Trying to be a Maven

First natural question...what the heck is a Maven? (Second natural question...why the heck is Danielle trying to be one?!) I first learned the term after reading Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" a few years ago. **Side note - He's hand's down one of my favorite authors simply because of the way he presents his theories with case studies and provokes thoughtful analysis of why certain things happen. He makes me think and I like it.** Anyway, a Maven is an "information specialist" who connects people to new information. According to Wikipedia, "...Mavens start 'word-of-mouth epidemics' due to their knowledge, social skills, and ability to communicate". While I recognize that I'm not truly a leading expert on any subject in particular (with the possible exception of organization), when I find something that I think is worth knowing about, I can't help but share it. Which is exactly what I intend to do with this week's blog entry.

Of course, being a Maven would imply that I'm one of the first to catch onto trends and spread the word before they become mainstream. Hence, why I added the qualifier of "trying to be" one, because I understand that by the time certain trends hit me here in the Midwest, they're already going out of style on the coasts. It's also entirely possible that I'm the last to know about this one, and you'll all smile at how naive I am and how I'm just catching onto something that everyone's been using for years. :-)

Anyway, this week I wanted to share a new tool that I learned about from my friend, Laura, who is going to be a part of July's Seattle (and San Diego) trips later this year. She started adding travel plans to an online trip organizer called Trip It. Tell the truth...have you heard of it?! Well, it didn't take me long after exploring the site before I started confessing my undying love for this free service. It's AWESOME! All you have to do (after you sign in with your Google account) is forward your airline and hotel confirmation emails to the website and it automatically organizes them into an itinerary. Want to add an activity? No problem. Need directions? It'll add those too. Curious about the weather forecast? It automatically adds the day by day Hi and Lo temperatures.

Coming from someone who was planning to do all of the above manually in a Microsoft Word document for each of my many trips this year, (...I'm groaning as I think of all the copying and pasting and reformatting the perfectionist in me would have done...) I feel like I've just saved hours of time from my busy schedule. Thank you, Tripit! And thank you, Laura. ;-) The Phoenix Rendezvous itinerary got a lot of attention on Tripit this week and at this point is a thing of beauty. Now to utilize this fantastic tool for my other upcoming trips!

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I Mastered the Met!

Yesterday I officially crossed number three off my list:

Do the "Fight for Air" / Master the Met event - CHECK!

I should start with a little background on exactly what this event entails...
The Fight for Air Climb is a national campaign that benefits the American Lung Association and consists of a vertical race in multiple cities. In St. Louis that meant me and approximately 1,000 others sought to climb 42 floors to the top of the Metropolitan Building downtown. **A quick fun fact, the Metropolitan Building is 593 feet tall (181 meters) and is the tallest building in St. Louis, although still not as tall as the landmark Arch.** Of course, all 1,000 of us didn't all start climbing at once. That might have been a little crowded. :-)

This was an event I had been wanting to do for a couple of years now. So when I saw the registration open last year, I was one of the first to sign up. (A lesson learned from last year when I learned too late that registration had already closed.) I can't say I put any focus on specific training for the event. My normal fitness activities consist of a lot of cardio, so I felt I was in pretty good shape to tackle it. Once I realized the entire climb would take me less than ten minutes to complete I was even more unmotivated to train. Regardless, I felt mentally and physically ready!

So...race day finally came last week. I picked up my bib and got my start time: 08:40am - SWEET! I'll take an early time! They were starting racers every nine seconds, so all I had to do was show up 20-30 minutes before my start time, find my spot, and then run up 42 flights of stairs. Simple enough. I wish I could insert a memorable story here, but unfortunately it was a pretty "eh" activity. Aside from them shortening the climb by two stories to 40 flights because apparently the restaurant on the top floors was having an event, it pretty much just happened. I passed a few people on the way and felt strong (although not necessarily fast). I got yet another race t-shirt. And that was it. Period.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I did it. Was I proud of myself (and everyone else participating) for climbing up 40 flights of stairs for a great cause? Hell yes! But was I sore afterward? No. Did I feel like pizza and beer afterward at 9:00 in the morning? No. Did I have a crew of people there to share in the experience? Unfortunately, no. All said and done, I was back at my house within an hour which felt kind of "wah wah wah" for something I chose to put on my Operation 30 list.

BUT (and there is a but), there's redemption to the story because later that day I was able to get more out of my Master the Met experience. I waited around at the After Party for them to post my time but got impatient (go figure) and decided my time would be better spent giving my car a good cleaning which it desperately needed. I assumed I'd be able to find my time online once I got home but was sad to find there was seemingly no link to results (or even "Coming Soon" links) or times from previous years. And while I knew I probably didn't set any records, I had to know my time! So I convinced my brother, Alex, to return to the After Party outside the Metropolitan Building with me at about 1:00pm as things were wrapping up. We got there just in time for some pizza and beer, to watch the award ceremony, and get my time.

