Geocaching Troubles :-/

I was testing out some new features that I'm working on with the Geocache Navigator, so I decided to try to find a cache at Lunch.

For those of you who aren't nerdy enough to know what Geocaching is (Good for you!), this might not make any sense :) For those of you who do, THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

I was trying to find I'll trade ya! and I couldn't find it for the life of me. This is the second cache in two days that I have just not been able to find. I would like to blame the heat, but I don't think that would be fair :)

Here is the rough area of the cache... there are a few good places to hide one

I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be in with the palm trees. The hint was "Van Accessible"... and I think I figured out what that ment :)

but all I found was a bunch of liter. The last cache that I couldn't find was also surrounded by liter. I'm thinking that I didn't find them because there was so much trash around... like I didn't want to sift through all the trash to find the cache :) I really don't remember liter being a problem when geocaching before... Is it getting worse?

More American Than Me

Let me apologize before you even start reading... I'm all over the board on this one. A.D.D. maybe?

So, I was on my way into work today, and I saw this guy working on some landscaping. He caught my eye because of his American bandanna. He probably just got it 50% off after the 4th of July, but it made me think about the recent immigration attention... I don't think that this man is less American than me. He might even be more American than me.

Taken on 48th st South of Guadalupe
July 9th 2007

Now he's not enlisted in the army or anything, he's not risking his life, but he is doing a job for a more competitive rate than the rest of us would be willing to do it for. And while most of us are in a panic about securing our borders to prevent illegal immigration, illegal immigrants are busy doing the work that we feel we're too good to do, or we wouldn't get paid enough to do.

America is a nation, founded on the idea of freedom. This freedom is what we should be looking to protect, not the purity of our nation.

I think that most people (mostly white people) are more worried about the color of the skin that makes up America's population. I think that too many white people are afraid that America will become brown. Here's an idea: if you're so afraid of being outnumbered, STOP KILLING YOUR BABIES.

I think that the mentality that allows people to kill their own children, is in fact the same mentality that creates fear of minority growth. It's this idea that you need to fit into a picture perfect image in order to achieve happiness: One boy, one girl, in a safe, white neighborhood, with a picket fence, and the nicest house on the block.

Not only is this wrong, it's disastrous. Once you step all over people to try to gain this theoretical happiness, and once you have everything on your list, you'll realize that is didn't bring you any happiness was anyway. All you've done is destroy the happiness of others to get there. And once you're there, and still unhappy, you will start to become depressed, questioning the point of life, and consider suicide. which brings up another good idea: STOP KILLING YOURSELVES.

To be honest, I would prefer a world where we embrace a free market... capitalism..., and let the best, and cheapest have the job. If you are afraid that you're job can be done better and cheaper by someone else, than you'd better improve. Don't worry about protecting your cushy job that you are under qualified for, worry about improving, and being all that you can be. and Maybe you'll find happiness along the way.

4th of July 2007

Happy Independance Day!

Today is the fourth of july, and I thought I was being tricky by going up to prescott for a few days. I figured I'd escape the heat a little bit... unfortunatly it is hot even up here. I'm told it's supposed to be about 20 degrees cooler up here. All I know is that if that's true, the people in phoenix are way worse off :)

But whether it's cold, hot, rainy, or dry, I hope that everyone has a nice relaxing independance day. Enjoy your freedom. :-p

Taken at My Parents Condo in Prescott, AZ
July 4, 2007

Humphrey's Peak

Katie pointed out that I was a little late on my post this morning (Thanks for the kick, I appreciate it). I've been annotating the Humphrey's Peak hike me and my dad did this weekend.

Taken on Humphrey's Peak, AZ
June 30, 2007

here is what I have so far:

I hope to have it polished up soon, but I'm distracted by the planning of a Prescott Hike for Katie and I to do tomorrow morning.

Humphrey's peak was pretty cool. It had crowds like you would see in phoenix on trails like squaw peak, or camelback mountain, but it was certainly more difficult. You start at the bottom of the snow bowl ski resort, cross the slope once, and enter the woods. You stay in the woods for miles, and you don't exit it, until you rise above the tree line. The trees of the woods provide great protection from the sun, and from the wind. The ground is very solid, but gentle on your knees.

