"...hey, it's good to be back home again..."

It's great to be back home again!  It's a remarkably long travel day from New York to San Francisco.  My alarm went off at 4:45am ET (let me point out that's 1:15am PT), the shuttle picked me up at 5:15am ET, and luckily I got to the airport with only 2 1/2 hours before my flight (thanks to the shuttle service insisting on morning traffic, which surprisingly was all coming INTO the city, and not OUT of the city to JFK like we were) - whew, barely made it.  I flew home with two kids behind me kicking my seat, or actually grabbing the top of my seat and hanging on it, the entire flight home (I don't blame the kids, I blame the rude, ignorant, selfish, former hippy parents who failed to do anything to help their kids not bother others around them).  Luckily, I didn't have to worry about eating with my chair rocking back and forth because American Airlines was kind enough to not feed us unless we wanted to pay like $17 for a 3-day old sandwich.  And to top it all off, the in-flight movie was - you're going to be jealous - Kit Kittredge, American Girl.  WHAT THE...?!  

Oh well.  The trip to NY was very successful and I'm really glad I went.  I got a lot accomplished while working with the team out there, and I feel like it was essential for making progress in our team.  I even got to take some time yesterday evening and ride the subway down to Battery Park (very cold!) where I was able to gaze on Lady Liberty for a while.  It was actually really neat to contemplate the symbolism of that welcoming statue.  I really enjoyed it.

The family just joined me at Google for the annual Googleween celebration.  While the rain put a slight damper on the festivities, it's fun to have them come.  Micah is really getting to that age where she's not anxious to dress up in public anymore, and I think she was happy to have the rain as an excuse to "not get the my costume wet".  Tomorrow will be fun as they have their school costume parade and parties, and then another annual tradition of going with a big group of school friends to the same house and all trick-or-treating together.

Happy Halloween.

New York

I'm in New York City for a few days this week and it's very cool.  I'm staying at the Four Points Sheraton in Manhattan, which if you want to look it up on a map it's on 25th St and 7th Ave.  My days have consisted of walking down to Google's offices at 15th St and 9th Ave, and then meeting/working with fellow team members and people I support.  It's been really fun to work in a different environment, and the feel here is pretty cool.  My business partners and team members have all been very friendly and they seem happy to meet me and have me on board.

I've enjoyed walking the streets of NY to and from the office.  It's interesting to see all the hurrying people, the shops, delis, vendors, parents walking their kids to schools that don't look like schools, a million taxis, and the smokers.  Yesterday was a beautiful East Coast fall day; today it's raining like crazy.  Luckily I walked to the office before the heavy rain came, but it certainly does have implications for my walk home later if it doesn't let up.

One thing I really don't enjoy about traveling is being away from the family.  I feel so separated, even if I know what they're doing at given times of the day.  It's even difficult to call them to feel better because it's fairly rare that nothing's going on and they can actually talk.  Let me rephrase that...it's tough to talk to Angela without feeling her stress of the day, without Brig screaming to talk, or without the car full of kids drowning out the conversation.  Fortunately I'm not gone long.

I also don't sleep very well in hotels.  Actually, I can just plan on the first night being horrible, and then after that I'm usually so tired from no sleep the first night that I can sleep.  But I got some exercise in the gym this morning, I've been drinking a lot of water to combat the plane/hotel dry air, and I'm good to go.

I feel slightly guilty that I'm not taking advantage of the trip out here to see a show or something uniquely New York.  The problem is, I try to work late to maximize the work time, so that doesn't leave too much time for other things after dinner.  Maybe I'll see what I can find for tonight or tomorrow...

Bracing for Weekend-O-Craziness

Hola, como esta?

Weekend comin, and in our case, you better buckle up.  

We have the pleasure of paying back our good friends for their always-generous help by watching their three kids while they vacation for a much-needed few days of R&R.  It'll be fun.  What it does though, is it introduces more activities and requirements into the already full plan, and it will be interesting to see if we can actually get everyone in the right place, at the right time, and not forget anyone who needs picking up.

We have the kids' school walkathon, which will take up most of the day by itself.  Shifts of us will be leaving intermittently for two different soccer games and two different sets of play practice.  Once the walkathon winds up, it'll be deliver the kids to a practice for the sacrament meeting primary program (who knew this was such a big production?!  Whatever happened to the days of get the kids up, sing a few songs, say a couple of funny little kid things, and then sit them back down?).  Anyway, after the primary program practices it's the ward Trunk-r-treat, which will of course require us all to don costumes for this glorious event.  That won't be hard for Brig, who's been in character as Peter Pan for roughly 7 days straight now.  The rest of us are trying to work around his costume...Morgan's going to be Tiger Lilly, Kennan's going to be Wendy, I'm going to be John, and I'm not sure about the rest.

