Monthly Archives: July 2008

Another overdue update, and again I’m short on excuses as well.

I enjoy summer evenings in Austin very much.  My daily activities seem to be split up in two very distinct portions.  Typically I’ll get out really early in the mornings, either for a few hours on the bicycle or a few hours at any one of my favorite coffee places.  Then by 1:00pm I’m hibernating.  I could be at work, or I could be at home, but for the most part my activity levels slow, and I wait for the 100+ degree temperatures to fade away.  Around 6 or 7 life picks up once again, and I’ll head out to join the living.  The climate forces me to be up and active earlier and later in the day – not quite adhering to the early to bed/early to rise recommendation – but it seems to be working out pretty well.

I’m not real sure what I’m doing with life right now.  It’s not a feeling I particularly mind, it’s just a slight lack of fulfillment; a feeling that I should really be doing something more right about now.  A few months ago, I had a few ideas of what I wanted to do when I finished up my degree, wanting to just bounce around for a little while being unimportant.  I think I’ve succeeded.

My current job is fun, and I enjoy what I’m doing at the moment, but it’s just not right.  Saying I’m over-qualified would be an understatement for my current job, but it’s more than that.  I still want to change things in our world – I have the knowledge, and clearly have no shortage of tools.  Perhaps it’s finally time for me to catch up with my potential, and possibly step a little closer to my dreams.  With a bit of fortitude this time, I’ll be leveraging a handful of contacts to truly see what’s out there for me, and then I’ll make my next big move.

Yes, there’s just something about summer nights in Austin that makes me smile.  The air is still dense, but there’s something distinct about it that I can’t quite describe.  It’s peaceful and resting – like a gentle cup of tea at that perfectly drinkable temperature.  True happiness can be found on a breezy porch with a happy beverage.  My life can pull me in all directions at once, with ups and downs and everything else in between, but as long as I can end my days captured in moments like this, how can I complain?

Another prolonged absence…sorry about that, 10 days is quite a while.  I haven’t been particularly busy – I never am these days – but I also haven’t had a blank page sitting in front of me for a few consecutive days.

I’ve been playing travel agent a little bit.  As a brief history – my youngest uncle on my mom’s side is a long-haul truck driver, and devastatingly unhealthy.  Very overweight, heavy smoker, and plagued by the consequences of poor decisions in his younger years.  For a few months now his health has been deteriorating, with bad kidneys and an injured liver contributing to most of the problems.  Long story short – he was working in Washington state and things went downhill, landing him in the hospital in poor condition.

Same time, different location, Hurricane Dolly hits the family compound in Edinburg/McAllen, Texas, knocking out the electricity and sending them back to the dark ages for a few days.  Seeing how I was the closest family member with internet access, I was able to come to the rescue (aka stuck with) booking flights to the Pacific Northwest.  What fun.  With luck, as soon as my uncle’s condition stabilizes he’ll be flying back home to the bowels of Texas.

If you were not already aware, I’m a big fan of taking a holistic approach to achieving good health.  A simple combination of physical activity and proper diet can be a wonderful thing, and many times it’s possible to kill two birds with one stone when the two are components of a sustainable and ecologically sensitive lifestyle.  Riding a bicycle to get groceries, for example.

I used to pass along inspirational articles to my uncle, highlighting people who radically altered their lifestyle to radically improve their physical and mental health.  It’s always seemed like such a simple formula to me, but perhaps I’ve been missing a few factors in the grand scheme of things.  The local environment definitely comes into play.  South Texas is no place for a fat man on a bicycle – the roads are treacherous with very few cyclists, urban planning is non-existent – placing places of necessity at impossible distances from each other, and the heat is absolutely brutal.

And then the big mystery is always personal – personal ambition to start and personal willpower to sustain.  I’m not sure how someone gets this; you would think being near death would ignite the necessary fire, but example after example shows this isn’t the case.  I’m such an outsider to the unhealthy individual’s frame of mind.  Anthropology has taught me to understand people through shared experience, but there are some experiences I never desire to be close to.

I tend to enjoy doing improvements around my home; changing old light-bulbs to compact florescents when needed, cleaning stuff, hanging stuff, finding new ways to organize things – all of it.  I needed to change out my bathroom vanity lights this morning, giving me an excuse to run to Breed & Co, my local and locally owned hardware store.  The choices were daunting!  I went with a bit more pricey model for extra clarity – which is important when looking at myself in the mirror, and hopefully a bit more longevity.  Now my bathroom lights up like the Rockefeller Christmas tree.

I’m a firm believer that a person’s immediate architectural environment has a huge influence on their mood and energy level, among a other things…  When my home is dirty, or when things around me are not functioning as intended or as necessary, I simply don’t feel right.  My mind becomes cluttered, with little tasks always nagging at the fringes.  I don’t sleep as well.  There’s always a feeling that things could be better.  Perhaps this is the frame of mind of the clean freak and you can’t relate, but at the same time I think we’re all impacted by this phenomenon in some way.  For example, you may have a more difficult time staying awake or engaged in a dirty, run-down classroom with poor lighting than a comfortable classroom with big windows and open spaces.  I know I definitely had that problem…9:00am calculus in the now demolished experimental science building basement was pure torture!

