Thoughts, Ideas, and Things that Amuse Me

Superheroes

2011-11-10T21:35:00.000-08:00

Tonight the girls decided to be superheroes. They flew around saving me from dragons, dinosaurs, and bad guys. Then they saved some babies that were lost. It was pretty awesome.

Good Saturday

2011-11-05T23:03:00.001-07:00

Today was a good Saturday. It started off with a morning swinging a hazel hoe at a trail build on a new mountain bike trail complex here in Redmond.

Then I went shooting with a couple of friends. I was able to shoot my new gun. It was pretty awesome.

Then I spent the evening with the girls while Jessi was out. We had a dinner picnic and watched Toy Story. It ended up with a lot of cuddle time with dad! That was nice. When it comes to my girls I'm pretty sappy.

Then I finished the night off hanging out with Jess. All in all it was a good day. Now we just need snow so ski season can start!

2010 Journals

2011-02-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

As I posted last year I have a few nontraditional journals that I like to keep. I like to keep track of my bike commuting days and miles, all the books I read, and all the ways that I injury myself. Here's a recap of how 2010 turned out.

Bike Commuting Highlights

175 total days bike commuting

Logged 1,593 miles bike commuting

Burned 56,735 calories commuting

Had 4 car driven days (this was either driving myself or by Jess & the girls

I know there were some bus days in Cincinnati but I didn't keep track of them. I'd probably say 10

37 days riding recreationally (this is mountain and errands [yes I consider riding the bike for errands recreation])

Logged 249 rec miles

Burned about 8,726 calories riding rec

In total logged 212 'days' on the bike for a total of 1,842 miles, and burned about 65,461...not too shabby

Book List
Here's the book list, by month (once again, the book is logged in the month I finished it).

January

Three Against Hitler

Basic Soap Making - All the Skills & Tools You Need to Get Started

Farewell, My Subaru

Omnivore's Dilemma

February

The Good Earth - Pearl S Buck

Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavors

Parenting with Love & Logic for Early Childhood

The Market Planning Guide, 6th Edition, David H. Bangs

In Defense of Food

Strategic Market Management, 8th Edition, David A. Aaker

Consumer Behavior, 1st Edition, Frank Kardes

March

Unleashing the Ideavirus

April

Marketing Mangement: The Big Picture

The Way of Herbs

Winning at Retail: Developing a Sustained Model for Retail Success

May
June
July

Fablehaven Book 5: Keys to the Demon Prison

The Backyard Beekeeper: Revised & Updated: An Absolute Beginners Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

The Natural Soap Book: Making Herbal and Vegetable-Based Soaps

Making natural liquid soaps : herbal shower gels, conditioning shampoos, moisturizing hand soaps, luxurious bubble baths, and more--

August

Milk-based Soaps: Making Natural, Skin Nourishing Soap

September

Hunger Games

Moves & Miracles: My Sister and I (Grandma Johnson's story)

October

Catching Fire (Hunger Games #2)

Mockingjay (Hunger Games #3)

November

Eragon

Just in Case: How to be self-sufficient when the unexpected happens

Mini Farming: self sufficiency on a 1/4 acre

December

The Lost Symbol

True Blue (Baldacci)

The Body Journal
Here's all the ways I injured myself in 2010. I had to feel it for at least 2 days to make the cut.

That rounds out 2010 in terms of journals. So I ask again, does anyone else keep any nontraditional journals?

Sunday Entertainment

2010-11-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

So, you have to be a parent to appreciate the video below. You also have to love your kids to appreciate the video below.

The last few months with the girls have been awesome. Maya has grown and matured enough to actually 'play' and interact with Penelope. Penelope has grown and matured to play with Maya as opposed to trying to outright bend Maya to her will. They have become the best of friends (but as you'll see a couple minutes in they are definitely sisters, hehe). About 3:30 it switches to what activity number two of the night was.

Enjoy!

We Bought a House, Yay!

2010-10-03T20:51:00.001-07:00

We offered back at the beginning of August, it was accepted, then it took forever, but we finally moved in! We moved in this past Thursday and have been getting settled. Pictures, details, and other things will be posted at another time. But we got a house, yay!

Penelope's First Climb

2010-08-21T22:34:00.001-07:00

Today we took Penelope rock climbing for her first time! We have 'bouldered' with her a little. At a park here in Redmond they have boulders with holds on them. She likes to climb those but today was her first time with the real thing.

Yesterday I picked up a kid sized harness from work. She's been asking to go climbing for a long time (months and months she's been asking). Today we decided to do it. We drove to Smith Rock State Park, only about 20 minutes away, picked up the guide book and a year pass to Oregon State Parks and away we went.

Penelope was very excited and had to carry her harness herself. It took us a little bit of scouting around to find the area. Then we had to wind our away around and climb over boulders to finally make it.

I set up a top rope on what I think was a 5.4, harnessed her in, gave her a talk about safety, how to climb, and sent her on her way. She's a natural. She jumped right onto the rock and started climbing. When she'd hit difficult spots she feel around and try things out. The highest she ever got was maybe 15 feet off the ground but she was stoked!

Fortunately she weighed enough and there wasn't too much friction in the system that when we lowered her she actually came down (we've actually seen little kids that literally won't come down because they don't weigh enough and someone has to climb up and pull on them to get them down).

Jessi got to climb as well. She was also stoked because it's been forever since she was able to climb.

It was an awesome evening, we got to go out as a family and do the stuff we love, the surroundings couldn't be beat (watch the video below to see), we climbed, we hiked, we had fun, and we had huckleberry ice cream on the way home. Man it felt good to get out and climb, even though it was easy, and do it with my family. Climbing is one of Jessi and I's favorite past times together.

Triathlon

2010-08-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, August 14, I ran my first triathlon ever. I did it on a whim. Four weeks before I learned of the spring tri that the city of Redmond puts on (this was the second year) and I thought to myself "what the heck. I can swim, I bike, and I run, I might as well." Jessi has been telling me for years that I should run tris but I just never did. I have thought about it in the past but never had the motivation. With this sprint tri the distance was 500m swim, 12 mile bike ride, 5k run. I figured I could come off the couch and race that.

My training consisted of:

Three days in the pool (workouts were about 2000-2400 yards)

One long road ride, two long MTB rides, and daily bike commutes

Three 30 minute runs

That's it. I had no real goals other than push myself and see how fast I could do it. I didn't really do any advanced prep. I read a little bit on how to do transitions and how to set them up, but that was it. Since the swim was in a pool there was staggered start times based on your time to swim 500m. I said my time would be 9:30 or maybe it was 9:45, which ended up putting me in the third to last wave to start. I got there at 6:30 am to set up my transitions and had to wait until 9:45 to actually race.

When the swim started I started out strong, focused on swimming long, and kept a pace that I thought I could keep the whole time. As it turns out I swam the leg a lot faster than I thought. I pulled out of the water and crossed into the transition area at 7 minutes 56 seconds (I was surprised). As it turns out I had the second fastest swim time in the tri and the third fastest including the teams. No idea how that happened.

My transitions were slow. My first transition too me 1:58 or so which is fine. Very slowed compared to the people who were in and out in 30 seconds. My bike was pretty good. I'm not the strongest road rider, I don't really ride road. I passed one guy and was passed by four others. I think I kept a good past and almost chased down the last guy who passed me. I finished the bike in 34:32. The bike was only a little painful. I wanted to keep a strong pace but then trying to chase that last guy done worked me pretty good. My second transition was also okay. This time it was only 1:15, still slow but oh well.

Then onto the run and the pain. By this time I am tired. It's getting hot and I don't like running on paved surfaces. I'm a snob and I only like trails. Oh well, what do you do? I had high aspirations for the run which I quickly learned weren't going to happen. I reminded myself that my overall goal was to push myself and see how I did. I jammed a gel right at the beginning of the run and a bunch of water and in the first two minutes I wanted to heave. Of course I didn't but I wanted to.

My pace was okay. My legs felt very stiff and I didn't feel like I was flowing. The halfway point perked me up a little and I picked up the pace. By the end I felt a little less stiff and felt like the run flowed but it still wasn't that great. I finished in 25:09 which isn't that great for me. I was hoping to keep it closer to 22 but what do you do?

Overall I finished the entire tri in 1:10:52. Not too bad I thought. I gave it my all and I felt good about it. As it turns out I finished 2nd in my age group, 12th overall, and was only about 8 minutes out of first place. Completely surprising.

Overall it was a pretty good time, I liked it a fair amount, and would consider doing another tri, but only if it was swimming in a lake, mountain biking, and trail running. Not sure I want to commit to a tri training schedule though. Good times.

Jessi was very supportive and encouraging (thanks honey!) and she brought the girls to cheer me on at the transitions and at the end. That's my favorite part, seeing my girls at the end.

Camping at the Metolius River

2010-07-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

We finally went camping! This is the first time in about a year. That was one of the things that made it great. The other thing that made it great? We finally bought a big tent. No more cramming all of us in the small 3 person Coleman that Jessi brought with her when we got married (nothing against that tent, it has served us many good nights). We sprung for the The North Face Mountain Manor 6. I know what I've said about TNF in the past and I still stand by that. But, through work I got a great deal and there weren't many other 6 person tents to choose from.

We went to the Metolius River Recreation area just outside of the town Sisters. We camped up near the headwaters. It was a small 'walk-in' campsite. It was actually nice, we had to walk maybe 400 feet from the car to the campsite. The one huge benefit? No trailers or generators nearby! It was fun. The girls helped us set up camp. They loved playing in the tent. The tent has 3 'rooms'. The 'main' room is separated by smaller 'rooms' off to each side that by curtains. The sides were big enough to fit the pack 'n play on one side and tons of room for Penelope on the other. The girls liked having their own 'rooms'. Jessi and I slept in the 'living room' as Penelope liked to call it.

We had fire, cooked some smores, went for a walk to the river, and put the girls to bed. After that Jessi and I played cards and sat by the fire. In the morning we had eggs and pancakes in the dutch oven over the fire. There was more playing until lunchtime and then we had beef stew with herb dumplings in the dutch oven. It was delicious!

After lunch we broke down camp and went home. I can't say how nice it is to have mountains close, pine forests close, camping close, and did I mention mountains? Yup, we definitely are not regretting leaving Cincinnati (sorry Cincinnati-ites).

Here's some more pictures to check it out:

Special Time

2010-07-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

Every night after we put Maya down for the night we have 'special time' with Penelope. This is time where she gets to spend with just one of us or both of us. Tonight's conversation went like this:

Me: Penelope, what do you want to do for your special time tonight?
Penelope: Unpack boxes.
Me: You want to unpack boxes?
Penelope: Yeah

She's just like her mom. I could see Jessi saying the same thing after the girls go to bed.

Graduation

2010-06-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

Today was graduation day. I graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Master's of Science in Marketing. Hoo-haw!

It's a good day! We went to Pleasant Ridge Chili for lunch. In about 30 minutes we'll be heading out to a park to grill some steaks, eat some killer salad, and hang out! My mom and her husband Dan came out for graduation.

Good celebrations thanks to my amazing wife Jess! Thanks Jess!

Blogger

2010-05-26T17:32:00.000-07:00

So I am somewhat officially a blogger of sorts. I signed on with Gear.com as an editor. I get to write reviews on the gear that I use for bike commuting, trail running, mountain biking, camping, etc. It's perfect! I get paid to write about the stuff that I love! Check out my first post on the Deuter Rack Pack Bike Bags.

Jessi is my official photographer. She's so kind to take pictures for me. She got some good shots (at least in my opinion). She likes it and has fun so I'm glad I get to help her use her new camera setup.

I'm stoked to be writing for gear. It's going to be a good way to help build the 'slush' fund! I'll probably keep posting about my reviews here.

Europ-ing

2010-03-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to go to Europe for the first time on an international business study abroad as part of my master's program. It was amazing! The program was scheduled to spend time in Linz, Austria and Prague, Czech Republic.

A few of us from the program traveled there and home together. We flew into Munich, took a train into town and spent about four hours checking out the Marienplatz area. Big thanks to Ryan for tips on where to go in Munich. We wandered around and ended up at Hofbrauhaus for some nice weisswurst, orangeade, and potato salad. From there we caught a train to Linz. We spent most of our time in Linz. We had classroom sessions, company visits to Team 7 Furniture, Fischer Skis, Rosenbauer a high-end fire truck manufacturer, and Oberoesterreichische Nachrichten the leading newspaper in Upper Austria. I ate a lot of good food, fantastic desserts and pastries, and took a good walking tour of old Linz.

We did have one free day where a group of us took off to see Vienna for the day. We spent most of our time near St. Stephans Cathedral/National Library/Spanish Riding School/Parliament area. Ate more good pastries, at more good food, saw some good statues, art, buildings, etc.

