12 in 2012 - February

My scripture for February is Ephesians 4:31-32.

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

I like this scripture because it reminds us that we need to rid ourselves of bitterness and anger. I want to put away these things from my life and choose to focus on positive things. God has forgiven us our sins through no act of our own other than to ask and believe. Who are we to hold on to anger and wrath?

Review: In An Instant

I finished reading "In An Instant" by Lee & Bob Woodruff last week. My sister in law gave me the book for my birthday in 2007 when the book was first published. I was really excited about reading the book when I first received it but it got put on the bookshelf and forgotten about. Every once in a while I would go to the bookcase when I was ready to start a new book and I would see "In An Instant" sitting there. I would usually tell myself I was not in the mood to read this story thinking that it would be kind of a "downer".  Finally, I pulled it off the shelf the week before Christmas and started reading.

For those of you unfamiliar with the book, "In An Instant" is the story of Bob Woodruff's near-death experience in Iraq while he was embedded with the military. Bob fell victim to an IED and suffered a severe brain injury. The book's narration alternates between Bob and his wife, Lee. The book is as much about Lee and how she coped with this terrible situation as it is about Bob's recovery. There is also a great deal in the book about the Woodruff's marriage and their careers. I found the way they have supported each other and made sacrifices for each other over the course of their marriage to be admirable.

This is a great story that was not at all depressing to me. Instead, I found it inspirational. It gave me a desire to strive to be a better partner in my relationship.

12 Months of Scripture

Crystal Lewis is one of my favorite christian recording artists. I recently started following her on Twitter (@thecrystallewis) and now I am also following her blog (crystallewis.blogspot.com). I love her idea for the new year to pick and memorize one scripture for the month. She invited her followers to share their scripture with her on her blog.

I picked 2nd Peter 1 5-8 as my scripture for January.

...add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness.

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if these things are in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I also want to share Crystal's scripture for January which is an awesome scripture to start the new year.

1st Timothy 6 11-12

...and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life...

These scriptures will be my mantra for January.

Why I Run

If you told me a year ago that I would be running anywhere I would have laughed at you. I have never considered myself athletically inclined. In grade school I was always the last kid to be picked for anything. I was awkward and uncoordinated. Team sports always made me feel uncomfortable. As I got older I knew that I should be doing some type of physical activity as my metabolism slowed down and my pants mysteriously seemed to shrink a size every few months. My problem was finding an activity that held my interest. Joining a gym? Too intimidating!  Running on a treadmill? Too boring. So for many years I did what many of us do and continued to eat what I wanted and bought new clothes as the old ones "shrunk".

In January of 2011 my employer offered a 12 week Weight Watchers program for free if you went to all the meetings. I think to myself "how easy is that?" and I signed up. My first weigh in was 202 pounds. After the first couple weeks I could not be bothered any more with counting points but I got into their Power Foods program and I was starting to lose weight.

In February my employer offers to pay the entry fees for anyone who wanted to participate in the Louisville Triple Crown of Running. The Triple Crown consists of a 5K, 10K and 10 mile race each spaced two weeks apart. My friend and coworker, James, emailed me and suggested we do it. I replied back to him "you have fun with that!" Later that day I started thinking about it again and told myself that it would help me lose weight. If I couldn't finish the race at a run at least I could walk. So I signed up and I started training. My first goal was to finish the 5K without stopping to rest.

The day of the 5K came and I was nervous. I had absolutely no idea what to expect. For some reason I expected everyone to be hardcore. To be sure there were hardcore individuals there. But there was also just about every other type of individual there you can imagine. Young, old, thick, thin and everything in between. There was nothing intimidating about. In fact, there was a sense of community and camaraderie. I finished the first race (without stopping to walk) and I was hooked. I completed 8 races in 2011 including 1 half marathon (more on that later).

I don't run as much as I would like. I am not the fastest or the strongest. I don't have the most endurance. But I try. I love the feeling of accomplishment when I finish a run. I appreciate the way running makes me feel physically. I like the fact that running gives me a little time to myself to clear my head. I have been able to keep my weight around 180 pounds since mid-April and running has certainly played a part in my ability to maintain that.

Toughen Up

Have you ever heard the name Diana Nyad? She is a 62 year old swimmer who has attempted to swim from Havana to the Florida Keys not once, but twice this year. Her first attempt was in August. She spent 29 hours in the water before she had to stop because of an asthma attack. Her second attempt took place this past weekend. This time she lasted 40 hours in the water. Multiple stings from Portuguese man of war forced her to stop after she was advised that another sting could be fatal. I followed both of these attempts with amazement. Monday morning I was driving to work listening to an interview with Nyad on NPR. She said something to the effect that the first sting took the air out of her and her body convulsed in pain. As she took her next stroke she told herself "you are just going to have to toughen up. You have thousands of strokes ahead of you."

