Happy 40th

Even though I'm dang tired, I need to post a picture from last night. Yesterday was my 40th birthday. Nothing big. Certainly no big shindig with adult diapers, Ben-Gay, Geritol, and other "Over the Hill" gag gifts. I spent most of the day at BYU meeting with AKZ and working with Chris. I had lunch at the Cougareat surrounded by seemingly high school aged boys and girls. Maybe I AM getting old. Chris pointed out that many of these people were less than HALF my age. Oh well. I did have a nice dinner with the Bains (Matt and Lichelle), Clark (Sandy was in New Mexico with Megan), and Marcella. We ate at a place called Epic Casual Dining. I had a nice dish of Blue Marlin, a tasty salad and an apple tart (on flat bread) for desert. It was quiet, and I very much enjoyed the company. Thanks!

More on Romney

I found this poll on MSN pretty interesting. Over the past several months it didn't matter who I talked to (Mormon or not), few people told me that Mitt has any chance at all in becoming the POTUS in 08. Why? Because he's a Mormon. Check out this poll and then explain why it is so lopsided then.

Why do men.....

Okay, maybe this isn't the most PC post but after reading today's Sanders Says post about washing your hands, I've been thinking about it. Why is it that some/most men do NOT wash their hands after visiting the restroom? Twice today I noticed this. Now, I can see while going #1 you could sorta rationalize and say, "hey, I don't pee on my hands" but #2? Give me a break? Let's start a compaign, "Wash your hands!", I don't want your germs.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ....Wireless!

I'm in Long Beach this week for a GRAC conference. My favorite comment today was when this guy comes walking up to me and asks "Oh, are you on the internet?" I was of course (reading how neither the Bears or the Colts will make it to the Superbowl). "Can I check my AOL mail to see if my wife responded to my e-mail?" I responded "a.....sure, I guess."

The Anatomy of Peace

Last night I finished this good book. I highly reccommend it. It is a follow up to a previous book called Leadership and Self Deception. The book talks about how each of us justify our thoughts and actions and how this leads us to wage war (with our spouse, children, friends, coworkers, or neighbors). I should write more about this book and why I liked it so much but I'm tired and I'm going to bed.

Donkeys and Elephants

Like I said in my previous post, I was in Virginia. Being close to “the beltway” makes me feel a bit more politically inclined. On the last day of the training, someone asked me "why I was a Republican". Without thinking much, I rattled off a few things that I thought I should write down here. In no particular order here are some of the things that I believe are important.

Less Government - I think there needs to be less government, less taxes, less programs.
Simpler taxes - I think paying/filing your taxes should be less complicated.
Taxes in general - I think the more you make, the more taxes you should pay.
Guns - I think any law-abiding citizen should be allowed to buy and carry a gun.
Abortion - I'm against it however, I think a women has the right to choose.
Budget - I think our current government spends too much money and we need to get this under control.
Freedom of religion - I think it is really important that everyone has the right to choose how, when, and what they worship.
Capital punishment - I believe that if you take the life of someone else (especially if it was premeditated) then you should die.
Education - I think more control should be given at the local level. Parents ought to have the choice about how/where their children are taught. More money ought to be given to teachers. Lower teacher-student ratios, more accountability in the schools.

Are there more issues to list here? Certainly. I just thought it would be good to write some of these things down. I think over the past few years that I've moved more towards the middle of the road. I CERTAINLY do not like/support the far left/Hollywood/radical/ultra-liberal movement. However, the far right is just as dangerous. In the airport this afternoon I picked up Lou Dobbs' new book "War on the Middle Class". In the brief few minutes that I thumbed through the pages, the key idea that I got from the book was the need for all of us to reread (or read) and ponder the the documents: Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. That's what I'm going to do this week.

