Sports

Mom & Dad, Are We There Yet?

Me and/or my 2 siblings: Mom and Dad, are we there yet?

Mom and/or Dad (sometimes simultaneously): You ask me that one more time and I am turning this car around NOW! And I REALLY mean it this time!

When all of this started, I do not know what I envisioned but I am pretty sure that I was not planning on this lasting for as long as it has. This being COE-VID. [Side note: I have a friend who has somehow made it 2 words and she has hand gestures to go with it.] We are now coming up on 7 months into this very frustrating situation and I am guessing we have another year to go before things remotely get back to whatever “normal” will be “post-COE-VID”. It’s tempting to ask the question “are we there yet” or even “are we ALMOST there yet” but that seems to be a fruitless exercise at this stage for a variety of reasons. So off we go as life goes on….

I hope this finds all of you and your loved ones relatively happy, healthy (in all facets) and sane. If you are not in a good place for whatever reason, then PLEASE REACH OUT TO ME NOW and I WILL HELP! Remember that “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

How are we doing and managing COE-VID? As regular readers of this space know, we tend to be, uhm, very sports oriented and don’t get into episodic TV. Given that it took awhile for the respective professional sports leagues to figure out how they were going to manage player safety with competition, Marc and I needed to figure out a new post-dinner strategy. And I definitely needed to create a hard barrier between work and personal given the long-term work from home situation.

One day, Marc just compiled a list of shows that he thought might be interesting to check out. We came up with a plan where he would pick a show to watch and we would watch a season, I would pick a show and then we would jointly pick a show that we were interested in. Rotate through until we finished the series. It’s been entertaining as it’s been years since I cared about a show on an episode-by-episode basis. The plan has somewhat worked out.

Marc’s choices, which have actually all been very good, were Altered Carbon (I liked 1st season better than 2nd), The Umbrella Academy (I liked the 2nd season better than the 1st), The Americans (about to start season 5 and Keri Russell might be one of the more underrated actresses of our day), Veep (as much as I love and adore JLD, I had to stop as it was making me think of reality too much), Dear White People (overall very good) and I’m probably missing something else. Next up is Watchmen.

The ones we choose together tend to be cooking or travel related. We’ve watched Ugly Delicious, The Chef Show and Great British Bake Off. GBBO has LOADS of seasons so it is going to take awhile to get through all of them. But I actually like GBBO the best of all of the cooking shows that I have ever watched. The drama is purely about the end product and if the cake will collapse or not. It’s not about manufacturing BS between the competitors. We tried to get into Somebody Feed Phil and we both found it rather annoying. Loved Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat, but technically that was pre-COE-VID.

I’m still doing the podcast thing and I continue to suffer from having too many on my rotation. This one by Scott Galloway on “Algorithms and the Threat to Democracy” was a really good listen. The podcast subjects are mostly a mix of sports, entrepreneurship, fitness/health, tech/product, food and news. Many of them crossover into some of those other lanes. I’d say my faves are as follows:

Most of the time, I am listening to pods while I am working out as long as I am not doing some intense cardio where I need to be laser focused on my pace and my timing like my OPEX “Pain/Gain/Sustain” style workouts. Those efforts, plus my weightlifting prescribed by our coach, have also been a savior for me on all fronts.

Other things (outside of work) that we have been doing to stay sane while not being able to entertain as much as we typically do is hike where possible, The recent smoke and fires over a good chunk of the month have been a real bummer as September is typically a nice weather month in the Pacific Northwest. Fortunately we have been getting out for hikes and walks here and there, so that has been helpful mentally and emotionally for me.

I’ve been trying some other things like taking a couple of online classes, which I’ll get into more detail about at a later date. I also attempted to bake, which is not something I typically do. Regular readers of this space know that the other Chez Beck household member tends to do those things and he does them REALLY, REALLY WELL! Too much GBBO, me thinks.

Bringing it all back to “Mom & Dad, are we there yet?”, I think we’re about 1/3 of the way through this. So that means being really focused on how I can ensure I get the right amount of sleep, not work too much and not stress too much about things beyond my control. Making that clean break from my office upstairs to downstairs to the kitchen and family room to relax definitely helps with me winding down before bed. Yes, I realize that I am lucky that I have that space. All of the above activities help with that. I’ll close out with, once again, if you are struggling and think you need help, please ask.

Book Report #1 - 2020

So far the year has gotten off to a good start on the reading front, even with binge listening to some podcasts. I am anxiously awaiting the release of Susan Fowler’s book “Whistleblower”, which is due to be released tomorrow. I’m wrapping up “Nudge” by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. Definitely some food for thought in that one.

Other books that I have read this year include “Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee” by Casey Cep, “Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All of the Facts” by Annie Duke, “The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer” by Caitlin Murray and “Mission 27: A New Boss, A New Ballpark, and One Last Ring for the Yankees’ Core Four” by Marc Feinsand and Bryan Hoch. Duke’s book was definitely a great read and I’ve already been able to put some nuggets from that to good use.

My podcast listening for the most part has been focusing on listening to one on functional medicine by Dr. Mark Hyman. When I listen to his talks with his guests, this is where I hoped we could eventually get to with technology when I was at a healthcare start-up a few years ago. Much of functional medicine is about the root cause of disease as opposed to the treatment of it. And based on my own experience, I know that I know my body better than anyone so it is incumbent upon me to not just own that, but to take actions that help me live a healthier life. Much of what he says lines up with a book I referenced in an earlier blog post called “ROAR” by Dr. Stacy Sims around hormones and how much they impact everything you do.

Trying to get my overhead squat on. It’s been a long time work-in-progress.

Trying to get my overhead squat on. It’s been a long time work-in-progress.

One of the things I have been working on since mid-November has been switching my workout mix from more cardio, which includes high-intensity interval training, with some strength to more strength with some cardio thrown in. This has been as a result of reading the book above. It’s definitely a mindset shift and also impacts my podcast consumption. Some of the podcasts I listen to are more technical in nature, so it’s hard to pay attention when you are going hard in a workout.

I’ll get into a list of podcasts I listen to in a later post, but spoiler alert: IT. IS. A. LOT.

