Annular disc tear is healed :)!!!!

January12

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I was diagnosed with an annular disc tear in June, and after 6 months of rehab and healing I got the news that the tear is all healed!!!! This is very exciting as it frees me up to do more physical activity!!!!!!!! I still have a lot to do to strengthen and build muscle in my core, but it is really good news :). I’ve got a 6 month rehab plan that will build muscle in my core so that running and other hard impacts don’t hit my spine as hard.. And, I will keep doing Yoga for the same reason, plus its fun.

Dr. Whitelaw and his team at Millennium Chiro were amazing. I highly recommend him as he is the best doctor I’ve ever had, he is patient, explains everything, and can explain things in a way that you understand.

2015 Plans Extravaganza!

January10

So what is the plan for 2015?

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Where will we be in 2015?
We are headed to France in late January, and we are going to stay there through April, and then move over to beautiful Croatia through June. I am really excited about living next to the ocean, I always find it peaceful.

I am also looking forward to being in Europe because the work schedule is amazing, I can focus on project work in the morning, and meetings in the afternoon/evening. Whereas in the USA I do meetings in the morning, project time in the afternoon. It should be a nice change of pace for us :). Lindsey is in the process of applying to grad school, so by June we should know where we are headed next.

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2014 Summary… An Interesting Year.

January2

2014 has been a very interesting year… It was one of the most stressful/traumatic years of my life combined with one of the absolute best years of my life.

The Amazing!
I came home for a big college reunion ultimate tournament in October 2013 and met up with an old friend and everything just clicked. She ended up visiting me in Scotland in December and we’ve been together ever since :). We got engaged in October and married on December 21st :). I am incredibly happy and excited to have her in my life!

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What other fun stuff did I do this year?
– Lindsey and I went on an amazing trip to Spain & Portugal in late spring. It was a great break and nice to have some time off. We also had a great trip out to California in the Fall. And, one to New Mexico in March that was fun (although I got a bad sinus infection and was conked out for most of it).
I did a 30 day challenge to live as if I was only making $12 dollars an hour. It was a good experience and you can read more of my thoughts on it above.
– I had a fantastic time at work meetups in Prague, Scotland, Vegas, and Texas. I had such a blast visiting with everyone.
I said goodbye to all my paper books which was tough, but it feels good to not cart those around.
– I learned so much this year about myself and so many other things. One nice things about big challenges is that you learn at a very accelerated rate. I was very fortuntuate that a friend referred me to Vistage as it has been a huge help, and I recommend it to any CEO/BizOwners.

The Challenges!
This year had also had some big challenges.

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Health:
Health problems suck, I hate being limited in what I can do physically, or if anything makes me feel tired and slow. This year has been a doozy in that regard… Short summary: in April I started having some pain in my stomach area, along with being very tired. After many specialists and tests I was told it was either cancer, tumors, or possibly crohn’s disease (not fun to hear). After a bunch more tests I got surgery in late August to get a biopsy. The good news is it isn’t cancer (always nice to hear after such a stressful period). The bad news is the doctors think it is crohn’s disease or possibly IBUprofen damage. I recovered pretty quickly from the surgery and felt a lot better since they removed twelve inches of my small intestine that was inflamed. Unfortunately, I started having some symptoms in early December and tests backed up that I still have some problems. So, I am still working on figuring it out :) . The doctors think it is crohn’s disease which seems to be a pretty made up diagnosis for something they don’t know much about, and they want to start jamming a load of pills down me. I’ve started the paleo autoimmune protocol eating plan, as a lot of people have had great success with it. It’s tough but hopefully over the next 6 months it helps me heal naturally. And I’ve got an appointment with a doctor in a few weeks to learn more about how I can help the pharmaceutical industry financially… This health issue has taken so much time and energy this year.

Sports Injury:
In June, I finally got a proper diagnoses of a sport injury I’ve had for 2.5 years. It turns out I had a torn disc… and I’ve been working to rehab the muscles around it + give it time to heal. I haven’t been able to do anything but walk and a few other things. It was very difficult to eliminate running from my life as it is a major stress reliever. I’ve slowly found some new things, and I am now doing a Yoga more, and a lot of walking & stationary biking. I’ll get a read on how it is healing in a week or so from the MRI results.

Life:
This year has been a very tough year personally and professional. It has brought a lot of challenges, I am hopeful it will improve in 2015.

I pushed way too hard this year when so much other stuff was going on. I moved three times, got engaged, got married, traveled for work or pleasure for at least three months total this year, and many other things. Next time I will be better about cutting out the superfluous stuff to give myself time to breath when having such a challenging year. Live and learn :) !

Overall…
I am very ready for 2015, and glad that I am alive and surviving!

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Then flourish.

Workout Summary 2014…

January1

I posted one of these for 2013 so why not 2014!

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In June I was diagnosed with a pretty bad sports injury, combined with some other medical problems it was a pretty limited year in terms of running. Because of this I modified my workout plan to instead be how many hours I get in, and how many days in the month I workout. Then I can just focus on what I can do, rather than what I can’t… Right now I can do yoga, rehab, swimming, walking, and up to 30 minutes of biking as long as its stationary or on flat surfaces. I’ll find out how the injury looks in a week or so, they just took a 2nd MRI to see how it is healing :).

