Lent - What Should I Give Up?

I know, I know, I am probably one of a few thousand that have started to write about lent today. This will be the first time that I have actively participated in lent. I have always known about it but I have never tried to give something up during this 40 day period. So, what I've decided to give up is watching basketball on T.V. This is going to be hard. When I say hard, I mean EXTREMELY HARD! I'm starting to wonder WHY I decided to do this. I'll have to start at the beginning to give you the reason why it's going to be a monumental struggle. 

From the time I was a young chap, my brother and I pretty much breathed, ate, and dreamed sports. We couldn't do anything without making it competitive and we are still that way. I remember in college, to keep us accountable for our grades, we said whoever had the lower GPA had to buy the other a pair of shoes. I lost and I still haven't bought him those shoes and if he reads this he'll probably try to swindle me out of a pair of shoes. Anyway, the sport I latched on to was basketball. I loved basketball and still do! I mean I can play it all day and all night and then watch it into the wee hours of the morning. I dreamed of becoming an NBA player. Obviously that didn't happen but I was fortunate enough to play in college. That fueled my love for the sport. For about 9 months each year I was completely immersed into basketball. Day in, day out. Are you getting the picture of why this is going to be sooo hard for me!?!?! It hurts writing these words. 

I was raised in a Christian home and my Dad is a pastor. My church never emphasized lent as much growing up. I learned about it in school and the church I attend now observes it. It reminds me of a long fast. My Dad use to practice fasting on a regular basis and I don't know if he told me this exactly or I summized this in my own head about what it means to fast. I feel like I remember him saying, "If it doesn't hurt than you really aren't sacrificing anything." That is so true! Making a sacrifice isn't suppose to be easy. It's suppose to cost something and it's suppose to mean something. 

When I thought about giving something up for lent, watching basketball was the first thing that popped into my head. I thought it was a crazy idea. As I'm writing and thinking about it, I can see how it consumes me! I watch it any where from 3-5 hours on any given night and on Saturdays and Sundays it's even more! It's crazy. Even tonight at our Ash Wednesday service our pastor joked around about guys giving up basketball for lent and I said, "Crap! I guess this really means I need to give it up." I'm a firm believer of everything happens for a reason and I fought with that the whole ride home rationalizing with my wife and in my head of why I don't need to give up watching basketball mainly because MARCH MADNESS is coming up. I guess denial really is the first step to admitting you have a problem! 

Anyway, in the grand scheme of things my "first world problems" aren't even that big of a deal when I think about it. There are tons of folks around the world that don't even have a T.V. to watch or let alone the freedom to celebrate this season of lent. When I sit and reflect on the problems of the world I see how petty my "problems" are. I could definitely be overshooting it here but I don't think I am. There's much more to life than watching basketball.

-Keeping Up With The Joneses

Lasers - Lupe Fiasco Style

The above picture is just the type of winter we have been having around here in Michigan. It's such a love hate relationship that I have with this! It's so beautiful and fluffy and then it's such a pain. According to the news and weather reports we had 40+ inches of snow in our area in January alone! Holy shnikes! The roads have been awful, icy, and ridiculous. BUT in all of this it has spawned some thinking on my end. What would be a great way to get rid of all this snow and ice on the roads to make it better and in a timely fashion? Let's start from the beginning.

My mind always wonders and then I get these crazy ideas in my head. Example, last summer we had some pretty brutal weeks where it was hotter than the dickens. The sun was beaming one day and my phone was dying. I started thinking it would be great to have some type of device in your pocket, shirt, or bookbag that could collect solar energy and recharge your phone on the go without plugging it in. Then I figured someone had already created that. So, I went a different route. What if there was a device that could collect the kinetic or static energy that is produced from your body or your clothes and channel that into a source of power to charge your phone? I thought that was genius! I told my wife and father-in-law about it and they both thought I was crazy. They also poo-pooed my solar energy idea too. I feel like I was on to something (and I still do).

So, here we arrive to where we are now. How in the world could this snow removal process be quicker, more efficient, and effective? My idea is to create some type of infrared laser device that can be attached to the under carriage of the city snow plow trucks that melts the ice and compacted snow on the roads! It would be a rather large laser, square in shape, but easily attached and removed. As with any idea, there are some kinks to be worked out but again I think it's a genius idea! Of course, I don't know the health hazards, the effects on the roads, or the costs involved with this. All I know is that I think it's a freakin' great idea. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!!!

Dennis, over and out!

-Keeping Up with The Joneses...

Washed Up Athlete, What Happened?

Let's be honest here, where does the time go? Seems just like yesterday I could go out and sprain an ankle and jump back up and keep playing on it with no problem! Now it takes me a few days to recover and lots of stretching. What the heck is going on? I know, I know...you are probably asking how old is this guy? I'm only 26 but 4 years ago after coming out of college it seemed like doing "normal" stuff didn't bother me or effect my body as much. My coach in college would run us to the ground and I'd recover faster! Let me give you a quick rundown of why this post came about.