So here it is...
Total time: 08:19
Overall place: 202 / 1098

...I guess top 20% isn't bad.



**Side note**
I did Bikram Yoga again today for the second (and definitely not final) time. I truly love to sweat and enjoy the feeling that I've gotten rid of a ton of bad toxins in my system, no matter how purely psychological that may be. I just did a quick online calorie burn calculator and for these 90 minute sessions of activity for my 135lb frame I'm burning over 900 calories, which is close to equivalent by time to running. I still love running more than anything, but my almost-thirty-something body needs the cross-training, and I'm positive the postures in Bikram Yoga won't be giving me shin splints anytime soon.

Oh, and the details of the Arizona trip are coming together nicely. :-)

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Memorializing T-Shirts

Another week closer to the Big 3-0 and progress continues on the Operation 30 list. This week the focus was on my t-shirt quilt. I'll admit, this has been on the To Do list for a while but locking it into the official list will make sure it gets the proper focus in the next year to get finished completely. (Truth be told - having it done by the end of the summer is my real goal.) This is a mom-and-me project all the way, and I'm happy she's so willing to make the time to lend her craft skills. Frankly, I wouldn't even know where to start without her.

The first step was to figure out which t-shirts to include. You can imagine how difficult this was given the huge quantity of t-shirts I've been collecting ever since grade school. Softball, volleyball, dance, cheerleading, intramurals, ZTA, Greek Week, St. Pat's....you name the activity, and I guarantee I have a t-shirt to remind me of my participation. After some consideration I finally settled on a general format which allowed me to organize and choose my t-shirts properly. The result is what you see above which consists of two rows of elementary school shirts at the top, followed by two rows of high school shirts in the middle, and then two rows of college shirts at the bottom. I'll even have a couple squares in the middle that will be a compilation of mini logos from various t-shirts. I still had a Frullati shirt to capture my first ever real job in high school. (Score!) Just thinking of all the memories that will be captured in this quilt makes me smile. I think it's going to be an excellent representation of the first 20 or so years of my life!

With the t-shirts identified it was time this weekend to cut them apart and iron on special backing to keep them from stretching over time. I was grateful to have the help of my Aunt Diana who was in town visiting from Nebraska. Between the three of us we got this step pretty well knocked out in a couple hours. Next step will be to cut-out the t-shirts to quilt-size and choose a material to frame each square. Even though there's still a lot to do, it already feels like it's coming together.

I can't imagine a better way for my t-shirts to live on in perpetuity. :-)

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Why Not?

I've been debating whether or not to go "all out" in my quest for #26 - Learn the Thriller Dance. While I could learn the dance with some friends in an afternoon, record it, and then post on You Tube and/or this blog...I'm simply not satisfied with that approach. There's something all-consuming about this list and my quest to make the most of each and every experience.

Really, I think that's the key difference with this list versus the other various lists I keep of "To Do" items. My normal lists are pretty mundane....things to clean, errands to run, things to buy at Target (the perpetually never complete list), groceries, and the typical work "To Do" list. The point of those are to get them done as efficiently as possible. It doesn't really matter how I do them, it just matters that I get them done. However, with my Operation 30 list it's not just about what I do, it's about how I do it, and who I do it with. I'd love to look back at what will be the time leading up to my 30th birthday and think about all of the amazing things I was able to do, have no regrets about the way I was able to do them, and have shared in the experiences with as many friends and family as possible.

So when thinking through exactly how I should set out to accomplish #26, naturally my thoughts turned to how I could make it as big and as official as possible. Gotta maximize the experience, right? So I turned to one of my best friends: Google. (Love Google.) With minimal searching I found the following website: http://thrilltheworld.com/, which is a group that organizes every year to break the World Record for "Largest Simultaneous Thriller Dance". Apparently they've been successful...in 2009 they broke the world record with 22,596 people dancing in 33 countries. The totals from 2010 don't look to be as grandiose, but that total in 2009 was over five times what it was in 2008. So I can only expect that 2011 is going to be HUGE!

So...why not? Why not learn the Thriller Dance to accomplish #26 on my list and perform it simultaneously with thousands of strangers from around the world at the exact same time? I've got my calendar set and I hope many of you will too: Saturday, October 29th. When "no mere mortal can resist the evil of the thriller". :-)

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Making Progress

Although this hasn't been a week where I've been able to check anything off, I feel I've made a lot of progress on my Operation 30 list.....

• Baseball stadiums identified - check!
  ...Hello Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, and Boston Red Sox
  
• Dates and travel companions locked in - check!
  ...The fun starts in May after my work trip to Brazil. I can't wait!
  
• Register for a marathon - check!
  ...I'm signed up for the St. Louis Rock n' Roll Marathon on October 23rd. Now it's time to put together a training plan to ensure I can achieve my Personal Record goal.
  
