Agassi’s New Book

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Andy

One of Mom’s and my favorite tennis players, Las Vegas native Andre Agassi, has written an autobiography called Open, due in stores Nov 9. I grew up watching Agassi. I wore his shoes. I liked him with long hair. I liked him bald. Mom and I flew up to New York in 2006 to see his final US Open. So when we heard he was writing a book, we knew we had to read it.

As you might have read, the media buzz around the book has begun. Much of the buzz, and certainly the headlines, focus on one fact: in the book Agassi admits to using crystal meth in the late 1990s, around the time he won his only French Open. After failing a drug test, he lied about it to the tennis officials and cleared his record. Am I disappointed that a man I greatly admire both used illegal drugs and lied about it? Sure. But I’m much more disappointed in the media, and in ourselves as consumers of media, for choosing to obsess yet again over celebrity dirt. It’s not that we expect our celebrities to be perfect, because I don’t think we do. It’s that we relish the mistakes they make, talk about them, embellish them, print and share photos of them. Their mistakes sell magazines and newspapers. Their mistakes boost online ad revenue. Their mistakes make us feel smugly better about ourselves.

Finally I found an actual excerpt from the book on CNNSI.com. Yes, it includes a passage about the meth usage but also gives some of its context. To me, far more interesting is the fact that one of the greatest tennis players in history claims that he hated the game – not just at the end, when his weary body was breaking down, but from the very beginning, when his hot-tempered, demanding father forced him to start playing and refused to let him stop short of perfection. Open appears to be a surprisingly well-written, engaging, sad, and thought-provoking look at the real man behind the crazy hair and pink-and-black shoes, the little boy who could not lose because his father wouldn’t let him.

Undy 5000 Report

Posted on October 31, 2009 by Andy

The Undy 5000 race was a big success! Jenny, Brenden, Katy, Eric, and I arrived around 8:15am at White Rock Lake and started the race at 9:15. Over 600 runners and walkers participated, raising over $93,000 to fight colorectal cancer! Despite a starting temperature in the 40s, the sky was clear and the sun bright, so we were quite comfortable by the end of the race. Since I’m sure you’re wondering, no one ran in just their underwear, due at least in part to the cold weather. Most wore sweatpants or leggings with boxers or panties over them and a shirt or jacket on top. Needless to say, it was a weird sight. Here we are in our boxers:

Here’s a picture of Katy and Eric:

Eric and I ran while the girls and Brenden walked. Eric turned in an impressive time of 26.39. RunOn posted the full results here. I was also proud of preggo Jenny for walking the entire 3.1 miles while pushing Brenden and cooking/carrying Jonathan. It wasn’t easy and left her very tired and sore, but she pushed ahead and finished. Great job, love!

I tried ChiRunning, a fairly new (?) approach to running that alters your stride and posture to help you run more efficiently and reduce injury – just what I need. Although I haven’t mastered it yet, the technique allowed me to finish in a PR (personal record) of 28:18 with only minor pain in my leg. I was so happy and grateful to God and the designers of the technique. I ran most of the way with short stretches of walking. When I ran, I ran significantly faster than I normal do. ChiRunning helps you cover more ground per stride with less effort. I hope that by further improving my technique and building my endurance, I might be able to keep up the same pace for an entire 5k or longer.

Stretch Assignment

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Andy

I work the midnight shift, normally 11pm to 7am, sometimes 10pm-6am or 9pm to 5am. Most people are confused and sympathetic when they first learn this, assuming I am the junior guy in the office who got stuck with the worst possible shift. In truth, I love the midnight shift, for three main reasons:

It allows me to focus on my favorite part of the job, planning the flights. I enjoy trying to predict what the weather will be doing several hours into the future, tinkering with my flight plans, and testing different routes to find the most helpful winds. During a day or afternoon shift, I must divide my time between planning, monitoring, and dealing with phone and radio calls.
Although I do sleep during the morning and early afternoon, I’m available every afternoon and evening to hang out with my family and friends. On occasion, I can wake up early to have lunch with them as well. The day and afternoon shifts give me less flexibility.
The midnight shift is the easiest shift in terms of workload. Sure, it has its problems just like any other shift, especially if flights are running really late and the weather is terrible. Overall, though, it’s not bad at all. When I arrive, I take over responsibility for monitoring several flights until they land, which occurs anytime between 10:00pm and 2:00 or 3:00am unless it’s a really bad night. I start planning my morning flights around 1:00pm. Then I usually have some downtime to relax, eat, work on trades, or whatever else I need to do.

