Sunday, March 19, 2006

The next trip

In talking with a couple of the founding fathers of the MMMM group the other night, i was pleasantly surprised to know that on our March 31st motorcycle trip, there will be more than a few of us that are going. That makes for a very exciting time. At least that makes me really excited!

On a similar topic, my lovely better half keeps on reminding me about my birthday present. I guess that is coming up pretty soon, too, and along with that, I will officially be one year older. 29 years old! That makes me sound really old. Sorry for those of you that are older than I, and already feel old, but I haven't been there yet. I have always felt young. So this may be just a little shock to me.

Anyway, for those of you who do not get my weekly journal, but would like to receive a free copy, I will happily add you to my email list. This blog will contain some excerpts from my journal, but I would rather just keep my posts as short as possible (sorry about those where I just go off). Until next time.

eddie

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Church basketball

Far too often do the Mormon cliche movies hit the nail on the head. Sadly to say, I was a part of this, but gladly to say it was not me who was the perpetrator. An excerpt from my journal:

"Saturday morning we had another game. This time it was against the Viola ward. We have been injury plagued the last couple of weeks. It was the championship game for the stake. The regional standings have already been decided so the game really didn’t mean anything. We had 5 of our team show up, and one of them was Delbert Dillingham, being in his 50s. Anyway, we wanted to have a decent game with them, so we brought in a few other people and decided to forfeit the game but play the game nonetheless. Anyway, let me just preface this by saying this is classic church basketball.

My calves were feeling pretty good through the game – thanks Eric – and we were actually womping on them. They weren’t even playing very good. But right before the half, one of our guys gets fouled pretty bad, and he said, and I quote, “you hit my freakin’ hip!” The Viola guy just blew up! He started to tell the guy that he needed to shut his mouth and stop swearing! I am not sure if “freakin’” is a swear word to them, or if the guy thought that he heard wrongly and our guy actually swore, but he would not stop! I am not kidding in saying that it took about 5 complete minutes to restore order. And even then, order was not restored. He got in a yelling match with the refs, the refs really didn’t do anything about it, and so they just called the game.

Let me just go off on this topic for a bit. First of all, this is church basketball we are talking about. And on top of that, the game had no meaning whatsoever. It was meaningless. I have thought about the event for a while now and have drawn a few conclusions as to what actually happened and what some of the problems were. First of all, I don’t claim to be a person who does not say pseudo-swear words. I do try to refrain from saying “freaking” as I don’t like that, but I have to say that it has slipped out of my mouth at times. I think that any exclamation that is uncontrolled isn’t warranted nor approved. It is hard to go throughout a basketball game and not be angry with yourself and say something that you should not. Swearing, in my opinion, should not be tolerated and shows that person’s lack of intelligence to say something intelligent at that time. But to say that “freakin’” is a swear word and get all in a huff about it – that is going a little too far. Dude, take a chill pill and calm down.

The refs should have had better control on the entire situation. The guy was threatening our player. The moment he went and approached the guy like he did, the refs should have called a technical on him. If he didn’t calm down, they should have thrown him out of the game. There was no reason that he should have been doing what he was doing. They didn’t have that control, and the game got called because of it. Even the other team didn’t want to stop playing. And they couldn’t restrain him either. It was not very pretty.

The guy confronted the current stake sport directors, and the future sport director. He was uncontrollable. I think that in those instances when that person is just so out of control, there are some real issues about that person’s persona. One doesn’t just blow up because he heard a swear word during a church basketball game. Of course you can get angry, and complain to the refs and such, but blow up like that he did. We often joke about getting a T in church basketball will result in an interview with the stake president. In this case, I think an interview with the stake president and a clinical psychologist would be in order."

I would like comments on this. Please feel free to leave any comment you wish on this topic. Church basketball, sometimes, can be really fun. Other times, it is the exact opposite. Again, please leave comments.

eddie

One of my birthday presents

My lovely better half has bought this wonderful present for me. It actually wasn't a purchase, but it is something that our credit union does for free. You can get any picture you want and put it on a card. Well, since the wife knows that I LOVE Van Halen, she decided to surprise me with this. Isn't it awesome!?!?!?!?!?



Isn't my wife awesome?? I love her so much!

eddie

Monday, March 13, 2006

The next motorcycle trip

Well, since the latest Moab trip, I have been really excited to go on another trip. I have not even cleaned my bike since Moab, and it is badly in need of a cleaning. It just makes me sick thinking of it. But as my lovely better half has said, it does have a nice spot in the garage. It is sitting on its stand, so that is really good. I am excited to get out and clean that bike.

