Blog redo/Lance A.

Tour de France is pretty much the only thing on our TV lately. I watched it a bit last year cause Nick is all into it. At first it was like watching paint dry... then you learn a guy's name and you root for him and *BAM* get hooked. It started this year and I was stoked for it. I have never been huge into cycling but ever since Lance announced his comeback - rock on! That guy is pretty much amazing!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I can easily get really big into something: hence the blog redo.

I watched stage 5 this morning and with all the crashes, rain, mountains and blood these guys are awesome. When they do down, they get back on and finish - just like I have when I have crashed.
PS: I went for an easy/enduring ride the other day and all successes with clipping out.

So with all the Lance hype, I decided to look at all the cool stuff on the web concerning him and his team and cause. It's pretty cool.

livestrong.org
livestrong.com
Team Astana

RoAd tRiP !i!i!

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Tomorrow Nick and I are heading east to Denver, CO to meet up with his sister and friends at a Rockies game. They are playing the Braves! Two teams I've not seen yet... scratch that - seen the Rockies, but haven't been to Coors Field. Then we are heading down south to Colorado Springs for some fun on the incline and then...... more fun doing something else!

Family History

A few days ago, I read my grandpa's personal history for the first time. I've had it for about 4 years now, but have never had a desire to read it. I know what kind of person he was. I know what he did, said, thought and how he acted. I didn't need to read it.

He died on July 2 - 4 years ago, and I've just been thinking about how he has changed though my eyes in the past 4 years, and it's been for the better. I've had dreams and thoughts and He's been getting better.

While he was on this earth, many people viewed him as a great great man with outstanding accomplishments. He was a C130 pilot in the Air Force for 20+ years. He was a high school teacher, councilor, football coach, traveled around the world, was active in church and loved numbers, big money saver, loved horses. He did in fact live a full life.

In my eyes, those things listed above are all great things. There were times though were he wasn't so great. At all. He wasn't afraid to tell you what he thought, hurtful or not. He lacked compassion for the people close to him and didn't want to get hurt. He was very controlling. He didn't seem to want to fix relationships, rather he would slam them into the ground. He personally told me some things about close family members that I will never forget and how he could say those things was beyond me!

When he died, I wasn't sad to see him go. I knew it would be hard for my grandma, because he did everything.

In reading his personal history, I learned a lot. He didn't think he had what it took to become a pilot. That was a shock to me. I guess I figured he was the kind of guy that always knew what he wanted and got it. It was neat to read about some of his war experiences flying during Vietnam and the places he traveled to.

He did have his favorite things/people. He raved about them, and not much else. I guess it does make scene to talk about the things you like. I was disappointed to not read about more of his family. It's not really a surprise though.

I am bitter when it comes to my grandpa's life and my grandma's. Once my grandpa died, my grandma changed.

She and I used to hang out. We would have 6-8 hour phone conversations every weekend. I would go visit them in Washington and we'd go to Walmart, I'd tell her to look old so we could get a wheel chair and take turns pushing each other. We'd listen to Elvis and sit out on the back pouch. We'd bake. We'd go shopping. In Panaca, she would drive us to my house and not ever push on the gas pedal, so we would go like 2 miles an hour. We'd play jacks with rocks and a golf ball. We had a lot of fun.

There were a lot of cats that came out of the bag once she was alone. My relationship with her began it's ending one Sunday morning in 2006. It was over something dumb. A few months later, we got into a large argument about attitudes and that Sunday morning. We talked about 2 more times in 2007 and now nothing. I heard that she has got remarried and is very happy. I don't really have a desire to talk to her. I fell that there would a be a ton of tension if we were ever in the same room.

I have been so bothered by all this stuff for the past few days, that I had to write about and get it out.

Like I said before, my outlook on my grandpa has changed over the past 4 years through dreams and thoughts. I know that he is hanging around and I know that he now cares.

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I have thus had a desire to want to work on my family history projects again. We have all the dates, names and places - but I want the personal histories. I want to know all I can about my past. Personalities, body shapes and features are carried on. I have a collection of photos and info already in Reno that I need to add to. Living here in Salt Lake - the core of family history - I should probably do something about mine.

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My family is far from perfect. I wish we could all be in the same room and not have grudges or jealousy thoughts. I wish we could all just get along and like each other for who we each are. Maybe we should have a family reunion or something. It's been years since we were all together for a happy cause.

Grilling: The one that got away

Over the weekend I wanted to grill some chicken and some hamburgers. No one was home. I had to take matters into my own hands. I found the charcoal and lighter fluid. I then proceeded to read the directions.

During my reading, Anthony called to ask me something and so I asked him how to start the grill. He said something like put the charcoal in the grill, pour lighter fluid on and light it up. He did mention to make sure the wind isn't blowing. (A few weeks ago he lost some hair.)

So I put the charcoal in the grill and put a little lighter fluid on and let it sit while I went to go get the matches. I lit a few matches and nothing. I called my dad.

He said the pyramid the charcoal and pour the lighter fluid on for like 5-10 seconds and start it on fire fast. Huh... ok

So I did it and it all worked.

That was on Thursday or Friday with chicken. On Sunday, I wanted some hamburgers and the whole process went smooth. As I was flipping a yummy burger, it totally fell through the grill and devastated me. I felt so helpless.



None the less, things were ok.

Healthier

I have officially converted to egg beaters, healthy bologna, cheese, popcorn, snack bars, crackers, cookies, cereal, splenda and bread in addition to already eating veggies and fruit, a balanced dinner. Mostly in the right portions. It doesn't taste like the regular food, but you get used to it and once you tell yourself it's all for the better, you soon learn to like it. On occaision, I do bust out a 2 in a pack peantbutter cups, I have one and Nick has one.

When buying food, look at the calories, fat, sugar and salt. Get the lowest numbers.

Eating out isn't really an option. I have cut out fast food (and if I HAVE TO, I have a jr bacon cheese burger from Wendy's). The thought of it is disgusting, especially after seeing Super Size Me. If we do eat out, it's to Chipotle, a fresh mex/food and once every few months, 5 Guys.

Eating healthy is more expensive than eating unhealthy. You'd think if there is less fat (=flavor) in something that it would cost less... not so much.

Nick hit his goal weight, I am 3 pounds closer to mine (still have about 10+ to go) my parents are both about 5 pounds each closer to theirs.

If you're not into exercising very much and want to lose some pounds, just change your eating. There are internet sites where you can put in your height/weight, that tell you about what you should weigh and how many calories you should be taking in to accomplish that weight.

Exercise is important though. I've started converting to better food about 3 weeks ago and am slowly getting more and more healthy food. Its interesting.

Projects

I've recently been working on redesigning the Wasatch Speed Skating website and accessories. By accessories, I mean these:


cute little business sized handout cards. All the race posters that I make this season will match, but I think I'll use different skaters. Anyways, these cards just arrived in the mail today from my new favorite printing place: WHCC They do photos and paper stuff, along with 2 day free shipping = I'm down!

Movie Time

Here is the movie to go with the photo a few posts back.



...they lined up alright.