Pilot Knob Run on April 5, 2011 - Forest City, Iowa

iLife

Right now I'm typing my first blog from my iPad. This morning I woke up to my iPhone alarm. I went for a run on a treadmill and logged my miles on an app that charts all of my workouts. I listened to an iTunes playlist as I ran.

I entered all of my meals into a calorie tracker app and that will chart my weight, calories and fitness goals.

I used my iPhone at PF Changs to figure out what was healthiest to eat. I used it last night for GPS directions in Des Moines.

Tonight I used it to look up reviews of the sushi restaurant we are going to.

My iPhone syncs with my iPad which syncs with most of my web-based applications on my desktop and my laptop.

Is this ruining my life?

No. It's enhancing it.

But when I'm not careful, I forget to look people in the eye. I forget that apps do nothing unless they help us actually do something.

Facebook and Twitter are helping lead revolutions across the Arab world. But they can also eat away too much of our time.

I hope that someday we use technology so efficiently that we only have to work 20 hours per week.

We all need more time to be outside and ride our bikes. And go to dinner with friends. And read books and watch movies.

It's not iLife after all - it's my life.

Enjoy the ride (and don't forget to log your miles),
Damm

Ending in Mid-Sentence

Life is a story with cryptic words.

Chapter two doesn't necessarily follow chapter one and we can't read from the beginning to the end and assume that we will understand what happened.

We often become too close with the protagonist; however, at times we don't feel affectionately enough for the hero.

The villains, though they may be menacing in our stories, are the main characters for different authors.

Sometimes we are the villains.

Some stories are written in different languages. We won't read most of them.

Quite a few are short stories made up of only a couple sentences.

But these stories can also stretch on like "War and Peace."

They can be beautiful, many are dark and a surprising number read nearly the same with only the change of a name or place.

Every single story ends exactly the same. The main character dies.

Every main character suffers. Some experience years of happiness but others do not.

The book I'm writing includes suffering and happiness. Fear and confidence. Sadness and excitement.

As I look back to the earlier chapters, the words rearrange themselves on the page. I interpret my earlier writings within a revisionist context -- the meaning of the words is never the same.

The pages in the future are not empty. There are pencil marks all over...dreamlike sketches of what may or may not happen.

So much of my story is just like yours but so much is so different.

Most who will read my story will probably find their name in the index...I would guess that I am probably in the index of their story as well.

As I grow older, I realize that every story is worth reading. Each story is filled with adventure, intrigue and honesty.

I love hearing stories as they are being written.

Tales told around campfires.

Poems spoken while a keg of beer redistributes its contents into our stomachs making the words fill with color and truth.

Songs with lyrics that make us understand exactly what the author is trying to convey.

But they all end the same. They all end in mid-sentence. The author can never finish the book because each story must end in the book of someone else.

We are all continuing the stories of each other.

Adding to a single book that has no beginning and has no end. A book that can't be understood until our story is finished.

It's a book that we all get to have a part in. But none of us get to dictate the meaning. We write our cryptic story.

And then...

Life Above Ground

Goal #2. Climb to Machu Picchu in Peru.

Next week I turn 27 and while it's not a momentous birthday, it does remind me that I'm getting older. Not old. But, of course, we are all getting older.

Especially in the winter, I am prone to getting stuck in routines. Doing my thing at work, watching a little more TV than I should, skipping a few too many workouts and ordering a few too many pizzas.

I've been a little obsessed lately with diet, nutrition and training plans and for the last 3 weeks I've actually been following one.

P90X, The 4-Hour Body, the Paleo Diet, Triathlete magazine.

All of this information is great to ingest but ultimately I have to make my own goals and use these diets and workout regimens as devices that lead me to something bigger.

And so through all of this reflection and obsession, I've actually started some good habits lately. I started snowshoeing -- mostly at night, after work. It's been a great way to get outside in the winter and it's something I can do in the evening (with my headlamp).

I've also been making a list over the past couples of weeks and I want to share it publicly. It's an ambitious plan for the next 3 years of my life and as you finish reading the list you'll probably say something like, "Yeah right, Josh. There is no way you'll do those things."

Well, maybe I won't cross them all of the list by the time I'm 30 but I'm going to give it one hell of an effort. After the list of 30 things to do before I'm 30, I detail 20 things that I've done prior to turning 27 and it's an impressive list. I encourage you to do the same and let me know what you're top few goals are in the next three years.

As they say in "Shawshank Redemption"....."Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'."

I choose the former.

