Design Challenges

2 Miles: Survivor

We survived the move and started finding a place for our things as best we can. Renovations will probably take another month and dust will be flying until then. Therefore there is no sense is rolling anything out till all construction is done.

Even though I found my body with every muscle aching and hurting, I drag myself out for a two mile jog around the neighborhood. I notice how many of the houses have American Flags flying from their mailboxes and find myself wondering if there will be some sort of memorial day parade taking place. I also wondered how come I didn't get the flag memo, or did those jerks who we purchase the home from took a flag that was suppose to be left behind. If that's the case, that's just unpatriotic and they should be ... well I'm not one for ill fated wishes.

The bottom line is that we survive the move and nothing was found broken, except for a few muscle fibers that will recovered. I enjoyed this afternoon jog as it stretched the sore muscles and got me back in track to survive another day. Will see how the survivor finale wraps up. I have to believe that JT will take this season.

Labels: 2-mile, Entertainment, exercise, Jacksonville, reality show, TV

2 Miles: Moving Day

Today was a great two miles. I woke up and went for a nice jog which helped clear my head and get prepare for the move ahead.

Movers showed up promptly a few minutes before 8 AM, I was feeling refresh. Two guys showed up in a Ponte Vedra Movers truck. Why is it that movers are always skinny, yet strong and full of stamina? These two fellows got the truck loaded in 3 hours and out and placed in 2 hours.

I was feeling bored and decided to pitched-in with some of the box and bed lifting. All in all not a bad moved. Of course after having moved 19 times, we seem to have it down to a science. This time around though we felt behind as we didn't pack the kitchen and decided to move it on our own.

The bottom line is that if you prepare ahead you can get things done very quickly. The movers were surprised how well prepare we were. Beds had been taken apart, pictures, mirrors, and paintings had already been transplanted, and all miscellaneous items were boxed and ready to rolled.

Labels: 2-mile, exercise, Jacksonville

2 Miles: Leg Cramps

Today we went for our two miles, everything seemed fine until we got home. I felt exhausted and quickly dropped to the ground. I recovered, showered and got ready to go to work.

While my short ride in, my thigh muscle started spasming and I had a hard time walking in. I hope I have not cause any damage by doing this two miles everyday.

The bottom line is that I made a commitment to myself doing these two mile exercise walking, jogging, or running routine for two months. A month and a half in I have not missed any days and I'm planning to sticking to my commitment, even if I have to drag myself out there.

Labels: 2-mile, exercise, Jacksonville

2 Miles: Loose Dog

I have commented time and time again on this blog how pets are nice to have, but simply are too much responsibilitiy. It is like having a kid that nevers grow up. This is the case as I saw a dog walking around and it appeared to be lost. This was a cute pooch and it had tags around its neck.

We tried calling it over to take a peek and see if we could return it to its home, but it refuse to approach us and we weren't willing to take a chance at it reacting badly to us.

The bottom line is that if you're going to adopt a pet, make sure that you are fully equiped to take on this responsibility. I felt very badly to see this poor animal running around homeless and obviously quite upset that it could not find its way home. I can also imagine two children asking their parents what happened to their pet. This is simply a lose-lose situation and it happens because somebody decided that they could take on a responsibility they just simply weren't equiped to handle. If this is a pet, imagine what happens to some that do the same and decide to have children when they are also not ready.

Labels: 2-mile, Jacksonville

2 Miles: Health Club

This morning we were able to get up bright and early. It seems that if we are able to get out of bed when the alarm clock goes off, we are able to quickly get moving and stay motivated to achieve our two miles. As well, it helps that now that Florida has achieve full hotness, it's easier to perform outside activities while is still cooler.

As we were completing our two miles and had slowed our pace, we started to discuss the pros and cons of maintaining a gym membership. We are currently members of World Gym and have enjoyed the membership for a little over a year. When we first signed up we receive a few extra months free as part of a special promotion. We paid the entire year upfront, but now that is time to re-up we are wondering whether we really have used it to justify the price.

