Our World

Category: Work

  • Day 076 of 2026 – March 17th

    Day 076 of 2026 – March 17th

    Had an early start for the day. Someone booked a 7:30am conference call (it’s OK, I try to work on Eastern Time and it was 9:30am at our offices). So, we got up at our normal weekday time and I let the dogs out, gave them their morning snacks, and then got myself online. Spent a few minutes just scanning my email and any messages that came in earlier in the morning. And then it was time for my call. Not bad, I had 3 items to go over, the others had 2-3 items, each and we were done in 30 minutes or so.

    Spent a good portion of the morning re-testing an our app as some additional problems had been found in the testing process. That was fun. Yup, there is a problem and it is not new to this release. I didn’t even know it was an issue, sort of surprising that no one told me about it.

    I was able to get out for a long walk today, but my shoulder is still bothering me overnight especially. I do not want to put more stress on it, but I have to figure out a way to get some more exercise in with to burn some additional calories. My weight is not going down. I am thinking about taking 30 minutes every morning before everyone is up and at it to do my resistance band workout. And then during my lunch break I can do my outdoor workout (or swim if my shoulder improves) and then I can maybe make some progress. I am going to start running out of time for the Mountain Swim Series on June 14th. But, as I talked with Jesse about today, and I will have a similar conversation with my Physical Therapist on Saturday morning for our appointment, I have to draw a line on further damaging that tendon that is rubbing on a bone spur in my shoulder.

    Total distance: 5.09 mi
    Max elevation: 5684 ft
    Min elevation: 5562 ft
    Total climbing: 651 ft
    Total descent: -648 ft
    Average speed: 4.19 mi/h
    Average cadence:
    Average heart rate: 109
    Average temperature: 25.9
    Total time: 01:13:53

    I digress, it was a good walk, and I made it about 2 miles through my 5 miles before someone called me to ask me questions about a boiler. If figures. And for this person I never not answer. Rest of walk was nice, the weather has come up to about 70 degrees today, big improvement from Sunday and Monday.

    Late this afternoon we had asked the painters that did the interior of the house to come out and quote us on all the exterior trim work. We really want to get rid of the brown of the house and move to a burgundy for all of the trim that we have used in the past. It has looked great on houses in the past, it really looked good in Hartford and Willington. We did not do it in Florida as it just didn’t fit the house, but here in Aurora I think it will look really good. It is a little more money than I wanted to spend, but the alternative is Jesse and I spending a lot of time on ladders and we are both getting a little old for that. And, they are going to pressure wash the whole house as a part of this.

    I did the walks this evening so we could stay on schedule and Jesse stayed with the estimator for the painters. The park was nice and snow free this evening. What a difference two days make.

    Sunday 3/15/2026 Park
    Tuesday 3/17/2026 Park

    We are still getting used to the Denver weather, the temperature swings are wild. Snow one day, gone the next. The dogs do not mind, Res will get some outdoor sunbathing time tomorrow.

    So, today was a good positive day. Nothing to complain about, thankful for weather, Jesse, my health, and the dogs. Especially my office assistance Res, and then Climber who keeps me on my toes and will cuddle and play, I really need to take her outside for some ball time. And, while there is a little bit of a setback, and I am making some alternate plans just in case, I am planning for the Mountain Swim Series starting in June.

    So, with that, the day is over and will say goodnight and see everyone tomorrow.

  • Day 075 of 2026 – March 16th

    Ended up with a busy day today, started off first thing this morning while I was getting up, getting the dogs out, and trying to grab a first cup of coffee. It turns out that the someone in our IT department released an update for the app that our field technicians use before the official release date, about a week early and it was not ready. What can you do? For some reason it has worked for me perfectly all the way though the testing cycle, including in the field. So, they are going to have to try and fix the issues.

    I finally got out for a quick walk someplace around mid-day and got about 2 miles into my 4 mile loop when I got a message from my manager asking me to take a trip to Tampa, FL this afternoon through Wed. Well, all things are possible so I double checked on budget, got my flight booked and hurried back to the house to get packed. Sent my manager the new budget numbers and he bounced it by the client, nope, they may not need an inspection after all. I guess the Spring Break travel costs may have made them think twice. That’s OK.

    Didn’t get my whole workout in today. I need to get back into the pool, but my shoulder is still bothering me a bit. But, maybe tomorrow will be the day.