2020: Any Good Reading Recos?

I find it incredible that 2019 has come and gone so quickly. How did that happen? I have been trying to do more reading after getting completely sucked into podcasts over the past 2-3 years. I have tried audiobooks but I find that I tune out and don't stay as focused as I would like. Perhaps if I car commuted a fair amount, I might think differently. Anyway I'll list out the books that I found enjoyable in 2019, and welcome any recos you all may have for me to check out in 2020.

My favorite read this year was 11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King. I am definitely not a fan of King's genre, but know he is a very talented writer. But my friend who recommended it to me said it was different than the work of what he was typically known for. It has a number of twists and turns, and I did not find the ending predictable.

A close 2nd was ROAR by Dr. Stacy Sims. As someone who likes to be active, I get frustrated by the lack of studies on female athletes out in the public domain. Most studies are done on men and you learn in this book why (hint: men didn't want to account for women's monthly cycles in their studies). It definitely gave me much to contemplate in terms of my eating approaches around my workouts, as well as the type of workouts I do. I bought this book for a couple of training buddies as soon as I was done reading it. 

I finally got around to reading The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutual by Kirsten Grind. Given that I worked there during some key events in the book and followed the bank closely after, it definitely got into the nitty gritty of how the bank ended up where it did. I went through it pretty quickly, although not as quickly as Bad Blood by John Carreyrou, which I read in 2018.

Probably the most disturbing read of the year came in from Jon Krakauer - Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violet Faith. It's about a true story about a young mother and her child that were murdered by family members. I wouldn't go as far as saying that it gave me nightmares, but it reminded me of the depravity of some people in this world.

If you're into food, whether as an amateur chef or just someone who loves consuming it, Ruth Reichl's Save Me The Plums was a really breezy read and very enjoyable. It was about her time running the helm at Gourmet (RIP). As a fan of the Pivot podcast, I was keen to check out the work of one of the co-hosts, Scott Galloway. The Algebra of Happiness is a decent read that I wouldn't say provides any new insights, especially if you listen to him on the pod or are on his email lists. 

Michael Ovitz, who was one of Hollywood's 1st 'superagents', wrote a memoir predictably titled Who is Michael Ovitz? What made this a fun read was reading the behind the scenes stories around some of the most popular movies ever made were put together in terms of casting, funding, storylines, etc. 

After listening to the Recode Decode podcast with Kara Swisher interviewing Kai-Fu Lee, who is the author of AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley and the New World Order, I decided to read the book. Many takeaways, but the biggest one was gaining insight into how China does business and thinks about entrepreneurship compared to the West.

As a Product Manager, I had been following Marty Cagan for awhile and decided to read Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love. It is a solid read on why so many products fail because of a lack of customer understanding. Like Galloway, if you subscribe to Cagan's email lists, you'll find much of the same information in the book. Another good read on this topic is The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank.

I forgot how this book ended up in my Kindle queue but The Romanovs: 1613-1918 by Simon Sebag Montefiore was an interesting read. Montefiore talks in detail about the different personalities of each of the rulers such as Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great, and Nicolas II. Lots of really intricate stories told in this book.

Lastly, I read Ray Dalio's Principles. It was a dense read, to say the least. While I think the book has many good concepts, it is a lot to take in and put into practice. I think that since I read this, Dalio has released a higher-level version of the principles he outlines. 

If you have any good reads for me to check out, I'm definitely game to hear your suggestions.

Happy 2020 to you and your loved ones!
  

Day 7: Mexico City, Mexico --> Seattle, USA.

Today we decided to just take it easy in anticipation of it being a travel day back to the States. We have had a pretty full-on agenda for the 6 full days, so it was good to just wake up and not have anything to do other than head to the airport mid-afternoon. Marc and I have t-shirts that have "Squats and Tacos" on them with a pic of a taco. Unfortunately the ratio of squats to tacos was not where it needed to be this week so I got up to workout to sweat out said carbs. I have probably had more tacos (or a variety of a taco) in the past week than I have had in my life.

 I still had some homework to do for Lia, our trainer, but when I got to the gym, a true "bro-down hoe-down" was going down with a bunch of athletes from the aforementioned Maccabi Games. They took over the entire weights area, so I kind of just waited them out while knocking out a bunch of cardio. And then I got my accessory work in after they all did their thing this morning. After some breakfast, Marc and I decided to watch the 3rd place match of the Women's World Cup. I was cheering for England, but unfortunately I don't think they had any gas left in the tank. Sweden was the better side and they deserved to win for sure.

 We grabbed lunch at one of the restaurants in the hotel and I got to have tacos one last time before we made our way to the airport because why not? Oh, apparently a taco shortage is impacting Taco Bell in the US. [Hey Taco Bell, I might know a place where you can find some!] 

 Minimal traffic to airport. Amazingly the process of getting out of Mexico City is 100% easier than getting in and we breezed through security, although not sure if that is REALLY a good thing? The receptionist at the lounge told us we should get to the gate at a specific time, which was about 40 minutes before the flight took off. Well, we did that and we were the LAST people to board the plane! Jeez! A bit too close for comfort there!

 The trek home was fortunately uneventful and we are glad to be back after having a really excellent time in Mexico City. The people were lovely, the country was very scenic and the city itself was cool. The only thing that was a drag was the pollution, which made it challenging to breathe when stuck in a non-air conditioned Uber or taxi. We would definitely go back. We're really excited to be home to watch the USA take on The Netherlands. Hoping for a fantastic outcome for the USA ladies! #LFG

Day 4: Mexico City.

Marc slept in and I ventured to the gym to attempt to minimize the damage from all of the awesome food and wine we have been consuming. All hail cardio this week. We got some breakfast and then headed over with Rebecca and Jason to Mercado Medellin to meet with the chef who was going to lead our cooking class for the day. We had 2 other students joining us - an expat who lives in Mexico City and his friend visiting from Nashville. Chef Beto and his sous-chef, Mario, were on time and gave us the lay of the land for the day.

