Completely Random Things

This is my super cool Grandpa, as seen on Mother's Day in the backyard. He and all of us were smiling because Mom made a wonderful dinner and the picture-perfect apple pie shown here. Yeah, she made the whole thing. I am trying to figure out how to make it up to her...but without cooking because she does so much better of a job. It's not all that clear how Mom and I are related: she cooks good food, keeps the house clean, she is organized and her wardrobe is vastly superior to mine. But, I'm assuming she's my Mom so my bro and I happily celebrated her and my Grandmother & Grandma this past weekend. Thank you all for willingly going through all of the pain of raising us kids!!!

And Saturday was spent sleeping in after a very late-night Friday deployment and then I attended this fuel-cell car/solar car competition at Dakota Ridge High School (the competition was for middle schoolers). It was fun to see the contraptions the kids put together and you should have seen those cars fly! Yeah, I'm a geek, this kind of thing is very exciting. Only thing better would have been participating in it....I'm a little too old, yeah....it was a bit surprising how young middle schoolers look.

Last Comment

To whoever left that last comment on this blog, my sincerest thanks goes to you. I really appreciate your words of wisdom. I believe in a balance, but I think the balance I was trying to attain wasn't the same as the one you describe so eloquently. In a way, racing has felt like a either you do it or you don't kind of thing. I have always raced for the love of it, but in the cat1/2 field, I didn't think it could be enjoyed without training 20 hrs/week during the off-season.

The other major reason why I like to race is that training is so social, I just love to ride with others and experience the world from the front seat...on a bike. So, taking a step back from this, I realize that I can have a lot of this fun simply riding with others: Going at whatever pace; racing up a hill in the middle of winter when others are wanting to do the same; riding slowly with a group of friends and appreciating the scenery; running during the spring and summer; staying out late to enjoy some kind of cultural activity...

Of course, there is a great deal of fun and thrill that comes from actually racing: the adrenaline rush; the once-in-awhile victory (shoot, even coming 2nd to a prime is like winning in my book); camaraderie; partaking in an event--not being on the sidelines, but being part of something that causes people to cheer; and, of course, the stories that can be told years later of this scar, that road trip...those many road trips, all of which would never have happened if it hadn't been for the silly, but very valid, excuse to attend a race.

Yes, what you said in your comment is correct. Balance is the key. It's nice to have some of both, along with time for friends, family and other important endeavors.

Thanks for giving me this to think about. I might be back sooner than I was planning on. And if you see me off the back, trust me, I'm having fun, as always.

If there's one thing you should do today...

Watch this:

End of Vacation, Start of New Job

I'm not going to try to re-hash the end of the trip. It was a wonderful time to connect with family and friends and to truly have quality time with everyone, including myself. It was two weeks that could not have been spent in a better way.

I just finished up week #3 at the new job. So far, I like the people very much and am beginning to be of value to the team. Changing jobs always comes with challenges, particularly those surrounding figuring out the people. It helps tremendously when the people all mean well and are very capable, friendly and genuine in nature. Still, though, there is a level of stress surrounding not knowing everything.

Today I volunteered to work a race that my team put on. It was hard to be there--watching people warm up on a frigid morning and then going out and working so hard. I was well dressed and couldn't fathom why anyone would be there. I think all of my energy is going into work and there isn't a lot left over to spend on racing right now, but I do hope to get back to it when the time is right. It was my whole world for the past three years and now I feel like an alien to it. It's not good or bad, just what it is and I still have yet to determine what the best thing is. It is so nice to have more time for other things that had been badly neglected for quite some time.

Monday, still Vacation!

Most vacations don't last this long. Last time I was off for this long, I was in the process of moving from Seattle to Denver. There has been much relaxation because I'm not freaking out that I should have done everything that I wanted to do last week. There's enough time this week to still be a bum, get stuff done and be fully fresh when I return to Denver.

If I hadn't been so stubborn, I would have saved all of the stress of figuring out how to post it and let someone else design it and make it professional. I'm positive it's worth outsourcing everything that isn't my core competency (yes, it's time to get a maid). Here's where I would have gone/will go when my business is in need of a professional site/or I want a "Virtual Department" check it out: www.720x.com

Yesterday, Skunk & I drove to the Shore and watched some pretty large waves crash in. It was windy and cold, too bad because those waves would have been lots of fun to play in. (Alright, not really, they looked pretty scary in their power.)

