The Yoga workout on P90X is one of the hardest workouts in my opinion. 90 minutes of trying to contort your body in ways that I absolutely can't do. However, you try your best and make it through. The first 45 minutes are the true grind going from downward dog to the warrior positions over and over. After the first 45 minutes there is a one minute transition before the final 45 minutes of easier poses. During that 1 minute rest period Tony Horton looks at the camera and tells you "Take in the fact that you just did that." Since crossing the finish line of the St. George Marathon yesterday around 1 pm, that's pretty much the only thing I can think.
Rachel and I went on a cruise last year in August with some of our friends. I gained about 10-15 pounds during that week from eating nonstop and carried that through the end of the year being in the absolute worst physical condition of my life. I look at the pictures from our cruise and I am absolutely disgusting. While I've only lost about 20 lbs in actual weight since then, my body composition is obviously much better, and yet there is still about 50-75 lbs worth of improvement I can make. Anyway, I bring it up to help myself realize what a crazy year it's been. Definitely the year of the run for me. With my first half marathon in April and now this, I've been running consistently since February and culminate with the St. George Marathon. I'm hopeful that I keep up the habit to some extent, but I will look to start doing some other types of exercises as well since I've avoided everything but running due to the training "focus" all year.
My time certainly wasn't spectacular: 6:02.39 was the official time posted in the paper today in St. George, but my entire goal was to simply finish and I did just that. In fact, even though it was a slow pace, which I planned on, it was probably the best run I've ever had. I plowed all the way to mile 22 on a good system right to plan before I ran out of gas and had to walk/shuffle the final 4 miles. Even when walking I was still shuffling pretty quick, kind of a imitation run I guess. I used a book called "The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer" by David Whitsett, Forrest Dolgener, and Tanjala Kole, which I highly recommend to any first timers. The key focus is to train for and finish a marathon. They emphasize not setting a time goal since the accomplishment itself is the goal. Time goals can be set for future marathons once you "know" what you're getting into. There are also a lot of mental trainings they like you to do to help your focus and positive outlook on finishing the race. I feel these things are all important for sure. I never doubted from start to finish whether I was going to finish. I knew the entire way. People asked when did I hit "the wall". I'm not sure if I did or not. My understanding of "the wall" was the feeling of exhaustion and a mental thought of "I absolutely can't go any farther". I can definitely say I truly started to slow down and walk more than I planned on around mile 22, but I never doubted finishing at all. In fact, at mile 18 I was right on pace for where I thought I would be and it pumped me up to know I was entering uncharted territory and I was definitely going to finish. My mental timeframe from the beginning was 6 hours since that is the rough time frame of the race, and I was within 2 1/2 minutes of that time, pretty good pace throughout if you ask me.
Coming around the corner for the last quarter mile was an incredible feeling. My buddy Jeff Davis made his wife and son wait three hours after seeing his dad finish just to see me come around the corner. When you've been all alone on the journey, it's awesome to see a friendly face give you the final push. My mother-in-law was on the side just a short bit later with a "go b-ball" poster and Rachel, Kamille, and Cannon were right at the finish line with posters for me too (Grant was taking care of Brooklyn for all of us). What a feeling.
Thanks to my sweet sister Jackie for trying to challenge me back in February to run with her. It got me off my butt and doing something to get active again. The St. George Marathon is a lottery and if you don't get in the first 2 times you are guaranteed in the third year. I told her after the half marathon in April, "You know, if I could keep running relatively consistently for the next couple years I think in three years I'd be ready for a marathon. Go ahead and sign us up for St. George. I'm sure we won't get in this year so we can just start the process of the three year wait." Well, she did something funny when she registered us because I got in and she didn't, but in any case I was able to accomplish this year what I originally thought would take three years to build up to. It's amazing what your body can do when you push it. Maybe in three years we'll just actually run one together. . . with the Rache Train too!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Farewell to KPMG
So after 2 years, 8 months of pure grind, I accepted a new job offer and am leaving KPMG. Words can’t express the joy my wife feels, but I can certainly express some “greatest hits” if you will, in no particular order. Warning-this will take a while:
Copies- After returning from my new hire training and filling in for a few days on a job, my first “real” job was to be shipped up to Seattle for two weeks. My first day? I was lead to a 3 foot stack of paper and told to make copies of all of it. “Think of it as a rite of passage” my senior said. I had to unstaple, copy, re-staple the originals, collate and staple and punch the copies, and do it again. . . for 10 hours. My legs were killing me from standing all day long at the copy machine (I can’t think of a time before or since that I’ve stood in one place for so long). I was thinking all day long “I can’t believe I went to school for five years to do THIS!” True, in a way of sorts it was a good rite of passage, but it still sucked.
Woo’s Teriyaki- So my first year up in Washington I keep ordering the hot at my favorite Mongolian restaurant, Three Flames. So my manager Dan Rinehart tells me about the famous Woo’s Teriyaki, a small Chinese restaurant in Richland famous for it’s hot food. I tell him I’m up to the heat so we should go try it. We go to dinner one night, the waitress comes over to take our order.
“I want the teriyaki chicken, hot.” I say. She pauses, looks me up and down, and responds, “Have you had our hot?” Me-“No, why? Is it really that hot?” Her-“Where else have you eaten around here?” I respond the Mongolian restaurant up the street and I handle the hot there just fine. Her response: “See my friend the waitress over there? When she goes to the Mongolian she gets seven scoops of the hot. She can only handle the medium here.”
I sit back and try to take in what she has just told me; clearly a warning for any novice spicy-food eater. “I’ll take the hot”.
As soon as the chicken touched my lips I knew it was a bad call. Easily, and I mean by a wide margin, the hottest food I have ever had in my life (or will ever have for that matter). I put down about ½ of my order but couldn’t actually eat the entire thing. The waitress offered to take it to the back and rinse the chicken in some water to dull the heat. Clearly defeated, I denied the offer and just left the remaining chicken to waste and paid my bill. That was the first and last time I ate at Woo’s.
Speeding Ticket- I drove up to Washington once in a while during my summers of traveling every week. Being a 10 hour or so drive, you would assume you would want to make as good as time as possible. So one time I leave home around 3, get up to Brigham City/Tremonton area and hit a massive, unexpected storm that closes down the freeway for over an hour. So I’m sitting there parked on the freeway fuming mad at how much time I’m losing. So what do I do? Of course I try to “make up” time by speeding furiously the rest of the way up; well, furiously the rest of the way until I pass a black police car in the dead of night in Oregon. I had basically passed right in front of him before I saw him, and I immediately pulled over to the right lane and prepared to be pulled over because I was flying. Turns out he let me off extremely easy because I thought the speed limit was 75 since it was rural Oregon and the speed limit is actually 65 max throughout all of Oregon. When I called in to the county to pay the ticket the lady knocked the fee down another $100 so the pain wasn’t too brutal. Every time I drive through Oregon since that experience the speedometer hasn’t topped 65, not even your standard 5 miles over.
Triceraballs- So I’ve been with the firm like 3 months, all through busy season, and all I want to do is go play basketball with my friends on Wednesday night like we always do. I tell my Senior, “My wife gives me crap about playing ball every week and now you want to give me crap! Look, I don’t care what I have to do all I want to do is play basketball on Wednesday night I don’t care what the consequences!” He relents and allows me to go; I subsequently fill the rest of the day talking up about what a great baller I am. I actually for the only time in my life have a great night playing basketball, hitting a number of 3-point shots. So I come in the next morning to the audit room and the rest of the team is already there. “Call me 3-ball!” I announce with pride, referring of course to my great night of shooting 3-pointers; however, it was not understood as such. “3-ball? What is that supposed to mean?” The conversation quickly turns toward the gutter and heavy inquisition takes place regarding their way of understanding my “announcement”. They quickly modify the nickname through various revisions, settling on “triceraballs”. I receive a nice picture in my email later that day with a triceratops that has punctured 3 basketballs, which of course, triceratops had punctured in his self-defense against 3-ballasaurus Rex. I tried to watch what I said the rest of the engagement but I always found myself in compromising positions.
Dork Mormon from Utah- visiting the national trainings is quite the experience if you live in the bubble, which we obviously all do. My favorite example is the training I went to last year in Dallas. On Friday during the final class, we were organized into new groups for some reason. So the instructor decided to go around the room and have everybody introduce themselves, what office they are from, and “tell us what you did last night”. There were about 50-55 people in the room. Person after person stood up to tell about the insane experience last night of going to the biggest bar in Dallas and how they “rode the bull”. It was a wild party and everybody could nod in agreement as each person shared their sweet night of riding the mechanical bull. It comes to be my turn, I stand up and relate “I’m Brandon Ball from the Salt Lake City office, and last night I stayed in my hotel room and watched the NBA Draft.” I’m pretty sure the crowd knew something semi-lame was coming out of my mouth when they heard “Salt Lake City”. While I am who I am, it makes me laugh. For what it’s worth, we drafted Eric Maynor and traded him like 3 months later.
All-nighter- I only pulled one official “all-nighter” during my time at KPMG, and even then it ended for me at about 4:30 in the morning, at which time I went home and slept for a couple hours before going back to work. I do remember from about 1-3 a.m. playing Rage Against the Machine on my computer for a couple hours. The Senior, who requested I play Rage, says after, “Well, now I remember why it’s been so long since I’ve listened to Rage”, of course referring to not liking the heavy screaming, etc. My response, “Funny, I was just thinking to myself about what a shame it is that I haven’t listened to Rage in so long” of course referring to how awesome Rage is. In case you’re wondering, that was the last time I listened to Rage.
Waterfast- So last busy season instead of having a “get fat” competition my team had a weight loss competition. Somehow, someway I started running at like midnight, outside in the cold, a few times a week. I also basically stopped eating dinner, thereby dropping my calorie count for the day drastically. We also had healthy snacks instead of complete sugar crap (with the exception of a large tub of jelly-belly’s). I had quite a few “blow days”, pretty much anytime a good lunch was offered or some other treat was offered, but I got to the final couple days within 5 pounds of my 20 pound weight loss goal. The due date was Wednesday, but on Monday I had a good lunch offer and decided I was giving up on the goal (worth $100 to me, but I was giving it up for a lunch, awesome). So I eat my lunch, which I don’t even remember what it was but I’m sure it was good, and I regret it in the afternoon, thinking “I could’ve made the goal if I just had some discipline!” I decide at that point that I’m going on a water-fast for the next 36 hours and dropping down 3-5 lbs to make my weight. I can tell you every temptation in the book was thrown at me over the next 36 hours, but I had nothing but water (and a lot of trips to the restroom) and woke up Wednesday morning at my goal. I still have the picture of the official weigh-in on my phone. I took the $100 and promptly gained back my 5 lbs. I am happy to say I’ve stayed at that weight though and haven’t put back on the remaining 15, for now.
