Life changes, and a ride of firsts

Posted by Chen

I didn’t mean to go nearly a month without posting, but several life changes precluded me from doing so: 

One, I left my job at the beginning of June, ending my career in consulting. A bittersweet move, but I’m excited to work in industry after working solely in professional services for my entire adult life to-date (minus that misguided detour into and right back out of grad school). More relevant to this blog, this meant that I had to give back my beloved solid state Lenovo to my former employer, leaving me computer-less for my 1.5 weeks of funemployment (I did try to order myself a personal Lenovo, but Fedex managed to lose it in transit, and I gave up and cancelled the order). Since I’m the worst phone-typer on this planet, this meant that blogging was, for all intents and purposes, impossible.

Two, I was funemployed. While I had all sorts of grand plans to be productive and visit all sorts of interesting places around the city in the middle of the day, it turns out I’m REALLY good at being lazy instead. Aside from the occasional swim/bike/run or dinner plans, I essentially didn’t move from our couch for hours at a time. I am now a self-proclaimed expert on all HGTV shows, and I now also know that I will never be able to purchase real estate in the Bay Area thanks to some depressing Trulia research.

Wine-tasting during funemployment in Napa. Not a bad life.

Three, I started a new job this past Monday, which kept me pretty preoccupied all week. Again, more relevant to this blog, my new employer operates on Macs. I am seriously Mac illiterate, so figuring out how to create documents efficiently has been frustrating at best. Where are my ‘Home’ and ‘End’ keys? Why doesn’t F4 repeat my previous action? Does the ‘control’ key on a Mac do ANYthing??? Le sigh…

Anyway, I’ve finally found myself with a window of time to blog again, so here we are. Earlier this morning, Brandon and I went on a bike ride with Brandon’s former coworker, Michael. We started in Twin Peaks in SF and navigated over to the Presidio and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to do a loop in Tiburon before coming back. It was a ride of firsts for several reasons:

1. We covered over 46 miles, marking my very first ride totaling over 40 miles. I mostly felt OK, minus the butt pain. Yes, that still persists. Wearing tri shorts probably didn’t help matters, but I figure I need to get used to them somehow.
2. It was my first time biking in Marin. No major issues there, just a first. Some great scenery and some solid climbs that were far more enjoyable than that beast of a hill in Tahoe last weekend.
3. It was my first time crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on a bike. I used to run over the bridge for most of my long runs, and even that was hyper annoying with all of the tourists. Biking while clipped in through narrow corridors with hoards of people who were even less capable on their bikes than I am (I really didn’t think that was possible) was, um, frightening.
4. While we were on some flat stretches on a protected trail away from traffic, I experimented with my hand positions, moving from my normal position into ‘the drops’ (thanks for the proper terminology, Rach) and also onto the horizontal bars towards the center. I practiced biking one-handed and even practiced reaching down towards my water bottle while in this horizontal-bar-position, which was downright monumental for me. Before you get too excited, I didn’t actually take the water bottle out of its holder – please. I just got used to where it was. Baby steps, people. Anyway, this is significant because prior to today, I didn't ever move out of my normal position and only let go with my left hand to quickly signal and go right back to gripping my handles with all my might. Progress.
5. After we finished up, Brandon and I went on a quick 2.2-mile run, marking our first brick workout that included a relatively significant ride. My legs felt like, well, bricks, but overall, it went down OK.

After showering and eating a quick snack, we headed over to AT&T ballpark, where my company was throwing a free concert for all employees as part of its 'give back' week. While we arrived too late to see Colbie Caillat and The Foo Fighters, we got there just in time to see… wait for it…

USHER!!! He is an amazing live performer and an even more amazing dancer.

You can’t really see him on the screen, but I swear he was there.

Now, I’m resting up in preparation for the See Jane Run half marathon tomorrow morning, which Sandi and Rachel will be pacing. I will be in the back, hanging on for dear life. Wish us luck!