Flattening the Curve

My my,.... where does the time go? 

Since writing my last post in this informal online journal of a 'blog' here 9 years ago, I have:

• Gotten married (8/2012)
• Become a university professor (2/2013)
• Left Korea (summer 2014)
• Played in the World Championship of Ultimate 'Frisbee' (Lecco, Italy; summer 2014)
• Bought a 4 bedroom home outside of Atlanta (Stockbridge) for $129K -- insane.
• Sarah and I took 2 of maybe 20 (if I were to guess) full-time jobs in the ultimate Frisbee industry in the US 
• Sold house; left jobs; moved back to Minnesota to start work for Anytime Fitness (under the umbrella of Self Esteem Brands)
• Bought house in Richfield, MN
• 2-week long Serengeti Safari and backpacking!
• Completed TEN ultramarathons ranging from 50k all the way up to 100 miles
• Supported my wife as she CRUSHED grad school (including an internship in at the US embassy in Bern, Switzerland)
• Became an uncle for the tenth time over!
• Got promoted to International Market Director with Anytime Fitness
• Survived Covid spring and summer in Minnesota
• Rented out MN house and gone full rootless, remote-working vagrant style with my wife and dog!

Whew - it really has been a wild ride with each of those bullet points above representing entire chapters... but since those blog posts don't seem to have been written, let me just say that they each included dozens of legit life-adventures, impactful friends, life-altering lessons, growth and hard-negotiated family decisions that led us to exactly where we are meant to be.

I can't imagine being much more succinct than that, but let's call it caught up for now and pick up right where we currently stand: nearing 40 years old and a decade of marriage; dual-income / no kids and just loving every minute of life we can get our hands on!

It's not been almost one full year since Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic and workers were sent home from offices all over the country - the US was among the last to have to do so. We went home on Friday just the same as any other day, but before the weekend was over, 'work from home until further notice' had been announced for both Sarah and myself... and nearly everyone in the country. Governors began shutting down businesses, issuing 'shelter in place' orders in an attempt to 'flatten the curve' of Covid cases into a more gradual and manageable volume that would not overrun hospitals at any given time.

Just before that order kicked in, we saw the writing on the wall and cautiously absconded off to Alabama to shelter in .... a much warmer .... place with Sarah's family for about 8 weeks. It seem ridiculous now but we were all thinking that we might get called back into the office at any time and made our way back to MN. Weeks stretched into months, stretched into quarters and has now reached a full year. It was a year unlike any other in so many ways.

It was a year full of political divide, vitriol, claims of 'fake news' and no one being quite sure who should be allowed to post what on social media. When does 'protecting the public from blatant misinformation' become nothing more than (powerful, rich) private citizens getting to decide what information is shared? George Floyd's killing just 10 miles from our house really accelerated the pace of the political divide and the country simply became a place where each person got to decide their own truths while dismissing anything they didn't like as 'fake news', 'brainwashed' or 'racist'. It was a disastrous year in American history but we can only hope that something better will be born from this epic mess!

After the summer in Minnesota with little changing, it became clear that the 'new normal' (a very hot 2020 buzz phrase) would be to work remotely for the foreseeable future and we took a big gamble. We put our house up for rent, found the ideal renters for an 18-month agreement and headed off to spend the winter in Alabama once again.

Of the many ideas that we explored on how to capitalize on our new-found freedom, three rose to the top:

• Digital nomad life in Sarande, Albania! Who wouldn't want to live on the Mediterranean Sea for like $700 a month while getting paid in USD remotely?? We got very close to pulling the trigger on this one but Sarah's job at the time drug their feet in getting the approvals done.
• The prospect of Full time RV'ing was something that really excited me - camp site to camp site all year long!
• But where we landed in the end was Airbnb hop monthly rentals! Wherever we lay our heads would be home... and with our renters in place paying our mortgage plus some cash flow, the options were pretty wide open!

Being back out on the road for the next 10 months inspired me to pick this block back up - which I'll do from our first monthly stay just outside of Orlando, FL for the month of March 2021! Stay tuned (yes, both of you!) ;)

With my ultra mentor and great friend, Barbara, the day after my first 100 mile finish! 26th Place overall in 19 hours and 17 minutes!

Sarah and I doing our thing in Switzerland - summer 2014

More rock climbing in these past 3 years than in the prior decade combined! Tons of work getting done with my crew Tim and Margo. Including 3 separate trips to the Red River Gorge and countless visits to Vertical Endeavors.

Sarah and I got to crash Broey and Maria's honeymoon trip in Tanzania!! Shown here in our Safari truck deep in the Serengeti. ONCE IN A LIFETIME trip (that I hope to do again) :)

Of 10 ultra marathons completed in the past 3 years, I've placed top 10 in 7 of them and even won the last two I ran outright here in the Southeast!