We walked around the market and sampled loads of things. Chicharrón. Mole paste. Some meat. Mexican coffee (followers of this space know that this is ALL Marc). Cheese. Chocolate. We learned that Mexico has 143 different chiles! We also tasted tlacoyo, which is a tortilla that has beans and chicharrónes in the tortilla itself and then you put in a filling, which in our case had chicken. Yummy. Beto took us by a tortilla maker that makes 14,000 tortillas per day and it happened in a room that was smaller than my garage. Amazing.

Amongst other tidbits gleaned from the tour, piñatas were actually created as a religious object used for teaching. The original ones had a 7-point star, one for each of the deadly sins. You were supposed to hit it 7 times at Christmas. Fruit used to be inside as a reward for eradicating the sins. At some stage, it was commercialized for birthdays and other fun events with candy coming out, but no one really knows when that transition happened. We also learned that chocolate didn’t always have a positive connotation when it came to Mexico. Sacrifice was involved. Anyway, the more you know....

We headed to Casa Jacaranda to start cooking. It’s a really beautiful space that is very contemporary but also very comfortable. Linda and Colin, the 2 other guests on the tour, were a lot of fun and it was great having them join in because we had no idea how much food was going to be made today. Spoiler alert: MUCHO (my Spanish skills are over the top, as you can read).

The group ended up making tamales (a single one is called a tamal - no ‘e’ at the end), green mole with shredded chicken, salsa verde, tomato salsa, tortillas from scratch, and some other things. Beto and Mario had us vote as a group if we wanted to do savory or sweet tamales, and Marc took a leadership role and immediately piped in with ‘SWEET!’ They were excited as most people choose savory. They weren’t super sweet by Marc Beck standards but it was fun to make those.

As we were eating mid-afternoon (with an 8pm dinner reservation - hmmmm.....), we also sampled some more Mexican wine, which has really turned out to be a great exercise. The wines have been unique and we have learned a bunch. It’ll be interesting to see what we can procure back home. Last night, one wine from Pujol was a star performer. The food that we all made was very tasty and the 2 other folks got to take out some leftovers since one of them was local. Great - nothing went to waste. After the meal, Beto and Mario led a mezcal tasting for whomever wanted to try. I think Marc and Jason tried about 5 or 6 of them. I’ll let Marc talk about the different styles, if he chooses. The cooking class was a great time and a nice way to learn about the food of Mexico.

We got back to the hotel after 5:30pm, which was a tad later than expected, with a quick turnaround time for another big time dinner at Quintonil. I crafted a plan so we could slow our roll at dinner and not eat straight away, plus we all agreed that we already were so stuffed to not have the tasting menu. The food at Quintonil was pretty outstanding. The wine service could have been a bit better, but overall we had some standout dishes with innovative presentation. I have never seen a salad presented as a profile within lettuce. Marc ate more seafood (amberjack in case you are wondering), which is a win for everyone. Escalmoles (aka ant larvae) are a regular thing on menus in Mexico. And the panna cotta was not what we were expecting, but enjoyable all the same.

So there you go. An action-packed and fun-filled day. Special thanks to Lisa for watching the other Women’s World Cup semi that was boring as heck and keeping me up to date via text.

Day 3: Mexico City

Got up to work out. Hot and humid in the gym but we did the work - 18 minutes of burpees, DB snatches, and sit ups.

Got some breakfast food and showered then met Jason and Rebecca to head over to the historical center to walk around.


We started in the Palacio de Bellas Artes.  We then zigzagged all over the historical area including the Postal Palace until back in the huge square known as Zócolo with the cathedrals and Palacio Nacional. It was cleared of all the concert setup we saw on Sunday and was magnificent without the clutter.

We entered Catedral Metropolitana which was beautiful. We then wandered even more streets getting into the very busy section of small businesses in every spot plus spilling onto the streets.

We started wandering back toward our lunch location and Jason spotted churros. That reminded him that we had seen an Eater Mexico City entry on churros so we mapped it at .8 miles away and went to El Moro. A great churros y chocolate appetizer before walking to lunch at La Opera with a TV tuned to WWC semi final game between USA and England.

We got some food and sat for 3+ hours resting from the morning walk and watching the game. It seemed better played by USA than last game but still intense, stressful to watch and full of fouls. But they won and play the final on Sunday.



We rested for about 90 minutes at the hotel before heading to Pujol. This was our highly anticipated dinner excursion. 3 out of 4 of us had the vegetarian maiz (corn) tasting menu and the other had the mar (sea) tasting menu. Everything was delicious and we are going back on Thursday for lunch taco tasting menu. It should be amazing too.

Making Some Changes

As followers of this feed know, Marc and I have been going to CrossFit for almost 8 years. It seems hard to believe that it has been that long, but it has. Over those years, we have had the opportunity to make new friends, challenge ourselves and have much fun. When I was burnt out during endurance training for half-marathons and marathons, CrossFit was a welcome respite. And who knew minions could do box jumps!?!

 Honestly, CrossFit was the first place I ever worked out in that had a positive and an inclusive atmosphere. No gym I ever went to prior had anything remotely close to that. I love how it is normal in every local to cheer on the last person finishing the workout. Keep in mind that each location is individually owned so no mandate exists to adhere to a "code".
It was awesome that we would travel to so many places and do a workout, and walk out with a bunch of local recos on how to spend our time in that region. Our family and friends tagged us as part of the "cult", yet a number of them soon followed and become even more "devoted members of the cult". That was entertaining, but it was also fun seeing them challenge themselves to do things they didn't think were possible for themselves. The phenomenon known as 'Harvelicious' is still the stuff of legend.

 Over those same years, Marc and I have had some events happen plus, you know, we're getting older. So we recently decided that we needed to change things. Our interests have changed over that time. Marc still swims, but I run less and we do more hiking together. I definitely still run on occasion plus I practice yoga, but little things kind of kept creeping in making us wonder if we needed to change other aspects of our training to meet our goals.

 Enter the 'Delaying Decrepitude' room. The 'No Excuses' room is still around, but is definitely used for more stretching, rolling, etc. But the "D Squared" room has some pretty cool things that will allow us to take our high intensity and strength training to the next level that is more inline with our individual goals. Marc has his goals and I have mine, and some of them do not overlap.

