via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C6MzLyMrQJk/
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Crossing the harbor bridge from the north side. A beautiful day for a hike.
via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C6K_BPdSY9a/
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Monday, April 22, 2024
Surprisingly nice start to our trip down under. Pulled off the flight from DEN and driven to the Polaris lounge. Never had that happen before.
via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C6Fvo07Mmzl/
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Final day of the season. After a hard set of losses yesterday we won 2 in the silver bracket, including beating a team that had beaten us twice before. We lost in the finals but took a day off the winner that was a much stronger team. So proud of these kids working hard, learning, growing, and changing. Hope to get a few back next year.
via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C6CpcqtMW-r/
Saturday, April 20, 2024
Friday, April 19, 2024
Made it home though just got the notification for my next trip as I landed
via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C59JkI1vXsz/
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
One of my four sessions today. Not, am I tired. Still a bit of networking and a dinner to get through before a commute to Cambridge.
via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C53kV43qp_m/
Shirt du jour (to kick off my wings stretch of travel)
via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C53AbPlqiNL/
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Today's office. A large and private lounge at the Heathrow Hilton. Everyone is checked out and not checked in so I've been here alone for a couple hours prepping for tomorrow.
via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C50i68aqZH5/
Familiar Sights in London
Yesterday was a long day in London. I arrived late in the am, and as I was walking from the plane to the border check, I went down the escalator on the entering-the-country side of the terminal. I had this view:
There's nothing special here, but through the glass there are the outbound escalators that I've taken up and a Caffe Nero coffee shop. That's a place I used to stop often on my way out of the UK early in my time at Redgate.
I used to always stay at a hotel near the airport, first the Renaissance Hotel with Brad McGehee and later at the Hilton or DoubleTree with Grant. I'd often have an early flight, which meant getting up and trying to catch the Hoppa bus or get a cab. The hotels usually didn't have breakfast ready then, so I'd stress over the transport, which could be funny, get to the airport and through security and then stop here for a cup of coffee and a chocolate croissant.
Hectic, but very impressionable trips on me. So many memories of sitting near a gate, eating and looking forward to coming home. I didn't travel much those early days outside of a few UK trips, and it was a relief to be going home.
The last 5-6 years, with a direct flight to Denver and more airline status, I get a late flight, enjoy the lounge, and skip Nero, but I always reflect on my memories there as I think of the early days, paying with coins or bills, or swiping my American credit card and having to sign, something so few European travelers did.
Hotel Confusion
I spent the night in the Hilton at T4, which is one of two hotels I use now. There is a Garden Inn at T2 as well, which I often pick when leaving since I can walk to the terminal. Yesterday, arriving tired in the morning, I was on autopilot and walked to the Garden Inn. They said they didn't have a reservation for me.
Doh! I hadn't even checked, assuming I was there, but when I looked in the app, I realized I was at the T4 Hilton, which is a nicer hotel, just a bit of a trek. I walked back, found a train and was at the Hilton 30-45 minutes later. Not a long time, but also not quick for a tired traveler.
A nap, some work, and a workout made me feel more human, but still a long day. Plus I had a 730p call in Denver, which was 230a in London. It's been a long 24 hours.
However, I had a quiet dinner in the hotel and snapped this picture after.
This large atrium has a lot of memories for me. I've been here often, including quite a few times with my wife. We've eaten in this spot, grabbing dinner after a trip in the EU somewhere, having a quiet night before a morning flight. While this hotel is a walk and train to T2, in the morning, it's an early morning and stressful, so an early night here is often on our agenda.
This hotel also has a special place in my mind as the gym is on the ground level (this is the first floor), but it's on the side of the hotel with no windows. It's a dark, quiet spot, and it's where I once got up at 430a to run.
I had a long running streak (day 1000 here) where I ran at least a mile every day. I did this for 1564 days, over 4 years. During that time I had a few trips to the UK and back, with the return trips back being hard. Depending on weather and equipment, I've had 20+ hour trips. Most of the time I'd get home and manage a jog at home, though one time at 1130p at night. Rather than chance things, I got up one time in this hotel, the only person on a treadmill at 435a trying to get a mile done before heading to the airport.
That sticks with me.
Monday, April 15, 2024
Self Driving from Home to Gym
I wrote a short post, with a video link, of the Tesla driving itself from my house to the gym. I paused during the straightaways, but it went well.
I was pleasantly surprised.
