Judgements about People and Reality

Daniel: Why didn't you tell me?
Miyagi: Tell what?
Daniel: That you knew karate.
Miyagi: You not ask.
- Taken from The Karate Kid

For the past year or so, there have been these random Japanese swimmers showing up for weeks on end to train. One of our coaches--referred to as Tako or Coach Tako--is from Japan, and he spends a great deal of time working with them when he isn't running our Master's workouts. So as time has gone on, people have begun to wonder about these swimmers that randomly show up, and rumors have been to build over time.

I think my favorite story is that these people that show up are doing the Japanese version of "Scared Straight." They may have been caught smoking pot, or took their parents' car out without asking. For such behavior, they are sent to Arizona to see how hard life can be outside of the loving confines of Japan. But that story doesn't make a whole lot of sense on a lot of levels. All I knew is that something was going and I didn't understand exactly what it was.

I got some clarity on this past Monday morning. A note was written on the workout board stating that one of Coach Tako's swimmers took first in the 100 Fly at Japanese Nationals. I'm not 100% sure, but I would guess that he will be going to the Olympics as part of the Japanese Olympic Team.

As it turns out, Tako is one of the elite swim coaches in all of Japan, and trains a handful of swimmers intermittently. They stay with him in his small apartment, run workouts when he is asked to do other things for the swim team, and first and foremost, swim. This whole story sounds like a movie waiting to happen.

Friday night The Karate Kid was on and it reminded me of Coach Tako and his random Japanese swimmers. The thing that really struck me is that Tako is a world-class swim coach, but unless you are told this, you would never guess it. His communication skills in English aren't so great, he tells most people "I don't know how to swim," and is known to yell out random age group swimmers names when they are goofing off in their own respective practice. Each day last summer, at least once per workout, Tako would yell out "JOOOOOOOHHHHHANNNNNN!" during the middle of our swim practice. After awhile, I started yelling it out randomly just to confuse the kid, and Tako as well, but I digress.

The point I was trying to make is that sometimes people who are truly exceptional or interesting, go un-noticed because that don't quite fit the mold of what we expect someone "great" to fit into.

Namaste

Sitting in the Master's Chair

"Mastery isn't reserved for the super talented. It's available to anyone who is willing to get on the path and stay on it- regardless of age, sex, or previous experience."
- George B. Leonard, taken from Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment

As Aunt Shelly has noticed, I have some strange fascination with getting my hair cut. As I have gone on and on about, I used to hate it as a kid, but now I dig it--which probably has a lot to do with the fact that I have a barber whom I trust. I would submit that each man must have a barber, an auto mechanic, and a tailor that he trusts--if you are healthy a doctor is almost irrelevant.

Anyway, so I go to get my hair cut yesterday, Lazaro goes to work, but he has this puzzled look on his face. After about 20 seconds of looking confused he asks, "Mikey, I didn't cut your hair last time, right?" I was sort of shocked, but in a good way--the last hair cut I received was from Jay, not Lazaro. The man could see that this was not his handy work right off the cuff.

From what I know about swimming, strokes are like fingerprints. From my experience with Larazo, it looks like this applies to barbering as well. People within the same group, and given identical instruction, will reproduce the technique in a way that is completely unique to them. Doing something properly takes years and years of practice--according to one study it takes 10,000 hours to master something. I find it very uplifting to see that there are people within various fields and crafts, like Lazaro in the field of barbering, who are true masters of what they do.

Much of the time we interact with people when they are not at their best. I am currently trying to resolve a challenge right now and have sent off four separate email to a colleague, yet I have not received a single response. It's not right, but this is not limited to my current place of employment. Seeing people committed to a high level of service reminds me of the standard to which I want to be held accountable.

Namaste

Fatty Fatty Fat Fat

"Do you know how many calories are in butter and cheese and ice cream? Would you get your dog up in the morning for a cup of coffee and a donut?"
- Jack LaLanne

I usually run with a couple of guys I work with on Wednesday evening. The past week I got my ass handed to me by a 57 year old man during this run. Mind you, this particular 57 year-old, who I will refer to as Wally, is a 12 time IronMan finisher, but I should be able to get him in a 4.5 mile run. I knew something was off, so I went back to the core metric of fitness: I weighed myself.

Apparently, my trip to Pocatello, ID, left me with much more than new business contacts. I had put on 7 pounds in about 5 days. I have no clue how this happened. I didn't poison myself with that much with the questionable food up there, and managed to break a sweat each day I was up there. I guess I am not 22 anymore.

I mentioned my horrible weight gain to Aunt Shelly, who prescribed "Uncle Mike's Health Plan" which consists of the following: no red meat, no sauces, no fried food, no alcohol, 1 hour of cardio each day. Uncle Mike might as well add "a real hard kick to the nuts first thing in the morning," to his health plan. This plan absolutely sucks. However, I do see the logic to his plan: decrease calories consumed, increase calories burned. Okay, I got it.

After pouring myself a Scotch whiskey last night, followed by a big glass of water, I went to bed at 8 PM, and set my alarm for 4:30 AM. More importantly, when the alarm went off this morning, I actually got up and dragged my ass to the pool. I swam for about an hour, then ate breakfast. My mind was clear so, I formalized my own "plan."

For the next few weeks--which is about how long it's going to take to get the dead weight off--I'm going to get up earlier than usual and get my metabolism going through some form of cardio. I'll stay away from French fries at lunch, and eat smaller meals throughout the day. I will not however give up alcohol, red meat, or any of the other things on Uncle Mike's Plan. I'm just going to be mindful of calories consumed and calories burned.

As for one Jack Lalanne, I don't eat donuts or light up a smoke in the morning, but I do like the coffee. It's one of my few vices. I know it's not the best thing in the world, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of a good cup of coffee. Again, it's a fine balance.