To make extra money, though, I sign up for day and afternoon shifts on many of my days off. The extra money is very helpful, but when I get one of those shifts, they are also a stretch assignment for me. I might get a phone call at any time from a captain wanting a weather brief, not just in the first hour of my shift. I might have to reroute a flight enroute to avoid weather or turbulence and check to see whether the aircraft has enough fuel onboard. These shifts jerk me out of my comfort zone and remind me of the old days when I was in training and then a reserve with a hodgepodge schedule. They keep my skills sharp. They make me do things I normally get to avoid, like talking on the radio. They remind me of what the day and afternoon folks have to deal with, which tunes me into their needs when I’m planning flights to hand over to them. Afterward, when I return to the midnight shift, I return stronger.

It’s helpful and important to give yourself stretch assignments. Sure, sitting in a comfy chair doing the same old thing the same old way is safe and doesn’t give you butterflies, but it doesn’t make you a better you, either. Push yourself. Challenge yourself to learn something new, to run a bit farther or faster. Find out where your limits are and try to increase them.

What are some ways you challenge yourself?

The Crash Helmet Kid

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Andy

Growing up, one of my favorite pastimes was riding my bike around the neighborhood, either solo or with friends. My parents had a rule: always wear a helmet when riding. My helmet was white and ugly with a red strap. I hated that rule for two main reasons:

The helmet was annoying, not very comfortable, and a pain to carry around.
More importantly, I was the only kid in the neighborhood wearing a helmet, and some of the older boys (who were automatically cooler than I was, even though they were jerks) made fun of me for wearing it. They dubbed me…wait for it… “The Crash Helmet Kid.”

Being an obedient child overall, I wore the stupid helmet and endured the jokes. I tried to avoid the older guys when I could and to ignore them when necessary. I can’t remember whether or not I understood my parents’ logic behind the helmet at the time, but I experienced enough bike crashes and skinned knees to know that bicycles could be somewhat dangerous.

Years later, as an adult, I witnessed a terrible bike accident on a highway, so bad that the bicyclist left in a CareFlite helicopter. I held pressure on his torn-open forearm until the paramedics arrived. One of his legs was pointing the wrong way. However, thanks to his helmet, he was not only alive but conscious enough to talk to us. Without it, I don’t know whether he would have survived.

Although I couldn’t fully understand at the time and certainly didn’t like it, my parents were 100 percent correct in making me wear a helmet even before it became socially acceptable. Obviously, it could have saved my life. It also taught me one of the most important lessons I could ever learn:

God didn’t put me here to win a popularity contest.

I still use that lesson today: as an employee when I have to stand up to my union or a coworker in order to do the right thing, as a father when I have to tell Brenden “no”, as a husband when I have to break the bad news that we need to tighten the belt, as a Christian when I have to stand up for truth in a world full of lies. I sometimes have to choose between pleasing people and pleasing God. Obviously, I don’t always do the right thing. I want to be liked, and sometimes I still let the “cool kids” influence me. But my time as The Crash Helmet Kid helped me start growing thicker skin, which helps me make the right choice more often.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Andy

Yep, I turned 31 today. I’ve gotten tons of well-wishes and phone calls, and I thank all of you for your encouragement! As usual, I don’t really feel any different. I am definitely grateful that God has given me 31 years on this planet, surrounded me with so many wonderful people, and allowed me to live such a rich life. It’s been a month-long celebration, to be honest. We had a family party a couple of weeks ago for the Box family birthdays in October (there are four!). Tonight Jenny made me a delicious dinner and birthday cake, and her family came over to party with us. Tomorrow night my parents plan to come over and watch Brenden while Jenny and I go out for dinner and coffee alone. It’s been a great month, and I pray for a great year to come.