Father of Six

I don’t have a really good lead in for this post. The one thing that occurs to me each February/March is a hibernation of sorts. So these things and this formula are what I’ve been thinking about. Draw whatever conclusions you will.

X’s and O’s – NFL Business news and notes
So the free agency season began. The signing I found most intriguing so far was Chester Taylor leaving the Vikings for the in-division rival Bears. I see the Vikes losing about 100 carries and 45 receptions a year. That’s a good sized dent from a reliable back, and a good 3rd down back at that. This might be more about what the Vikes lose, rather than what the Bears gain. Plus, Taylor better not get any designs about my homeboy Matt Forte’s starting job.

Ex Libris – What am I reading, why, and do I like it?
Triathlete Magazine’s Guide to Finishing Your First Triathlon, by T. J. Murray. At various times in my life, I have no doubts that I could have completed a sprint to Olympic distance triathlon. I’ve just never felt compelled to actually enter one. Until now. I picked up a copy of this book to serve as a framework for my preparation. I like the book well enough, but I’m finding that I’ve been writing my own training plan based on my own fitness and experience.

Adult Cartoons – Seasonal Sports, Hockey general
Hockey. There was a free NHL Center Ice last weekend on my cable provider. I watched it all, from Friday evening through Sunday evening. It was compelling enough that I took them up on the discounted remaining season offer and bought the subscription. I have Stanley Cup fever.

I Won’t Say Combo Platter – What did I cook this week?
Thanksgiving. Several times each year, Tami likes to have a full Thanksgiving meal prepared. Works for me, because it allows me to try or perfect my turkey recipes. I stumbled on a new one this weekend, from Alton Brown of Food Network fame, and it was a winner. Here is a hint for all of you who are in charge of turkey preparation at various holiday events: brine the bird. Trust me.

First Down – On an upcoming sporting event – Soccer
The FIFA World Cup Starts soon. There are eight groups of four teams in the final tournament, set to begin round one play in South Africa on June 11th. Looks like Group G, comprised of Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea, is considered the “Group of Death,” which refers to the toughest World Cup group with the strongest teams, thusly making advancement to the second round precarious.

Time Out – What did one of my 6 kids do this week that I found remarkable?
Manda and Becca got jobs at the local Fox & the Hound. Becca is a hostess, and Manda is a waitress. Both seem to like the work. This is remarkable because Becca was the first to gain employment, and then in turn, referred Manda to them.

Second and Short – Cycling
So the professional bicycling season is well underway in Europe. Lance Armstrong is racing, have just finished 7th in the Vuelta de Murcia. He entered the event as a training competition. These early season races are important to follow, if only to gauge how ones fitness is coming. It the most telling stage of the five day event, Armstrong finished 7th, at 1:18 back in the individual time trial, behind the likes of Bradley Wiggins, Denis Menchov, and Andreas Kloden. I read nothing into that performance, but will be filing it away in the memory banks for retrieval after his next competitive time trial.

OctoEchos – What music I’m listening to, why and do I like it? Or just music.
I found a new music store to visit. Second Spin. It carries a massive inventory of used CD’s and DVD’s. I spent an hour in there browsing and came away with two Maceo Parker discs, and one each from Ahmad Jamal, Grant Green, and The O’Jays. The five discs cost me about $30. What a treasure trove that place is.

Man Coverage – Pick One Guy
Michael Owen – striker for Manchester United. I’ve enjoyed following Michael Owen’s career since he made a big splash at the 1998 World Cup. He’s had the injury bug and really hasn’t been fully healthy since his days with Liverpool. Dias aster struck again for Owen in Man U’s Carling Cup final victory over Aston Villa last Sunday. He popped a hamstring again, and this one will require surgery. Poor lad.

Halftime – What exercise did I get this week and how it correlates to a future challenge?
Have I mentioned that I’m training for a sprint distance triathlon? That’s a 500 yard swim, followed by a 12 mile bike ride, and finishing up with a 5k run. Last week, I cycled four times, swam twice, and ran twice in what I would call my acclimation and base-building phase. The event is June 5th, so I am 13 weeks out.

Third and Long – Local Teams
Did you know that the Denver University (DU) Pioneers Men’s Hockey team is ranked number one in the country? Did you know that DU just concluded the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) regular season by winning the league championship?
The WCHA playoffs start this Friday (March 12th) and DU faces off against Michigan Tech. One more note: DU is a NCAA Men’s Hockey 7-time National Champion? 1958, ’60, ’61, ’68, ’69, 2004, and ’05.

Scramble – What outdoors activity have I been up to this week?
So the company I work for decided to give out free pedometers and access to a website that tracks your walking activity and other fitness activities. It’s a neat little tool, and the website encourages you to challenge your co-workers to set periods of performance goals, have you compete against one another. My group of five guys decided to give the challenge thing a try. The goal is to walk the most steps from March 5th through March 26th. I decided to set a daily target of 10,000 steps for myself, and then adjust based on what the competition was doing. After three days of reporting, I find myself in 3rd place, a full 20,000 steps behind the first place guy. Apparently I need to adjust my target a little higher.

Upon Further Review – What sport sucks?
Golf sucks. I can’t say it any better than this guy, and as a couple of people remarked, watching it on TV just might be worse than playing it.

Special Teams – What does my real job have me doing?
A lot of baby sitting, and soothing the savage beasts. I’ve spent the past three to four business days educating people about what my team does, and defending my larger organization while being the least tenured leader in the group. I feel like I might have created a few enemies in the past week, but on principle, I think I can be proud of myself.

