Scoresby Scamper 2007 results

We ran the Scoresby Scamper yesterday, about noon. I took 32 minutes. The official times were (roughly) as follows:

1. Preston, 23:10
2. Emily, 27 minutes
3. Janet, 28:02
   
4. Dad, 28:20
5. Sarah, 30 minutes
   
6. Ben, 31:30
7. Joe, 32:20

I didn't do too good. I was both out of shape and my normal running pace is too slow to compete with Preston and Emily.

A thought:

All men dream: but not equally.

Those who dream by night in the dusty

recesses of their minds wake in the day

to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers

of the day are dangerous men, for they may

act their dreams with open eyes, to make it

possible.

From T.E Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

This was the opening quote from the book Touching the Void, the most spectacular survival story I've ever heard. I'll leave the details out, besides the fact that any criticism regarding Simon's choices regarding the two are made irrelevant by two facts: Only Joe and Simon were on Siula Grande, and Joe agreed with Simon's choice. The fact that he would do things differently now doesn't mean that what they did before was wrong. Now, he has more experience, more practice, more knowledge. Then, he didn't. Neither did Simon.


Still enjoying Christmas in Wisconsin.

Numbers of the Day

First off, welcome from Kronenwetter, Wisconsin. We flew to Milwaukee with nothing of note happening, and the drive north was uneventful. Preston, Emily, and Sarah, however, were greatly delayed by poor weather. They can explain at their leisure.

Now for the numbers:

• 8. That's as in degrees Fahrenheit, the low temperature this morning. Brrr.
• 10. That's in inches of snow that fell today. Traffic was treacherous enough that attendance at church as exceedingly sparse and everything after Sacrament meeting was cancelled.

Dad has a snowblower so we wouldn't have to shovel the entire driveway, but the belt that drives the auger decided it was time to give up the ghost and it disintegrated just after Preston and Emily arrived with Sarah in tow. leaving Dad, Preston and I to shovel the driveway by hand. Gah.

On the plus side, Mom and Dad have an excellent fireplace, and it's been going almost all day. They also have blowers to blow air past the sides of the fireplace and chimney to get extra heat from the fire.

I think a white Chistmas is guaranteed.

Pregnancy Hormones & Random Thoughts

Sorry its been so long since I've posted anything. Work's been crazy and I haven't much time to check the blogs. We are still trying to get internet service with Verizon. Apparently, Verizon keeps loosing our internet service order. So everything is going well here. Baby is good, at least I think she is. She's moving around alot more now, which is always a good sign. When I was in the hospital, she definitely gave me a scare, but everything seems to be ok and back to normal! Yay!!

So before the hospital, I had my doctor's appointment, which was very depressing. Blame it on the hormones or stress or whatever (turning 30) , but when your doctor tells you you need to start watching what you eat and not to gain so much weight, you just feel like a fat cow. I gained 8 lbs. in a month (which by the way has doubled what I gained the whole pregnancy) so I know she just doesn't want me gaining that much in a month, but what can you do. So I left that dr. appointment crying, thinking, my doctor thinks I'm a fat cow! Pretty pathetic, huh? Don't worry, I'm pretty much over it. Right now, I'm enjoying my cowness. :)

Overall, 30 isn't so bad; it just feels weird and adultish. I'm sure I'll get used to it! On the bright side, maybe 40 will be weirder. :0)

P.S. Sorry Shannon, we didn't put up a tree this year since we were going out of town! But we did put out our other Chirstmas decorations in our defense! :)

Stir-Crazy!

I'm starting to get a bit antsy because I haven't been out hiking in a while; so I thought I'd list the hikes I've done through the years. A lot of these were while I was a student at BYU, but some have been before and since.

• The teensy slot "canyon' at Pioneer Park in St. George, UT. It's really just a narrow crack in the rock somewhere between 1/2 and 1 mile long. At points it's so narrow you have to turn sideways to get through. Not for claustrophobes.

• Zion National Park: Scout Lookout. Actually an attempt at Angel's Landing, we would have made it if a blizzard hadn't hit while we were going up Walter's Wiggles. By the time we reached the chains, snow was sticking to the slickrock, and the better part of sanity told us not to go. Not for acrophobes.
  
  
• Mount Timpanogos summit, from the Timpooneke trailhead. Both times, this was done as a night hike, with summiting to coincide with the sunrise. The first time, I hyperventilated just a touch as I crossed over the saddle at 11,000 feet, probably because I was jogging. (No surprise, huh?) The second time I was in better shape, surprisingly, and had no problems. In fact, my group fell asleep in the basin just below emerald lake on the way down. When we woke up, we thought we had lost a half-hour and everyone was ahead of us, so we jogged down the rest of the mountain, beating the rest of our party by at least an hour, possibly two.

• Loafer Mountain/Santaquin Peak: Tracy and I hiked this July 4th, 2003. We really enjoyed the hike, except it was blisteringly hot, even for Utah, and at the summit, there were bugs all over the place. I'm not sure we ever truly got to the Santaquin peak summit, but I know we hit the Loafer Mountain summit, which is taller, but has a poorer view. We had a great view of the valley from the south end to contrast with the view from Timp

• Squaw Peak: I did the "real" hike for this, starting out in Rock Canyon Park and going up, not the wimpy "hey, let's just drive almost to the top and then hike up!" variant.

• Calf Creek Falls, Escalante. We went to Escalante for Memorial Day and visited Amy, one of Tracy's friends while she was doing her archeological dig there. We hiked this, along with about 2000 other people that day. The weather was great. My advice: do this any weekend besides Memorial Day weekend. Also, don't drive from Provo to Escalante at night, because the road is freaky! You see a sign that says "No Shoulders", and all you see is the headlights on the road and the reflective strips on the edges and centerline. Seriously, nothing past it. The road curves, and you see nothing because there isn't anything but air! Freaky

• Solider Hollow, via snowshoe. Thanks to wearing snowshoes instead of skis, we were able to go places in Soldier Hollow that most visitors (read skiers) won't see. Our goal was the first real summit above the hollow. A mother moose deprived us of that particular treat, but we still had a spectacular experience.
  

