• Home
  • About

A Runner's Story

A Runner's Story

Category Archives: Storytelling

random stories without any related theme

SXSW

04 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Austin

IMG_1776Hah, fooled you.  This is not a blog covering the digital creatives that descend on Austin in March.  I am however in Austin.  I realized my mistake upon arrival at ABIA yesterday.  Conditions inside the terminal were claustrophobic.  Thank God I didn’t try to rent a car.  Still not sure how I scored a ticket on Southwest for under $100.  Must have beat the real crowds by a few days.

DIA was packed too, with home-bound skiers.  As bad as I’ve ever seen it.  Southwest maintains a seemingly random pattern of kiosks in front of the ticket counter for travelers to claim their baggage tag.  People didn’t know how to queue up efficiently.  It didn’t help that an agent walked around barking out instructions that there is no line.  No idea what she meant by that.

The lady directly in front of me panicked when her turn came.  She fumbled around in her purse for identification or her smart phone.  Her bag didn’t just spill, it literally exploded its contents onto the floor.  Apparently stressed, she shrieked like a banshee out of frustration.  Like in a scene from Home Alone, a hundred travelers all hushed themselves to stare at her as she sunk to her knees, sobbing, to collect her belongings.

After all this, my flight wasn’t full and I was able to spread out with my newspaper.  My brother picked me up and we stopped for lunch at some pub in the Domain.  I quaffed a 512, a locally crafted IPA.  Pretty tasty.  Looking forward to some more local food and beverages, and hopefully a few trail runs, over the next several weeks.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

New Traditions

31 Sunday Dec 2017

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

ImpeachTrump2018, Stranger Things

Matts El Rancho

My family didn’t always meet up for a post-Christmas dinner at Matt’s El Rancho, but now that I think about, I suspect we’ve been doing this for well over a decade.  For this extended family, it’s become a new tradition.  I imagine it appears to you that I’m seated at the end of the table in this photo, but I assure you that from my perspective, I was seated at the head of the table.  There’s an upside-down world reference in there somewhere.

I generally end my blog year with a contemplative post, introspective, thankful and hopeful for the year ahead.  Absent any running exploits to focus this running blog on though, it’s been a sappy December and such content has become my new genre.  I’m a regular Hallmark channel.  Doesn’t bother me though because I welcome change.  I suggested I might stop blogging altogether in my last post but what I suspect I’ll do instead is simply post stories with less regularity, and put more thought into them.

family

The photo above is of my family at my mom’s house on Christmas Eve.  She is currently in the hospital with a chest cold.  Born in September, 1933, she is 84 years old.  On the drive back home, my kids speculated on how we would celebrate Christmas when our grandparents are no longer there for us to visit.  Our traditions will evolve, likely around the new families my kids themselves will bring forth into this world.  Christmas without my mom and in-laws is something I don’t think about and prefer not to until the time comes.  There are still plenty of good memories to be made without dwelling on sad thoughts.

It’s like which side of the table I’m sitting on.  Am I avoiding conflict?  I would argue no.  I know the future will come, and I’m an optimist.  Making the most of the now is the benefit afforded to optimists.  This was a dark year for many.  I felt it as much as any other social liberal, climate concerned conservationist, or secular scientist.  I’ve refrained from sharing my political views since the primaries because, well partly because I became bored with it, but mostly because I prefer to turn my attention away from negative discussion.  I know that must make me sound like a pussy, it’s certainly not very aggressive.  I’m not that way at my job, but I am outside of work.  I’m not a protester.

graffiti wall

This photo is of the girls with their cousins the other day at the graffiti wall in Austin.  The two blondes are mine.  I can assure you, they are a passionate bunch.  Not me.  I believe the best approach to all this year’s hate-mongering speeches on campus would have been not to protest – to not attend at all.  Ignore them.  Don’t attend.  Don’t feed the beast.  Sure, physical aggression requires counter aggression.  But the hate-filled loudspeakers operating in today’s media only exist on the attention we afford them.  I think I learned this at age eight from an episode of Star Trek.

My favorite TV is the news.  This makes me a fairly boring person in conversations, but I can’t help it.  Still, I stopped watching the news this past year, after the primaries, once I determined it was only making me feel worse.  Occasionally, when there was a big week of news, I’d allow myself to watch Rachel Maddow for a couple of nights.  I mean, who else do you know that can giggle throughout their entire newscast?  I still read the morning paper but for the most part, I no longer watch the news.  I decided it wasn’t helping me, so another new tradition.  I now watch Murdoch Mysteries.  I think enough seasons remain to carry me through 2018.