4th and … – Who should retire
Chris Chelios. I’ll admit it; there are probably some people who love Chris Chelios. Me? Give me a break. He played for Wisconsin – a rival in the WCHA for DU. He played for the Detroit Red Wings when Scotty Bowman terrorized the NHL’s Western Conference, and in particular, Marc Crawford. I have strong suspicions that Chelios was the reason USA Hockey flamed out in the Nagano, Japan Olympics, and then melted down and tore up a hotel, rock star style. He is still playing minor league hockey at age 48, and the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL (really, there is a NHL team in Atlanta? he asked incredulously) signed him to a contract on March 2nd, “just in case.” In case of what? C’mon son, retire and go open a restaurant somewhere.

Lagniappe – Something extra
I bought tickets to see the Gipsy Kings on July 9th at the Red Rocks Amphitheater. We’ll be sitting in the 14th row, center stage. I hope it doesn’t rain.

That’s all, folks. Have fun.

Wow. I’m pretty lame.

The millions of things I’ve done in the past month haven’t been significant enough to write about? I think everyone would agree that that is complete rubbish. And yet, here we are, the 10th of May, and my last entry was the 12th of April.

Will you trust me when I say to you that I have done some fantastic things in the past month? Can you believe that I’ve seen some beautiful sights, ridden my bicycle, exercised, eaten some wonderful food, watched my children do amazing things, watch it rain from the hotel window, built a fence, laughed at the silliest things, loved, been loved, breathed, sang, danced, and woke in the middle of the night, and still felt like I was dreaming? It’s true.

So here I am again. Writing an entry that doesn’t tell a story, but merely generalizes about the uniqueness of my existence. You should feel ripped off. I do.

Hello. Happy February. Not much news to share.

I’ve fully recovered from the Sooners losing in the BCS Championship game, and from the assassination attempt.

I finally got back in the pool this week. I’ve been riding the indoor trainer quite a bit during the week, but I have managed to get out on my bike the past two Saturday’s.

Tami and I went with Mom and Vern on Wednesday evening to see a production of Richard III at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. It was great. I love Shakespeare.

I’ll be traveling a bit over the next two weeks. My normal trip to San Jose next week may be pre-empted by a trip to Huntsville, Al. I already have plans to be in San Jose again Feb. 16-20.

Cheers.

Me at 2:06pm
Trying to finish “The First 90 Days” so I can move on to more action oriented tasks.

Niece at 2:17pm
What’s “The First 90 Days?”

Me at 2:25pm
It’s a book from the Harvard Business School Press, by Michael Watkins, about “critical success strategies for new leaders at all levels.” I’m transitioning to a new leadership role in a different organization, and I’m trying to make sure I “do it right.”

Niece at 2:27pm
Wow, impressive

Me at 2:30pm
Well, I try to be a good leader, but what I really aim for is being a perfect leader. I can use all the help I can get.

Niece at 2:35pm
That’s great…so what exactly are you leading?

Me at 2:39pm
I’m the Senior Manager of Facilities Risk Management. My group is responsible for investigating accidents that cause issues to the things we build (rockets, spacecrafts, and satellites.) We are also responsible for performing Risk Assessments, and eliminating bad conditions before accidents happen. Sounds thrilling, right?

Niece at 2:41pm
Sounds pretty intense actually. That’s really cool. Do you like your job?

Me at 2:47pm
Intense is a good way to describe the condition. What I like about my job is being a leader who can guide the team through strategy, helping them achieve success, and add value to the company. Accidents and failures cost money. We want to eliminate those conditions, or at the least minimize the potential for bad things to happen.

Niece at 2:51pm
Did you just read that in your new book? haha Just kidding. I’m glad you can appreciate and enjoy your job.

Due to special request, here is a new post. Let’s see what kind of interest the content of this entry generates.

As of this time tomorrow, I will officially have a new job in a new field.

Chew on that for a while.

Feel free to post your inquiries through the comment function. Or contact me direct, if you are so inclined.

On Tuesday past, me, Tami, Becca, and Boomer went to Pagosa Springs for a mid-week vacation. Our hosts we Greg and Chris George, up from Dallas.

Two old friends, together again.

We had a picnic in a park (eating has always been a big deal for us.)

We manage to play a round of golf.

This was Boomer’s first round too. Here I am giving him a lesson.

Greg and I played guitars together.

The Blues Brothers of Slidell, Louisiana.

I went to the Philadelphia area this week. I like traveling to Philly. My extracurricular excursion this time was a run up to Princeton and a walk about the university campus. I love the library.

Tami is in Minneapolis this weekend. Boomer and I did the grocery shopping this morning, and we’ve spent most of the rest of the day indoors. It’s been over 100 for three or four consecutive days. Yuck.

There are two boxing matches on tonight that I’m going to watch. None of the combatants are particularly appealing, but there is some potential for serious violence. The bouts are on HBO and Showtime.

Yesterday was my birthday. Here’s how I spent the day.

I got up early, got dressed and did the grocery shopping.

Then I changed and went for a 60 mile bike ride.

Then I had a shower, got dressed and had a bbq in the back yard.

Thanks, everyone, who helped make this occasion special. I had a great day.

Every thing went pretty much as I described in the previous post.

I got into Philly at about 8:30 and was on the road in my rental car headed towards DC by 9.

I got to DC around 11pm, turned in the rental car, took the shuttle to the terminal, found my luggage, caught a taxi, and arrived at my hotel at 12:30 am.

14.5 hours of travel. Loved every minute of it.

Just in case anyone forgets … here is a reminder to always “Hook ‘em Down.”