Secrets

I read a post on Lisa Haneberg's blog a while back that discussed secrets. It included a link to this site, which I just find amazing and incredibly addicting. Seeing other peoples secrets makes me log-on first thing every Monday morning and go straight to this site to see the latest updates.

We all have secrets. What is it about a secret that makes it so hard to keep? As soon as we have one, we want to share it. And as soon as we know someone has one, we want to hear it. Post Secret, and the four books (I warn you in advance, you will not be able to put them down) that Frank has published, prove that we love to learn other peoples secrets.

More than that, I believe we are looking to learn that we are not the only person keeping our personal secrets. Everyone needs to feel like they belong. Possibly even with their deepest secrets.

So, I encourage you to check out the site, and to stop in to your local bookstore to check out a copy of the books. Maybe, you will find the same thing that Donna and I did when we stopped to read a copy at Borders.
Just like the video shows, people had placed notes with their secrets in between the pages of the books filled with secrets. What an amazing project.



I guess everyone really does love knowing, and telling, a secret.

Tour of Cali

There are three international professional cycling events hosted each year in the United States. The Tour de Georgia, the Tour of Missouri, and the Tour of California. The Amgen Tour of California will once again kick off the professional cycling season this February with another spectacular eight days of racing that will wind through the redwoods, wine country, and pacific coast of California.

Another thing that I just LOVE about the Amgen Tour is that, in parallel to providing an amazing cycling event, the tour will raise funds and awareness for Cancer care and treatment. Amgen has launched Breakaway from Cancer to "raise awareness and funds to support valuable services and programs, provided free of charge, that help people living with cancer".
So, I am already planning my trip to catch the first few stages of this amazing event starting Feb 17th. Anyone want to experience it with me??

What are you thankful for?

This is a great time of year. Most workplaces start to slow down, freeing up some valuable time for the employees. Families come together, and at least for the months of November and December, people re-focus on what is important in life. So, as I am sure you have been thinking about it while sitting in the airport, riding in the car, or on the train to wherever you are headed this time of year, what are you thankful for?

Each time I ask myself that question, the list gets longer (which is, of course, a good thing). Here are a few of the highlights. Feel free to send me some of yours.

Absolute, #1 on my list.....is family.

I am thankful... for the health and happiness of my wife and kids.

I am thankful... that I grew up an Anderson, with all the love, learning, and strength that comes with it.

I am thankful...that I married into that crazy Welch clan. There is no better family for love, fun, and support in good times and bad.I am thankful...for Gavin, because everyman needs a junior version of himself to grow up with. I am thankful...for Isabelle, because now My Little Girl makes me mushy.
I am thankful...for Donna, who, without any formal training, turned into the best wife and mother in the world. I am thankful...to all my friends and family who, though may not understand my passion, support it, giving the Lance Armstrong Foundation another record breaking year.

I am thankful...for my bike, and all the wonderful opportunities and people it has introduced me to.

I am thankful...that I have reached a point in my life where I can start to teach those that have taught me.

I am thankful...that the Internet exists to offer this forum, and people like you are willing to read what I have to say.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

TNUA

Starting in October, I have been dusting off my old mountain bike, and joining a group of 40-60 other cyclists on Tuesday nights for the Tuesday Night Urban Assault ride. We meet at the Adams Street Community Center in Corn Hill, and head out for our ride promptly at 6:15pm. The rides are lead by Scott Page of Full Moon Vista Bike Shop, and Saturn of Rochester Twilight Criterium fame.

Each weeks route is different, and we never know where we are headed until we get under way. But, one thing is always known. We will find new and interesting places to explore in the city, and we will always get a great work out.

The TNUA rides are amazing. I have now seen beautiful areas of the city of Rochester that I would never have seen from a car. In addition, I have visited sections of the city that, since we are such a large group, would not be considered safe normally. The rides along the sides of the river, through the wooded trails, Highland Park, Mt Hope Avenue, Monroe Ave, Lake Ave, St Paul Blvd, U of R, and over countless bridges, walkways, stairways, and trails have opened my eyes to the fact that Rochester truly is a beautiful city. Especially after dark. Did I mention that part?? It is in the dark, and goes all winter long. October through March.

Those that attend the TNUA rides are there for the love of cycling. The group is never the same from week to week, but the spirit and atmosphere always is. A group of men and women. Old and young, who absolutely love to be on a bike. No matter the weather. I have found yet another way to love my sport of cycling.

So, if you are in the area on a Tuesday night and have 2 1/2 hours free, I encourage you to come along. I promise you an experience that will change a lot of things, both physical and mental.

For Love of Sport

I love the sport of cycling. But, even I will admit that this past year of doping scandals, team foldings, and rider firings has done nothing but continue to degrade the public opinion and image of a pure and beautiful sport.

So, as the cycling world spends the off season tending too its flattened tires, scratched paint, bent frame, and bruises, I felt the need to remind myself what cycling is truly about.

Passion. Commitment. Pain. Respect.

Enjoy.

Transformers

Gavin has turned into an absolute Transformers nut. I love it!! Luckily, he has learned to respect the classics.



Good thing I saved my old toys....

Happy Birthday Izzy

My baby girl turns 2 today. Happy Birthday Isabelle.

Daddy loves you.

Perception of a man

I have been in the Telecommunications industry for about 10 years now. To be more specific, I have been a Telecomm Engineer for about 10 years now. I have moved around in the industry, holding various Engineer and Management positions at different companies. But always maintained the working title of something, something Engineer something.

I never really thought about how I was defining myself within the industry with the positions I held, and how this definition impacted how I was perceived within the corporation. "Oh, he's an Engineer", "Charlie? He's in Engineering". The stereotypes of an Engineer, became the perception of who I was due to my longtime association with the Engineering department. What stereotypes? C'mon, you know them. Geek. Loner. Doesn't interact well with others. Can't speak the same language as other humans. Technical. Engineers.

The difference? Other than a title, I am anything BUT an Engineer. I am just as comfortable in a network lab as I am in the Board Room. I can troubleshoot an equipment outage and then complete the departments yearly budget. I can teach both a CEO and a Professional Engineer how to work the same piece of equipment. I guess that's why I have always sought out the non-Engineer roles, within the Engineering Department, and relished in the fact that I can succeed as the anomaly to the standard. But, recently I have been in a position that I didn't enjoy, and have been looking for other opportunities.

So, what does an Engineer, who is not really an Engineer, do when they run out of places to not be an Engineer in the Engineering Department? They go into Marketing of course. Now, I led you through my perception discussion for a reason, and it is this, perception impact is not realized until you try and move to where your perceived traits are NOT the traits of the masses. Meaning? Engineers are not in Marketing. And to get into Marketing, I had to prove that I was not an Engineer.

To cross company lines, I had to validate to the Marketing Department that I was more than 10 years worth of various Engineering titles on my resume. That I was not the perception of an Engineer, but rather someone that could walk, talk, socialize, and speak a language that they could understand. Someone capable of doing their job. Able to live in their world. And don't think it was one sided. To the Engineers I had to defend my decision to "move to the dark side". To join the land of the non-thinkers. To voluntarily lobotomize myself and my career.

Marketing thought they knew what to expect from me because I was an Engineer. I proved them wrong. Engineering thought they knew what to expect from a Product Development Manager. I proved them wrong also. Seems a lot of our believed truths are based on perception, rather than fact. Maybe, given a little more open-minded living in the world, we can prove ourselves wrong a few more times as well.

I know I am sure having fun doing it.