Life at 3 miles an Hour

Friday marks another beginning of the annual event in our house known as Valentines.  Many of you who know me, know what this means.  Some of you wish that you didn't.  Some of my guy friends wish that their wives didn't.  For the rest, let me just say that this isn't your grandmothers version.  I'm not talking about the once a year, flowers, chocolates and dinner reservations type of event.  I decided long ago that I didn't need FTD, Hallmark, or Yelp to drive my observation of the holiday.  This isn't meant to be judgement on the rest...it's simply a reflection of the least I can do to honor my soul mate and the best half of my life.  Simply put, our celebration goes from the 1st to the 14th.  It does include flowers, dinner, and cards.  The biggest part of it though is the daily, intentional demonstration of love and honor through little expressions and experiences that, quite honestly, are not costly at all, unless you count the in...

So last week I had the privilege of being in the enchanting realm of the mouse.  While my Seattle friends were suffering  through some particularly frigid temperatures, I was tagging along with my wife at her conference in the wonderful world of Disney.  It's a tough life, but occasionally I can bear the burden.  Anyway, it afforded me the opportunity to take part in some very insightful and sometimes inspirational people watching.... Sometimes not so inspirational. One of the sadder trends that I've observed over the years is one facilitated by the tsunami of social media.  In a place that almost screams presence, many are not at all...present I mean.  In their desire to be connected to their circles, they become disconnected to their surroundings.  I often wonder how they are tweeting and facebooking the experiences that they are not actually taking part in.  This year, in particular, I was witness to, in my opinion, a great casualty ...

It's a frosty clear winter morning here in the great Northwest...the kind of morning that really separates those native to Seattle and those from all points elsewhere.  The natives, while uncomfortable, are drawn to the elusive sight of the sun like moths to a flame.  Those from sunny points south, not at all impressed by the sunlight, have all but disappeared under the fleece and down filled jackets, shivering like their hairless dogs that share the same attire.  Meanwhile, those of us from places that experience real winter for significant parts of the calendar wander with wistful memories of days past in former lives, remembering fondly the otherwise bite of sub freezing air entering our lungs.  In other words, we are enjoying these days in an auld Lang syne kind of way.  Being from the snow belt of upstate New York, I represent the latter view. One sign of the cold that I can't get enough of is watching my own breath leave its place of warmth to react qu...

Jaywalked my way across the street to Red Cup this morning because I was in more of a hurry than usual.  I got up late....well it was late for me anyway, later than I had planned...and we all know what the plan means to me.  The plan is everything.  I love it when a plan comes together...and consequently, when it doesn't, I can get desperate.  It can force me to jaywalk.  Mine is once again a do as I say, not as I do kind of day.  It's a bit ironic since I had "planned" to get up earlier because I had "planned" to write something about what I had "planned" to pursue this coming year.  So I'm laughing at the irony...seriously I'm laughing here, just me and my americano.  For those of you not versed in coffee culture, that's a drink, not some US tourist in Latin America. One of my "plans" for 2013 is actually to change my drink of choice over to these.  It's better for my waistline.  It's better for my cholesterol.  I...