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Hello 2015
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My Sprint Anniversary
The Sprint team from 1997 |
Today is my 16 year anniversary as an employee of Sprint and anyone that has ever spent any time with me at all knows I love being part of the wireless industry. It is rare these days to work for the same company as long as I have but I guess I am the kind of guy that sticks with things.
Really that was an amazing few years in my life. During the period between September 1995 and the end of 1997 I experienced the death of my Mother due to cancer, got married, started a new job, purchased our first home, became a father, was diagnosed with cancer and completed cancer treatments with best possible results.
Now that is a lot of change and looking back it was a time that is fully impacting me today. Experiencing so many highs and lows in such a short span of time made me resilient gave me a foundational appreciation of life that carries me forward even today.
I am thankful to Sprint for giving me the path to provide for my family. I am thankful for my wife for loving me through those changes and those we are experiencing today. Most importantly, I am thankful to my Lord has given me these extra years so that I can be sitting here today reflecting.
Happy Anniversary to me
Getting on track again
I have been a little uninspired these last several months as far as blog writing for some reason. It was a busy summer with work (new boss) family (teen son) and Scouts (trip to Philmont). Now fall is approaching and I find myself in a difficult in between life event time. These are times when I find myself seeking a future goal to achieve and reflecting on my recent past. Looking back, I am finding myself once again wishing I had done more. More time in prayer, more time in deep conversation with my teen son, more time showing Michelle that I love her, more time being a mentor to the youth in our Troop, more time helping my team improve performance…. This list seems to go on and on.
The truth is that I never feel I am doing enough yet at the same time I also know I can’t do it all.
Glancing through my personal journal this morning a run across these questions that I posted more than five years ago:
• What are YOU passionate about?
• What has God put in YOU?
• What needs can God use YOU to meet?
• What breaks YOUR heart?
• What are YOU uniquely equipped and called to do?
What are my answers? Time to ponder and pray for answers.
What about you? What are your answers to these powerful questions?
Time is flying by..
It is hard believe that our son just weeks ago from completed his freshman year of high school. The realization that everyday day brings my wife and I another step closer to him moving on to college and life as an adult has hit me hard lately. Well and there is the whole turning 45 recently too.
The future is sitting hard on me. Much of it is financial with the expenses that come with children and time marching towards retirement. Trendy clothes, summer camps, a car (yikes!) and of course there is college. The current cost per year of an in state school is estimated at close to $20,000 per year if you include room and board when figuring expenses. The roller coaster that is life working for a company that has layoffs most every spring also does not help at times.
So how did this first year of high school go? Overall I would say Conner experienced success and the challenges one might expect as a student in a very diverse 6A public school. He made new friends, found himself with a new passion for music (jazz) and made his way through the maze that is teen high school life. Looking back, I am amazed at everything he accomplished and am proud of his choices
The picture of the man he will be in the future seems to be clearer all the time. I see a man that does not follow the crowd, respects others, loves to laugh, works hard, is a servant, is a leader, and more. Luckily he is many of the things I was not at his age and all of these are good.
We never know as parents what our child really feels inside. We hope their hearts are mostly filled with joy of the present and positive hope for the future. We know that at times it is filled with pain, self-doubt and questions. We pray that the positive and negative experiences of youth are simple building blocks to the trials that will come as an adult.
As father’s day approaches, I am so thankful to have such a wonderful son. Being a dad is the greatest of my responsibilities and the greatest of joys as well.
New Dads—Don’t let miss a moment of your child’s growth. They will indeed be gone before you know it.
My twitter fast
Whew I am back! Today is my return to Twitter after a 21 day fast from it and a few other things. With over two years, 15,000+ tweets, and four accounts under my belt, I felt compelled to take a little break. Amazingly, during this time the world kept turning and people did not go running through the streets yelling, “where is David Copeland! I must know what he is thinking today!” Chances are that the vast majority of my followers did not even notice my absence.