Once you cross the tree line (at around 11,500 ft) you start to get plenty of views, but you also get a lot of sun, a lot of wind, and very loose rocky ground that makes for much more difficult hiking. around every corner is another false summit, and you constantly feel like you are being tricked. As you rise higher and higher, the air starts to thin. I had a pretty decent time ajusting, but my heart rate did start to rise faster than normal, and it was no uncommon to get a little dizzy from time to time. generally a quick break would cure the symptoms.

Once you get to the top (after about 3,500 ft) you get a view for hundreds of miles. The wind are pretty wild, but there are some rock piles that provide good shelter from it.

Check out the video:


Over all it's a great hike, and If I lived in flagstaff, I would hike it frequently. (at least to the tree line)

Pretty Random: Misc/Knees/Root Canal

Sticking with the idea of posting a photo daily, Here is one for today:

Taken at the office
June 28, 2007

There is nothing interesting about this photo... it's of a fountain in front of the office, because I forgot my camera at the office and couldn't take a photo of anything better :-p I'm really starting to get boring with my photos. I will plan to get much more interesting next week. :-p

The idea of the photo-a-day thing is not really about the photo, it's about forcing a routine. Tricking myself into continuing to write a blog for anyone who happens to be bored enough to read it :)

On another note, I started using the workout room at Al's condo, and I did like 40 minutes on the stair machine, followed by stretches, followed by a lot of leg extensions on a small weight, and today my knees are really feeling a lot better. I'm going to try to do it a little more often and see if the problem goes away. My theory is that your quadriceps have four muscles, and some of those parts don't get isolated in your natural workouts. I'm hoping that if I isolate them in the gym, they will do a better job of holding my knee together the rest of the time. :) I'll keep you posted on the results.

As a follow up to the Root Canal, I have nothing to report... I'm really feeling fine so far. I can't really put a lot of pressure on the tooth yet, but it doesn't hurt if I don't chew on it. So far, so good.

Root Canal

Sorry I'm late on my post this morning... I was at the dentist, and it went a little longer than expected.

In 1998, I had a deep cavity on my number 14 tooth (one of the top left molars), and when it was drilled, a nerve was exposed. That tooth has been trouble ever since.

The original plan for today was to go in, and redo the filling, as a new cavity was starting to emerge where the old one had filled. But after taking X-rays, my dentist decided it would be best to do a root canal, since one of the nerves appeared to be infected.

Root Canals are not as painful as they depict them on T.V., though I suppose the drugs might not have worn off yet. Also, I suppose some people get them when the problem is worse, and it probably hurts a lot more.

Anyway, Since I was late on my post, I decided I would have to get something real good... so I got this:

Taken at Mountain Park Dentistry (on 48th st and Chandler)
By Doctor Randy Mow, using a small optical camera
June 27, 2008

What you are looking at, is my number 14 tooth, hollowed out. Each of the dark spots is where they drilled deep into the tooth to remove the nerves of the tooth.

Unfortunately there were some time issues due to a file breaking while inside of the tooth, and needing to be removed. Near the end the drugs started to wear off, and the open tooth started to cause some major pain. Due to time constraints, they have temporarily filled it, and will need to follow up to remove the temporary filling, and do the permanent one.

Thanks to the crew at Mountain Park Dentistry, and Dr. Mow for this super cool view of the tooth that most of us never get to see.

I'm Tired

I don't know if it's the heat, something health-related, or what, but I've been so tired the last few weeks...

Maybe it's all of this:

Taken at the Office
June 26, 2007

Maybe I should take a break from the coffee, and see if that does anything. I think I should plan to wait a week or two after my current stash runs out, before I buy more. Maybe that will make a difference.

In other news. Al turned 26 yesterday. I was over at his house for the first time in a long while, and it looks great. It's come quite a long way from where it was in august. He should be proud of what he's been able to do to that place.

