Another year is almost done

... and for the 35th year in a row I am planning a visit to some place warmer for a meeting. Well, that is not quite right because of the virtual meetings in 2010 through 2013. Then there was the year "sabbatical" in 2014. In 2017 it was Seattle where it was cold so it counts as a winter meeting but not as a warm place. Anyway, it is Austin this time where I haven't been in 15 years. My friend from high school who was also my college roommate lives there so I was hoping to catch up with him. I don't have his email so I sent a letter but haven't heard from him. The letter was not returned which I assume means he is not interested. He had a car accident about 30 year ago and was in a coma for awhile. He was a really smart guy before the accident but lost some of his cognitive ability after that. If I had heard from him, I might have taken an extra day to hang out there.

Moving on to other important developments, I have finally achieved status on an airline. It's only Gold but at least for a year, I will be able to board a plane early. It is not that I am traveling anymore. I just made a determined effort to stay on one airline- American- instead of looking for the cheapest flight, regardless of the carrier. But not that I have done it, it may not last. My group is changing so I won't be flying as much. But next year, I will enjoy what I have. First class upgrades will still be few. I was flying back from Charlotte three weeks ago and was #50 on the list for upgrades.

Nothing going on musically since my guitar buddy moved south in retirement. I  have responded to a few ads but not much has happened. I am maintaining the band site to give people an idea of what I can do. I moved it from Squarespace to WordPress because WordPress is cheaper. I even took advantage of the Freakonomics discount code. Squarespace has nicer templates so the site looked better before. I am getting a new Mac so may try to do some home recording with it. That is if I can stand listening to the sound of my voice.

Happy 2019 to all!

Almost eight months...

...since my last post. It's not as if I have been especially busy. I just didn't have a lot to say. Since my last race in March, my IT band issue has gone away. I will attribute it to the regular stretching I have done as part of my physical therapy. Whenever I run now, I spend about 15 minutes doing exercises to stretch out all of the muscles in my hip and groin. It feels a little tight as I run but there is no pain. I have a little bit of stiffness when I am done but really no more than I have always had. But age is taking its toll on my running times.

I missed the Rock and Roll marathon in Philly for the first time in ten years because we were on vacation. I have also decided that I don't like running when it is warm and humid- 70 and above- so instead I did a half in the Boston area the last weekend in October. It was in the mid 30s so definitely more to my liking. I was able to stay under 2 hours which had not been the case for the past two halves I did. My 1:45 finish in 2013 looks to be the high point of my running career unless I start training very seriously. I am signed up for the Love Run in Philly next March 31 so I should decide soon about doing a more structured training plan.

My goal now is to be at least in the the top 25% of my age group. I did a 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving finishing 35th of 330 so that was good. But I was also a minute slower than last year. I think about what I was doing fifteen years ago and then what I will be doing fifteen years from now: 78!!!

Age Catches Up with Me

I was a little too optimistic about my ability to run hills as I think the running I did in Arizona gave me a problem with my IT band on the left leg. I have been doing physical therapy for about six weeks but it hasn't seemed to help. I was able to do a half marathon last Sunday because the odd thing is it doesn't bother me when I am running. After I am done though, my leg stiffens up and I get pain when I bend it. I am planning to lay off running for a few weeks to see if it improves. I was disappointed in my half marathon performance but I didn't really train. If I hadn't paid $90 for the race, I might have cancelled.

I was recently in Texas again for work. Not in Dallas, which was where I last visited. This time it was Fort Worth where we had an event at the Museum of Modern Art. This Joseph Cornell box was in the museum. I asked if they had more Cornell but they didn't.

There was also a very cool installation by 

Spring is finally here, I think.

Arizona

I had a nice visit to Arizona for work; this time it was Tucson where I'd never been before. Unfortunately, the weather was not as warm as I had hoped, having endured some really bone chilling temps in the east. Still it was certainly tolerable and being at a resort for almost a week in the middle of January was a treat I was glad to experience again. I had a great dinner with a colleague who is nearing retirement like me. It was a little pricey so, as I outranked him, I paid the bill though he covered the bottle of  wine .  Not that I am a big drinker, but I think that I must have had the equivalent of a bottle of wine every night at dinner. It is just so easy to drink when the waiter keeps pouring it. I will pat myself on the back because, despite my overindulgence, I got up at 6 am each morning to do my training runs: up and down a hill in the matinal darkness in three one mile loops. It's good for my heart, I told myself, as I panted to the finish.

Happy New Year

2018! Not that I didn't expect to make it to this year but it is sobering to realize how much time I have lived through. I have always paid attentions to dates. When I was in grammar school, we had an encyclopedia I enjoyed reading.  I'd look at the birth years of people who were still alive and see 1885 or 1897 and think how much the world had changed in their lifetimes. I remember a chart in my prayer book which listed the days on holidays would occur in future years. It ended at 2000 which seemed so far in the future in 1965. Now it's 2018 and 35 years from now is 2053, another unimaginable date. Even 15 years ago, 2003 when I was happy in a job I liked with people I enjoyed working with. Or 10 years ago when my company was sold and there was much uncertainty about where my life was going. Or 5 years ago when I was unceremoniously dumped into the job market at 57. Today, I am happy and content but there are always questions about where I'd be if my decisions had been different. So here's to a prosperous new year for all!

Hoh Rain Forest

I must say that this was a magnificent site when we visited earlier this year. We were there when there were no tourists and the ranger stations were closed- the first week of January. But it was unlike anything I 'd ever experienced before. Driving in it was like we were going to the end of the world as there were no cars coming or going. I would have enjoyed a short hike but was discouraged from doing so by the remoteness and the cold. I think the solitude made it more memorable.




The rest of Olympic National Park was pretty amazing too.

Manchester United Game

You'd think an oldster like me wouldn't get so attached to a sports team, especially one I didn't grow up with. But I went with my son last week to D.C. to see Manchester United play Barcelona. I had seen them play Barcelona in 2003 in Philadelphia, but can't remember the score. Then I saw them in Chicago against Bayern Munich, dressed in full regalia of team shorts and shirt- or in the team "kit" as they'd say in England.  ( I must have been a real sight!) Then there were games against the MLS all-stars, the MLS Philadelphia team and InterMilan. The game last Wednesday featured two of the best players in the world, Leo Messi and Neymar so that in itself made it worthwhile to make the trip. It ended up 1-0 Barcelona but there was an obvious gap in the quality of the two teams. It really could have been a lot worse. My dream is to go to Manchester to see a game at their legendary stadium, Old Trafford. I have a bunch of frequent flyer miles expiring next year so I should use them for airfare. I haven't been overseas in four years so it's time.