Ryan and Richmond

This week I’ve been in Richmond, Virginia, I was here about 5 years ago. This time I was here to work with the Department of Environmental Quality. I stayed right downtown and walked to/from their office. Luckily, the manager of the group was kind enough to take me to dinner a couple of the nights. One of the crappy things about being on the road is having dinner by yourself. Anyhow, the mid-term elections were this week and the state of Virginia was one of the pivotal states in the control of Congress. Last week before I left, I voted down at the County offices in Provo. I had very little free time but did manage to get on the bike each morning and night to exercise. Last night, I drove up to Alexandria to watch the BYU game at Ryan’s house. About a year or so ago he bought a condo and this was the first time to see his new house. Shortly after he moved in Marcella flew out for a weekend to do the decorating. She did a great job. The game was quite entertaining as the Cougars gave a serious beating to the Cowboys of Wyoming (55-7). Driving back was a challenge but I made it safely. Now, home for a couple of days before heading to Long Beach.

PSB

Last Friday, Marcella and I took the boys to see the Pet Shop Boys in concert at the E Center. Jake has known about it for a while but JJ didn't find out until the day before. It was a pretty fun concert and quite different from most of the other concerts that we've been to. It's pretty strange that here we are, 40 years old, and going to concerts with our teenage boys. They played most of their older songs (Shopping, Rent, Opportunities, Always on my mind, Domino Dancing, and my favorite It's a Sin). They also played a bunch of new songs (Minimal, Flamboyant, and I'm with Stupid). They finished singing with Go West. Way to go 80s band!

Way to go, Knights! Jake's 7th grade football team goes undefeated during the regular season. Jake is #53 

Happy Holloween! Olive, Jake, and I spent last night carving pumpkins. This is really not that much of a tradition in the Davis home but we had a good time. Nothing fancy just fun! 

9 + 12 = Nasty Scar

Last night at Jake's football game he intercepted a pass and then was subsequently stepped on by the receiver. He stayed down and I didn't think he was hurt until he started crying. Now Jake (unlike many of his teammates) doesn't cry so I knew he must have really hurt himself. As I approached him I could see the wound just below his knee and I first thought it was a nice raspberry from the grass. As I got closer I could tell it was something much more gross. The other kid's cleat had ripped open his skin. Jake wanted me to simply put a Band-aid on it so he could continue to play. He didn't want to let his team down. He lost it when I told him that we would have to go and have stitches put in. That thought made him go NUTS. He hates shots. He hates stitches. Needless to say, 3 hours later the doctor fixed him up just fine. I have included both before and after pictures (not for the faint of heart). 9 stitches on the inside (we think because we lost count) and 12 on the outside. Jake is one tough kid.

On a side note, I talked to one of the other coaches this morning and he said after we left, the team huddled together and decided to dedicate the game to Jake. After each huddle break, they would shout "Jake". Final score? 58-0. Ouch!

Yes, FINALLY! Today they started digging the hole for our new house and yes, that is snow on the mountains. We need to hurry up and get the foundation put in. 

Stress Management

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter."

It depends on how long you try to hold it.

"If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.

If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.

If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.

"In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management.

If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. "

"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.

When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. "

"So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down.

Don't carry it home.

You can pick it up tomorrow.

Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. "

"Relax; pick them up later after you've rested

Life is short. Enjoy it!

Ramadan in El Paso

Well, this week I've been in El Paso. Remember the jingle, "pass the old el Paso" salsa commercial? I really didn't think I'd have much to write about. El Paso is just a small town that sits on the Rio Grande. Across the river sits Juarez, a much larger Mexican city. The thing that surprised me is that El Paso is in the same time zone as Utah.

Okay, now for some things a bit more interesting. We are coming up on the end of Ramadan. One of the guys that I was teaching this week is Muslim and so after we finished today he invited me to their break fast at the mosque. I don't know if we have any mosques in Utah. I'll have to check. We went into the main prayer hall and I sat in the back and watched. There were a few small children running around during the prayer. It kind of cracked me up. There were about 50 men/boys saying their prayers. The room was quite plain and kind of reminded me of a cultural hall in and LDS church house. After a while, the prayers were older and we went upstairs to eat. Lots of yummy Arab food. Similar to Indian food but not quite the biryani taste. Abdul Aziz introduced me to several people. The funniest thing was to see this Mexican Muslim. In addition to the food he was also eating a can of jalapenos. Afterwards, we went back to the University where I helped him with his research work. Now, it's time to head back to Utah. Is El Paso a vacation destination? Hardy. Although the Stones are performing here tomorrow night at the Sun Bowl.

