Far Out Son of Lung...

State of Life Address

I really don't have anything to talk about but I'm bored and figured this might be a good way to waste a little time.

A better way to earn a living?
I need to look for a new job. I know I said this last year and I started to think about it when I broke my leg. Actually, that happened the year before, too. Hmm. But seriously, I need to get my resume on Monster, think of some good companies I could sell for and get things rolling. I don't want a shitty job, either. No recruitment, no pilfering sales, no small potato shit where I'm selling small ticket items and making a billion phone calls a day.

Products or Services?
What do I want to sell? I have no clue. I want a position in which I can build relationships with my clients. I want to work with fewer clients, but more closely with those clients. I might have a range of products, selling them more products from that range over time, and building something worth talking about instead of going from customer to customer every 10 minutes.

Large ticket items, slower sales processes and products/services that are available from only a smaller range of suppliers. I don't want to be fighting for my life everytime I go on a sales call, that sucks. Stress at work is stupid. Seriously, stressful jobs ruin the rest of your life and I already know that it would be a stupid mistake to chase money, or the impression of money.

B2B?
Business to Business might be better for me as well but I'm not certain. Mostly it all just depends on the product and the market. One option I've considered is Commercial Real Estate, and I need to get in to chat with one of Katherine's brokers if I'm going to learn more about it.

Hobbies & Health
I've finally managed to drop my 24Hour Fitness membership. I hadn't been there in about three months and really didn't enjoy going anymore. The only thing I was getting out of it was the ab workout, which I do miss, but getting it worked into my climbing and cycling schedule was proving pretty difficult. That and I really just started to loathe going to the gym because it was inside, anti-social and exceedingly boring compared to everything else. I'm also cheap.

Cycling
So far so good on the bicycle, though making steps forward in terms of strength and endurance has been quite slow to progress. I'm getting better but I want to be back where I was last year. I hate sitting in with the old guys all damn evening (or day) and not being able to get up front and pull the line. The Big Dogs are all up off the front, well away from my own plodding pace. I'm not super slow, but I am around 4 mph off the pace and my endurance is shot to shit. I end up drafting off of a couple of great guys every week but I want to be sure I'm progressing. Rewarding yet frustrating, is my current theme.

Swimming
I just started swimming again yesterday afternoon. I had gotten in the pool at 24H Fitness but had not been doing it regularly and, of course, had not been there in many weeks. So now I'm back in open water at Lake Grapevine and I must say, it is much different from last year. Swimming 3 kilometers a week last year had me in very nice shape and certainly helped my cycling, and just like cycling I am back to ground zero in the water. I got about halfway to where I wanted to be yesterday and decided that I'd better build up slowly. I could have gone the full distance but didn't want to be completely winded and risk trouble. I don't think I would have drowned, but why take the chance? I'll build the ditance slowly and it should help my cycling quite a bit as well.

Climbing
Climbing is going very well and I'm making progress for sure. The lead certification is very cool and has given me a real bump in confidence on the wall. I'm still only tackling 5.8s on lead but will try some 5.9s on Wednesday and hopefully again this weekend. I'm going to avoid being on top rope unless I'm on the crack or having a lead belay isn't an option. I need the practice with clipping and muscle memory is going to be critical as I get on climbs that are not familiar. Rather than thinking too much about clipping and struggling or panicing about hanging on, I need to be concentrated on resting, clipping and climbing with technique. It will take some time but I am confident I can do it.

I also need to be sure that I take my time with climbing and don't get a big head thinking I can do things that are well over my head or simply stupid to try. I don't want this to be motorcycle racing. I thought I was good, up to speed and ready to race... but I can see now that I just didn't have the skills needed to push as hard as I was and get out of the trouble that arises from the faster lap times I was turning. For track days I was fine. For racing, for being several seconds quicker a lap, my demon was the extreme lack of experience and perhaps a tendency to get a little too deep in the corners. Tunnel vision? I don't know.

Essentially, I just want to keep climbing safe, smart and responsible. I want to travel this year (in the fall?) for a sport climbing trip because I think it would be a lot of fun. I just need to keep it all in perspective and be sure that I don't try to do something I'm really not prepared to do. Play smart.

Racing
I've been half-assedly racing the mini with Broom, which I feel a little bad about. He takes it seriously and wants to do well, but I'm not taking it nearly as seriously and sometimes prefer to climb or go other places. I enjoy the endurance racing side of it but have little interest in sprints and mostly just enjoy getting on the bike for a few hours (collectively) and dragging knee. I also owe him some money for the 4-cycle motor swap thing, and need to get that to him because I know it really put him out some cash. I'm sure I'll race with him again next year, and am struggling with the idea of going back to a big bike or simply realizing that there are other things in life that I enjoy besides racing. Rather than pump money into racing agina, maybe I'll just concentrate on climbing, cycling and such? Dragging knee is, of course, still a tremendous amount of fun... but there is so much else to do in see and I don't want to risk missing it because I'm pouring money into a race bike, car or kart.

Personally
Things with Rock Gal are going very well. We had a little moment over Memorial Weekend that was good for us and helped keep everything out in the open. Its nothing even worth writing about and didn't result in an argument, just an epiphany and a little peek into her psyche.

We have our moments when we get frustrated but we're also both mature enough not to take it out on each other and are both pretty quick to apologize and keep things straight. We're smart enough to know the frustration is directed at the rock, and so far things have been as easy and straight-forward as the day we met.

She also has a new job, which is great for her emotionally. I think she was a bit beaten down at Whole Earth and it was really starting to weigh on her that she was not in her industry, doing something she really enjoyed. Now that she's back in plastics and manufacturing I think she'll change a bit, but I'm not sure how.

I think she'll be working more and I'm almost certain we'll see less of each other, but I'm not too worried about it. We might have been a little to zealous at first, spending a little too much time together (hence my lack of gym activity) but she's smart and knows that we both need space and our own time. Her position will also give us the chance to make more weekend trips out of town, probably once a month, to climb at Reimer's or Pace Bend or Enchanted Rock. The heat won't be fun but we'll give it a shot, I'm sure. Climbing is too much fun not to sweat a little.


Friends
Not really sure what to say here, but it seemed like they should be included. Life takes us all in different directions and I tend to spend my time doing what I enjoy, so I also tend to not spend as much time with friends as I could or should. Honestly though, it does bother me sometimes and I need to do more to take the time to get on the phone with them or grab a beer together.

Family
Not sure what to say here either. We're on opposite sides of the country. I love them but I'm also perfectly fine with the distance. Things have been better, things have been worse... I guess I'm just content and not concerned with it.

Money
Seems fine, just more of the same. Trying to save, trying to stop myself from that consistent urge to spend it. So many things I enjoy, want, think I want or simply need... too easy to spend though I've been pretty good recently. We eat out a lot, that gets pricey, but otherwise I make money to spend it anyway. Future? What? I have savings and its getting to be more, I just need to be sure and get the old racing debts handled and gone sooner than later. I'm making great progress, just need to stick to it and -most of all- sell that damn SV.

posted by GreSam @ 10:00