Farewell, Commute

This is my last week working at Eddie Bauer in Bellevue, as I'm pumped to start social media marketing at MultiCare in Tacoma (253!) in August. I'm changing my buzz phrases from "social commerce" to "social good." Running social media from the ground up at a major retail brand seemed to be the ideal -- in most ways it was -- but it was also a serious commute. Another long commute.

My first long commute was in high school. I had finished junior high at my parochial school in grade 8. However, the local Federal Way schools, where we lived, were three year high schools. In the interest of the fewest transitions, I took on more bus transfers and commuted from Federal Way to Stadium High School in Tacoma. I never had a regret. I caught a ride with Dad out in the morning and bussed it 90 minutes home. Many high schools were closer, but I took the three buses and crossed county lines every day to go to Stadium. Scott had a similar commute and took the bus, though always earlier, so at least I had a teammate in travel. When I started cooking at the restaurant Wednesday thru Friday nights, I was gone 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. with soccer practice in between in the spring. I grew my work ethic and an early tolerance for commuting.

To boot, I took rotations and drove Sergio to Mountlake Terrace for soccer practice and Nina to South Hill Puyallup for dance class. I put in the mileage when I got my license.

Through college and after, I never had a commute like that again. However, when I began considering the offer to work at Eddie Bauer, to commute from Tacoma to Bellevue, it didn't make for an easy decision and didn't make for an easy transition. At first it was fun, even those days of standing on the bus across Lake Washington, but the scenery grew old and the repetitive cycle of travel lost its luster. Being the good wife, Amanda made a change and took work north in Seattle. We have worked on opposite sides of the lake, but at least I had a teammate in travel again. We drove 90 minutes each way and had an adventure from time to time to pass the time, and of course there was #snOMG.

Even with the wife's company and the "commution solution" dialed, I couldn't help but feel like we were missing out on an easier lifestyle. To demonstrate my perspective, here's the Parable of the Mexican Fisherman that I first read in The 4-Hour Workweek (Recommended!).

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the Mexican.

"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs ... I have a full life."

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!  You should start by fishing longer every day.  You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.

"And after that?" asked the Mexican.

With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.

"Twenty, perhaps 25 years," replied the American.

"And after that?" the Mexican asked.

"Afterwards? That's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?"

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

Most people work for a lifetime to give themselves time and options in the future, often late in life. I've made the decision and have the opportunity to make that time for myself now, simply by continuing to do what I enjoy and know best, what I got my master's for, and closer to home. Easy as that. I made a big bet to buy a house in Tacoma a few years back, and the value of that decision just grows with this change.

I wouldn't trade what I've been able to do at Eddie Bauer over the past year, including many great trips (Alta/Jackson, Squaw Valley, Vail) and frequent successes in growing the brand primarily on Facebook. I will miss my colleagues and the good ladies of marketing who are equal parts, productivity, humor and entertainment. I was proud to be affiliated with a well-known brand and, being far too vain, I have enjoyed the perks of affiliation, especially by acquaintance. You get a lot of acquaintances, names and avatars, in my line of work. However, I think I'd rather measure life by the time I spend with those I love than the perceptions of those I know little of.

I like the idea of being home more and getting back those 15 hours a week that I commit to commuting -- not working, but commuting to and from the office. I like the idea of not having to choose between working out and dinner, blogging or breakfast. I like the idea of having time for getting a dog if I want one, which I do, or someday being a not-always-working dad, and just 5 minutes away from home or school.

I will miss parts of the commute, the bus culture and the views of the cities.

I will miss most those one-on-one, long talks in the car with my wife, the only person in the world who could tolerate/understand that the most significant time I've shared my love for her on this blog to date is buried at the bottom of a post about commuting. I love you and will miss this era of our lives almost as much as I'm excited about the next.

Equal Servings of Food, Friends and Family

I haven't written a weekend or week recap in awhile, but this last week was especially jam-packed and worth the details. Last Monday was of course Fourth of July and we went out to the Chaffee beach house in Key Center, where I spent many summer days in high school and college. Here's the crew.

