Today my uncle, is doing the MS150 "Bike to the Breakwater." The race is up in Portland, Maine. The intention is to raise funds to benefit the Maine Chapter of the National MS Society. The Maine chapter provides programs and services to people living with Multiple Sclerosis in Maine. They support research to find a cause and cure for MS. Of course, our family spent the last week with us. We are conveniently located along the way. My uncle has done this race a number of times before. He is a randonneur. For him this distance is a mild ride. :-) (Imagine!) No matter how modest he might be about this, I'm taking the opportunity to wildly cheer him on anyway! Woo hoo! Whether he needs it or not! This weekend the Pan Mass Challenge is also taking place. Some of the riders pass right through Franklin in front of our place. That is always exciting to see and makes big news around here. I am wishing all the bicycle riders a good experience today as the cruise into Portland and Provincetown on these great charity rides. This morning, I take that inspiring positive energy still floating around out there and do my first "outside" run of the season in preparation for the Race for the Cure in Boston. Running outside is a lot harder than running in the gym. Weather and hills pose their own sets of challenges. New England pot holes can reach out and grab an unsuspecting ankle. The air this morning was just right -- a cool light breeze. I recently got my first pair of real running shoes. At 5 foot something, I'm small, with short non runnerly legs. None could be more surprised than I am to find out that I am a "Runner." Weird how that happens. I blame Baci. You know that ad about getting a faster dog? He runs for the fun of it, and he taught me how. :-) I did two loops this morning around what we call the "Aroma's loop." We named that after one of our local coffee shops. The run was a little over 3 miles. There are long gradually sloping hills alternating up and down. I ran the whole way. That was my goal for this run. I didn't time it. I just wanted to prove to myself only that I would be able to do it. Stuart thinks I had a good time. I don't know. I felt good. Once I've established that I can do it, it is easier for me to work on the time. This is an important milestone (literally) in the training for me this year. This year is different from last year, of course. Last year, Melissa was doing pretty well. She walked the whole way with us. This year, sadly, no. As I begin, I take a moment to focus on motivation. It continues to be a simple one that propels my feet up the long hill and around Aroma's Loop this morning with a light heart. I am wishing all families, including my own, all the best. I add my own little bit of positive energy to the day and run. If you were out there too, I say, "good going!" Consider your back patted in hearty congratulations!

So I've taken the zPro plunge to add in discussions here on the topic of living a balance life for my Life Balance software customers. I am looking at zPro as an experiment at this point. I've been impressed with how well zaadz works and it seems to scale well and the vibrancy of the community is probably no accident. In part, that is a function of how zaadz manages the discussions. So zPro could turn out to be interesting. Let's give it a whirl! :-)

The Susan G. Komen For the Cure organization sent me a pretty black pen with a pink ribbon clip for helping to raise "so much money" last year for the Massachusetts race for the cure in Boston and a refrigerator magnet that says "Run, Walk, Celebrate, Remember." Who can forget? Not me. That's for sure. Yesterday I ran 3.1 miles in 33 minutes at the gym. That's a good time for me. It is less than a month left to go before race day, and I'm pretty much on target with my training. Donations are starting to come in too. I'm about halfway to my goal. It's doable! One step at a time. Anyway, the support from everyone means so much. The money goes to help fund screening and treatment for families who are underinsured and to help fund research to find better treatments and nothing less than a cure to END breast cancer FOREVER, something that families will never have to worry about again. I'm all for that! So when I am on my way this year to "Run, Walk, Celebrate, Remember", I especially choose to remember my aunt (who is unforgettable) naturally, but also I choose to remember to look for the good that our positive actions now can create for other families in the future. That's what fuels this tank! If you feel moved to help out, point your browser to my pledge page too. Now, how can I put this pen to good use?

The results of mind mapping techniques depend largely on the nature of the mind doing the mapping. I take a moment to imagine myself an early mind cartographer. Now entering terra incognita. Measuring the latitude and longitude along the rocky coastline of my daily input and interaction with the sentient beings around me. Some people stand out as landmarks. I note in my parchment book with the leather cover that there are minds everywhere that have yet to be discovered, and some in which there be sea monsters. And, now, over there, what is that, exactly!? Looks... unusual.... and... yet, reminds me of something else I've seen lately... Peering through the polished brass telescope ...Aha! I draw a line between two dots, in scratchy goose quill ink, between David Byrne's book Arboretum and Edward Tufte's book, Beautiful Evidence. Art, Science Science, Art, Ping, Pong, Pong, Ping. I get out the GPS, note the way points.