I’m baaaack

Wow, that was WAY too long to be gone. Sorry about that!

Sports
This video inspired me to write today (you can skip ahead to 9:30). In responding to Jake Plummer’s comments about him, he likened his (Tim’s) constant references to his love for Jesus the way one would express their love for one’s spouse. That analogy doesn’t work for me. If you love your wife, yes, you should tell her more than just on your wedding day. But you should tell HER, not anyone around you within earshot. So with that analogy, Tim should be telling Jesus that he loves Him, not everyone with a microphone. So for that mini-argument, I’ve got to say Jake Plummer 1, Tim Tebow 0.

Life
I mentioned it briefly in my last post, but Jess and I are engaged. Most of our life right now revolves around training (him for the Tucson Half Marathon, me for the PF Chang’s Rock’n'Roll Half), and planning our wedding. Anyone who has planned a wedding before can probably relate to how all-consuming it becomes. I’m not much of a bridezilla, but there are SO MANY details. And with most of our guests coming from out of town, we want to make sure they have an amazing trip. 122 days to go!

Other
Happy Thanksgiving to you all! May these next few days be a time of remembrance of all the blessings that you have in your life. Mine are too numerous to count!

Being a Grownup

Sports

Am I the only person who put the NFL out of their mind during the whole lockout? I feel like since there was a chance the season would be postponed or cancelled, I just stopped thinking about all things football. Now that the season will carry on as originally scheduled, I’m in a huge whole. Dozens if not hundreds of trades have gone down in the last week, and I have no idea who plays for what team any more. I would love to successfully defend my fantasy football league title, but I’m going to need to do a LOT of work to pull that off again!

Life

Ah, being a grownup. Every once in awhile, I’m slapped in the face with the fact that, yes, I am an adult. As if just my age isn’t enough to bring upon that realization, things like picking out dish patterns and new towels has become exciting.

Today’s excitement came in the form of new appliances. We’ve been having some problems with our refrigerator, and decided to replace everything. Our kitchen went from looking like this:

To looking like this:

In other life news… I haven’t blogged since the biggest life-changing event in my life. I’m engaged! Jess proposed back on July 1 and this month has been a whirlwind of venues, dresses, and color schemes ever since. He has definitely made me the happiest woman on earth.

Other

I’m an aunt again! My sister had a beautiful baby boy back in mid-June. He is perfect in every way. As you can tell, it’s been a very busy and blessed summer for me. Hopefully this will mark the first of  many posts, but who knows, life is for the living, right? Blogging is just the cherry on top.

Down to the Wire

Sports
It is now 10 days until the Las Palomas triathlon. I’ve been doing a decent job of training, minus the week I took off for a combination of rest and muscle spasms. Up until two days ago, I felt great. I had just gotten clip-in pedals for my bike, and had finished a 23-mile ride without killing myself (or anyone else). Granted, I literally fell over after just three miles. Turns out balancing with one foot attached to the bike isn’t as easy as it looks. Luckily I was stopped at a light at the time, so the damage was minimal. The chain popped off but with the help of another passing biker, I was able to get it back on, though I ended up covered in grease.

On Monday, a seemingly innocent turn of the ankle in a parking lot has led to a decent amount of knee pain. I have iced it periodically, taken ibuprofen, and tried to stay off it. While it’s feeling a little bit better this morning, something is still off. Regardless, I’ve decided to continue on with my training as if nothing is wrong. I swam 1000m last night and will be running at lunch time. With only 10 days to go, I can’t take days off right now… I’m determined to beat 2 hours for this triathlon (750 m swim, 16 mi bike, 5k run), which would be a six minute improvement over last year. Wish me luck!

Life
This weekend, we will be paying our respects to Jess’ beloved grandmother, affectionately called Oma. Oma escaped East Germany as a young woman with her 5-year old daughter in tow. When she was finally joined in West Germany by her husband, the family emmigrated to Detroit, and eventually made their way to Tucson, where she spent the remainder of her days. She taught Jess a love for the German culture from the time he was a little boy. She was a second mother to him, and she will be sorely missed. I am so grateful that I had the chance to meet her in some of her more lucid days, and I thank God for the influence she had on Jess’ life. Rest in peace, Oma.

Other
NAWMBA! I am the President of the Phoenix Chapter of the National Association of Women MBAs. We started ramping up the chapter in August, and after several successful networking and educational events, are having our official launch next week.  Ticket sales have gone wonderfully and I truly believe it will be a wonderful event. I feel a bit like a chicken with my head cut off right now, just waiting for deadlines to arrive to make sure we have the needed logos, giveaway items, names, etc. On top of triathlon training and being out of town for four days, I’m feeling just a bit of stress right now. Good stress, excitement-stress, but stress nonetheless.

