This year I finally got into cooking like I’d been wanting to do for years. Thanks to a few cookbooks, E-Mealz, Saveur Magazine, and the inspiration from friends I’ve gone from being able to boil some water and throw some pasta in it to spending hours in the kitchen in order to prepare just one meal. My upbringing definitely had something to do with how much I value home cooked meals. My parents cooked 2 meals a day for at least 95% of every single month, and I’d been missing that too much when I was eating out more than at home. When I read Anthony Bourdain’s book “Medium Raw“, I particularly enjoyed the episode where he talks about how much of an elemental skill it is to know how to cook at least a handful of basic meals -and agree with it. Even though I’d already started my culinary efforts, I think that it’s a good motivator and that it’s a great mindset. People should know how to cook things that are more involved than unwrapping something and nuking it for a couple of minutes. I’m not saying that everyone should be prepared to feed everyone for Thanksgiving, but that making dinner once or twice a week is a good investment of time. I say that from my experience. It’s satisfying, gratifying and fun. And, once you’ve gotten the hang of it, it can even be delicious.
Athletic accomplishment. For unexplainable reasons, I’d always wanted to do a triathlon. Last year, I got my feet wet in the field, and in July I did my first olympic distance triathlon, and it was an exhilarating experience. I can still remember the moment when I sprinted through the finish line with a fist in the air, feeling pretty damn tootin’ good about myself. But the accomplishment wasn’t just about finishing the race in less than 3 hours. The training that went into it brought me much joy as well, specially with running and swimming. Every time I went out to train for the race, I looked forward to it, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Getting ready for the race was beyond a task that felt like a pre-requirement, it was fun and gratifying in and of itself.
2010 also changed my work environment for the better. If you asked me what I liked about my job 3 years ago, I would have answered that I liked the people I worked with. I was very lucky to be in the company of 3 guys who made every workday fun, and their friendships made my job feel like not much of a chore. There were certainly times when we were stressing out, but being in a team with them made it all more of an adventure and less of a sucky task. Fast-forwarding to now, a lot has changed. My workday is a lot more professional, I handle a much bigger responsibility load and while I do have a friendly relationship with my co-workers, I’ve found friendships outside of work, making it easy to focus on my job while I’m doing my job. One of the biggest mental landmarks that makes me feel more “professional” was when I learned to configure hanging protocols for the radiologists, and I started talking their talk. Something changed, I think I earned a bit more respect from the radiologists when they felt like I knew what they wanted to accomplish and I was more into their world, even if it was just a miniscule amount.
On July 24th of this year, I married my other. That day is forever etched in my memory, with lots of visual and emotional queues riding along in my synapses somewhere. Even though Kelly has made me happy for over two years, this was the year that I started calling her my wife, and our love for each other was recognized in the form of matrimony. The week leading up to our wedding was wonderful. My parents stayed with us and we shared many good moments, including me welcoming them with a nice home-cooked meal that surprised both of them because it was actually super tasty! (full-circle post right here). Our honeymoon was incredible. Definitely one of the highlights of this year: New countries, exotic experiences, my wife and me. Nothing better than that.
2010 was good to me. I’m looking forward to the next year!
On the 1st of the month, I shaved off the goatee I’d sported for the last 10+ months. Kelly was there supporting me, and she shed some tears as I immediately aged 15 years backward and I looked 13 all over again.
The whole point of this ridiculous effort is to get the word out about cancers that affect men. People ask about my looks, and my answer is clear: the hair above my lip is my ribbon in show of support for survivors, and my desire to find a cure and better treatment.
If you’d like to make a donation to the cause in the name of my Moustache, just click right here. Your donation is tax deductible, and will certainly be put to good use. It’s not just about giving men all across the globe an excuse to look dapperly handsome, the Movember foundation is certainly making positive outcomes a reality.
Last year, we started the City of ReMO team, and reached out to hundreds of citizens of our little city to raise just a bit over $11,000 for the cause. It was great, and we did a good job at getting the word out.
Building on what we did last year, this year the City of ReMO is a network of teams, covering over 400 people with one common goal: raising $25,000 in one month. As of this writing, we’re right on track, but check out the network’s official page to see the amount raised live: http://us.movember.com/mospace/network/remo.
This year I’ve been interviewed a lot, which has been fun! See for yourself:
The Nevada Sagebrush wrote a pretty good article, and I’m quoted there for yet another bit of immortality.
