kid-style cry for help?

my girl has the cutest habit of using magnetized letters to leave notes for our son. she also does the vast majority of the work to keep the house running smoothly, especially lately since work has been so crazy.

the other morning jaden and i decided to have oatmeal for breakfast and what better to keep him interested in it than some raisins to search for and eat. luckily jaden was able to find the very last tiny box of raisins hidden in the way back of the cupboard.



we've really stopped using the grocery list on the fridge so i decided to use the magnet letters to request more raisins from the next trip to the grocery store. this got a bit of a laugh from the wife but more importantly, i think it got a response the next morning as well...



now, there is a little history behind this one. now and then my girl will essentially say "enough, i need some help around the house." most recently i started to sweep the floors 2-3 times a week. she loved it. well, work got crazy and i really just stopped doing it.

so now, i think my request for raisins from the store was granted - the very next day no less - and might have prompted a subtle but effective cry for help - with the floors...

what motivates a tired, stressed, overworked parent?

finding a non-destructive way to be with their child and keep them entertained enough to be able to relax a bit in the process.

case in point: the wife and i had planned on doing next to nothing this weekend - a good plan when life gets too crazy. saturday morning she gets the idea that we could drive 45 minutes to visit my dad and stepmom in the east bay. normally even this amount of driving provides a child related challenge of it's own so we have to be really motivated to attempt it.

neither of us blinked for a second when considering the idea. "yeah, let's do it!" we hustled about to get the boy in the car and on the road before it got too late, dreading a car-nap which could deprive us of the invaluable 45-90 minutes of freedom when he naps in a bed.

i think both of us realized that once we got there, the g-parents would happily take the boy providing a fair amount of relief and opportunity for relaxation. not only would they be stoked to be with the boy but they have a pool! the boy is a fish i tell you. what our (part) black lab lacks in water enthusiasm he makes up for.

long story short we spent a lot of time in the pool and yes, we got a bit of relief. the motivations of a tired, stressed, overworked parent are really so simple...

the vicious more work <-> no ride cycle

you may know what this is about. in the valley i imagine almost everyone does. whether your work is "stay at home mom", vp of whatever or an individual contributor somewhere, it's not uncommon for us to work, work, work...

i get a lot of value out of my work. i generally love what i do and love working with people. the social aspect of a job are one of the major benefits if you ask me.

even so, i still struggle with how much my work impacts the "other" things that are important to me. in this case it's riding my bike. why aren't i talking about how working too much affects time with my family? because i just don't let it. family comes first, then work, then cycling.

so for me cycling is like the last line in product development (QA or i18n) where the amount of time actually available to do that one thing just shrinks and shrinks as previous areas go long and the deadline (or hours in a day) fail to budge.

after a certain point i'm riding so infrequently that i start to say f*^k it - what's the point if i'm barely riding at all anyway. then i'm not riding at all and BAM - i'm back to the point where it's a struggle to get in any sort of riding shape.

as many cyclists know it takes months to get INTO good riding shape and mere DAYS to fall out of it...