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.