It seems that lately we have been performing a lot of our exercise activities outdoors, and haven't really been to the gym in the past two months. Since we live in Florida, we enjoy warm weather for about 10 months with January and February temperatures typically dropping to high 40s and sometimes waking up to some white roofs in the 20s.

The bottom line is that it just doesn't seemed like a great idea to pay for something we can get for free. At first, it was a great motivation to exercise as we were paying for something, that feeling quickly dried up and the reality is that motivation comes from within not by external factors.

Labels: 2-mile, Customer Service, exercise, Florida, Jacksonville

2 Miles: Running Shoes

As we got out this morning, I realized that I need new running shoes. My wife is now joining me and has propose to do a 5K by summer end. I'm glad that she has taking on this challenge and has now accompanied me for many of these two miles.

As we were jogging this morning I commented on how my sneakers no longer provide enough support. As we talked further, I realized that the shoes are over 2 years old and is probably time to get a new pair. I logged on to Amazon.com to started doing some research on the subject. I was more than overwhelm, a query for men running shoes, yield over 637 results.

How am I suppose to narrow this down? price, brand, I guess I'm just going to have to take a trip down to a store.

The bottom line is that you just can't find everything online. You may find a particular item, you can read about it, but in reality nothing beats touching and feeling it. This principle not only applies to shoes, but for every good and product in the market. I wonder how many people return things they bought off the net or TV without having been to a store to touch it or feel it? Do things advertise by Billy Mace really work and are these just brilliant pitch men?

Labels: 2-mile, Amazon, Jacksonville

2 Miles: Asthma

Monday is here again and before I get back to the grind, there is nothing better than starting the day with a two+ mile jog. I truly enjoy jogging/running. It helps me clear my mind, leave all frustrations behind, and more importantly getting that feeling of overcoming obstacles and inabilities.

As a child I suffered from Asthma and spend the fist few years of my life in and out of hospitals. Asthma is a chronic medical condition. In my case it was an onset from both genetics and environmental agents. Because my breathing disorder was attacked at such an allergy age, I have now outgrown complications and haven't had an attack since I was 14. However, because of these respiratory issues I was never able to really participate in sports or overly taxing activities.

I have in recent years, taken up jogging as a way to combat obesity and over time have been able to achieve greater distances to the point where I'm ready to do a 5K. After watching this season of biggest loser, I feel that I should be setting my sights on a marathon, but I'm not there yet.

The bottom line is that if you set your mind to it, you can overcome the greatest of challenges. You need to put yourself in situations that will help achieve your goals. Last year I competed in a "Biggest Loser" challenge and came in on first place by dropping over 30 pounds in a couple of months. This year I will run several 5K, next year I hope to at least build up to running a half marathon. With the support of my wife and friends, I hope to get there.

Labels: 2-mile, biggest loser, Jacksonville

2 Miles: Packing Sunday

Today we got up early, we have now found that if get out of bed before 9AM on the weekend, the day just seems to go further. I have always been one to stay in bed till noon, but with so many things to do for next week big move, we have got to get our act in gear. Lucky for me I have a great wife who motivates me to push pass my laziness.

Labels: 2-mile, Jacksonville

2 Miles: May 7, 8 and 9

Two miles completed, nothing special has happened except that we are now experiencing some difficulties from the folks we purchased our house from. Some people are jerks, liars, and make a sport to see how many people they can deceit.

I saw this people receive a check for almost 200K dollars and they are jerking me around for $500 bucks. If you sign a contract you should know what you are signing, which in short, is an agreement to perform an action, not to perform a different action an try an tweak it to your angle. Being that the wife is a lawyer, I would have expect her to follow the law, not bend it.

The bottom line is that when you sign something, read it, double check it, and ensure that all points are covered. In our case, we labeled that an unit had to be replaced as new, they are arguing the unit is new to the house even though it has a manufacturing date of 2000. WHAT JERKS!!!!!! see you in small claims court bitches!

