Europ-ing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.