Gone Caching!

I've picked up a new hobby the last couple of weeks. Searching for geocaches. I bought a little handheld Garmin GPSr and started hunting. You can find the coordinates for caches online and enter them into your GPSr and it gets you pretty close. The containers can range in size from smaller than a film container to ammo cans and usually have a log to sign and small inexpensive items to trade. It is really fun and there are lots of caches around town and up the canyons. I even got Nikki up to Rock Canyon and we hiked around for a couple of hours. It is also nice because it gets me out of the house or office and moving after spending all day at my desk. I'm sad I won't be able to do as much since it will probably start snowing soon. I have started a couple of travel bugs. They are little dog tags that you can track online as people move them from cache to cache. I am taking the one I called The Dark Traveler to Hawaii with us to see if it can make it back to Orem sometime.
(Sidenote)I'm not the best about getting on here to add posts, but every once in a while I do. Plus I told Aunt Linda I would give her a shout out. HEY LINDA!

Heavy Metal and Bodies With No Skin

There are a few fun events coming up that I am pretty excited about. I have to mention Nikki's birthday coming up. That is always exciting because she enjoys it so much. Just a like little kid. (See, she even has me mentioning it a week before it happens).

Next, Ben called a couple of weeks ago to see if I wanted to go with him and Dale to the Metallica concert November 3rd. They are coming to Energy Solutions Arena and it should be pretty sweet. We got lower bowl seats off to the side of the stage. I'm sure they do a pretty awesome live show. Metallica's new album Death Magnetic just came out and it is really good as well. I'm glad they put together The Unforgiven III song and the video for The Day That Never Comes is intense. I can't wait to see the new stuff and the old stuff performed live.

Metallica has Down and The Sword opening for them. I haven't heard a lot of their music, but I have watched a little online and its not too bad. While on The Sword's web site, I did recognize one of their songs, Freya, from Guitar Hero. Check it out here.

The concert is in November, but in a couple of weeks Nikki and I are going to an exhibit in Salt Lake called Body Worlds. This exhibit is called Body Worlds 3 & The Story of the Heart and it is at The Leonardo. The show is actual bodies that have been donated by the people before they die. The bodies are preserved and displayed to show different systems of the body. Here is a description from their web site:

BODY WORLDS 3 & The Story of the Heart is organized according to the major systems of the body. This includes: the locomotive system, nervous system, reproductive system, digestive system and cardiovascular system. The exhibit also features a special presentation on the heart, revealing through the lens of anatomy, cardiology, psychology and culture how this four-chambered muscle nourishes, regulates and sustains life. Through the life-like and dramatic poses of full-body specimens and detailed presentation of organs and body parts, guests gain profound insights into the structure and function of healthy and unhealthy bodies.

Blood and guts aren't my thing, but I think I can handle this. I heard of the exhibit a lot and have always thought it would be interesting to see. I'm glad Nikki was excited about going to it as well.

Always something to be done

I haven't written here for a while, so I better get back in the habit. Just a couple of things that we have been up to. We finally decided on a color to paint our house and are getting that done. (I'll put some pictures on later tonight if I get to it) The painting part isn't bad at all but scraping the old stuff off where it is peeling is kind of a pain. Whoever painted it last time apparently thought scraping old paint off was a waste of time. We chose a nice brown color that according to the Columbia historic home colors is called Palamino and we'll be using a white or off white trim. That job should be done(fingers crossed) before it gets too cold.



I have also been working on building a shed to keep all of our stuff in. It has kind of taken a back seat to getting the house painted so I have most of the foundation done and a floor that is framed. Andy and Lesa have been nice enough to help out and bought me doors and a cool window to go in the shed for my birthday back in July. I can't wait to get it done so we can store all of our stuff in there. It will be nice to get the bikes out of the other bedroom.

There are a couple of other things coming up in the next little while. Nikki's birthday is coming up on the first of October and she is getting ready to start celebrating it. Ever since I have known her, her birthday starts one week before the actual day and then it usually lasts another week where whatever she says goes because "its her birthday!". She probably reads this so no hints on what she's getting.
More happening as well, but I'll add more posts later about those.

I’m still recovering from this last weekend. My birthday was Wednesday, and it was one of the best ever. I think that every year , but it’s true. We had some cheesecake and went to Hancock after I got off work and opened a few presents. Pretty good birthday.

Included in my presents was my Mesquite Golf Pass. Scott from work and his buddy Aaron and I planned a trip to leave Thursday after work and play five rounds of golf in the next three days. The idea sounded crazy to me at first and got crazier as it played out.

We left Scott’s house and headed south after work Thursday. When we hit Kanosh, Aaron knew of a hot spring just off the freeway so we took an exit and drove through the country side to a little gated area. It was a really cool little hot spring in the middle of a field. We did some flips off the side and explored the abyss that supposedly has no bottom that has been found so far. After hanging out there for a bit, we rolled onward and got Mesquite where I got short tour of the town before we headed to Aaron’s parent’s house.

