I have a cousin who is crazy. Not certifiable or someone you would commit to an institution. But definitely crazy. He is a storm chaser. He enjoys following storms, taking photographs and video, and writing stories about the chase. His name is Jake Wallentine and he is an amazing young man.
He grew up in Wichita, KS – what I consider to be the tornado capital of the world. And I think because of that, he got interested in meterology. He recently completed his first year in college (or what people in Oklahoma call a college) at the University of Oklahoma. He is working towards a degree in Meterology.
And in his free-time he does things like this. I will be living vicariously through him since I am a big storm-nut as well. I just never thought about pursuing it as a career.
It sounds like he will be starting up his own website to help show his pictures and tell his stories. I have had the privilege of assisting him in getting started. So far, I have just provided some advice and feedback but it is still early in the process so I might get to help more. I will be sure to point to it once it is up and running so my friends and family can also share in the fun.
I am almost half way into 2008 and wanted to publicly review the progress I have made on achieving my goals (see this post for the list of all my goals for 2008). Overall, I am not doing very well so it is time to refocus, reevaluate, and recommit.
[Note: Each goal is shown in italics with a description of my progress following.]
I want to publish on this blog regularly. I am hoping that I can consistently post 3-5 items a week. And not just any-ol-garbage; I want to post good, original content.
As I said earlier, I let the goal of posting 3-5 times per week on this blog slide a little. Because of that I need to recommit to this goal. Over the coming weeks I will post more and more until I can get into a routine (aka, habit). Maybe then I can achieve it.
I want to create, update, and maintain the wallentine.com website. This will include the subsites (todd, kari, and virg) and special portions of the site (reunion, anniversaries, etc.).
This goal started well but has sputtered over the last couple of months. I spent a lot of time creating the content for my part of the site (todd.wallentine.com) but I ran into several snags when trying to make the site look good – IE just disagrees with the other browsers on what to do with proper CSS. So this goal needs more focus and energy.
I want to make a real effort to build a personal brand. This will include the wallentine.com website but it will also be reflected on my social networking sites (facebook, linkedin, etc.).
I am making progress on this by using the social networking sites. I have up-to-date content for my Facebook and LinkedIn profiles as well as on FitLink. I have made every effort to build up both networks of friends and connections on Facebook and LinkedIn but haven’t made use of the advanced features yet (applications, job postings, recommendations, etc.). I have also been using FitLink to track my fitness progress. So I am making a good start on this but a complete wallentine.com website would certainly go a long way in achieving this goal.
I want to develop my language skills. To start with, I will learn Spanish.
This goal has been neglected. Before our planned trip to Spain I was spending some time on this (in Oct 2007) but since then it has been ignored. Of all the goals that I set, this is certainly the lowest on the priority list so it will likely continue to get neglected.
I want to develop a sound financial plan and start executing it. This will include both short-term and long-term plans and will likely involve insurance, investments, retirement, and personal savings. It will also include the use of a tracking/planning tool like GnuCash.
I have been spending a great deal of time lately educating myself about financial planning and management. Mostly I have been reading, thinking, and talking with very little time devoted to executing. I still need to set-up Gnucash, enter all of my data, and start keeping track on a daily basis. On the bright side, I was able to read Rich Dad, Poor Dad as well as another related book (The Millionaire Real Estate Mindset: Mastering the Mental Skills to Build Your Fortune in Real Estate by Russ Whitney). And I had already read the 9 Steps to Financial Freedom book by Suze Orman so my education in this area is starting well.
I want to figure out a great career plan. It has been a long time since I have truly thought about what I want to do in my career so it is time to think about it and start the planning.
I have thought a lot about this but not in a formal way. In other words, I need to sit down and consider what I am passionate about and how to turn that into a career. It might help to start writing in my notebook about this to help me track my thoughts.
I want to improve my overall health. This will include regular exercise and eating right. I want to get to the point that these are habits and I actually feel something missing when I don’t exercise or feel gross when I eat wrong. This will include tracking my “body metrics†(blood pressure, heart rate, bmi, body fat percentage, etc.).
My goal of improving my overall health is going really well. As seen here, I have been working hard at the exercise component. And I will say that I do miss working out when I take a day off. For example, I went up to my grandmother’s funeral in Ames, IA. After the long day the only thing I wanted to do was go for a run. I ended up running a couple of miles before going to bed. I am also more in tune with the things that I eat. When I eat badly (e.g., Burger King, Taco Bell, and other fast food), I can feel it. This makes me less likely to eat that junk.
