Thursday, May 30, 2013

Tribal Elder




I get it, I totally understand now why there were, and are Tribal Elders. Tonight I was troubleshooting an electrical problem with my non working cloths dryer when it hit me. People spend their whole life collecting experiences with the hope of being able to use those experiences and eventually share them with someone before you pass in this life. I have spent the last 52 years collecting these experiences. With all of this knowledge on how stuff works, and how to fix broke things I can use it to better my family and friend. Now I know why I am the first one called when something is broken. I am my families Tribal Elder.

Recently I completed a class at Catawba College called "Indians of the Carolinas". In this class we learned about how important Tribal elders were to tribes. They had years and years of knowledge that younger tribe members did not have. The Tribal Elders were respected because of this knowledge. This is another reason to love being this old.
Now my job is to make sure I do not waste this knowledge. I have always made sure that I did train my kids. I showed them all how to take care of their cars on your own. Changing the oil, being able to troubleshoot strange noises. I thought this was always a good skill for my kids to have. That way if they do have to take there car in to a mechanic they will not be taken advantage of. I have shared this with my son and daughters. Now I must start working on the Grandkids. So much info to pass on.
"It's a life time of knowledge."

Monday, May 27, 2013

Trike Drifting


      Trike Drifting is a relatively new sport. In a nut shell, it is a Big Wheel for adults. These are custom made trikes that use PVC wheels which allows for easy sliding. These trikes are constructed from parts of a 20 inch bicycle.The mid and rear frame, along with the axles are custom made and welded together. The wheels are custom made using 4 inch PVC pipe.
   These trikes are self propelled and need a hill that has a good down hill grade. If you find a long enough hill you have a nice long ride sliding around corners and relying on your drifting skill too keep the trike from spinning out. If you are good enough at controlling your trike you can spin it 360 degrees around and keep rolling forward. It is a lot of fun when you have several friends that you can down hill Drift with. I have drafted two friends that are also building trikes to ride with me.
   This fulfills two things I like, one would be custom making things to ride, and the second is riding anything with wheels. The added fun of riding with friends makes this a lot of fun. This is one of these riding sports that you can get hurt on. So we practice safety. I recommend always wearing a helmet, wear close tie shoes, and you must make sure you really have good brakes. Since this riding requires you to ride on the road, you must always be aware of the traffic and stay on you side of the road. Be fast, but be safe.
       My long term goal would be to organize some downhill races. This is where my competitive nature kicks in. Why ride when you can race.


Saturday, May 25, 2013

Having Fun With My Dad

   


     Having family in my life is pretty important. I have noticed the older I get the more I think about the importance of family. My Dad is visiting me over the Memorial weekend. Unfortunately we do not see each other as much as we would like. What makes it hard is that he lives halfway across the United States from me. I do enjoy the time we do get to spend with each other, we have a great time when we do see each other. I think the older I get the more I want to spend time with him. It makes me think of a movie quote from a Indian Jones movie. We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away (IMDB). This is so true. I want to make sure I get all the time in with him that I can.
     I think it is also important that the time we spend together is fun and play full. We were at the Memorial Gardens in Concord taking pictures yesterday. The below video is me having some stupid fun with him. I showed him this video when we got home and we had a great laugh.



 Don't let these times pass you by. If you have lost contact with your family or friends,  re-kindle that fire and pull them back into your lives. Don't let the opportunity slip by you.





Friday, May 24, 2013

Fitness and Healthy Eating:

   
         Staying fit is not an easy task. It's hard enough in your 20's and 30'. It is even harder when you are in your 50's. Despite the level of difficulty, I have found that it is essential in my quest to stay healthy, and enjoy my extreme hobbies. In my quest to stay fit, I also have to eat healthy. Fitness and eating healthy go hand in hand. My plan is to continue my extreme hobbies as long as I can. My wife often accuses me of still being twelve years old. I have embraced my age of 52, but that does not mean I have to slow down.

        My current fitness routine is full of running. During the week I will run at work during lunch. I split up my running into two routines. Three days a week and will run for distance, that works on my stamina. Usually two miles because of a time constraint. The other two days I will run short distances and stop and do burpee. This works on my cardio. Burpees are an incredible exercise. It works your entire body. I dare you to do ten. You will have total respect for the burpee after that.
 
                                                        Burpee Video

 

The key to me staying active in my 50's will be this type fitness and a healthy diet. You need to look at what you are putting into your body. Think of yourself as a high performance car. If you put poor quality fuel in your car, it will not perform as a high performance car as you intend it to. So fuel yourself properly.

Welcome to Stuck On 50

Since I have turned 50, I have vowed to stay in shape and start doing more extreme things that I have always wanted to do. I thought I better get to it before I run out of time. I have totally embraced my age of 52, and am really excited about all the things I still want to do in my life. This Blog will document all of the cool things I plan on doing. I guess you could call it a bucket list of sorts. I am a father of 4, and a Grandfather of 7. And I have no plans of slowing down. I am not a sit on the couch type person. I do not following any current TV shows religiously. I feel my best when I am outside in the open air. My wife often tells my I am like a 12 year old. Funny thing is, I still feel like I am 12. I hope you enjoy my adventures, and there might even be some advise along the way with fitness and healthy eating. You must stay fit and eat healthy if you are going to stay active. Enjoy the ride, I plan too.