Anniversary The Third

So three years ago I got married. I still think its crazy, and my wife is completely nuts to have shown up then (My first words to her after we said the vows was "ha ha sucker!"), but I am glad she did. I think she's nuts to stay with me all this time (I expected her to run away 2.5 years ago - after all, who would want to live with me? have you met me? Yeah, so you know what I am talking about.), but I'm glad she has.

I was worried about how to celebrate this year because we started out celebrating anniversaries on a pretty high scale. Our first anniversary we happened to be starting a 4 month work trip to Europe so we ended up celebrating it in Dublin. Our second anniversary was a weekend trip to Myrtle Beach SC. How is one supposed to top that? Luckily I married a practical woman (hint: go for the Dutch farmers daughters! Horrible spellers but very practical.) so our third will be a dinner and a movie, and my wife is completely happy about it.

Based on this trend our fourth anniversary will probably be celebrated by going for a walk, and our 50th will be celebrated with a wink. Oh well, I get to spend the years in between anniversaries sharing my life with my wife, which is the best celebration I could ask for.

A lot has changed in our lives. We've moved to a different country, bought a house, adopted two dogs, and spawned a new human . Throughout all of that one thing never changed... I still believe I married the best woman in the world. I love you sweetheart. Happy 3rd!

Penny Arcade speaks my exact thoughts on Jello

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/4/7/

Meat deserts are the best.

Lessons learned

I have learned recently that its very important to match tactics with your goals, or you may end up spinning your wheels and getting nowhere. First a bit of background:

I frequently bike to work for a variety of reasons. Mostly because its fun, and one of the few ways I enjoy getting exercise. My company also has a program where they donate money to a charity of my choice when I "self power commute", which biking qualifies for (I am up to >$150 for the year so far - not bad for something I would do anyway), so there is an incentive there as well. I am also lazy by nature, so when I set my Q2 goals at work (See: Goal Setting At Google for more info on how we set our goals), I added a personal goal to log 350 miles by biking or walking.

So most days (weather permitting), I biked to work, and since I am a GPS geek, I kept track of distance traveled, travel time, and speed (both average and maximum) using a GPS unit mounted to my bike. Notice that I keep track of distance, time, and speed, but my goal only deals with distance. This is where I went astray.

I started to focus on my speed more than distance, and I started pushing myself harder and harder to get faster average speeds. As a result I pushed myself to my absolute limits (which granted is not that hard to do) and I wore out my legs faster, and as a result couldn't bike every day. My legs simply couldn't take it. The end result is that I was not putting miles on my bike, and my goals started to slip. I also wasn't having as much fun.

To fix this I have simply stopped using my GPS on routes where I know the distances already, and stopped keeping track of the time. I have found that I enjoy it a lot more, and I am not killing my legs every time I get on the bike.

The life lesson I learned here is that it is very important to align short term tactics with long term goals. It can be very easy to hinder the ability to reach your goals by taking the wrong path along the way.

Another tangential lesson is be careful of the metrics you use to determine your actions. I only really care about distance, but the metric I followed the most was speed. This caused me to make bad decisions. The metrics being followed need to lead towards hitting the goals. Either the metrics or the goal has to change if one is to see success.

I am not saying one should never explore the alternate path, or try new things. I firmly believe that exploration and risk taking is an important part of growth both as a species and as an individual. However when the goals are set, and you have no intention of changing them, you need to be careful to make sure the steps you take don't lead you to a place where the goal becomes impossible.

Important life lesson there. Glad I learned it.

Rock On!

Ever since Zeke was born I have rocked him to sleep to the soothing tones of rock music - bands like CCR, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, The Eagles etc. I sing to him, and play air guitar on his belly, and he laughs, snuggles, and falls asleep. For the last couple months I haven't done this very much.

A couple nights ago Zeke was fussing in his crib, fighting sleep like the crazy man he is. I went to check on him, and decided it was time to rock out with the lad. So I sat in the rocking chair in his nursery and cranked the tunes. First song: Dream On by Aerosmith. The moment the first note played, he looked up at me and smiled as if to say "Oh yeah, this is the good stuff now. We're gonna have a good time tonight!"

Yes, its true. My 7 month old son is already nostalgic for good ol' Rock and Roll. I am definitely doing something right.

To my wife: Happy First Mothers Day!

Normally I don't buy into Hallmark holidays, but this year is different, for this year is the first time my darling wife gets to sit in the hot seat on Mothers Day.

I know my wife is a wonderful friend, creative, beautiful, kind, loving, and an all round wonderful wife. I also knew she'd make a good mother. It turns out she is an absolutely fantastic mommy. Her skills as a mother never cease to amaze me. It gives me a whole new area of life for me to love her for :)

My dearest wife, both Zeke and I are amazingly blessed to have you in our lives. If Zeke could talk I am sure he would say the same thing: I love you!

Happy Mothers Day.

What motivates people?

Interesting PBS piece on what motivates people. :

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june10/makingsense_04-15.html

Rebooting The Franchise

It has been a year since I have posted anything to this site, and 2 years since I posted anything of substance. I am going to take another crack at maintaining a regular blog, so consider this the reboot of the Only Googlebot Reads This Blog franchise.

So lets start by playing catch up. These are the significant events in my life since the last real post to these pages:

• I have moved from Ontario Canada to western North Carolina. Despite my new surroundings, I still spell colour with a 'u', and pronounce 'z' zed. Poutine is what I crave and Tim Hortons is still my bestest friend (you'd think it would be my wife, but she doesn't make Ice Caps).
  
  
• I am still working for Google, but have been promoted and switched groups. My main job now is [classified] (which is OK because the awesomeness of it would blow your mind). Some would say the best thing about being a Googler is working with some of the best technology available, but really the best thing is the unlimited supply of M&Ms in the micro-kitchen.
  
  
• I have taken up the hobby of geocaching. So far I have >130 finds in 3 countries and 10 states. I enjoy the exploration and exercise the hobby brings. Not to mention I get to play with billion dollar military satellites to find tupperware in the woods :)
  
  
• I have taken up biking to work whenever the weather is agreeable. I could say it is to be "green", get exercise, and is fun, but really I do it to annoy the people in cars that have to share my roads.
  
  
• Speaking of "being green" I should mention that I don't buy into the religion of "global warming", or "climate change" or whatever the catch phrase of the week is. I do think we should invest in green energy, but only because its cool, and not because of some pseudo-science hokum. We should be investing heavily in science and exploration, expanding our knowledge and pushing our boundaries because that is what humans are meant to do.
  
  
• I have two dogs, a Brittany Spaniel mix named Bailey, and a Cocker Spaniel mix named Snoopy. Both are pound puppies. Bailey is one of the best dogs ever, second only to The Littlest Hobo (if you don't know who that is, you clearly didn't grow up in early 1980 Canada and are probably feeling a little left out - get used to that feeling - if you didn't grow up in Canada, you did miss out - don't worry tho, there is still some hope for you). Snoopy is new so hasn't attained awesome status yet, but he's getting there.
  
  
• Last but not least I have reproduced! I now have a 6 month old son named Zeke, who is fat and happy (as babies should be).

So that should catch us up. Stay tuned to this space for more episodes and exciting adventures in the world of Dave.