QR code on a banana? Seriously? (Taken with instagram)
Punk (photo by @beckyd) (Taken with instagram)
Fall (Taken with Instagram at Frick Park)
As much as I love the first fire of the season, I love the last one even more. (Taken with instagram)
Acting Like An Adult
I graduated from Penn State as an adult.
When I walked off campus with my diploma, I was arguably more knowledgable and skilled. But beyond academics, college taught me how an adult should act.
We may only see it looking back, but the teachers, the institution and the tradition of a college teach us about dignity and class. There are still decisions I make that are informed by the example of the mentors I had in school.
The last few days have made me question what I learned.
I, like most other Penn State alumni, have conflicting emotions about this scandal. But I know those feelings will come into focus as we move further away from the moment.
What I think will be harder to resolve is whether this school, or any school, is capable of teaching our children to be adults. Decisions made by these men many years ago can only be described as adolescent. But even with the spotlight of an entire nation, they have not been able to act like adults in the last few days.
It’s frightening to lose this trust so swiftly. All I know is that my kids will still need to learn how to act like adults. I will have to try my hardest to be that adult, because even our heroes can’t be trusted anymore.
Welcome (Taken with instagram)
Freelance and Fitness
I am in perennially bad shape. I blame a childhood that placed absolutely no importance on health. To be clear, I don’t blame my parents. Their main goal was to get us educated and assimilated. In this, they succeeded. But I throw a ball like the girliest girl. I only recently found out what a squeeze play was.
A few years ago, I decided to do something about this. I ate much better and started exercising. The exercise started as 10,000 steps a day and progressed to riding my bike 15 miles roundtrip to work. I ended up losing almost 50 pounds in the process.
Then we moved to Pittsburgh.
Since we moved here, I have been working at home. For most of that time, I had a real 9 to 5 job. A job with a dependable paycheck and the inherent disillusion that leads you to take six hours to do something that could be done in two. A reasonably normal schedule meant I could still keep an eye on my health. It was pretty nice.
But for the last year, I have been consulting/freelancing/contracting. In some ways, it has been much better. I work wherever I want, but I work all the time. Every minute of that time is billable. Despite several months of relative success (compared to the 9-5), I’m still worried that the spigot will run dry. This fear causes me to never say no to a project. And even more frightening, I hardly ever exercise.
Any time that I’m jogging around the neighborhood or riding my bike is time that I could be earning money. What this has really earned me is 20 odd pounds, the return of a snore and a general feeling that concrete portions of my life are crumbling. When I was healthiest, I was happiest. I am not there now. Something needs to change.
So I’m going to start where I started before. 10,000 steps, every day. Fitbit, keep me honest.
I have decided to write a bit more on this blog. If only to get some thoughts out of my head to free up space. I apologize in advance if most of it is incomprehensible and self-serving.
Also, more pictures of Chuckly!
Deven, mesmerized by the new Beyonce video (Taken with instagram)
