I have been....

....very busy this past week. First of all I was assisting in training a new sales rep for my company. He flew into Orlando on Monday night and rode with me as I covered surgical cases and called on doctors all week long. It was exhausting because I was having to teach, for lack of better word, from 7am- usually 10pm everyday. We would meet up first thing in the morning and then would conclude the day with me taking him to dinner. He got to see a lot though, so hopefully it was productive. Towards the end of the week I had a physician training course with cadaver lab for my company's products here in Orlando. I had 15 or so of my doctors from all over central and north FLorida attend and of course had to be on top of my game as far as interpersonal skills are concerned. Not that it is a stretch for me, but having not had any time to myself all week, I had to work at it a little harder. It went over great though. My doctors were very pleased with the course content and quality of physician instructors that we had. Hopefully this will equate to sales dollars for me soon. Speaking of, I had the most sales this month, beating out the number one guy in the company for this first time. Pretty good stuff. Other than that, we are starting our taper phase of our marathon training and I am happy to say that we are ready to go. May 18 can't get here fast enough as I am eager to be able to say I am a marathoner. After finishing this one I hope to start working on improving my time on future ones. We are looking at a fall marathon (Chicago or San Antonio) and are already signed up for Disney in January.

Not much else to mention at the moment. Oh, I got in the pool today after running. It is officially swimming season.

Dream come true....

.....I have always told Jill that it was my dream to get to juggle for a group. Well tonight I got my opportunity. I am taking a photography class and at tonights class we were talking about capturing motion and so forth. The instructor asked if anyone knew how to juggle. Without hesitation I knew that I was made for this moment. I volunteered and soon was juggling for the better part of 15 minutes while student snapped photos. The photo above was captured with my camera by one of the instructors.....

Movies....

....Jill and I, pardon me, I (Jill fell asleep) watched "United 93" this weekend. I thought it was a pretty good movie and much like I imagine the events of September 11, 2001 might have unfolded. One unique thing I thought the movie did a good job of is showing the fear and apprehension that the hijackers had as they were about to initiate their plan. Can you imagine getting up the nerve to do what they did? I do not hold the same beliefs that the jihadist do (obviously), but I have to say that in a strange way I admire them for their conviction, dedication and discipline. Anyway, the movie was very sad, as expected, as it recounted the events of the flight that ended up in a PA field. Worthy of watching I think.

Speaking of movies, what has happened to Hollywood. I have not seen a good movie in years! When I say good movie, I mean GOOD movie. Not judged by the number of Oscars (what a crock) or critical acclaim. I just cannot think of the last really good movie that I have seen. I have enjoyed a lot of movies (The Departed, Crash, Blood Diamond, Cinderella Man, Mystic River) just to name a few. None of these come close, IMO, to my favorites (The Godfather I & II, The Usual Suspects, It's a Wonderful Life, Dead Poet's Society, Rocky, Saving Private Ryan). Granted, this is my opinion, but I do think the quality of movies has been traded off for quantity.

Things are.....

.....good. Things are going really well right now for Jill and I. First, we are almost debt free. We have been diligently paying off some remaining debt (old business debt, student loans, car loan) and the end is very near. It feels real good to be so close. We should be completely debt free in less than a year. Also, we are starting to make friends here in Orlando. We met a really nice couple, G & L, that were introduced to us by a childhood friend of mine. We have a lot in common with them and have enjoyed hanging out with them thus far. We went to church and lunch with them several weeks ago and since I have gone to lunch with G and Jill has gone to lunch with L separately. We also started getting involved in a Sunday school class that we really enjoy. The message is very good (thought provoking, real, Socratic method style teaching) and the people are in a very similar "place" that Jill and I are in. We have our first social event with them next week (Saturday) and we also have been invited to a party at our neighbor's house, so our social calendar is starting to get full. On top of this, we have booked a cruise to the Bahamas for the end of June. Hopefully I will be starting grad school in August (just took the GRE last weekend and did pretty well on it). Oh, and I am taking a photography class right now. Last but not least we are in the final phase of training for the Green Bay Marathon on May 18. We have one more long run (25 miles) on Saturday and then we will do some speedwork and start to cycle down in preparation for the race. The goal is to complete in under 4:15, but just to finish would be deemed a success. Our steady and slow increase in mileage has lead to us being ready for this completely injury free and feeling the best physically that I have in YEARS. We have already booked the Disney marathon in Jan of 2009 and are looking to do Chicago or San Antonio in the Fall. My brother-in-law and I are looking to do an Ultra Marathon next May (Ice Age Trail 50 - It is a 50 mile or 50K race), but I think that Jill is going to simply cheer us on in that endeavor. We are just going to do the 50K which is about 31 miles. Anyway, that is what is going on with us now.

Politics....

.....The more I hear about Barak Obama, the more I am certain that I will not vote for him should he get the democratic nominations. I am typically a conservative minded voter, but I was really trying to keep an open mind with this coming election. I was drawn initially to Obama because he exudes charisma. You cannot deny that he is a powerful speaker and just talks with a great air of confidence, not cockiness, pure confidence. In contrast, I have never really liked McCain. He has always been, for lack of better words, a "grumpy old man". He still is, but he seems to be the least "political" of the three remaining candidates. Hillary I have always been certain I was not going to vote for her. She has an air of entitlement because of who she is. I also think that her health care plan is unrealistic. It is funny because on Facebook I joined the group "Barak Obama is the creation of the liberal media" and I truly do believe that. Positive stuff about McCain doesn't even get mentioned or will be page 12 stuff where Barak is always in the limelight. I also have concern about his coming from that racist church and not renouncing what that pastor was about. It is going to be a long road and i will learn more about the issues that each candidate stands for. McCain being a moderate conservative is probably going to be my pick..