Soon, but not soon enough. March 31st cannot come fast enough. TOC, TYG, and maybe a few of the other MMMM group will be coming down to Zion for the weekend. I will be ready as the motorcycle shop is open and ready for business. I am excited to get started.

eddie

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Today at church

The wife and I gave talks. We have known for quite a while so we have been preparing for a while (yah right). G&G came to church so they looked after the little ones. We were assigned to talk from the little red "Family Guidebook" that the church publishes. I had not looked at in depth, but it does provide some guidelines about teaching the gospel in the home. The second counselor had previously talked with Alice when he assigned the talk to us. He called Saturday night to verify of our assignment. I answered and denied knowledge of the assignment. He got his blood pressure up a bit. It was pretty funny.

I cried a lot during the talk. It was not intended to do such. It went very well, though. I must have done a good job as I received comments from it all afternoon. The best one was from a priest, and he said that it was the best talk that he has listened to. That was a nice comment - especially coming from a priest.

If you want to read the talk, you can download it here.

Please leave a comment on what you think.

The shop has officially opened for business



The garage has been cleaned, the van is in the garage, and business is finally open. Let the games begin.

eddie

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

My journal entry for the MMMM trip

Moab Trip – Spring 2006
February 23-25

The time had finally arrived for when we were to get together for the coveted Moab trip. I woke up earlier than I thought – even earlier than Jack and Andy. That is saying something as they wake up pretty early. I had quite a bit of stuff to do before the trip so I started. I got all of my stuff put together and tried to get out as fast as I could. I was in contact with Darin and Caleb the entire morning, getting hourly updates on where they were.
I was really worried about Darin’s bike. I used quite a bit of cell minutes last night because I was trying to help Darin get his bike to idle. He had just bought a new exhaust system – a full Yoshimura head, mid and tailpipe. I guess we are all pretty excited to see what the full system does compared to just the tail section. He installed it, and his bike would not idle. Anyway, after taking the carb off multiple times, he finally got it kind of running. He put the throttle cable in a tension so it idled.
Anyway, it was kind of a short night last night. I was thinking of Darin’s bike and I also had to do a little of work before I left. I had to fold all of the laundry and clean up the house. Alice appreciated that. But I did stay up until 2:00. It wasn’t that bad to wake up. I was just kind of worried because I wasn’t going to get very much sleep over the next couple of days. But hey – you gotta do what you gotta do.
I was kind of late getting over to Eric’s place. I believe that I was the last one to arrive. But, I must say, and add to my defense, that Eric was still the one for whom we were waiting. We got loaded up and we were on our way. Alice was meeting us there because I wanted Andy to see all the motorcycles all loaded up. She had to take Jackson to preschool so she was a little late getting there. So to be fair to Eric, we really weren’t waiting for him, but he was the last person to get all of his stuff ready.
We also talked with Rusty – RUSTY!!!!!!!!!! (a la Kramer) – Jackman, Jacob’s friend, about where we wanted to ride. There was some previous talk about where we wanted to ride in emails. Eric wanted to ride what was called the devil’s racetrack, and Jacob wanted to ride what was called the Factory Butte. Well, Rusty – RUSTY!!!!!!! – wanted to ride the butte and stay the night in Hanksville. Well, we really didn’t decide what we were going to do so we said we would talk more as the ride continued.
We were on the road. It was Eric, Darin, Dallas, and I in George’s truck, and Jacob, Caleb, Ryan, Ben, Corey and Rusty in Rusty’s truck. They had brought Bruce L’s trailer from Pocatello and used that to tote their bikes. They had 7 bikes, Rusty’s XR 350 as a spare, in the trailer and we had the red trailer towing our bikes. Caleb had forgotten his backpack in Pocatello, so he had asked Eric to lend him some swim trunks. As we were driving along, Kynda called up Eric and said that there was a pair of swim trunks sitting on the kitchen table. It was kind of funny, because Eric was naming off certain things and saying that he had them – one of those being his swimsuit.
We stopped in Wellington and filled up our bikes with gas. We called the other truck and they were over a half hour behind us. I guess they stopped in Price and got some maps. There were some minor delays in getting the maps. But the maps they got were awesome. I wish that I could have that map. I am hoping to get in contact with them and get the file or something and get it printed at Kinko’s. The people who put it together are the Sage riders and I guess they are fighting a lot for areas where some people want to close to OHV use.
Well, we said we would meet them at the Hanksville exit, and talk more about where we wanted to go and ride today. We arrived sooner than they did, so we climbed the nearby hill and threw rocks and stuff like that. We finally saw them coming, and they just turned and went down the road. We were very disappointed in that. I think that the consensus in our truck was that we didn’t want to ride the factory butte, but ride the Devil’s racetrack. We were extremely disappointed – to say the least.