Representing Korea at the World Ultimate Club Championship - Lecco, Italy 2014.

A half a year gone by??!?!!?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whatever happens

is what was supposed to happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Timothy Dogg Flaten

We landed at Incheon Airport on a Monday evening in mid-September and were met at the bus station by my school's owner and her son -  my former student, Tommy. They brought us to an apartment which was not at all the 2 bedroom they had promised us - in fact, I think it was even smaller than the studio I had had the previous year. They apologized and told me that they would sort it out 'as soon as possible'.

Despite being ragged and exhausted, I started work the following morning! Most of my old students were there and about 30 new ones too. The staff was completely different with the exception of Darius, the Kiwi that I had hired to replace me that previous spring. I spent the first day just learning everybody's names and reacquainting myself with the school and Korea altogether; but mostly, it was like we'd never left as the case usually seems to be.

When I came back from my first day of work, Sarah had some news for me. She had gone to visit her former school who had also told her to just get back as soon as she could and they'd have a job lined up for her....... well, they didn't. They told her that they had just hired somebody, but that it was no big deal; she could just start in January(?!?). Naturally, Sarah had other feelings about whether or not waiting around for four months before starting work was a big deal, and got on the job hunt!

When you're seeking employment and are physically here in Korea already, you are afforded tons of new opportunities that you wouldn't otherwise have via internet from home. Soon, Sarah would say her good-byes to the kindergarten life and trade up for one-on-one classes with adult businessmen..... all while making a time and a half the my wage!!! This would certainly help in keeping up with all of those mounting wedding expenses!

We readjusted with hardly any difficulty (being the second time around). We re-joined our beloved 'Ultimate' team with Sarah officially on the roster for the first time ever and finished the regular season undefeated for the first time in our history! Work was going well and the money finally - after 9 long months - started to flow again!! Back in business. However, we started to find that the school was far less concerned with getting us into the apartment that they had promised us, and finally took matters into our own hands. I gave my very limited, broken Korean language its first real test as I walked into one of the many apartment rental agencies in my neighborhood, was able to get my point across and was shown a gorgeous 2-bedroom basement apartment 10 minutes later! I took the guy's business card and passed the info along to my school. A couple phone calls and 2 weeks later, we moved in and have finally been living comfortably and spaciously after a year and a half in the country! - what a difference it has made!!!

Suddenly we both had great jobs, a beautiful apartment and almost all of our old friends still in town. From this point on, there was nothing but smooth sailing and enjoyment of life.... time really started to fly by!! Here's a taste of what we got into:

The Crabtree boys stand tall like Oak, love the outdoors and are super-quick learners. They were passionate rock climbers within a week of their first visit to the Daejeon Climbing Wall!

A fellow Minnesotan and member of the Daejeon Pandemic, Tonya "Prickles" on the high ropes course at Herb Hills, Daegu.

An hour of ropes course which included a 90 meter zip line for only about $10! Herb Hills in Daegu was a really killer find by the Crabtree boys.

Of course, no Ultimate season would be complete without a day or two of disc in the sand at Asia-famous Haeundae Beach, Busan. The fist day was drizzling cold awfulness (followed by an ocean-swim none-the-less), but the second shaped up to be much better as seen here.



First beer-bong in probably 5 years, but 'I still got it' as the saying goes. Gyeongju Hat Ultimate Tournament - Halloween, 2011. 



Pandemic crew and other Korea Ultimate schwenns enjoying the mild weather and Ulti action in Gyeongju. The pod- style tourney allowed us to play both with and against every single person at the tourney!



Typical Korean dinner with the guys after playing Ulti all day. Consider this the 'BEFORE' pic on Halloween night....

And 'AFTER'..... Jason 'Redneck', Nic 'Surfing Shark-attack victim', Dan Crabbo 'Badass Biker guy', Vinnie 'Ghost Skeleton' and me 'Aron Ralston of 127 Hours'. Naturally, we had a blast!

The Gapcheon 10K will almost certainly be the only race I run in my entire life as the 'Defending Champ'. (See my blog entry 'Why I Run.' from last year if you don't remember that story.) Despite improving my time (and previous 'course record') by more than 2 minutes, my effort was only good enough for fifth place this year! ..... I'll take it! :)

Finally, after training for 3 and registering for 2 previous to this one... I completed my first full marathon outside of the U.S. November 27th, 2011. Yeoi-do Seoul, completed in 3:27:53. I was just 2 minutes off of my personal best, which I will beat in 2012!

