tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4521437301277517692024-02-21T02:15:51.361-06:00You Can Call Me Alalcanigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15213250779201559019noreply@blogger.comBlogger333125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-46015499993727076392024-01-01T18:17:00.003-06:002024-01-01T18:49:21.315-06:002024 Goals<p>Each year, Sara and I identify a word which I try to make my mantra for the year. The word (ideally) pushes me toward a destination. Motivates me. Inspires me. Some years, it works. Other years, it falls flat. But each word lets me reflect on the journey I have had and the journey to come.</p><div>2023 - Explore</div><div>2022 - Inhabit</div><div>2021 - Support</div><div>2020 - Elect</div><div>2019 - Gratitude</div><div>2018 - Juggle</div><div>2017 - Survive</div><div>2016 - Support</div><div><br /></div><div>2024 will bring us back to another year of transition. We will move from Guadalajara this summer and then spend a year back in Northern Virginia. The logistics of it all is overwhelming. We have to find a school, daycare, short-term rental house, long-term rental house, organize a month-long home leave, buy a car, transport Parker, before-care, after-care, extracurriculars, figure out commutes and work from home options. I have to figure out a bridge assignment to fill the time between arriving back in DC and starting Portuguese in 2025. </div><div><br /></div><div>It’s a year of transition and movement. Looking back at our prior transition years and seeing words like support (x2) and juggle. I’m going to take a slightly different tact this year and choose the word “move.” It obviously has the connection to our move back to DC, but also will (hopefully) inspire me to getting moving more in my day to day life. </div><div><br /></div><div>This years goals. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Profesional goals</b></div><div>- Complete my TN project</div><div>- Complete my auto hot key project</div><div>- Find an interesting bridge assignment in Washington</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Exercise goals</b></div><div>- complete two power zone challenges on Peloton</div><div>- bike 5,000 minutes on Peloton</div><div>- keep my weekly Peloton streak going while on home leave</div><div>- find a workable exercise routine when back in DC</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Travel goals</b></div><div>- take an adults only trip</div><div>- visit at least one of the cute central Mexican towns like San Miguel se Allende or Guanajuato </div><div>- plan a fun, enjoyable home leave vacation </div><div>- visit New York City 🏙️ </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Personal goals </b></div><div>- manage/limit the stress of the transition </div><div>- honor the end of our time in Mexico 🇲🇽 Give the kids time and space to say goodbye to their friends. </div><div><div>- see fall leaves 🍁 </div><div>- visit a pumpkin patch 🎃 </div><div>- attend at least one football game 🏈 </div></div><div>- attend a concert 🎶 </div><div>- see my Dad and Sara’s mom at least three times each</div><div>- read 20 books </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-56681496898143296902024-01-01T08:52:00.001-06:002024-01-01T08:52:08.536-06:002023 recap <p><br /></p><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px;">It felt really hard to get momentum this year. I never really made many of these goals a priority during the year (except bidding) and it shows in the results. Anyway, here is a recap of my 2023 goals. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px;"><br /></span></span></div><div> <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-size: 17px; font-weight: bold;">Professional Goals</span></div><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Get a "good" assignment - We bid this summer and I'd really like to get one of our top choices; find something that works well for our family. I don't know exactly where that is yet, but that's the goal.</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">We did not get one of our initially top choices as we walked away from handshake day without a handshake offer. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But, after interviewing for a number of cool DC jobs, we got a late offer for a Fraud job in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, which we are excited about. First, we have a year in DC for language training and then Rio in sumner 2025. </span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Successfully transition to our new building - we move into a new consulate this year and this will cause a lot of logistical hurdles. </span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Ha - the building is still not ready and it seems unlikely we will move in before I leave next summer. </span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Network better across Mission Mexico - this is slightly hard to define, but I'd like to do a better job of building on the robust network of work colleagues that I have at my disposal in Mexico.</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">I think I’ve done an okay job on this, with a few strong connections. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.5px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold;">Personal Goals</span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Potty train Elliott - Elliott turns two on Wednesday, which means he will be almost three by the end of the year. If we can potty train him, we can be out of diapers for the first time since 2015!</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Nope. </span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Read 20 books in 2023. This is a stretch, but achievable goal if I count audiobooks (which I reluctantly do). I finished 15 in 2022.</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Close, but not quite with 17 books. </span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><ul class="ul1" style="list-style-type: disc;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Sub-goal - finish reading </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleItalicBody; font-style: italic;">Civilization and the Sea</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"> which I have now been reading for over a year!</span></li></ul></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Finished</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24.5px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Keep the board game group going - meeting twice per month.</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">The big board game group fell apart, but mostly because we started a weekly smaller game which has been great. </span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Take Jack to his first Nebraska game.</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">We took a great trip to Nebraska in September to watch the Huskers win. </span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Visit at least two new places to me.</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">We we to the beach in Nayarit in January, Sara and I went to Oaxaca in February and then I went back to a lot of places I’d already been: <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Two trips to Mexico City, two trips to Nebraska, trips to Puerto Vallarta and Cancun, and a work trip to Boston</span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Take an adults-only trip (currently scheduled for Oaxaca in February)</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">It was marvelous. </span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Finish all the challenges in the </span><span class="s4" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleItalicBody; font-style: italic;">Through the Ages</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"> game on my phone. (Note - I have been playing this game for about two years. The challenges are exactly the right level of difficulty and entertainment. I've been struggling with one particular challenge for about two months which I finally beat today! I have two more challenges left to complete them all.)</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">I finished them. </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleEmphasizedBody; font-weight: bold;">Exercise Goals</span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Weigh under 230 lbs (losing approximately 15 pounds)</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Opposite of this. </span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Ride RAGBRAI - This is the bike ride across Iowa every summer. I've wanted to do this for several years and I have some friends from high school who I could ride with. The logistics of the ride are challenging, especially coming from Mexico and will be challenging to do this summer given the number of managers transitioning out of the consulate this summer. But, it would be great to do if I can pull it off.</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">I could not pull it off. </span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Complete at least three Power Zone challenges</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">I started several power zone challenges, but I finished only one. All that travel above got in the way. </span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Have two 30 day streaks on Peloton</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Not quite. </span></p><ul class="ul1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><li class="li1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: Menlo-Regular; font-size: 12px;"></span><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Bike 6,000 minutes (I biked 4,000+ in 2022).</span></li></ul><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s3" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">I did not make this either, hitting 4,555 minutes, with more than two-thirds coming in the first half of the year. </span></p>Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-68669580432669284852023-01-01T21:04:00.002-06:002023-01-01T21:04:20.623-06:002023 Goals<div style="text-align: left;"> Each year, Sara and I identify a word which I try to make my mantra for the year. The word (ideally) pushes me toward a destination. Motivates me. Inspires me. Some years, it works. Other years, it falls flat. But each word lets me reflect on the journey I have had and the journey to come.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">2022 - Inhabit</div><div style="text-align: left;">2021 - Support</div><div style="text-align: left;">2020 - Elect</div><div style="text-align: left;">2019 - Gratitude</div><div style="text-align: left;">2018 - Juggle</div><div style="text-align: left;">2017 - Survive</div><div style="text-align: left;">2016 - Support</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For 2023, I have chose the word "explore" as my word of the year. The inspiration of this word is to take advantage of our time here in Mexico. We are (relatively) settled in our home here. We don't move this year. If I am being honest, we haven't explored as much as we wish we had. So - for 2023 - let's go explore!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now - on to this year's goals</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Professional Goals</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Get a "good" assignment - We bid this summer and I'd really like to get one of our top choices; find something that works well for our family. I don't know exactly where that is yet, but that's the goal.</li><li>Successfully transition to our new building - we move into a new consulate this year and this will cause a lot of logistical hurdles. </li><li>Network better across Mission Mexico - this is slightly hard to define, but I'd like to do a better job of building on the robust network of work colleagues that I have at my disposal in Mexico.</li></ul><div><br /></div><div><b>Personal Goals</b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Potty train Elliott - Elliott turns two on Wednesday, which means he will be almost three by the end of the year. If we can potty train him, we can be out of diapers for the first time since 2015!</li><li>Read 20 books in 2023. This is a stretch, but achievable goal if I count audiobooks (which I reluctantly do). I finished 15 in 2022.</li><ul><li>Sub-goal - finish reading <i>Civilization and the Sea</i> which I have now been reading for over a year!</li></ul><li>Keep the board game group going - meeting twice per month.</li><li>Take Jack to his first Nebraska game.</li><li>Visit at least two new places to me.</li><li>Take an adults-only trip (currently scheduled for Oaxaca in February)</li><li>Finish all the challenges in the <i>Through the Ages</i> game on my phone. (Note - I have been playing this game for about two years. The challenges are exactly the right level of difficulty and entertainment. I've been struggling with one particular challenge for about two months which I finally beat today! I have two more challenges left to complete them all.)