Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Times, They Are A Chang'n

Today presented a rare moment in my life. It is the type of day I hope to have very few of in what remains of my 30 some-odd years of scheduled employment. When I started this blog I made a personal commitment to never write specifically about my job or my coworkers. I have written about the joys of travel but never the work itself. Today I will discuss another element of work that I feel remains true to that pledge but touches on the periphery. Today, I quit my job!

For some of you this is not a surprise as I have told you about my situation and the opportunity that presented itself to work elsewhere. For others of you may be a bit shocked. I, of course, am not going to name either my current or future employer but I will say that it is a return to the mining industry I left 2.5 years ago. At the same time, I don’t have to move as the site is roughly 40 miles (50 min drive) from my current home. I may move a bit closer in the next year or so but there won’t be the mad scramble or months of separation that sometimes accompanies a job change. The new job will be less than 10% travel, at the mine site (can you say "blue jeans and no more corporate politics!?") comes with a nice kick in pay, and a killer bonus package. Suffice it to say, I think I will be happy.

The hardest part about leaving a job for me is actually breaking the news to my boss. This morning was no exception. If you know me, you know that outside my twin brother, I will avoid confrontation AT ALL COSTS! I will watch scary, gorey, or tense scenes in movies and on TV without batting an eye but you put someone in an uncomfortable or embarrassing situation that he has to deal with… I will change the channel so fast it would make even my channel happy father’s head spin. Luckily, I don’t think I caught my boss completely by surprise based on some recent changes in our department. So, although he was disappointed, I think he was somewhat mentally prepared and I was able to avoid the actual “confrontation” I feared.

As I explained to too many people today, although I see myself as a very loyal individual, I first and foremost need to be loyal to my family. I have traveled enough over the past few years and I am sure my wife is excited about me being home more often. We have been praying quite a bit about this decision and I think this is the right path for us. Since making the decision to move forward I have had a comforting peace in my heart and the path has been smooth.

For those of you who want the juicy details, I guess you will have to either give me a call or wait for July when we fly out that way for Mom and Dad’s 50th…

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Disappointed

I have to admit I am somewhat disappointed. I was really kind of proud of my celebrity challenge post but for some reason, not a single person even tried to identify these people... I know I barred my wife from playing, maybe that was a mistake. Maybe then I would have had someone play... I know people are coming to the site based on the Cluster Map I have on my site. Shucks, even the guy in China didn't make a guess! I realize you all have better things to do than look up celebrities but if you guys don't play along, I may just have to write more of my treadmill exploits, and I'm sure none of you want that, right?

Friday, April 20, 2007

Tag I'm It? Stinky Doo Doo Head!

I guess I got "tagged" by my wonderful brother over on his blog. I've never heard of being tagged but really it is nothing more than the blog equivalent of spam email that ends with something like "if you don't forward this to 4 of your friends including the person that sent it to you, you are a stupid doo doo head and your house will fall down in exactly 3 hours, trust me, it happened to my friend!!!!!" But I guess I can play along if for no other reason than this way I won't have to come up with a subject of my own today.

4 jobs I have held you may not know about:
  1. Boy Scout Camp Counselor (Summers 88-89)
  2. Medical Records Clerk (6 months 93-94)
  3. Mining Claim Surveyor/Marker (3 weeks Jan 97)
  4. Environmental Consultant (1.5 years 97-99)

4 movies I have watched over and over:

  1. Cool Runnings (someday they won't crash at the end)
  2. Midway
  3. Search for the Holy Grail (of course)
  4. Any movie on TV at the time (usually it is Overboard just because TBS plays that so much)

4 places I've lived before now:

  1. Tucson, AZ (college years)
  2. Phoenix, AZ (6 months after college looking for a job)
  3. Playas, NM (5 months after being hired 2 months before finding out the plant was closing down)
  4. South Africa (Cape Town, Paarl, Uitenhage, George, & Kwa Magxaki as a missionary)

4 TV shows I love to watch (but don't always get to):

  1. Lost
  2. Scrubs
  3. My Name is Earl
  4. Monk

4 Favorite Foods:

  1. Creamed Eggs on Toast
  2. Hungarian Roasted Pork with pickled Paprika peppers (yes there is a story behind that one - best meal I have ever eaten!)
  3. Curry
  4. Carnitas

Who am I going to tag? There is only one person, not yet tagged, that has a blog, that frequently posts comments on my blog, my dear wife whom I love very much and since her house is my house, hopefully she responds so our house doesn't fall down in 3 hours...

  1. stop the insanity

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Weekends for the Traveller, Blood Sweat & Tears

After being on the road for 6 of the last 8 weeks our weekends are to say the least, crazy. With both Jamie and I trying to catch up with our chores when I am home for the weekend our Saturdays are often quite full. Jamie tries to run the errands that can't be done easily with a crew of kids, I try to make our yard halfway presentable, and when you throw in birthday parties, it can be maddening.

Today was no exception to that rule. Our neighborhood had its annual beautify the neighborhood entrance cleanup. I ran off to do that from 9-12 while Jamie stayed with the kids. Soon after I got home Jamie ran off with one of the kids to a birthday party and to do the weekly grocery shopping. I started the yard work here at home. That is one downside to the south. In New Mexico I could mow the lawn every two weeks and maybe mess with the hedges 1-2 times per year and the yard looked great. Here, everything grows so fast it seems like I am constantly cutting something back. My brother would never run short of compost material out here!

