December was supposed to be a slow month. It felt like anything but that. Our 5k-10k-Half-Full training programs wrapped up the first weekend of the month. We were very grateful to have a nice long break in front of us after 9 months of weekend running. My office remodel project got underway. This will be […]
Etc
2024 Word of the Year: Accomplish
I don’t know everything that 2024 will hold, but I’m fairly certain of one thing: We are on track to accomplish some long-term goals. By June my professional organization should complete a Body of Knowledge project, allowing government communicators to have a defined list of knowledge categories required to do our work. By June I […]
A most unusual work trip
In August, our organizational leadership told us to set aside November 12-17 for an important FEMA training experience. We’d been accepted for a grant-funded trip to the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland, to spend a week participating in an Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC). I had no idea what to expect. We flew […]
November 2023 wrap-up
Some months you’ve had enough. November was that month for me and, fortunately, it marked the beginning of a period of slowing down. Evan and I attended the TATOA Awards ceremony where we picked up three awards for his team’s work in 2023. The venue (in Deep Ellum) was wild! We had our first booth […]
Wayback Machine: October 2023 wrap-up
October is a bit of a blur. Why? Because of COVID and a life that has to keep moving forward despite COVID. That’s right: After three years of avoiding it, both Kelly and I came down with COVID. It meant four days of terrible sinus ick and four weeks of low energy and mental fog. […]
Wayback Machine: September 2023 wrap-up
Lots of travel in September. Lots. We headed back to Wisconsin to run the race that canceled on us last year. Despite a heat wave that threatened to cancel this year’s race, we successfully got it done. From Wisconsin to Florida for the 3CMA conference. I spoke at a session, hung out with the Texas […]
Wayback Machine: August 2023 wrap-up
A month at home! What a reprieve. We spotted our first sign of trouble in the neighborhood: A gang of young raccoons. At one point in the summer, one of them spent the night in our garage after I accidentally left the door open. Glory is still suspicious. Glory won the cutest dog in Plano […]
Wayback Machine: July 2023 wrap-up
July is usually a favorite month – birthdays, bonus holiday and so on. This year it was busy and hot. Not quite as much fun as normal. At first we weren’t excited about this garden visitor – a Yellow Garden Spider – until we learned how beneficial they are to the yard. We handed out […]
Wayback Machine: June 2023 wrap-up
June was insanely busy, thanks primarily to work. We hosted and (as a result of a rain cancellation) planned two birthday events plus had our annual conference. Kelly and I also kicked off season 9 of leading Dallas Galloway – now named Interval Run Club Dallas. If you thought we were excited over our first […]
Wayback Machine: May 2023 wrap-up
May flew by – probably because we ran three races in three states, in addition to all of the normal (and not-so-normal) life things back home. We headed back to the east coast to pick up two northeastern state races. First up was Rhode Island, which was a small loop-based race course. A definite benefit […]