Oops… so much for being consistent on checking in with my goals!

Read 12 books with a variety of topics, genres, and styles. I did finish reading The Winner’s Manual by Jim Tressel back in May. It was really odd timing because that is basically when the scandal broke completely open and it was hard to appreciate his book in the middle of that.  In no particular order I also read To Be a Runner by Martin Dugard, an excellent and easy read that I plan on reviewing sometime soon. After finishing the rather large volume called Spain in Mind (basically short exceprts from books, poetry, and other writings about Spain) I read Snowball Oranges, One Mallorcan Winter written by Peter Kerr. Ain’t No Sunshine was listed as one of the top downloads for Kindle and was free so I grabbed it.  A very odd read for sure.  You can check out the whole list of books I’ve read so far at Amazon.

Complete a Triathlon Square Lake Short Course, September 10. 0.5 Mile Swim 16.5 Mile Bike 5 Mile Run. Training has been going really well.  With about 6 weeks to go I’ve successfully completed each distance individually and have done Bike/Run (brick) workouts of fairly comparable distances.  A longer bike with shorter run and a shorter bike with a longer run.  I’ve also been able to exceed the .5 mile swim in one sitting so I’m feeling pretty confident.

Finish this YouVersion devotional plan (Bible Study).  This has been pretty easy to manage, I occasionally miss a day here and there, but catch up on the next day.

Make a substantial change to one of my programs at work. Completed.

Blog Regularly Obviously not too well if I’ve missed 2 months of checking in, but I feel like I’m doing fairly well at getting at least one post up a week.

Learn how to use my digital camera and experiment with its features. In the last few months I’ve done nothing in this regard. Sad.

Curing Plantar Fasciitis, was the most viewed post again. The order didn’t change: number two was Treating Plantar Fasciitis, and a close third was Twin Cities Running Stores.

Read 12 books with a variety of topics, genres, and styles. April was a pretty slow month reading-wise.  We finished Understanding the Koran: A Quick Christian Guide to the Muslim Holy Book which was written by a Christian who grew up in a Muslim context. It was an interesting look into some of the history of the Koran.  It would be interesting to see a similar book about the Bible.  My Kindle broke while in Spain and I was half-way through reading The Winner’s Manual by Jim Tressel (more on that next month). Amazon is sending me a new Kindle!!

Complete a Triathlon Square Lake Short Course, September 10. 0.5 Mile Swim 16.5 Mile Bike 5 Mile Run. In April I swam once, bike commuted a lot, biked once (plus a trainer ride), and ran 8 times.  One day I ran in the morning, biked to a meeting, and swam in the afternoon. I biked a total of 143 miles (plus the trainer ride) and ran 49 miles. All of these numbers are an improvement over March!

Finish this YouVersion devotional plan (Bible Study).  Yup.  Being gone for a week with limited web access meant that I didn’t keep up while I was gone, but I’ll catch up quickly.

Make a substantial change to one of my programs at work. We wrapped up the social entrepreneurship project and only got one application that is completed.  It was a lot harder than we expected to get the kids to focus and actually go through the development process.  With only a few more weeks of after-school we are going to continue to work on creating projects to sell at the Farmer’s Market.

Blog Regularly How do you define regular?

Learn how to use my digital camera and experiment with its features. I’ll just ditto last month: “No progress on this one.  I don’t think this goal is specific enough for clear improvement.  This month I’ll work on developing something more specific.”

Curing Plantar Fasciitis, was the most viewed post again. The order didn’t change: number two was Treating Plantar Fasciitis, and a close third was Twin Cities Running Stores. This didn’t change from last month.  Last month I mentioned that I’d like to see the Downtown Riverfront post get more views, it moved up into the top 10.  With the Lake Minnetonka half last weekend, a lot of people viewed my course preview and 2009 race review.