30 Things to Do Before I Turn 30

1. Be Fluent in Spanish
2. Climb to Maccu Picchu in Peru
3. Play in a WSOP Bracelet Event in Las Vegas
4. Finish a Full Ironman
5. Can't Disclose
6. Can't Disclose
7. Complete a ski skate race
8. Get weight below 165 with body fat under 10%
9. Run 50 miles in one day
10. Bike 200 miles in one day
11. See or Meet President Obama
12. Raise/Donate $5,000 for charities/Kiva
13. Throw a kick-ass concert (Party in the Park) in Forest City
14. Go to Beatles LOVE Cirque du Soleil in Vegas with my mom and dad
15. Can't Disclose
16. Go to an FC Barcelona or English Premier League Soccer Match
17. Go on an annual 54-hole (minimum) golf trip with Joe, Clint and Sterba
18. Run the Twin Cities Marathon
19. Surf with Stugelmeyer in Seattle
20. Spend a full week cycling in Chianti
21. Either go skydiving or hang gliding
22. Eat at a Michelin starred molecular gastronomy restaurant in Spain.
23. Win a cycling road race or help a teammate win
24. Go to at least 2 more musicals on Broadway
25. Walk 100 holes of golf in one day and break 90 in all five full rounds
26. Bench press 200 pounds
27. Sing the National Anthem at a sporting event
28. Get Lasik Eye Surgery
29. See or Meet the Dalia Lama
30. Host a Photography Exhibit

What I’ve Done Before 27

1. Shook President Bill Clinton’s Hand and got his signature

2. Congratulated Daniel Negreanu on winning a WSOP bracelet

3. Rode in a box car down a hill in Lima, Peru

4. Ran to villages in Cinque Terre

5. Cycled in Tuscany

6. Walked the beaches of Barcelona

7. Ran Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth

8. Completed two Olympic distance triathlons

9. Completed Kansas 70.3 Half-Ironman

10. Helped Relay for Life of Winnebago County raise over $80,000 for cancer research

11. Got a really good job

12. Graduated with a double major in History and Communication from Waldorf College

13. Got into University of Iowa law school (and quit after 2 weeks...a good thing!)

14. 2^nd Place Team at Iowa State Golf Tournament in 2000

15. Made All-State Choir in 2001

16. Ran 12 miles through Boston

17. Seen 3 games at Wrigley Field in Chicago

18. Been to the Masters

19. Done the full week of Ragbrai

20. Rode 154 miles in one day

Enjoy the ride,

Damm

A Political Confession

I have a confession to make. Over the past couple of months, I've been living a lie.

As my political philosophies have been shaken to their core by greater success in life, an increased income and the collapse of our once great economy, I've started to find truth in a new brand of politics.

My lie is this: I told my parents, my friends and my co-workers that I had already voted but I only recently left the polling place in Forest City.

I told my parents, my friends and my co-workers that I voted nearly straight-ticket Democrat.

Once again, this was a lie.

Tonight I voted for nearly all the Republican candidates (Brandstad, Grassley, etc.) and voted to get rid of the three activist judges on the Iowa supreme court.

As a straight, white, male who has, on occasion, enjoyed shooting a gun or two, I finally feel I have found my political home with the Grand Old Party.

My only wish is that we could have had a Tea Party candidate in this great, conservative state.

---

Many of those who know me well are likely thinking...."Josh, I thought you were an ardent liberal who supported Obama and the progressive cause?"

Well, friends, I once did indeed hold these political leanings. But 21 months of the Obama Administration has changed my preconceptions about the role of government.

There are many conservative candidates that I would be proud to support in 2012 but none more-so than Sarah Palin. Indeed, she has helped shape my new political philosophy.

A philosophy that will help America restore its place in the world and one that hearkens back to the days of our Founders.

This new political philosophy includes the following principles:

No Federal Income Tax - In 2012, with a Republican controlled House and Senate, we should work to abolish the federal income tax. This will spur job creation, significantly reduce the size of government and help small business owners.

Repeal Obamacare - Many of you may be asking how the government can function at all without federal income taxes. Well, it's quite simple, actually. Repealing Obamacare, no longer spending money on bailouts, cutting legislative pork, and stopping medical malpractice suits should take care of the amount of revenue previously accounted for through federal income taxes.

Obamacare has ruined our health care system and it's only been around for a few months. Just think what will happen if we let it continue!

Now I realize that health care costs will probably continue to rise, as they were prior to Obamacare. But at least Obamacare will be gone and you'll have all those federal income tax dollars to spend on the annual 10-15% increase in your health care costs.

And look at what happened when Reagan reduced the top income tax bracket to 50%, the national debt went from a ridiculous $4 trillion to a much more manageable $1 trillion (figures from TeaParty.com).

It's just sound economic philosophy. Cut taxes. Cut the debt.

Eliminate Social Security and Medicare - The elimination of these entitlement programs will allow us to balance the budget and get rid of the national debt completely, I think.

With every American employed by 2014 under a Palin Administration, everyone will have plenty of time and money to save up for retirement and the cost of health care as they age. Of course, the stock market will be booming with all the job creation from the elimination of federal income tax and future retirees need only invest a small part of their income in aggressive stocks like Lehman Brothers, General Motors, Chrysler, Google and Facebook, to see their retirement portfolio grow like a giant beanstalk.

Stop the gays from marrying - My friend's mom and dad recently got divorced and I just know it was because Iowa started allowing gay marriages. How do I know this? Well, his parents told me.

They said that same-sex marriage had ruined the sanctity of marriage and they no longer wanted to be married.