</li></ul><div><br /></div></div><div><b>Exercise Goals</b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Weigh under 230 lbs (losing approximately 15 pounds)</li><li>Ride RAGBRAI - This is the bike ride across Iowa every summer. I've wanted to do this for several years and I have some friends from high school who I could ride with. The logistics of the ride are challenging, especially coming from Mexico and will be challenging to do this summer given the number of managers transitioning out of the consulate this summer. But, it would be great to do if I can pull it off.</li><li>Complete at least three Power Zone challenges</li><li>Have two 30 day streaks on Peloton</li><li>Bike 6,000 minutes (I biked 4,000+ in 2022).</li></ul></div></div>Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-24388325860892857332023-01-01T15:03:00.004-06:002023-01-01T15:03:51.507-06:002022 Recap<p> How did I do in 2022?</p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px; position: relative;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Professional Goals</span></h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">In a year where I am not bidding, not up for promotion, and not studying a language, I don’t have many lofty professional goals this year. At least not any that are articulable. So, generally, I want to do well and help others, but no specifics this year. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #04ff00;">Success, I guess.</span></span></li></ul><p style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; position: relative;">Personal Goals</h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Not get COVID - </span><span style="color: red;">Failed on this</span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Get two oldest boys fully vaccinated (stretch goal - Elliott gets vaccinated. Let's go Science) -</span><span style="color: #04ff00;"> all three boys got vaccinated (yeah, Science!), although Crosby got COVID before he was vaccinated.</span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Read 10 books (at least one in Spanish) - </span><span style="color: #04ff00;">I read 15 books myself, most of them audio books, </span><span style="color: red;">but nothing in Spanish</span><span style="color: #04ff00;">. I also read Harry Potter 1-3 and half of 4 with the kids.</span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Find a church home in Guadalajara - </span><span style="color: red;">complete failure</span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Finish decorating house by April 1, 2020. Includes painting walls, hanging mirrors, pictures and artwork, buying rugs, window coverings (maybe) and finalizing storage, etc. - </span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">We have mostly finished decorating the house with maybe one or two pieces of art that we want to buy here, but we were not done by April 1.</span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Teach Jack and Crosby to ride bikes without training wheels - </span><span style="color: red;">Nope. Kind of forgot this was on the list.</span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Form an active board gaming group that meets at least twice a month - </span><span style="color: #04ff00;">I formed a group that has been fairly active, though maybe not quite twice per month.</span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Visit at least two places that is new to me and/or Sara - </span><span style="color: #04ff00;">So, I travelled to Mexico City and Monterrey (Mexico) for work and we traveled to Santa Cruz/Monterey (CA) for vacation.</span><span style="color: #5b5b5b;"> </span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Take an adults-only trip for at least two nights away - </span><span style="color: red;">nope. But I did get Sara an adults-only trip to Oaxaca for Christmas, so this will just come a bit later.</span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Attend the 50th Anniversary Pi Kappa Phi Rose Ball - </span><span style="color: #04ff00;">I had a great time, but it turns out that spending a weekend drinking, indoors, unmasked, with 250 people may lead to COVID. </span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Watch two sunrises and two sunsets - </span><span style="color: #04ff00;">yup</span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Attend a Husker football game - </span><span style="color: red;">No, we could never get it to work with our schedule.</span></li><ul style="line-height: 1.4; list-style: disc; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Take Jack to his first football game - </span><span style="color: red;">same</span></li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Celebrate turning 40 - </span><span style="color: #04ff00;">I had a fantastic 40th birthday party that Sara organized for me in Guadalajara.</span></li></ul><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; position: relative;">Exercise Goals</h3><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><ul style="line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Lose approximately 20 lbs (weigh between 220 and 222 at the end of the year) -</span><span style="color: red;"> instead of losing 20, I gained five!</span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Complete at least three of the Power Zonw Pack challenges on Peloton - </span><span style="color: red;">I completed two of the Power Zone challenges so fell short of this.</span></li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">Have two 30-day streaks on Peloton - </span><span style="color: #04ff00;">I had a 60 day streak in the spring, so I managed this.</span></li></ul></div>Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-11089228981512381052022-01-03T20:52:00.002-06:002022-01-03T20:52:21.055-06:002022 Goals<p>Each year, since 2016, I have chosen a word as a kind of code or mantra for the year. The word (ideally) pushes me toward a destination. Motivates and inspires me. Some years, it works. Some years, it doesn't. But each word lets me reflect on where I was when the year started. The word for 2021 was "support." What this most tells me about January 2021 is that I didn't have the time or make the effort to find my old words because this was the same word I picked for 2016. Both years involved moving from America to overseas, so it's not a bad choice. I don't know that I always embodied this mantra last year, but I tried to support those around me as we upended our lives quite dramatically.</p><p>Other annual words were:</p><p>2017 - Survive</p><p>2018 - Juggle</p><p>2019 - Gratitude</p><p>2020 - Elect</p><p>2021 - Support</p><p><br /></p><p>As I thought about 2022 and what it means to me, I realized that I want to settle into our lives in Mexico fully. We are here for at least three years - longer than I have been in any post or job. I will live in this house longer than any other place I have lived since I was in high school. Our last year in Alexandria, we made a real emphasis on making our house a home and it really made us happier. So, I ran through a list of words around this idea: Home, assimilate, align, settle, unite, lived-in. Finally, I honed in on my word for 2022</p><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Inhabit</span></h2><p>I hope this word will inspire me to actively pursue making Guadalajara our home, to inhabit this space for the time that we are here. Anyway - on to the goals:</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Professional Goals</span></h3><p></p><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">In a year where I am not bidding, not up for promotion, and not studying a language, I don’t have many lofty professional goals this year. At least not any that are articulable. So, generally, I want to do well and help others, but no specifics this year.</span></li></ul><p></p><p></p><p></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-align: left;">Personal Goals</h3><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Not get COVID</li><li>Get two oldest boys fully vaccinated (stretch goal - Elliott gets vaccinated. Let's go Science)</li><li>Read 10 books (at least one in Spanish)</li><li>Find a church home in Guadalajara</li><li>Finish decorating house by April 1, 2020. Includes painting walls, hanging mirrors, pictures and artwork, buying rugs, window coverings (maybe) and finalizing storage, etc.</li><li>Teach Jack and Crosby to ride bikes without training wheels</li><li>Form an active board gaming group that meets at least twice a month</li><li>Visit at least two places that is new to me and/or Sara</li><li>Take an adults-only trip for at least two nights away</li><li>Attend the 50th Anniversary Pi Kappa Phi Rose Ball</li><li>Watch two sunrises and two sunsets</li><li>Attend a Husker football game</li><ul><li>Take Jack to his first football game</li></ul><li>Celebrate turning 40</li></ul><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0in 0in 8pt; text-align: left;">Exercise Goals</h3><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Lose approximately 20 lbs (weigh between 220 and 222 at the end of the year)</li><li>Complete at least three of the Power Zonw Pack challenges on Peloton</li><li>Have two 30-day streaks on Peloton</li></ul></div>Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-71327132360757448762022-01-01T10:16:00.001-06:002022-01-01T10:16:16.642-06:00Recap of 2021 Goals<p> 2021 was a jam packed year (even excluding COVID stuff). We had a baby, we moved to Mexico, I started a new job, the kids started a new school and we sold a house. We have been extremely lucky that we and our family have out health throughout the year (minus a few days here and there with some non-COVID bugs). I got to spend some real quality time with my 92 year old grandmother. I swam in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In no way would I call this year easy, but it has definitely been rewarding,</p><p><br /></p><p>Now - a recap of my 2021 goals</p><p><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><b>Professional Goals</b> </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"></p><ul style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em; text-align: left;"><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Score a 3/3 in Spanish, with a stretch goal of a 3+ in reading.</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">I got my 3/3 in Spanish.</li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Move the family to Guadalajara and settle into a new job</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">We moved here in July. My job is going well with good colleagues and lots of interesting challenges.</li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Get promoted (unlikely this year coming out of Spanish)</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">In September, I was shocked to get promoted since I wasn't promoted last year and I didn't add anything to my performance file (due to language training). This means that in 2022, I will get the Foreign Service Golden Trifecta - no bidding, not up for promotion (there is a mandatory three years between promotions) and no moving!</li></ul></ul><div style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><b>Personal Goals</b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><ul style="line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em; text-align: left;"><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Have a healthy baby boy</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Elliott Jude Caniglia was born healthy on January 3rd and turns one on Monday</li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">NOT get COVID</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">I did not get COVID. Nor did anyone in our house or our extended family.</li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Get vaccinated before moving to Mexico</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">In January last year, this felt like a difficult goal. Now I've been vaxed and boosted.</li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Bond with new baby during 12 week parental leave.</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">This was my favorite part of the year.</li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Read 8 books (including 2 in Spanish)</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">In order of enjoyment</li><ol><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Matar a ruiseñor (To kill a mocking bird in Spanish) </li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Project Hail Mary</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal (HP 1 in Spanish)</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">How the State got their Shapes</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">The Pioneers</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">The Noble Hustle</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">A time for Mercey</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">The Bomber Mafia</li></ol></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Potty train Crosby (Crosby's potty training has been delayed by a combination of some minor medical issues, toddler stubbornness and parental laziness).