Prologue

Over the years, I’ve worked harder and harder to find meaning in life. But the more I've looked, the more I’ve wondered if I was going about my search the wrong way.

I've been looking for meaning through experience, but I think now that I've always had it backwards. Life will never be defined by extravagant experience, but about finding extravagance in common experience. So for 2009, I'm going to focus less on living large, and focus more on living well. Each month I'll start a new month-long project (like trying to run 3 miles faster than George Bush), to find uncommon results from common experience. Each project will involve daily activity, so every day of 2009 you can check my progress on the monthly projects and see what I discover.

None of these projects will cost much—in fact, I think most will be free. So if you're looking for a year uncommonly rich, you can join me. There's no membership required, just participate and comment if you want. Either way, get ready for a year I hope is unlike any other.

Epilogue

I stumbled across the finish line, but I manage to complete 8 of the month-long projects successfully. Blogging is now over at Wonderfam!

 
 

It's February, and February was a …

A Month of Accomplishment (about)

 

~ or ~

 

Forcing myself to finish something (about)

 

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14

Heading to the boonies with speed

Written by Nathan on January 14, 2009 at 11:22 pm from A Month of Resolve.

There’s a reason to delight in well packaged expression. It has the right heft, balance and economy with maximum impact. A poorly structured expression, though, is every bit as intolerable at this post’s title.

I think an awkward expression is the best analogy for a stationary bike I can find. I’ve already aired my grievances with treadmills, but in comparison to the bike, the treadmill is pure delight. I biked 10 miles in 30 minute (going slow at first and taking 16 minutes for my first 3). But in that time, I barely broke a sweat and managed to read two magazines. (Related: US News and World Report is a horrible magazine.) Yet somehow that time spent info-gorging was considered a workout.

Little about the inelegant workout a stationary bike offers seems particularly legitimate. Sure there’s a certain technical marvel at work allowing me to pedal without forward motion. But the workout was impossibly easy regardless of how hard I pushed. The physical feedback never matched the effort and at the end of 30 minutes I read off an imaginary number of calories I certainly did not burn from the machine.

Like a clumsy phrase, tonight’s time at the Y left me ill at ease. I know there was some form of aerobic exercise that took place, but on the whole it just seems like I would’ve been treading less water in an actual pool.

In the next day or two, I’ll head to the local running store (thanks for the tips!) to try to find a pair of shoes that will correct whatever problems may be causing me pain. Bush has less than a week left in office and I need to get going.

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