 We are excited for this next phase and what it will bring. Obviously no change comes without risk. But you can't grow if you're not willing to adapt and adjust. It will require some adjustments to our routine and more planning on our end, but overall we think this will help us achieve our goals. I have no doubt that we will continue to drop in at local CrossFits when we travel, but for now, it's time to focus on 'Delaying Decrepitude'. Stay tuned.

If You're Not Willing To Inspect, You Can't Expect

I heard the quote at a yoga workshop I took today. Sometimes I will hear quotes and truthfully, they won't resonate with me too much. It's probably more of a slight against me than about the quote. This one did strike a chord with me.

 Yeah, it can seem hokey to the many cynics in my life but if you think about it - when have you been able to proactively make impactful changes to your life without taking a hard look in the proverbial mirror? 

 The past 12 months have been challenging for me on every front. Personally, professionally and everything in between. It's required me to take some time to look within and see how I can be better. Better as a wife, an aunt, a sister, a friend, a professional and any other role that I have. Getting focused on what matters. Yoga and running have helped quite a bit. Our friends have been awesome. Family members have stepped up. But I found another ally in the aim to be more introspective - reading books.

 I find that reading books helps with those kinds of efforts because it requires a focus that reading current events, social media, etc. does not. And I am a current events junkie so it takes a fair amount of restraint to not check to see the latest and the greatest happenings locally, domestically and abroad. That said, the events of the past year have required me to focus and look within more than I can ever remember. It wasn't easy and most of it was not fun or enjoyable.

 One of the first things I decided as part of this new chapter is that I was going to significantly reduce multitasking. I started this around 11 months ago after an overwhelming amount of evidence started coming out that multitasking actually makes you LESS productive. The focus on reading books more recently has reminded me that I do have the ability to focus and to concentrate on the critical things in my life that need to be done. 

 As I was trying to assess what my next professional move was going to be (outside of consulting for small businesses), I was recommended to read Steve Blank's "The Four Steps to Epiphany". Given that I have been a co-founder 2x and have consulted on and off for a number of years, I was stunned that I hadn't read this sooner. I don't know if it made me feel better but it reinforced why certain decisions were flawed from the start in both endeavors. Let's just say that it was a HUGE EYE OPENER for me and if you're thinking about starting your own business, you should read it. 

 On a similar theme, I follow a number of entrepreneurs on Twitter including Ben Horowitz of a16z, a venture capital firm in the Bay Area. I enjoy his tweets and blog posts. When I found out he recently wrote a book called "The Hard Thing About Hard Things", I knew I needed to read it. He wrote very candidly about some of his biggest lessons learned and all of the warning signals he missed as he was making critical decisions. And this past year has been about making hard decisions and yes, some collateral damage resulted which is unfortunate.

 A recent read included "On The Edge" by Alison Levine, which recounts her experiences climbing Mount Everest and ties in some leadership lessons. It helped that I had read "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer a number of years ago and then saw the recent movie "Everest" which was based on the same events of 1996 but from a different perspective. As far as quick reads go, "Into Thin Air" was one of them but it was good to get a different perspective of events by Beck Weathers, who was with Krakauer on that ill-fated expedition. 

 Another fast paced read included "Orange Is The New Black". OK, I am probably one of the last people in the world to read this book but it was enjoyable and more so because a great friend gifted it to me when I broke my hand a couple of years ago and needed some reading material. I am only sorry that it took me so long to get to it. No, I don't watch the TV show and nor do I plan to. But I did find the book entertaining.

 Awhile back, one of my running buddies asked if I had read "The Boys In The Boat" by Daniel James Brown. I mistakenly said yes thinking that they were talking about "The Amateurs" by David Halberstam, which I had read 2 or 3 years ago. Both were about rowing and competing for the US Olympic team but in different eras. 

 Halberstam's book was very good. His books were very high quality. I particularly enjoyed "The Teammates", which discussed the friendship of 4 teammates from the Boston Red Sox (yes, this New York Yankees fan just wrote that) - Bobby Doerr, Dominic DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, and Ted Williams, who remained close for 60+ years. I'm fairly confident you wouldn't see professional sports players roadtripping today as these boys did, which is what was documented in the book. 

 Speaking of the Red Sox, a couple of years ago I read Terry Francona's "Francona: The Red Sox Years", which he wrote with Dan Shaughnessy of 'The Boston Globe. Why did I read a book on the manager of the Red Sox team that crushed me in 2004? I like Francona and can't believe the amount of BS he put up with when managing those teams. He always seemed gracious and thankful that in spite of the crap that he thought he was the luckiest guy around.

 I finally got around to reading the book by Brown while we were in Santa Barbara last weekend. Absolutely loved it. It made me sad following the story of the main character and his upbringing. It made me happy how much he was determined to overcome the many challenges he faced. Pick it up, download it to your e-reader or borrow it from your library when you have time. The research done for "The Boys In The Boat" was impeccable and was hard not to appreciate as the story unfolded in the book.

 In different ways, all of these books have reinforced what I heard in my yoga workshop today about basically looking within before having any expectations - whether of myself or of others. Taking the time to bring life's insanity "down a few pips" by reading helps me get more calm and focus on the goals I have set for myself. I know that being a bit more introspective has helped me achieve some of those goals and am hoping that it will continue to be rewarding for me on all fronts.

Should Harv Start Writing An Advice Column?

Dad has lots of Harvisms. We covered this previously a number of years ago in the blog with the always reliable "take a steam shower, you'll feel better" quote from Harv. It's basically his answer to anything when you are not having a good day. Try it before you mock it. 

This quote surfaced recently when talking to a friend about Harv's latest fundraising endeavor with his local CrossFit on raising money for Barbells for Boobs. She has followed his exploits when Lisa or I quote him on Facebook, and said that Harv should have an advice column. I sighed and said "oh boy", which was met with a response of "he probably has some real gems for advice".

More "oh boy". So this friend happened to be suffering from some allergies so I sent over the above mentioned blog entry as advice that she should take. Needless to say, it worked and now she wanted more Harvisms. 

"Do as I say, not as I do" - this one was generally used when he was driving 90mph in upstate New York going to Oswego.

