Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Wild and Crazy Bowdens

Sharing some of our sillier moments from recent road trips, I thought I’d share a couple crazy memories from this weekend. They're probably "had to be there" type stories, but Bowdenisms is first and foremost a personal tool to help me remember and record bits of our lives (or at least that's what I tell myself to feel better about a lack of comments!) So in the interest of remembering the little things- I give you a couple Sure-to-Become-Classics Bowden games we played this weekend-

Pretend Wearing Socks on Hardwood Floors Actually Makes You a Professional Figure Skater

Dustin was mostly a spectator in this game…but my mom was a full participant, especially after we ate half of a jumbo bag of m&m’s. If you’ve never simulated a backwards turn followed by a 1/2 axel in your dining room, then you simply must try. We even created hybrid events- Tap-Ice-Dancing (mostly just me stomping and flailing my arms in circles) and Synchronized Skating (in which my mom and I attempted to match each others’ ad-libbed moves). Bonus features- I can build you a pretend ice sculpture or slice pretend deli meats using only my pretend blades.

Play A YouTube Video From Glee and Copy the Dancing of All Characters in Real Time

This one Dustin was surprisingly into. After watching this week’s Glee on Hulu, my whole family couldn’t get “Marry You” out of our heads….So we cranked up this video and attempted to reenact it in the kitchen (with Dustin and I playing all of the parts….minus the wheelchair and streamers.) It's significantly harder than you'd think...especially if you follow the Pausing=Cheating rule, forcing on-the-spot learning.



What can I say- it was a beautiful night, and we were looking for something dumb to do…..

Do you all have any silly, made-up games you play with your family? Sometimes the less sense it makes, the more fun it is.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Car Games

As you know…The Bowdens love a road trip… And even if we didn’t love one, we are forced to take them, as all of our family lives at least three hours away….

So over the years we’ve gotten quite good at surviving the long haul- Dustin is a defensive driver extraordinaire with an ipod full of hits, and I’m a prepared passenger, with magazines, snacks, and conversation starters.

Typically we jam to some music, discuss current events (i.e. work, junk we need to do around the house), read aloud (me…usually from GQ), or chat about big life stuff (how many kids are we going to have?, should Dustin open a gym?, is Pittsburgh our “forever home”? etc.). For the most part we’re able to pass the time pretty well, and I’m thankful for the fun we have, and the serious bonding we do during these trips.

But sometimes you run out of topics. Or songs. Or books. And you have to think outside the box. Thus- our most recent road-trip game was born. We call it:

See If You Can Make This Sound.

It goes a little something like this:
Dustin makes some sort of crazy noise (any mixture of whistling, humming, snort, yell, etc.). I try to replicate it….and die laughing instead.
Then we switch teams. But instead of actually making a noise for him to replicate- I just laugh uncontrollably every time I open my mouth.
His turn again.
Repeat ‘til you pee your pants and have to pull over.

I highly recommend it.

(Photos from an April '10 roadtrip...taken with Photo Booth...which explains why it looks like dustin's driving on the wrong side of the car. And excuses my apparent lack of safety sense.)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Perspective - Dose #2

So my second dose of perspective is not really God centered, but it is a great dose at that.

A few weeks ago I posted about the Fall Brawl. It was a great event and I had a blast.

But I have to be honest... me and Crossfit have been in a little bit if a funk. I got it all in my head that I have to do all the workouts as fast as the best guys and be one of the strongest. It hasn't been going as well as I would like. The reason is this simple truth:

I'm not that big of a guy. I'm not that tall, I'm not that fast, I'm not that strong and the realization of that has made it difficult to stick to my work outs. It's been really frustrating for a few months.
And then the other day I saw this video.

Aaaaand there was my dose of perspective.

When I first heard of Crossfit I thought it was just a great work out program. I found out that it's the hardest work out program I've ever done. But as time went on I realized that Crossfit is much more than that. It's actually a lot of fun to do the workouts. It's even more fun to do the work outs with a bunch of great people that are supportive, inspiring, and fun to be with. It's a community of people who value life and honor the people in our military who defend us every day. It's way more than just another gym.

That's what I needed remember. That was my dose of perspective. I never started Crossfit to be the best or strongest. I started it to get in better shape but I discovered much more. I got obsessed with being an "elite" athlete and when I wasn't getting the results I wanted immediately, I got bummed out.

