lessons from Benny

With the arrival of spring weather, Benny really wants to be outside!  I enjoy walking, and often take walks around the neighborhood to unwind after work.  He enjoys riding in the stroller (who wouldn't?), so the two of us (and sometimes some of the other kids), can often be seen strolling around town in the evenings.  Benny has a certain park that he loves to go to, and the playground equipment there is just his size, so this is one of our favorite destinations.

If you spend any time with Benny, one thing that is obvious about him is that he is a social creature.  He may not have an extensive vocabulary, and he really cannot engage in a conversation unless it is within a limited range of topics.  (Even a simple question like, "what's your name?", gets lost on Benny).  However, it doesn't matter if they understand him, or not, Benny will talk to anyone.

Anyone.

And therein lies the lesson.

I consider myself a pretty friendly guy.  Yet, I am selectively friendly.  I tend to size up people when I pass them on the sidewalk, and only give a friendly "hi" to those I deem as friendly, or receptive of my greeting.  Not so with Benny... happy couple pushing a stroller, friendly looking grandfather-type, teenage lovers neckin' on the sidewalk, or heavily tattooed and pierced individual spewing profanity:  all the same to Benny... people.  And if people are in the vicinity of Benny, they usually can't escape his enthusiastic, "Hi!"

I sometimes cringe when he shouts out a greeting, but I think God smiles.  I think Benny sees people much like God does, without stereotypes and preconceived ideas... just people.

I'm writing this for myself, but I suspect it applies to more than just me.  Might the world be a better place if everyone saw people through eyes like Benny's?

scary cool

I started a new job this past September in the Underwriting Department of one of our nation's major insurance companies.  It's a new experience for me to be working for a larger company, but I'm settling into the "cuberhood", and striving to excel in my new position.

My company is pretty proactive with various health initiatives throughout the year.  Whatever they are doing must be working.  My health insurance benefits commenced immediately, so I began paying my contribution toward the premium in September.  October was our open enrollment period, so I had to re-select my coverage options, even though I had just made the selections a month before.  Guess what... the premium decreased!  Decreased!  Yes, that's right, it got cheaper!  What the heck...

So, proactive health initiatives look pretty good to me... sign me up!

One of the initiatives is Destination: You, in partnership with GobalFit.  It involves a step tracker that attaches to your shoelaces and records the date, time and number of your steps throughout the day. For incentives to get out and move, my company has established goals, contests and prizes centered around the step tracking program.  Since walking and hiking are among my favorite activities, this is right up my alley!  I signed up and my tracker was delivered to my cubicle last week.

It's a pretty cool setup.  There is a data access point at the entrance of my building.  Every time I walk past this access point, wearing my tracker, the data stored in the tracker is automatically transmitted and downloaded to my account on the GlobalFit website.  I can log on at any time and see my activity and compare it against the average of the company participants.  It's all automated... all I need to do is walk.

Cool... but, scary at the same time!  I find myself wondering how else this technology could be used?  Am I the only one that thinks this way?  With all the technology that we carry around these days, what information about us does it contain, and who could potentially download our information "automatically"?

I'm pretty sure my step tracker is harmless fun... and I am having fun with it.  The main company goal is 2,000,000 steps from July 11, 2011 to July 11, 2012.  Since I was hired in September and got my tracker in January, I'm just a little behind... OK, I'm half a year behind.  So, my personal challenge is to see how close I can get to the goal in just half the time. (I DO like to walk!)

doing the 100

For my age, I consider myself in fairly decent physical shape, and I think my lifestyle affords me a fair amount of exercise.  Walking is my exercise of choice.  I often take evening walks (in all four seasons) to burn off some stress and clear my head, and I also sneak in some short walks on my breaks at work.  Some of my favorite activities, hiking and geocaching, also involve getting outside and moving.  I've never had a gym membership, and I'm not involved in any formal exercise regimen, per se, but I figure I'm doing pretty good just by staying on the move.

However, most of this activity involves cardio and lower body.  I consider myself to have pretty decent leg strength, but I have always been disappointed with my upper body strength.  I have always been a little self-conscious of my stick arms, making me feel like a girlie-man (to be read with the appropriate Austrian accent, of course)!

At risk of sounding conceited, between Jen and I, I always viewed myself the more physically fit of the two... until recently, that is!  With Jen's recent discovery of Zumba, her fitness level has undergone a pretty extreme makeover, leaving me sometimes feeling middle-aged, spongy, and balding.  I'm okay with the balding, I can't do anything about the age... but I can follow her inspiration and work on a little more fitness.  (No, I don't think my body is made to Zumba!)

With that in mind, one of my favorite radio stations recently caught my attention with their "website of the day", when they featured the site titled, "one hundred pushups".  Intrigued, I visited the site and it is just what it sounds like... an online fitness program to build you to 100 consecutive pushups.  I liked the site design.  It is pretty simple, and it isn't written for some muscle-bound jock-type, but the average girlie-man (or woman), like me.  It offers various training levels for age and abilities, and it is designed around a six week (three days per week) schedule (although some training levels may require longer than six weeks).  It discusses variations on the traditional pushup for those who may have physical limitations, and it assesses your starting level with an "exhaustion test", which is simply, "how many consecutive pushups can you currently do?"  Throughout the program, a retake of the exhaustion test is built in, to make sure you are continuing to train at the appropriate level.

Now, I don't know about you, but I can't drop and do 100!  And, frankly, (no offense) I don't think I really know many people who could.  But, it would be kinda cool...

So, I decided to take the 100 challenge!  Why not?  Pushups are a natural exercise, you can do them anywhere, they're free, and they target my girlie-man lack of upper body strength.

I'm in my second week.  I figured if I went public with my pushups, it's harder to quit, right?  I won't tell you where my starting level was... but it was a long way from 100!  I think it may take me a little longer than six weeks, but that's okay... I've already increased my number, and I'm only investing a few minutes, three days per week.

So, how about you, blog reader... can you drop and do 100?  Wouldn't you like to?  Any takers on the 100 pushup challenge?  Let me know in the comment section if you decide to take the challenge!  I'll let you know when I complete my 100!

By the way, there is also a site for two hundred situps.  Hmmm... after I reach the 100 pushups, maybe I should work on some ab flab...