On Tuesday we hit up the 6th Ave Farmers' Market, just 3 blocks from our house, and got some dogs at the ever-tasty Red Hot.

On Wednesday we walked to Gibson's, my new favorite frozen yogurt spot. I crave the cake batter flavor like a pregnant woman.

On Thursday, we ate dinner at The Spar, that one Tacoma landmark that I had never made time for. I should have gone years earlier. Excellent pub food.

On Friday, we had a glass of wine at Enoteca and then joined the Chaffee clan for some house-hunting in NE Tacoma and ate some good ol' KFC for dinner. We realized that KFC has never actually served BBQ chicken after some confusion at the drive-thru and a near argument with the attendant manning the microphone. It was a sad struggle for our car full of educated, privileged people not to understand the KFC drive-thru menu.

This image is at the wine bar, not KFC, for those of you wondering.

On Saturday I continued my EPIC cabinet refinishing project. Sanding takes a lifetime. I'll update again with photos when I get the project finished in my next life. After the hard labor, we enjoyed a delish meal courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. CaptainChunk. I also learned that BBQing is technically "smoking" meat whereas BBQing as it is commonly referred to in the Pacific NW is actually grilling. #themoreyouknow

The week wrapped up on Sunday with Art on the Ave -- by far the best festival in Tacoma. It was a great scene with plenty of music, food vendors and a healthy dose of Tacoma pride, including one guy's shirt that simply read "253 > 206." Amazing photo grabbed from the Weekly Volcano.

We bailed from Art on the Ave early to attend my Aunt Rhonda's master's graduation party. She was there forced to concede that even though she's had the handicap of a full-time job and raising three adolescent boys, she finished her degree AFTER I did, therefore making her inferior. I win again!

On the Water, Drinking Wine in Chelan

We spent last weekend in Chelan. Sick!

We kicked off our first morning with a drive up one of the hills for views that Scott insisted we see.

We saw some paragliders and parasailers take off, which was cool.

Then we had to get some boat time in.

I managed to dislocate my shoulder on my way into the boat with a clumsy fall. Good thing we had plenty of booze to take the edge off the pain.

Scott took advantage of the warm-ish weather to get some wakesurfing in.

Scott and Nina made amends for years of love-hate fighting.

On to Day 2 of boating -- an even better day.

Scott was back on the wake surfboard.

Amanda gave it a try. This was the furthest her head stayed above water in her attempts.

Then it was my turn.

This was what my best attempt looked like:

Scott and I both got bloody noses in the water, and in the same nostril! We ride together, we bleed together, son!

We spent downside helping each other manscape and ate man food, like bacon popcorn.

The Chaffees rolled out early and the rest of us went wine tasting.

We ate at Lake Chelan winery, where Amanda had become its newest wine club member. My wife is very classy. My wife also yelled at these cooks to pretend like they were working just to take this picture.

We were very excited to eat.

And we all did a little damage to the wallets buying wines at each stop.

Salud!

Cleaning Our Engines With the General Motors Diet

I just completed* a week of the General Motors Diet, Amanda's idea of a slimming solution to get our hot bods ready for summer. In the end, the gym just didn't work out (pun). Especially after some big party weekends in June, I offered to join my wife in the diet for partner support. For better or worse, in sickness and in diet, right? The General Motors Diet is allegedly some recommendation the automaker made for its factory workers in the 80s, though the association to the car maker proves to be untrue according to this NYTimes Op-Ed. It's also similar to the well-known Cabbage Soup Diet. The basic regimen is a lot of raw fruits and vegetables for the first few days and then some red meat and rice toward the end of the week. A diet that includes red meat? I'm on board with that. Of course, you can also eat as much of a cabbage soup recipe as you'd like.

I shouldn't call what we did a diet, I should call it a cleanse.  They're the same activity in my book, but cleanses are so much acceptable according to the status quo. Yes, let's call this the General Motors Cleanse to hereafter keep positive thoughts and make a loose relation to an engine flush.

