When we were kids, my brother and I created a lot of personal rules and orders. I’ve talked in this blog about our personal “health code” that we developed. There were many other vows, restrictions, and challenges we put on ourselves. For example, my brother vowed to make a new friend every day, and I vowed to learn something new every day.
Reading books is one way that I make sure to learn something new every day. These are just a few of the books that I’ve been reading (I’ve got at least 10 in my ‘current reading’ stacks scattered around the house).
OPEX CCP Textbooks
I completed my OPEX CCP (Coaching Certificate Program) in 2017. That was one of the pivotal moments in my life. I can’t say enough good things about this course and the education it provides for fitness coaches. At the time, there were 5 components: assessment, program design, nourishment, lifestyle coaching, and business systems. They’ve made changes and improvements to the course over the years, so I’ve actually re-done it a couple of times when they release new course videos and workbooks. Recently, they published a fantastic set of textbooks. These include a pre-course manual covering anatomy and physiology topics mostly, then a book about the coach (that’s me), the client (that’s you, potentially), and the professional (me again, but in another context).
The Liturgy of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
I first heard about the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in 2007 when I was living in Kenya. I spent a lot of time with the Rastafari brethren, who were abundant in the area outside of Mombasa where I was living at the time. They told me about Haile Selassie the First, about the ancient African history of Ethiopia, and about the Ethiopian Church. Later that year, I was back home in Seattle when I met an Ethiopian man in a parking lot and asked him if there were Ethiopian churches in Seattle. That Sunday I was in church from 5am to 5pm and I was mesmerized. There are a lot of long stories between that time and my baptism in Addis Ababa in 2018, but I’ll save those for later. Now I am attending services regularly and learning to chant the services out loud in Ge’ez and Amharic along with the congregation.
Gray’s Anatomy
Like a lot of people in recent times–I’d venture to guess–I didn’t know this was a book. I first heard about the TV show (entitled “Grey’s”). Soon after, I figured out the double entendre in that title when I learned there was a famous anatomy textbook with this name. I never watched the show, beyond a half an episode my wife was watching, but I did some work on the ABC/Disney series last summer and discovered that it wasn’t very scientific. I think the book is more my style. I’m the guy who always likes the book better than the show anyway. My mom picked up this one for me. It’s massive, with gold-fringed pages and awesome old-school illustrations. I don’t plan to read it cover to cover, but it is a handy reference tome.
SMART, FIT, AND CLEAN 