Grissom

“Dropped 40 pounds in a year, Jeff? How did you do it?”

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UPDATE: -47 pounds and counting | The world is my treadmill…

Me: November 2011 Me: November 2011

In the months leading up to my Grissom High School Reunion in July 2012, I knew I wanted to do something to get in shape. When our younger daughter Heather returned home from college for the summer, she suggested juicing: blending fruits and vegetables in a specially-made juicing machine, and drinking the juice as a meal replacement. So we did that juicing “cleanse” for a month before the Reunion.

Two dear lifetime friends were, in my eyes anyway, the hit of the Reunion: Karen Cass Gill and Carol Baldwin Butterworth. Karen is in amazing shape, and you know those long distance runners from Kenya who compete in the summer Olympics? Well, Carol was in better shape than anyone I’ve ever seen other than, pretty much, those runners from Kenya.* Carol is Association Director Of Youth Teen and Families for a network of YMCAs in Virginia, and here’s what she said about it: “If I’m telling everyone to get in shape, how can I be anything less?” Everyone at Reunion marveled at her. A few days later, done marveling (at least for the moment), I asked her what she does to stay in such, um, marvel-ous shape. She told me several things, but the most important one was this: “I try to always get my 10,000 steps a day.”

I’ve worked in my home office for years, and at that point I figured I was probably getting, oh, 400 steps some days. I also knew that…

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Sweet Home Alabama, and other thoughts

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Since around March 1 I’ve been working remotely from my personal favorite venue among the places I’ve lived and worked thus far in my lifetime: Huntsville, AL, USA. (You may find that quite a statement from someone whose current home base is Oceanside, CA, USA, just north of “perfect weather central,” San Diego.) The Rocket City, designated as such due to the omnipresence of NASA and other aerospace organizations and facilities in the metropolitan area, is home to my high school alma mater, Virgil I. Grissom High School, named after one of the three astronauts who lost their lives in the fiery Apollo 1 disaster.

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By contrast with the final mission of those three brave souls, my stay here has been a wild and wonderful ride that is not over yet. My current job as a global program director at Stratecast enables me to work remotely from anywhere with an Internet connection and an airport. So I’ve been working throughout the trip on my syndicated research reports, and growth consulting projects for great clients such as HP, based on the Big Data, analytics, and business intelligence market. I’ve even handed out my first technology innovation award for the year, which seems appropriate in a world-renowned hotbed of technology innovation such as Huntsville.

Big Spring Park in Huntsville, AL, USAMy mission on this trip has been personal as well as professional. Being in town from Wednesday through Sunday last July for my Grissom High School Reunion gave me just enough of a taste of the town to drive me crazy waiting for a return engagement. So my non-working hours have been chock-full of fun with friends, both lifetime and new, at Drake’s, Watercress, Connors, Ding How II, The Mellow Mushroom, Humphrey’s, Grill 29, and beyond.

2013-03-04 17.59.46I’ve walked Monte Sano and Green Mountain, as well as Big Spring Park, where I did battle with a duck I am certain was the size of at least one model in the Kia fleet of vehicles.

I walked in the Huntsville St. Patrick’s Day Parade and rocked out that night at The Sports Page to great bands including power-rockers Black Label, who were so good I found myself virtually stage-jumping to the raw sonic fury. Along the way I’ve unleashed MarketPOWER+ social sizzle to help bring #SoMeT13US to Huntsville, and to thank The Rocket/95.1FM for tearing the roof off the Rocket City.

A Jeff's iPhone-eye view of walking in St. Patrick's Day Parade in Huntsville, AL, USAIt’s been a trip filled with work and play and discovery. Time to get back to it…