Wings- Jackson’s sports bar up in Washington has all-you-can-eat wings on Wednesday nights. The first time I heard about it, I knew it would become a staple. For the rest of the travel year last year we hit up Jackson’s at least every other week (when you’re eating all you can eat wings and realize how much chicken you just ate after the fact, it usually takes longer than one week to get over it). On one of our final visits for the year in October, the waitress initiated our visit by pointing me out and saying “I know you love the golden garlic wings I’ll get an order ready for you”. While she was correct in noting my favorite flavor, I took due note that we had officially eaten there too many times that summer, considering she had never been our waitress before. At 25 wings I feel like you “made your money” since that was essentially the same price on other nights as the cost on the all-you-can-eat night. My personal record was 45 wings but a couple other guys tied and/or beat me in the overall standings. Their hottest sauce, “Atomic” isn’t quite the burner of Woo’s teriyaki but definitely leaves you reaching for the water. I would usually have just one Atomic wing last to say I did it, but other than that, stick with the Golden Garlic.
“Emily”- So my office always sends out a “farewell” email to let the rest of the office know who’s leaving to what new job, etc. So mine comes out this week and the final paragraph says “We wish Brandon, Emily, and their two children the best of luck. . . “ So I’m not sure who Emily is, but Rachel sure had a great response, typical of wives of public accountants, “I KNEW YOU HAD A MISTRESS!”
I’m out!
Copies- After returning from my new hire training and filling in for a few days on a job, my first “real” job was to be shipped up to Seattle for two weeks. My first day? I was lead to a 3 foot stack of paper and told to make copies of all of it. “Think of it as a rite of passage” my senior said. I had to unstaple, copy, re-staple the originals, collate and staple and punch the copies, and do it again. . . for 10 hours. My legs were killing me from standing all day long at the copy machine (I can’t think of a time before or since that I’ve stood in one place for so long). I was thinking all day long “I can’t believe I went to school for five years to do THIS!” True, in a way of sorts it was a good rite of passage, but it still sucked.
Woo’s Teriyaki- So my first year up in Washington I keep ordering the hot at my favorite Mongolian restaurant, Three Flames. So my manager Dan Rinehart tells me about the famous Woo’s Teriyaki, a small Chinese restaurant in Richland famous for it’s hot food. I tell him I’m up to the heat so we should go try it. We go to dinner one night, the waitress comes over to take our order.
“I want the teriyaki chicken, hot.” I say. She pauses, looks me up and down, and responds, “Have you had our hot?” Me-“No, why? Is it really that hot?” Her-“Where else have you eaten around here?” I respond the Mongolian restaurant up the street and I handle the hot there just fine. Her response: “See my friend the waitress over there? When she goes to the Mongolian she gets seven scoops of the hot. She can only handle the medium here.”
I sit back and try to take in what she has just told me; clearly a warning for any novice spicy-food eater. “I’ll take the hot”.
As soon as the chicken touched my lips I knew it was a bad call. Easily, and I mean by a wide margin, the hottest food I have ever had in my life (or will ever have for that matter). I put down about ½ of my order but couldn’t actually eat the entire thing. The waitress offered to take it to the back and rinse the chicken in some water to dull the heat. Clearly defeated, I denied the offer and just left the remaining chicken to waste and paid my bill. That was the first and last time I ate at Woo’s.
Speeding Ticket- I drove up to Washington once in a while during my summers of traveling every week. Being a 10 hour or so drive, you would assume you would want to make as good as time as possible. So one time I leave home around 3, get up to Brigham City/Tremonton area and hit a massive, unexpected storm that closes down the freeway for over an hour. So I’m sitting there parked on the freeway fuming mad at how much time I’m losing. So what do I do? Of course I try to “make up” time by speeding furiously the rest of the way up; well, furiously the rest of the way until I pass a black police car in the dead of night in Oregon. I had basically passed right in front of him before I saw him, and I immediately pulled over to the right lane and prepared to be pulled over because I was flying. Turns out he let me off extremely easy because I thought the speed limit was 75 since it was rural Oregon and the speed limit is actually 65 max throughout all of Oregon. When I called in to the county to pay the ticket the lady knocked the fee down another $100 so the pain wasn’t too brutal. Every time I drive through Oregon since that experience the speedometer hasn’t topped 65, not even your standard 5 miles over.
Triceraballs- So I’ve been with the firm like 3 months, all through busy season, and all I want to do is go play basketball with my friends on Wednesday night like we always do. I tell my Senior, “My wife gives me crap about playing ball every week and now you want to give me crap! Look, I don’t care what I have to do all I want to do is play basketball on Wednesday night I don’t care what the consequences!” He relents and allows me to go; I subsequently fill the rest of the day talking up about what a great baller I am. I actually for the only time in my life have a great night playing basketball, hitting a number of 3-point shots. So I come in the next morning to the audit room and the rest of the team is already there. “Call me 3-ball!” I announce with pride, referring of course to my great night of shooting 3-pointers; however, it was not understood as such. “3-ball? What is that supposed to mean?” The conversation quickly turns toward the gutter and heavy inquisition takes place regarding their way of understanding my “announcement”. They quickly modify the nickname through various revisions, settling on “triceraballs”. I receive a nice picture in my email later that day with a triceratops that has punctured 3 basketballs, which of course, triceratops had punctured in his self-defense against 3-ballasaurus Rex. I tried to watch what I said the rest of the engagement but I always found myself in compromising positions.
Dork Mormon from Utah- visiting the national trainings is quite the experience if you live in the bubble, which we obviously all do. My favorite example is the training I went to last year in Dallas. On Friday during the final class, we were organized into new groups for some reason. So the instructor decided to go around the room and have everybody introduce themselves, what office they are from, and “tell us what you did last night”. There were about 50-55 people in the room. Person after person stood up to tell about the insane experience last night of going to the biggest bar in Dallas and how they “rode the bull”. It was a wild party and everybody could nod in agreement as each person shared their sweet night of riding the mechanical bull. It comes to be my turn, I stand up and relate “I’m Brandon Ball from the Salt Lake City office, and last night I stayed in my hotel room and watched the NBA Draft.” I’m pretty sure the crowd knew something semi-lame was coming out of my mouth when they heard “Salt Lake City”. While I am who I am, it makes me laugh. For what it’s worth, we drafted Eric Maynor and traded him like 3 months later.
All-nighter- I only pulled one official “all-nighter” during my time at KPMG, and even then it ended for me at about 4:30 in the morning, at which time I went home and slept for a couple hours before going back to work. I do remember from about 1-3 a.m. playing Rage Against the Machine on my computer for a couple hours. The Senior, who requested I play Rage, says after, “Well, now I remember why it’s been so long since I’ve listened to Rage”, of course referring to not liking the heavy screaming, etc. My response, “Funny, I was just thinking to myself about what a shame it is that I haven’t listened to Rage in so long” of course referring to how awesome Rage is. In case you’re wondering, that was the last time I listened to Rage.
Waterfast- So last busy season instead of having a “get fat” competition my team had a weight loss competition. Somehow, someway I started running at like midnight, outside in the cold, a few times a week. I also basically stopped eating dinner, thereby dropping my calorie count for the day drastically. We also had healthy snacks instead of complete sugar crap (with the exception of a large tub of jelly-belly’s). I had quite a few “blow days”, pretty much anytime a good lunch was offered or some other treat was offered, but I got to the final couple days within 5 pounds of my 20 pound weight loss goal. The due date was Wednesday, but on Monday I had a good lunch offer and decided I was giving up on the goal (worth $100 to me, but I was giving it up for a lunch, awesome). So I eat my lunch, which I don’t even remember what it was but I’m sure it was good, and I regret it in the afternoon, thinking “I could’ve made the goal if I just had some discipline!” I decide at that point that I’m going on a water-fast for the next 36 hours and dropping down 3-5 lbs to make my weight. I can tell you every temptation in the book was thrown at me over the next 36 hours, but I had nothing but water (and a lot of trips to the restroom) and woke up Wednesday morning at my goal. I still have the picture of the official weigh-in on my phone. I took the $100 and promptly gained back my 5 lbs. I am happy to say I’ve stayed at that weight though and haven’t put back on the remaining 15, for now.
Wings- Jackson’s sports bar up in Washington has all-you-can-eat wings on Wednesday nights. The first time I heard about it, I knew it would become a staple. For the rest of the travel year last year we hit up Jackson’s at least every other week (when you’re eating all you can eat wings and realize how much chicken you just ate after the fact, it usually takes longer than one week to get over it). On one of our final visits for the year in October, the waitress initiated our visit by pointing me out and saying “I know you love the golden garlic wings I’ll get an order ready for you”. While she was correct in noting my favorite flavor, I took due note that we had officially eaten there too many times that summer, considering she had never been our waitress before. At 25 wings I feel like you “made your money” since that was essentially the same price on other nights as the cost on the all-you-can-eat night. My personal record was 45 wings but a couple other guys tied and/or beat me in the overall standings. Their hottest sauce, “Atomic” isn’t quite the burner of Woo’s teriyaki but definitely leaves you reaching for the water. I would usually have just one Atomic wing last to say I did it, but other than that, stick with the Golden Garlic.
“Emily”- So my office always sends out a “farewell” email to let the rest of the office know who’s leaving to what new job, etc. So mine comes out this week and the final paragraph says “We wish Brandon, Emily, and their two children the best of luck. . . “ So I’m not sure who Emily is, but Rachel sure had a great response, typical of wives of public accountants, “I KNEW YOU HAD A MISTRESS!”
I’m out!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Adventures in Running-Idaho Style
So I had quite the unusual experience running a couple weeks ago. It had to be either the highlight or lowlight of my sweet marathon training. I’m probably going to go with lowlight.
We were staying up in Idaho for Rachel’s family reunion, the Super Sweet Stewart family reunion! I’m at the point in my marathon training where I take quite the long run on Saturday mornings as part of this training to actually move my fat body over 26.2 miles. So I let Rachel know that Saturday morning I’ll have to join the festivities a tad late due to my run, scheduled for 14 miles. I tell her “I’m just going to leave your Aunt’s house where we are staying, run out 7 miles, and run back.” Rachel has a bright idea, “Why don’t you just run from Diane’s house to my Grandma’s house? I bet that is pretty close to 14 miles. Then I won’t have to come back and pick you up when you’re done.” So Rachel’s aunt lives in Ammon up on the mountain and her Grandma lives in Shelley. I was reluctant to take on the challenge primarily because most of the way would be country road with no water fountain or even a gas station to pick up a drink. I express my concern with my sweet wife and she gives me the stare of “just do what I say”. So I make plans to stop at the “last outpost” Maverik about 8 miles into the run to buy a couple Gatorades.
