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Awesome Bucket v2013: Mid-year Report Card

A look at my goals for 2013 and the progress made after six months.

Back in January, I was pretty inspired when I posted my Awesome Bucket v2013, listing out my goals for the coming year.

My passion bucket overflowed with aspirations of becoming an Ironman, feeding my writing tree, and setting a course toward travel, development and above all, excitement.

I posted my goals to hold myself accountable for the rest of the year and help keep them top of mind.

And now that we’re about halfway through the year, it’s time to check in and report on how things are going.

Did my passion bucket drain when the rubber met the road?

Was my plate too full with all these goals?

Have I lost focus and forgotten about my one thing?

Keep reading to find out.

Continue reading Awesome Bucket v2013: Mid-year Report Card

Tri for Les: Catching up

Six months ago, when I laid out the goals for my Awesome Bucket v2013, Ironman Arizona – and completing that triathlon race in 12 hours – was clearly defined as my one thing.

So it’ll come as no surprise that most of my free time lately has been spent cooking, eating, breathing, training, running, riding, swimming, planning and soaking up all things triathlon. My mind is almost always toiling about the race, and how I can best prepare myself so that come race day (November 17), I’ll be ready to go.

However, even though that one thing is all that matters, I incorporated writing into this journey to improve my writing skills, share the experience and help other triathletes dominate their own goals.

So, I’ve been doing my best to blog at least once a week on either Fuller Creative (this blog) or at Tri for Les (the triathlon blog that my sister and I run).

Continue reading Tri for Les: Catching up

Book Review: Outliers

Outliers

One of the best parts of my new schedule is the Coffee-and-Reading Hour I carve out before work a few days every week.

On these days, I wake up at 4:45 a.m. and go to the gym for a swim from 5:30 to 6:30 a.m. After that I hustle to a nearby coffee shop at 7 a.m., which gives me a solid, uninterrupted hour with my book, before I head off for work at 8 a.m.

Aside from helping me avoid most of rush-hour traffic, this head start on the day gets my mind moving early. By the time I get to my desk I’m usually awake, inspired and ready to get stuff done.

Book selection plays an important role in creating this refreshing jumpstart. I try to keep the subject matter varied, thought-provoking, inspiring and ideally, not related to triathlon, social media or other stuff that consumes most of my waking hours.

It’s a built-in escape of sorts, and a great way I’ve found to incorporate regular creative breaks into my routine.

Continue reading Book Review: Outliers

Fixing Phoenix

“We have a way to make successes out of the unsuccessful. But first we have to be frank about a subject that we would all too often rather ignore.” — Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers

A city’s reputation depends largely on two factors: the airport and downtown. — Jeff Speck (paraphrased), City Planner and author of Walkable City, speaking at the Urban Tactics Symposium as part of Phoenix Urban Design Week

When I finished the book, Walkable City by Jeff Speck, my head spun with ideas after his last chapter encouraged us to pick the winners in our cities: finding places where the least money can make the most difference.

Speck advises to focus on improving streets already formed by buildings, with the potential to attract and sustain street life. In essence, low-hanging fruit.

For example, we could put Central Avenue on a road diet and add bike lanes.* Maybe the missing teeth in the Roosevelt Row area could be filled with more art, community gardens, shaded meeting spaces, and fitness structures like pull-up bars. Or, perhaps Downtown could finally get an easily accessible grocery store. Combine that with more market-rate housing and you’ve got yourself some nice building blocks.

Originally, I intended this article to focus and elaborate on those ideas. I was going to pick a few areas in the city that were almost there, and explain the little projects that could be done to make them sustain street life. But not so fast.

Continue reading Fixing Phoenix

Book Review: Walkable City

In the past decade I’ve studied in the Spanish beach town of Alicante; backpacked through Dublin, Aberdeen, London, Amsterdam and Prague; crashed on a couch for two months in Boulder; taught English in Koga, Japan – on the outskirts of Tokyo; freelanced in Santiago, Chile; and visited friends and family in San Diego, New York and San Francisco.

What’s the common denominator?

The void I feel every time I come back to Phoenix.

That sounds harsh, but don’t take it personally.

The Valley is my home and has many assets – my family and friends are here, I have a great job, the weather is nice, cost of living is pretty manageable, Spring Training and convenient outdoor recreation – but Phoenix still pales in comparison to the excitement I find in many of those other cities.

Often, I struggled to grasp why I felt such a void in Phoenix. I even felt guilty for always getting the travel bug, and not being able to find the excitement, culture and lifestyle I had enjoyed elsewhere.

Why should things be so different back home? Am I being lazy? Maybe the familiar setting is making too comfortable?

I worried that I was being unfair or jaded toward my hometown.

But then, I heard city planner Jeff Speck interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air, talking about his book “Walkable City” and, specifically, the four factors that make a city walkable: to be favored, a walk must be useful, safe, comfortable and interesting.

Useful: Most aspects of daily life are located nearby and organized in a way that walking serves them well.
Safe: Streets are designed so pedestrians are protected from being hit by automobiles.
- (“pedestrian vs automobile” is a recurring and important theme; if you want to be dramatic, we can call it “man vs machine”)
Comfortable: Buildings and landscapes shape urban streets into well-defined, cozy outdoor living rooms, rather than wide-open spaces.
Interesting: Sidewalks are lined by unique buildings with friendly faces. Signs of humanity abound.

I bought the book and tore through it – taking notes, nodding my head and exclaiming “A ha!” (silently, to myself) at many points along the way.

Continue reading Book Review: Walkable City