A very expensive trip.

I made a very expensive mistake on Sunday night. My laptop was sitting on the coffee table in our living room, plugged in and charging.  I tripped over the cord and sent it sliding off the edge of the table, in what seemed like slow motion.

It landed on soft carpet forcryingoutloud! but still it looked a little bit like this (only worse) when I picked up it's sad little broken body.

Poor guy.

So I spent some time with an old little bitty red laptop I've had for forever trying to revive and make it work for what I need.  No dice.  It was slow and outdated and sad.  

Ugh.

Lately I've been traveling more for 100 Mile Club. Not having a portable something on which to edit newsletters and blogs and projects and presentations and whatnot isn't really an option anymore...so I did the inevitable and drove out to the Apple Store and bought a new stupid laptop.  It sucked and I complained the whole time I was buying it and surrendering the mostly dead PC to have it guts removed and placed into this new and pricey replacement made me sick to my stomach.  

Poor sales guy.

If only I would have not gotten up right then!

If only I wouldn't have taken that dumb old laptop into the living room!

I should have been more careful!

I tend to beat myself up worse than anyone else ever could...sometimes I think I do it to keep others from doing to me what I've already done to myself.  It's some form of self-protection or something.  Once I realize I'm actually doing this to myself, I stop and remember that it really is ok to mess up sometimes.  I remember to keep my eye on my mission and that I am ok. 

Someone very wise once told me that if you work hard, listen to the little voice inside your heart, and keep your eye on your goals, everything always works out the way it is supposed to.  

Step back and look at it differently and even bad days are good ones if you look at the big picture. 

The Analysis of a Tee.

You can tell a lot about a kid by looking at their 100 Mile Club shirt. This glorious garment belongs to the Fabulous Isak.  It's a perfect example of a child taking control of his goals and making them happen...and how he tells the world about them using his 100 Mile Club tee. 

This photo was taken on January 31, 2013. Isak has somewhere between 300 and 325 miles right now.  His goal is 500 miles. 

How do we know this?  Look at his shirt. 

• The 3 diamonds on his collar represent 300 miles.  This is a tradition that has been going on at his school for at least 8 years.  Every 100 miles earns a diamond (a Swarovski crystal to be exact) on the back collar of the 100 Mile Club Tee.  
• There are 3 rows of check boxes on the left, each representing 100 miles in increments of 25.  The first row is what is printed on the shirt when it is earned.  Isak has carefully added 2 more rows of check boxes on the left, which are all checked off.  300 miles. done.
• There are 2 more rows of check boxes added to the right side.  Looks like he has 200 more miles to go.  None are checked on the right, so that's where we figure that he is somewhere between 300 and 325 miles.  

I have no doubt in my mind that Isak will achieve his goal. 

His goal. 

HIS goal. 

This is all him. 

And it is awesome. 

We can't wait to see you with your medal, Isak...but more importantly, we can't wait to see what you will do next.  You are a star.