Read 12 books with a variety of topics, genres, and styles. I read Radical: Taking your Faith Back from the American Dream, which was a challenging book that basically asked where in the Bible it says we should pursue the American Dream instead of following Jesus. Not that the American Dream is wrong or bad, but just a reminder that Christians should be pursuing Jesus first and what He wants for their life, not what our American Culture says we must have to be happy. I followed that  challenge by reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which I’m surprised I’d never read before.  It is a great story about the life of a good/pious slave named  Tom and how many different people in the South treated their slaves.  It is a moving story, though a little hard to read since it is written in the English of the era.

Complete a Triathlon Square Lake Short Course, September 10. 0.5 Mile Swim 16.5 Mile Bike 5 Mile Run. For March I ran 25 miles (10 less than February), not the right direction but I was sick for almost 2 weeks. I also biked 20.5 miles the first time in 3 months that I’ve been outside!! Plus 30 minutes on the trainer. I started bike commuting towards the end of the month.  No swimming, but we did do some snowshoeing at the beginning of the month!

Finish this YouVersion devotional plan (Bible Study).  Still going well.  With only one or two verses a day and a short paragraph thought afterwards it doesn’t take a lot of time.

Make a substantial change to one of my programs at work. We’ve worked on a social entrepreneurship project using Youth Venture as a guide, but it has been a struggle.  It was designed for 8th grade and up and I ended up with a lot of 6th graders.  We did some adapting, but it still requires a little more abstract thinking than they’ve demonstrated.  I also think the “social” part made it a little harder.  They are wrapping up next week and submitting the applications to me to see if any are worth funding.

Blog Regularly Blogging on all fronts has slowed down a little.  As Nadia has gotten older we’ve been taking less pictures and life is just busy! It is hard to carve out chunks of time to write and research.

Learn how to use my digital camera and experiment with its features. No progress on this one.  I don’t think this goal is specific enough for clear improvement.  This month I’ll work on developing something more specific.

The most viewed post of March 2011,  Curing Plantar Fasciitis, again. Number two was Treating Plantar Fasciitis, but a surprise number 3 was my post about Twin Cities Running Stores. This didn’t change from last month.  A post I’d like to see get more views is my thoughts of running the Downtown Riverfront, which is in the top 20.

Read 12 books with a variety of topics, genres, and styles. I finished a pretty random book that I mentioned in an earlier post, The Spanish Bow, which is a historical fiction story about a cellist during the Spanish Revolution and his struggles going from playing for the Queen to fighting for the struggle of freedom.   It was a pretty easy read and one I’d recommend if you like music and/or Spain.  This is book #3 for this year!  Check out the other ones at my Book Page.

Complete a Triathlon Square Lake Short Course, September 10. 0.5 Mile Swim 16.5 Mile Bike 5 Mile Run. I ran 34.4 miles this month, 3 less than January (February is a few days shorter though!) I also did 1/4 mile swim and 75 minutes on the bike.  Making progress on the running side.

Finish this YouVersion devotional plan (Bible Study).  Keeping at it.  They are very short, one or two verses with a paragraph reflection so it doesn’t take a lot of time, which makes it easy to do! It would only be easier if the RSS function worked properly or if it was e-mailed to me on a daily basis.

Make a substantial change to one of my programs at work. I’ve finally bit the bullet and we have started using a social entrepreneurship curriculum to get some kids creating their own businesses that have a positive social impact.  So far the biggest struggles have been trying to monetize the project ideas and getting them to do the hard reason to show why their project is needed and will work.  We are still in the research phase so hopefully that will change!

Blog Regularly I’ve been blogging in my continued variety of places.  I’m content with how the month went.  I would have liked to have written more here, but I had some posts with some substance at my neighborhood blog.  As Nadia has gotten older she’s been wearing a lot of the same clothes and such so I’ve not been taking quite as many pictures of her.  This is one of my favorites.

Learn how to use my digital camera and experiment with its features. I can’t recall making any progress on this one.  Though I did pick up a few magazines and continue to read this blog.

The most viewed post of February 2011, Curing Plantar Fasciitis, again. Number two was Treating Plantar Fasciitis, but a surprise number 3 was my post about Twin Cities Running Stores.