</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Crosby did awesome this year and was fully potty trained before school started.</li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">One of the highlights of 2020 has been playing an online board game called <a href="https://www.playdiplomacy.com/" style="color: #c15b15; text-decoration-line: none;">Diplomacy</a>. It is uber nerdy, but I've really enjoyed it. My goal for 2021 is to win five solo victories.</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">I quit playing for a few months over the summer as we moved, but I managed three solo victories for the year.</li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Watch two sunrises and two sunsets</li><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Celebrate Sara's 40th birthday in most awesome way possible</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">We went to Puerta Vallarta for a long weekend where one of Sara's friends met us. Given the circumstances, it was pretty good.</li></ul></ul><div><b>Exercise Goals</b></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;"><ul style="line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em; text-align: left;"><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">In 2020, I rode about 2300 total miles on the Peloton (destroying my goal of 1000 miles). I recently learned that the United States is 2755 wide, so my 2021 goal is to ride across the USA</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Moving the Peloton from VA to Mexico cost me about three months. Not saying I would have made it otherwise, but in the end I only hit 1,100 miles this year. Will repeat the goal for next year.</li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Complete at least two 30 day workout streaks on Peloton</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Managed one 45 day streak in the beginning of the year, but never got a second.</li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Lose 15 lbs (weight of 218 by end of 2021)</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Complete failure - instead of losing 15, I gained 7 pounds. I did well the first half of the year, losing 10 pounds by June, but moving and vacation this summer did me in. Goal for 2022 is to lose between 20-22 lbs.</li></ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Ride RAGBRAI (if COVID allows)</li><ul><li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">COVID may have allowed, but I made the decision not to ride before I and everyone else was vaccinated. Plus, between moving and having a new baby, 2021 was not the year for this.</li></ul></ul></div>Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-45124343001886851662021-01-01T16:13:00.000-06:002021-01-01T16:13:35.444-06:002021 Goals<p> After a challenging 2020, with more challenges awaiting in 2021, my word for the year is "Support." In addition to all the COVID issues, we are having a new baby this week and moving to Guadalajara in the summer. Sara will (barring a telework miracle) leave her job and Jack will start kindergarten. Lots of changes coming up and it will be important for us to support each other.</p><p><b>Professional Goals</b> </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Score a 3/3 in Spanish, with a stretch goal of a 3+ in reading.</li><li>Move the family to Guadalajara and settle into a new job</li><li>Get promoted (unlikely this year coming out of Spanish)</li></ul><div><b>Personal Goals</b></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Have a healthy baby boy</li><li>NOT get COVID</li><li>Get vaccinated before moving to Mexico</li><li>Bond with new baby during 12 week parental leave</li><li>Read 8 books (including 2 in Spanish)</li><li>Potty train Crosby (Crosby's potty training has been delayed by a combination of some minor medical issues, toddler stubbornness and parental laziness).</li><li>One of the highlights of 2020 has been playing an online board game called <a href="https://www.playdiplomacy.com/">Diplomacy</a>. It is uber nerdy, but I've really enjoyed it. My goal for 2021 is to win five solo victories.</li><li>Watch two sunrises and two sunsets</li><li>Celebrate Sara's 40th birthday in most awesome way possible</li></ul><div><b>Exercise Goals</b></div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>In 2020, I rode about 2300 total miles on the Peloton (destroying my goal of 1000 miles). I recently learned that the United States is 2755 wide, so my 2021 goal is to ride across the USA</li><li>Complete at least two 30 day workout streaks on Peloton</li><li>Lose 15 lbs (weight of 218 by end of 2021)</li><li>Ride RAGBRAI (if COVID allows)</li></ul></div><p></p>Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-28851252012320393502020-12-31T19:19:00.001-06:002020-12-31T19:19:33.308-06:00Recap of 2020 goals<p>Here is 2020's goal sheet and my annual accounting. Obviously, there were a few unexpected issues this year challenging my ability to complete some of these goals.</p><p><br /></p><p>2020 goals<br /><br />Exercise goals<br /><br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Achieve a 30 day streak on Peloton</li><ul><li>I met this goal twice.</li></ul><li>Work out every week on Peloton</li><ul><li>I am now up to an 80 week streak on Peloton.</li></ul><li>Ride 2020 RAGBRAI (bike ride across state of Iowa)</li><ul><li>This may be my biggest personal cancellation of 2020. I had joined a team and was set to ride RAGBRAI, but COVID cancelled it. I have small hope for 2021 RAGBRAI happening, but I will eventually meet this goal.</li></ul><li>Bike 1000 miles (cumulative)</li><ul><li>I killed this goal, riding over 2,300 miles on my Peloton alone. They also tracked total minutes working out and I clocked in at over 8,000 minutes for the year.</li></ul><li>Complete a 10k or longer road race</li><ul><li>Signed up for Cherry Blossom race, but had it cancelled due to COVID.</li></ul><li>Reach goal weights of 220 (March), 210 (July), 200 (November) and then maintain weight from November to new year. </li><ul><li>I was slightly on target to meet this in February, but by March, I was going the wrong direction. I peaked in July and have come down about 7-8 lbs since then, but have really struggled with eating this year.</li></ul></ul><div>Travel/Entertainment goals</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Travel to three new places (city/state/country)</li><ul><li>Gettysburg, PA</li><li>Outerbanks, NC (technically, I had been here before, but I'm counting it)</li><li>I also got in a January trip to Phoenix, a February work trip to Dubai, with a side trip to Italy (right as the pandemic hit), and a Thanksgiving trip to San Antonio).</li></ul><li>Read six books</li><ul><li>My completed 2020 books in order of favorites</li><ul><li>The Dutch House - Ann Patchett</li><li>Girl, Woman, Other - Bernadette Evaristo</li><li>A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan</li><li>Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead</li><li>The World as It Is - Ben Rhodes</li><li>White Fragility - Robin DiAngelo</li><li>------</li><li>Executive Orders - Tom Clancy (a reread from high school that got worse with my age/education/government experience)</li><li>The Rooster Bar - John Grisham (I love Grisham, but this book was crap).</li></ul></ul><li>Attend two college/pro football games</li><ul><li>NOPE</li></ul><li>Attend two concerts/shows</li><ul><li>NOPE</li></ul><li>Attend at least one Husker game</li><ul><li>NOPE</li></ul><li>Take Jack to his first football game</li><ul><li>NOPE, but I got the kid hooked on football, so there's that</li></ul><li>Find regular board gaming group</li><ul><li>Didn't find an in-person group, but joined an online board game site for a game called "Diplomacy", which I have really enjoyed playing this year.</li></ul><li>Watch two sunrises/sunsets </li><ul><li>YES</li></ul></ul><div>Professional goals</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Find a good/interesting gap assignment </li><ul><li>Changed plans due COVID/baby</li></ul><li>Professional goals not for public blog</li><ul><li>NOPE</li></ul><li>Volunteer for 2020 presidential campaign</li><ul><li>NOPE, I never quite pulled the trigger, though I did attend a few meetings and a rally back in the primary season.</li></ul></ul><div>Financial goals</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Finalize student loan forgiveness</li><ul><li>YES - YEAH!!!!</li></ul><li>Pay off credit cards</li><ul><li>YEP</li></ul><li>Amass specific savings goal (not for publication). </li><ul><li>YEP</li></ul></ul></div></div>Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-14610753457287999502020-01-01T11:15:00.001-06:002020-01-01T11:15:25.647-06:002020 goalsSomehow it is already 2020. 2019 flew by very quickly. My word for 2019 was “Gratitude”. Not sure I really lived that word this year, but it was a good year for me overall. Work had some successes, had some wonderful travel inside and outside the US.<br />
<br />
My 2020 word is going to be a bit more active. I have chosen the word “Elect.” The obvious meaning is the 2020 election. I hope to get involved politically this year. However, I also want to take specific actions with meaning. I want to “elect” to do things, to choose what I want, rather than just wait until things come to me.<br />
<br />
2020 goals<br />
<br />
Exercise goals<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Achieve a 30 day streak on Peloton</li>
<li>Work out every week on Peloton</li>
<li>Ride 2020 RAGBRAI (bike ride across state of Iowa)</li>
<li>Bike 1000 miles (cumulative)</li>
<li>Complete a 10k or longer road race</li>
<li>Reach goal weights of 220 (March), 210 (July), 200 (November) and then maintain weight from November to new year. </li>
</ul>
<div>
Travel/Entertainment goals</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Travel to three new places (city/state/country)</li>
<li>Read six books</li>
<li>Attend two college/pro football games</li>
<li>Attend two concerts/shows</li>
<li>Attend at least one Husker game</li>
<li>Take Jack to his first football game</li>
<li>Find regular board gaming group</li>
<li>Watch two sunrises/sunsets </li>
</ul>
<div>
Professional goals</div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Find a good/interesting gap assignment </li>
<li>Professional goals not for public blog</li>
<li>Volunteer for 2020 presidential campaign</li>
</ul>
<div>
Financial goals</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Finalize student loan forgiveness</li>
<li>Pay off credit cards</li>
<li>Amass specific savings goal (not for publication). </li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-53954730682787478652020-01-01T10:14:00.001-06:002020-01-01T10:14:19.349-06:00Recap of 2019 goals<div style="caret-color: rgb(91, 91, 91); color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;">
Here is a summary of my 2019 goals and how I did. </div>
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<div style="caret-color: rgb(91, 91, 91); color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;">
2019 goals:</div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(91, 91, 91); color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;">
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<div style="caret-color: rgb(91, 91, 91); color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;">
<ul style="line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Exercise</li>
<ul style="line-height: 1.4; list-style: disc; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Work out 2+ times/week✅</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Finish Cherry Blossom 10 miler✅</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Bike 200 miles (cumulative)✅</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Lose 2-3 lbs/month (24-36 total lbs).🚫</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">➡️ Ran the Cherry Blossom race in April. We got a Peloton in June and I have been using it every week. Sadly, despite the exercise, I yo yoed and haven’t really lost the weight I hoped. Working on weight watchers to start the new year. </li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Personal</li>
<ul style="line-height: 1.4; list-style: disc; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Attend Church weekly and volunteer with church✅</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Volunteer with AFS❌</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Read 6 books➡️5️⃣</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">No TV Tuesday❌</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Make local friends❌</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Hang all pictures/art on wall by March 1❌</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">➡️ We found a great church community and have really enjoyed getting involved in the community. But, we still haven’t found good strong adult local friends. Read five books, but didn’t get to six. And we hung most of the wall art, but not everything. </li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Travel/Entertainment</li>