About six hours later the alarm went off and we headed to the Oasis Golf Club to play the Palmer Course at 7:00 AM. We finished that off around noon and played the Canyons Course an hour later. I was definitely getting my money’s worth by then. After the golf for the day we grabbed some awesome Mexican food at Los Lupes and crashed the pool at the Oasis for a bit. We burned the town and crashed late that night. I was dying thinking that I only had about five and a half hours before we would be getting up for another day of golf.



Up again at 5:30 to make the 6:30 tee time at Falcon Ridge. Scott used to work there when he was a younger man, and it was my favorite course. I hit some of my better shots in that round including a sixty foot putt to birdie the par three second hole. We finished there before noon and Scott scored us some killer parmesan chicken at the club house. They didn’t have it on the menu anymore, but he pulled some strings and it was worth it. One o’clock that afternoon we played the Casablanca course and that finished it off for us for the day. You would think we would crash early for the night, but no,no, we were troopers. A couple games of bowling and some craps and roulette carried into the wee hours again.

One more round at 6:30 Sunday was just enough to make you think twice before planning a trip like this again soon. I think we all felt the same way Aaron did when his driver slipped out his hands and flew about fifty feet during his practice swing on the fourth hole. Apparently we were getting a little tired. Although it was a lot of golf and it almost seemed like a chore by the end, it was awesome and I would definitely do it again as long as it isn’t in the next month or so.

...And I like to do drawings!

As far as artistic talent goes, I may be in the same category as Mike Myer's 'Simon', but I'm giving it a go anyway. I've always like to doodle and even tried painting a couple of times. When I was little I liked entering the Reflections contests in elementary school and grew up watching Dale be a really good artist. It is relaxing for me to pull out the sketch book and draw a few lines. Plus I have to have something to do while Nikki is knitting.

The other day we went to our favorie bookstore, Border's. I bought a little drawing book and I've been reading through it and trying a few things. It is pretty basic. It shows you how to rough in shapes and shade and detail finished projects with the different pencil types. Grapefruit and bottles aren't my final goal so stay tuned for cooler things to come.

Summer Fest

This last weekend was Summer Fest in Orem. There are a lot of activities and things that were going on even though we only went to a few of them. There is a carnival, a car show, a parade, and lots of craft booths and performances of all kinds.

Saturday, after working in the yard for a couple of hours in the morning, we went over to the park on Center Street where all the happenings were happening. It didn't seem like they had as many booths this year as they did last year. We didn't really find anything we absolutely had to have, but it is fun to see what people have to offer. There was everything from art to music to temporary tattoos.

Next we checked out the car show. There were a couple that were pretty cool; a '57 Porsche that looked tiny next to the '59 Impala convertible, a couple of pickups and VW busses. Then there was one of my favorites - the '81 DeLorean. That's right, all that was missing was Micheal J. Fox and a 1.21 jigowatt flux capacitor!

Then there were two really cool hearses that looked like they were straight from the Adam's family. They were Nikki's favorite except for the dead guy in the front seat of the second one. I thought he looked friendly.



After we left the park we went to Smith's and got some chinese food and went back to Nikki's parents to eat and hang out until it was time to walk down to the parade. We walked the couple of blocks and parked our camp chairs in the shade and ate sunflower seeds while we waited for it to start. Nikki really likes parades and I tolerate them. The saltwater taffy and the free tie from missionary mall made a little more bearable. It actually wasn't too bad hanging out and watching all the floats with Nikki. It was a good way to spend a nice late spring/early summer day.

I Think This Is How You Spell 'Croquet'

Here are some pictures of us playing croquet last month. It was for Lesa's birthday and she has always wanted us to play croquet. I won of course ;) Thats why I'm doing the bull dance!

H*A*W*K*E*Y*E

You might think that I’m talking about the famous Benjamin Franklin Pierce from the 4077 MASH, but you’d be wrong. I’m talking about our favorite cat Hawkeye. He’s just part of our family and we like having him around. Whenever someone I meet asks me if we have kids I tell them, “No, but we have a cat”.

He didn’t start out as a Hawkeye though. We found him on the KSL classifieds about a year ago and picked him up for free from a family in Springville that had adopted him. They had named him Paisely and thought he was a girl. Accepting that, we gave him a Hungarian girl’s name, Csilla. After we took him to get declawed and fixed we found out that she was a he. I jumped on the fact that he had an awesome black mohawk, and the fact that Nikki and I both really like M*A*S*H and we came up with Hawkeye.

He is a crazy, fat cat that is very curious and always welcomes attention. I’ll throw some pictures on as proof of his crazy ways. He is fascinated by water (but doesn’t like to touch it very much). He likes to climb as high as he can, and loves to play with everything, whether or not it is his to bat around. Hawkeye also makes a great alarm clock for Nikki. She gets up early to go to work every day and if she isn’t up when Hawkeye thinks she should be, he likes to meow and put his butt in our faces until we wake up and feed him.

As far as cats go, ours is a pretty good one. He keeps it interesting and is fun to play with. We’re never bored with him there and I think we’ll keep him around for a while.