Here's my take of the diet, day by day:

Monday, Day 1: Only fruits, no bananas. This wasn't a bad start, maybe because I ate pesto pasta the previous night and I was working off reserves. I ate a lot of blueberries, strawberries and raspberries during the workday. I love those berries! We ate some cabbage soup for dinner. Not bad! I could do this. Let the record show that Amanda cheated on this day by eating a banana Jelly Belly "on accident."

Tuesday, Day 2: Only vegetables and a potato. We ate baked potatoes for breakfast, which hit the spot but not quite like hashbrowns. I packed a bunch of baby carrots and snowpeas. I ate too many snowpeas for lunch and had a gag reflex. I just never felt full. The pasta reserves wore off, dammit! We ate some more soup and it was OK. On this night, Amanda officially defined popcorn as a vegetable seeing as it comes from corn kernels. I didn't argue. I still went to sleep hungry. The honeymoon was over.

Wednesday, Day 3: Fruits and vegetables only, no bananas or potatoes. I considered committing a crime in the morning to get arrested. Prison must have a better menu than this. I ate a bunch of strawberries and carrots. I craved bread and frozen yogurt and fantasized about those chocolate fountains that you dip strawberries and cheese and bread in. Glorious chocolate fountains! We ate more popcorn, I mean vegetables, at night.

Thursday, Day 4: Bananas and skim milk. This is an odd, odd restriction. I'm already lactose intolerant (thanks adulthood!) so the combination sounded like a day in the bathroom. Coincidentally, my long awaited day trip to Facebook HQ in Palo Alto was also on this day, so I was traveling and had a good excuse to cheat  (Recall that Amanda cheated with the Jelly Belly on Day 1, so I had a freebee). I still managed to eat four bananas. The only way I veered from the restriction was eating sweet, glorious beef brisket and brown rice in small portions at the Facebook cafeteria (TexMex Day at the cafeteria).

Friday, Day 5: Beef and tomatoes! You know that this is a General Motors Diet, ahem, Cleanse because that's an American company and beef is part of the American diet. The only thing more American than American food is Mexican food, so we BBQ'd two hamburger patties for each of us and topped them with salsa, avocado (a bit of a cheat) and sliced tomatoes. I felt my appetite satisfied for the first time in nearly a week. I cried a little bit inside I was so happy. We weighed ourselves today and I lost 10 pounds, so something was working -- probably the lack of alcohol and pasta. Amanda lost weight as well, though I'd never comment on how much because I want to sleep in my own bed tonight.

Saturday, Day 6: Beef and vegetables. More beef! Today we started bending the rules a bit more. I argued that Bloody Marys are a vegetable, so we each had one right before witnessing the Fremont Solstice parade where a lot of naked people rode bikes and had their flesh fruits on display. We met up with Amanda's bosses and also decided Sangrias were a fruit, which we drank even though we were restricted to vegetables. We ate Thai soup after the parade because Thai people grow vegetables, and we polished off a couple beers each because hops are vegetables. You can start to see where the asterisk (*) in my first sentence come into play.

Sunday, Day 7: Brown rice, fruit and vegetables. Hooray, we made it! This day fell on my Dad's 50th birthday and Father's Day. We started off great at lunch with brown rice with egg and vegetables (Amanda threw in the egg to meet her Indiana Sunday traditions) but then got off track when Dad and Brenda arrived with pasta salad, cherry pie and tiramsu. Soooooo, yeah. It was amazing.

We did it, we completed* the General Motors Cleanse!

Overall, we were really happy with the results in weight loss as well as the challenge to control what we ate. We're trying it again this week to see if we can keep the progress going toward a healthier eating lifestyle. In other words, we're going to see if we can cheat this cleanse less often.

Happy Father's Day!

Amanda and I wanted to say Happy Father's Day to our Dads, and Happy 50th Birthday to Paolo Sr!