Too much stuff!

So it has finally come to pass that my current project is winding down. I've been asked to start working remotely when possible. This of course means that I need to find a place to live. Being "homeless" for the past couple of months has shown me the value of all my stuff currently in storage. Crap. All crap. I don't need hardly any of it. Except for the camping gear, bike, and hockey stuff, most of what I'm paying to store is just junk. The funny thing is that I can still remember when I had a 4 bedroom house full of crap, that I just couldn't part with. I used to stress about finding storage for all of it. HAHAHAHA. Now I barely fill a basic storage space and even that seems like way too much stuff!
Ahhh, maybe, just maybe I have broken consumer-slave mentality...ooooooooo

Wait, dammit, I keep forgetting that I need to find a place to live and then I'll need to buy matching towels, hand soap, kitchen utensils, houseplants, silverware set, scrubbies, cleaning supplies, linen, aaaaaaargh! I think I should postpone this as long as possible...lets see how many Sheraton points I still have.

Home, sweet home, for now...

360 degree view

Sometimes reality is a bit rougher than what's in your head...

...Today, I got up early cranked out some "critical" fixes, showered, and went into work. I was looking forward to writing some reviews for others and myself, kind of a low-key day. Nope, didn't happen. Got to work, had to help people get set up and productive, got called into a pointless meeting, and finally, after only a few hours in the office, I was asked why wasn't I finished with the reviews and other tasks. No thanks for fixing those critical defects. No thanks for getting everyone rocking on building out environments and fixing code. Nada. Well, my low-key day was gone and I with it.
I figured the only way I'd get anything done is if I went back to the hotel and camped out in the club lounge. The key to leaving the office at 3:30p is telling everyone (but your PM) that you are going back to the hotel to work. Of course, on the way back I got lulled into going for a bike ride because it was soooooooooo nice out. I figured I could bang out the tuna canyon ride in 2.5 hours and be back for some work this evening.
I was kind of feeling blah so I hoped that a ride would re-energize me. hahahahah. Within 5 miles I was honked at twice by anger motorists, upset that I wasn't riding on the sidewalk. At mile 7 I received a phone call but I couldn't answer before it went to voice mail. The gist of the voice mail was:

"Reviews need to be done during Off Hours" - This means not during the loooooooong normal working hours but during the time reserved for sleeping.
"You need to get the rest of your tasks finished quickly since there is visibility" - This is consultant-speak for hurry up and finish these tasks because it is making me look bad.

After listening to the voice mail, I stood along the roadside dumbfounded. Then it hit me, all the long hours, hard work, personal sacrifice, amounted to absolutely nothing. I realized that there was nothing I could do that would be good enough for this project. Nothing. With that I continued riding, at about half my previous speed.

Then at mile 12, a passing car dumped their beverage on me. I'm not one to get down too often but I was pretty close at that moment. Perfect. I love LA. The best thing was that I was starting to make the climb up Tuna Canyon. Well, ya know, sometimes you need to make decision, get mad or say "fuck it". I've learned getting mad doesn't do anything but piss me off so, so fuck it. I put a little more effort into my pedalling and sailed up the canyon. Got near the top and decided to take the access road (4 miles, 1-way to top). There is something about doing something completely pointless, like reaching the top of a hill (got to be under 5000 feet elevation so not a mountain peak), to help put a little focus in your head. Well maybe it is the ride down...hehe! Saw views, flowers, birds, and nice other bikers (weeeeee...she was smoking hot, thanks for the view! yeah I'm a pig ;) ). I don't think I was much below any speed limits until I coasted back into Burbank. By the time I reached the hotel, I had rode 41 miles, climbed at least 2500 ft, and decided to grab a beer after the ride instead of working.

Now I'm back to the state of mind I was in this morning. Oh that is just good fun!

Oh sleepytime

The night before last I got my typical sub-five hour nights rest before hopping on a plane for the holiday weekend. Yesterday I functioned "normally" until after dinner, when I started to really feel my general lack of sleep. I retired to the screened porch, opened the windows, piled a couple of thick blankets on the pullout, then fell asleep. I was out for 14 hours. Sometimes I would wake up, wondering things like "What is Mass Tagging doing? Should I do a back up? Blah, blah, blah". Then I would remember that I had made a promise to myself to not work this weekend so there was no point in worrying about shit. So I would go back to sleep, as the birds outside sang.

I am hoping to repeat this again tonight!

Definition

Why is something beautiful? This question popped into my head as I was riding through Burbank at 6:00 am this morning. The sun was just peaking over the distant mountains, creating a pinkish glow on all the buildings. The moment lasted only a few minutes but it was breathtaking. Everything seemed in a state of genuine beauty. All I could do was smile...

...then I got a phone call. The moment stopped and the beauty was gone, replaced with just another city full of ugly buildings.

I think beauty is solely defined internally. How can it be defined otherwise? I see beauty in certain things that others do not and others see beauty in things that I do not see. The constant is not the attribute of things but that the sense of beauty originates within people. The beauty I see is also not predefined by the thing and a value of beauty. There is also my own state that will "enhance" the beauty I see. Maybe enhance is a bad word since it implies a thing, might be better to say beauty = potential sense of beauty in thing + state of person. No...that's not it.

No Sleep Ride

Yesterday after only a couple hours of sleep, several hours of trying to be productive at work, and many cups of coffee...

