New Poll - Most miles put on a car

Sometime on Monday, my car will pass the 100,000 mile mark. This 2000 Corolla is only the 4th car I have ever own. I started driving with a 86 Mecury Capri that I drove through my freshman year of college. Then I had a 94 Corolla through college and when I moved to Dallas. In November 2000, I bought my current Corolla. After Jacob was born, we bought a 2005 Highlander which already has nearly 70,000 miles on it.

My 2000 Corolla was a program car with about 10,000 miles on it when I bought it. Technically, I personally have not put 100,000 miles on this car, but still passing the 100,000 mark is significant. The 94 Corolla was also a program car but I only got to 80,000 with it. In celebration of my little Corolla's special mileage birthday, I have a new poll to the right. How many miles have you ever put on a single car?

Personal Challenges #1: Detox myself from Cokes

I don't really do New Year's resolutions. I feel if you want to make some changes, you start that process then rather than waiting for a new calendar year. However, in the spirit of New Year's resolutions, I am sharing some challenges I have recently made for myself. Some go back well into last year, and others I have yet to embark on but hope to soon. This is a good space to state them and provide some accountability for me on the follow through of them.

My first personal challenge is something I  actually did start at the beginning of this year. More to the point, I wanted to start it after I got back from my Culebra vacation which happened to be on New Year's Eve. I want to detox myself from sugary, caffeinated beverages or just "Cokes" as we say in the South.

I  purposely use the word detox as I am not necessarily trying to remove Cokes from my diet permanently but to break the habit I have of all drinking Cokes from my lunches, dinners and snacks. I would sit down, especially at a restaurant, and it begin salivating at the idea of a sweet soft drink. I loved them, and darn it, they loved me.

However, my body was changing and I could not afford to keep pumping in the 180 calorie per 16oz can  into my body which was seeing its metabolism slow down each year. I figured I was consuming between 750-1000 calories a day from them. I also knew my weight had slowly been creeping up over the last few years. I thought running 3-times/week would get me to drop the weight but it really just slowed the weight gain down. If I rid myself of those Coke calories or at least significantly reduced them, it would been a significant impact to my health.

So starting on January 1st, I decided to stop drinking Cokes cold turkey. Once I felt I broke my habit and physiological craving for them, I could let me begin drinking them again albeit in moderation. I told my 2 weeks and reevaluate. I went 16 days without a Coke. I then let me myself have a can of Sprite with a pizza but finished the meal with water. Now on January 22nd, that is the only Coke I have had. It actually has been a little easier than I thought it would be. A couple of times I really had a craving when I sat down to eat, but it was able to pass fairly quickly. Now, I like drinking water, and it is not too hard to turn up a Coke.

So far I have lost approximately 9 pounds. If a pound of fat was 3500 calories, and say I removed 1000 calories from my daily diet, that is "only" a little over 6 pounds you would expect to loose by just removing Cokes from my diet. A side benefit is that by switching to water I snack far less than before and my snacks were generally sweet, high calorie content as well.

I of course am very pleased, and my wife has been incredibly encouraging and proud of me through this process. You can always relapse into old habits, but I feel good about my Coke detox. I am confident I won't fall back into drinking them at every meal, and I don't worry about drinking a few soft drinks with the right meal. It has been a very health lifestyle change and one that will continue to provide benefits long into my future.

Happy Anniversary to My Parents and Happy Birthday to Wes

Today is my parent's 34th wedding anniversary. Also, my brother-in-law Wes is having his birthday today. I "think" he is 27 today, but I may be off a year high or low.

Happy birthday Wes and happy anniversary Mom and Dad. I love you all.

Jacob Drumming

I took this with my camera at church a while back. We were waiting outside Shannon's office when Mr. Curious decided to investigate the drum set. He got both sticks, began striking the different pads and began to play with decent form. He even figured out the foot pedal for the bass drum. What is really neat is neither Shannon or I told him what to do on the drums nor has he been in worship service much to watch how drummers play their instrument. What you see is from his own intuition. Shannon's daddy was a good drummer, and they always had a drum set in their home. Makes me think the music gene has been passed on.

I have added a new poll to the right regarding musical instrument expertise. Remember, voting is power or something corny like that.

My Life as a Play: Pulza

Setting: The foyer of our home. Daddy comes down the stairs and sees Jacob on his hands and knees.

Daddy: Hi Jacob.
Jacob: Woof, woof.

This is Jacob's way of indicating he is playing as the imaginary dog Pulza (pronounced as Pull-zah) which is a name and entity he derived totally on his own. As Pulza, he generally says only "woof, woof" but will occasionally mix in human words to help indicate to Daddy what he wants done when Daddy is unable to properly translate "woof, woof."

