Look, I sail, I'm sailing!!!

One of the amazing things to me is that you can sail basically directly into the wind. I guess I always knew at heart that it could be done, considering ships went back and fourth from Europe to North America for years, but I never really thought about how it's done. I do not really know how many of you out there in blogger world have been sailing but I had my first go in Twin Lakes WI. I have to say, thanks to a seasoned sailor, I excelled at sailing much like Louis Armstrong did when he supposedly took that first step on the moon... yea supposedly. Anyway, the video shows Ashlee and Teddy sailing almost directly into the wind. Maybe it's just me, but I think its awesome.

Our weekend at Teddy's - sailing

When Ashlee sets out to sing, my heart has joy. Sometimes when she sings I think, "did I hear just hear Miss Alicia Keys"? We're going to miss you so much Ashlee :(

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Kennedy's Korner Part 1

I managed to catch Kennedy while she was eating lunch for quick sibling run down. I really tried to stay out of the silly category, but there is hope! For the first time an unsuspecting member of the family will be called silly. I don't really understand in Kennedy's mind what silly really means... maybe someday when she 25 (right around the corner Kelly) we can have a deep talk on the implications of the now common Applegate vernacular, "silly."

I hope you enjoy Kennedy's Korner. Its a special that Kennedy and I running on everyday issues that affect our daily lives... how Cass is the best and everyone is second... also that boy's are cameras? I think Kennedy got caught up in the moment, or maybe she is on to some deep philosophical point. Tell me what you think and go easy, I know the affects person needs some work. I'll get on Meg for that one...

Let me introduce you all to a man who man or may not need an introduction. This is Charlie Kelly from "it's always sunny in Philadelphia" an absolutely hilarious show on FX. The show is about 3 guys who own a dive bar in Philadelphia and tend to get into some trouble in the process. I must warn that most women tend to not enjoy this type of humor mostly because women do not have very good senses when it comes to humor. I said it. Anyway, check it out on hulu or fx.

lets twist again...

Over the weekend, Meg and I had the honor of attending our dear friend's wedding. Weddings are a great time to see friends, families and apparently belly dancers. That's right, one of Amber's friends got her what seemed to be a professional belly dancer. One of the things that was a little odd about this particular belly dancing was that someone at the dinner, early on in the dancing, decided to put a dollar bill in that ladies top. Now I don't particularly know proper BD etiquette, but I do feel that when dollar bills are being slipped into any type of outfit the situation seems to get pretty awkward. Anyway, the dancer was actually very entertaining so I hope you can share in my delight.

The 4th Remembered

It was that time of year again. Time to gather friends, meet with family and most importantly, watch some fireworks. Meg and I decided to head north to the great state of Michigan. We were out on the lake and I think I managed to capture some good shots.

Meg and I did manage to get out and enjoy some time on the sunny beach... it was freezing, windy, and rainy. Boo hissssss

I call this one the floating sea creature.

What color is YOUR parachute?

A few weeks ago a friend recommended reading "What color is your parachute" by Richard Bolles. The book has been fantastic and I highly recommend reading this book if you are changing careers, going back to school, or if you're sill looking for your dream job.

Moving....Its the worst

Who else out there hates to move? In the last 5 years I have moved 5 times and I have to feel about moving the way Michael Scott does about Toby Flenderson, "its the worst." I think what makes moving such a chore is realizing how much stuff you can accumulate over time. Now I don't want to be one of those guys that gives all his stuff away to anyone who wants it (your welcome Meg), but I do hate having "stuff."

Anyway, we're moving this week and because school ended yesterday I am basically in charge of the move. Kelly, Kyle, or Cassie please come and help me move!!!!

Moving on and Moving out

In my experience, life has often been representative of the earth's seasons. The seasons all have beginnings and they all have ends, they are all unpredictably unpredictable, and they all distinctly unique from the other. These last two years have been a unique and unpredictable season in my life. Engaged then married, lived in a barn for 4 months (sorry Meg), taught in an affluent suburban school then a farming rural one, made better through the tough first year of marriage, helped coach varsity football, and finally, decided to switch careers and move once again.