I feel good about myself when I’m able to change my pattern.  I can’t say it means growth but do feel that change is usually good.  It bothers me to know just how predictable, just how pattern-bound, I am at times.  Blogging every weekend for 8 years.  Running every day.  A drink every night.  A relative commented to me over the holidays he noticed I wasn’t drinking.  He thought I’d quit.  I haven’t but I’ve gone a week now without drinking.  I quit for half a year in 2014 when I had cancer because I couldn’t drink half a beer without finding myself sitting in a dark room listening to Pink Floyd.  I don’t mind a little melancholy but that was time in my life when maintaining positive thoughts were paramount, so I simply quit drinking.  Don’t feed the beast.  Of course, I was happy to start drinking again because that signified I had moved on.

New Years resolutions are all about change.  Change is good.  At least, it can be.  Embrace it.  Set some goals for yourself for 2018.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Pensive Thoughts on Blogging, on Writing, on the Year

17 Sunday Dec 2017

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Novel, Storytelling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

writing

iStock tech gap

This was the first photo I ever blogged, on December 31, 2009.  I suppose I started blogging at work a few years before that, but it was the same photo that I started with.  I don’t consider myself visually-oriented.  If you’ve seen me dress, you’d agree, but I generally give attention to my blog photos because I feel they oftentimes tell the story better than I can in words.

I’ve been thinking about putting my blog on hiatus for a few months.  I don’t know that I will but it’s fair to say I haven’t been putting much thought into my blog stories lately, and that makes me a bit sad.  It used to be I would curate my thoughts all week before finally capturing the story into words over the weekend.  Even some of my longer posts only take me five or ten minutes to write because I’ve already written the stories in my head.

I should perhaps reword my statement above and say I haven’t been putting stories into my thoughts lately, because that’s how I think.  I wouldn’t say I’m a vocal storyteller.  I lean towards laconic.  But my pattern of thinking is to structure free thoughts into stories.  I imagine I have the same thoughts roaming around my mind as anyone else, but I typically form a narrative for them.  It’s clear to me that I should have considered a career in journalism back in college, but then writing is and has been one of the strongest components of my job and career.  From the fifty or so emails I type every day to the PowerPoints I create for Sellers and Customers.  I’ll be putting a few hours into creating a story today for how my company markets security information and event management.  In a PowerPoint form factor of course.

Working on a Sunday segues into why I might pause my blogging.  Not that I don’t have the time, as I already said it takes very little effort for me to actually write.  It’s that my free thoughts are so focused on work right now.  And I haven’t been reading much fiction lately, which has always been my muse.  I suspect I’m going through a boring phase so why write about it?

It is my personal digital platform to leverage for marketing my book, but it’s not like I’m doing anything now in that arena either.  Ellie said she would build me a website for my writing over Christmas break, maybe that will replace my blog.  I stopped blogging back in 2014 for over a month and no one seemed to notice.

I think what I’m struggling with here is that I don’t want to blog if I don’t have anything halfway interesting to share.  It is a good exercise even if I have nothing clever to say.  It helps me to be introspective.  And it’s practice writing.  I have a good friend whose writing I love to read.  Every paragraph is like a Dali painting.  Each sentence a masterpiece in creativity.  Yet he rarely writes because he says it’s a struggle and he doesn’t enjoy the process.

I’m the exact opposite.  I can write about nothing and find it easy.  That might actually be a bad habit that blogging isn’t helping me with.  If you’re a writer, than you are familiar with the strong attitudes authors have toward blogging.  They either say it’s a good exercise and serves as a marketing platform, or they despise it as cheapening the medium.  I’m asking myself that question now.  I’m wondering if it’s in my interest to continue or to take a break.  We’ll see.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Christmas Party Banter

03 Sunday Dec 2017

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

blade runner, flynn, lauer, Mueller

iStock winter ornaments

I celebrate the holidays with my friends with an annual fondue party.  Everyone brings something to dip or the dip itself.  One person noted at last night’s get together that we’ve mostly known each other now for twenty years.

Perhaps because we’re from Colorado, or simply our generation, not sure, but we are an athletic lot.  Not necessarily healthy.  A fair number of us have replacement body parts.  Several have artificial knees and ventured how it would be cool to eventually get blade runners.  So much of our talk centers on our sports pursuits and our decaying health.   Half my group of friends could easily pass for under forty by looks, but to listen to us talk you’d guess closer to sixty.  Ask us how we’re doing and replies come back enumerating blood counts and protein deficiencies.  This has to be a sign of aging.