Hope today finds you all happy and healthy! Until next time…

It’s racing season!

Sports

Really, all I can say is Go Rams! I worked at Virginia Commonwealth University from 2000-2004 as a public address announcer, internet play-by-play and radio color commentator. Oh, and voice of some Lady Rams basketball commercials – and let me tell you, it is weird to be doing dishes in the kitchen and hear your voice come on the television in the other room!

Anyway, they are obviously now in the national conversation and they have a fan in Arizona rooting them on to win the whole thing! It’s interesting to wonder if ODU had been able to beat Butler (they lost by 2), if there would be two CAA teams in the Final Four…

Life

Wow, it’s been too long. Holidays, job stuff, and heck, just enjoying life, are all my excuses for the almost three month hiatus here. Since the last time I wrote, here are a few highlights:

We went skiing for a week in Winter Park. I’m still basically a beginner, but Winter Park had some awesome runs that were perfect for a newbie but still got my heart-rate pumping, and didn’t mean I had to get on a lift every 10 minutes. The views were incredible (see below), and Jess and I had a wonderful week. I can see us making that a yearly trip.

February brought my first race of the season – Ragnar Del Sol. It’s my third year running this race and it is by far the most fun you can have over 27+ hours.

This month has been full of group training classes, a 10-day visit from my parents, and getting ready for my first triathlons of 2011. Next Sunday, Jess and I will be doing Marquee Triathlon and then at the end of the month, we’ll be heading down to Rocky Point, Mexico for Las Palomas. Last year it was an incredible amount of fun, so it has a lot to live up to this year…

I think that’s it for now!

Golden Voices and Living By The 80/20 Rule

Sports
It looks like Ted Williams, the homeless man with the voice of gold, has several offers coming his way. The Cleveland Cavaliers confirmed that they’ve offered him a job, and it also seems the NFL is looking to do the same. I thought the best part of that video was how he described his fascination with radio, and his candidness about why he is where he is today. Even though it’s only a 90-second clip, this seems like a guy who deserves a second chance. I’ll keep you updated on him as we get news about what opportunity he snaps up.

Life
This year I made a New Year’s Resolution. I don’t normally do that. usually I’m smack in the middle of training for one race or another, so I don’t feel like I need to make any major changes. This year, I’ve just finished one race, and am trying hard to get motivated for what’s on the horizon. While I’m relatively healthy, I can see the patterns that have brought my parents to an unhealthy lifestyle manifested in myself. Having kids, more than one job, and a foundation of unhealthy snacking has them trying to re-learn healthy habits as they near 60 years old.

I don’t want that for myself, and decided that this year I’d make some healthy, but not drastic, changes. My biggest weakness is motivation. With food, I don’t ‘binge and purge’ , but when there is something on a menu that I want (namely french fries, or anything covered in cheese), I order it. For the last couple years I have been frustrated with my lack of willpower over those foods. With working out, I can usually force myself to do what’s necessary to train for a race, but the minute it’s over, my motivation goes out the window and I fight a daily battle trying to get myself to do any kind of exercise.

So this year, I am using the new year as motivation, but also switching a few things up. My goal is to adhere to the 80/20 rule… make the right decision 80% of the time. I figure if on most days I eat healthy, watching my fat intake and calories, then 1) I don’t need to give up my one soda a day (I don’t drink coffee) and 2) I can eat french fries guilt-free from time to time. Making this kind of eating a habit is my goal, so that I don’t go through weeks where I eat nothing but fast food, then feel guilty about it for another month. I am blessed to be in reasonably good shape for a 35-year old, and I want to keep that going.

With respect to working out, I’m going to start mixing it up. Even though I have Ragnar Del Sol coming up at the end of February, and hopefully the Las Palomas triathlon at the end of April, I want to mix things up a bit more. Instead of just swimming, biking and running, I’m going to mix in a boot camp three times a week with my co-workers and hope to start hiking once a week. This will keep exercising fun and keep me from getting in a rut where I’ll start dreading it. I love the views from the mountains in Phoenix and we all know that working out with a group helps keep everyone accountable. My co-workers have gone on a massive shopping trip so that there are healthy snacks and lunches here, instead of the pizza, cookies and pies we lived on for the month of December.

What are your resolutions for the New Year? Do you think setting them is a pointless exercise (pardon the pun)?