<ul style="line-height: 1.4; list-style: disc; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Visit 3 new places (city, state, or country)✅</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Spend 21 days with my Dad and/or Sara's mom✅</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Go on an adults-only trip with Sara✅</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Attend two college/pro football games✅</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Attend two concerts/shows❌</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Watch at least two sunrises and two sunsets✅</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">➡️ Visited Bern, Ankara, Seaside, FL, College Station, TX, and New Orleans for the first time. Had long visits with both of our parents, plus a couple of short visits. Sara and I went on two adults only trips to College Station and New Orleans this fall. Attended my first Aggie game with Sara and a Husker game with my Dad. Did not get to any concerts this year. </li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Political</li>
<ul style="line-height: 1.4; list-style: disc; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Volunteer for a presidential campaign❌</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Attend two or more political rallies❌</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">➡️ While I have been very politically engaged this year, I did not volunteer with a campaign or go to two rallies. </li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Professional</li>
<ul style="line-height: 1.4; list-style: disc; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Work Goal #1 - not stated on public blog✅</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Get a top 3 choice assignment during bidding❌</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">➡️ Really proud of our effort to achieve work goal #1.</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">➡️ Bidding was a cluster this year. Had the impression that we would get one of our top 5 bids, and then we’re surprised with choice #15. We are headed to Guadalajara Mexico in September 2021. </li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Financial</li>
<ul style="line-height: 1.4; list-style: disc; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Pay off student loans✅</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Pay off credit cards❌</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Re-build savings❌</li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">➡️ Still waiting on final word, but looks like I will get my student loans forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. About a year later than I hoped. The shutdown raised our credit card debt, so we haven’t fully paid it off, but should be good in 2020. </li>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>
Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-39042642449460962082019-01-01T20:30:00.002-06:002019-01-01T20:52:05.662-06:00Annual post on goalsFor the last few years, I have chosen words that would be my annual mantra.<br />
2016: Support<br />
2017: Survive<br />
2018: Juggle<br />
<br />
2019 has the potential to be a solid stable year for me. As of this writing, I have no major life changes planned in 2019. In 2018, we moved from Riyadh, I changed jobs and Sara started a new job. In 2017, we had Crosby. In 2016, we moved to Riyadh, I switched jobs, Sara left her job, and Mom died (all that happened in a fun 3 months). In 2015, we had Jack and I moved from Frankfurt. In 2014, I got married. In 2013, I moved to Frankfurt and got engaged. It's been a busy half-decade. My words each of the last three years echo that constant movement and upheaval.<br />
<br />
In 2019, Sara and I will both be in steady jobs (presumably). We won't be moving. We're not planning any new kids. I want 2019 to be steeped in that idea of steadiness. I've contemplated and discarded a number of possible words.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Run - physical exercise as well as related to political ideas</li>
<li>Liberate/emancipate - Related to work issues I don't want to discuss on public blog</li>
<li>Discover</li>
<li>Light/Lightness - again, weightloss motivated</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, rather than spend 2019 focused on movement, as so much of the past half-dozen years have been, I want to slow down and reflect. I want to appreciate my job, the opportunity I have in this position to improve people's lives. I want to immerse myself in my family life - loving my boys and Sara every day, even when they drive me crazy. I want to focus on the good things that are happening in the world, particularly in my little corner of it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The word of 2019 will be <b>GRATITUDE</b>. Here's to being thankful and appreciating the good things in my life and the world.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2019 goals:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Exercise</li>
<ul>
<li>Work out 2+ times/week</li>
<li>Finish Cherry Blossom 10 miler</li>
<li>Bike 200 miles (cumulative)</li>
<li>Lose 2-3 lbs/month (24-36 total lbs).</li>
</ul>
<li>Personal</li>
<ul>
<li>Attend Church weekly and volunteer with church</li>
<li>Volunteer with AFS</li>
<li>Read 6 books</li>
<li>No TV Tuesday</li>
<li>Make local friends</li>
<li>Hang all pictures/art on wall by March 1</li>
</ul>
<li>Travel/Entertainment</li>
<ul>
<li>Visit 3 new places (city, state, or country)</li>
<li>Spend 21 days with my Dad and/or Sara's mom</li>
<li>Go on an adults-only trip with Sara</li>
<li>Attend two college/pro football games</li>
<li>Attend two concerts/shows</li>
<li>Watch at least two sunrises and two sunsets</li>
</ul>
<li>Political</li>
<ul>
<li>Volunteer for a presidential campaign</li>
<li>Attend two or more political rallies</li>
</ul>
<li>Professional</li>
<ul>
<li>Work Goal #1 - not stated on public blog</li>
<li>Get a top 3 choice assignment during bidding</li>
</ul>
<li>Financial</li>
<ul>
<li>Pay off student loans</li>
<li>Pay off credit cards</li>
<li>Re-build savings</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>
Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-29968408995149166102019-01-01T19:23:00.003-06:002019-01-01T19:23:51.303-06:00Recap of 2018 goals<br />
<br />
A recap of last year's goals.<br />
<br />
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Support Sara in her search for a new job in America</span></li>
<ul style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sara got a new job and I think I was supportive.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Find a house and childcare that works for our family and our budget</span></li>
<ul style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The stress of finding childcare and housing from abroad was more excruciating than I expected, but in the end we found an option that worked for us. We love our boys' daycare and it is only 10 minutes from our house. Our rented townhouse has its foibles (the front door is 100 yards and 3 flights of stairs away from our parking spot and this has been the rainiest year in DC history), but it fits our family.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Pay off my student loans (with help from Public Service Loan Forgiveness)</span></li>
<ul style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">I submitted my application for Public Service Loan Forgiveness in November and in December, I joined the thousands of others who were denied PSLF. The initial review stated I owed another 3-4 years' worth of payment and I almost cried. My case is undergoing a manual review (said review has been pending since May) and the number of payments owed will likely drop to 3-6. </span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The PSLF system is a model of bureaucratic inefficiency.. </span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Visit 3 new countries and 1 new state (ND, WI, MI, MS, ME, VT, CT, AK, AR, RI)</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Visited Egypt, Oman (New), Thailand (New), UAE, England, Texas, Arizona, California, and Michigan (NEW) this year. So fell, one new country short of goal.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Attend at least two college/pro football games</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Attended Nebraska vs. Michigan football game in Ann Arbor, but didn't make it to any others.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Attend at least two concerts</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Saw 'Hamilton' with Sara for our anniversary and it was awesome. Had tickets to see Ed Sheeren, but had to cancel.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Weigh under 200 lbs at the end of the year</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Massive fail. Gained 15 lbs and am up to 235.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Spend at least 21 days with my dad or Sara’s mom.</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">We more than met this goal this year. My Dad visited Saudi in February and we met him in England in June. We visited Arizona in August (🔥) and in December.</span></li>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sara's mom visited Saudi in February. Sara and the boys spent the summer in San Antonio and I was there in June and July. She has visited DC twice since we moved.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Complete a race of at least 10k/6 miles (I thought about making this a half-marathon, but I don’t think I can pull that off this year with the timing of our move).</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Utter fail. Signed up for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile in April.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="font-size: 14.85px; text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; text-indent: -0.25in;">Go desert camping/glamping and see the stars</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; text-indent: -0.25in;">We went desert camping. It left a little bit to be desired.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Watch at least two sunrises and two sunsets</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The world remains beautiful at dusk and dawn</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Join an organization or board or volunteer with a group when I return to US</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">I recently started the process to volunteer with AFS, but not yet done anything.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</div>
</span></li>
</ul>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #5b5b5b; display: inline !important; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span dir="LTR"></span>Learn to juggle<span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #5b5b5b; display: inline !important; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -0.25in;">
:)</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.85px; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></blockquote>
Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-85406139164624678612018-01-09T07:47:00.004-06:002018-01-09T07:47:57.014-06:00It's 2018 already<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Somehow, it is 2018
already. 2017 flew by pretty
quickly. We are already on the down
slope of our tour in Riyadh. 2018 will
see us jet back to Washington DC where I will start a two year tour as a desk
officer. For the third year in row, I am
choosing a word of the year. 2016 was ‘<b><i><u>support</u></i></b>’
and 2017 was ‘<b><i><u>survive</u></i></b>.’ I chose ‘<b><i><u>survive</u></i></b>’
in 2017 because 2016 was so hard and just getting through what was sure to be a
difficult year was going to be enough. I
think that I, along with Sara, did more than just survive 2017. By no means has the year been easy. Being separated for six weeks from my family
was tough. I lost my grandfather and
namesake in May. The Saudi summer was rough. And I have probably never slept as little as
I have this year. But we have two
healthy, happy boys. Sara and I have
developed a routine here in the Magic Kingdom that is heavy on time together –
the way we want it. We have friends and
family who love us. The year has been
better than I hoped twelve months ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Before we flip the page to
2018, I want to take a look back at my 2017 goals and see how I did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have
a healthy baby boy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #5b5b5b; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sara
is way more responsible for this than I am, but it’s my blog so I will
call it a goal achieved. Crosby is
doing fantastic. He will be
crawling within weeks.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Get
promoted at work<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #5b5b5b; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Joy!