So I wake up early on Saturday morning and head out for the run. My first 8 miles are pretty much straight down Sunnyside, which is a main road in Idaho Falls. It’s actually quite the nice morning and the path along Sunnyside is ideal. I’m feelin’ good and have a good groove going. Rachel stops by about 90 minutes in to check on me on the way to her Grandmas, I’m feeling good and wave her off. I get down to the end of Sunnyside and head into the Maverik drenched in sweat to buy my couple Gatorades.
Quick tangent: so inside the Mav in front of me in line a “young adult” (a dude about 21 years old, at what age do I have to reach to call him a “kid”?) tries to buy 3 mountain dews and a couple huge bags of sunflower seeds with a welfare credit card and the lady tells him they don’t accept the card. He freaks out on her and storms out, apparently thinking that screaming curse words all over the place will make the lady change the store policy. Now, soda and sunflower seeds are a step up from beer and cigarettes but come on aren’ t welfare funds supposed to be used for actual food necessities like milk, eggs, bread, etc? Applause to Maverik if that’s their policy and not a state-mandated item. End Tangent J
So I leave the Mav with a huge Gatorade in each hand and a little under 6 miles to go. I look down the long highway and realize there is nowhere to run! The first couple miles of the country highway have turned into a 4 lane road; there is no shoulder to run on, and right off the road on both sides are monster weeds. I certainly don’t want to run in the road with 60-mph traffic coming down the pipe at me. What do I do? I improvise. Off the road 30 feet is a railroad track that does have some space on the side of it. I start down the track. The space is extremely rocky and uneven but I’m chugging along. I get another 2 miles down and finally see that on one side of the road the weeds have gone away and it’s just field on the side of the road; off the road, but manageable to run on. I cross the road to take my chances with the field instead of breaking my ankle on the train track.
Rachel’s aunt Diane stops by to check on me, I move her along. A few minutes later her uncle Garth stops and gives me a water bottle. I chug it down and he pulls away. Right after he pulls away, things get interesting. . .
I see a Bonneville County Sherriff car coming down the road and for some reason I know he’s going to turn on his lights and “pull” me over. He does just that. I can envision what he must have been thinking when he got out of the car and sized me up, “Fat dude, holding 2 gatorades and a water bottle, funny leg things on (I wear leg sleeves on my long runs because I have calf-cramping problems), all that’s missing is a helmet”.
Cop-“What are you doing?”
Me-” Um, I’m running down the road.” Duh! Honestly I know it’s just a conversation starter but what does it look like I’m doing?
Cop-“OK, Where are you headed?” I’m sure at this point he’s expecting something like “Down the street one more block” or “Just to that building over there” Remember I’m officially in Idaho Falls at this point.
Me-“Shelley” If you aren’t familiar with Idaho Falls, it’s like he pulled me over in South Jordan and instead of saying “I’m headed to a buddy’s house a couple blocks down” I respond “I’m going to Sandy!”
Cop-“What?! That’s really far, where did you come from?”
Me-“Well, up on that mountain over there”
Now the cop is confused and is thinking that it might not all be there upstairs. Cop-“What do you mean you came from up on the mountain? Are you ok?”
So now it’s time to go with the full-background explanation approach. Me-“ Look, I’m from out of town and I’m here for a family reunion but I’m training for a marathon and I had to do a long run today and I’m staying up on the mountain with a family member but I had to go down to Shelley for the family reunion this morning so for the long training run I just decided I would run from where I’m staying to where I need to be”. And that crazy run-on sentence is about as crazy as he thought I was.
This is the point where I know the cop thought I might not have it all there mentally. Cop-“Son, Who is going to take care of you once you get to Shelley?”
Holy Crap! I JUST EXPLAINED that my ENTIRE set of in-laws, including my wife and kids, are over at Shelley. What do you mean who’s going to take care of me? I’m not sure how to proceed; am I going to get a ticket? Arrested? What the crap did I do wrong? Me-“My WIFE is in Shelley and ALL of my in-laws are there too to take care of me once I get there. I’M JUST RUNNING DOWN THE ROAD DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG OR SOMETHING?!” Obviously I’m getting frustrated at this point and he’s thinking I’m more and more not with it. Cop-“Were you running on the train tracks?”
Bingo. Should’ve known somebody would think I was a wacko and call the cops for running along the tracks.
Me-“Oh yeah. I was. There was no room to run on the side of the road for those first couple miles so I ran on the tracks. I’m not wearing headphones so I could hear a train and obviously look around and see a train. You can see I got off and crossed over when this side of the road turned to field. “
So during this nice chat Rachel’s uncle Garth saw the cop pull me over after he pulled away. He turned around and came back to check what was going on. I think when he pulled up the cop didn’t believe me when I said I knew him.
Cop-“You’re not in trouble I’m just really confused at why you’d want to go that far” I’m thinking if I actually looked like a runner it would’ve been a little different.
Me-“It’s fine I’m done I’ll just go with him.” I had gone about 9.5-10 miles so it was a good long run, just not the whole way but by then I had lost my mojo and was disheartened by the stop. I don’t want to give away too much but from my experience as a teenager, whenever cops get involved, you get out of there! So I jumped in with Garth to get a ride the rest of the way. I don’t think the cop had anything on me, but I could also tell that he was going to follow me along the road the remaining 4 miles and I wasn’t cool with that.
Anyway, I arrive at the family reunion to great fanfare and share the great tale of the cop who didn’t like my running style. While it gave a good laugh to the family for the day, I was still disappointed that I couldn’t convince him that I was a marathoner! Well, I guess I’m not yet, so next time I’m back up in Idaho after the October marathon I’ll have to go for a long run down some train tracks. On second thought, maybe not.
We were staying up in Idaho for Rachel’s family reunion, the Super Sweet Stewart family reunion! I’m at the point in my marathon training where I take quite the long run on Saturday mornings as part of this training to actually move my fat body over 26.2 miles. So I let Rachel know that Saturday morning I’ll have to join the festivities a tad late due to my run, scheduled for 14 miles. I tell her “I’m just going to leave your Aunt’s house where we are staying, run out 7 miles, and run back.” Rachel has a bright idea, “Why don’t you just run from Diane’s house to my Grandma’s house? I bet that is pretty close to 14 miles. Then I won’t have to come back and pick you up when you’re done.” So Rachel’s aunt lives in Ammon up on the mountain and her Grandma lives in Shelley. I was reluctant to take on the challenge primarily because most of the way would be country road with no water fountain or even a gas station to pick up a drink. I express my concern with my sweet wife and she gives me the stare of “just do what I say”. So I make plans to stop at the “last outpost” Maverik about 8 miles into the run to buy a couple Gatorades.
So I wake up early on Saturday morning and head out for the run. My first 8 miles are pretty much straight down Sunnyside, which is a main road in Idaho Falls. It’s actually quite the nice morning and the path along Sunnyside is ideal. I’m feelin’ good and have a good groove going. Rachel stops by about 90 minutes in to check on me on the way to her Grandmas, I’m feeling good and wave her off. I get down to the end of Sunnyside and head into the Maverik drenched in sweat to buy my couple Gatorades.
Quick tangent: so inside the Mav in front of me in line a “young adult” (a dude about 21 years old, at what age do I have to reach to call him a “kid”?) tries to buy 3 mountain dews and a couple huge bags of sunflower seeds with a welfare credit card and the lady tells him they don’t accept the card. He freaks out on her and storms out, apparently thinking that screaming curse words all over the place will make the lady change the store policy. Now, soda and sunflower seeds are a step up from beer and cigarettes but come on aren’ t welfare funds supposed to be used for actual food necessities like milk, eggs, bread, etc? Applause to Maverik if that’s their policy and not a state-mandated item. End Tangent J
So I leave the Mav with a huge Gatorade in each hand and a little under 6 miles to go. I look down the long highway and realize there is nowhere to run! The first couple miles of the country highway have turned into a 4 lane road; there is no shoulder to run on, and right off the road on both sides are monster weeds. I certainly don’t want to run in the road with 60-mph traffic coming down the pipe at me. What do I do? I improvise. Off the road 30 feet is a railroad track that does have some space on the side of it. I start down the track. The space is extremely rocky and uneven but I’m chugging along. I get another 2 miles down and finally see that on one side of the road the weeds have gone away and it’s just field on the side of the road; off the road, but manageable to run on. I cross the road to take my chances with the field instead of breaking my ankle on the train track.
Rachel’s aunt Diane stops by to check on me, I move her along. A few minutes later her uncle Garth stops and gives me a water bottle. I chug it down and he pulls away. Right after he pulls away, things get interesting. . .
I see a Bonneville County Sherriff car coming down the road and for some reason I know he’s going to turn on his lights and “pull” me over. He does just that. I can envision what he must have been thinking when he got out of the car and sized me up, “Fat dude, holding 2 gatorades and a water bottle, funny leg things on (I wear leg sleeves on my long runs because I have calf-cramping problems), all that’s missing is a helmet”.
Cop-“What are you doing?”
Me-” Um, I’m running down the road.” Duh! Honestly I know it’s just a conversation starter but what does it look like I’m doing?
Cop-“OK, Where are you headed?” I’m sure at this point he’s expecting something like “Down the street one more block” or “Just to that building over there” Remember I’m officially in Idaho Falls at this point.
Me-“Shelley” If you aren’t familiar with Idaho Falls, it’s like he pulled me over in South Jordan and instead of saying “I’m headed to a buddy’s house a couple blocks down” I respond “I’m going to Sandy!”
Cop-“What?! That’s really far, where did you come from?”
Me-“Well, up on that mountain over there”
Now the cop is confused and is thinking that it might not all be there upstairs. Cop-“What do you mean you came from up on the mountain? Are you ok?”
So now it’s time to go with the full-background explanation approach. Me-“ Look, I’m from out of town and I’m here for a family reunion but I’m training for a marathon and I had to do a long run today and I’m staying up on the mountain with a family member but I had to go down to Shelley for the family reunion this morning so for the long training run I just decided I would run from where I’m staying to where I need to be”. And that crazy run-on sentence is about as crazy as he thought I was.
