Cinco de Mayo

It is amazing what can happen in 1 year (other than not making a single blog post). Exactly 1 year ago today, I was in Edmonton, handing in my thesis. I had a great summer to look forward to. I couldn't book too many definite plans, because I had to keep my time open for a defense date. Because that's what happens when you leave it to the last minute. Not that I wasn't applying for jobs, but I figured that if I had the time available, I might as well enjoy myself. And enjoy myself I did. I mountain biked a lot. It was the best season of mountain biking I'd ever had in my 16 years of mountain biking. A brand new dream bike (thesis pre-completion present to myself), an open schedule, endless singletrack and nearly 24 hours of daylight. How could I go wrong?
Since Cinco de Mayo last year, I completed an olympic distance triathlon (1.5 km swim, 40 km road ride, 10 km run) in under 3 hours (don't need to do that again...), got my picture in a few mountain bike publications when some journalists and a photographer came to check out Yukon mountain biking, became a rock doc, got a full time job with the Yukon Government as a project manager cleaning up abandoned mine sites, and did the requisite work with Jenny to start our family. It will be tough to ever fit that many HUGE life changes into one year ever again. And yes, I (we) am going to have a child. I have had enough time to get excited about all of these changes and to figure out this new life that I've transitioned into over the past year. I am busier, but more satisfied that I have been in quite some time. A lot of what is happening is new and exciting. And that is all good. That does not mean that it is always easy, but I enjoy the challenges that I take on, they are satisfying, and they keep my brain busy. That is important.
And now to tackle one of the bigger challenges that I have been avoiding -- joining Facebook...

I will leave you with one of my favourite photos from a recent trip to the Pacific coast of Mexico.