Chris Payne from 100.9 KRZQ FM hosted us for a 15 minute PSA that aired on a Sunday morning. It was great chance to spread some information, and you can listen to it here: http://tindeck.com/listen/egej.
Channel 2 news (KTVN) interviewed me and I was on TV three times on one day (slow news day, yay for me!). I can’t find the video up anymore, but a transcript of sorts is available right here.
The other cool side-note about Movember this year is that I’ve taken the opportunity to take some creative self-portraits. It’s been a lot of fun, getting goofy in front of my camera, and you can witness the full set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicoyogui/sets/72157625283171459/
Seriously, if you think any of this is interesting, cool, funny, innovative or worthwhile, please make a donation to the cause. Even though I put humor into it, it’s a serious fundraiser, and I’d appreciate your support of my efforts. Just go right here and donate what you can. Even a dollar makes a difference.
Kelly and I went to Burning Man again. It was my 4th year going (in a row!) and Kelly’s 2nd time. It was also the best year yet for both of us, as a couple and for each one of us as individuals as well.
First of all, our camp was fabulous. The Black Rock Center for Unlearning (BRCU for short) ended up being a great area to hang out in, and when we showed up on Thursday evening we were amazed at the set-up. A semi-circle of carports facing in with a big shade cloth joining them together like a circus tent was the main area; in the middle, a bar and some sound. The camp was most active during the lazy hours of the day, with people relaxing on the many pillows and chairs, and lots of interesting/weird conversations.
From what we experienced, it was drama-free and everyone made us feel very welcome. That’s always nice, and makes a difference in making one feel comfortable and at home.
The rest is hard to explain. It is, after all, Burning Man! So, here’s a list of things in no particular order that made this burn jump to the #1 spot:
We ate really well. Not only had we planned and stocked much better than last year, but our camp-pate Jerry delighted all of us with his superb culinary skills. Out of nowhere, like a rabbit from a hat, delicious food was being offered and shared between everyone at BRCU. Such a treat! We didn’t even finish all of our food, because we didn’t have to eat it all.
Our sleeping arrangements were much better than ever before. Even though our plans to borrow an RV fell through, we got a nice tent (as in, bigger than a 2-person backpacking tent where we couldn’t even stand up) and some cots to sleep in, which made a world of a difference when it was time to sleep. Apparently, sleeping well enabled us to have a lot more energy and motivation to enjoy the time we were not sleeping. Who would have thought of that?
The weather was much nicer than last year. There were no dust storms that lasted more than 4 hours, but we still got plenty of playa everywhere.
After the Man burned, we went and partied at the Root Society. There was a 200-foot wall where video was being projected, and easily thousands of people dancing. At one point, we climbed onto an art car called The Jellyfish, and found it mostly to ourselves on the top. We danced for over an hour, looking over the crowds and soaking it all in. It is now one of my best memories of Burning Man, and if you click here, you’ll see a picture of me basking in that glory.
Like in 2008, I got to hang out with my good friend Cory and explore some of the art in the playa. Like back then, this was also one of my favorite things… but this time we both had our significant others with us, which made the shared moments and sights much more valuable.
Having Kelly with me always makes things better, and we did lots of silly things together. We got ice-cream in the middle of a hot day and pop-corn in the middle of one night, we took pictures and wrote shmoopy things on places where such things could be written. Since this wasn’t her first burn, she had a much better idea of what to expect, and I think that made everything a bit better. Or maybe it was just because we treated Black Rock City as our second honeymoon destination.
Ideas and plans are already in the making for next year! We’d like to have something more to contribute, hopefully in the form of an art car or something small yet interactive. Just because this year was the best, it doesn’t mean we’ll sleep on the laurels. Quite the opposite! The goal for next year is to make it even better. The bar is just a little bit higher now, so that just means we’ll have to work a little harder for it.
As promised, here’s the recap of my first ever Olympic / International triathlon.
Pre-race
Kelly and I left for San Jose the day before the race, Saturday. We stayed in the very nice Dolce-Hayes mansion, getting a chance to enjoy the great weather and their swimming pool.
I went to pick up my packet and to also take part of the course description talk, where I found out all the small details about the race. It wasn’t anything major; the highlight was when the guy said that Almaden Lake was at its best this year, with the lowest levels of E. Coli on record. GREAT!
