2007 In Review

In 2007, I am thankful for many wonderful things: my family, friends, my career and last but not least, my hobbies. My immediate and extended family are doing well. I am especially grateful that my younger brother, Shane, safely returned from Iraq for what was essentially his second tour of duty in the Middle East. He is currently in Kosovo amid other UN Peacekeeping troops, in a concerted effort to both stabilize and rebuild that war torn country.
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To all of my friends I say many, many “Thanks” as each of you has helped me this year in some form or fashion. In 2007, I met new friends and continued relationships with my established ones. Random Thought: It is extremely interesting to me (and it has been the subject of many philosophical discussions, both with and without adult beverage overtones) as to how we go about selecting the people that we call “friends.” There certainly is an endearing and alluring quality about them that seems to call us into a friendship with them. I once read a poignant statement that “Friendship is love minus sex and plus reason. Love, however, is friendship plus sex and minus reason” (M. Cooley). A strange little paradigm indeed but by all accounts appears to be true. Friends are like that…figuratively smashing a cymbal right near your ears, in an effort to wake you up to what’s going on in your world. We all need that from time to time. Again, thanks to each of you for that…
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I am certainly glad about my return to Crawford in March. I have been very comfortable and happy doing what I do for the San Antonio Office, along with ancillary assignments across other parts of Texas and the Gulf Coast South, en general. I am especially proud to be part of the Most Improved Branch Office of our company. This office was seventh from the bottom rank (out of seventy-three offices in the entire US) a year ago. Since then, we have worked very hard and diligently in all phases of what we do. This focused and concerted effort has moved us all the way up to the number three office in the entire US!! A little friendly competition is always good...
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My hobbies, of course, include sports. Some things never change. In early ’07 I purchased a Fuji road bike and also began running, as of the latter part of the year. While the running is still in its early, developmental phase I must say that I’ve really come to enjoy and excel at cycling. I completed my first Metric Century this year and continue to look forward to many more of these outdoor adventures in 2008. It sure beats the hell out of laying about on the couch. ...lol
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That's a wrap. Happy New Year Every One !!

Holiday Musings

The Holidays were quite fun and relaxing this year. No rushing about, trying to get to Keystone, Colorado by a certain time, to squeeze in the maximum amount of skiing. No sir...this year was laid back and moved at a much more leisurely pace, indeed.

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Here is a photo of my niece, Ariel, the prototypical teenager. The next one is self-explanatory and was taken at my sister's home. And, the final one is of a Christmas present that I received, here in Austin...it seems that at least one of my "friends" is insinuating that I may have a thinking problem !! Thinker's Anonymous, here

I come...

A Boudreaux-esque Christmas

There are probably ten different events in Louisiana that have a bonfire as their focal point during the holiday season, but nothing comes close to the Christmas Eve Bonfires on the Levee.

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On Christmas Eve, thousands of spectators converge along a stretch of River Road between Lutcher, LA and Gramercy, LA (located between Baton Rouge and N'Awlins) to enjoy the spectacle of dozens of burning bonfires set against the backdrop of the Mississippi River. Although there's no concrete theory about the origins of this tradition, the favorite one bandied about is that the fires help show Santa the way to homes in this area. Viewed from the air, this is truly a unique spectacle, as it does resemble a Santa Airport runway of sorts.

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These bonfires are amazing as a catalyst for the creation of a fun, communal atmosphere for the Holidays. My fav part is the utilization of the fires to both keep warm and (of course) the shooting of fireworks !!

What Does BCS Actually Mean ?

No. 1 Ohio State (11-1) vs No. 2 LSU (11-2)
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ALLSTATE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME, NEW ORLEANS, LA (7:00 PM CT Fox)

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If you like defense, you'll like Ohio State, which allowed only two rushing touchdowns all season. The Tigers' quarterbacks -- Matt Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux -- can both nimbly move around and are the kind of a player that has been a problem for the Buckeyes this year. Both teams have a penchant for winning close games and this bodes well for a game that might have trouble generating excitement over the couple of weeks, given that (as one of my LSU buddies so eloquently put it) "this system is pretty squirrelly and needs to be overhauled". For the record, I love southern colloquialisms.

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Anyway, it's not everyday that your team is in the National Championship Game. So, I will roll with it, at least until a better system does come along. AYYEEHH...GEAUX TIGERS !!

El Paso Del Norte !!

As they approached the Rio Grande from the south, Spanish explorers in the colonial period viewed two mountain ranges rising out of the desert with a deep chasm between. This site they named El Paso del Norte (the Pass of the North), and it became the location of two future border cities, Ciudad Juárez on the south or right bank of the Rio Grande and El Paso, Texas, on the opposite side of the river. The arrival of the first Spanish expedition at the Pass of the North in 1581 marked the beginning of more than 400 years of history in the El Paso area. It was followed in 1598 by the colonizing expedition under Juan de Oñate.qv On April 30, 1598, in a ceremony at a site near present San Elizario, Oñate took formal possession of the entire territory drained by the Rio Grande and brought Spanish civilization to the Pass of the North.