The wife

"No man achieves the supernal exalting status of worthy fatherhood except as a gift from his wife." - President Boyd K. Packer - Ensign, May 1998, 73

Waxing in San Diego

I'm in San Diego this week teaching a class. Quite a bit different from Europe. Marcella would move here in a heartbeat. One of my favorite beaches, Pacific Beach, is here. So is the Gaslamp Quarter. Great food for blocks on end. Anyhow, I thought that I would have a few minutes (or hours) to catch up on some of my posting. It just hasn't happened (yet). Maybe it still will. Anyhow, a few things I've been thinking about that I thought I'd write down. I read an interesting article this morning in USA Today about the increase of lawsuits regarding what is and who is posting on various blogs throughout the world. 150,000 new blogs are created each day. There are over 1.6 million daily postings. That is amazing. I guess I'll keep blogging.

I saw an interesting movie last night. My Life starring Michael Keaton and Nicole Kidman. Bob (Michael) is a terminally ill man who prepares for his death. The tagline? "Every moment counts". Makes you think. What if I was terminally ill? What would I do? Anything different? Would I act any differently? Would I be angry? Sad? How would I treat my friends? My family? My self? I hope and pray I never have to find out. I just want to live for many, many more years.

I'm reading a new book: Love Is the Killer App by Tim Sanders. Pretty interesting book. I'll try and put some of this into practice. Maybe I can become a "lovecat". Maybe I'm ALREADY a "lovecat".

Happy 40th. You deserve a nap! Check out this girl! Doesn't she look pretty hot in her Cavalli shirt? 

Olivia's 2nd day of school. Yesterday was just a hard day. Lots of tears and fears about starting school. That's all past now and she loves Renaissance Academy. 

#2261

That was my number. Yesterday was my first attempt at doing an Olympic triathlon. I chose to do the Jordanelle triathlon. I planned to wake up around 5:15 but because of the lovely wind here in Highland I was up at 4. I stayed in bed until just after 5 and then got up to make sure stuff in the backyard hadn't blown down the street. I was out the door around 6 with all my gear. Did I have everything? Did I have enough? I threw in a sweatshirt and some windbreaker clothes just in case the weather was yucky.

I got up to Francis just after 7 and found the parking lot. I pretty much followed those around me since I didn't have a clue. For this particular tri, you have to park about
3.5 miles from where the event takes place. So I threw my duffle bag on my back and rode down the hill. I checked in, picked up my packet and got body marked. 2261 on the hand, on the shoulder, and then a big O on the left calf (signifying that I was doing the Olympic race) and a big 39 on the right calf.

I found my area in the transition area and set things up. I pinned my number on my running shirt and put another number on my bike. I had plenty of time to walk around and relax. Soon, it was time to head down to the starting point. For this particular tri, the swim is about 1/2 mile away from the transition area. At 9 o'clock, the first wave started (which I was in). There were about 50 or so of us. I honestly couldn't tell. Maybe more. There were very few of us that were not in wetsuits. The water was not cold to me and I thought I would be fine. Well, more or less, the swim was my worst part. I'm usually about a 30-33 minute mile swimmer. Yesterday, for some reason, it took me almost 50 minutes. I'm not sure but it was a LONG freakin time. I wasn't tired, I just couldn't get it going. Maybe I wasn't psyched enough, who knows.

I got out of there, put on my shoes, and ran up to the transition area. I threw on my biking shorts, shirt, gloves, and shoes and headed out. I knew I had some time to make up. There were a number of girls that were a head of me and they went into the water about 10 minutes after I did. Well as bad as I did on the swim, I kicked some butt on the bike. I followed a pretty strong girl for the first 10 miles or so and then I opened it up. It really felt good on the bike. The road had just a slight grade (around 2%) and went for 12 miles or so before turning around. Coming back I was flying. I averaged about 26-27 mph and when I came down the steep hill I increased my top speed to just under 47 mph.

