Avaricious for Life

Racing Again!

2008-04-29T05:51:00.003-05:00

Well, after a nine month hiatus I am going to compete in an adventure race May 24th. I will be racing with fellow HART team members Rick Sanders (HART owner), Tom Turnbull, and Sarah Coker, in Too Cools Spread Your Wings Adventure Race. I have raced with Rick and Tom before, but not Sarah.

I stopped racing back in September after a dismal race with Rick, Jackie, and Michael Mey. It was a combination of a bad race, a heal spur surgery in February, and work demanding too much of my time that led to not racing or training.

But I am on the road to recovery from the heal spur, I have work under control (I hope), and I am ready to race!

BTW I will be navigating this race also.

Update on Pete

2008-04-25T05:51:00.002-05:00

Jackie brought Pete home from the vet yesterday.....the poor thing is so pathetic looking!

But the surgery went really well and as long as we can keep infection out of the surgery site, he should have a full recovery.

Surgery

2008-04-23T06:45:00.003-05:00

Pete, our Boarder Collie and Agility champion, blew his Anterior Cruciate Ligament on Friday. It was a freak accident that happened on my watch. I was on the phone with Jackie while I took Pete and Jill to a local field to throw ball. While Pete was running, his left rear leg went out from under him. He came up holding his leg out at a strange angle. I rushed him to a local vet thinking the leg was dislocated....we were not so lucky.

On Monday, Jackie took Pete to Gulf Coast probable the best veterinarian specialist on the Gulf Coast. They confirmed that it was a partial ACL tear and we decided to have surgery. As hard as this decision was, both monetary and for Pete's sake (no pun intended), it is the right thing to do.

Random day off

2008-04-23T06:40:00.002-05:00

I took Tuesday off from work, mainly because I needed to use up some vacation by May 24 and because Jackie and I went to the Jimmy Buffett concert Monday night. I got to sleep in while Jackie went to work......now that is how life should always be! ;)

Progress?

2008-04-21T05:59:00.003-05:00

Sunday morning I got up early to take photos of the moon setting. I got a few good shots like this one:

Then I drove over to Kemah, and took photos of the sunrise. I took Jill with me....she seemed to have a good time. Then I drove over to an area that I had seen an abandoned shrimp boat and took some photos for a UTATA project called "abandoned.

On my way home I saw this,

So, I am going now have the privilege of having a mega hotel within a mile of my home. I live in a little part of paradise and the world has found out.

Running!

2008-04-16T05:58:00.002-05:00

I ran yesterday! First time in over six months! I have been recovering from surgery that I had in February for a heal spur. I finished up physical therapy a few weeks ago....but it has been very hard to get back to the healthy lifestyle (and physically demanding one) that I was used to.

But the run with Jackie, felt so good! I was going to only run one lap around CLS (1.8 miles), but ended up running two. My heal and body felt really good!

Plagiarism

2008-03-31T06:09:00.004-05:00

About a week ago, on flickr, I saw some drawings that really caught my eye. They were all fantasy drawings mostly done with pencil or pen and ink, by a lady in New York. Some really cool looking stuff. Well, one drawing of a pixie sitting on a hand had a name on the bottom edge of the drawing. After Googling the name, Thomas Abrahamsson, I found that he did the drawing! I emailed him and told him what I found. He responded with "It never stops to surprise me when people steal my works and claim it as their own, sometimes even trying to "improve" it in some ways."

It really blows me away that someone would actually steel someone's work like this. What motivates a person like this?

Here is a link to the drawing by Thomas Abrahamsson called "Handhold".

Class with Daves

2008-03-26T05:55:00.006-05:00

Here is my first assignments for Class with Daves: the Audit Group. I am most happy with "The Alchemist" and "blue", they most represent what the Dave's were after.

2008-03-24T06:04:00.005-05:00

I just finished reading a wonderful little book by Paolo Coehlo, called "The Alchemist". It is a book about following your dreams and the importances of self-discovery. It should be required reading for all high school graduates!

I read the book after joining a group on flickr called "Class with Daves: The Audit Group". Each week the two moderators, Dave and Dave, give three photography assignments. This weeks assignments were:

Make a book cover for the book "The Alchemist"
The Blues
Abstract Redux- Shoot something that shows the world in a different way.

I have almost completed the first assignment, it just needs a bit more work. I have an idea for the second assignment and should be able to finish it today. The last assignment has been the hardest for me....yet this is the one that I finished first....I just don't know if it meets the requirements.
I will post links to the finished products here.

2008-03-19T06:02:00.009-05:00

So, over the last 6-8 months I have been thinking about developing my creative side (i.e. artsy fartsy side that is). I started taking more photographs and purchased a Nikon D-80. Wonderful camera and I have really had a lot of fun with it. I also started to play with Photoshop CS3, which has just blown me away, never have I been so intimidated by a software program. What I have found though is that I want to be more creative and less technical. Or, as technical and more creative.

To develop my creative side I have decided to learn to draw. I started taking privet lessons from Mark Greenwalt at College of the Mainland. What an incredible teacher. I have already seen an improvement in my skills....I could barely draw a straight line three weeks ago.