• Stewart's Falls, aka Stewarts cascades. This one was odd because we had to park practically in Sundance. Not the ski area, the "artists' village." Really, the vacation spot. Anyway, we hiked up there and saw the falls, then hiked back. Fun trip.

• Manassas National Battlefield Park: The entire thing. I'm serious; I've hiked every trail in the park, and I believe I've hiked every portion of all of them, except one.
  

• Appalachian Trail. We've hiked a few of the Virginia sections of this trail. We started out 2006 with a New Year's Day hike near Bear's Den (a hiker hostel in NoVA). We hiked the part of the trail that goes through Sky Meadows State Park, and we've hiked it in Shenandoah National Park. More on those later. I would like to take a week and just hike the AT through Shenandoah sometime.
  

• Sky Meadows State Park: We hiked about 4 miles with the dog, om a Memorial Day. It was HOT, and the dog was panting like crazy. It had about 1000 of elevation gain in a little over a mile, which is unfortunately typical for trails here.
  

• Great Falls National Park: Trails follow the Potomac both through the placid waters upstream of the falls above the low-head dam into the nearby regional park and downstream to the observation points over the falls, following the river through Mather's Gorge, and down to Difficult Run's merger with the Potomac.

• Shenandoah National Park: I've hiked portions of the AT, the Elkwallow loop, the Hot-Short Mountain trail, the Nichols Hollow Trail, well, let's just say I've hiked a few trails. Oh yeah, we also hiked Old Rag Mountain. The great thing about Shenandoah is there's always more trails you haven't reached yet.

• The Tuscarora Trail. I've hiked about a third of the Tuscarora Trail, which stretches from Shenandoah, through West Virginia, up to the AT again, in Pennsylvania. It was originally designed as an alternate western route for the AT to take around the messy development known as Northern Virginia and Maryland.
  

I'm hoping this winter I'll able to do a a lot more hiking in Shenandoah. I like winter hiking. Although you have to be prepared for unexpected conditions, you get views from places you can never see from during the rest of the year because of the leaves. In Shenandoah, in particular, you can never be certain what the weather will be. Since it's two to four thousand feet higher than everything else, a rainstorm here can be ice or snow there.

Football madness

Okay, I can't help it. The So-called "Bowl Championship Series" has again failed to deliver on its promise of a definitive championship, and the game hasn't even been played yet.

This season has been a crazy mess, but still leaves one question, to my mind, unanswered. Why is the only undefeated team in the nation not playing in the "championship" game?
Yes,yes, I know the official answer. Due to Hawaii's a weak schedule and poor rankings in the polls, Hawaii is not number one or two in the nation.

How can a team's schedule be held as the definition of whether they're a good team or not? The majority of the schedule is guaranteed to be against conference teams. If the non-BCS conferences aren't considered major, your conference opponents don't matter. So, if you aren't in a BCS conference, you're schedule is guaranteed to be considered weaker it would if you were in one.
That leaves two, maybe three non-conference games.

In order to be taken seriously as a non-BCS conference school, you have to schedule against two teams that are considered "major" teams.

1. Choose opponents from BCS conferences.


2. Choose good (hopefully Top-Ten ranked) opponents from those conferences. A number 5 ranked Michigan from the Big 10 would be good. Oh, wait, they aren't even ranked now, at the end of the year. If you can't get them to agree to a game, how about number 14, UCLA. Oops again.

I believe the point has been illustrated, but to make it truly real, add this particular part of reality:

3. Take the previous two steps and expand them to the next 3 years.

If you can do that, you should apply for a job in the athletic department of a Division I-A school.

Hawaii played, and beat, two non-conference teams from Divison I-A teams, in the PAC-10 and MWC, and one Division I-AA team and was still only ranked #10.

Just for a final dose of the craziness, take a look at the Wikipedia entry for the BCS, here. Go ahead, I'll still be here when you're done.
Does it seem to you that the rules section is pretty long? You're right.
Does it seem like the 'controversies' section is as long as the rules section? You're right.
Does it seem like the formula changed every single season? You're right.

The best thing that could happen to college football would be for the NCAA to kill off the BCS. I'd love to see the game start with an official disclaimer from the NCAA stating that "this game is not an NCAA-sanctioned championship game". After all, they're the official organization of college sports, and they don't recognize any Divison I-A football champion. Unfortunately, the BCS will hang around as long as the conferences that run the BCS still get to make money from it for their cash-cow football programs.

They don't seem to care that the cash smells like crap.

Baby pictures - redux

Okay, here are the long-awaited baby pictures from our last ultrasound:








For those who didn't already know, she is a girl. We have a couple of names that we're looking at right now; one is the definite front-runner, and the other is a possible contender. I'll let Tracy blog that if she desires.

Home thoughts

So, over Thanksgiving, I got to demonstrate to Tracy's family just how much of a handyman I am.

• The sink in Tracy's grandmother's kitchen, and the one in the bathroom clogged Thanksgiving day. We spent Thanksgiving night working on them, and I got a hand covered in Drano. I wasn't able to fix the kitchen sink.
  
• Then, Saturday, at Tracy's parent's house, Scott and I replaced the light fixture in the living room, I replaced the one in the bedroom Tracy and I had slept in.
  
• Also Saturday, I connected their satellite decoder box to the dish that was already mounted on the house and made it work.
• Thursday, I rebuilt Tracy's grandmother's computer, reinstalling Windows on it.
  