My friends are well educated and all lateral thinkers, so conversation can steer in any direction.  But we tend toward the inane and don’t often discuss politics.  With that said, I barely arrived last night before being asked if I believed in God, and the Russian investigation did come up at one point.  Maybe we’re maturing.  Probably not though.  As discussion turned toward the recent spate of celebrity sexual abuse allegations, there were no deep thoughts on the need to establish equality and respect for women in general.  It was all jokes, with the most ribald coming from the ladies.  Apparently aging and maturity are two different things.

For my part, trying to come off sounding clever and sophisticated, I brought up bitcoin and blockchain tech, letting everyone know of my recent Amazon order for a hardware wallet.  I was immediately challenged to explain the value of this virtual commodity.  I couldn’t.  Honestly, I don’t even understand how we derive value from fiat currencies.  Some things though are like time travel, trying to understand how they work ruins the story.  I’m not investing in bitcoin.  I just like to participate in tech to better understand it.  That’s what writers do in order to speak to things.  They experience it.  I’ll purchase less bitcoin than I spent on the wallet.

In the end, it didn’t matter what we talked on, the talking itself was the means to the end.  Seeing everyone doing well and sharing in laughter has launched my holiday season with good cheer.  Karen has our house looking festive and I’m excited now to visit family at the end of the year.  Happy holidays everyone.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Game Ender

14 Saturday Oct 2017

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

game theory

IMG_1604I find myself this morning faced with an epic moral dilemma.  I don’t play facebook games.  Those analog chain letters with specious purpose.  At their worse, they propagate stealthy adware.  At best, they strive to trend a positive mood for the world.

I was nominated to post photos of nature for seven consecutive days to flood facebook with color, life and hope.  The catch is I have to nominate a friend each day to do the same.  And if everyone were to play, there would indeed be an electronic flood, the likes of which could theoretically crash facebook’s servers.  Not surprisingly, facebook doesn’t condone such games.

Don’t think I couldn’t do it.  I wouldn’t have to drive far for a trail run that would provide glorious fall photos.  But in my present mood, I instead walked out into the middle of my front street and snapped this shot of the tree canopy, where branches vie to reach one another across the chasm as they succumb to the seasonal pause in growth.  For me, this captures how I intend to play this game.  I won’t be nominating anyone else to continue this folly.

Not because I don’t have friends capable.  I have four friends currently on a bike tour through Vermont.  They would no doubt excel at this game.  Maybe they even started it.  I could easily nominate seven friends.

Maybe my reason is simply spite.  I was nominated by two friends at once this morning.  Without being deeply engaged with the rules of this game, I suspect that’s a foul play.  I’m of a mind to nominate them right back.  Without granular guidelines defined, think of the circular consequences of such an action.  It could break the Internet.

I will not allow myself to be put into that position.  The possible electronic destruction is too dire.  Instead, I am taking the bold action to end this game.  Let it die in digital dust.  Still, I’m posting this one photo.  Isn’t it sort of pretty?

 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Trigger

29 Tuesday Aug 2017

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

EPA, FEMA, Hurricane Harvey

triggrb

My cousin Dick and his wife Cheryl headed off to Ennis, Montana this morning after spending the weekend visiting us from Ventura, California.  Each year they drive cross country for a couple of months in their 5th wheel RV named Trigger.  The name comes from a beer-drinking encounter Dick had in his youth with Roy Rogers.  Roy kept walking into the kitchen to refresh Dick’s beer because he was wearing his Marine uniform.

Dick joined the Marines, the Reserves at least, at the tender age of 15.  He wound up driving a tank at the end of the Korean War, something he wishes he could still do.  The RV is a modern substitute.  He’s retired after a career leading America’s clean air regulatory agency, although one never really retires after a career like that.  He’s now working with a consortium of concerned scientists as part of the Trump Resistance.  I helped him with his latest PowerPoint.  Cheryl is a reservist with FEMA.  There’s a good chance she will be called up to respond to Hurricane Harvey in Houston, cutting their road trip short.