It’s plausible that I’ve finally discovered why I like my apartment so much.  Admittedly, it’s not the nicest place in the world…parts look a bit run down, the air conditioner (which is fixed now, by the way) was built in the 1920s, and leaves from the courtyard blow in my front door on windy days.  But the imperfections seem to add a certain character to the place.  It’s almost like living in an old hotel – in fact, the complex looks like it was an old hotel back in the day.  Keeping things neat, clean and orderly at my place adds to that atmosphere, like maid service dropped by while I was out.  I’m living in a fantasy world.

Life as I experience it seems to cycle between moments of fast and moments of slow, delicately intertwined in a provocative balance.  Every morning I wake up slow – opting for sunshine in my eyes over an offensive alarm clock; I brush my teeth and go about the daily necessities slow; I eat breakfast slow – in fact, eating fast in the morning makes me feel nauseous; and then I get dressed slowly.  On most mornings, this is immediately followed by a period of fast, usually involving an endurance exercise, mostly cycling.  Physically, I’m accelerated during this act, bringing out my instincts for speed and quick reflexes, but mentally, this is perhaps the slowest part of my day.  The time for deep thought and reflection.

After the exercise, things typically remain fairly slow.  If I’m working in the morning, I’ll ride down to Whole Foods to grab some coffee and breakfast item, enjoying both outside on the patio, watching the birds and reading the news.  Caffeine accelerates things again, both mentally and physically, and this state continues through my workday.  I’m always fast at work.  The ride home from work varies between fast and slow; typically, if I have my bicycle, I’ll ride with a vengeance on my way home just to harass the poor souls stuck in traffic.  Taking public transit allows me to mellow out some on the way home, walking through the park or old neighborhoods, and maybe sharing a conversation with a stranger or two.

The time after work varies from situation to situation, for example, certain social outings require an accelerated state of mind – a vibrant party for example.  But many times, I prefer to keep things low key, enjoying a book, a beer, a few friends, or any combination of the three.  If I’m cooking on a particular evening, the menu is more set by preference for “fast” and active cooking, or for “slow” and uninvolved cooking, as opposed to any specific taste or craving.

To fall asleep, I always need to slow my daily thoughts, and reading before bed is fastest way for me to do so.  Reading seems to focus my thought on only the text at hand – void of direct influence by the outside world, and by narrowing my focus the mind can be quieted.  I’m one of the unlucky ones, and have never been able to remember my dreams, so I can’t tell you if they’re fast or slow…  And then I wake up the following morning and the cycle starts over again.

I went for a bike ride this morning.  I’m always riding my bike.  I went southwest from my place, going out Southwest Parkway, to Barton Creek, to Bee Caves, then out Bee Caves and through some neighborhoods near 620.  I passed by a guy near Zilker Park on my way to Southwest Parkway, via the Mopac frontage road.  He ended up following me up to the light at the 360 intersection (maybe 3 miles?) where he caught me at a red light.  I said “good morning” and all the other friendly gestures, which he returned.  Then he says “I’m not from around here, do you know where we are?  I have no idea…”

So for about four miles, this guy has been working really hard to keep me in sight because he has no idea where he is.  Isn’t that just brilliant.  He could have just asked to tag along back when we first encountered each other, right?  So I invite him to join me while we’re waiting at the light, and explain the route I’ll be heading out on.  But he didn’t want to do that.  Then I explain how to get back to town via 360 – “a right and a left turn after the first off-ramp you find” – a very simple set of directions, but for some reason those wouldn’t work either.  He says “thanks for the help, I think I’ll just turn around and head back…”  And that’s what he does – turns around on a one-way frontage road, to ride against fast moving traffic, for the four miles back home.  Again, just brilliant.

My back is sore today after the pick-axe work of yesterday morning; it sort of made the first few miles of the ride this morning difficult.

I’m no longer living alone – the new roommate is all moved in.  I’ll have to get reacquainted with keeping my clothes on at all times again, but besides that, I’m really happy.  My piece of shit air conditioner isn’t working properly – again; I think it needs a coolant recharge.  Hopefully they’ll get it fixed up on Monday.  If not, I might get fancy with a screwdriver, displacing it to the alleyway behind my apartment, and necessitating a replacement.

Cutting trail is hard work.  Bright and early this morning my fellow REI employees and I headed out west to do some work at St. Edwards Park.  For the cyclist folk, the trail head is on Spicewood Springs a few miles after you cross 360…  The goal of the morning was erosion prevention; the trail was being heavily damaged by rain water flow, and our objective was to create alternative paths for this water to follow, directing it off course.  Armed with pick-axes, McCloud tools, and shovels, we dug perpendicular channels across the trail to capture and channel water.  We also did some work to level out the previously eroded areas.