We only spent about two and a half days in Prague. Prague was awesome. We had an amazing dinner at a place that overlooks Prague Castle, a group of us then walked back to the hotel and saw many of sites at night. In Prague we took tours of Ruckl, a crystal manufacturer and a division of Parker-Hannifin that made o-rings and various seals. Czech food was delicious and I was utterly amazed at the amount of history that is there.

Yes that is an extremely short description of the trip, if you want more details just ask. Check out the pictures. Unfortunately Picasa sucks and only lets you upload five photos at a time (there are about 200 that I'd want to upload. I have an album uploaded at Snapfish but it won't me slideshow here so to see all the pictures you have to go here.

If you want to know what a specific place is or what certain was just let me know and I'll tell you. For now I am tired and this is where it'll end.

Update Soon

2010-03-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

So I suck at blogging lately. Last quarter ended up crazy so I didn't have a lot of time. However, I am currently sitting in a hotel in Prague. As such I will have a nice post of my Europe trip complete with photos, perhaps a story about statues, and a list and photos of everything I ate. It's exciting I know.

The Little People in Penelope's Tummy

2010-02-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

Penelope has had a little story she talks about when she eats lately. Each time it gets longer and more detailed. The latest iteration is:

P: "Daddy, I have little people in my tummy who turn the switch"

D: "What switch?"

P: "The switch that the opens the door"

D: "What the door?"

P: "The door that lets the food go to it's home"

D: "Your tummy is the food's home?"

P: "Yeah...but it has to go down the stairs first"

I love it. She also talks about "the stripes" that fill up and are her gauge for when she's full. "I have four stripes left until I'm full".

Jessica's New Bike

2010-01-24T19:08:00.000-08:00

We finally bought Jessica a bike! It took forever, but it is perfect. Here's the story:

On the night of the first Saturday this month we were driving around and decided to go the thrift store to check some things out. We walked in and almost immediately off in the corner I saw a glint of blue from a bike. Of course I'm naturally drawn over to it. As I'm walking over I'm sizing it up and see that it would be about the right size for Jessica. As I got closer it suddenly hits me! It was the female version of the Free Spirit Britney!!! Now that might not seem significant, however, my first commuting bike (look familiar?) was a...**drum roll** Free Spirit Britney!!! I couldn't believe it! I jumped right on and started riding toward Jessica and the girls giddy with excitement saying "Jess, Jess, check it out!". She got on the bike and it fit. The best part? It was only $19.99 (not quite as good as the free frame that Matt Young dug out of a dumpster for but I'm not complaining, it was still an awesome deal).

I didn't get off the bike in the store. For one, I was excited about it and for two I didn't want someone else to get it. It's in super good condition, I believe all original parts. I just had to inflate the tires a little, adjust the seat, and do a little derailleur adjusting and it is good to go. The only thing is I need to replace the cable and housing for the rear brake.

Here's a cellphone shot of Jessica riding in the parking lot that night:

Today was the first day that Jessica really got to ride it. She loved it. Of course by the time we got outside and the girls situated in the stroller I realized I left the camera inside. So of her first ride I have one cellphone pic:

What are the chances of finding that same bike, female version, in primo condition, and it's the perfect size? Too bad my Britney was too small and I had to sell it. Tomorrow I'll dig the bike trailer out of our storage and we go for our first family bike ride! Woooooo!

Dinner

2010-01-22T20:40:00.000-08:00

I made a killer dinner a couple weeks ago and I was going to post it but forgot. So let's see...it had been awhile since we had made any kind of Chinese food so one night I sort of went nuts.

We had ham fried rice, an Asian cole slaw, sausage egg rolls, and a sweet and sour sauce. Everything was homemade and dinner was good. I really liked everything (well I knew I liked the fried rice and cole slaw because we've made them before) except for the sweet and sour sauce. It was sweet, it was sour, but it just wasn't quite right.

Journals

2010-01-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

I've never been very big on 'journaling' in the traditional sense. I don't have a leather bound, a hardback, or any other form of journal that I update on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Growing up I always heard about the importance of journaling for posterity. Write your feelings, your thoughts, what's going on in life. Writing takes too long. This blog, of course, is a form of journal for me, but still not in the traditional sense. But at least it's something.

Over time I've warmed to the idea of keeping track of things but still can't behind writing. I still haven't found the motivation to write down the traditional type topics. What has happened is an odd collection of journals. It all began last year when I decided I wanted to keep track of my bike commuting miles. I created an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of various things. Then it progressed to a list of all the books I had read for the year (the rule being that the book is counted in the month it is finished). And it culminated with a 'body' journal. This one is my favorite. The idea came entirely from my friend Craig. The premise is that anytime you do something to your body that causes pain and discomfort for more than a couple days, it get's put in the journal. It's fantastic because I'll never be able to remember this stuff, but when I read about it again it brings back fond memories. Of course many of the entries could be embarrassing.

So without further adieu here's a recap of 2009:

Bike Commuting Highlights

Logged 206 days in the saddle

Covered 1,799 miles

Burned approximately 63,210 calories commuting

Drove the car 3 days

Rode the bus 7 days

Put in 20 days riding recreationally (mostly mountain biking)

Logged 128 miles (thank you short Glenwild loops at lunch

Burned 4,480 calories

In total has 226 riding days, 1,927 miles, and 67,690 calories burned

Books
Here's the list of books I read in 2009, by month:

January

A Rumor of War

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Urban Homestead

February

Glorious Cause

Rise to Rebellion

Grace

March

Fablehaven

Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage for Fruits and Vegetables

The Art & Science of Dumpster Diving

The Last Lecture

April

Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star

Complete Guide to Container Gardening

May

Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague

The Collectors

Trial by Fury

Hot Money

June

The Urban Homestead

Stone Cold

July

The Backyard Homestead

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

Homemade Root Beer, Soda & Pop

Taking the Fifth

August

Free-Range Kids: Giving our children the freedome we had without going nuts with worry

September

Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex

October

Fablehaven 4: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary

The Backyard Homestead

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War

Jesus the Christ

November

Divine Justice

Born to Run

Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Aron Ralston

Influence: Science and Practice (5th Edition)

Believing Christ

Into the Wild

Deal Breaker

December

Enchantment

Monkey Wrench Gang

The Body Journal

This I didn't start until partway through the summer. My self-injury rate dropped dramatically once I started school because I don't have time to do anything else.

Click to see a larger image:

I'll keep these going during 2010 and will possibly add some others.

How about you? You keep any nontraditional journals?

Soap

2010-01-11T20:09:00.000-08:00

I decided to try and make soap. It's been something I've thought about doing for a few years but for whatever reason over the holiday break I got motivated. I found a book at the library, read it in about a day, bought the ingredients, and gave it a whirl.

Things started out well. The lye and water were mixing well, the oils were combining well, and I started mixing the lye/water with the oils to begin the saponification process. The book recommended using a stick blender to mix the soap but it said you could do it by hand. I tried by hand but it didn't work out. It never fully fixed. I poured it into a mold anyway to see what happened.

I was super bummed about it not mixing was talking to Jessi about it, so she did a little searching and found that you can't really mix soap by hand...it'd take something like three days. So she went and picked up an inexpensive stick blender.

I made another batch of soap and it's true, you really need to have a stick blender. This second batch mixed correctly and poured nicely. The next day batch one had a nice thick layer of oil on top. Batch two was just as it should be. It looked and smelled like soap. I remixed batch one and set it aside to see if it would cure but it didn't. It's just like the regular soap but creamy like lotion.

The strangest part that I didn't know is that the bars of soap need to cure for one month to fully harden. We've tested the creamy soap and the shavings and bits from the other soap and so far so good. We just have to wait it out.

Next up comes fragrance oils and exfoliators. The bars are super rough looking. I didn't try to clean them up at all.

Jessica the Baker

2010-01-01T18:51:00.000-08:00

So after a ridiculously long blog hiatus (I swear I've blogged since November 7th) I am back.

Tonight I have been removed from all cookie baking in the Miller household. Jessica made us some snickerdoodles and when she pulled the first batch out the oven she said "you have officially been removed as the cookie baker". She is correct. Man they were good cookies. Check them out:

My snickerdoodles never quite turned out like that. They always ended up super crunchy. Hers are still soft, chewy, and delicious. She can definitely take over the cookie baking, I won't mind at all!

Busy Saturday

2009-11-07T18:55:00.000-08:00

Today was a busy Saturday, but busy in a good way. Jess worked this morning so I watched the girls. When Jess got home at 11 we went to have a picnic at a park up the road. It was sunny and mid-60s so it was perfect.

Then we went on a short hike. It was Penelope's first hike walking on her own and Maya's first in the backpack.

Penelope did so good. She held mom's hand the whole time but had fun crunching leaves, going over bridges, and touching plants.

Maya loved the backpack. She didn't scream once and had fun playing with my head.

Afterward Jessi watched the girls at the playground and let me go for a short trail run. It was the first since moving here. It felt good to run again. The trees and all the leaves on the ground were beautiful.

Then during nap time I went mountain biking. The first since moving and the first since wrecking and breaking a rib a few days before we moved. I finally swapped out my bent handlebars for the new ones that have been sitting in our closet since the move.

I went to the East Fork State Park and rode a couple of trails there. Riding in the woods is different than the northern UT trails. So many leaves, so many trees, and hardly any vert change.

Look at how happy the bike is! Here's a self-portrait of how happy I was:

I got home, ate a quick dinner, and then it was off to a Stake Priesthood meeting.

It was an awesome Saturday and it felt good to have a day full of physical activity. Thanks for being an awesome wife Jessi and letting me do lots today!

Friday Night Hangout with the Girls

2009-11-06T19:53:00.000-08:00

While getting the girls ready for bed tonight things turned really fun. They were both so happy and playing we couldn't help but take some pictures. Penelope pulled up Maya's carseat and climbed in to relax. Pretty soon she was dragging over a blanket and her stool for her feet. It was awesome.

Maya was just crawling around playing and having fun. Check out her teeth coming in!

Me and the little girls

Yeah I don't know what happened to me in this one but look at how good Jess and Maya look!

Elevation

2009-11-06T18:05:00.001-08:00

The elevation sign from the park near our apartment.

Yup, we'll be wheezing our way through Christmas break in the mountains. Stupid Cincinnati...hehe.

Bike Commuting Update

2009-11-01T20:05:00.001-08:00

So bikes, and more so bike commuting, are not prevalent at all here in Cincinnati. So far in our almost two months here I have seen a total of five other bike commuters. There are a bunch of people who ride bikes at school but from my observations they all live within a few blocks of campus.

I won't let it deter me though. My ride is a round trip of 14 miles, double what it was in SLC. It's a good ride. Lots of hills which can get a little difficult on the single-speed. But hey, it only makes me stronger.

On Thursday I past 1,500 bike commuting miles for the year and I have about 185 bike commuting days. I'll easily hit 200 before the end of the year. I find that to be very exciting. I calculated what it'd take to get to 2,000 miles before the end of the year. I figured I'd have to commute the full 14 miles everyday including through Thanksgiving break and after classes ended. Maybe next year, we'll be out of town during Thanksgiving and we're heading to UT right after classes end.

No pictures this time. It's late and I don't really feel like looking for them.

Standing Girl

2009-10-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

She's so big already:

She's so happy and pleased with herself.

Here's a short video of our shenanigans tonight:

Funny Words, Again

2009-10-10T16:39:00.000-07:00

Jessica had to work this morning so it was just me and the girls. Shortly after we woke up Penelope asked me: "Where's mommy?"

Me: She's at work.
Penelope: One day when I get bigger I'll go to work.
Me: Oh really?
Penelope: Yeah but I don't know what I want to be. Maybe I'll be a daddy.
Me: Well only boys can be daddies, girls are mommies.
Penelope: Oh.

Funny Words

2009-09-29T20:29:00.001-07:00

So Penelope has been showing an interesting in potty training lately. The last couple of days we've been testing the waters with her. Tonight she had two hilarious quotes (at least hilarious to me):

"Daddy, if you need to pee just tell me and then run to the potty". We kept telling her tonight that if she needed to go to tell us and run to the bathroom. I supposed it stands to reason that she'd expect the same from us.

Then while trying to go: "Mommy, I'm just trying to get my pee to work".

Yum

2009-09-15T18:19:00.001-07:00

One of our first tastes of Cincinnati was about two weeks ago, the day after Jessica and the girls arrived. We went to a little chili place around the corner named Pleasant Ridge Chili. It was the Cincinnati style chili. Everyone says to go to Skyline Chili since it was the original. We haven't been there yet but Pleasant Ridge was awesome! The chili was unlike chili from the west. Put it on spaghetti with onions, cheese, and beans and it's hard to beat.

I got a massive plate and it was only about $5!

They also had their 'famous' gravy fries which are essentially crinkle-cut fries smothered in gravy and cheese. Man, they were good. They sounded like they'd be gross but not at all!

We are going to start making these from home. It'll be super easy and cheap.

