Compromise!

I had dinner with Steven again last night and had a look over the next revision of the web site. I think he got it right. Again, these pictures are place holders only and will change on a regular basis. I'll use them to let people know when the blog has been updated or there is a new SOS site visit coming up. I like it.

Six Month – 32 Years

I’ve been leading a double life for the past year. On one side I’ve been working like mad for my company trying to earn as much as possible and advance my career. On the other hand I’ve been preparing a boat and making a plan to cut loose from that life to go cruising and help others. Things feel like they are coming to a head.

I turn 32 on Thursday. I’ve spent last Friday and yesterday interviewing for a couple of management roles both in the U.S. and in China. I don’t know if I’ll be offered the jobs yet, but it is a real possibility. At the least I think I’ll be offered a job handling a few accounts globally instead of on the west coast like I’ve been doing. The juxtaposition of the activities I fill my day with can hardly be reconciled for much longer. I will have to choose a path.

Thursday is May 1st. Not only is it my birthday, but it marks six months until I am supposed to cut loose and head to my first stop in Mexico. This is a bit of a reality check as I need to accomplish at least twice as many projects as I knocked out in the past year. I can do it, but it is time to put my head down, and grind out the remaining items on the punch list.

It’s time to go to work. For now, I’ll keep selling during the day and refitting the boat by evening. Below are a few shots I took for the photog classes I enrolled in. I like my camera.

I’ve got some pretty cool readers.

First, thanks to everyone who provided comments and email feedback. That post got far more of a response than any yet to date. This whole blog thing is a lot more fun when I hear back from you so keep it up. The feedback was intelligent and valuable to me, so thanks. I’ve really got to give Steven Malm, my web designer, some credit. I really like both designs. He came up with two templates that match the basic requirements we discussed.

Having said that, my personal taste seems to run against the grain. I really like design #1 with the white background. One reader called it, “simple and smart” which is kind of the look I was leaning towards. However, based on the overwhelming support by you, the readers of these blogs, I am going with design #2. Steven and I will work to tweak it a bit, but we’ll probably keep with the basic three image format with a slightly modified header, and textual excerpts from the daily blog and children’s blog to help draw readers deeper into the site.

I got a lot of comments on the eagle and I couldn’t help but laugh a little every time. I don’t know if we’ll actually use any of the three pictures that are on the template now. Steven just grabbed three pictures to plug in while he was working on the layout. Most likely it will be some version of a pic of me with my blog text below, a SOS child from the next site visit I am going to make and a letter from that child telling about themselves, and finally a boat pic project details. The end result will be a hybrid somewhere between the two styles. Maybe a white background version of the three image layout? We’ll see. Steven’s got a much better eye for design than I do so I take most of my cues from him on this one.

In a random twist, I am now legally ordained. Yep, you can call me skipper, captain, or even Reverend! Two of my good friends are getting married a year from now in April. They wanted a non religious ceremony and a way to keep it on the lighter side. So, yours truly will be consummating, no wait, I mean solemnizing the wedding. This is going to be fun. I should just be ready to cross, or just finished crossing the Panama Canal so it will be a good time to come home before I head into the Pacific.
I went to my second photography class last night to learn more about photographic composition. It wasn’t much better than what I got off of google, but still helped a little. I am supposed to snap a bunch of pictures highlighting the various aspects of composition and we’ll review them in class next week. I think that will be more helpful than anything. Hopefully I’ll be able to start posting some more interesting pictures in the next few weeks.

And now, having already removed the old Furuno 1621 radar dome from the mizzen mast, I’ve got to climb back up it with the new one and get this project crossed off my list. I almost had a heart attack when I looked at the little counter in the top left last night. It slipped below 200 days and I didn’t even notice. The Race to Veracruz is June 6th and I’ve got a lot to do to get this boat offshore ready again.

I need your feedback! Leave comments, send email etc.

I sat down with Steven this morning to look over the ideas for the new web page layout. Two in particular stuck out. I am not telling you which one I like. They are pretty different and the text on each along with the pictures will change, but they both give an idea of the layout format. Let me know which one you like the most and most importantly, why.