We got to Hanksville and talked with the group. It was still a little ways from Hanksville to the butte. But a comment on Hanksville – THERE IS NOTHING THERE! I can’t believe that Rusty wanted to stay there that night. We finally arrived at the butte – and my first impression was that here was NOTHING to ride. I was fairly surprised when we started to ride and found a huge drop-off into a pretty cool area. The ground was just this dirt that just sank when you hit it. Rusty – RUSTY!!!! – called it poof dirt. You just had to hit fast and let your momentum carry you. It was an amazing area. It was really odd because the Sierra Club wanted to shut this area down. There is nothing out there except dirt! Why would you want to shut that area down?
There was a creek crossing that different people found the deep spot in. I didn’t find that spot. It was really odd. Some people came out really soaked, and others came out dry – like me. There was one part where Dallas was not able to keep the bike going fast enough – especially for his frame. But he didn’t make it up this hill and so we all pushed him up. It was awesome.
We ended the ride with no problems – that was nice. We packed up and headed to Hanksville. Again, let me tell you – there is nothing in Hanksville. We went to the gas station and talked with the attendant. She said that the restaurant should be open, but looked over, and it was not. Well, I think that put the nail in the coffin – we were going to Hanksville. Dallas was hurting. We didn’t stop for lunch and he was starving. He did get a burrito – past expiration date – at the convenience store, so that help him over. We stopped at a bar in Green River and had dinner there. The Sage Riders were selling 5MOH t-shirts there and I bought one. The shirts were for $20, and $5 went to help their cause. It was a pretty cool shirt, too.
The hot tub was nice. More than once did I like the decision to come to Green River. I tried to get on the internet and do a video chat with Alice. We tried that at home and it worked there. But we couldn’t get it to work at the hotel. It was kind of nice because cell coverage at the hotel was not good at all. We had uninterrupted talking time. It was nice.
The next day, we got up and around and made our way to the truck. We wanted to go and do the 5MOH trail today. We ended up getting to the trailhead around 10:30. I am not sure if it was fast enough, or just the right time. It was pretty cold in the morning, but we did go there to ride.
I think that we all forgot how trying that trail really was. It was just one thing after another. I think that we all were kind of wanting to try out and back, but we just forgot how hard it was. There was still some snow on the ground in certain areas that made the trail less than usable. But we ended up completing the trail. I wrecked a couple of times. The pre-crux got me this time pretty good. Tried the hill three dang times and messed up all three times. Looking back on the video, I almost made it up the hill the last time. But I did eat it pretty good. I haven’t had a wreck like that in a long time.
I did conquer on of my nemesises on that trail. The post-crux had been nagging me for the entire time that we were waiting for the trip. It had been nagging me for along time. And I took it without even thinking twice. It felt good. Caleb took a different way, and a few other people did not make it. I felt really good about that move.
The other place that I wrecked was the end of the face. It was that bad, except my bike ended up squishing my leg between it and a rock. It didn’t feel that good. I felt bad that I did that. That was a stupid wreck. The rest of the ride, I felt really good with it. It was extremely taxing, and extremely challenging. Maybe it has bee too long since I have ridden the trail, but I think that it is doable to go out and back. There are a few difficult spots going the opposite way, but there are also difficult spots going the way we went. I still stand by my want to go out and back. I would be more than happy to just go out and back and do that for a trip. That would be worth it to me.
We got back to the truck and I was beat. I really just wanted to pack it in and call it a night. Dallas was wasted. Corey was battling a cold the entire trip so he was wasted. Rusty was battling his bike the whole trip so he was wasted. Eric was wanting to ride some more. Well, he convinced a couple of people to ride, and then a few more, and then a few more. We decided to do a small loop that had the Green trail to the orange trail, to the blue trail. We rode to the trailhead and were kind of disappointed to find out the trail was rated a 1. 5MOH was a 5. How fun is this going to be?
IT WAS A BLAST! It wasn’t hard, and so getting the bikes and opening them up was just fun. I think that I was standing up for most of the trail. It was so hard to stand up near the end – my legs were just killing me. It was a very exhausting trip. The green and blue trails were pretty easy – kind of just the whoops and stuff like that. The orange trail was more challenging. The blue trail was easy. But it was super fun. We ended up going the same distance as we did on the 5MOH trail with the last trail. It was well worth it. THANK YOU ERIC!
We ate at the truck stop this night – HELLO HEARTBURN! It was good as we had an entire area to ourselves. It was nice as we could be pretty loud and obnoxious, and no one even cared. The hot tub felt really good tonight again. How grateful I was that we were staying in Green River.
We got up earlier than yesterday and had breakfast at the hotel. Did I mention that there was a continental breakfast? Free? I would venture to say that it would be worth it to stay there even if we rode all the time in Moab. It was really nice.