Last night Lucy made diner at Al's place, and all the family came over. It was pretty nice. I took off early to catch up on sleep, but it didn't seem to do a lot of good. :)

Wienermobile

So I was driving into work today, because through some fluke, both of my bikes are at the office now :) On my way in though, I saw a funny sign in my rear-view mirror... Check it out.

Taken on Priest, South of Southern
June 25, 2007

Photos from June 22, 2007

Last night, at the brew conference, the Goo Goo Dolls played on the runway of an aircraft carrier. It was pretty cool, but it was really weird. Everyone there just kinda stood still. It was a little weird...

Anyway, here are some photos

The Goo Goo Dolls
Taken one the USS Midway
June 21, 2007

Also, I was impressed how well my sprint card was working at the hotel... then I saw this, and I left Tricked:

Taken at the hotel
June 22, 2007

Photo from June 21, 2007

San Diego is very pretty... I wish I had a little more time to explore. I'll try to get out of the hotel a little bit today, and tomorrow morning.

For today, here is a quick shot from the balcony I'm sitting at, drinking coffee.

Taken at the Hyatt in San Diego
June 21, 2007

Photos from June 20, 2007

Today, I caught a flight out of phoenix to San Diego at 7:00am. The economy parking took a little longer than I expected, so I was running a little late. I had no problem making my flight, but apparently my bag did :)

Right now I'm sitting outside in b beautiful San Diego, CA, but I'm stuck here waiting for the next flight in from phoenix which should have my bag.

Airports really bring out the best and worst in people. You should see some of these over-privileged people forced to wait in endless lines... It's a riot. Some people are so relaxed, and loving, but some are totally anxious, and are horrible to each other.

In an effort to keep up with my daily blogs, I snagged a few photos. Nothing great, but something to look at.

...OK... I'm stuck on this Sprint card, and I didn't have software to resize, so I'll add them as soon as they upload :-/

Sorry about that

Sorry about that :)

Taken at the San Diego Airport
June 20, 2007

Taken from a taxi in front of the hotel
June 20, 2007

So instead of using the web uploader for my picasa web albumn, I downloaded picasa. It's great, it resizes for me (so this sprint card can handle it) and it auto-connect to my online stuff for me. It's really pretty nice. I just wish their web stuff would get as good as gallery2 :)

Photo from June 18, 2007

In phoenix, there is a service called "Bulk Trash". Four times a year, they will come through the neighborhoods of phoenix, and pickup any trash you have. All you have to do is figure out when it is and make sure to put it in a neat pile in front of your house.

I love this service, because my plants grow like crazy, and they drop a metric ton of leaves every quarter... (OK, maybe not a metric ton, but it seems like it)

So I usually end up having a small pile in the backyard just waiting for the window of time, when I can leave it on the curb. This morning, I started moving the little pile out to the front, and I unearthed a little nest. The nest had no living creatures, but did have a series of eggs. I'm guessing that these are either the eggs of a roadrunner that hangs out around my house, or of a lizard that I see from time to time.

Hidden Nest
Taken in my backyard
June 18, 2007

Unfortunately, now that the leaves and stuff aren't providing shade, I suspect they will over heat and die. The nest may also be abandoned because of the human scent all around it :-/

Photo from June17, 2007

This is a quick photo of one randomly selected flower on plant in my backyard. It is one of hundreds, and it it not better or worse than any of them. There is nothing special about it... It is just one part of a big system that makes up this plant. But if you look at it alone, it looks amazing anyway.

Many Parts - One Body
Taken in my backyard
June 17, 2007

Bowen Baby

Well this morning, I'm going to be late to work (waiting for the Terminex guy), and I still haven't really left my house. But I do have big news. Jonas Bowen was born yesterday.

Jonas Bowen
Taken at Desert Samaritan Hospital
June 14, 2007

Congratulations to Dad, Mom, and Grandpa. They looked so happy to have a new baby in their lives.

