Life is like Interval Training

As a runner, I have several different types of runs. There's the long run, the short run, the speed workout, and interval training. Lately, I've been focusing on the short run because I've been lazy. That's beside the point though.

During interval training, you pick a distance, usually a 1/4 mile, and you run that as fast as you can. Once you run the 1/4 mile, you recover for a few seconds, catch your breathe and repeat. The point of interval training is to improve your endurance.

Life works the same. You work 5 days a week doing the same thing week after week with no recovery. Yes, I know there's weekends for that. But what did you do last weekend, and the weekend before and the weekend before that? Chances are you did the same thing.

Even if you're not going as fast as you can week after week, you get tired. And you will at some point need a recovery.

Hello Vacation!!!

I've been working full time for a little over a year now. I take off on holidays. On Christmas and Thanksgiving I went home to visit but just long enough for the holiday.

This past weekend I went home and spent 5 days in St. Louis. 5 days? I know it doesn't seem like a lot. But when you keep yourself busy in things other than sitting around the house it makes for a very refreshing time.

Remember even the best need a time to recover! Take a weekend and go somewhere fun!

~Lane

Sometimes you just hit a wall

When you get into a habit of doing the same thing over and over, you dig a rut deeper and deeper and eventually you hit a wall. You might not hit the wall until your rut is so deep that you hit the Great Wall of China, but you will hit a wall.

With the changes in Social Media happening daily, you can no longer do the same thing you were 6 months ago. If you are, your results will plateau. The steady climb you may have been seeing over the past 3 weeks may abruptly stop or slow to minimal numbers.

In order to break through this wall you need to mix it up a little. Add a new interactive feature to your website. Try different types of links on your Facebook fan page. What about a mashup somewhere?

Just adding something new will help break through the wall. Change something up if you think you are heading towards a wall. It will be easier to change it now than once you hit the wall.

Today's Battle: Blog vs. Twitter

Today's winner is Twitter.

In honor of my tweet today, I have replaced this post with my twitter feed.




Enjoy!

How to Get a Jimmy John's Sandwich in PHX

It started with a simple craving, and a plead for someone to eat a Jimmy John's Pepe for me. This craving turned into a $42+ sandwich.

For some unknown reason, Jimmy John's has not allowed franchises in the Phoenix area yet. Not having a JJ's nearby causes problems for anyone who loves their deliciousness. The yummy warm bread, the sauce, the cucumbers, the...Wait! I digress.

Knowing that someone out in Twitterville would help me out, I put my precious desire in the Twitter gods hands not knowing who would be able to help me out.

Not even 5 minutes later I received this in my inbox:

I knew the Twitter gods would come through!!!

With a little creative thinking, @mhaithaca did some research to see how to best pack the JJ's Pepe sandwich to get it to Phoenix and it still taste amazing. After several IMs and tweets, my JJ's sandwich was in the mail. Now all I could do was wait, wait, and wait.

I'm sure you all think I'm crazy by this point, @mhaithaca sure did, but that didn't stop me.

Around 10am on Wednesday, over 15hrs and 100's of website refreshes later, the FedEx Website said my sandwich had arrived. However, it wasn't at the front desk!! Panic! Did I just pay (well still need to send the check, sorry @mhaithaca. The check's coming!) for a sandwich I will never see?

Where else does FedEd deliver? Student Support Desk! Nope not there either.

The Bookstore?! Yes, it's there. My sweet, delicious sandwich had arrived!! Off to eat it!

However, whoever packaged it wanted me to work for it. Or maybe they wanted to make sure all the wonderful smells were kept inside.


Five + minutes later I finally got the package openned.

More to open?


Okay by this point I'm ready to eat through everything! I guess it's alright. At least nothing was soggy.

No one said "Some Assembly Required!"


Once everything was together it was time to enjoy! And was it good! It has been about 2 months since I had a JJ's. The extra 15+ hours was worth the wait.

Yes, everyone at work thinks I'm crazy for this. However, it goes to show the relationships you build online are priceless. I can gurantee that my family and friends in St. Louis would never have gone through this to get me a sandwich.

Huge thanks again to @mhaithaca! You will be the one I visit if/when I make it to New York!

Rock on,
Lane J

Why I almost quit Facebook

All the statistics that have came out recently have shown that increase in Facebook users 35 and older. No big deal. I just keep my profile security pretty tight. It is hard for people to find me. Usually, I have to request for someone to be my friend.

The other night I was at a gift exchange with some ladies from church. It was a lot of fun. But at one point, the hostess pull out the camera, snapped a few pictures and the yelled "I'm tagging you all on my Facebook."

I guess to get a better idea of this I need to explain the group of people. I single-handedly brought the average age down by at least 5 years. Out of 27 women, eight of us do not have grandchildren.

The hostess was the age of my grandmother. I'm finally getting over the fact that my mother is on Facebook and now I find out people my grandmothers age are on Facebook! What on earth is happening?

...and Now there's CampusBuddy?

Facebook √, MySpace √, Twitter √, YouTube √, CampusBuddy __

Wait! What on earth is CampusBuddy?

Good Question.

Campusbuddy.com is a partnership between Campus Buddy Inc and Facebook. In October 2008, the two announced their partnership to help students choose classes and meet classmates.

Now almost 6 months later I come across it. I did some searching to see what other universities are doing with it. The first few search are of universities I have friends/tweeps working for.

Quick run down of the number of users for them (in no particular order):

SUNY Oswego: 2
SUNY New Paltz: 1
Butler University: 1
University of Advancing Technology: 1
Lindenwood University: 1 (this is me, the only one for my Alma mater)

No too many users. Now for a few in the Phoenix area (again in no particular order):

Arizona State University: 1440
University of Arizona: 92
Northern Arizona State: 34
Grand Canyon University: 0

Ok, so who gave ASU, UofA and NAU students the heads up? Not that it's a big deal.

Here's my thing, all the information on the site is generated by students. "Woo, that's a good thing," you're saying. (See I can read your minds.) Content included on CampusBuddy includes grades.

Who is completely honest with their grades, unless they truly have a 4.0GPA. Perfect example, percent of F's fro ASU=0%. I have a very good feeling that's incorrect. I think the only grade from college that I let people know is my "F" in Shakespeare. (Sorry Shakes you failed me just as much as I failed you.) On this student forum, students argue the accuracy of the grades and GPAs.

How are we to keep an eye on this as it grows? Since it is run by students, we as institutions have no say in editing the information. For the time being, we should observe and see how it begins to evolve. Those students on now are the early adaptors. I guess it's up to them to see if it will sink or swim.

What's your opinion of this? Hands off? Monitor? Let it go to the wayside?

Rock on,
Lane J

Today's Path: "See a Laker's Game"

So I should have written this a week ago, but at least I'm writing it.

Last Sunday, I was able to go see the Lakers play. Since about 7th grade I have loved the Lakers. Not sure why. Maybe it was because St. Louis decided to have every other sports team BUT a basketball one!!! (No, I'm not bitter).


I would have loved to see the Lakers play in L.A., but beggars can't be choosers. The Lakers were in town playing the Suns. Unfortunately, until this past Tuesday I didn't own any Lakers attire (thanks for the shirt Mer) so I couldn't represent my team.

The game was great! Close the entire game. Up until the last 25 seconds of the game, I honestly believed the Lakers could win. But I guess the Suns put something in their water, and they lost.

I enjoyed the game, I am thankful for Nancy and Glenn letting me have one of their tickets!

Rock on,
Lane J