its starting to get a bit scary

february 24

at the beginning of the year, i said to myself that "if by the end of february, work hasn't picked up, i will need to find something different"

it is now at the end of february and given the current workload that i have, i will bill less that 50 hours this month - not good. having said that, there is still no indication that there will be a further round of layoffs. so, if anyone has suggestions on what i should do, i will happily take them at this time.

further scary news - i went to the doctor's on monday and have been told that i have very high cholesterol (the bad kind), very low good cholesterol and very high triglycerides. i've been told to go on a low fat, no butter, eggs, red meat, shell fish diet for a month and report back. maybe this is the kick in the pants i need to get back in shape.

in the mean time, i'm going to try and relax and enjoy the free time - last week, we bought (from a store going out of business) - the complete season 5 of '24'. after watching the first 12 episodes, it amazes me how something so absurd and unbelievable can be so watchable and entertaining.

perhaps some time off will also be beneficial. unfortunately the weather here is still so bad (i.e. cold). i would love to go somewhere warm and boulder and play golf - any suggestions?

out for now

one more year

(my attempt at artistic photography - taken at the national art gallery in washington d.c.)

february 17

so, its that time of the year again to evaluate life and make resolutions going forward - sure i made a few 'new years' resolutions but have always felt that one's birthday is the best time to sit back and do a self examination.

looking back over my 3oth year, there were many highlights and in no specific order, the following are just a few:

- summer vacation 2008 - rock climbing and golfing everyday for 2 weeks - need i say more

- surviving (so far) financial crisis 08/09

- being surprised by the unexpected expectancy

looking forward to my 31st year, the following are what i expect/hope to be significant highlights:

- surviving financial crisis 09/10

- qualifying for the ny public links and climbing my first 8a

- hmmm.......oh yeah....the baby

1. surviving the financial crisis

i took the picture above during our recent visit to the smithsonian institute museum of american history in washington d.c. i think think it is a good reminder as to what is required in order to get the economy going again. i believe that the mess we are currently facing can be partly attributed to a breakage between labour and capital and people forgetting that one requires the other in order to survive. unfortunately the amount of 'cheap' capital in the system for the past 6 - 8 years was funneled not into labour (both manual and intellectual) but rather into cheap goods that depended on other people's labour (i.e. china's). i hope that this stimulus plan (which is a first and necessary step in a long road to recovery) will produce the promised jobs and help people realize that anything worth having is worth working for.

in terms of resolutions, i want to be keep a positive attitude, work hard (when there is work to be done) and keep learning . its really easy to get depressed with all the bad news and the only thing i have control over is my work product and my knowledge base.

2. golfing and climbing goals

as previously noted, work has been slow. last wednesday i took advantage of a remarkably warm day and made my way out to la tourette golf course on staten island. for the past number of years, i have repeatedly beat myself up over the fact that i struggle directing a small white ball into a 3 inch hole. however, hope springs eternal and this winter i realized a swing flaw that resulted in my club head going to far outside on the way back and subsequently snapping to far to the inside (a.k.a. bad all around). once i realized (and corrected) this flaw, i've been hitting the ball great (at the range) and to my very pleasant surprise, the swing held up quite well on the course. there is still much to work on (especially putting) but the public links qualifying round is at la tourette on june 9 and i really hope to put in a good round.

i've also been getting to the gym quite regularly and have definitely been getting stronger. however, my climbing goals are only going to accomplished with an accompanied reduction in in weight so i've been running on the treadmill a couple of times of week. resolution: keep up with the running; goal: to climb predator (8a in rumney, nh)(shown below)

3. on becoming a father

we (and by we, i mean rebekah) are now 1/2 way through and things are being to take shape (and by shape, i mean round). since i have no meaningful role to play right now i've taken to observing parenting behavior. i think i know what it means to be a good parent and the fact that i just wrote that statement proves to all that i have much to learn.

so to all you readers out there, let me know what you think makes a good parent

should we find out?

february 10

its been a while since my last post but unfortunately i can't blame work for keeping me away - for those of you familiar with the concept of billable hours, i'm sure you will understand that 50 billable hours so far this year is not going to be sustainable. i think it is seriously time to look for a new job.....

but in the mean time, i've been keeping 'busy' studying chinese. this website is actually really, really good and you can test your knowledge of chinese characters. i'm still at around 500 but slowly improving.

last weekend was good and rather eventful - on saturday, i went snowboarding at mountain creek. it was ok considering the temperature (around 50 F). i was able to work on some tricks in the terrain park and hit some big jumps - nothing like the jumps that were made at snowscrapers (which we checked out live last thursday)

on sunday i finally made it out to randall island driving range - its so convenient to have a car and i'm sure thankful for it (even though there is something seriously wrong with the fuel tank but which i hope to fix shortly). hopefully my self repair will go slightly better than my fix of the dent in the roof using the "ding king" - check out this video to see it in action. i think it the product is 'ok' and i think my repair made the dent slightly better but rebekah disagrees... oh well

speaking of golf, i am really excited about this upcoming season - now that we have a car, i can make it out to the courses much more often and conveniently. i hope to enter a few tournaments this summer and will you all posted.

finally, climbing has been going ok - i still haven't send any of my projects at the gym but am getting close - i did do a new roof climb (11+) second go last week so that nice.

oh yeah - "should we find out if our baby is going to be a boy or girl" - i think we should; rebekah disagrees (sense a theme?). perhaps if you are reading this, you can let me know what you think

1 down 11 to go

february 2

one month into the new year and my new year's resolutions are off to a shaky start. having said that, i structured the resolutions such that they can be bent without breaking and the beginning of a new month is just the time to rededicate myself to the task at hand.

my first re-resolution is to floss daily and wear my retainer every night - growing up i had such terrible teeth. my parents sacrificed a lot so that i could get braces and somewhat straighten them out. i never really gave my thought to this sacrifice but now that i am responsible for more than just myself, i feel like i owe it to my parents to see that their investment is not wasted.

this past weekend went by so fast but it was fun. i played basketball on friday night and didn't get to bed as early as i needed to in order to wake up at 5:30 a.m. to pick up my friend and head up to the hills. however, a couple of venti coffees woke me up and a super nice day of the slopes was had by all (although i'm still terrible at taking jumps and rails)

on sunday we went to church and found out that the financial condition of this particular church is quite dire. however, what made the most impact on me was seeing the pastor's 4 kids and feeling the stress that they must be experiencing. i remember someone telling me that if you go into ministry to get rich, you're not smart enough to go into ministry. while this is true, i find it unfair that pastors and their families are often expected to live up to a higher standard on a less than standard income. perhaps there is a better way to finance church operations....

anyway, i'm back at work now and nothing has changed. in fact, it is slower than before and now i sense that everyone is worried. as previously discussed, i believe that i have a good plan in the event that i am laid off but i'm still hoping for a better outcome.

its been a few weeks without poker and i'm happy about that - even though there is skill involved, it ultimately is a game of chance and the outcome is predicated on something that you have no control over. i think that is why i enjoy golf and rock climbing so much.

on the home front, apparently the baby now looks like this

its getting closer and so far so good - we're going to the midwife again on thursday and will post another update then