It’s been a long time

My last post was before our cross country team’s league cross country meet, and since then we’ve already competed at the District level.  Things went pretty much according to plan at the league level, the girls team had the individual champion, one 2nd team league runner, and an honorable mention.  The team subsequently finished 4th place overall, behind 3 really solid teams.  The boys’ team took a beating as we finished 8th out of 8, but it was hard to expect much more than that with 6 freshmen and 1 junior all of which were in their first year of high school cross country experience.  We did have 1 boy get 2nd team all league, in what is probably one of the toughest leagues in Ohio for division 2 & 3 schools.

Our district results, were  really tough to take.  Our girls finished 5th as a team, where only the top 4 teams move on.  They ran well, but the London team came and performed at the top of their game and took the last spot.  For the girls it has been an amazing season, and I wouldn’t change anything at all.  They all get along with one another, there is no animosity toward one another, and they all have great hearts.  We will get to continue on with our top girl runner to the regional level this Saturday, as she was 3rd place overall on Saturday.  It’ll be a lot of fun to see all of the girls come out to support her this weekend, as she attempts to make her second trip to the state meet!

Make every day great,

Chris

Another beautiful weekend

We spent a significant amount of the weekend this week away from home.  Friday night was fairly uneventful.  We did some clean-up around the house after we got out of our lease on our storage unit, which we had cleaned out completely on Wednesday night after work.  Trying to find a way to better afford where we are at in life today.

Saturday, April and Cayden ran errands and met with a lot of family and friends while I was working at a festival in Pickerington.  We met up at my parents’ house that afternoon, so Cayden could see his “aunt” Callie.  I went over and talked to the cross country team at their team gathering, since I didn’t get a chance to go to the race that morning.  The teams ran pretty well, and hopefully we’ll be able to continue the progression as we jump into the final weeks of the season.

Sunday we enjoyed another great service at Vineyard Grace Fellowship in Newark.  After church we ran home quickly and then went and enjoyed the parade hosted by the Buckeye Lake Fire Department.  After the parade they had hot dogs and bean soup at the firehouse, and Cayden wore his new halloween costume, a fireman.  He loves our neighbor, who is an assistant fire chief for the village and apparently wants to be like him.

This weekend I continued my personal bible study through Leviticus and also read some more of The Lost Symbol.  I’m now about 2/3 of the way through the book, and I can say that it is just about impossible to put it down.  Well, time to get on with the day.

Make every day great,

Chris

Great day to open the month!

This is the first month that I can say I got off to a roaring start as an insurance agent!  I wrote one of the daycare policies that I have been working on for a couple months, so that made the first day go well.  I got confirmation of a renewal policy that I had been waiting on, and as I was typing my update to open the month I got the signed application for a home/auto policy that we thought we might lose.  All in all, this month is off with a bang!

I am really excited about going to cross country practice tonight, to see how the kids are enjoying their first real drop in mileage for the year.  Not really much of a drop in the early part of the week, since they still got 7 miles in on Monday and will get about 5 in tonight.  Then throw in 6 on Saturday and we’re looking at only needing 12 more miles to round out the week in the other 3 days.  I’m hopeful that I will hear from the team today that their legs are not tired and the aches and soreness have started to subside.

Last night I walked into the hjouse to one of my favorite smells, chili!  I can eat chili just about anytime of the year but it is especially great when the weather is starting to cool.

This week is full of a lot of networking/marketing meetings.  I had a Columbus Young Professionals club meeting this morning and another will be on Friday for lunch, an AmSpirit meeting tomorrow, and a meeting with the Licking County Chamber of Commerce on Thursday after work.  A lot of things about this business are starting to get a little easier for me these days, and I feel like I can really start to make a difference.

Make every day great,

Chris

Beautiful weekend

This weekend was a beautiful weekend, that was very busy and very tiring.  The weekend is continuing into this week as well as we have a ton of stuff to do.  Really the craziness began Thursday night, as I went to a Chamber of Commerce meeting from 5-5:45, then I ran over to our son’s daycare to pick him up by 6:00, then drove out to the other side of town to drop him off to April, and finally went to get something to eat before heading to bible study at 6:45.  April took Cayden out to her dad’s house so he could go to the county fair with his papaw on Friday and Saturday.  Friday I played in a golf outing for our insurance agency, we didn’t do too bad we finished 7 under for the day.  We were very close to being 11 to 12 under, no chance at beating the 15 under winners but it was fun.

