Yeah, so I haven't blogged lately because there has been nothing to blog about. Still don't know about the whole moving situation; Work is still suckily slow; Seem to have plateaued on my weight loss. Yeah, you get the picture.
I guess something new is that now on top of being a cub scout leader I am also a primary teacher over the 7-8 year olds. I must say that sitting through primary is a lot nicer than sitting through sunday school and elder's quorum.
So, that's about all I got. Hopefully some new exciting development will happen for me to write about. But for now I am out.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Fish, Fish, FIIISH
This past week I had the glorious opportunity to go to Day Camp with my Cub Scouts. It was 3 days of hot muggy fun with 7 rambunctious excited runabouts under foot. Fun, really. They loved the fishing (thus the title) and would excitedly show me the little perch and everything they caught. I of course had to take them off the hook and re-bait the hook with a worm. My hands smelled of fish and worm guts all week.
There were other fun activities including archery (really thought a boy was gonna get shot there); BB shooting; Astronomy: Science; Tennis; Ultimate Frisbee; Maps; Rocketry; Swimming; and something else that I forgot. Anyway, I am all sunburned and tired and muscularly sore, but it was great. And my cubs had fun. Success :)
There were other fun activities including archery (really thought a boy was gonna get shot there); BB shooting; Astronomy: Science; Tennis; Ultimate Frisbee; Maps; Rocketry; Swimming; and something else that I forgot. Anyway, I am all sunburned and tired and muscularly sore, but it was great. And my cubs had fun. Success :)
Sunday, June 6, 2010
badoomba Jitterbug
That tune had been going through my head for weeks because we replaced 'jitterbug' with 'schlitterbahn' in anticipation of the trip we took last week to the aforementioned 'schlitterbahn' which is a phenomenal waterpark. Backing up...
James 3/7, 5/ 12 had vacation time accrued at work and had to take it, John's brother Shane was coming into town. So naturally Hagen and I took time off of work to be able to take the week and just go have some fun :)
Tuesday we all got up early and packed and left the house at about 8:30 in order to get to schlitterbahn as close to opening time as possible. We got there just after 10 (it's in San Antonio, and opens at 10) and in we went. 9 1/2 hours and a lobsteresque sunburn later we exited the park grinning ear to ear.
The place is huge! tons and tons of different tube chutes, tube slides, water slides, speed slides, lazy rivers. Good times. I'll highlight a couple of them I suppose. Firstly the lines were not bad at all, the longest we had to wait was about 20 minutes. generally we would get off a ride and if we liked it we were able to get right back on. The speed slides and one tube ride we rode 5 or 6 times straight this way. Fantastic :)
Perhaps most fun was a combination lazy river and wave pool. The wavy river as I call it is just a big circle, but it was a wave generator so every x-seconds an 8-10 foot wave would race around the pool. As we were in tubes we thought this sounded like an excellent opportunity to jump into the wave in order to get as much height as we could and then drop on the people below us. Bahaha, went around the river doing that for a long time. Most excellent. There's nothing quite as fun as slamming down onto each other and unsuspecting people that way. Hey, it was in water, no one got hurt.
Unfortunately we only had one hotel room between 5 guys and three of us snore. One of the fellows snores ridiculously loud. First nights sleep was not good. At all. But on wednesday we went to some fun places, we ate at a hole in the wall puerto rican restaurant that was quite good. Then we went to 'the snake farm'. It was featured on an episode of dirty jobs, so I was geeked about that, and I was in a room full of snakes and various other animals. They also had an outdoors area with crocodiles, pens of parrots, a cassowary, lemurs, other animals, and a petting zoo with baby goats, pot bellied pigs, and an evil freaky alpaca. none of us petted the alpaca. We tried, but we'd raise a hand and it's head would come up, it's ears flicked forward, nostrils flared all the while fixing us wit ha fiery evil eye scarier than the depths of Hell itself. Shudder, maybe it was just anticipating and relishing the thought of being touched, but i didn't want to put it to the test.
Also we all went and bought earplugs. I should buy stock in that company, 2nd nights sleep was fantastic!
On wednesday Hagen John and Shane decided to go home right after checking out of the hotel. James and I however went to Six Flags because more flags, more fun (don't i get money for plugging things like that?) And I think we made the right choice. The lines were even shorter than Schlitterbahn. This was due to the fact that school wasn't out everywhere and it was overcast. But it was great, I hadn't been on a rollercoaster in about 16 years, and it was totally worth the wait. we rode all the coasters 2 or 3 times. The rattler was named that, I think, because it rattles and jolts about, but that is expected from a wooden coaster. I screamed on it and had a bug hit my tooth at 60 miles an hour exploding against my tooth and promptly getting swallowed :/ it was oddly sweet. Our other favorite coaster didn't have a long climb before a drop, rather in had a linear accelerator network, basically a series of powerful electromagnets that fire the train out of the station going from 0-60 in about a second. Other than the station there were no straight sections on the track, for the next 30 seconds it's all loops, rolls, and twists. Good fun. Good Good fun.
