Year in Review 2013

It’s time again for another year in review. This is actually the first one for my new blog here at www.secondrunnings.me, which was one of the things that changed in 2013. I decided that with my life entering a sort of second stage, that starting a new blog was the thing to do. Hence, Second Runnings was born.

When last we left our heroes, the year had just started, and I had just proposed to Lisa. This was by far the biggest change in my life this year, and one of the best ever. Even though Lisa and I had only met in September, we both were quite sure of where we wanted to be with each other, and so January 1st, just after midnight, was the time I asked her to marry me. This set in motion a whole series of events in 2013 as we prepared our wedding. Some of the highlights:

• Trying to decide on a reception venue. We looked at a beautiful venue at Metro State University, but with all the costs for catering, and decorating, involved we ended up choosing Claddagh Irish Pub, which was the site of our first date. In the end it was a perfect location, just the right size for our group, and the food and service was amazing. Everyone seemed to have a great time. 
• Getting to see all of our friends on our wedding day, including our out-of-town guests who came long distances, to see us get married. 
• Shedding tears as we worked through the process to have a church wedding. Since both Lisa and I were divorced there was a process with the church to work through to allow us to marry in the Catholic church. At a couple points it seemed like it wasn't going to work, and there were moments of frustration and pain, but in the end everything came together. 
• Getting married twice! For insurance reasons we got married legally in July. We met a judge on a beautiful Wednesday evening and got hitched. 
• Finding an amazing cellist to play our music during the ceremony. 
• Having our children be a part of the ceremony. Lisa's son Alex walked Lisa's mom to her seat, and Sam and Noah walked with me down the aisle. 
• Deciding on a honeymoon location. Our original thought was to take a train to Seattle, but when Lisa decided to go back to school, and I changed jobs, that just didn't seem very feasible. So we opted for a couple of nights in Duluth, which ended up being beautiful and amazing. 

Those are just a few of the thoughts that come to mind. Our wedding capped off a year of a lot of changes for both of us. But even more so for Lisa. In 2013 she:

• Moved to Fridley.
• Went back to school.
• Got ACL knee surgery.
• Got Lasik eye surgery
• Got her personal trainer certification and started a career in the fitness industry.

Despite all the changes, Lisa is happy and enjoying life, and I'm enjoying life with her. I've also been very grateful of how accepting her family has been of me. I've felt tremendously welcome by them, and have enjoyed spending time with them throughout the year.

In my life, beyond getting married, one of the big changes is that I changed jobs. The job I had at Thomson Reuters ended up not being a very good fit. I took the job thinking I'd be doing one thing, but it turned out that portions of management weren't interested in having me do what I thought I was there to do. So most of my time there was a struggle trying to convince people of the need to do things a bit differently for long term sustainability.

So in July I took a job with the National Marrow Donor Program, a.k.a. Be The Match, as an Infrastructure Architect. It's been a MUCH better fit for me, and the role I have here is work that I enjoy doing. I'm also in an organization that wants to see long term sustainability in their IT architecture, and is open to working with me to design how that will get done. Additionally, Be The Match is a great organization, doing life saving work. The mission to save lives is embedded in the culture of the organization from day one. 

Also, in solidarity with many friends and family who are going back to school, I decided to start up a graduate certificate in leadership at Capella University myself. It's four classes that I should hopefully have done by the end of 2014. I'm hoping it helps give me some academic credibility as I look towards other leadership jobs in my future. 

My beer brewing hobby also continued to grow this year. I bought a small chest freezer and started kegging my beer. The project for this Christmas, and start of the new year, is building a collar for the freezer, and adding in real beer taps to make dispensing easier. I also took 1st place in a local beer competition for my Blonde ale, so that was a nice pat on the back.

In addition to brewing beer, I've gotten the chance to visit a lot of the local taprooms. Being close to NE Minneapolis has benefits, as there are at least 5 taprooms within a mile or two from each other. Giving us lots of options for a spur of the moment night out to have a quick pint. Lisa and I have also done some beer related travel. Heading to Mankato to visit the Schell's Brewery, and to Chippewa Falls to visit Leinenkugel's. Both of which were fun quick trips as an excuse to get a night away.

On the fitness front, my running took a bit of a back seat this year. My total distance for the year dropped to only 308 miles which is the lowest since I started running in 2010. I did manage a lot more diversity though, with over 100 miles of elliptical and close to 450 miles on bikes (both indoor and stationary). I also added in some weight training, with Lisa using me as practice for her personal training. I also only ran a few races this year. Lisa and I did some 5K's together, as well as a 10K. But the highlight was running a half-marathon relay with Lisa where I ran the first half, and she finished it out on the second half. That was a great time and might end up being a yearly tradition. 