Between all that, and some conversations with Tracy's parents, I had a few thoughts on things I want to do when I finally own a home:

• Tile Kitchen floor. I'm tired of linoleum/vinyl flooring in kitchens.
• Laminate wood flooring in the Living/Family room(s). I really like it, it cleans up well, and it's easy to install.
• Radiant heat flooring in the bathroom. I hate waking up in the morning, going into the bathroom, and stepping on cold tile. This solves that.
• Tankless water heater. Hot water was a big issue this trip. The pilot on the water heater kept going out, and it was never very hot (though that was just the thermostat) Even our hot water heater is wimpy. We can't both shower in the morning. Plus, they save between 15 and 40% on heating costs since you don't have to keep a tank warm. (And you can't blow them up like Mythbusters did to a regular water heater) They may take a while for the hot water to reach the tap, but that's the same with a regular hot water line, and if you need instant hot water, you can install a mini-heater under the sink!

Sick

I'm sick. About two weeks ago, I got a cold, right? I took a day and a half off work to fight it, and manage to get over it. Unfortunately, since then I've been coughing like crazy. Today I didn't go to work; I went to the doctor, instead. Diagnosis: bronchitis. I get antibiotics and a cough syrup and am told to take it easy for a few days. (Yes, this means I'm gonna take tomorrow off work, too, just to be safe.) I also threw up today; I assume it's from the poor sleep I've had up until today, especially driving from Houston to DFW airport Sunday morning (We arrived at 4:30), and the fact that I ate nothing until 3:00 today, then ate pretzels and Ramen.

Pictures delayed

Unfortunately, the ultrasound pictures are going to be delayed a while longer. Tracy didn't take them into work, and although they're in my Google Docs, they won't copy out correctly. Sorry.

:)

More Maps

For class, we had to draw another map; this time of four states. Unfortunately, the professor wouldn't let us draw the UT,CO,AZ,NM set. I really wanted to, but he said four boxes would be way too easy. Instead, he assigned us four options that involved a lot of convoluted borders, rivers, and and coastlines. I, of course, chose the WI,MN,IA,IL set, and here it is!




We also had to create a black and white map that shows people how to get to our house. This map emphasizes simplicity and clarity, not detail. Neither scale nor direction are accurate beyond left and right or big and small. Distance doesn't matter at all. I also removed the address, because this blog is publicly readable.

So, Joe and I definitely need to start taking more pictures. So yes, this is another pictureless post. Nothing much new is going on, just the same old, same old. We are still dog sitting our friend's dog while they are on their honeymoon, so its been a little crazy. We've had her for 2 weeks now. At least, they wear each other out more.

We find out Nov 15th what we're having, at least if the baby cooperates that is. Welp, that's about it. Maybe I'll have something better to write about next time.

Oh yeah, we did go to a "They Might be Giants" concert which was alot of fun. It was weird because I could feel the music vibrations in my belly. It was such a weird sensation. We didn't get back until 2 in the morning so we were both exhausted the next day.

Surprise!

So we went to one of my co-workers wedding today. It was a really beautiful wedding, but it made me realize how grateful I was for the temple. The ceremony was really nice, but it felt kind of empty. So I guess my heart is really just full of thanks that I'm stuck with Joe forever, and not "until just death do us part."

We are watching the couples' dog while they go on the honeymoon so its been a little crazy around here. They like to play king of the mountain on our bed right before bedtime and early in the morning (when they deem its time for us to wake up.) They are really funny together though. They will only eat the other's food and won't touch their own. They always want the other's toy. I guess dogs really are like children.

Well, time to say goodnight!!

P.S. (It's titled surprise so you would be surprised about the content matter!) :0)

New Promotion!

So, on Friday, my boss calls me in and says we need to talk and that its pretty serious. He then proceeds to tell me that he has decided to promote me to Executive Assistant with accompanying pay raise. Yay!!! I told Joe he should be the stay at home dad; he didn't laugh. :)

This is when he gave me the "Janet look"; however, Joe claims he is the one who started "the look." You know,the one where you do the glare/roll of the eyes. And this is when I realized that all of the Scoresby's use "the look", although I think Janet, Joe, and Emily have perfected it. I also think "the look" comes out most often when one is losing a game. We can test it at Christmas. So maybe this will be a family trait Joe can pass down since I would never be able to pull it off! :0) Below is a video clip of the look for those of you who haven't had the privilege of being on the receiving end of "the look."



Other news, I found some maternity shirts on sale at Old Navy for like $7 and under. Although the only one that you can tell that I'm slightly pregnant is the one below. Thanks Mom for the shirt; its really cute. I'm sure I will get big soon enough. The little bump is the baby in case you were wondering. Ciao!

The Ultimate LEGO Book

One of my favorite websites, Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories, recently reviewed what has to be the best LEGO book ever: a collection of projects that LEGO would never, ever, ever sell, mainly because you could put somebody's eye out with it:


Forbidden Lego


Not only do you get pictures of actual LEGO catapults, you get fully-automatic LEGO guns. All sorts of cool LEGO toys!

I hope it's cute enough!

don't ask me how, but I found a website called Cuteoverload.com that strives to be just that: an overloading of cuteness. They have several 'rules of cuteness', and we found that our dog unintentionally fulfills many, many of them. However, she did better when she was a puppy, so I present our two submissions to
CuteOverload:

Cute as Cocoa:

and

Little Puppy, Big Ball

Sloppy Joe's Kitchen

You may wonder how I manage to get up to 160 lbs, like Tracy mentioned, considering the amount of cooking that doesn't happen in our house.

I leave you to ponder my sister Emily's words, and see how I learned to cook. (At least in my mind): Sloppy Joe's Kitchen

Incomunicado

For those of you who are unaware, we've moved. (If you need our new address, email or call our cell phones. Don't expect a fast answer from email or the house phone. See below for details.)

For the much larger percentage who are unaware of this: We have our cable TV, telephone, and internet service provided by Comcast. I don' t like them much at all.

When we moved I tried to move our service from our old apartment to our new, however, the previous resident had not canceled their service, so Comcast wouldn't complete the move unless I faxed them a copy of our lease.