When I first started Crossfit, I had one goal: Show up, don't quit. (is that 2 goals?)

So I'm not throwing in the towel or anything. I'm going to continue to try to get better, faster, stronger; but I'm going to calm down about it and remember that it's all about feeling good and having fun and not about the numbers I put up.

3... 2... 1... GO!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Perspective – Dose #1

I’ve been hit recently with a good dose of perspective lately. I think the recommended dose is… daily. Actually, it’s probably more like “find perspective as many times in a day as possible.”

Last weekend I took some perspective medicine. Our church recently started a three week series on money. This is usually a service where a lot of people roll their eyes as it’s a perceived sermon on “give the church more money” and it’s usually a sermon that convicts me to give more, but doesn’t convict me enough to really take action.

However, last weekend’s sermon was different. I wasn’t made to feel guilty about not giving enough but rather I was given encouragement and affirmation. One of the things that really struck me was a statement backed up with two facts.

Pastor Doug: You are rich.

Me (in my head): Wait… me? I’m rich? Ha!

Then came the stats:

If you make $25,000, you are richer than 90% of the world’s population.

If you make $50,000, you are richer than 99% of the world’s population.

We all know that I’m a numbers guy. So these statistics hit me pretty hard. It turns out… I AM rich! I have a wonderful, loving, and beautiful wife, a loving family, great friends, I am gainfully employed, I have a house, and virtually no debt. God has blessed me so richly that it’s ridiculous and yet I find ways to complain about my current circumstances. God promises to supply every need we have. It says so in the Bible:

“But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus". – Philippians 4:19

So the perspective I gained last weekend was this: I don’t need more money, a better job, more things, higher status, or more credit. I need more of God. My dad has said to me my entire life, “Don’t sweat the small stuff… and it’s all small stuff.” Well, instead of “stuff” he says the “S” word but He’s so right! If God is the biggest thing out there, and He dwells in me, then I already have the biggest thing, and all the other stuff is small in comparison.

Don’t get me wrong… from Sunday to the time I wrote this post I complained a lot. That’s why this perspective thing really sucks. I have to have it all the time or I relapse into being an ungrateful jerk. It’s extremely hard to maintain.

Stay tuned for Dose #2.

Now that you know I’m rich, don’t go hitting me up for a loan for your mid-life crisis Ducati 848 EVO . (You know who you are…Parsons) It won’t happen.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Take Me to Flower Town

I wish it was Summer. Or Spring. Really I would settle on it just being warm enough for Dustin to push me around in a magical land of flowers.

Is that too much to ask?!?












*Photos circa May 15, 2010. I miss that day.*

Friday, November 12, 2010

SUPER

Guess....what...we...got:



That, my friends, is an FC Twin. And if you don't know what that is....let me give you a hint....


Yes indeedy- This system is compatible with old Nintendo, and Super Nintendo games, meaning Dustin and I can play Super Mario Brothers to our hearts content. And bonus- we don't even have to blow into the cartridges to make the games work!

We still had quite a few games left over from our childhoods (several that I recently stole back from my dad's house.....they have a Wii...they'll be fine.) but don't worry- we picked up a few new-to-us versions from the local Game Exchange. I've got all the Mario I can handle (which, if I do say so myself, is a lot), and Dustin has regressed to his fat-kid youth playing game after game of Mike Tyson's Punch Out and Blades of Steel. (He invites his friends over for those...violent sports aren't really my strong suit. With the exception of Arch Rivals. Don't even try me- I will punch the living daylights out of you....)

We've had it for a few weeks, and we've already spent more than a couple nights playing game after game of Super Mario Brothers 3 trying to beat it (it's just as hard as I remember!) Sure, it's a gigantic waste of time, but there's something magical about the nostalgic, simple fun of an NES game. And, you haven't lived until you see 8-bit graphics on a 46" high-def screen!

Aside from some DDR, and Guitar Hero, Dustin and I haven't really gotten into newer video games....we don't own an X-box or a Wii. In some ways I think some of the old games are better than anything that's out today....And even kids that are too young to remember when Nintendo was the only option, seem to get the appeal. On Halloween, we played, in between visits from trick-or-treaters, and one ten year old just about LOST it when he spotted our screen from the porch. He and his friends asked if they could come in and play. I told them to grow up, get a job, buy their own game. Or maybe I just gave them candy instead.....I mean- my ability to share only goes so far....