I'm sure we'll also carve pumpkins, catch a few minutes of football games if possible, and hopefully not lose anyone.

Speaking of Brig, he was at the pool the other day and a friendly kid came up to play with him.  The kid said, "what's your name?" and Brig replied, "I'm PETER PAN" and then he did a flying leap into the pool.  He's also going through a time where he really likes hanging out with his mom, but he wants to make sure his dad doesn't feel too bad.  He's constantly saying stuff like, "I'm Mom's buddy AND Dad's buddy".  That's ok, as long as he earns his scholarship.

Also, on Sunday afternoon I am flying to New York so I can work with the members of our team who are in that office for a few days.  I of course am not thrilled about traveling on Sunday, but I needed to be there by Monday morning and I'm not really keen on taking a red-eye and then working a full day.  I'll come back home on Thursday, so it's not too long of a trip.  It should be really good to work with my team out there, and to meet most of them in person for the first time although we've already been on numerous video conferences and calls.  So yeah, I guess I have to pack for that trip too, now that I think of it...

So as Brig says when he and I have scooter races around my car:  "Gamark, Gaset, GO!!!"

Recent Kid Pictures

The family at the pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay

Brig posing with the pumpkins

Brig will be a tiger anytime, anyplace, no matter how wet the ground might be...

Morgan of the Corn

Brig with his two best buddies, Joey and Sam

Kennan riding the pony

It's either a horse or Peter Pan for Halloween

Long day ... one of my favorite pictures!

He's becoming a little man

Morgan the beautiful!

Kennan la bonita

If you register early, your kids might get Ms. Richards next year for 3rd grade

Angela's Marathon Pics

One of the biggest problems I have with this blog is getting pictures up in a timely manner.  It's not that it's hard to get the pictures, it's just a bit of a process...download the pictures from the camera to our home computer; upload to a web folder in Picasa (which I'm happy to share with anyone, by the way); then at work I have to download the photos back from the Picasa online album to my work computer, and then upload them into Blogger.  I know it would be easier to just download straight from the camera to my work computer, but you can also see the down side of that, hopefully.  Anyway, here are the St George pics.  I'm sad as I realize we didn't take any with Spencer & Molly and their family at the house, but at least we got the race...

Sports stuff

I was very happy to see the Phillies beat the Dodgers last night in the NLCS.  I will say Philly is one of the three or four teams I follow semi-regularly, but I cannot be considered a true fan.  I'm happy for Nate and Dan, because it's their hometown team, and I like a few players on the team: Utley, Howard, Victorino, but it was as much about seeing LA lose as anything else.  I guess it makes me happy when any LA team loses, mostly because of the fans.

I'm also happy that the Tampa Bay Rays are going to beat the Red Sox in the ALCS.  Not sure if it will happen tonight, but certain it will happen.  It's awesome to see a team go from dead last the previous year, to playing in the World Series this year.  Also, very cool that this team outta nowhere gave it to the big name teams in its division - Boston and the Yankees.

OK, enough baseball.  It's GAMEDAY baby!  The Cougs take on a very tough and motivated TCU team tonight, live and in color, from Dallas/Fort Worth.  This is the stiffest test the Cougs will have faced so far this season.  I honestly have no idea how the game will go, but I will say this: over the course of the game, our defense will be better than their offense (mostly running team), and our offense will be better than their defense.  Things like turnovers and penalties could really hurt us, but if we can limit our mistakes, and be patient with our gameplan, I don't think they can consistently stop us on offense over the whole game, and I don't think they can run on us effectively enough to win the game.  So yes, I'm predicting a Cougar victory, although this one will be ugly at times.  Should be fun to watch (I hope).

And then this weekend, #1 ranked Texas hosts #11 ranked Missouri on ABC at 8pm Eastern.  This is a huge game for the Horns as it will serve to validate what they did to Oklahomie last week, and it will cement their place on top of the rankings.  Might I add, it's quite a treat to have both schools that I attended and follow passionately ranked in the top 10!  I imagine that's a fairly unique dynamic.

Finally, as with every other year, it feels strange when the NBA and NHL start up with baseball still rolling, and my mind fully footballized.  