This is the point where I know the cop thought I might not have it all there mentally. Cop-“Son, Who is going to take care of you once you get to Shelley?”
Holy Crap! I JUST EXPLAINED that my ENTIRE set of in-laws, including my wife and kids, are over at Shelley. What do you mean who’s going to take care of me? I’m not sure how to proceed; am I going to get a ticket? Arrested? What the crap did I do wrong? Me-“My WIFE is in Shelley and ALL of my in-laws are there too to take care of me once I get there. I’M JUST RUNNING DOWN THE ROAD DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG OR SOMETHING?!” Obviously I’m getting frustrated at this point and he’s thinking I’m more and more not with it. Cop-“Were you running on the train tracks?”
Bingo. Should’ve known somebody would think I was a wacko and call the cops for running along the tracks.
Me-“Oh yeah. I was. There was no room to run on the side of the road for those first couple miles so I ran on the tracks. I’m not wearing headphones so I could hear a train and obviously look around and see a train. You can see I got off and crossed over when this side of the road turned to field. “
So during this nice chat Rachel’s uncle Garth saw the cop pull me over after he pulled away. He turned around and came back to check what was going on. I think when he pulled up the cop didn’t believe me when I said I knew him.
Cop-“You’re not in trouble I’m just really confused at why you’d want to go that far” I’m thinking if I actually looked like a runner it would’ve been a little different.
Me-“It’s fine I’m done I’ll just go with him.” I had gone about 9.5-10 miles so it was a good long run, just not the whole way but by then I had lost my mojo and was disheartened by the stop. I don’t want to give away too much but from my experience as a teenager, whenever cops get involved, you get out of there! So I jumped in with Garth to get a ride the rest of the way. I don’t think the cop had anything on me, but I could also tell that he was going to follow me along the road the remaining 4 miles and I wasn’t cool with that.
Anyway, I arrive at the family reunion to great fanfare and share the great tale of the cop who didn’t like my running style. While it gave a good laugh to the family for the day, I was still disappointed that I couldn’t convince him that I was a marathoner! Well, I guess I’m not yet, so next time I’m back up in Idaho after the October marathon I’ll have to go for a long run down some train tracks. On second thought, maybe not.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
U to the Pac-10. . . Sucks (for me)
I don't know how any BYU fan alive can positively spin Utah going to the Pac-10 while we stay back and find ourselves stuck in the Mountain West. From all the smack I've heard from U-fans in the past few days, all I have been able to do is hang my head and say, "Congratulations". What can we do? BYU got owned and I feel like there is nothing we can do about it. I'm not wallowing in the depths of despair like the football is cut from the school or something, but I do know in every discussion about BYU v. Utah we will now forever come up on the short end (unless some type of miracle occurs that takes us into the Big-12 at some point).
Why will we always come up short? It has been nationally announced that we are not "big-time" caliber. Yes, it has nothing to do with the quality of our football team, fan base, and "other sports" (seriously, we all know football is king). It has to do with political/religious factors that nobody can control. It still sucks. I think the rivalry takes a big step down due to this move. We could win the rivalry game every year and U fans can always play the Pac-10 card. "We are big-time, you are not", and there really isn't a comeback. It makes me not care about the rivalry as much as I always have when something more than "bragging rights" is usually on the line. I'm sure I'll still get pumped up every year when the game comes around, but even a win won't be as sweet. I'm even more happy looking back to know that I was at the final rivaly game in Provo where the U was still a part of the same conference as us.
While I'm certainly down and know the inevitable comments will come to switch allegiances, that is not going to happen! But I'm not an blue-goggled idiot, either. The switch is obviously huge for Utah and for the state, and if BYU was in that position we wouldn't think twice to make the move as well (I would also be just as bad throwing smack around if it was my team heading out).
I've taken the high-road so far and I know all I can say is congratulations to Utes who rub this in my face, but I do know this: for every person I see around town still wearing the "Max Hall Hates Me" t-shirts I will still be sure to let them know "I do too!".
Why will we always come up short? It has been nationally announced that we are not "big-time" caliber. Yes, it has nothing to do with the quality of our football team, fan base, and "other sports" (seriously, we all know football is king). It has to do with political/religious factors that nobody can control. It still sucks. I think the rivalry takes a big step down due to this move. We could win the rivalry game every year and U fans can always play the Pac-10 card. "We are big-time, you are not", and there really isn't a comeback. It makes me not care about the rivalry as much as I always have when something more than "bragging rights" is usually on the line. I'm sure I'll still get pumped up every year when the game comes around, but even a win won't be as sweet. I'm even more happy looking back to know that I was at the final rivaly game in Provo where the U was still a part of the same conference as us.
While I'm certainly down and know the inevitable comments will come to switch allegiances, that is not going to happen! But I'm not an blue-goggled idiot, either. The switch is obviously huge for Utah and for the state, and if BYU was in that position we wouldn't think twice to make the move as well (I would also be just as bad throwing smack around if it was my team heading out).
I've taken the high-road so far and I know all I can say is congratulations to Utes who rub this in my face, but I do know this: for every person I see around town still wearing the "Max Hall Hates Me" t-shirts I will still be sure to let them know "I do too!".
Friday, May 28, 2010
Born to Run
Born to Run is potentially a life-changing book for me, if I can act on everything I want to act on. I feel by getting in to the St. George marathon this fall I'm taking the first step. My sweet sister Jackie recommended this book to me and I'm forever in her debt for encouraging me to read it. Just thinking about the book makes me want to go for a run.
When I ran my first half marathon last month my feet were KILLING! Yes my legs were sore the next day but my feet hurt so bad I couldn't walk normal for over a week. But even with my feet killing, I was thinking to myself "I can't believe I actually did that. I need to step it up a do a full marathon sometime!" But the hurt feet part was definitely scaring me. Why would my feet hurt so bad from doing something that is supposedly natural, or is it? Well, it was something similar to destiny to get the book from Jackie and start reading right when my feet were in ultimate pain because Chris McDougall had the same thought: "Why do my feet hurt when I run?" And thus was the beginning of his journey. I started to read, and have been addicted to all things running ever since.
The book mostly is a story about the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico that routinely run 100 mile races, through the mountains, in homemade sandals. That story alone would make the book great, but I also loved reading about the history and science of running. Did you know that humans are indeed "born to run"? Did you know that running shoes essentially force humans to use improper form when running, thus causing the foot pain? Because of this book I've overhauld my running form to great results (meaning no foot pain) and I find myself looking at the form of virtually every person I see outside running (and notice pretty much 100% of the time that they are using incorrect form). Basically you're supposed to keep your legs under your body and land on the ball of your foot on each step. Running shoes "encourage" longer strides and striking your heel with each step, which is what I notice pretty much all runners doing and that is what causes the injuries. While I haven't abandoned shoes to go barefoot as the book encourages, I have altered my form and haven't had any foot pain since changing, even on long runs.
No I have not magically transformed into an elite runner or anything like that; in fact with my new form I'm slower than ever as I try to change the habit, but I am now to the point where I don't "fear" or "hate" a run, which is progress for sure. I think this book reads great. It's non-fiction but reads just like a story. Rachel kept asking me "are you done with that yet?" because I couldn't put it down. The book talks so routinely about ultra-marathoners (50-100 mile races, usually in mountains) that the thought of this St. George marathon in October seems a tad anti-climactic. Well, I certainly can't even sniff even a "regular" marathon at this point and I probably have about 50-100 lbs to lose, not 50-100 miles to run. In any case, I loved this book and am more stoked than ever to train for a marathon as a result of reading it.
When I ran my first half marathon last month my feet were KILLING! Yes my legs were sore the next day but my feet hurt so bad I couldn't walk normal for over a week. But even with my feet killing, I was thinking to myself "I can't believe I actually did that. I need to step it up a do a full marathon sometime!" But the hurt feet part was definitely scaring me. Why would my feet hurt so bad from doing something that is supposedly natural, or is it? Well, it was something similar to destiny to get the book from Jackie and start reading right when my feet were in ultimate pain because Chris McDougall had the same thought: "Why do my feet hurt when I run?" And thus was the beginning of his journey. I started to read, and have been addicted to all things running ever since.
The book mostly is a story about the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico that routinely run 100 mile races, through the mountains, in homemade sandals. That story alone would make the book great, but I also loved reading about the history and science of running. Did you know that humans are indeed "born to run"? Did you know that running shoes essentially force humans to use improper form when running, thus causing the foot pain? Because of this book I've overhauld my running form to great results (meaning no foot pain) and I find myself looking at the form of virtually every person I see outside running (and notice pretty much 100% of the time that they are using incorrect form). Basically you're supposed to keep your legs under your body and land on the ball of your foot on each step. Running shoes "encourage" longer strides and striking your heel with each step, which is what I notice pretty much all runners doing and that is what causes the injuries. While I haven't abandoned shoes to go barefoot as the book encourages, I have altered my form and haven't had any foot pain since changing, even on long runs.
No I have not magically transformed into an elite runner or anything like that; in fact with my new form I'm slower than ever as I try to change the habit, but I am now to the point where I don't "fear" or "hate" a run, which is progress for sure. I think this book reads great. It's non-fiction but reads just like a story. Rachel kept asking me "are you done with that yet?" because I couldn't put it down. The book talks so routinely about ultra-marathoners (50-100 mile races, usually in mountains) that the thought of this St. George marathon in October seems a tad anti-climactic. Well, I certainly can't even sniff even a "regular" marathon at this point and I probably have about 50-100 lbs to lose, not 50-100 miles to run. In any case, I loved this book and am more stoked than ever to train for a marathon as a result of reading it.
Lost
By now this is old news. . . I mean the finale of Lost happened a whole 5 days ago. However, I'm actually glad I took a few days to think it over before writing my feelings about one of the greatest shows ever put on television.
One of the main reasons I'm happy to be writing it a few days later is I know I am writing something totally different than I would've written Sunday night, Monday, or any other day. You never know what your point of view will be in the future. That is one of my main takes on the series; I feel like it is portrayed that they had a master story line to cover the entire scope of the series from the first episode, but I don't think that's true. I feel the main idea for the story was "let's have a plane crash on a mysterious island and tell the back stories of the survivors". Throw in a few weird items on the island (polar bears, monster noises) and you have a solid plot line to build on. What makes it even more impressive to me is how the writers were able to come around (for the most part, obviously there are plenty of questions left out there unanswered) and tie up the series in a nice fashion.
