Not Eating as a Lightweight. Thank you Thanksgiving

My favorite holiday is right around the corner, Thanksgiving.  It is the one holiday that I am not affected by marketing.  No presents, cards, flowers, candies, just cooking and fellowship.  I enjoy the aromas, sitting around an watching football and I do not participate in the black Friday hoop-lah, so it is a relatively stress free holiday.  The most wonderful part about Thanksgiving is trying to eat like a champion.

Unfortunately, I will not be home with Shaunnah for this Thanksgiving, booooooooooooooooooooo.  Despite five years in the military and four deployments between the two of us, this will be the first Thanksgiving we spend apart as husband and wife.  I'm going to stay in Oklahoma City.  However, that will not affect the status of my belly around 6 pm on Thursday.  Some of the guys I train with are going to stay here as well and we are preparing a mighty feast.

The famous casserole is on the right side of the table in the
dish.  This is in Mom's kitchen.

I am going to help with the Turkey (brine is the way to go) and make what has become a Thanksgiving staple in my life since I married Shaunnah, sweet potato casserole.  Everyone has their thing when it comes to traditional dinners.  My Mom makes the best stuffing you've ever tasted.   The key, I believe is the sausage.  Shaunnah's specialty is a sweet potato casserole.  It does not have marshmallow... oh no.  It has something much better; a thick layer of butter, brown sugar, sugar, pecans and other goodness baked on top of a buttery, velvety layer of sweet potatoes.  I don't really have a specialty.  I just ride the coat tails of the women in my life, haha.

Again, I wish I were home, but I am definitely glad that I can bring some of my home to OKC and share it with my teammates.  I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

- Jimmy

At the Mercy of the Elements

Driving to the course this morning for the Fall Speed Order I saw mirrored reflections on Lake Carnegie.  I was thinking to myself that this will be a fast race with perfectly flat conditions.  In the back of my mind I was remembering the wind forecast I looked up the previous night that said a 8-9 mph headwind would appear between 8 and 9 am.  However, I ignored the forecast saying to myself, "There's no way the wind will pick up from 0-9 mph in 1 hour.  I WAS WRONG (we started at 9:15)

Will and I shoved from the dock at 8:38.  We wanted to get a good warm-up in to row the 6k erg test out of our legs before the race.  About 3k in to the warm-up I noticed there were no more mirror reflections and the wind kept building over the next 10 minutes in to a pretty stiff head wind headed straight down the first 1/2 of the 3 mile course.  I told Will it would be awesome.  We would just pound it in to the head wind and make everyone hurt.  What I forgot to think about was how much it would hurt me as well...

We had a solid piece, but that first 1.5 miles was tough.  After every stroke it just felt like the boat was slowing down way more than it should.  It was painful and I'm sure added a good 20+ seconds to the first 1/2 of the race.  Then we started to turn and found about 150 meters of shelter and started to gain some momentum.  Once the wind became more of a cross head instead of a direct head we got in to a better rhythm and moved a bit.

Rowing is funny.  Conditions can change in an instant and there is nothing you can do about it but bear down and pull hard.  At least it wasn't hailing.

Enjoy the video (Will Newell and I doing some low rate stuff earlier this week).

- Jimmy

Seizing Opportunity and 1x Video

At least once in everyone’s life an opportunity shows it’s self.  I feel most successful people are there because they seized that opportunity.  They saw it and took it.  Those who do not succeed, for one reason or another, whether by choice or chance did not seize that opportunity. 

Personally, I have been very fortunate in life.  My parents raised me with certain values that have helped my brothers and I transition well in to adult life.  We were given every opportunity to succeed because my parents worked their asses off to present their children with those opportunities.  None of my brothers are screw ups (4/4 is pretty good these days).  All four of us have taken advantage of the gifts we were given and utilized them to their fullest.

Opportunity can present itself in a number of ways.  Attrition is one of them.  Whether you are in the office or on the field, there is always going to be someone above you who is leaving.  They could have been transferred to another office, been hurt during a play or just decided to quit.  Your job at that moment and time is to jump on that and attempt to insert yourself into that position.  Raise your standards for yourself and forcefully put yourself in to that new position. 

Placing yourself in that new position can be done in a number of ways.  You can suck up (not my preferred method), you can bring up past results (which may get you there but your past results have only gotten you to this point so more may be needed) or you can just raise your game (BINGO).  Step up.  Show the people above you that you get things done. 

I’ll use sport as a reference, “Remember, you miss every shot you don’t take.”  I don’t know who said that or if it is credited to one specific person, but I think it says a lot.  If you see that opportunity and you idly watch it as someone else jumps on it, then it is your own fault.  If you try and fail, that is much more noble and forgiving. 

I do know one young man who has just started taking more shots.  Believe me, it has paid off.  He has made things happen and helped his team to perform well.  He has done an excellent job of taking advantage of opportunity.  He began seizing opportunity many years ago when his older brothers would rough him up a bit when playing in the yard.  Instead of shying from it and running to Mom he embraced it and became one tough SOB. 

Hope everyone enjoyed Halloween and is ready for Thanksgiving.

- Jimmy