"Those pants will come back in style" - although this pretty much referred to HIS entire wardrobe. In the case of the picture, we're talking about a sweater that was bought in the early 90s and was worn to a 40th anniversary surprise party in 2008. I am willing to bet that he still has this sweater in 2015. Unfortunately I have not been able to dig up a pic of him in the aforementioned pants. 

This sweater was so 'ancient' that it was featured in the picture collage that Lisa put together showcasing the fun times of Harv and Yvette over the course of their 40-year marriage (now we're at 46 and closing in on 47). 

Since Harv joined the community at CrossFit Rapture, he has come up with new Harvisms at a rapid clip. He actually has pretty much invented his own CrossFit nomenclature. Why call them kettlebells when you can call them 'kettles'? Pull-ups are 'chin-ups'. Hamstrings started as 'hammies' and then went to 'hams'. Perhaps Harv should have some bacon post-WOD? Or maybe he is referring to Hamm from "Toy Story"?

Harv also likes saying post-WOD that he thinks "there's a conspiracy" between Marc, the Brothers Arikian (Dad's coaches and owners of CF Rapture), Lisa, Jarrett and me. I don't know what he's referring to since we're all pretty upfront about what we're trying to achieve at CrossFit.

OK, I found another awesome sweater pic from the late 80s/early 90s thanks to Lisa (see below). Still can't find a pic of him in these infamous pants that probably have gone in and out of style multiple times since the early 70s. We'll get a pic in a future blog post. 

One of my all-time faves was when we were playing soccer and he would yell to one of us "work it, work it, work it" as the ball was being dribbled up the field. Well it turns out Lisa was still playing in Massapequa when 'Pretty Woman' came out. I happened to be home for the weekend to see Lisa play and watched Harv do his thing. So I went behind him and channeled Kit DeLuca with this gem (note you need audio turned on). It generated many laughs from the parents on our sideline. Of course Harv said, "Very funny, Jill! Very funny!" 

I would have bought dinner that night but that would have violated another Harvism. When I was delivering newspapers (before I was legally allowed to because you know...), I would meet him at the local greasy spoon after my route was done on Sunday. The check would come and he would always say, "Don't worry, Jill. I got this. I don't want to ruin your amateur standing." 

Yeah, that's my Dad. He's pretty freakin' awesome. I might consider renting him out for parties... for the right price.

If you have Harvisms to share, please do.... we know many exist.

WWC 2015 vs. 1999 - Differences.


The town where Lisa and I grew up was very soccer crazy. Most kids played in the local league growing up at one time or another. I never even gave it a thought that it would be possible to make a living as a soccer player. Then 1999 changed the game for so many, and it looks like 2015 is the result of all of the hard work of the '99ers.

 We recently had the opportunity to attend the Women's World Cup Final in Vancouver, Canada - a quick drive from Seattle. Lisa, my sister, and I have been working on this for just over a year and while good planning always helps, we had some luck along the way. This luck manifested itself with the USWNT making it to the final and then being right above the goal where they would score their 1st 4 goals.

 The game was shocking in a good way, given how the 1st 20 minutes or so played out. The crowd was at 95%+ USA fans and it was loud. In short, it was awesome. We rented a house in Kitsilano, just outside of the main downtown core, which made it easy to walk in and out of the city. Marc and I even went to yoga at a sibling studio of the one we go to in Seattle. How times have changed (at least until Marc is back to 100%)!

 I thought it was worth discussing the differences between what my viewing experience was in 1999, when Lisa and I attending the opening match for the USWNT in NJ and watched the final in a bar in NYC, and what it was over this past month in 2015.

 In 1999, it's safe to say that the players were marketed as "All American girls" in the sense that they were pretty, athletic and feminine. A couple were mothers so they were deemed "the ultimate soccer moms", which was good. Most of the attendees I saw in person or on TV were either people like me (women who played when they were younger or current playing in rec leagues) or young girls who were currently playing soccer in youth leagues. 

 The only men you typically saw (outside of the WWC final at the Rose Bowl) were likely fathers taking their daughters to matches. I am pretty sure that no men's clothes were available for sale for the Women's World Cup. The market wasn't there. When Lisa, Keri (a long-time friend of ours) and I watched that final in 1999 at that bar, we had one TV on the match. The other TVs were on MLB and other assorted sports going on that day. By the time the match went into OT, 90% of the TVs had been shifted to watch USA vs. CHN. And it was loud. Unfortunately that momentum did not translate to success in a US professional league for women.

 Fast forward to 2015 - 16 years later. If you go to the Nike website, you can buy men's and boy's gear that commemorate the US Women's National Team. This is definitely progress. The other major observation was the demographic of attendees of the USA matches. Many, many more men. Lots of boys. The American Outlaws have had huge showings at USWNT matches and it was no different at the final. They are awesome.

 On our current WNT, we have stars who are openly gay and no one seems to care. This is fabulous. We have the Moms, which is great. What is even better is that a new focus is in play that the women are talented players with tremendous athleticism and skill. Yes, we have players who are capitalizing on their looks to snag more endorsement deals. Given the pay disparity between men and women for the World Cup, I have no issue with that. But those players who may not have received endorsement deals in 1999 are starting to receive them now (Abby Wambach). And those players are role models to the youngsters playing on local teams. Everyone is different and it's ok to embrace who you are.

The women's game is growing. Parity is improving. You saw England and Australia make great runs this year, and many of those players have other jobs (READ: non-soccer) that help pay the bills. Here's hoping that the success this past month translates into improved compensation and more opportunities for those ladies.

Oh and we had a great time with the #teamof8 in Vancouver. Many much needed laughs. 

13 Feb - ¡Vamos! (y Gauchos, ¡Dios mío!)

Today Jill heard the word vamos repeatedly and I had 2 Gaucho encounters, but more on those things later.

We started with a tour of Buenos Aires with our guide named Ana. She took us to where Buenos Aires began in the Plaza de Mayo. We walked around and she informed us of what happened during the beginning. We also stepped into the church on this square that was run by the former archbishop of Buenos Aires who is now the Pope.