dick n cheryl

Trigger is now headed north, likely camping somewhere south of Yellowstone.  Trigger’s ultimate Montana destination is Teddy Roosevelt National Park.  Trigger will then wind its way down to visit three of my sisters in the Quad Cities before trekking back home through Missouri to research a graveyard in Dowling.  And who knows, I might catch Trigger again on the trail back homeward to Ventura.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Romancing the Pacific Northwest

31 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

30th wedding anniversay, Dale Chihuly, Fan Tan Alley, Gum Wall, MoPop, Post Alley, The Empress Hotel, Victoria BC

mayflower hotel

Karen and I celebrated our 30th last week in Seattle and Victoria, BC., spending our first night at the Mayflower Hotel.  We took the girls along for a summer vacation.  They spent more time in Post Alley than Pikes Place.

gum wall ellie

I’d never heard of the Gum Wall before, but Ellie spent considerable time researching things to see in Seattle.

gum wall brit

I took the opportunity to market my novel as the platform appeared to offer an inherent stickiness.

cyber war

We did spend some time cruising the market, going back down later at night for photos.

pikes place

We returned to the Market for breakfast at the Crumpet (best coffee ever), and walked from there to take the tour of the Seattle Underground in Pioneer Square, where we learned all about Seattle’s infamous beginnings and below sea-level plumbing challenges.

crumpet shop

After the first night and a half day in Seattle, we took the Clipper Ferry through Puget Sound, across the Straight of Juan de Fuca, to Victoria.  Ellie’s first entry into Canada was by boat.  We arrived just in time to catch the sunset during dinner at the Marina in Oak Bay.

oak bay

The girls roamed around past sundown, noting how safe Victoria was compared to Seattle.  This photo below is of the Parliament building.

parliament night

Butchart Gardens was first on our list of attractions to visit.  We started in a clockwise direction in the Sunken Gardens, where Jennie Butchart first began her garden efforts over 100 years ago by transforming an exhausted limestone quarry.

buchart sunken garden

Photo opportunities presented themselves non-stop as we walked past countless fountains and themed gardens.

butchart fountains

Some of the flowers were so incredible, I don’t have words.  The girls stopped to smell them though.

butchart flower ellie

butchart flower brit

I believe Karen’s favorite was the Rose Garden.  Ellie’s middle name is Rose.

butchart rose ellie

I felt like the Japanese Gardens had some of the best hidden benches for peaceful contemplation.

butchart brit n ellie

Last on our walk were the stately Italian Gardens.  This photo below is of one of the entrances.

butchart italian

We split up for dinner.  The girls dined at the formal Empress Hotel.

empress 2

Karen and I returned to Il Terrazzo and its many courtyard fireplaces, because we enjoyed it so much nearly twenty years earlier.

il terrazzo

The next day was busy with a walk to Fisherman’s Wharf, followed up by a journey to Fan Tan Alley in Chinatown.

fan tan alley

And our return ferry ride back to Seattle for a final night.

Chihuly

Sunday was another busy day.  We started with a tour of the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum.

spaceship

The highlight for me was a tour of the Museum of Pop Culture, where I got to pretend I was in space and Captain of a starship.

star trek 2

It was a whirlwind vacation, three hotels in five days.  Nice way to end the summer.

 

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Lazy Gardener

21 Sunday May 2017

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

garden, greens, habenero, jalepeno

IMG_0830My strategic delay in planting this year looks brilliant given last week’s heavy spring snowfall.  The wine I drank this weekend was in celebration of my gorgeous tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, kale, spinach, leeks, lettuces, chard, strawberries, melon, and a mix of florals to bring the bees; not the pity party so many of my fellow growers wallowed in as they assessed the damage to their crops.  Sorry guys but second mouse gets the cheese.

I have to share with you the tremendous energy I have after planting.  The mud, deep under my nails, gives my fingers satisfaction they can’t find hammering away on a keyboard.  Like a walk in the woods, despite the physicality of it, I’m sitting on the porch, drinking a cold one, feeling recharged.  Gardens give life.  I get so excited just thinking about sautéing those greens.  This is going to be a good summer.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Big Blue

23 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

CenturyLink, creative destruction, IBM, Think

IBM BookshelfMomentos from twenty-three years at IBM sit on my bookshelf.  Maybe more are hiding in my desk drawers.  I might have lifted my stapler from the office.  My history with IBM began when I drove a forklift working on their packaging line the summer of 1981, as part of the production of word processors manufactured in their Austin, Texas facility.  I later worked as a computer operator as an intern in 1990 while obtaining my masters from CU in Boulder.  I then started my 23 year run in 1994 with their wholly-owned subsidiary ISSC.  I forget what that stands for now.