Coming up for air

You know that gasping explosion of air intake as someone lurches out of the water when they've been submerged for a little too long?  Water spraying everywhere and mouth open as wide as possible trying to make up for lost time?  I feel a little bit like that in the few moments, like right now, when I can emerge from my new job and a few other important things going on and look around.  A new job, especially coming into a management position with a team in place, is a wild ride of ups and downs, and a few sidewayses for good measure.  Sometimes I'm stoked, other times I'm overwhelmed and frustrated.  Oh well, at least I'm challenged, and that's better than what I was getting for a while before the change.  

I want to shout out to a very special person who just received the news that she is #1 on a transplant list in Pittsburg for a lung transplant and will be going back there for however long it takes.  She's been a contributor on this blog, mostly commenting on my political posts, but always adding valuable insights as the thoughtful person that she is.  I'm not sure she would want me to make public mention of this, but CSB, we're thinking of you and praying for you!

Speaking of coming up for air, I continue to swim 3 or 4 times a week (yes, I make time, otherwise I'd be depressed in addition to being busy).  I call it my 10-minutes-of-this-isn't-so-bad-followed-by-10-minutes-of-dreaming-I'm-a-triathlete-followed-by-10-minutes-of-hasn't-it-been-30-minutes-yet?! workout.  My rough calculation is that 30 minutes is around a mile, so I'm proud of that, just tired and sore when I finish.

Deep breath, and here we go again .......

Thinking about Dad

Tomorrow, or actually today by the time you're probably reading this, my Dad, the kids' grandpa, is going in for a surgical procedure.  It's nothing as serious as the last time - removing a massive cancerous tumor from his chest - but it still feels a little bit like, "man, seems like we should be there to help out or something..."  I talked to Dad and Mom tonight and characteristically he's in great spirits, just ready to get going and get it over with.  I have to laugh at his optimism and energy.  He's awesome!

I'm so grateful that he's my dad, and that he's the grandpa of my kids.  We couldn't ask for a better example, friend, leader, playmate, and patriarch.  I love him dearly.  I think as long as I can remember I've had a special relationship with my dad, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I just want to make him proud.

Good luck Dad.  Be strong through the surgery, the rehab, and the mindless hours of recuperation.  We'll be praying for you and waiting anxiously for word of success.  Love you man!

LG

Last night we were catching up on Conference talks that we missed over the weekend, and a thought came to me.  Our tv, which is very nice by the way, is an "LG" brand plasma.  I was thinking "LG...Life's Good".  And you know what, it really is.  

It's amazing how quickly the "mo" can change from week to week.  We got a loan on our house and we have had incredible interest this week on possible lease options.  I started a new job this week and feel totally rejuvenated and reenergized (pictures of new office coming ... gotta set it up just right first!).  Our kids are all doing well in school (parent-teacher conferences were successful). We're all healthy and happy.  I'm a swimming fool and loving it.  We have amazing friends.  Both of our teams are in the Top 10 (unfortunately likely to change this weekend Texas-OU, but hopefully not for the Cougs).

So this is a happy-to-be-alive post to end a very good day.  Hope you all are able to realize that whatever stage your life is in, it's not as good as ours.  Just kidding.

Marathon weekend

What a great weekend!  Let me give you a rundown of the haps...

Thursday afternoon and evening Angela and I left the kids with our great and generous and talented and kind and good-looking friends, and we headed to St George, UT.  Our 9:45 minute drive went quickly, aided by good conversation, good tunes on my iPod, good gyros and strawberry shakes at the Mad Greek in Baker, good traffic, and good weather.  It was all good.  We stayed with Spencer & Molly & their kids, as well as some of the Mason family, in their gorgeous home on the Entrada golf course.  Very nice!

On Friday, Spencer and I went and swam laps at the clubhouse after Angela, Molly, and Spencer ("why am I tasting blood?") went on a short run.  It felt great to swim in a lap pool so I knew how far I swam - I went 1000 meters with plenty left in the tank by the time we shut 'er down.  From there it was to the Marathon Expo for Ang and me, where we met our great friends the Cutlers for a quick browse and number pickup.  It was back to Entrada for a tasty lunch at the Kokopeli restaurant, and then Spencer and I graciously volunteered to get out of the ladies' hair and we hit Green Spring golf course for some serious fun the rest of the afternoon.  I played alright, but Spencer played better - beating me by one stroke and by one point in a tense game of Bingo Bango Bongo.  I calculated our lifetime head-to-head record for all sports and I'm still leading though, so I'm ok...  That evening's BYU-USU game left a bitter taste in our mouths, but we quickly forgot about it with a viewing of Deja Vu.  

