Boulder

I've been in Boulder a couple of weeks now. Spent a few days of that in Denver and then about a week going to and in Palm Desert, California for a Peak Potentials financial seminar. So I'm just now getting settled into Boulder. I got a new bank account at US Bank (first ever non-Iowa State Bank account I've had). Yesterday I did a spin class at a local gym and did some track time at the brand new velodrome, www.boulderindoorcycling.com. Very cool.

Disaster Strikes

So there I was finishing up a 60 mile ride in which my headwind died right about the time I started to make my way back (naturally). I had been cruising through the Loess Hills Southeast of Sioux City on my Pilot 5.0, jamming out to some Brandi Carlile, when I saw something that nearly broke my heart. There, in the other lane, was a squirrel that apparently had been involved in an "accident" moments earlier. Its hind legs were bloodied and useless. It was using what was undoubtedly its last bits of energy and its last breathes here on earth to senselessly drag itself off the road to safety. I now know what it must feel like to see the ravages of war. (Note to actual war veterans: I'm kidding about that part.) I wanted to help it, put it out of its misery, anything...but I chose not to intervene. Maybe I'm just a softie.

Mad Bike Skills

If this doesn't make your jaw drop, I don't know what will.

And another one of my heroes

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jgMnT9RtcjI5QlHigimnkDoXDqIAD92I9P900

Feminazis of Columbia

This guy makes me proud:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/08/18/2008-08-18_feminist_columbia_demonizes_men_lawsuit_-2.html

Gas Saver

Here's a really cool webpage if you are thinking of trading for a more fuel efficient car. Just put in a bit of info and it shows how many months you need til you break even.

http://www.edmunds.com/calculators/gas-guzzler.html?mktcat=yahoo-homepage-marketplace&kw=ym+display+yahoo+homepage+gasguzzler&mktid=ym50703716

Mowing

Well, where do I start. My aunt broke her arm two weeks ago when she fell of the deck. The doctor said she "dusted it" which means there's nothing to put back in the joint. Well, she had a surgery and now I'm mowing their lawn. I don't mind - they live 22 miles away so it makes for a good bike ride. Except for the second time I went over there I decided to take a longer way there (of about 50 miles). I didn't take into account that the gravel roads get much looser and harder to ride on when it hasn't been rainy. Actually I just didn't know that (I'm not a very good country boy). Anyways, I got there and was completely wiped out. I need to do some more training though before Saturday which is a 100 miler at Okoboji.

I forgot to feed my cat last night. I have a habit of feeding him before bed so that he will let me sleep at night. It used to be that he would follow me around for a couple of hours before bedtime reminding me that I need to feed him. Well he hasn't been doing that lately. He woke me up a couple of times in the night including once when he bit me on the knuckle. For some reason it didn't register to me that he needed food until morning.

I went to GNC last week and got a "greens super food" powdered drink. It's a bit spendy but I would recommend it. I feel like my energy has been up.

Sunday I went "geocaching" for the first time here around Sioux Center. If you don't know what that is, it's basically like a scavenger hunt using your GPS. When you find the hidden item, you either just sign your name in a rolled up piece of paper inside of something like a pill box or you can trade items if the canister is larger. It is fun, but it should be done with two people so that you look slightly less suspicious. I'm sure it's way better in the woods as most of the spots here were near other people (at a park or next to a road). I don't need anyone calling the cops on me about "suspicious behavior."

Vice

So I watched Miami Vice on my computer yesterday. ALSO has the a scene with the Iguazu Falls in it. Crazy.

Nothing else to terribly exciting around here except that we have a new toy for Mosey in the house. I must say, it's pretty fun watching an obese cat chase around the dot from a laser pointer.

Indiana

So, I saw the Indy movie tonigth even though I knew it was gonna suck after my brother's reaction. I still went. How dumb is that? Well, the one cool part is that when they go over the third waterfall in the movie, it is actually Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina. I was just there in March - it's hard to mistake the "Diablo" which is the one they go over in the movie and the highlight of a whole bunch of them.