Labels: 2-mile, Jacksonville, lawsuits

2 Miles: TPC SAWGRASS

Today we went to the TPC. Our real estate agent was kind enough to give us awesome tickets. They were clubhouse tickets. I been to sawgrass several times, but had never been inside the clubhouse. I have to say although very nice and classy, it looks a lot bigger from the outside, the clubhouse is over 7000 square feet, but it felt crammed due to the way it is layed out.

Labels: 2-mile, Jacksonville, TPC

2 Miles: TPC

Today I got to enjoy a nice afternoon outdoors walking around the Tournament Players Club (TPC) Sawgrass. It was nice to get out and see some golf celebrities swinging the clubs and waking some balls

It was also nice to see that even the pros still hit a ball or two in the water. It is amazing to me that professional players make so much money at these events. Last year's prize purse was 9.5 million dollars of which winner, Sergio Garcia, got 1.71 million. Not a bad payday for 4 days of work. I'm not one to criticize professional players, regardless of the sport. They have a unique ability and get paid as such. It wouldn't be fair for me to state otherwise, is not like I can go out there and do it.



Although, we walked around for what seemed miles, I still decided not to count this as my two miles for the day and got home and decided to hit the pavement for a nice two mile run. I used to hate having to run, but now I look forward to it. It is a challenge, but nothing feels better than to accomplished and succeed any challenge.



The bottom line is that you need to push yourself and achieve every goal you set for yourself. The professionals get paid handsomely for it, but there is no better compensation than extending my life a few years by overcoming the two mile plus challenge each and every day.

Labels: 2-mile, exercise, Jacksonville

2 Miles: Just another tuesday

Today is Tuesday, this morning the two miles were quite difficult. I jumped out of bed at 7AM and almost went back to sleep.

Two miles accomplished and off to work I went to celebrate Cinco de Mayo! I brought a great taco salad prepared by my wife and others brought delicious treats and delights, amongst all some stood out to me like, a very tasty and yummy bean dip, Cuban and Colombian empanadas, and flautas.

We finished them off with fortune cookies, because nothing says Mexico like fortune cookies. We had a great laugh at decoding an anagram of all of our names, and reading off fortune cookies with the traditional "in bed" added to the end.

The bottom line is that even though it's call work, you can still do it while having a good time and sharing laughs with your colleagues. Now I'm going to need ten miles to work off all the calories eaten.

Labels: 2-mile, Jacksonville

2 Miles: Ain't looking for nothing but a good toolbar

Today I went running for my two miles. There was nothing special observed during the run. It was quick and fast paced as I overslept and didn't want to be late to work. Once I arrived at work, I did notice something new, Google has made an improvement to the toolbar.

I was hard at work developing a new calendar application, for this purposes I usually like to have IE open, as it is the most commonly used, although buggy, browser. I launched a new tab, and at first I thought I had launch Chrome, but notice that I was still in IE. The confusion arose because I noticed that instead of the usual blank default page, there was a page offering my most visited sites. I enjoy this feature of Chrome as I do tend to visit about 10 sites regularly. It is nice to see the new addition, although I could see many not liking it and considering it a violation of their privacy, can't make everyone happy.



The bottom line is that Google is always hard at work, and is nice to see a feature that I enjoy in their browser rolled out to the most used and common browser. Now all I need is Google to reset my personalized theme page back to what it was, I do not enjoy all the clutter they have added over the past 8 months.

Labels: 2-mile, Design, Google, Jacksonville, Web Design

2 Miles: Sunday

We have now started packing and are excited to be moving in a few weeks. We went over the house, clean the pool, and considered jumping in. It was a beautiful sunny day in Florida, but after moving some odd items into the house, it got to be a little too hot for comfort. I guess this is why the paced is slower down here.

