Welcome to My World!!

After 2 years of studying in Lennoxville, I headed to Montreal to begin my bachelor's degree. It's not even worthwhile mentioning what I studied because going to class and studying was just what I did when I wasn't training.  Yeah, I discovered track and field and the first real passion of my life.

What's Up, Doc? 

Tie your shoes up if you wanta run Fast!

19 would have been a good time to end a track career rather than start one but, despite the fact that it didn't make any sense, I trained for 20 to 25 hours a week and loved every second of it.  My first year I foolishly had huge aspirations but it quickly became apparent that my enthusiasm could not make up for my lack of raw talent.

I guess that things weren't as clear then as they are now because for 8 or 9 years all I could think about was running really fast.  I even quit my job and went back to school so that I would have more time to train and compete.  Crazy!!

But as crazy as that was, it was nothing compared to the few years that followed my masters degree.  For starters, I turned down a well-paying job as a financial analyst because I didn't want to get into a job that I didn't have any passion for.  That wasn't so stupid but it started to seem that way a month later when I was making minimum wage as a telemarketer.

I moved from that to teaching courses at Kaplan and doing all kinds of other things and basically lived from paycheck to paycheck for the next couple of years.  But it was fun!  Not running track gave me all kinds of free time and I started playing Ultimate Frisbee, completed a diploma in environmental studies, joined an Outing Club and spent every weekend hiking, camping, paddling, backcountry skiing and exploring.

Backcountry skiing and snowshoeing in the Adirondacks, one of my favorite places in the whole world!

I eventually got a more serious job, on the relativity scale, doing engineering consulting work.  I was seriously underpaid but, given that I could pick up and leave for a week's vacation at a moment's notice and given that my boss knew I was underpaid and didn't have a choice than to let me get away with tons of vacation, I actually stuck around for a while.

One of the highlights of that time was being selected for the Canadian masters ultimate team and having a chance to kick some international butt!  Making the team was the tough part because the team was so solid that we actually walked through the competition and, despite a bit of a scare in the finals, we all went home with smiles on our faces.

Telemarking in the Chic Chocs.  It's hard to believe that these mountains are only 3000 ft high but they are so far north that the treeline is very low.

Yeah, Canada!!! (I'm in the back row, 1st from the left)

Out on the bay for a sail with Carsten and his wife. (I'm in the middle.)

Eventually, even a whole lot of vacation time couldn't make up for the negative aspects of the job and I moved on to a financial software company.  About a year and a half ago, they decided to shut down the Montreal office and offer us jobs in New York or London.  Neither of those places interested me in the least but they managed to find a spot for me in Berkeley, where our headquarters are located.

I can definitely deal with this area of the world.  Last year, I bought an old sailboat and I absolutely love heading out on the bay for an afternoon or an evening.  I haven't tried surfing yet but definitely want to in the not-too-distant future.  And I also want to take better advantage of the Sierras, starting with a trip to Mt. Whitney in mid-June.

I love being introduced to new things that I haven't yet experienced and I guess that means that I'll never run out of things to do.  Onward and Upward!

Climbing the mast to do some dreaded repair work.