I tried to go to bed at 9pm on Saturday, but I wasn’t able to fall asleep anytime near that. I woke up once in the middle of the night, at around 1am. Just as I was starting to fall asleep again at 2am, my phone rang, apparently because someone in India pocket dialed my Google Voice number. Super strange, and very annoying timing.
Race-day
The alarm was set for 4:45am, and by then I was already awake and ready to go. I wanted to make it to the race site by 5:30, so I could set up my transition and not freak out about not being there on time.
We made it there a little bit before 6, but this was still plenty of time, and everything worked out perfectly, with a good parking spot and all! It was quite the juxtaposition of energy levels, with me ready to bounce off a wall and Kelly fighting off her instincts to sleep for a few more hours. I set up my transition area, and did some warm up running drills, while Kelly sat on a chair and watched hundreds of people at least as crazy as I was.
I was going to be in the 2nd wave, which started at 7:04am. I was able to do a little warm-up in the lake, which was also my first ever swim in a wetsuit. The warm-up swim felt pretty easy, which was probably because of the extra buoyancy from the wetsuit, but I also felt like a million bucks. I was just happy that I felt ready for what was to come!
Swim – 1.5km
The swim started right on time, and I tried to stay at the back of the group. There were about 60 people in my wave, and I wasn’t planning on racing anyone but myself.
I got passed a couple of times, but I also passed a couple of guys. Mostly, I remember getting grabbed, hit and climbed on. I can’t complain, because I did a little bit of that myself! The water was pretty murky, and it was impossible to see through the water more than a couple of feet in front of me.
The biggest issue was swimming in a straight line, which didn’t really happen. Every now and then I looked ahead to find the buoy that I was supposed to pass, and it turned out that I was swimming a little too much to one side or another. Whatever, it happened, and I corrected my trajectory without thinking about it too much.
I ended up finishing the swim portion in 34 minutes. That was a LOT faster than I had predicted, I was expecting to finish anywhere between 40 and 45 minutes!
Transition 1
From the time I got out of the water and the time I got on my bike, 2:43 minutes flew by. In what now seems a blur of jittery legs, excitement and going through a mental checklist; I got out of my wetsuit, half-assed dried off, put on my helmet, sunglasses, jersey, bike shoes and ran from the beach to the start of the bike portion. I do however remember seeing Kelly as I was changing, and giving her a sloppy and wet kiss before taking off with my bicycle!
Bike – 24.9 miles
The bike was sadly my big let down. I expected a lot more out of me, but make no mistake in thinking I’m not proud of what I did – because I am.
Since I started on the 2nd wave, a lot of the extremely in shape people from waves behind me started catching up with me, and passing me. I only passed a couple of people, but I’m sure I got passed by about a hundred people.
I focused on keeping my cadence in the 90s and staying hydrated, and letting my speed fall into whatever that meant. I enjoyed the bike course a lot, it was flat for most of the first two thirds, and there was a small climb with some nice downhills to pay off after it. (I got up to 35mph in one section!)
I ended up averaging 18.2mph, which is not too bad, but I wish I’d been a bit faster. I took me 1 hour and 22 minutes to finish the bike course.
Transition 2 – 1:19
I speedily ran my bike into transition, took off my helmet, glasses, bike shoes and my jersey. It was getting nice and hot out there, so I was going to do the run shirtless. I had some trouble putting on my socks because my legs were a bit shaky, but I was overall pretty speedy about getting out of there ready to go on my run.
Run – 6.2 miles
The first thing I remember about the run section was looking up as soon as I left transition to see Kelly smiling at me and taking some pictures. I was very happy that she was there cheering me on, it made me feel very special and gave me some much needed warm fuzzies to embark on what was to come.
Immediately after that, my quads started cramping. Ouch! I guess I should have done a few more brick workouts! I didn’t walk, I instead took very small steps and kept on jogging. I knew my legs would transition from bike mode to run mode eventually, so I just had to get my legs to know that with some high cadence running.
Some guy ran past me and suggested I punch my legs to get them to cooperate, so I did. Placebo or actual remedy, it kind of worked and I was able to speed up a little bit more.
For the first couple of miles, I nursed my aching quads with a slow run. I was probably doing 6mph, and getting passed left and right all over again. I didn’t care, my goals were to never stop, never walk unless it was at a water station, and to keep pushing until my legs responded like I knew they should.
