This is Sharks Territory!

Last Saturday night, Angela and I had the chance to go to our very first San Jose Sharks game. We had amazing seats (12th row, center ice) courtesy of our bishop, and it was great from the first minute to the last. We loved the energy of the entire arena. It probably helped that the Sharks were playing the Sabres - both first place teams, but the intensity of the entire experience was reminiscent to me of being at an NBA playoff game back when the Jazz were challenging for the Finals every year.

I loved the speed of the game, the hitting, the skating, the passing, the louder than you'd think sound of the puck slapping against sticks, and the fact that at least half the people in the arena were wearing jerseys. If I could have season tix to one professional team, it would definitely be the Sharks.

Scritchers

Angela and I have decided to undertake our own personal Book of Mormon challenge. We are only doing 4 pages a day, so it's not quite as intense as some of the other ones we've participated in the past (usually 5 pages a day ... that's actually quite a difference), but it's been nice to get back into the Book at that level. We're currently on day 11.

The only problem with reading a set number of pages in a day is that I find that I won't really stop to mark something that I like because I'm pretty focused on getting my pages in. I've been really enjoying 1st Nephi again.

We're also trying extra hard to read with the kids every evening, and actually doing a pretty good job of it. It helps that we're in the coolest part of the book (end of Alma: Helaman & the 2,000, etc.). We go around and around the table with everyone reading one verse at a time. The kids really like to read (although we find ourselves sometimes changing the order if an especially long verse is scheduled to land on Morgan's turn - that's not fair, but in this we get somewhat focused on speed too...).

Reading Time

I sometimes spend too much time in the "reading room". Thing is, I like magazines, but I'll never just sit down and read a magazine because it feels like wasted time. But I will use biological time to catch up on my favorite mags. I will make my way through an entire issue over time, not reading anything else until I finish that one - I dog ear the page I'm on for the next time. Yes it sometimes comes with numb legs, but in general, it's good quality time. Here are my favorite magazines:


ESPN the Magazine can feel pretty corporate at times, but I admit I really like it. The thing I like best is that it doesn't really have a strong urgency component to it. What I mean is that sure, it's seasonal and ties to upcoming or current seasons, but most of the good articles within the pages are actually very interesting regardless of when I read them. I still have 1-2 year old issues that I'm just getting to, and I find the articles about specific athletes or events just as interesting as if I read them when they were new.

I don't need a big celebrity fix, so it's not about that - in fact I enjoy the articles about someone completely random as much as articles about people I recognize. It's an entertaining read.


USA Triathlon Life is a new one for me, as it came with my USA Triathlon membership late last year. I seriously can't get enough of it though. I even love the advertisements -- I'll spend significant time just gazing at the tri bikes being advertised for sale. I think my recent fascination with triathlon, especially the longer course races, is driving my intense interest in this magazine. It's a nice mix of telling about the sport's top racers, and providing a link to more normal people like me.






Bicycling Mag is one that I've read pretty religiously for a while now. I really like the road cycling specifics that this rag covers in excruciating detail. I eat up the riding, the training, the motivation, the do's and dont's, and just about everything they throw at me on the pages.

It's not the world's best magazine to keep you updated on the professional peloton, but I don't need that - I prefer something more for the common man, which is what this seems to be. Sure it has a fixation with all things Lance, but you get enough stuff applicable to reality that it's very useful and interesting. I covet the nice bikes and gear that grace its pages.

Don't like the cover "pose" factor that I'll talk more about below...



Bike Magazine is a new one for me - thanks Dave for the Christmas present! It's strictly mountain biking, and I don't mountain bike ... yet ... but that being said, I love the cross-over biking culture, and if I had the money to get the right Mtn bike, I'd be all over it - someday! The first issue I got was "the Bible of bike tests", so it was a perfect one to start with as it laid out all the variations of mountain biking specialties and the different kinds of bikes. Given that I don't mtn bike, I laughed at myself that I pored over every word of this magazine with intense interest.





Runner's World is a good magazine for runners. It tells interesting stories about big name runners - usually names I recognize from the world of elite running - as well as the average joe who has improved his or her life by running. I really like the training and nutrition tips, as well as the feature on interesting runs or races. It can get a little narrow in its focus, so I find myself browsing more than pouring over the pages.

