Tanner Creek Road

Take Bonneville Dam exit (40) from I-84 and park at either the Wahclella Falls Trailhead, on the south side of I-84, or the large new parking area 0.5 mile east of the trailhead, overlooking I-84.

It’s that time of year again, where the combination of Fall festivals, Winter holidays, and foul weather all conspire to make me a soft, pudgy version of my once rock-hard self. Ha! Anyway, to combat the rounding of the edges, I have a term membership to Dixon rec-center. Sweet. Let’s workout!

I’m only recording trips to the Dixon Gym. Other activities such as roller-hockey and street-jogging are not listed, but then again neither are trips to Block15 and pizza-lunch overload.

March 24th, 2010

• 181.5 pounds upon check-in
• Run from Dixon through covered bridge to Fairgrounds, then back (~40 minutes). Beautiful sunny day, better take advantage of it!
• Weight lifting

March 22nd, 2010

• 182.9 pounds upon check-in
• Arc Trainer
• Weight lifting

March 17th, 2010

• 181.6 pounds upon check-in
• Arc Trainer
• Weight lifting

March 15th, 2010

• 181.3 pounds upon check-in
• 20 minutes on the Arc Trainer
• Weight lifting: bench press, arm curls

March 14th, 2010

• 181.4 pounds upon check-in
• Jogged to Dixon from house (~2miles)
• Strained lower hamstring – it just ‘popped’, who knows?
• Weight-lifting: bench press, arm curls, latt-pull, fly machine
• Walked most of the way home. Started to jog on it but re-strained it. Son of a …

March 10th, 2010

• 182.0 pounds upon check-in
• 20 minutes on the Arc Trainer
• Weight lifting: bench press, curls, latt-pull, fly

March 8th, 2010

• 181.3 pounds upon check-in
• 3mile sprint/jog/walk on indoor running track
• Weight lifting: bench press, latt pull, fly

March 3rd, 2010

• 181.8 pounds upon check-in
• 20 minutes on Step Climber
• Weight lifting: arm curls, latt pull, fly, push-ups

March 1st, 2010

• 181.9 pounds upon check-in
• 30 minutes on Arc Trainer
• Weight lifting: bench press, arm curls, latt-pull, fly

February 24th, 2010 (WOW Fitness, OSUFoundation Workout Event)

• 182.6 pounds upon check-in, although this was using a different scale than Dixon, so it’s a difficult to compare
• 60 minutes of ‘Group Power’, an instructor-led exercise combining weight lifting and step-activity.

February 19th, 2010

• 182.1 pounds upon check-in (chili-cookout at work directly before weigh-in)
• Outdoor running track 2.5 miles
• Weight lifting: bench press, latt pull, fly machine

February 17th, 2010

• 182.0 pounds upon check-in (directly after lunch, makes a difference)
• 30 minutes on Arc Trainer
• Weight lifting: bench press & arm curls

February 15th, 2010

• 180.5 pounds upon check-in
• 30 minutes on Stair Master = 177 floors –> This is like climbing up the Empire State Building (86 floors) … twice. Nice!
• Weight lifting: bench press, latt-pull, arm curls

February 11th, 2010

• 181.9 pounds upon check-in
• 25 minutes on the Arc Trainer
• Weight lifting: bench press, arm curls

February 10th, 2010

• 182.5 pounds upon check-in (first weigh-in after the Super Bowl party)
• 3 mile sprint/jog/walk on the indoor running track
• Weight lifting: bench press, latt pull, fly machine, pushups

February 5th, 2010

• 182.5 pounds upon check-in (oops, was a big lunch)
• 30 minutes on the Arc Trainer
• Weight lifting: bench press, arm curls, fly machine

February 3rd, 2010

• 180.8 pounds upon check-in
• 3 miles sprint/jog/walk on the indoor running track
• Mile #1 – jog
• Mile #2 – sprint 1 lap (1/10 of mile), then walk for 2 laps (2/10 of mile)
• Mile #3 – sprint 2 laps (2/10 of mile), then walk for 1 lap (1/10 of mile)
• Weight lifting: bench press, arm curls, latt-pulls

February 1st, 2010

• 181.4 pounds upon check-in
• 25 minutes on the Arc Trainer
• Weights: bench press, fly machine, arm curls, latt-pulls (continued with 3-sets on each exercise (set of 10, set of 15, set of 10)

January 29th, 2010

• 181.8 pounds upon check-in
• 30 minutes on the Arc Trainer
• Weights: bench press, fly machine, arm curls, latt-pulls (continued with 3-sets on each exercise (set of 10, set of 15, set of 10)
• What a week of exercise! Roller-hockey on Tues, worked out Wed, hockey on Thurs, and worked out again Fri.

