I lead a pretty boring life as far as vices go. The trio pictured above are the only things keeping me from my goal of reaching my high school weight.

I talked with my friend and former co-worker Jake today for tips (see this post for why Jake is an expert in this field). His secret? CalorieKing Nutrition & Exercise Manager for Mac OS X

I downloaded the 7-day demo and entered in my items for today. Very interesting statistics and feedback on the nutrition of what I ate and drank and the effect that exercise has on weight trends. Not sure if I can keep up with the record-keeping aspect of it (I long ago stopped using Quicken for this reason), but it will be interesting to do it for one week anyway…

Today was a hard-working (but fun) Father’s Day for me. The girls woke me up with breakfast in bed and a bunch of great gifts:

• A very cool London Eboy laptop cover for my Mac Book Pro
• Reinhold Messner’s book The Crystal Horizon
• Great arts and crafts items from kid one and two

I worked on laundry a bit (which Colleen went gung-ho on the rest of the day), starting cleaning my office, then worked on yard stuff for a few hours. The grass had grown a lot while I was in San Francisco and required frequent trips to the yard waste bin. I also decided to trim various trees and shrubs, which was going great until I pulled a muscle in my back.

We all had a late lunch at Raising Cane’s in Apple Valley, which may be my perfect fast food restaurant. The chicken they have is always perfect - white breast meat with no fat, tasty breading and an awesome dipping sauce. Their french fries are thin crinkles cooked perfectly and I love the Texas toast that comes with the value meals. Even the ice in the soda machine is great - little pellets that take forever to melt.

Spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on my backlog of magazines while watching the U.S. Open in HD. I can’t believe the USGA still does 18-hole Monday playoffs. The logistics must be terrible to plan for and budget.

Finished the day visiting with the neighbors, then running a quick 5K to end the day. Lots to do this week - I’ll try to post here more often this summer…

Play in the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am golf tournament.

Completed June 6-7, 2008.

I like the design of the new stamp commemorating the Minnesota Sesquicentennial. It’s not a lake image, but the aerial shot from Winona looking up the Mississippi towards the Highway 43 bridge is very nice. Very close to including Wisconsin in the shot though…

It’s been a stressful week at work for me (hence the lack of posts here). I’m close to having things back in order, if not in control, so hopefully the summer will be what summer is meant to be–laid back.

Events on tap:

• Kids at birthday parties and sleep-overs.
• Golfing tomorrow morning in Jordan with the Millers.
• Running the Grand Old Day 8K on Sunday with my friend Gina.
• Playing White Bear Yacht Club for the first time on Monday with friends.
• Tapemark Week next week (volunteering and playing this year).
• Heading straight from Southview to the airport for WWDC in San Francisco.

That list doesn’t look laid back, but it will be fun.

I don’t want to hex it, but I think the worst of the cold weather is over (until the fall). The past few days have been beautiful and the forecast calls for our first 80 degree day this weekend.

The crabapple tree in the front yard, the lilacs in the back and all of the other shrubs and flowers are finally starting to bloom and grow. I uploaded a few photos to the photo gallery, if you’d like to see.

As I near forty, I’ve been thinking more and more about the great things I’ve been able to do in my life and what things I’d still like to do. The box on each page of 7 Minute Miles lists a number of these things, but when I rode a train across the rockies (item#25), I realized that’s the first one I’ve actually completed since I made the list.

Two events have led to more serious family discussions about our future plans: the afore-mentioned train trip out west and my weekend trip to the North Shore this winter to see Richard Thompson. What these trips pointed out to me was that I really like the outdoors and places like Schweitzer and the North Shore of Lake Superior are much prettier than where I live now. If I can find a way to make a living, why not live where it’s pretty?

I’ve wanted a cabin on Lake Superior for a long time. The frequent trips to Grand Marais while growing up often led to thoughts of “what could I do for a job to live here all the time?” I never could find a good answer to that, especially with the opportunities available in the Twin Cities. But with telecommuting and air travel options, where you physically live is becoming less and less important.

Here are some of my goals and desires as part of this plan:

• Five acres on Lake Superior somewhere between Duluth and Lutsen with 300 feet of lake shore
• Architect-designed, chalet-style, log and stone home built using “Not-So-Big” philosophies
• Home features: large windows towards lake, stone fireplace, heated floors, satellite TV, high-speed internet, audio/video room, green building techniques, Kohler Bodyspray shower
• Small, two-bedroom guest cottage for my parents (and other visitors)
• Good schools for the kids (Two Harbors High School?)
• School technology consulting/remote management and MN Publishing Company website publishing for me, Duluth health care and consulting options for Colleen
• Northland Country Club membership for golf and swimming; Lutsen Mountain season pass for skiing
• Other quality of life activities: running, biking, hiking, kayaking, skating, dining, travel

There are great restaurants in Duluth and along the North Shore, the Twin Cities would still be close (as would Canada), air travel would be easy enough and I’d even tolerate the winters better thanks to the skiing and overall beauty we experienced there in March. I’d miss Wild games at the X, but I could still drive down for a few games now and then.

I need to stop drooling and make it happen–the clock is ticking!

I was saddened to learn that Rick Wolf, the part-time school psychologist at HSRA Minnesota, passed away this week. Rick was a great guy to work with and was a tremendous asset to the students of HSRA.

Rick and I had talked about doing a web project together for the past few months using a product he developed on his own called the Team Empowerment Assessment. He had created a printed version of the assessment several years ago and had boxes of them left in his garage (I could totally relate to that feeling with my own golf CD project from 1999). He wanted to create a web version of the assessment and attempt to salvage some of his previous investment in the project.

Here is the obituary from the Star Tribune:

Wolf, Rick Age 64 of Eden Prairie. School Psychologist and past member of the Eden Prairie School Board. Preceded in death by his father, Fred Wolf. Survived by his loving wife, Kate; children, Jeff (Trish), Erick (Page) Wolf, Heather (Kevin) Cook, and Abbey Wolf; grandchildren, Alexis, Amber, Jeremy, Jordan, Macy, Freddy, Tori, and Lindsay; mother, Lorana Wolf; brothers, Randy (Prudy) and Roger (Gail) Wolf; nephews, Tad and Brad Wolf; niece, Becky Nuell. Memorial service Thursday, April 10 at 7 PM with visitation beginning 5 PM at the Washburn- McReavy Eden Prairie Chapel, 7625 Mitchell Road (1 blk N of Hwy 5), Eden Prairie. Memorials preferred to the Intermountain Children’s Home, Helena, Montana, www.intermountain.org Washburn-McReavy Eden Prairie Chapel 952-975-0400

My thoughts go out to his family in their time of loss.