Relief! When the promotion list
came out in September, my name was on it.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Visit
two new countries<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #5b5b5b; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
visited Dubai in February, Bahrain in September, and Egypt in December.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Watch
at least two sunrises and two sunsets<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #5b5b5b; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There
are some beautiful sunrises and sunsets out here in the desert. We have a desert landscape path here
which gets really beautiful sunsets and sunrises.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Get
a "good" new post during bidding season<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #5b5b5b; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Returning
to DC was our back-up option. I
really am looking forward to the position I will be working in, but we
preferred to stay overseas. So,
this counts as a fail.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Weigh
185 lbs or less by end of year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #5b5b5b; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Complete
fail. Instead of losing 10 lbs., I
gained 15 lbs. I am not sure if it
is Saudi or kids (it’s kids!), but finding the 30-60 minutes to workout
when I am constantly exhausted was difficult. And it turns out, I stress eat when I
am tired. Not a good combo.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Work
out 3x/week for at least 30 minutes<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #5b5b5b; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Failed
on this one. If I average over the
whole year, I probably managed 1.5x/week.
I am hoping to schedule more dedicated exercise time for 2018.</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: 0in;">
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</span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Run
a race of at least 10k/6 miles or more<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #5b5b5b; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
managed this one this summer in San Antonio. I even managed to set a PR in the
10k. The best part was I convinced
my Dad and sisters to race as well (Dad and Katie walked the 5k).</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, my word for 2018 is going to be “<b><i><u>juggle</u></i></b>.” There is going to be a ton of change in the
next year. We will leave Riyadh to
return to DC. I will start a new position. Sara will find a new job. We will move to a new house. We will spend most of the first half of the
year with one foot headed towards DC and the other foot planted here in Saudi
Arabia. Once we get back to the U.S., we
have to balance work, kids, family, money, health. The whole situation feels like one giant
juggling act – a year spent to keeping all the balls in the air.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Support
Sara in her search for a new job in America</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Find
a house and childcare that works for our family and our budget</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Pay
off my student loans (with help from Public Service Loan Forgiveness)</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Visit
3 new countries and 1 new state (ND, WI, MI, MS, ME, VT, CT, AK, AR, RI)</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Attend
at least two college/pro football games</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Attend
at least two concerts</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Weigh
under 200 lbs at the end of the year</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Spend
at least 21 days with my dad or Sara’s mom.</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Complete
a race of at least 10k/6 miles (I thought about making this a half-marathon,
but I don’t think I can pull that off this year with the timing of our move).</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Go
desert camping/glamping and see the stars</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Watch
at least two sunrises and two sunsets</span></li>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><span dir="LTR" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"></span><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Join
an organization or board or volunteer with a group when I return to US</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
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<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Learn
to juggle :)<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote>
</span></li>
</ul>
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Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-83025037103965802412018-01-01T20:46:00.001-06:002021-08-16T19:53:25.024-06:00Visiting CairoAl Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-50553482253991645422017-12-16T14:02:00.001-06:002017-12-16T14:02:11.371-06:00Things I'll miss from SaudiWe're headed back to Washington for our next tour and even though we don't leave until summer, we have already started dreaming of trips to Target, college football Saturdays, and being in the same time zones as our family. But I have spent the past few days thinking of things about our time in Riyadh that I will miss.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>The commute to work. Without a doubt, you simply cannot beat the commute here in Riyadh. It only takes me fifteen minutes door to desk walking through a park each day. In the evening, I am often greeted by the call to prayer echoing in the evening air. The best part of the short commute is a get to spend so much time with Sara and the boys.</li>
<li>New public artwork in Riyadh. Throughout the city over the past year, the government has installed a number of public works art projects. Most of them are beautifying projects along the highways (which are generally very ugly). My favorite is at a nearby interchange to the DQ they installed about two dozen up lit green metal trees. They look like a scene out of a Dr. Seuss book.</li>
<li>Winter weather. The weather is brutal 8 months out of the year. Super brutal. But those other four months are fantastic. We are right in the middle of the wonderful period of wonderful weather with highs in the 70s and brisk morning walks to work.</li>
<li>Riyadh community - since there isn't a whole lot going on here in Riyadh, the community is pretty welcoming and friendly. We have made some very good friends here and Jack has a wonderful toddler group of friends.</li>
<li>Affordable domestic help. We have a nanny who helps with childcare and cleans the house. I love not having to do laundry or clean bathrooms. It is so much better to spend that time playing with the boys.</li>
<li>Call to prayer. There is beauty in this daily devout ritual. When you first arrive, the call feels loud and obtrusive every time you hear it. Over time, it begins to blend into your day and become a part of the ambiance of life in the Islamic world. After almost 18 months here, I welcome the lyrical melody of the call. It brings peace and some comfort. This time of year, the call for evening prayer generally comes as I walk home from work and see the palm trees and mosque silhouetted in the setting sun. I will miss it.</li>
<li>Magic trash elves. In DC, failure to move your trashcan the 3 feet from the front of your house to the edge of the sidewalk would often result in no trash pick-up for a week. Occasionally, you'd find yourself hunting for a less than full trashcan down the street to deposit the overfull trash bag. None of that here. We have a locked outdoor trash room off our car port. There is another locked door that leads to the street. Almost once a day, someone comes and empties the trash room. Just get your HHE and have two tons of paper to dispose - no problem, the trash elves will take it. Throw a kids birthday party and have five trash bags worth of party trash - trash elves will get rid of it before you even know there is a problem. Neither Sara nor I have ever seen the garbage men - we don't know when they come... but they are good at their jobs!</li>
</ol>
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There are other things I will surely miss, but this is my first post since January (lot has happened since then), so we'll stop here.</div>
Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-39698072379204096872017-01-28T13:30:00.001-06:002017-01-28T13:30:03.469-06:00Arabian NightsOne of the coolest aspects of my life and my career is when I get to experience something that most people will never get to do. I have had snowball fights on erupting volcanoes, I've passed out at Oktoberfest. I've attended a papal funeral and gone SCUBA diving in the Blue Hole. Last night, Sara and I and some friends of are got to go to a Saudi gala in the middle of the desert, held in honor of, I kid you not, some Arabian horses. <div>
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The whole evening was spectacular. The event was held out at the desert stables which are home to some very well-bred Champion Arabian horses. They are show horses, not race horses. During the day, there was a festival showcasing these horses (which we didn't attend) and this was the gala dinner to conclude the festivities. The event was under the stars where a dance floor of sorts was built with carpets and some 30 foot palm trees that I am pretty sure were brought in solely for this occasion. On the dance floor, a bedouin band played and sang throughout the night. The music was a few drums, a single stringed instrument I had never seen before, and men's voices and clapping. The 30 member band sang call-and-answer songs that echoed off the surrounding dunes. On occasion, a few members of the troupe would get up and dance. Later, more men - guests - joined in the dancing. Although there were women at the party (probably one out of five guests were women), we never saw any dancing.</div>