Other
Two more work days until an 11-day vacation. I’m anxious about our ski trip to Winter Park, Colorado. While I’m excited, I’m far from being an expert, or even ‘comfortable’ on skis, so it should be interesting. That picture to the right is of me and my friend Mat in Flagstaff, AZ in January of 2009, the first time I’d been on snow skis since 1993. Beyond the skiing aspect, the highs are in the mid-teens, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be freezing my butt off!

I’m definitely looking forward to spending a relaxing week with Jess, though, and then heading to Rochester for a belated Kirchhoff Christmas party. I’ll try to check in tomorrow, but if I don’t, have a great couple weeks!

This Is Outrageous

Sports
Thank you to Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan for inspiring my post today. I’ve been in a post-Christmas non-blog-writing funk, but I’m back with a vengeance today. Here’s why. I’m sure many of you know by now about the Ohio State University football players who were found to have sold memorabilia to a tattoo shop in exchange for free tattoos. The NCAA reviewed the violation and decided that these players should be suspended for five games. The confounding thing about the suspension is that it doesn’t start immediately, eliminating those players from the Sugar Bowl. The suspensions don’t start until the 2011 season, when some of those players may not even be at Ohio State anymore. But at least they are sorry.

I remember scratching my head when I first heard that news, but then other, more pressing things took my attention (like finishing up that pesky Christmas shopping!). It was brought back to the forefront when one of my friends contacted me. She was formerly a compliance officer at an NCAA institution and she was PISSED! She knows the NCAA rules, and they require that any suspsensions be served immediately. Apparently Ohio State AD Gene Smith and Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, along with Houlahan, did a great job of lobbying the NCAA to allow the suspensions to start AFTER the Sugar Bowl.

This is at least the second time this year that the NCAA has set a dangerous precedent. Through their handling of the Cam Newton situation, parents of high-school athletes all over the country know they can sell their childs services without any NCAA ramifications for their child (as long as he/she doesn’t “know” about it). Now, the NCAA can be assured that the next time a high-profile athlete or coach commits a violation, they’ll be bringing up the OSU situation as reasoning for why they shouldn’t have to sit out the next ‘big game.’

Do you think the NCAA will be harrassed into changing their decision? Am I the only one who thinks OSU has gotten away with something here if the players are allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl? Does Smith, Delany or Houlahan have an ounce of integrity between the three of them?

Life
A good friend lost her boyfriend on Christmas Eve. He was in his late-20’s, and while he’d had some health problems, his death was a complete surprise. It’s been a wake-up call for Jess and me that we have many things in our life to be thankful for, and to cherish. We get to spend every day together, making each other laugh, making each other dinner, planning vacations and visiting friends. The little things (figuring out finances, a rough day at the office) are better because we have each other. It’s sappy, but if you haven’t lately, remember to hug your significant other, office cubicle-mate, or pet. Don’t let disagreements linger too long. We take life for granted because we’ve woken up every day for the past 20, 30, 40+ years. This weekend proved to me we won’t always have that luxury.

Other
Two days until New Years Eve, eight days until we leave on our big ski vacation… lots of stuff to look forward to for me. I hope you’ve all staved off the post-holiday blues!

Until tomorrow.

Sentenced

Sports
Andrew Gallo, the driver who ran a red light and killed Angel’s pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others, was sentenced to 51 years to life yesterday. Someone brought up to me that Cleveland Browns wide receiver Donte Stallworth only received 30 days of jail time, 60 days of house arrest and eight years of probation after he struck and killed a pedestrian while under the influence. Why the disparity? I believe there are several distinctions: 1) Adenhart’s murderer had been convicted of drunk driving previously, 2) he ran a red light, and 3) he fled the scene of the crime. Small distinctions but it is possible that even if Stallworth was stone-cold sober, he would have hit the pedestrian who was trying to cross a busy six-lane causeway to catch a bus.

I’m not absolving Stallworth of all blame, but in his case, I do think it was taken into the account that the victim had some culpability. In Gallo’s case, his recklessness and disregard for the lives of others resulted in three deaths and severe injuries to a fourth person. The timing of the sentencing is probably particularly cruel for his family, but maybe it will serve as a reminder to us over the coming week, as we attend holiday parties and new year’s eve parties, how much NOT calling a cab could cost us.

Life
All I can really think about right now is getting through the next 3 1/2 hours. I’m ready to pack all the Christmas presents in big boxes and bags to head down to Tucson. I’m ready to go out to dinner with Jess so we don’t have to worry about cooking or cleaning tonight. I’m ready to get the dogs in the car in the morning and facing a possibly clogged I-10. Most importantly, I’m ready to spend a couple days enjoying the company of Jess’ mom, stepdad, and 95-year old grandmother. It’s most likely Oma’s last Christmas, and I plan on enjoying every minute with her. Christmas is about family, and I’m blessed that Jess’ family has started feeling like an extension of my own.

