Remembering what matters

Often ours best plans simply don't work out. Missed rides or runs when we have a training plan, having to work late when we want to stop at 5 to relax and spend time doing something fun, ect. We all have had it happen and it can be very frustrating. When life gets in the way of my plans I tend to get very frustrated. Especially when I have been trying very hard to make all of the plans work out. Sometimes it can feel as if I will never be able to get all of the work done, spend time with my family, and ride. I can usually get two of the three in but not all three. Hence my continuing focus on getting the balance right.

But the last few weeks have reminded me of what is really important and no matter how discouraging it can be when things don't go according to plan I am very lucky. In the last few weeks several people close to me have lost someone close to them. My good friend lost his mother a week or so ago and my sister lost her dog after many amazing years. These losses have left me thinking about how lucky I am to have an amazing wife, son, sister, brother-in-law, parents, friends (2 and 4 legged). So when life gets crazy and you get frustrated trying to fit everything in take a moment to think about all of the people in your life that matter to you. Maybe a missed ride or run is not such a big thing.

2011 Goals

Ok so I have a pretty big list of goals for this year. Of course they are in several different areas of my life. While I do plan on going into more detail (basically so I am held accountable for each of them) later I want to get the gist of them down now.

Professional Goals:
-Collect dissertation data
-Defend dissertation
-Graduate
-Get a faculty position or post-doc
-Rewrite a number of articles and resubmit them to journals

Family:
-Spend more time with my wife and Connor
-Be the best dad and husband possible

Personal (non-family):
-Get back into racing shape
-Lose the weight I gained in the last 8 months (back down to 140lbs)
-Race ???


Ok so basically in order to accomplish all of these goals (this spring) I need to find the perfect balance in my life. Either that or stop sleeping and I am pretty sure that there is not enough caffeine in the world for that.

So more details later on how I will accomplish all of this and still enjoy life. Yes I know that some of these goals are a little vague and I will be making them more specific soon.

New Year - New Start

So it clearly has been a while since I last posted something here. The last seven months or so have been pretty crazy. Getting into a balance with family, work, and riding it seems that I can usually manage two of the three but not all three. Especially with trying to finish school and apply for a ton of faculty positions.

The last few weeks have been wonderful. A trip back to NC to see our family and travel with Connor for the first time was amazing. The only thing that did not go smoothly was the snow storm the day after Christmas. We had arranged to have Connor baptized the day after Christmas and the snow ended up closing everything in town. I guess it just gives us another reason to get back to NC soon!

I have been working on figuring out a way to get the balance in my life so that I can get my work done, graduate, find a faculty position, spend tons of time with my family, ride, and maybe even race. My plans are coming together in my head and once I put them down on paper then I will share them here!