12-25-06_1625.jpg

12-25-06_1625.jpg, originally uploaded by bthemn.

Never mind.

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12-25-06_1622.jpg, originally uploaded by bthemn.

A travel poem... Lost luggage. Got to airport early. Getting ornery. Why couldn't we stay home? Heh.

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12-19-06_1330.jpg, originally uploaded by bthemn.

Ah. It feels good to hold this in my hand. I've been so busy working two jobs the last few months that i didn't know if i was going to get to finish it. But it's done and been mailed out. I'll have one available for download later this week... for those that i wasn't able to get a copy mailed out to.

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12-07-06_0929.jpg, originally uploaded by bthemn.

Wow. That was cold. It wasn't especially bad except for all the technical riding through the ice and packed snow on the trail through the academy. It made everything go way slower. Oh well. The first ride of the season has taken place. It can only get easier from here.

A cold start to the season

so my wife's car broke down today... that in and of itself isn't a
horrid thing, but she was also in a bit of a fender bender a couple of
weeks ago so along with getting the engine fixed, we need to get some
autobody work done. It's the type of thing that's more annoying than
anything else. I don't handle car stuff well, I get stressed out...
and when I'm tired and stressed out I get irritable (which is probably
putting it kindly). In any case, with the car in the shop, we're down
to one vehicle which means that tomorrow, I get on a bike for the
first time since July.

Isn't that a sad statement? I picked up a freelance job a few months
ago when a friend of a friend relocated to Colorado Springs to head up
marketing for a local medical company. The friend we have in common
recommended to her that she look me up and that I might be able to
help her out. She did, and since then I've been working two jobs. It's
been great for being able to pay off some debt but it meant that it
threw my workout regiment out the window. Everything stopped. I've
been to the Y a few times, but for the most part I just stopped
exercising all together.

I know I need to change but it's been a matter of not knowing where to
start, or about being annoyed that I even have to start at all. I wish
it were easier, but maybe, having to ride to work while this vehicle
is getting fixed, I can start back up again... now if only this
vehicle thing would turn out to be cheaper than I think it's going to
be.

Off to bed. I'll report more about how it (painfully) goes tomorrow.

12-05-06_1422.jpg

12-05-06_1422.jpg, originally uploaded by bthemn.

Instead of taking the normal bored photo of myself in the average meeting i thought i'd take a photo of my bored graphic designer coworker instead. We're working on christmas stuff. It's a big part about work life in the church. Accountants have tax season. We have advent.

12-01-06_1125.jpg

12-01-06_1125.jpg, originally uploaded by bthemn.

So my wife started working at a new spa... Apparently i was due for a hair cut. I wasn't aware that it was going to mean coloring too. Does that make me metro? I hope not. Heh.

Observation of the evening...

ok, so it's not the most major benefit in the world, but the cold water that you get out of the tap on a nice cold evening is some of the most refreshing chilly water you could ever drink. It's a good thing.

Fridays are the off day so there'll be more exposition. I promise. Man it's nice to be able to blog again though.

08-13-06_0954.jpg

08-13-06_0954.jpg, originally uploaded by bthemn.

This is my normal sunday morning work view now. Running camera for the church web stream... Real exciting stuff. More when i get home tonight... I've been stuck in shoots for advent puff all day. I will say that all me the church ladies have been out in force this week making the building look festive. It's really quite pretty.

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11-29-06_1156.jpg, originally uploaded by bthemn.

Look... It's the holiday jalapeno's at the burrito place near my office

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11-29-06_1009.jpg, originally uploaded by bthemn.

The view outside the window this morning. It's supposedly going to be zero this evening. Wonderful. This state has such weird weather

11-29-06_1005.jpg

11-29-06_1005.jpg, originally uploaded by bthemn.

Commodore mentioned that he hoped i'd be back to photo blogging (ok he didn't actually say that, it was more along the lines me boring meeting self portraits... We'll see about that. In the meantime it's an icy snowy mess here today. So maybe you can see some of that in the background

new beginnings...

I've blogged in the past, but been sidelined the past few months for various reasons. I'm back though and a little more anonymous. I'm hoping that this blog will be a way to help document some changes that I want to make and just my life in general. I'm a past Ironman. Ironman emeritus? I don't know, but I think that at some point you lose the right to call yourself an Ironman and it's been four years since my last attempt at the distance. I hope to get back there.

As I've fallen away from where I was when I finished Ironman Wisconsin, I've watched my weight go up, the business in my life increase and just over the last few days, an element of depression enter back into my life. I need to change. I want to change, I'm just not completely sure how to go about it. How I go about finding my motivation... to get beyond "Common Man Syndrome" as my friend Commodore would say. I think I can do it, and I know that I have done it. It's just a matter of getting back on the right track.

What's with Reaching for the View? I just always feel like I'm always trying to go one step beyond where I am. I'm always hunting for some kind of advancement. Maybe it's a matter of 'the grass is always greener'. I'm sure that's there, but I've just always generally been on a self-improvement quest. Whether it's trying to get out of debt (my wife and I have been working Dave Ramsey's plan for a couple of years now and now that we've found some traction due to career development hope to be out of debt in the next year), Trying to learn more about the movie industry (someday I want to be making films. Someday) or just trying to work on my body. Will I ever actually take off the weight I talk about trying to take off?

My new title though, is mostly an attempt to create something that allows me to be as all over the map as my mind usually is. I have a hard time pigeon-holing into just writing about triathlon or life or movies, it just has a way of all blending together.

I hope you come along for the ride.