Resistive element

 I've tried to get my writing/journaling rebooted a number of times lately. The challenge is feeling like there's a lot to write about but no clear thought. I've also had quite the itch to be more a person of "action" lately. One more thing that I'm noting right now is I haven't felt the most comfortable just sitting. As in physically I feel like my legs have been hyperextending or over stretching and my back and glutes have been tight making me want to keep moving. Lastly, it feels weird to type like this on my work computer, even though I'm remoted into my old home computer.

Still, right now I'm committing to getting a few hundred words written. Even if most of it is just rambling I know that it helps streamline my thoughts and form ideas. Life makes a little more sense when written and linearized. 

As per usual there's a lot going on these last few months. The biggest thing has been my son graduating from high school and moving off to college for football and learning. I'm very excited for him and he seems to be doing well. I look forward to the first times he's home and how he maybe approaches life differently. This last weekend he had some of his first action on a game field being part of the field goal/extra point team. He had two opportunities, unfortunately the team wasn't able to convert and he got lit up/knocked over (welcome to college FB) on the one play I saw. If I were to find a silver lining, the block that happened didn't come from where he was protecting.

If I were to coach one thing up with my son's team's line, it would be the pad level. They aren't getting low enough in critical situations. This allows the opposing team to get better leverage (yes, think Orlando Bloom springing Johnny Depp free from his cell in Pirates of the Carribean). On the goal line I'm even a fan of the line being in 4 point stances. 

I'm hopeful that this large recruiting my son is coming in with and the fresh assistant coaching staff will result in success as the program moves forward. It has been fun/interesting to watch. 

I'd like to say home life has been quieter in the absence, but it seems there's always something going on. Right now I'm coaching a 5th grade football team. It is still a lot of fun working with the kids and we are having a good amount of success (currently 4-0!). My daughter also has fall fastpitch going on. It's also fun to watch her games, but there is a bit more of a "grind" element to it and seems it is starting to become less fun for her. The problem is the season essentially goes year-round and it's hard to break away from it. Sadly, she is leaning towards hanging up her cleats and glove and bat after next summer. She wants more of the many other things life has to offer, time with friends, trying new stuff, traveling, etc. I can't say I blame her and at some point yesterday's persona doesn't fit today or tomorrow's aspirations. Really, I'd like to  see club sports find more balance with the rest of life. People pay a lot of money to watch their kids burn out. 

My laptop batter is almost dead, I think that's enough for now.

Out Like a Lamb

Fresh tracks.

For some dumb reason, it's been hard for me to do much writing lately. At least anything beyond personal note taking. I've gotten a couple of hundred words written a few times, but nothing has really inspired or formed any kind of a hook for me to take off on. I've also been in more of an about state of things, which might create some fodder, but also increases my lack of patience for organizing my thoughts, but here I am giving it the old "college try".

March has been a busy/fast month as most months feel to be lately. It started with a ski trip to Colorado with my kids. This was the fifth year we've taken a trip, and this year didn't disappoint. We did one day at Arapahoe Basin, followed by a day off while a snowstorm moved through the mountains and then skied a second day at Breckenridge in several inches of pristine powder. 

The last couple of years skiing in Colorado, I'm finding I really need that first day to adjust to the altitude. The base of most of the hills is between 8,000 feet and 9,000 feet above sea level with peaks near 12,000. It's a bit of a difference from the ~700 feet above sea level where I spend most of my existence right now. Pausing to fully exhale and catch a fresh breath is a common occurrence. Also, I find that falling or doing things that get the heartrate up takes extra time to recover from. In some senses it's rather frustrating as I do have cardio as a regular part of my routine and I feel like I used to handle such situations better, but I guess it is what it is and won't keep me from going. 

Another interesting thing is that I'm now the slow skier of three of us. I tend to like to casually work my way down the hills, but also admit that I'm maybe a little more tentative than I should be when it comes to hitting powder moguls, etc. for the reasons listed above. It's not that I lag far behind, but it feels I'm a little less in the middle of the pack; especially when I eat it, which I try to minimize. Still, I did have a couple of falls. 

My most notable fall was after our late morning break/snack at Breck. I was feeling pretty spry after a cup of coffee and upped the intensity. I decided to follow my son on some tree-edges. I came out of one path into a mogul that gave me a little air (proud of my paper-thin vertical) but put me into the side of another mogul. What's the term? Arse over elbow? Anyway, after picking up myself, my skis and my dignity I met my kids at the mid-hill lift. Apparently, I was wearing a fair amount of powder on myself, queueing my kids into what happened. Oh well. I survived but pulled back a smidge the rest of the day. The only other time I seem to struggle is towards the end of the day when the edges get a little tricky to pick up and the terrain starts getting a little suspect after being heavily skied.

Outside of the skiing, we took the aforementioned off day to visit a hot spring and do some soaking in pools/tubs of various temperatures. The water was a little sulphur-y, fitting as the place was called Hot Sulphur Springs, but was nice to take some time and relax. We made it there early enough in the day that we had had our fill once the après ski folks started to show up and were able to make our way back to the condo in plenty of time. This was our second year staying in a ski condo. While convenient, I think most are in need of updates. However, we had a 100-foot walk to the chairlift at Breck from the condo and that's hard to beat for skiing. 