So, today there was an event in town called Winterfest. My company helps out with the event and I was suppose to be there from 9:00 to about 1:00. It's a big deal around here in Grand Haven. The weather has been absolutely insane and it's been bitterly cold. To say the least, I wasn't super excited about being outside that long. But, I bundled up with a nice count of 10 layers. The day started off with a struggle getting out of the driveway and down the street from my house. I was running a little late to the event so I didn't have time to snow blow the driveway. I do my best as my little company mini cooper struggles to get out of the driveway and down the road. There was probably a good 10 inches of snow in the driveway and road. In good weather it's probably a 10 minute drive or so to the YMCA where the event was being held. It took me a good 25 to get there today. I arrive and start helping as soon as I could. I start off with some light work using some power tools to drill holes into the frozen ground to put stakes in. (By the way, those power tools were freaking awesome! They quickly took it away from me when they saw my excitement). Anyway, after that we had to take these bales of hay about 50 yards or so to provide as a cushion for the sledders when they were coming down the hill. After two trips I could tell this was going to suck. There were 30+ bales of hay, 2 guys including me, and a teenager. It came down to the whole working smarter not harder ideal. We ended up finding this huge sled and loaded the hay in there and pushed and pulled with 4 guys. Then it was show time and we worked the event and it was done. I was outside for a collective 4 and half hours without warmth. I couldn't feel my toes and at one point I thought they had fallen off. Once we were done, we rounded up some co-workers and went out for some food and drinks. This whole time I'm dreading for what was next.

After lunch I look at my wife and say, "Well, we have to go and snow blow the driveway." That 15 minute ride home I was thinking, "Ahh, it can't be that bad." It was all a mind trick I was playing with myself knowing I was going to hate being outside again in close to sub-zero weather with the wind chill. We get home and can't even get into the driveway because the plows had come and with the compact snow it was hard to get any type of vehicle up there. So, we get to work. I get the snowblower started and let my wife use that so she doesn't have to work as hard with the shovel. I'm pounding away at the 15+ inches of compact snow that we have at the end of the driveway. It extended into the driveway probably 3-4 feet. After going at that for a while, I'm winded! I get frustrated and start asking myself what's going on. A few years ago this task would have been easy and I would have relished pushing myself physically after a long day just to see how my body would handle it. We keep going at it and an hour and half later we are finished.

I'm exhausted at this point. I've been using the shovel to get rid of all the compact snow at the end of the driveway, some in the street to make a nice path for the mail truck, and shoveling other parts of the driveway. On top of all that, I've been outside now close to 6 hours. I got inside, took off most my layers, and proceeded to drink a ton of water and random juices. I was like a caveman. Water spilling every where. My crappy shirt getting soaked and I'm drinking straight from the jug. Soon after my raid on all things liquid, I start to feel sore all over and ache in weird places. And that's when the thought occurred. "I'm an ex-athlete and I can't even shovel snow now? What happened?"

So, this post is for my all my ex-athletes. Keep up the good fight. Father Time 1. Dennis 0.

-Keeping Up With The Joneses...

A Whole New World...Aladdin Style?

I am totally new to this whole blogging thing. To be quite honest, I don't even really know how it works! I use to think it was a crazy idea and that it was stupid but I realized that I don't mind typing and writing. It's a good release to be creative and it's kind of a good hobby to pick up on. I don't know what my posts will be about but I figure with the upcoming months I should have a few good ones.

In about 4 months or so my wife and I will be packing up and moving to the Big Apple. It's all sorts of exciting and scary at the same time. I've been a Midwest boy all my life and so has my wife. Well, Midwest girl of course, not boy. I grew up in Illinois, moved to Michigan in college and haven't left since. It's my type of pace. Simple, slow, and uncomplicated. NYC is the city that NEVER sleeps, people walk fast, talk fast, and live a fast paced life. I'm so use to just saying "Hi" to random strangers and in NYC, you say hi and they think you're trying to rob them! Total craziness but I guess I'll have to get use to it. It's going to be a huge culture shock but I think I'm ready for it...kind of.

My wife will be going to Pace University to study in their Physician Assistant's program. I'm super excited for her. She's a hard worker and inspires me everyday to strive for the best and be the best, as my parents taught me. She's been waiting for an opportunity like this for roughly 2 years since she's been done with her undergraduate studies. Needless to say, she'll be consumed with books and papers and I guess that's why I figured I'd pick up blogging, so I'll feel like I'm doing homework with her. I can't be left out! I want to remember this journey and have fun with it. It's going to be soooo fast and we are both going to be overwhelmed at first. I have to find a new job and get settled in with that and she'll be super busy with school. No. Scratch that. She'll be UBER busy with school seeing as it's a 26-27 month program straight through. It's basically college on steroids like Jose Conseco. In the end, 2 years is nothing in this life time. It'll all be worth it.

Well, in school they teach to end with a strong paragraph. To tell you the truth, this is all I have for right now and I'm done. So, here's to NYC and a crazy adventure! Cheers!

-Keeping Up With The Joneses...