Photos from June 14, 2007

Apparently someone has something worth protecting :-p I thought this was a cool little gate/fence. It is really funny to me for some reason; it looks so cute and friendly, but the sign says, "BEWARE OF THE DOG" and the fence is clearly designed to injure anyone who tries to get over it :)

Taken on 48th st, south of Broadway
June 14, 2007

It seems weird to me that we spend so much time trying to grow plants that shouldn't naturally exist here, then we need to water them heavily, and spend all our time cleaning up after them. Then weeds start to grow because we spend so much time making it easy to grow things there, and we spend all our time removing them.

Taken on 48th st, south of Broadway
June 14, 2007

Photo from June 13, 2007

Today was a busy morning, I recently had a friend, Jason Farrier, help me out with a little dry rot issue. He is a home inspector with a history in the construction business, so I figured he was perfect for the job.

I'm feeling pretty good about what we've accomplished so far, but what's more important, is that he took a look at the house, and pointed out a number of other issues that he recommended I fix before I sell.

Here is a photo of the repairs that we did this morning:

Taken at my house
June 13, 2008

I need to finish it up (caulk, primer, etc) in the next few days, but at least the hard part is done.

Other upcoming projects that this has brought into light:

• Potential Termite issues
• Fixing additional trim that has rotted
• Fixing the leaky chimney
• Fixing some insulation issues in the attic
• Fixing the duct work for the AC system, and potentially removing the evap. cooler
  
• Fixing the pool's electrical system
• Landscaping the areas that touch the house to avoid bugs, and further rot.
• Finishing the master bath/closet leak
  

Its a long list, and it I'm not sure how much it will all cost, but I think it will be fun, and I think that its a great opportunity to learn. The current plan was to sell in January, when I get married, but I might try to convince Katie to do it in May to give me more time to repair, and one more spring to play with the landscaping.

A Special thanks to Tom and Jason Farrier, and Elite Home Inspections for their help so far. Jason is Great, and I would recommend Elite Home Inspections to anyone buying a house. He is way more thorough than the guy that did mine last time.

Photos from June 12, 2007

Today I had to drive to work again, but it wasn't all that bad... I was intent on taking a photo of something other than the rear end of a car, so I made a few turns that I normally wouldn't make, and I even got out of my car at one point to snag this photo:

RIP Trimble
Taken at the Double Butte Cemetery
June 12, 2007

For those of you who know me, this photos seems pretty ironic. When I saw the tombstone I couldn't help but snag a photo.

I also had one photo that I took while stuck in traffic turn out alright, so I've included that here:

Fairway
Taken on 48th st, North of Guadalupe
June 12, 2007

Photo from June 11, 2007

I had to drive to work today because I have an appointment at 11. So instead of being outside, enjoying the morning, I was stuck in this:

Taken on 48th st, south of baseline
June 11, 2007

When you ride your bike in the morning, you wake up during the ride. When you get to work, you're ready to go. Today when I got in I was dragging my feet, and really didn't feel much like doing anything. O well. I'm cleaning to coffee pot right now, hopefully some coffee will fill the gap this morning. :-p

Tomorrow I have to drive again, for an knee doctor appointment :-/ Maybe I'll get creative tomorrow, and come up with a photo of something other than a car's rear end :-p

Photo from June 8 2007

Nothing too great today... I was riding on the Guadalupe/I10 overpass, and I stopped for a second to watch the traffic. As I looked off in the distance, I could see a brown haze on the horizon, and the traffic was pretty solid for 7:00. It would be cool if the world cut back on driving, but that's never going too happen. We all live a million miles from where we work, so we are locked in :-p

Taken from the Guadalupe/I-10 overpass

June 8, 2007

Photos from June 7 2007

I'm going to start trying to do a daily post with one or two photos, actually taken that day. I've been trying to wake up earlier, and I've also been riding my bike in to work... Gas prices, Global Warming, Getting out of shape, etc :-/

Anyway, I've decided that since I am already out and about in the morning, I should try to make a daily post of photos, actually taken that day.

Enjoy! Check back in from time to time!

This is the Point South Mountain Golf Course, taken from the bike path on 48th st.
June 7, 2007

This is the Church in Guadalupe, taken from Priest
June 7, 2007