I’ve got the urge to write at the moment because I feel I need to record this moment. I feel this need because I just feel like this is a subtly major moment.

It is, as the title indicates, New Years 2011/2012. I am currently sitting in my friend’s family’s vacation home in Grand Lake, Colorado. I have a small tumbler with the Macallan 12 poured. My friends have all gone to bed, and I’m up watching the fire slowly die. The post countdown Dick Clark New Years music concert is playing on the TV. It’s cold outside, and I’m surrounded by mountains. It’s incredibly tranquil. This scene is not new in any way. This was how I spent the hour after midnight last year. It is a familiar feeling that I find incredibly calming.

At the same time, I’m looking back to Seattle to things that are going on that I’m missing and I’m feeling mixed emotions. I am writing this just as the clock is about to count down on the west coast. Literally, as I type this sentence, my friends are counting down the seconds to a new year. I wish I could spend this time with them, but I’m also thankful for the peacefulness and tranquility to start the year. It would not be peaceful, it would be raucous and energetic, bordering on crazy. While I’m not sure that it would be healthy to start my year that way, given how frantic my life always is, I’m still a little sad I’m not there.

Yet, these conflicting temperaments leave me hopeful and excited for the new year. I generally don’t care for New Years and all the “THIS YEAR IS GONNA BE SO MUCH MORE AWESOME THAN LAST YEAR!!!” stuff. I find it a bit hokey normally. But this year is different. It just…feels…different, and that’s what’s exciting.

So, dear world, I raise my glass of scotch to you. 2011, thanks for the memories. 2012, let’s roll.

I was taking a nap at my girlfriends apartment, and my cell phone went off around 8pm (11pm eastern). I awoke to my father saying, merely, “Turn on the TV, they got Bin Laden.”

I have such mixed emotions, but for now, the images in NYC of people with flags and candles bring a smile to my face.

• In September, there was a whole crap-ton of things going on. The first thing was that we shipped our release of Windows Phone. The culmination of a lot of work and
• effort and a great milestone given that I had changed teams in January. The next day, I spent a whole week in Hawaii with my then girlfriend. I had a good time, but I’m not sure how much of a beach person I am. Finally, I went back to Ann Arbor with the groomsmen from Dan and Tara’s wedding for the “bachelor party.” We drank, attended a Michigan game, and generally had a great time.
• The end of October and the beginning of November saw me jumping back into the theater world with a production of The Wild Party. Just as before, I acted as the sound designer and sound board operator for the Microsoft Theater Troupe. As with all shows, there were some ups and downs, but I had a really fun time. I actually had so much fun I agreed to work on the upcoming show.
• I went to my ten year high school reunion in November, and I had an absolute blast. It was everything I hoped it would be, and that’s really all I’m going to say about it.
• Finally, as I previously mentioned, I had a girlfriend for the majority of the last six months. I once again found myself in a long distance relationship, and for reasons I’m not going to go into, it ultimately didn’t work out.

So that’s the basic run down. Hopefully I’ll be better about posting in the future, but I reserve the right for life to get into the way.

Amazing, simply amazing.

As I stated back in January, around mid-November, I decided to take the plunge and try out a pair of VFFs. As someone with a history of bad ankle and shin injuries (plus a bad back and knee), I was willing to at least give it a go with something that could help me with my running. It didn’t hurt that after some research, the logic behind the design of the shoes just made sense to me. So what began as a basic trial turned into a way of life, so to speak.

As the winter months turned to spring, I turned my attention from skiing and climbing to prepping for the Ragnar road relay. My first year, my goal had been to just complete the race and not die. (I succeeded in not dying, but I gave myself some really bad shin splints) Last year, it was all about running farther without doing major damage to myself. This year, I wanted to increase my speed and rock times that were lower than 10 minutes per mile, which I felt was a very doable goal.

The other thing I decided was that I was going to train up and run Ragnar in my Vibrams. This was a conscious decision I had made after I stopped working out in my brooks beasts in December. I reasoned that if it was causing me pain to work out in the shoes, I shouldn’t try running long distance in them anymore, either.

So, thus, I began my running training in my Vibram Sprints. It was a slow build up as it always was, but running in Vibrams just felt better. I felt closer to the road and my form came to me much more naturally than when I was running in my old running shoes. I also noticed, that as I was training, my times were all better and I wasn’t icing my legs down as much as I had to as I did when I was training in my regular shoes. Overall, I was feeling very confident about my chances for the relay. Especially after I transitioned to a pair of Bakilas that I picked up in late May from city sports.

So fast forward to race day. I met up with the other people I would be running with and within a few minutes, a bunch of people noticed that I was wearing my sprints. Now I was expecting to be the only person running Vibrams, but as it turned out, multiple people on my team had pairs, although I was the only person who didn’t bring a backup pair of regular shoes with me. It was definitely fun to smile back with a hardy yes to the question, “are you planning on running ALL of your legs in those?”

So how did I do? Well, here are my results. And the best part is that, while I was sore for a couple of days following the race; I didn’t have any lingering injuries or pain.

As for my old Brooks Beasts? Well, I can happily say that I haven’t worked out or run in them since December. Additionally, the one time I have worn them in the past six months (playing football at a picnic), I woke up the next morning to a sore knee. It’s pretty safe to say that I have a barely used pair of traditional motion-control level running shoes I should get rid of. (I need the space on my shoe rack for more Five Fingers ^_^)

Note that it gets pretty epic around the 1:25 mark.

Firstly, a couple of weeks ago I decided to splurge and take a trip to Hawaii. Since I had the miles and someone was willing to host me there, I figured I’d go before work got crazy. Let me tell you, it was one of the best ideas ever. I spent most of the time laying on the beach and lounging around. It was amazing. I didn’t make it to see any of the famous sites, but I figure I’ll go back and do that again later.

Beyond the trip to Hawaii, my life has pretty much come down to a few basic activites: training for Ragnar, working, and climbing.

As is normal for the month of July, I’m completely deep into my training for the Ragnar relay. As has been the case in previous years, I’m in a good regimen of running, lifting, and abstaining from drinking in any way. This year, I’m actually pushing myself a bit more in my runs, and I’ve decided not to ease off the lifting. As it turns out, I’m seeing great benefits over my training in my previous years and I’m really excited to see how things go with this years race. I’ve also been training in Vibrams, which I feel have helped me a great deal. As the relay is less than two weeks away, expect to hear more from me about the whole thing soon.

The next big thing in my life has been work. With the upcoming of release of Windows Phone 7, my team has been ramping up for the last push. As it often goes with software, this final push is where it all falls into place. Unfortunately, this also means a lot of work, some long hours, and a bit of a toll on me physically is all in store. I am, however, really loving what I’m doing. I’ve always been a bit of a phone freak, so getting the opportunity to work in this technology space is a real treat. It’s very much akin to my time at Zune. Although we aren’t quite marching like we did there.

The last big thing I’ve gotten even more into has been climbing. Since November, I’ve gotten into a pretty good rhythm of climbing with my friend Shawn. We’ve been climbing generally at least once a week, and life permitting, even more. Given that Shawn is quite a bit better than I am, I’ve actually improved a great deal, which has been rather awesome. I’ve also started climbing outdoors and leading, which is something I never thought I’d be up to doing.

So yeah, that’s kind of the life I’m living right now. I’m really happy with everything. As I told my friend Josh today as we were walking to dinner, “Life is good.”