Saturday I enjoyed another cross country meet, and one that was really fun because we got to see new teams as well as run a pretty cool course.  It was definitely a tough course, since the kids had to finish uphill, which played into our teams’ hands.  My only complaint is that it took way too long.  We got there at 8:30 and didn’t leave until 2:15-2:30.  We continued to see improvement out of most of the high school and middle school runners.  The high school girls and our front middle school girl, specifically put on a clinic of how to finish a race.  If there was anyone ahead of them, they all passed somebody in the bottom loop or up the hill.  The boys’ team has continued to show me what we could see in the near future, we are a middle of the pack team with a lot of potential.  It’s fun to work with a bunch of underclassmen that will put in the effort to be successful.  While the meet was finishing up, April was at a baby shower for one of our best friends.  After the baby shower, she picked me up and we headed to the fair as well.  Cayden must have been getting restless, because he didn’t last too long at watching bull riding.

Sunday we went as a family to another outing for our insurance agency, as we played volleyball for the autism speaks foundation.  We had a good time, won one match and last two.  After that we stopped at the zoo for a little while to see some of Cayden’s favorite animals and so I could see the baby tigers for the first time.  They are absolutely adorable at 3 months old!  Then we finally made it back home, where we did some housework before we settled in for the night.  I think everyone was a little bit exhausted from everything, but a lot of things that as a parent you really have to enjoy.

Make every day great,

Chris

Monday…

So is it just me or was it a Manic Monday yesterday?  I felt like I was sprinting and sprinting and getting nowhere fast.  Unfortunately the manicness of yesterday continued into today, and this morning feels like I’m running on a treadmill at top speed (going fast but not getting traction).  I did manage to pick up a few more quotes, it is tough to keep the pipeline full but when it is I really feel like I can work hard and get some things accomplished.

Back to cross country practice tonight as I put the kids through another round of 1000 meter repeats.  Some of them said they liked these even less than the whistle drill, I’m not sure why, I always enjoyed doing 1000s and mile repeats and the whistle drill kicked my butt.

I’ve finally started to get a little more dedicated to doing a few different things in my life that I enjoy and want to continue to work at.  Last night Cayden and I went to the driving range and had a great time, for the most part.  He was getting a little crazy toward the end of the time out there, trying to hit multiple balls at the same time.  Which for the most part worked, but not really what I want him to learn!  He did hit a ball, somehow and managed to have it come up and hit him right in the face.  I hit the ball well with my irons, so hopefully that will transfer into the outing on Friday.  I also made sure to get some light reading (The Lost Symbol) in, and get back into my daily bible study.  Leviticus 21 shows us that our Lord is holy, and we must not be defiled to be in communion with him.

Make every day great,

Chris

Starting to cool off…

Well, here in central Ohio it has quickly dropped from summer to fall.  Some of these fall nights even feel more like that of a winter night.  I loved the weather this weekend, I just put a long sleeve shirt on or my lightweight Columbia fleece depending on the day.  We worked on getting somethings done around the garage/shed this weekend, taking some of our winter gear out and putting the summer clothes away.  Friday night, Cayden and I went to the Licking Valley game versus Granville until halftime.  He was so tired, that he fell asleep in my arms so we had to walk back down to grandma’s house so he could sleep.

The cross country team got in their last heavy week of training as we begin the taper for the post season meets for the seniors.  The rest of the team will still be running their regular week but the upper classmen are going to drop into workouts with the rest of the team.

I did enjoy a little bit of college football and pro football on TV, but I feel like I’m slowly getting away from the big time sports on TV.  I sat down and started reading a book this weekend, The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.  I’ve read all of his other books, and this one so far has not disappointed.  I’m not very far into it, but what I’ve read thus far has been very appealing.

We also enjoyed another great service at Vineyard Grace Fellowship on Sunday morning.  The message was absolutely solid, and just continued to help me put things in perspective in my life.  Even when I feel like I’m trying hard, I can now see that I can go so much further if I just go about it with the right frame of mind.

Make every day great,

Chris

Beautiful weather

Here in central Ohio, we have hit my favorite time of year, and the most beautiful weather one could enjoy.  The highs in the mid 70’s and the overnight lows in the low 50’s, make it perfect weather to be outside and enjoy just about any outdoor activity you could get into.  As a runner this weather is perfect for me, because I can enjoy a nice brisk workout while the weather is still cool in the morning, but even at the height of the temperature it’s still not unruly.  I think our cross country team must really be enjoying it too, since we had some excellent races on Wednesday night.  The girls’ team took home their first championship trophy in what I believe is 10 years (I’m not sure on that, but my guess is that team had to have won at least one meet).  The boys’ team which is going to be running the rest of the season without one of the top 3 runners and another of the top 3 was out for driving school, still managed a top 3 trophy.  All of the kids ran really well, and it should make for an exciting rest of the season.

