

That is why I doubted. It is not that I saw my sister as weak, it is that her opponent and other priorities were so strong. Once again: Congratulations Berea!