Counting the Days

Numbers are an intrinsic part of my world.  I record the number of just about every kind of major athletic activity I do.  I can tell you how many miles I hiked every year going back to 1998, how many 14ers I have climbed, how many "centuries (hundred mile bike rides) I have done and so many other useless facts about my life.  Why do I track this stuff?  I don't know.  My mom was a college math professor and my dad had a thing for recording stuff - I guess I just picked it up from them.  The good thing about today's day and age is that you can buy devices and services that can track most of this stuff for you and you just upload the raw data to the web and go to a website to see it all.  I do that with my BodyBugg, my Garmin GPSs I have for my bike and hiking and of course I do that with financial information via Quicken.

So what's the point about numbers?  I mention numbers today because there are a ton of future events that are happening to which I am counting down the days.  Silly I know - but it keeps me in such great anticipation of all the stuff that is going to be going on this summer.  Here's a quick run down of the key dates for me and Z.

Big Event                                                               Days Til The Big Event!
Jerry gets his 2nd tattoo                                            5 Days
Trip to San Francisco                                               11 Days
Zack's Last Day of School                                       23 Days
Physical Therapy For My Back Starts                      23 Days
Restrictions on my Physical Activity are Lifted          40 Days
Days Til We Leave for Iceland                                 42 Days
Kitchen Construction is Finished                              44 Days
Paul Oakenfold Concert!                                         54 Days
14er Weekend (Bross, Lincoln, Cameron Planned)   82 Days

After this things get a little hazy except for one other significant event.... I am planning my first running race after my back and leg injuries to be the Bear Chase Trail Race on September 30, 2012.  I can't stay away from running, I know that!  The only thing that is going to prevent me from being in that stinking race is if I am going to do more damage to myself in the long term by running.  I can run through pain - I have proven that before.  Pain isn't the issue with me.  The only issue that can possible keep me from my outdoor sports is if I am going to do further damage to my body that will prevent me from being active as I age.  The good news on that front is that both neurosurgeons I have worked with are convinced that my body is strong enough that I am going to bounce back 100%.  As long as I really focus on re-developing my core strength the feeling is I can continue to be crazy active until far, far in the future.  Here's hoping that is going to come true.

With only 23 days left in the 2011/2012 school year, Zack has finally decided to turn on the academic after-burners.  Zack's grades are updated daily on a Cherry Creek's Powerschool website.  In the last 5 days he has increased his overall scores in Math, Social Studies and Science by an average of 10 percentage points per class.  He now has solid B's in Math and Social Studies and is working hard to get an A in Science.  The great thing about this situation is that he has taken ownership for these grade increases.  Earlier this quarter I basically told him I was washing my hands of helping him maintain focus on his grades.  If he wants to get good grades he has to take responsibility for doing his homework, studying, etc.  I will no longer prompt him to see if he has his stuff done.  It's all his responsibility to sink or swim.  He is actually starting to achieve on his own!

Not much else going on except for settling into my new job responsibilities that I got on Friday.  It's going to be a busy couple of days with work.  Things are slow on the remodeling front right now as work is starting to stack up and become dependent on the completion of a couple of key areas - roughed in electrical and plumbing.  Once we get those two behind us, then inspections can start.  When the rough-in inspections are complete, thing are going to start moving fast!

It's time to be off to watch some TV and then get some sleep.  Didn't sleep well for some reason last night and three hours of sleep for one night makes me tired the next day.

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.