June

It's time for the monthly update on my New Year Resolutions. We are halfway through the year, and I'm about halfway through the resolutions.

1. Do two triathlons. I did two events in June (neither very well, but that is besides the point).


2. Coach my daughter's lacrosse team. The season is over and I miss it already. We only lost two games (and one was against middle schoolers) and it was a fun season. Maybe it won't rain so much next year.


3. Learn something new. I'm converting my old Cannondale to be a single speed bike. So, I'm learning bicycle maintenance. I'm really tempted to build a bike from the frame up next.


4. Swim 50 miles over the course of the year. I swam 7,850 yards in May (4.5 miles) for a total of 53,350 (30 miles) on the year. If I can swim 4 miles a month, I'll be done in October. I also ran 24 mi and rode 117 mi in June.


5. Pass an SAP certification exam. Nope.

May

Time for the monthly update on my New Year Resolutions:

1. Do two triathlons. I'm signed up for two events in June. I swam 5600 yds, rode 156 mi and ran 35 mi in May, so I think I'm ready to go.


2. Coach my daughter's lacrosse team. The season is over and I miss it already. We only lost two games (and one was against middle schoolers) and it was a fun season. Maybe it won't rain so much next year.


3. Learn something new. Not much going on here. Lots of ideas, but no real action.


4. Swim 50 miles over the course of the year. I'm over halfway there. I swam 5,600 yards in May (3.2 miles) for a total of 45,500 (26 miles) on the year.


5. Pass an SAP certification exam. I might schedule this for early July since we are heading to Philadelphia anyway.

update

A (belated) update on the status of my New Year's Resolutions:

1. Do two triathlons. They cancelled the easy one in Blacksburg, so I might have to actually do two real ones. I'm keeping up with the swimming, but the running and cycling are so-so.
2. Coach my daughter's lacrosse team. The season is almost over and we are now 5-2. We lost our last game to Lexington 9-8. It was a good game and all tied up at half, but we fell asleep right after halftime and gave up 4 quick goals because we couldn't win a draw or get a ground ball. After a few minutes, the girls seemed to realize that they were getting killed and brought it to within 2 goals with about 20 seconds left. Sophie won the draw right off and scored to make it a one goal game with 1o seconds on the clock. Then she won the next draw and was just getting ready to shoot when time expired.
   
3. Learn something new. No progress. I'm relearning C++ on a project I'm working on, but I guess that doesn't count.
   
4. Swim 50 miles over the course of the year. Still ahead of schedule here. I swam 7,000 yards in April (4 miles) for a total of 39,900 (22.8 miles) on the year.
5. Pass an SAP certification exam. Need to work on this one.

2-0

On a blustery spring day, we won our second lacrosse game of the year against Lexington, 6-5. They were a tough team and had two players that were basically unstoppable but our team got a slim majority of the ground balls and controlled the midfield to earn the win.

We started off with the first goal fairly quickly and it almost looked like it was going to be a cakewalk, but Lexington came back with two goals scored by their tough center to pull ahead. Kali, who had bravely volunteered to play goal, made a good stop towards the end of the half to preserve the 3-3 tie.

In the second half, Lexington scored first and we got two more to pull ahead by one. Time was winding down and we had the ball in their end with about two minutes to go. Their strategy on defense was to not play the ball behind the goal, but they made a mistake and didn't pick Sophie up coming around to the right at all. Despite my pleas to hold the ball to run out the clock, she scored her 3rd to give us a two goal lead with about a minute and half left.

The Lexington center won the ensuing draw and brought the ball straight down the field and scored quickly. With less than a minute to go, the draw was closely contested and the clock expired with the ball at midfield.

It was a fun one to watch. Lexington is a well coached team and played tough defense with sticks up and very few open opportunities. We had more team speed and did a little better on the ground balls. We need a little work on the the rules (offside, shooting space and running the ball out on a shot were the things I noticed), but otherwise played a great game.

Quarter

Here is the quarterly update on my goals for 2009.

1. Do two triathlons. The running and swimming are in gear. I've done a few rides, but need to step that up a bit.
2. Coach my daughter's lacrosse team. We won our first game last week, so that is going well.
3. Learn something new. No progress.
4. Swim 50 miles over the course of the year. Still ahead of schedule here. I swam 10,000 yards in March (5.7 miles) for a total of 32,900 (18.8 miles) on the year.
5. Pass an SAP certification exam. I've been studying for the SAP PM exam and plan on scheduling it for March April or May (been too busy with work to get this one in).

