Moving

Some of you don't know it, actually most of you...actually only some of you because most of you are my family and you should know it, but a few of you are friends who might have been asleep or out of town and are unaware, but I am moving to SLC today.

Because the cord that allows me to interface with my computer is packed away somewhere I am unable to post any of the pictures I have been randomly capturing (sometimes it wasn't random). Once I move I am hoping to become more committed to blogging again because I will be away from my family and they'll all be wondering, just wondering all the time, what I am doing. So, get prepared for blog-mania...but don't prepare too quickly because I have to paint my room and move all my crap into a small space again and situate it in such a way that I can access it in a womanly fashion (don't ask what that means).

But I did want to leave you with something new and interesting. My bro-in-law just launched a new blog. I think it is genius, or at least I think it is worth following. It won't take up much of your time so go ahead and add it to your list of blogs you follow each day (or week, or in my case each year)...in other words this new blog is going to be, shall we say, minimalistic or brief or to-the-point....Movie Reviews in One Word: Reviewing movies, one word at a time.

My dream swimsuit

Believe it or not, but something in the news got me all happy and excited to post something on my blog again.

Finally a swimsuit I would want to wear, it's called a burquini. I need to get me one (they come in a variety of colors, and there are even a few Australian lifeguards that wear them). Apparently France is outlawing them at public swimming pools. They claim they are unhygienic and unsafe to other swimmers...don't ask me how this is possible. I think France just doesn't like modesty in any form.

I wonder if I will be kicked out of the public swimming pools in Utah?

Now you all know what I want for Christmas this year, my very own burquini.

You snooze...

One more of my bright ideas have been snatched up by someone else. I thought of this many years ago, back when Brent and Lesli were living in Logan and we were coming up with business ideas left and right.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1905545,00.html?cnn=yes

I could have been doing this for the last few years. I guess I still could.

Bang Bang

I haven't posted about a few shooting classes I have gone to this year.

The first was outside of Vegas at Front Sight back in January. That was a 4-day Defensive Handgun class. I learned a whole lot. I feel very comfortable with a gun now. VERY comfortable. I also learned that I really need to practice and improve my aim.

By the end of the class I could pretty much hit in the general location of where I wanted the bullets to go. Below is an example of my shooting ability. All the little holes are supposed to be in the box on the two bad-guys' heads (they are the ones in grey). Those bad-guys are holding Cindy hostage. Notice that I accidentally shot Cindy in the shoulder? I hope she doesn't hate me forever. She may never have full use of that shoulder and it may be a permanent weather indicator, but at least she is alive.

This is me at the class. Those people in the background are our highly competent instructors. They were very patient and great teachers. If I could I'd take the class again and again. It was well worth the time.

The second class was last weekend in Kemmerer, WY. It was an Appleseed Project Shooting class (Mike wrote a pretty accurate description of the weekend here). We shot rifles not handguns. It is also a worthwhile class. I have taken the class before and wrote about it last year. The Appleseed Shoots are all over the US, so if you want to take an affordable and worthwhile class using cheap .22 ammo then that's the class for you.

Here I am at this class. Notice that my cheeks have filled out a little? That's because I have been sessile for the last 3 weeks. But also notice that I am wearing a patch? That's because I have learned that I am left-eye dominant, which makes hitting a tiny target really hard to do unless you can trick the weakling right-eye into doing the work or unless you (I) start shooting left-handed (which I am not ready to try and do just yet). That patch was really helpful in making me use my right eye, I need to get one of those things for everyday wear.


One of the biggest surprises for me on this trip is that Kemmerer has a great Chinese Restaurant. I highly recommend eating there. The portions are HUGE, so bring some friends along to help you eat.

What you see on these plates are after 8 people have eaten their fill from 3 plates of mouth-watering food (albeit was a bit salty).



Mike pointed out that the restaurant might have previously been a Christmas Restaurant, a place where you could get Christmas dinner all year round. Notice the seats. Do you think they had elves serving the food?

Summer Reading Program

Remember those summer reading programs offered through your friendly neighborhood library? I do. And I miss them. So, I am starting up my own library reading program which means a list of books that I hope to read before the summer ends. Feel free to join me on any of the books listed below:

Walden, or Life in the Woods

Mary Poppins

Economics in One Lesson

Angle of Repose

If Chins Could Kill

The Case Against the Fed

Dragon Slippers

Breaking Dawn

The 5000 Year Leep

The Omnivores Dilemma

The Federalist Papers

Mainspring of Human Progress

1984

Up From Slavery

The Beetle

The Origin of Species

Uncle Toms Cabin

Lonesome Dove

Andromeda Strain

Watership Down

The Last Lecture

The Covenant

Ravens in Winter

City of Ember

Janitorial issues

Just to keep you all surprised with my sudden resurgence in blogdom I give you yet another post to read or ponder or ignore.

