Taking a little break. . .

Well, I'm back in Southern California, but not for long. The week in Colorado Springs ended up being quite productive. As much as I like to get things accomplished professionally, I'm always excited to slip a little personal time into these trips. I ended up scooting out of my Saturday meeting early enough in the afternoon to get together with Suzanne again. As I was walking out the door, I called her up and asked if she was up for a little ride. Her excited and familiar response was "I'll be right there"! Not 20 minutes later, she was rolling into the OTC parking lot on her Softtail to get me.

We rode back up to their house where we asked David to join us for a spin, but he bowed out so we could get some girl time in. I don't know many people who have no problems handing over a one year old Screamin Eagle Road King to out of town guests, even knowing how much I love to roll out miles with his wife!! I'm sure the knowledge that I ride 50 miles a day on crazy California interstate roads also reinforces his faith in my riding ability!!

For the next few hours, we spun around Colorado Springs until it got too chilly to be enjoyable. I'm always stunned by how quickly the temp drops at altitude whenever the sun isn't shining down on you. I was glad that I had packed my chaps in anticipation for a little adventure on this trip! It's kind of like a pocket knife, you never know when you'll need it! Just before dark, we rolled up to their house where we spent the evening eating and hanging out with the family.

So I am now unpacking my suitcase from my arrival yesterday and packing it in anticipation for my departure tomorrow. I fly out to San Antonio to help a friend celebrate the end to a 25 year career in the military. I'm sure I'll have some pics and stories to post from the outing!

Snow and coffee

We all knew it was gonna happen. . . the first snow of the season while I am here in the Springs! It's been absolutely frigid the last couple of days, but today the sun came out and it wasn't too bad. I've been inside in meetings most of the days for the last week anyway, so it's only when I'm walking between buildings or going out to dinner at night that I really feel it. I've been fortunate this trip to be able to get together for dinner with David & Suzanne quite a few times. It's nice to leave complex and talk about something other than work!

Just as getting together with Suzanne & David is at the top of my list of things to do every time I roll into the Springs, a trek down to Raven's Nest Coffee is a must. Although the picture is blurry, that's Paul whipping up another amazing espresso behind the counter. I've been gone a year now and he still knows my "usual"! I don't mind Starbucks when I'm traveling because I know what I'm gonna get, but the worldwide franchise giant doesn't hold a candle to the service and java at the corner of Institute and Boulder streets! Paul and his wife Heather own and operate this great little establishment that roasts its own coffee beans. Go there once and you'll become a regular!!

I've got meetings straight through Saturday and will fly south back to San Diego on Sunday. Have a great weekend!!!

You're still here?!

With such a quick turn-around between trips out here to the Springs, a lot of the folks that work out here didn't realize I had gone back to San Diego! I've been continually greeted with "you're still here?" as I walk around complex! Actually no, I left and came back! Just as well, I like to keep people guessing as to where I am!

Now, I won't bore ya'll with my work life and the drama that sometimes goes with it, but let's just say that the last 4-5 days have been draining. I try hard not to take myself too seriously, but I work really hard and do tend to take my work quite seriously. Sometimes I let work get to me too much, but I'm fortunate to have people in my life that don't let me get too wound up in it! Being the true friends that Suzanne and David are, the mere mention of a stressful day of work prompted them to come pick me up from the training center to take me out to dinner! I jumped into the vehicle and was greeted with a glass of wine from Suzanne and David acting as chauffeur for us for the evening. David, you are a good man!!!

We ALWAYS go to my favorite Indian restaurant (Mirch Masala) when I'm in town, but they were determined to force me from habit and drove me to their favorite new Thai restaurant. What a great deviation from routine!!! We ordered family style and enjoyed a little taste of everything. Drunken noodles, spicy garlic shrimp and spicy eggplant. . . it all made my forehead sweat and my nose run, but tasted great! I didn't think I'd want to eat with chopsticks again for a while so soon after returning from Asia, but this meal was definitely worth it!

