James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
TWSS!
Cole
Well-Known Member
Uhhh ... You sure?
Keep Moving
Last post I mentioned that I'm more active than ever, but now it takes many different forms. Back in the racing days, as mentioned, it was riding a bike. To be fast on a bike, you need to ride a bike. The end. I know there was a lot of debate about this but I always maintained that to be fast on a bike, and only fast on a bike, you needed to ride your bike a lot. And try to be as light as possible. Even when I said this, I knew it wasn't the most balanced approach and that one day, I'd need more balance. Those days have arrived.
So what does "being active" look like? I still ride - MTB, road, Zwift. These will always going to be part of the mix unless something prevents that from happening. I have added more strength training to the mix as well. That comes in 2 forms; lifting weights and physical therapy. I went to the doctor a few months ago with some knee issues, as well as a persistent hip issue. She sent me to PT to try and address them both. It turns out the knees just needed to be strengthened. While it hasn't gone away completely, the knee issues were basically due to not paying enough attention with strength training. She added squats and Romanian deadlifts. The larger issue has been the hip. I now have something like 10 different exercises and stretches to address it. While it's gotten better, I still have some work to do. A lot of it has to do with strengthening my core, another thing that's been neglected for a bunch of years. That's going to be a long process.
I balance the rest of the activity bucket with keeping on top of projects around the house. I know this is sort of normal in a sense, but again, in the past, I've prioritized bike riding over pretty much everything else. The past few months have been any number of fixes, but I've spent a considerable amount of time painting shit. In another few years I'll have gotten to all the rooms in the house. Then I can start at the beginning again. Of course there's always the routine shit like mowing the lawn, building my trails, and so on. While this is all "normal" in life, I've put more of a focus on making sure I keep on top of shit around the house. Keep moving.
I also stretch every night before bed. Almost forgot that one. That's pretty critical in the whole hip/knee/balance equation.
On an unrelated note, I picked up the ski hill sign project again. I guess my mind has started to drift in that direction already.
Last post I mentioned that I'm more active than ever, but now it takes many different forms. Back in the racing days, as mentioned, it was riding a bike. To be fast on a bike, you need to ride a bike. The end. I know there was a lot of debate about this but I always maintained that to be fast on a bike, and only fast on a bike, you needed to ride your bike a lot. And try to be as light as possible. Even when I said this, I knew it wasn't the most balanced approach and that one day, I'd need more balance. Those days have arrived.
So what does "being active" look like? I still ride - MTB, road, Zwift. These will always going to be part of the mix unless something prevents that from happening. I have added more strength training to the mix as well. That comes in 2 forms; lifting weights and physical therapy. I went to the doctor a few months ago with some knee issues, as well as a persistent hip issue. She sent me to PT to try and address them both. It turns out the knees just needed to be strengthened. While it hasn't gone away completely, the knee issues were basically due to not paying enough attention with strength training. She added squats and Romanian deadlifts. The larger issue has been the hip. I now have something like 10 different exercises and stretches to address it. While it's gotten better, I still have some work to do. A lot of it has to do with strengthening my core, another thing that's been neglected for a bunch of years. That's going to be a long process.
I balance the rest of the activity bucket with keeping on top of projects around the house. I know this is sort of normal in a sense, but again, in the past, I've prioritized bike riding over pretty much everything else. The past few months have been any number of fixes, but I've spent a considerable amount of time painting shit. In another few years I'll have gotten to all the rooms in the house. Then I can start at the beginning again. Of course there's always the routine shit like mowing the lawn, building my trails, and so on. While this is all "normal" in life, I've put more of a focus on making sure I keep on top of shit around the house. Keep moving.
I also stretch every night before bed. Almost forgot that one. That's pretty critical in the whole hip/knee/balance equation.
On an unrelated note, I picked up the ski hill sign project again. I guess my mind has started to drift in that direction already.
It's a Bit Crazy Right Now
Things are a little bit in flux right now. Those people on the team know I'm in the process of looking for a new job. As it turns out, the current one just isn't panning out. So instead of waiting to get killed like 1/4 of the company has in the past 6 months, I'm jumping off the ship before it runs into the next iceberg. While there are a lot of things wrong with the setup, I will say that this place (places, technically) gave me a spot to land when the previous org decided they were going to ServiceNow No More. So it goes.
