Daily Shoe-In Winner!

Let me preface by saying, I still haven't received anything and I am hopeful that this isn't a hoax. I entered the Daily Shoe-In contest on Facebook by becoming a fan of the Montrail Facebook page. They are giving away a free pair of Montrail trail running shoes every day. I received an email today that I had won and just needed to respond in order to collect my free pair of shoes. I have been wanting some trail shoes for a while, but haven't wanted to pony up the cash to buy them. One of the pairs that I have been interested in trying is the Montrail Masochist, which won the Outside Magazine-Best Trail Shoe Award this year. They are very light, but also very stable for the uneven terrain, and they have received rave reviews on almost every website I have visited. I am so stoked to get a free pair of shoes, and not just any free pair, but one that I actually like. Check out the shoes below.

I am going to put these babies to the test when we head out to Colorado at the end of June for Tristan & Tarah's wedding. I am already planning Parker's first 14er-most likely Mt. Bross or Mt. Democrat-I'll keep you posted and surely take some sweet pics. (Don't worry Mom, we'll go with the easiest 14er we can find and we'll remember to put plenty of sunscreen on Parker. :)) If you have a Facebook account you should join the Montrail fan page and you could win a pair for yourself. Take it easy.

Race Goals

I have been running, riding and swimming quite a bit lately. I have really developed a passion for these outdoor endurance sports. These activities allow me to experience nature, stay fit and challenge myself mentally and physically. I tend to do these things for fun and don't plan on taking myself too seriously in the future either, however, I have decided to develop a list of goal times for the races I plan to complete in the next year or so. Some of the goals are more attainable than others, but I am going to see how I do and I will keep you posted on my progress. My first big test is less an a month away at the Kansas Half Ironman. Well folks, here they are:

1 mile: Sub-5 min. (Track 09')
5k: Sub-18 min. (Parkville Turkey Trot 09')
4 mile: Sub-24 min. (Trolley Run 10')
10k: Sub-40 min. (Groundhog Run/Liberty 10')
half-marathon: Sub 1:30 (?)
marathon: Sub 3 hr. 10 min.-Boston Qualifier (Kansas City 09')
half-ironman: Sub 5 hr. 30 min. (Kansas 70.3)

Feel free to come out to any of the races to compete or spectate. The atmosphere at these events is always exciting and motivating. Trust me, if you come try one, then you'll want to do another. It is a vicious cycle each year because you want to run a little bit faster, so you train harder and come back stronger. Where does it end?????? I don't know if I'll ever find out, but it's not about racing other people, it's about racing against your previous personal best. Ultimately, that means you are racing against the clock. Well.... I guess I am sticking my neck out by posting these; because now I have nowhere to hide. But hopefully, I can accomplish some, if not all of my goals and set some even tougher ones next year. After all, these sports are all about finding out how far you can push yourself. We will find out very soon. :)

Thanks for reading.

Mother's Day

We all figure it out some time around college or just after graduation that our Mother's deserve so much more credit than they ever receive for putting up with us for all those years, when we had all that attitude, didn't clean up after ourselves, missed curfew knowing they were lying awake waiting for us, and didn't seem to care about anyone but ourselves. Well, I am speaking for almost any 20 something when I say that once you are on the other side of the coin, you respect all that love, support, effort and care more than ever before. So I just want to say thanks to my Mom for everything she has done and continues to do for me. My goal is to someday figure out a way to repay you. Happy Mother's Day!Not only am I appreciative of my Mother on this special day, but for my wife, Mary Beth, who experienced her first Mother's Day as a Mother today. (try and say that 3-times fast, talk about a tongue twister) Anyway, or anyhoo as MB might say-I have to say that I don't know how she does it all. She works a full-time job, takes care of our new little man Parker, and probably the most daunting task of all-takes care of me. And she does all these things extremely well. (Did I mention that she is knocking off those baby lbs. faster than I can blink.) :) I don't know how I became so lucky to have such an wonderful Mom and now such an awesome Wife and Mother to my son. Needless to say, I have been blessed with some amazing women in my life and I am truly thankful. I know that it shouldn't take a made-up holiday like this for me to realize how much they mean to me, but most males, including me, tend to take things for granted and a made up holiday is just what we need to help us see the light. :) So on this Mother's Day I salute the ladies in my life and I hope that the rest of you out there will do the same. They deserve it. Here are some pics of Mother's Day brunch with the fam. Until next time......I promise I won't wait a month for my next post.....it has been a busy month.

