Mindy was in UT (with a cool car)!

Mindy was in UT this week - and she's obviously not the type that will settle for a beige Chevy Malibu - oh no - she's the convertible Mustang type. I had lunch with her yesterday so I decided that I would snap a picture of the car she's sporting around in. I'm blue with envy.

Another Weekend - Another Adventure

Another work-less Friday came and after great consideration on what to do - we decided that it was time for water skiing! We went to Pineview Reservoir "the dam". Once again - I have a GPS map of our wanderings around the lake! I really love my new toy. The flag in the upper right is where we started water skiing and the dock is on the middle left - so that is the start and end points.

We spent most of the day there, and as you can see, spent most of the time in the same channel. We went over by the dam and David and I jumped of the boat in view of the shooting camera repeatedly until we drifted back into the main channel.

It was a bit choppy so we went and played on the beach for a while before trying to beat the sun to a bit more skiing time.

I'm sure you can gather who went by the pictures...speaking of pictures - Hollie has all of the good pictures on her camera! These ones are just pictures that I took while we were playing in the water over by the beach. So I'll have to post an update when I get them.

Mike's Birthday Weekend - Part II

Saturday - my birthday - we went up to Park City and I wanted to ride the Alpine Slide since I've never done it before. I was also given the recommendation to ride the Zip Line. So we got up there and had a quick lunch before going up to the mountain.

We got in line and rode the ski lift up the mountain. And - according to my GPS - we were at about 7,542 feet in elevation and we started our little windy trip down the mountain at about 2:30:15.

At the top, the ticket lady took our picture for us. We started down the hill. If you look at the satallite view - we rode down on the left track. We reached a maximum speed of 15 mph and averaged about 12 mph. The bottom came in at about 7,034 feet in elevation and I stopped moving at 2:33:57. So it lasted about 3.5 minutes and we dropped around 500 feet.


As I was going down I took a blind over my shoulder picture and got Colette in the picture!

Then we went back for the "ZipRider". I took my video but I haven't had the chance to grab the video off of it yet. So the best that I'll be able to do is give an "artist's rendition" so to speak. I think that my version gives you a better feel for the thrill and excitement of the whole thing. So look for a birthday part III post some time soon.

We got in line for the ski lift at about 2:40 and after a long wait - finally at 4:05:07 after being strapped into our harness at 7556 feet we were released through the gate. We reached a maximum speed of 48 mph and had an average speed of 40 mph. After an exhillarating ride we hit the end at 4:06:01 and landed at 7065 feet.

Mike's Birthday Weekend - Part I

If you haven't noticed by now (then you obviously haven't been reading this blog much) - I'm on a 3-day weekend schedule - and loving it. Since it was my birthday weekend we decided to make the most of it. So Friday we drove up to Bear Lake and rented us a WaveRunner! We could have taken the boat and the truck - but decided that the rental vs. the gas expense on top of the heart ache from towing etc was an equivalent cost. And it was different and sounded fun and it was my birthday. We rented it from the State Park Marina and we set up a beach camp that we didn't spend much time at.

I took the GPS and our camera along for the ride and snapped a couple of pictures and the fun with the GPS came later when we downloaded our path that it traced. The water was a little lower than normal based on our camp coordinates compared to the water level drawn on the map.









The water was probably 75 degrees and it was clear and beautiful! We had the WaveRunner for about 4 hours and had a ton of fun! The beach was crowded but we didn't let that bother us.

MemoryTech

I have un-officially traded services for financial compensation and have called myself MemoryTech. I threw a few ideas off the wall and other people and that's what I decided that I liked for a name. Colette's Great-Aunt Myrtle passed away and her family asked me to make a Memorial Video in celebration of her life. Since this is something that I do - it was no problem. They asked me to bring my card, because there were some in attendance who would like the similiar kind of work done. So I came up with a name to make myself look less home-made-ish. Still home-made none the less.

