Posts tagged Travel

Road Trip to Balloon Festival

Oct06
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Steve

This past weekend was something special. Some of the family went out on the road to take a trip together. My daughter, son-in-law and their two girls joined my wife and I on a trip to visit family in Corrales, NM. Road trips are special in many ways. They get all of you in a very closed in space with nothing but time on your hands. Since this was the first family road trip in a very long time, it brought back memories. We talked about all of the past road trips memories. We laughed (mostly at my expense) about the happenings on those trips. It was pretty cool.

We decided that we would head over during the night. We had to wait for everyone to get off of work… Since we were traveling with two very small children, they could sleep most of the trip. Driving for around 7 hours in the dark is definitely interesting. The most exciting part of that trip was when an elk decided to cross the road. Definitely woke up everyone in the car. We arrived in plenty of time (around 4:30am) to get to the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival! Parked and met up with family inside the event.

The views of watching those hot air balloons getting ready to launch is pretty cool. For most of us, it was our second time. We did have a few first timers…  There were over 500 hot air balloons that morning that launched in the mass ascension. The pictures in this post come from our family cameras. Not professionally done, but we like them. Watching my grand daughter’s face when we were in the middle of the field with all of the balloons getting to ascend was pretty special. She was pointing out all of the balloons and commenting on the ones that she liked. Made the trip well worth it.

Or fun times were just beginning. We spent the rest of our trip catching up with the my brother-in-law and his family. Of course, we had to watch NFL football. We were staying with one of the biggest Pittsburgh Steelers families and watched the game in the man cave. We all got to watch the interaction with the cousins… It is funny to watch how they get along for only really being with each other a few times a year. The running around, laughter, sharing and just talking to each other was pretty cool. When in New Mexico, you have to eat green chile… I definitely did! Love the Hatch green chiles.

Our last day came up pretty quickly, not before we got a knock on the door from a hot air balloon pilot asking to launch his balloon in the yard next door. Was very cool to have your own private viewing. The pilot was trying to drop his key on the target to win a car… Shortly after that we set out for the drive back. The drive back seemed longer than the drive out.. Maybe it was the rain that we drove in and out of all the way home. Overall, the trip was awesome. Getting to spend time with family is very important to me. Spending time with the grand kids is something very special and I would not trade those times for nothing…

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Fear…

Mar01
2011 7 Comments Written by Steve

#LeadershipChat on Twitter tonight will be a very good one. What is #LeadershipChat? Check it out! Well, the topic tonight is fears as leaders. Since I will be unable to attend the session tonight, I thought I would write it on my blog instead. Too bad, I have a first meeting to attend on a volunteer position that I am interested in at the same time.

To set the context, Lisa Petrilli’s blog post, Three Personal Fears to Conquer for Leadership Success, has a much deeper look. Check it out, it is a very good post. I want to tackle what I believe was my fear of leadership success. My was always hanging around my fear of lack. Lisa’s post pointed out:

Fear of Lack down deep in a leader may say…

  • If I make the wrong decision I might lose my job and not be able to care for my family
  • I can’t give up this position that doesn’t fulfill me, working for this unethical/inept Board, because I won’t be able to find a comparable opportunity and my standard of living will suffer
  • I can’t follow my passion because it won’t provide a title that is acceptable in my community/circle of friends – or even to my family…
  • If I lose my job all those people who admired and followed me will think less of me
  • I must demand respect because I can’t bear for my peers to see me without it

* An interesting note about lack: when you find yourself saying you “need” something, it generally points you toward where your fear of lack lies…and then you have to peel back a few layers to figure out where that need and fear of lack is coming from…

Well, that was definitely me in a nutshell. I had spent most of my career not afraid of success or failure but of lack. The point that drove it home for me was “I can’t give up this position that doesn’t fulfill me.” I spent the past couple of years of my corporate America career having this playing in my head… Boy, did it suck. I know it had some definitely impact on my overall performance. Once I may the decision and announced my retirement (4 months from the actually end date), I felt a huge burden lifted from me. I was able to really feel better about myself and what I was working on. The successes that I achieved my last 4 months, were stronger than the ones I had achieved from a year or so before.