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In addition to dancing, there was an exhibition of the horses. Arabian horses are known for being lightening quick for short distances, but not as strong as horses we are used to in America. I don't really know what I am supposed to be looking for, but these horses were very pretty and powerful. The highlight of the evening, the highlight of our lives if you ask the announcer was the introduction of EKS Alejandro. They spun up the hype machine to 11 for this horse. The intro was so over the top, I assumed we were about to see a horse that was like 30 feet tall or something. In the end...just a horse.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The man said I would tell the world about the night I saw EKS Alejandro. Apparently, he was right.</td></tr>
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After the horse show, they served the dinner. Five hundred people converged on a sumptuous buffet 100 feet long, with salads of all sorts, savory pastries and meat pies, fish, meat, rice, stew, lamb on a spit and it was all delicious. We filled our plates and ate until we were stuffed - all failing miserably to identify our favorite part. After dinner, we conversed with a pair of Saudi men who sat our table and heard stories about their lives in Saudi, their experiences in America ("what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" translates into Arabic well), and heard stories about their children. Sadly, this was the first extended conversation I have had with a Saudi, but all the more enjoyable for that fact.<div>
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After dinner, the music resumed and they continued to dance long into the night. We huddled on comfortable couches on the desert sand. We laughed about EKS Alejandro. We even had the chance to ride some camels.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dot: "Hey, I used to just read this blog. NOW I am in it!"</td></tr>
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Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-39645220426912657952017-01-19T14:18:00.001-06:002017-01-19T14:36:25.270-06:00Running on the WadiIn general, Saudi Arabia is ugly. There is no color, everything is covered in dust. Nothing grows without irrigation. Trash is everywhere. Unfinished construction abounds. Compared to the rest of the city, the DQ is actually, sort of, pretty. The crown jewel of the Diplomatic Quarter is the Wadi. The Wadi is a 5 mile path around the DQ. It mostly clings to the edge of the cliffsides that form the primary border of the DQ.<br />
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It is a great place to go running. The last few mornings, I have made my way out at sunrise to go running on the path. The temperature has been perfect for a jog - a little chilly, but not cold.<br />
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<br />Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-31552577547795737912017-01-07T05:05:00.000-06:002017-01-07T05:05:30.645-06:00New Year, New GoalsLast year, I chose a word that would be my mantra for the year. The word I chose for 2016 was "support." This word proved tp be prophetic for 2016, but not in the way that I imagined at the beginning of the year. With all of the changes my family was scheduled to go through, I imagined that I would need to be very supportive of my wife, my son, and our families as we moved halfway across the world to Saudi Arabia. I was the only one who had done this before and I thought, hoped, expected that my experience would help me support my family.<br />
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For the first half of the year, that may have been true. But on July 1, last year, my world was torn apart with the sudden death of my mother. Instead of being the rock supporting Sara and Jack in the sea of changes, I was thrust into the current grasping for aid and support. I found it in the arms of my wonderful wife and the smile of my amazing son. Sara was always there by my side to keep me going. She was there to listen when I needed to talk or to cry or simply needed a hug. Instead of me getting Jack out of bed every day, Jack helped me get out of bed every day. His daily achievements - rolling over, crawling, walking, talking, learning "touchdown", saying "Dada" or now, "Nana". These are the things that kept me going. Jack didn't know, couldn't know that I just wanted to crawl into bed and stay there all day. He wouldn't let me.<br />
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Let's start with a look back at 2016 goals and how I did -<br />
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 1.4; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;">
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Pass my Arabic exam with a 2/2 or better (I need a 2/1)</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">I took my test a week after my mom's death. I managed a 2/1+; short of my goal, but more than I needed. I'll take it.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Move to Saudi Arabia</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Obviously, we did this one.</li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Train for and complete a triathlon before July (sprint triathlon)</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Perhaps my best success of the year. This was NOT easy. I had to really work to get the swimming and biking parts down. The race itself was kind of a mess with my tire problems, but I finished and finished faster than I expected.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Watch at least two sun rises and two sunsets</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">My favorite annual goal, completed again for 2016.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Weigh 175 lbs or less (losing about 20 more pounds)</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Did not succeed here. I got down to around 192 lbs in February and was steady in the 190s into the summer. After my mom's death and the move, I put on weight and went back above 200. I ended the year at my heaviest in a while at 208. I have failed with exercise since we moved here.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Visit at least 3 new countries</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Failed again - only new country in 2016 was Saudi Arabia. I expected that we would have done some regional travel during the year, but instead we went to Europe and to America.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Skype with Jacks grandparents once a week</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">More or less succeeded with this one. We didn't hit every week, but we did a lot of skyping.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Visit with Jacks grandparents at least twice</span></li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">This is the most heartbreaking. My mom didn't see Jack again after we returned back to DC in January. We had plans to see her the week after her death in Omaha, but she never made it. We did visit Nanu four times in 2016 and we saw Omi at least four times too.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Post on this blog at least twice a month (this post counts for January)</li>
<ul>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Yeah, that did not happen. This blog is not dead, but it is clearly on its last legs. For 2016, I am hoping for a post every two months. Maybe.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
For 2017, I have more modest goals and hopes. Perhaps its the inherited pessimism from the end of 2016, but my word for 2017 is "survive." Survive having two kids under two. Survive a Saudi summer. Survive the bidding process. Survive toddler jet lag. Survive my busy work schedule.<br />
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As for goals, here is what is on tap for 2017.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Have a healthy baby boy</li>
<li>Get promoted at work</li>
<li>Visit two new countries</li>
<li>Watch at least two sunrises and two sunsets</li>
<li>Get a "good" new post during bidding season</li>
<li>Weigh 185 lbs or less by end of year.</li>
<li>Work out 3x/week for at least 30 minutes</li>
<li>Run a race of at least 10k/6 miles or more</li>
</ul>
Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-85232726885165558562016-10-22T12:00:00.001-06:002016-10-22T12:00:04.350-06:00A day at the beachIn addition to the Embassy in Riyadh, the United States has two consulates in Saudi Arabia. One is in the oil rich Eastern Province on the Persian Gulf in a city named Dharan. The second is in the historical and commercial city of Jeddah, located on the Red Sea. Jeddah is a sea port and the closest major city to the pilgrimage cities of Medina and Mecca. Due to a staff shortage in the Consular Section in Jeddah, I volunteered to spend two weeks there in October helping them out. Sara and Jack decided to join me.<br />
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The worst thing about Jeddah is how effing humid it is. When we got off the plane we started sweating immediately. As hot as it is in Riyadh, you don't sweat all that much unless you spend significant time in the sun. Not in Jeddah - just boiling hot.<br />
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The best part about Jeddah is the sea. The coast line is pretty and expansive. They have an aquarium that Jack and Sara went to. They have the world's largest fountain (take that Fountain Hills, AZ) and, of course, they have beaches. The first question any Westerner asks about going to the beach in Saudi Arabia is "do women have to wear burkinis?" The answer depends on what beach you are going to. We passed by a few public beaches and we saw few women on the beach and the women we saw were just wearing regular burkas in the water. <br />