Actually there isn't much to this one. It's really me griping. I entered a bathroom on USU campus the other day and noticed these floor tiles. Who thought it would be a good idea to add the little white tiles as decoration? Why not just keep the floor one solid grey color? Why add the 4 tiles of white? They look like little pieces of tissue paper and make the room look dirty. It's a big bathroom and I pretty much took pictures of the only clusters...why? Why? have just four widely spaced clusters? Either put in more or leave them out.

Ogden Marathon May 2009

I have never been to Odgen until this year...at least not that I can remember other than to get gas or drop Cindy off for a blind date with some jerk. But so far this year I have had 4 memorable trips to Ogden. Once to go to the Ogden Temple, once to attend Taco Tuesday, once to sightsee a marathon race course, and once to run a marathon. Each time I was surprised by how nice Ogden seems to be (I've always heard it was kind of slummy and dull). It has really made it's way up in the world and improved it's image. The only negative thing I have to say is twice I had to wait way too long for my food at two restaurants that should have been more on top of things, and when I say way too long I mean an hour after ordering finally getting the food. But the other two times the food came at a decent speed, both those times I ate at the same place: Roosters (they get my endorsement because they did a fabulous job, although I suspect they have listening devices at every table because once it felt like the waitress appeared a little too quickly to poor my water right after I said something about it really quietly).

This time round to Ogden was for the Ogden Marathon. (Ellen told her story here.) Ellen and I headed down the night before to get our bib numbers and a good night sleep. We are becoming old hats at marathons, this being our 2nd (I am being sarcastic). We stayed with some family friends from Hayward who recently relocated to Ogden and bought an historic house with elephant skin walls. They are in the process of renovating it, I can't wait to see what the final outcome will look like. Surprising to me, but I actually had an excellent nights rest before the marathon...no waking up hundreds of times worrying that I overslept, I slept right up to the 4:15 am alarm.

We ate dinner at one of the slow restaurants downtown. Good thing we didn't have any where to be because when I say slow I mean slow. Then we took a stroll back to the car and passed a barber shop that was closed for the evening. Not a soul in sight except Ellen and I...you can see us in the mirror. Ellen's eagle eye noticed something out of the ordinary which is why we stopped to take this picture. Can you see it?

There is hair still on the floor. Is that regular procedures for barber shops to close shop without cleaning up?

The next morning we woke up bright and early, the buses were leaving at 5 am to take the race participants to the start line (starting time is 7:30am). That's a long time to wait in the cold burning calories that you'll need for the race. This time I came prepared with lots of food and a book. I ate the food but I didn't read the book, the atmosphere is too charged to read books. Next time I might bring a blanket and pillow (I saw someone else with them). We have a little bag with our bib number on it to put any personal affects that aren't needed during the race, this little bag gets put into a truck and transported to the finish line where we can be reunited with it if we finish.

Anyway, the race went well. I had been sick for two weeks before so I had a two week rest period before the race where I didn't run at all. I was worried about the effect this break would have on me since I am a really slow runner and our longest run had been only 19 miles which hurt me and made me bitter. Turns out that it was a very good thing for me. When I finished the 26.1 miles I felt good...tired but good. I wasn't sore beyond belief, in fact I could and did reach down and pick things up off the ground and sitting down and then standing up wasn't a chore that made me apprehensive. But like I said I was tired so I moved slowly everywhere I went. Where two weeks earlier I had sworn off marathons my feelings changed at the end of this one and I actually started planning my next one (this isn't uncommon because running a marathon is actually quiet easy it's the training that is hard).

Anyway, I have forgotten all the stories during the race. It is all a blur. Apparently all the photographs of me during the race look like I got punched in the gut and I hate my life, but I seem to have forgotten the pain. To me now the race was a picnic in a quiet lazy park with servants all around to assist my every need.

Here we are at the end with our medals around our necks. Don't we look like a color coordinated running team?


So, next stop on the running circuit this year is the Sawtooth Relay in Idaho. Then we begin Speed Camp 2009. Later we may hit Pinedale for a half marathon and most certainly St. George for a full marathon. I need to spice things up this summer and add something else to my regime, most likely it will be biking. What kinds of exercise goals do you have this year?