The second transition went pretty well as I stripped off my bike shoes and put on the running shoes. I had to change shirts and shorts. The run (6+ miles) was a combination of trail and road running. There was more hill than I had expected and I had to walk a couple of times on both laps. On the second time around I was just telling myself "hey, you're almost done!". I crossed the finish line in just under 3 hours. This is where I wanted to be. Had I not sucked so bad on the swim I would have had a decent first tri. I think I ended up 156th overall and 10th in my age group. I certainly have lots of room for improvement.

There were lots of fast bikes and well conditioned athletes. Lots of them take it pretty seriously. After the race I loaded up with fruit, drink, muffins, and more fruit. The ride back to the parking lot really sucked big time but it was better than waiting in the LONG line to take the bus. The family (along with Wolf and Grammy) stopped at Granny's in Heber for lunch including their famous shakes. The day finished off with football practice with Jake and then a Court of Honor up at Mutual Dell for JJ and Jake. What a day! I look forward to the next one.

Timberline Drive

This is probably the last time we'll see this undisturbed piece of Highland. We will most likely start digging while Marcella and I are in Europe. We are so excited!!!!!

Jake's first day at Renaissance Academy. Dude, where are your shoes? 

First day of school for the 9th grader. No wonder Robin likes this cute kid. 

Jake has always LOVED his pogo stick. Last year I blogged about his record. Yesterday, he pogo sticked all the way from his friends house. He wants to do a complete mile! 

Mormons

A long time friend of mine, Andrzej sent me this e-mail this morning. He currently lives just outside of Perth, Australia. I wanted to post and remember it.

"I have a dear friend, who is becoming a consecrated catholic nun, her and a couple of other girls are living in a house, a catholic community, working part time and studying theology, personalism, family counselling, spirituality etc. Apparently they have neighbours who are Mormons, also living in a kind of community, and they spend much time together listening to each other. From what she said there is such a massive amount of respect from them the Mormons towards the catholic community, and in Clares exact words refering to the mormons " they are such beautiful spiritual people that I just listen to them and try learn from them". It made me think that in this world of divisions due to religion, with religion now being indistinguishable from terrorism and warmongering, its good to see an example of people who regard love of God and love of neighbour more important than anything else, and with their own individual form of spirituality, one a mormon another a catholic, each know what it is, that is more important."

Jake with Grizzlies coach Jason Christie 

Jake with Allie Mac Kay of KUTV2. 

ULCER 2006

Well, yesterday was the big ULCER ride. I've been looking forward to this ride for about a year. It was by far my longest ride ever and to put it mildly, IT WAS LONG. I picked up my packet a couple of days early and saw many of the other people that I would be riding with. For the most part, as it turned out, they were mostly posers.

I tried to get a a good night's rest so that I could get up by 6 and be there before 7. The ride started and finished at American Fork High School. Of course, it took me a few minutes and a call to 411 to get the address (even though I've been there a dozen times for Jr. Jazz games). I must have been a bit nervous.

As I was getting ready I ran in to a good friend, Jeff Thomas. He's been riding for a number of years. He introduced me to a bunch of his friends and invited me to ride with them. Cool.

I loaded up with Gatorade, a few gel packets, and energy bars and I was off. Since this wasn't really a race, you could start at your pleasure. We started about 7:30. It was pretty cool. There were hundreds of riders. For the first 50 miles or so, I don't believe I got passed. Jeff and his group were really cool and helped me with all of the proper etiquette. I followed closely in a paceline for the first time. I was amazed at the difference. We stopped at the 25 mile station and I had a banana, refilled my bottles with Gatorade, and was able to take a much needed pee.

I wasn't paying attention and lost the group after that first stop and tried to catch up. I ended up being only a few minutes behind them as I arrived at the second stop at the half way point. The major bummer about the entire ride was that my wireless bike computer was NOT working. I screwed around with it at the second stop and finally game up. Oh well. On to the next stop. I ended up stopping only about 8 miles ahead. I phoned Marcella and let her know how it was going. I told her that I would call her in Springville (with only 25 miles to go).