How to explain this best: I don't like giving people solid data about me. Especially forms that detail things about my family, where we live, how much we pay for the privilege of living there, etc... It's none of their business. If they want to know, they can call the leasing office and confirm my address.

Anyway, yesterday they disconnected the previous resident's service for failure to pay, ignoring the fact that I told them we had moved in there and I was still paying; they just hadn't moved my service to the new location.

Since it's a move, we just get the next available appointment, even though all they have to do is plug in the stuff in the demarc point outside the building. The 'next available appointment?' Sunday, between 12 and 3, Eastern time.

Big News in the Scoresby Family!!

For what you all have been waiting for...

Joe has hit the big 160 lbs!!!! He is now the buffest man in our house (although he is the only one!!)
He seriously almost hit the roof, when he weighed himself today. We celebrated by eating lunch of hot dogs and chips, so he might weigh 162 by now. And yes, he still weighs more than me and the baby, although barely!! :)










In this picture, he's carrying twins! :)
(Obviously, I'm just kidding on that one)




On a random note, whoever invented rice cookers was ingenious!! I will never burn rice again!! (Well ,that's the goal anyways.)

Mad Science Merit Badges

The Order of the the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique has put together a list of merit badges for science. (Un?) Surprisingly, I've actually earned several of them. Namely, those pertaining to fire and electricity. Various members of the family qualify for several others, including some involving genetic modifications and others that require animal UI gloves.

Don't tell me they aren't real, either.

My badges:

• The “talking science” badge: Required for all members. Assumes the recipient conducts himself/herself in such a manner as to talk science whenever he/she gets the chance. Not easily fazed by looks of disinterest from friends or the act of “zoning out” by well intentioned loved ones.
• The “MacGyver” badge: In which the recipient has demonstrated that his/her science communciation prowess was handy in simplifying a potentially challenging scenario. For example, was able to escape from unjustified prison term, with the clever use of a paper clip and WD-40. You know, that kind of thing.
• The “arts and crafts” badge: Because you can’t have a bunch of badges without an arts and crafts badge. This one assumes the recipient has all manner of “craftiness” with a sciencegeek twist
• The “my experience inadvertantly makes me competent in fixing household appliances” badge: Not necessarily a good thing.
• The “I left the respectable sciences to pursue humanistic studies of the sciences” badge" In which the recipient is now probably having a lot more fun than he/she did before.
• The “has frozen stuff just to see what happens” badge (LEVEL I): In which the recipient has frozen something in the freezer for the sake of scientific curiosity.
• The “experienced with electrical shock” badge (LEVEL I): In which the recipient has had experience with the electrical shocking of an organism.
• The “experienced with electrical shock” badge (LEVEL II): In which the recipient has had experience with the electrical shocking of a human.
• The “experienced with electrical shock” badge (LEVEL III): In which the recipient has had experience with the electrical shocking of himself/herself.
• The “totally digs highly exothermic reactions” badge: Might be best to keep an eye on such recipients.
• The “I’m into telescopes astro” badge (LEVEL I): In which the recipient has used a telescope to view celestial objects.
• The “I’ve set fire to stuff” badge (LEVEL I): In which the recipient has set fire to stuff, all in the name of general scientific curiosity.
• The “I’ve set fire to stuff” badge (LEVEL II): In which the recipient has set fire to stuff, while fully aware of all combustion principles at play.

Dog Warz!!

Abby (the black dog): You think I'm going to let you have this duck all to yourself! Not on your life!!
Cocoa (the other dog): Wanna make a bet! I can eat you for dinner. Grrrrrr......










The battle becomes sore after intense fighting.

Abby: Ahh, my teeth are starting to hurt. Dang the shepherd part of Cocoa!!

Cocoa:Mmmfmfh -my mouth's full. Man, Abby's a wuss. Good thing I'm not part Collie!!












Mmm, stuffed bird guts in the morning! Smells like victory.

(P.S. The white cotton stuffing in the guts!!)











Man, that fight wiped me out. Nap time!!

Baby Pics

In case you can't tell, the head is the circle to the left, the other big circle is the stomach, and the squiggly lines are the legs and arms. So, we had an ultrasound/sonogram on Wednesday. The baby is now officially too big to see with a vaginal ultrasound (it was dancing when we did the ultrasound), and had to do a sonagram (where it decides to lay low in a hammock). It was pretty cool. It's head and stomach are huge. It's definitely an alien baby!! :) I'm not sure how it got the big stomach on crackers and gatorade, but whatever works. We also got to hear the heartbeat. It was amazing!! It was beating at 170 beats per minute. Man, I keep looking at the pics and it definitely looks like an alien.

I had a good day on Saturday and even managed to keep everything down. It was awesome. Today, I keep getting spurts of really bad nausea but it seems to go away after a couple of hours. Hopefully, it will get better. Below is a pic of my prego tummy. Its hard to see but there's a little bump right above my hands- that's my stomach. I'm huge! :)

Random Thoughts

So, I've decided that being pregnant affects at least 75% of your brain cells, maybe more. I really can be the youngest person discovered to have Allheimers or as I used to call it"old timers." It takes me at least 2-3 trips to figure out what I was originally trying to do. But at least eventually it gets done. I also find that I have a hard time concentrating at work, hence the article.

The morning sickness definitely is getting better. I am very thankful for the miracle pill. It seems to help keep things down, even if I still get nauseous. Now I'm pretty much nauseous in the mornings and starting around 4. I'm told its supposed to get better so we shall see.

It's really weird to think I'm almost out of the first trimester. I've almost gained all the weight back I lost so that's good. No worries, I only lost about 7 lbs. I'm starting to show-or at least I have a little tummy anyways. My clothes still fit normally, but not for long! :)

So I think Cocoa was having anxiety issues being in the new apartment, even though its just around the corner. All last week, when I would get home from work, I would have to hold her for like 15 minutes. Her look was, 'Oh, thank goodness your home! I don't know where I am!" It was pretty cute. She was very needy, but is getting better. She seems to be getting used to things. Who would have thought the dog would have such a hard time with the move!

