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.
Friday, May 28, 2010
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.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
The "In-N-Out" Experience
I can think of only one other restaurant besides In-N-Out Burgers that wows me every time I go there, Cafe Rio. In both cases it's not necessarily because of the food (but it obviously MUST be because of the food), but rather the crowd at the restaurant.
Rachel told me Thursday night she wanted to go to In-N-Out for dinner Friday; I said "OK!" (when would I ever refuse a burger?). So we had some errands to run out by Draper Friday night so we head out to the Draper restaurant. BIG mistake. I had heard that the lines weren't that bad but the second I pulled up I knew it was a no-go. The line for inside was out the door and the drive through was wrapped into the street and back about 50 cars. I told Rachel there is no way it was happening as Cannon would obviously not do well sitting in the cold for 15 minutes before even getting inside the door. We hit up Costco dinner with plans for In-N-Out another day.
So this morning we leave Cannon with Grandma and head over to Jordan Landing for some more Christmas shopping. It is barely past 10:30 in the morning as we pull up by In-N-Out. We can see that it's open because inside the tables are already full and the drive through already has a line. It is 10:30 in the morning on a Saturday! People are barely waking up at this hour and they're ready to shove a burger and fries down their gullet?
Let me preface by saying that not 5 minutes earlier I had stopped at a gas station and filled up a 32 oz. soda and eaten a giant cream-filled triangle donut (LOVE Dunford!), but we knew if we were going to eat In-N-Out anytime within the next six months or so, this was the opportunity! In we go at 10:45 am to a filled fast-food restaurant. The line wasn't very long but the seats were all filled. We ordered our food and enjoyed a great burger-brunch.
The thing that is so amazing about In-N-Out and Cafe Rio is I get the feeling every time I eat at one of these places that the only limit to their profits is "How fast can you flip a burger or make a burrito?" That is impressive. From open 'til close for who knows how long In-N-Out will have monster lines of people dying to have their burgers. I still remember my first time going to one in California and thinking "THIS is their menu? How do they do so well? Where's the bacon? Where's the pastrami? The chicken options?" etc. Well, they make good food and people respond to good food, especially hamburgers and burritos, the staples of the American diet (at least my diet).
I have previously claimed 5 Guys to be the best burger in the state of Utah. After this morning I want to restate my opinion a tad. While I still hold strong that 5 Guys is the absolute best burger I will concede that In-N-Out may be the best burger "for the money". It is certainly much cheaper as a double cheese combo is $5.50 where the same thing would probably net over $10 at 5 Guys. I also want to note that the Apollo/Crown/Whatever pastrami is still in my top-level pantheon of great burgers as well. There is just something about a great burger combo that puts you in a good mood, right? Count me happy for the day!
Rachel told me Thursday night she wanted to go to In-N-Out for dinner Friday; I said "OK!" (when would I ever refuse a burger?). So we had some errands to run out by Draper Friday night so we head out to the Draper restaurant. BIG mistake. I had heard that the lines weren't that bad but the second I pulled up I knew it was a no-go. The line for inside was out the door and the drive through was wrapped into the street and back about 50 cars. I told Rachel there is no way it was happening as Cannon would obviously not do well sitting in the cold for 15 minutes before even getting inside the door. We hit up Costco dinner with plans for In-N-Out another day.
So this morning we leave Cannon with Grandma and head over to Jordan Landing for some more Christmas shopping. It is barely past 10:30 in the morning as we pull up by In-N-Out. We can see that it's open because inside the tables are already full and the drive through already has a line. It is 10:30 in the morning on a Saturday! People are barely waking up at this hour and they're ready to shove a burger and fries down their gullet?
Let me preface by saying that not 5 minutes earlier I had stopped at a gas station and filled up a 32 oz. soda and eaten a giant cream-filled triangle donut (LOVE Dunford!), but we knew if we were going to eat In-N-Out anytime within the next six months or so, this was the opportunity! In we go at 10:45 am to a filled fast-food restaurant. The line wasn't very long but the seats were all filled. We ordered our food and enjoyed a great burger-brunch.
The thing that is so amazing about In-N-Out and Cafe Rio is I get the feeling every time I eat at one of these places that the only limit to their profits is "How fast can you flip a burger or make a burrito?" That is impressive. From open 'til close for who knows how long In-N-Out will have monster lines of people dying to have their burgers. I still remember my first time going to one in California and thinking "THIS is their menu? How do they do so well? Where's the bacon? Where's the pastrami? The chicken options?" etc. Well, they make good food and people respond to good food, especially hamburgers and burritos, the staples of the American diet (at least my diet).
I have previously claimed 5 Guys to be the best burger in the state of Utah. After this morning I want to restate my opinion a tad. While I still hold strong that 5 Guys is the absolute best burger I will concede that In-N-Out may be the best burger "for the money". It is certainly much cheaper as a double cheese combo is $5.50 where the same thing would probably net over $10 at 5 Guys. I also want to note that the Apollo/Crown/Whatever pastrami is still in my top-level pantheon of great burgers as well. There is just something about a great burger combo that puts you in a good mood, right? Count me happy for the day!
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