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But the real highlight in Jeddah are the private beaches. These beaches are secluded, private, beaches that only admit foreigners (no Saudis allowed). They allow western beach wear for both men and women. In addition to the pristine white sand beach and the ocean, they had beach chairs, a lawn for sports, a nice pool, a bar (still no booze) and a restaurant. You had to pay about $40/adult to get in, but the price was totally worth it. We went with another family that I knew from language training who are posted in Jeddah and we had a great time.<br />
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* As an aside, we had a lost in translation experience on our beach day. We wanted to have a place that Jack could nap while we were at the beach, so I booked a (not-cheap) room at the hotel attached to the club -- or so I thought. The hotel I booked was a different hotel a mile away with a similar sounding name. This hotel was a disaster - it was dirty, there were no towels, no crib, our neighbors were loud with kids screaming outside until 2 (I'm so old). The hotel was technically on the beach, but this beach dirty and the water had trash in it. Not what I thought I was getting when I booked the hotel.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">World's tallest water fountain</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset at the private beach club</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our impromptu "crib" when the hotel didn't have one</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was not the nice beach</td></tr>
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Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-89335626095556794722016-09-22T08:01:00.001-06:002021-08-16T19:53:25.036-06:00The pack-out from HellAdmittedly, part of this is my fault. I didn't really purge anything last year when I left Frankfurt. So I sent 3000 lbs of stuff from Frankfurt to Riyadh. I barely remember what's in there and I certainly don't need all of it here. But as a single person in the foreign service, I had never run up against the 7200 lb weight limit. So problem 1 was sending too much stuff from Frankfurt to Riyadh.<br />
<br />
So, back in April, when the pack-out company sent out their "expert" to do an estimate on our weight for our packout, I was ecstatic to hear him say that all of the stuff in our house, including our outdoor furniture, queen bed, and a couple of couches we wanted to bring would be round 4000 lbs - just under our weight limit. He said there might be a few hundred lbs difference, but we were willing to send the couches to storage if we needed to. No big deal. Listening to this expert was problem 2.<br />
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Problem #3 was not really doing any significant purging in DC. A big part of this is that most of the things in our house in DC were either new things we had bought in the last year or two or were things Sara brought into the marriage. We both talked about purging things, but really it was me asking her to get rid of her stuff so that we could move to the desert. Where she couldn't drive. It wasn't a very good argument on my point and I never really pushed it very far. I didn't think it mattered --we had enough weight to get all our stuff to Saudi and we could purge there after we had (finally) merged our houses. This was problem 3.<br />
<br />
On Day 1 of our two-day packout, they sent four packers. They didn't arrive until after 10 and left after filling one full crate and packing a whole bunch more boxes. Before he left, the head packer told us he thought we might be overweight and that some of the furniture we were planning to take might have to be sent to storage.<br />
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On Day 2, they sent 7 packers. When the lead guy arrived, he told us that we were definitely going to be overweightAl Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-65504121104509156582016-09-16T12:34:00.000-06:002016-09-16T12:34:34.609-06:00It's always been for my MomDespite my New Year's goal to write in this blog more frequently, I have failed miserably. Part of it is having a baby at home, part of it is questions about how public I want my life to be in Saudi Arabia, but mostly it has been because Mom died this summer. She died suddenly at home from a heart attack. She died in my dad's arms. I was at FSI when I found out. It was a week before my Arabic test and 8 days before we were supposed to have a big family reunion. It sucked.<br />
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Since then, I haven't been able to blog, not because I haven't had things to say (Passing my Arabic test, the pack-out from hell, Saudi Arabia is fascinating!), but because I didn't know how to start writing again. How do I write anything about this summer without talking about the massive hole in my heart and my soul? I didn't (don't) want to write publicly about her death. But skipping over it and pretending it didn't happen wasn't an option either. So every time I thought about writing something, I had this giant decision to make - talk about Mom's death (and it's impact on every<br />
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thing, every moment this summer) or skip over it on the blog. This choice blocked anything else I wanted to write. This post is my feeble attempt to address the issue.<br />
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And that brings me back to writing this blog. It sprung from letters I wrote home when I was a high school exchange student in Italy. By the time I was a college exchange student, I had upgraded to an email list serve. When blogs started to gain popularity I switched formats again and I started this blog in 2010 just before I started A-100. Whenever I wrote, I always knew that whatever I wrote, Mom would read it. She was my audience. Others could and did read what I wrote, but I always wrote with her in mind. If I wasn't willing to tell my mother a story, I knew I shouldn't blog about it. And my Mom was a great audience. She would always comment to me (either online or on the phone) about what I wrote. She loved my stories. I always assumed that at least 80% of her love for my stories was because I was her son and maybe 20% was the writing or the story. I've always been okay with that.<br />
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Right now, I don't know if I will keep blogging or not. For 6 years, blogging has brought me joy. Today, it only brings me sadness. <br />
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I miss you Mom, I love you the most.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanksgiving in San Antonio</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drinking beers at the British High in Belize</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dancing at my wedding</td></tr>
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Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-41401577505563959082016-09-16T11:57:00.002-06:002021-08-16T19:53:24.994-06:00Meeting the AmbassadorLast week was my second full week in the office. On Wednesday, the Consular Section had a scheduled Admin Day. During our staff meeting on Tuesday, I asked about the dress code and my boss answered - "No Hawaiian shirts, but casual." As I had seen some of our local staff wearing jeans the previous Thursday (last day of work week here), I went ahead and wore jeans. While none of the other officers were wearing suits, I was the only one not wearing dress slacks. Duly noted.<br />
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Other than this minor hiccup, the morning was going well, when at 1030, Outlook pops up a reminder about my meet-and-greet meeting with the Ambassador. I hadn't met the Ambassador yet and all I had really heard about him was that he hated tardiness and could be a bit formal. I had a meeting in 15 minutes AND I WAS WEARING JEANS. Shit. After a minute of panic, I eliminated Plan A (run home and change) because there wasn't enough time. I went and asked a colleague what he thought I should do. Plan B - push or cancel meeting. I called up to the Front Office, and asked his staff assistant if I could move the meeting as I was having a little crisis down in the Consular Section (I did not mention that said crisis was that I was wearing jeans). She hesitated and passed me to his secretary who said she could ask, but that he would definitely ask questions about what caused me to miss the meeting. Strike Plan B.<br />
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I am now 9 minutes away from my meeting and needing a Plan C. My colleague had offered me his shirt and tie so, I stood up in the NIV officer bullpen and said to my staff - "What I am about to ask comes from a colleague and not a boss - please feel no pressure, but does anyone wear a size 34 or 36 pant?" One of the ELOs said he did and the two of us made our way to the bathroom to switch pants (6 minutes left). On the way back, I stop by the first guy's office and get his shirt and tie. Two other colleagues, now fully vested in my saga, offer me sports coats they keep at work. A blue blazer sort of fits, and I make my way to the Ambassador's office a full two-minutes early. Amazingly, the outfit actually looked good and the meeting went off without a hitch.<br />
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Fortunately, Plan C worked because Plan D was go home sick and Plan E was pull the fire-alarm.Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-12758075370674424852016-06-12T14:21:00.000-06:002016-06-12T14:21:08.628-06:00I didn't drownI finished the triathlon last week and most importantly, I didn't drown. Although I probably didn't do as much training as I should have, I managed to complete the swim in about 25 minutes, which was five minutes faster than my goal. For the most part, I alternated between freestyle and breast stroke, which helped me keep my breath while continuing to move. <br />