Well, I never ended up stopping. I followed a couple of different groups and ended up going the remaining 40+ miles without a stop. I did fine until about mile 85 or so. I didn't have any problems the first half but I'll tell you, 104 miles is a long way. At the start of the race, my friend Jeff and the other guys were talking about the LOTOJA ride. That is a 206 mile race from Logan to Jackson. I thought "Hey, that would be fun". But after finishing yesterday's ride, I'll have to do a bunch more riding before attempting something like that.

Anyhow, I thought it was quite the accomplishment. 100+ miles in about 5.5 hours. I didn't actually time it and I'm not sure if you're suppose to include rest stops and such. Back at the high school, I drank a bunch of Gatorade, had a sandwich, fruit, and a bunch of popsicles.

I went home and tried to nap but really didn't. I was tired, a bit sunburned but pretty dang happy to be done. I'm pretty sure that I'll do the ride next year and hopefully do a bit better.

I took my bike into the shop a few days ago for a tune up. They also suggested that I have a new chain put on. I really noticed the difference and the bike couldn't have performed much better. I wonder if I'll ever get a nice/lighter bike. I really like the one I have. I guess if I really want to be competitive and race, I'll have to consider getting a better bike. For now, I'm pretty happy.

Today I woke up, a bit sore on the bum but feeling pretty good. I have to take Jake to the Oval at 6:00 am tomorrow for a hockey/TV thing. I'm not sure what kind of training I should be doing this week but I should do a bit of running and biking to get ready for my first tri on Saturday. The main thing is I need to make sure that I get plenty of rest.

With that, I'm going to bed.

Wednesday

Originally, I had titled this entry as "Today was a good day". It was a good day but there still is a disturbing issue. So here was the good part. This week I've been "filling in" as one of the assistant coaches for Jakey's football team. Although I played football in high school, I am CERTAINLY no football coach. In fact, with pretty much any sport, I don't have any formal coaching training. Nevertheless, I am quite enjoying it. Most of the time I've been working with the linemen. Teaching them (or at least pretending to teach) them proper hand and foot movements. Let me tell you, this isn't Texas or Florida but Northern Utah County takes its football pretty dang seriously. Today my post-practice comment, "There's no crying in football!".

Next, I had the opportunity to check my blood pressure today. 123 over 64 with a pulse of 51. Pretty darn good if you ask me. It would be cool to have my pulse under 50. I just had the thought about Lance Armstrong and found this:

What is your resting pulse rate? "I don't take it, but I guess it would be around 40. I have a little box on my handlebars that tells me time, speed, watts, heart rate, cadence, distance. I can measure everything in average mode, or maximum mode, and I can download it at the end of a run and send it to my coach. My highest-ever heart rate was 207 beats per minute, 15 years ago. Today I can hit the high 190s, but only hold it for a minute or so. My fastest-ever speed was 75mph, freewheeling down a hill in the Pyrenees."

That is simply incredible. I don't think my heart rate has ever been above 170. Speaking of which, I have my first century ride coming up this Saturday. It's called the ULCER 100. I picked up my registration packet this afternoon. I'll be wearing #120. Looking at the race map, it appears that this year the route will NOT go completely around Utah Lake. This year it goes along the east side down to Goshen and then back again. Hopefully, I'll be able to write about the race. Wish me good luck. I was able to get my bike into the local shop for a good tune up and cleaning. It sure got dirty up at Sandpoint.

Lastly, we had our first playoff game for summer hockey tonight. I took Jake so that he could free skate. The Oval ice has been down much of the summer but now it is open again. If you care to see how pathetic we've been this summer, you can check things out here. Anyhow, I decided to play at my original position (left defense). For the past couple of years I've been playing right wing and really enjoying it. It sure was fun playing a bit rougher being on defense. The best part was I had a nice slapshot from just inside the blue line and scored. Pretty nice! Did I mention I broke my right pinky toe on Sunday? It is all black and blue and it hurt being in the skate but I had a good time on the ice tonight.