January 27th, 2010

• 181.3 pounds upon check-in
• 25 minutes on the Arc Trainer
• Played hockey previous evening so emphasis today on lifting weights (more sets and repetitions)
• Bench press, fly machine, arm curls, latt-pulls

January 23rd, 2010

• 181.7 pounds upon check-in
• Beautiful sunny Winter day in the Willamette Valley so I jogged to Dixon (~2 miles)
• Weight-lifting upon arrival: bench, arm curl, latt pull, butterfly
• Jogged back to the house (~2 miles)

January 16th, 2010

• 184.3 pounds upon check-in (dam, must’ve been one helluva fun night the previous evening)
• ArcTrainer for 30 minutes
• 1/2 mile on indoor running track – just to stretch the legs out after the ArcTrainer
• Weight-lifting: bench press, arm curls, lat pulls, pushups

January 14th, 2010

• 183.3 pounds upon check-in
• 30 minutes on the ArcTrainer – cross between stair-climber and nordic-track
• Good workout on that new machine, could be a keeper

January 11th, 2010

• 183.3 pounds upon check-in
• 30 minutes on the stair climber
• Weight lifting consisted only of bench press for time

January 8th, 2010

• Raquetball with Jared ~45minutes
• Competition is a great way to get the heart-rate up & sweat pouring

January 6th, 2010

• 182.2 pounds upon check-in
• 30 minutes on stair climber
• That about killed me

January 4th, 2010

• 182.4 pounds upon check-in
• First day of Winter term, everyone on campus apparently resolved to lose weight so they all showed up, Dixon is insane!
• 3 miles on indoor running track. After each mile stopping to stretch & do pushups

December 30th, 2009

• 183.8 pounds upon check-in
• Nordic trainer for 30 minutes, 1 mile run on indoor running track
• Weight-lifting (bench, latt-pull, biceps, pushups)
• Great to be back in the gym, I missed the burn!

On Nov 5, 2009 I was honored to be part of an exclusive group in Corvallis, Oregon to present a series of 5-minute videos. The format is called ‘Ignite’ and consists of a series of 20 slides that rotate automatically every 15 seconds, for a total of 5 minutes. The ‘automatically’ is important, as you don’t realize just how quickly 15 seconds passes until you’re speaking live in front of a 300 person audience.

My topic was ‘A Masters Degree in 1680 Characters’ and was a summary of my journey accomplishing my masters degree in Computer Information Systems from Missouri State University. The MSCIS program consisted of 12 classes, so I boiled each class down to its 1 key takeaway and repurposed that takeaway into ‘Twitter-form’, no more than 140 characters. 12 classes * 140 characters = 1680, hence the title.

It was a great experience and I honored to be included in the speaker list, alongside some tremendous presenters.

My video is embedded below, please let me know what you think (comment below).

As well, please view all the Corvallis Ignite 2 videos!

I recently watched a TED Talk (which are absolutely wonderful, I highly recommend them) from Stefan Sagmeister. His topic was: ‘The power of time off’. He owns a design studio in New York and every 7 years takes a 1 year sabbatical to recharge and become creatively inspired. He literally shuts down his studio and does not return calls for an entire year, yet he returns more productive and focused than ever.

Ok, so I’m not in a position to take a full year off, but I certainly feel the need to recharge my creative juices. It is fascinating how the itch of travelling needs to be scratched, and becomes stronger the longer I have gone without it.

Northern California Adventure

Our most recent trip was a road trip to Northern California in June, 2009. This included exploring Salinas, the Monterey Peninsula, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and then trekking north through Wine Country and finally over to Crescent City. What struck us during the trip was how sorely we needed that type of travel adventure. It had been 3 years since our last true ‘vacation’ and the toll that it took was palpable. But travelling and exploring new locales and notching life experiences was the antidote for our malaise.

New Addition

So that was June. Since then we’ve added another member of the family, Conner, bringing the dependent count on our tax returns to 2. As Conner was born in the middle of Summer this meant no trips except for very local excursions.  We did a great job exploring local festivals, hikes, parks, and camping, but no more than a 2-hour drive from homebase. So now the travel bug is back. The walls are closing in, the routine is starting to squeeze the yoke tighter, and I’m yearning to break out.

The Need to Be Inspired

I need to be inspired, I need to feel a reward for sitting at a desk all day. The paycheck provides a roof over our head, but does little for the soul. If you don’t believe me think in terms of Frederick Herzberg’s theory of motivation. There are motivating factors and hygiene factors involved in any work-related endeavor.

Hygiene factors must be present to avoid DISsatisfaction, but alone do not motivate someone. Salary/pay (among others) is a hygiene factor. Without it we would certainly be dissatisfied, but getting paid does not actually motivate us.