I am a strict believer in the "let's take it from here and build" approach rather than the approach that they had the whole story ready from the beginning for multiple reasons: 1) who knows if tv shows are going to make it; most story ideas are just that, an idea with potential, 2) the whole back half of the plane in season 2 ended up being worthless with the exceptions of Bernard and Libby, 2 minor characters, 3) there was also an episode in season 2 where two new characters were introduced and then buried alive in the same episode-I remember reading how the writers were reacting to the fan's criticisms of too many new characters being introduced, so they killed a couple off in a quick episode which was entirely meaningless to the overall story, 4) i read an interview once with JJ Abrams (the producer/creator) and he noted how he's a big fan of boxes with mysteries inside-in this case it was the hatch in season 1, but even they hadn't decided yet what they were going to do with the mysterious hatch at the beginning of the show.
All in all it's not really important if they kept building on ideas or they had the entire series scripted out from the beginning; I feel like it was a great show that had a solid ending. Even more so I'm happy that they set it up to have an ending rather than drag the series out indefinitely until the ratings have dropped such that it gets canceled.
My one beef with this finale season was the fact they killed Sun and Gin. Especially given the ending that they could've got off the island on the plane and they could've raised their daughter, etc. kind of bugged. It seemed stupid how they died. But that's tv I guess, characters have to die :).
I'm aware that you have to watch the entire series to get anything in this show, but if you haven't seen it, I would recommend buying all 6 seasons and tearing through them. I personally rank Lost as the best drama I've ever followed on tv. I'm hoping I can find a decent replacement show in the fall. Probably the saddest part about knowing it was over was a couple days later when I happened to be on my DVR Series Recording manager screen. There was Lost at priority #1, with zero future episodes set to record. I felt like I had a little closure myself as I erased it from the series settings.
One of the main reasons I'm happy to be writing it a few days later is I know I am writing something totally different than I would've written Sunday night, Monday, or any other day. You never know what your point of view will be in the future. That is one of my main takes on the series; I feel like it is portrayed that they had a master story line to cover the entire scope of the series from the first episode, but I don't think that's true. I feel the main idea for the story was "let's have a plane crash on a mysterious island and tell the back stories of the survivors". Throw in a few weird items on the island (polar bears, monster noises) and you have a solid plot line to build on. What makes it even more impressive to me is how the writers were able to come around (for the most part, obviously there are plenty of questions left out there unanswered) and tie up the series in a nice fashion.
I am a strict believer in the "let's take it from here and build" approach rather than the approach that they had the whole story ready from the beginning for multiple reasons: 1) who knows if tv shows are going to make it; most story ideas are just that, an idea with potential, 2) the whole back half of the plane in season 2 ended up being worthless with the exceptions of Bernard and Libby, 2 minor characters, 3) there was also an episode in season 2 where two new characters were introduced and then buried alive in the same episode-I remember reading how the writers were reacting to the fan's criticisms of too many new characters being introduced, so they killed a couple off in a quick episode which was entirely meaningless to the overall story, 4) i read an interview once with JJ Abrams (the producer/creator) and he noted how he's a big fan of boxes with mysteries inside-in this case it was the hatch in season 1, but even they hadn't decided yet what they were going to do with the mysterious hatch at the beginning of the show.
All in all it's not really important if they kept building on ideas or they had the entire series scripted out from the beginning; I feel like it was a great show that had a solid ending. Even more so I'm happy that they set it up to have an ending rather than drag the series out indefinitely until the ratings have dropped such that it gets canceled.
My one beef with this finale season was the fact they killed Sun and Gin. Especially given the ending that they could've got off the island on the plane and they could've raised their daughter, etc. kind of bugged. It seemed stupid how they died. But that's tv I guess, characters have to die :).
I'm aware that you have to watch the entire series to get anything in this show, but if you haven't seen it, I would recommend buying all 6 seasons and tearing through them. I personally rank Lost as the best drama I've ever followed on tv. I'm hoping I can find a decent replacement show in the fall. Probably the saddest part about knowing it was over was a couple days later when I happened to be on my DVR Series Recording manager screen. There was Lost at priority #1, with zero future episodes set to record. I felt like I had a little closure myself as I erased it from the series settings.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
the Halfer
Yesterday I took a step toward completing a life goal; I ran a half-marathon (the Salt Lake City Half Marathon). My life goal is to run 1 full marathon at some point in my life. I'm thinking it would probably be a good idea to knock it out within the next few years rather than try and get in shape at 45. . . so anyway running a 1/2 marathon was a good start. (Yes I know, most readers will think "why does a fatty like you want to run a marathon?!!" I know, I was in the "Clydesdale Division").
I finished the race in 2 hrs 45 minutes. I feel I was actually pretty under-prepared for what I was getting into, and if the soreness I'm feeling today in my legs and feet are any indication I was extremely under-prepared, but I finished with a respectable time even though I ended up walking 2-3 miles of the 13.1. I heard somebody say before the race started that their goal is always to finish the half before the winner of the full marathon finishes and I thought to myself "the winner of the full marathon will be done before I'm halfway!" Well, I did better than I thought as the marathon winner passed me when I was at mile 11, only 2 miles to go. So using that as a barometer is probably a realistic goal for next time, beat the guy that runs double the distance! Actually watching the winner pass was pretty cool, he was pretty much gliding along at what would be faster than my full-sprint speed, so to think he could do that for 26 miles is super-impressive.
I say under-prepared because I didn't train as well as I wanted to. From what I've read you're supposed to run nearly every day building up. Due to my work schedule I could usually only fit in a couple days a week plus a run on Saturday mornings. Thanks to my sister Jackie for running with me every Saturday! I ran 8 miles two Saturdays in a row but about 10 days in advance of the race I tore my calf pretty bad playing basketball. I was planning on running at least 10 the Saturday before the race and ended up just resting trying to heal up in order to make an attempt at running. So the farthest I went prior to the race was 8 miles which I think is not enough to be able to gut out and actually run the extra 5 miles, which was the case for me. I ran the first 6 1/2-7 miles and then my legs and feet were killing me so I walked 1/2, ran 1/2 the rest of the way. I felt like I had the energy to run but I was in too much pain to run, and feeling it for sure today.
The race itself is actually a lot of fun, there are people along the streets almost the whole way cheering you on, and just the feeling of running with a huge crowd all trying to accomplish the goal was pretty cool. It is a fun atmosphere to come to the finish line and see the big crowd at the Gateway cheering you through. Sadly Cannon had to go "potty" at the perfect instant such that Rachel had to take him to the restroom and missed me cross the finish line. What a bummer, but such it is with sweet kiddies!
The funniest part of a marathon? Everybody there at 6 am lined up to use the porta-potties (called "Honey Buckets" I guess) to make sure they're cleared out of any impeding bowel movements prior to the big run. Pretty hilarious to be standing in line with a couple thousand people all waiting and using a couple hundred porta-potties. I talked to a couple people who said "I don't do porta-potties" but then I would see them along the raceway in line for a porta-potty along the route, now accepting the fact of life! Why they didn't just go before the race is beyond me, maybe they learned for next time.
I don't know if a full marathon is in the cards this year with all we got going on (baby, finishing the basement, etc.) but hopefully I can improve my conditioning for another race later this year (and lose a few lbs for sure!) and get to the life goal soon. It was a good beginning.
I finished the race in 2 hrs 45 minutes. I feel I was actually pretty under-prepared for what I was getting into, and if the soreness I'm feeling today in my legs and feet are any indication I was extremely under-prepared, but I finished with a respectable time even though I ended up walking 2-3 miles of the 13.1. I heard somebody say before the race started that their goal is always to finish the half before the winner of the full marathon finishes and I thought to myself "the winner of the full marathon will be done before I'm halfway!" Well, I did better than I thought as the marathon winner passed me when I was at mile 11, only 2 miles to go. So using that as a barometer is probably a realistic goal for next time, beat the guy that runs double the distance! Actually watching the winner pass was pretty cool, he was pretty much gliding along at what would be faster than my full-sprint speed, so to think he could do that for 26 miles is super-impressive.
I say under-prepared because I didn't train as well as I wanted to. From what I've read you're supposed to run nearly every day building up. Due to my work schedule I could usually only fit in a couple days a week plus a run on Saturday mornings. Thanks to my sister Jackie for running with me every Saturday! I ran 8 miles two Saturdays in a row but about 10 days in advance of the race I tore my calf pretty bad playing basketball. I was planning on running at least 10 the Saturday before the race and ended up just resting trying to heal up in order to make an attempt at running. So the farthest I went prior to the race was 8 miles which I think is not enough to be able to gut out and actually run the extra 5 miles, which was the case for me. I ran the first 6 1/2-7 miles and then my legs and feet were killing me so I walked 1/2, ran 1/2 the rest of the way. I felt like I had the energy to run but I was in too much pain to run, and feeling it for sure today.
The race itself is actually a lot of fun, there are people along the streets almost the whole way cheering you on, and just the feeling of running with a huge crowd all trying to accomplish the goal was pretty cool. It is a fun atmosphere to come to the finish line and see the big crowd at the Gateway cheering you through. Sadly Cannon had to go "potty" at the perfect instant such that Rachel had to take him to the restroom and missed me cross the finish line. What a bummer, but such it is with sweet kiddies!
The funniest part of a marathon? Everybody there at 6 am lined up to use the porta-potties (called "Honey Buckets" I guess) to make sure they're cleared out of any impeding bowel movements prior to the big run. Pretty hilarious to be standing in line with a couple thousand people all waiting and using a couple hundred porta-potties. I talked to a couple people who said "I don't do porta-potties" but then I would see them along the raceway in line for a porta-potty along the route, now accepting the fact of life! Why they didn't just go before the race is beyond me, maybe they learned for next time.
I don't know if a full marathon is in the cards this year with all we got going on (baby, finishing the basement, etc.) but hopefully I can improve my conditioning for another race later this year (and lose a few lbs for sure!) and get to the life goal soon. It was a good beginning.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
12th Man
So I wrote a letter to Tim Buckley of the Deseret News a few years ago. . . my buddies reminded me of it last night. I of course still have it saved in my old emails. I want to note to Kevin O'Connor that while I'm a few years older (and much fatter) at this point, the offer still stands:
Mr. Buckley,
I would kindly like to request information on how to submit my name into the NBA Draft. Upon looking at the state of the NBA, I have decided that I am what the NBA and our Utah Jazz needs. I can provide multiple reasons to prove my worthiness for a coveted spot on the Jazz roster next year and beyond. I would like to advise that the Jazz should NOT use their 14th or 16th pick on me, and even might consider trading down from their 21st pick to the 29th. My aim is to replace Karl Malone as the biggest steal in draft history.
