Ok, here we go... In 2008 I was able to get a couple things done from my Resolution list.

3. Run a Marathon.
8. Change the way I think.
9. Read books that will change the way I look at the world.
10. Learn to remember people's names.

I did not get to go shark fishing, nor did I manage to make some of the bigger goals. That is ok, because now it is time for 2009. The plan this year is to shorten my list and to get it all done. Also, this list is no longer a set of resolutions, this is my 2009 To Do List. On top of that these are going to be in the present tense, as if I'm completing them.

1. I am crossing the finish line of my second marathon. I made it in under 5 hours.
2. I'm playing the guitar for my wife, in a park.
3. My biblical knowledge has grown because I spend time everyday reading my bible.
4. On top of my daily bible reading, I have also improved my knowledge in the area of finances, relatioships and personal growth by reading books that cause me to change the way I think about life.
5. I have become confident in my skills as a buisness owner, and have helped many people achieve their personal goals and dreams.

There, not to many things to get done in 2009. I'll keep these in the forefront on my mind so I can get my To Do List completed in 2009.

So, my trip to the Grand Caymans went alright. And my trip to a private island in the Bahamas went alright. Now, I'm just waiting for my trip to the Virgin Islands. Of course, between now and then I'm running a marathon. On November 15, I'll be running 26.2 miles. I'm definitely intimidated, but I know I'm going to finish. As a matter of fact, that is really my only goal, to make it to the end. I would like for my time to be under 5 hours(considering I ran a halfy in just under 2:05) but ultimately I just have to not stop and I'll make it to the end.

Well, I normally don't post this often, but I just had a very interesting lunch. So, I go down to the hotel bar/restaurant and I order my lunch. I eat my lunch and I'm waiting for my bill. Well, all this time there is a man sitting at the bar talking up the bartender(a woman). He gets up from his seat and walks over to me and says something along the lines of "We know each other." My response is "Do we?" He then responded with, "My name isn't Dewey." At that point I thought he was just playing some bar game with me, you know, like a word game where he drops little clues to get me to say the key phrase that wins the game. Well, I think I was wrong. It appeared to me that he had been drinking for a while and that he was very upset about his job situation. Anyway, what I want to ask is that people say a prayer for my bar friend. I don't know if he knows what he is going to do with the rest of his life. Based on what he said he had just lost a pretty good job opportunity and now doesn't know what to do. So, anyway, thanks.

This is shaping up to be a very active off season for me. Here I am again, uprooted and moved into another country for a week. I'll get an oppertunity to meet new people and discover a culture that is at this point a mystery. Of course, the whole driving the on the left side of the road is really messing with my mind. I'm glad I didn't end up getting a rental car. Pretty sure that would have ended poorly for everyone involved. So, right now I'm reading this book about the cash flow quadrent. The chapters I'm reading through now are detailing different types of investors. So far the book has been eye opening about some of the ways I think and act with my money. Next week, after I get home, we plan on working out a budget. In the past, every time we have tried to write up a budget the ends have not met. Because of these unbalanced budgets we have mostly just winged it every month and somehow things seem to work out. Well, this is not good enough anymore. When I get home we are definitly going to list out all of our debt and all of our spending. We can't know where we are going if we don't know where we are beggining. Also, we plan on growing our wealth, not just our incomes. This will involve becoming educated investors who understand how growth of assets vs. growth of income. It is going to be long road, but we will be able to give and provide for more and more people all the time. I'll admit I have the selfish ambition of not ending up on the 45year plan and instead am looking forward to the 3-5 year plan. I'll also admit that once our debt is paid off we plan on living inexpensivly and supporting missionaries, orphanages, adult education, along with other things that I don't even know are possible yet. It is going to be an exciting adventure and I'm looking forward to it.

