Friday, April 27, 2007

Happy Birthday Scott

Scott turned 15 today. Sorry, no picture of him to post. Hey, he was the third, we were done taking kid pictures by the time he came around. ;) He wanted me get him "Guitar Hero" for the XBox. Instead I bought him a bass guitar and amp for him to learn on. Hey, it was worth it, I ended up with a hug for it.

Nothing happening on the job front yet. I had one interview with an agency and they sent my resume on to a company. Hope to hear next week if I get an interview with them. The job, as the agency described it, sounds interesting and challenging and a good opportunity. I'll have to hit up some more agencies next week. They seem to have the lock on the jobs right now.

Been getting back to the gym this week for some good workouts. Hopefully I don't get bored too quickly with this and I can make some progress. I was surprised my DOMS weren't as bad as I thought they would be. One thing is now that I'm not working I can get them in a little later in the morning, which is nice. Although there have been some people using equipment so I've had to wait a bit at times. No matter, I'm glad I'm back in.

That's all for now. I just put this up so RW sees some activity. Although I haven't noticed much in her blog lately.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Old Friends

At least that's what it felt like. And it was, although this was the first time I had met many of them.

The JP Fitness Summit. This is one hell of an event. JP pulled a list of class speakers this year. We read all their articles and their post but to hear them in person just puts everything into perspective. And the time they take to answer our questions and hear our thoughts between lectures is just amazing, and I couldn't thank them enough.

But the best part was getting to meet the friends for the first time. To feel that comfortable with a group of people who's only connection you have are words on a screen is truly amazing, and I'm not the only one who felt that. It is what makes the Summit a great event, what makes JP's a great forum.

Some shout outs - first of course JP, who has put up with my antics for a few years but made me feel truly welcome in his home town. I'm definitely coming back. Jenn - it was great to see your smile again, my friend. The Clubhouse - what a group of crazy guys, always laughing, always joking, always razzing Nick (it's just too easy to pass up) who let me spend time with their group - it was a blast. Michael and Jamie (and Samantha and Jack) - I wish we had more time but in the brief time we did have you can tell that they are truly wonderful people (with very cute kids). Ian - a very good guy, smart, funny and easy to talk to. Lisa~ - she is such a nice person, gave time to everyone and helped out with her advice when asked. As genuine a person you can get. Russ and Christine - great to meet you after all these years, I wish you all the happiness this life can bring to both of you. Galya - all the way from Bulgaria. Very friendly and great to talk with, good luck on your test. Michelle and Jimmy - Tool fans who let me hang with them and drove me to various places. Really fun people. Craig (Buk) - made me get into the rubber band man's routine with him, but he's a fun guy, and for someone who hasn't worked out in months he's in great shape.

I know I'm leaving people out, and I apologize because everyone made this one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. I have so many great memories from this weekend that will replay in my mind for the rest of my life. Thank you, everyone.

Edited to add - my little adventure with this summit didn't end until this morning. Last night my homecoming flight ended up in Detroit. That's pretty far from home. Spent the night in the Detroit airport and finally arrived home at about 11 this morning. Damn, I'm tired.

Edited edited to add - One who I left out that I really enjoyed meeting was Nate Green. I was talking to Alwyn and he told me that Nate was an "up and comer" in this fitness business. Super nice guy, smart and a great personality. Alwyn is right on this one.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Los Endos

This is it. In a few hours I'll be out of here. I was a little more anxious about this last week for some reason. Today I'm doing OK with it. Although that may change, I have a lot of goodbye phone calls to make. So it's focus on the future, not the past. Looking forward to this mini-vacation in Little Rock and then hitting the pavement hard next week. Although the f#@*ing cleaners lost my suit. Apparently they gave it to someone else by mistake. Now I have to hope that they return it, or they'll have to buy me a new one.

The car turned over 200K in miles today as I was passing through the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island. Fitting?

Friday, April 06, 2007

Sunrise, Sunset

I've been getting to see more sunrises with my early commute start. I tend to like sunrises better than sunsets, although both offer spectacular sights. Maybe it's because it's a new start, a renewal of sorts that sets the tone for the rest of the day. Who knows, I'm not usually that deep.

I can remember one sunrise that struck me one morning going to play golf. For those that don't know public course golf in the New York area is an adventure. There are thousands of public course golfers but very few public courses. It's very hard to get a reservation to play on the weekends, you have to call a week in advance after a certain time, and those slots go very quickly. Most courses do hold a few spots open for signups on the day of play, but you have to get to the course very early to get in. At Bethpage State Park the cars with the real crazy golfers start lining up at 7 PM on Friday to get a spot on Saturday (the earliest I've gone is 1 AM, but I've already alluded to my insanity before).

One summer morning I was driving out to Montauk Downs Golf Course, a very nice Robert Trent Jones course I like to play when I'm out in that area. I had left in the dark but the sky was starting to ligthen up as morning approached. Driving out on highway 27 I had Kitaro's Dream CD blasting, and the music hit a crescendo as I came out of a wooded area to see a sky ablaze with light, going from red to orange to the deep blue remnant of night. The clouds were a deep gray but the bottom of them bright red, giving them a look of fireballs in the sky. It was a straight drive from there and I watched the morning open up into a beautiful day.

Seeing the sunrises has been helping with my moods in the morning lately.