    Total distance: 3.37 mi
    Max elevation: 5614 ft
    Min elevation: 5517 ft
    Total climbing: 211 ft
    Total descent: -206 ft
    Average speed: 3.99 mi/h
    Average cadence:
    Average heart rate: 105
    Average temperature: 20.7
    Total time: 00:51:44

    Spent the rest of the afternoon working on work stuff and then also spent some time finally getting the APRS weather uploads to work properly. Yes!

    https://aprs.to/station/KO4YAW/weather/current

    Finally, after evening walks and dinner I had to do my recertification for the National Weather Service SkyWarn Spotters program. That was a two hour training course that I think is well worth it. It’s a good reminder of what to report, what not to report, and how. Safety matters.

    Interesting stuff. This is a better presentation than the first one I did with SkyWarn in Florida.

    Anyways, busy day but a good day. I am going to wrap things up here for the day.

  • Day 072 of 2026 – March 13th

    Today started off as normal, up before the sun came up, let the dogs out – they go out by themselves or I would be refereeing a game of chase, in the dark, in a yard with raised planters, rocks, retaining walls, and steps. Yup, not happening. So got them all taken care of, then sat down for my morning “stroll” through my to-do list, email, and pricing requests.

    After Jesse got up and I was able to spread out at my desk I got a rather large pricing project done and submitted. That one was a major hurdle as I was not sure if I had enough information, but I did. Then I spent the rest of the day on various work stuff. Jesse had some appointments this afternoon so I went out after work for my walk.

    I really did not get a chance to do a hard workout as I am still feeling my travel a bit. I think I am either going to go swim tomorrow or I am going to go up the the higher trails off to the east of the rec center and get some hill workouts in. We will see what I feel like in the morning. The photograph above is from the power line trail looking off to the West. I like the mountains.

    Total distance: 3.26 mi
    Max elevation: 5652 ft
    Min elevation: 5557 ft
    Total climbing: 330 ft
    Total descent: -331 ft
    Average speed: 4.03 mi/h
    Average cadence:
    Average heart rate: 100
    Average temperature: 25.4
    Total time: 00:49:20

    Anyways got back from my walk and it was almost time to take the dogs for their evening walks. It was a nice day in the park today, a little windy but still nice. We are supposed to get up in the high 70s tomorrow, but then Mother Nature has a surprise for us on Sunday (or so the weather people are telling us). We need rain. We really need rain.

    Had Pizza for dinner, frozen pizza, but Jesse adds toppings and spices to it so it turns out good, and they are a good cheap “cheat” meal. Jesse had to run to Costco after dinner since he will not go on weekends, they are just too busy. So, I am sitting here going through my personal list of emails and spam, and writing a little about today.

    Climber is laying down trying to take the fur off one of their toys, and Res is pretending that he doesn’t want to jump in and help her. Oops. that didn’t last long, they are now both napping.

    Yaw:239.80942,Pitch:-29.904538412241227,Roll:-2.4066560509069745
    Yaw:288.28818,Pitch:-27.773142221115727,Roll:8.577604263201202
    Yaw:324.31003,Pitch:-27.321376618992097,Roll:2.084974320164349

    I spent some time today trying to figure out a training plan for the Mountain Lake Swim series in June. I think I can do it but I am not sure that I am going to be able to follow someone else’s training plans. I think I messed up my shoulder by trying to break the routine I know and understand. I need to get back in the pool and get back into the routine again. It’s been a week out of the water and that kills my stamina. I also think I have lost the water weight that I gained while I was traveling this last week. I always put on between 7 to 10 pounds when I travel and this trip was no different. Came back 7.5 pounds heavy, but thankfully I have already lost all but 2 pounds and I figure those will be gone tomorrow.

    Today was a pretty positive day, nothing to complain about, and I wrote about a future event and expressed my thankfulness for my health, Jesse, my dogs, and where we live. And especially when we moved.

    Day 072 of 2026 – March 13th

    18394 E Arkansas Ave, Aurora, CO 80017, USA
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  • Day 071 of 2026 – March 12th

    It was a very busy day today. Started off the day having to wake the dogs up, they seem to have gotten into the habit of sleeping in late, and I also think the time change is messing with them. Got them downstairs and did there outs and snacks. Res is not pleased with his modified treat diet. He looked at me with the “where’s the beef” look when I gave him his apple and pumpkin treats.

    Spent all day working, it was extremely busy today and I was unable to get a lunch break today. Lot’s of Cause of Loss determination requests, pricing requests, and quote/invoice review tasks. I end the day with one left to do and that one is going to take me a while. I ended up spending an extra 3-4 hours this evening on my tech coaching tasks. Some of them were pretty urgent so I am happy I looked.

    Anyways, I guess Climber must of heard me mutter that I needed to clean my desk, so she “helped” out. To bad it wasn’t my desk that I work at she cleaned off. Yes, there were sparks. No dogs got hurt in the cleaning effort. And, best of all she knew she messed up because I walked upstairs a while later and she had put herself in her crate with the door open. I didn’t even have to do it.

