12 May 2008

Monday Mind-Dump

Thought and happenings...
  • This weekend I took my wife and kids to visit the beautiful city of Pella. We spent all of Saturday exploring the heritage-filled parks and exquisite shops, traipsing through neverending seas of colorful tulips, and enjoying delicable delights from the famous Jaarsma Bakery. While we were unable to make it for the Tulip Time festival last weekend, this time around there weren't any crowds to battle with and we enjoyed our dutch letter treats by simply sitting on the sidewalk in the sun together.

  • Due to family activities that filled this weekend, I had to postpone my running of Nancy's 10K-On-The-10th until today, though I made up for it by trying out a new 6.2-mile route I comically call the Serious Horse Loop. This is a fantastic run filled with a mixture of hills and trails that takes you out of downtown, past the Valley horse stables found south of Grand, through the back side of Water Works Park and into Grays Lake. A portion of the route follows a serene backwoods park entrance road ... perfect for transporting you away from work for a few precious moments. I highly recommend it.

  • The softball gaffes continue. During this past Thursday's game, I somehow managed to crush (literally) the end of a finger while manning third base. I'm not sure how, but the ball skipped up away from my glove and into that hand as an outfielder attempted a low, fast throw to my location. A couple X-rays taken on Friday show it wasn't broken, but it sure felt like it.

  • Race planning with Tom continues, as we work towards directing the Capital Pursuit race together in September...so much to do yet.

  • Pastor John's message yesterday on "The High Gate of Entitlement" really struck a chord with me. It left me with a lot of thoughts about this unhealthy sense of entitlement - also about its role in politicalized Christianity and in the culture in general.

  • Tomorrow, I will be riding my mountainbike-steed to work in celebration of Bike To Work Week. Happily looking forward to the peaceful 20-mile early morning commute.

  • Final note, I'll be posting my 100th blog this week!

7 comments:

Kent said...

We did Pella in the Tulip Festival time, and I think you probably had a more relaxing time than us. It gets a little nuts when you have to get in a block and half long line for Jaarsma Bakery.

Mike said...

Even festival time is nice. We missed all of the fun happenings there is to see, especially the street parades. Next year we will make sure we can go. Besides, Jaarsma is worth it ANY time of year! :)

Kent said...

BTW - I am definitely going to on the look out at Dam to Dam to see if anyone is chasing me down. :-D I'll have plenty of motivation to run that day.

Jon said...

How did the biking go?

Mike said...

Kent - I don't think you will need to watch your back THAT closely, as it seems you have a fairly good pace going yourself! I'll see you at the finish line!!

Mike said...

Hey Jon - The bike ride was awesome! It took me near 1:15 to cover the 21 mile distance this morning, and the views through the rolling fields and meadows was incredible. I ran across (not literally) 6 deer, 3 squirrels and a plethora of cottontails while on the trail. Definitely God's splendor in the morning!

April Anne said...

Awww..what a cute family picture. It could be the perfect Christmas card picture.
Happy Running.