The Big Move - Day 4

2009-09-06T07:09:00.001-07:00

The last and final day. This is the day we unloaded the truck and the day that Jessica, the girls, and my mom flew out.

Thanks to help from four guys from the ward the truck was fully unloaded in an hour and 15 minutes:

Woah that's a lot of stuff. The girls' room:

Our room:

Penelope was excited to find her marble game:

With some unpacking and organization it begins to look more open and less crammed:

Peneloped napped:

Maya napped:

So far we like our apartment. It is beginning to feel more like home as we make it our own.

The Big Move - Day 3

2009-09-06T06:51:00.000-07:00

Since the previous days drive took between one to two hours longer than on paper, I decided that we needed to be on the road at 5 am to get to Cincinnati at a decent time. Steve wasn't too stoked since we'd be getting up at 3:30 his time (but really it was 4:30).

The Iowa sunrise:

The morning was hazy again, but it gave more great pictures with windmills:

I was surprised at how many massive wind farms we saw.

Apparently Iowa has "the worlds largest truckstop". Yeah, we didn't stop:

The mighty Mississip with a giant coal barge:

Hey Illinois:

Nothing worth noting in Illinois so hi Indiana:

The first sign for Cincinnati:

Hello Ohio:

Almost missed that pic. Saw it coming. Hurried to get the camera and at the last possible second snapped that pic.

We pulled into apartment parking lot at about 7:30. All told it worked out to be about 12 hours of driving (not including the time change).

I can't believe how smooth and how quickly the drive went.

The Big Move - Day 2

2009-09-06T06:21:00.001-07:00

Day two was driving from Rawlins to Omaha. We started at a nice 6 am:

It was a hazy day, but check out the sun through the windmills (I love wind farms):

Super hazy. Check out Vedauwoo (I'll climb here one day):

And the dull landscape begins:

The monotony of the drive was broken up by the massive stands of sunflowers that lined the freeway the entire way through the state:

But we listened to a great book (I had no idea that Moby Dick was based on a true story, it was fantastic!):

The big eagle arch (I hear it's awesome on the inside):

Drive took about 10.5 hours. On paper it should have taken between 8 and 9 hours. Not too bad for driving a box truck pulling a car.

The Big Move - Day 1 Pictures

2009-09-06T06:11:00.000-07:00

How did I occupy myself? Well...

First off here's the truck:

Me driving the truck:

Driving past the exit we always take to go to Lander:

Holding my breath through the WY tunnel:

That was it for day 1.

The Big Move - Day 1

2009-08-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

The first part of the big move to Cincinnati went well! The day started at 6 am with a run to the store to get more boxes. We quickly finished packing the kitchen and disassembling furniture.

We picked up the truck at 9 and were back home at 9:30. James, Chelsea, and Tobin were waiting for us at the house. Immediately James started packing boxes into the truck. A few people from Elder's Quorum and my dad showed up starting just before 10 (huge thanks to them). Everybody rocked it out! We stopped when the truck was 98% full and looked at the time. The Timex said "10:51". The truck was fully loaded in just over an hour!

Of course the last minute/small things took forever to take care of, as they always do. Jessi did an ah-maze-ing job with all the packing and cleaning. She had help with girls from mi mum (thanks mom).

I had a few errands to run (and rerun since the lock I bought for the moving truck door didn't fit). I got out of the house at 3:20. Five hours later I arrived in Rawlins. Made pretty good time says I. I had 5 stops to check the straps on the car trailer and one stop for gas and dinner. In the car I could have done it in four hours.

I took some good pics of the truck and some fun stuff I did while driving to occupy my time. Buuuuuuuuuut, I left the camera in the truck and I'm not going out to get it right now. Pics to come tomorrow or later.

Thanks Deer Valley

2009-08-27T21:39:00.000-07:00

Today I spent an afternoon off riding downhill at Deer Valley with my co-worker and friend Craig. Tim hooked us up with a couple of free passes (thanks Tim!) so we took the afternoon off (you can do that when it's your second to last day at work) to go ride.

I didn't want to rent or borrow a DH bike so I decided to ride my cross-country hardtail.

It was all well and good but then at the end of the second run this happened:

and this:

and this:

that one again (that's not a muffin top, that's swelling):

and the ribs (hard to see, but there are some bruises and I think I bruised or cracked some ribs because they hurt):

and the shoulder:

It hurts a lot. Riding was super fun. Unfortunately I bent my handlebar, but that isn't anything a little barter of some old ski bindings for a handlebar won't fix.

The Garden Update

2009-08-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

So far I have failed to provide a garden update. Now that we are leaving in a week I thought it time to do so since we'll be leaving almost all of it behind. What started out as this now looks like this:

The tomato plants have done extremely well. We've probably had two dozen cherry tomatoes. The Purple Russian has given us 6-7 tomatoes already with more on the way. They haven't been purple but they have been delicious. The Amish Paste has given 2 tomatoes so far, but there are many big green ones just turning right now.

The red bell pepper plant has been interesting. The plant itself didn't get very big. It gave one small red pepper early on. It sprouted four peppers all at once recently but three have been lost to rot.

The jalapeno plant was slow to start. The three weeks of rain early in the summer delayed it. Once this got hot it start growing. Right now there are probably 20-25 jalapenos growing. They aren't very big, maybe one to two inches long. I don't think they are going to get any longer as some are already starting to turn red. I plan to make jalapeno jelly with them in the next couple of days.

The radishes have come and gone. We got a few good bulbs, but they mostly just sent down an long root and then flowered. The green onions were delicious but are now gone. We went through two zucchini starts that both died before I randomly saw a seed sitting on top of the dirt. I planted it and hoped. Nothing happened for weeks. Then a little sprout came up. We went on vacation for a week and came back to this:

So far we've had eight huge zucchinis off it. There are two more currently growing on it. It's amazing that something that large came from a seed the size of a dime.

The Swiss Chard has grown fantastically. Too bad it's not one of our favorites, but it's been fun to share. We wait until the leaves get nice and big then pick them back until there are only two little leaves remaining in the middle. We've done that four times now and they keep growing back.

The green beans and pickling cucumber plants have done surprisingly well. Especially considering we planted them in a spot where nothing else would grow. The bean plants have gotten tall, but no green beans.

The pickling cucumbers have taken a while to get going and are just now fruiting. Just a tad too late for us to take advantage before we move.

The strawberry plants gave us maybe five tiny, delicious strawberries. Next year they will do better for someone else. They are sending off many shoots to propagate for next year.

The cherry tree in the yard doesn't give very good cherries. We picked them anyway and made some cherry jelly. It's surprisingly delicious!

We just picked a bunch of pears off the pear tree (once again not very good product, but we are hoping it turns out as good as the cherry jelly).

Things I have learned this year:

Self-watering containers are amazing

Tomato cages don't work too well in self-watering containers (at least not how I put them in)

Ski poles make excellent posts for running plants...just make sure you don't have to unwind the plants because you need the poles because you are moving

Don't put fertilizer that should be concentrated directly on the plants, undiluted - I made two of our indoor plants limp and destroyed the red pepper plant with it...oops

Only ever plant one zucchini plant

Take all the free fruit you can get and make jam, jelly, sauce, or rollups with it

Don't miss harvest dates - we missed apricot picking season and now won't have homemade jam for the next year

Berry plants typically produce on wood that is at least one year old

I am bummed to be leaving everything behind, but at least it'll be in good hands.

I am already looking forward to next year and already have some plans in the works.

The New Commuter Bike

2009-08-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

With the move to Cincinnati, a longer commute, and wetter weather I thought it prudent to get a new bike for commuting. The cyclocross bike is awesome, but I want to keep it nice. The daily commute, wet weather, and especially winter are hard on bikes and I want to keep my investment running top notch.

Enter the new commuter bike:

Isn't it sexy (yes it is). This thing is a machine! Old steel frame (no idea who made it, all markings were gone). I stripped it down to be a single-speed but left the rear derailleur on to act as a chain-tensioner. Removed the drop bars for a flat bar and regular brake levers. Still rocking 27" wheels. Added the fenders and rear rack.

Best part is I paid $40 for the bike and have put another $35 in parts into it (grips, cables, tubes, bar). It's ready to roll. I have two weeks on it already and it is awesome. All I need is cross tires for the winter commute.

My favorite part is the headbadge. The original one is missing so I made my own:

Yup, that's a spoon. I made it out of a soda can using a razor knife. Pretty sweet in my opinion!

I am super excited to be commuting on a single-speed again.

The Cincinnati

2009-08-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

So it's pretty much common knowledge that we are moving to Cincinnati. I got into a nine month master's of marketing program at the University of Cincinnati. We're leaving on 8/31. Woo! It took a little longer than we had planned, but it's nice to finally be moving on to the next life goal.

We haven't ever been to Cincinnati so we're excited to get there and see what it's like. From people we know here's what we've been told:

Cincinnati is a hole

Cincinnati isn't that bad

Cincinnati is nice

All of Ohio is a hole

UC is a good school

It's the spaghetti capitol of the US

It has the best gelato outside of Italy

The southern woods of OH have great mountain biking

The cyclocross scene is pretty rad (too bad I won't really be able to participate in it this year

So that being said we're taking all of it with a massive grain of salt. If Cincinnati sucks, oh well, it's only nine months! You can expect plenty of updates on the move and what life is like there for us.

Blanding & New Mexico

2009-07-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

To help cut costs at work everyone has to take an unpaid week off. I took mine last week (it happened to coincide with having the 3rd off in celebration of the 4th) so we had 10 days. We went down to Blanding to visit Jessica's sister Amy and her family for a week and then to Farmington, NM to visit Adam and Lisa.

We did a lot and it could be a ridiculously long post but instead you get a nice bullet list with a slideshow at the end:

Had our first head-splitting-open experience ever with our kids (It was Maya and luckily she didn't need stiches)

4th of July Parade

Fireworks Show

Jessica ran the Blanding 5k

Mountain biking

Homemade ice cream

Swimming pool + high dive

Snow cones

Sprinklers, slip-n-slide, and water fight

Reading

Practicing spinning Poi balls

Lake Powell + ferry + 100 degree temps + small cliffs for jumping

A couple hikes to Native American Ruins

Board games

Lots of food

Evenings hanging in the backyard

Flying kites at the park

Four wheeling

Clay pigeons

Shooting handguns (my first time ever)

Flea markets + fry bread

Jacuzzi

More playing in the pool outside and waterfights

Movies

Playing at the lake

Kayaking at the lake

Remembering how to roll kayaks at the lake

Bocceball

Jacuzzi

Driving

Whew! It was an awesome trip. Enjoy the pics.

Blog Backlog

2009-06-25T22:39:00.000-07:00

Yeah...I know...almost a month...

So much to post about. I'll get to it soon, I promise. Some hints at what's to come:

-Mountain bike
-Garden update
-Wasatch Back Relay - Ultra style
-Other goodness

I know your gripped with anticipation...

Timpanogos Cave

2009-05-31T14:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the fam and I ventured up to Timpanogos Cave. I haven't been since I was a kid and Jessica didn't think she had ever been so we decided to go and take the girls. We didn't have high expectations going into it with the girls with us but we thought we'd give it a try.

First obstacle, receiving misinformation over the phone, showing up to buy tickets and being told the first tour they could fit us on was in 3 hours. Thankfully a nice young couple approached with some extra tickets they had for their group in and hour and half.

Early tickets in hand we set off. They say it's about a mile-and-a-half hike up with 1600 vertical feet gain. With Jessica just coming off the pregnancy and me carrying Penelope we figured it'd take about an hour. The hike was fantastic. For one, Penelope loves riding in the backpack and Maya loves the front carrier.

We made it to the top in 52 minutes, not bad I'd say. The next challenge was upon us. We thought for sure once inside the cave both girls would start crying and we wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Right before we went in Maya fell asleep in the front carrier and stayed asleep for about 3/4 of the tour. Penelope was a little scared and had Jess carry her for awhile, but then was willing to get down and walk around. Penelope was enamored by many of the formations and the different colors that we saw.

Waiting to go in
Two of my girls
Me trying to not close my eyes during the flash
Love the colors in the background
The hike down went smoothly as well. We made it in about 30 minutes. Penelope was entertained by watching the people hiking up past us and asking me "where are there houses?". She also kept looking for the little brown signs with the number 5 on them. By the time we got down she was zonked sleeping with her head against my back in classic style.

The Garden

2009-05-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

I've wanted a garden for awhile now. I should have started last year, the desire was there, I just never followed through. The combination of not being entirely sure what to do/how I wanted to do it, what to grow, and timing all helped me procrastinate long enough that I missed the season.

Radishes in back, peas on the right, zucchini up front, before the green onions went in.