    Yup, that’s one of my ham radios laying on the floor with all of it’s accessories. The blue bed, that is where Res was laying right before Climber apparently got hooked on a wire as she was someplace she didn’t belong. He ran upstairs, fast. I guess I can look at the positive side of this, I needed to put some wire ties up anyways. This could be a weekend project. Not really sure yet.

    Anyways, I don’t have too much more to say for today. Sort of a boring day other than work. Tomorrow I am going to try to get outside for an hour, I also want to try and get on some resistance band training done. I have to get my shoulder in somewhat better shape so I can do somewhat good during the June 12th Mountain Swim Event. I plan on getting back into the pool this weekend.

    Day 071 of 2026 – March 12th

    18394 E Arkansas Ave, Aurora, CO 80017, USA
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  • Day 070 of 2026 – March 11th

    Day 070 of 2026 – March 11th

    And today is going to be a short post, it is a travel day. I headed to the airport around 10AM this morning and it was a good thing I did. The traffic getting to the rental car facility was extremely heavy, took me 1 hour to go 3 miles once I got on the access road. After that the entire airport experience was not all that bad. There was a ton of construction ongoing and this was backing up traffic. It’s a good thing I have a tendency to be at the airport way early, as if I was one of those last minute flyers I would have never made it.

    Anyways got through bag drop and TSA in a reasonable amount of time and was able to get a bunch of work done while waiting for my flight. The flight so far has been good. The food was good as well.

    Let’s see if we are on time and actually get into the gate OK. We got in on time, luggage was somewhat quick, and I am home.

    That’s going to wrap it up for the day.

  • Day 069 of 2026 – March 10th

    Day 069 of 2026 – March 10th

    Today was a field day, not a field trip, a field day. Today was on the roof of Dolphin something condos in the Bonita Springs are of Florida. That is South of Ft Meyers but North of Naples. Not much to say about the day, but it was very warm and humid, I realize I am thankful for Denver weather more and more as I travel. I made all my stairs today, going up and down steps in the three buildings that I had to inspect. I am also thankful for my health and fitness, and that I didn’t fall over with heat stroke. See what I did there? I got my “grateful” things in for the day.

    The views of the Gulf of Mexico were great as well as some from the indoor water ways.

    You can click into both of the above images and look around, yes, there is a roof here, but I am sharing to show that the surrounding scenery is pretty nice. Still miss my mountains, but this has beauty in a different way, One is from the Gulf side and the other from the mainland side.

    Got back to the hotel and caught up on all of my email, tags from processors, pricing requests, tags from my manager to review files, and cause of loss requests. While it took me the rest of the afternoon to complete, and most of the evening, I am so happy that I do not have to deal with it in the morning. I can start fresh (see there was positive thought number 4) with the new day.

    I am now doing my evening relaxing before trying to get some sleep. I may stay up a little later as I am playing timezone jumping, and I don’t want to be falling asleep in my chair tomorrow evening at home. My flight isn’t until late in the day and I will not be home until about 7:30pm MT.

    So, positive day, no complaining, grateful for multiple things, oh—– I missed looking forward to my swim event in June. My shoulder has stopped hurting so I should be able to get back into the pool when I am home and working up on my distance again. I think I may be over training a bit and need to work on that.

    So, goodnight all!

    Day 069 of 2026 – March 10th

    27891 Crown Lake Blvd, Bonita Springs, FL 34135, USA
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  • Day 068 of 2026 – March 9th

    Day 068 of 2026 – March 9th

    Today is a travel day, or should I say “was” a travel day since I am posting this a little late. I got so caught up in some other things last night that I forgot to do my daily post. Anyways, I started my day off as normal, got up, had to wake the dogs up; the time change to Daylight Savings Time is very confusing to them, and did treats and outs. Res really does not like the new pumpkin treats that Jesse made for them.

    And after finishing a recording for our new technician on-boarding processes it was time to head to the train and then the airport.

    Everything at the airport worked as planned and I had my bag dropped, was through security, and in the gate areas within 30 minutes after Jesse dropped me off. I love flying in and out of Denver. It just works.

    Had a nice flight from Denver into South Florida Regional Airport (Ft Meyers) and car pickup was easy.

    Oil Platform in the Gulf
    Clouds on approach to Florida
    Sunset over South Florida Regional Airport

    Got to the hotel, went across the road to “Wings Stop”, they were OK, came back and read for a while, watched TV, and crashed. Wish I had more to add to it today, but really don’t.