Suddenly, it was winter and Christmas just showed up without anyone barely even noticing that 3 months had gone by. Right about then, my old friend from Tahoe, Laurie, must have somehow realized that I was feeling jealous about Aussie Nic's visitors from home... because she came to see me!! We picked her up in the airport just after Christmas and as always happens with real, true old friends, it was like we'd never missed a day! We tore Seoul up for about 5 days all reaching a crescendo at the midnight countdown to wrap up one INCREDIBLE year.

Laurie, myself, Sarah and Nic's two Aussie buddies who we referred to almost entirely as 'Bilbo' and 'Baggins' for the whole week that they were here. Shown enjoying a Margarita despite being the dead of winter. :)

As Sarah and I completed what had to be the best year of either of our lives so far, we simultaneously began our wedding year in Seoul Plaza!

Here's me, severely hung over and looking like a hobo in Seoul Station and on our way to pick up our  wonderful new addition to the family............

Now, if I could have figured out exactly where to put it, somewhere in the mix above should have been the story of a charity event poker game that benefited a nearby animal shelter. I got knocked out of the tourney early (insert generic, exaggerated bad-beat story here) and Sarah moved right along into the final few. This gave me lots of time to look around at the animal-for-adoption posters up around the bar and got me to thinkin'.........

About two weeks later and with a bit a bit of research, I let her open her Christmas present early and she unwrapped a leash and collar set that pretty much gave her the idea. It was finally time for her to go and find the sweet little 'baby' puppy that she'd been yearning for much longer than I had known her!!


Taken from the Korean word meaning something like babe' or 'lovey',we found our 'Aggie' in the Asan shelter and fell in love with her her right away! She has been all-about belly rubs and affectionate puppy kisses since the first day we took her out of her kennel. Our best guess is that she is half black lab and half dachshund and about 1 and a half years old - sadly most of that time had been spent in the shelter! Her shelter life seemed to make her extremely optimistic and appreciative however, because she has been a super-pet for us and a wonderful decision ever since we got her back to Daejeon!!!

Right away, she had to get blood-work done, go through a double-operation (to remove a hernia along with her female organs), wear a cone-head thing for a 10 days, one-a-day shots back at the vet, and was on special food to reduce her kidney stress caused by eating all that raw chicken at the shelter. Quite a lot for a puppy to go through all in the first month with her new family, but she was a trooper through it all and is now 100% healthy and an amazing addition to our lives!

Poor little Aggie didn't feel like walking to the vet in the slushy rain for one of her follow-up shots, so we rigged up this little back-pack arrangement for her. :D 

Aggie!!!!! Taking a snooze in one of her favorite places (between my knees), she is very precious and has been a bundle of joy since we adopted her!! 

Later in January came a nice mountain getaway with some extra groovy peoples. Here, you can see the creative juices teeming out into the room. Danyang Mountain Resort, Lunar New Year, 2012.

A rare (and somewhat illegal, but we cleaned up really nicely) bonfire with friends under the rural mountain stars!! A beautiful change of pace from the normally action-packed Korea-life.

As we geared up for the new school year and the doubled staff numbers that we would be welcoming, I had the pleasure of ripping down a wall to make room for this beautiful new teachers' room! Spacious and full of downtown windows, we have never looked back to the closet that we used to be in! 

We even got a visit from the old, always intrepid Jason Snow-balls! You may remember him as 'the guy we met in Phnom Penh and went to Lazy Beach with last year' during our time in Cambodia. We barely recognized him without his jumbo hair-do he was rockin' when we came to know him.

Winter hike with Jason up Gyeryong-san. Chilly and slippery, but a beautiful day to be outdoors!

Way back but straight ahead, you can see our 1.5 million person city; Daejeon, SK!

Gaining about 1 student per month for my first six months here, my home kindergarten class made it all the way to its capacity 12 before the end of the year. Here is us on our February field trip to the ....
Dirt Museum! (Did you guess it?)

In a month FULL of painfully sad good-byes... we lost one of our own. Marilyn and I went through a LOT together through this whole process and neither of us would ever have been here without the other. We miss you already Emz! Bon voyage and see you at the wedding!! :D

So, despite being only a fraction of what's happened in the past 6 months since we've been back, I'll wrap it up there and pick up next time with the new school year which once again lands me as 'Educational Team Manager'..... last time, I only kept the position for 2 months before stepping down. Let's hope for a much better result this time around! My cousin Christina and three other brand new teachers will be settling into their roles making Kid's College - Dunsan bigger and better than ever..... We hope! I'll put together a hi-light reel from our video scavenger hunt going away party of last month and will keep you posted as the weather warms and The Daejeon Pandemic takes a shot at regaining our title that we lost in November!