So, like I said, a pretty good day. HOWEVER, Marcella and I are increasingly concerned about her migraines. We thought that she was getting better but the past couple of weeks have been a return to what she was going through back in February and March. She was pretty much in bed since yesterday. I was able to go to the pharmacy this morning and get her a variety of medicines. Earlier this week she saw yet another neurologist. This one seems to be pretty good. She now goes to see a cardiologist next week to see if she has a condition called PFO. I found a few good articles here, and here, and here and here. So the next step is to see if she qualifies for this study. I'll keep her progress updated here. So she has been in lots of pain and I really feel bad for her. Hopefully, we can figure this out and she can return to a more normal life.

Check your bra

Due to enhanced security measures there are new regulations that you must be aware of. My favorite: "We encourage everyone to pack gel-filled bras in their checked baggage." That means you, Dolly Parton".

Welcome to Sandpoint! I was reading the news online and so I was a bit late in taking this picture. I'm up here all week long so hopefully I can get caught up. Cheers! 

The "sassy" girls of Canterbury 

Not to be outdone, Olivia "decorates" her door with her own style. 

While Mom was preparing her lesson on Sunday, the boys went crazy making signs for their door. 

Golf? You've got to be kidding!

Okay, I do NOT golf. I never have. I've seen parts of Happy Gilmore and it's been years since I watched Caddyshack. It's somewhat of a shame, however, because my mom's husband, Wolf, is an excellent golfer. This year for Father's Day, we paid him a visit and he gave me a set of Titleist clubs. Sweet! So they sat in my car for a couple of weeks and I even showed a few people. A couple of days ago my brother-in-law, Blaine (NO BLOG AVAILABLE) invited me to go golfing this morning. I got Jake up at 6 this morning (no small feat) and we drove to some course I've never been to. We had a great time. I pretty much SUCK but we had a good time. I had a couple of nice hits/shots (whatever you call them). I forgot to snap some photos on the course but I did get a few at the driving range. Look out, Tiger!!!!

Grandpa and grandsons. 

Happy Father's Day 

My three contacts

Okay, I know that I STILL haven't written about the cruise, my trip to Vicksburg, or last week's trip to Zion National Park. HOWEVER, this week was a pretty interesting, stressful, depressing, awful, ugly week at work. On Wednesday afternoon I cracked (big time). I'm not going to go into details but let's say it was bad enough. SO....., after talking to a good friend/counselor, she told me that I needed to write down the names of my three contacts. The first two were pretty easy but I had a hard time with the third. Now, I certainly don't want to offend anyone or make anyone feel bad but the criteria was if I called you would you NO MATTER WHAT, drop everything and answer my call.

#1 - my wife, Marcella Davis
#2 - my sister, Jennifer Anderson
#3 - my friend, Clark Henderson

What's funny is that I'm pretty sure that none of these three people will ever read this or know about this but that's okay. I know that I could call them. The last thing I'm supposed to do is sign it. So let it be.

R. Jeffrey Davis

p.s. just remember, it's only a job.
p.s.s. work your job or hate your money

CNN and Dr. James Dobson

Today I read a commentary by Dr. James Dobson on CNN. Although I don't always agree with him I do on this particular issue. What I found funny is that if you try to leave/send your comments to the article (at the bottom of the page), the link comes up as "Page Not Found". I guess Dobson shouldn't have criticized the "mainstream media" i.e. CNN.

I hate dentists

Well, actually, it's more the dental hygienists that I dislike. I guess that it is a necessary fact of life that you have to pay them a visit (literally) a couple of times a year. Luckily for me I got a pat on the back and walked out of there 30 minutes later still with no cavities. Thank goodness for 1) fluorinated water and 2) parents that didn't feed me too much junk as a kid.

Keep your eye on this one

The creators of South Park Trey Parker and Matt Stone are working on a Broadway musical - about Mormons. Could be quite scary.

Other bloggers....

I wanted to point out a few good posts that I've read the past couple of days. Such good stuff. Norm just got back from his "European vacation". Give it a read. He is a big history nut and he got to visit Normandy DURING the D-Day celebration.

On Kevin's Clariticity, you can read about the new change with the Coinstar machines. You now have the option of getting iTunes cards or Amazon cards instead of cash. The best part? No 9% fee.! Also, if you are wondering what to get your Pops for Father's day, look no further.

