trying to make it a little clearer as an avatar
Friday, June 29, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Get Back
Just one more then I'll post thoughts not videos: The Fab Four in their last-ever public concert. On a rooftop! Amazing. I love the dapper gents and the upstanding young men jumping across the rooftops to come take a look and see what the noise is all about. Talk about going out on top...
U2 and the History of Rock n Roll
Uncanny how by putting this montage together, U2 is cemented in the highest realms of the Rock'n'Roll universe. Can't tell if it's a fan-produced or professional mash-up, but either way it's brilliant.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Guaranteed to Make You Smile
Maybe the greatest music video of all time. Guaranteed to make you want to boogie. Is there ANYONE more iconic than Christopher Walken?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Getting Strong Now
Met with a personal trainer today to kickstart my "becoming lean and sinewy like Bruce Lee" program. The initial session is included with my membership at ProSports Club, which I think should be listed as one of the 8 wonders of the modern world. The place is unlike any gym I've ever been to...45,000 sf of space including 4 olympic sized pools (4 lanes each), 15 tennis courts, 10 racquetball courts, 10 squash courts, 2 full-sized basketball courts including one that sports the hardwoods from the old Key Arena (the floor on which the Sonics won their championship back in the day). There are three seperate workout areas, each with about 25 treadmills, 25 elliptical machines, 25 stairmasters, and every type of nautilus machine you could want. And don't forget the full-service auto detailing shop, or the gourmet restaurant, or the doctor's offices, or the physical therapy offices...it's not a gym..it's an adventure.
Anyway, I had my first (and probably only--I'm cheap that way) meeting with a personal trainer today. I talked through my exercise history, my trouble spots (knees and shoulders), and my goals (lose 10 lbs, do 10 unassisted pull ups). He gave me a good exercise regimen and showed me a barrage of stretching exercises that I can do to get more flexible and protect my joints.
I also got some raw data: my body fat percentage is 19.1% and my weight is 226.4 lbs. My heart rate was very low (108 over 74) which is really good but it's something I have to keep working at to maintain. My flexibility stinks, but that's not a big surprise. My chest measures 44" and my "true waste" is 38 1/2". It will be fun to see those numbers shrink over the next few months.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Birthday Musings and Goals
Alot has happened this past year. In just the last few months really. For the last few years I marked my birthdays with, "wow I'm 32 (or whatever age) and am still renting a 2 br apartment and have only a futon couch." We pretty much changed all that in the last 3 months: now we have our own home, 2 cars, each boy has his own bedroom, we have a dining room, a "nook", and a breakfast bar, and we don't have to share a bathroom with the kids anymore.
I feel like I should have something much more pithy to say on my birthday. I'm constantly getting more aware of how precious time is, and how easily it can slip through our fingers while we're busy "living".
Here are some things I'd like to do over the next 12 months:
- MEMORIZE 12 songs on guitar. Last year I got a guitar for my birthday and before this whole relocation thing popped up I memorized about 15 chords or so, and with the help of tabs can play about 20-30 songs. I have to get back in there though and get those songs committed to memory. There's a ward talent show in 2 weeks, and unfortunately I'm definitely not ready. My goal is to be ready for next June.
- LOSE 15 lbs. Nothing tracks the passing of time quite like the pounds slowly adding themselves to my waist. A goal? Let's see...a year from now I want to be 15 lbs lighter...but there has to be something more fun than that...maybe compete in a racquetball tournament or run a 10k? I'll figure that out soon.
- FIGURE OUT SCRIPTURE STUDY. In NYC, I had 40 mins on the train each morning to study, and as part of my calling always had great topics to dive into and develop thoughts, stories, and testimonies around. I want to keep pressing forward, choosing a theme each month and developing a printable talk at the end of each month. Seems to be the best way for me to keep my studying focused and effective. Goal: 12 talks.
- BE A TOURIST. We're new to the area and there's so much to take in. Any kind of nature you want (from hiking to fishing to kayaking) is within 45 mins. Great restaurants, lots of attractions, and tons to see and do. My goal is to at least once a month devote a day to being a tourist: go to the baseball game and have dinner in Seattle, go to the Experience Music Project and the Space Needle, take a road trip up to Vancouver BC, take the ferry over to Bainbridge Island.
- KEEP FAMILY FIRST. Above all else, I want to be a better husband and father. To be a better listener to Eryn and the boys. To be more patient, kind, and loving. To lighten up and bring a tone of joy and fun. To be a good teacher and a good example to the kids. To make Eryn feel cherished. How to measure this one? Tough to say, but it's definitely something I want to keep front of mind and work on and an area of my life in which I want to see a difference.
- MOVE FORWARD AT WORK. A year from now I hope to have revenue responsibility, to be involved in competitive analysis, to have 12 solid contacts throughout the company I don't know today. I need to keep up my learning and my networking. The Microsoft commitments process will help provide a framework for me to make solid goals around these areas, but right here I just want to say that it's my goal to take full advantage of the incredible opportunity I have before me in this job. I feel like it's the parable of the talents: I've been given so much on a platter, so many opportunities, and it's really up to me not to just take them at face value (bury them in the earth), but to take them by the reins and really make something great out of them.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
I Think I'm Turning 33...
33 and 12 hrs or so to be exact. Every year at this time I reflect on how much more reflective I want to be. This past year I started a family blog (jessanderyn.blogspot.com) which is our family journal, and I think it's now time to branch out and get my own. The readers of the family blog aren't interested in my riffs on music or tv or religion, or working at a certain software company in Redmond, or being a dad to 2 amazing boys or a husband to an amazing wonderful wife. Well maybe some of those things are more relevant to the masses than others, but in any case I thought it was time for my little ideas to leave the nest of the family blog and find their own home. This just leaves one question: is the world ready?
It's the end of budget season and I'm a little punchy. And I just turned 33 today. I look at my life and I'm amazed first off how in just a few short months I have been able to "catch up" in so many areas of my life that I always felt like I was "behind" on. When we were living in NYC I'd always feel bad about not owning a home, not having real furniture, not having a good car for the family, for not living in the neighborhood I'd want my kids to grow up in. It seemed like even after 9 yrs of marriage and 9 years into my career we were still somehow playing grownup, but hadn't actually arrived to adulthood. I'd think back to my own parents who at this time in their own lives seemed to be so much further along.
And then it happened. The fateful phone call of sometime in mid-February, when Shawn Hansen asked if I'd thought about coming out to Redmond to interview with the company. My own company in NYC was having financial "issues" so the writing was on the wall there (not exactly boom times for the publishing industry) so the timing felt right to make a move. But the company in Redmond was so far beyond what I thought I could achieve...I remember telling Eryn when it first came up, "don't worry, they receive 100s of resumes a day for every job...I'll be lucky to even get a phone interview." Well, 5 phone interviews, 12 interviews in Redmond, and 4 months later, here we are going on month #3 in Washington and my new job.
This is getting really long and I don't have time right now to flesh it out. The sum is, in a relatively short time I've "caught up" in so many of the areas I was behind and didn't know how I'd catch up. I mean, I bought a lawn mower last week!
Must See TV
This guy is everything that's right with music today. And to bring M, Neko Case, Kelly Hogan, and Jim James (My Morning Jacket)...this is beauty. Makes me want to grab that old guitar and jam right along with 'em!
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