After a small recovery, we walked two miles down a new path and got to enjoy some nice breeze and sunshine happiness.

The bottom line is that although there was nothing note worthy in today's two miles, except that I have already identified my next home, there still enough to write a blog post. How bad is it that I'm already scoping the neighborhood for a next home when I still haven't moved in to this one?

Labels: 2-mile, Jacksonville

2 Miles: New Home Again

Today we took an afternoon stroll over to our new house. We have started packing and are counting the days until move day. We brought pictures, mirrors, and breakables over to the place and took a look at how the renovations are coming along.

We then took a nice walk around the neighborhood. Although I often state that all houses in Florida look the same, the reality, is than when you walk you notice all the differences. It never cease to amazed me what people consider attractive and choose to display in their yards. I also find it amusing that parents allow their children to play without providing any kind of supervision. During our walk we saw this four young, not yet teens, playing with a golf cart. They drove it up the curb, drove it the wrong direction down the one way street, and were jumping and bouncing on the thing as if it was a trampoline.

We also noticed the major differences between our new neighborhood and our current one. TPC has the same type of foliage as Saw Mill Lakes, but somehow they have managed to provide an environment which brings the individual closer to nature.

Lastly, as we approach our house, we saw and Owl. We saw one at the zoo last week, but, it is so much different to see out in the wild. In captivity, the bird seemed calm, this one was a top of a roof, and seemed to be frightened by four smaller birds that were chirping quite loudly, its head turn almost 360 degrees during the few seconds we observed it, it then took off, but was followed by the four bullies, I can only hope that it was able to get away.

The bottom line is that nature is magnificent. By doing this two miles, I have somehow become closer to my surroundings and have actually began to enjoy the outdoors. Who knows, maybe this experience will help me get over my fear of frogs.

Labels: 2-mile, biggest loser, Jacksonville

2 Miles: Tired but done.

Friday morning I was awaken by ADT Alarms, my colleague set off the alarm at the office. He claims a senior moment, I think otherwise, but prefer not to express it here.

I decided to leave work around 5:15 instead of my usual 6pm or later. I got home and thought about paying the dollar and heading to bed. However, I have too much of a competitive spirit to give in that easy. We pulled it together, threw on the walking shoes and out the door we went.

While discussing future plans, we thought about our new house and the palms trees that surround it. I looked up and saw some that showed some much needed trimming. It is amazing how we drive and walk around and never take in our surroundings. With that thought in mind, I started noticing how most palm trees throughout our walk need trimming. It's hard to think about trimming a palm, they are so tall, but with so many dead leaves still hanging strong all the way on top, how do you trim a palm tree anyways?

The bottom line is that even if you are too tire, look within yourself and you will find it to pull thru. While there, take a closer look at yourself and yoru surrounding, after all we are a product of our surroundings, who knows you may need a little trimming to improve yoursel.

Labels: 2-mile, biggest loser, demonstrations, exercise, Jacksonville

2 Miles: Bright and Early

I'm still amazed how many people are up and jogging early in the morning. When I was growing up I remember walking to the bus and the only other people I saw where classmates walking to the same bus. This goes to show how concern or educated people have gotten over the years.

As I was doing my two+ (sometimes three or four) miles this morning I noticed how many others get up and either walk or jog. I also noticed that many of these people are the same people. A lot of them do it because they have to walk their dogs, others do it for the same reason I'm doing it, to improve or maintain healthy.

The purpose of this two mile a day work challenge is to get people motivated to become active and get up the couch. I'm thankful to my colleague for organizing this ass-off challenge.

The bottom line is that it doesn't much matter what type of exercise you are doing, whether it is walking, jogging, running, or a combination thereof, the important thing is to commit to being active and stick with it.

Labels: 2-mile, biggest loser, Jacksonville

2 Miles: New Neighborhood

The first site of the Players Championship, the TPC Sawgrass has been chosen by golfers, families and meeting planners as one of the top resort destinations in the country and we have chosen it to become our home.



