Heels to Toes

Well, I am having one of those moments where I evaluate my worth against, well, my actual worth.

Make sense?

I had some free time from work this evening (Read a few hours, but will begin working again after this blog entry) and decided to head out to get a drink and food with one of my good ol' friends, 88. We spent some of the time discussing how some people either inherit their riches or are capable enough to make it on their own. 88 and I come from the same cloth when it comes to wanting our own level of riches, but at the same time wanting to earn it.

The question remains, how do I do it? I don't like sitting here pondering that very question and I am even more fearful that I will be pondering it 10 years from now when I have a family. I remember thinking about it quite a bit when I was 20. Fast-forward 10 years from now and I have a certain lifestyle that I would be proud of when I was 20, but what did I know when I was that age. I have new goals.

Hence, I continue chasing that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

It's ironic, because I have been told to enjoy the life you live now and not focus on what I want for my future. I understand this wisdom was given to me as a point of concentration on how I was living my life at that very moment and the person didn't truly mean for me not to think about my future at all. They were just implying that there needs to be a balance.

Tonight gave me a moment of insight that I need to tilt the scales in favor of my future. Don't get the wrong idea, I am not forgetting about my life as it is now. I am fully focused on living to the fullest.

My most recent burst of Type A energy at work has enlightened me to my potential. Why waste it?

So, my need to be open to new ways of working and new encounters may lead to a growing pattern that puts me on a path that better suits that balance I am looking for.

Heels to toes, I lean forward with every effort to make my future, my present.

Werk, Werk!

Ever have one of those...not so fresh days?

It's friday and I don't know how I got through the week. Some of my friends have been dealing with me dropping hints about the 3 in the morning nights working on "show stopping" tasks that had VPs involved, Dick Cheney, and the three wisemen. At least I had people involved that acted like Cheney and others had moments of brilliance that would classify them as one of the three wisemen.

It's 7:55am and I just sent the "success" email to the client. My morning started with a nice wake up call about the system being down and the client was waiting for access. You gotta love implementations.

However, I look back at what our co-located team did to achieve our goal completion this week and I have to be very impressed with my co-workers. I spend a lot of time bitching about what they don't do, but I just want to give them a shout out for what they doodoo.

Sorry, childish. Still funny though.

The scale of work/life has dipped heavily this week. Time to make up for the balance shift this weekend. So, my friends, those that I will be hanging out with this weekend, if I seem a little crazy, a little...John Belushi, just let it ride.

Europe - Prague - Day 13

The gem of our trip was saved for last. Prague is a city of rich history and culture..haha, who am I kidding. We went there because it is a party town.

Our final destination of our European Sampler was finally upon us.

The second that Miguel and I pulled into Prague, we knew we were going to have a good time. People come alive when they are in Prague. The streets are filled with tourists (Mostly Brits looking to drink the town out of alcohol). I feel bad for the locals. I am sure they live across the Vltava River to get away from it all.

We were very excited to explore Prague. We heard so much about its intricate alleways of restaurants, bars, and boutiques smushed between centuries of history. However, they managed to take some of that history and capitalize on it in the form of crystal. It is the Bohemian capital of crystal. The competition is so high, that we did not find a single place brave enough to advertise their shop as having the best crystal in town. The closest we got to a shop being gutsy enough to trump the competition had an awning that read, "Probably the Best."

The daylight was leaving us quickly, so we had a lot of city to explore before party time. Prague is known for Wenceslas Castle, the Astronomical Clock, and many political and liberal movements. Just go check out wikipedia. :)

I have to say the points of interest that really make Prague intriguing require a couple good library books and off-season trips to Prague. So, I won't bore you with the details of the Astronomical Clock. Except to say, it's so complicated that the maker became disgruntled and broke the clock, leaving prague without the use of their town center timepiece for over 100 years! Nobody could figure out what he did. Those crazy Bohemians.

Moving on...

The night activities started to begin, so we checked into our hostel.

Let me just say this...hostels are not what I thought they would be. The hostel that we stayed in was more modern and hip then most hotels in the States. Not that I have much experience with hotels in the States.

The coolest thing about the hostel, was the lounge area where everyone meets to see what the plan is for the night. We gathered a decent size group in the basement when one of the employees came down to see what we were up to. Vlad became our official tour guy. Prague became our playground, Vlad was our guide, and we walked the streets like a bunch of elementary school students on a field trip. haha, I love hostels. Or was it Prague that made the hostel experience so great? I don't know, but I am willing to find out again.

