How We Met

A missionary in my little brother Mr. Pibb's ward was selling his bike and Mr. Pibb was interested in getting one to ride around town with Mrs. Pibb. I was in town visiting, so I went with Mr. Pibb to check out the bike. It was a nice 2004 Trek 4300 so I gave Pibb the nod to indicate it was a fair deal for a good bike. I had mentioned earlier the features I wanted when it came time to upgrade from my current bike, "The B-2." The Trek had some of those features so on the way home, much to my surprise, he offered to trade. We worked out a deal so that essentially I bought the missionary's bike and Mr. Pibb is buying The B-2 from me.

The hard part wasn't deciding if I wanted to buy the Trek. The hardest part was deciding if I really wanted to let go of The B-2. I had never planned on getting rid of her. If I got a new bike I would keep The B-2 and dedicate each bike for a different purpose: one for the road, one for the dirt. But this deal works out well for everybody.

The sad part is that I won’t actually have possession of the Trek for about a month. I didn’t want to take it home with me and leave Mr. Pibb without any bike. Especially since one is most likely to be motivated to ride immediately after getting a bike and there is only about a month of ridable weather left before winter hits. So he can ride around town on the Trek and I’ll finish the season on The B-2, then we’ll trade bikes next time we see each other. Then I'll start off next year with a new ride! YAAAAAY!

- A side note about one of my quirks: As many of you know, I’m a bit of a shade-tree bike mechanic. In fact if you know me at all and you own a bike, chances are I’ve worked on your bike at some point. I can’t stand to see a bike in a state of disrepair.

This isn’t just a hobby; it’s a borderline OCD. (I’ve stopped to fix poorly assembled bikes on display at the department store.) When we were looking at this missionary’s bike I paused to admire his companion’s Specialized. He didn’t even know it, but his bike was in horrible shape. Not just in need of a tune up, but actually unsafe to ride. I nearly cried at the sight of such a gorgeous bike in such horrible need of attention, so I flipped it over and started working. I’m not sure how much time passed … I guess an hour or two, but I could not pull myself away until it was safe and functional again.

New Girlfriend

Two and a half years is a long time to be together. During that time we had some really good times that I will always remember and cherish. But there were also some not so good times when it seemed like a constant uphill battle, or when things broke down all together.

Then suddenly everything changes in a single day.

It was a difficult decision, but I think it's now time for me to move on. I've found a new companion.

I must confess, I admired her at first sight, but she was supposedly spoken for by another guy. But what can I say; things worked out in my favor and now she's all mine. I can't disclose her name yet, but let me try to describe her. She's sporty, petite, and girl-next-door-beautiful.

Click here to see a picture of her! (Yes, it's safe to click.)

I'm so excited!

Me Tarzan

I spent the entire weekend helping my friends re-roof their house. Saturday night when the sun went down, we put up flood lights and worked until midnight. With much more work to do and rain in the forecast, we continued working through Sunday. Or rather, we "attended the Shingles Ward." The Lord was kind enough to hold off the rain until we were done.

Here I am taking a break to have a little fun.

Something New Hidden In Something Old.

One of my all-time favorite songs is The Great Debate by Dream Theater (Disc 1, Track #4 from their 2002 album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.) It’s 13.75 minutes of Grade A 100% pure concentrated AWESOME!

I’ve had this CD for 6 years and I’ve listened to this song hundreds of times. I eventually gave up studying each individual part, trying to figure out the timing to its complex polyrhythms and changing time signatures, and I learned to just sit back and enjoy it as a whole. But last night in the car without even trying I discovered something I’ve never heard before, and that makes me extremely excited.

It’s nothing huge. At 9:58 during the transition from the keyboard solo to the guitar solo, the drummer clicks his sticks together a few times. (Quarter notes in 6/8 I believe, but then it switches (again) to 4/4 for the guitar solo. The real prog geeks out there can correct me if I’m wrong, and I know they will. They are prog geeks after all.)

That’s it. In a complex blizzard of notes I found about 8 clicks that I had never noticed before and that made me giggle like a little girl and rewind the CD to hear it again about 3 times. That’s just how I am.

In other news: Dream Theater entered the studio this week to begin writing/recording their 10th album.

1-2-3 Punch!

There’s a new 3-hole punch over by the copy machine. It’s beautiful, all shiny and new. It’s many chrome pieces sparkle in the florescent light. I’ve never once needed to use a 3-hole punch the entire time I’ve worked here, but this bad boy seems to call out to me saying, “Hey! … Let’s punch holes in stuff.”

I could watch all the pieces move in concert with each other in a living testament to mechanical engineering as I am able to effortlessly punch perfect little holes through anything I choose.

The GBC Hummer Heavy Duty 3 Hole Punch:
Buy one! It’s shiny!

Even More Camping Photos

I know I promised these a long time ago. Sorry, I don't have time to tell all the stories to go with them.

See story from Day 2: There Will Be Mud.

Me, Big Rig, Pistachio, Steep (driving)

Look Ma! I'm Superman!


Even Superman gets sleepy.


See story from Day 3 and Caleep's notorious line about looking first.

Maybe it's a good thing the tree stopped the jeep.


Oops. That's probably not good.

J-9 is a ROCKSTAR! I like her shirt.
"PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD"

(Girl kicks guy's butt.)