To be fair to my wife, she did tell me that she would be home at 2 to pick up the kids so I could get to my 2:15 blood donation. The fact that this didn't translate in my head to "please have the kids dressed and ready at 2 so I can take them to finish my shopping with me after I pick up Mischa" I blame on the male mind. She was rightfully not too happy when she pulled up at 2, me in the yard working, and three kids running around still in their jammies. Mischa's party was over at 2:15 as well so we packed up the jammied kids and I got the assignment of finishing the shopping after my blood donation.

One more rotation of me coming home, Jamie doing some more shopping, while I did yet more yard work and you get us to the present. This is the first break longer than 10 minutes I have had today and I choose to use it typing on this thing, what am I thinking...? Whoever thinks weekends are for resting from a hard week on the job is delusional (or just doesn't travel for work). I will catch up, eventually...

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Pushing It

I know this is my third post in three days after a month with nothing so I probably will have several people that end up reading all three at the same time but hey, if I was more consistent it just wouldn't be me.

Yet again I am going to bore you with my workout stories... Sorry. Tonight on my run I had completed the first mile at a slow 9:53 minute jog but had decided shortly before the end of that mile that I would have a little fun with the second mile. I decided to turn the treadmill up to 9mph and see if I could handle the pace for the entire second mile. Much to my surprise, I held the pace for the entire second mile and clocked in the second mile in 6:47. My last sub 7 minute mile was most definitely back in High School. I'm still roughly 1:20-1:30 off my high school times but I actually surprised myself with that time quite a bit.

I just read my post so far and I hope people don't take my posts the wrong way. They are not supposed to be bragging, just sharing my workouts. Knowledge that I can share these stories actually drives me to work harder in these workouts. I also draw strength that really 99% of my readers know me personally and care about my health, success, and happiness.

To that end though, have any of you surprised yourself lately? Did something you didn't think you could do? Let me help you celebrate those small victories by sharing them with me. By celebrating the small victories, we reach the big ones.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Celebrity Sightings

I have been traveling for work for over two and a half years now. In all of those flights I always thought it was funny that I didn't see more celebrities at the airports I visited. In all that time I saw a grand total of 3 faces that I recognized. Then, in the last month I have seen another 3 in rapid succession including 2 within minutes of each other at the Newark airport and another on Tuesday as I was flying out from Atlanta. Not that I am a celebrity hound but I do get a bit of a kick out of it. The bane of my existence is that although I NEVER forget a face, I RARELY can put a name to it. So here is my challenge to you, I will give you a picture and a very simple clue, can you name the celebrity? Some are pretty easy some are a bit more obscure. Here they are in the order that I have seen them in my journeys. (BTW, Jamie, since we have discussed these sightings, you get to sit this one out...)


Sports Commentator


Football

Space Portal
Mock the Foam, Fear the Foam

TV Fuzz

Penny Pincher


So Who is Who?

Who Knows Why...

I think I have made it clear that I enjoy running. When I run I typically have a TV or an MP3 going to distract me from the discomfort and the desire to check the treadmill display every 10 seconds that seems to slow the passage of time. When I get the rare occasion to run on the road I typically need the same distractions to keep me from checking my watch. When I travel I am familiar with the different hotels I stay at and which ones have treadmills and TVs. I knew the Hampton Inn I was staying in tonight has such a set up. I was so confident that I left my MP3 player at home knowing I would have a TV to watch. Only when I went for a run this evening did I discover that they have move their gym and have not yet installed the new TV they are planning for the room. It is the VERY rare occasion that I have run on a treadmill with no music or distraction. Maybe I should try it more often.

This evening I ran my 5 kilometers (according to the treadmill) in 24:15. 24:15!!!! And that was with the treadmill taking a good minute to come up to speed. 24:15!!! Let me put that in context for ya. Since I started running last August and loosing the weight, I slowly dropped my 5k time from 32 minutes, to 29:50 in the Corporate Challenge in September, and slowly down to just over 26 minutes on my best days on the most favorable treadmills. It was my long term goal to reach 25 minutes but thought I wouldn't get there until I weighed in under 200. Throw that limit out the window!

There are three possible "explanations for the 1:45+ reduction in my time but it is probably a combination of all three. First, this particular treadmill has been "kind" to me in the past. I have routinely run ~30 seconds faster than on the treadmill at home but I don't know if it is smoother, miss calibrated, the home one is miss calibrated, or if I just run harder when away from home. Second, with no TV or MP3 to distract me I focused on form and breathing the entire time. I recently watched the movie "Without Limits" about the life of Steve Prefontaine, a distance runner in the early 70's (probably the greatest American distance runner ever before he died in a car accident at age 24). One scene with his college coach caught my attention. His coach told him to run with his hips thrust forward, (BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP - That was the sound of me removing the metaphor used in the movie to describe this position that was originally in my post but deemed a bit to racy (no pun intended) and "ruining" how a certain reader of mine looks at all runners) and showed him how much easier it was to drive his knees forward and up. I don't know if it made all the difference but with no music or TV I focused on that technique and other good form lessons I remember from my high school days. It did feel easier and I felt like my strides were longer with no increase in effort. Even with no distractions I found myself getting lazy at times and had to correct myself periodically throughout the run. Third and perhaps most importantly, I spoke to my twin brother today. He informed me that he has begun daily recumbent bike rides in his effort to catch me. To imagine that I am 15 lbs lighter than my twin is unimaginable to the "fat one" for our entire childhoods and the motivation to retain that status is a POWERFUL driving force. Competition with my Twin has always driven me to some of my best efforts in life.

When I finished I walked out and told the hotel desk they really need to put a TV in there so I don't try and pull that crap again! It was the first time since the 29:50 road race that I actually felt sick at the end of a run. Different treadmill or not, I am confident that I didn't leave anything left in the tank when I finished and that is the most important thing to me when I choose to run for time.