Keep on rockin'! Thanks for reading. I love you guys! :)

Minnesotandy!!

Finally, after almost a year and a half of dating, 3 months of being engaged, and a full lap around the equator together, I would have the absolute pleasure of introducing Sarah to my family and schwenns! We touched down in Minneapolis in late June and were met by my mom and moustache-less (for the first time in my entire life) daddio at the airport.

It felt amazing to be home, as it always does and we didn't waste much time breaking Sarah in to the local and family activities!

The new and improved 'Wind Girls' clan. June 2011

Tony and Michelle threw a nice party for us in their brand new home in Woodbury shortly after we arrived. We had an awesome turnout of high-school/college friends and all the family that was available in the Twin Cities too.

A good chunk of the summer was dedicated to letting my little nephew, Wyatt, come to know me again. He was only about 6 months old when I left for Korea and was walking and talking by the time I got home! Coolest little guy!! :)

We made it to a couple of Twins games over the summer. However; I think they'd thank us not to come back since the Twins lost by a combined 23-1 in our two games!!

Sarah enjoying Cascade Falls in Osceola, Wisconsin on our way to the cabin for the 4th of July to meet the whole massive King side of the family all at once.

We were out on Grandpa's pontoon when a massive and eerie storm rolled on in. Notice Sarah proudly donning Grandpa King's captain hat! :) 

Later in July, we were lucky enough to spend a full week in Minnesota's own, Boundary Waters Canoe Area!   This perfectly preserved national park doesn't even allow motorized fishing boats in most of it's million acres. During your stay there, not so much as an airplane flying overhead will give you the painful reminder that the rest of the world even exists - nothing but natural beauty and serenity as long as you stay inside. Forever please!!

We were joined by new schwen, Jason, the indomitable Marce, and Opie the wonder-pooch for our adventure. Pictured here is one night of car-camping near our entry point to get an early launch for the following morning. 

Approximately day 4: Sarah is ALL smiles enjoying her marshmallows despite the less-than-perfect weather. 

BWCA July, 2011
Clear, sunny skies, water like glass and NOTHING BUT NATURE in all directions!!

From one of my favorite places in the world directly to another: time for a week at Kilworry Resort with most of the Wind side of the family!

Bud Coughlin Memorial Horseshoe Tourney 2011.
After random team draws, we ended up with and all family match in the semi-finals. Dad and I got our revenge on Tony and Matt after they over-mixed their fish-fry drinks!

Time for my favorite meal of every single year and Sarah's first OF MANY -
Kilworry fish fry Wednesday!

All of the brothers flexing those Hollywood smiles down at the fire. Tony randomly in costume; anything for a chuckle down at the fire!

As soon as I leave, I immediately start to think about the following year when they let us come back! Kilworry Resort, Pine River MN, August 2011

In between trips, I made sure to show Sarah the beautiful cities that I call home! She absolutely love the place and says she considers it highly livable.... but she's only been there in the middle of summer! :)

Sitting atop the bluffs of the Mighty Mississippi River, our state capital, St. Paul!

I've sure missed my little kitty Blue!!!! Mom and Dad have been incredibly kind enough to take care o him while I'm gone. I'll be back for you soon with your new family, little buddy! 

The laugh a minute, clap-along, foot-stomping stylings of Gaelic Storm at the Minnesota Zoo with my parents. We will certainly be seeing them again as soon as possible! 

Michelle's family helping us warm up the new Twins Bar at Tony and Michelle's house with lots of yummy and colorful shots!

Widely considered to be one of the best in the country  (certainly by Minnesotans anyhow!),
The Minnesota State Fair!!! 

Sarah throwing DOWN on a deep-fried banana split at 'The Fair'....
and loving every minute of it I might add! :)

Sarah wasted no time in developing our nephew into a proper Bama fan! With no real strong previous NCAA affiliations, he was just as happy to jump on board as we all were!! ROLL TIDE, little guy!! :)

We even got to use some of our Viking's season tickets under our brand new dome roof. It was a sad second-half collapse after building a serious halftime lead (one of many this season, I'm afraid), but we had a BLAST for sure!!

Mid September, 2011....  symbolizing the end of an unemployed 8-month round-the-world stint, the hippie traveler bracelets have to come off. Back to work with my little kiddies in Daejeon, Korea!!

Our families' full-approval in tact, wedding sites and dates locked down, we were ready to get back on the payroll. So - as the case may all to often be when leading this kind of lifestyle - we packed our bags and said our goodbyes despite feeling that we had just arrived!! Next stop; Daejeon Part II.