For the past eleven weeks pastor Dave and crew have explored living a life that is sustainable. This obviously has many different factors, but a big one that people keep talking about (and I keep thinking about) is keeping yourself from burning out. Perhaps another way to put it is time management, or stress management.

I’m a very low stress person, so I prefer to think about it as time management. Personally, my Wednesday and Thursday nights are used up every week. Monday nights are always my relaxing nights and Tuesday nights tend to be relaxing, but they are up for grabs. My weekends are usually full and busy.

Chatting with Marcus about this, he presented a very good idea. Be “offensive” in your scheduling. Don’t let your schedule get filled up by other things, schedule what you want when you want it. Take time for yourself. This sounds selfish on the surface, but dig a little bit deeper into it. You will quickly find that you as a person are far less enjoyable and useful to others when you are burned out. So instead of giving someone five hours of burned out time, take one or two hours for yourself and give them three or four hours of quality time.

Letting yourself burn out in the name of doing good for others is just the same as letting yourself burn out for any other reason - you are burning out. If you fail to schedule time for yourself, you will invariably run out of energy and what you have left to offer to others of yourself will be a mere shadow of what it could be.

Figure out what rejuvenates you. Plan for it. Schedule it. Look forward to it and enjoy it. Then make time for everything else.

One way to go about this is to actively look at your time on a daily basis. See where your time is going. Make a chart, make a graph, do whatever you have to. You’ll then see where your time is going in black and white, right in front of you. Then see what you can cut, where you are wasting time, and what you can do to fix the situation.

Too often I let time slip through my hands when I should be doing something else because I am burned out. So I spend four hours on something that should only take me two or three. Instead, I should schedule an hour of time for myself to relax and do whatever is necessary to recharge, and then tackle the problem at hand. This way I will be more focused for those situations that I don’t want to do and can finish them in a shorter amount of time.

Granted, this is a much deeper and broader topic than I have time to go into (and you probably don’t want to read much more). What are some of your thoughts on how to manage your time? Do you have any special things you do to guard your time?

Taking a break. What a wonderful thing. Going home for a break, what a great thing. Spending time with old friends, simply fantastic. These are all some of the things I did while I was at home. To give a very brief overview, I took Becky to the airport Wednesday morning. Then I drove home to good old Bremen, Indiana. I relaxed at home and then went with Zac as he did some house shopping. Then Jac, Zac, and Knez came over and we headed up to Wings Etc. (which, by the way, has wings that are so much better than BW3’s it isn’t even funny. Go ahead and hate me for it, it’s the truth!)

After that we came back and met up with Chummel. We watched some goofy videos on the web for a while and then we went in to Jaclyn’s house to fix her computer and wireless network (by we I clearly mean me). After I got that fixed, we played some Apples to Apples for a while. It was really late so we headed home.

The next day was Thanksgiving, so Rick and Delia and their kids came over to my parent’s house, and so did Granny Keck. We had lunch there. After we finished lunch, Zac came over. He and I hung out for a while and eventually looked at his computer. His cd burner was broken, so we headed up to South Bend to try to find a replacement. While we were up there it snowed - and it was absolutely beautiful! Unable to find a cd burner, we returned home and hung out for a while before heading to bed.

Friday I had another Thanksgiving lunch, but this time at mom’s side of the family. So I hung out with them for a few hours (her side of the family is much bigger than dad’s side). Then I stopped by Kenan’s place to see his new (err… old) truck. It’s an old beater, and it was a lot of fun to cruise around in. We picked up Zac and went over to my house where we hung out for a few hours. Eventually we went into town and ordered some Wooden Peel before picking up Transformers and Antz (lame movie, didn’t event finish it). So we watched some of the movies and ate the pizza. Then Kenan and I went home.

Saturday I got up and relaxed for a bit before going out to lunch with Kenan. We looked at the damage done by the tornado in Nappanee - it was pretty crazy. After that I finished packing and then headed back down to Indy. I unpacked everything and hung out with Marcus for a bit after I arrived. Then I headed to the airport to pick up Becky from her flight out of Pennsylvania. She came over and we had a delicious meal that Marcus made. After that the three of us set up some Christmas decorations inside the house and then watched “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (the Jim Carrey version). Then we went to bed.