I knew I was unhappy with my position and who/what I was working for/on… I knew that my fear of lack, kept me just doing what I had always done… I completely knew I had to get over my fear and did. I just decided that I needed a total change to make it happen. Fear is a powerful. It can make you successful and also drag you down. Challenge yourself to hit your fears head on. Acknowledge them and insure that you are address them when you are doing your best leadership work. Your success depends on doing just that.

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Fall Break 2010

Oct16
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Steve
Ocean Drive, South Beach, Miami, Florida 2009
Image via Wikipedia

Last year was the first year that my wife and I made a trip during her fall break session. We had a blast – if you had not read it before – here it is. For this years trip, we decided to go where the weather was a bit warmer – Miami with a  short cruise in the Bahamas. Main purpose is using the time to step back and relax, read and reflect.

We started off with a couple of days in the South Beach area of Miami. Nice way to start off – on the beach! South Beach is an experience in and of itself. For me the people watcher, I had a ball. We did take some time to wonder around the shopping experience of South Beach. It was a Sunday and the streets were packed with shoppers, vendors and the locals. We had a mission on this trip to stop and enjoy lunch at Van Dyke Cafe. The food did not disappoint! After some more shopping and taking in the sites – back to the beach for the sunset! Watching the sun go down over the ocean is probably one of the best views in the world.

Monday rolled up pretty quick and we were off to the next leg of the adventure, four day cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas. We have found that cruising is definitely a lot of fun – done it more than 10 times. Nothing like unpacking once, not worrying about where and when the next meal is and just enjoying time relaxing. The itenary for this short cruise was Key West, Fl; Nassau, Bahama’s and Cococay, Bahamas. Last week’s weather scare of a hurricane in the area did not stop us from having a good time. We did encounter some rain in Key West and Nassau but not enough to stop us Arizona folks from having fun! Cococay is a private island that Royal Caribbean leases. It is set up for all of the usual island fun – relaxing in the sun, swimming with nature in the ocean, water sports a plenty and a great BBQ. The weather was sunny and we had a blast.

I was able to finish Linchpins by Seth Godin, which I will publish my book review on shortly. I was able to get plenty of relaxation time and think about my next chapter in my life coming up soon. For those that don’t remember or don’t know – I am retiring on 1/3/2011. I will be moving onto whatever is out there for me…

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Travel Blogging

Jun09
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Steve
Midtown Phoenix skyline, looking north up Cent...
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The time has officially started, traveling to places I have never been. I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks, as my wife and I head out. I am not sure how this is all going to go, as I have all good intentions of attempting to write to my blog every couple of days – with the places and the sites. For me, that is part of the fun – have a basic idea and see where it goes.

When traveling, the experts always tell you to do as much upfront planning as possible. I believe that I have done just that. I had my trip lists of what to do, what to see and such – put together. This time around, I was the vacation planner and set up everything (definitely new to me). Three months ago, the basics of the trip was set, just need the details ironed out. Two months before – all set! Month before – finished most of the reading up on the locations and stuff that was of interest to my wife and I.

Week before – time to really get going. Here is where I found that it is really time to put pen to paper. List for everything. Packing list, daily to do lists for home, trip and everything else. Writing everything down and checking off the stuff that is done – is very helpful. Yesterday was packing day… Some folks would say, do it weeks in advance, not me – I had the basics written down. Of course, you have to make sure that you do not go over the weight restriction per bag. I think I maybe a pound or two over on each… Only the airport scales will tell the truth. Let’s hope all is well…

Anticaption is a wonderful thing, sometimes. That night before the trip sleep is a bit tough. I have found over the years that I usually go to bed late, wake up early and just have a very restless sleep. Excitement in the air. Soon we will be leaving the house, driving to the airport and finding out that the pack job was a success. Then begins the long day of air travel! Excitement to get going! So, excited that I am up hours before the alarm, writing this post.. I am not looking forward that long air trip Phoenix, Az to London. Nothing like leaving at 10am in the morning on Wednesday to land in London about 10am the next day. Kindle is loaded with reading material, iPod has new music and all other electronic devices have a fun charge.

List of devices going on this trip – Kindle, iPod Shuffle, Kodak Sport Video Camera, Asus Netbook with Intel Atom micro processor (insert shameless plug) and Flip Video Camera.

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