Now I’m sure you are certainly questioning my credentials for this position, and I am fully prepared to answer any and all. First allow me to explain the benefits I will provide to this team and this league.
1-Youth.I am aware that I’m not NBA ready yet, but who in this draft is? It’s all a crapshoot. Since none of the players coming out in this draft are expected to perform for 3 years, I would like to have the same opportunity! An article about Dwight Howard on espn.com the other day mentioned that practice ends at noon. Noon! Over three years, I can guarantee I will put in the extra hours necessary to become a top player in the league.
2-Money. Shaq will make $30 million in one year! My entire apartment complex won’t make that amount collectively in their lives. The Jazz will benefit from my extremely low contract demands. I will not use an agent and will play for the absolute league minimum for my first 3 years. It will be a struggle to get by on the 6 figure salary, but I’m sure I can tough it out for 3 years. After I become a star and am ready to adjust my contract, I will still play for an amount that will be ridiculously below my value in order to allow my beloved Jazz to sign other prominent players in the league so that we can collectively compete for a championship.
3-A big draw (in multiple ways). A) I am a homegrown Utah boy! I’ve lived here all of my life (except for the normal 2 year trip away from home that every other boy in Utah takes). I absolutely love Utah and would never leave, so the Jazz will feel complete security with my desires to stay even after I’ve become a star. I will be a fan favorite as well since I’m truly local (unlike adopted Utah son Rafael Araujo). Also, Mr. Miller could make a reality series out of my experience and put it on KJZZ. It will draw monster ratings! B) I will fulfill Larry Bird’s request to have more star white players in the league. Why? Well, because I’m white! C) I am an exciting player. I will be the second coming of Charles Barkley. Not in the “I’m a big jerk who doesn’t practice” type of way, but in the “I am a very fan interactive player” type of way. One who will be willing to stick around to sign autographs and give plenty of time to the media (you specifically Mr. Buckley). In fact, I already have a cool nickname, “The Balltrain.” I’ve had it for years. Just imagine Hot Rod on the broadcast, “The Balltrain hipity-hops left, drives in baseline side, pulls up for the leap ‘n leaner…good! The Balltrain hits again.” D)Last but not least, I’m a family man. I’m already married (like all other 22 year old boys in Utah) so Jerry, Larry, and Kevin won’t have to worry about me out partying all night.
4-Work Ethic. Brad Rock recently said Karl Malone’s work ethic was questioned when drafted. Can anyone question mine? Given time (read 3 years) I will truly become a productive NBA player.
Please advise Mr. O’Connor of my intention. He can contact me anytime by email: balltrain@hotmail.com. Or by phone (I’m in the book.) Thank you for your consideration. Brandon Ball
Honestly, just rereading that I realized we used the 14th pick on Kris Humphries (barely still in the NBA and definitely a waste for the Jazz), the 16th pick on Kirk Snyder (a HUGE waste for the Jazz and is now in prison) and the 21st pick on Pavel Podkolzine who they immediately traded to the Mavs and who never played in the NBA (he was like 7'6" but I watched him in summer league that year and he was arguably the most uncoordinated person I've ever seen). You can't tell me a certain Balltrain wouldn't have panned out at least on par with these guys? Just food for thought when the draft comes up this year!
Mr. Buckley,
I would kindly like to request information on how to submit my name into the NBA Draft. Upon looking at the state of the NBA, I have decided that I am what the NBA and our Utah Jazz needs. I can provide multiple reasons to prove my worthiness for a coveted spot on the Jazz roster next year and beyond. I would like to advise that the Jazz should NOT use their 14th or 16th pick on me, and even might consider trading down from their 21st pick to the 29th. My aim is to replace Karl Malone as the biggest steal in draft history.
Now I’m sure you are certainly questioning my credentials for this position, and I am fully prepared to answer any and all. First allow me to explain the benefits I will provide to this team and this league.
1-Youth.I am aware that I’m not NBA ready yet, but who in this draft is? It’s all a crapshoot. Since none of the players coming out in this draft are expected to perform for 3 years, I would like to have the same opportunity! An article about Dwight Howard on espn.com the other day mentioned that practice ends at noon. Noon! Over three years, I can guarantee I will put in the extra hours necessary to become a top player in the league.
2-Money. Shaq will make $30 million in one year! My entire apartment complex won’t make that amount collectively in their lives. The Jazz will benefit from my extremely low contract demands. I will not use an agent and will play for the absolute league minimum for my first 3 years. It will be a struggle to get by on the 6 figure salary, but I’m sure I can tough it out for 3 years. After I become a star and am ready to adjust my contract, I will still play for an amount that will be ridiculously below my value in order to allow my beloved Jazz to sign other prominent players in the league so that we can collectively compete for a championship.
3-A big draw (in multiple ways). A) I am a homegrown Utah boy! I’ve lived here all of my life (except for the normal 2 year trip away from home that every other boy in Utah takes). I absolutely love Utah and would never leave, so the Jazz will feel complete security with my desires to stay even after I’ve become a star. I will be a fan favorite as well since I’m truly local (unlike adopted Utah son Rafael Araujo). Also, Mr. Miller could make a reality series out of my experience and put it on KJZZ. It will draw monster ratings! B) I will fulfill Larry Bird’s request to have more star white players in the league. Why? Well, because I’m white! C) I am an exciting player. I will be the second coming of Charles Barkley. Not in the “I’m a big jerk who doesn’t practice” type of way, but in the “I am a very fan interactive player” type of way. One who will be willing to stick around to sign autographs and give plenty of time to the media (you specifically Mr. Buckley). In fact, I already have a cool nickname, “The Balltrain.” I’ve had it for years. Just imagine Hot Rod on the broadcast, “The Balltrain hipity-hops left, drives in baseline side, pulls up for the leap ‘n leaner…good! The Balltrain hits again.” D)Last but not least, I’m a family man. I’m already married (like all other 22 year old boys in Utah) so Jerry, Larry, and Kevin won’t have to worry about me out partying all night.
4-Work Ethic. Brad Rock recently said Karl Malone’s work ethic was questioned when drafted. Can anyone question mine? Given time (read 3 years) I will truly become a productive NBA player.
Please advise Mr. O’Connor of my intention. He can contact me anytime by email: balltrain@hotmail.com. Or by phone (I’m in the book.) Thank you for your consideration. Brandon Ball
Honestly, just rereading that I realized we used the 14th pick on Kris Humphries (barely still in the NBA and definitely a waste for the Jazz), the 16th pick on Kirk Snyder (a HUGE waste for the Jazz and is now in prison) and the 21st pick on Pavel Podkolzine who they immediately traded to the Mavs and who never played in the NBA (he was like 7'6" but I watched him in summer league that year and he was arguably the most uncoordinated person I've ever seen). You can't tell me a certain Balltrain wouldn't have panned out at least on par with these guys? Just food for thought when the draft comes up this year!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Now THAT is cool!
What is the coolest thing you've ever done in your life? Not something that is necessarily imperative to life fulfillment (such as getting married, kids, college, etc.) but just flat-out "I did that!" A couple weeks ago at a client a I was talking to a guy who told me back in November he ran a marathon in Greece. I thought to myself, "That is cool! He will remember that for the rest of his life that he did that!" So obviously I started thinking about my own list of cool things and have had occasion to ask other people the same thing. Every time I think about it I have different reactions: sometimes I think I'm a huge loser who hasn't done anything cool in my life and other times I'm energized by the thought that I should DO something cool. Again, this doesn't necessarily have to do with life-fulfillment or anything, just "That is cool!" Here's my list at this point in life, maybe you can understand what's going through my head as I think about my list:
1) I have climbed a mountain. Miners Peak above our cabin. I've actually climbed it 2 or 3 times, the first time with my father and uncle Spencer when I was 9/10 age and I can specifically remember a death-defying experience as we scaled the east ridge. The other times were just up the semi-trail on the north face. Why is this #1? Well, I think it is pretty cool to be able to say "I have stood on top of a mountain". Whenever you're up high like that you can remember the view, and I will always remember what it looks like to stand on top of that mountain. I obviously hope to climb it again with Cannon someday. The downer of this being #1? This was 18 years ago at least! The coolest thing I've done in my life happened when I was 10? I need to find something to do with my life!
2) Rode Ziplines in the jungle of Mexico. I'm hesitant to write vacation adventures as I know Rachel will harp on me "That's why we need to go on vacation!" But this was pretty cool. Extra points for the fact it happened recently and not when I was 10. Cruising through the jungle high in the trees was pretty awesome. If you ever go on a cruise or vacation to Mexico and have the opportunity to do this, it is 100% worth it.
3) Lived in Puerto Rico. Spending an abbreviated summer in Puerto Rico selling security systems was pretty awesome. Enhanced by the fact that I was with a group of my friends, it still stands out just to say I spent some time there. I DO note that getting robbed at gunpoint totally sucked and if I had gone somewhere like Philadelphia to sell systems it would probably rank high on the "Suckiest things I've ever done" list, so the fact that I was in the PR seeing the beach every day made it quite the cool experience. I'm also sure my sweet wife would call it "Dumbest thing you've ever done" :).
4) Went front-row to Britney Spears for free! 2000 "Oops. . . I did it again!" Tour in August ( I actually think it was on my mom's birthday August 18th but not sure). Those that know me know I LOVE Britney Spears especially in my teenage days (My mom even allowed a sweet, extremely modest by Britney today standards, poster in my room!). Anyway, we head downtown just because we had nothing better to do, my buddies start flirting with a roadie and she ends up giving us VIP passes! Awesome. I note I didn't do anything to help the flirting along as in this particular scenario I had been to Lake Powell with the Hulls the week before and slammed my face on a rock and had totally jacked up my face so I was nothing to look at (and that trend continues. . . ).
5) I have hit a grand-slam! This actually might rank a little higher than 5th but I'll leave it here for now. Also from the early youth: I'm 12 years old and it's my last year in the Sandy league as we have already moved out to South Jordan. As far as baseball goes, I couldn't throw worth a crap but I was a pretty good hitter. I was on the Sandy All-Star team and we were playing out in West Jordan against West Jordan. I had been removed as the cleanup hitter the game before for the coach's son (Mitch Easton or Jackson Cannon. I can't remember who but they were both losers. Needless to say we didn't get along). Anyway, the dude sucked in his game at cleanup so I was put back in as the cleanup hitter. 1st inning, all first 3 hitters get on base. I head up to the plate and the Mitch/Jackson combo start yapping about how I'm going to suck it up (I'm their freaking teammate for crying out loud!) How do I respond? I stroke a sweet line-drive homerun that was still climbing as it got to the fence and nailed the side of a car after it came down. BOOM! Grand Slam! A lot of other stuff happened in this game and I even hit a second home run. . . but we lost the freaking game. I'm sure it was something to do with Mitch Easton and Jackson Cannon :). Oh well, it is definitely pretty cool to be able to say that I've hit a Grand Slam.