Inspired by TOMS

I know I said that I would be talking about risk in my next post, but the story below spoke to me, so I had to share it. Enjoy.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

The above quote is one that copied and pasted from the TOMS SHOES website. I watched a portion of a documentary on CNBC last night entitled "The Entrepreneurs," and TOMS was one of the featured companies. I came away from the documentary inspired to pursue social entrepreneurship-a growing form of business where profit is not the only bottom line, and contributing to the betterment of society is also a major focus. I originally began watching the documentary because I am always interested in new styles of shoes, but when I realized the story behind the company, I became amazed at what they have been able to accomplish. TOMS was started by Blake Mycoskie- "Master entrepreneur, already has 4 companies under his belt when he gets his best idea yet: create a shoe company that gives a pair away for every pair sold. Using his great business sense to garner a celebrity following, Mycoskie has grown TOMS Shoes into a global brand. The company has given over 115,000 pairs of shoes to children in need."
Blake had a passion for shoes and for helping underprivileged children in Africa and Argentina. He noticed on a trip to Argentina that many children were so poor that they were unable to afford shoes, and the lack of shoes was causing many health problems for the children. He took his passions and developed a vision of how to meld the two. He was able to create a product that could be sold to people in wealthy countries and the profit margin on each pair sold could be used to buy materials to make one pair of shoes for the children in Argentina and South Africa. He not only began giving thousands of shoes to the people of those countries, but he also established the TOMS manufacturing plants in Argentina to stimulate the local economy and provide sustainable jobs.

In many ways, the TOMS model is exactly what I hope to be doing some day. I would love to be able to incorporate the challenges of running a successful business with, what I feel, is my duty to society. I believe that God has blessed me and I want to be able to pass that on to others. I don't plan to wait until I own a business to do so, but I just thought that the TOMS story is one that we can all learn from and be inspired by. I am not sure about the style of the shoes, they are a bit unique. :) However, I may consider buying a pair, knowing that a child in Africa will receive a pair as a result.

Back to the quote at the beginning of the post-I don't think Mark Twain could've said it better. I hope to incorporate his advice into my decisions in life going forward. Until next time....Enjoy the ride.

Dear A.I.G.

I think this is a great op-ed piece from the NY Times written by an A.I.G. employee (former employee). It shows that the A.I.G. mess is a paradox because the only way to fix the issues within the company is to hire or retain good people. With the persecution by the government and by the media, the company is actually handicapped-making it harder to repay the tax payer. I think we all need to step back and look at this logically. If we expect to get our (tax payers) money back, then we need to give A.I.G. some leeway to pay smart people to figure things out. I am planning to write more on risk and risk taking in my next post, but I thought this would be a good primer. Check it out. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25desantis.html

Boulder Trip

Last week I was able to take a few days off work to head out to Boulder and check out the MBA program at the University of Colorado. It was a wonderful trip, although only two days, I felt like it made a huge impression on me and my thoughts toward business school. The only thing that could have made it better is if Mary Beth and Parker could have come too, but maybe next time. I flew in Wednesday morning and hopped in my Prius rental (left) and drove to Boulder. As I was pulling into town, I couldn't help but notice that there were more people riding bikes than driving cars. Boulder is one of the most bike friendly towns in America and it makes me very jealous because KC is not bike-friendly at all. As for the cars people were driving-all sweet wagons, with bike/ski racks-again I was jealous. :)

I ate a quick breakfast on Pearl Street and then I walked around downtown until lunch. I met with a second year student, David, for lunch on Pearl St. at Illegal Pete's (a great burrito joint). David is one of the student bloggers for the business school and he was kind enough to answer all my emails over the past few months, and he helped me get the inside scoop about the program. I would definitely recommend meeting with current students if anyone is thinking about going back to school because you can read about a school on the Internet, but its much more meaningful to hear it directly from the "horse's mouth." After lunch I checked out the Boulder trails at Chautauqua Park (below). Killer run. I actually had to stop and walk twice because my lungs were burning, but it felt great.

Wednesday evening was the formal information session on campus. I had a chance to walk around campus after lunch to get my bearings and find the brand new business building (below). It was a really nice facility. The information session was from 6-8 and it was, well, very informative. :) I learned a lot about the program and was able to ask some questions. I walked out of the meeting thinking that CU is the place for me.