So what about you gamers? Did you have a favorite game of 'Tendo? (as my little sister used to call it). Think your skills have held up over the years? Come on over!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Eat your words...or wallet

I'm going to venture into Dustin's territory for a minute here...and by that, I mean- Geek Town.

This is usually not my thing at all, but I recently got into managing our finances online. And I like it! Seriously.

Before, it was not an exaggeration to say that I had NO clue whatsoever where our money is, was, or was going. I joked that Dustin could be funneling my entire salary into an off-shore account, plotting his inevitable escape to easy street. Funny 'cuz it's possible.


But that was before Mint came into my life. Are you familiar with this site? It's awesome. It's like Quicken- only pretty. (and no, I really don't know what Quicken is like. But I think it has to do with money, and I think it's uglier than mint. so there.) I set it up myself (after Dustin told me all the passwords to our banks. Ok, and told me what banks we even use. but other than that...totally by myself.) It took all of five minutes, and presto- I had complete visibility to all of our income and spending- and our net worth. (If you can call a '98 corolla and a couple of dead plants "net worth" material.) But the sweetest thing about it is that it automatically categorizes expenses, and then turns them into handy little graphs to help you (me) see where your (my) money is going!


And let me tell you...it was eye-opening.

Now, it's no secret that we Bowden's like to eat. A lot. Often and much. And maybe we like to have a drink now and again. (now. and again.) So I knew that a good chunk of change went to keeping us..chunky. But I don't think I knew HOW chunky that chunk had become (although I'm fairly certain my pants used to be bigger!)

Here's a glimpse at our monthly breakdown. (I've cut out the actual dollar amounts, and just kept the categories for comparison.) The second line down is our mortgage. The first line is food stuff. Or food-stuffed.







Crazy stuff right? But wait...there's more! (and I don't mean dessert).
Mint can break it down a step further, and allow you to compare within a category:



How 'bout them apples? (mmmmmm...apples).

So suffice it to say, we have a bit of a problem when it comes to the pie-chart of our pie-holes. (Or in this case, the bar graph of bar/restaurants). Now, though it looks bad at first glance, you do have to keep other factors in mind: We don't have a car payment, we don't drink coffee, we only have one cell phone bill (and it doesn't even include data!), we rarely purchase big ticket items, or even see movies. So I would assume that in a lot of categories, our spending is probably relatively low compared to the national average. And- if I may toot our horn a bit- one important note is that aside from our mortgage we don't have any debt. No school loans, auto leases etc. so that does free up some (all) of our income.

Eating out is sometimes our lazy way of getting out of cooking, but sometimes it's out of necessity- picking up a quick bite between work and whatever activity we have that particular night. But most often- it's just our favorite thing to do. I love trying new restaurants, sharing a night out with friends, or having a date night with Dustin. But still- if you look at the graph, there's no denying that we are, in a way, eating ourselves out of house and home. And while I don't want to give up going out, but we should probably rein it in a bit.....I mean- November is already shaping up to be a big month....


So we set up a budget, increased our donations significantly, and aim to cut back on some of the less necessary expenses. But I can promise you one thing- though Mint makes it possible, I will not be tracking my nail polish purchases separately....Somethings are better left a mystery.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Time flies...all the time

Can you believe it's already November?
I had every intention of participating in NaBloPoMo, like we did last year...But then again, I meant to blog more than twice in October, soooooooooooooooooo....

I love the idea of posting every day, but it seems that posting every week is a challenge around here. (In a related story: I referred to this site as my blog-baby today-everyone else in my book club has kids and a blog- and was thankful for the lack of responsibility in my life....I mean, if I ignored a real baby for two weeks there would be more dire consequences than losing a few readers!)

My first instinct in justifying my lack of posting, is because we've been so busy. But in all honesty sometimes that seems like a knee-jerk excuse, rather than a full truth. Of course we're busy....but everyone's busy. And in all honesty, in recent weeks we've actually had more down time than ever. You see, for the last three years, we've volunteered with Young Life, and for reasons too numerous, and personal to list here, we've taken a step back. This means a lot of things, but mostly it has provided us with a LOT more free time. Truly the most free time of our entire marriage.