Not sure if anything on that list is "Ran a Marathon in Greece" cool but I'm building! I do have a life-goal to run a marathon someday, maybe it could crack my top 5.
1) I have climbed a mountain. Miners Peak above our cabin. I've actually climbed it 2 or 3 times, the first time with my father and uncle Spencer when I was 9/10 age and I can specifically remember a death-defying experience as we scaled the east ridge. The other times were just up the semi-trail on the north face. Why is this #1? Well, I think it is pretty cool to be able to say "I have stood on top of a mountain". Whenever you're up high like that you can remember the view, and I will always remember what it looks like to stand on top of that mountain. I obviously hope to climb it again with Cannon someday. The downer of this being #1? This was 18 years ago at least! The coolest thing I've done in my life happened when I was 10? I need to find something to do with my life!
2) Rode Ziplines in the jungle of Mexico. I'm hesitant to write vacation adventures as I know Rachel will harp on me "That's why we need to go on vacation!" But this was pretty cool. Extra points for the fact it happened recently and not when I was 10. Cruising through the jungle high in the trees was pretty awesome. If you ever go on a cruise or vacation to Mexico and have the opportunity to do this, it is 100% worth it.
3) Lived in Puerto Rico. Spending an abbreviated summer in Puerto Rico selling security systems was pretty awesome. Enhanced by the fact that I was with a group of my friends, it still stands out just to say I spent some time there. I DO note that getting robbed at gunpoint totally sucked and if I had gone somewhere like Philadelphia to sell systems it would probably rank high on the "Suckiest things I've ever done" list, so the fact that I was in the PR seeing the beach every day made it quite the cool experience. I'm also sure my sweet wife would call it "Dumbest thing you've ever done" :).
4) Went front-row to Britney Spears for free! 2000 "Oops. . . I did it again!" Tour in August ( I actually think it was on my mom's birthday August 18th but not sure). Those that know me know I LOVE Britney Spears especially in my teenage days (My mom even allowed a sweet, extremely modest by Britney today standards, poster in my room!). Anyway, we head downtown just because we had nothing better to do, my buddies start flirting with a roadie and she ends up giving us VIP passes! Awesome. I note I didn't do anything to help the flirting along as in this particular scenario I had been to Lake Powell with the Hulls the week before and slammed my face on a rock and had totally jacked up my face so I was nothing to look at (and that trend continues. . . ).
5) I have hit a grand-slam! This actually might rank a little higher than 5th but I'll leave it here for now. Also from the early youth: I'm 12 years old and it's my last year in the Sandy league as we have already moved out to South Jordan. As far as baseball goes, I couldn't throw worth a crap but I was a pretty good hitter. I was on the Sandy All-Star team and we were playing out in West Jordan against West Jordan. I had been removed as the cleanup hitter the game before for the coach's son (Mitch Easton or Jackson Cannon. I can't remember who but they were both losers. Needless to say we didn't get along). Anyway, the dude sucked in his game at cleanup so I was put back in as the cleanup hitter. 1st inning, all first 3 hitters get on base. I head up to the plate and the Mitch/Jackson combo start yapping about how I'm going to suck it up (I'm their freaking teammate for crying out loud!) How do I respond? I stroke a sweet line-drive homerun that was still climbing as it got to the fence and nailed the side of a car after it came down. BOOM! Grand Slam! A lot of other stuff happened in this game and I even hit a second home run. . . but we lost the freaking game. I'm sure it was something to do with Mitch Easton and Jackson Cannon :). Oh well, it is definitely pretty cool to be able to say that I've hit a Grand Slam.
Not sure if anything on that list is "Ran a Marathon in Greece" cool but I'm building! I do have a life-goal to run a marathon someday, maybe it could crack my top 5.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
bball's super-awesome 2009 year in review (1 month in to 2010!)!
Wow what a year and it's already 1 month behind me. I kind of suck at writing this on time but so much happens right around new years (when I would ideally write it) and next thing I know I'm working 'til 10 every night of the week and on Saturdays and suddenly it's the end of January already! Time flies, period (since I'm not necessarily having fun right now). I also want to make a note of how perpective changes every day as I have started multiple drafts of this but haven't finished any of them and each time I start one I write about completely different things. I'm also writing about mostly my memories (obviously mostly work-related) as pretty much all family-related memories have been well-documented by my super-wife Rachel. My 2009 year in review as remembered on January 31, 2010.
Flash back one year to January 2009. History is made as the first black President of the United States is sworn in. I remember I was at BMW Bank up on Parley's Way by Foothill working on an audit and basically the whole company shut down for an hour to cram around a tv in the break room to watch the inauguration. In retrospect it was definitely a historical event, yet I can also say in retrospect the only "change I can believe in" that I've seen in this first year of his run is a giant change in the national debt and a change in how we treat crooked CEO's of big-time companies that screw over their investors. . . we now reward them with federal tax money! Alas, I digress.
February 2010 had to be one of the worst (or best) eating-months of my entire life. Working on the IHC audit we were so slammed that we went out to eat for lunch and dinner virtually every day for the entire month. Combine that with the abundant supply of snacks and extra treats that always seem to show up around Valentine's Day and it was pretty crazy. I don't doubt that I put on a few extra pounds in this month. I distinctly remember (with the help of my blog of course) going to Sizzler with Rachel at the end of that week and laughing about how I "took it easy" with only a few plates of all-you-can-eat shrimp.
March I worked on Mrs. Fields Cookies (as I'm now entrenched in IHC it was probably the last time). I liked the team there and I especially liked working close to Rachel's work where I would frequently meet up with her for lunch. La Puente and Pistol Pete's were definitely our two favorite lunch spots. La Puente has become one of our favorite restaurants overall; you just can't beat the smothered burritos or the flaming-hot salsa. With the exception of Cafe Rio (if you count that) we're basically at the point that we don't even consider anywhere else when we want Mexican food. So good, I'm salivating for it right now just thinking about it.
In April I had an opportunity to take a couple days off and we went to St. George for a weekend. Nothing too spectacular about St. George other than it's a lot warmer than here and it's not "here". I can appreciate the need a couple times a year to just get away from the house for a couple days, even if all you're doing is chillin' by the hotel pool most the day, which is exactly what we did. It was Cannon's first real experience in a pool and he really liked it so it was worth taking him down there.
In May I worked on Sweet Candy Company and spent a couple weeks in Washington State again. Nothing too spectacular this month with the exception that I did realize the awesomeness of books on tape in this month! I sometimes drive to Washington, which is 10-11 hours; when a CD is only 40 minutes or so, you cruise through a ton of music in that time. But with a book on tape it takes 8-9 hours to get through the whole book so it kind of progresses with you throughout the trip. This might not make sense unless you've made a long drive alone but there is a difference between thinking "holy crap it seems like I've listened to every album I own!" and tearing through one book on a long drive. While the time is the same the trip has a different feel. I generally drive once a month when I'm working out of town and I started to look forward to the drives when I had found a couple good books at the library.
June was one of the worst month's I've had in my job. I don't mind working 'til 11 when it's January-cold and dark at 5, not a ton of activities going on-but I definitely mind when it's June- warm and light 'til 9, plenty of outside activities with the fam to go do. That is obviously the breaks of my current job and I choose to do what I do but I am allowed to whine a bit here and there right?
I took the first two weeks of July off prior to my annual travel-thon. We had plenty of fun activities and we also started on Rachel's favorite activity ever. . .finishing the basement! Well, we decided to start and bought a ton of materials but we really didn't get up and going for a few months after that. Nevertheless it is interesting now to think back about what the basement looked like before we started the process. The process kind of reminds me of an artist's work who take make something out of nothing. The basement was a big open space that could be made into anything and will now forever be finished according to our design. It's far from finished at this point, but it is completely framed so you can see the dimensions of the rooms, etc. which I think is pretty cool.
My other memory of my time off in July is we went up to the cabin and I took Cannon on his first ever zip line ride. Rachel and I were both thinking he would freak out but he loved it. There is something about that zip line that I would think is special to any Ball-child and probably to anybody who's ever had a ride on it. There is something singular to the thrill of being up in the mountains and riding that thing that is unmatched.
In between trips to Washington in August we also went on a sweet cruise with some friends! Rachel posted all about it on her blog but some key things I remember: 1) I weighed in at 245 lbs heading into the cruise, knowing I had to keep it under 250 to ride the ziplines 2) I came home at 260 lbs and haven't dropped since and I'm pretty sure I was over the 250 point by the 5th day of the cruise when we rode the zip lines. Oops!. (Sidenote: I'm in a weightloss competition at work and am down 5 lbs so far. I know I have like 85 more to go but needless to say my February '10 won't be like February '09 as the managers cut off the sweet treat supply). 3) After the evening entertainment was over late Rachel and I would head up to the top deck and watch the ocean and chat for an hour or so nearly every night, which we don't get the opportunity to do nearly enough, 3) the realization that we are old loser-adults: the group of us head up to the hot-tubs on the top deck late one night and get into a tub that has tons of teenagers in it. They all IMMEDIATELY get up and leave. Wow, we're that intimidating huh? We sit and chat for a while and during the course of our time there a couple teenage girls and a few teenage guys come get in but just sit there and don't say a word. I didn't notice anything until the second we got out they start talking to each other and all of us realize they were scared to talk in front of us! That was a sobering moment knowing that you're definitely too old to relate to the young crowd anymore. In my mind I'm eternally 22-24 age but when I see someone that age or younger I realize I am definitely NOT. Oh well, the cruise was a blast and a needed break for Rachel and I; however, we were definitely missing Cannon by the time we got back. We had a 3-state bonanza the day we got back: Fly from CA to UT in the morning, unpack cruise stuff and pack work stuff, and fly from UT to WA in the evening for me while Rachel drove up to Idaho to pick up Cannon.
