Adventures in Beards

So I'm almost a month into my new job, and enjoying myself a lot. I love working from home, though it can be nerve-wracking when you're trying to figure out a brand new system, nothing is working and you don't have anyone to bounce ideas off. Thankfully I'm good at thinking on my feet, and hopefully that doesn't happen too often!!!

This month was the "D" month, as I travelled to Denver and Dallas. It was a great chance to try out my new suit - the first I've worn in over a decade. I felt dead posh!!! While I do enjoy travelling for a few days at a time, it's always nice to come back home to Nancy and the boys.

And when I'm not travelling, I've been experimenting with not shaving and seeing how long I can go before it gets too annoying and I have to get rid of it. My record so far is 5 days - apparently it made me look a little sinister (maybe I should have taken some time to go lurk on the Grassy Knoll in Dallas)!!!

This weekend I'm doing the two-day RRCA coaching certification class, which I'm looking forward to. This class only comes through Austin every few years - I dithered and dallied the last time, and it ended up sold out. I actually went and got myself recertified in first aid and CPR last night, so I'm all ready to go and discover exactly how badly wrong my training has been all these years - haha. I'll let you know how it goes.

And some news on the Dylan front - he has discovered climbing and has summited most of our home peaks - Mount Sofa, Mount Dining Room Table and Mount Ladder to his Brother's Bunk Bed. Yesterday, our not-quite-two-year-old budding mountaineer successfully escaped from his crib and went on the lam. It seems we have officially run out of ways to keep him contained.

And that's a scary thought!!!

Garden Update

Well this is another post for my dad, since he was here when I first built my garden beds, and I haven't posted any updates in a while. I guess you could say I'm learning as I go, as I've had my share of success and failures.  But on the whole, the garden seems to be growing very well, and we enjoyed our first mini-harvest of radishes earlier this week.

The corn and cucumber are growing like crazy - I had to put up a trellis for the cucumber as it was trying to wrap itself around the corn.  In the front three rows I've had mixed success with the peppers - several of them died, but the ones that didn't look really strong.  Reinforcements are growing indoors.

Tomatoes have been a problem for me, as most of them have fallen over and died (some of them I suspect were victims of stray basketball shots).  The exceptions are two in the back row that I think will make it, and one in the pot that is thriving.  I have started more trays inside with roma, big boys, beefsteak and steak sandwich varieties.  Other things growing well here include basil (front), scallion, red onion and rashishes (2nd row) and lettuce and more radishes (3rd row).  Parsley (front row) and oregano (3rd row) are probably not going to make it.  Again, the next generation is growing indoors.

The three plants in the front are pumpkins I planted just over a week ago, and they seem to be doing really well.  Broccoli in the second row have started to take off, but the snap peas and cilantro behind them are not doing so good.  The sunflower at the back is happily motoring along.

The summer squash and zucchini plants are my pride and joy - they just flowered a few days ago, and are probably my most successful crop to date.  I have surrounded both of them with a tomato cage to try to encourage them to grow up.  The front row are filled with carrots and some experimental asparagus, but really this bed is all about the squash.

Take That Honey-Do List!!!

Which part of this did I make?

Hello erstwhile blog readers. Yes, I know it's been a while, but I haven't forgotten about you - it's just that I've been really busy with the new job.  I promise I will get back to regular updates in the near future.

And really, this post is for my dad who has been nagging me both about the lack of updates to the blog, and also about the lack of progress on the trundle I was building.  Hopefully this will give you both.

You see, when we bought bunk beds for the boys last year I was too cheap wanted to design and build my own trundle to go underneath.  It had reached a state of near-completeness several months ago, and there it stayed as other things took over. Well I finally got around to finishing it, and we rolled it into place tonight.  I think it turned out really well - it matches the bed, and (for once) I got my measurements spot on.

I am looking forward to enjoying a toy-free living room.

So boo-ya to you, honey-do list.  It won't be long before I have you down to single digits!!!!

Built to hold a lot more than Aquaman!!!

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.