Today I worked on the website and am watching a show on welding really big buildings. Oh yeah, here's a pic of the island I recently welded if you haven't yet seen it:

This is definitely not the same welding as that done to keep a building or bridge together. It's pretty fun and it's amazing what can be done with metal (everything).

On now to the gym for a hard workout, then a massage and some kind of detox seaweed wrap.

Death by Blogging

An article in the New York Times this morning discussed bloggers who died, and it appears to be attributable to their blogging lifestyles: not being able to sleep much, constant stress and working out of their home offices (which I translate to meaning eating constant junk food without working out or having much other human contact).

It's well known how important a full night's sleep is, along with some way to mitigate stress. These guys don't have it in balance and it's "not sustainable." (This is how they described it.)

How, though, can one be successful if one:

• Works out properly (we'll say 2 hours - getting to gym/getting ready, working out & cleaning up)

• Sleeps ~8 hours
• Takes 3 hours for preparing and eating healthful meals
• Spends at least 2 hours on life-tasks (that is, brushing teeth, basic chores, taking a shower to get ready for the day)

That's 15 hours of necessary "other" activities to be healthy, leaving 9 to forge forward and do those things that are important to be successful.

When I find the secret, I'll let you know. The one thing I do know is that when blogging for pleasure, time appears to vanish before my eyes and my home is not any cleaner, I haven't eaten a good meal and my workout is still waiting for me to begin it.

The rest of today...

I think I'm a pretty good vacationer, if I do say so myself. The rest of today entailed a few different venues for imbibing coffee and tea, just so I'd have a comfy place indoors to read and use the computer. (Note that the last post has the link to the NYC pics.) Skunk has been wanting to do lots of reading, too, so that worked out well to meet up with him and hang out some more.

This evening we got to the gym and I tried to sweat out the toxins of NYC and the remants of the cold that tried to get me (but failed). An hour run on the treadmill isn't too bad when there's a tv 2 feet away. The only thing on tv was news, not nearly as exciting as the Iron Chef that was on the last time I ran on the treadmill.
It was a warm and dry evening, contrary to the forecast. Started watching Ratitoulle again, it's probably one of my favorite movies ever, tonight. Will finish it tomorrow evening.

NYC, Gimme another day!

Pictures have now been uploaded to Google: http://picasaweb.google.com/patrialanfranchi/NYC4208?authkey=0NGq_GCby9o


New York City is fabulous. There's so much going on, so much to do, so many different people, so easy to get around.

Wednesday was NYC day and it started by taking the 5:19 train into Penn Station. Easy to park, easy to find a seat on the train and that gave me just enough time to plan the day.

An unplanned day in NYC is *worthless* unless your goal is to wander in circles and eat fast-food in the park. There are too many decisions to make and it's one place that has got to be traumatic to go with a group, due to the inability to make good, quick decisions about where to go and what to do. On my itinerary:

• See a show (ended up seeing "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change"--highly recommend, it's so funny...and so true!)
  
• Go to the best vegetarian restaurant of 2007
  
• Find the best chocolate chip cookie in NY
  
• Go to Ouidad to get the ONLY stuff (my opinion) good for curly hair
  
• See Joe (my buddy from Denver who moved there almost a little over a year ago)--great to see you, Joe!!! NY has been good for you.
  
• Go to Central Park
• Go to the Apple store on 5th Ave
• Go to a museum
• Go to J&R Electronics--the biggest/best electronics store there is
• See what's happening at Ground Zero
• Get my money's worth for an all-day metro pass (yeah, they lost money on me yesterday)
  

If the museums opened before 11:30, I would have gotten to the Neue (a recommendation from my neighbor), but with needing to stand in line for 1/2 off day-of shows and then seeing the show 3 1/2 hrs later, there was not time for both. Hopefully I'll get there next week.

Central Park at 6:30 am is an entirely different park. Dogs run free off-leash, bike racers are training in circles on the road. Walker and joggers are everywhere and there is a calm being in this place...an escape from the city that towers above it.