David was also very kind to show me his "family housing-on campus apartment," a housing option for MB, Parker and I if we choose to go that route. The proximity to campus and Pearl St. would surely be nice.

On Thursday, I woke up and picked up some coffee and chocolate covered espresso beans at Pete's Coffee & Tea-I recommend the chocolate covered espresso beans (originally introduced to me by my brother). They are awesome! I went up to campus one more time to attend a class and have lunch with Laurence-a 1st year student ambassador. The class was really interesting, mostly focused on ethics and sustainability. Sustainable business practices is one of the key characteristics of the program at CU. Just attending a class and hanging out with some students made me think that I need to do more reducing, reusing, and recycling. All in all, the trip was a success and I came away from the experience realizing that the CU students all seemed to have one thing in common; they all realize that money isn't everything. They all want to make a difference and they all want to have a work-life balance. I told MB that Boulder is quickly becoming my top choice because of all the factors I have mentioned. MB agreed and has continued to say that Colorado would be her favorite place to live as well. It is a place that I would love to go-we'll see if I can make it happen. :)

God Opens Doors....

.....And He closes them just the same. Sometimes I wonder why I had to get into the investment business right before the biggest financial crisis of my lifetime. What terrible timing...or was it meant to be? I have never had trouble moving up the pecking order in the endeavors I have chosen to pursue, but my career as an investment professional has been a bit different, to say the least. I chose to try my hand in the investment world for a few reasons:
1-I thought that I could learn to properly evaluate companies in order to profit from investing in their stocks.
2-I knew that investment principles are something that would serve me well in life, regardless of my ultimate career path.
3-I thought I could gain access to "hard to find" information and research which would give me an edge in my personal investments.
4-I thought that I would move from the associate role to CEO in no time at all. (sarcasm-just to clarify) :)

Well, my assumptions have been both right and wrong. I have learned a great deal about the markets and what to look for when trying to make investment decisions, however, when the S&P 500 is down 40% for the year, it is hard to find any stocks that can make me a fortune. I have gained access to a lot of research and high level information that should be extremely helpful, but no one ever mentioned that those Wall St. analysts and equity research guys are just making guesses too. They are wrong just as often as they are right. Granted, their guesses are more educated than some, but they are still just guesses.....no one can predict where this market might go. I have learned a lot about how greed can lead to stupid decisions and excessive risk-taking. Lastly, my associate to CEO path has been derailed by a hiring/promotion freeze which has been extremely frustrating for me. I need an incentive in order to keep me hungry, and I no longer have that. I know no matter how hard I work or how well I do, there will still be no promotion any time soon. I guess I should be happy that I still have a job with a stable financial institution because there are plenty of people out there who have lost theirs.

I am grateful for my job and that I am able to help provide for my family, but I am beginning to realize that God works in mysterious ways. He doesn't always give us what we ask for because He knows what we really want in our heart. I began a career in investments for the money, plain and simple. I am sure that I would be a different person today if I doubled my money last year and if I had begun to work my way up the corporate ladder. I would be too enthralled with the success to realize that it wasn't what I wanted to be doing. The luster of the money and the corner office would wear off and I would be 10 years down the road and stuck in a corporate culture that doesn't suit me one bit. I believe that God is using this opportunity to show me that I need to trust Him. I am realizing that He knows what I want better than I do sometimes.

I am excited because I will likely be heading back to school as a result of the slow economic times and the lack of promotion opportunities. An MBA will give me a chance to explore entrepreneurship and, hopefully, lead to me starting my own business someday. I am heading to Boulder next week to check out CU's MBA program. I think that MB & I would love to live in CO and raise Parker on the trails, slopes, and peaks. :) I can't wait to free myself from the corporate monotony and dive into the rest of my life. Its funny how God realized all along that I didn't want to to be a banker, I was just looking for a way to get rich. Getting rich is no longer my goal and I wouldn't have realized it if things had gone the way I planned. My goal now is to be happy, work in a job that is rewarding that allows me to help people, and to be able to have the flexibility to spend more time with my family. I want to have the freedom to take breaks on those 75 degree days in March to walk around the Park and enjoy the sunshine with MB & Parker (and the children to be named later). :) That is what I want now. We'll see if that is what God wants. Until next time.