My stash includes a coffee mug from that first gig with ISSC, various recognition things, a passport with all its pages full of stamps, a sticker making fun at me for an attempt to write a motivational blog when times were bleak – made me laugh even though the joke was on me – and the ubiquitous Think logo.  Not pictured, the stapler because I use that.

Karen and I have always considered it ironic that my career was so steady while she averaged three W2s and 1099-misc forms annually from her contract jobs, because our personalities suggest the inverse.  She’s cautious and I’m the risk taker.  But I was generally satisfied, doing really cool things.  When I did begin to think of departing, other life events got in the way.  And my searches were always passive, meaning I only responded to recruiters contacting me first.  I could enumerate a half dozen reasons for finally leaving but the primary logic is that sometimes stimulating professional growth requires a new start somewhere else.  So that’s what I’m doing.  New job begins May 1st.

Funniest thing is that, because I turn 55 on Monday, tomorrow, three days before my last day on the job, I qualify for retirement.  Specifically, the retirement benefits IBM makes available to departing employees based on certain criteria of age and years of service.  I get to take my pension with me and roll it over into an IRA.  And I get future health benefits that I’ll be able to apply toward medical insurance premiums after I’m retired for reals.  I didn’t plan this, it’s all bonus.

Meeting retirement criteria though, actually accepting the benefits, on top of turning 55, is enough to make me consider that I might have reached middle age.  I didn’t pay much attention to turning 50, but 55, well, it has twice as many fives in it.  Karen arranged for a few friends to come over next Friday evening for a happy hour to celebrate both my birthday and changing jobs, and it has the undeniable feel of a retirement party to it.  My fault I suppose for working so many years at IBM before moving on.  I’m not normally very introspective.  Very few of these blogs ever wax nostalgic.  But saying goodbye to so many colleagues and the events of my last days has given me pause to reflect on my career.

I’ll be 70 in another fifteen years.  Safe to say I’ll be retired before then.  I simply don’t feel that old.  I run a marathon in another two weeks.  I’m still youthful, in my mind.  Granted, I grip the stair rail walking down in the morning, to support my delicate knees and ankles.  But that’s just because I run so many darned miles.  After sporting a buzz cut throughout my 40s, I grew my hair out, and it’s not all entirely gray.  It still grows like a weed.  I will admit to listening to relaxing music, but that’s my acquired taste.  I still wear blue jeans and t-shirts.  I still do new things.  Published a book.  I’m taking on a new job.  I’m not dead yet.

Neither is IBM.  It might seem like I’m leaving a sinking ship.  Five years of shrinking revenue.  But I’m not leaving because of that.  Like most people still there, I believe in their strategic imperatives, and I understand their business will diminish before it picks back up.  That’s simply the way creative destruction works.  Other than say the phone company, IBM is perhaps the only American technology company still around after 100 years.  If I say IBM, you hear computers.  IBM is synonymous with technology.  IBM will be fine.  By the way, I have a half dozen IBM-logo button downs from working as a booth-babe at trade shows if anyone is interested.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Resolutions

28 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

marathon, Novel

cup

I don’t always make New Years resolutions, but when I do, I blog them.  Completing a thousand mile drive home from Texas to Colorado gave me ample time to contemplate.  I came up with two goals, both doable.  Enlarge the photo if needed to read my new coffee cup.  You’ve been warned.

First resolution is to run a marathon in 2017.  Sure, I’ve run marathons before but this time will be different.  This marathon will be spectacular.  This marathon will qualify me for Boston.  I didn’t run any marathons at all in 2016.  It was an injury year.  Strained hamstrings and lower back pain.  Although truthfully, I ran less to devote time to writing.  Hard to do it all, but I’m going to in 2017.  I’ve run within seconds of qualifying the past two years.  My plan is to run the Colorado Marathon May 7th, fast enough to qualify for the 2018 Boston Marathon.

Next goal is to publish my next novel.  Maybe not publish, but I’ll start writing.  I already outlined the story in my head during the two day drive from Austin and just finished capturing it in notes.  I’m changing up my writing goals a bit from my first book.  It was important to me to experience the writing and publishing process, end-to-end, the first time around.  I gave myself a target date to ensure I finished.  It’s fair to say, writing a novel is one of those projects so many start and never finish.  So completion was paramount to me.