This drive to develop my left brain and creative side started last summer. But it has not been until this month that I have seen some results from this curiosity.

It is going to be fun seeing where it takes me.

my brain

2008-03-17T22:10:00.003-05:00

I have started to feel as if my right brain has taken over....when was the last time I had an original though....the last time that I was truly creative....the last time?

Sorry, listening to Over the Rhine does this to me.

It has been awhile

2008-03-17T06:09:00.005-05:00

So, it has been over four months since my last blog. Well I never said I would be consistent. I found a neat website, I think on del.icio.us (which I rarely use), yesterday and although I don't think I will use it, it sparked my feeble little mind. It was a list of "daily goals" that Joe had established.

Here they are.

Top 10 Daily Goals:

There are a number of other goals that I need to add......no drinking during the week, yoga, practice drawing. But, as you can see Update Blog is at the bottom of the list. Sooooo, I am going to attempt to write a little more.

Balance

2007-11-13T05:58:00.001-06:00

I wonder if my life has ever been in balance?

A good weekend

2007-11-13T05:58:00.000-06:00

Well, I was supposed to post this yesterday.....but I forgot.

First weekend in at least two months that both Jackie and I were home together for the weekend. It felt good waking up to boarder collie licks rather than an alarm clock. Jackie had a great honey do list for me, but it was offset by a lot of fun things too. Saturday we took the dogs to Jack Brooks Park where we got a good hour mountain bike in. We would have done another lap, but the pups pads were worn to the point of bleeding! Ouch! Nether one of them could walk for the rest of the weekend!

Sunday we returned to Jack Brooks, but this time with Michael and Trish. We all got a good two hours of riding in and the trails were perfect! We then headed to BJ’s for pizza and beer. Trish had told us that it was some of the best pizza in Houston and she was right! AND to be in our own back yard!

Jackie and I then headed over to VT Nails, she had a pedicure and I had a manicure.....yes I guess I am Metro....It was my first manicure and it was ok, but I don’t think I will use them again.

Where have I been?

2007-11-05T22:02:00.000-06:00

Hummmm, all over the place! But mainly Flickr. That's where I have started to spend WAY too much time. Got a Nikon D80 two weeks ago and I am having a blast with it.

Things are going really well right now! Just like I predicted. Hope to post more soon......but no promises!

Ohhh! Here is one of my favorite self-portraits that I have done:

breaking point

2007-10-10T19:05:00.000-05:00

You know how most often, that life is not great and not horrible…but just good. For me these last few weeks have covered the spectrum from outstandingly great to horrible all at the same time! It feels like it can’t go on much longer like this and that it is reaching a breaking point. What is strange and wonderful is that I KNOW that it is going to break on the great side. Very cool indeed.

Don’t fight it.

2007-10-10T19:01:00.000-05:00

I think, I have made a basic discovery about being a good employee and through this making myself more valuable to the company (and better for me financially). This basic discovery is “Learn what can be changed and change it for the better if needed, don’t change what can’t be changed and embrace it whole heartedly.” Sounds simple does it not? I have come to the conclusion that I have been fighting my boss on mundane and frivolous items that he will never change his stand on. For example, he loves taking customers to lunch at this restaurant that I consider little better than Denny’s. Its crappy food, but I can endure it. It is more important for me to relate to my customers and get to know them better. Now if I could only get them to stop smoking!

Avoiding Confrontation

2007-10-01T18:45:00.000-05:00

I listened to way to much crap this weekend and did not stand up for my friends and lover. Blame it on me being a Libra and always wanting to please others and insure balance in the world or me being a coward and not standing up to what was right. I thought by ignoring rude comments, by someone that I once though of as a friend and mentor, the situation would blow over and things would return to normal. But now I see that I can’t forget what was said….my brain will not release those memories.

I am going to Tuesday night yoga at the Yoga Institute and Bookstore for the first time in over two years. I am looking forward to seeing a bunch of old friends.

Always some good...

2007-10-01T17:53:00.000-05:00

We returned from Van Buren, Missouri and the Berryman Adventure Race yesterday and it was a total disaster. I am not going to go into details here, but our team withdrew at checkpoint 20 (about 17 hours into the 36 hour race). However, it seems like something good always comes from even the worst situations. Jackie’s and my friendship with Michael grew stronger. It is a very good feeling to know that you can totally rely on a friend.

Oh and to make matters worse, my iPaq was run over by a van…..great weekend.

Heading to Missouri

2007-09-26T14:10:00.000-05:00

I leave tomorrow for Van Buren Missouri, to race in the Berryman Adventure Race. My team consists of my wife Jackie, a fellow race partner Michael, and Rick our coach. This is our current Primal Quest team and only the second time that we will have raced together. I feel confident about my navigating skills and am looking forward to the race. I got my last long training in on Monday night (6 hours) and I feel both physically and mentally ready for the race.