    Jesse sent me the cutest photograph of Climber doing what she does most of the time, chewing on a rope toy. I have to stop and buy her another one to take home with me for her. Have to find something for Res as well.

    My shoulder has been a bit painful today, which did require some adjustment to how I normally carry my backpack when in the airports, and I am crossing my fingers that I do not need a ladder for today’s fun and games. I need to get back in the pool to get ready for the Mountain Swim Series in June. I am doing dry-land workouts until that shoulder stops hurting, which is good for me, but still not swimming. Today, I am thankful for the flight crews and the airport folks that make 3 1/2 hours in a metal tube in the sky a good experience, I am also thankful for the TSA agents who are working without pay, keeping a good attitude and getting us through security, and I am thankful to have Jesse and the pack to get home to when I am done with my travels. And, I was a good person today and maintained my positive attitude and didn’t complain about a thing all day.

    Anyways, tomorrow is another day – well today, since this was from yesterday, and we will see what type of trouble I am going to get into next. I will see you all later today (March 10th) with the next update on my world.

    Day 068 of 2026 – March 9th

    27891 Crown Lake Blvd, Bonita Springs, FL 34135, USA
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  • Day 064 of 2026 – March 5th

    Day 064 of 2026 – March 5th

    Well….. this morning didn’t start the way it should have and didn’t end the way it should have either. I got up at my normal time and let the dogs out, gave them their snacks, and started my coffee. When I logged into the work system I was rewarded with a surprise; I needed to be on a Teams video training session (and I was a participant of the group doing the training) at 7:45 in the morning. I found this out around 6:45. Oh, well you can guess how the rest of my day went…. I had to do a quick change of plans, adjust, and get myself put together real quick.

    Res and Climber have no such concerns, they just relaxed through it all.

    Thankfully the training was almost painless, next time I want to be in the same room with the majority of the people being trained. I like remote work but it is very difficult not to see facial expressions, or have people see mine, in the training classes.

    I missed my swim today, but I was able to get out for a longer walk during the lunch break.

    Total distance: 4.86 mi
    Max elevation: 5680 ft
    Min elevation: 5560 ft
    Total climbing: 368 ft
    Total descent: -355 ft
    Average speed: 4.41 mi/h
    Average cadence:
    Average heart rate: 116
    Average temperature: 24.3
    Total time: 01:06:21

    It was a nice day out along the trail. You can see the snow in the mountains and then everywhere else is really dry. That is supposed to change overnight and during the day tomorrow. We really need to snow (frozen water). We will even take rain. The main reservoir is down to about 80% right now and it should have much more in it. The are warning us of water shortages this summer.

    The meeting lasted until late and I wrapped up my day by finishing all the pricing and the cause of loss requests that I had. An afternoon walk for the dogs, dinner, and now resting.

    I got on the scale this afternoon and am down to 218 pounds, which is a good direction for me. My goal is 210 so, if I keep it up I may be able to reach that by June. Sort of important for me to be able to fit into a wet suit for the Mountain Lake Swim series. June 14th will be coming up fast. Reminds me, I need to make hotel reservations. I will do that later.

    We are all done for the day, but it has been a good day, I have been able to maintain a positive attitude for the day, I haven’t really complained about anything and accomplished all my goals/tasks. Things that I am grateful or thankful for today:

    1. My health
    2. My ability to adjust to different plans/functions on very short notice
    3. That I have a quiet office downstairs and that I can close the door when I need to be on a video call. The dogs are friendly and want to say “hello” to everyone.
    4. Jesse’s patience when I have to be on these calls and he has both dogs in his office all day.

  • Day 058 of 2026

    Day 058 of 2026

    I feel like I made progress today! The only thing still not done, and I will get it done before the evening is over, is to upload and enroll all of the new technicians at work onto our training platform, but I need to wait until the end of the business day to do that. Anyways, today started out pretty normally, I got my morning routine done, the dogs normal routing done and spent most of my morning doing pricing and cause of loss determinations for our processing team. Then I had a number of tech support issues to take care of.

    I decided to escape for an hour or so around 10:15am (I am on Mountain Time) to try to get to the Rec Center to spend an hour in the pool. Nope, that wasn’t happening. I have decided that I always have to have a backup plan when I am going to the pool. Today when I got there, they had 2 people swimming per lane and one lane with a water walker in it along with two people swimming. Then there were people waiting. I am really struggling to find a time that I can count on to get my workout in.

    Anyways, I decided that I was going to do my steep trails today to try and get my workout in and continue on my weight loss efforts. I am now 12 pounds away from my goal of 210 pounds. I will make it before my next well visit physical around June. That puts me out of the “at risk” BMI. I don’t totally buy into BMI so I will probably pay for a DexaScan visit before then so I have some concrete body imaging to go on. Anyways, I spent about an hour over at Switchgrass Park and Spring Creek Park.

