Gotta' stay positive...

Well, we're at mid-way point of the year and I can't say that I am terribly thrilled with how 2010 has been going. Career-wise, my new position hasn't been what I'd hoped so far. I'm behind on a number that was probably a dream shot for a first year rep as is, and I feel like I'm constantly behind. Every step forward = at least 3 steps backward. I'm learning something new everyday and that's a plus. The subject material is also very interesting as I didn't have much experience on the desktop prior to this one. Gotta' stay positive.
Home-wise, the family is terrific but I constantly feel like I'm missing things. I'm working a lot (but not getting anywhere) and because of that, it feels like life is speeding past me like I'm just a spectator. I can't believe how big my children are! I probably won't be able to go on vacation this summer with the family but am hopeful that I can send them someplace fun-beach camping, the Cape, or something like that. My bathroom project has also taken WAAAAAAAAY too long...in part because of the thumb injury. My hope of getting that done before July 4th is out of the window....if I can get it done before the end of July I'll now be happy.
Bike-wise it's been a mixed bag. I have lingering layer of belly fat that I can't seem to strip off, but to be honest, my discipline in terms of diet is crap. I really should be hitting the gym 3 x's per week and completely stripping carbs out of my diet. With even a bit of structure in this area I'm sure that I could turn the 5 lbs of fat into lean muscle that would help me pounce on the climbs....buuuut, IPA tastes really good. I know, loser attitude.

Well, enough of that diatribe. Time to go back to confusing motion with action....something that I am extremely adept at!

A new hobby?

'>http://

Happy Father's Day and B2B Report

Happy Father's Day everyone! I was given the wonderful opportunity to sleep in til 9 this morning - so nice! After yesterday's 90+ degree sufferfest aka the 10th Annual Harpoon B2B the extra couple hours was a blessing.

The ride was actually great and my legs feel pretty good today. I generally don't do well in extreme heat of any sort and with yesterday being pretty much the first pretty hot day of the year, I was concerned about cramping. I drank 12 water bottles, and the equivalent of two beer glasses of straight pickle juice....peed twice all day (which means I sweat the rest out....). I started to cramp a bit at the top of the long climb called "the Leviathan) but other than that I felt pretty good. It was great to see Larry, Kevin and Richey out there. Rich had to bail after about 100 miles due to extreme cramps. Kevin hasn't done much riding this year and smartly stuck to a slower and manageable pace. Larry is the consummate team guy and brought Kevin all the way in. I rode with Billy (per usual it seems) for the majority of the day. My climbing legs felt great and I pulled a big group of MRC'rs up the Willard State Park climb. On the Leviathan I was looking for another strong go, but Billy started to cramp up a bit so I worked with him and a better pace for us.

The only real suck section for me was after the 100 mile mark where I lost Billy and I was essentially solo TTing to try and catch him on windy roads. I hate riding in the wind. Thankfully, thankfully a couple of Team Psycho guys in full-on time trial rigs pulled up and offered a pull. In ten minutes of scootin' along at 26mph we reached him. I kindly thanked the boys for the train ride and sat up to catch a blow with Billy.

Not long after that, we hit a nice section of flat road with a bit of tail wind. I'm not sure where my second (or tenth?) wind came from, but all of a sudden I was ready to jam. We had picked up a group of about 10 or so folks and I hit the gas. Averaged about 25mph for about 10 miles, right up to the covered bridge that brings us into Windsor, VT where the ride ends. The last few miles Billy and I just spun in. I think we were out there for an hour later than last year (I haven't looked at actual ride time yet). Pretty sure we averaged about 19.5mph for the whole 150 which isn't too bad considering how damn hot is was!

Now it's time to get back to reality. The master bathroom project will catch a wave this week. I'm going to prime and paint today. I'm going to put up a second coat of paint tomorrow night and build the mortar bed for the shower, and hopefully get going on the tile install. I really would like to get this buttoned up before the Tour starts!

Summer's here!

So I always seem to have the best intentions of keeping this up to date, and then excrement happens....my software job has kept me super busy, but I am definitely still ramping into this job and company. While I possess no misinformation when it comes to the differentiation between motion and action, sadly I have been more the former thus far. It takes me no less time to create a quote for 50 seats of my product vs. 5,000 seats of my product. I am struggling with having to touch every opportunity that I have in my territory and staying focused on the larger ones. It's definitely a personality flaw, but I feel like I must be attentive to everything. I am confident that I will continue to improve and be efficient, but it is still a struggle.

On the family front, "the boy" recently turned 3! That's rather amazing to say the least - as with most parents I'm sure, it seemed like yesterday that he was born! We recently put him in a "big boy" bed, which is nothing more than his crib mattress on a little bed frame and he's doing well. Only fallen out of bed a few times, though those proved to be rather traumatic events! The girls are doing really well and are both enjoying sports: Cait is finishing up tee-ball and Meghan is loving softball. As a self-proclaimed baseball nut, this pleases me. I'm 0-2 in soccer so far-that's another story altogether-but baseball seems to be a family favorite so far. And "the boy" can already crush a wiffle ball. Penny maintains beauty, patience, and grace and keeps the engine moving forward. She's so very positive and keeps me centered on what's important. That's helpful as I can be a curmudgeon when things don't go my way.

On the sporting front, it's been a fun cycling season. Good friend JLC has taken to the road and so I have a new training and racing partner. We've had some solid results this year and are planning our collective strategy for moving up early next year to the next category for road racing. All that's left is for him to see the cyclocross light and the circle will be complete!

On the home front, the master bathroom project is coming along - after my tablesaw accident in which I practically bisected my thumb certainly delayed things, but it's getting going again. As I had never before built a shower pan, there was a fair amount of "how to" and "out of what" research to be done. After screwing the first one up, I figured out how to make the shower floor water tight. Per usual, I would have done this differently had I to do it over, but c'est la vie. As my Dad says, "you'll be an expert at this by the time you finish it, but then you'll never do it again." Sage advice.

Well, it's raining out, and I need to get an expense report done, then slap another coat of mud on the walls. Wanna' help?