Only a few days left until my first triathlon. Tonight I drove to the race site for a practice run. They have been having Wednesday night training sessions all summer long. I wanted to check out the site, and do all three events at once. I have trained each event separately and often two events at a time, but never all three. It is only a sprint distance, so it was actually not as hard as I was expecting. I guess that means I have been training enough. I aim to finish in less than 90 minutes. I'm guessing the bike will be my weakest category compared to my age group, and unfortunately that is also the longest section. We shall see.

Carter, Kent, and my sister have all mentioned coming down, so I'll have some support in addition to Chrissy. Should be a fun day.

Labels: training

Happy Labor Day! It has been a great weekend. We were up in Chicago for the GT vs. Notre Dame game. It was a great weekend! I tried to email Christina, but my message bounced as I guess her email address changed.

On Friday we flew in and met my aunt (who lives in Chicago) my family, and some family friends at one of the famous Chicago pizza places. They were filming the next Batman movie near her building, so we saw a little of that. There were tons of police and cars with the Gotham City Police Department logos. We also saw the Happy Friday bike tour. There were probably 800 or so bikers who ride in a huge group around the city. They do it the last Friday of every month. They had all kinds of funny and odd bikes, and carried a sound system blasting music. We then met up with some college friends for food on Friday night.

Saturday the game was awesome. 33-3 is a historic win. I believe Notre Dame has only been beat by 30+ points five other times in their history. The campus and chapel are very nice, and touchdown Jesus and the reflection pool are both very neat. The Notre Dame fans were welcoming, and it was a good day. Saw JR and his dad, my uncle, and a lot of other friends.

I was in a good mood all weekend. There are a lot of reasons to be happy now. A four day weekend helps as well. :-)

Labels: weekend

I forgot to mention that 4th of July was fun. We ran the Peachtree Road Race. Chrissy didn't train, but did pretty well considering. I had my best Peachtree time ever, but not my best 10K time. Because I was so focused on running, and we left the celebration early I missed most of the crowds and funny costumes. We had some of my extended family over for a cookout which was fun. We were so tired that night we just lit some sparklers and watched fireworks on TV.

One other strange happening last night. We had tickets to go see Hootie and the Blowfish, but the show was canceled. We didn't know until we showed up, but Darius was sick. We heard something about a Staph infection, but it was a bummer since we had bought dinner, packed drinks, etc.

We got up for a bike ride this morning on our new bikes. Chrissy is still figuring our her gears.

Labels: race

Our trip was great. The British Virgin Islands were our favorite, as the port was the prettiest, and "The Baths" were great. They are some beaches and natural rock formations that create caves/tunnels along the water, which really appealed to our explorer side.

I read several work/career books...

• The Tipping Point - what factors cause ideas to tip and become big. An interesting look at what causes things to "catch on", and how messages sink or swim. From Paul Revere to Sesame Street.
  
• 4 Hour Work Week - inspires you to work less and start your own easy to manage business. VERY interesting and entertaining. This is one I would widely recommend. He basically asks you to change how you view work and life. The chapter on outsourcing life was not only interesting but Chrissy kept asking about why I was laughing so much.
  
• The Undercover Economist - similar to Freakonomics (which I want to read). It is an Economist's take on issues such as why are countries poor, how Starbucks works, and how to save the environment in a smart way. Andy Ozment and his girlfriend bought this book for helping them try to find her a US consulting job this summer.
• Winning by Jack Welch - I have not finished it yet, but the legendary CEO tells his ideas on what it takes to be successful in business. I really like his approach, as he essentially says the key is getting in smart people, setting them up for success, and structuring rewards to provide incentive for that behavior. He takes business like pro sports, get the right people, make their mission clear, and reward them for their contribution.

Now it is back to work, but I'm working from home this week so no complaints.

Labels: vacation

I found out this week that I was promoted to "Manager" at work. In consulting, at least at my company, it generally means you are already performing at the next level. So it shouldn't change my day to day work, but it will mean being a part of management and having formal counselees. In a matrix organization, you could say that everyone is your boss. I'm hoping that this promotion will mean there are less people to delegate tasks to me, and in addition more authority when enlisting help. I think I'll be a nice Manager than most, but I would guess that most people think that. :-)

We're going to bed early as we leave early for our cruise tomorrow. It was last minute planning, per our typical vacation style. Too much fun!

Labels: work

CONGRATS to the GT Women's Tennis Team!!! Last night they won the NCAA national championship, which is actually the first national championship in Tech's history.

While we have 4 football national championships, they are technically not official because there was no football national championship awarded before the BCS system. There would be an obvious winner, and the media or coaches would vote.

UGA won the men's side. I wonder if the strength of Atlanta tennis, ALTA particularly, contributed to the teams with local talent.

Labels: GT

A good weekend with lots of happiness. Saturday morning we ran in Piedmont Park with friends. We went to a pool party Saturday afternoon, and a unique show on Saturday night. Experimental Puppetry Theatre at the center for puppetry arts. Our friends Mike and Alexa when there for their first date, and are now married. Apparently in the past it was more like the musical "Avenue Q", with funny and crazy puppet humor. This show last night was large attempts at being artistic, but the consensus from the ten of us that went was that it was not as good. Some of the sketches didn't make sense at all. Some made sense, but were still strange.

Today we met up with some of my extended family in from Alaska and Arkansas. We did another run, and had dinner at Moe's. Driving around town with the top down on the convertable, I just had this feeling of great happiness. Life is good, and I enjoy being back in a city I love with easier access to the friends I like to see and the activities I want to do.

Chrissy and I each ordered a bike this week. My company is paying for half of mine as part of a new fitness program. I also got a new phone on the company - a Treo 700, which Carter recommended from my available choices.

We also signed up for a summer ultimate (frisbee) league, so we'll play on Saturdays. We met a random GT guy at the pool party who plays ultimate as well, so we're going to try to get on his team.

Labels: life