A mixed bag, but nothing has completely fallen off yet.

Labs

The general use computer lab at universities is going the way of the dodo. I worked part-time in a computer lab in the business school as an undergraduate and it was a great way to pick up some extra cash (I think it paid $10 an hour in the late 1980s for helping people with their projects in dBase and Lotus 123).

Now that everyone has a laptop, it makes sense to dismantle the labs. Although in my experience, supporting a bunch of people with different laptops, software and requirements is much more difficult. It is probably good training for the real world.

First

We had our first lacrosse practice of the 2009 season yesterday. It was great to see everyone out there sticks in hand and ready to go. Everyone was excited to be there and get started.

We have a much smaller team than last year (19 on the roster right now) and more coaching help which is great. At the first practice, we were able to give a lot of individual attention to players and get them started on the right foot. Many of them are beginners and we have mostly 3rd and 4th graders. We have a lot of work ahead to be ready for our first game on 30 March.

One of the toughest things is going to be to find a goalie. It takes a certain kind of mentality to maintain confidence when the ball goes in the net. At this age, it seems like that attribute is the most important.

Butt

It seems that Virginia has joined the 21st century. Tim Kaine signed the restaurant smoking ban yesterday. That brings us into line with every other civilized state in the Union.

Ready

The weather over the weekend was astonishingly good - upper 70s, mostly sunny and breezy. The week started with snow and ended in the Carribean.

We had a coaches meeting to get ready for the lacrosse season yesterday. Practice starts on Wednesday and I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to try to have a practice plan ready by then so it isn't completely ad hoc.

White

It was snowy yesterday. Very pretty. Today, it is still snowy on the ground, but the roads are clear and dry. For whatever reason, the kids are off from school again. At least they get to do some more sledding.

Status

Here is my status report on my goals for 2009.

1. Do two triathlons. Running is just about back. I ran three times this week without pain in my right foot. Now I can start to do a bit more.
   
2. Coach my daughter's lacrosse team. We've got most of the girls signed up and are starting in two weeks.
   
3. Learn something new. No progress.
   
4. Swim 50 miles over the course of the year. I put in 7400 yards in February, so I'm at 22,900 (13 mi) for the year which is ahead of pace.
   
5. Pass an SAP certification exam. I've been studying for the SAP PM exam and plan on scheduling it for late March.
   

I'm still on a pretty decent track. A couple of things will get knocked off this month.

Snow

Our first snow of the winter has arrived. So far, we have less than an inch of snow, but it is still coming down pretty steady. It looks nice in the trees but isn't sticking to the roads at all.

The prediction is for 2-4 inches by tomorrow. I'm pretty much done with winter - it's been cold and windy this year. But, a bit of snow to finish it out sounds good.

Spend

Like many, I'm ambivelant about the stimulus package that was passed. We probably needed to restructure the banks first (mostly by nationalizing or preprivatizing them or whatever you want to call it) before spending a ton of money.

I do like the website that is set up to track the spending program at recovery.gov. At least we will know where the money is going, which is a nice change of pace.

Goals

As a good project manager, I'm providing a status report on my goals for 2009.

1. Do two triathlons. I am able to run again. I'm slow, but at least I can run.
2. Coach my daughter's lacrosse team. Still planning to do this.
3. Learn something new. No progress.
4. Swim 50 miles over the course of the year. Ahead of schedule here. I swam 15,500 yards in January (8.85 miles). I'm still insanely slow, but improving.
5. Pass an SAP certification exam. I've been studying for the SAP PM exam and plan on scheduling it for March.

Overall, a decent showing. Nothing is off the list yet, but we've got 11 months to go.

Meloncollie

We had to give Henry back to the adoption agency after two minor biting incidents. I'm sad about it, but we had no choice.

Henry wasn't very sure of himself (given his background, that isn't surprising) and he and Ellie weren't getting along. She is fairly protective of us and he was very interested in food which turned out to be a very bad combination. When the kids were walking around with food (which they shouldn't do), he would be close behind and Ellie didn't like that. A squabble broke out and Kate got bit on the hip.

We chalked that one up to accident. However, there was another incident where he nipped at Sophie while they were really close together. No harm done, but absolutely unacceptable for a dog to nip anyone in that situation.

I dropped him off this afternoon at the kennel where ARPH will get him fostered again. I wish things had worked out and he has a lot of good qualities. Hopefully, he will not have to wait long to find a forever home.

Warmer

Another picture to remind me that it isn't always cold. This is the overly crowded beach at Figure 8 Island.