    They between these parks and trails they have a some nice hills that are coming very close to a hike and I wanted to get some climbing type work in today. I have no idea what the Flat 14ers sticker is, I guess that’s a reminder to look this up. Well…. there is nothing listed for the Flat 14ers in the Aurora area online. So I am not sure. I guess I will have to try and figure this out some other way.

    Total distance: 5.54 mi
    Max elevation: 5749 ft
    Min elevation: 5637 ft
    Total climbing: 617 ft
    Total descent: -611 ft
    Average speed: 4.24 mi/h
    Average cadence: 57
    Average heart rate: 110
    Average temperature:
    Total time: 01:18:54

    Had a nice walk, and got my hills in. After that I was able to go home and finish out the day without getting too stressed out. I have to figure out this pool issue, I feel at home in the water, more so than any other workout I can get. But, the trails are nice as well.

    Tomorrow I am spending the day learning something new, for the fun of it, and I guess we will see. I will post more tomorrow about tomorrows activities. Anyways, I am done for tonight, I don’t want to think too much. I am going to take care of that one outstanding work issue and then head “offline”.

    See you tomorrow.

    Day 058 of 2026

    18394 E Arkansas Ave, Aurora, CO 80017, USA
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  • Day 057 of 2026

    Day 057 of 2026

    And it’s another Thursday and almost the end of this short month. It’s always strange to have a 28 day month instead of 30/31 days. I woke up this morning around 4:30am, of course that has to do with being on Eastern Time for the last few days, I was able to fall back asleep until our normal 6:20am getting up (or should I say mine). Got up, got the dogs out, and our coffee made.

    Sat down and logged into work, before I even had a single cup of coffee I already had a technician trying to reach me. I didn’t answer him and sent him a text that I would call him after I had my first cup of coffee as I was on Mountain Time. He was having login issues, for some reason the iPhone attempts to pre-fill password blanks on Safari and this is very confusing for some people, the correct thing to do is delete that out and select your own secure passwords. That way you are not tied to the Apple Infrastructure.

    Just realized I forgot to tell everyone that I did receive a promotion at work. I was brought in as a Technical Field Manager about 5 years ago. Over the years I have been more and more in a support role with technicians and processing. I have added the online education component to my world, and technician procedural and technical training. So, as of February 1st (though we just finalized all the paperwork on Monday) I am the Operations Support Manager for StrikeCheck and HVACi, all part of Alpine Intel. I am happy with the role.

    I went out for my morning workout, did a little over 5 miles, and finished another one of the monthly challenges for Garmin. I like the Garmin challenges as it keeps me motivated to push myself.

    Total distance: 5.91 mi
    Max elevation: 5652 ft
    Min elevation: 5474 ft
    Total climbing: 686 ft
    Total descent: -683 ft
    Average speed: 4.29 mi/h
    Average cadence: 57
    Average heart rate: 114
    Average temperature: 23.6
    Total time: 01:23:32

    I have completed all of the February swimming challenges and then a majority of the February Walking and Health Challenges. Today I finished the one that has been eluding me, the Running Climb (vertical distance during runs). I did the power line trail today from the bottom to the top and fixed that issue. The photograph below is looking up towards the top of Power Line Trail, I had already done an equal climb from the bottom to the point I was standing.

    I have made an honest effort on the February running challenges but had to cut back on that as we may be having some weird heart issues (not deadly, really not that dangerous, just irregular – it has been diagnosed, now we have to figure out if it’s worth doing something about). But, I am happy with the challenges I have completed.

    I took Climber out to play in the backyard a little bit today and she was doing great, but when she went to the backdoor and stood there waiting to go in she held up her right front paw and started yelping. We crated Res real fast (we do not want a dog fight) and got her inside. She was back to normal almost immediately. I am having a really tough time figuring out what is going on with her. She was perfectly fine until she stopped. And then 5 minutes later after some water and laying down she was fine again as well. This is just really strange.

    So, Res got a lone walk today, I wasn’t going to take a chance on taking her and having a problem in the middle of the park. I am starting to think she has something going on with her back, but I am not at the vet visit point yet as it could be something simple as needing some crate rest and no running.

    Right now everyone is napping for the evening.

    I will leave this open on my laptop to see if there is anything else I want to add for today, probably not, but maybe. Anyways, that’s it for today. I will talk with you all tomorrow.

    Day 057 of 2026

    18344 E Arkansas Ave, Aurora, CO 80017, USA
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