Your Bumper Stickers Won’t Save You

As much as I’d like to sit home and blog, life sometimes intervenes. This morning, it was getting out of the house at 5:30 for my twice-weekly swim. I have a spring triathlon on the horizon. I woke up an hour earlier intending to bang out something for the sake of making my Tuesday blogging deadline, but as soon as I opened my laptop and tried logging on, I realized that I had no Internet connection–I’m not sure why.

I was also unclear about what to write about.

Lately, the things that I find important are either things I’ve written about before (reinvention, writing, fitness), or things I no longer find appealing (politics). Granted, there’s no shortage of things to write about relative to the latter, but more and more, I don’t find politics bringing forth any new solutions to some of the pressing issues of our time. In fact, the politician that many people imbued with so much hope has become very much like the leaders that came before him. Of course that never stops Americans from wearing their binary ideology on their sleeves, or the back bumpers of their cars.

Your bumper stickers won't save you.

Your bumper stickers won’t save you.

So here I sit, drinking corporate coffee and accessing an available Wi-Fi connection, blogging a few thoughts and ideas that crossed my mind while making my way up and down my pool lane this morning. Continue reading

Maybe I’ll Get Training Wheels

Four years ago, I had a nasty bike accident. I went over the handlebars on a road with broken pavement and I now have a scar on my chin that I cover with a goatee.

What mitigated the damage of that crash was being properly outfitted; the gloves I was wearing saved severe hand abrasions when I planted before hitting my chin. I was wearing a helmet that day and I always do when cycling/biking.

Hundreds of miles later and a few minor mishaps, I had another accident last night. Continue reading

Beyond Barriers

Learning to swim like a fish.

Learning to swim like a fish.

In February, I decided to become a swimmer. My goal was a simple one, really—to swim well enough to complete the swim portion of a sprint triathlon in June.  While the goal was simple in the setting of it, the mechanics in reaching it were more complex.

If you’ve been following my quest, you know that I was successful. I completed the Pirate Tri on June 9, at Point Sebego. The swim portion was actually easier than I imagined that it would be. Continue reading