By Erik France on 6/17/2009 11:36 AM

You have to watch Remi Gaillard. This guy has serious skills...

By Erik France on 6/7/2009 8:30 PM

I may have mentioned it earlier, but I honestly do not remember if I have … so forgive me if you’ve heard about it.

This week my father, brother, and sister-in-law have decided it would be fun to ride their bikes in the Bike Ride Across America (BRAN).  The route takes them from Trenton, NE, to Chalco Hills, NE.  Now, if you’re wondering, this route is roughly 410 miles over seven days.

Today was the first segment (Trenton to Cambridge) and according to my mother, it was fairly cold for the riders.  I wish them all the best.  It sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

...

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By Erik France on 6/3/2009 11:34 AM

 Han Solo versus Magnum P.I.?  That I gotta see ...

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By Erik France on 6/1/2009 11:24 AM

Aldersgate United Methodist holds its Vacation Bible School this week.  This year’s theme is “Little Church on the Prairie”.  The program was written by our own church members and it sounds like it will be a blast!

Then, over the weekend, the church celebrates its 30th birthday.  There will be games, food (of course, we are Methodists after all) and lots of fun.



It always amazes me when I see events like the two I mention above get pulled off.  It is not the fact of having the event.  The church body continues to host great events.  What is amazing to me is how a body of individuals – with all of their own needs, schedules, goals for the week, etc. – can come together so efficiently and organize, staff, and run a large event.  I have a hard time getting the five members of my family...

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By Erik France on 6/1/2009 6:05 AM

I have been working on updating the technology of the web site and, most importantly, of the blog on the site.  The nice thing for me is it is now easier for me to make a post to my blog.  The nice thing for you is you should start to see more postings. 

More to read is always good, right?

Oh, there is that thing about the author making it worth your while.  I will work on that.  Promise.

By Erik France on 4/12/2009 2:43 PM

I have learned a lot this Easter Sunday.  God is an unusual, but highly effective, instructor.  Read on to see what He has helped me learn today.

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By Erik France on 3/24/2009 8:25 AM

... but I do not want it to snow this weekend.

OK, so there is only a 5% chance of snow on Saturday, but I really do not want it to happen.  < gasp! >

I know, I know.  Me, who loves the snow and cold.

But Justyn's soccer season starts this weekend and there is so much to do on the lawn and ... well, snow will just get in the way this weekend.

I promise to dance with the Winter Sprites again and sit with Old Man Winter any other time.  But not this weekend.

By Erik France on 3/24/2009 8:23 AM

Well, the Survivor Challenge has come to an end.  Yes, I forgot to post anything about last week.  Sorry about that.

In the final week, I was able to start getting back into the swing of things.  It seems like the first week I was able to stay really focused on all of the various things I could do to earn points.  However, as the weeks went on, more of my normal habits crept back in and I lost points because, for example, I did not focus on eating correctly or drinking my water every day.

Overall, though, I had a good time and was even able to loose 17 pounds!  So I am not complaining at all.

The challenge now is to keep going.  I started my morning walk on Monday with about a 1/4 mile jog.  That was enough.  I cannot say it hurt to run that far, but I was sure doggin’ it by the end.  In many ways, that is hard for me to admit.  After all, I used to run seven miles as my warm-up routine during high school cross country.  I guess I had to work up to that mileage and I will have to work up to...

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By Erik France on 3/9/2009 8:27 PM

OK.  Bad news first.  I blew it this week…

I started out the week well, but I have learned when I am on-call for work and tempted to stay up later at night, there are drastic changes in my daily schedule.  For starters, I do not get up in time to take my long walks in the morning.  Well, I went downhill fast and became lax on my nutrition / diet and even quit drinking my eight glasses of water each day.

Yeah, basically I blew it.

Come on Week 3 … I know I can do better!

By Erik France on 3/1/2009 8:00 PM

As I wind down the first week of the CACU Survivor Challenge, I cannot decide how well I have done.  On some of the days I did really well, on others ... well, let's say not many points were earned.

Overall, though, it was a good week.

Exercise I have had a few really sore days, but that is to be expected.  I keep telling myself that I can work through it.  Only once during the week did I have to quit walking for a couple minutes.  I was able to complete the walk, but I did have to stop and let my ankles recover a bit.

Hopefully by the end of this coming week I will feel like I can start jogging a few mornings each week.  My personal goal is to be up to jogging four days per week by the end of Survivor Challenge.  It is a big goal since I have not done any running since my Sophomore year in college (around 1994).

Nutrition I keep hearing my co-workers complain about this section of the Challenge.  There is lots of talk about eating your three servings of fruit and four servings of...

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