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Universal-Woodland-Hills-Loop

I went for a 45 mile ride. This route doesn't get interesting until after mile 2o. The first part of the loop goes through some questionable (although safe) areas. At one point, as I was trying to grab a drink from the water bottle it slipped out of my hand, into the middle of a 4 lane busy street. I quickly pulled over and stopped, expecting my bottle to be crushed under many wheels. To my surprise traffic had stopped, with a driver motioning me to pick up my water bottle. My sarcastic nature wondered if it was just a ploy to get me in the middle of the road to run me over but I put my faith in my fellow human being and retrieved my water bottle, waving thanks to the stopped motorists. Weird huh?

The rest of the route was uneventful except for the sunset and other scenery. Sorry but I only have a photo of the sunset to share.

Road Biking Fun

Ride, ride, ride...This week I brought my road bike since I wasn't getting enough mileage in Colorado. I purchased a HUGE travel case for my bike that looks like an old style Samsonite. When I checked it in, the person at the counter asked what was in it and I said, "shoes". I thought this was funny until he responded that it would cost $75 to check it, instead of the normal $50 bike check-in fee. So I showed him that is was a bike and hopefully learned my lesson not to joke with airline employees.

The reason I need to get as many miles in as possible, is that I have only a few short weeks to prepare my body for a bike race. The race is 62 miles over some rather large Front Range hills. Yeah, that's just good fun. So begins my dive into the world of biking in the LA area.

Some required gear:

1. Large Pole - This is handy when you need to push vehicles away from you. Drivers here tend to not need as much space between you and them since they are much more skilled.

2. Body Armor - This will be essential when you are finally hit by a driver in a hurry to some important meeting. Since in only 2 rides I have at least 2 close calls, I'd say the odds are pretty good that this will happen.

3. Rocket Launcher - Just in case the large pole isn't working and your body armor doesn't seem to be thick enough.

La Tuna Canyon Ride

This is an amazing ride into hills between Burbank and Glendale. The route has you climb 1500+ ft in elevation through the canyon. The scenery distracts you from the uphill so it is over before you know it. Just keep plugging away and you'll get to the top!

The canyon section is only around 5 miles but near 210 there is an access road that offers another 7 miles (RT) of scenic rolling hills. Don't be fooled by the initial insane grade of the paved trail, the road turns into hard packed dirt with a much more gradual grade with traditional switch-backs.

Link:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/La-Tuna-Canyon-through-Glendale

Golf

As I was golfing today I noticed all the "For Sale" signs on the big boxes. Some were vacant and some had families roaming the grounds. I felt sorry for the vacant homes. What dreams fell apart in those boxes? Could you imagine telling your kids that they had to move because you lost the house? The lesson there is that the world is a cold, harsh place. Who wants to teach their kids that?

Last Day at Ski Condo

Today is my last day at the condo. I would definitely say it has been money well spent although the experience has been much different that I expected. I had hoped to spend many weekends up here skiing and partying but due to obligations at work I was unable to get up here until later in the season. The good thing about that is I wasn't "burnt out" on skiing and could really enjoy skiing in April.

Would I do this again? Maybe...

Evening Euphoria

What a difference a day makes!Yesterday I decided to leave the winter weather behind and go find some sun. On Vail Pass I began to regret my decision and almost turned around after enjoying the wintry scene. However, I kept going west. The snow turned to rain by the time I passed Vail, the rain turned to overcast by Avon, and right before
Glenwood Canyon the sun came out for a beautiful day! Each

time I visit this canyon I'm amazed by not only the natural beauty but also the engineering that suspended I-70 through the canyon. Since I was still pretty sore from Saturday's ride I kept the route to 38 miles. My ass still hurts this morning! Ouchie. I might wait until this afternoon to ride again.

By the time I returned back to the condo spring had returned. Of course I didn't really enjoy it since after I showered it was nap time.

Morning Decision

This morning, after a good ten hours of much needed sleep, I awoke to this view. The scene may not be as colorful as a sunrise over the lake but still just as beautiful. I had planned on biking Vail pass but that doesn't seem feasible today. So now my plans need to change...

Do I head to ABasin for some spring skiing with the chance of a inch or two of powder?

OR

Do I drive 90 minutes west to Grand Junction where the sun is out and temps are expected to be in the 70s, for another long bike ride?

Hmm...I think I'll savor my cup of Peets and watch the big, wet, and sloppy snow flakes fall, at least for a little while longer.

Work Life Balance my

All I do is work.

I am a whore.

I hate this.

There is no one to blame but myself.



When I first started programming I would get so excited every time I started on a new bit of code. The thrill of solving the seemingly endless problems during coding made the hours I spent working fly-by. I could spend entire day within the algorithms and logical flows that I wouldn't even notice where I was until my coworkers would start to pack up to go home. Depending on where I was in this process, I would either be happy or sad to go home, but regardless, I usually went home.



Today, I make any and every sacrifice to continue working. Why am I such a sick bastard? I dislike it when anything that I am associated with fails and I hate it when anything I am directly responsible for fails. I understand the whole "learn from your mistakes" mantra but that only makes sense to me if those are small bumps on the road to success. I have learned from failure that it sucks.

So what to do?
Well either I redefine what I beleive is important in life

OR

I rethink what defines success or failure for me.

To Blog or Not

A few days ago I read a friend's blog and found it quite informative/entertaining. Creating an online window into yourself seems like such an easy form of self expression. I wonder why it has been over a year since I last blogged?