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During the period of the French intervention in Mexico the republican cause under the leadership of Benito Juárez took refuge in El Paso del Norte in August 1865 and remained there for almost a year. With the aid of American arms and munitions the tide began to turn in favor of the Juárez republicans, who returned to Mexico City in triumph in 1867. On September 16, 1888, El Paso del Norte was renamed Ciudad Juárez, and thus the historic name El Paso became the sole possession of the bustling little railroad town at the western tip of Texas.

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The photo above is of El Paso, today, as seen from Fort Bliss's desalination plant, the focus of my recent biz trip to "The Pass of the North." The mountains in the background are nearly thirteen miles away from this location and are easily visible on this clear and cool day. I completely forgot just how far one is able to see in West Texas !!

Ass Kickin' Machine

OK, so I'm not exactly a Butt Kicking machine at running but things are indeed improving relative to my original 10+ minute miles. The gym, the sprints and the real running are all the ingredients needed for a successful running recipe. I call it Runner's Gumbo (It's great in cold weather):

Ingredients:

Tues: Spin Class, 1 hr., approx. 20 miles (obviously a side dish, to start)

Wed: Gym-- 5 miles running on treadmill at 9:30 pace

Thurs: Rode the Parm, 22.5 miles in 1 hr. (another side...they sometime steal the show.)

(BTW, Q. is still too skee-red to ride !! And, the excuses are creative, I must say...)

Fri: Gym --4x, 9:15 mile sprints on treadmill (w/ a slight incline, to spice it up and make things interesting) w/ a one-minute active recovery between.

Sat: Gym -- Spin Class, approx. 20 miles (Hey, desserts happen...)

Sun: Real run, 3 miles, 9:20 pace on the trails. Ran with I.C.E. and the weather was great, sunny and cool.

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There it is, people. I still gotta' get that damn runner's watch, though !! This "not knowing as I'm running thing" is driving me to uhhmmm....drinking. Now there's an excuse !

The Progress Continues...

You know that you're becoming a runner when "Running Jokes" begin to piss you off !! A non-running friend of mine sent this one to me and it did just that. However, I do detect a slight hint of jealousy in there as well. Hmmm...

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Anyway, here's my report:

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Sat: Shitty weather, so Spin Class, 1 hr, approx. 20 miles.

Sun: Treadmill, Ran 5x, 1 mile "sprints" at 9:30 pace, in effort to improve speed...we'll see.

Mon: For Real, Ran 5 miles, somewhere in the 9:30-9:45 range.

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Mental note: 2345-127, I need to get a damn runner's watch !!... so I DO know how fast I'm running.

Scootin' Report

For some unknown reason, I've encountered resistance within myself to posting my running results. I suppose it has something to do with being a novice and therefore not posting very good numbers, to date. To make matters worse is Cameron, my stepson, that twit gloats on and on about his 5:45 5K pace...that, does not help !

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But anyway, here I go (pinching my nose and taking the medicine) with todays five and one half miles: 55:43 or 10.17 per mile. Slow as shit, right ? All I have to say for myself is "give it time" and the Scootin' Report will improve proportionately !!

What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been !!

Ohio State and LSU were considered dead once, but the grateful duo are truckin' on...to the BCS National Championship Title Game that is !!

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LSU and Ohio State have tickets to the title game. (BTW, I'm in need of those, too !!) Everyone else has a pretty good gripe. The latest chapter in this crazy, unpredictable college football season was written Sunday when LSU won the sport's version of the lottery, being picked to play Ohio State for the championship and leaving about a half-dozen other candidates with plenty to complain about. Oh well, that's the BCS for you. Clearly, a play-off system is needed but I don't thing fans of either of these schools will be complaining, at least not this year.

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The Buckeyes were ranked first in November, but surrendered that with a 28-21 loss to a then un-ranked Illinois, that only added fuel to those who said they weren't deserving. But they backed into the BCS game without even playing, beneficiaries of the fact the Big Ten doesn't play a title game while many other conferences do.

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Their opponents will be LSU, a program that appeared on the verge of losing its coach as late as a few hours before kickoff Saturday (college football's drama at its finest). That's when Miles held an angry news conference and said reports he would be leaving the Bayou for Michigan were false. In fact, he said, he had agreed to a new contract to stay in Baton Rouge.

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Then, the Tigers went out and won. Later, they sat calmly and watched chaos reign for the rest of the day. On Sunday, they learned they were in the championship game for the second time in five years.

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There's no disputing it: This college football regular season was crazier than ordering a chocolate martini at a biker bar!!

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Weird, yes. Wacky, probably. A roller coaster ride, indeed. Yes, it was all of that. Or, maybe it was the only fitting way to close out a very imperfect 2007 in college football. Either way, it's on...by that I mean, bring on the Buckeyes !! BTW, what exactly IS a Buckeye? I don't think we have those in the South. ...lol