Halloween 2009

Everyone except Austin and Cathi went Trick-or-treating for candy. Here is a picture we took just before we went out plundering! What a fun time we had. Lucy went out with a friend and so did Jacob (who let Jonas come along). Man did they score! I went out with Isaac, Sam and Oliver.



Jacob was a "Deathrider". Lucy was an egyptian princess, Jonas and Isaac were ninjas, Sam was Spiderman, Oliver was the Fantastic 4 rock superhero.

Darth Gords

So this morning I got up early to get my costume put together. The horns wouldn't stay on with the spirit glue that I got from Halloween USA. I tried applying them several times, but they just weren't sticking good enough so I went without horns. I had to get Cathi to help me with the blue part of my face. The black I did completely myself.

Turned out pretty good. We'll see how it lasts at work. Tomax has been getting pretty good prizes lately for Easter and Halloween. So hopefully I get something cool out of this besides some strange looks.

Vivid dream again - cliff jumping

Well I had another extremely vivid dream. The last dream I had like that was a tragedy type dream. This one was more enjoyable. It started out where I heard about this new cliff jumping camp. It consists of a small group of people who rent a humongous warehouse get a pool, and build a rock wall (which also had rock climbers on it) and then at certain points along the wall was an opening where you could take stairs along the back side of the wall, then come to the opening and jump into the pool.

The camp consisted of 10 total jumps, the first one starting at 10 meters and then progressively getting higher. But get this, the last three jumps are so high they have to take you outside to specific points somewhere in the world that would allow for such high jumps.

So I heard about this camp at work and Sylaja (my boss) and I paid the $100 to join the camp. The first few jumps were cake. Once I got to the 30-50 foot jumps it was a little challenging mentally to do it. But the camp director (who happened to be the director at Scout Camp Loll) gave us tips to overcome our fears. Once we got to the 100 foot and higher jumps you would jump into a stream of water that also went down to the point of entry in the water. This helped the landings to be softer.

Once we got the 8th jump we had to go to the edge of the Grand Canyon. There was a large river that went over the edge. We were supposed to jump over the edge into the waterfall going straight down. It was so far I couldn't see the bottom. I was like "How far is this jump?" The camp director overhead me and said to Sylaja and me, "It isn't about how far it is people! It's about how much fun your havin!" One of the assistants, who happened to be Rex Brimhall then went up to the edge and without a moment's hesitation walked over the edge into the waterfall going down to the bottom.

I then followed him. The fall ended up being about a mile. It was amazing how long I was just falling in the mist all around me. At first it was scary, but after a few seconds, this was fun! After about a minute, then the mist got thicker until I could tell I was getting near the bottom and I could hear a huge roar of water. Then I entered the water at the bottom. It was a soft entry. Softer than even the 50 foot jump. What a thrill!

Then I woke up. Dang! I wanted to see the last two jumps! What a crazy dream. Made me think, "If I can overcome the fear of jumping into a fall where I can't see the bottom, the English Channel is something right up my alley. Being prepared physically and mentally and having the right support team is all there is to it. Sounds easy, but I really believe I've got the metal to do it.

I really wish I could plug my brain into a computer and record video of that dream, it was so real. Extremely thrilling and what a fantastic view!

Way to be proactive Feds!

I'm sure glad to see stories like this one where terrorists are caught BEFORE they carry out their terrorist activities. As 911 demonstrated if we wait until the crime is committed, dozens, hundreds and even thousands of lives are in jeopardy.

I fully support a government that aggressively hunts down terrorist plans and nips them in the bud before they are acted out. Problem is what can you do to those who are caught? If they acted out their plan of mass murder, it would be generous to give them a lethal injection. What can you do to prevent them from becoming a threat in the future?

Scary moment this morning

This morning Cathi told me we had the carpool. I was about to leave for work and she asked if I would take the kids. I agreed since I was on my way to work, and could just take them on the way. After picking up the three girls, and going down 2700 S., only 30 seconds or so into the drive with all the kids, I heard one girl in the back seat say, "Hey are you OK? What are you doing? What are you doing?" I looked in the rear view mirror to see one of the girls white as a ghost with her face completely clenched breathing fast through her nose and her eyes rolled back. She was leaned over onto one of the girls sitting in the middle. It was quite shocking to see. Her hands were clenched into fists and she was convulsing.