Option 1:



Option 2:

Give me some real feedback on these. I need your help. You can comment directly on the blog by hitting "comment" below or email me directly at r.lee.winters@gmail.com.

Proof!

T-shirt in hand, keys in the pocket......next time I'll be more prepared. On another note, I just got my AB 10.5 foot RIB dingy and I love it. This is a part of boating I haven't explored at all since I moved onto my boat. Running at 20 knots across Clear Lake exploring all the small canals and bayous is a great way to spend an afternoon. There are about 20 different places to pull up and eat around here if you have a good dink. Now I just need to make it legal by registering it.

How not to prepare for a 5K.

First, don’t stay up until 2 a.m. the night before. Sleep is one of the most critical elements of feeling good for a days run. Second, do not confuse carb loading with beer loading. Despite how much fun it is to see old friends again, Miller Lite is not appropriate fuel for running. Third, if you are used to eating a regular meal of two eggs, yogurt, and an orange don’t think cramming a power bar in your mouth is going to provide you with stomach ache free running. Forth, stretch. This seems obvious as you’ve done it before every other run you’ve ever made, but that leads me to number five. Five, leave at least two hours before the race. I got there so late that I had to run from the parking lot a mile to the registration booth. Once I got my shirt banner and shoe tag I ran outside thinking I had a minute to stretch. Nope. No sooner had I found a small spot to sit than someone yelled, “GO” over a loudspeaker. So, shirt in hand and cold unstretched legs, I ran across the starting line. Six, no matter what, take the time to use the restroom before you start running. It’s not like I had an accident or anything, but I was far from comfortable.

Now that we’ve covered what not to do, the good news is I ran non-stop and completed the race in exactly 31 minutes and 52 second coming in 222 out of a field of 498. That time tells me I kept my training pace of almost exactly 10 minutes per mile. Given the slightly less that stellar preparation I gave myself the day before the race I am excited to do another one more locally. There is one benefiting a local dog rescue organization at the end of April I think I’ll try. Despite a difficult start it felt really good to come across the finish line with everyone cheering the runners on.

On another note, I just spent the morning with Lori Brewer of Waterford Portrait Design. Lori is a professional photographer who very generously donated her time and talent to taking pictures of me, Georgia, and the boat for the web page. We should have the shots back in a week or so and I am still hoping to have the new website up by the end of the month. I snapped a quick shot of Lilly, Steven, and myself. These two have been a world of help in putting me in contact with resources, watching Georgia when I travel, and obviously the logo and web page. Thanks guys. Your help is greatly appreciated. Special thanks to you too Lori. Your professional eye will make all the difference.

Finally, I’ve registered three different names to host my page. I will make them all redirect to the final page, but I am curious which one people like best? Which is the easiest to remember and least confusing?

http://www.sailing4sos.com/
http://www.sailingforsos.com/
http://www.s4sos.com/

What is accomplishment?

My 5K race is this Sunday. I have not yet run 5K on the road, but I’ve been using the treadmills at the hotels I stay at while traveling for my day job. I just cranked out my first ever 5 kilometers or 3.1 miles. It’s supposed to be much easier on a treadmill than on the road, but I am still feeling pretty good about it. If you are interested at all in starting to run then I highly recommend www.marathonrookie.com. They give you complete training schedules and can also hook you up with all the races around the nation if you want to enter a run.

Going from very poor cardiac condition to 5K ready in five weeks also got me thinking about accomplishment. The running website also gave me the following quote to think about when it got hard to get motivated to run.

"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."
- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian.

It’s always easier to do nothing than it is to make a choice to change. Despite the difficult nature of making such a decision and putting in the effort to see it through comes the sense of self gratification. I apply this to my own life with both the running and the Sailing for SOS project. I’ve never been happy with my career choice, but despite that it’s extremely hard to carve out a new path. I know so many people who hate what they do, but choose the security of the known over taking a chance to try something different that might bring happiness. One smart lady put it this way.

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it. “
- Margaret Thatcher

Whatever it is you want to do, make a plan to make it a reality and take action on that plan. It’s amazing how quickly you’ll find energy to give the project you never knew you had. I guess it’s a quote day. One last one to finish off.

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe