Be The Pigeon

There's a bit of truth to this.

Went biking again today. It was great. I still huffed and puffed all the way up the hill, but felt like it was slightly less puffing than on previous trips, so we'll count that as progress. We did about 10 miles at Hall Ranch and the weather was perfect; overcast and cool, but no rain. I can think of fewer things more fun than riding down the hill almost out of control (but not quite, unless your name is Adam!) I've come to the conclusion that the ride down is more fun after you've suffered and labored through the ride up. If you take the lift to the top (or that equivalent), it's surely fun, but a little less rewarding since you didn't work for it. Today, we took two circles at the Nelson Loop at the top of the trail to rewards ourselves for all our pumping uphill. The loop runs for a couple miles and is mostly smooth single track with a few jumps and such, and on a great incline such that you can get going pretty fast. Today, my friend Adam was over 30mph

Went for the first bike ride of the season with Amy and Kristen tonight. Amy did 5 miles, which I was proud of. The rain nearly got us, but at least no tornado warnings for the first time in a couple weeks. Kristen, of course, was all too happy to be pulled in her chariot. She was yelling at me "faster dad, faster" and "beat Amy". I wouldn't let her get out and play at the park, though, until she finished her flour tortilla that was her unfinished dinner. So she sat in the trailer for another 15 min to finish the darn thing while I said "faster, Kristen, faster." Payback, baby. I'm glad this is the last year of the pulling-a-trailer thing. So not cool for my tough-man biking image.

Took this a couple months ago in Utah. Oxymoron!? For those who can't read the small print, it says "Luxury Dental Spa."

See if you can spot the subtle difference between these two days: The first one was at a work event in Omaha last week. The second one was taken in March at another work (golf) event in Tucson. Hm, they're almost the same!

So I was lucky enough to find myself in Omaha last week. Wow, lots to do (BTW, anyone who knows of anything fun to do in those parts, let me know. I get to go back for a full week soon, and boy I'm excited.) During my stay, I stopped over at the LDS Church's Winter Quarters memorial, a site that commemorates the thousands of Mormon pioneers who stayed the winter while awaiting better weather waiting to go to Utah. They walked 1,200 miles and were kicked out of their homes on multiple occasions. The site, though small, was very well kept and very peaceful. It's the first LDS history site I've been able to visit, so was fun.

Yeah, I'm proud.

In comment to my recent Wolf Shirt posting, my friend Ryan alerted me to another awesome Amazon product that you really need to purchase: Playmobil Security Check Point REVIEW: I was a little disappointed when I first bought this item, because the functionality is limited. My 5 year old son pointed out that the passenger's shoes cannot be removed. Then, we placed a deadly fingernail file underneath the passenger's scarf, and neither the detector doorway nor the security wand picked it up. My son said "that's the worst security ever!". But it turned out to be okay, because when the passenger got on the Playmobil B757 and tried to hijack it, she was mobbed by a couple of other heroic passengers, who only sustained minor injuries in the scuffle, which were treated at the Playmobil Hospital. The best thing about this product is that it teaches kids about the realities of living in a high-surveillence society. My son said he wants the Playmobil Neighborhood Surveillenc