North Shore trip - day 1

well, we left home about 24 hours ago... got to the cabin around 3 and i was out on the bike around 5. saw some beautiful sites and got some great pics. i got up this morning to see an amazing sunrise over the lake and just finished up another bike ride. 40 miles logged so far, hoping to double that tomorrow.

Bike Ride

I vowed to bike 1,000 miles during the course of the 12-week weight loss competition in which I'm participating. However, after today's 26 mile ride I'm about 200 miles off pace. With the end of the competition being less than a month away it will be really tough to make it up at this point.

It was a great day, though... a little wind heading out, but sunny and warm. It was actually the nicest ride I've had in a while. There was a lot of great scenery and, for once, not much traffic in areas with small / no shoulders.

Tomorrow I'll be at the north shore, looking for about 20 miles.

test mobile blog

i figured maybe i should test the mobile blog out...

The Vacation

I'm taking a big first step to being more "unplugged" while at the same time using technology more effectively.

I'm taking a family trip to Lake Superior next week and I plan to be virtually unavailable to the rest of the known world. I will not be bringing my blackberry, my work laptop and I'm relying on crappy cell phone service to make sure I'm barely visible to anyone not with me.

I'll be taking my bike and hopefully logging about 150 miles or so while we're up there. I'm also hoping to run a few miles here and there.

HOWEVER, I am hoping to detail the journey on twitter, maybe facebook, and probably blogger as well.

I'm actually looking forward to getting away and hopefully it will be a trip to remember.

Unplugged

The alarm goes off at 6:00 am every morning. About 5 seconds later, the TV is on airing the morning news. At about 6:03 AM my eyes open and my hand instantly reaches for my cell to check my email. By 6:15 AM I'm making coffee and skimming my blackberry to start prepping for the day ahead. I'm dressed and ready by 6:45 AM in time to get my son up and ready and we're all out the door by 7.

I sit in front of a computer all day at work. In fact, my job only exists because of technology. After work I manage to squeeze in a few hours of play time at the park but the last thing I see before I go to bed almost every night is my computer screen.

Sometimes I feel like I'm struggling to find creativity and inspiration. I think this is because my life revolves around and is, to some degree, controlled by circuit boards and extension cords. I need to find a way to pull the plug and get away.

I'm going to pledge to be unplugged for at least 3 hours every day. This may not seem like much but it will be a drastic change. ... More to come ...