Putting a New Face to a New Year

Sunrise - Pasadena, New Year's Day, 2010

Welcome to 2010! I am sure by now the “Best of the decade”and “Best of 2009” news stories are (thankfully) fading out of the news cycle. The mailbox and TV commercials are now filled with exercise advertisements; and the media has moved on to the usual mundane issues such as finance, health care, war, drugs, and the latest celebrity scandal. Most of us are already looking ahead to the new year; people are revitalized, energized, and ready to take on new challenges with a fresh start.

For me, I am not necessarily making any New Year’s resolutions, but rather, making a commitment to write more letters and connect with friends and family through the year. No, a nudge or poke, or whatever they call it on Facebook doesn’t count. I am just going to try and write everyone that sent us a Christmas letter. Trust me, a daunting task! We’ll see what happens. All I can ask is that if you get a letter or postcard from a friend, write one back!

I have been thinking about the New Year, too. I find that there are many faces to a year, or even a decade for that matter. Joy, apprehensiveness, tension, adventure, excitement, sadness, laughter, and love, all come to mind for starters.

I look at a calendar and ask myself all sorts of questions! Where will I go this year? What adventures will I have? What new places will Kathy and I discover? Who will I meet? Where will I ride? Or run? Or swim? (A hint for a future adventure later this year. What projects will I finish? How much will my grandchildren grow? What unknown challenges are out there? Where did all these weird faces come from?

The Rose Parade of course! Kathy, Kitt (Kathy’s mom) and I have already had an adventure this year. We went to the Rose Parade! What a great experience, the floats, the bands, the tens of thousands of classic Americans enjoying a great parade. On January 2nd, we went back down to Pasadena to view the floats up close. It was a great day, as we got to see craftsmanship, artistry, and ingenuity right at arm’s length. I enjoyed taking literally hundreds of pictures of floats, bands, and some of the detail work that make the Rose Parade floats world famous. I was amazed at how all the floats were created and decorated using only organic material. it was a great way to start the year...with an adventure!

Riding in another failed neighborhood...

That’s the news for the week. I have already enjoyed some miles on the Surly and the Barcroft Virginia GT. I will be riding to work on Wednesday and Thursday. Lately, I have been having to almost pinch myself and realize that I get to ride in lovely weather in January! I can't get over the fact that I am not having to wear ALL of my winter cycling layers just to get out for a ride!

Enjoy the year, wherever it takes you. Have a ball!
Jim