September! Month where dreams come true! Really it's just my birthday month so you have to say it's awesome, right? September started off with a bang as my beloved BYU Cougars went to Texas to play Oklahoma in the new Cowboys Stadium and beat then-No.3 Oklahoma. I dinstinctly remember shouting after the winning touchdown "This is the greatest day in my life!" as I shook Cannon up in the air. My friend Britton made the comment "As he is holding his son in his hands!". High comedy. Sadly they got their butts kicked, at home no less, by a mediocre Florida State team two weeks later and fell out of the national championship discussion just as fast as they got in it. There is honestly nothing better than the feel of football in the air. We even went to a high school game up in Idaho with Rachel's family when we were up there visiting. That is what September is all about, being excited for football, which I am every year.
October was a death stretch for me as I had been away from home every week since the middle of July (including the cruise I know but that was still away from home!). I even spent a weekend up in Washington in October to finish my job and had a 14 day stretch of working every day, usually past midnight. The job I'm on during that stretch isn't a bad job, it's just when you don't go home at night to your own home you can't get little things done around the house so those all build up for the weekend, which makes the weekends a mess as well. I did get home eventually and my good memory from October is Cannon being a cowboy for Halloween. We took him around for the first time and he got boatloads of candy that we still have today. He did pretty good on asking trick-or-treat but the real fun is seeing how excited he got for the candy from every house. Funny how important these things are as you become a parent in life.
November was a blur but I will note the best day of November 2009, the 21st. My buddy Jared Selman called me the night before and offered Rachel and I to go to the BYU-Utah game. I have never been live before so it was awesome. Hall to George in OT and Hall's "I Hate Utah" press conference afterwards are immortalized and will forever hold a special place in my heart. Hall notched himself up a level in the BYU QB pantheon in my mind and backed it up the next month with a thrashing of Oregon State in the LV Bowl. Rachel also found out she was pregnant in November! We are both excited and grateful for an addition to our family! I think a lot about how weird it is to have this concept of another person in your family and how it just doesn't resonate until it's actually real. I can't picture Cannon being anything other than what he is but you have no idea before they are born. Same for this baby so we're excited for the adventure.
In December I took the final two weeks off over Christmas-New Years. That is a great time to be home and not worry about anything but family so I was happy I could be home for that stretch. Rachel's dad took off the second week and we framed the entire basement that week. OK, I didn't help that much other than passing him the hammer and cutting some boards, as I know how anti-handy I am; but I have learned a lot working in the basement and would feel at least something other than terrified if faced with the project again.
2009 ended kind of where it began, with a bunch of our friends at the Gehrke's house (this year just their house not at Bear Lake). Kind of funny that the more things change, the more they stay the same, which is not a bad thing at all.
Flash back one year to January 2009. History is made as the first black President of the United States is sworn in. I remember I was at BMW Bank up on Parley's Way by Foothill working on an audit and basically the whole company shut down for an hour to cram around a tv in the break room to watch the inauguration. In retrospect it was definitely a historical event, yet I can also say in retrospect the only "change I can believe in" that I've seen in this first year of his run is a giant change in the national debt and a change in how we treat crooked CEO's of big-time companies that screw over their investors. . . we now reward them with federal tax money! Alas, I digress.
February 2010 had to be one of the worst (or best) eating-months of my entire life. Working on the IHC audit we were so slammed that we went out to eat for lunch and dinner virtually every day for the entire month. Combine that with the abundant supply of snacks and extra treats that always seem to show up around Valentine's Day and it was pretty crazy. I don't doubt that I put on a few extra pounds in this month. I distinctly remember (with the help of my blog of course) going to Sizzler with Rachel at the end of that week and laughing about how I "took it easy" with only a few plates of all-you-can-eat shrimp.
March I worked on Mrs. Fields Cookies (as I'm now entrenched in IHC it was probably the last time). I liked the team there and I especially liked working close to Rachel's work where I would frequently meet up with her for lunch. La Puente and Pistol Pete's were definitely our two favorite lunch spots. La Puente has become one of our favorite restaurants overall; you just can't beat the smothered burritos or the flaming-hot salsa. With the exception of Cafe Rio (if you count that) we're basically at the point that we don't even consider anywhere else when we want Mexican food. So good, I'm salivating for it right now just thinking about it.
In April I had an opportunity to take a couple days off and we went to St. George for a weekend. Nothing too spectacular about St. George other than it's a lot warmer than here and it's not "here". I can appreciate the need a couple times a year to just get away from the house for a couple days, even if all you're doing is chillin' by the hotel pool most the day, which is exactly what we did. It was Cannon's first real experience in a pool and he really liked it so it was worth taking him down there.
In May I worked on Sweet Candy Company and spent a couple weeks in Washington State again. Nothing too spectacular this month with the exception that I did realize the awesomeness of books on tape in this month! I sometimes drive to Washington, which is 10-11 hours; when a CD is only 40 minutes or so, you cruise through a ton of music in that time. But with a book on tape it takes 8-9 hours to get through the whole book so it kind of progresses with you throughout the trip. This might not make sense unless you've made a long drive alone but there is a difference between thinking "holy crap it seems like I've listened to every album I own!" and tearing through one book on a long drive. While the time is the same the trip has a different feel. I generally drive once a month when I'm working out of town and I started to look forward to the drives when I had found a couple good books at the library.
June was one of the worst month's I've had in my job. I don't mind working 'til 11 when it's January-cold and dark at 5, not a ton of activities going on-but I definitely mind when it's June- warm and light 'til 9, plenty of outside activities with the fam to go do. That is obviously the breaks of my current job and I choose to do what I do but I am allowed to whine a bit here and there right?
I took the first two weeks of July off prior to my annual travel-thon. We had plenty of fun activities and we also started on Rachel's favorite activity ever. . .finishing the basement! Well, we decided to start and bought a ton of materials but we really didn't get up and going for a few months after that. Nevertheless it is interesting now to think back about what the basement looked like before we started the process. The process kind of reminds me of an artist's work who take make something out of nothing. The basement was a big open space that could be made into anything and will now forever be finished according to our design. It's far from finished at this point, but it is completely framed so you can see the dimensions of the rooms, etc. which I think is pretty cool.
My other memory of my time off in July is we went up to the cabin and I took Cannon on his first ever zip line ride. Rachel and I were both thinking he would freak out but he loved it. There is something about that zip line that I would think is special to any Ball-child and probably to anybody who's ever had a ride on it. There is something singular to the thrill of being up in the mountains and riding that thing that is unmatched.
In between trips to Washington in August we also went on a sweet cruise with some friends! Rachel posted all about it on her blog but some key things I remember: 1) I weighed in at 245 lbs heading into the cruise, knowing I had to keep it under 250 to ride the ziplines 2) I came home at 260 lbs and haven't dropped since and I'm pretty sure I was over the 250 point by the 5th day of the cruise when we rode the zip lines. Oops!. (Sidenote: I'm in a weightloss competition at work and am down 5 lbs so far. I know I have like 85 more to go but needless to say my February '10 won't be like February '09 as the managers cut off the sweet treat supply). 3) After the evening entertainment was over late Rachel and I would head up to the top deck and watch the ocean and chat for an hour or so nearly every night, which we don't get the opportunity to do nearly enough, 3) the realization that we are old loser-adults: the group of us head up to the hot-tubs on the top deck late one night and get into a tub that has tons of teenagers in it. They all IMMEDIATELY get up and leave. Wow, we're that intimidating huh? We sit and chat for a while and during the course of our time there a couple teenage girls and a few teenage guys come get in but just sit there and don't say a word. I didn't notice anything until the second we got out they start talking to each other and all of us realize they were scared to talk in front of us! That was a sobering moment knowing that you're definitely too old to relate to the young crowd anymore. In my mind I'm eternally 22-24 age but when I see someone that age or younger I realize I am definitely NOT. Oh well, the cruise was a blast and a needed break for Rachel and I; however, we were definitely missing Cannon by the time we got back. We had a 3-state bonanza the day we got back: Fly from CA to UT in the morning, unpack cruise stuff and pack work stuff, and fly from UT to WA in the evening for me while Rachel drove up to Idaho to pick up Cannon.
September! Month where dreams come true! Really it's just my birthday month so you have to say it's awesome, right? September started off with a bang as my beloved BYU Cougars went to Texas to play Oklahoma in the new Cowboys Stadium and beat then-No.3 Oklahoma. I dinstinctly remember shouting after the winning touchdown "This is the greatest day in my life!" as I shook Cannon up in the air. My friend Britton made the comment "As he is holding his son in his hands!". High comedy. Sadly they got their butts kicked, at home no less, by a mediocre Florida State team two weeks later and fell out of the national championship discussion just as fast as they got in it. There is honestly nothing better than the feel of football in the air. We even went to a high school game up in Idaho with Rachel's family when we were up there visiting. That is what September is all about, being excited for football, which I am every year.
October was a death stretch for me as I had been away from home every week since the middle of July (including the cruise I know but that was still away from home!). I even spent a weekend up in Washington in October to finish my job and had a 14 day stretch of working every day, usually past midnight. The job I'm on during that stretch isn't a bad job, it's just when you don't go home at night to your own home you can't get little things done around the house so those all build up for the weekend, which makes the weekends a mess as well. I did get home eventually and my good memory from October is Cannon being a cowboy for Halloween. We took him around for the first time and he got boatloads of candy that we still have today. He did pretty good on asking trick-or-treat but the real fun is seeing how excited he got for the candy from every house. Funny how important these things are as you become a parent in life.
November was a blur but I will note the best day of November 2009, the 21st. My buddy Jared Selman called me the night before and offered Rachel and I to go to the BYU-Utah game. I have never been live before so it was awesome. Hall to George in OT and Hall's "I Hate Utah" press conference afterwards are immortalized and will forever hold a special place in my heart. Hall notched himself up a level in the BYU QB pantheon in my mind and backed it up the next month with a thrashing of Oregon State in the LV Bowl. Rachel also found out she was pregnant in November! We are both excited and grateful for an addition to our family! I think a lot about how weird it is to have this concept of another person in your family and how it just doesn't resonate until it's actually real. I can't picture Cannon being anything other than what he is but you have no idea before they are born. Same for this baby so we're excited for the adventure.
In December I took the final two weeks off over Christmas-New Years. That is a great time to be home and not worry about anything but family so I was happy I could be home for that stretch. Rachel's dad took off the second week and we framed the entire basement that week. OK, I didn't help that much other than passing him the hammer and cutting some boards, as I know how anti-handy I am; but I have learned a lot working in the basement and would feel at least something other than terrified if faced with the project again.
2009 ended kind of where it began, with a bunch of our friends at the Gehrke's house (this year just their house not at Bear Lake). Kind of funny that the more things change, the more they stay the same, which is not a bad thing at all.
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