This year I vowed it'd be different! This year started with some seeds we picked up from a Provident Living class early in the spring. They had packets of zucchini, peas, and radish seeds. We picked up one of each. When it finally stopped snowing I went out to the bare patch of dirt outside our kitchen window and sowed some of each to see if they'd grow. Within a couple of weeks small plants started sprouting.

After the green onions went in.

Next I found out about an heirloom plant sale being put on by the Wasatch Community Gardens so I picked up some tomato and pepper plants. Then while at the neighborhood nursery I got some strawberry starts and a packet of lettuce seed.

Pole beans with ski poles for the upward growth and cucumbers on the right.

Saturday I ran over to the small nursery across the street to get a couple some pole beans and I ended up coming home with poles beans, basil, another tomato plant, pickling cucumbers, swiss chard, and green onions.

Swiss chard in red.

I'm growing the 'big' foods in pots and self-watering containers (homemade, I have step-by-step instructions I'll post in a few days) and then the other foods is spread out in a couple of small patches in the backyard.

Strawberries, Brandywine tomato (looking sad), Basil

Lettuce planter box

Amish Paste and Purple Russian Heirloom Tomatoes in self-watering containers

King of the North Red Pepper, Jalepeno, Isis Candy Cherry Tomato (heirloom)

Hopefully it all grows!

Bread or Turkey?

2009-05-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

Which is it?

If you said turkey, you are wrong, but it does look like a turkey, not bread. Funny stuff...

So I've been trying to make my own sourdough starter and it was finally time to make some bread. The place where I got the instructions for the starter had a recipe for some bread that is supposed to be very similar to the old style French sourdough. Not having all the stuff they said to have I improvised.

Instead of a proofing basket I used a fruit bowl. Instead of a proofing cloth (linen or canvas) I used a kitchen towel that had a waffle pattern. Things went awry when trying to remove the cloth from the dough and it ended up in the shape in the photo.

It's currently cooling so I can't say how it turned out. I'll let you know.

Bedtime Denial

2009-04-09T22:45:00.001-07:00

I think for as long as I can remember I have suffered from what I like to call 'bedtime denial' (BD for short). BD is usually most prevalent in young children and school-age kids. Kids usually scream and cry when they don't want to go to bed or they get really sweet to you.

But can it still manifest in adults? Yes! You know what I am talking about. You look at the clock and you say to yourself "Man it's late, I have to get up and go to work in the morning, I really should go to bed, I know I'll be dead when the alarm starts going off". Then you proceed to find many other things to do because you don't want to go to bed.

I thought to perhaps one day I'd grow out of it. Nope, still have it, hence the blogpost about it at 11:50 pm. :)

Anyone else suffer from bedtime denial?

Domestic Weekend

2009-04-05T19:05:00.001-07:00

I've always liked to cook. Working full-time has definitely cut into the amount that I'm able to cook. With Jessica home with the two kids she has been doing most of the cooking.

The weekends are really my time to cook. Here's what I made this weekend:

Bread (two loaves)

Granola Bars

Chicken Biscuit Stew (Saturday's dinner)

Spicy Veggie Stir Fry (tonight's dinner)

Coffee Cake

Breakfast Burritos for tomorrow's breakfast (Edit - I forgot to put this in before)

I've made the coffee cake before, but it hasn't ever turned out quite right. Usually the topping is too heavy so it causes the cake to cave. I've tried putting it on afterwards but that isn't right.

This time I put it in a bigger pan and almost had the desired result:

Still caved a little near the middle, but it looks better than it ever has. Now it just needs to cool so we can eat it!

Oh yeah, Jessica likes 'domestic weekends' because she doesn't have to cook!

I Like the Way Kids Think

2009-03-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

Setting: We're getting into the car tonight after going to dinner at Citrus Grill. As I'm backing out of the parking space Jessica says "I'd like to get an I-C-E C-R-E-A-M C-O-N-E" (gotta spell this stuff out around the kids).

I replied with "hey, there's a M-C-D just up the road, we could go get on there".

Penelope, hearing us spelling stuff out says "I want one of those".

We asked her "one of what?"

She gets a confused look on her face. We ask her "you want one of things mommy and daddy were talking about?"

She says "yeah, I want one of those."

She had no clue what we were talking about, but she must have know that since we were spelling something out it must be good. Blows my mind how she figures things out!

Crab 'n Climb 2009

2009-03-23T19:33:00.001-07:00

Two weekends ago was our annual "Crab 'n Climb" trip that we take with some friends every year to St. George. This year was a little later than usual, but that was perfectly fine since it was warmer and gave us a few more weeks with Maya before the trip.

We drove down Friday morning. We left just before 6:00 am to get in a few hours before the girls woke us. I figured we'd probably get in 90 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised when we got in about three hours! We stopped, had breakfast, then Maya went back to sleep and we drove the remaining 90 minutes without any interruptions! It was the smoothest trip in the car we've ever had!

Friday consisted of checking into the condo, saying hello to everyone, and climbing. The wives were gracious enough to watch the kids this extra time so we could get out and climb. We went to an area named "Utah Hills". This was my first time out since the fall in Colorado that shook me up. I spent my time top roping and getting comfortable on the rock again. It was nice, I got in about 5 routes.

Saturday we went to this awesome park that had "perpetual motion" toys. The ones where you start spinning and they just keep going. Penelope had an awesome time running around, climbing up and sliding down.

They also had a little 'bouldering' wall for the kids to play on. Penelope got her first feel for climbing on it:

We also got a good family picture (don't mind the random lady in the background):

We also had a few 'battles' on the round, sliding toy:

After lunch and naps we spent awhile playing in the swimming pool. I love swimming and it's even better that Penelope is a fish.

Saturday night was crab dinner night. We used to go to Mesquite to the seafood buffet for crab but since we now have kids, we just buy some at the store and cook it up. It's the one time a year that we eat crab and it was gooo-oood!

Sunday was more playing, swimming, and climbing. We went to Chuckwalla to climb. I got in my first lead since Colorado and it felt good to get it out of the way. Jessica also got in her first climb since Colorado and since having Maya. She did really well and is super stoked for the coming season.

Me:

Jessica:

The drive home was almost as smooth as the drive down. It was a killer weekend, good to get out with friends, climbing, enjoy nice weather, and be with the family.

Here's a short album of the trip:

My New Obsession...

2009-03-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

Bikes...Jessica just shakes her head at me. It's an expensive obsession but so far I haven't spent much money. We actually have fewer bikes now than we did six months ago.

Jessica will say "how many bikes do you really need?" To this I reply "five". She shakes her head some more. Currently I have one. My next goal is a mountain bike. If anyone would like to contribute to the "help Eric buy a mountain bike fund" please let me know. All monetary donations are welcomed and appreciated! ;)

Curls

2009-03-01T12:12:00.001-08:00

Penelope's is finally getting hair and it has some curl to it (especially when it's wet):

I love it! Oh yeah, she doesn't look like me at all! ;)

Baked Apple Dessert

2009-02-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

I tried making a new recipe tonight that I got from a Whole Foods magazine that I picked up for free at the Whole Foods the other day. The recipe title is "Baked Apples with Pecans and Raisins". It turned out to be "Baked Apples with Walnuts and Raisins" because we didn't have pecans.

The first time I (we) had ever had baked apples was with our friends Matt & Bri. It was ridiculously simple. Take four apples, core them (but don't pierce the bottom), pour in sweet and condensed milk, bake until tender. Voila, delicious dessert!

This recipe takes it to the next level. That sounds fancy, but in reality I had the apples cored and the filling made in probably 7 minutes. Here's what they looked like before they baked:

And the finished product (picture is a little fuzzy and I should have left them in the pan for the picture):

They were absolutely delicious! I don't really like walnuts but we didn't have pecans. The recipe seemed a little different than what we usually make and have for dessert. I'm glad we tried it because it was good. Here's how we made them (this is altered from the Whole Foods Recipe based on what we had on hand):

*2 Granny Smith apples
*Couple finger-fulls of raisins
*Couple finger-fulls of brown sugar
*Small finger-full of walnuts broken into small pieces
*A few shakes of cinnamon
*A few shakes of nutmeg
*1 pat of butter cut in half
*Some apple cider

Core the apples but don't break through the bottom. Mix everything else, except cider and butter, together (this is the filling). Place filling into apples. Place butter on top of filling. Place apples into small baking dish. Pour in cider (maybe half an inch up the apples).

Place baking dish into 350 degree oven 30-40 minutes, until apples are tender. You'll want to baste the apples every 10 minutes or so.

The original recipe calls for dried apricots in the filling. We didn't have any but they would be delicious.

Try it out, let me know what you think. If you've had good baked apples before, tell me how they were made.

Beh-Beh

2009-02-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

We had a baby, a week ago today. She's adorable and beautiful. We named her Maya Reese.

I'm a slacker at blogging about it. Good thing my wife rules. You can see more pictures and get the details here. Why write it twice if Jessica did a fantastic job writing about it and I'd say the exact same things?

Baffling Dinner Event

2009-01-27T19:10:00.000-08:00

Tonight at dinner we had some cucumber slices. After Penelope finished eating her dinner we offered her some cucumber slices (slightly under the guise of 'treats'). She took one a little reluctantly and had a bite. She then took two others and had bites.

We finished dinner off with some homemade caramel cookies. Afterward we were cleaning up and I saw that there was one cucumber slice left. Penelope was still in her chair so I said "Penelope, would you like this cucumber slice?" She said no and so I popped it in my mouth. This is where the baffling event occurred. She looked up at me, got teary-eyed, starting crying, and said 'Penelope that one' pointing to my mouth.

Yup she was crying because I ate the last cucumber slice and she wanted it! We partially assuaged the hurt feelings by giving her one that she didn't finish at dinner. It still wasn't enough so we told her that we could go to the store to get another cucumber tomorrow. That helped cheer her up.

And this from the girl who still won't really eat any vegetables that aren't in the pureed form. Crazy...

Thank You Pollution Mask

2009-01-22T20:34:00.001-08:00

If you've been around northern Utah lately you've noticed the air looks like this:

It's an old photo but it's actually a little worse than that. When the air looks like that the air quality forecast looks like this:

Kind of bad when they say that "healthy individuals" shouldn't go outside.

This year I decided to buy a pollution mask. Knowing that I'd be biking through the winter I knew I'd face quite a few days with less than stellar air quality. Concerned for the health of lungs I took the plunge. At the start of the winter a lot of people kind of mocked me and made fun of me. Now that they see the air as bad as it is they are kind of eating their words.

Pollution mask you say? What kind of pollution mask? Is it a gas mask? Does it look like it came from WWI? Well no it doesn't. It likes like a modified neoprene ski mask from the 80's. Check it out:

It's the Respro Techno Mask from www.gotpollution.com. This thing is money. I've worn it everyday this winter while bike commuting. The past two weeks when the air has been wicked bad this thing has been well worth the money. It fully works and I don't feel the effects of exercising outside. It may look a little cheesy to some but I don't care. I highly recommend it everyone.

Ancestors

2009-01-19T21:58:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple of years I'll get the urge to do family history or at least read up on family. It usually lasts about a day and nothing comes of it. Last year when my grandmother passed away I realized that outside of my lifetime I knew absolutely nothing about her or my grandfather. I got the urge again to learn more but never did anything about it.

The last couple of weeks I've had the urge again and this time I'm actually going to do something about it. We've recently been given the stories of Jessica's grandfather's ancestors who first came from Europe to America. It's been very interesting to read and learn about these people's stories.

Yesterday I learned that my late-grandmother and grandfather have a lot of family history documents, journals, and letters. I'm very excited to learn about my ancestors and to learn where I came from and more about my family.

Pzookies at the Millers

2009-01-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

For Christmas my brother Zach gave me a Pzookie kit. It came with two cast iron pans, a recipe book, and mix for one set of Pzookies. Tonight Jessica and I finally made the first batch. Here's what they looked like before they went in the oven:

Here's what they looked like after they cooked and were 'fixed up' (we only had enough ice cream for one, haha):

And about five minutes later:

Yum.

Big thanks to Zach, this present rules. Tomorrow morning I think I'll try making Omelets in them.

If you want to come over and eat some Pzookies, just let me know, we'll have you over. And if you're like my friend Maxfield and you don't like warm desserts, I'll put yours in the freezer.

The Things Kids Say

2008-12-29T20:10:00.000-08:00

Everyone with kids knows how they say the craziest things. They have a knack for saying stuff you didn't think they knew or things you wouldn't expect them to know.

Yesterday at church during sacrament meeting Penelope starting singing something and it took us a minute to figure it out. She was singing "J-I-M-B-O, J-I-M-B-O". It cracked me up. It's the chorus from Reverend Horton Heat's Jimbo song.

The Reverend is top on my playlist for past six months, but I never really thought Penelope was listening and paying attention to the lyrics, let alone remember them. Thankfully there isn't anything that a two-year-old shouldn't hear.

Absolutely cracked me up.