Everything else is same old same old. Life's great in the fast lane!!

Moving Pains

Yes, it hurts to move. It hurts to move all your stuff from one apartment to another, and it hurts even more to move yourself (with or without your stuff) after you've dinged you knee on a corner while you're moving from one apartment to another.

This move's highlights were:

1. Lots of labor. My home teacher, the Young Men, and Young Women all helped, in addition to their leaders and the usual supects (Jeremy, Craig, Dave, Dan, their spouses, and everyone I missed.)
2. Lots of boxes and bags. I was able to use some once-used moving boxes originally from our big faculty shuffle over the summer at work, along with paper boxes (the kind reams come in) and 20 bankers boxes. I have about 10 bankers boxes of just books. I also have about 10 bags of different sizes with all my camping and sports gear in it.
3. The shortest (distance) U-Haul rental ever. when we checked the truck (19.99) back in, we had driven 4 miles ($1/mile), used 1.5 gallons of gas ($2.51/gal), and paid taxes, for about 28 dollars. Best idea ever, except for:
4. The Best Idea Ever: My workbench was built on our deck, so I didn't even think about whether it would fit through the doors. It didn't. If I had cut the plywood in a perfectly straight line exactly as the plan called for, it probably would have, but I cut it a little wobbly and gave it an extra 1/4 inch (give or take) all around it. We couldn't just pick it up and lift it out because we were on the third floor. What to do? I did what any crazy climber-type would do. I got some retired climbing rope, paid out enough to reach the ground on one end, tied a knot around one end of the table, tied another around the other end, and we lowered it, with one guy on the ground pulling it away from the building and everyone else on top, making sure it didn't fall. It was great, and took all of 30 second to do. When we got to the new apartment, we just reversed the process.
5. Cleaning: Our vacuum wins the award for most durable and effective vacuum cleaner I've ever seen. If I was asked to give a testimonial for it, I'd say something like this: It cost us an arm and a leg, but man, it works. It picked up dog hair, more dog hair, nails, bits of wood, screws, dirt, lint, yet more dog hair, dirt, and assorted plastic and metal bits. I like it.
6. Time: It took me, personally, probably 15 hours to do this move, but Tracy did almost all of the packing, so she suffered more.

Cocoa is still getting used to the new place; she doesn't like it yet. We hope after we get all our stuff unpacked she'll feel more at home, but we may set up her kennel and keep her in it until she's comfortable.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Today is the 29th Anniversary of my parent's wedding. I'm not sure if Mom will post anything on her blog or not, but either way, pay it a visit at wisconsinscoresbys.blogspot.com. You can also find it, along with all the other family blogs at scoresbyscribble.blogspot.com. If Mom doesn't say anything, feel free to post your congratulations here. She'll see them. I'll make sure.

Anyway, Mom, Dad, Congratulations.

I can draw a map

I think it looks good, too:

















I made this for my Geography 110 class using Adobe Illustrator. There's a few problems, like the fact that my meridians don't all line up at the North Pole, and they aren't perfectly accurate, but the size of the lines covers most of it.

I hate being sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone once said that using multiple exclamation marks in a row is a sign of insanity. Good.

Monday night, Tracy came down with the flu, or maybe it was a cold. Meh. Either way, she had it for three days, then I got it just in time to miss work Friday and the camping trip I had planned with several other couples we know. I was feeling good enough on Satuday to go to the COPE course, participate some in the COPE Discovery Day activities, and get a sunburn.

On the plus side, someone must have told the BYU football team that winning would have made me feel better, because they put on a terrific show against Arizona, and beat them handily. I felt better (until this morning)

Also, I passed another Microsoft Training test, so now I'm just one test away from my MSCA on Windows Server 2003. Unfortunately, the only test left is the hardest one.

At school, my rock climbing class got canceled. Apparently, GMU thinks that 4 students aren't enough to hold a class. I think it's the perfect number for a rock climbing class. My geogrpahy class is going well, but I bought the wrong textbook from Amazon. The class is using the 4th edition of the textbook. I got the 1st. Oops.

Joe's Birthday

So,

For Joe's birthday I got Joe a D&D miniature game set. (For all those un-nerd people out there, D&D stands for Dungeons and Dragons. It's usually a role playing type game.) This miniature game set is more like a board game thing. Anyways, he made me play with him. Since it was his birthday, I gave in. It really is a dumb game, but someone doesn't turn over the hill everyday.

I completely slaughtered him. It was awesome. He demanded a rematch, and of course I wouldn't give him one. You gotta know when to stay ahead. :0) So this proves I am by far the best nerd!! Below is a picture of Joe after I slaughtered him in his nerd game!! :)
I, of course, rub it in as often as possible. Joe likes it, what can I say. Man, I love this guy!!!!

I did manage to surprise him on his B-day though. I told him that one of our good friend's son had to be rushed off to the hospital because he split his head open, and we were needed to watch their daughter. This of course was a lie, and they yelled surprise when he opened the door!! It was awesome.

Weedeaters on the Appalachian Trail.

Ah, the irony of it. Back in July, after my many, many activities, I got a reminder from my trail supervisor that the section of the AT that I maintain was, to put it bluntly, not being maintained. Yep, the last time I had been there, the trail was buried under snow. So, after I hurriedly shot an apologetic reply back, I planned to head to Shenandoah N.P. and weed my section of trail.

Now for the irony: The Appalachian Trail is generally considered a "Wilderness Experience". Much of the trail is designated wilderness, and as such, motorized vehicles and power tools are strictly forbidden (except in cases such as wildfires). Not so my section. My 1.1 miles are mostly flat, straight, and Not at all Wilderness. . . (well, not designated as such, that is)

So, four days later, Saturday morning (July 14th) at about 8:30, I'm at the Big Meadows tool shed, checking out the biggest, heaviest-duty weed eater the Club has stocked. (I believe it's a Stihl 110 or 130 [a 36cc engine])Yep. I'm going to weed-whack the Appalachian Trail.