Henry

I went and picked up Henry, our newly adopted dog, yesterday. Here is a picture of us at the exchange point - the Confederate War Memorial in Madison, VA. We got him from the Aussie Rescue and Placement Helpline, which was a pretty good organization to work with.

He's a purebred Austrailian Shepherd but is much smaller than L10. Ellie probably outweighs him by 8-10 lbs. and is much furrier so they almost look like different breeds. He's a blue merle with brown eyes and is quite handsome.

So far, he has integrated into the house nicely but needs some refinement in manners. He is very food and attention motivated. I know he's been bounced around a bit so I think he is overcompensating. We'll have to work on a few things, but he has an excellent role model to emulate.

On a different topic, the drive took me through Charlottesville north on Route 29. Once north of 250, I experienced all of the bad things about Northern Virginia - stop and go traffic, shopping centers and tract houses on cleared land. There used to be just quirky rural stores and outposts between Rio Hill and Madison. Remind me again how this kind of growth is good?

Warmer

I found this this picture from a mid-July concert the kids and I went to at St. Mary's College with my sister and her family on my phone today. I remember it being really hot. Hot sounds good right now.

Goat

If you are looking for me tomorrow, I'll be at the Commonwealth Goat Club meeting in Madison. I'm looking forward to it.

Water

The Economist has an alarming article about the state of the world's oceans in last week's issue. The article discusses the many environmental problems that will likely start to bite in the near future. The most alarming issues are all related to the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and include rising sea levels due to ocean melt, an increase in the acidity of the sea and the spread of algae blooms (red tides). Although the consequences for the world's ecology are dire, the ramifications for people are severe.

To me, it was eye-opening to read such a bleak assessment in a paper that does not have a lefty agenda. I'd expect this kind of piece in The Nation, but from this source (they endorsed George Bush in 2000) it has more of an impact.

Plasma

Over the holidays, I bought the family an flat-panel HDTV - a Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80U. There wasn't anything wrong with the 32" Sanyo that had been doing yeoman's work in our family room since 2000. But after years of seeing them in bars and other people's homes and noticing that the prices had gotten below $1000, I decided to take the plunge.

I'm quite glad I did. I'm not a big TV watcher, but I do watch my share of sports (my wife would say more than my share). The worst part is that now I really miss HD clarity and detail in regular definition. The HD picture is unbelivably sharp and bright and you see stuff you never noticed before. I'm hoping that lacrosse coverage on ESPNU this spring is going to be in HD, but I don't think they have it quite yet.

First

A picture of Ellie gazing sagely at the valley from our first hike of the year yesterday. It was a beautiful, warm day for early January and we had a nice hike up at Chestnut Ridge.

We have gotten approval from the Australian Shepherd Rescue and Placement people to adopt a dog. Hopefully, we will have another dog to hike with Ellie in the near future.

Movies

We saw two movies over the holiday season which will probably match our total for the year. Both were entertaining.

The first was Marley and Me which worked well for me. I could relate to the situation that the people were in with career, kids and a dog (although our dog is fairly well behaved net of the occasional escape from the yard). I was a little teary when Marley dies at the end (I don't feel that is a spoiler because don't all good dog movies end that way?) Anyway, it was schmaltzy but fit the bill for a family Christmas movie.

Kate and I had a movie night last night and went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This one is about a guy, Benjamin, who is born old and gets younger. Benjamin has an existential viewpoint on all of this and understands that everything ends, even if it is going against the typical grain. The lifelong romance he had with Daisy was intriguing and the movie had a realistic take on the types of relationships people have (even if they are going in in reverse). The story was interesting and compelling but it could have been a bit more tightly edited. I'm not sure why people think a 3 hour movie is a good idea - it just makes my butt hurt. 30 minutes of that could have been left on the cutting room floor and it would not have impacted the story. This was the best movie I've seen in the last year. See it but be sure to bring your neck pillow to the theater.

Kalamzoo

I've talked about the Kalamazoo Promise previously. I was perusing a newsletter sent to us by the Roanoke City Schools and it looks like they are trying to get something similar going here. It is called the Roanoke Community College Access Program and it looks like a great start. The program is currently limited to Virginia Western Community College and doesn't have full funding, but if it keeps even a few high school kids more engaged, it's worth it.

époque

We rang in the Belle Epoque last night. Cirque du Soleil was interesting and it really worked well in the space. Everyone had good time in beautiful surroundings, but the music reminded me of the soundtrack of a fraternity party circa 1991.

The kids rang in the new year in a slightly different way.