However, the best post goes to a guy I've never met. Several months ago I started reading this guy's blog about "Becoming Ironman". I tell you, this guy is a blogger. You may not find his stuff interesting but I love reading it. Today I read his post about getting a haircut recently. If you want a good laugh, give it a read. I was ROFLMAO.

Too little time too much to do.

Do you ever feel like that there just isn't enough time in the day? Just when I had a few minutes, I start IMing my father, watching TV, and reading everyone else's blog. First of all, I still have to write about our trip. Hopefully, this weekend. This week I've been in Orlando. Again! I've been here several times already this year. Short notice so paying the $1300 fare automatically got me upgraded. I worked with a new company on Wednesday. Looks like we could do more work together in the future. I found a pretty good seafood place (Fish Bones). It is right next door to the place I stay (Marriott of course). Last night I had a very tasty Sea Bass dish topped with the chocolate cake for desert. Tonight I stumbled on a tasty sushi place (Sushi House). I usually am not swayed by "Best Sushi" and crap like that but if you're down here, do go for a visit. I highly recommend the "Happy Sumo", and the "Graduation Roll". Both are award winners. Well, I need to do another post so TTFN.

Coming to the Caribbean

Well, our trip finally arrived. After a very busy month, we are now on our trip. We left SLC yesterday morning. Our friends, Tim and Di, are traveling with us. Thank goodness for Medallion status as we had nice seats the entire trip over. We first flew to Atlanta where are stay there was very uneventful. Crappy food. Don't bother eating at Great Wraps in the A concourse. Nothing great about them at all. Our flight to San Juan took just under 3 hours. We were on one of the newer planes with the personal entertainment systems. I watched a cool program on climbing that JJ would have loved. Then I started playing this trivia game. It was fun because you play against the other passengers. Tim and Di and I were all playing (Marcella was either sleeping or reading her book). I won one game but Wendy (some chick in row 32) pretty much kicked our butts. We got in around 10 pm. We got in a taxi to take us to our hotel. I knew that it was close since it was an airport hotel. The driver didn't know where it was so he had to ask directions. As it turned out the hotel was AT the airport. So the driver took us OUT of the airport and BACK in and dropped us off in front from a whopping $10 plus tip. What a rip. Oh well. Live and learn. We dropped off our bags and walked over to Wendy's for a late night bite to eat.

Tim was up at the crack of dawn. I needed a bit more sleep. I got up around 7:30 and went for a run. Already pretty hot and very muggy. After running completely AROUND the airport, I jogged over to the beach where I met up with Tim. I got him to turn around and go to the beach. We dropped our shorts and went for a swim (this only after our adventure in trying to go through one of the hotels to get to the beach access. WHAT A PAIN!). The water on Isle Verde beach was quite nice although the water was quite salty (DUH!). After the swim we ran back. We did get stopped by a policeman because Tim was running sans shirt. Now after a nice breakfast of juice, bananas, and cereal, we are ready for the next part of our adventure. We don't have to get on the ship until tonight. So we'll probably spend the afternoon walking around Old San Juan.

Later

Golden opportunity

Well, since I still have a few minutes I guess I can write about our trip to Golden last week. Marcella and I went out there for the MODFLOW conference (work related). We decided to go out a day early so that we could spend time with Tony (Marcella's father). It was kind of funny that we were in Colorado and Joyce (Tony's wife) was back in Highland spending time with the grandchildren. We were driving a fake Hummer (as Marcella liked to call it). We drove down to Colo Sprgs on the 2 lane interstate. We were completely amazed that after all of these years the highways are STILL completely inadequate. We drove around Manitou Springs where Marcella grew up. We even drove up Ruxton. We haven't been there for several years. Nothing much has changed. The Chavez sign over the bridge leading to the house is still there. It is really sad that all of these years have passed without any relationship between Marcella and the "person that gave birth to her". After driving around we went to Mall for a while (practically out in Kansas) and then had dinner at this dive of a Mexican place in downtown Colo Sprgs.