Got home thursday afternoon and friday was back to reality, but it was a much needed and much appreciated break :)
James 3/7, 5/ 12 had vacation time accrued at work and had to take it, John's brother Shane was coming into town. So naturally Hagen and I took time off of work to be able to take the week and just go have some fun :)
Tuesday we all got up early and packed and left the house at about 8:30 in order to get to schlitterbahn as close to opening time as possible. We got there just after 10 (it's in San Antonio, and opens at 10) and in we went. 9 1/2 hours and a lobsteresque sunburn later we exited the park grinning ear to ear.
The place is huge! tons and tons of different tube chutes, tube slides, water slides, speed slides, lazy rivers. Good times. I'll highlight a couple of them I suppose. Firstly the lines were not bad at all, the longest we had to wait was about 20 minutes. generally we would get off a ride and if we liked it we were able to get right back on. The speed slides and one tube ride we rode 5 or 6 times straight this way. Fantastic :)
Perhaps most fun was a combination lazy river and wave pool. The wavy river as I call it is just a big circle, but it was a wave generator so every x-seconds an 8-10 foot wave would race around the pool. As we were in tubes we thought this sounded like an excellent opportunity to jump into the wave in order to get as much height as we could and then drop on the people below us. Bahaha, went around the river doing that for a long time. Most excellent. There's nothing quite as fun as slamming down onto each other and unsuspecting people that way. Hey, it was in water, no one got hurt.
Unfortunately we only had one hotel room between 5 guys and three of us snore. One of the fellows snores ridiculously loud. First nights sleep was not good. At all. But on wednesday we went to some fun places, we ate at a hole in the wall puerto rican restaurant that was quite good. Then we went to 'the snake farm'. It was featured on an episode of dirty jobs, so I was geeked about that, and I was in a room full of snakes and various other animals. They also had an outdoors area with crocodiles, pens of parrots, a cassowary, lemurs, other animals, and a petting zoo with baby goats, pot bellied pigs, and an evil freaky alpaca. none of us petted the alpaca. We tried, but we'd raise a hand and it's head would come up, it's ears flicked forward, nostrils flared all the while fixing us wit ha fiery evil eye scarier than the depths of Hell itself. Shudder, maybe it was just anticipating and relishing the thought of being touched, but i didn't want to put it to the test.
Also we all went and bought earplugs. I should buy stock in that company, 2nd nights sleep was fantastic!
On wednesday Hagen John and Shane decided to go home right after checking out of the hotel. James and I however went to Six Flags because more flags, more fun (don't i get money for plugging things like that?) And I think we made the right choice. The lines were even shorter than Schlitterbahn. This was due to the fact that school wasn't out everywhere and it was overcast. But it was great, I hadn't been on a rollercoaster in about 16 years, and it was totally worth the wait. we rode all the coasters 2 or 3 times. The rattler was named that, I think, because it rattles and jolts about, but that is expected from a wooden coaster. I screamed on it and had a bug hit my tooth at 60 miles an hour exploding against my tooth and promptly getting swallowed :/ it was oddly sweet. Our other favorite coaster didn't have a long climb before a drop, rather in had a linear accelerator network, basically a series of powerful electromagnets that fire the train out of the station going from 0-60 in about a second. Other than the station there were no straight sections on the track, for the next 30 seconds it's all loops, rolls, and twists. Good fun. Good Good fun.
Got home thursday afternoon and friday was back to reality, but it was a much needed and much appreciated break :)
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
On Tuesday I had the opportunity to finally go down and take pictures of the old spanish missions in San Antonio. I haven't taken the time to just go out and take pictures in many years even though that used to be my chosen career path. I got burned out on it due to the nausea inducing experience of taking nothing but engagement pictures in Utah. I am not a fan of pda. I realize you're in love and sexually repressed young Mormons, but really, save it for somewhere private.
Okay ranting aside, it was really soothing and relaxing to go shoot these missions. There was also a really cool austere feeling to the buildings. I had to stop and think about how hard it would be to be a monk/missionary/priest/nun in a hostile untamed environment. having been a missionary I was awestruck by how hard the mission of these Spanish expansionaries must have been.