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Although the swim portion went faster, the bike leg went slower due to a leaky front tire. I pushed through on a flat tire for most of the race. Not fun, incredibly slow, but I still got done. <br />
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The run was the easiest part - just a 5K run. For the first time all day, I actually managed to pass other racers (all of whom had already passed me on the bike, but still) for the first time all day.<br />
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I finished the whole race in just over 2 hrs.<br />
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<br />Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-7257450522215532972016-03-03T17:00:00.001-06:002016-03-03T17:00:47.443-06:00In the deep end (again)For the last year or so, I've talked about doing a triathlon. Crossfit is too expensive here, I had been getting bored with running and I've realized that I need a goal in order to effectively work out. I simply don't have the motivation to just work out regularly without a plan and a goal. I don't push myself.<br />
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So, with the support of my wife (she bought me a nice bike for Christmas), I have begun training for a triathlon in June. This week, I started my swim training in earnest by joining a "master's swim class" at the YMCA. It is completely kicking my ass. Although I learned how to swim as a kid and I know all the strokes, etc., my form is crap. <br />
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Frankly, I am embarrassed by my complete lack of skill in swimming. It is WAY harder than I thought it would be. I struggle with breathing, kicking and "pulling" (as I learned the part with your arms is called). Not only am I relegated to the "slow lane" during the class, but I am also easily the slowest of the three guys in this lane. I can barely swim 50 meters without needing a rest. It reminds me of how awful I was at running when I started. I am still not a fast runner - I never will be - but I can run 5 miles if I need to.<br />
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To make matters worse, we swim A LOT. When I was learning to run, my first race was a 5K. During practice, I only ran that distance once or twice before the race. I mistakenly assumed the same theory would apply to the swim in the triathlon. For my tri, I have to swim 750 meters (30 lengths of the pool). The WARM-UP at the first practice was 500 meters! The total work out was 3400 meters. I am limiting my workout to an hour, so I only did about 2200 meters. That is still three times the length of my race.<br />
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As bad as it has been (and it's been pretty bad), I just have to remember how it was when I started running and how it was when I started cross fit. In both cases, I was by far the worst person doing this when I started. But, over time, I improved (incrementally) and other worse people started up. Improving my technique and building my endurance made it so I eventually wasn't the worst. I assume and hope that will be the case again with swimming.<br />
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Additionally, I went on a long bike ride (7 miles) a few weeks ago. I could barely walk for 3 days, so we'll see how that goes.<br />
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Wish me luck.Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452143730127751769.post-50200744365920752032016-01-24T19:54:00.000-06:002016-01-24T19:54:48.501-06:00SnowzillaC was hit this weekend with a monster snow storm with around 20 inches of snow over two days. I had to shovel 6 times and my car is still not out of the snowbank. Work closed early on Friday - the whole city was shutdown over the weekend and work is closed again tomorrow.<br />
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Here are a few photos of the snow -<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJt1lsQXWgDpfO5SqDRjtQV_tXe-6ohroTmhGmvUe2YpAe74cC4sH00RQKnkDo4kGpw5umGJRJngD-ZuquNVPqB7A1InN7tiYPP1nCyCPowYMjq74m5HTpFf5WqAZ-aa87pNR4A8PDc8YF/s1600/IMG_3474.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJt1lsQXWgDpfO5SqDRjtQV_tXe-6ohroTmhGmvUe2YpAe74cC4sH00RQKnkDo4kGpw5umGJRJngD-ZuquNVPqB7A1InN7tiYPP1nCyCPowYMjq74m5HTpFf5WqAZ-aa87pNR4A8PDc8YF/s640/IMG_3474.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2:30 pm Friday - snow begins</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT8Rfo5QKwn20rxcHemIVzfIWtDECJ9hv4joyvVSQsc2RtZTZQh3dQpBrtAAkP7dcg4vZwgwEscaQ3UKGnyM0OloE8NqHiPnwocm5zI6CF2tJoQ3L0ANcXphCjAze0w6zHbvgVMnWpAhPB/s1600/IMG_3479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT8Rfo5QKwn20rxcHemIVzfIWtDECJ9hv4joyvVSQsc2RtZTZQh3dQpBrtAAkP7dcg4vZwgwEscaQ3UKGnyM0OloE8NqHiPnwocm5zI6CF2tJoQ3L0ANcXphCjAze0w6zHbvgVMnWpAhPB/s640/IMG_3479.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4:30 pm Friday</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiavr-qH-oa3TuVBN6jAZIsouKTG31jso6TxQXoXo2QxqyzFZzx-J9JznG3J-Jl8lmsruyvqmdmelJoLe4DbDh2cXyyrEfx3ga9MFHKlB6d7QGaw8kN0wzCcNr3sAuDNpevMaomnWkSpNVc/s1600/IMG_3488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiavr-qH-oa3TuVBN6jAZIsouKTG31jso6TxQXoXo2QxqyzFZzx-J9JznG3J-Jl8lmsruyvqmdmelJoLe4DbDh2cXyyrEfx3ga9MFHKlB6d7QGaw8kN0wzCcNr3sAuDNpevMaomnWkSpNVc/s640/IMG_3488.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">6:30 pm Friday - after first shoveling</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVIn9haZuY7oczYDGofv0x6OqZRxcMEScTE2BhIbJNy7bNSzR5BeYw7N0H2PhQCJ1c5ULsaRlD1GF8MzFV9CygzSxNtbVN6EE9QVcLVfPWyuiHucel1dXRSnX8NXtS9wIEIyRSOql5UVoQ/s1600/IMG_3489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVIn9haZuY7oczYDGofv0x6OqZRxcMEScTE2BhIbJNy7bNSzR5BeYw7N0H2PhQCJ1c5ULsaRlD1GF8MzFV9CygzSxNtbVN6EE9QVcLVfPWyuiHucel1dXRSnX8NXtS9wIEIyRSOql5UVoQ/s640/IMG_3489.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">12:30 am Saturday - I've shoveled twice already</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVerzPA2vG_8KJADszZObWwR6hUt77NruuL9bcP-Gg-opLzQPZtD1YQohbbqQe7BiZhIqjuROaKtHAGLDbrSVjx9uTDe8jySvwI6nZW1J36xgIHs18peRm7_xs9AzB9J3ZDwPaesrmvPTB/s1600/IMG_3499.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVerzPA2vG_8KJADszZObWwR6hUt77NruuL9bcP-Gg-opLzQPZtD1YQohbbqQe7BiZhIqjuROaKtHAGLDbrSVjx9uTDe8jySvwI6nZW1J36xgIHs18peRm7_xs9AzB9J3ZDwPaesrmvPTB/s640/IMG_3499.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saturday morning<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnU12TTkphliXFgg_7xZ2hQE4q0r40sk4W15x4fQtv_ravttZ_u3D-4h3567KYI8Yr2ZuSLONEpFRf0ojms5iR-ZE6CHtSMbmTvMk1Q-bg2-En9YxA_0emqo1QF5Xq-Kk0kAF7BXTlTwXb/s1600/IMG_3538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnU12TTkphliXFgg_7xZ2hQE4q0r40sk4W15x4fQtv_ravttZ_u3D-4h3567KYI8Yr2ZuSLONEpFRf0ojms5iR-ZE6CHtSMbmTvMk1Q-bg2-En9YxA_0emqo1QF5Xq-Kk0kAF7BXTlTwXb/s640/IMG_3538.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Saturday morning - before shoveling</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKV2cVjUFTrL_Br-z22cAXT8u42rGEJjpKo_JHpsm-XnvbqfsjQebNJaUcyaP04pTcvYhFQeFIVIHOARn27IovVbtJ1Mjr-YlRyCBd9QgUjWvXZQNx_aH8HthZea1TkVDsNMyzv5n10t-a/s1600/IMG_3500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKV2cVjUFTrL_Br-z22cAXT8u42rGEJjpKo_JHpsm-XnvbqfsjQebNJaUcyaP04pTcvYhFQeFIVIHOARn27IovVbtJ1Mjr-YlRyCBd9QgUjWvXZQNx_aH8HthZea1TkVDsNMyzv5n10t-a/s640/IMG_3500.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our stairwell was a snow drift - Saturday morning before shoveling</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU0yoXhN6bBmM2pwx_1eUzPdz-pfjtMcBZ1sM_McBo56z_pT4ipFwSgFgjk9LdrqkOTDd9Adixk3mkRgV5wsXv_Z5WyPxsxx2843VNhOKtezX6vYEmxPUVtSA2U5sTgv4nZVOe-SgX5faP/s1600/IMG_3494.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU0yoXhN6bBmM2pwx_1eUzPdz-pfjtMcBZ1sM_McBo56z_pT4ipFwSgFgjk9LdrqkOTDd9Adixk3mkRgV5wsXv_Z5WyPxsxx2843VNhOKtezX6vYEmxPUVtSA2U5sTgv4nZVOe-SgX5faP/s640/IMG_3494.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saturday morning from our bedroom</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3JRhCsQ858143A7fJf8g0kXK2rELUSihyphenhyphenag_CqvtiB3BuKu3KfHFb3SfgYEedLi2b1U1rzcgK7GM1EaHyw0k48cJsqUeO-ImY8ugLgJbxOM4rJ5cNK9DmIjYsYBh4nLswm9QMlkqmwmL8/s1600/IMG_3558.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3JRhCsQ858143A7fJf8g0kXK2rELUSihyphenhyphenag_CqvtiB3BuKu3KfHFb3SfgYEedLi2b1U1rzcgK7GM1EaHyw0k48cJsqUeO-ImY8ugLgJbxOM4rJ5cNK9DmIjYsYBh4nLswm9QMlkqmwmL8/s640/IMG_3558.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dogs exploring the back yard</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-GY7JJtYs6ZOYYnkROJNNWEwJy-_lkM9XWN55asUpM1-phAjY28ykY56KUr9Mh00q9jcpRXDUYVidMdhQUwOkyLApBlLPJNJiQQGjPtyF6nooUrj8ezv5j4CKLuhaTlvLfboV-QCxHO9c/s1600/IMG_3550.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-GY7JJtYs6ZOYYnkROJNNWEwJy-_lkM9XWN55asUpM1-phAjY28ykY56KUr9Mh00q9jcpRXDUYVidMdhQUwOkyLApBlLPJNJiQQGjPtyF6nooUrj8ezv5j4CKLuhaTlvLfboV-QCxHO9c/s640/IMG_3550.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The aftermath on Sunday</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNLO9VMQE8RFzn-KwaZ6khH6kUB4KOpTRcORCVjSKmHSbukStoNm51eUDGczl6gORgq1wI7_jU_yfIpuupD61SsRUIE1aCpiDQfy3XO9WZF5-XLpkZkzd7pMfumcmNBpSUMTRHsgz8epJE/s1600/IMG_3545.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNLO9VMQE8RFzn-KwaZ6khH6kUB4KOpTRcORCVjSKmHSbukStoNm51eUDGczl6gORgq1wI7_jU_yfIpuupD61SsRUIE1aCpiDQfy3XO9WZF5-XLpkZkzd7pMfumcmNBpSUMTRHsgz8epJE/s640/IMG_3545.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">The alley between our house and the neighbor's house - Sunday morning<br /></td></tr>
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<span id="goog_622049410"></span><span id="goog_622049411"></span><br />Al Canigliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941621931152711108noreply@blogger.com0