The next day we met one of Marcella's longtime friends Wendy and her new husband Jerry for brunch at the Table Mountain Inn. Pretty good food but we had a great time chatting and laughing for the next 4 hours.

The conference was pretty good. We know most of the people at the conference and it is good to see them and catch up with them. There were a number of people that we know through either e-mail or over the phone and we finally were able to meet them face to face. Norm and his whole group of guys were there also.

One of the best things about where we were staying is that we had access to The Pointe Fitness center. It was less than a mile away. I'm telling you, if I had a gym this close to my house that was a nice as this one, I would join. There is nothing like this where we live. Norm, Mike, Alan, and I would go around 6 in the morning. I would ride the bike for 1/2 hour or so and then we would play racketball or basketball or something. Very fun.

I was glad that Marcella was able to come and help me with the conference. She is getting quite familar with all of our stuff. She can pretty much answer most of the commonly asked questions. We couldn't stay long in Colorado as we had to get back in order to get ready for the cruise.

Vicksburg

Okay, 5 months later I'm finally writing about my trip to Vicksburg. My partner, Royd, and I went there for some coastal modeling trianing. It was interesting to be on the other side of the training. Usually I am the one doing the training. I haven't been back to Vicksburg for many years. You see, the happening town of Vicksburg is home to the Waterways Experiment Station. The folks here have been quite instrumental in the development of the our software. It was good to see some of my good friends like Cary and Rob. I was able to run the streets of Vicksburg each morning. That was pretty fun (and interesting). Vicksburg, for those Civil War buffs, is the site of one of the great, final, battles. I usually ran along the street that had all of the markets showing the location of the battle lines.

One afternoon, Royd and I had some free time so we decided to go to the Vicksburg National Military Park. For all of the times that I have traveled there, I'm surprised that I've never taken the time to visit this park. It was very interesting. Here is a picture of the Illinois state memorial



There are several state memorials scattered throughout the park.









There are also fields upon fields of graves. Most of these are fallen Confederate soldiers. It is all pretty amazing.















Another cool thing we saw was the restored USS Cairo Gunboat. This was one of 7 ironclad gunboats that was used during the Civil War. The boat was sunk in about 36 feet of water and there it remained until about 40 years ago when it was recovered and the restoration began. Most of the ship is now on display. It was interesting.

Reno??? Really???

Yes, I've been doing some work for a client there over the past couple of months. It is nice when I go there because I stay in their home. They treat me really well and I get a good run in each morning. Reno is much like northern Utah County. What more can I say?

Like a bowling ball???

Today on KSL.com there was an article about the Visitor Center at Dinosaur Monument and how it was deteriorating due to the type of soil beneath the building. I did find this sentance quite interesting:

" In the West, bentonite clay soils are notable for causing pioneer cabins to collapse over time and buckling hard-surface roads. The clay expands considerably when wet and turns so pasty it can cling to shoes like a bowling ball."

Now, I'm a Civil Engineer and I don't remember being taught that. Maybe someone can help me with that.

South Pacific. JJ worked hard for a couple of months to put on 5 performances of the hit musical. He loved his part mainly because he got to use a megaphone. Good job! 

Moab - Last Day

When I was a teenager, I went with my family to the Needles part of Canyonlands. It is a bit out of the way so we've never been back. I decided that this time we'd return. We had a great time. We stopped at Newspaper Rock. We had lunch in a big sandstone pothole area where the boys spent more than an hour chucking rocks at Gatorade bottle. The main think at Needles is Elephant Hill. If you are into 4x4 adventure then you have probably tried doing EH. It is pretty technical. Since we were not in Jeeps we just walked to the top and watched a group coming back. What a rush. The bad part of the day was the LONG ride home. We all had a great time. Next time I think we are going to Colorado for Spring Break.

No jumping! 

Moab - Day 3

Today was 4-wheel drive day. We have a favorite drive that goes from Canyonlands all the way down to Moab. The trail is called Shaffer Trail. It is beautiful. We stopped at one area to play hide and seek, throw rocks, and catch some sun. We stopped later on at a big overlook down on the Colorado River (to throw rocks).

Sassy Girls!

Delicate Arch (please don't climb on it)