I packed an entire extra container of gas and extra string, grabbed the trimmer, and the harness, and threw it all in the back of the Matrix and headed to the trailhead. I waited until a Ranger-led hike got underway and out of sight, then I really fired it up and went to town-- running a weed eater on the AT.


7 hours later, the section, just over a mile long, was cleared to a point where I was satisfied with it. My safety glasses, face, arms, clothes, shirt, pants and boots were covered in bits of grass, ferns, and various bits of ground cover, my ears were ringing from the motor revving, my hands were tingling, my arms were tired, and my allergies were on full alert. I cleaned the gear, returned it to the shed, and went home, a tired, but satisfied man.

I'm sure that by now, a month later, it's grown back to cover a lot of what I've trimmed. I need to get back out soon. Maybe this time, I can actually hike instead of just weed.

Classes

I'm a student again! I registered for two classes for fall semester. First: Geography 110: Introduction to Maps and Mapping. I should enjoy that class thoroughly. Second, Intermediate Rock Climbing. Enjoying this one isn't even a question, it's a matter of how disturbingly happy it'll be for me, especially since I don't have to pay any tuition for them.

On the downside: My time is no longer my own. Now I have to balance work, church, wife, and classes. Meh. Not fun.

I'm still getting caught up!

Okay, okay. I haven't posted anything in almost a month; my records show it too. One person is faithfully checking every day. I love you, Mom! Anyway, here's the link to my Utah pictures on Flickr, and here's the address, for the hyperlink-challenged: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7249600@N03/

I don't have pictures from my week of sailing with my Crew, yet, but I'll edit this post when I do. It should suffice to say that we had absolutely great weather: partly cloudy most day, but good skies, good winds, and good seas.

Work has been hectic. We're moving around a lot of faculty, and replacing and upgrading a lot of computers. I'm also working on doing so significant upgrades to our computer room infrastructure, and our directory service.

We've also been going to the doctor a lot. Luckily, I have lots of sick time to use, so I do.

Girls Camp

So we got in from SLC at about 2:30 am, which left me with about 3 hours of sleep before girls camp. We started off doing COPE the first part of the morning, before we drove 6 hours to West Virginia. Between the 24 girls and 5 leaders, we counted over 200 ticks. Pretty gross, huh!! I was really impressed with one of our girls, Laura who has a mild case of cerebral palsy. She did all of the high elements, as well of all of the team events without complaint. And even though it was hard for her, she never gave up.

Anyways, we rafted the New River, which was awesome. The weather was perfect, the rapids were running at a great level. We even conspired together to push the bishop out of the raft, which we succeeded. The girls then pushed me out, but hey, what can you do!

I am really amazed at the youth in our stake, especially in our ward. These girls are awesome. Some of these girls come from challenging home lives and yet they are so strong in the gospel. They strive to do what is right and I was really humbled by them.

On the way home, I definitely drove more on the road than at the beginning, for which I am sure that the girls were extremely grateful. It was definitely an awesome experience, after which I was extremely dead to the world. Life is great in the fast lane!

Utah Fun

So, I'm a little behind in posting info but better late than never I say. Anyways, Utah was a lot of fun and very busy. It was great seeing the fam and Dena B, although I guess she's not really Dena B. anymore. Pics are still on the camera at Joe's work but I really will try and post pictures later. I decided to input a picture of Cocoa since she had to miss the fun. I will reinsert real pictures later!! We got in around noon on Thursday. We ate lunch with my parents who were in town for a couple of hours and then we were able to spend some time with Dena and Steve. The boys went rock climbing and the girls had a "girl talk!" It was awesome. Of course, this was really just a manipulative ploy on mine and Dena's part-get the boys to bond so Steve will want to move out to VA for school!! Shoot-now the secrets out!

Anyways, the rest of the weekend was spent mostly with family, which was awesome as well. Emily really glowed. We got a chance to spend time with Ben and Shannon, which was nice since we haven't seen them since their wedding. Joe really does have an awesome family! Mine is pretty cool as well, of course. Coming back, our flight got delayed by about 2 1/2 hours so we didn't get home until almost 2:30am, and then it was off to girl's camp.

June Utah Trip

Tomorrow morning we leave for Utah. We'll get back at 12:05(?)AM Tuesday morning. I may post some updates before then, as I'm planning on bringing a laptop with me to keep up to date for work, but I may not have much time; the schedule below demonstrates the crunch:

• Pick up family members from the airport,
• Go to the temple either Thursday or Saturday,
  
• visit with Dena and Steve,
  
• climb with Dena and Steve,
  
• Play games and have fun with my family,
  
• Have fun/visit with Tracy's family,
  
• go to the dinner the night before the wedding,
• deal with "family of the bride"-type wedding preparation
  
• go to the wedding,
• go climbing with Steve Saturday morning before the wedding - maybe,
• deliver family members to airport,
• church on Sunday,
• dinner on Sunday with one of three or four possible groups,
• take lots of pictures,
  
• find package stupid insurance-company-sponsored internet pharmacy mails to Tracy's parent's address in Utah, and keep it cold until we get back to VA,
• anything I forgot.

As you can see, I'm going to be busy. Very, very, very busy.

Web page sillyness.

I just thought I'd say hi to all 39 people who've visited this blog since it's inception. Okay, it's not exactly 39 people, it's 39 computers! Since we've started I've been running Google Analytics on here. It's a really handy piece of software that tells me all sorts of details about who's accessing the site, when, what posts they're looking at, what web site they're coming from, what browser and OS they're using, and where they are. By the way, Mom, you appear to come from Steven's Point. I guess your ISP routes through there. Oh yeah, I've also got one hit from New Hampshire. I'm guessing Preston's family found this, too.

Dena, your website produces about 30 percent of all the views for the site. Interesting, no?