We learned that when Eva Perón (aka Evita) died, she was so revered that the memorial lasted 14 days and would have gone longer but the doctor/embalmer couldn't let it go any longer. The country also completely ran out of flowers and had to import some.

We learned that the coffee culture comes from all the Italian immigrants early on but here it is more about hanging out and not the coffee itself. Many cafes are in historic buildings and the government has paid for much restoration inside. Many have interesting art, remnants, stained glass, and more almost like a tourist destination themselves.


We entered a market or two in San Telmo and were told about how they drink mate (pronounced ma-tay). At this point, Ana mentioned Gauchos and both Jill and I laughed so I had some explaining to do. I told her the UC Santa Barbara mascot is a Gaucho. I had to explain the concept of mascots a bit.
Then Jill googled some images while we were in the car going to our next stop and showed them too her. She started laughing and not seeing much resemblance other than the mustache.

We then stopped at the Boca Juniors stadium where Diego Maradona played at one time. We then walked through "La Republica de La Boca" near the stadium that used to have a statue of Maradona in the balcony but now that the Pope is from Argentina he apparently is worthy enough to replace the soccer legend in the balcony. You can't make this stuff up.


Jill found a great parrilla place for lunch - La Cabrera - that is insanely crazy about the steaks. We got a huge rib eye along with several side dishes and potato sticks with sautéed sweet onions all over them. It was delicious.

After lunch we walked through Palermo over to Recoleta where Eva Perón is buried and discovered this huge cemetery with insane mausoleums for a long way in all directions. We took some pictures and eventually found the Peron family one as well.


From here, we got in a taxi in a rush to get back to the hotel. Let's just say that getting a taxi where lots of tourists hang out may not be all that it is cracked up to be. The seat belts did not work, the interior (and likely exterior) was falling apart, and the meter ran far more quickly than the ones we've gotten at the hotel or after a meal. Very glad to get out of that thing and wash our hands (literally and figuratively).

When we got back to the hotel, Jill rushed off to REV Microcentro CrossFit while I went down to the pool to swim. I swam hard for 45 minutes and came up to shower. Upon Jill's return, she knocked and I asked who was there. "¡Vamos!" is all I am hearing on the other side. I inform her that means "Let's go!" as I open the door. She then informs me that she just did a tabata workout at the Crossfit and heard that word A LOT. Cracked me up.

For the evening, we went to a tango show at Gala Tango and got a front row seat that also happened to be the table that all the performers walked by as they got on the stage or walked off. Wow! The show was amazing and the athleticism / technical abilities of these folks is off the charts. I got my first Pisco Sour and it was good while Jill got an Argentine Mojito that she actually liked (she sticks to wine these days).

During the show, my second Gaucho encounter of the day occurred. One of the performers was classically dressed and danced with Gaucho balls (rope with a hard ball on one end) that he used to strike the floor in this amazing rhythm much like a drummer while he danced around and pointed these things at the audience. Very fun evening of entertainment.

'Schmuckitude'!

[NOTE: Given that this is mostly a political post, it should be noted that this only represents the thoughts of Jill. Marc's thoughts will remain his, unless he chooses to share.]

 I don't think it is an actual word according to the Oxford University Press, but if 'physicality' can somehow become a word and be overused by every sports analyst, then 'schmuckitude' certainly has its place.

 I would argue that basically any elected official, particularly the ones who spend at least part of their year residing in "the other Washington" deserve an "overachieve" in their 'schmuckitude', with a couple of notable exceptions. BTW since I live in Washington State folks, DC is "the other Washington". And it certainly seems appropriate given that I assign failing grades to both the executive (yes, Obama gets an 'F' for his bullying and temper tantrums) and the legislative branches for their lack of leadership and understanding of the woes of the average citizen. 

 But Senator John McCain had a great quote today. He said, "Leadership, I must fully admit, was provided primarily by women in the Senate." And of course, Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) deflected the compliments with saying it was "truly collaborative effort," adding that all in the group deserved "kudos" for working on the deal. McCain joked that he had won "a small side wager" from Collins in the course of their negotiations. Hmmm. Maybe more women are needed in positions of power. 

 I was sad when Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) had decided not to run for re-election as she had been another common sense member of the Senate, but she had enough of the extreme partisanship that has taken over both parties in Congress. The good news is that she has been active on Twitter and on other social media trying to hammer home that Congress should use common sense for the good of the American people. I hope she is effective.

 So goody. The Democrats say they won and the Republicans will bring up many of these issues in 3-4 months (sans Obamacare, which does nothing to solve the real problems with our healthcare system). We'll get to go through this again! Yeah, President Obama and Congress! Continue to embody 'schmuckitude'! Oh by the way, you all suck.

Speaking of women in positions of power, I enjoyed reading this interview with Condi Rice about her recently announced role with the selection committee of the new College Football Playoff System. Regardless of her politics, she seems just as qualified as anyone to be sitting at that table given her background, yet it is still sad about the sexism that exists regarding her selection.

Switching gears ever so slightly, this Q&A with Roger Federer cracked me up. Between this and this interaction with a fan a couple of months ago, he is my all-time favorite male tennis player.

 Had a great time with friends over the past weekend. My awful golf game showed up (my good one never does), but I got to be outside, and laugh with Marc and friends. Life is good.

 And finally, Mr. Rosen -- I also love David Burke Townhouse. Thanks for sharing your story and your humor with a wide audience. It brought a huge smile to my face reading about you.

Title IX, Microsoft, Yahoo! and JDRF...

It's that time of the year where we shamelessly plug our annual JDRF dinner being held at Chez Beck. It's on Saturday, September 28th. Feel free to drop me an email if you are interested in attending. It's a multi-course dinner paired with wines with ALL proceeds going straight to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. If you cannot attend and are interested in donating, feel free to donate using this link. BTW, we are already halfway full so snag your spot(s)!

 For those of you who are interested in Title IX or the advancement of women in the sports field in general, I have been catching up on ESPN's series called "Nine for IX". People like Pat Summitt, Lesley Visser, Mary Decker Slaney, Katarina Witt and Venus Williams are profiled. It's well worth the $10 to download the series off of iTunes and watch the episodes. The different shows have been educational, cringe-worthy (in terms of how much some women put up with) and humorous. Note that one or two of the episodes may be a bit graphic for younger viewers.