Students have asked me in these last days school of the year, "what are you going to do now?" To answer them, I really don't know. I do know I have a great deal about communication, organization, planning, and student discipline. Kids still get themselves in the same messes that we got into while in high school only now they have much cooler technology to do it with. But to be honest I really do not know what plan God has for me next. I have faith that through some persistence and hard work things are going to work out just fine.

To my memory of Rushville:

Rushville has been a unique and challenging season in my life. I think it is one I will always look back on fondly, however It makes me sad to know I will never see some of these students again. That some will go to prison, some will die of cancer or car wrecks, some may have babies out of marriage, and some will continue to live destructive lives just as their parents had taught them to live. On the optimistic side, it gives me great hope to know that many will go to college, start families, careers, work hard, and achieve great things in this world. Many will make good choices while in college, lay down their lives in the arm forces, and invent new gadgets to make our lives easier.

Although, I am moving forward, I will continue to remember the Rushville Lions. Thank you for a great year, and good luck in the years to come.


Mr. Applegate

check it out. A Graph!!!

sales Job Trends

sales jobs

guide to weight loss

Unfortunately, this is me in March of 2008. I weighed in around 285 pounds! Most people told me "you don't need to lose weight, you are just big. For a long time, I believed what people said about me. After all, part of own perception comes from the way others perceive us. The issue, regardless of what people said about or to me, I still felt terrible about myself. Those of you who know me best, know I secretly love the idea of tininess. Trying to fit myself in small spaces is one of my favorite past times. So in trying to lose weight, one diet that seemed awesome was Atkins Diet. Who wouldn't love to eat meat, cheese and bacon everyday?

The Atkins diet was successful for a little while as it helped me lose about 25 pounds! Unfortunately, that diet was not the answer for me, seeing how I gained about 30 back. Boo. I began believing weight loss must only be for those beautiful TV people who took a pill and lost weight "fast." There had to be a way to lose weight the right way, but the right way seemed to be hard and I normally run away from hard.

Last year, mostly out of a lack of options, my wife and I became enthralled in the NBC's reality TV show, The Biggest Loser. I normally do not get a big kick out of overtly obese individuals working themselves to death in front of a national audience, but somehow something caught my gaze. Maybe it was the large pink spandex (non-gender specific, since it is impossible in most shots to tell the difference between male and female legs), the effeminate male trainer (Bob) or the masculine feminine trainer (Julian), or NBC's incredible ability to combine inspirational music, slow motion, and a slice of cheesiness Zach, Slater, Kelley and Screech would have appreciated. Whatever it was, I feel in love with the show, the characters, the trainers, and even the pregnant soap opera star host.

So. I basically decided, in a nutshell, I was sick and tired of whining and crying about wanting to lose weight. I was tired of wanting to be healthy, of wanting to help eliminate future medical costs, and I was tired of not accomplishing this simple task. I really felt like if I could learn some self control, exercise regularly, and watch what I ate, then I could lose weight. This is a program I devised on my own, but since November I have lost almost 50 pounds. So take the following information with a grain of salt. Hopefully my experience will help you in your weight loss journey.



You Must Decide. You can't fail at this. Weight loss is the key, dudes. You will not only impact your life, but the life of family, friends, random people you meet and so many more. With the first step, you must start educating yourself. We found reading "Eat This Not That" by David Zinczenko a fantastic starting point.



Join a Gym. Sorry to inform everyone out there in Blogger Land, but you will never be able to lose real weight and keep it off without exercising. Since I began losing weight on Nov. 22 2008 I have been working out about 200 minutes a week burning about 3000 calories weekly. I have been heavily involved in Spin Class which has drastically changed my workouts. I spin about 2-3 times a week and burn about 800-900 calories in a 50 minute session.

Get a Heart Rate Monitor. As part of second step, I would recommend getting some type of heart rate monitor (HRM) that keeps heart rate continuously, and keeps track of calories lost. Its really important to get a HRM for a few reasons. The most important is that while you work out, you know how hard you are working out. To find your maximum heart rate take 220 and subtract your age (for me it would be 220-25=195). I try to work out between 160-170 which is 80% of my maximum heart rate. I do this because I want to get the maximum potential for my workouts. Now I made the mistake of not doing my research (which cost me in functionality), but do some research. You can spend as little as 40.00$ or 300.00$, it just depends on what you are looking for.