I immediately told the girls to just relax and make sure she could breathe. I turned the car around and took her home. At the same time I called 911 and talked to dispatch. We arrived at her home and one of the girls went up to get her Dad. He came out and by that time she was no longer convulsing and was just passed out in a relaxed state with her breathing calm. The active seizure probably lasted about 30 seconds to a full minute.

When the officer arrived he asked the Dad about medical history, diet, etc... She was slowly coming back to alertness and was able to be assisted out of the back seat and back in her house. I then took the remaining three kids to school.

Back when I was at Deseret gym there was a boy who had a mild seizure. This one was pretty intense. According to the parents, this was a first incident and not a recurring thing. For me as the adult in the group and the one responsible for the safety of the kids on the way to school, it was a little disturbing and glad that it wasn't so bad that she stopped breathing. I was afraid that my tunnel vision would affect my driving. So I tried to focus on getting back to the house instead of trying to drive, talk to dispatch and provide care all at the same time. I'm still a little in shock over the whole thing.

I hope the other kids in the carpool are respectful of the situation and the young woman's privacy in keeping the story quiet. I left a voicemail on Austin's cell phone to be quiet about what happened, but who knows if he'll listen to it. Hopefully he uses good judgment. I'm sure the young lady will be embarrassed when word gets out and hopefully people will respond in a caring way without making her feel "broken" or different.

Publicly denouncing Rammstein and praising Infected Mushroom

For the past decade I have been a fan of Rammstein. That is until now. Their latest album cover is simply pornographic. I've tried overlooking much of Rammstein's past indiscretions in their videos and concerts. But they seem to focus so much on shocking their audience with their lyrics and antics than in the quality of their music. With how the world is going though, they may get more popular with their disgusting behavior. Not with me though. I'll be playing deaf to their next album.

So I publicly denounce Rammstein as my favorite band, and replace them with a new favorite: Infected Mushroom. If I were to stand before my maker I would feel very much that he would agree in my appreciation of their music. They focus on music quality, and their lyrics aren't offensive.

So go check them out: Infected Mushroom rocks!

Here's some samples:

My quest for a full breath

Ever since around spring of 2007 I have never had 100% clear sinus'. I had springtime hayfever and went to see my allergist, Dr. Allen Edson who prescribed Nasacort for my nose. I tried it and it cleared me up fine, but over time, didn't have the same effect. Today it has no noticeable effect whatsoever.

Ever since fall of 2008 it has been 50 - 90% effaced. What is strange is that it switches sides. One side is typically 80-100% clear, while the other is only 30-50% clear. Then it switches sides. Up till now I've just learned to live with it. I get a new hypoallergenic pillow every 4 months or so, change the bed sheets often in case of dust mites. And it really isn't that tough to keep my distance from Annabel (which I have a very slight allergic reaction to according to tests). Austin gives her enough love for the both of us.

Yesterday I went to see Dr. Edson hoping that I could have surgery instead of have to take nasal sprays for the rest of my life that don't really work. He looked in side and said that he can't see any polyps because I'm so congested, so I have a CAT scan scheduled for next Monday.

He gave me a different nasal spray which I tried this morning and a extreme antihistamine drug called prednisone which I'm only taking for a week. I put this off to avoid any possible conflicting surgery and recovery time with any races I'm doing. After the SDRC swim meet on November 14th, I'll be free and clear and shouldn't have conflicts, other than my training which hopefully any surgery won't interfere very much with.

Square Trade - quick to google itself?

This morning I wrote a nasty little post about Square Trade because of the denied claim on my GPS unit which failed at the start of last Saturday's 160 mile ride.

They said on the phone that my claim was denied because the warranty doesn't cover water damage. Which I told them had never had water on the inside. It corroded because of old batteries. But they pretty much said sorry.

About 2 hours later, and after I posted my nasty blog about their service, I get a call back saying they are re-reviewing my claim and asked again for my story which I retold. They said, "Oh, well if it never had water damage on the inside and it was due to batteries, then that is different". So they're sending me a shipping bag to put the GPS in and send to them for repair.

So I ended up deleting my nasty blog post and have this one now. This could be a good ending afterall.

So now I'm wondering why they did they review and reverse their initial claim decision? If it had anything to do with my initial posting, then that would be great. But that would be too cool.