Soooo the good news is that I'm pretty sure I did really well on my PE exam. God-willing, in three months or so, I will be a licensed engineer with all kinds of new liability insurance needs. The bad news is that I may have forgotten to bubble my name in. Oh well, some things you just can't study for.

So now that Part I is complete, here comes Part II. On thursday, I leave for California to go compete in the AVIA Wildflower Triathlon. After a night in San Diego, Tyler, Liz and I will drive to Paso Robles in central california and pick up our registration kits for Sunday's race. Apparently this is a pretty big event, with something like 7,500 athletes competing on Saturday and Sunday. I even read somewhere that two of the couples from the reality show Biggest Loser will be competing in the long course.

When I started this whole adventure, the swim seemed kind of ridiculous. I mean, I didn't really know how to swim in October. I've jumped in a pool as a kid, but actually knowing the technique is something that requires real coaching. The first couple of trips to the pool were pretty discouraging. How are you supposed to swim a mile when your heart is pounding and you are coughing water after 25 meters? There just seemed to be a huge reality gap between where I was and where I wanted to be. People tell you that hard work and determination will get you there, but i think a pair of floaties and flippers would have been my first choice. But then I remembered something I learned from building racecars with blocks of metal and an engineering textbook: you take on a huge goal by breaking it down into smaller ones. AND you trust that with enough time and patience, you will get there. I stopped thinking about the mile. All I needed to do was to swim 25 meters. That was my finish line, nothing more and nothing less. Confession: it took me about 2 months before I could do it consistently. It took me another month before I could do 50 meter laps consistently. And the sad part is that I was training 3 or 4 times a week! But 50 became 100, and 100 became 200, and 200 became 500. This past weekend was the first time I've swam the full 1500 meters. And when I was done, I wasn't coughing water. (I also couldn't feel my shoulders.)

A lot of people think these kind of events are for crazy type-A personalities, but it's because they are only looking at the end result. For me most of the adventure and reward has been in the journey to this point. The race will be a ton of fun I'm sure, but it was the winter nights I spent swallowing pool water where I learned the most valuable lessons. More to come this week .... ;-)

I should be reported to Blog Protective Services

I agree.. It's ridiculous. I mean, why start a blog if you are going to treat it with utter neglect, and wait a MONTH! between posts. I sincerely apologize to my two readers. Mom and Dad, i promise to write more ;-)

Ok so wow, lots to catch up on. In the utter chaos that now roughly resembles my life, a lot can happen in a month. Truth be told, I was working on this huge "special edition" South By Southwest (SXSW) blog post that was going to blow everyone away... I briefly had visions of a Pulitzer.... but it never really materialized. And after awhile, it just seemed, like, oh hell, the moment has passed... you know? Long story short, it was an amazing time, it was a loud time, it was a naked-people-in-the-apartment-pool-at-3-a.m. time (no, I was not involved), it was a climb-onto-the-roof-of-the-apartment-building-to-see-Ben Harper-and-Third-Eye-Blind time (I was very much involved), and it was a let's-take-Sunday-to-reset-body-chemistry and get some sleep time. I really haven't had that kind of crazy, toeing the line sort of fun since college.

It was also at SXSW that I met someone whom I briefly dated for a couple of weeks. I won't go into details, because I don't do that kind of thing over the internet. But the experience did teach me alot. I think it has become quite clear to the people around me that I have healed pretty well from the pain I went through last year. Originally, I had thought that once I had moved on, I would be ready to start seeing other women again... However, I'm quickly learning that I kinda like where I am right now. I think God is giving me a little time to just be me. I enjoy the freedom Emma and I have to pretty much set our own schedule. I like hanging out with all the new friends I have made. And honestly, I'm just not in a rush to find someone new... I'll go out on dates, but I'm not forcing anything. Closing in on 28, that might sound silly to my family - after all, almost every cousin within 3 years of me is married with at least 1 child. But I'm holding out for that deepest kind of love again. And I'll know when it comes, whether it's tomorrow or years from now.