We decided (from all of the people who I spoke to) last night that we were going to ride in Moab and do the Gemini Bridges/Golden Spike/Poison Spider trail system. We also found out that we needed to leave Moab by 4:00 so Corey could get to Boise on time for his flight. So anyway, we got to the trailhead. I don’t know what it was, but I was the last one on the trail. I am not sure if I have too much stuff to deal with, but it really bothered me to be the link that trail.
THIS WAS THE TRAIL THAT I WAS WAITING FOR! I love riding the slickrock. Golden Spike and Poison Spider was where it is was at! That is what I was waiting for the whole trip. 5MOH was just so taxing, but so fun at the same time, you never really got to fully enjoy the trail. This was the trail that I purely enjoyed the most. It was also so fun because after 5MOH, this trail felt like nothing! You would go over obstacles and just think that it wasn’t that hard. You would go down obstacles that you would definitely think twice. But it is nothing compared to 5MOH. It was just a purely fun trail.
I had another nemesis conquered this trip. There was this spot where I Corey and Ben made it the last time we rode this trail. I saw that spot, and I knew that I just had to try it. I was a little nervous in doing it, but I said what the heck. I went up to it and just did it. I felt so awesome. Caleb tried it and didn’t make it. That made it feel even better!
Corey, Ben and I were heading on and others were just goofing off around some up and down hills. I ended up being in the lead and we were almost finished with the ride. I actually got to the rode where it leads down to the trailhead. Rusty and Ben and I turned around, saying that there was nothing left to ride except back to the truck. It was going to take that long anyway. We met up with others and they just passed us by. What is up with that? I reluctantly turned around and saw that everyone was stopped. Good, I thought, now we can all turn around! I was sadly met with everyone huddling around Ryan with him holding his arm. That’s not good, I thought. Well, a correct prognosis from the trained and licensed PT Eric Roberts correctly diagnosed him with a broken clavicle. Of course Jacob was telling everyone what the clavicle is and how it is connected with the rest of the body and how many muscles control that part of the body and what their names are and how many ligaments were stretching because of the injury and why it was important to do this and do that and blah blah blah. Jacob! A man is injured! We don’t want to have an anatomy class in the middle of nowhere explaining to us how the body works!
Well, luckily a jeep was driving by and they helped Ryan down to the parking lot. Rusty and I took off for the trucks. I was about to take Rusty on the back of my bike (his isn’t registered to ride on the highway) but Darin drove up and let him take his bike. It was nice as it was about 10 miles to the truck. And even on the highway, that is pretty far.
We loaded up the bikes, and decided to take off. Rusty’s truck decided to go to Moab and get a prescription. I guess they talked Ryan out of it, as they turned left at the highway towards Green River. Our truck decided to go to Sovereign Singletrack and ride there. That was another good move. I wasn’t terribly excited about another ride, but that was well worth it. Sovereign had changed quite a bit since the last time I had ridden there. It was a good ride. I rode pretty good on this trail but I was following Eric and I got to a spot in the trail and just stopped. What the heck was I thinking? Eric went over it, and I didn’t. MAN! Another nemesis! I felt so bad after that. I mean, come on! Eric made it over that spot and I didn’t! What a slap in the face!
Actually, I thought a lot about those types of things. Each different obstacle can present anyone with problems. One obstacle can be so easy for someone, but the next person may struggle like nothing to get over it. But the next one will just be the opposite. Jacob’s wreck on the Z was a perfect example. It was just a fluke that happened and he wrecked – and wrecked badly! It is just a weird thing.
The trip home was uneventful. We stopped in green River for dinner. We ate at Arby’s and also got the laptop out with all of the pictures that we had taken. Darin hadn’t taken very many pics, so most of them came from me. That was a surprise as last time, I hardly took any pictures at all. I was glad that I had taken so many. There were quite a few pictures that I took that looked really good. I was quite impressed with my photo taking ability.
We arrived in SLC around 10:15. Compared with other MMMM trips, that was pretty early. Alice was glad to see me – although she was asleep when I got home. I was glad to see her, too. I was really tired. As was stated before, sleep is a commodity that does not come very easily on a MMMM trip. It felt really good to climb into bed and fall asleep.

The Spring Moab Trip

It was a fun trip this year. I am working on my entire explanation of the trip, but for now, the pictures will have to do. You can see them here:

MMMM Spring 2006

A fun time was had for all. There was one casualty. Ryan broke his clavicle - similar to what happened to me last year about the same time. We all have seen him and he seems to be making quite a recovery. I think that his break was cleaner than mine so he is recovering faster. I remember I was bed ridden for almost a week. But hey, extra love from the family doesn't hurt!

The next major ride is coming in July. We will be in central Idaho near a campground called Baumgartner. By the way, for those of you who don't know, there are only 133 more days till then!

eddie