I received confirmation that I should be finalizing an application for another day care this week which is pretty exciting.  It feels like every time I get a real opportunity to quote, I can probably write them.  I’ve come to learn more and more about my agent competition, and it just seems like most of them don’t properly understand the coverage needed for a day care nor the coverage they are providing.

Last night I struggled through my bible study of Revelation 12.  It is very imaginative, and I struggle with those types of contexts.  My brain (Math major) is very analytical, literal, and point-to-point driven.  When I got into things that are not highly structured my brain really struggles to pull everything together.

Make every day great,

Chris

Another great day

So, after my rant yesterday morning the rest of the day settled down and rounded out to be another great day.  I actually left the office around 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon and dropped into a few of the day care providers that I have made it a priority to target and help the day care providers better understand their insurance coverage.  As I continue to meet with more and more day care business, I am more and more astounded by how poorly some agents interact with their clients.  At our office we can turn standard homeowner’s and auto insurance around in less than 24 hours, and depending upon the commercial business that we are quoting many of them can be done in less than a day as well.  Some businesses are a little more complex and it takes a little while to get them through the underwriting process, but for the most part we can get quotes with several of our carriers and have them back to the potential client within a day.  Out of the marketing calls I made yesterday, I have already gotten one opportunity to quote their day care!  I also just got news back as I was typing this that one of our former clients that I have been following up with via email, has responded and I have an opportunity to quote them as well.

Tonight is going to be a fun cross country meet night, since our girls’ team has a chance to win their first invitational in 10 years!  We’ll be missing one of our top 3 boys, but it should be exciting to see how the rest of the team responds to the challenge.  I recently went back and revised my rankings for the teams in Central Ohio and I would put both of our teams just outside of the final transfer spot to make it to regionals from districts.

I finally got back into studying for my life & health insurance license as well.  That is the next step in my professional development and improving myself, so that I can better serve my clients.

Make every day great,

Chris

 

Weekend cross country update

Well I spent the weekend home alone this weekend, since my wife and son went to Bloomington to enjoy a great game between Indiana University and Ball State.  Unfortunately Indiana did not come out on top, but it was without a doubt the most exciting football game I watched on Saturday from the couch.  Friday night after they hit the road, I sat down and watched Taken for the first time, awesome!  One of the best action shows I have watched in a very long time.  I followed Facebook to see how my high school football team was doing, they handled their business pretty easily.

Saturday morning was a beautiful morning for a cross country race.  While I was watching the high school boys’ race, I wasn’t really happy with what I was seeing out of our team.  Then, once the race was over I found out the kind of times we were running, and I realized that we ran really well.  I can easily get fired up in some of these races since there are certain teams that I want our team to challenge and I thought they were beating us worse than they really did.  The boys’ team finished right in the middle of the pack as a team, and we had personal best times acrossed the board.

The girls’ team ran next, and I was expecting a 2nd place finish as a team.  They didn’t disappoint, they ran just as well as the boys en route to their 2nd place finish.  Our front runner ran an awesome race, taking the lead right after the 2 mile and pushing the pace the rest of the way where she eventually broke away by 7 seconds.  Our number 2 runner put herself just off the top 10 in school history with her 21:00 race.  The rest of the girls all ran their best times of the year as well, and we are definitely defining our position to be in the battle to be a regional qualifying team.

Congratulations to all of our runners for their excellent runs this weekend!

Chris

Week 4 of football Friday in Ohio

I doubt that I will be headed to the game tonight for my high school, since it looks like a game that they should win fairly easily.  It’s on the road and I don’t really need to add the extra mileage of driving back to Columbus from home after work.  The cross country team put together a strong fartlek workout last night, and look to be ready to go in their races tomorrow morning.  I’m hoping to see our top runners show some pop this weekend, although their legs are probably still tired from training.

My wife and son will be taking off for Indiana University tonight to go and watch our friend who plays defensive end for them.  Should be a tough game for them, I know they have struggled with Ball State in the past.  I’d love to be going myself but I’d rather be here to help with the cross country team.  When I say help it really just involves some pre-race pep talking and then a lot of yelling during the race, I don’t do much at the race but it’s always fun.

I didn’t get my workout in this morning, but since I’ll be home alone tonight I’ll make sure to get something done tonight.

Yesterday I received another day care prospect due to my marketing of that niche for insurance.  I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to get a competitive price, and I know that I’ll be able to get their operation better liability coverage.  I put out a few more quotes yesterday and am just continuing to try and fill the pipeline with prospects.  It’s been another slow month to start, I’m hoping to come through and have a big second half this month.

Make every day great,

Chris