Serve by Design

Our eldest son, Matt, works out regularly at a locally owned gym in west county St. Louis. It has a curious focal wall inside that features the company’s logo against a background of honeycombs. I had to look at a picture of the wall for quite a while before I caught on to the genius of it all. We all know bees are busy, industrious, and sometimes stinging creatures. But did you know how remarkable it is that they build waxy trays of hexagons into which they deposit and store their sweet and delicious honey? Photo credit: The Iron Hive www.theironhive.com Experienced beekeepers will tell you that those multiple thousands of honey-filled hexagon cells are sturdy, enduring, and do not waste any storage space. They are also able to sustain a lot of weight when the hive is at capacity. In addition, the smooth edges protect the larvae from sharp punctures. Overall, this design suits the bees perfectly. Which brings me back to why this logo and background are perfect for a setting promoting ...

I have been exercising five days a week since January, 2011. Before this time, a regular plan of fitness training was not on my personal radar! Now, these years later, I am in my second generation of equipment. My latest treadmill was purchased in 2015. Although I purchased a service agreement at the time, I neglected to use it while it was still in force. 😞 A Service Tech's Dream! The other day, I noticed that my walking belt was frayed and catching one of the guides every time it passed. I trimmed it back so it would not get further damaged beyond use. Then, I called for service. Some days later, the service technician came to replace the part. During his time looking over the machine, he detected a potentially more serious part failure. The drive belt that powers the entire treadmill was badly frayed and in need of replacement as well. As they say, “When it rains, it pours!” Isn’t it interesting how household maintenance comes in multiples? After two years waiting to find a con...

Monique is tutoring a couple of our grandsons these days who are staying home for instruction during this season of Covid-19. She is trying to partner with our local family of mom and dad educators who are spending their days not only teaching their classes by remote, but also in giving supervision and support to their home bound children schooling by the same technology. It is a trying time managing all of this!  Mimi's Pickles! There are a couple of familiar expressions we use when facing tough circumstances. One says, "We're between a rock and a hard place," and the other one that is a personal favorite says, "We're in a pickle!"  I prefer the latter expression because it has a tragically humorous element to it. The Dutch phrase takes this dilemma literally as "sitting in the pickle!" So, like being in a jar full of pickles, it pictures how easily and seriously we can be swamped by the difficult situations or quandaries that we face in our d...

Every day we are hearing various suggestions related to how we may cope with the necessary restrictions that have been put in place due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. These are confining days of unprecedented and mandated social isolation. It has been hard on all of us, yet predictably we are helping each other to find ways to make this temporary "new normal" manageable and even instructional. The Keppler's have been maintaining our schedule. Those of you who know me well know that I love my routine! I can hear Monique shouting out, "Amen to that!" We have been getting up fairly early to get our day going and then getting to bed just after the conclusion of the early version of the late night news. The day for me starts while viewing the broadcast news with a forty-minute workout regimen downstairs involving the recumbent bicycle (1 mile at 13 mph), 31 minutes of walking (mostly 3 mph) on the treadmill with light weights ("wimpy" 5 pounders) and concludin...

I had a friend who recently credited me with his renewed commitment to regular exercise. I was surprised by his compliment, but as he explained the context for this admission, I remembered some of the specifics from that beginning conversation. We were doing some business during dinner and talking about a basket of very cheesy biscuits that had just been delivered to the table by our server. I think my friend and I speculated how many of those delectable carbohydrates we could ingest if calories didn't matter. I confessed that for me such "carbs are a killer!" The friend agreed! I then began to share how at the beginning of 2011 I made a decision to get myself in shape for a trip to the Holy Land and other biblical sites of the Middle East three months later. I have a close friend who chided me, "You need to get yourself in shape! I'm not carrying you up Mt. Sinai!" Imagine how ambitious, if not audacious, my plan to reverse fifty years of no exercise and ...