I know, I'm probably the ONLY person on Earth who cares about this, but it's a really cool tool; it lets me know what people care about on our site, and it lets me know when people hit our site, and which family members are reading our site. Google Analytics also includes 'campaigns', so you set goals for your site (hits, unique visitors, visitor loyalty, that sort of thing), and it lets you know when you reach them. Frankly, it's a really good tool that anyone who's serious about their website should be running.

This whole thing also makes me think about having a family blog instead of a family newsletter. All I'd have to do is make a blog with the whole family as contributors. I can see that part of the family is already reading the blog. I've got a hit from Tennessee that I assume is Ben or Shannon, and lots of hits from Utah that I can't entirely classify, but I don't think it's my sisters, because they aren't from Provo.

Oh, and in case anyone cares/wants, we have an RSS feed going from the main page, too. It's too handy not to have.

Piano Recital

So, my piano recital was Saturday, the 9th of June. It was the most nerve racking experience of my life. Sorry Dena, Joe couldn't find the camera and didn't take pictures!! :0) I'm sure we can take some fake ones and post them though.

Anyways, the recital started out fine until it was my turn. I was shakind so bad!! I played Sweet Hour of Prayer and Little Brow Jug. When I started the first song, I messed up and my mind went completely blank. So I ended up skipping the entire middle of the song and just played the beginning and end. Little Brown Jug went ok, but I didn't do the last part of the song because I was shaking so bad I could barely play the song. I thought it would be better to finish before my nerves got the best of me.

On the bright side, Joe got me some really cool flip flops for moral support. (I will post a picture later!) I also almost conquered my fears and hopefully I will never have to do a recital again!! :0) I did get a pretty cool Bach figurine and I must say, Bach was pretty ugly!!! He was definitely not an attractive person, but at least he had his music going for him!! :)

Anyways, life is awesome in the fast lane!!

P.S. I do know how to tie that stupid knot!!

Climbing Gym Madness

Last night Tracy and I went out to SportRock, in Sterling, VA. It took us a little while to get started, as we had to pass a belay test before we could start belaying each other, and Tracy couldn't remember how to tie a in-line figure eight knot, or set up a belay.... (She's gonna argue that point when she sees this.) Eventually she re-learned all this stuff and we passed the test and started climbing. The first route we tried was a 5.8, and it was one of the tallest routes in the gym. For the record, the hardest route I've completed on real rock is a 5.4, but the location is notorious for sandbagging difficulty.

The route was.. well, err, okay, I'll say it. Tracy couldn't finish it. She got just below the halfway mark the first time and peeled off. The second time, she got up about the same, and then her third try, she got up above the halfway mark, and her arms gave out. I lowered her back down.

I, well, I made it on my first try. I have pretty much zero technique, though, so I relied on my arms waaay too much, but I finished the route. Once done, Tracy grudginly lowered me, but she hung me in the air for about 6 seconds waiting to start. I'm sure it was petty jealousy of my 'mad skilz'. We did another two routes and a few bouldering problems on their wall before we left, about 10:00 PM. We were both wiped, and my arms are still a little tired. At least today we got to just relax by the pool and swim for a few hours.

Old Rag Mountain

Memorial Day Saturday we hiked Old Rag Mountain. Along with us came every youth from our church who wanted to come, and a few who were probably just pressured into it by their peers.



It was a hot, hazy day, typical of Virginia summers. The good side was no worries about needing to bring a jacket in case of rain or cold, the downside was the sweat. I brought a gallon of water in the form of two nalgene bottles and a 2 liter hydration system in my pack, which also included the first aid kit, (which we thankfully didn't need, except for a blister), lunch, and some snacks ( another nalgene of gorp, some jerky, red vines [red licorice], and a box of Good and Plenty). When we reached the summit, I had half a nalgene of water left. (I had given almost a liter out to others who didn't bring enough, like Tracy.)

The signature part of Old Rag is the fact that the summit is mainly bare rocks. The trail goes around, between, over, and underneath boulders and slabs. Most of the other mountains out here have limited views because they're just the top of a tree. Old Rag doesn't do that; it pumps out huge views the entire last mile before the summit. The payment for that, however, is the work getting over the rocks. The pictures won't show the hardest parts because, well, we needed both hands to get through them.

Crazy dog

So this is my crazy dog. I included the puppy picture so you can clearly see why I was so easily fooled when the adoption place assured me she was cat!! :) Don't worry, it only took us a month to figure out what she really was, a minature bear cub!! Man, were we fooled!!

P.S. I included a picture of Joe and I so you could see the family resemblance!!

Insomnia Thoughts

So, I totally can't fall asleep. My mind just keeps racing with all these crazy thoughts. Since I don't keep a journal, I figure I should write it down in the blog. (We had a lesson in YW about keeping a journal, and I plan on repenting and starting one on Sunday. Until then, the blog will have to do.)

So earlier today a thought crossed my mind. (Don't worry, I have more than one.) I was thinking why is it that I have total faith in the medical miracles of today, but it is so hard to have complete faith in God, or you forget to completely rely on God. I mean if a doctor says that I can have a test tube baby, I believe him and that it will happen just as he says. Do I really believe that God can give us a baby without modern technologies? The answer is heck, yes, but sometimes I wonder if my heart really believes that. (Usually, that's on my really down days.) Why can it be so much easier to trust science? I suppose some would say,"Well, science is backed up with facts." Yet, so is God. How can you not look at the world around you and not see God. When you read the scriptures or see a beautiful sunset, don't I feel God. And yet, it seems easier to forget these experiences. I think that maybe science doesn't care about what's right or wrong for you, but God does and that's the difference.In my head, I know that God can make anything happen, as long as its according to his will. That's the real kicker and the hard thing for me to remember-"according to his will." Yikes!! Through everything we've been going through, I have realized and remembered some important things. You really put your life in God's hands. Without Him, you are nothing and will get lost. While His vision can span the eternities, yours is limited to only the present. Who am I to question God, who is all knowing, all encompassing, and all loving. Everything happens for a reason and with every trial; there is a lesson to be learned to help enrich and perfect your life. I have also learned that men generally don't show emotion as much as girls, and just because they don't show it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't there!

