A Lesson Learned from Deep Throat

I've been thinking and studying a lot about how God guides us through big decision making processes. A few nights ago I was watching all the president's men and found this dialogue between Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and deep-throat somewhat thought provoking:

Deep Throat: You tell me what you know
Woodward: (tells him)
Deep Throat: What else?
Woodward: (tells him then asks a question)
Deep Throat: I can't tell you that.
Woodward: But you could tell me.
Deep Throat: No I have to do this my way. You tell me what you know and I'll confirm. I'll keep you in the right direction if I can but that's all.

Why I Moved to New York and...

If I had a dollar for every time I have been asked, "So, you could have moved ANYWHERE, and you chose SYRACUSE?" I would be a very wealthy man. So wealthy, in fact, that I would be able to afford another bowl of Lobster Bisque at the Bluewater Grill in Skaneateles.

Aside from specific cities, many people asked me why I moved at all from the Utah of my youth. That is such a good question, it deserved an answer. I could go through and list all the factors, the things I was looking for that perhaps Utah didn't have, but that wouldn't answer the whole "why", just a partial "why". It would answer the "why NY" "why" but not the real "why" "why". Make sense? Even if it doesn't, I'm moving on...

So, what is the real "why"? Let me tell you. I needed to figure myself out. Seriously. Even though most people think I had my future all planned out...I didn't...at all. In fact, when I graduated I had one thing figured out. And that one thing was that I needed to figure everything else out. (the clarity of this post is really shocking me).

I didn't know three fundemental things about myself that I felt we're fairly important. First, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. Snowmaking is a party, but I knew I needed something more fulfilling but the specifics (or even generalities for that matter) escaped me. I wanted to do something great...I just had no idea what that was.

Second, I didn't know what kind of shape my testimony was in. I had been so caught up in myresponsibilities at church and doing exactly what everyone else was doing, I really needed to give my testimony a chance to breath and make sure all of it's legs were firmly on the ground. I've always known the church was true, but knowing is only half the battle. How would I act, think, and desire when I was almost completely isolated spriritually?

Third, I had absolutely NO idea what I wanted when I came to girls and marriage. Not much else to say there, I felt like I was in a game of tag, whoever was closest was the one I would chase...almost comletely at random. I had been hurt and confused so many times in such a short period, my heart and brain were constantly going different directions and then trading places. Ironically, I failed to involve either one in this area of my life far too often.

So, on December 30, 2009 I packed up the ol' saturn and headed East...off to figure who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do with my life.

MORE THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW (until now):

• I only told people I was moving to Syracuse because I knew Mom would have less stress if I had a specific place to go to with apartments to look at. I stayed in Syracuse because I was 200% sick of driving.
• I almost stopped in Ohio and found an apartment there (seriously)...that's a long drive.
• While I was driving I asked myself audibly "What the heck am I doing?" at least 30 times.
• I swore once on the drive when I accidentally said, "What the hell am I doing?" Such was the sincerity of the question.
• Snowmaking was so slow after Christmas I almost didn't move because I had 2/3 as much in my bank account as I thought I needed to make the move.

So there you go, that's why I moved...any questions?

Happy Birthday to Me

It's my birthday...shout hurray! I'm not quite sure what to say. But because those last two phrases rhymed, I think that it's poem time!

Today is my birthday, this is true
A time to be grateful I don't have the swine flu
Its a day on which I haven't always been tall
A day when my friends all write on my wall

Perhaps if I'm lucky I'll have a good time
Resting from work, and making up rhymes
I love getting presents but really just need
To finally figure out where I need to be.

Wow, sarcastic gone painfully honest...that's my birthday for you :)

"Our reality right now is less interesting than..."

For a very long time I have been looking for the right words. The one's that would express why I usually don't take pictures on trips. Why seeing the sites and enjoying the moment is more important to me than interrupting it to take a picture. Finally, a TED talk helped me find these words.

The justification is that you are "preserving the memory", when in reality, because of the frequency at which these memory preservation attempts occur, the memory ends up being the preservation attempt in and of itselt.

Here are the words that finally hit the nail on the head for me:

Our reality right now is less interesting than the story we're going to tell about it later.

We are a story loving people. It is fun to tell others about the crazy things that happen to us. In the end though, in many situations I think we have gotten so involved in the story telling that may happen later, we forget to enjoy the story we are living in at the moment.

Thanks TED!

You Be the Judge

Before and after photo's are for communists. I do what it takes.

I've put a poll in the sidebar, let me know what you think :)

When Looking Closer Would Have Paid Off

Today I rode around Otisco Lake. Just under 18 miles, the ride was supposed to be pretty flat, except for a little blip where the slope increase to as much as 9% for around a mile and a half. "No big deal," I thought, "Little Cottonwood was around 8% for 8 miles...that's cakewalk." And off I went.

As I near the 9 mile mark where this hill is supposed to begin I am still climbing very slowly, a 2-3% slope maximum. I start wondering when i am going to gain this 450 ft of elevation the raod profile said I would. As I rounded the next corner I realized that 9% was an average, because for the next half mile I would be going straight up, riding something steeper than I had ever ridden before. Later I found out the grade was an average of 19% for that stretch of road, but since the beginning 100m was much steeper than the rest, I wouldn't be surprised if I was riding 22% for a while (the image above is the profile for this hill once I zoomed in and had it only show that stretch of road).

Now, let me back up and fill you in on a little sub goal within the goal of riding around the finger lakes. This goal is that from start to finish, I don't stop. My foot touches the ground as I push off from the car, never to touch asphault again until I arrive back at the car. So, here I am, barely keeping the bike going with each pedal stroke, wondering when the fire in my legs will finally consume me and wishing I could stop. But, I had a goal, so i didn't...and to put it plainly, it hurt like he**. Rarely have I felt that much pain, muchless being caused by my own choices.

So, next time I will look a little closer, look at the 'fine print' per se and make sure I am ready for any 22% slopes that come my way.

Question of the Week

So, the name of my blog is "Greggorious". The question is, who gave me that nickname?

That's the Nicest Thing That Anyone's Ever Said...

The picture above is of a kid named Kevin. For those of you that don't know, for the last two years I have been running a small high jump tips newsletter. Recently, with high search rankings, the newsletter has grown quite quickly. With over 1500 subscribers now I get a lot of positive feedback from jumpers that are successfully using my tips to increase their personal bests. Yesterday though, I got another one which made my day.

Rich had been emailing me a little bit about Kevin, his son. He sent over a video of Kevin jumping, I opened it up, recorded my screen and turned on the microphone while I went through it frame by frame. This is what he said after he received my video critique:

"Hello Gregg! First of all let me pay a well-deserved compliment to you. I have coached football and baseball for 20 years and in that time I have never seen more effective and useful coaching than the 10 minute critique you gave my son Kevin. It was specific and applicable. Thanks!

"Last night was the conference meet. He had jumped 5'6" one time in late March. Since then he hasn't cleared 5'2". After applying your suggestions, he cleared 5'8" and missed 5'10" by skimming the bar with his leg on his last attempt.. He was very excited and I am pumped!"

How can you NOT feel good when you get something like that in your email inbox :)