The First Snowy Commute

2008-12-19T22:25:00.000-08:00

Winter has taken an extremely long time to come this year. This afternoon was my first real commute in the snow. At about 12:30 we started to get absolutely hammered with snow. Our vanpool left work early. Parley's Canyon was sli-ick. It took about an hour to get from PC to the vanpool meeting spot, we bypassed a bunch of traffic and saved a ton of time.

There were many inches of accumulation and I was looking forward to trying out the bike for the first time in the snow. I have it fully outfitted with fenders, lights, and cross tires (racks and panniers are still in the works). It looked like this when I got to it:

I was a little disappointed when I started riding because the plows had done a good job. I was, however, able to bypass about 3 blocks worth of cars waiting for one stoplight, that was nice. Once I got off main roads things started looking up:

Some may say I am crazy but anyone can ride their bike when roads are dry and the weather is perfect. I'm not a fair weather person and I love it when conditions are sub-optimal when doing stuff. The fun part for me is the challenge to see if I could ride through the snow, make decent time, and not wreck. Mission accomplished. I look forward to many more days of commuting through the snow. Who else got to say "I played in the snow on my way home from work today" or "I had fun coming from work today"?

Here's one last shot of my track through the snow:

7 Years

2008-12-18T20:25:00.001-08:00

It was seven years ago today that Jessica and I began dating, went on our first date, hooked up...however you want to say it. In a lot of ways it's hard to believe that it's been seven years. It definitely doesn't feel like it. Last night we were discussing it and we looked at each other and said "I've known you for seven years? Weird."

We celebrated by going out to dinner to Bombay House. Oh man that place is good! Then we went and got custard at a little place just down the road from us.

Jessica is the best wife. I feel extremely lucky that she picked me...especially when I think about myself. :)

This is a picture of us about 7 months after we started dating, I think we look young!

Last Week in Review

2008-12-15T20:47:00.001-08:00

Last week was a fun-filled, activity packed week. It was probably the most we've done in a week in an extremely long time. Here's a recap:

Sunday we made gingerbread houses with Penelope. We cheated though and used graham crackers for the gingerbread. Penelope mostly ate candy and crackers and helped Jessica a little. It was fun, they turned out great, and it was an awesome way to spend some family time on a Sunday evening.

Then Penelope thought it'd be fun to play in the laundry basket:

Monday night we had a neighborhood party. This was our first year participating and it was awesome. Some people get together, make scones and hot chocolate, and have a big get together for the neighborhood. Instead of exchanging neighbor gifts they ask everyone to bring donations of food, clothing, or cash for a local charity. It was cold and a little snowy so the hot chocolate and scones fit perfectly. It was good to see a bunch of neighbors that we don't see or talk to all that much.

Wednesday was the Ward Christmas Party. Our ward puts on the best Christmas party out of all the wards I've ever attended. Jessica and I have discussed it and we aren't quite sure what makes it so great. This year they mixed it up and sponsored a 'giving tree' for three families in the community that are in need and also collected money for some families in the ward that are need. We started out by wrapping all the presents that were purchased for the families. Then we moved to the eating portion. Instead of the usual lame lasagna or pasta with crappy salad, every year the ward gets BBQ from a local caterer. It's good. Then we had a little Christmas message, followed with a hot chocolate and little treat bar. Santa Claus made an appearance. We tried getting Penelope amped beforehand and she seemed excited. When we asked her what she was going to ask Santa for Christmas she would respond "Candy".

As soon as Santa walked into the gym her bottom lip started to quiver, the tears started to come, and she would point and say "that guy". It was kind of funny in way. We walked over to Santa and pointed out all of Penelope's little friends and kids she knew as they would sit on Santa's lap. I got in line and tried to distract her. As soon as it was her turn she bear-hugged my neck, started crying, and saying "no sit Santa, no sit Santa". I ended up sitting on his knee with her in my lap for quick picture.

Thursday we watched The Office. Hilarious!

Friday night brother Zach, his wife Alisa, their son Aiden, came down with their friends Danny & Julie and their son Taven. We ate dinner at Pei Wei then went to go see the lights at Temple Square. We had fun reminiscing about how we did something similar two years ago (Zach and Alisa came down, we ate dinner, then went to go see the lights) and the next day Penelope was born!

Saturday it snowed a ton! Jessica went to a baby shower and Penelope and I played in the snow. It was awesome. We walked around, made snow angels, pulled Penelope around in the sled, and my favorite part, I taught Penelope to eat snow! Here's a picture and fun little video:

Sunday we hung out, went to church, the usual Sunday stuff. Penelope did wear her Christmas dress from Nana Faerber for the first time:

Jessica also crocheted Penelope a scarf. She put the little flower in her hair and Penelope decided that she needed to wear her 'church shoes':

And one last photo because Penelope is so cute:

The Best Part of Today

2008-12-10T20:34:00.000-08:00

Had a good day at work, a nice ride home, immediately went to the ward Christmas Party (which is awesome). What was the best part of the day? After the party sitting on the couch under a blanket cuddling with Jessica and Penelope eating grapes.

It's amazing how life gets simpler in many ways once you have a kid.

Great Article on Caffeine

2008-12-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

My friend Adam posted a link on an article that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints posted on the "Energy Drink Epidemic".

I thought it was a well written article. It more addresses caffeine addiction and many of the health risks associated with caffeine (over)use, misuse, and abuse. I think the rise in energy drinks has definitely had a leading role in many of the health issues of today. Not only in terms of caffeine consumption, but many of the drinks are loaded with sugars and carbonation (which have their own health risks). Put these three things together in combination and you're bound to have problems.

Reading over the lists of health-problems in the article it came to my mind that in the past few years I've seen ads on TV and in magazines to 'help' all of those conditions. I've also known, personally, many people who suffer from one or more of those ailments.

My question is, why do we continue to do this to ourselves? Not just energy drinks, but sugar, lack a exercise, horrible diets, no fruits & vegetables, etc? Don't get my wrong, I'm definitely not perfect and nor am I saying that I am. We must be a nation of imbeciles. We let ourselves get swayed into consuming (and purchasing) things that we don't need, then we end up buying more stuff to battle the negatives effects of what we fist consumed. I'm tired of the "American" lifestyle and diet. Instead of sitting around complaining why don't you get off your pity-pedestal and do something about it?

What are you thoughts on "the Energy Drink Epidemic"?

Cyclocross Saturday #9

2008-12-07T21:02:00.000-08:00

It was the final race of the season, it was worth double points, and I flatted out heading into lap 3. It was a total letdown. I didn't have a spare rear wheel. I tried to pump up the tire, but the valve broke. I wonder if that's what caused the flat...Regardless I didn't finish the race.

The exciting news about cross season being over is ski season can now begin! Now it just needs to cool off an snow. Snow is in the forecast tomorrow but then the rest of the week clears out and warms up.

Here's a couple short segments from the race:

Cyclocross Saturday #8, Thanksgiving, and Other Stuff

2008-11-30T21:10:00.000-08:00

Saturday was my 8th race of the season. It was the toughest/roughest race for me. At the start of the race a few of us were joking around about who was going to lead out the pack. We had about 50 yards of straight, wide road from the start to the first turn and then it funneled down to single track. I wanted to be with the lead group going into the singletrack so I wouldn't get stuck in the pile up. The starter called out the start and before I knew it I was leading us out of the start. I immediately realized my mistake and slowed some and was riding in second place before a third of the way through the first lap. I held my position with the lead group through the first two laps and slowly started to feel the fade coming on. I road strong and stayed with the lead group in about 5th place until lap three. There was one treacherous section with a short hill climb, hairpin turn at the top, and wet leaf covered roots at the bottom.

During the second lap I was behind 4th place going through this turn when he wrecked on the downhill. It slowed me up some as I worked passed him and then had to ride hard to try and catch the leaders. On the third lap I wrecked in the exact same spot. The bad part was the bike started sliding sideways before I wrecked so when I hit the ground my feet didn't come out the pedals. I extricated myself after a few second, hopped back on and started riding. I immediately felt a pain my lower left leg but kept riding anyway. It took me a lap to get my back in the game. By that time it was the last lap and I dropped a lot of positions. Then it was the last lap and I was determined not to drop anymore.

I finished in a demoralizing 17th place for my race division. Valuable lessons were learned and experience gained. My entire left shin was a lumpy, swollen, scratched mess that hurt just sitting there. It almost bruised (I don't bruise very easily). It is just showing a little discoloration. I am guessing when I went down my left slammed into one of the exposed tree roots.

The day wasn't a complete loss though. After each race they do a small raffle of cycling gear for the race participants. I was the second named called and I walked away with a Pearl Izumi Optik Jacket in 'screaming yellow'. It's going to be a great jacket for spring/fall days when the temps are moderate and the winds are blowing.

The last cross race of the season is this coming Saturday. I will admit I will be a little relieved when it's over. I know I know, that may seem a little odd to some because I do love the cyclocross, however, I am ready for ski season to begin for me. I've put off mounting my new skis to avoid all temptation until cross season was over. Fortunately (and unfortunately) Mother Nature decided to withhold the snow and all skiing temptation that accompanies every snowfall.

With that update out of the way we had a great Thanksgiving. We went up to my mom's house in Logan on Thursday for the Thanksgiving feast. I took my first shot at making pumpkin pie, which I might add, turned out delicious! Apparently I used the 'wrong' recipe though. When I told my grandma that I made the pies she said "you used the good recipe right?" I said I used the one on the can of pumpkin. I received a 'look' and I said "someone told me that's what recipe you use". The pies were still delicious but now I know better for next time. Unfortunately I didn't make the pie crust like I said I was going to try and do.

The rest of the weekend was a fantastic array of not doing much and just hanging out with Jessica and Penelope. Saturday we went to eat at California Pizza Kitchen. It was a total let down! We used to love that place but the food wasn't good. They just didn't deliver like they have in the past. After dinner we went to see the lights at Temple Square. We parked by our old apartment downtown and enjoyed the moderate temps and the beautiful night to be out. We reminisced about when we lived downtown, what we liked and didn't like about it, life before Penelope, and how it was close to this same two years ago (December 2nd to be exact) that we went to look at the lights and then Penelope was born the next day!

Made From Scratch Sunday

2008-11-24T19:51:00.001-08:00

Lately there have been some things that I've wanted to try making and I kept putting it off for a later time. Yesterday was the culmination of the procrastination. Not quite sure what got into me but yesterday I made the following:

Creme Brulee

Wheat Bread (new recipe)

Kettle Corn

It wasn't anything fancy or special but it was fun to make things I had been wanting to try.

Back when Jessica and I were dating I spent a few months working at the Cadillac Grille in Jackson Hole, WY. While working there I had my first exposure to creme brulee. I didn't actually make the custard, I made the presentation by carmelizing the sugar and making it look nice. Cheffie was kind enough to give me the recipe and it took me six years to make it. All in all it turned out pretty good. Of course I need to perfect the making of the custard and brush the rust off the presentation, but it tasted delicious!

For the wheat bread I tried a new recipe. It tastes all right, but I didn't let it raise enough and it is dense! The loaf is squatty and heavy. I think the problem is either I didn't let it raise enough or I didn't activate the yeast correctly. I definitely need to try making it again.

Kettle corn...I love kettle corn. Sometimes I buy a little bag when we go someplace that makes it fresh (last time was at the zoo). Mostly we just eat the microwave variety. I got to thinking that it probably isn't hard to make. I did a couple Google searches and found a recipe worth trying. I must say it turned out quite tasty (Jessica thought so too)! It only took a few minutes, cost a fraction of a microwave bag, and tasted just as good if not better!

It was nice to be in the kitchen again. Lately I've been too busy/lazy to really do anything. Next up I'm trying my hand at pie and pie crust!

A Thing that Shouldn't Happen to Your Bike Tire

2008-11-17T20:04:00.000-08:00

I got to my bike this evening only to find a flat rear tire. I remembered I had an old tube in it that might have a leaky patch. I decided to pump it up to see if I could make it home. About two blocks later I got a new hole and enjoyed the loud and fast hissing sound as my tire deflated.

I took my wheel off my bike and decided to use my spare tube instead of patching the tube on the side of the road. I put it in and started pumping it up. I have my old cross tires on the bike and the extra tube was a road tube. Someone recently told me they use road tubes in their cross tires and just pump them up extra. Well I pumping it up and this happened:

(Yes that is a piece of a 'Princess Puzzle' that you see through the spokes. A sign that I have a 2 year old daughter). Sounded like a gun went of next to my ear. Luckily it blew out to the side and not into my face. Please note two things in the picture:

The size of the hole in the tube
Just above the hole in the tube you'll notice the wire bead from the tire. Yup the force blew a hole through my tire! Needless to say I had to call Jessica to come pick me up.

The crazy part is the tire pressure wasn't that high, 50 maybe 60 psi. Lesson learned. Some people say to just use road tubes in your cross tires, I say don't do it!

