So why haven’t I been writing?
Well, I’ve been traveling on business a fair bit too, and have spent way more time in airport lounges and on planes than I would have chosen to. Nowhere glamorous unfortunately. Since the Asian trip I wrote about back in January 2010?, I’ve been nowhere more exciting than Texas. But I’ve been there more times than I care to count. Oh, and Ohio once. For about 5 hours.
Why Texas? Well, it’s where my company’s Corporate Office is located and as I took a promotion early last year, my presence has been required there on a regular basis. What can I say, they need me. In addition to the travel, promotions tend to lead to a lot more work and less free time, which has made it harder to drum up the enthusiasm for writing. That could of course, be a problem this year too but I’ll play it by ear and do the best I can. Sweet readers, I love you dearly but the pay check will always come first.
There have been health issues too. Not for me, although I’ll admit, that miserable old git, Father Time has been breathing a little heavier over my shoulder recently. Dear Wife though, was taken very seriously ill towards the end of 2009 and that sucked up a good amount of emotional energy. Good news is, she’s recovering well, is looking a lot healthier and is exercising more than she has done in years. Back on the negative side, my Dad succumbed to cancer at the end of 2010 but fortunately I was able to spend a little time with him in the summer. Ma is now in an assisted living place and enjoying life, despite getting dottier by the day. But hey, who isn’t?
We have two new dogs since we last spoke. After The World’s Most Irritating Dog ™ died in January of 2010 we went for six months without a pooch in the house and it were ‘orrible. Later that summer we became an Australian Shepherd household again, adopting
Jasmine from a rescue in Colorado and
Marley from a breeder in Missouri. They now vie for our attention 24 hours a day and the house is covered in dog hair once more. Incidentally, Jasmine is world famous round here, being the poster child on the back of the van used by the local Humane Society. See us? See celebrities?
To combat the hours spent shackled to my desk, I’ve been trying to spend as much time as I can out of doors. To that end, I invested in a new touring bike and some lightweight camping gear (how did my camping stuff get so heavy just sitting in the shed for years?) and have been doing my best to rack up the miles. Colorado isn’t an ideal place to get into shape, given that there are no ‘easy’ hills. Everything is up, and up, and up and when you’re starting at a mile and half above sea level, there isn’t a whole lot of oxygen to begin with. Nonetheless, on my last trip at the beginning of June, I was able to ride up hills that my car would struggle to drive so that’s encouraging.
I’ve also started going to the Colorado Rapids football games (real football, not American football). Major League Soccer is on a par with, I would say, the English First Division, so the quality isn’t exactly top rate. And the Rapids tend to be frustratingly inconsistent but when they’re on form, can put together some quite impressive football. Last year they surprised everyone, including I think, themselves, when they came into form towards the end of the season and went all the way through the playoffs to win the championship for the first time in their history. They didn’t come close to repeating that this year, although in their defense, they’ve had a lot of problems with injuries to key players.
We also took another step towards old age by buying ourselves a caravan (camping trailer) this year. I’ve been hankering after one for a while following a series camping trips where the weather has been almost comically bad. When the two of us go together, we take books and iPods and all the paraphernalia but with the big Five-Oh lurking around the corner, lying on the ground for days at a time has lost some of its appeal. The idea of sitting at a table to read and being able to stand up to get dressed is sounding more attractive with each passing year. Like me, the caravan is old and temperamental and it’s so small that truly, it’s little more than a hard sided tent. However, we’ve had a couple of trips in it already and love the thing.
So that’s about it. That’s where I’ve been for the last 24 months. The Cliff’s Notes version at least. But look at this…a whole new year on the calendar with a world of opportunities and adventures to be had.
Want to come along?
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