So I was going to put the money towards my new computer - but a greater need arose - I bought myself a GPS. It's a portable Garmin GPSMap 60CSx. I find myself off of the beaten path quite often between owning a 4-wheeler, Jeep, and a boat in combination to all of the hiking, camping, and exploring one like me enjoys. Although I've never been "lost" I have always wanted one. So you might find future posts that include a coordinate for handy locating purposes.

Demolition Derby

August 9th proved to be quite fun with a trip to the Weber County Fair Demolition Derby. We tried to get a group together but they said they didn't enjoy watching cars crash into each other to the death. "...To the death! No! To the pain! I don't think I'm quite familiar with that phrase? I'll explain, and I'll use small words so that you'll be sure to understand - You warthog-faced-buffoon!..." Sorry, I couldn't stop myself.

Here is us! Cute! Here is a couple of short clips to get an idea of the entertainment that we got. I figure that $10 a person is well worth the entertainment value that you get out of a show like this.

No Comment Necessary

Sometimes a picture is worth more than a thousand words. (8/1/08)

Scuba Diving at Flaming Gorge

July 26: I know, I know... for anyone who's a scuba diver AND been to Flaming Gorge, you may wonder if that is if fact an oxymoron, but yes I did indeed dive at the gorge. It was...well you know, Jeremy may be right - let me explain - I may be becoming a bit spoiled when it comes to Scuba Diving. So let me get back to what it was before I get to what it wasn't. It was cold, it was rocky, it was muddy, and it was...did I say cold yet? So I have been in some of the best (arguably) Scuba Diving waters in the world - including Disney World - and I've dove in the Caribbean as late as January, so this being my very next dive, it wasn't a comparison. Yes, I was able to don my gear and enjoy what could be called Self-Contained Underwater Breathing for a subtotal of about 90 minutes, but there just wasn't anything interesting there. So my official report is that I would love to go back to the gorge and do some more water skiing or maybe even camping again - farther South though - but I doubt that I will even be able to make another blog entry with the same title. I didn't take my underwater camera with me this time, and it's just as well, I wouldn't have taken much of any pictures anyway.

The water was very refreshing at about 70 degrees with the 100+ temp. We didn't go below about 30 feet. And at 30 feet it was about 60 degree water. We wore a full 7mm wet suit with gloves and hoodies where available (I didn't have one and my ears were very numb). Here is the Utah Diving perspective of Flaming Gorge.



The first picture is me and Steve - who is a Dive Instructor all geared up and ready to dive. Here is a self portrait through the boats rear view mirror - that is Chris (captain) and Colette on the left.


I managed to get in a few minutes of skiing on the way back to camp.


Here's another one with me and Chris.

New Look and Feel

What do you think? Colette's sister led me to a site that let's you add cute little stuff like this background, so I decided I would try it out and see what I thought. Not bad, a little busy. What do you think?

The Camping Trip

July 17-20 The Utah conglomerate of the family headed to North-Eastern Utah just inside the Utah border to Stateline Reservoir. We did have a couple of problems over the course of the weekend that might have included tent poles, trailer ball, rain threat at 4:00 a.m. (involved a gun), and millions of flying insects. Although James offered an interesting rendition that's not really how it happened.

We all made it there just fine, and contrary to original belief the Wright's tent poles made it too. You see when you have a big van and a trailer and several kids and food and gear for a week in the wilderness, details like 'where the poles are' are hard to remember. So as the inevitable dread of having no tent, we helped them set up their screen tent. It's a very spacious and nice screen tent - it does lack some privacy though. It also went through a wind burst last year and needed some TLC if you know what I mean (and if you don't it means - Tender Loving Care - you know?...Fragile...?). So as soon as we got the screen tent up held together literally with duct tape, yes you guessed it - the tent poles were found. But too late - the screen tent was staying.





We tried to get in a fair amount of relaxing. The water was cold and a couple of brave souls did actually get in the water and after you overcome the cold factor in about 20 seconds, the water was a lot of fun.




We did see a bit of sun too. I was wearing a bandanna the first day and got a line across my forehead - I had to wear a hat to work the next few days to cover my "tan line". And no, I was not the only one to get burnt. I had it pretty ease actually compared to a couple of other sun worshipers. Here is also a non-formal group picture.