One thing I really don't like is the "pose" factor on the covers - just put a nasty runner slogging through a long run in the rain on the cover, and I'll buy the magazine lots faster than a model pretending like they run

"day, by day, by day..."

It's usually bad when you have to suppress the urge to laugh during a prayer. It's monumentally worse when you're a member of the bishopric, on the stand during church, holding the microphone for the confirmation of a new member, and the giggles threaten to hit. For those of you who remember Meet the Parents and the scene in which Ben Stiller is asked to pray over the dinner at his inlaws-to-be, you'll instantly flash to the "...day, by day, by day..." reference as he hilariously searches for things to say. Well let me encourage all of you, when giving a prayer or performing some sort of ordinance, to avoid saying "day by day" in exactly the same way...

Start building your Arks!

After four or five days (I lose track) of constant and at times heavy rain, it begs the question, "know any good ship builders?!"

Micah got her braces on yesterday and had a painful, sleepless night last night. Poor girl - we all know it'll be better with time, but I feel bad for her while they're hurting badly. She's not too thrilled with it all, but kind of excited to getting them on - I think she realizes the sooner they're on, the sooner they're off.

Brig and I are going to the Stanford basketball game tonight. My guess is he'll last about a half before he falls asleep. But I'm actually really looking forward to it - I think he'll be psyched about it and hopefully it'll be some good time together.

Deep Thoughts on a Rainy Day

It's raining cats and dogs this morning, which is kind of fun, but for a holiday Monday might restrict our activities somewhat. No tide pools, hikes, bike rides, or tennis, but bowling, Wii competition, and friends might be on the menu instead. Are we bad parents if the TV is on all morning? As I sit here, it's raining so hard, and the trees out the front window are whipping around so hard, I'm wondering if I should start filming this for some "When Nature Attacks..." reality show...

So I've decided for this post to discuss some things that have been on my mind - somewhat deeper than my usual blather.

We've recently received some frustrating news, and rather than dwell on that, I want to just say how grateful I am for inspired responses from others. I believe the Lord's tender mercies are often delivered through others around us, in such a way that is relatively minor to them, but exactly what is needed by us.

I've been somewhat frustrated with work lately. There are things that at times I don't consider ideal, and I've been struggling to keep up with all the varying demands. So I've been trying to take a mental step back, think through all the professional things I can do better, or change, or upgrade, and I've been getting nothing... And then yesterday as I was sitting on the stand at church, the thought occurred to me very forcefully: "I've been relying on my own strength and wisdom, where if I would spend more time seeking help from above, I would not only perform better, but gain comfort in the process." And you know what, that feels like the right answer. I know we need to work hard, and apply our own training and knowledge, but why wouldn't we seek His help in that arena just as we would in other areas? Feeling better already!

Our thoughts are with the people in Haiti.

The View from Monday

Angela and I had a really fun weekend. Friday night we took Micah with us to join a few of our friends at a Brian Regan concert. For those of you who haven't heard of the funniest man alive, go search YouTube, and plan on spending a lot longer than you thought you would watching clips of his comedy routine - it was a lot of fun and some very good laughs. We also went to the Stanford - UCLA basketball game on Saturday afternoon, which was really good as Stanford played well and won. Brig was happy with the "S" hand towels we brought home for him. We closed off the fun and frivolity with a Sat. night movie, Sherlock Holmes, which we thought was pretty good (I was very tired, and we happened to be sitting in some weird seats where I couldn't stretch out my bad knee, so I actually liked it a little less than Ang did). Sunday we re-introduced ourselves to the kids.

Big exciting news for Kennan and Morgan: they'd been very excited all weekend to find out their parts in the upcoming school play, Willy Wonka, today. It's a 2nd through 5th or 6th grade play, so lots of kids to choose from. We're very proud to announce that Kennan will be playing the role of Willy Wonka, and Morgan will be Veruca Salt! So excited for them!

We're also really excited for my little brother, Spencer, who yesterday got put in as bishop of their North Salt Lake ward. He doesn't think it's quite as funny as I do at the current time, but honestly, he's going to be amazing! It's nice for me to have so many brothers to look up to...all of them.