They told me they had survived the domestic disputes, the teenagers who got into meth, and their house recently being foreclosed upon (due to Obama and his increased taxes on the middle class).

But once the gays could marry in Iowa, their marriage meant nothing and they were forced to go their separate ways.

We must not let this happen any longer. The next amendment to the constitution should be to prohibit gay marriage.

Or else before we know it, the divorce rate for heterosexual couples could reach the catastrophic rate of 50% or more.

I know, it's a scary thought but this is where "progress" has brought us to.

----

Let me sum up my new political philosophy in a few bumper-sticker-length phrases:

• NO income tax
• NO Obamacare
  
• NO social security
• NO medicare
• NO gay marriage
• NO new federal spending
• NO, God Damn It, NO!
• Tea Party, Hell Yes!
• PALIN-DAMM 2012!

Enjoy the ride (on the Tea Party Express to Freedomland),
Damm

The Rashomon Effect

I finished watching the Japanese film "Rashomon" last night.

Directed by Akira Kurosawa the movie tells the story of a bandit who rapes the wife of a samurai in 9th century Japan.

The story is told by a witness of the crime and as the movie unfolds we realize that four variations of the same story are creating alternate realities.

In otherwords, the flashbacks only reflect perception and not the reality. We never find out what really happened but we learn lessons along the way.

We learn that murder can bring greater social acceptance than telling a lie.

We learn that humanity is full of deceit, lies and sin.

We also learn that humanity can be redeemed by the act of a single good man trying to do what's right.

I have to admit that watching Japenese films from the 1950s isn't the most entertaining evening -- it involves a level of intellectual commitment and mental endurance.

But Kurosawa is an expert of making a great film about a single idea.

"Rashomon" makes us realize that each individual has a different perspective on life.

"Ikiru" teaches us that we all have a reason for living that is greater than our day-t0-day life.

Kurosawa's other films certainly teach other lesssons and I'm excited to learn those lessons as I get time to watch those movies.

My challenge to you is to find films, books, magazines, music......anything that challenges your ways of thinking.

I've been stuck on the idea lately that it's truly amazing that most children raised Lutheran stay Lutheran and most Catholics stay Catholics and most Muslims stay Muslims and most Jews stay Jewish.

Maybe I'm the fool but I'm a Lutheran turned Universalist and I'm sure it's because I've done everything possible to expand my ways of thinking.

To take the time to watch films and read books and talk to people with divergent points of view.

And what I've come to realize is that all of our viewpoints on life are both true and false.

That there is no one correct way of seeing the world.

That to some extent all of us are stuck in dead-end jobs and we must find the truth in life that will allow us to overcome the mundane nature of everyday living.

To find the truth that will allow us to....

Enjoy the ride,
Damm

A Bottle of Fermented Grapes

I just purchased this 2004 Rioja and according to the dude in the wine shop it shouldn't be opened until 2013 or 2014. This is my "Do Not Touch" wine for 3-4 years!

A bottle of Sciacchetra dessert wine that I drank following Dammapalooza. Probably should have saved this for a better occasion but it was sure an amazing, sweet white wine.

---

Complicated and complex. Simply incredible. Thirst-satisfying. Palate-confounding. Beautifully crafted. Nectar of the gods.

Wine, at some point in many of our lives, becomes a sort of soundtrack to some of the great moments.

We remember the great bottles of wine not necessarily for the wine itself but for the memory it evokes.

The glass of Chianti Classico at the Poggio Asciutto vineyard in Italy in the middle of my 60-mile bike through Tuscany.

The Schiacchetra dessert wine in Cinque Terre, Italy, with my dad and sister as we looked out at the Italian coastline.

The Pinot Noir at Francis Ford Copolla's winery in Napa Valley -- sitting outside with the wine, smoking a cigar and pretending like I was on the set of The Godfather with Al Pacino and Marlon Brando.

A glass of champagne in Lima, Peru, as the Alfredo Baertl family celebrated the birth of the first member of a new generation of Baertls.

Countless bottles of wines with labels now long forgotten as friends and I sat around summer campfires in Forest City.

I will never be above drinking a Busch Light on the golf course or having a bottle of "Two Buck Chuck."

But the dynamic, unique wines of the world have become something that I now happily celebrate.

The wine defines moments of life like songs define a scene in a movie.

Tears for Fears in Donnie Darko. Sam playing the piano in Casablanca. The haunting melody in Pan's Labyrinth. The theme from The Godfather.

The local grocery store provides me with my "go-to" wines that I love to fall back on. The Trapiche Oak Cask Malbec. The Chateau Ste. Michelle Sauvignon Blanc. The various Pinot Noirs.

But as I look across the room at my 12-bottle wine rack, I can't help but think of the moments that will soon be attached to the unopened bottles of wine.

Most of them will probably just insert their flavor into a long night of drinking with friends.

But I'm sure that in those 12 bottles, one of them will connect with another one of life's great moments.

A bottle of fermented grapes attaching its flavor with a day in my life.

Making its mark. Hitting the right notes. Helping me remember the day.

Affectionately allowing you and I to...

Enjoy the ride,
Damm