Being inspired motivates me. I draw my inspiration from life experiences. Travelling is my favorite way of creating life experiences. Therefore, it is time to study the maps and hit the road. Where to? That is the next question.

Below is the video for Stefan Sagmeister’s TED Talk

So I have a problem. I would like to contribute to Ignite#2 Corvallis, coming up Nov. 5th, 2009. For those that don’t know. Ignite is a style of presenting where you have 5 minutes and 20slides that automatically rotate every 15seconds. It’s a quick-hitting, intense, delivery.

I enjoy public-speaking (even if I need to get much better at it) and feel the ‘rush’ every time I start thinking about presenting to a room-full of technologists. The problem is that I’ve been trying to determine a good Ignite topic to present for the last 6 months or so. What topic can I speak with authority on, that’s valuable, that people would be interested in listening to, that is not a sales pitch, or seen as self-serving, and will entertain the crowd?

So possible topics that I have brainstormed on have been:

• The story of my Master’s Program, in short (Twitter-like) form.
• A journey to convince my employer that the organization should plow ahead with social media efforts.
• A quest to find every playground in Corvallis with Jessica, via jogger.
• An Ignite presentation on ‘Searching for the Perfect Ignite Presentation’

Public-speaking, especially to a room of experts in your field, can be intimidating. Also, the fear of the unknown presents itself here. I’ve never done an Ignite before. I’ve had years of experience giving corporate-style presentations and teaching classes & seminars. But those have a distinct difference than Ignite. As a presenter, it takes me a few minutes to find my ‘groove’ or ‘rythym’. I oftentimes stumble out of the gate, before hitting my stride. Ignite presentations are 5 minutes in their entirety! There is no ‘warm-up’. When you step on the stage you are ‘ON’.

So I made the decision to present. Now the search continues … present what?

That’s biggest question I need to answer during the Summer of 2009. Freshly minted with a Masters of Science in Computer Information Systems from Missouri State University, I now need to determine how best to UTILIZE & LEVERAGE my new skillsets, knowledge, and accomplishment into something more valuable than the effort and sacrifice that went into it.

So, to that end, what do I now bring to the table …?

Skills I Honed in Grad-School

• Critical thinking
• Analytical reasoning
• Written communication skills
• Group discussion skills (especially as it relates to making an argument)
• Researching a topic to understand its depth and multiple perspectives
• The ability to synthesize and contextualize information in a holistic manner

As a result of graduate school, my professional network has expanded to now include …

• IT Manager for a medium-sized city
• Business analyst for an international consulting firm
• Web programmer for a state organization
• Data modeler for a international retailer
• Program manager for a federal assistance program
• Infrastructure manager for an international financial organization
• Network/systems administrator for a health-care consortium
• PhD Professors at a major educational institution

What Now?

So how best to focus those efforts? Towards my current organization, the Oregon State University Foundation? I would like to. It’s a good organization and I believe in the mission of OSU. I would hope they would see the value in cultivating their existing human capital, and the enhanced value of someone with an advanced degree.

But what if my current organization is not interested in utilizing me in this way? That means looking outward: Possibilities could include a small technology firm, an established large organization, or perhaps focusing on entrepreneurial endeavors and helping new enterprises negotiate Information Systems, Information Technology, and Web Solutions to grow their businesses.

The future is bright, the future is open, but I do need to set out on the road to find what the future brings.

The shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot!

I’ve only been a technology professional for 13 years (graduating with my BS in CS from Western Oregon University in 1996) and I’m just now writing my first blog. However, my professional training and skillsets resides in the field of Web Development / Web Solutions / Web Services; this means that I help organizations, businesses, and entrepreneurs achieve their technology goals, leaving little time for my own.

The world has exploded with blogging and ’social media’. It seems the industry has gone hog-wild for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blogging. This has created an entire species of technologist calling themselves social media ‘experts’. Seriously? This is like saying you’re an expert at relationships because you talk to people all day.

So what will become of this blog, my first? Like many, I have delayed it due to the inability to answer the question of … ‘what should I say?’ So I’ve decided the best thing to do was to simply sit down and begin writing. This is a test blog on a sandbox website as part of a evolving web presence that has no overarching strategic goal. Like I said … I spend my entire day developing and directing Web-based solutions for others to achieve their business objectives. One of the last things I desire to do upon arriving home is to ‘get online’

But alas, to build ‘Brand Gilpin’ and sell myself online will require some creative input through this medium. I now have a Masters Degree in Computer Information Systems and it’s time to take that next step in my career.

Like I said, the shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot. Perhaps it’s time to at least put on some sandals.

Cheers!