It was difficult labor!  The ground in that area is hard and very rocky, requiring a lot of force to break up.  Luckily we got out there around 8:00am before the temperature got too warm.  There were almost 30 of us altogether, and we were able to revitalize a decent section of the trail.

It’s so cool that REI does things like this.  My coworkers are all very fun people to work alongside – in the store and on the trail – and this was an excellent opportunity to get to know folks better.  That, and it’s nice to be provided with organized opportunities to get out there and do good things.  (And get paid for it…)

I’m not going to lie though, I was getting a little jealous of all the cyclists whizzing by us this morning.  While playing in the dirt was awesome, I missed my Saturday morning cycling session.  I think I’m going to try to get my fix in this evening at Mellow Johnnys; I hear there’s some sort of rollers racing thing going on, and I want to check it out.

Like most mornings, I was on my bicycle early today.  I work at 5:00pm this afternoon, so I’m not pressed for time, but I do prefer to get out before the big time heat takes command of the air.  I got in around 50 miles out west of Austin, and was still home before noon.  Nice.

I was waiting at a traffic light on Bee Caves when I noticed a silvery and shiny key chain like object on the bumper of the Chevy Tahoe in front of me.  I thought it would be fun to try to return it to the driver before the light turned green.  It was actually his Leatherman Micro multi-tool on his key-chain.  I made some quick maneuvers, grabbing the Leatherman and riding up to the side of his car.  I think he was freaked out seeing me knocking on his window – probably thinking he cut me off in traffic and I was out for revenge – and was reluctant to roll it down until I dangled his item in front of the window.  Soon after, apprehension turned to all smiles and thanks.  Random acts of kindness feel good, and I think I entertained a few cars behind us too.

I’m relaxing downtown at Halcyon Coffeehouse now, pleasantly passing these next few hours before I walk down the road to work.  I’ve always liked Halcyon.  They have created a very vibrant and stylish environment, with cool and comfortable furniture and big windows.  The music is usually good too, and the coffee is quite acceptable.  I hear it’s a great date destination in the later evenings, and the table-side smores are always a hit.

Still more training for me at work this afternoon – I think today is safety practices and procedures – but I guess I can’t complain.  I’ve never heard of a company so dedicated to insuring they have capable employees working for them – I’m just a simple retail specialist and they’ve dedicated nearly four weeks to training me properly.  Very cool.

You may be noticing something a little different with the blog now…  The archives have grown substantially, and now reach back to July 2005!  Yes, I’ve been chronicling my life for about three years now, although back in the day I used to work on a different platform.  But, after some neat import action, the old archives and the new posts are all living on the same website now, which is really awesome.

If you want to waste time, check out some of my older stuff.  I find it amazing how much I’ve grown and changed over the years.  Going back to read my daily thoughts and feelings from a few years ago really adds perspective to where I am today.  Moral of the story – start writing about your own life, and you’ll be pleasently surprised when you look back a few years down the road.

Sorry for my absence this week, I haven’t really been in the mood for writing.  I know, that’s a terrible excuse.  What is new?  I remember last summer when every day was remarkably new and fascinating – I could have wrote for hours on end in the evenings if the body and job had allowed; in comparison, this summer seems so dull.

The Rockies Texas 4000 folks are now into the best of the trip, with cool(er) temperatures and beautiful scenery to ride through each day.  And they’re doing great too, despite a few mishaps.  One of my favorite guys – Pete – had a very scary accident while going through Yellowstone.  From the shortened details I got from Mike when we last spoke, he hit a road sign on a fast descent.  His upper body took most of the impact – thank god he was wearing a helmet.  The head injury immediately caused him to seizure, prompting a fast ambulance rescue and a later helicopter trip to Billings, MT.  He’s fine now and back with the team – he had some minor bleeding around his brain, and will need to wait for his broken collar bone to heal before jumping on the bike again.  He should be healed up before hitting Anchorage.  And he needs a new bike too…

Speaking of bikes, I had mine tuned up yesterday by my friends at Austin Bikes.  Now the wheels are true as can be, and the shifting is crisp.  Apparently my rear derailleur is bent a little bit – more Texas 4000 wear and tear – but soon I’ll be putting SRAM Force/Rival on the frame anyways, and can ride with a the slightest bit of noise until then.  I’ve been riding more and more, with lots of hills and hill repeats in the hot weather.  The Thursday night crit series starts up again on the 24th, and I might be doing my first race in 2+ years then.

What else…  New roommate is moving in this weekend – she’s unique, cool, and should be fun to live with.  The new job is getting better and better.  I’m growing a beard again, and I hope to keep it for at least a few months this time.  The campus bookstore close to my apartment has been having a $1 book sale for the past few weeks, so I’ve been reading about a book/week.  The recent ones have been A Very Good Year – a book about wine, that follows the process from the grape to the bottle to the glass – and Getting Personal, by Phillip Lopate – which is a personal collection of essays about the author’s life.  The last one is good because Lopate isn’t a particularly interesting or stand-out individual, but it’s a sort of testament that with enough details, anyone’s life can be interesting…