Thoughts from the underground

 My boys concluded their frst season together yesterday when they got  their trophies. It was a great season but after soccer, basketball and baseball back to back to back..I have to admit I am beat.

Baseball is a tough sport for kids to play because of the lack of action and the requirement to actually think and make decisions. I find it easier to coach soccer and basketball where the kids just play.

Manuel had a decent season. Nothing specially bad or good. I know he wants to be good but he lacks the patience to play and practice. He is a great athlete so sports come easy for him but I will have to work with a little more on his baseball skills.

Eli had a great season. He was playing with kids twice his age..literally. He was 3 and was playing with 6 year olds. In retrospect I regret moving him up. He did not enjoy playing as much and at times seemed out of place. I am sure he will be a better player because of the experience but I just wished he had more fun.

Lastly, I am approaching the fine line between having fun and winning. My boys played non-competitive baseball until the tournament at the end. Yes, some parents were always keeping score but for the most part let our players play all positions except firstbase. That was only because in first base you have to be able to catch the ball. However, in the tournament I saw some extremely competitive coaches. Coaches that would yell at their players and make demands from 6 year olds. A small part of me wanted to win just to shut these guys up. To end our season..we had 1 at third, 1 at second…our 2nd best hitter up with 2 outs. Every player got 6 pitches from the pitching machine. Our hitter was 6 years old and must have understood the circumstances because you could see the tension in his face. He knew that if he hit the ball into the outfield we would tie the game. He was very capable. But on this game, he had struggled. On this last at bat…he was struggling again. When he whiffed on the 4th ball, tears started rolling down his face. I felt bad for him. He went down swinging and that ended our season. He was crying all the way back to the dugout.

In the end, we have to remember that these are kids playing a game. Yes we want them to be competitive and yes we want to push them to be their best…but we have to remember these are kids. They need to be picked up…we need to build them up.  As my boys grow and advance in their atheltic careers I have to remember the balance betweeen having fun and winning. Fun should always come first.

As I sit down to write this poem

I wonder of where I may roam

But before I can look ahead

The past of me must be read

And I must take you there

For how much you mean to me with you I must share

All those times you came home tired

It was you I always admired

You provided so much for me

That half the man you are I can only but wish to be

Material things were only a small part

For the greatest thing you gave came from your heart

You always showed that you cared

And whenever I needed you, you were always there

Dad…I know that I am not a very good son

And I know that I don’t make your life much fun

I know that you give me much more than I earn

And I am sorry if it is the hard way I had to learn

There isn’t much I can do to repay you

But offer the one thing I can do

So whenever you feel like being repayed

It is only the words you have to say

So listen carefully to what I offer to do…

Dad…you mean so much to me

That I would die for you!

—Juan M Chavez Jr 1993

It has been roughly 6 months since I left Dassault Systemes or should I say Dassault left me. I was very excited when I left and felt it was time to move on with my career. I learned alot about myself and where I want to go not only in career but in my life.

I was approached and continue to be approached for many projects. Some dealing with hardware and some dealing with software. I am still acting CTO for a chain of nutritional centers. I take care of all the technical needs which are hardware issues for the most part.

I was involved in various software projects from video editing to the auto part rebuilder industry. Along the way I learned some tools of the trade. I learned to read technical blogs like I read the morning paper. I learned to network. To always carry my business card. I learned that I love learning about new technology. I learned that I have so much to learn..

There are many personal lessons I learned as well.

I am coaching the Covina national little league Braves.  I started my own adult basketball team with my friends that has become a year around affair. I also play basketball Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:30am with a bunch of old guys at the gym and I really look forward to it. I learned that I enjoyed spending time with my family, my extended family and my friends much more then I remembered.

Along the way I also interviewed quite a bit. I am looking for team lead or a management position and truth be told I may have talked my way out of some developer positions. However, I remember driving home from downtown LA or El Segundo after an interview and asking myself how I ever drove from Covina to Woodland Hills everyday for 5 years?

How would I ever make the 4:30 practice for my little slugger? How would I ever make the 6:30 basketball game in Alhambra?

In the end I learned that I want a job that supports everything I leaned in the last six months.

What to do? Find the perfect job or find the perfect office for my business….

I  don’t make resolutions but rather I set goals for myself at the start of the year. I do not always achieve them all but this year I am determined to get to as close as 100% as possible.  I am making these public so that I can have more accountability….Here we go with the goals for 2010…

Professional:

IEEE CSDP Certification – Took the test in Dec…Find out the results in Feb

Sun Certified Java Programmer

Sun Certified Web Component Developer

Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD)

Maybe – Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA)

ACE ColdFusion -

Ambitious I know but I think definiatly doable. I feel this will certify my “Application Architect” Title

Sports:

Pasadena Tri in March

WildFlower Half Ironman in May

Mudrun in June

Tri in August

Muddy Buddy in November

Wildflower is the big one….

There it is…wish me luck!

Espero que todos estan muy bien…un abarzo para todos para esta navidad..Esperamos que estan navidad este llena de risa y de familia…

Last weekend I participated in the muddy buddy even with my younger brother Frank. He is 14 years old and barely made the the cutoff in terms of age. The last time I was in the muddy buddy was in 2002 with my other younger brother  Cesar. He was 24 at the time. The MuddyBuddy event is a 6-7 mile course. It consists of a team of 2. One starts on the bike and one starts running. There are 5 points where you do an obstacle course and switch. The runner becomes the biker and the biker becomes the runner.It ends in a crawl through a mud pit.

It is alot of fun. This year has been tough. Alot of challenages have presented themselves. But I must admit doing the event with Frank was fun and took my mind off of things for a couple of hours.  I was a little nervous about Frank doing the event with me since it can be tough to complete but Frank is a trooper. My partner last year quit and backed out at the last second. My partner this year got run over by a car. In steps in Frank.

I have been through alot with Frank. I still remember him hiding behind my legs at the first cubscout meeting. I always tell the story of taking Frank and the scouts camping when they were young and it being so much work. Now when I go camping with them…I simply ..”Frank set up camp”.. He is amazing at it. My wife will not go camping unless Frank goes.

I can still remember Frank not wanting to run in soccer…and now this year he was on the waterpolo team. A  tough sport..and he did great. Now he is my muddy buddy. I was as happy doing the event as I was proud of Frank…It was the first of many events for Frank and I….I can only hope.