I've had 5 interviews so far and have 3 more lined up. I pretty much reached out to every close contact I had to get the ball rolling to see what's out there. There was a lot of immediate feedback just because I have history with those people. Right now there are 2 orgs I'm very interested in. One is in NJ and is a small shop. The other is in Chicago and is a small shop. One is a boutique org while the other has a lot of VC money and they're looking to explode. Both interesting & exciting in their own way. I truly don't know which way it'll go, or even if I'll end up there. Time will tell.
We're going to Vermont this Friday.
We're going to Spain next Friday.
I assume I will have a new job before October is over.
Matty & Sixer showed up today to start putting a new front porch on.
So like I said, lots of flux.
Things are a little bit in flux right now. Those people on the team know I'm in the process of looking for a new job. As it turns out, the current one just isn't panning out. So instead of waiting to get killed like 1/4 of the company has in the past 6 months, I'm jumping off the ship before it runs into the next iceberg. While there are a lot of things wrong with the setup, I will say that this place (places, technically) gave me a spot to land when the previous org decided they were going to ServiceNow No More. So it goes.
I've had 5 interviews so far and have 3 more lined up. I pretty much reached out to every close contact I had to get the ball rolling to see what's out there. There was a lot of immediate feedback just because I have history with those people. Right now there are 2 orgs I'm very interested in. One is in NJ and is a small shop. The other is in Chicago and is a small shop. One is a boutique org while the other has a lot of VC money and they're looking to explode. Both interesting & exciting in their own way. I truly don't know which way it'll go, or even if I'll end up there. Time will tell.
We're going to Vermont this Friday.
We're going to Spain next Friday.
I assume I will have a new job before October is over.
Matty & Sixer showed up today to start putting a new front porch on.
So like I said, lots of flux.
This is timely because I was at your house 3+ years ago and you were talking to Dan about replacing the porch and for whatever reason a few days ago I thought about the porch.
I was going to ask how it turned out but forgot about it. Now I have my answer.
I was going to ask how it turned out but forgot about it. Now I have my answer.
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
Spain
Last week we were in Spain. Some of youse on IG know this, and have seen some or all of the pictures. I'm not sure who actually looks at all 10-15 pictures when they get posted but they're there for the viewing. I did 9 travel blogs during that time which I will link below. You can read them if you like, or not. It's a lot of content all at once in a blast post. I could have linked them day-by-day but finding time to even do them in the first place was an effort.
I never had Spain on the bingo card before this year but the wife threw it out there and so we went. I thought it was awesome. Would I move there? Not sure about that. But I'd spend 1-3 months there someday for sure. I liked Madrid a bit more than Barcelona, D was the opposite. I found both places great and can see myself going back sooner than later. I think if we lived there for (up to say) 90 days, we'd likely pick Barcelona. Madrid was more tourist-friendly I felt. Barcelona is more residential. Let's say Madrid was a bit more like DC and Barcelona a bit more like NYC.
I don't want to work anymore. I want to vacation for the rest of my life. A lot of that has to do with the current job, so that should change. I came back from vacation, sat down at my laptop, opened up Outlook, and quit. It felt good.
I start a new job on Monday 11/3, exactly 364 days after I started this job. I gave it a year, which I think is enough. This org will never get their shit together in its current format. I really don't want to wind down my last years of work at a company that can't tell their ass from their elbow, which sadly is a significant portion of the org. While I am being harsh, it's just how I feel. I also know that 75% of the people out there think the same of their own company. This is work life.
Anyway, that means this weekend is domestic shit. Sometimes life needs to be boring.
Spain 1: To Barcelona!
Spain 2: Dali & the Ramblas
Spain 3: Hop On Hop Off the Sagrada Familia and Wait
Spain 4: Montserrat & Picasso Walk Into a Bar
Spain 5: Leaving Barcelona to Say Hello to Madrid
Spain 6: A Walking Tour & The Prado
Spain 7: Segovia & Toledo
Spain 8: More Walking, The Royal Palace, and the Reina Sofia
Spain 9: Goodbye Spain
I wish I could say one specific day was the best to read from the above list. But I can't.