I do have some fitness goals for the new year. My weight has fluctuated between 160-170 this whole year, and I'd like to get it into the solid 150's by next Christmas. I'm also going to try a 'streak', running at least 1 mile every day of 2014. I'd also like to make sure I add in a little bit of weight training to help tone some of my upper body. Lisa and I are also heading to Grand Rapids, MI in May to run the River Bank 25K race, so I need to make sure I'm trained up for that.

The boys are doing well this year. They've adjusted to me being married, and seem to really enjoy spending time with Lisa. Noah is finished up 6th grade, and we'll be considering education options for him next year, including, but not limited to, online school. Sam is finishing 8th grade, and next year will be starting High School. We're looking at a Project Based Learning charter school in Coon Rapids as a possibility for him. As an old Open School grad, I have a soft spot for alternative education options. 

Sam is really into horses, and this past year he has been taking riding lessons, and we went to the State Fair a couple times to see horse shows. He still loves computers, video games and movies, but it's nice to get him outside from time to time. He's even had the opportunity to volunteer a bit at the stable where he takes lessons. 

Noah really got into the Warriors book series this past Fall, and has been devouring all the different books in the series like crazy. He's even started a blog where he's been writing little reviews of the books. He's also continued to run with me from time to time, and did both the Monster Dash 5K and the Turkey Day 5K with Lisa and I. Noah also really likes tabletop games and can often be found playing Forbidden Island or Castle Panic with me on cold evenings. 

As I look back on all the photos from this past year, I'm sure I could write twice as much as I've written here, but I think this is where I'll end. It's been a good year. A year of change and transition, but a year where I am feeling very grounded and stable for the future. I'm excited about the possibilities for Lisa and I in the new year. The future feels very wide open, and we often talk about plans for our lives. Thanks for reading about my journey this past year, and I look forward to blogging (hopefully a bit more frequently) in 2014.

An amazing wedding weekend

This past weekend I came to the culmination of a journey that began a year ago. I married a woman who is a beautiful match for me. We held our wedding in the chapel at our parish, with a beautiful solo cellist playing Bach's Solo Suite #1 in G. The entire day went perfectly, and I couldn't have asked for a better wedding. The flowers showed up on time, and the photographer was amazing. All of our friends and family were beyond helpful, and really showed us how much they cared for us. The deacon gave a wonderful homily, and we got to include our loved ones who have passed on in the special prayers of the day.

After the wedding, some of us went to a local taproom that has some great backdrops for photos. It was a great time and a great way to unwind before the reception dinner. When we arrived at the restaurant everything was in motion and taken care of with an amazing and helpful staff. The food was amazing, and our best man and maid of honor gave wonderful tributes to us. I then got to top it all off by surprising Lisa with a video I made of pictures of our journey together.

By the end of dinner Lisa and I both started coming down from the high of the day and realized just how exhausted we were. By the time we got to the hotel that night, half-way to Duluth, we collapsed into bed, content and happy from a wonderful celebration. We then spent the next few days hanging out on the North Shore, visiting Gooseberry Falls, some great restaurants, and some wonderful beer. We even found an awesome new soda shop that sells over 500 different types of pop.

Now that we've arrived home we're both still slowly coming down from the emotional high, but happy to be starting a new life together. It's been an amazing year. If it wasn't for some good friends I would have certainly messed it up and passed up on the opportunity to marry a woman who is more loving and caring than I've ever experienced in my life. I feel remarkably blessed to have Lisa in my life now, and I'm working hard to be the man she deserves and treat her with the respect that she is due.

So as this new chapter in my life dawns a new, I want to say a thanks to all those who have stood by me over the past few years, and who are willing to support us as we continue to grow in our life together. Here's to the next chapter of life, may this happy beginning be just a foretaste of the amazing future in store.

Leinenkugel's Brewery Tour

Lisa and I had a weekend to ourselves, and so we decided to do an impromptu trip out of town for the night. Because of Lisa's work schedule we literally had 24 hours, since she finished at noon Saturday and started at noon on Sunday. So with that limitation in mind I tossed out the idea of doing a trip to Chippewa Falls and visiting the Leinenkugel Brewery. Chippewa Falls/Eau Claire, Wisconsin is just over 100 miles from the Twin Cities so it is a great distance for a quick trip. We probably could have even gone back and forth in the same day, but we decided to get a cheap room at the local Days Inn.

The first thing to mention is that there aren't any pictures in this blog entry. Leinenkugel does not allow pictures inside their facilities. I could have taken a couple shots of the Lodge, but decided to just keep the phone put away. The Lodge is where you start your tour. It's a combination gift shop and tasting room. It's amazing how many pieces of merchandise you can slap a corporate logo on. You name the style of shirt and they probably had one there with the Leine logo on it. We decided to hold off on tasting until after the tour. As we found out, that probably wasn't the best idea.