For today's two miles, we decided to see how the first day of renovations had started in our recently acquired home and while there, we decided to walk the neighborhood. It was refreshing to walk a new site. As I mentioned before, it is always easier to perform the same task as long as you get a change of scenery. We actually walked the 2 miles and shaved 5 minutes of our time, just by changing scenery.

The bottom line is that sometimes you just need to find a new way to motivate yourself to succeed. For us that was picking a new walking route, for you, the possibilities are endless.

Labels: 2-mile, Google, Jacksonville

2 Miles: Water Irrigation Sprinklers

Yesterday my colleague asked me if I'm still running three miles, four times a week, I was embarrassed to say that since my wife underwent surgery about a month ago, I had stopped.

I felt ashamed and it inspired me to restart my running routine. I woke up early and eager to do the three miles. In my current community, I have mapped out 3 miles from multiple paths as to not get bored with the same scenery every day. I feel is important for a successful exercise routine to vary, whether is running, lifting weights, or another activity as our tendency as humans is to not like to do the same thing day in, day out.



I got started a bit after sunrise when about half a mile into the run, I was startled by water hitting below my knees near the calves. I turn around quickly to see that the sprinklers had pop out from the ground as I happened to be running by the house. If you're not familiar, in Florida is quite common for houses to have automatic lawn irrigation systems that are driving by a timer. I was not only annoyed to have gotten wet, but further by the waste of this precious resource being wasted because my neighbor had been to lazy to check his sprinklers' head which over time had lost is alignment and instead of watering his lawn, he was watering the sidewalk. Further, on my way back, I noticed that the same system was still running and had now created some nice puddles on the sidewalk. I guess that explains why his sidewalk is now cracked. This must be happening for quite some time.

The bottom line is that you have to be considerate of others. This minute task of realigning the sprinklers' head takes at most five minutes, but when not handled will cost my neighbor and the community deeply. At some point the cracks will turn into holes, the lawn will not get the proper amount of water, and all these time the water being wasted. Further, watering time limits are not being followed, you aren't suppose to water for more than fifteen minutes per section and I'm sure they're watering more than the allowed twice a week. I just don't know who enforces this rules and further I don't want to tattle and this only leads down a dark and lonely hole.

Labels: 2-mile, gadgets, Jacksonville, techniques

2-Miles: Jacksonville Zoo

Today we went to the Jax Zoo for the first time. I love the zoo, there's nothing more exciting than being that close to the real wild life and not have to fear it.

We visited the zoo as part of the HEAL First Coast Zoo Walk for Autism. HEAL ~ Healing Every Autistic Life ~ Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit based in Jacksonville Florida with a mission to help families who have a member with Autism. Visit our website at www.healautismnow.org and learn more.

The Walk started at 8:30am and was well attended. It was kick-off by Mkristo Bruce, fromt the Jacksonville Jaguars alongside other Players and Cheerleaders. We went down the path handed Icelandic glacial water to quench the thirst along the route.

We first encountered the storks, who were not originally part of the exhibit, but over the past couple of years have made the zoo their home. We later saw the east African Bongo, which are the largest forest dwelling antelopes. These mammals can reach up to 600 pounds. We later saw some Angolan colobus monkeys and soon after encountered my favorite species, the lions.

The jax zoo has one male lion and two female lions. Since the zoo made a special early opening for the walk, all the animals were freshly awake and moving around the grounds. The lions were no exception, the male was wide awake and fondly moseying around while the two females were still laying down, but yawning and stretching readying for the day ahead. After some photos and excitement, we moved on to see the giraffes and jaguars. The walk ended appropriately at the jaguars' exhibit where RadioDisney.com had set up a booth and were providing gifts and prizes for the kids, and the "Jaguars" were standing by signing autographs and taking photos with the attendees. We mosey ourselves over and had some time to talk shop with the Jaguar players. It was pretty amazing to see how tall and big these fellows are and were pleasantly surprised that they took the time to talk to us for a good 10 to 15 minutes while taking photos and providing autographs. The players in attendance are Mkristo Bruce, Atiyyah Ellison, Greg Estandia, and Stefan Rodgers.

