General stuff

The quest for normal

The quest for normal begins when you start school, with a large group of so-called peers who technically only have age and geography in common with you. You quickly scan the crowd looking for other commonalities that reveal if you belong or not. It’s a natural human instinct to want to belong to a tribe. “Normal” is…

A guy like me

Why did I pay money for the opportunity to put my mind and body through an exhausting challenge like the Ironman 70.3? It was an extremely difficult combination of swimming, riding and running through the beautiful rolling hills of Napa Valley. I was able to finish in just over 7 hours. Why did I do…

Brushes with greatness

It was 1993: the 65th Annual Academy Awards. Billy Crystal was hosting for the 4th consecutive time and the theme was the “Year of the Woman.” Imagine my luck… not long after moving from Indiana to Los Angeles and I had a backstage pass to the Oscars! How did I get there? I worked for…

So wrong

Are you kidding me? I’m sitting in the musty Smog Check waiting room, watching through the window as the 18-year old kid with the greasy hands tries to get my car done before closing time. I’m already annoyed about this “creative” way that the state of California takes my money. Then I see another customer,…

Just for a second

One second we were all humming down the 84 in Livermore at 45 mph. The next second the brake lights are all lit up and we are grinding to a halt. I edge over to the right side of the two-lane road to see what’s going on. Four cars ahead of me, I could see…

Remove the question

Do you ever question what you are really capable of? I do it a lot. I confidently tell the world about new challenges I am doing, but secretly in my mind I’m asking myself “Can I actually do that?” Up until today, I didn’t know if I could complete an IronMan 70.3 Triathlon, and now I…