That is one of the neat parts about Breckenridge though. Ski access is well integrated with the town with several lifts and a gondola at your service. The ski area is also huge, uncompassing several peaks and there is terrain for everyone. The tops of the lifts can be a little crowded, but there's plenty of space once you get down the hill a little bit. The only thing I'll be more concious of next trip is cost. I held off buying passes too long and ended up paying the window price. If you buy early, as in the fall before, you can get very steep discounts (>50%). Check out https://www.epicpass.com/ if thinking of getting a better deal. 

I will mention that one of the reasons I didn't jump on the Epic Pass is I don't really like the idea of being tied into a single set of ski areas in travel planning. There are a lot of ski areas that maybe don't get the marketing the Vail resorts or Ikon resorts get that I'd like to be able to see before my body decides I'm done (which hopefully won't be for a couple decades :-) ).  Ski holiday's are definitely an area where a little bit of planning can go a long way for us wannabe deal finders. 

The next year may be interesting as my son will be off to college. We are starting to hone in on the where and it will likely be a little bit of a drive. Mixing that with family holiday planning, etc. could make the trip tricky. I'd really like to get out to Utah or California but will have to see. California is tricky as the snow can be hit or miss and is a little more expensive to get to. 

Arrowhead GC, Myrtle Beach, SC

After skiing and a couple of working weeks, I then embarked on another adventure. This time to lower altitude and sunny weather in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was my first time attending an annual golf outing organized by one of my football coaching friends. This was also a lot of fun and very much a "dude" trip filled with way more golf than I'm accustomed to playing (99 holes in 4 days!), card games and other harmless shenanigans.

Honestly, I played awful. That combined with a little Minnesota stoic underreporting of my handicap allowed me to bring up the rear in the tournament portion of the trip. Still, I won a little money by way of having a great partner in a team round. I flew home with plenty of sun and sore shoulders. 

You would think I'd be golfed-out but now I'm just wanting to hit balls and adjust my golf bag for my nine-hole league play this season. I even added a new pushcart as my birthday gift to me. It even has a cup holder :-P 

Thus, I'm looking forward to the Minnesota golf season to start. Unfortunately, it snowed for three days after getting home and has stayed cool. Most of it has melted though and I'm guessing the driving ranges and such will be opening soon.

To round out the month was my birthday. A good chill day to relax with dinner at Fireside Foundry and relaxing watching a little TV on Peacock. I had thoughts of going out but found myself tired and wanting to just chill. 

And here we are on Easter Sunday, March going out like a lamb and with a lamb. Enjoying more quiet and waiting for what April holds.

Simplifying

I am currently relaxing in my recliner deciding what today's agenda entails. Probably a bit of work on the basement bathroom as well as some cleaning, i.e. nothing profound. Yesterday, I got the new toilet mounted on the flange and installed trim behind it, in opposite order of course. It's interesting how the final install/finishing aspects of a project feel the most satisfying. Framing, drywall, electrical and plumbing, while each taking a bit of time leave me feeling mildly unsatisfied as their completions is not necessarily the finished product. Instead, install a couple trim boards and set a water closet and I want to have a cigar (if I smoked cigars). Maybe for me it's because those are the parts that get the praise/notice from the proverbial peanut gallery? Affirmation might be "a thing" for me. 

That feels like a not necessarily good thing. One reason is it might short-circuit doing diligent work on my hobbies for a quick "like". I try not to be hasty but can get impatient, even with myself. Is it worth telling a half finished/not polished story before it's ready for "prime time"?  I'm not sure but would like to think a complete story might be more worthwhile/satisfying: A project from start to finish, a whole song on the guitar or drums that's well polished, a 3D print design from CAD to dealing with the headaches of getting a new material to print to the finished result. 

For music. I love to play but my playing work/frequency ebbs and flows. I'm also sometimes hesitant to put things out there as my feed is loaded with social media "virtuosos" that make showing off my little bit of work seem amateur. However, I occasionally have a punk attitude towards it and would rather things be a little more raw and gritty with occasional fuck-ups. That's more human more, more real. Honestly, maybe we should all be out playing live more often and not worry about the social media shit show. 

For other stuff, I just enjoy showing what I'm up to. Maybe the complete story isn't entirely necessary as attention spans are short anyway. It's fun to figure something out and share it. In this vein maybe it's less about attention and more about just liking to share. People can do with/click however they wish. I'm sure this long format stream of consciousness has already lost a few :P

I think what I'm getting at here, not that I'm really getting at anything, is that there's a lot of things I like to do and I like to share in life. Call it maybe reaching for some connection. For me there's enjoyment and love in that regardless of whatever "it" is. 

I do sometimes feel like I like trying/doing lots of things at the expense of developing true expertise. I guess as long as I'm good at my job and try my best at being an effective parent/co-parent everything else is just gravy. Still, I've been thinking about whittling back and changing tack. Continue to dabble but really home in on a couple of hobbies.

So what can I let go of? As I sit here thinking about it, it's hard to come up with any one thing. The beer brewing stuff can maybe go....BUT each batch doesn't take long to make. However, using the extract kits everything tastes similar (and mediocre). To actually get good at it would take a lot more time and equipment and I'm a little over it. 

With older kids, I'm getting to a point where I think having a yard and a bunch of property related stuff that requires me to maintain is overrated. I'd still like to have shop/studio space but really don't need the yard aside from a patio and a little garden space. I feel like some people, particularly in suburban life, thrive on this kind of toiling but I more and more find it not enjoyable. This may be a case in looking to hire out some of this work as there is value in home ownership and I like my neighborhood. 

So what else can be simplified? Cleaning? Laundry? Having a turtle? Closing the ebay store? Or maybe just not worrying about it and everything is fine?