Saturday dawned very early, very dark, and very rainy.  I ran Angela over to the marathon buses at 4:30am, and then hustled back to bed for a few hours.  We had brought our noise maker to ensure that Angela could sleep well regardless of whatever noise might be floating through the house when she turned in early, and it was set on "rain" noise.  So I was actually surprised when I got up how hard it had been raining - I thought it was just the noise maker...  So here's where I eat a little crow:  I assured my faithful readers in a previous blog that the forecast would be for rain, but that there was no way it was actually going to rain.  Well, I was wrong, and 5000+ runners were the unfortunate recipients of abundant rainfall, a stiff headwind, and falling temperatures throughout the morning.  On the bright side, it really prevented me from wishing I was running... so I guess it was good after all  ;-). 

Ang was incredible during the race.  I first saw her at mile 16, and she looked awesome.  Molly jumped in at that point and ran with Ang until just before the finish, and that really helped get her to the end.  Good job Molly.  I also saw them at mile 24, and I could tell it had been a hard day.  In the end, Angela achieved a personal best time of 3:47:23, in horrible conditions, and we are all so proud of her.  She is admittedly a little disappointed she missed a Boston qualifying time by 1 minute, 23 seconds, but she's reportedly still glad she did it.

Saturday highlights also included seeing the new Highland Rugby movie, Forever Strong.  I really enjoyed the movie, mostly because I coached at Highland for four years, knew about half the people in the movie, and had heard first-hand many of the one-liners throughout the movie. I thought it was really well done, and we'll be buying a copy of it when it hits DVD.  Another highlight was Spencer, Angela, and I spending about 45 minutes visiting Grandma Gurr in her assisted living center.  It's a nice place, and above all Grandma really seems to be doing well.  It was great talking with her, and seeing her happy.  Spencer and I went to Priesthood session of conference, and then Angela and I had a great dinner with the Cutlers and Trammells, friends from California, at Cafe Rio.  That's the best thing about St George for me - the friends and family who congregate for the marathon.  Good times.

Sunday was basically about the drive.  It always seems longer at the end of the vacation, and this was no exception.  We wanted to get home and see the kids, there was a ton of traffic pretty much the whole way, including hundreds of bikers, and we were both more tired than we had been on the way out.  We were very glad when we finally arrived home and picked up the kids.  They had all done very well with our friends, and we were so grateful for the help.  We owe them big time. 

Today I started my new job (still at Google).  I'll fill you in later when I figure out what's actually going on.  A shout out to Dave who also started a much-needed new job today.

Peace out.

That would be a first...

Here's a screen shot of the weather forecast for St George for the next few days.  Notice 90s through Friday, and then all of a sudden, 77 and a chance of isolated thunderstorms on Saturday?  Saturday is the 32nd annual St George Marathon.  Of the previous 31 years, it has never once rained on race day.  And you know what, it's not going to rain this race day either.  They can talk about isolated t-storms till they're blue in the face, but it's going to be sunny and warm all day - mark my words.

Here are a few interesting facts about the race:

• The marathon is 26 miles, 385 yards (funny how often you get the question, how long is this one? ... all marathons are the same)
• It is the 15th largest marathon in the US
• 60% of runners are male, 40% are female
• 63% of runners are from Utah, with the next highest state being California with 12%
• Over 200,000 cups are used at the 15 aid stations along the route
• 4,250 gallons of water will be given at aid stations
• 1,960 gallons of gatorade will be given at aid stations
• 800 people are in the 10-year club, and 53 runners in the 20-year club
• Runners from 9 different countries will be running

I'm looking forward to cheering for Angela and a few friends.  It will also be fun to spend some quality time with Spencer and Molly, who we're staying with down there, as well as seeing many friends who make the pilgrimage to St George this time every year.  Really wish I was running, but it will be fun to be there nonetheless.  I hope to get in some golf with Spencer, probably some tennis too.  We'll most likely go see the new Highland Rugby movie, Forever Strong, and we'll for sure watch the BYU football game on Friday night.  All in all, it will be a nice relaxing vacation for a few days.  We'll pull out tomorrow around lunch and make the drive.  Thanks to our great friends who are watching the kids, which comes with a LOT of coordination due to their busy schedules.

Good luck to Ang - I know she'll do a GREAT job!!!  Love you babe!