So then I start thinking about what lesson I can learn from having such a hard time having a child? And the thoughts of learning patience and great gratitude that we can even have a child. I think that not a moment would pass by, whether they are acting up or simply driving me crazy that I could not thank God for the blessing of having a child in my life. Then I start to wonder if this means we are going to have really rotten kids because I truly believe you learn these life lessons for a reason! :0)

Another thought that crossed my mind is why is it that when we go through hard times, one of the first thoughts that come to mind is what am I doing wrong. Why is it so easy to forget that one of the main purposes in life is to be tried. Why are we above the Savior, who suffered everything for us so that we can return to our Heavenly Father and be happy. I want to try and get to the point where when a trial comes my way, I'm more of a bring it on attitude instead of a why me attitude.

I also realized that I need to learn to like vegetables. Its getting pretty bad. I've been told that it starts going downhill wants you hit 30 so I figure I have about 6 months to start liking veggies!

Having fun with Cub Scouts

Last weekend, I was in theoretically in charge of the COPE section playing games with Cub Scouts at the Cub Jamboree at Camp Snyder. for those of you who don't know what COPE is, look here, here, and here. The whole day was pretty fun; Tracy's observations on the group sanity of 7-10 year olds are pretty accurate.
One of my personal highlights of the day was about 3:00(maybe?) when I was looking at a rope we were using and I thought "Hey, we could tie this around those two trees and make a slackline out of it!" Well, we kind of did. I got one of the other instructors to help me, and we moved it to the trees and started tying one end. We did a bowline on one end and a trucker's hitch on the other, with a tautline hitch to secure it. Anyone who actually knows what slacklining is may tell me that it wasn't a slackline , it was a tightrope. Well, it's only a foot off the ground anyway, and besides, it gets worse:

The rope wasn't exactly a normal rope. It was a mooring hawser. A 5 inch mooring hawser. For the uninitiated, that means we used a very big, very heavy rope, used to tie ships to piers, instead of a normal climbing rope that's about 10 mm - under 1/2 inch, or climbing webbing that's flat and 1 inch wide. Yep. It was a huge hit; we had kids want to 'walk on the rope' for the next hour, and we had fun too.

10 year old boys

So Joe and I did COPE yesterday for Cub Scouts, which means we played games all day. It was a lot of fun. I can't get over how tiny these kids were. They seriously looked like baby midgets. It was really cute! I think it was also a good form of birth control. I am definitely only having girls! :)

Or if we have a boy, there should only be one and he can't have any friends that are boys!! For instance, we were finishing up a game and they just started rolling around on the ground and screaming. Maybe they thought they were rolly pollies or something. Just kidding. They were a lot of fun for the most part.

Merry Christmas!!

Goals

Recently I noticed that I have a problem with my hobbies. I have several hobbies with a lot of I'll do this next, but no medium-to-long term goals in any of them to provide direction. Let's take a look at a few of my hobbies and the goals for each:

• Firearms: Maybe get a Virginia Concealed Carry Permit, and buy either an M1 Carbine, SVT40, or a Hakim.
• Whitewater: Learn to roll my kayak; buy a tandem inflatable kayak for us to use together.
• Climbing: Be able to climb 5.9 routes.

Looking at this list I see three fairly expensive hobbies and goals that I'm not going anywhere with. All three of these have possible longer-term goals, though. I just haven't done anything with them:

• Firearms: Become competitive in a target league, either rifle or pistol.
• Whitewater: Improve to the point where I can safely handle a class IV river (like the New, or the Potomac below Great Falls.)
• Climbing: Learn Sport and/or Trad climbing, and eventually, climb a multi-pitch route.
  

I also thought up another goal when I was thinking along this line, but it's not exactly legal, and is still a short-term goal: Get a copy of the Harry Potter book 7, pre-release. Of course, I couldn't tell anyone I had done it, because I don't even want to think about the legal problems I'd get into, and it would have to be done before the release date in July, anyway.

So, Harry Potter is axed as a goal. I still think it'd be fun.

Let's check my other hobbies: Shooting, hmm, All the target leagues around here shoot at ranges where I'd have to either join the club that they're at, and they meet at awkward times for me. Nah. Whitewater, well, I'm going to keep working on it, but it takes a lot of time on the water, and time is my shortest commodity right now, so that'll go on hold. Climbing, I have a lot of the gear I need, I know people who will teach me for, like, free, and there's actually a good chunk of decent climbing nearby. cool. I think I've found a goal!

so, by the end of this year, I want to lead climb. By the end of next year, I want to do a true multi-pitch route. Well, we'll see how it goes.

Aloha

My nephew, Simon's birthday was yesterday. He just turned three. He spent most of the day in the hospital where the surgeons had to operate on his eye. Apparently, my little niece was swinging a dog leash around, and the metal part struck his eye. The surgeon had to get out the pieces of metal in his eye, and stitch up the tear from his cornea to his iris. He has to have another surgery in a couple of weeks to make repairs to his retina. The doctors are unsure at this time what is going to happen to his vision,but time will tell. Please keep him in your prayers.

Life is pretty much going as usual. We had stake conference today and Elder Scott was there. He told us that the secret to waking up with a smile is to put a coat hanger in your mouth before going to bed. I decided to try and get Joe to try it. We'll keep you posted on the success!!! :0)

Joe and Tracy's blog

New, by popular demand! No, really, I mean it.
One of Tracy's friends asked her to keep a blog so she can a) see pictures of us, and b) hear my side of things (I think). I decided to just make it myself and add Tracy as an author. That way I can point my family to this, and even edit Tracy's posts.


Dena, this pic's for you.