My knee is still hurting, but I'm determined to be careful and patient. I really would love to hit the roads, running and biking, but am willing to wait if it means I'll be better off when I do.

Knee Drama

It's nice to have a brother who's a very good Sports Medicine doctor, but it's not nice when he is in the process of checking you over and he gets "the look". With most docs, you wouldn't know "the look" because you barely know him or her; but when your brother who you've spent your whole life with is the Dr and you see "the look", it's hard for him to cover it up. I got "the look" last week.

I had been having some knee pain in the front of my knee for a few months, and throughout December I started figuring out that I probably should take it easy with my exercising because of it. In talking through it with Spencer, he gave me a phone diagnosis of Patellar Tendinitis, and we resolved to have him take a closer look at it over Christmas when we were in town. That happened last week. He put the ultrasound on my knee, and within about one minute of his careful moving around and looking at images of the inside of my left knee, he got "the look". It was much worse than he had thought, and it has developed into Patellar Tendinosis, not to be confused with Patellar Tendinitis. Basically, due to the tendon trying unsuccessfully to heal itself over time from damage, it decided it would be best to form the scar tissue into bone, so I now have a good sized chunk of bone growing in my patellar tendon. That's not good. It's especially not good if you've already signed up for a big race that cost lots of non-refundable money, and you were supposed to start training this week.

We decided to take an aggressive approach to trying to heal it, so on Friday of last week he gave me a bunch of numbing shots, and then used a honkin' big (that's a technical term, I believe) needle and tried to go in, break up the bone, and suck it out through the needle. Alas, the bone was too hard, so the best he could do was try to promote healing and strength in the surrounding tendon by roughing that up. Mmm, that was lovely.

So here I am a week later. The knee has felt pretty decent after the initial two days of pain, and I'm just getting started in on the strengthening exercises. What really gets me is the uncertainty. I don't know what it means to have a piece of bone in my patellar tendon; I don't know if I have to get it taken out in order to do things without pain, I don't know if it is more likely to rupture if it's got a hunk of bone in it, and most importantly, I have no idea whether I'll be able to recover in time to do my race in June. Pretty crappy...

On the Record

It's 6 minutes to game time, and I'm going on record as saying the Texas Longhorns will win the 2010 College Football National Championship tonight. I know they're considered the underdog, and big mean Alabama is supposed to yawn their way through the game, but I'm calling it for my Horns.

Hello? Anybody home?

Aaaannnnd, I'm back... Pretty long layoff, but I've been thinking of all sorts of fun things to update you on, so the next few posts will probably seem fairly scattered and random.

I looked out the window at 5:02pm today, and was very pleased and surprised to see how light it was. It seems like I sort of jumped from mid December when I was just waiting, waiting, waiting for 12/21 (shortest day of the year), and then next thing I know, the days are legitimately getting longer! Very happy about that!

OK, so we had a really nice Christmas trip to Utah. Our families gave us the royal treatment, and our only regret was that it is always so difficult to give ample time to each family and sub family. Thanks everyone for you patience with us, and we were very grateful for the times we had to spend with each of you.

We loved many things during the holiday break: skiing on soft, new snow (Solitude and Sundance); snowmobiling at the cabin; Christmas Eve and morning with the Richards; Christmas Day with the LeBras; basketball with the brothers; ice skating was actually very fun this year thanks to the "granny walkers" the rink has for the young kids; Wii games galore; lots of great food; Christine and Cameron's new baby; having a bed this time to sleep on; playing with cousins; movies (The Blind Side, Invictus, Alvin & the Chipmunks Squeakquel, Princess and the Frog); bowling; New Years at Matt's house; .... ok, I'm realizing I could go on and on, but great time!

And here's the thing with New Years - if you and everyone around you end up going to bed before midnight on New Years Eve, I've realized that you never really feel like the old year turned over to the new year. So since we did just that - all knocked out in the 11pm hour - I'm walking around still stuck in 2009, while all the party animals have moved on to 2010.

That's enough for now - there's more to write about a bunch of stuff, but that'll just give me more ammo for next time...