Cross Saturdays #5 & #6

2008-11-11T20:07:00.000-08:00

So I'm a slacker, two cross races have past and I haven't said anything about them.

Two weeks ago the race was out at the Rocky Mountain Raceway. This was my favorite race of the series so far. The race consisted of riding on a course that BMX bikes or dirt bikes would ride on, a short pavement section, a gravel parking lot section, and a short dirt section. The race was awesome. There were a lot of whooptie-woos, rollers, a massive, steep uphill section, and some challenging gravel. The morning started off rough as I crashed twice during my first warm up lap.

What made the race even better is I had dressed up like a Mexican wrestler. People in Utah take cross way too seriously. Look at cross anywhere else in the country and people dress up and have fun.

The race went well. I wrecked twice during the race. The first time wasn't bad but it was about 30 second after the start. I got my foot down and was back up and going without losing a place. The second time was with 2 or 3 laps to go. I wrecked turning from the gravel to the pavement. I must have hit a couple rocks right as I got on the pavement. I went down hard. I got a big raspberry on the back of my right leg (I opted to not take pictures as they would be been a little inappropriate) and I tore my cycling shorts. I rode hard and was fortunate to finish 2nd.

Race number 6 for me was this past Saturday back at the Wasatch Fairgrounds in Heber. This time the course was muddy. In some sections it was probably close to 4 inches deep. I went out hard from the start, was in the lead group through the first lap, I moved into first during the second lap, wrecked on a muddy turn, dropped to second place, then I completely blew up on the third lap and maintained fourth place through the rest of the race. Jessica and Penelope stayed home from this race so I don't have any pictures. I was extremely pleased with my finish. The course was extremely challenging with all the mud.

This weekend is an off weekend as we are going to Lava Hot Springs in southern Idaho for a little family trip. I'll pick right back up the following weekend and will rally the remaining three races of the season.

Voting and Flat Tires

2008-10-28T19:23:00.001-07:00

Jessica had a small party to go to tonight so Penelope and I headed to the city hall so I could vote early. Jessica took the car so Penelope and I took the bike and trailer (we would have taken these anyway since city hall is only about a mile away).

We loaded up and headed out about 6:30, the polls close at 7:00. We had a fun, quick ride to city hall. Come to find out the Holladay City Hall/Office do not have any bike racks outside their building (I'll be writing a letter). As we were riding around I was able to steal a peek through the windows to see a long line of waiting voters. Knowing that it'd probably only get worse the closer we get to the election I locked the bike to a handrail and we went inside.

In total we waited about an hour in a hot, stuffy room where we'd intermittently catch a small breeze from a nearby fan. Penelope got a little restless but it went alright. I cast my vote and we prepared to leave.

I got Penelope into the trailer, the bike unlocked and everything ready to go when I noticed the back tire was flat. I checked the front tire and it was flat as well. Apparently while riding through the parking lot looking for a bike rack I picked up a couple of goatheads in each tire. I had left my pump in my commuting backpack so we were out of luck. Faced with a long, slow walk home I chose to ride slowly and carefully. Probably not the best decision but it got us home twice as fast (which is great when you have a tired two year old).

My civic duty is done and I hope Obama wins.

Cyclocross Saturday #4

2008-10-25T14:01:00.001-07:00

This weeks race was at the Fort Buenaventura State Park up in Ogden. The morning air was very chilly. Usually the sun is up, warming the air, but there were so many trees that it stayed cool.

The course was pretty good, but not as fun as past weeks. There was a small criss-crossing grass section, one steep, sandy run/ride up, one set of barriers, and a whole lot of flat riding. A lot of the flat was on packed dirt or pavement. As a result it was a very fast race without a lot of technical riding.

I started out fast, towards the front (in the video below you'll see me at the start, closest to the camera in the blue shirt and white sleeves). I started out just a little too fast but was able to keep pace most all of the race. I did falter on the sandy hill. Close to rounding the top the sand became 3-4 inches deep. If you didn't carry speed you'd stop and have to unclip. The first time up I got stuck behind someone who had to unclip, the second and third times I lost my momentum and had to unclip, fourth time I got stuck behind a person who I lapping and had to run up, and the last time I made it up and over.

I think I finished fifth again (you'll see the anti-climactic finish). My falters on the hill put my behind the leaders so I had to play catch-up. Apparently I rode a lot harder than I have past races because as soon as I finished my quads started killing me. It hurts to walk. One really fun thing about the race is back in the woods there was a log you could either ride over or hop and I hopped it every time (I learned to bunny hop this week). I still love cyclocross.

The Wonderful World of Play-Doh

2008-10-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

The other day Jessica found a small package of Play-Doh in a cupboard. She broke it out for Penelope to play with and she loved it. When I got home from work we played with it after dinner. I had forgotten how much fun it is play with. I remember being a kid and my mom making us salt dough. Those were the best days. Now it's awesome to play with one of my favorite childhood things with my little girl.

We made everything from bowls, to dinosaurs, to hot dogs, pancakes, peas in a pod, snakes, pigs, bricks of cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, pumpkins (notice the food theme?), and many other things.

Cyclocross Saturday #3

2008-10-19T19:06:00.000-07:00

Saturday's cyclocross race was at the Weber Fairgrounds up in Ogden. This was the first race of season when the weather was nice. It was sunny and between 60-70 degrees. I thought it wouldn't be as much fun because it wouldn't be muddy. I was wrong, it was just as much fun. What I think is fun about the muddy/snowy/wet races is there's a level of technicality that isn't present in dry races. What I liked about the dry race is you could go a lot faster and that in itself brings in a level of technicality that isn't there when you can't go fast.

The course featured a very short glassy hill climb that dropped slowly to a gravel road. The gravel road turned into a long straight section of sidewalk which brought you back to the grass to the first set of three barriers. Then the course wound around through what looked like an equestrian course, over a set of three stacked logs, over a single log, and winding back through the start.

The race went well. I started faster than I've started in the previous two races. Coming into the barriers the first time I thought I had started way too fast and would fizzle out halfway through. I was able to maintain my pace. It was fun seeing the people around me and having to try and catch them or stay ahead of the people behind me. The gravel and sidewalk sections afforded the opportunity to really see who was around and open it up.

I learned this race that I need to learn how to bunny-hop small obstacles or learn how to ride over them. The single log would have been a perfect opportunity to do so but I didn't want to try something new in the race. I also had my first wreck. A few laps in I was coming into the triple log barrier at the same time as another rider. I was paying attention to him and not my dismount. I got my first foot unclipped and my leg swung around the bike. When I planted that foot on the ground I didn't twist my left foot enough and it didn't come out of the pedal. I immediately fell to the ground with the bike on top of me, left foot still clipped in, almost hitting the logs on the way down. I quickly unclipped, grabbed my bike, hopped over the logs and was on my way.

I finished 5th place for my class. I was wicked excited about the finish. I was surprised to finish that high, especially since I'm a noob at racing and still fairly new to bikes in general.

Here's some clips from the race to enjoy:

Cyclocross Saturday #2

2008-10-14T20:42:00.001-07:00

Saturday was the second 'cross race of the year. This time it was held at the Heber Fairgrounds and it was snowing. The course was more fun and more challenging than last week. The snow definitely made things interesting. There was one set of barriers, on run-up with a barrier at the start of the hill, some hairpin turns, and of course some mud.

Jessica and Penelope were there to cheer me on despite the cold temps and the snow. Pictures are hard to get so Jessica shot a bunch of video. I'm in the blue shirt with black sleeves.

One Benefit of Having a Kid

2008-10-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah there's a ton of benefits of having a child and one could get all sentimental/serious about it. I'm not going to do that. This is more about the stuff you don't ever think about. Here's a picture that says it all:

The caption reads "Thanks for the fish tacos. The Morrows".

If we didn't have Penelope we wouldn't have had big pieces of chalk outside. If we wouldn't have big pieces of chalk the Morrows wouldn't have been able to leave us this awesome message when they returned a container to us. All because we have a kid!

First Cyclocross Race

2008-10-04T13:29:00.001-07:00

This morning was the first cyclocross race of the season and my first race ever. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect going into it. My biking experience has largely been my daily commute to and from our vanpool that I ride up to Park City to work. I haven't ever raced bikes and had no idea what to expect in terms how how the start would work, what it was like to ride with others or near others.

I just have to say that cyclocross is awesome! It hurt, my legs burned, my lungs burned, it hurt more, it was dirty, wet, and cold, but it was a good time! You can see it in my tired smile below (yes that is sand/dirt/mud in my teeth - you have click to see the large image to get the full dirt effect). I'm fully hooked and will likely race every Saturday through the rest of the season. I do need to get out and ride more. Running endurance is a far cry from cycling endurance. My quads are killing me.

To my delight we woke up to rain this morning and it continued to rain. Everyone I have spoken to about cross says it's better and more fun when it's wet and muddy. With the rain it made it a little bit cool but I didn't notice during the race.

The course was fun. From the start there was long, moderate uphill pavement section which turned into a dirt section for 100 yards or so. From the dirt we encountered a short uphill back to parking lot, which we darted through, down a small pavement hill, back through the dirt section and onto a slightly off-camber singletrack, which turned onto a wider gravel/sand section, to more single-track through some small bushes, over a wood bridge, to the one run-up and barriers (there were only two barriers), then a long quick ride down more singletrack with turned back onto the start. Just before we reached the start again there's a fairly steep downhill, onto wet grass and a sharp turn.

Jessica, Penelope, and my brother Christopher were there to cheer to me on. Jessica was awesome with the camera and got four short video clips. I'm the one in the black shorts, blue shirt, and white sleeves.

Outlook Saves Marriages?

2008-09-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

Here's an awesome, short conversation that I had with a co-worker over IM last week:

[14:47] me: i forgot out about meeting in 15 minutes
[14:48] coworker: me too
[14:48] coworker: thank god for outlook what did people used to do
[14:48] me: thank you meeting reminder
[14:48] me: exactly
[14:48] me: they had secretaries
[14:49] coworker: so outlook may have led to more faithful marriages
[14:49] me: hahahahaha
[14:49] me: i think you might be right

Ah good times...

Hidden Peak Challenge

2008-09-28T14:28:00.000-07:00

If you read about it over at Noggins Beanies it's true.

Yesterday was the Hidden Peak Challenge at Snowbird. It's only a 6k...yeah...starts at the tram parking lot at Snowbird and runs up to the top of tram. 6k distance and 3k of vertical gain. Up the entire way.

I haven't done a whole lot of running since the 8000m Challenge other than a couple of short runs and ultimate frisbee (nursing IT band issues). I figured what the hey, I've done a lot harder and at worst it'll be about an hour of pain.

The field was small, 76 in total. The start was informal, a countdown through a bullhorn (I actually prefer these starts). 100 yards from the start I found myself towards the front quarter of the pack. Heading into the first turn I could see the leaders pulling away. I got to thinking "crap Eric, you've started out too fast". Things got steep quick. The others around me kept running and I started power hiking, keeping up with those around me. I started to let up a little to see if I really had started out too fast. After a few minutes I decided to keep up the pace, it'd only be an hour.

A little after the halfway point you could see the top of the tram. This gave me some additional fire and picked up the pace. I started looking to who was ahead of me and started reeling them in. I was able to pick off two. I started closing in on the third towards the top. The thought of getting one more amped me even more. Unfortunately he saw me and got amped himself and picked up the pace.

I crossed the finish line in 1:01:33. At one point I thought I could finish in under an hour, but then I came around a corner and saw another set a switchbacks that you couldn't see below. I was completely surprised by my time, I thought it'd take me over an hour to do it.

The most surprising part was when they were doing the awards. When they got to the men's 20-29 division they called the winner as "Eric Miller...". Yeah, I stood there for a second, in silence, unsure if I heard correctly. That's the first time I've ever medalled in a running race. I ended up 7th overall and exactly 6 minutes behind the leader. Not bad for a kid that doesn't run fast.

There were four of us from backcountry that ran (myself, Jill, Ross, and Greg):

It was a good time and I'd do it again next year. Now I have to nurse IT bands even more.

Full race results can be found here.

Here's more pics from the race:

Date Night

2008-09-26T20:50:00.001-07:00

Tonight Jessica and I went out on our first date night in a very long time. I was given a gift certificate from work to the Melting Pot. We had been wanting to go for quite some time, however, we knew it going to be more expensive than when we usually go out. This was a perfect opportunity.

Dinner was fabulous! We got their "Big Night Out" which includes cheese fondue, salad, entree, and dessert. For the cheese we chose the Fiesta Cheese Fondue. It had cheddar, salsa, and jalapenos. For the entree we chose the Fondue Feast which included: filet mignon, salmon, shrimp, chicken, pork, spinach artichoke ravioli, and fresh vegetables. We chose the vegetable bouillon as the cooking method for the meat. It was delicious. We threw the vegetables in and cooked them the whole time. The meat always came out tender and juicy. It was nice to have so many choices, you didn't get sick of any one thing.