It has always been my twitter desire for a two sided fluid experience. The fun for me is getting to know people through conversation and interaction. It may sound silly but I am genuinely interested to learn about the lives of others and this is way more important than number of followers or any other twitter metric.
So what did I learn during this time? Mostly I learned that twitter like all things needs to be kept in perspective and that life indeed does go on just fine without social media.
My inspiration for this fasting time was from a great Lifechurch sermon. You can watch it here and read the 21 day fast devotional at http://www.youversion.com/
I love Mondays
I have a confession. I love Mondays.
What? Yes I know most people hate Mondays and comments putting down the day are quite common. Of course there are those “back to the salt mine” and other references to the drudgery of another work week that we hear often on this day.
Here’s the deal. I see every Monday as a little Jan 1st. It is an opportunity to start fresh and step into week of new goals and promises. The mistakes and missteps of last week are gone and my life is once again a blank page. What will I accomplish this week? What meetings to I need to plan? What performance at work do I need to impact? How many miles does my training schedule say I need to run? What is my nutrition plan to be healthy? What steps can I take this week to honor God?
These are just a few questions I find myself asking every Monday morning.
I choose to live for the weekends AND I choose to live for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday as well.
Face it. The majority of our lives take place during the in-betweens. I will not waste these days with complaints or just getting by until Friday does arrive.
I hope you too will take a moment to look at Monday with fresh eyes and attitude!
Are you an “I hate Mondays person”?
If not, what are some things you do to start the week excited?
Going for Great
“If you keep doing what you have always done you will keep getting what you have always got”
This is one of the most powerful statements I have ever heard and I posted it up as a theme as I wrote my 2011 goals.
I think one of the greatest dangers in life is success as it can lead to complacency. You reach that weight loss goal, stop eating right and soon the weight starts to creep back on. You finish the marathon and the post run workout break soon becomes months of inactivity. You finally get that job you dreamed and worked so hard for and then stop learning and growing. I have seen this in my own life many times.
Good is indeed the enemy of great.
I am planning to get radical in 2011. I do not want to be comfortable and content. I want and plan to seek the pain of challenge and of risk.
What about you?
If you have not taken a deep personal assessment of what you are going to do differently do it now and post it somewhere that will drive you forward. Step out this year and stop doing what you have always done.
God did not make you to be simply good. I believe He made you to be great and to make a real difference during this very short time you are on this earth. A difference for him through your talents and your passion.
Don’t just be good—be great!
What is one challenge you plan in 2011?
Getting healthy thanks to Android and my HTC EVO from Sprint
Like many of you I am using the New Year as an opportunity to refocus on my health and shed the pounds I picked up thanks to all the yummy holiday food over the previous two months. This year I have a new arsenal of weapons in my war against girth thanks to my wonderful HTC EVO and the Android market.
The key to losing weight I have found over the years is not to diet but instead focus on healthy eating habits and to make in an all in family lifestyle choice. Diets simply do not work because they are temporary and mentally indicate you are “on a program”. Programs have a beginning and an ending vs. a lifestyle which is simply ongoing.
Losing weight through a life style change then becomes easy and simple. Keys for me have been:
• No fried foods
• No sodas—Including diet
• Minimal processed foods and sugar
• No snacks after 8PM
• Four small meals a day
• Focus on fresh fruits and vegetables
• Lower intensity cardio over a longer period of time
• Weight lifting
• Still enjoying pizza and other “bad food” gilt free from time to time
It is simple math really. You should take in less calories than you are burning during the day. I could go into the points above in great detail but that is not why you are reading this : )
So how do you figure the math? Thankfully there is an awesome free app for that called Calorie Counter. This app links you to fatsecret.com and will sync all your data inputs.
Almost every food you might encounter can be found in the database to make tracking a breeze. It even has really cool bar code scanning embedded for you to easily do uploads.
With all this help at your fingertip there should be no excuse for a healthy 2011!
Have you tried this app?
What other healthy lifestyle tools have you found that are device friendly?
What is your big health goal for 2011?