I Had To Give Sky Skiing A Try

This past weekend was spent doing something I've never done in my life... sky skiing. How is the best way to explain what sky skiing is? Um, it is like sitting on a stool, which is balancing on a 3 foot post, while getting pulled 30 mph through the water. Yeah, that about sums it up. For those who can read the above sentence and think, "Yeah, that is easy," I assure you, it isn't!

If you do it right, it does look very easy. For instance, my friends wife, Jodi (above) just skied and made it look relaxing... This is cool.

Then my friend, Terry took it to the next level. Again... Making it look easy. This is even cooler.

We had two boats out on the water. These pictures blow my mind. I snapped these pictures of Rick, who was landing barrel rolls, back-flips, and even trying front flips. These pictures are unbelievable...

I think everyone is familiar with a simple machine called a lever. Well, when you are out of the water and gliding the contact point with the water is at the hydrofoil. If you make a wrong move the hydrofoil will dive down while the boat pulls you forward, turning you into a powerful lever. A lever that puts the brunt of the impact on your head. This is a lesson I learned very well as I had several high speed impacts as a result of that powerful lever doing just as I explained.

Today I am a bit in the hurt locker. Between the high speed water impacts and the amount of strength it took to tow my huge ass through the water, my body is sore and my muscles ache. But man, was it fun!!!

Getting Back in the Game

A lot of stuff has been going on in life that is worthy of blogging about.  However, I've shyed away from blogging much because every time I did I would write too much and it would turn into an hour session of writing, which I don't have time for because I have a lot of stuff going on in my life worth blogging about; vicious circle.  

So I'm going back to my original blogging rule, which I posted in my very first post.  I'm not going to allow myself to write for longer than 15 minutes;  rare exceptions will be allowed.

Hopefully this will make me want to post more often.  

It has been 10 min.  I'm outta here.

P.S.  I love Twitter.com.  Talk about a site that allows you to share your thoughts with minimal effort.

The world needs ditch diggers too.

Due to the recent wind storms we've had along the Front Range a 20 foot section of fence fell down. I spent the morning and most of the afternoon digging... And digging... And digging some more. While I dug I kept thinking of a line from Caddy Shack when a caddy is speaking to a judge who is playing golf. The caddy explains to the judge about how expensive college is and how he won't be able to afford to attend. The judge looks the caddy in the eyes and says, "The world needs ditch diggers, too."

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Where Christmas Trees Go To Die

I dropped off the Christmas tree at the christmas tree graveyard. This particular drop off is mulched and used by the city.

I use to let it bother me that I would spend 70 bucks on a tree that is pretty for less than a month and then ends up in a place like this. Then I realized I spend that much on a tank of gas and it only get me to work a few times. Or I spend that much on food and we all know where that goes... Flush.

So after putting it in perspective, I consider my tree an annual donation to the city. Plus, from its death it nurtures new life. That is more than I can say about the gas I use every day.

BTW - Happy New Year!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

2007 Post-Mortem

Post-Mortem: discussion of an event after it has occurred.

In the tech industry this term is used primarily to describe the meeting that takes place after a code release. All those involved (Developers, QA, Product, Etc.) get into a room and talk about every aspect of the last release cycle. The cool things about these meetings is that not only is every aspect talked about, but all perspectives have representation in the meeting. During this meeting everyone has a voice to discuss what went right and what went wrong.

Sometimes - in poorly organized meetings - it becomes a blame game and everyone points fingers. In environments where employees are able to check their pride at the door and accept "constructive criticism" these meetings can be incredibly useful.

The whole point of the Post-Mortem is to take an honest look and see where strengths are and where areas of improvement are needed. Both are equally important to recognize in yourself.

It is easy to gloss over success stories, but time should be given in order fully understand why those were success stories. This analysis will help you learn your strengths and as importantly, where there were breakdowns that could be further optimized. Looking at strengths will also reconfirm that things are going well. As humans we tend to need that reassurance.

Areas of improvement can be a touchy subject, but the thing to remember is that nobody and no process is free from its scope. Even the best success story has ways in-which it can be improved the next time. This is where egos need to be checked at the door and a willingness to learn has to take front and center. Plus, it only does good if you are willing to tell it how you see it. At times people are too sheepish to express how they feel; thinking that it will cause a ripple in the pond. However, during the next cycle they will most likely see it happen again until they face the deprecated process, analyze it, then optimise it.

So why am I telling you all of this?

Go back and read this again, but this time apply it to cycling. Think of your last release as the 2007 cycling season. It is time to look back at your past success and failure. Only then, if you are honest with yourself, will you be able to begin to plan for next season.

There is more to a Post-Mortem meeting than analysing strengths and weaknesses. There are action items and goals, but i think I will be taking this in stride. In fact, I'll be taking baby steps and my first step will be to analyse my 2007 cycling season.

More to come...

El Diablo a.k.a. The Tour de France Devil

The Tour has entered the Pyrenees and so to has the Tour de France Devil. It seems as long as I can remember reading and watching the Tour, I would see pictures of El Diablo on the side of the most grueling roads in the race.

Honestly, I thought it was a great costume and an obvious way to be recognized in the crowd, but in the back of my head I thought the guy was a bit cuckoo. That is until recently when I heard Bob Roll speak of him.

According to Bob, the devil will appear, jeer, and cheer the riders at the toughest point of the hardest climb. Brilliant!

I'm hoping that is true, because if it is, this guy just gained a whole lot of respect from me. He does have a method to his madness.

If you look in the picture, you'll notice he also has a hell of a vertical for an old guy!

Wear a Medal as an Accessory

Today while I was getting a cup of coffee at work a co-worker walked into the kitchen wearing a medal around his neck. I only know the name of this co-worker and I really have no idea what his personality is like. Though at first it struck me as slightly odd that he was wearing an IronMan medal around his neck. I didn't ask him about his medal. Instead, like most others around me I speculated as to why he was wearing it.

This is what I speculated...
1. He's being arrogant and this is his flamboyant way of showing off.
2. He's not being arrogant, maybe he's being goofy.
3. Maybe he is really proud of his accomplishment and it was just collecting dust on his wall. Why not wear it?
4. Maybe he is stressed or life is getting him down a bit and wearing that medal takes his mind of it.

There are truly a hundred different possibilities and after thinking about them I couldn't help but be impressed that he chose to wear his medal as an accessory today.