After the crowds disassembled, we continued to see the rest of the exhibits and ended up spending over 5 hours there.

The bottom line is that when you get a chance to support an event while doing something you enjoy doing, it is a no brainer to jump-in with both feet. We had a great experience and were amazed how well stock the zoo is and the wonderful work they have done to provide a suitable space for the captive animals.

Labels: 2-mile, Jacksonville, jax

2-Miles: Dogs and covenants

As I previously mentioned communities in Florida are governed by a Home Owners Association (HOA) and its covenants. In Saw Mill Lakes the covenants state that dogs are not to be left unattended and are not to be outside without a leash.

Why is it then that I constantly see dogs outside, without anyone left to look after them, but an invisible fence. What many pet owners fail to realize is that invisible fences are not 100% foolproof. Who is in charge of enforcing these rules?

Today, during my two mile run, a man was walking his dog alongside his toddler. He was concerned for the little girl and was paying very little attention to the dog. The dog was small and full of energy. He had a leash on the doggy, but in his distraction, he fail to see that the dog had strech the leash close to six feet and inadvertly was heading righ down my way. I was in no way treaten by the little thing, but did get tangle and almost hit the pavement because of the retractable leash. I recover quickly and did not fall.

The bottom line is that when someone adopts a pet into their life they assume a certain responsibility. A responsibility that should not be taken lightly, if I happen to have fallen and crack, say a bone, who would have been responsible for the cost? During the year that I have lived in this development I have been chased by three different dogs during my outside runs. Would I be entitle to bring suit if one of those dogs have bitten me? Who would I sue, the community, the pet owner or both? Luckily for me, we are moving in a few weeks to a community known for enforcing its covenants and rules. In addition, our next community is bigger and offers more sidewalk and trails to allow, hopefully, for a more enjoyable 2-Mile experience.

Labels: 2-mile, Jacksonville, jax, lawsuits, maps

2-Miles: Coquina

Up in the northeast, where I grew up, most houses are built with either wood or aluminum siding. Vinyl siding is a plastic exterior cladding for a house. Vinyl siding was introduced to the exterior cladding market in the late 1950s. At that time, blending of colors was done manually. Because of all the manual labor involved, the process made it difficult to produce and install a consistent, quality product. In 1970s, a transformation of the product began, with the industry engineering formulation changes. Because of these changes a lot of houses in the northeast where upgraded to the product.

In Florida, however, we have seen three distinct materials in used. Stucco, vinyl, and Coquina. The first I was familiar with, the latter however was new to me. Coquina is an incompletely consolidated sedimentary rock. Coquina is mainly composed of mineral calcite, often including some phosphate, in the form of seashells or coral. It has been used in building stone in Florida for over 400 years, coquina forms the walls of the Castillo de San Marcos in Saint Augustine, this country's oldest city. The stone makes a very good material for forts, particularly those built during the period of heavy cannon use. Because of coquina's softness, cannon balls would sink into, rather than shatter or puncture, the walls of the Castillo de San Marcos.

In my current community of Saw Mill Lakes where I perform most commonly my two miles I have noticed that about every fifth house is sided with Coquina. At first I was not fun of the material. Although it gives a very beachy atmosphere, it texture is very shelly, and looks very rough. When we were looking to buying a house we decided that this material just wasn't for us mainly because all the houses we saw that had coquina had a pink tone to them. Later we found out that coquina can be painted. Ever since I have noticed many shades of coquina in our community. We ended up buying a house in a different community, The Players Club at Sawgrass, but it is made of stucco siding. This is not because of our original dislike of coquina, but because we found the right house for us, just a coincidence that it did not have coquina. We actually grew fond of coquina over time.

