One Great Week. One Rotten Week.

Such is life.

Week before last was a great week. I finished the Keep on Pushin' Challenge and raised over $1000 for a local homeless shelter, with generous donations from friends and family. I also got to deliver $1500 worth of checks to two local PTAs as part of another project I'm involved in.

Another victory was convincing a local principal to allow a karate program in her school. She was anti, until we talked about how, instead of contributing to behavior problems, a good karate class will actually reduce those problems.

Victories all around. And I got to finish the week by spending two days training with Phil Porter, a former US Olympic Judo coach.

This week, I've been on my damn back with the Martian Death Flu. Can't talk. Get dizzy if I stand up. Plus I think I lost a student over having to cancel some private lessons.

Such is life.

The Big Finish

Pushup number 2008 got banged out just a little before 1:00 this afternoon. I had an event to attend, one where stopping in the middle to do pushups would have been....inappropriate. So I had to accelerate my timetable by three hours.

Not to brag, but I made the last 8 one-armers just to be a wiseass.

Thanks, all. Together we raised 1071.29 in pledges to help Family Bridge. Kelly Dodge is also on the case this weekend...I'll get his totals early next week.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Callin' It a Night

Goin to bed now. Count for today 1095. Total count so far 1710.

Thanks to Brahm, Kathleen, Elizabeth and Lee (Grampa & Grannie) for coming out today and adding to our list of donors. We're at over 50 cents per pushup now, well over 1000 dollars for Family Bridge.

I'm in deep seratonin high territory, have been for the past several hours. Workout crack. I'm loopy, my chest hurts and I'm smiling.

Night y'all. We'll finish this off tomorrow in style.

Noon on Saturday

Eighteen hours in, we're at 1010 pushups and over $500 raised.

Surprisingly, my arms don't hurt yet. I notice deep fatigue (not just in the arms, but my neck, back and shoulders). Most surprisingly, I'm losing coordination. I missed the fridge door handle an hour ago and my typing is atrocious as we speak.

More later. Thanks for listening.

Keep On Pushin'

So my teammate and hero Dave McNeil started an organization called Keep On Pushin, which encourages people to do pushups for charity. It's a fantastic idea, supported by an incredible person. I could gush further, but the short version is I have 48 hours to do 2008 pushups.

A bunch of folks (thanks Ma, Pa, Uncle Mike, Amy M, Steve, Zach, Ian, Keith, Mark, Jen, Shawn, Julie, Ana, Mark V, the Worralls, Gary, Roger, the Kellners, Erik, Scott, Shiloh, Tamara, Dawn, Shari, and the Zangers) have donated from 1 cent to 5 cents per pushup. One even promised me 6 cents for every pushup I do on Friday.

The current count: 615. Watch for further developments.

A Day in the LIfe

"I will always be easy to find. I will be at the center of the battle."

That's from Richard Marchinko's management book. Not that I recommend his style or agree with many of his ideas -- but that sentiment is dead on.

I've been feeling that way lately. UBBT requirements. Wife kicking butt at grad school. Son to play with and hopefully teach a thing or two. Pets to care for. Dojo to run. Books to read. Friends and family to enjoy. New programs going gangbusters and taking three times the effort I thought they would.

Some days it's overwhelming. Some days it's exhilirating. Some days terrifying. Some days empowering. Some days I feel terrible about how many balls I've dropped. Some days I feel great about how many I caught, or at least picked up with a degree of style.

Today's agenda: Wake up. Cook breakfast. Take son to school. Go to yoga. Bike 16 miles. Run errands. Open school. Office duties. Train budding manager. Practice goju-shorei material (thanks Sokei). Stand at front counter during the evening rush and talk with everybody. Go home. Cook dinner. Head to PTA meeting where my son is presenting a check for $800 (the result of his helping with a fundraiser). Go home again. Tuck son in. Clean kitchen and dining room. Help wife with homework. Take half an hour to read and relax. Go to sleep.

Today's one of the good days.

Thanks for listening.