Cowboys and Indians

I went to the Cherokee County Rodeo last night with my cousin Amber. We knew there was a strong chance of bad weather, but we decided to go anyways. Now, I know I've been to these rodeo years ago as a kid, but the one thing I didn't remember was that it was outdoors. Also, it's much much smaller. Rodeo must not attract the following that it used to. Well, it started to rain just after the national anthem, but I had an umbrella in the car, so no big deal. Except when the wind got too bad that it kept blowing the piece of junk inside-out. Then we wrapped up in a blanket. Finally it was so windy we left. Then the rain REALLY came down, so we waited out the worst in a gas station parking lot. Good news from the trip: Amber saw her first rodeo and I'm averaging 21.5 mpg for this tank of gas. Not bad for the ole Jimmy.

In other news, I've confirmed this morning that I have chiggers from a camping trip two weeks ago with the Dorhouts. I thought it was poison ivy, since I'm quite susceptible to that, but it isn't. I'll take this over poison ivy any day.

Pretty uneventful week so far. Had pizza with some relatives on Monday night. Went for an hour bike ride to Sandy Hollow afterwards in the dark (brought my light). I put some slick tires on my road bike (may have mentioned that already) and I love it that way.

I've been listening to "The Sales Bible" that I downloaded from audible in anticipation of the sales position I'm looking for. I might as well know something about this stuff before I start.

Ooops

Oops, missed a couple of days there. Well, it's been a busy weekend so far. I went for a bike ride on some of the gravels around SC Thursday. It was so windy that while going into the cross wind I thought it was gonna take my tire off the gravel. I usually ride into the wind first so that by the time I am tired and want to quit, I can just blow home. It doesn't always work, but did this time. I also rode around the town of Maurice which took all of about 5 minutes. I think I would like to live there if I was gonna stay around. It's just soooo quiet. You couldn't get that kind of a quiet in the suburbs no matter what cul-de-sac you were on. Also, bro and his wife have been here since Thursday. Friday was mom's birthday and we had some family pictures taken. Mom and I went out for coffee in the afternoon and then the family went out to Touch of Europe in Sioux Falls. Good food, but dad was sick the next day for some unexplainable reason. We had a combo birthday party for mom and dad last night (Saturday night) without dad and at my aunt and uncle's house to contain the sickness. Today I played some one-on-one b-ball with Joel. I beat him H to H-O-R-S-E in our warm up, but then went on to lose to him 16-14 and 15-13. I'm pretty sure we'll both have blistered feet tomorrow. Tonight, we had a nice night of smokies and pie-iron food (or tonka toasters to some) around the fire.

Grads and Gigs

I thought I'd give it a title like Joel always does for his.

The 8th grade graduation last night was fun. Met one of my old classmates there that is now the wife of the pricipal at that grade school. The highlight of the night was having a foot race with cousin Randy across the school yard. The goal was to touch a building first about 200 yards away. I slowed down a bit at the end so I wouldn't smack the building, so Randy will tell you we tied, but he knows I won. It good to know that I can beat a seventh grader wearing heelies. :D

I had a phone interview this morning for a sales engineering position with a small (personnel wise) company that does dry solids handling. I won't say too much, but it sounds like what I would want and I think I'll be going down there shortly to see the office.

Bad Connection

I've decided to try to post on here every day. Even if I have nothing terribly exciting to write about. I'm blogging on my own computer at my aunt and uncle's house even though there computer doesn't have internet. That is actually why I'm here. I figure I'd blog every time the computer has to restart or install updates, etc. while I try to get it going again.

If I get this taken care of on time, I'm gonna hunt rabbits a while too. I have some new .22 shotshells that I'd like to try out. I'm guessing you'd have to be close range to get a kill with these.

Tonight, I'm off to a cousin's 8th grade grad party. I haven't seen the aunts and uncles on dad's side in a long time so that will be good.

Lightspeed

I was feeling a bit on edge last night so I decided to take my road bike out to the golf course and back. It's just a 8.5 mile round trip and since I'm not really used to such short rides (only had an hour of daylight left) I decided to make it count. I wanted to see what I could do for an average speed over that distance. I ended up with a 19.2 mph average which I was quite happy with (hoping for at least 18). It wasn't super-human by any means but the intensity was the best part about it. I will bring back more intesity to my riding.