Food Scale. Alright people, I know you are thinking, but yes, if you are to lose weight, you have to control how much food is going into your mouth and a food scale has greatly helped me in losing almost 50 pounds. For example, I eat Honey Nut Cheerios (not meant for product placement, just calling it like it is). Now, I love Cheerios, which are only 110 calories for 28g but guesstimating has only been useful in guessing how many m&m's there are in the over sized jar on your 5th grade teachers desk. You guys must be accurate in keeping track of calories, fat, protein, carbs, sodium, etc.

Sparkpeople.com. This website is immensely helpful in helping you track your consumed calories. This website has it all, and I encourage you to take some time exploring it to help figure out all they have to offer. Sparkpeople has an enormous database of food information that is quick and easy to use. The website helps individuals achieve their goals by, tracking calories, minutes exercised, and daily caloric requirements. Sparkpeople will use all of your daily nutritional information for tracking individualized plans. When I first started, I could eat around 2300-2500 daily calories. Now, I am within about 7 pounds of my goal weight, and I can eat about 1900 -2200 calories.

These are a few things that really helped me achieve my weight loss goals. I will follow with the major changes I have made in my diet in another entry, but I hope this will give you a place to start.

One Year Down 55 to go

My people,

Today marks the one year anniversary of my marriage to the most beautiful and talented woman in all the land. Fellas, I am so sorry for you that I found her first, but don't be sore losers, I am sure there is some girl out there that can hold a candle to my gal...maybe. Anyway, I wanted to go through some highlights of my first year.

-Learning to live with a woman. I'll tell ya, living with a woman in the right context has been a very interesting experience. Don't get me wrong, Marmar is an amazing women but living with her has not always been raisins and gumdrops. But that has been the beauty of it all. It is in the daily battles where my wife and I have grown closer to each other. It has been those hard conversations where we really see the value of communication. Its swallowing your pride when you know the other person has been hurt by your actions. Its not always easy, but its always an opportunity to grown closer or further apart.

-Learning about cooking and cleaning. I grew up with mother who made my bed, did my laundry, and spoiled me rotten. I have sadly failed to realize until recently those skills took years to master, and that my current wife is not my mother :)

Marketing?

So I am interested these days in a career in Marketing. The sad fact of the matter is I have no idea what that really entails. Any thoughts on what I should do next?

For those interested in Aptitude testing

Good Morrow,

This past week I went to see a friend in Chicago and to get tested for different aptitudes. I must say that it was quite an experience and one that I think I would to do again. I wrote this little piece to give you all a personal account of my experiences.

But first, let me explain why I wanted to go in the first place. You see, I teach high school in a rural Indiana school district. I have been teaching for about two years and I can't see myself going a day more than I have too. I had no idea what to do next. I had gotten some career testing done while I was in high school, but I always felt those tests did not tell me whether I would be good in my interested fields. Those test only help narrow what I was interested in, while aptitude testing looks at your natural, God given abilities and aligns those abilities with your interests. So what is aptitude testing...

So basically, many years ago General Electric began testing employee finger dexterity to see how they would do on the assembly line and found that a connection between there performance on those tests and how they enjoyed working on the assembly line. Since the 30s the amount of aptitude tests available has increased quite dramatically. I spent about 8 hours one day going through a variety of tests which by most people would say has nothing to do with any related to anything. If you want more credible information on aptitude testing you can go to the following link.

http://www.jocrf.org/ This is the organization I got my testing through. It was a little pricey (600.00 bones) but I now believe I have some direction to what I want to do with my life.

At the end of the test I filled out a list of interested career options I was thinking about so they could match my interests with my naturally inclined superpowers. I ended up recording the hour and half conversation because I knew I would forget most of it. In the end, they said I should pursue something based on my interest and not because of practicality. I have always been interested in the marketing side of business operations and they told me that would great thing to pursue. I starting writing this blog because of their suggestions that it would help me to organize my ideas better and to work on idea flow.

If you are at some type of crossroads with your career, or you do not really know what to do. I would highly recommend going to Johnson O'Connor and get your aptitudes tested. But remember to take what they give you with a grain of salt. In the end, you are responsible for your own decisions, with what you do with your time between waking and sleeping. I think we would be happier if more of us knew what that was.