Pretty good turn-around this time. Only about a week between posts. So, running update. On Saturday I ran 16 miles in 2hours 56minutes. I've worked it out and if I can 8 miles every 90 minutes I can finish my marathon in just under 5hours. Now, I'm not setting a time goal, just a secondary goal. My primary goal is to finish. Any time will be fine, but if I can break the 5hour mark that will be awsome. Well, this week I'm in Boca Grande, Florida. For work, really. This kicks off my 2 month onsite bonanza. I'm currently reading How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing Withe People. I've read it before, but it is really good. I always need a reminder about these kind of things. The interesting part is that this book from 1956 says very similar things to another book I read recently about having a heart at peace. The book(something about Anatomy of Peace, I think) talks about a heart at peace vs. a heart at war. The difference is seeing people as people. What I'm interested to find is that many other books I have been reading same similiar things in a different fashion. If we recognize that man has a creator and that we are made in His image then we also can come to the realization that other people are the same. This realization puts us all on a playing field. The common needs and desires are in all of us. The great part of all of this is that we can go back even farther then 1956 and see this same teaching. The Golden rule plays this out exactly. Do for others as you would have them do for you. Realizing this provides amazing confidence when dealing with people because I know that they just want the same thing I want. To win. Now, winning means different things to everyone. This is why life is such an adventure. Creating Win-Win situations is such a rewarding experience. I get what I'm looking for and they get what they are looking for. Ultimatly the best outcome. If there is a Win-Lose situation then that can not be sustained for an extended period of time. Eventually even the Winner feels the loss. Hmmm. I didn't mean to come around to this, but since I'm here, this seems to be what we are experienceing with our finances as a country. For a period of time there was a Win-Lose situation. The finance companies win by creating a market and flooding it with ready to expload loans. The average leasee buys in, thinking they are also winning but are actually losing, it just takes a couple of years to realize it. Now the "winner" is losing because everything is falling apart. Win-Win or no deal this needs to be the way buisness, and life, is done but people are selfish. I need to work on getting over my selfishness. That is what this really comes down to. I need to grow with my self-control.

A wakeup call to myself

So, here I am again. Several months with no information posted. No updates, no pictures, nothing. If someone was to stumble across this they might think I had given up on the internet and bought 100 acres of wilderness in the upper northwest. Built a log cabin and setup a self-sustaining community where we grow our own crops and hunt our own meat. Well, if that was your guess then you were not to far off. Well, except that instead of upper northwest we live in Virgina. Oh, and instead of log cabin we live in an apartment. Also, instead of growing and hunting we go to Wal-mart and Target. Besides those three things they would be absolutly correct about my life for the past 5 months.
Last Saturday I ran 16 miles. That's right, if you want you can go back wipe your eyes and read that again. 16 miles. At once. It took me about three and a half hours, but I got it done. The run was not to bad either. Actually, it was a lot of fun. I have been continually amazed over the past 5 months at how much running my body can actually stand. I have been running 4 days a week(Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday) with my longest run being on Saturday. If you must know I'm training for a marathon. On November 15, 2008 I will be running in the Richmond Marathon. When I signed up it asked me for a finish time and I put in 5:30(yes thats hours). I'm hopeing that I can drop my time to under 5:00 but moving out here to has seen my ~10min miles drop to ~12min miles. I have really worked hard the last two weeks to get closer to the 10min mark, but it has been slow work. I'm definitly planning on continuing to run after Nov. 15. Then, my distances will probly get shorter(more like 5-8 mile runs) but I definitly want to keep up the 4 days a week. One of the unforseen benefits has been the weight loss. Well, not really weight loss, as I'm still around 210, but more like fat loss. Every time I run my pants fit less and less. I started having to buy pants with a 38 waist(before the running) but now I have trouble keeping my 36s up with out my belt and that just looks funny.
Well, I'm hopeing to have more to say here. Stuff about books I've read or lectures I've listened to. Probly not so much about politics, but maybe. I am certainly a product of the system when it comes to that. I do not do a lot of investigating and I definitly feel strongly about certain things so some working that out might end up here. Well, until next time(hopefully not 5 months.) Peace.

Been a while again. I think that aiming for a schedule is a little past me for the time being, but I'm still going to try. Tues, Thurs, Sat. Yeah that sounds good. Now you might wonder why those days. Well, for now, those are my running days. Yep, thats right, running. Like in a marathon. Well, not this week, but before the end of 2008 my goal is to run a marathon. Right now I can't make it very far. Me and my little brother have been running 2-4 times a week and we have been putting down about three miles a day when we run. This last week was our first actual race. It was the M.A.D.D. Dash here in Searcy and it was a really good time. Our race time was 30:10 so that made us feel good. Earlier in the week we had been talking about aiming for 35min for our race time, so it is nice to see that cut by 5. The official time, which I will hold to, is not completly accurate. While we were running we came over a hill and there was a woman lying in the grass crying. She had been hit by a car. AHHHHHHH. So, we didn't know what to do, there was a guy helping her up and we stopped for a minute, but she just kept saying that she wanted to finish the race and she did with about 30 seconds on me and my brother. Kinda embarassing, but I figure we stalled for atleast 10-15 seconds while we thought about getting a phone or calling for help before she started running again. Appartenly some car just drove by and hit her arm with the rear view mirror and just kept going, didn't stop. We were so focused on the left, right, left, right, that we hadn't been paying attention to any of the cars that were passing us. Yeah, little asian women are hard core. This week I'm in Florida. Well, ok, I'm at the airport right now, but until Friday I'll be in florida installing, training, having anxioty attacks. You know, the usual. So, I plan on finishing my book on Robert E. Lee and my Dr. Rohm book as well. So, thats my plan and I'm sticking to it.