Oh yes - you want the rest of the stories....

more 3-day weekend fun!

We hadn't been out on the 4-wheeler for a while so we decided to go up Farmington Canyon, and we ended going All the way up the canyon. I also didn't bring the tripod, so as you can guess, they are self-portraits, one of the tower and one of the valley view below. I don't think I was smiling.

more 4-day work week + Summer =

2. Go on a trip. aka Go on vacation, go somewhere fun, stay in a hotel, do something unique to the area that you are going, road trip, eat out for every meal. This trip took us to St. George to see Grandma's sister who was about to cross over. Actually we were there over the 4th of July weekend and she passed away on July 10th, so the timing was right on. I went with 5 women and a little girl. That equates to a LOT of patience when it comes to getting ready.... (insert women joke here) We had a lot of fun. It was hot as Hades though. You had to either be in the pool, or taking a shower, or in some state of undress to be somewhat comfortable. The scale was tipping 110 degrees. Way too hot for me. Here's a couple pictures.



I don't think it's possible to smile while taking a self-photo. And one possible side-effect with a water proof camera is that it can make your nose look really big.





We went to Tuacahn on the 4th of July and saw the Sound of Music and they had a nice little fireworks show after that was really pretty cool, because the pops of the fireworks bounced off of all the canyon walls around and around. Good show too! "...The Hills are alive..." You know how it goes, come on sing along "...with the Sound of Music...Ah ah ah Aaaahhhhhh..."

4-day work week + Summer =

Well, as you may know, I have been working a 4-day work week this summer and that has translated into a lot of fun. So here is some of it.

1. To go Boating. aka water skiing aka sitting on the beach aka laying in the sun aka relaxing with your feet up and a drink in your hand. I recommend it. We've mostly gone with Kyle and Shayla this summer.





Self group photo - took a couple of tries, but we got all of us in.

June Weekend at the Cabin

So I was looking at some old pictures from earlier in the summer, and I realized after looking at David's pictures that I am the only one that has any pictures of the boys with guns at the cabin. So I figured that I would add some - because you know what goes well with a group of guys in the great out doors right? Guns! - there were some other things going on too, including 4-wheelers, but I wasn't there long enough to do much else.





How does one tend a whole herd of kids? (Sorry for calling your kids a herd - but what word would you use, a flock, a drove, a crowd, a pack....?) Anyway - I found a way to spend an hour of the kids' afternoon.
And - notice the orange blur in front of Jeremy? That is in fact the clay pigeon that he is throwing and ironically the same thing that David is shooting at. He wasn't aiming for it just yet as you can see. Don't forget - safety first! I think that is an awesome picture if I do say so myself (there is more self praise forthcoming...).



Remember that self praise that I mentioned - well in Jeremy's picture here - that is in fact the 9mm shell ejecting out of my Ruger P89 9mm w/Custom Grip! I think that ejecting shell pictures are cool. James would definately agree with me.



I only have one thing to say about my picture - "You're empty mister!" (name that movie, here's another clue...)

I gave Z the chance to smile - "but he wasn't having any" (another quote from the same movie). He did manage to throw up the peace sign though - which is sort of ironic since we were blowing s--- stuff up at the moment! Don't think that he just sat there the whole time either, he was only sitting down because he was wore out from shooting.



Part of my initial gun enthusiasm came from an English Professor that I had up at Weber State University. So this picture is for all of those individuals (from...OK State, or otherwise) that don't think that your professor would ever be out shooting guns. You can't always judge a gun carrier by their profession. Never judge too quickly. I know of former Bank (sorry Credit Union) employees that own more guns that I do.

Anyway this was basically an impromptu trip up to the cabin and some people stayed several nights and apparently they had a raging bon fire that was catching the wet green grass near on fire because of it's sheer ferocity. Mom also fell out of her chair and there were screaming cameras before there was ever a helping hand. I think there might have even been a picture of the kids - other than the time that they were corralled in a moving trailer.

As always - if you would like an original photo - just ask - and it's yours.