Happy Thanksgiving!!
Happy gobble gobble everyone. Turkey and and all the fixings...hmmm...nap time! More soon with pics from the big event.
November 23, 2006
November 20, 2006
Sonoma
So I spent the weekend in Sonoma County with Heather. I had the pleasure of meating Heather's sister Harmony along with Harmony's husband Richie.
Their hospitality was fantastic and I instatly felt a sense of genuine warmth from both of them. We visisted three different wineries in the Healdsburg area including Alderbrook where Harmony and Richie bought me a Pinot! Wow, I was floored. I'm certaintly saving this for a good occasion!
Heather and I had a wonderful dinner at Barndiva, a hip and trendy location in the heart of Healdsburg. We had a vegetarian dish and a Indonesian Soup dish, sharing both. The food was excellent and relativly light and heathy which is a bonus. One of the things I love is her and I have simular diets and we have a tendancy to order things we can simply share. This works out wonderfully for both of us since neither of us eat all that much.
A great shot of Heather and I from the weekend.
and one more shot of Heather. :)
Sunday was a great day for us to be productive. We visited some of the family, did some clothes shopping (Ross! got another pair of jeans! yay!). We jumped on our bikes and cycled for an hour to Danville and back. Heather was able to visit a Verizon store and have them connect her bluetooth wireless earpiece to her PDA Palm Phone (which I love by the way, I WILL get one soon!). What a wonderful way to spend the weekend.
On the training side of things. I bricked today at the gym. 45 minutes spinning, 15 minute run and 5 minutes rowing. I was drenched afterwards but felt great that I was able to do it. Tomorrow is weights and morning ride on the trainer. Go go go....
November 17, 2006
Keep on trucking...err..cycling
The early bird races are happening in Fremont in Frebuarary and I'm in dire need of more clothes for winter riding.
It's clear that my cycling perforance is stunted compared to the 150+ miles I was getting in the summer. With the sun setting by the time I get home, the only time I can viably ride is the weekend. And lets face it, I'm a wimp when it comes to cycling in the rain. I've seen some hardcore "skittles" (my friend Tim refers us suited cyclists) with plastic capes and rain wear cycling. I don't mind the water and getting wet, I'm just not all that comfortable cycling on wet pavment. Add cold winter headwinds it makes for a very cold and dangerous ride. I just haven't gotten past that mental block.
What this means is I have to ride on my trainer in the house more often. I can only take cycling an hour at any given time on the trainer. Not becasue I get tired but becasue i get bored even while watching the TV. After yanking myself out of bed this morning, flipping on the coffee for Heather, I jumped on my trainer for a short while. Spent more time on the spin bike, treadmill jogging and weight circuit trainining at the gym today for one hour. Tonight I'll ride for another hour while Heather is at the Dixie Chicks concert. That should be fun....the concert, not so much the ride. :)
I do expect that my perfomance has dropped a little since last month but that's normal from what I've read. Heather and I may ride this sunday weather permitting. She left her nice Bianci in my garage last night for this weekend. I heard the weather and temp may be great on Sunday so we'll see.
Signed up for Justin's Chi running course.
http://www.elitespinalcare.com/index.html?sectionLink=workshops&subLink=running1
For those that don't know, Justin (ergo Dr. Lau, JC) has been a long time friend of mine from college and is a successful Chiropractor these days. If you're in the Sacramento area and need chiropractic work he's the one the call.
He's helped me a lot in regards to my resistance training and most espeically my diet. I'm heading up to Elk Grove in December to take his running class so I can learn how to run right. These days it's my one downfall in regards to tri training.
I've promised Heather that I won't let my training consume me and interfere with our relationship and I will stick to that. I'm happy that she is so supportive of me though. :)
November 16, 2006
Literary guise
An email went out the other day by a specific executive here at work regarding an upcoming event that the executive wanted us to be aware of. A co worker and I instantly noticed the glaring grammatical and syntactical errors in the email. Realize this email was a departmentally wide email, serious in nature. This isn't the first time this has happened where people in higher power, ergo executives, have a problem with proper grammer.
I feel that literary and verbal command the language is a must in the executive world. Next to the physical, it is the first intellectual impression a person can make. I've always been under the assumption that someone who is in command of many should have the ability to put forth a command of the language that is indicative of the position. I told my co worker that it seems that you don't have to nessesarily speak or write well to succeed in a corporate career these days. If you can schmooze and brown nose, then I guess that can greatly compenstate for the lack of literary guise. What a rip, I don't believe I'm a Hemingway, CS Lewis, TS Eliiot or have a Ph.D. in English but seriously....
November 15, 2006
Tuck Nip?
I can't believe I completly missed Nip Tuck last night. I passed out a little after 10 PM and it just slipped my mind.
You know when I was thinking about Med school and a career in surgery, I never thought it would be anything like this. Of course the outlandish nature of the show always leeds to conversations like this.
"Did you see the show last night? Can you believe he slept with her AND her?
