Recently in Lifestyle Category

When I first put money down on a condo, it was a very strange feeling to know that I wouldn't set foot inside it for about a year. Slowly, but surely, the vague thought that I may actually have somewhere to move to this fall is starting to become a reality. The powers that be at my condo just posted a photo of the latest construction.

I guess I better start figuring out how I'm going to furnish this place. Never really thought about that before, mostly because every time I saw it up until now... it didn't even have walls.

Last week's episode of Scrubs introduced a concept called "Brinner". Put simply, it's having breakfast for dinner, ie, pancakes and a glass of red wine. Sounds appealing, no?

Knowing I wasn't ready to bring Brinner full boar into my life without a period of transition, I decided to start by moving breakfast from it's normal start time to one that is a bit later in the day. Some call this brunch. I call it delicious.

What better place for Em and I to visit than Anthony's Home Port in beautiful (and Beverly Hill-ish) Kirkland. There's no better place to spot some cougars, catch a view of the cloudy waterfront, and chow done on some culinary delights.

What I love about Anthony's is that they've still found a way to give us the equivalent of bread and butter, except with a breakfast slant. Check out the warm coffee cake with cinnamon butter and fruit with some sort of sweet mango dip. That was nearly a meal in itself. Note to self- don't even order next time, the coffee cake and fruit is plenty.

You can already see my face is fattening up. Maybe I'm ready for Brinner sooner than I thought.

After a month or two of being of the grid, I'm finally paying attention once again to this blog. My apologies for being away, but it's really been a hectic time. Since I last posted I've launched a new product, done a keynote with the E&D prez Robbie Bach, and just now started work on a completely new team.

The new team is in stealth mode right now (to borrow a phrase from my friend Ford Davidson), but I assure you it's very cool.

Anyway, I'll be back to more regular posting now, for better or worse.

A couple months ago, I made the fairly life-altering decision to buy into a condo. There were a number of reasons why it made sense for me to buy, but I guess nothing could truly prepare me for that Belltown price gouging. All that said, I'm told it's a good investment, and within 3-5 years I hope to be eating out once again.

Aside from night after night of the frugal gourmet, there a number of other benefits that are just now beginning to avail themselves. The first of which is a phenomenon known as the hard hat tour.

According to the legend, this is an activity where I'm hoisted up to the 10th floor of my completely incomplete building, to apparently participate in some kind of space assessment. The condo reps tell me this will be a good opportunity to get a sense of my space, which to me is laughable since I'll be missing a key ingredient: walls.

Without walls, plumbing, fixtures, etc... I feel the space may seem artifically wide open. I wonder if I will find myself fooled into thinking I'd be able to fit those dueling grand pianos I always dreamed of (in my kitchen) - only to find out that darn gas range might get in the way.

In any event, it sounds all very fascinating to me, especially since I'm not even sure they've built the elevators as of yet.

Yesterday was one of the best days in the Seattle winter. It was an enigma, an unexpected event. Generally the winters here are full of rain and clouds. But yesterday, the sun made an appearance. And it just so happened that for one day only... the clouds were not in sight.

I saw a little girl pointing to the sky saying, "Daddy, what is that strange glowing orb?" He gently replied, "It's the sun, darling, and we never expected you to see it before you turned 8."

All around people had smiles on their faces and it was clear that the much needed shot of serotonin had begun to kick in. But, that was yesterday.

Today we were back to our normal weather patterns-- mildly cold temperatures with a mix of clouds and rain. I was in a meeting this afternoon when some light snow started to come. For the record, it very rarely snows in Seattle, but when it does people FREAK out.

Immediately, strange emails start coming out telling me to be safe and go be with my family in this difficult time. This is at 3:00 when a light, non-sticking snow starting coming down. 3:00 became the time for a mass exodus.

Co-workers were seen everywhere scurrying up and down the hallways, shoving laptops in their bags and grabbing their keys. Bellowing through the hallways I hear statements like, "If this gets bad, I'm working from home tomorrow".

As a former resident of Syracuse, NY, I remain relatively unphased. I go about the rest of my workday, go to the gym, and try to catch the bus home. Or so I thought.