For my second novel, I want to focus on two other areas of writing – quality and marketing.  I want my second novel to be better than my first.  I think it will be.  And I want to put more energy into a marketing plan.  I’m willing to take longer to write for a better book.  And I’ll expect to allow for multiple months after it’s complete to perform the requisite marketing tasks.  Obtaining a review before publishing could take a couple of months.  I might even enter contests.  I might also put more into up front research.  I’m going to budget two years for this second book.  I still think setting a timeline is important.  My experience on the first novel was to treat it like a project, and projects have target dates.

The benefit of stretching the book process out for two years is I’ll have more time for running.  I recall a good twenty years of my life where I had zero hobbies.  Now I have two.  Life just keeps getting better.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Last Day

26 Monday Dec 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Austin, Cyber War I, Hyde Park Bar and Grill, Lady Bird Lake, Matt's El Rancho

hyde-park

This is my last day of the holidays in Texas.  Driving home tomorrow morning.  These are some highlights.  Eating out is always one of my favorites in Austin.  We’ve been dining at the Hyde Park Bar & Grill for thirty years.

book-for-mom

It’s so hard to shop for your parents when they already have everything they need.  I simply wrote a book and wrapped that up for my mom.  Writing a novel this year didn’t make me exceptional in this crowd.  I enjoyed the discussions with Mark and Paige on their novels.  Paige has published several and Mark is still editing his first.

papa-reading

It’s a tradition that Papa always reads for the girls on Christmas Eve.

DCIM100MEDIADJI_0012.JPG

Brit, Ellie and Rachel dressed up fancy on Christmas day.  Ellie and Brit ran every day too.  They ran a ten miler one day, to counter the extreme eating.  No matter how many times I got them down to Town Lake, Brit would run past the bridge where she was supposed to cross, running farther than planned.

bnw

The fancy dresses didn’t last long.  I recall seeing them mostly in their pajamas.

santa-gift

I always get the best gifts from my brother-in-law Chad.  This package included a Batman onesie and even funnier coffee cup.

grandkids

Each year includes a photo on the stairs of the Collier-Mahoney-Campbell grandchildren, from Brit the oldest to Liam the youngest.  We’ll end today with some laser tag and dinner at Matt’s El Rancho.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Singers & Songwriters

01 Saturday Oct 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Durango Songwriters Expo

brit-in-hotel

Brit has been participating in the Durango Songwriters Expo this weekend, starting Thursday.  This is where Meghan Trainor was discovered.  It started out fun, attending sessions and networking with music and TV industry executives.  Last night was brutal though.  She received some ugly criticism, along with her band, after performing for reviews.  Without repeating what Brit related, the critics made Simon Cowell seem like Mother Theresa, all in front of a room full of local peers.  Tough industry.

Tried to cheer her up.  You have to take criticism for what it’s worth.  Provided in a constructive fashion, it can be a useful tool.  Instead though, it tends to be negative, almost by nature.  And it can stop you in your tracks.  I can certainly relate.  I just blogged last week about the criticism I’m receiving now as part of a writer’s critique group.  I didn’t go into detail but can tell you it’s been 99% everything I’m doing wrong.  Some of it’s been good, better word choices and more concise wording.  I don’t agree with over half it though.  Maybe I shouldn’t be so confident, being a first time writer, but it’s my story and some things I just want to do my way, no matter what my critics say.

Case in point, nearly everyone points out I’m misspelling WiFi by writing it lowercase as wifi.  Like I don’t fucking know that.  I have a master of science in telecommunications.  I wrote my thesis on frequency hopping spread spectrum before most people knew what the Internet was.  I know WiFi is an acronym but it looks like shit on the printed page in uppercase.  I’m ignoring the advice.  Maybe that’s a stupid newbie mistake but you have to go with your heart on some things.

Being dense sometimes helps to keep from becoming discouraged.  I recall as a kid being caught in a compromising position with my high school sweetheart on her parents’ couch. The next time I visited, her dad sat me down for a chat at the kitchen table.  While he cleaned his gun collection.  His message went right over my head.  I didn’t get the point he was making until years later.  Whether your response is from arrogance or ignorance, moving forward beats quitting out of fear.