In a cruel twist of fate, the weather warmed up as soon as I left on Wednesday only to turn frigid again upon my arrival here last night. Besides sharing dinner, we usually all go out for a spin on the Harleys when I'm in town. Unfortunately, the 48 degree temp this afternoon kept us bound to four wheels instead of two on our quest for dinner. It looks like our two-wheeled excursions are on hold until next spring now.

The evening ended with us having dessert at Montegut's on Tejon and laughing over endless stories. It's amazing how different our lives are but how much we still seem to have in common. There's a link to Suzanne's blog on the right side bar of this blog, so if you're curious about the lives of the parents of eight, check out the link to her blog.

That's all for now. I've got some reports to read before tomorrow's meetings. Enjoy your evening and check in again when you get a chance!

Back in the Rockies

Sorry for taking so long to post again. Of course, I have every excuse in the book for slacking, but I'll use the old stand-by of "I've been so busy"!

I flew out to Colorado Springs on Monday and turned around back to San Diego on Wednesday. Today I returned to the Springs and will be here all week for meetings.

I don't have a whole lot to add right now other than to update everyone on my whereabouts. I'm pretty much on the road for the next two weeks but I'm sure some random adventure will present itself for me to post about, so stay tuned. . .

A charmed life. . .

I think that most of us just go through the motions of our lives the majority of days. We have routines that we run through every day of our lives without thinking. Wake up, have coffee, brush your teeth, get dressed, dress the kids, walk the dog, go to work, whatever may be particular to you.

I've been lucky in that the amount of time I've spent in a "routine" life is pretty minimal. I might grumble about not sleeping in my own bed for more than 2 weeks in a row, but the truth is I like that variability in my life. By nature, I'm a creature of habit, but over the years I've come to need a disruption of my routine in order to still feel alive. Today reminded me of what a great balance of stability and variability I have in my life right now.

At work, I am part of a team. I am a member of a Sportfolio which is essentially a "team around the team." Our Sportfolio team consists of professionals from various disciplines that are required to help a sport team perform optimally. We have a psychologist (Peter), a strength & conditioning coach (Zach), a dietitian (me), an athletic trainer (Vinny), a biomechanist (John) and a team leader (April) who guides us all. Our team is split between the training centers in Colorado Springs and Chula Vista. Periodically, we come together physically for meetings or to work with teams, but it's not very often that we are all geographically together. This week was one of those rare occasions in which we found ourselves converged into the same location for a whole week of meetings. We decided to take advantage of it. . .

A year ago this month, we climbed Pikes Peak with one of the sports we serve. We've done various other activities in the year and a half that we've been together in the name of team-building, so it was only natural that we would use the backdrop of sunny California for a team-building experience while we were all here together. One of our team members, Zach is an avid surfer and suggested we spend the morning bonding out on the ocean. Although the two cold-challenged members of the group cringed ever so slightly at the thought of spending a morning in 62 degree water, April and I decided it would be worth the sacrifice to learn how to surf and to be together as a team. Bright and early this morning, we all met at Mission Beach here in San Diego for our adventure.

We arrived at the beach to coffee, bagels and surfboards. After what Zach described as the quickest brief on how to surf he's ever given, we carried our boards down to the chilly water and waded in. The waves were a good size for learning. I had tried to surf back in Hawaii, but I was never able to actually stand up and ride a wave in. After a couple of hours and lots of coaching by Zach & Vinny, we were all able to at least get our feet on the board as the waves pushed us towards the shore. I could never seem to find my balance and would topple over as soon as I got semi-upright on the board. Finally, I popped up as my board caught a wave and felt like I was actually riding the surf and not just in a transient state of tumbling off my board. It was tiring to continually fight the ocean far enough out to try to catch another wave, but it was fun enough to make me forget how cold I was for a while! To take a break, I paddled out past where the waves were breaking and just sat on the board allowing myself to bob in the rolling waves. Given my love of the water, it was an amazing morning spent in the midst of sensory sources that stir my soul. As you can see in the pic, we all had ear-to-ear grins at the end of our surf experience. In the pic from left to right are Zach, Peter, April, John, Vinny and me.