Vlad had a direct path to the "Largest Club in Eastern Europe". It was a Monday night, so by the time we go there, we didn't have the feeling that we were in the largest club. Anyhow, our hostel group was more than enough to fill the club with a party feeling. We dealt with the neon lights and techno as much as possible and headed back to get some rest for the next day we had to explore Prague in its entirety.

King Wenceslas had a routine route that he would walk during parades and festivals. The route is used today as a great way to see most of the city and its numerous historical buildings, statues, and bridges. The Charles Bridge, if you are curious. Miguel and I spent most of the day on and off this route and finding ourselves walking into the Wenceslas castle. This monsterous castle sits on top of a hill overlooking Prague providing a wonderful view.

We got as much of a feel for Prague as time allowed. It was time to make that final drive back to Germany, because our trip was officially over.

The European Sampler was draining, nonetheless. However, it was worth every moment. To this day, I still have very fond memories of the trip and continuously remember them when I want to get away from work on a cold, snowy day.

I can't wait to develop more European memories to accompany the ones that I finally have now.

Miguel, we finally did it.

Europe - Nurburgring - Day 12

Nurburgring has been called many things due to its reputation as arguably the best race-prep track in the world.

The Green Hell and the Ring comes to mind as the most infamous names.

The Northern loop of the Ring, or Nordschleife, is 14 miles of 174 bends. The complexity of some of these turns continues to make this one of the most challenging courses. Most performance car makers bring their prototypes to the Ring to test their coveted prototype's true ability.

Ok, great, I just explained a race track to you that sits in the hills of Germany. What's the big deal?

When time and money allows, I race my E30 M3 on some of the tracks in my region. It's an exhilirating experience, if you're into testing the limits of your car and your ability to drive. It just so happens I kind of love doing it. Some times on the local roads more often than I should.

The Ring is the ultimate track for those that have a passion for racing. Being able to drive on the Ring is a once in a lifetime event for most...if they are even that lucky. Miguel obliged by recognizing the importance of this opportunity and agreed to risk life and limb for me to destroy the BMW 320d that I rented. I had no intention of driving like a grandmother, if you were curious about the whole life and limb part.

We arrived in Nurburg and prepared for the drive by watching a couple races on the GP-Strecke. The GP-Strecke hosts the current professional races. The Ring became too dangerous when modernization of the Formula One cars allowed them to increase their speed and cornering, but couldn't keep them from launching off of unsuspecting dips in some of the straightaways.

Enough history...the track is about to open and we just finished our bratwurst at the nearest restaurant. yum.

All makes and models of cars that have been modified or just driven off the car lot are lined up to enter the gates of the Ring. There are motorcycles with guys dressed from head to toe in leather, just in case the Ring gets the best of them. There are Ferraris, Audis, Porsches, Clios, and one motorhome. haha, I am not joking about the motorhome.

Well, it finally was my turn to race on to the Ring and I asked Miguel to videotape the whole time with my camera. We get up to the gate and the guard said no videotaping...problem.

So, we started up the video camera after passing through the gate...solution.

For the next 9 minutes....just kidding. For the next 15 minutes, I didn't care to be anywhere else. I was pushing the car to its limits. Pushing through turns that should have put me in the guardrail and popping out of each carousel, because my desire to go fast in the turn exceeded the car's cornering ability (Had nothing to do with my skill as a driver, of course). I was focusing on the road as much as possible, because it was all new to me. At high speeds, you have to look further down the road to be prepared for the next turn. NOT the turn you are in. The tricky thing about the Ring is that you can't always see the next turn until it is upon you. Needless to say, there were moments that both Miguel and I stopped breathing. Read: lost traction momentarily, regained quickly.

We came around the final bend and knew that a another day would be upon us without loss of life and/or limb. It was a bittersweet end to the trip around the Ring. I knew I had just completed one of my lifelong goals, but I was just about to leave it all the same.

The Ring experience came and went in a flash. Next time, I will buy more laps.

It was a good day. It was a great experience. It was the kind of driving I always wanted to do.

Europe - Frankfurt - Day 9-Day11

I left Paris knowing that I didn't spend enough time there and knowing that one day I will. Miguel and I had completed a big part of our trip and it was time to go back to Frankfurt to rest up for a couple of days and get ready for the next big adventure...

Nurburgring! The race track of all race tracks and I had plans to drive it.

The trip back to Frankfurt was quick and painless. The sleep was needed. After all, Prague is right around the corner. :)