Once again as I prepare for my upcoming graduation I am handing the reigns over to a guest blogger. Today’s post is by Tom Swan, who usually blogs at ask Tom Swan. Take a moment and welcome Tom to the conversation and read his contribution. Capes and matching red tights not required Ask any child under the age of three what they want to be when they grow up.  Most likely they will tell you they want to be a super hero.  You might even be lucky enough to hear about all of the super powers they will have. Somewhere between the age of three and adulthood, we stop dreaming.  We lose the belief that we can be a super hero!  We trade in our capes and super powers for student loans, a mortgage payment, credit card debt and a 401(k).  We may or may not get married and start a family. Before we know it, the life we dreamed of as kids is nothing like the one we are living now.  We say things like, “There are just not enough hours in a week.  How am I supposed to get this all done?” We trade our time for a paycheck.  Maybe we are lucky enough to be doing something we love, but for the most part, we do the work that pays the bills.  When we’re not at work, our days and evenings are filled with PTA meetings, soccer games and dance classes. We get home just in time to fall into bed, so […]

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I am taking a short sabbatical so to speak as I wrap up my final semester in school. Don’t dismay I have enlisted some fantastic bloggers to stand in my place. I hope that you find them just as enlightening and entertaining as I have. The first of my guest bloggers is Nic Casey. So just who is Nic? Nic is a geek dad, a professional nerd, and a pop culture junkie. He is drawn to any conversation about music, movies, theater, architecture, comics, and theology. You can follow his thoughts about parenthood, corporate life, and the intersection between faith and pop culture at his blog, The Faithful Geek. You can also find him on Twitter and Instagram. Monsters of Our Own Design At a young age, I was drawn to mysterious topics from urban legends to cryptozoology. The subject of UFOs and aliens dominated a major writing project for school when I was ten. Even with my rational mind admitting a scientific explanation to Bigfoot sightings and Bermuda Triangle disappearances, I was still fascinated by the power of a story to influence and captivate so many people. That interest of mine expanded as I got older. It began to include more than just mythological and pseudo-scientific elements. I began looking at the monsters of classic literature and soon found joy in paranormal and supernatural fiction. By the time I was in junior high, I was reading works from popular authors who I believed had mastered the art of suspense: Michael Crichton, Stephen King, and […]

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10,000 Steps has changed my life.

Two years ago while listening to a podcast I heard about an exciting new book. If you’ve ever listened to a podcast you’ll know this is an excellent platform to launch a book.

The book “Eat Move Sleep” by Tom Rath. I was immediately intrigued by that title because at the time I was eating well. I wasn’t really moving and I wasn’t really sleeping.

I work at the U.S.P.S. on the night shift. I’ve worked there for six going on seven yeas and by now you would think I’d have my sleep pattern down. Wrong!!

As for moving I was working hard but sorting mail requires you to stand in one spot for up to four plus hours at a time. Not really moving around just swinging my arms to get mail to sort and stack tubs behind me.

Eating was what I was good at. I was eating four times that night and eating a meal before I left the house to go on my 30 minute drive one way commuting by car.

So if you haven’t figured it out yet. I was over eating. I wasn’t moving and I wasn’t sleeping well.

This author described all of this in this podcast. That next morning I bought the book and what an eye opening experience for me!

In the book it was recommended that everyone walk 10,000 steps a day. That’s around five miles give or take and to have at least 30 minutes of activity everyday.

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