In 2014 I ran 168 miles with my longest run being 7 miles before I had to stop in early June :(. Over the course of the year I worked out for 85 hours total, which compared to the 3 years previous wasn’t very good, but it was in line with the years before that. And, I feel pretty good about it considering I had a really difficult year with surgery, major sports trauma, and some huge stresses. I am going to try to do a lot better in 2015 though, and get better about a daily workout practice.

So what am I planning on doing for 2015?

1. Rehab, I need to keep my core strong to support my back injury for the rest of my life. I don’t count this as part of my workout and I track separately.

2. Yoga, this is a great core strengthening exercise and I am really digging it. In December I went to 9 Yoga sessions and I am going to keep that up wherever I go. It is making me stronger and I like the meditation part.

3. I’ll just keep doing what exercises I can… I should be living next to the ocean by summer, and I hope to do a lot of swimming combined with a lot of walking. I am going to try to find a gym to do stationary bike too.

Otherwise I am just waiting for the Doc to let me know what I can do after this MRI coming up in a week…

2014 Book Summary

January1

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Since 2010 I’ve been challenging myself to read 100 books a year and it has been a great habit to build. In 2014, I read 101 books and left mini reviews of them here. This was my lowest year since I started this challenge. Why was it so low? Because it has been one of the most crazy year of my life and I met someone who I enjoy spending time with even more than books :).

If you only read 3 books this year I recommend the following as my best of 2014:

1. Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time – This should be required reading for all Americans, and anyone in school. What do you want the minutes of your life to be? A rush through it, or something that feels deeply satisfying? This is an amazing book of one woman’s search for what has happened to our society and why we all feel so overwhelmed, rushed, and without any time for anything. Fantastic writing and backed by really interested research too.

2. How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas – Lindsey recommended this one to me I think, it is a fantastic story of what social entrepreneurship can do for the world and for the people who go down this path. I wish people would read this one in schools and especially university. It was also one of the best business oriented books I’ve read this year.

3. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell – A true account by the famous author of what it is like to be poor and trying to live. Something everyone could remember for time to time and better understand why it isn’t as easy as getting a job or working harder sometimes. I really enjoyed reading this and found his entire experience fascinating.

One distant runner up was: Young Money: Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street’s Post-Crash Recruits. It followed the lives of 8 new recruits to Wall Street over a 2 to 3 year period, and if you want to learn about the good and bad wall street brings, read this book.

Best Business Books Of The Year:

Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t – This puts into words a lot of what I’ve felt for the last 10 years. I highly recommend this book and it really defines what great leadership is IMO.

Unlabel by Marc Ecko – A fantastic business book with real world advice by the famous artist/designer. He is very candid about his failures, problems, and where he fucked up. Great format too, and a lot more fun to read than most business books.

Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. – An AMAZING person and an awesome read. It was very cool to learn how he built up his company, how he created the modern idea of the company, and the long challenges he faced down. It is mind blowing how many modern oil companies were spun off from his company…

Best Scifi / Fantasy
*This year this section is a bit longer as I found so many great ones, and I did so much more pleasure reading than normal due to stress this year brought into my life.

Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive) – This is book two of Brandon Sanderson’s new huge series and it is AMAZING!!! I have no words for how good this is. The man is a god :). The first book made last year’s mention I believe. If you like Wheel of Time, or any big series you will love this one (slow going and huge universe but amazing characters).

The last StormDancer: Lotus Wars Series – A fantastic book in a steampunk japanese universe, great characters and really unique. I’ve read the first two and I am waiting on the next one.

Starship Grifters (A Rex Nihilo Adventure) – An absolutely hilarious book about a space adventure, I was laughing out loud at this one as the main two characters are hilarious.

Nexus and Crux – A fantastic series of books about programmable nano bots that allow you to become human version 2.0. If you are interested in a future where you can change your biology I recommend this one. I read the first two and can’t wait for the 3rd.

Brilliance and A Better World – An amazing series of science fiction book about the near future when “Brilliants” start being born. They are human but have different talents that can cause problems, kinda like mutants. Great story and highly recommended.

Fallen Dragon by Sci Fi King Peter F. Hamilton – This guy can imagine huge universes but luckily this is a smaller one to start in. Just one book to get going, space adventure, time, and crazy crazy stuff. Great read.

Mindstar Rising and A Quantum Murder by Peter F. Hamilton – Amazing detective books set in this future dystopian world that comes about because of global warming.

The Promise of Blood and The Crimson Campaign – I think Brian McClellan is the best author I’ve found since Brandon Sanderson, these are amazing and gripping books about a napolean type era but with mages and mages who can work with gunpowder and the return of god’s.

Enjoy and good reading!

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This is bwb’s personal blog, so he can share his thoughts with the world, however scary or silly they might be. Plus family and friends can track what I am up to, and where I am in the world.

I am pretty simple. I love Mangos. I love the ocean (although mostly at sunset, as I’m a ginger). I love to travel, eat exotic food, do long bike rides, read, and use my imagination. At some point, I decided it was better to be a pirate captain than an admiral. I am a globalist and see the entire world as my responsibility and playground. And I am married to an amazing woman who makes life even more fun :)! And we are now the proud parents of Calico Jack :).


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