The best part (which everyone says) was the dessert. We chose their "original" chocolate fondue which was a mix of chocolate and chunky peanut butter. To dip we had strawberries, bananas, toasted marshmallows, pound cake, rice krispie treats, cheesecake, and brownies. Oh man it was a big dessert but don't worry, we polished it all off.

In all we were at the restaurant for about 2 hours. It didn't feel like it at all. It was nice to get out just the two of us, take our time, eat, talk, and just spend some well deserved and long overdue time together.

Cyclocross is Coming

2008-09-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

This summer I got amped about bikes. I've known about cyclocross for a couple of years and started looking into it. Then I started talking with people at work about it, watching videos online, and am now fully amped to try it out.

The first race is coming up on October 4th and I'm going in headfirst. Yesterday I spent about 2 hours at Wheeler Farm practicing. They have a couple races there so I went and just made up my own route. Some fast open sections, some short sections of singletrack, one small hill to run up, and pretend barriers. It went really well. I only got one flat tire and only wrecked/fell over three times (I'm not completely confident on clipless pedals and am not use to having to unclip to put my foot down).

For those who are unfamiliar with cyclocross here's a short video that explains it all:

Goodbye Sprint

2008-09-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

We bit the bullet and decided to get rid of our spotty-at-best Sprint service and our old numbers. If you want our new numbers just let us know.

8000m Challenge - Complete!

2008-09-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

The Jansport 8000m Challenge (3 Mountain Challenge) was last Thursday. It's an event that Jansport has been putting on for the last 12 years for it's vendors. We randomly signed up this year. It's a team event where each team member runs the whole course. The rules are each team could have up to 13 people finish. Everyone had to do the entire course (there were check-ins at the top and bottom of each peak). That's pretty much it.

The course included three peaks in the Palm Springs, CA area. The entire course was about 40 miles and 12,000 feet of vertical gain and loss. The first peak, Mt. Baldy, was 12 miles and 3800 feet vert. The second was San Gorgonio, measuring in at 17 miles and 5500 feet of vert. The third was San Jacinto, coming in at 11 miles and about 2600 feet of vert. The top elevations were about 10,000 ft, 11,000 ft, and 10,000 ft, respectively.

The race started at 5:00 am at the base of Mt. Baldy. The strategy was to start out fast to get ahead of the pack and dust bowl of 170 people running up a dirt road. The course started with a small section of asphalt, then a turn onto a dirt road, from which the single-track trail branched off. When we hit the dirt road there was only 3-4 people in front of myself and four others from my team. Our plan backfired when the people in front of us go far enough ahead that they got onto the trail and out of site by the time we came up to it. We (Jamon, Cathy, Brendan, Chris, and I) completely missed it and kept going up the road. We realized our mistake and about 35 minutes later we had back tracked and were on the trail. We figured it was an extra two miles or so to the race. I made it up to the top of Mt. Baldy in 1 hr and 22 minutes from the time we hit the trail and back down (all the way to car) in 49 minutes. With a quarter of the miles, a quarter of the vert, and one peak down, four us piled into the minivan and headed to Gorgonio.

About a 90 minute drive put us at the base of Gorgonio. This was to the motherload, the crux, of the day. Measuring up at 17 miles and 5500 vert, during the heat of the day (Palm Springs was 107 that day) was a very daunting challenge. I loaded up on water, sports drink, electrolyte drink, and snacks and hit the trail with Jamon, Jim, and Seth. Gorgonio was relentless, starting off with a steep switchback section in the first mile. After that the trail mellowed out for a few miles, heading up a ravine passed lush vegetation and massive trees (if there's one thing California has done right, it's the redwoods. Those things are amazing). I kept up a steady pace for most of the way. After the ravine came more switchbacks, followed by a short ridge, steep hiking, false summits, and finally the summit. I made it up in 3 hrs and 24 minutes. After refueling with liquid and food it was time to get going. The downhill was going to be the crux of the crux. It was a long way down, my legs were tired and cramping, and I had to go fast to catch up with the group (Jim, Jamon, Cathy, Colby) ahead of me so I can get in their van for the next peak (if I missed them I would be waiting at the car upwards of an hour or longer for the next group). I put in the headphones, cranked the tunes and started down. I ran for almost and hour and forty minutes before I caught the group (they were movin'!). 5500 ft of vertical loss takes a toll on your legs. Thankfully I made the right call and used trekking poles on this one. I got down in 2 hours and 39 minutes.

We immediately jumped in the van and headed to Jacinto. Jacinto is interesting. You have to take a tram from the base up the mountain to get passed the lower section that is virtually impassable (or so I hear). From the top of the tram its 11 miles and about 2600 feet to the summit. We had time constraints to catch the tram up and the last tram down was at 9:45 pm. You could camp up top, but we didn't want to because the lure of a shower and bed was strong.

It took us about 80 minutes to get from Gorgonio to the tram. Once at the top we started making our way to the peak. We knew we had plenty of time of took a slower pace (Jim and Jamon went ahead running while Cathy, Colby, and I power hiked). Our legs were all feeling very tired so we kept a pace that would get back to the tram with time to spare. It took 1 hr and 54 minutes to make it to the summit and 1 hr and 54 minutes to make it to the tram. On our way back down there was a guy at the camp making soup for everyone. I grabbed a cup on my way by and the warm, salty broth tasted amazing! About half a mile from the tram I looked at my watch and realized if we hustled we could make the finish in under 16 hours.

All counted I did about 42 miles and 12,000 feet of vert in 15 hours and 57 minutes (that includes about 2.5 hours of drive time). It was the longest distance and most vert I have ever done. It was also the most challenging event, both mentally and physically, I have ever done. The shower afterwards and bed were amazing. Even more amazing was the pancake, egg, home fry, bacon, and sausage breakfast the next morning. My IT bands are worked, but I was only sore for a few days (I was completely surprised). Would I do it again? Definitely. Will I line up other ultra events? Definitely.

Here's some pics (I am waiting for more & all photos in the slide show are courtesy of Jim Holland) and a short video (you see my back a lot, I'm wearing a green shirt, blue pack, and tracking poles) of the race. Enjoy.

8000m Challenge

2008-09-02T21:59:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow morning I am heading off to do the Jansport 8000m Challenge (AKA the 3 Mountain Challenge) in So Cal. 40 miles, 12,000 ft of vertical gain (and loss). I'll be sure post how it went. Pictures will likely be lacking as I'm not taking the camera (even if I took it I wouldn't be stopping to snap pics).

Mount Timpanogos

2008-08-31T15:06:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I hiked Mt. Timpanogos for the first time. Yeah it was on a Sunday, but I needed to get in one last training run before the 3 Mountain Challenge.

I went up with Bill and Brad from work (who, not so coincidentally, are also doing the 3 Mountain Challenge). We started in the cool of the morning at 7:30 a.m. It was awesome. I didn't know what to expect other than the hike was going to be long with a ton of vert.

When we got to the lake at the bottom of the glacier we saw two mommy goats with their babies. We were stoked...Then as we went over the first little knoll after the lake we saw the entire herd! In all there were probably about 40 goats total.

We pushed on to the summit and make it to the top in two hours and thirty minutes. We mostly power-hiked, only ran a little.

After 15 minutes up top we headed down. Brad and I lightly ran the steep summit section and the massive talus field. We opened it up a little more after the talus field. We kept a good pace. We made it from the summit to the car in an hour and forty minutes.

The 30 second feet & leg soak in the waterfall towards the bottom was a life saver. The ice cold water immediately took off some of the swelling.

It took us 4 hours and 22 minutes (including 15 minutes on the summit) to cover the approximate 14 miles and ~4500 feet of vertical gain and loss. Not the fastest time, but I still feel good about it for a first time up Timp.

Silent Auction

2008-08-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

There's a silent auction going on over at Noggins Beanies to support Nie Nie Day.

You can get this beanie:

It's for a good cause, go check out the beanie and silent auction it up right nice. Check out the link for Nie Nie Day for other silent auctions that are happening.

New Bike

2008-08-24T20:18:00.000-07:00

We finally sold the Taurus! Wah-hoo. A little while ago Jessica said to me "if you can sell the Taurus you can use the money to buy a new bike". I had been talking about getting a new bike for commuting and for trying out cyclocross this fall. It took about a month or so, but we finally sold the Taurus for $350. We knew that it had a few problems and thought that would be a fair price.

The next day I was cruising the KSL classifieds and came across an ad for exactly what I was looking for. A commuter/cross bike and it was in my price range. It was a Diamondback frame with good Shimano components, some cross wheels, and the original set of wheels.

I've commuted on it once. It was so much better of a commute than on the Britney. The hills are a lot better on gears. It's so much better of a ride. I've also taken Penelope for a ride in the bike trailer. That is also so much better with gears. All in all it's an awesome bike and I am uber-stoked to have it. I can't wait for cross season to start so I can give it a whirl.

Jupiter Steeplechase Recap

2008-08-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since the race, but I finally have the pics and the time to write about it.

So the Jupiter Steeplechase was Saturday, August 9. It's a 16 mile race with about 3000 feet of vertical gain and loss. It's essentially an out-an-back race. It's 8 miles and 3000 feet of vertical gain from the base of the Park City Mountain Resort, to the top of Jupiter Peak, and then 8 miles and 3000 feet of vertical loss back to the base.

The course was switched up a little this year. We started in a different place and instead of a short climb up a third peak after Jupiter, we ran around the third peak and back down. This change ended up extending the race to be a little longer than 16 miles (which we didn't know until afterwards).

My goal was to beat my time from last year. I knew that I needed to start out strong but not so strong that I burned myself out before the hardest climbing. I also knew 8 miles of downhill would be grueling.

I did end up pushing a little too hard on the uphill so I couldn't push the downhill as hard as I wanted. I did end up beating my time from last year by 49 seconds! I finished in 2:41:06. I was super stoked. I was even more stoked when I found out that the course was a little longer than last year.

It was a good race and I'll definitely be signing up for it again next year!

Heading to Louis Lake

2008-08-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

We're off to Louis Lake, WY to go stay at Jessica's parent's place, Louis Lake Lodge for the rest of the week. My update on the Steeplechase will have to wait until after we get back.

Cool Bike Ideas

2008-08-11T19:22:00.001-07:00

As many are aware I am becoming more and more of a bicycle advocate everyday. I've given up driving to the carpool and bike to it everyday. I ride the bike for most errands that are within two miles of our house. I like riding and the benefits it provides.

I read a number of bike blogs and every once in awhile I come across something that makes me think 'wow, that is awesome. I wonder how I can incorporate that somehow in my own life".

The most recent example is people only using bikes for their business. I'm not talking about people who are professional bike racers or bike messangers, but individuals with jobs that would be 'easier' with a car.

The most recent example was on the Bike Portland blog about a gardener who only bikes to and from jobs. He has a trailer that he hauls all of his tools and supplies on. His co-worker also rides her bike to and from all jobs.

I love seeing stuff like this! It goes to show that you can be successful with your bike. I haven't been able to figure out how I can do this yet, but it makes me realize that I could use a bike for pretty much everything I do.

What are some cool examples that you've seen? What are some things you'd like to do by bike?

Jupiter Steeplechase Results Coming Soon

2008-08-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

I am currently waiting on some photos so I am going to wait on writing about the race. In the meantime you can get the 'unofficial' story from Jessica here.

A Day at Bear Lake

2008-08-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Bear Lake for the day. We got the idea from Adam, but then unfortunately they couldn't go...thanks for the idea.

We got up there about lunch time. We pitched the sunshade, made sandwiches, and ate underneath it. Once lunch was gone we went for the water. It was surprisingly warm for Bear Lake.

Penelope loved walking in the water. She was unstable on the washboard sand and would get knocked over by the small waves so we held her hand a lot. She kept wanting to walk straight out. She'd even want to keep going when it'd get so deep that the waves would splash her face. She also loved splashing.

We, of course, stopped to get a raspberry shake on our way home. On our way back through Logan we stopped and walked around our alma mater's campus. I loved going to school at Utah State. We also drove through the neighborhoods we said we'd want to live in if we ever moved back to Logan.

We capped the day with eating dinner at Firehouse Pizzeria (mmmm, Cordon Bleu pasta and FFzookie) with my mom and her husband.

Good Move...

2008-08-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

This morning I rode the bike to the carpool, went to work, and worked. When the van dropped me off at my bike I walked up to put my bag in the milkcrate, looked inside and noticed my lock. I stepped back, looked at the bike, looked at the the lock and realized I didn't lock my bike today. Ummmm, yeah, good move. I thought back to this morning and I got the van meeting spot, was super hot and sweaty so I unloaded my stuff, started flapping my shirt so help cool off, then changed my shirt, and drank a bunch of water. Didn't even think about locking the bike. I was so concerned about trying to cool off.