At mile marker 3, I was running. It felt awesome. I set my sights on a couple of people in front of me, and made it a point to catch up to them and pass them. I did just that.
Mile marker 4 came and went, and I stepped it up to what I was going to consider “giving it all I’ve got left”. I got passed by a dude with long gray hair. On his calf was written his age with sharpie: 61. Hot damn. That was some pretty strong motivation to keep pushing, I knew it was almost over, and that the faster I went, the sooner it’d all be over!
When I got in the last mile, it was basically time to go a half loop around the lake. I could see the finish line from across the lake. My heart started beating faster, even though I wasn’t running faster. It was asking me to push harder, and it took me a while to figure that out, but when I did, I went as fast as I could.
I finished the last hundred yards in a full-out sprint – the kind of run that I did in the past when a dog was chasing me or when I was trying to catch a bus to get home because the next bus wasn’t coming for another 30 more minutes.
The finish line was there! There was music, there were tons of people cheering. I couldn’t hear or see anything, I was just focused on every step I took and every breath I took…. until I looked up and saw the clock by the finish line. It said 2:58, and I was suddenly overcome by a feeling unlike any other: I had made it, and I had beat my goal! I unconsciously punched the sky as I ran past the finish line.
I finished my run in a 54:22. I could have done that a lot faster if I hadn’t cramped up at the beginning, but I finished as strong as I could, and I have no complaints about that!
Total time: 2:54:26
Right after finishing, I stopped running. My legs were about to give out, and cramping pretty hard. Or at least I think so.
I can’t remember what they were doing, because what I do remember is how damn good it felt to have made my goal, to have finished strongly and how much fun it all had been. I tried to focus on my breathing so that I could catch my breath, and noticed that I was smiling. I couldn’t even control it!
A small moment later, Kelly came out from within the crowd, and that completed what ended up being an extremely wonderful experience for me. She saw me running, she saw me doing my thing -and even got some great pictures of it all- and I could feel how happy she was for me.
I’m extremely grateful to all those who have shared encouragement and shown support to me. Even if I’ll never be a triathlon superstar, the gratification that the whole experience yields is indescribable, and a lot of that has to do with all the people that helped me get there. You know who you are: Thank you!
Above all, I’m endlessly grateful to Kelly. She gave away her first weekend in her summer break to spend it with me, driving 10 hours, waking up at a strange hour on a Sunday, standing around for 3 and putting up with all the shenanigans of my training. I couldn’t have done it without her, that’s for sure!
I just went to the Cal-Neva and put 2 bets in for this World Cup. One betting that Argentina will beat Nigeria on the opening game, and the other for Argentina winning the entire thing.
I had no idea what betting in a sports-book would be like… and I still don’t. I just talked to the attendant, told her I wanted to be for Argentina to win the thing and tomorrow’s game, and that was it. She took my money ($5 on each bet), and gave me two tickets.
All I have to do is go back and claim my prize when it’s all over. Yeah.
I’m waking up at 6am tomorrow to watch the game against Nigeria. I don’t think Kelly understands how watching soccer games is rooted in my culture , but hopefully she won’t be too surprised or annoyed when she wakes up after me to find me in the living room in a situation not too different from this:
My resolution for this year is to become a US Citizen.
I looked into dual-citizenship, but apparently that kind of thing doesn’t fly anymore, so I’ll have to swear to forget all about how much Argentine government sucks, and promise to treat the flag of the United States of America as my own.
After thinking about it, it doesn’t seem like something impossible or impractical for me to do. In fact, it makes sense.
I’ve lived in the US for a while now, and I have a bigger sense of citizenship towards the USA than Argentina. I’ve never even voted in Argentina, and I probably never will because I’m not familiar nor personally involved in the politics that are going on there. However, I would like to be able to vote in the country that I live in, and that I will continue to live in.
The process is pretty simple:
Fill out a long form with lots of uncomfortable questions (Do you have the Taliban in your backyard?).
I’m freshening up on some civics knowledge, but lucky me, my fiancee is a US History teacher, so I have a good resource to study.
Forms are filled up, and the process will be officially started when I stuff them in an envelope and send them away, probably by the end of this week.
Oh yeah, I also have “secondary” resolutions, which are much more along the lines of the typical promise: Do a Century ride on my bike (like the Chico Century Ride), have a six pack by summer our honeymoon, maintain a positive attitude and continue to be a key member of the day to day operations at work.
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