This got me started thinking...what motivates someone to pursue such a feat? A 103 mile swim through shark and jellyfish infested waters. 62 years old. Asthmatic. Multiple variables that each present unique risks. Without question, Diana Nyad is a remarkably tough athlete. What can we learn from her? Mental toughness. Self discipline. Commitment. I began to consider the areas in my life where I need to toughen up. When situations at work test my patience...toughen up. When I would rather go home after work than hit the gym or go for a run...toughen up. Tempted to take the easy way out...toughen up. What inspires you? Nyad said she thought about the Florida coastline. She pictured herself at the finish. She played her favorite songs in her head. Even though she did not complete her goal I find her story remarkable and inspirational. I leave you tonight with the following quote from Nyad's website. "But for each of us, isn't life about determining your own finish line? This journey has always been about reaching your own other shore, no matter what it is, and that dream continues."

Good night.

Brad

CPA Exam Finished

I describe myself as a non-traditional CPA candidate. I am 38 years old and graduated from Kansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Animal Science. My first accounting position came in 1998 when I took a job as an accounting clerk for a small company. In 2000 I got a job with Hyatt Hotels as a payroll clerk and my interest and affinity for corporate accounting took off. My career progression with Hyatt required several moves and in 2007 I decided to settle down in Louisville, Kentucky. I left Hyatt and was fortunate to get a job in the hotel industry with a local company and decided to work on getting some accounting credentials. I opted for a post-baccalaureate certificate in accounting at Indiana University Southeast. This program allowed me to obtain the coursework I needed to meet the educational requirements for becoming a CPA if I decided to go that route. I graduated from IUSE in December 2009. After I started school it became obvious to me that becoming professionally licensed was a logical next step. I could not decide however if I should pursue a CMA or a CPA. I was leaning toward the CMA because I thought it seemed easier and I was tired of studying. Instead of taking what I perceived to be the easy way, I asked around and got some great advice from my first manager at Hyatt. She told me if I had the time to devote to studying for the CPA exams I would never regret doing it. It was the push I needed to pursue the CPA. I started studying in February 2010 for AUD. I enjoyed Audit in school and the material was fresh in my head so I thought it made sense to start here. I sat for the exam in April and scored a 92. I was very happy and immediately jumped into studying for FAR. My enthusiasm for FAR lasted all of 10 days. By then summer had arrived and I had absolutely zero motivation to study. I studied off and on through October but I soon realized there was no way I would be prepared for FAR before my NTS expired in November. I was so disgusted with myself for the money I wasted on the NTS that I decided I was going to take a break from everything until after Christmas. Christmas came and went. I realized I needed to get my passion back so I decided to change things up and take BEC next. On December 26th I drew up an aggressive study plan that left me feeling confident and motivated. It was the start of a new year and that helped me stay focused. I sat for BEC on January 26, 2011 and scored an 83. It was time to tackle FAR. I started studying immediately after testing for BEC. I sat for FAR in April and scored a 89. I ended up covering most of the FAR material twice (once in 2010 and once in 2011). I believe this helped my score a great deal. By the time I finally took the FAR exam I was feeling very confident. It was now summertime again and I was determined this time not to waste it. I only had REG remaining. My AUD score was set to expire on October 26th and this helped keep me motivated. I wanted to leave myself enough time to retake REG if necessary before my AUD scored expired. I felt nervous the whole time I studied REG. Tax classes were not my favorite in school and I don't have any practical tax experience other than preparing my own income tax returns. I stressed over this exam more than any of the others. I scheduled REG for August 22nd and scored a 77. It was finally over. I had achieved my goal of becoming a CPA. I discovered #twudygroup on Twitter early on in my CPA journey and I have to say this group of individuals kept me motivated. Their shared experiences gave me confidence and provided a wealth of practical information. If you are studying for the CPA exam I strongly encourage you to connect with other people going through the same thing. It really does make it easier. Lastly, I used Wiley materials for all four sections. Overall I was very pleased with Wiley. My lowest score was in REG. I am hesitant to attribute that 100% to Wiley materials because I know I had the least interest in the REG material. On the other hand, going into the REG exam I felt like I knew the Wiley material well. It just did not seem to mesh with the questions I got. I want to wish all my #twudygroup friends who are still studying the best of luck. You will reach your goal of becoming a CPA!