I want it all

2007-09-26T14:07:00.000-05:00

I know that it is an unachievable goal, but I do want it all. I guess this line of thinking started a few days ago when visiting the Lifehacker blog. To be organized, always know my goals and follow them, and to use both sides of my brain. I have taken those tests that indicate if you are right brained or left brained and I always fall right in the middle. An artist and engineer.....well I am not sure about that. But I do want to improve both my artistic skills and my computer/engineer/mathematic/organizational skills. Oh yes, I also want to be a great athlete, adventure racer, and maybe father one day.

Trying to figure it out

2007-09-21T19:20:00.000-05:00

So, this blogging thing is harder than I first thought. I don’t want this blog to be a daily journal….lets face it my life is not that exciting. Do you really want to hear about how many miles I ran or who I had lunch with? I did not think so. Therefore you are going to have to bear with me until I find my footing and can figure out what I am doing here.

With that in mind, I am going to continue to blog on what ever comes to mind. And please, leave a comment…even if it is “You suck” or like a friend once told me when email was first burgeoning “You write crappy email.”

Small Pleasures

2007-09-20T17:29:00.000-05:00

Well the first day of autumn is just two days away and Texas is finally starting to cool down. It has rained so much this year that we did not have day after day of 100 degree heat, but it was hot enough. For some reason the heat seemed to bother me more this summer. But the summer heat or even autumn is not what I wanted to blog about today.

I was driving home from work, thinking about things that I wanted or needed to do, when I remembered that I would need to first take our two boarder collies (Pete and Jill) on a walk. My first though was, “Darn! I don’t have time for that,” but then I started to think. These two pups wait all day for us to come home; we are the light of their life. For that fact alone we should honor them and do all we can for them.

Sure enough, I had two crack cocaine addicts jumping up and down and running around like there was no tomorrow when I got home. While I was throwing ball for them, I remembered how much I enjoyed these few minutes that I spent walking and playing with them. I would miss it, if it was not there. It is all so routine, yet sometimes the stability of the mundane helps anchor ourselves to the important things in life.

Headlines

2007-09-19T11:45:00.000-05:00

I have been a news junkie since the mid-eighties. That is when my sister Beverly turned me on to National Public Radio. But for the last few years my craving for knowing what is happening in the world has diminished for a number of reasons. First, and not much of an excuse, is that I am listening to digital recordings of books. Time that I used to listen to NPR, I now listen to books. The second is how depressing the war in

Iraq

has become....or always has been.

During the 2004 invasion by US troops, I remember telling my dad “I hope George W is right and there are WMD’s over there.” Well, he was wrong and Iraq has crumbled around him. Since those first few days the news has all been bad. It may not be as bad as the national and international media is making it, but I don’t get direct feeds from the CIA on Iraq. I, like most of the country, has to believe what we are told and it is all bad.

The third reason that my hunger for news is dwindling is that I don’t care anymore and this is what really has me depressed. What good does it do to stay informed if you can’t do anything about it? Global warming is going to put where I work and live under 5’ of water. The dollar is becoming weaker while the euro continues to grow strong. Our government is corrupt and it is not safe to eat spinach. I don't really buy this line of reasoning, but it does get depressing and my mind is growing stale.

So is this a new chapter in my life?

2007-09-17T15:11:00.000-05:00

So many exciting things are happening right now.

Work is exciting and going very well and I am leading a major expansion project. I am also learning the importance's of politics within the business community. I find it interesting, yet daunting.

In my personal life I have seen how I can improve my relationships with my wife and friends. That old word communication…it is so easy yet so hard. I realize that one reason that I have not expressed myself like I should is that I did not want to hurt others feelings or I did not want to disagree. Although this might work short term, over time I become less and less satisfied. You can't just give, you have to also take.

I am signed up for Primal Quest 2008, a 500 mile adventure race that will be held somewhere in the Northwest US. I was so excited when we decided to do it (Jackie, Michael, Rick, and I) and our team was accepted. But now I am less excited. Our team dynamics are not what I thought they would be and the cost is starting to make me reconsider. Entry is $12,500 (so $6,250 for Jackie and me) plus another $5,000 in gear and logistics. I think, the only way I would want to do this race is if the team dynamics was perfect. I want to enjoy every minute of training and racing. I also worry that maybe J and I should not race together….I don't see a problem but she thinks there might be one (She says she makes me nervous!). I just don't know….but it would be an adventure of a life time.

I want to learn to draw.

I want to write....maybe a short story first. I am anxious to see how this progresses.

What do you see when you look back over your life? What do you see when you look at yourself 10 years from now?

Wind power in the Gulf of Mexico

2007-09-17T12:50:00.000-05:00

Just read that the Texas General Land Office is accepting bids for the right to produce wind power in the GOM. I really hope this works, not only for the marine industry in Texas but also from a ecological point. Time will tell…...

1st

2007-09-17T09:47:00.001-05:00

I really have no idea what I am doing here....but that goes for life too, I think. Well, I am not sure where this will go, but I wanted a way to express myself without the work of a website. I guess we all have to be a bit vain to post a blog or a website for that matter. Like we really have something important enough for others to read!