Happy New Year!! Did you Go The Distance?

Another year has come to a close. For the most part, it was pretty uneventful for me, which I am very thankful for. Of course, there were many great events that I was fortunate to experience, but all-in-all, a pretty good year. Most people like to set resolutions for the new year, but for me, I'd rather set goals -- primarily swimming and fitness goals.

2012 marks the beginning of my third year back in swimming. Since returning to the pool, I've participated in the "Go The Distance" swim challenge put on by United States Masters Swimming. As part of my membership, I am able to keep a Fitness Log, or FLOG (Aaargh --- we be pirate swimmers, matey!) as we like to refer to it, where I can keep track of my swimming and other fitness endeavors.

The first year that I participated was in 2009, but since I started late, I didn't log many miles. 2010 was my first full year and I set and met a goal of 250 miles. My goal for 2011 was 200 miles, which I came very close to meeting (I logged 192 miles). I'm okay with not making the goal as I was more concerned with quality over quantity last year.

For 2012, I've set a goal of 444,444 yards (269.32 miles). As in past years, participants receive special items upon reaching certain goals (swim caps, water bottles, swimsuits, and more). Nike has been sponsoring the event for the past few years and I suspect they will continue for 2012.

Happy New Year! I hope you meet your goals this coming year!

Old Rittenhouse Road

I took a nice stroll with Chiquita just after lunch along Old Rittenhouse Road, which is about a mile from my house. Parts of this road still exist, but the section between Williams Field and Power Road where we went walking was decommissioned several years ago during the housing boom. I love walking along the railroad tracks. I always find something interesting (railroad spikes, old glass telephone line insulators, baseballs from the high schools in the area, and lots of cast off junk). The other perk is when the occasional train comes rolling by.

Close to the end of our walk, I noticed some writing on the side of the railroad track and decided to get a picture. While setting up my shot, Chiquita walked right into my field of view, so I asked her to stand and got a really nice picture of her. She blocked the writing, which states "100% Power Road --->". It's pointing in the direction of Power Road, but what does 100% mean?

The next picture shows a farm road that runs along the irrigation canal where it crosses the tracks. In the background, you can see Four Peaks, the Superstition Mountains, and the water tower at ASU Polytechnic.

The most interesting part of our walk came when a large hawk I had noticed in the area decided to fly over us and really gave Chiquita the once over. When I first saw the hawk, I put my dog on her leash just in case the hawk wanted to snatch her up. You might think this is a bit far-fetched, but a friend of mine had a close call with a very large owl and his dog out in Gold Canyon. Birds of prey don't care if it's a Chihuahua like mine or a jack rabbit. They're about the same size and food is food. Actually, a jack rabbit is bigger than my dog. LOL. Anyway, we were walking along when I saw the hawk's shadow pass over us. I looked up and it was close enough for me to see its eyes. It looked at me and then craned its head and looked directly at Chiquita, more than once. I told it "forget it, bird" and it slowly glided away in search of another critter for lunch.

Meowy Kittmas, everyone!

My cat, Cali, always checks out the Christmas tree each year. Now that she's older, she's really good about leaving the ornaments alone. She does a lot of sniffing and poking about, but she hasn't attacked an ornament in years. This year I put the tree in a different spot, which provided her a much better vantage point for viewing the tree. I snapped a photo using my phone that shows her taking full advantage of this new location.

Merry Christmas!!

Ed Moses -- Against the Tide - Episode 1

Really well done video, which chronicles Ed Moses' swimming comeback attempt for the 2012 Olympics. Ed attended and swam at the USMS Spring Nationals in Mesa this past year. I hope they show some of this footage in the next episode. It was exciting to be there knowing what he is attempting to do.

Calma Company Demo Room -- circa 1980 -- Sunnyvale, CA

OMG!! I love the Internet. I was Googling for other images and came across this image today. This is none other than the state-of-the-art demo room we used to demonstrate the new GDSII IC layout system, which was developed by Calma Company of Sunnyvale, CA. This picture was taken in 1980 and was used in lots of our sales literature. I began working for Calma as an IC Applications Engineer in January of 1980. I worked with Calma GDS1, GDSII, and GDSIII systems from 1973 to 1988. They were the premier layout system for full-custom IC design during that time.

From left to right: Magnetic tape drive, expansion unit, Data General 16-bit Eclipse mini-computer, 300MB hard drive, TTY/Printer, Hazeltine CLI console, Versatec 36" color electrostatic plotter, and a single layout station. This was considered "high tech" back in 1980. Click the picture to view this system in all it's glory.

Sweet little Morran -- Rest in Peace

I have been following the blog of Camilla Engman for several years now. I found her through a photograph of her sweet little Swedish farm dog, Morran. This little dog has been an inspiration to many, as she has appeared in numerous works of art and countless photographs (http://www.flickr.com/photos/morran/sets/53703/). Well, today we all learned that she lost her battle with cancer and has passed over the rainbow bridge. I for one will miss her terribly. Goodbye, sweet Morran.
http://camillaengman.blogspot.com/2011/11/morran.html

Happy Swim Anniversary

Two years ago today, I made the brave leap back into the pool and became a swimmer (again). It's been an amazing journey to say the least -- one I hope to continue well into my 90s.

My first year was spent swimming with a small Masters group at Life Time Fitness in Gilbert while I focused on Open Water events. This second year I made the switch to an official USMS club, Sun Devil Masters, and to date, I've competed in 6 swim meets, one of which was an Arizona State Championship, and another being USMS Spring Nationals (a huge meet with 1804 swimmers!). I have two more meets to go, making a grand total of 8 for the year. I fully intended to include some Open Water swim events, but the desire just wasn't there.

Going into my third year, I'm hoping to continue refining my strokes and bringing down my times. It's incredible how hard it is to change muscle memories learned almost 40 years ago. I was a 25-yard sprinter in high school, and even though I'm now into my later 50s, my body still remembers what it did back in 1970. When I race, it's a battle against the clock and with my old memories. But, with the help of some private coaching, I'm finally making some good progress on creating new muscle memories. Repetition, repetition, repetition and practice, practice, practice. Eventually, I will have forgotten those old memories once and for all.

Here's a little photo montage of me and some of my lane mates, highlighting the past two years of being back in the water.