 It's brought back some great memories, particularly watching the '99ers (1999 US Women's World Cup Soccer Team) due to catching those games with Lisa, my sister, and a good friend, Keri back at Giants Stadium. The final was absolutely riveting and I remember watching with Lisa, and by the time overtime came around, the very packed sports bar switched from watching baseball to the women's final. Absolutely awesome.

 As I was catching up on some reading, I stumbled upon this profile of Marissa Mayer in Business Insider. It's a long read, but I found it engaging and well written. It doesn't say Mayer is a savior, but I also find that it doesn't go the typical "well the woman is a b***h because she is forceful with what she wants". That said, the title of the article is more salacious and infers it is some kind of big expose. No, I haven't seen the Vogue spread yet. She's rich, relatively young and very successful. Mayer will be well presented in the magazine.

 I found I was more intrigued by Mayer's style and her career outlined in the article than by Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" circles advocated in her book. Sandberg's statements did not resonate with me at all as she seemed to say you had to either be a mother of children or completely dedicated to your career to be 100% fulfilled. Plus what did she actually do in her highly influential positions at Google and at Facebook to make those companies more equal in terms of pay for men and women? Or being promoted to higher positions? I don't begrudge her success but she could have led by example which would have been way more powerful. Don't tell me. Show me.

 As for the latest with Microsoft and SteveB leaving, I have no idea who will replace him. The recent re-org does present an interesting question for the CEO candidates. Are they going to have to commit to the strategy that he spent over a year working on, or will they be able to create their own strategy? SteveB's departure was long overdue, and clamoring for other unpopular execs (but popular with Steve) to leave has started in earnest. Guess who? :-)

 But I do wonder how employees feel given that they were still trying to figure out how things were going to shake out for them in the recently announced re-org, and now will wonder what a new CEO will want to implement? I am sure Kara Swisher of AllThingsD will have her sources working overtime to find out the skinny.

 SteveB: Since you made around $800 MILLION yesterday just because MSFT soared due to your retirement news, how about you save the taxpayers of Seattle some money and just pay for the arena for the Sonics yourself? Thanks!

Phil the Thrill.

I wouldn't say I am a huge golf fan, compared to say baseball or football (US), but after taking up the game once I moved to Seattle, I definitely started to appreciate it more. I never was a fan of Tiger Woods. He just always seemed to be arrogant and a poor sport, especially given how much success he had playing golf and how much money he made as a result. The events in late 2009 only cemented my disdain for him. His conduct on the course has finally become a topic for discussion, which was well overdue since it seemed like sportscasters just kissed his rear for fear of angering Tiger. Oooh.

My beloved grandmother, Mollie, was a Phil Mickelson fan. I remember watching the US Open with her in 2002 on Father's Day when it was played just down the road from us at Bethpage Black. I somehow became a Phil fan on that Sunday afternoon even though he lost to Tiger. He just always seemed like he knew that he had it really good and knew his role was to golf and entertain the fans. And he played to win, and not just collect a paycheck.

Phil can be maddeningly frustrating to watch. Winged Foot. Merion. But when he pulls something out of nowhere, you get just as rewarded. His win yesterday at the Open Championship was a shock and thoroughly enjoyable. And he has done something Tiger hasn't - Phil knows how to win majors from behind. 

 I have no idea what Phil is like in private, but I know that he realizes his job is to be with the fans and thank them for supporting the game, in addition to golfing. I like that. I LOVE that he doesn't slam his club down when he hits a poor shot, swear incessantly after a mishit, and doesn't treat interviewers like garbage when he has a bad round.  So congrats, Phil, and I know Mollie had a celebratory G&T "upstairs" in your honor.

 Of course we have the other side of the spectrum in bad behavior in Ryan Braun, who finally admitted to taking PEDs. I hope the sample collector who Braun demonized and caused to lose his job sues the pants off of him. Braun was so adamant about the collection process being flawed and blaming this person that one can hope that karma comes back to Braun's checkbook. Speaking of reformed cheaters, I always wonder if Lance Armstrong ever apologized to Emma O'Reilly after making her life miserable?  

 Moving back to being positive, I had a good week on the running front. I actually hit my assigned paces/HR zones on my runs this past week, so I am incredibly pleased. The work is paying off, but we have so much more work to do to get me where I need to be for my race. My stretching program is helping and more routine, so that is good. I definitely got inspired watching my former coach race and place 2nd in her age group in yesterday's Lake Stevens 70.3 Ironman.

 Moving on to food, we were able to hit Crush for dinner -- one of Marc's faves. We chatted with Jason (chef and owner) about his new restaurant, our visit to Quay in Sydney and the awesomeness of the Big Green Egg. Really great restaurant with the food and service, plus we opted to sit at the bar so we saw some of the interesting prep they do in the kitchen.

 I signed us up for a Gluten-Free Doughs class (focused on pasta) at the Pantry at Delancey. It wasn't Paleo-oriented but it was good to learn a few more tricks when working with non-traditional flours when making pasta/dumplings from scratch. We only wished that the class started at 5:30pm instead of 6:30pm because we didn't eat until 9:15pm, which is a tad late for us. I don't think we're at the "early bird special" stage yet, but still... we're not in NYC either. That said, I am somewhat inspired to experiment some more on this front with Paleo "doughs". Stay tuned for more in this space after last year's sweet potato gnocchi (success after FIVE attempts!)

 I also attempted some other dishes in the kitchen last week. Two of them are Paleo versions of existing recipes from 'Avec Eric' by Eric Ripert and 'Simply Ming One Pot Recipes' by Ming Tsai. A third night consisted of a meal from 'Practical Paleo' by Diane Sanfilippo so obviously no versioning required to make it Paleo.

21 March : Port Douglas & The Reef

We are now close the the Great Barrier Reef which is made up of many, many reef systems all up and down the coast here. It goes right up to the edge of the continental shelf. The further north away from the population the clearer the conditions. Also being out further and next to the continental shelf helps bring in some fresher, cooler water currents.

