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The past two weeks have been hectic at work and there has been plenty of events to attend in the evenings with friends. Last weekend my friend Mariette held a benefit at club Roe for her family member and everyone had a great time dancing all night and enjoying the atmosphere. During the week Angelo and I met up at 111 Minna Gallery for drinks and to see the exhibition of new artists from the local schools. I ran into an old friend from the downhill mountain bike scene who was temporarily paralyzed from a crash and his condition has improved ten fold - I wish him well. The Altezza40 cyclocross team is beginning to ramp up the training during the week, but I have yet to find the time to travel to Palo Alto for a skills clinic. I usually jump on the road bike and cross over the bridge to complete 37 miles on a week night. Our group of riders put some quality miles into the legs this weekend and the ride today was packed with lots of climbing. Here is a link to our data provided by Motionbased and a KML can be imported into Google Earth to see the ride with satellite imagery and road layers. What else? I went to see the San Francisco Ballet perform at Stern Grove - the ballerinas were beautiful in their colorful dresses and the music sounded amazing for an outdoor venue. We sat on the hillside above the main audience under the tall eucalyptus trees - beautiful. We've been working on some interesting projects at Aechelon and it's been and amazing learning experience - how many people can claim to love their job? There is so much to learn during a week and I begin to realize how little I know and how much I will learn in the months to come. A lot has happened to me over the past two months and it's been quite a learning experience. We cannot go back in the past to change things, but we can sometimes learn from our experiences and make drastic changes. I realized over night that my career was heading in the wrong direction with dead end jobs and positions with no intellectual benefit. My professor sent out a posting for the position at Aechelon and I remember not wanting to apply because I did not feel my skills were on par with the position description. We sometimes sell ourselves short because we're scared to fail or not live up to the expectations. I decided to apply for the position and to this day things are still very challenging but I know it will come together in time. Each day I get on my bike and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and think about how fast my life has changed and the people I lost in the process. I miss the family I used to live with and I think about their son and hope he will continue to grow into the amazing person he is destined to be. I exit the bridge and begin the steep climb to the Headlands as the strong winds press against my body. I realize the forces of life continue to push against us each day and we can either give up and ride down the hill or we can put our head down and drive forward into the unknown. The best thing for me at this point in time is to find my cadence and breathe - because tomorrow is new day full of learning and challenges.

Thanks for reading.