I actually ended up doing everything else on the list and did get to the vegetarian restaurant, but didn't love the prices for what I was in the mood for...but next door was a very typical NY convenience store with a scrumptious salad bar for $5.30/lb. Couldn't go wrong. Hunting down the chocolate chip cookie was entirely worth it, but it involved walking 3-4 miles. Yes, it was a freaking good cookie...and a whole meal in itself.

I have a lot of great NY pics, but am having trouble uploading right now. Will be sure to get them up before the evening is over.

Oh yeah, this blog entry would be incomplete if I didn't mention the bagel I ate first thing yesterday morning. It was MUCH better than CO bagels. Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy in the middle and the flavor was a bit better, too. What's their secret?

I write this, again, from Princeton. This time I'm in the student union at a very nice table with electrical outlet. It's dark with red brick walls and many students. Time to pack it up and stroll along Nassau street. Maybe find a coffee shop and will definitely stop at their local co-op/organic food store on the way for lunch.

On to the Engineering Building...and the Princeton Library

Next up was a trip to the Engineering building. There is a lot of seating everywhere on the campus and the E-building was no exception. It is a bit more inviting than CUs E-Center. Once again, free wireless and no complaints.

The cloudy skies have cleared making for a gorgeous evening. I wandered over to the Princeton library which is getting a great deal of use. It is pretty modern with nice dark red brick coupled with ample windows, light and computers. Slightly puzzling is the teeny-weeny computer section. It's the smallest collection of computer books I've ever seen in a library. I guess they figure anyone really interested in that stuff gets their books from the campus library or just goes online. I found some basic HTML books to help with the sad little website I'm attempting to put together.

My, Where Has the Time Gone?

It's time to blog...and explain a few things. Thanks to Bill for the kick-in-the-pants. Interesting, because I think I would have blogged today w/o the encouragement to do so.

I'm on vacation. This is a real vacation. Some sociology building on the Princeton campus is keeping me comfortable and providing free wireless internet at the moment.

I don't consider myself a workaholic, but I do know that I can't stop doing things. With my 2008 racing season in doubt (thanks to having to pull all-nighters the week before training camp), it occurred to me that if I spent as much time and energy doing something else besides training, I might actually get somewhere in life. I say this with the utmost respect and appreciation for cycling, but the women's race scene leaves too much to be desired. This fall, I was out on a ride with top women cyclists and Alison (one of the fastest women in the world) mentioned what she's being compensated. It struck a cord with me. Yeah, I know that we all race for the love of it, but I race for the love of competition and because I like to travel. A good paycheck could ensure the traveling bit and I hope to return to the local race scene in 2009.

Towards the end of February, I started a company, March saw the company doing a fair amount of business (read: I was working my tail off) and, completely unassociated, but well-timed, I ended up with a job offer that I couldn't refuse. The month of March was a very significant time in my life. I also had to bid farewell to the company I've been working for and have loved. It's hard to leave a small company because it was like leaving a family. It's too bad that it has to be like that.

Here I am, in-between jobs and spending the time back East. I like the idea of working from anywhere and am testing out that concept. So far, I haven't done too much. Yesterday (Monday) my body was completely freaking out from all of the stress I'd been under since December. I expected something like this to happen. My body told me I'd better relax for the first time in forever or I'd be sorry. So, I stayed in (I'm staying with my uncle and he has a very comfy couch) and it was rainy/foggy all day so it was a good day to be in. My diet consisted of these magic wellness pills (vitamins) and a few raw food bars. Looks like that cold was averted as I have a lot more energy today.

Sunday my uncle and I rode bikes from Liberty Park (across from the Statue of Liberty) to the George Washington bridge, tooled around the neighborhood north of Harlem for a bit and rode back. Pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/patrialanfranchi/NJRiding?authkey=2_CPy4_UaG0

It was a perfectly beautiful day and as warm as one could expect. Funny, today it's raining a bit (more of a drizzle now), but it's at least 65 degress...basically it feels like a rain forest with all of the humidity. And that fits for how my day started--I spent a lot of time at the gym in the steam bath. Ah, refreshing and a good way to start after such a rough day yesterday.

There will be more posts & I'm going to work on keeping them shorter. Like the Twitter concept. I still want to host my blog from my own server, but seeing as though there was too much other stuff going on to worry about, it's blogspot for the foreseeable future. (Urgh.)

Today the goal will be to make my business website. Will post its address if it gets launched.