Brit got home after performing last night at 4am.  She woke up a few hours later and told us about her nightmare experience.  After balling her eyes out over breakfast, she said, “Well, I’m going to put on my big girl pants and drive back into Boulder to be with my band, and perform some more.”  The girl is going to sing another day.  Brit just needs to keep doing what she loves, like this YouTube mashup she arranged and filmed singing with her little sister over the summer.  Click on that link and tell me she doesn’t have a future.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Rock n Roll

18 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running, Storytelling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Arroyo Verde Park Trail, Jesse Money, Pete Pidgeon, Ventura, We are LA

arroyo-verde-trail

I rolled through the hills of Arroyo Verde Park, for a decent five mile run Saturday morning.  The park, about a half mile from my house, was full of dogs and their owners at the grassy bottom, but contained an awesome soft, dirt trail that undulated around the rim.  Great park and trail system.

cafe-nouveau

Brit and I found a wonderful french-themed restaurant after my run, Cafe Nouveau, where we had Beignets with bacon and maple syrup for breakfast.

phantom-carriage

We arrived early for Brit’s pre-performance rehearsal, so we checked out this horror-themed taproom named Phantom Carriage.  A real find in Carson, near the StubHub Arena.

we-are-la

At 8pm, Brit rocked LA at a concert benefitting children’s education.  I was given a VIP pass, and to be fair, I played roadie hauling the band’s equipment.  Got to see Rachel Platten perform, and later, Kevin Costner with his country band, Modern West.

band

The band is Pete Pidgeon, who is pictured here playing lead guitar.  Brit knows him from Denver.  The funniest thing is that the other backup singer is another Mahoney, Jesse Mahoney.  Eddie Money’s daughter.  Nice girl.  Brit had another friend, Alexa, hang out with us, a super sweetheart.  Brit made some good friends in LA and gained valuable acting experience.  We drive home today, shooting for Zion by nightfall.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Ventura

16 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Eddie Money, We are LA, west coast IPA

california-st

I flew out to California Friday to drive Brit back home.  She picked me up at LAX and we drove to my cousin Dick’s house in Ventura to where she has been staying.  House sitting actually since Dick and Cheryl have been RVing throughout Colorado the entire time.

oysters

We arrived in Ventura just in time for lunch at the Lure Fish House and Oyster Bar.  I drank a local IPA with my oysters and ahi tuna sandwich, Firestone Union Jack.  It boasts the west coast IPA style, similar to Colorado, which is aggressively hopped.

girl-scout

Brit was excited to relate her previous two evenings of filming as an extra in a popular TV show.  She applied by uploading photos, to the casting director, of herself in various Halloween costumes that she put together from Target and a local thrift store.  The gig was to be a trick-or-treater.  They liked her girl scout outfit well enough that she got the role.  Their costume department paired it with a scandalously short skirt that has Brittany questioning the meaning of a family show.

sunset

We ended the day with a sunset dinner at the Aloha Steakhouse on the beach.  iPhone 6, no filter above.  We sat at a window overlooking the ocean and the Ventura Pier.  I started with a Figuroa Mountain Hoppy Poppy IPA, before settling on a cab sav to pair with my ribeye.  Actually, I ended the day here.  Brit went on from dinner to rehearse for a gig tomorrow with Eddie Money’s daughter, Jesse.  They’ll be signing together at the We Are LA Festival tomorrow evening.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Cari got Married

05 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Cari Thorvig, wedding

comfetti B&W 2

In a church built by Swedish Evangelicals on the east bank of the Mississippi in 1917, Cari and Erik had the perfect wedding Sunday.  Brit sang Photograph by Ed Sheeran and her cousin Brook sang opera style in French – this is a short video below.

My sister Sandy is Cari’s mom, pictured below being seated by her son Spencer.

Spencer n Sandy 2

Long story short, Cari got married as you can see in this video below.

Weddings are such the time for family reunions.  I got to see all four of my sisters.  And all their kids.  Even all the grandchildren.  Pictured below are my sisters Kathy, Sandy, Deb and Nancy.

sisters on rooftop

 

I’m not the only one who thought Cari and Erik made the perfect couple.  All the speeches confirmed these two are made for each other.  Even more special, I saw the same perfection everywhere I looked.  One brother-in-law bought a second home in Costa Rica and spends a good portion of the year living there, because the climate is good for my sister’s health.  That’s devotion.  Another brother-in-law lights up like a beacon whenever I ask a question about his wife, my sister, and will talk for hours on every detail of her life.  He’s still deeply in love after over thirty years.  Below are Deb and her husband, Kim.

