This entry is a summary of the outcome of things from the first month of 2009. I will include the general mood I felt from the start of the new year and fitness totals for the month. I want to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year. I want to make my call on the Super Bowl now, the Cardinals win in a last minute drive and turn the football world on its head. I have to cheer for the Cardinals as I once played for them, see the picture. Sorry President Obama, but your Steelers are going down. I hope that the year of the Ox holds up to its meaning; that through the hard work of rebuilding ourselves we will see long term and sustainable prosperity.
I want to sum up all of January 2009 with one term, disconnected. What I mean to say, is that for all of the progress and accomplishments for this month, the news left me with an overwhelming feeling that the great many of us are still disconnected from the reality of our situation and the state of the world. Four specific things come to mind to highlight this growing trend: Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Citigroup’s attempted $50 million planned plane purchase, and 8 babies born to a women who already had 6 living at home with her and her parents. Yet, at the same time, there were events that also lifted my belief in people. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz cutting his salary down to $10,000 from over $10 million the year before, Obama signing a law enforcing equal pay for women, and Atlanta area restaurants rallying to raise money to fight back crime.
At Oglethorpe University we read the philosophy of John Locke who discussed the concept of the social contract as part of our core curriculum. What is important to take here is that the theory stresses that people give up some rights to a government and other authority in order to receive or jointly preserve social order. I take it one step further, that we also ask ourselves to sacrifice for the greater benefit. Self sacrifice and often we prefer it flow naturally from a personal desire to do good then social pressure. Watching the trend of human behavior, however, I get the feeling that pressure must be applied where politicians do not know when to step aside, corporations cannot find ways to save outside of cutting human capital, and child hoarding ladies replace crazy cat ladies. It has not all been bad and the progress made this month should be celebrated. There is still a lot to do and more importantly, a lot of minds to bring forward into reality, but it can be done.
On another note, my fitness totals for this month were:
Cross Training: 76.1 miles over 11 hours and 33 minutes.
Out Door Running: 7.2 miles over 55 minutes.
Strength Training: 5 hours.
I was close to my goal of averaging 1 hour a day of fitness and hop to reach it in a short February. I myself felt a little disconnected in the later part of the month, my left knee specifically, which hampered my workouts. All in all, I feel good and look forward to doing a 5K or two when I don’t have to worry about my fingers freezing off. I am going to try and stick to the morning workout schedule after learning that Obama also likes his breakfast, morning workout, and then beginning work at 9:00 am. Ok ok, I want to be like him, but me. Also positive, is that I have been consistent with my blogging 5 weeks now in 2009. So, here is to 47 more posts, one week at a time.
