I hope everyone had a good week.  I’m writing this blog in a bit of a hurry, as I need to pack this morning before heading to Cressey Performance and then directly to the airport to fly out to Chicago.

1. Why Chicago?  Well, in case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard, this weekend is the second Perform Better Summit of the year.  I’ll be giving two talks on Saturday. If you’re up in the air on which one to attend, I’d recommend my second one (lecture, not hands on).  With the room design (no concrete walls), we won’t be able to do much true medicine ball training so that the hands-on can parallel my lecture topic.  I’ll be talking about shoulder assessment and corrective exercise with a little medicine ball flavor in my hands-on instead. There are a ton of videos in the presentation, though, so you’ll be able to get the next best thing.

While I enjoy presenting at seminars, I don’t like to travel at all; sitting in airports and on planes is just not my thing.  However, when it’s Perform Better, the hassle of traveling just doesn’t seem to be present – because I know how awesome the “light at the end of the tunnel” is.   As a presenter, I don’t always get to check out as many of the other talks as I’d like because I’m tied up with speaking and answering questions, but I do get to experience a lot of interaction with audience members and other speakers between lectures, at breakfast/lunch/dinner, and on the town.  These, for me, are really as valuable as the presentations themselves.  Audience members ask some excellent questions that can drive blog content, and I’ve also added some valuable people from around the country to my network this way.  Chatting with presenters is great as well, because they always have some new project or business strategy that they’re working on that can get my mind working.  Chicago is also great because I can catch up with my buddy, Josh Bonhotal, who is a strength and conditioning coach for the Chicago Bulls.

All that said, I have to say that it is kind of nice to see my schedule as empty for the rest of the summer.  With the new house, wedding planning, and our busiest month at Cressey Performance at-hand, it’ll be nice to focus my efforts here both personally and professionally.  I try to keep the summers reasonably free so that we can take weekend trips up to Maine to visit my parents a few times a month.  Additionally, with a few of our minor league guys on the cusp of call-ups to the big leagues, I want to make sure that I can hop on a plane at a moment’s notice to be there to support them and share in the excitement wherever they wind up making those MLB debuts.

Anyway, if you’re in attendance in Chicago, please be sure to introduce yourself.

2.Those of you who can’t make it would probably like this article as the next best thing: Medicine Ball Madness.

3. Oh, I should say that it looks like my second presentation coincides with the U.S. vs. Ghana World Cup game.  Skip me, if you have to; I’d probably skip me, if I was in your shoes.

Check out this great article from Ryan Andrews at Precision Nutrition: Cattle Feedlot: Behind the Scenes.

4. Many of you might recall how much I abhor Comcast.  Well, I’m happy to report that we officially kicked them to the curb about two weeks ago by making the switch to Verizon for our internet and cable – and I have to say that it was an awesome decision.  The price, service, speed, and product offering don’t just beat Comcast; they beat it like a red-headed rented mule.  If you’re thinking about making the switch, I highly recommend it.

Incidentally, I had to chuckle when I saw that MSN Money had released its list of the 2010 Customer Service Hall of Shame, and Comcast was in third place.  Meanwhile, Sprint – which I had dropped for my cell phone service after seven years (also to go with Verizon) was listed as #4.  I guess you could say that I was getting rid of the dead wood around here last month!

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