Sleep?

By: Sharon

I got this article via my RSS feeds. It is from Reuters and was posted at MSNBC -

WASHINGTON - With late-night TV watching, Internet surfing and other distractions, Americans are getting less and less sleep, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
And all this sleeplessness can be a nightmare for your mental and physical health, CDC experts cautioned, calling sleep loss an under-recognized public health problem.
Sleep experts say chronic sleep loss is associated with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, cardiovascular disease, depression, cigarette smoking and excessive drinking.

The CDC surveyed 19,589 adults in four states. Ten percent reported they did not get enough sleep or rest every single day of the prior month, and 38 percent said they did not get enough in seven or more days in the prior month.
The CDC survey was conducted in New York, Hawaii, Delaware and Rhode Island, asking people how many days in the prior month they got insufficient rest or sleep, without asking specifically how many hours they slept.
But the CDC released nationwide data collected separately showing that across all age groups, the percentage of adults reporting sleeping six hours or fewer a night increased from 1985 to 2006.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults get seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Children ages 5 to 12 should get nine to 11 hours and those 11 to 17 need 8-1/2 to 9-1/2 hours. (more of the article located at the link above)

**So, no judgement here, as it is 12:01am and I am no where near going to bed yet. In fact at 10:40pm I went to ask my mom something and couldn't believe that not only was she asleep but our house guest was asleep as well. Clearly I know which group I fall into; how about you?

**The bigger questions are: Do we buy it? And do we care?

Personally, I have found with three young children, it's not about the the number of hours of sleep, it's about the number of uninterrupted hours of sleep.

Have a great night's sleep (for however long you sleep)!!

A Week's Worth of Fun

By: Sharon
Well, we are BUSY having fun at the Simon house.

• B - Built to last, despite being very sick with the latest stomach bug

• U - Unified in our Sickness (all of us are sick - Colin, Connor, Sybella, Me, My Mom, and David's Brother; OK, David isn't sick but it's only because he's out of town)

• S - Stayin' Positive- I mean, It only lasts 2 days and no more than 3 of us overlap at a time--- except Sybella, who has the 7-day version but is so good-natured, only all her soiled clothes give her away.

• Y - Yearning to be healthy and looking forward to a Great Weekend as a refreshed and healthy family!

Ok- so it's part humor and part sarcasm, but I guess a little of both is better than a lot of bad attitude.

Have a GREAT day and try to stay healthy!

Overcoming Obstacles

Are you part of the problem or part of the solution in your community, work place, or home? This parable of the peasant and choses to do something about the problem is not only a great lesson but also is how we must be in life. Instead of complaining about the lack of results in life...be the 'rain maker'. Instead of being frustrated at what others are doing...be a 'doer'. Instead of railing about the selfish attitudes...be selfless. Don't be disappointed by the leadership of our country...be a leader in the community.

This week I was looking for someone to fix several challenges and obstacles that I am facing and realized I was that someone.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.

Trapped

After 12 hours and several changes to flight plans...I was unable to depart Reagan National Airport and arrive in St. Louis. I felt like Tom Hanks in the movie "The Terminal". I seriously contemplated running around and returning those carts for a quarter. After 12 hours I think I could have made atleast $5 or 6 bucks! I apologize to all my friends in St. Louis and to Eric who was planning to meet up with me.

Travel

Trying to fly from DC to St. Louis is proving more difficult than I planned. My flight has been changed twice and I have not even left DC yet. I am going to end up being on the ground for about 36 hours.

Recycle

I am always amazed at children's ability to learn and how quickly they can figure out 'routines'. Sybella has learned the difference between trash and recycling without any of us trying to teach her. Take a look at the video and I am sure you will get a great laugh from this.

Now if she learned this...what else do children learn by watching us? We all need to be reminded that children are watching us and we are an example to the next generation.

Back

After several weeks, I am back. First was the hamstring, then the flu, which led to Bronchitis! I am not at 100% but President's Day is the first day in several weeks where I feel like I can get work done and not feel completely drained after an hour. I still have the cough but I am clearly on the road to recovery. I will be blogging more frequently now. ~David

Book Update (50 in 52)

By: Sharon

Well, I promised to keep you posted on my endeaver to read 50 books in 52 weeks. The second reading target on the journey is: A total of 10 books read by February 20th. I am happy to say that I have read 12 books. Yeah!!

So Far, here are the titles:
1. Fiction- 1st To Die by: James Patterson (12/17/07)
2. Kids/Finance- Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees by: Neale S. Godfrey (12/30/07)
3. Spiritual/Personal Growth- Wonder by: Arthur Gordon (12/30/07)
4. Leadership/Business- The Starfish and the Spider by: Brafman & Beckstrom (1/4/08)
5. Fiction- 2nd Chance by: James Patterson (1/4/08)
6. Fiction- Life of Pi by: Yann Martel (1/12/08)
7. Biography- Tuesdays with Morrie by: Mitch Albom (1/18/08)
8. Spiritual/Personal Growth- Cure for the Common Life by: Max Lucado (1/26/08)
9. Fiction- 3rd Degree by: James Patterson (2/2/08)
10. Self-Help/Life Lessons- The Five People You Meet in Heaven by: Mitch Albom (2/12/08)
11. Self-Help/Personal Growth- The Secret by: Rhonda Byrne (2/13/08)
12. History/Leadership- A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard (2/16/08)

So, I am on to the next target- I will read 20 total books by May 3rd.

