Eyes of the Hawk’s, Part Three
This is the last day. The last day of the first week of the next chapter of our lives. Kiddo has been transformed into a walker at school, from having been a bus rider. Just as unexpectedly, I have transformed into a singleparent-fulltimeworker-everythingrestsonme type person. It is Friday morning. As I pull out from the school driveway to go punch the clock, I arrive at a tee intersection. A choice. Left? Right? What the [...]
Eyes of the Hawk’s, Part Two
We strap on our collection of lenses and survey the parking lot. It's busy here, but not [...]
Eyes of the Hawk’s, Part One
I shake off the last of my morning java jitters and step through the door carefully. Here I am.
A deep breath marries me to the smell of the desert. Sage is plentiful here. There are some manzanita off through the mesa. A roadrunner couple precociously dances at a million miles an hour at the very edge of my peripheral vision. I know they're there, well enough. My companions, blind though they are, know too. Regular doses of [...]
Observations of a Commercial Gym
For the past three years or so I’ve been training at a small private facility that caters mainly to powerlifters and Olympic weightlifters. It was a phenomenal place to train – packed with very strong, smart people who had forgotten more about building strength and increasing performance than most “personal trainers” will ever know. Recently, due to life circumstances, I had to transition to [...]
all hail the garryowen geezers
i'm sitting in an irish pub. this is where the magic happens... i have made friends here. i have a writing group meeting here every week where i can find support and give support in the creation of the art of writing. the guinness flows freely, and the indian bartender vish makes the very best tanqueray martini i've ever had.
i left work this evening, knowing i'd head to gettysburg to meet with my [...]
Vitamins: The Newest Public Health Threat
With the boost in advertisement for vitamins and supplements, you may have jumped on the bandwagon, assuming that these products are safe. Unfortunately, not all websites like Neuropathy Help show you the true review of their product, and now as many people are quickly finding out that all vitamins and supplements aren't what they're cracked up to be, they are changing their mind about even using the healthy supplements out there. The products that you think are safe for your body may actually be doing more harm [...]
Women’s Health on Pregnancy and HIV
Editor's Note: The statistics and information listed here does not reference a specific resource, so I cannot guarantee their validity. That said, this is a very useful and staggering article!
Pregnancy and HIV are more common now. Annually, 6400 women become pregnant while infected with HIV. In the past, there were many complications associated with being HIV positive and [...]
Live Until You Die
I am an asshole.
The reason I say this is because I spent the entire month of September reading Mary Tyler Mom’s story about her amazing daughter’s battle with cancer. Every day, I read with tear stained eyes, wrapping myself in a bubble of fear as her [...]
Why I Powerlift
With my third powerlifting competition coming up, I’ve been mulling a question that seems to recur before each competition: Why do I powerlift? I mean, it’s not like I don’t have enough to do, so why do I devote so much of my spare time and energy to getting stronger at the squat, bench press, and deadlift. Here’s what I’ve come up with.
What is Powerlifting? First, for those of you who don’t know, [...]
Give an Inch
I’ve struggled for a few weeks with whether to write this. I’m not sure whether this about Christianity, my personal faith, charity, or Al Pacino. I still don’t know, but I’ve started writing, so here we go. The Thursday before Valentine’s Day, sometime during the mid-morning I decided that I was going to buy my wife something. This was kind of unusual because, although I’ve got a great marriage, we don’t usually [...]
Learning How to Live After Cancer
About five years ago, I was preparing to celebrate my son's first birthday in July of 2007. Two days prior to his birthday, I received news that rocked my world and flipped it upside down. I was positive for breast cancer at age 30. It was invasive and aggressive. I was also told that it was a gene that had caused it. I am BRCA 1 positive. After picking myself up off of the floor, we got to work on starting to formulate a plan of action. First was a bi-lateral mastectomy. After the surgery, I went to Shady Grove Fertility in order to harvest eggs just in case I was not able to conceive after chemo, which was about a 50/50 chance. I had to give myself shots in the stomach twice a day, while trying to heal from my mastectomy. I was then told [...]
Longevity, Life, and Joy
For as long as I can remember I have heard people talk about getting to a ripe old age or wanting to live forever. We as a humanity have for the most part, believed that is what we should do, as if we should do anything to postpone death.
It has come to my attention that the fear of [...]
On the Art of Living: Time to Cook
I walked through the grocery store last week, taking my time to select the ingredients for the Hamburger Rolls (recipe on BayvsKitchen) I had planned. I had taken a day off of work and was expecting company for lunch. This particular lunch was going to be comprised of some items that required cooking, chopping, coating, seasoning, and blending in careful quantities. Such a great perk of cooking is that if you can pull it off, you can dine on whatever you want.
They say that the family that prays together stays together. I say that [...]