• Register for a triathlon - check!
  ...I'm signed up for the Alligator's Creek triathlon in O'Fallon in August. I'll admit, I picked it mostly based on the short distance of the swim - only 300 meters (which is a shorter distance than the Race for Sight tri I did a few years ago). Now to learn to swim before then. :-)
  
• Find possible dates for a winery bike ride - check!
  ...Thanks to Doodle I'll soon be able to lock-in on a date for a winery bike ride from St. Charles to Augusta, which is something I've wanted to do for years now.
  
• Plan Grand Canyon trip, kayaking, and when to ride a segway - check!
  ...In true multi-tasking spirit, my baseball trips will be filled with Operation 30 activities. The current plan (with details still to be finalized) is to drive to the Grand Canyon from Phoenix, go kayaking in San Diego (La Jolla, actually), and ride a segway in Seattle.
• Pick a music festival - check!
  ...Bonnaroo 2011 is it! I couldn't be more excited about the lineup - Mumford & Sons, Florence + the Machine, Ray Lamontagne, Eminem, Girl Talk, Buffalo Springfield, The Black Keyes, and many more. Simply Awesome.
  

As I finalize the details of my trips I'll be looking for some input to ensure I make the most of them. So if anyone has any "must do" activities while in Phoenix, Seattle, San Diego, or Boston, I'm all ears! I'm also open to free flights, hotel stays, and car rentals if anyone has access. My 2011 travel budget will be significantly higher than 2010, but I'm good with it. :-)

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Holy Sweat!

I've found a new fitness love: Bikram Yoga! To clarify, that's pronounced Bee-krahm Yoga and involves a room heated to 105 degrees F and a set series of 26 postures and two breathing exercises for 90 minutes. It's something that I've wanted to try for a while. I've been looking for a supplement to the running and biking I do otherwise and haven't yet gotten back into swimming, so Bikram Yoga seemed like a good potential activity to pick-up. Frankly, I've tried regular yoga before and it's not for me...love the stretching but barely breaking a sweat makes me feel like I haven't done anything. Substitute regular yoga with a super-sweaty-get-rid-of-all-the-toxins-in-my-system-yoga (aka Bikram) and that's something I can get behind!


My friend Sondra recommended a place in Clayton that she'd gone to before. It was right next to my Sprint store, so I knew exactly where it was. We made a date for the Saturday 8am class and knocked out #7 on my list. For a morning class, there was a surprising amount of people in the room! I wasn't used to some of the house rules...no shoes or talking in the yoga room. (Much different than the aerobics classes I'm used to where lots of noise is involved.) But the instructor was great and there were people of all skill levels there, which made me feel more comfortable as a first-timer.

After 90 minutes of extreme sweating and barely being able to hold my legs and feet through postures because of my slippery grip, I survived my first Bikram Yoga class. I can honestly say that I've never sweat that much in my life. It was great! Afterward I refueled with a Peach Recovery power smoothie from the Juice & Smoothie place in the same shopping plaza. I'm not sure how often I'll have the time or be willing to pay the $18 per class, but I'm sure there'll be more Bikram Yoga in my future.

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Roll Over Beethoven

#12 - See Chuck Berry at the Duck Room....Check!

This past Wednesday I had what I consider to be a true St. Louis experience. I saw the one and only Chuck Berry live at the famous Duck Room at Blueberry Hill. In a word, it was awesome. I hope that when I'm 84 years old that I can still move and get around as well as he does! Even though Chuck could definitely hold his own, it seemed that everyone playing with him onstage was looking out for his well-being...making sure he didn't trip and that he wasn't too tired. His son even played back-up guitar for him to cover when Chuck needed a break, and reminded him of the lyrics to the remaining part of "Johnny B. Goode" after he deviated a tad from the original song (to another song he had just played). That, or maybe it was a planned re-mix. :-)



Joining me on my #12 quest were my friends Diane and Katie, as well as Katie's mom, Diane. We were lucky to get there early enough to get seats, which if you've been to the Duck Room before you know is no small feat. (It's only less than 50% seating. Mostly standing room only.) We all had a blast!

Adorned in a green sequined shirt and captain's hat, Chuck sang some of his classics...."My Ding-A-Ling", "Johnny B. Goode", and "Roll Over Beethoven". I honestly hadn't realized just how many Chuck Berry songs I actually knew. I guess I should have had higher expectations for someone credited as being a pioneer of rock n' roll music. Well, consider me properly schooled on the matter. He really could play a guitar like ringing a bell. (Go Johnny Go!)

After playing for about an hour we were close enough to see him mouth the words, "gotta go"to his bandmates. One thing I've heard that definitely seems to hold true, when Chuck's done he's done. But just because he may have been too tired to keep performing, he wasn't too tired to sign autographs for his fans. We got a spot in line and were able to exchange pleasantries and thank him for a great show. I now have Mr. Berry's signature on my ticket stub next to my sharpie-ed #12 addition. A great souvenir for a great experience checked off my list.



Thank you, Chuck Berry!

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