Okay reverential feelings aside here are a few of my favorite pictures that I took.
Okay ranting aside, it was really soothing and relaxing to go shoot these missions. There was also a really cool austere feeling to the buildings. I had to stop and think about how hard it would be to be a monk/missionary/priest/nun in a hostile untamed environment. having been a missionary I was awestruck by how hard the mission of these Spanish expansionaries must have been.
Okay reverential feelings aside here are a few of my favorite pictures that I took.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Moorv.
Props to anyone who gets that random reference.
So I did buy a bike. Not from the cartel. My roommate John randomly ran into this redneck who had a '78 Yamaha xs1100 that had been sitting inoperable for about 7 years. This is the exact same bike that John has so he knows all about how to fix it. So 450 dollars later it belongs to me.
We pulled it home and for the last several days I have been working on the bike under John's direction. We pulled out the carburetors and airbox and took them apart, cleaned them, replaced some faulty parts put them back together and back into the bike. We replaced all the hoses and filters and fired it up. IT LIVES!! And it sounds great.
Today I spent almost the entire day sanding the rust off of the headers and mufflers. They were quite rusted and pitted, but hours of sanding later they are ready to be painted black and reinstalled. I'll do that Monday. Also on Monday I'm going to detail clean the engine and paint it as well while John takes apart and cleans the brakes.
Funny part is that the redneck said the bike didn't run. Silly man had the fuel lines and vacuum lines reversed. Oh well, cheap transportation for me :)
So I did buy a bike. Not from the cartel. My roommate John randomly ran into this redneck who had a '78 Yamaha xs1100 that had been sitting inoperable for about 7 years. This is the exact same bike that John has so he knows all about how to fix it. So 450 dollars later it belongs to me.
We pulled it home and for the last several days I have been working on the bike under John's direction. We pulled out the carburetors and airbox and took them apart, cleaned them, replaced some faulty parts put them back together and back into the bike. We replaced all the hoses and filters and fired it up. IT LIVES!! And it sounds great.
Today I spent almost the entire day sanding the rust off of the headers and mufflers. They were quite rusted and pitted, but hours of sanding later they are ready to be painted black and reinstalled. I'll do that Monday. Also on Monday I'm going to detail clean the engine and paint it as well while John takes apart and cleans the brakes.
Funny part is that the redneck said the bike didn't run. Silly man had the fuel lines and vacuum lines reversed. Oh well, cheap transportation for me :)
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
I like it here in America.
Last night I accompanied my roommates John and Hagen to Austin to look at a motorcycle we were thinking about working on as a project bike. The following is our story:
We set off at around 6 o'clock in the evening to go see this bike, putting the address into the handy dandy Google Maps so we'd be sure to have no problems finding the right place.
Google led us around all reputable parts of Austin and then right into the armpit. In. To. The. Armpit. We passed block after block of shabby yards in front of broken down houses as we wound our way deeper into what seemed a lugubrious warren of broken dreams. I speak of course about Little Mexico. Shoddy yards, shabby houses, souped up cars in garish colors and outrageous rims parked in front of every fifth or sixth house, low riders filling the driveways in between. Brown children played soccer in the streets while older siblings and cousins sat around the yards watching out. Watching out for what became evident later.
As we made our way through the maze of disconsolates I noticed, amidst the scattered detritus, several other motorcycles that were either being used for parts or had been wantonly and haphazardly stolen from. Later on the latter became the evident truth.
We pull up to our destination and I note that it is comparatively a nice house; set back from the road, large size, well kempt and newly sodded yard, ubiquitous flashy car.
We Parked across the road and walked up the respectable, yet not overly long, driveway and rapped on the door. Nothing happens except a hurried yet subdued sound of people shuffling about. I look around a bit and notice a window on the upper floor overlooking the front porch is open. John glimpses and whispers 'there are cameras in the corners.' A quick glance shows that indeed there are security cameras overlooking the front of the and sides of the house. Were there more? I can't say, but at this point my hackles raised and I started to get a lot more scared. After a minute or two a woman pokes her head out an upper door and inquired as to how she could help us. John stated we were there about a motorcycle and she disappears back into the house.
Several moments after that a rather large and shirtless Hispanic man with a name tattooed across his chest and a skull with roses tatted on his hand comes out the door as seemingly out of nowhere 4 more hombres saunter up to the house, give as a look over, and go inside. He asks if we're the guys from Marble Falls, and upon our confirmation of this opens the garage and produces the bike. He informs us that it had been stolen and stripped for parts. Several previous images begin to make sense. The bike is missing the tank and much of the body, but still starts up. The forks are bent and the wiring to the lights has been cut. It's obviously been laid on it's side at least once though he says it wasn't wrecked. He tries to push a sale by mentioning several other people are coming over with money for it.