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Haven't been here in a minute. Hopefully I can sleep on the way to London
via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C5w5Ae0LDc6/
Friday, April 12, 2024
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Fun with Maps
Someone at work was looking for a map and I decided to try and map out where I'm speaking. Here's a rough view, which is likely to be out of date as soon as I post this.
Fortunately, I can store the map, so you can see the up to date view here: https://www.batchgeo.com/map/f92b94bb6f655320dd11ebfea73b6c43
That's assuming I remember to change this as I get accepted or find new places. My most current schedule is here: speaking schedule.
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Tonight's dinner and dessert https://ift.tt/6Cc5G0W https://ift.tt/m4E05hi
via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C5msWvxL-Jz/
Salt Lake City Showdown 2024
Our one and only travel trip for the 2024 Panther 13 Black team was last weekend in Salt Lake City. It was a long weekend, and one that wasn't successful in the outcome, but was a good time for the team and they grew up a bit. This was the first travel trip for many of them, and they did well in some days. We didn't see the energy crash we did at our other three day tournaments, partially because we'd prepared them.
First, Salt Lake is beautiful. We enjoyed the views of mountains all around. Our hotel was about 25mi from the convention center, and a parent drove us around a couple times, so we were able to look around and see the sights. Image on instragram.
From a record, we were 7-10 in games, and 2-5 in matches. The first day we played the eventual winner of the 13 American division. Our team was sure these were 14 or 15 year old girls on steroids. They wiped the floor with us. The other two teams were beatable, and we took them to three sets, but lost. Surprisingly, we didn't serve well, which has been a strength for us.
I blame some nerves.
The second day we won easily, then lost a close one where we thought we might win. After winning the first, the other team leaned on their dynamic middle and she performed. We didn't have a good answer, neither in blocking or digging. That was disappointing. Still, somehow they lost to the team we beat and we took 1st place in the pool.
The third day we lost to a much better team. I felt bad for them, as they were in the lower half with us because the first day they lost a 3 way tie in their pool to the eventual 3rd and 5th place teams. We lost 17-25 and 14-25 and it didn't feel that close.
Much needed beer at the airport.
It was a good weekend overall. Some nice team bonding, some funny pics when the team took my phone. Long days, but not too stressful for me and a nice travel trip.
Slightly sad it's our only one, but it's been a long season, so ready for things to end.
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Monday, April 8, 2024
Sunday, April 7, 2024
Morning team building with Starbucks and friendship bracelets
via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C5eKKCcuj_g/
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Saturday, March 30, 2024
Monday, March 25, 2024
A Big Win
Yesterday was the first USAV RMR win for our volleyball team. We've been hoping that the team would win a pin at one of the 6 local tournaments we compete in and they finally did.
You can see the final point here, which was very exciting: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4605yqLNKO/
The team was going back and forth with their opponent, going ahead 13-12, then down 13-14, then getting up 15-14 before that point. The girl who was supposed to serve didn't want to and walked over to sub out. This young lady went over there and served a tough ball that the other team didn't handle.
We finally exceeded our start ranking. We were ranked 21 to start, but opened with a tournament against 14s where we struggled. We dropped into the 40s, but are back to 17. Very proud of these kids and all their hard work.
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Friday, March 22, 2024
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Flyway With Us
My company put me on tour last year to talk Database DevOps. To promote things, we rented a van and customized it. It was a lot of fun, and there were some good pix that came out of the promotion.
This year we decided to rent a plane and create DevOps Airways, with the tagline, come Flyway with Us.
What's funny is this is a bright blue plane. They customized it after we did some shots. Here's another version.
We flew to Austin for a day for this shoot. I did some work in the office, actually had to do a webinar and some work before we drove out before lunch to a small airport in Northwest Austin.
The person organizing this bought us jackets and sunglasses. We took turns wearing them and exchanging the clothes.
As you might have guessed, I had a few different shirts to wear and changed them a few times in the 4-5 hours we were taking pictures.
We got to sit in and around the plane, and it got rolled out of the hanger for us. The owner offered to fly us around, but it was too foggy that day, so he cancelled.
Still a fun day, and a memorable experience.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
New Horse Training
Tia got a new horse for the Retired Racehorse Project Makeover. She'll be competing in October in Lexington in a few events.
You can see some video here if the new horse and another in training. The brown one is the racehorse. The other one is just here for training, and they're enjoying running around the arena for a few minutes before training begins.
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Monday, January 29, 2024
Sunday, January 28, 2024
Third trip to Austin this month starts out busy. Early morning watching two of my favorite players competing, now chores before getting on a plane.
via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/C2pvfBaOKDC/
Friday, January 26, 2024
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
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