Now, the specific goals:
Read Code Complete by Steve McConnell – Own it but haven’t started reading it yet.
Learn the basics of SPARK and Ada – DONE - I understand the basics
Read Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston – Currently reading it but it is a lot slower read than I expected.
Install GnuCash and get all my information entered
Read The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
Rip all my CDs onto my music server
Read Conscious Living: Finding Joy in the Real World by Gay Hendricks
Read Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki – DONE
Finish the rockwall in front of my house
Read Freakanomics – Currently reading it and it is very good (thanks Adam for loaning it to me)
In conclusion, I am making progress but I would have to increase my pace to achieve all of these goals. So I encourage those that read this to post inspirational comments for me that can help me get my butt in gear.
Last Saturday (June 14) my good friend Jeremy convinced me to go running with him. He thought it would be fun to try to run a half-marathon route around Linear Trail here in Manhattan (13.2 miles). The route starts at the Casement Rd. entrance to Linear trail and went around the south side of Manhattan until we reached the entrance behind the Clarion Hotel (formerly the Holidome). At that point, the route reverses direction and you head back the way you came.
Since Jeremy smiled so pretty and my ego got the best of me, I decided to run it with him. But before providing the results of the run I want to provide a little context. I am not a runner. I only recently started running again (started in April) and worked my way up to running 5-6 miles at a time. But since my vacation (May 23-27) I had not run further than 2-3 miles at a time. I had also never run longer than 6 miles – in high school we regularly ran 6 miles after practice.
With all that said, I wasn’t able to complete the whole route. I was doing well until about the 8 mile mark. I wasn’t really energetic but I felt like I complete the 13.2 miles and nothing hurt too bad at that point. And then my knee started to tighten up. So at the 8.5 mile mark (where Linear Trail crosses S. Manhattan Ave.), I decided to stop and stretch hoping that I could loosen up and I could complete the run. After stretching, we tried to start again and I had a painful realization – my knee decided that we were done and communicated that to me by locking up completely. So I decided to quit and avoid permanent injury. That was 1 hour and 20 minutes into running.
So I am really happy and sad about that run. Happy that I was able to push myself for 8.5 miles and a good pace (10 minute mile). Sad that I wasn’t able to complete it. But it gives me hope that if I train better (more leg weight training and a gradual distance improvement), I can run as far as I want. So maybe a half-marathon or full marathon will be added to my Fall 2008 fitness goals.
It turns out, I should get into broadcasting. Who knew?
What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Midland
“You have a Midland accent” is just another way of saying “you don’t have an accent.” You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The Spring of 2008 has been a very busy time for me. It ranged from fantastic (graduation and vacation) to sad (funeral). Here are some highlights:
Kari successfully defended her thesis to get one step closer to completing her Master of Science in Animal Science degree (4/21/08).
My grandmother, Arlene Mullin, passed away unexpectedly (4/16/08). We celebrated her life and our family in Ames, IA (4/23/08). I will really miss her and I know the rest of the family will as well.
Submitted a paper to Sensys 2008 about our work with Cadena and sensor networks (4/28/08). I did almost no writing (at least none that made it into the paper) but drove many of the ideas that were explained in the paper. I was also charged with doing a lot of the experimentation and investigation (so I learned a lot about nesC, TinyOS, feature modeling, and the Feature Modeling Plugin). It would certainly be an accomplishment to have a second publication but I have a hard time taking credit since I did very little writing.
Hosted my cousins (Cherie and Ashley Swanson) for a visit to the Little Apple (5/1 through 5/4/08). We set it up on a weekend where Ashley could attend the Taste of Home Cooking show, visit K-State to investigate possible majors, and shadow Noah at della Voce. I think this gave Ash a great view of Manhattan, K-State, and a career in the restaurant business. And I am so glad she got to chat with Jackie McClaskey – she sold the College of Agriculture better than anyone else I have met.
Kari completed her Master of Science degree in Animal Science and walked in the Graduate Schools graduation ceremony at Bramlage Coliseum (5/16/08).
I surprised Kari with a vacation that was meant to celebrate her graduation and our anniversary as well as give us a time to unwind and get some much needed perspective on life (5/23 through 5/27/08). We spent 5 days (4 nights) in the Turks and Caicos Islands. And I surprised her even more by having our good friends (and neighbors) the Wallaces meet us there and vacation with us. What a fun surprise and what a fantastic vacation.
And it looks like the summer will also be full of fun and adventures. Births, vacations, wedding, job search, and much more are on the agenda for the summer. So it should be interesting – wish me luck.