Other
Merry Christmas, happy Kwanzaa, Festivus, etc etc etc. Whatever you may be celebrating this weekend, I hope it is filled with happiness and relaxation (because we all really do deserve to relax a little this holiday!).

Until next time…

To Combine or Not To Combine

Sports
Last night I got into an interesting conversation with my well-respected acquaintance Kenn Tomasch about the University of Connecticut’s womens basketball team’s 89th straight win. His point was that we don’t compare Sandy Koufax’s records to Jennie Finch’s, so why would we compare UConn’s womens team to UCLA’s mens team? At first glance, I thought that was a good argument, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like we CAN compare UConn and UCLA. And here are my reasons:

1) Basketball is basketball. Baseball is NOT softball.
2) We compare records, such as number of hits in a season, from the 2010 MLB season to the 1911 season even though teams from the earlier era played less games (and therefore got less at-bats). Same thing with home runs-Babe Ruth only had 154 games to set his record of 60 home runs in 1927, yet Roger Maris was celebrated for breaking that record in 162 games. Both UConn and UCLA play in the same league… NCAA’s Division I.
3) Wins are wins. In basketball that means you scored more points than the other team. In a streak like UConn’s or UCLA’s, it means your players were better, more prepared, and/or determined to win night in and night out. Whether you are male or female doesn’t matter, unless the streak was ‘88 straight wins against men’s teams,’ which it wasn’t, it was ‘88 straight wins.’

What do you think? Has UCLA’s record been unfairly considered broken?

Life
Ah, Christmas-time. This Christmas, I’m especially thankful for Skype. We’ll be spending Christmas with Jess’ mom, step-dad and Oma, which will be nice and relaxing (with no shoveling of snow!). However, it will be hard not to miss my parents and sister’s family, who will all be together in DC. Luckily, with Skype I’ll get to see the whole family, watch them open a present or two and feel a little bit like I’m there. I also get to look forward to our ’second’ Christmas, when Jess and I head up to Rochester for my mom’s family Christmas party. There are usually about 40 people, it’s extremely chaotic, but a lot of fun. There will be several different games of cards going, and now that I’m an adult, I’ll get to sneak off with the uncles for a drink mid-party. Ah, a Kirchhoff family Christmas

Other
I thought of this this morning as I was scrambling to find an address and looking at all the cards we received this year. Next year, I’ll cut the addresses off of each envelope and tape it to back of the Christmas cards we receive. Then next year, when I take them out, I will have all the addresses handy and know exactly who sent us cards last (this) year. I feel like Marth Stewart right about now!

For those that may not stop by tomorrow, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and hope that your weekend is full of family, friends and all that makes you happy.

Until next time…

Payback

Sports
First, the ‘Payback’ title is not about Brett Favre, even though this section is (for the last time?). After seeing his starting streak stopped at 297 games, Favre returned to the frozen tundra of Lamb… ugh… TCF Bank Stadium. A concussion knocked him out in the second quarter, so there is a distinct possibility that his new streak could end at exactly one game. The field was decidedly frozen, and the NFL is lucky that there weren’t a higher number of injuries. Under 41,000 fans showed up for the game, so the potential security nightmare never materialized. Apparently the frigid temperatures (9 degrees at kickoff) and the opportunity to watch in the comfort of their living rooms kept some fans away.

Tonight, the bowl season picks back up. Hopefully I can improve on my 1-2 start.

Life
Ok, now it’s time for payback. No, not the ‘revenge’ kind, not karma. Payback as in ‘it’s time to start paying back my student loans.’ Today is the first of 120 scheduled payments towards my graduate school student loans. While it’s a hefty chunk every month, I have doubled my salary from pre-MBA levels, so I’m sure it was a worthy investment. My goal is to make more than the minimum payment every month, and try to cut 3, 4 or 5 years off of the 10 year plan.

Other
So, this is the time of year that I start to really stress out. Up until now, I have done my Christmas shopping slowly, most of it online, and feel that I’m 95% done. Then, inevitably, it is the last week before Christmas and I start thinking ‘did I get everyone enough presents?’ I start hitting stores on my way home from work, going at lunchtime, and purchasing things that are really not necessary. This year, I started feeling those first twinges this morning, but have vowed not to give in to them. It’s all about quality, not quantity, and I know the things I’ve gotten will be much appreciated. (But maybe one more stocking stuffer for everyone and then I’ll be done…)