Today I got up, went to church, went out to eat with Becky and Marcus, and have otherwise relaxed.

One thing that I found startling - how easy it is for me to shut off when I go home. I mean cut myself off completely emotionally. Not worrying about anything, not pursuing godliness. Not spending time in the Word or prayer. How quick I am to fall away from my Lord and Savior in such a short period of time! My walk with Christ must be something I am diligent and disciplined about. It doesn’t just happen, I have to work at it. And to be totally honest, sometimes I am just lazy and refuse to pursue Him like I should.

This weekend I went up to Rochester, Michigan to stay with Becky’s family. I left right after work on Friday and hit the road. About five hours later I pulled into Rochester. Becky and her dad met me at a Wendy’s where Becky rode the rest of the way with me. This facilitated me finding their house immensely.

When I got there, we sort of hung around and watched some TV. Kirstin wasn’t there because she was spending the night at a hotel for the state swim meet. Eventually the Hegeleins went to bed, sans Becky, and we hung out and watched some more TV. Then I stole Tim’s room and went to bed.

In the morning I got up, and Mr. Hegelein made omelets for all of us - they were very tasty. Then Becky and I piddled around for a bit and eventually went for a run. It was a very nice trail to run on (it should be noted that Michigan is, in fact, very beautiful). After that we came back, got cleaned up, ate some lunch, made lunch for the Hegeleins at the swim meet, and headed over to the meet. We got there in time to catch a few races before Kirstin swam. She was in the last race, so once she was done we headed out. Becky and I went for a walk around different parts of Rochester so I could get to know where she spent the past few years a little bit. Then Becky and I came back, changed into some dressy clothes, and went out to a very tasty restaurant. We had some filet mignon - which was absolutely delicious. We returned to find that the Hegeleins thought it might be a good idea to throw a very toned down surprise party for me. It should be noted that normally I hate surprise parties. With an undying passion. Perhaps loathe is a better word. However, it was just the Hegeleins and I, and it wasn’t a big deal. So in this case I found it to be tasteful and thoughtful, and they didn’t make me feel like I was the center of attention. I got Transformers (great movie, by the way), and then Becky and I watched most of it before we were about to nod off. Then we went to bed.

I got up, got showered, and headed downstairs for some breakfast. Tim and Kirstin were up, so I joined them for breakfast. Eventually Mr. Hegelein came down and told us that he had just woken Becky up. So I piddled around for a while longer and eventually she came down. After she ate we headed out to church. Her church is held at her old high school, so after church she showed me around a little bit. Then we took one last tour of Rochester. We stopped back at the Hegelein household to make some lunch for the road, said our goodbyes and then headed out. Four hours later we arrived at TU, hung out for a little bit, then I headed back to Indy.

All in all, I had a good weekend.

This week I picked up Mario Galaxy. Considering how busy that I’ve been, I haven’t gotten to play it nearly as much as I’d like to. So here are my initial impressions of the game:

• The game is beautiful - playing it in HD makes the game clearer, crisper, and downright stunning
• The music is incredible - it pulls you in, it feels natural, it is almost too easy to ignore, but when you listen to it, it is simply and undeniably amazing
• The controls are tight, intuitive and they feel good
  • It can take a little while to get used to the controls with the worlds spinning around you, but this comes with some time and practice
• The camera isn’t quite perfect, but it does an excellent job of following you (you cannot truly control the camera)

So my overall impression of this game thus far:
It - is - fun. Not just sort of fun. Not kind of fun. But launching yourself through the stars, running around and around crazy little planets and playing with gravity. Bopping old and new characters on the head. Hearing Mario make his famous sounds. Being awed by gorgeous graphics and beautiful music. That kind of fun.

If I had to give it a score out of 10, it would probably be a 9.7 / 10.

Right after work I’m heading out to go up to Rochester, Michigan. I’m staying with Becky and her family. I met them briefly while at Taylor, and that was fun. It’s going to be a little weird actually being at their house, but I suppose that sort of thing has to happen at some point.

Not sure what all we are planning on doing. Her mom picked her up at TU Thursday, so we will be able to drive back down to TU together on Sunday. Saturday she’s going to show me around her hometown a little bit. But other than that, I don’t have any idea what we’ll be doing.