I also have to confess that I am really mostly indifferent on turtles.
Last week we were in Spain. Some of youse on IG know this, and have seen some or all of the pictures. I'm not sure who actually looks at all 10-15 pictures when they get posted but they're there for the viewing. I did 9 travel blogs during that time which I will link below. You can read them if you like, or not. It's a lot of content all at once in a blast post. I could have linked them day-by-day but finding time to even do them in the first place was an effort.
I never had Spain on the bingo card before this year but the wife threw it out there and so we went. I thought it was awesome. Would I move there? Not sure about that. But I'd spend 1-3 months there someday for sure. I liked Madrid a bit more than Barcelona, D was the opposite. I found both places great and can see myself going back sooner than later. I think if we lived there for (up to say) 90 days, we'd likely pick Barcelona. Madrid was more tourist-friendly I felt. Barcelona is more residential. Let's say Madrid was a bit more like DC and Barcelona a bit more like NYC.
I don't want to work anymore. I want to vacation for the rest of my life. A lot of that has to do with the current job, so that should change. I came back from vacation, sat down at my laptop, opened up Outlook, and quit. It felt good.
I start a new job on Monday 11/3, exactly 364 days after I started this job. I gave it a year, which I think is enough. This org will never get their shit together in its current format. I really don't want to wind down my last years of work at a company that can't tell their ass from their elbow, which sadly is a significant portion of the org. While I am being harsh, it's just how I feel. I also know that 75% of the people out there think the same of their own company. This is work life.
Anyway, that means this weekend is domestic shit. Sometimes life needs to be boring.
Spain 1: To Barcelona!
Spain 2: Dali & the Ramblas
Spain 3: Hop On Hop Off the Sagrada Familia and Wait
Spain 4: Montserrat & Picasso Walk Into a Bar
Spain 5: Leaving Barcelona to Say Hello to Madrid
Spain 6: A Walking Tour & The Prado
Spain 7: Segovia & Toledo
Spain 8: More Walking, The Royal Palace, and the Reina Sofia
Spain 9: Goodbye Spain
I wish I could say one specific day was the best to read from the above list. But I can't.
I also have to confess that I am really mostly indifferent on turtles.
JDurk
Well-Known Member
I actually looked at all the pictures on IG. My brother and SIL were in Spain at the same time. Looked at all of their pictures too. Was looking for all of you in each other's pics.
Red Mosquito
Formerly RLB the Scrapple Boy
This is the fucking dream right here, and you actually did it. Bravo.
I’ll dig in on those blog posts, the Mrs wants to go for spring break next year so it’s been on the radar. Coincidentally, my cousin just moved to Spain from Denver.
never waste a crisis.
We did Italy 10+ years ago but that was just Rome. We also did Paris 7 years ago on the Paris-London-Brussels-Amsterdam trip. So we've been to all 3.
In theory, to specifically answer the question we would go elsewhere first. I assume we will go many different places first. While it was a great trip, there's a lot more to explore. Currently we have Iceland and Dublin on the discussion table for next year. Venice & northern Italy was also brought up. Longer term we have a Baltic Sea cruise which is a sort of outlier for us. Cruises are not our thing. But if you can wake up in a different Scandinavian city and spend the day there? Makes it all more appealing. Copenhagen specifically is on the (maybe) 2 year horizon as Zac will study abroad for 1 semester and currently that is his lean (over the other choice, which is Rome).
Another EU trip (Vienna, Prague, Budapest) is a "some day" and then you always have like Germany, Greece, Croatia, and of course the Ukraine. Or not. There are also random spots like Slovenia, Poland, Macedonia, and yeah, Andorra. We could have checked off Andorra on this trip but that was a long, somewhat hard-to-reach, place from Barcelona; at least for a day trip.
That said, if we see a flight to Spain for $325 you never know. Sometimes you really can land a crazy low price on some of these flights. Barcelona has some very cheap flights in the summer. But it's probably also quite warm then.
And funny enough, 90% of the people there do not say BARTHelona.
Cole
Well-Known Member
When we went to Ireland we flew in the Shannon and drove across to Dublin, with stops along the way. We felt spending half the trip in Dublin was a mistake. If we go back, we will most likely fly in to Shannon and go south, and possibly one day in Dublin...