You may check out my reading shelf, book reviews, ratings and what I am planning to read at www.shelfari.com/daverean

Climber

By: Sharon

Happy Valentine's Day!
We have a climber now....Go Sybella!

Two-Hours Late

By: Sharon

The boys wanted to blog that they think that "2-Hour School Delay" is the BEST thing ever invented! They love to explain the logic that:

1. They get 2 extra hours to play. (usually in the snow or ice)

2. The day is not counted against them in the "snow day" count.

3. They still get lunch and recess, so there is a lot less school.

They have termed the 2-hour delay "An Evolution" .....not sure if they really understand what that means but they do feel that it's progress.

So, Imagine their jubilee when the phone rang at the end of 2-hour delay and it was an audio recording of their principal saying, "The school is without power and you all have the day off."

The boys began screaming, "Now, it's not an evolution, it's a REVOLUTION!!!"

My oh my, how smart those two boys are.

FLU

We are at it again here in the Simon house. Nothing like a little commicable disease spread around the family. While we got the boys thier flu shots, Connor seems to have gotten it anyways. He stayed home from school for 3 days and then passed the flu to Sharon, Sybella, and I. The ladies are taking it well but I am suffering. My head feels like it is going to explode and my body aches. What more can I say? Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger...
~David

National Prayer Breakfast

I attended the National Prayer Breakfast this morning. Every U.S. president since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s has attended the annual prayer breakfast. There were 4000 people from 150 different countries. In attendance was the President of the United States and the First Lady, several heads of state, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Congressman and Senators from both sides of the aisle, and leaders from all over the world. It was awesome to see so many people in such positions of influence and leadership who came and gathered in the name of Jesus.

The Key note speaker was, Ward Brehm, a businessman who developed an interest in Africa through his church and now heads a government agency called the U.S. African Development Foundation, which helps small businesses in Africa (micro-loans). Brehm talked about his impressions of the continent, and how he became aware through his work in Africa that all peoples - rich and poor - share one human spirit.
"I will forever be indebted to Africa. Africa awakened me when I didn't even know I was asleep".

Weather

I love it that we had 70 degree weather today. I dropped the top on the EOS and hit the roads enjoying a beautiful day here in DC.

Sacrifice

Well, tomorrow starts Lent and I really struggled with what I want to give up during this season. Lent, in most Christian denominations, is the forty-day liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter. The forty days represent the time Jesus spent in the desert. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of a believer, through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial—for the annual commemoration of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, as celebrated during Holy Week.

I wanted to give up something that was truly a sacrifice and would be a public confession in the work place of my faith. I am not sure what your beliefs are on alcohol but I personaly enjoy a glass of wine from time to time and during most dinner meals. I decided to give alcohol up for the next 40 Days. I choose this primarly because I know people in the work place will notice that I am drinking water or soda during dinner meetings and ask. It opens a door...

Not only does it open the door but when I see others drinking, it reminds me of my commitment and Christ's sacrifice.

~David

Time with Rick Warren

I was truely blessed to be invited to spend time with Rick Warren today as he sat with a small group of leaders and shared from his heart. I am always amazed at the doors that will open if you lean forward, listen, and face your fears. Pastor Rick, popular author of the Purpose Driven Life took time to have a conversation about leadership and spiritual maturity. I took pages of notes for personal and professional development. While I can not share everything in this brief commentary...I will share a few memorable quotes and thoughts from Pastor Rick:

1. A snowflake is a frail thing but enough of them together can stop traffic
2. We grow as individuals only by our commitments
3. The shortest pencil is better than the longest memory
4. If you want God's Annointing you need to have: Integrity, Humility, and Generosity
5. People who compartmentalize thier lives lack integrity


Today he challenged leaders to improve themselves, keep the faith, and develop others. This is a man who God has placed in our country..."For such a time is this". I am thrilled to have spent an afternoon with him and share in the vision that God has given him and Kay.

Follow the Game

For all of you that are really into technology, check out Mashable. They have built a system powered by Microsoft’s Virtual Earth mashed with radio power data added by Spatial Point. They made a sizable amount of effort in building the data referenced by the system, looking up all the AM & FM stations carrying the game, determining their coverage area from the FCC database, and loading that into a SQL backend.

Now if you are one of my friends from the DoD you'll know that we can take maps and terrain mash the data together to build line of sight diagrams and many other models (we were doing this in the mid 90's). But now with other threat data like the range of radar detection, one can plot the safe path by air or ground to arrive safely at the destination.

While this seems boring to the average guy let me give you applicability for tomorrow. You know that big event...NO NO not the Presidential Election, NO NO not Britney Spears, NO NO not Microsoft trying to buy Yahoo! I am talking about the SUPER BOWL!!!

Follow the Game allows you to plot your course of where you will be traveling and then it will tell you which radio stations to tune into so that you can follow the game. I know you can spin the dial and tune it but this is more fun and heck...we live in the technology age!

Have fun...GO PATRIOTS!

Colin's Concert

Just thought some folks would enjoy seeing Colin in his first concert. It is not the best video but he deserves the spotlight for his hard work and practice on the violin over the last several months.

I played the trumpet when I was his age and never did much with it. No matter what he chooses, we will continue to encourage him and see where this leads.

What instrument did you play when you were growing up?