Unwilling to end our surfing experience, we headed down to Ocean Beach (OB) to the place that serves my favorite fish tacos in all of San Diego- Southbeach Grill! We devoured tacos, beans & rice and chips & salsa before making our way back to the training center. Even with a leisurely ride home via Sunset Cliffs, I made it back to my office in time for a 1:30 pm conference call! On my ride home from work tonight, I couldn't help but feel immensely satisfied with a productive day of work and leisure!

Not sure what the weekend has in store for me, but I fly out to Colorado Springs on Monday and will return on Wednesday evening. Just a little more variability in my routine to keep me on my toes and make me feel alive.

A Marine Corp Base Day

I was in the San Francisco airport on my way to Japan last month when I got an email for an upcoming race called the Boot Camp Challenge. Three miles filled with obstacles and Marine Corp drill instructors offering encouragement along the way- sounds like fun right?! So I go ahead and sign up for the event. Fast forward to Wednesday of this week when I get an email reminder that it's this Saturday! Oh yeah, I forgot I signed up for that. . .

So I get up bright and early this morning and ride off towards MCRD (Marine Corp Recruit Depot) for the race only to be turned away at the gate for not wearing the proper safety gear needed to get my bike on base. Hmmm. . . plan B, ride a few miles up the road to Whit & Kathie's and they'll take me there in the car. I get there in time to hear the safety brief and to catch up with Zach before the start (he's the Strength & Conditioning coach on my team at work). Zach had gone to boot camp on this base 20 years earlier so I think he just wanted to prove to himself that he could still do it!

The event wasn't really a race since there were so many people you couldn't move faster than a jog. The obstacles were mostly hay bales until we got to the permanent obstacle course structures (which had hay bales around them to make them easier). A few low crawl and push up stations were sprinkled along the way to keep it interesting and to give the drill instructors extra chances to use their voices (which were virtually gone already after having graduated a class of 600 new Marines this week). Even though everyone bunched up at the obstacles rendering them not as much of a challenge, it was still a fun morning outside. Whit captured some great video on the course but I can't get it to work on my computer. You can get a feel for the event though from the first pic that Whit took of some random kid being "encouraged" over an obstacle. Even pregnant with twins, Kathie still made a great cheerleader (that's her in the pic with me in front of the blow-up Marine).

Not believing the weatherman's prediction of rain this evening, Whit, Kathie and I headed out to MCAS (Marine Corp Air Station) Miramar for the air show. There were a ton of people there and the carnival-like atmosphere overshadowed the storm rolling in. We didn't get there early enough to check out the static displays, but we managed to get some kettle corn and drinks before making our way to our seats. As we hung out watching the primer aircraft stunts while waiting for the main event to begin, it became clear that we were going to get wet at some point during the evening.


We went to the twilight show so we could experience the great pyrotechnics that would accompany the air demonstrations. Fortunately we got to see the HV-8B Harrier demo, the Patriots Team program (the four L-39 jets in the pic with the red, white & blue smoke trails), and the Blue Angels "Fat Albert" C-130T Hercules before the weather set in. Much to my disappointment, the Army Golden Knights Parachute Team jump had to be cancelled because of the 1200 foot ceiling that had moved in. The Shockley's Jet Truck was pretty cool though, especially after darkness set in. This jacked up truck had 1000 hp and shot down the runway at almost 400 mph leaving a trail of fire shooting out behind it!

Although not aviation related, the Patriot Chopper made by Orange County Choppers was on display and drew quite a crowd. Built in 2007, the bike was designed incorporating winning ideas from soldiers around the country. The finished product has a front wheel with 7 spears representing the 7 Army values, an ammunition belt lining the handlebars, chromed M-4 magazines for struts, and an M-4 rifle mounted near the rear wheel. I'm fascinated with choppers, especially those with so much symbolism and detail but I don't think I'd own and ride one. I guess I'm spoiled with my windshield and backrest!!

The night ended with a wet ride for me through the rain back to Coronado on my own, old-ladied out Sportster! What can I say, I'm a simple girl. . .