After politely stating we'll let him know what we decide we walk nonchalantly albeit apprehensively back to our car where we note that there are already several young Hispanics looking it over. I should state here that John drives a '98 Cadillac. As we near the car the young men saunter next door to where their father/uncle/cousin is and start talking lowly to him. We drive off with no further adieu, not interested to stay around this uncomfortable establishment. We casually meander back through the neighborhoods and finally out onto the open road where we release a collective sigh of relief and some nervous laughter.
Teasingly we jibe each other about how scared we actually were yet wouldn't give face too and after several miles of nerve relieving road are behind us we decide that as we are in Austin we should stop and eat and not make a total waste of a trip.
Once we were securely inside the brightly lit and comfortably located Buffalo Wild Wings the last vestiges of apprehension fall off our shoulders and our conversation turns to other topics while we enjoyed our mango lemonades and medley of wings. All is right in the world.
We set off at around 6 o'clock in the evening to go see this bike, putting the address into the handy dandy Google Maps so we'd be sure to have no problems finding the right place.
Google led us around all reputable parts of Austin and then right into the armpit. In. To. The. Armpit. We passed block after block of shabby yards in front of broken down houses as we wound our way deeper into what seemed a lugubrious warren of broken dreams. I speak of course about Little Mexico. Shoddy yards, shabby houses, souped up cars in garish colors and outrageous rims parked in front of every fifth or sixth house, low riders filling the driveways in between. Brown children played soccer in the streets while older siblings and cousins sat around the yards watching out. Watching out for what became evident later.
As we made our way through the maze of disconsolates I noticed, amidst the scattered detritus, several other motorcycles that were either being used for parts or had been wantonly and haphazardly stolen from. Later on the latter became the evident truth.
We pull up to our destination and I note that it is comparatively a nice house; set back from the road, large size, well kempt and newly sodded yard, ubiquitous flashy car.
We Parked across the road and walked up the respectable, yet not overly long, driveway and rapped on the door. Nothing happens except a hurried yet subdued sound of people shuffling about. I look around a bit and notice a window on the upper floor overlooking the front porch is open. John glimpses and whispers 'there are cameras in the corners.' A quick glance shows that indeed there are security cameras overlooking the front of the and sides of the house. Were there more? I can't say, but at this point my hackles raised and I started to get a lot more scared. After a minute or two a woman pokes her head out an upper door and inquired as to how she could help us. John stated we were there about a motorcycle and she disappears back into the house.
Several moments after that a rather large and shirtless Hispanic man with a name tattooed across his chest and a skull with roses tatted on his hand comes out the door as seemingly out of nowhere 4 more hombres saunter up to the house, give as a look over, and go inside. He asks if we're the guys from Marble Falls, and upon our confirmation of this opens the garage and produces the bike. He informs us that it had been stolen and stripped for parts. Several previous images begin to make sense. The bike is missing the tank and much of the body, but still starts up. The forks are bent and the wiring to the lights has been cut. It's obviously been laid on it's side at least once though he says it wasn't wrecked. He tries to push a sale by mentioning several other people are coming over with money for it.
After politely stating we'll let him know what we decide we walk nonchalantly albeit apprehensively back to our car where we note that there are already several young Hispanics looking it over. I should state here that John drives a '98 Cadillac. As we near the car the young men saunter next door to where their father/uncle/cousin is and start talking lowly to him. We drive off with no further adieu, not interested to stay around this uncomfortable establishment. We casually meander back through the neighborhoods and finally out onto the open road where we release a collective sigh of relief and some nervous laughter.
Teasingly we jibe each other about how scared we actually were yet wouldn't give face too and after several miles of nerve relieving road are behind us we decide that as we are in Austin we should stop and eat and not make a total waste of a trip.
Once we were securely inside the brightly lit and comfortably located Buffalo Wild Wings the last vestiges of apprehension fall off our shoulders and our conversation turns to other topics while we enjoyed our mango lemonades and medley of wings. All is right in the world.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Everybody's working for the weekend.
During the week I'm lucky to have one or two appointments as of late, however this past friday and saturday I had 6 and 8 appointments respectively. That's awesome at 40 bucks an appointment. HOWEVER with my back hurt and having spasms it was pretty horrible.
I shouldn't complain, I have the money to pay my phone and rent now. I just want a new back.
I shouldn't complain, I have the money to pay my phone and rent now. I just want a new back.
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