Last Day

Today was my last day at work, as I fly to Denver on Sunday for my new job.  I've been in my little office for 10 years, and it was kind of strange to realize this was the last time I'd be there.  At various points throughout life you make decisions that result in transitions or segueways from one phase of your life to another, and this is definitely one of them.

This morning one of the project managers brought in a wonderful collection of fruit bowls and cranberry muffins for me.  She had made it all herself that morning, with ruby red grapefruits, pineapples, grapes, strawberries, blackberries, pine nuts and sprigs of fresh mint.  She had even gotten flowers from her garden to use as accents.  It was very good and I was very touched.  I had to take a picture before I let anyone near it.

All week I've been taken out to lunch by different people I've worked with, and today I was taken to the Carillon - a super posh restaurant close to the University of Texas.  They have a wonderful salad buffet, with quinoa, roasted squash, soup, fresh bread and all manner of cold cuts.  The tiramisu dessert was just to die for.

I've had people coming by all day to say goodbye, hug me and tell me they wished I was staying.  There were even some tears.  It's been a great place to work, and the last week has made me realize how many friends I've got there, and I'm going to miss them (though I'm also looking forward to the challenge of my new job).

The Crazy Banana

And while cleaning out my desk, I came across this banana that had been stuck in the back of a drawer for at least 5 year, and probably closer to 10.  In fact it may even pre-date me.  It was completely dehydrated, shriveled and rock hard.  I tapped it on the table a few times and it had completely petrified - very cool.  Everyone who came to say goodbye got introduced to it, and it got whisked off on a whirlwind tour of the neighboring offices where it was suitably admired.

I even took it home for Gavin to see.  He was very impressed.  I have now deposited it in the bin before he decided to try eating it.

Garden Update

It's amazing the difference a week makes in my little garden. Plants that were just poking their heads through the earth last week have suddenly shot up, and it's always exciting to venture outside in the morning and see what's grown overnight.

This morning I planted more corn, red onion, scallion, lettuce and snap peas. I have tomatoes (roma and big boys) and peppers that are doing really well indoors and may be ready to transplant later this week, and I've started another tray of herbs (basil, oregano and cilantro).

It will be cool to look back on these weekly pictures and see exactly how the garden progressed (or not as the case may be).

The standard overview.  More labels are appearing as I fill up the squares.

Corn, with cucumber in the row behind.  Both have really taken off this week

Red onion and radishes.  The lettuce in the row behind have not come through yet

The zucchini plant - this has really grown in the last week.  I now have 2 of them, and another 2 summer squash plants doing really well.  Hoping these will provide some great summer grilling.

My tomatoes and bell peppers being hardened outdoors prior to transplanting

Up in the Air

I booked my flights to Denver yesterday.  I start my new job next month, and I'm heading up to Colorado for the first week.  I made sure to book a flight leaving Austin super early on Sunday morning so I will have an entire day to do some exploring before heading into the city.

I'm excited - yesterday I took the afternoon off and accompanied one of my future co-workers to a client demo.  It was the first time in over a decade that I've worn a suit (a new pin stripe job), a shirt I'd actually ironed and my smart Springbok rugby tie.  I was dead posh - regular readers would not have recognized me.  The guy who gave the demo is the same guy who recommended me to the company in the first place, and afterwards we went for coffee and a chat.  I am looking forward to working with him.

Back on the running front (where I am my usual scruffy self) not much is happening.  I was full of good intentions to get up early and run midweek but Dylan has been very restless, waking up numerous times a night, and I have slept through most of my early morning alarm calls (sometimes even unintentionally).  I fell asleep in Gavin's bed while reading him a bedtime story the other night and woke up about 3am wondering where I was.  Gavin was quite happy to have daddy spend the night and had quietly and carefully turned the light out and cuddled himself in with me.

The other reason I haven't been good at getting up in the mornings is that I've been staying up late at night reading a super interesting book called "Game Change".  It's a behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 presidential election campaigns and is a really good read, with lots of nitty-gritty mixed in with some juicy scandals.  Very entertaining.

Tomorrow morning I'm meeting Clea for an early run, so I know when my alarm goes off I have to get up.  It seems that meeting folks is the only thing that gets me out of bed to run these days, but that's the benefit of being in my down-season and not having any races coming up.  My next goal race is not until November (the San Antonio marathon).

Lots of things happening in the Welsh Farmer's garden - more pictures coming soon.

Midnight in the Garden of a Welshrunner

The garden after I laid soaker hoses

Not wanting to get all Alan Titchmarsh, but I was so excited this week when some of the seeds from my new garden started sprouting.  The first heroes were the radishes, and I freely admit to doing a jig of joy when I spotted them poking their little heads through the soil.  I've had this ongoing fear that nothing was going to grow, but in the last few days quite a few other specimens have come through as well.