Thanks Salt Lake City for not stealing my bike.

Quote of the Day

2008-07-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

As Jessica is doing dishes, Penelope (whom I am watching) decides to pull a chair up and help rinse. Seeing that she is occupied I leave the kitchen to do other things. To this Jessica says: "What happened here?"

I reply "she decided to help out". I then walk back into kitchen and Jessica says "How did I get suckered into this." I say "Suckered into what?" "Doing dishes and watching Penelope." I laugh. "I feel like you."

Funnier said than written but she has a valid point. :)

Signs of a Good Nap

2008-07-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

Signs of a Good Run

2008-07-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

What are some signs of a good run?

Yeah, those aren't farmer's tan lines folks. Grubbiness is one fine indicator of how a run went. (Oh yeah, don't pay attention to the toys or clothes in the background). This morning I ran in Big Cottonwood Canyon. I ran up Mill D to Desolation Lake, up to the spine of the Crest Trail, then down into Millcreek Canyon, over to Dog Lake, and back down to Mill D and the car. All told it was roughly 13 miles and 3500 ft of vertical gain and loss. I pounded it out in 2 hours and 26 minutes (that includes rests). I was surprised I got through it that fast. It was awesome. Nothing like hitting a trail early before most people get on it.

Here's a close-up of the ankles:

The Value of Being Outside

2008-07-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

Being outside is a topic that I've spent a lot of time thinking about this summer. I've always been extremely fond of being outside but I think having a small child, who is at a very impressionable age, is what has spurred my recent string of thoughts on the matter.

Tonight I was asking myself "what is it about being outside that is so great?". I think this one picture gives all the reasons:

There's nothing quite like watching a small child run carefree, full of excitement, and having the best time of their life. It's really made me sit back and ponder how it is that people (including myself) spend way too much time hanging out indoors. We have become complacent and willing to just sit inside our climate-controlled homes, buildings, cars, etc. instead of getting outside and enjoying what this world has to offer. As I sat on our front lawn playing with Penelope for probably 2 hours tonight I stopped to look at what was around, just outside our door. The most striking view is Mt. Olympus (not to mention the small nursery across the street that is always abloom with flowers):

Then looking north up our street our neighbors have some big trees and more views of the Wasatch Mountains:

I feel that people sometimes forget it can be as simple as stepping out your front (or back) door. The power of being outside enables you to run free. You aren't confined by the size of your room or the size of your house. The only things that confine you are your will and imagination. You can interact with nature face-to-face, you get the real effect and as a result it effects you. You can't get that through a TV or a computer screen.

If Penelope and I would have played inside tonight we would have played with some toys, maybe would have read some books, or just sat around. Being outside Penelope was able to explore, she was able to run, unconfined. I enjoyed the beautiful evening, just sat and relaxed, undistracted. We made up a game where we ran around in circles screaming and then we'd suddenly fall down. There's no room inside to run in circles (especially for me) and screaming inside is way too loud. Here's a short, shaky video (Penelope made me run too) of our game:

Tonight was just another experience that helps to solidify my beliefs and opinions on being outside. Think back to some of most fun, most memorable experiences as a child, I bet you were outside.

Old Friends

2008-07-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

I went climbing tonight with an old friend/co-worker/ski buddy from Logan. I haven't seen him in a few years. It was awesome to catch up and see how things are going for each other. Also climbing was fun, it's the first time out since Colorado.

It's always a good time to catch up with people you haven't seen in a while.

That is all.

Summer Concerts in the Park

2008-07-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

Maybe I just didn't pay enough attention but it seems to me like there are more and more free community activities, like concerts, going on this summer. We just got home from the city of Holladay's "Summer concerts in the park". We found out about them because we randomly drove down a street two weeks ago and say the banner.

The concert was actually inside city hall tonight because they thought it might rain. The band was okay but it was nice to be out of the house, listening to music, and participating in a community activity.

We actually met a couple of people who chances are we wouldn't have ever seen. One conversation started around a pannier a guy had on his bike. It's nice to get out and do something that we typically don't do and meet people we typically wouldn't ever meet.

What kind of summer activities do your communities do?

Feeling Sheepish

2008-07-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

You know how every once in a while you do something thoughtless and it's completely ridiculous? Well I had one of those experiences tonight.

Jessica left today for girls camp and won't be back until Friday afternoon (yes I'm lonely already). This evening my dad called and asked if Penelope and I wanted to come over and swim at the pool at his fiances townhome. Of course I said yes. Penelope and I put on our swimsuits before heading over. As I was going out the door I put my keys and my cellphone in the pockets of my boardshorts (if you don't see what's coming by now you must be slow).

When we got to the pool I was wicked excited to get in with Penelope that I took of my shirt and our shoes and hopped in with her. We were playing around having a good time when I start getting this weird vibration from my pocket. Yup, it was my cellphone, fully submerged for a few minutes. Needless to say I think it's fully fried. The screen was solid white and it just vibrated. I took the back cover and battery off and let it dry. When I got home I pried the phone apart to let the insides fully dry. Fortunately it dried quickly and seemed to turn on (but the screen was white). I could push buttons and it would make noises, but that was all.

So now I am on my backup phone, which hopefully will work for a few more months. Fortunately Sprint did away with their activation fees.

I feel completely silly and thought everyone would enjoy reading about my thoughtless experience!

4th of July Festivities

2008-07-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day. You might be saying to yourself "Eric it's early". True, but we're tired.

We wanted to go swimming today because it was ho-ot, but that didn't work out. So we ended up at the Target getting some things for an evening canyon bbq. We grubbed on a Domino's pizza for lunch and then hung out at the house while Penelope napped.

Once she woke up we headed up Millcreek with the Buchanans for some bbq action.

We hauled our little grill up the canyon (we weren't sure if there was going to be fire restrictions) and spent the evening hanging out. We dined on shishkabobs, chips, baked beans, and sodas. It was delicious!

Finally broke out the hammock. We don't spend enough time in that thing. It is so comfortable. Penelope loved climbing in and sitting with us. She did lean too far over the edge once and fell out. I did catch the back of her pants before she hit the ground.

The girls had a great time running around, playing in the dirt, and scooping dirt into the empty yogurt containers that we brought. Penelope loved it so much that she ate a rock! Well we think she did. We turned away for 2 seconds, she starts coughing, and we turn around and she's spitting some dirt out of her mouth. I figure we'll make sure she drinks a lot of water for the next day or so.

There's the ladies of the evening. You can't fully tell but the two little ones are grubby. Ryan is sporting her signature scowl. The camera (or cameraman) was a little too slow to get the full scowl.

The canyon rocked hardcore. Now we're going to watch a movie. Once it's dark we might step outside to see if we can see any of the fireworks from around the city.

Mt. Olympus Update

2008-07-03T21:59:00.001-07:00

My legs are killing me, especially my quads.

Mt. Olympus Assault

2008-07-02T21:57:00.000-07:00

Just got home about 40 minutes ago from laying down a solid assault on Mt. Olympus. I headed up with Jamon from work. The guidebook said it is 6 miles round trip and 4050 feet of vertical gain (one website said 6.4 miles and 4200 feet of vert). The guide book said 3 hours 35 minutes one way, the website said 6 hours round trip. Well we beat those estimates by a bit.

We made it from the parking lot to the summit is 1 hour 55 minutes. We spent about 15 minutes or so on top and headed down. We made it down in about an 1 hour and 10 minutes. All told we made it up and down in about 3 hours and 25 minutes. No idea if that is fast or not, however, we felt good about it.

The way down was crushing, I fell twice. Once when I went to grab a tree to help me make a tight turn but my hand slipped off it. The second time when I caught my toe on a fin of rock sticking up in the trail. I caught myself but ramming my palms into two other fins. By the end my legs were jello and felt like they were going to give at any second.

It ruled. At the end Jamon said "it's been a long time since I've done something that 'stupid' during the week. I said "it's been a long time since I've done something that 'stupid'".

Wasatch Back

2008-06-29T21:02:00.001-07:00

I know I am super slow getting this post up but I was waiting on pictures for a few days. Here's the rundown: it was awesome!

This year I was in van 2 so no 4:30 am meeting times to get to the start of the race. Our van rocked 100% this year. Of course this year we ran with gear again and we stepped it up a notch too. Jim, our CEO, ran in a pair of skis. Literally had skis on his feet while running! It was awesome.

Since we were running with gear we were the last of teams to come through the first exchange (we had four teams from work). We knew we needed to make up time so we motored the best we could.

My first leg looked like this:

Yes it was only 3.1 miles, but it was uphill the whole way, it was like 4:30 in the afternoon, it was blazing hot (at the time it was the hottest day of the year on record, close to 100 I think) and I ran in this:

Yup, I ran in a tent. It was a one man tent to Jamon rigged up with sticks and duct tape so it would hold it shape while I ran. Running it looked like this:

It was pretty hot. One good thing was the tent was almost solid mesh so a little breeze would blow through it. On one corner as I was coming around I got hit with a short headwind and it blew the tent like a sail. I did manage to put down something like 8:30 miles running uphill in a tent. It was awesome.

Our second legs were night legs. Coming into third exchange we were now in third place but were a long ways behind the other teams. Our team put the hammer down and ran a set of killer legs. We were starting around 10 pm so the sun had gone down and the temperatures were nice and cool. Highlights were Cathy put down her 7 mile leg with sub-7 minute miles. Jamon put down his 6+ mile leg with sub-7 minute miles. They were booking. I started my leg about 2:00 am. I had 5.5 miles of general flatness heading into Rockport that looked like this:

It was about 40 degrees and it felt great! I was a little chilled starting out but that lasted about 2 minutes. I was running in a backpack. Starting out I could see two people a ways ahead of me and my goal was to run fast and pass them. I got the first guy after about 3 miles and it took me close to 5 to get the second guy. Side benefit of passing two other people. One guy ran with a red bike blinkie on his back for better visibility. The crappy thing was the one mile left markers had red blinkies on them so I kept thinking he was the one mile left marker. I realized I was getting closer to him and had to pass him just because. As I came around the final corner there was probably 300 yards or so to the exchange and the place was lit up with generator lights and cop car lights. I put the hammer down and ran as fast as I could. I came flying into the exchange and the next runner wasn't there. Apparently they overslept. My van-mates had called them at the start of my leg and let them know I'd be about 45 minutes. Yup, they went back to sleep. After giving it my all and after running my entire leg in about 7:45 minute miles I had to run more. I ran a little over a mile more before my van caught up and Jamon got out to give me a break. 30 seconds later the other van showed up. Oh well, it was still fun.

We got a couple hours worth of sleep before our next exchange. When we woke up we were about 30 minutes behind our first team. We figured we wouldn't be able to make up the difference but still ran our hearts out. As we came into the start of the second to last leg we were about 8 minutes behind the first team and about 2 minutes behind the second team! Ben rocked the second to last leg and coming into my leg we were two minutes up on both teams. My last leg was at about 10:45 am and it was just starting to get hot. It looked a little something like this:

I knew I had no chance of keeping us in the lead. After the previous two runs and about an hour of sleep I knew I'd be running about 8 minute miles and guy I'd be running against would be putting down about 6:30 minute miles. I held him off for about the first mile or so. I completed my run wearing a backpack and a helmet with cardboard goat horns taped to it.

We finished in second place, about 5 minutes behind the first team, and about 5 minutes ahead of the team that were 30 minutes behind at the start of the day. I don't have any pictures from the night leg or from my last leg.

It was an awesome time this year and I'll definitely sign up again next year. I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Woah, It's My Birthday

2008-06-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

It's true, today is my birthday. I'm a big, fat 27 years old today. Today was pretty killer. I woke up and went to work. After work I met Jessica, Penelope, and Adam at the Korean restaurant E Jo for dinner.

Yes I am talking on the phone in the picture. My dad had called to say happy birthday.

It was awesome. We downed some sushi, Korean bbq, and some soup. Adam asked the waitress what they do in Korea for when it's somebody's birthday "like that guy right there". She said when get over 20 they don't really do anything. When she brought out our Vegas roll it came like this except the liquid in the martini glass was on fire:

After dinner we came back to our apartment for cake and ice cream with my mom and brother. Jessica made me a killer birthday cake that was delicious.

It was an awesome day. Thank Adam for the first two pictures and thanks to Jessica for all the awesome stuff you did!

WBR here I come....

2008-06-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

The Wasatch Back Relay starts tomorrow morning! Wahoo! This year I am the last runner in the second van so I'll be running all the legs previous to the ones I ran last year (well except the first leg since that actually starts the race).

The good news is tomorrow and Saturday are supposed to be hottest days of the year so far so there'll be plenty of sweat to go around for everyone. Be prepared to see some shenanigans similar to what we did last year in the gear department. I'll post the full gamit of pictures after I get them all.

Good times lay ahead...