I just realized that the above sounds somewhat shallow; like I am bitter because Obama is always in the positive media spotlight. I know the issues and understand where each candidate stands on the issue and my views are far more in line with McCain than with Obama. I had originally thought, like I mentioned above, that I would give him a shot (i.e. listen to what he has to say), but he has really disappointed me. I have very strong opinions on issue such as welfare, war in Iraq, economic policy, the housing crisis. I am VERY much in line with McCain and his belief that no banks or individuals should be bailed out. It is a travesty that people are losing their homes and banks are going to go under, but maybe they shouldn't have been so greedy, right? People were trying to get into more house than they could afford banking on the real estate market going up for ever......If they get bailed out then I should get bailed out for every bad investment that I ever made (family members reading.....SEARS!). Jill and I had to suck it up and learn a valuable lesson. We are better because of it. Anyway enough politics for now.....

On another note.....feeling just fine after our 23 miles yesterday....

So...

...We knocked out 23 miles today. We knew that it was going to be hot and humid (it has been all week) with the low of 70 and high of 88 so we got an early start. We got out of bed about 4:20 AM and were running shortly after 5:00 AM. It was muggy from the start, but our bodies quickly adjusted to the humid conditions. It wasn't too bad. We also have gotten smart and had prepared smoothies the night before and froze them. We let them sit out while we were running so they were perfect to eat when we returned. It really hit the spot. We came home and quickly showered and then went to Subway at 11:00 to get sandwiches. Yummy! We have gotted to where we love to do our long run early Sat morning because then you get a nap and it feels like you have a long weekend. Only one more long run before the Green Bay Marathon......Nice!

After next weekend I can start relaxing quite a bit. I have my GRE test next Saturday and then I am free. Can't wait.

The greatest commercial ever......

The GRE......

.......stinks! I love the math part, but verbal sucks! It is everything I hate about school. Pray for me as I am taking it April 12.

Also, Jill has met several people thus far and went to lunch with one. I too have met someone and we are going to church and then lunch with then on Sunday. Slowly but surely we are meeting people. It is always fun to me to develop new friendships. Anyway......It is about to be Friday so I am happy!

Easter church and 20 miles....

Last night Jill and I went to try a new church here in Orlando. It is kind of a neat thing here in Orlando is that many of the churches have a Saturday night service and Sunday (or Saturday) school in addition to their regular Sunday schedule. It is really nice to have that flexibility to go when it suits you. On the other hand, I do struggle with some guilt. It is kind of selfish to not be able to carve out a day for God. Our problem has been with our marathon training.....our long run days are on Sunday, so it makes going to church very difficult. Our ultimate solution after the marathon in May is to change our long run day to Saturday. Then it will not be an issue. Anyway, the church that we tried was First Baptist Orlando. When we turned the corner to the entrance of the campus, yes I said campus, the church was quite a site to behold. Massive doesn't begin to describe it. We parked walked in an I swear to you the worship hall seats 10,000 if it seats 1. I have never seen anything like this in my life. They had more people in attendence for a Saturday evening service that our old church had at both Sunday services combined. They even had a smoke machine going. It was like being at a concert or something. Well, the service started and the music was out of this world. They had a full orchestra; horns, stringed instruments, woodwinds, whole nine yards. The singing.....UNBELIEVABLE. It was like watching American Idol. I normally am not the biggest fan of the music, but I was seriously moved. Well finally the Senior Pastor began the sermon, which was about doubting Thomas. He really turned me off. He said alot without ever really saying alot. He also had the "preacher voice" that Jill and I cannot stand. You all know what I am talking about......high and low intonnations....just like a televangelist. I knew right then and there that I could not attend that church again. Didn't like the pastor and too commercialized. Oh well, we will try another church and hopefully we can find a good fit. THe good thing is that there is no shortage of churched here.

On the other hand, we knocked out 20 miles today. My personal longest run ever. Feel pretty good now too. We got up early and got it done before it got too hot. Now we are about to go get ice cream.

Me.....a NASCAR driver

Me.....a NASCAR driver
Originally uploaded by j.adkinson

Just a recent picture from our visit to Universal Studios here in Orlando. We had not done the touristy stuff since we have lived here and started with a trip to Universal. It was fun, however we thought that we were walking into the themepark side of Universal when in fact we went to the other side. THe other side has studio tours, behind the scenes type stuff with a couple of "attractions". Next time we will hit the theme park so I can get on some roller coasters.

We have really been doing well on our training for the Green Bay Marathon. Our long run is up to 20 miles this week with a total weekly milage of 34. It has been fairly easy staying on a schedule this time. I have not had much problem at all with my knee or any other problems. I had one week where after an 18 mile long run I had some serious shin pain, but a little R&R helped alleviate that. We have booked our trip and we are flying into WI on May 15 returning on May 20. Looking forward to seeing Pam, Robert, Adam & Noah. We also will get to enjoy the last part of their spring. We are in the middle of spring here with temperatures having been in the 80's since mid february. It is so nice....when we run right now all of the flowers are blooming and so forth. We are getting ready to enjoy our pool. Shouldn't be too long now. Our neighbors said that their pool was up to 70 (which ours should be too) and 77 is about comfortable swimming temperature. Anyway, I am going to go enjoy my weekend and hopefully make more time to blog later.

Swan #2

Swan #2
Originally uploaded by j.adkinson

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