The streets are empty, but the snow was starting to stick. The few cars that are driving by are doing so at around 10 mph. I go down to the depot for the Connector shuttle, which is a free bus service offered by Microsoft to get commuters across the bridge from Microsoft to Seattle, only to find no shuttles in sight.

Connector officials informed me that buses were "getting stuck" and that they were dispatching minivans to take us home. Apparently the minivans have 4-wheel drive, which apparently is a requirement when you have 1/10 inch of snow.

It's 8:25pm and I'm still not across the bridge and into Seattle. It could have something to do with the fact that this lightning quick steed of a minivan is doing about 8 mph.

Needless to say, I'm sure many people will be weathering this colossal storm from their homes. People of Seattle - God bless you and your families in this difficult time.

Just a few short years ago, I really prided myself in not being dependant on coffee. I felt that I was doing my part to achieve a healthy lifestyle, and while all my friends' teeth would be losing their luster, mine would remain sparkly white. Over time I turned to an occasional latte as a bit of a treat, pretty much treating it like a dessert.

But time goes by and one gets into a career, sacrificing sleep for some extra quality time with his new best friend. I think to myself, 6 hours ought to be enough, right? At times, I'm not even sure it matters. Whether I had 8 hours or not, come 3:00pm, I was still yawning up a storm- usually during my bi-weekly 1:1 with my manager.

I would try to mask my fatigue by covering my mouth, scratching my nose, pretending to be a ventriloquist. I'd even start chewing some gum just to keep moving- almost like a little stairmaster for my mouth.

I think she started to notice.

Shortly thereafter, I started the afternoon coffee break. Just a quick cup around 3:00 really made a difference in those last 4 hours in the office. My productivity was going up, I would have two 5 minute conversations in less than a minute - life was grand!

Yesterday I returned from a holiday trip to the east coast. Usually a 3 hour time difference wouldn't be affecting me this much, but for some reason it was. I thought to myself, "just drink some more water, that's all you need." No chance that would save me. I had my first pre-8:00am coffee today, and it felt a little too good.

If you see me buying Whitestrips, you'll know my descent was swift, and irreversible.

As we enter the New Year, more and more people make resolutions to get into shape. For all of 2006 and about half of 2007 (pretty much before I went on a 2 month/8 country trip), I worked out regularly at my friendly neighborhood super-gym. I had an entire routine down. My workout partner, Deepak, was also a co-worker so it was pretty easy to stay motivated. He would come down after work each day, and we'd get our gym on.

Working mostly in the weight training area, we had a schedule that we could rely on like clock work. We would do all the various muscle groups depending on the day, and after each workout, a quick trip to the steam room to let out the stress (and make the skin glow). All in all, it was about a 90 minute ordeal and I was always home by 8:00 at the latest. That was when I lived in the suburbs.

Times have changed. Deepak now lives in Manhattan, I live downtown (thus relying on a Microsoft-provided bus for my commute), and my muscles are in a serious state of atrophy. I've even had to switch to a lighter laptop! (Ok, I did that for other reasons).

I could lie to myself and say that I will commit to a workout regiment equal to the old days, but I'm not even sure I could take myself seriously. I've toyed with the idea of morning workouts, mid-day workouts, and home gym equipment-- but I feel the key missing component is time.

Living in Seattle and working in Redmond means I'm spending at least 60-75 minutes a day commuting. Committing to a work out program taking into account commute time (and bus schedules) almost certainly guarantees I'll be leaving the apartment at 7:00am and returning around 9:00pm. That's a lot of time spent away from home base, then calling into question other health issues like "Should I really be eating dinner this late?", "Am I getting enough sleep?", etc.

It's a vicious cycle, and it seems to all come down to the commute. I could do what Deepak used to do and drive every day that I work out. That would help me shave some time off (no longer having to do the 15 minute walk to the gym, waiting at the bus stop, etc.), but now I'm adding in some costly gasoline that I never used to pay for.

So is it all worth it? I guess I'll have to decide before all this New Year's euphoria wears off.