As you can see from the picture above, I've divided each bed into squares and threaded a soaker hose through it.  And me being me, I have a spreadsheet with a diagram of each bed detailing what I've planted where, what I'm planning to plant (and on what date), and when I would expect to harvest and rotate each square.  I am staggering several crops as I don't want to be suddenly overwhelmed by more corn that I could shake a stick at, and I am starting some plants indoors, to be transplanted into the garden at a later date.

More from the Welsh farmer next week.  In the meantime, here are some of the beauties that have started coming through.

Children of the corn?

The radishes and red onions are doing really well

The beginnings of a zucchini bush

Indoors, my Roma tomatoes and bell peppers are thriving

As are my Big Boy tomatoes.  The parsley has just started coming through too.

Doors

Here's the thing about doors - when one closes another one tends to open. And when you come right down to it, life is nothing more than a series of doors we either close, ignore or choose to go through.

There is a point to this rambling - please bear with me.

In my last post I alluded to the fact that the recent layoffs at work didn't really worry me. The reason for that was that I'd already been headhunted for another job.  That's happened quite a bit in the last year, but this one was different.  For one thing they'd caught me at the right time - I was already seriously thinking about a change - and for another, I knew from my research that this was a small company of people who were recognized experts in their field.  They handpicked people from across the country, and it was really an honor to be approached by them.

So two telephone interviews, a webex and a lunch meeting later, I had a decision to make.  Do I stay where I am in my comfort zone, or make the leap and go for it?  They were looking for somebody who was strong technically, but also able to communicate well.  I knew I checked both boxes and that I'd aced the interviews.  Sure enough an offer quickly followed.

I decided to go for it, so today I handed in my notice at work.  It wasn't an easy decision - I've worked in my current building for 10 years, made a lot of friends and built up a considerable amount of goodwill in that time.  But I also knew I would kick myself if I let this opportunity pass by.

So I start my new job at the beginning of April.  The company is based in Colorado, but I will be working remotely from Austin, with some travel to client sites around the country.  It's a definite change in lifestyle, but I am very self reliant, independent and proactive, and I think I have what it takes to really excel.  The best part is that I can still drive downtown with Nancy and the boys a few mornings a week.  I'll just take my bike to walk Gavin to school, and then cycle down to Whole Foods, a coffee shop or the library with my laptop and work from there.

Exciting times are afoot.

It's Been a While

Hello faithful readers - if there are any of you left!!! Yes, it's been a while since I've updated the old blog, but I'm still pottering around.  Honestly there hasn't been much happening on the running front - my mileage and speed have been downgraded as other areas of my life take over.  Swings and roundabouts - that always seems to be the way of it, and it sure makes life an interesting adventure.

And as you may have guessed from the Spongebob cake above, the Gavster turned 6 this weekend.  The cake was a team effort - Nancy baked it and I decorated it.  The legs off the side were a last minute addition when I realized I didn't have enough frosting to do a basket weave, but they turned out to be a great hit.

We celebrated by throwing a party at an indoor playground chock full of bouncy castles and slides.  A bunch of his friends helped us celebrate, and they all had a blast.  The kids ran themselves into the ground (including Dylan), and I'll bet there were more than a few heads nodding on the drive home.  The birthday boy fell asleep on the living room floor still playing with his wrestlers, thus proving that he's still not too old for daddy to carry him to bed and tuck him in.



For the parents, it was another chance to socialize and get to know each other, and we seem to have a good friendly bunch. Just as well, as we'll no doubt be socializing together for quite a few years to come!!!  Nancy and I also got to see an old (young) running friend who we don't get to see anywhere near as often as we would like.

Yeah, it was a fun night.

In other news, the fight to save our school is still ongoing.  A few weeks back I was awash in meetings.  I got to meet with the CFO, Chief of Staff and Superintendent of the district and present our case - they were all very gracious and generous with their time and I am hopeful.

It was a busy and stressful week that also included a series of layoffs at work.  Those things are never easy, but I was not unduly concerned about this one.  It's time for a life change - more on that in my next post.

So on to the other thing that's been keeping me away from blogging - the pending vegetable garden.  I have invested literally hours and hours at weekends and after work on bush ripping, root pulling, earth digging, stone shifting and border building.  Many thanks to my buddy Lenny who came over with his truck on Saturday and hauled a bunch of  topsoil from the landscaping supply.  By Saturday night I had all the beds filled, raked, leveled and ready for planting.



I am proud of my efforts, and now I just need to figure out what, where and when to plant.  I've been reading up on a method known as Square Foot Gardening, and it's a lot more tactical and complex than I imagined.  I need to have my battle plans drawn up before advancing into the field of dreams.



Here's my little helper filling up a small planter box that he and his brother will be responsible for.  Note the basketball goal in the background (just in front of the remains of some of my bushes) - it was one of Gavin's birthday presents, and we spent a good part of the weekend playing with it.

The boy can shoot like nobody's business - "nothing but net" has been his chant of the weekend.