Life's Short. Cliché, I know.

I don't blog that often but when I do (like drinking Dos Equis) I've noticed I often start with a cliché. Here is today's… "life is short." Genius, I know. Two Friday's ago the wife, her best friend, and I went to see the band Delta Spirit. The fact we actually got a babysitter and out to enjoy Austin nightlife and live music is a post in itself but I'll save that for later. Anyway, as usual, I digress. White guy head nodding to Delta Spirit I felt a buzz in my pocket as I received a text message. Baby sitter? Problems at home? No. Instead a text from one of my best high school buddies – Parker. Essentially it said, "you're a good friend and I miss you." I showed it to Holly. It's a little weird to get a text like that from a grown man but he's kind of a sentimental guy so I didn't think much of it. I texted him a photo from the concert and told him to come visit Texas. Last week I was in Utah for work. It crossed my mind more than a few times I should call Parker. Work was hectic and I didn't follow through. I got home Thursday and received word Friday that Parker was dead. I don't know the specifics but putting two and two together have figured he was fighting some horrible demons that on early Friday morning got the better of him. I'm so sad for him, his wife and his three young boys.

A month to the day earlier, another friend / bike racer / cancer survivor / scholar / all-around good guy died unexpectedly. Cancer took his leg and his hot tub took his life. I don't get it. That's just plain cruel.

My mom has been fighting a valiant 20 year battle with Parkinson's Disease. I saw her last week while in SLC. She's still fighting a good fight but it's the 10th round and the disease has gotten in a few sucker punches to the kidneys lately. Second cliché coming… the one about how at some point the tide turns (make that three) and instead of our parents taking care of us we'll be taking care of them. Moving to Austin, having a two-year-old, questioning my career choices, sick parents, etc. have lead to some extended periods of introspection lately. I used to laugh at the idea of a "mid-life crisis" but now I think I get it. I haven't run out and bought a fancy sports car, had Botox treatments, or had an affair with a 20-year-old but I do spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about life – the half behind me and the half (hopefully) ahead. When I'm out riding my bike I spend less time worrying about my heart rate and the quality of work out I'm getting but more about collecting my thoughts and just thinking about stuff. This morning, a Wednesday, with Ellie at school and Scarlett at a friend's house, Holly and I hung out in bed for an hour reading and chatting. Not a big deal but definitely out of character. Little things are important.

Tomorrow is Parker's Memorial. I wont be in Utah but I'll be there in spirit. Coincidentally, it's also the debut of our episode of HGTV's "House Hunters" and my fams move to Austin. I'm petrified and likely wont be answering phone calls, checking email, or visiting Facebook, Twitter or my blog on Friday. Embarrassment. Sadness. Laughter. Anxiety. Introspection. Gratitude. My 15 seconds of fame. It's going to be an interesting, bittersweet day I'm sure.

If you're having a tough hour, afternoon, day, week, month, or year. Please reach out and ask your family and friends for help. That's why we're all here.

Six Months in ATX

Well, we've been in Austin six months now. Cliché I know, but in some ways it feels like we just got here, in other ways it feels like we've been here an eternity. We spent the first five months in a very average rental house that we found out, after the fact, was being foreclosed. I'm no lawyer (see post below) and I don't claim to play one on TV but I'm fairly certain not disclosing this small fact before we signed the lease was illegal. (The Property Society gets zero stars on Yelp). Fortunately, everything worked out and we didn't get the boot from the bank before our new house was done.

The week we moved into our new house we also filmed our episode of HGTV's "House Hunters." As I said, I don't play an attorney on TV but I can act like a dumb, skinny guy from Utah moving to Austin pretending to be surprised walking into his new "big kid" house for the first time that he's built from the ground up and already visited about 200 times. Reality TV = more TV, less reality. In retrospect it was fun and I'm glad we did it but at the time with work, packing, moving, wrapping up mortgage loans, swapping utilities, etc. it was kind of nuts. For a 23 minute show it was pretty much a full time job for the week. Our episode is scheduled to air in April or May. You know how they say everyone hates their voice on tape? Well, I really hate mine and feel like a giant grapefruit sized head on a toothpick whenever I see myself on film.

Bike racing is the real deal here. If you race cyclocross in the fall and winter then you can definitely race year round if you like. I jumped into the last few "Thursday Night Worlds" crits last fall and made my debut at two road races (more like circuit races) this season. The Driveway crit series is a P/1/2/3 race so I've had a chance to rub elbows with the Elbowz team, Bissell, Lance's Junior LiveStrong team and the Garmin Chipotle Junior team. "Rub elbows" is really hang on for dear life and stay out of the way. Good fun though for an old guy.

Speaking of cycling, I've already had more road rage encounters on the bike in six months than I had the past five years in Utah. Austin is a hip, progressive, healthy, athletic town for the most part but, man, watch out for the redneck and his Texas-sized truck. One such redneck, for no apparent reason other than perhaps being jealous of my girlish figure, decided to lay on his horn right behind me. I responded with my favorite junior high, one-fingered salute. I kept riding, around the bend, only to see him out of his truck waiting for me on the side of the road. Fortunately he was about my size, my age, and equally as lame. We both swung our manhood around a few times, impressed each other with our monosyllabic vocabularies, and he got in his truck and drove off. No harm, no foul – but maybe I need to learn to keep my finger to myself?

Anyway, in a nutshell that's it for our first six months in Austin. No Jesse James sightings. No Lance Armstrong sightings. Holly and I saw Pennywise at SXSW this week which totally rocked. Can't say I miss snow or winter at all. I'm happy to be here and really like Austin. I'm withholding judgement on Texas as a whole for now but our house, neighborhood and Austin are great. Adios.