We booked the Poseidon which carries up to 90+ people of mixed scuba and snorkeling although on our day it was 50-60. +Jill and I were picked up from our hotel along with others at other hotels on the way to the marina. It was raining which was softening the mood as people got on the bus.

We arrived on the boat and checked in which included a picture and removing shoes. We hung out as other people filled the boat and then received our safety briefing while leaving the harbour. Once that was over with, we went upstairs for our snorkeling instructions and equipment. By the time this was all done, we were more than halfway out to Agincourt Reef which is a huge 10km by 5km reef on the outer portion near the continental shelf.

The divers entered immediately upon mooring and we slipped in shortly thereafter. This was so cool and amazing to swim around in! We rented a nice underwater camera due to the fact that I've managed to drop the non-GoPro multiple times and lost at least one of the sealing doors. The downside to this company is that they BURN our photos onto a CD. Who carries around something to read those with?

Our boat took us to two other mooring sites on Agincourt because the weather out there was superb with little wind and much sun. I found our second site to be the best of the three. We took so many photos that the guy had to burn 2 CDs for us (which he deserves for forcing these things upon us). We had a blast on the boat and this was a day I've been waiting for since we set foot in Australia (and many years before)...

14 March : Whitsunday Islands

After a nice breakfast, we headed up around the northern tip of Whitsunday Island and down the east coast. The destination was Tongue Bay to anchor the boat and go ashore for a short hike to a lookout of Hill Inlet followed by a walk down to the beach to see sting rays, lemon sharks, many types of fish, and dugong. We saw all of these other than the dugong which is a bummer since the last several boats all saw them out here. The water was a little murky and most of the photos were a little too far away to realistically keep.

 Before, during, and after lunch in Tongue Bay, I was on turtle lookout. I saw one but it took its breath (or breaths) and departed before the camera could zoom over on it. These things go down for 45 minutes at a time and slow their heart rate down at night so they can be down for 10+ hours. We headed north to Luncheon Bay.

 As we approached the bay, I was so excited. This is our first snorkel in Queensland and there are so many fish and coral. I was first into the stinger suit sitting with my mask and snorkel over by the ladder ready to be taken by dingy over to the drop point. Of course, not everyone was so ready to get in the water on a moment notice so I spent 20 minutes baking in the sun in a 1mm black suit. Ouch.

 +Jill and I saw a ton of fish and I tried to take good underwater photos but the water was just slightly too murky and it was partly to mostly cloudy obscuring the sun just enough. A lot of the photos ended up not very interesting. "You had to be there!" We did get a few shots that are worthwhile.

 I was the last one out of the water to head back to our boat. Cocktail time! Then we had a great 3 course dinner by the onboard chef. It is amazing what he can do with such a small space and he took into account several allergies or "requests" with aplomb.

6 March : Noosa Heads

We began the day thinking hike. This happens often.

I got up early to swim in the hotel pool. One other lady was swimming slowly and aimlessly around. Despite the fact that I was doing heads down crawl back and forth, she managed to cut me off twice with so much free room to meander about. 

+Jill and I went over to a place called Aromas so I could get good coffee and I ended up with a good breakfast too. After we packed the day pack and grabbed some fresh lunch to go, we walked along the beach walk to the ranger/info station to glean details on the walks.

We changed our minds on the hill due to lack of scenery. Despite my desire to avoid backtracking, we made the right choice and did the ocean walk - mostly out and back.

This truly is a surfers paradise due to the multiple point breaks that allow riding waves quite far. It was fun walking along and watching the surfers in the water as well as those walking the same path to get out to surf it all again.

Clouds were coming and going but we got some great photos on the walk that was essentially flat. We ate our lunch out at a point and I meandered around taking photos.

Once we got back, I changed into my bathing suit and we headed to the closest beach with lifeguards so I could swim "within the flags" which is what you do over here. The sign today (which I did not read) said don't go out past waist deep. I was out way past any standing depth. I guess I didn't really need to swim between the flags given that I wasn't obeying their rules.

The current was relentless and I was constantly swimming sideways just to stay at the same point relative to shore. I had a great time out there and then we went for a little hotel pool action (after showering the sand off).

We drove a few minutes to a different area of Noosa to go to a restaurant recommended by Chris and Shelly. Chocolate dessert was pretty good - Jill can chime in on other stuff. We ended up talking to a couple that have a vacation home here but live in the Sydney area. Nice way to end the day.

4 Mar : Brisbane --> Lamington National Park --> Surfers Paradise --> Brisbane

After breakfast, we grabbed a lunch to go for our hike of the day. It was reasonably pleasant in Brisbane and on the road for most of the journey. +Jill wanted to go to Mt Warning but it is closed because of all the rain they have received in the past 4-6 weeks. So we decided to go to Lamington Natl Park (Coomera Circuit) which isn't closed but happens to be a rainforest. As we got up into the mountains, it got darker, and grayer, and ... more rainy. Hence the rainforest. It wasn't too bad as we exited the car that was the ONLY vehicle parked there but as we were looking at maps and trail options in the information centre, it started dumping.

As we drove the additional 1k to the shortest option (a 2k return hike), it was coming down and I declared I would happily wait in the car while Jill walked the trail.

Jill decided to abandon this ship as well - I'm just too scarred from hours in the rain to the top of Mount Kozi. We took a few photos from the car at turnouts and descended back to sunshine, vitamin D, and the Gold Coast.

En route we stopped at a small outlet mall where Jill got 2 bathing suits and I got some new sunglasses for under AUS$175 total. Once we got to Surfers Paradise, most of the beaches were closed. Given that we were dressed for hiking and not swimming, that was fine I guess. I walked the beach while Jill did a 5k run along the coast. We ended up salvaging the day decently. I love hanging out at beaches and even more when the alternative is rain soaked walking tracks.

We walked over to Lure Restaurant where Jill ordered bugs and mud crab for her meal. Both of these shellfish require digging out the meat. Jill did a marvelous job and they gave her a bib which came in handy. I ate my entire main before the mud crab was extracted and ready to eat. So I sat sipping a glass of port while watching Jill consume the meal she worked so hard on removing from the shell.