So with no high school kids to look after, and none of our own kids to take care of, we've had the luxury of basically doing whatever we want! (you may remember my recent bragfest about this lifestyle...) In some ways all of this time is a huge blessing. We've gotten to go out with friends more, have weekend visitors, make trips to Columbus, cook more, get involved with our church, and put time into hobbies that normally get pushed by the wayside. But on the flip side- I'm reminded of the saying "idle hands are the devil's workshop". I'm not saying the Bowden household has transformed into den of sin...but I do realize that it's easy to waste too much of this precious time on worthless pursuits. There's bit quite a bit of tv watching, internet surfing, video game playing, and general lazing about around here lately. So I see both sides of the equation, but if I'm being honest I have to say I've adored this time we've had. Sure we're being selfish- doing whatever we want, whenever we want (and sometimes more notably- not doing what we don't want), but as a short term strategy, I think that's just fine. Sometimes you need to eat too one too many cheeseburgers to remind yourself how good eating vegetables can feel. (p.s. my personal burger limit is 3 in one weekend- recently learned that the hard way). I don't think Dustin and I will descend into a permanent lifestyle of self centered decadence. But a (relatively) short time of living the young couple dream? Yes, please.

I don't know if this is the post that I set out to write....but it's what I did, so it's what you get. And now that a few of the cobwebs are knocked of my old typing fingers, perhaps I'll eke out a few more posts this week. I mean, as long as a Teen Mom marathon doesn't come up.....priorities, people!

Monday, November 1, 2010

The Fall Brawl

The Saturday before Halloween marked a momentous occasion for me as I participated in my first Crossfit competition. The event was a local event called the Fall Brawl and it was put on by Crossfit R.A.W. which is a Crossfit affiliate just north of Pittsburgh. It was an awesome day and Crossfit R.A.W. has an excellent facility and ran a fantastic event that promoted elite fitness as well as raised money for the Wounded Warrior Project.

So the basic premise is that in one day you perform multiple WODs (work out of the day) against other men who are performing the same WODs. For this competition, the six top men and six top women would qualify for the final event to see who would win the entire competition.

I'll spare you the suspense... I didn't even come close to winning the competition. In fact, I came in 45th place out of 51. That doesn't sound great but I'm pretty excited about it. I was easily the smallest guy there and I did have a great time and pushed myself to the limit.

Here's what I did:

WOD #1: 1.5 mile trail run

I thought this part of the day would be pretty easy, but I was WRONG! The trail run had a few obstacles but the toughest part was the never ending hills. We pretty much ran up a half a mile long ski slope. Seriously. In the winter it's used as a ski slope for a small ski resort. Here's me jumping over concrete barriers at about the 1 mile mark.


WOD #2:
21-15-9

Wall Balls
(take a 20 lb medicine ball, squat all the way down, stand up, throw the ball 10 feet in the air... that's 1 rep)

Calorie Row
(using a rower, row until the rower calculates either 21, 15, or 9 calories)

Ground to Overhead at 115 lbs.
(basically, pick up the bar, put it over your head any way that you can)

So, you do all three exercises three times. The first set you do 21 reps of each, then 15 reps of each, then 9 reps of each. Sounds easy right? Actually it was so ridiculously hard! The wall balls and the rowing is not that difficult for me, but the ground to overhead pretty much takes a max effort for every rep. The other part was that you had to complete this
WOD in 18 minutes or less. The top athletes finished in the 9 minute range... I finished in 17:40, but hey, at least I finished. There was at least one guy who didn't finish in time. For me, it was a personal triumph and it was also one of the coolest moments of my life because the whole crowd was cheering for me. it's one of the greatest things about Crossfit. We're all competing, yet at the same time we're cheering each other on. I have yet to meet a competitor that wasn't humble and encouraging throughout a competition. Anyway, here's a few pics and a video of my last few reps.





WOD #3: 5 minutes, max deadlift, pull ups or muscle ups.

My favorite of the three WODs because I think muscle ups are fun and the WOD only lasted 5 minutes. I deadlifted 335 lbs. and did 13 muscle ups which gave me a total score of 374 points. The highest scores were in the 500's but so what. I had fun. Here are few pics.





I can't wait for the next competition! Who's with me?!