Daddy: Hi Pulza. What are you doing?
Pulza: Woof, woof.
Daddy: ...
Pulza: Woof, woof.
Daddy: ...
Pulza: Woof, woof. Play in river. Woof, woof.
Daddy: Oh, you are playing in the river. [This was a game they played earlier in the day where Pulza gets struck in the river and has to be pulled out.] Ok, I will help you Pulza.
Pulza: Woof, woof.

Pulza goes to a small wooden chair which he uses to get to stuck and thus requiring Daddy to pull him out. Pulza dives under the chair but manages to hit his head on the chair quite hard. Cries and tears soon come.

Daddy: Oh, Pulza, are you OK. You hit your head.
Jacob [Crying]: I am not Pulza anymore. I am Jacob. I hurt my head.

Happy Birthday Shannon!

My beautiful wife has her birthday day. Feel free to drop her a happy birthday email at "shannonmeadors" AT gmail.com.

I am posting below her birthday card I wrote for her. I love you Shannon with all my heart.

Shannon Meadors, a Proverbs 31 Wife

Proverbs 31:10-31 (translated by her husband Kyle)

Who can find a more excellent and perfect wife than mine.

No jewelry can match her worth.

I have trusted her with my whole heart, and nothing will pay off more than that.

For our whole marriage, she treated me with goodness and respect

And never laziness or deceit.

She provides for our household. Whether buying new clothes or sewing on a button, she will cares for her husband and children.

Like FedEx, she always delivers a good meal for the family.

If we need to make a late night run to Wal-mart to get something, she will do it without hesitation.

We always have food for ourselves and others to entertain.

She is careful about staying in budget with what we buy.

She works hard at her job, knowing she does a good job and people are counting on her. She will stay up late working on projects and typing emails.

She is sensitive to those who are in need and buys them good things that she would give to her own family.

This girl is not afraid of a little snow. If we need something, bad weather won’t get in her way.

She is so beautiful and always looks great.

I am definitely a better dresser since I married her. She makes sure my clothes actually have some style to them. I actually get compliments now on the way I dress.

Her character shows in her life and radiates out of her.

She is wise and blesses others with her words.

She keeps our family going, getting us to where we need to go.

I know how lucky I am. I tell people all the time, “There are a lot of good women out there, but none better than my wife.”

Sure, she is hot, but what makes her so special is her love of the Lord.

Her life and her works tell the tale. Everyone can see what kind of woman she is by her incredible deeds.

Great Time in Culebra

Update 1/9: Thumbnails now work.

Update 1/8: I realize the full size pictures do not appear when you click the thumbnail. Am working on getting that fix.

We had a wonderful time in Culebra. I would like to do a more extensive write up of the vacation later, but here is the short and sweet, and it was sweet. We left Christmas afternoon from Nashville Airport and stayed overnight in Ft. Lauderdale. On the 26, we flew to San Juan and then chartered a flight to Culebra. We got over a half a day in Culebra on the 26th, including a little time on the sunny beach. That night I ate a full lobster which had been freshly brought in, and it was great.

The next three days, 27-29, were full days on the beach. Our villa was right on the beach. We usually awoke to "Thomas" the rooster. There are lots of wild roosters and chickens on the island, and this one kept cock-a-doodling us right off our villa porch early in the morning. Even when I chased him off he would come back and unleash his annoying sound. I named him "Thomas" as in Thomas the Train because for one he was "cheeky" like Thomas and two he had two hens who followed him like Annie and Claribel in the Thomas series. This knowledge comes from my having a little boy who loves Thomas the Train.

After we awoke, we ate breakfast in our small villa, headed to the beach around 9:00ish, came in around noonish for lunch, typically grilled on the villa patio, back out on the beach until about 4:00. Then we headed into town for a delicious dinner.

Shannon bought me snorkel gear as a Christmas present, and I got to snorkel a couple of days in a little cove off our Flamenco beach where we stayed. It has coral and some exotic fish. I really enjoyed snorkeling. After you get use to it, it so peaceful and beautiful.

We came back early on the 30th, and overall the travel was fine. We were not in a hurry to leave because it was so relaxing and enjoyable, but we had a little boy to get back to. A great ending to the vacation was calling my parents who were keeping Jacob after we got to Nashville airport. They said he had been asking a lot about us that day and kept going to the window and looking out for us. Seeing Jacob was a wonderful way to come home.

Here is a brief photo slideshow of our trip. It shows some photos I took from charter plane overlooking Culebra, shots of the villa we stayed at, "Thomas" the rooster, Flamenco beach, some shots of downtown Culebra including the downtown ferry which takes you to the main island of Puerto Rico and me in snorkel gear on Christmas day.

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