Speaking of such things, Andy Hogg, a college buddy of mine, just got married last weekend. I flew to North Carolina to help him celebrate the occasion and was able to see a lot of old friends. It's great when you can just pick up where you left off with certain people. It's like you never really leave that place, and that person has just been waiting for you to come back. I've always felt this way about my car team brethren. Even though we've now been apart longer than we were together, no one lets go of the friendships.

Ok, I'm done chatting for now. I have to get back to studying. My PE exam is a week from today! And the triathlon is the weekend after that! Come May 4th, I'm not going to know what to do with my time anymore ;-)

From my Flickr mail:

Hi bluedukeraul,

I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has been short-listed for inclusion in the sixth edition of our Schmap Madrid Guide, to be published at the end of this month.

While we offer no payment for publication, many photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and are free of charge to readers. Photos are published at a maximum width of 150 pixels, are clearly attributed, and link to high-resolution originals at Flickr. Our submission deadline is Tuesday, March 10. If you happen to be reading this message after this date, please still click on the link above (our Schmap Guides are updated frequently - photos submitted after this deadline will be considered for later releases).

Best regards,
Emma Williams,
Managing Editor,
Schmap Guides


How cool is that??

Catching Up

Ok, so it's been awhile. Almost three weeks in fact.....

The reason I haven't been in front of the computer is because I have been in the pool. And they won't let me bring the computer in with me. In case you don't know, I am training for a triathlon in May. It's called the Wildflower Triathlon and it is held in California every year, at Lake San Antonio. I'm training for an olympic length race, which means I have to be able to swim a mile or about 1500 m. And no, I can't have floaties. I asked. After the mile swim, I have to bike about 24 miles and then run 6.2 miles. In my wildest dreams, I think I can do this in under 4 hours. I have to be honest, the swimming part scared the hell out of me, I've never been a strong swimmer, but rather a talented sinker. Thankfully, I started training for this back in November, and now I feel a lot more comfortable in the water. But to stay on track, I swim about 4 days a week. 1 day with instruction, and 3 days of training. Not a lot of time to blog. And I miss blogging..... Regardless of whether anyone reads this, it's fun to talk about your week to the amorphus internet cloud.

On top of this, I am studying for my Professional Engineer Licensing Exam. It will be held the weekend before the triathlon. Only in my world, does this kind of luck show up so regularly. The good news is that my job exposes me to very diverse projects, so most of what I am studying, I have already seen and am familiar with.

Thursdays are fun, as I am now an official member of the Austin area WAKA Kickball league. I thought I would be a champ with all those years of soccer, but between the BARELY inflated dodgeball and the pre-game two beer minimum, I lose my "historically pin-point" accuracy. At any rate it is a good time. And the team names are so ridiculous that I fear mentioning them here.

Movie I will see this weekend: Milk or Frost/Nixon

Weekend in Dallas :)

I spent this past weekend visting family and friends in Dallas. My mom's birthday was Feb 4th and we all went to dinner to celebrate saturday night. I love spending time with my family and my Uncle Rudy's family as the two families have been close since I was very little. Earlier on Saturday, I was able to have breakfast with the May family and I have to say that Gabe enjoys trying to eat as much he enjoys actually eating.

Cafe Brazil had delicious food, I don't blame Gabe for his enthusiam :) I was also treated to Molly's modern rendition of the alphabet song, which includes a couple of extra letters and additional lyrics. I always find it amazing how quickly children learn things. Miss Emma has decided to make my folk's place her vacation residence. As you can tell she makes herself at home quite easily. With the additional activity I put her through on weekends and a leaner diet, she has lost a noticable amount of belly, and probably tips the scales at about 75 lb. I sometimes wonder if she really wants to come back to Austin to our 700 sq ft. apartment, but she looks content to be home.