The tour started, and our tour guide was very vocal and fun. We learned a bit about the history of the brewery, how it's the 7th oldest working brewery in the country, and where the original structures were. Similar to Schell's, this brewery was founded by a German immigrant family in the 1800s, and remained in the family ownership until 1988 when it was bought by Miller. The brewery is still run by the Leinenkugel family, and is still considered a craft brewery because of it's size, and the fact that they still add various ingredients by hand. My sense is that this is a similar arrangement as Goose Island in Chicago. They seem to be able to continue to produce the beer that they want, and then have the Miller distribution network. I really don't have a big issue with the large beverage companies owning craft breweries, as long as they leave them alone and let them do what they do best.

Most of the tour was standard "here's how beer is made" type of stuff. One interesting part is that they still use the horizontal fermenters, and haven't changed to conical ones. Given the shape of their building I doubt that will change any time soon. They also touted that their boil kettles are topped with copper, as an homage to brewing history. We also got to see the bottling and canning lines, and the big machine that they use to pasteurize the beer. At the end of the tour Lisa also got to chat with the tour guide and learned that they were in the same fraternity, and that the tour guide was also an opera/vocal student. So that was fun for her.

Once the tour was done we headed back over to the lodge to get our 4 samples. However, the way the bar was set up it was REALLY tough to get people's attention to actually get your samples. We kept having to move around the bar to find an open spot because some people would just park there and drink their samples one right after the other, not realizing that there was a line of 20 people behind them. Because of this I only used up 3 of my samples. However, since Lisa doesn't drink I was able to have her nab a couple more for me to try. All the confusion was further compounded by a wedding party that showed up and was taking up a lot of space as well. Needless to say, this was the least fun part of the trip. At least you get to keep the tasting glass. Overall, Leinenkugel was the least favorite tour I've been on, not because the information was bad, but it was all very staged and corporate. I don't think it's one that I would do again, but I did mostly enjoy myself.

We then headed out for some dinner and found Milwaukee Burger Co.,. This is a nice place, with beer flights and decent cheese curds. I was happy to get a flight of beer that consisted of a lot of stuff that I can't get here in Minnesota, namely New Glarus. I liked a couple of them well enough that we hit a store on the way back to the hotel to get some to bring back to MN. 

We finally crashed in the hotel room, only to discover that they don't have Food Network. So Lisa channel surfed a bit and found the Indiana Jones movie marathon on USA Network. So I got to see Kingdom of the Crystal Skull finally. I barely stayed awake to the end, and then we collapsed. Today, it's back to MN and the beginning of the school year gets going in earnest. It was nice to have a quick trip away to finish out the summer.

Update on orthodontics

I'm approaching the 9 month mark for getting my braces on, and it's amazing to see how much of a difference there has been. It's been a challenge at times because of how much work they had to do. Being that I delayed getting this done about 25 years longer than I should have, I ended up needing a lot more extensive work. My oldest son has a similar teeth structure to me, so we'll be getting his braces on very soon, so he can do a more simple treatment.

Welcome to Second Runnings

Welcome to my new personal blog home! As I talked about back on my old blog Boolah, it was time to make a fresh start on my blog, and so this site is now being born. For the time being I'm hosting it on Blogger, but I could switch to WordPress, or something completely different, if the mood strikes me. However, I'll be keeping the http://www.secondrunnings.me/ name no matter which host this blog lives on.

A bit about the name. Second Runnings is a process in beer brewing that refers to re-rinsing grains that have just produced wort (the precursor to beer), to create a second batch of wort. It's a process that is often done when you are creating a very, very strong beer. When you create a 10%+ beer there's a lot of sugar still left over in the grains, and that sugar can then be turned into a beer closer to 5%. Some really good beers are second runnings beers.

I chose this name for a few reasons. First, I'm into beer brewing. Second, it has the word 'running' in it, and I'm also into running. Finally though, I wanted a name that reflected the fact that I'm entering the second half of my life. Next March I turn 40, and God willing, I'll hit 80 and keep on ticking, but in general I'm at the halfway point.

I really enjoy the idea of my life being like those grains that made a strong beer. In my youth I was often headstrong, stubborn, and hard to take in large doses, much like a 12% ABV ale. Now though, I've reached a point in my life where I've mellowed quite a bit, and am becoming something much calmer and easy-going. I'm becoming like a good session ale. Lots of flavor, not objectionable, and much more pleasant to be around, time and time again.

So welcome to this new spot on the web where I'll be sharing various thoughts about life, hobbies, faith, kids, etc.,. Like my previous blog, I probably won't update it too often, but I'll try to keep something here at least once a month. Thanks for joining me on the journey!