Just wanted to provide a conclusion to my Spring 2008 fitness goals. This past Saturday I was able to complete a 1 mile run in under 7 minutes (actual time was 6:54). I still need to try the 2 mile run in 16:06 (I had meant to just keep going after the 7 minute mile but I was completely out of juice).
In other news, I did 61 push-ups, 89 sit-ups, and 10 chin-ups on Wednesday. I also did 2 sets of 10 reps of bench press with 180 lbs – the third set I only got 5 good ones in before getting help with 2 additional reps.
To recap my goals and related results:
Bench Press 180lbs for regular sets (3 sets of 10 reps each) : 2 sets of 10, 1 set of 5 – ALMOST
20 pull-ups : 10 – NOT EVEN CLOSE
55 sit-ups in 2 minutes : 89 – COMPLETE
51 push-ups in 2 minutes : 61 – COMPLETE
Run 16:06 2 mile : NOT TESTED
Run 7:00 mile : 6:54 – COMPLETE
Have a resting heart rate of 60-80 bpm : 40-60 (actually concerned my doctor) – COMPLETE
Maintain a good blood pressure (less than 120/80) : I hover around this mark and rarely fall below it – NOT COMPLETE
It looks like I have done a decent job with my goals for my spring workout. I obviously set some of them too high and some too low. And I had a couple of set-backs that slowed down my progress (heart issue and knee trouble).
I am going to take a slight break from setting my next goals to properly evaluate them. So I would love to hear from my friends (aka, readers) to see what type of fitness goals I should set next. I figured I should look at the Army and Navy SEALS tests to come up with more ideas. And maybe set a goal about how long I can run (2 hours?) or how far (13 miles?). I am hoping to hear some good ideas – so start commenting.
Just wanted to let everyone know that the Wallentines survived the Tornado last night. Kari, Anna, and I were safely stored in the basement as the sirens went off and the newscasters tried to keep us informed. Virg waited out the storm up at work (his house doesn’t have a basement) and then spent the evening with us. He had a tough time getting home since the damage was on his side of Manhattan. Luckily, his house had no damage.
I know not everyone in Manhattan was spared but I am glad to hear there were no fatalities here in town. I am praying quite a bit today for people in Chapman (KS) – it sounds like their twister was a lot stronger than ours.
What I am hearing right now:
K-State has some damage. Kari and I will head up to campus to check out her office.
K-State is quasi-closed today. Some people are working today to clean-up but classes were cancelled. I imagine most people will be at home today.
Damage from the store was mostly on the west side of town (in my old neighborhood – University Heights and around Lee school).
All of my friends are ok and still have houses. But I am betting that the office of one of my friends is ruined (if not tornado damage then definitely flooded).
Well, that is it for now. Wallentines ok – Manhattan has some damage – K-State closed. More to come as things change and as I find out more information.
Update (11:50a 12 June 2008): We took a trip up to see Kari’s office. Weber Hall is still standing but has quite a bit of glass damage and a large amount of roof damage. I hope to upload pictures this afternoon that I took on campus. The good news, Kari’s office was undamaged and Nichols Hall is fine (my office). And for the most part, the damage on campus isn’t that severe. There is a lot of tree damage, a lot of broken glass, and some roof damage.
Yesterday I started a new addition to my workout routine: a Yoga-Pilates class. It is the same class that Kari has been taking for years and has really loved it. It is taught by Diana Knox who is a very experienced and friendly instructor at Pro Fitness. The first class was good and it gave me a good idea of what to expect for the remaining 15 sessions.
What struck me as I was walking out was the difference of this class in comparison to my last exercise class: the boxers training program at KO Boxing. In the Yoga-Pilates class, the instructor is laid back and wants to make sure you work at your own pace and abilities. In the boxing class, the instructor(s) had a high-pressure style and wanted to push you to your limits. I am not saying one is better than the other – it just struck me as such a huge difference.
I think I am going to love this class and what it will do for my health and fitness. It certainly works a different set of muscles. And it should be a blast doing a workout with Kari!
I had set a goal to post 3 original blog posts each week. Obviously I got way off track over the last month and haven’t posted anything. Here is my re-pledging to complete that goal. Over the coming weeks I am going to hit it hard and see if I can’t get 3 good posts each week. And while I am at it I want to create a collection of blog posts that can be used as filler when I get busy the next time. In other words, good content that isn’t time sensitive.
Hopefully I haven’t lost all of my two readers during my downtime. If so, I am back to blogging for myself and nobody else.