"Yeah....the show is just SO unreal and crazy. I don't know why I even watch it."
Soft Porn on late night cable TV masked by the viel of medical drama. What once was just E.R. now there is a show where the stage is plastic surgery and the premise is based on lies, sex, drugs, and cheating. Cable rocks. Now I just need the show in H.D. so I can get my fix in High Def.
November 14, 2006
House?
It's Tuesday and it's my day to watch latenight bedside medical drama. Unlike others who have medernized with the times, I don't Tivo...yet. I have to admit, seeing Heather fast forward through commercials at her house sure makes it tempting.
Anyone here watch House?
Love that damn show, I wish I was Gregory House. His bedside manner rocks, I need to get the gall to walk into meetings with that same bedside manner and see how long I could last here. Day? maybe 2? Luv it. Maybe if I fake a british accent, pick up a Medical degree and walk around the a hospital in a lab jacket and stethascope, I to could be mean and nasty and not care about what people think. Wait, do I do that now? The M.D. part is a bit tough though...
Gearing forward.
Heather, Heather, Heather...
People around me have seen me walking around with a perma grin these days. I wonder why?
I'm shrinking down to a size 31 waist line at a weight of 187. Of course according to all the charts, I'm finally in the "normal" weight range. I have made an appointment to see my physician to get a physical. Heather and half my family are concerned I'm lossing weight at an alarming rate. This is due to a number of factors.
1. I have been overly careful to adjust my diet since I'm not cycling as much as I was during the summer season. Out of paranoia of gaining weight, I have dropped my intake to an alarmingly low level even though I am still working out.
2. I'm just not paying attention and since I don't get hungry much, if I don't REMEMBER then I just don't eat.
3. I've got too many things (good things) on my mind so I tend to forget (relates to item 2).
I want to log what I eat and my training routine. I know it's adversly effecting me becasue me workouts are rough and I'm getting tired too quick.
Heather did make a wonderful healthy stir fry last night. Yum. :)
November 11, 2006
New Beginnings Part 1
The one constant that hasn't changed in the past year is my job. Still stable as ever I'm trugging on at the Bar, better pay but not a lot has changed in that respect. Family is doing well. My sister got married earlier in the year which was a major turning point in my life.
Ashley's wedding made me reflect on my life. What am I doing? Am I on the right track? Has there been a festering issues that needed to be dealt with? I realized there were a number of things that needed attention. My life needed a major overhaul. A few things had to be addressed.
The first and formost complicated and sticky aspect of my life was the ending of a 6 year relationship with my ex. The last year of the relationship was drawn out and difficult. Sure there were good times but deep down inside I was avoiding a number of issues. At 31 years old (30 at the time), and seeing my sister get married, I needed to decide how I was going to ever take that step with the relationship I was in. I realized I just couldn't for a number of reasons I can't get into here. Let's just say it was due to unreconsilable differences in what we both expected in each other. It was rough at first but was for me, the best thing. For her, I think and hope it was the best thing as well although she wasn't pleased about the decision.
These days, I've met someone fantastic and looking forward into seeing where that will lead to. She has all the qualities I've wanted in a partner. Super smart, attractive, successful, independant, and we really click. Of course it's early and I'm excited about where it could lead to. This is uncharted grounds for me.
Work wise, I've realized that I need to do something new. I'm tired of software, at least developing and managing for others. The only way I'm going to stick in software is if I can self incorporate. Ashley and I have a great buisness idea. I'm hoping this will take off. I also have some side projects for friends I'm starting to work on. Currently, with my life in flux the past few months, I haven't felt the need to stir up much at my current place of employment. So for now, I'm trudging along, doing the work at the best of my ability as always and paying my bills so I can focus on other things like...
Cycling.
Well rather fitness. My cycling took off like mad in June. I went from a semi casual rider to a road commando riding 150 miles a week. At first it was a means to clear my mind and return to my body and move inwards. I needed to recoonnect with my body if I had any chance of reconnecting and sorting out my mind. What started as 50 miles a week (primarily on weekends) became a regimental 3 weekdays and all weekend event with circuit weight training.
Thanks to my friend Dr. Justin Lau D.C. (http://www.elitespinalcare.com/), he helped me figure out a great weight training program.
A few months later, quite a bit lighter, I completed a 100 mile (106 mile) century ride and I felt great. Thse days I can climb Mt Diablo or ride 80 miles with ease. I can finally look in the mirror and like what I see. 
That's just a bonus.
I'm planning on buying a new bike soon. A Trek 5200. Molded carbon frame. I plan on racing in Febuary of next year. I think I have a chance.
So what's next? I hope to update this site as much as I can with new news. We'll see. As things are pretty crazy these days I'll try my best.
November 10, 2006
Starting Fresh again
After a year of no updates I thought I needed to rebuild the blog and start over. So much has changed. My life has taken a completly new path which I'm quite happy with. More to come soon when I get a chance to sit down and write!