The first 6 weeks re-learning how to fly. In the George Nelson firehouse on the Utah State University campus, there is a 200-meter indoor track. The 4-lanes of gray rubber smell a lot like lactic acid. In my ear, a chorus of heavy breathing plays, accompanied by the rhythmic ping of basketballs dribbling across the…

Or at least start: procedure outcomes, permission to run, and the start of plans After 9 months, 2 heart surgeries, countless tests, and lots of restriction, I have the greenlight to start returning to the kind of running I was doing before the heart attack. This feels like it might be the start of a…

Counting down… ft. a Mariah Carey Cover You could say I spent most of my childhood waiting for Christmas. Sure, I did other things, but even now, consciously or unconsciously, 364 days out of a year, I’m waiting for it to be Christmas. I still have, on my iPhone calendar, a continuously repeated, all-day event…

Let me share with you a discovery I made this week: Frank Watkinson’s YouTube Channel1. His username: “@virtualgrandad”, is a pretty good introduction. Thursday night, the last week of the semester, we needed some relief so I got on YouTube to find a silly cover of a popular song to take the edge off. That…

Nutrition Facts Plain Cheerios don’t taste great. They are, however, full of vitamins and minerals. Pound for pound, plain cheerios have more iron than steak and more fiber than spinach. Enjoyable or not, they’re worth something. I imagine plain cheerios eras are worth something as well. I’ve compiled a list of vitamins and nutrients (in…

“This time I’m really going to read the textbook” -Me, the first week of every semester… The semester at Utah State University just started. This is one of my last with coursework. I’m enrolled in a class titled: “Reinforcement learning”. In essence, it’s a class about machine learning (engineer speak for AI). Reinforcement learning is…

Thank you. It’s late in the morning on a warm, sunny August Saturday. We have just hit the halfway point in our run, turned around, and I’m finding my stride on the descent. I spent the previous night camping with Emily, two brothers, and Dad. All morning, we manned an aid station for one of…

A familiar face and some enthusiasm go a long way Today I will introduce you to two people I’ve never met and tell a story I’m not qualified to tell. There may be some extrapolation, maybe this is more “speculative review” than pure fact. Whatever it is, it warms my heart, and I hope it…

Take a look inside, see what you can find. The day starts with the almost 2-hour car ride to Salt Lake City. After multiple failed attempts I managed to get inside the parking garage and find a parking space. To get to the hospital entrance, we must take an elevator. Without consulting the map, I…

Part 3 of The Facts, The Future, and The Feelings This is a bat, he is very small and very wet. More than once since Dr J called, I have felt like this bat. My mom discovered him cleaning after our stay at a forest service cabin. Thinking he was a leaf she rinsed him…

Part two of The Facts, The Future, and The Feelings. After going over The Facts, we know where we stand in this post-heart-attack journey. Now it is time to look ahead, there are places to go, things to see, and problems to solve. Some big, some small, some are immediate, some will wait until further…

Part one of The Facts, The Future, and The Feelings. At the beginning of last week the results of my stress echo, echo with bubble study, and the holter monitor arrived at Dr J’s desk. Now we are managing the ramifications. I get the feeling this is a significant landmark in the “post heart attack…