The bottom line is that you can't a judge something until you have all the facts. We originally dislike Coquina because of the tones we had noticed, turns out that it can be painted just like any other material to any color that suits your taste. It is very durable and long lasting. To replace coquina for another material in a house is quite costly, but this is true for all materials. If you find the right house, don't worry about the exterior, remember you expend 99% of the time indoors.

Labels: 2-mile, biggest loser, Connecticut, Florida, Jacksonville, jax

2-Miles: ARC approved

When we moved to the Jacksonville area from Connecticut, everything looked so foreign to us. Every house and neighborhood appeared to look the same, it was all uniform and stepford wife like. We just could not understand the vast difference driving from one community development to the next.

Now, almost 2 years later we have grown accustomed to the area. We now see all the differences and understand property value and locations a lot better. We recently bought a house and are in the process of adding on. Part of the process requires that we go through the community board for an Architectural Review. As we were walking our tow miles today, we went past a house with an ARC approved sign on it. They have now completed their renovations, they added a pool with a screen enclosure to their house. They also ripped out the concrete walk-way ad replaced it with pavers. My wife commented that she saw in the community Web site that someone was getting sited for violating their ARC approval. We think it was these folks as it seems they had partially ripped out their driveway and only partially placed pavers in its place. It looks quite silly that they have distastefully only done part of their driveway with pavers and the rest of the area with concrete.

This got me thinking that this would have never happened in CT. Everyone up there takes care of their home, however, if someone wants to add or remodeled their home, they don't have to ask the neighbors for permission, they simply hire an architect and do as they wish. It is nice to have the freedom to do whatever you want in your own property. However, there is something to be said to limiting what color you can paint your house or what monstrosity you can keep away from being added.

The bottom line is that regulations are good to have. It keeps the neighborhood looking right. We are moving to one of the best communities in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. I want to ensure that my investment increases in value. As long as the board doesn't abuse its powers or steps in to cause too much grieve, then so be it. Our government has plenty of regulations in place and it hasn't done too much harm to our freedoms. As for me, I'm just glad that our house received an ARC approved stamp at today's meeting and onwards we go deeper in debt with our addition and remodeled.

Labels: 2-mile, Connecticut, Design, Jacksonville, jax

2-Miles: Earth Day

With Biggest Loser season 7 now winding down to the end, it seems like Tara can't loose a challenge and will take this thing to the end. With that said, I think people have now become very health conscious and the whole world is hype up on losing weight.

This past Wednesday my colleagues decided to start a 2 mile challenge. That is, the folks who decided to join have to walk 2 miles a day, seven days a week. These two miles were imposed to motivate folks to step out of their daily life and comfort zone. With summer coming it seemed like a good idea. I typically run 3 miles four days a week and this seemed like the perfect thing to get me out of the house every day instead. My wife has decided to join me and we use the time to wind out the day and stroll down the neighborhood and beach.

I started thinking that there are so many different things that we observed on our daily life and as such, I decided to document in this blog the things I come out at me as different during my two miles.

As a celebration today being Earth Day, I started noticing while walking on the beach, that sometimes we disrespect our planet and our fellow cohabitants by polluting and trashing our share space on this Earth. We started our walk this evening a few minutes past 6 and as the sun started to set and the beach started to become more desolate, I notice the garbage people leave behind. The photo here depicts a bottle cap left behind from a sprite bottle. The bottle was gone, but the cap remained. So the people having this drink decided that they would pick up the bottle and leave a cap behind. Something this small could easily be picked up and swallow by one of the many dogs that are walked thereby leading to indigestion, or worse, death.

The bottom line is that there are so many things that we can do to change ourselves and our environment. It is the little things and details that set us apart. Do your part and start picking up after yourself. That 10 seconds it takes to pick a bottle cap can save our planet and a life.

Labels: 2-mile, biggest loser, Design, exercise, Florida, Jacksonville, photo resizing, photoshop