Spring Is Bling

Winter is cold and I hate driving in the snow. Fall is okay for a while, but it starts getting gloomy and you know snow is on its way. Summer has its perks, but the heat gets old soon enough. Spring is definitely my favorite season. The temperatures are just right most of the time. You can't complain about the cool weather at night and the not-too-hot during the afternoon. Throw in a rain shower once a week and I couldn't be happier.

Yesterday was a perfect example of why spring is the best. Nikki and I jumped on our bikes just after noon and rode the couple of miles over to Any and Lesa's for Sunday dinner. The weather was great. Sandals and shorts were the way to go and my shirt was sticking to me with sweat either. As a side note, I won't be trying to ride down the front steps of our house anytime soon. I thought that would be fun until I went over the handle bars half way down and landed face first in the grass. We rode through Scera Park (you can see footloose at Scera Shell on my birthday if you want, July 9th), and past Orem High that they are starting to tear down it looks like.

Later, after some good eats and a nap on the basement couch, we rode home. Andy and Lesa joined us on their bikes and we took the same course home (Abba is coming to Scera Shell the end of July ;)). I could handle seventy degree weather all summer long. An open window is just enough to cool everything down. It almost seems a shame to go to bed so soon after the sun goes down, but wake up time comes too soon and then it is off to work for the week.

Before too long it will be too hot and I'll have to buy double the popsicles to keep cool. I'll have to start watering the lawn instead of waiting for the next sprinkle, and then I'll wait for spring again. It just never lasts quite long enough.

The pictures on this post are actually from a bike ride we took up to Bridal Veil a while ago

Why do my Mariners suck this year?

I’ve been a Mariner’s fan for quite a few years now. I think it all started when I was about ten years old or so. Ken Griffey Jr. was just getting going and there was an awesome team along with him. Jay Buhner, Tino and Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson and the list went on. That was the team that sucked me in.

Living in Utah makes it a little hard to be a diehard, all out fan since there is no television coverage, but I like to think of myself as a dedicated one. I’ve watched their mediocrity rise and fall over the years. With that, I have one question that I could use some help answering… Why do the Mariners suck this year? At 21 and 39, and opening a series with Boston today, they’re a long, long ways away from that team that was in the wildcard race deep in the season last year.

My uneducated guess points to the biggest change on the team. I think the midseason resignation of manager Mike Hargrove has to play some part in it. Not that the new guy, McLaren, isn’t capable, but maybe he just isn’t there yet. I hate to point at management when there is a whole team of guys out on the field that are actually making the plays, but some of the blame has to fall there. Again, I’m just speculating. At the end of last year I was hoping just locking up Ichiro would help out, but even he is having what could be seen as a lack luster performance this year. 17 million a year should get you something right? There is also the year after year disappointment of Richie Sexson. I don’t think they have ever gotten out of him what they expected as a team. Here is an article asking for his sacrifice to the baseball gods.

Whatever the problem may be, they are still no good this year. It makes it hard to want to follow when they have gone from battling it out with the Yankees for a wildcard spot to scraping the bottom of the barrel at the worst record in the league. I guess I’ll have to start hanging out with Cub’s fans and get a t-shirt that says, “There’s always next year”.

Flippin' the birdie

Saturday I played my first round of golf for this year. I’d been itching for a while, but just hadn’t made it out.

I got up nice and early and headed over to Cascade Golf Center in Orem. I’ve only been there once before and decided it was my best choice for the day. Living on the west side of State Street in Orem, I tend to forget the canyon winds that howl out of Provo Canyon. I paid for my bucket of range balls and ducked into the wind and headed to the driving range. The pro shop assured me the wind would die down around nine o’clock or so. I tested out my new-to-me driver that I got for Christmas, (Cleveland HiBore. Mines the one that came out a coupleof years ago, but you can see the new one here) and was really impressed. Even with the gnarly wind I was still getting out past 200 yards. The artificial green launch pads and concrete stalls aren’t my favorite, but not unbearable.

Next I headed to the putting green while I waited for the wind to burn out a little more. With my superior chipping skills, I planted a ball across the green and right under a pine tree. Apparently that tree houses a nest full of new blackbirds. A very protective parent kept swooping and diving at me, and breaking my concentration, while I tried to putt from one hole to the other. That crazy bird even clipped my shoulders a couple of times. That was enough for me since I wasn’t fast enough to club the bird out of the air with my putter. The guy in the pro shop laughed when I asked him if they always have killer birds on the practice green. He had been watching the whole thing and said it almost clipped the back of my neck a couple of times as well.

So I grabbed a tee time and got partnered with a couple of guys about my age and off we went to play nine holes. I always worry about getting paired with the jerks or the scratch golfers, but Zach and Troy were nice enough guys and we had a good time. The pro shop was right as well when he told me that one you get up the first hole, the wind doesn’t factor in much either. Plus, it was starting to die down.

I felt like it was a pretty good first round. Nothing spectacular, but nothing too ugly either. Three putts were my enemy along with that fairway bunker on 4. My best showing for the day was a par on the par 3 fifth hole. I was able to nail the green and two putt. It was not a round to brag about, but anything that isn’t a total embarrassment is good enough for me. Hopefully I can get out and try it again soon.