Deb n Kim

There are just so many happy members of my family, my parents must have done something right.  The photo below contains two sons, four daughters, six grand daughters, and three great grandchildren from my parents’ marriage.  Plus one daughter-in-law and a couple of son-in-laws.

family

My parents’ wedding photo, from the previous millennium, was on display on the signing book table.  My dad was 21 and my mom just turned 18, five days before her wedding.

Constance n Johnny

I hope the best for Cari and Erik.  Their wedding was a joyous start.  These photos don’t tell half the story of what a wonderful wedding weekend it was and of all the love on display.

confetti B&W

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...
← Older posts
Newer posts →

Search this blog

Categories

Buy Full Spectrum Cyberwar at Amazon

Buy Cyber War I at Amazon

Buy on Amazon India for ₹99

Buy on Amazon U.K. for £2.27

English Edition on Amazon Germany

Buy on Amazon Brazil for R$11.29

Archives

Blog Stats

  • 115,059 hits

Girlfriend Cult

Recent Comments

Ed Mahoney on Cozy Bear vs Fancy Bear
Terry Collier on Cozy Bear vs Fancy Bear
Cozy Bear vs Fancy B… on Cozy Bear vs Fancy Bear
Ed Mahoney on the day TCP died
georgeschools on the day TCP died

Recent Posts

  • Cozy Bear vs Fancy Bear December 20, 2020
  • the day TCP died December 5, 2020
  • The Covid Twenty November 28, 2020
  • Shanahan Ridge October 30, 2020
  • American Soap October 3, 2020
  • On Reading – the Woman’s Edition September 19, 2020
  • 112° August 29, 2020
  • Go Bag August 23, 2020
  • Ouray August 2, 2020
  • The Graduate July 26, 2020
  • Second Edition July 3, 2020
  • Saharan Dust June 28, 2020
  • My Day June 21, 2020
  • We are the Media June 11, 2020
  • The Hot Runner June 7, 2020
  • Lily Mountain Trail May 23, 2020
  • Runner’s Pandemic Etiquette May 17, 2020
  • Keurig Runner May 10, 2020
  • Guitar Hero April 18, 2020
  • Snow & Rain April 2, 2020
  • The Morning After March 14, 2020
  • Running Through Sadness February 22, 2020
  • The ATX Half February 16, 2020
  • Digital Tracking January 24, 2020
  • Winter Secret January 5, 2020
  • I Used to Run December 27, 2019
  • Zilker Park December 24, 2019
  • The Gift of Glove December 21, 2019
  • The Trail Conspiracy December 7, 2019
  • Writing Naked November 23, 2019
  • In a Fall’s Winter November 2, 2019
  • Running Errands October 19, 2019
  • An October Run October 13, 2019
  • Argentine Trail October 6, 2019
  • Fall Weekends September 28, 2019
  • Mount of the Holy Cross September 22, 2019
  • The Wedding Performers September 8, 2019
  • The Wedding Hike September 1, 2019
  • Brittany Noel Got Married August 30, 2019
  • Cybersecurity is Complex August 19, 2019
  • Part III: Water, Rock, Man August 13, 2019
  • Aspen August 11, 2019
  • Thirty-Two Years August 3, 2019
  • Box Sets & Writing Conventions July 20, 2019
  • Flattop Mountain July 14, 2019
  • Mr. Sandman July 6, 2019
  • Two Girls Eating June 30, 2019
  • My Cozy Trail June 23, 2019
  • Foot Bridge June 15, 2019
  • 512 June 7, 2019

Colorado=Security

Blogroll

  • Alohawk's Blog
  • Barbie's Blog
  • Boggy Creek Lumpster
  • George Schools Blog
  • I, Cringely
  • Prostate Chronicles
  • Shut Up + Run
  • Sustainable Sunrise
  • The Rogue Botanist

Web Sites

  • Amazon Author Page
  • Austin Marathon
  • Bolder Boulder
  • Brit's YouTube Songs
  • Colorado Marathon
  • Colorado Runner Magazine
  • Colorado Trail
  • Girlfriend Cult
  • Lobo Media Ltd
  • My YouTube Site
  • Race Pace Calculator
  • Shoes & Brews
  • Trail Runner Magazine
  • Zaremba Graphic & Web Solutions

Goodreads

Top Posts & Pages

  • Foot Fetish
  • Performance Enhancers
  • Cozy Bear vs Fancy Bear
  • Swim, Bike and Run
  • A Bad Apple

Top Clicks

  • edmahoney.files.wordpress…
  • prospectisart.wordpress.c…
  • edmahoney.files.wordpress…

RSS Feed

  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: