On LinkedIn, I participate in a group called Executive Athletes. I certainly aspire to be both….but I frequently find myself wondering if I’m deserving of either term, let alone both. I can certainly agree with their mission statement – “To inspire people to be the best that they can be and to push beyond any…
There’s an old saying about skydiving that only a fool would jump out of a “perfectly good airplane.” Well, count me as a fool, because I let a bunch of friends convince me that skydiving would be an awesome adventure. We all piled into our cars and drove out to the local grass-strip airport with…
For those of us who’ve been around long enough, there used to be one phone company. You paid a monthly fee to rent a phone, and Ma Bell took care of everything. It was clunky, expensive and inflexible, but man, it worked. Where do you think the term dial-tone reliability came from? Since then,…
It’s incredible to see how Amazon Web Services (AWS) has grown from just a way to use excess storage capacity to the dominant player in cloud computing. Sure, there are other providers out there, and to be clear, some very capable providers in the market, including Rackspace, Google and Microsoft, but with over $3 billion in…
Earlier this year, I set a goal to run a 1/2 marathon. Not a bad goal to choose, and certainly more ambitious than the average American couch-surfer. There are lots of people who have run longer races, and have more impressive results, but I’m happy with this goal. This weekend, I’ll be running in the…
I am a person who is, shall we say, not comfortable with vertical distances. In short, I have a fear of heights. While I’ve made it more manageable over time, I still prefer staying far from the edge, as opposed to leaning over the railing. Some things don’t bother me at all. Planes are fine,…
I have to give a shout out to my son, Jamie – recently, he and I finished our fourth Seagull Century – a 100 mile bike ride out on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. If you’re ever going to attempt one of these rides, it’s the one to do. It’s almost completely flat, great scenery, and…
I got to spend all of one day this week at a recruiting fair for a new project that’s just getting started. Like some job fairs, it may only be a meet-and-greet, but what may not hit home with some candidates, is that it is STILL an interview. I’m not a big fan of making…
There’s a book that’s a staple in many self-improvement libraries called “The Magic of Thinking Big” by David Schwartz. The text on the front of the book says, “Acquire the secrets of success… Achieve everything you’ve ever wanted: Personal Property * Financial Security * The Ideal Job, Satisfying Relationships * A Rewarding and Enjoyable Life.”…
This week, Jonathan Trappe attempted what would have been a first – crossing the Atlantic with a ‘balloon cluster’ – essentially a bunch of balloons tied to a rubber lifeboat. Sort of like the movie “Up”, but without a house, cute kid, funny dog, or even grumpy (but lovable) old man. This isn’t the first time…