Ready For Adventure

I got a new pack for Christmas and some cash that I used to buy some equipment to put in it. I upgraded my tent and sleeping bag, and got some cooking equipment. There are enough things I can eat without cooking that I don't really need to take a stove with me, but it is a nice little option. I bought a left and right bag so that Ashley and I can zip together, so that will be a nice option. I also got some cool shoes that will be awesome for climbing dunes. They have individual toes and feel like being barefoot but protected. I'm pretty excited about all this.

Suspenders!

I have been looking for suspenders for a while, to no avail. (Note: I don't like to buy stuff online.)  I finally found some, but they were annoying holiday ones with shot glass holders attached. It took a while to get those things removed, but it was worth the effort. Without further ado, I give you...... MY SUSPENDERS!!

Click on past the break to see a tastefully cropped photo of me in suspenders and underwear.

I've been there, and I am glad to be where I am now instead.

Below is a response to a FaceBook note that a friend wrote about wondering what to do with his life after getting his degree. For those who don't know, I also have my degree. I remember it being a strange and trying time. Here is the response: 


I don't suggest it for everyone, but working retail allows me to define myself by what is important to me and not by what I do for money. I am an expression of my faith and my interests, which sometimes cost money to pursue. I fund the pursuit with a retail job where the corporation could easily replace me, but where I am free to make relationships with individuals that are all unique and irreplaceable. Most importantly to me, I don't take the job home with me. My phone is set to not even ring if they call me.
Now, on the other end of the spectrum, I have also worked in a field that I do define myself by. Working as a martial arts instructor was rewarding and I was proud to tell people that's what I did. To this day, people are still more likely to call me "Chuck" than by my real name at my retail job. Why do I no longer teach for money? Because the compromises you have to make will cause you to almost hate something you were once passionate about. Working with kids especially, you have to tailor the class to their interests, and not necessarily to what would be the best for them. If they are lazy and don't want to do the hard work, they will quit and you are out of a job. The same applies in any other field with the types of customers specific to that field.
(Friend), keep reaching for the things you love in this life. Nothing can stop you and it doesn't matter where the money comes from.

After The Break

Ashley just took a picture of me in my underwear and suspenders. I told her it wouldn't work on Facebook, but maybe after the break in a blog.

Wait, why did I do that?

I just worked from 5:30 AM to 6:30 PM. My brain is mush.

Today's Project

Today I started prototyping for a magic effect involving a nice box like the one you see on the left there. The inspiration for the effect comes from one I saw performed on Sunday at a social for my S.A.M. assembly. Without going into how it works, I was able to work in an extra effect that the original would not be able to do. Without factoring in the cost of tools I used to alter the box, my entire cost was under $7. I will have to start with a new box for my finished piece because I made a couple mistakes, but this one is still functional. I decided to flame distress the box to give it a more interesting look than the plain wood it started as. I do NOT suggest you try this at home, kids! Maybe not even some of you adults. Basically, I took a torch to the thing to make it look more rugged. I am pretty happy with the results.

Blog-Browsing

What a strange world blogging is. Some interesting finds today:

• A blog about girls wearing leg casts (I think the fetish is that they have trouble walking.)
• A video of a small child playing "I'm Yours" on the ukulele, singing along in words you can't make out, but getting a lot of the nuances
• Video blogs of a guy who looks like a Mexican Steve Carell wearing a santa hat

More than 95% of the blogs I saw were about cancer or another disease. After a while the "Next Blog" button just kept taking me to blogs I had already seen, so it feels like the total number of blogs on Blogger is about 50. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Aw Crap!

Ashley posted an entry in her blog about blogging, which included a reference to my own blog. Since she has a number of followers, someone might actually click on the link and be looking at this entry right now. I suppose I should post about something interesting.

~Pizza where there is no pizza~

Ashley wanted me to make her a pizza last night, which of course was ridiculous since we had absolutely nothing that resembles pizza ingredients in the house. I don't let these types of things stop me.

Step One: Use a stainless steel shaker to cut a piece of bread into a circle.

Step Two: Use the bottom of said shaker to flatten out the bread as evenly as possible.

Step Three: Mix up a paste of ketchup and Sriracha, spreading it evenly over the bread.

Step Four: Shred cheese to cover the paste.

Step Five: Add small pieces of lunch meat.

Step Six: Microwave for 27 seconds.

Step Seven: Enjoy. No really, enjoy. It was really good.

The Idea Of Being Prolific Scares Me

It takes me a long time to write anything. I want it to be perfect. I don't understand how some people can write so much. Bla!

Time For Snow

I woke up this morning to the sound of snow plows. I thought it was someone dragging trash cans around, at first. Looks good out there!

Trying to Organize my Life

I try a lot of weird things to motivate myself to achieve all my little small goals. The goals I am thinking of are the little ones that you can skip a day without noticing. These are the ones that you eventually DO skip a day. Then you skip two days. Then it isn't a habit for you anymore, and you never get around to it again. We all have lots of good reasons to not do these things. Maybe you worked extra hours. Maybe you have to go out of town. Anyways, I printed up about 20 cards of things that take about ten minutes to do and shuffled them up. Then I set my alarm on my phone to go off every ten minutes. So far I have done 100 situps, had a quiet moment to myself, done 100 pushups, done ten minutes of reading, gone for a walk, worked on my flexibility, worked on my TKD book, and done this blog entry. My next card is to practice playing harmonica for ten minutes. I'm actually having a lot of fun doing it this way. I like not knowing what comes next, I have no time to dread it.

WAVE

I'm on the Wave! woot! Now to wait until any of my friends are so I can do cool stuff with them. As cool as random strangers might be, I don't see much collaboration that I need to do with any of them.

I Should Be Asleep

I'm not though. Nope, I am downloading a photo program and trying to think if hosting my own website is going to be worth the effort. I feel like I am so close since it is accessible to other computers on my network, but I am just lost on the step that gets it to be available for the whole wide world. I tried substituting my WAN IP for my LAN IP in the address, but to no avail. yeargh..

on blogging

Most of what I write here is crap, but to look back at my past posts and remember important events in my life is really cool for me. Sometimes I talk about goals I don't remember setting, and sometimes I include good photos I barely remember taking. So yeah, blogging just revealed some of the value it has to me. I doubt I will write any more often than I do now, but meh.

Dunes

I went to the dunes for a couple days. I got to the top of high dune twice, and took some great pictures. A nice couple took me with them in their rental car to do the primitive trail and we had a great time. I learned a cool Chinese word from them, but I'm not sure how to spell it. It is basically a word for the connection between strangers that causes them to not just pass by each other like we all do to so many others.

Tonight, I finally managed to throw a back tuck. I have been attempting them every once in a while for the past year. There is a video of one mostly successful attempt on my podcast, and if you ask me specifically for it I will show you the videos of me falling on my face.

oops just doesn't cover it.

i just read a news story about a guy who was accidentally charged over 23 quadrillion dollars for a pack of smokes. his bank fixed it but it took a 2 hour phone call. i would have been livid.

S.A.M.

Got an envelope in the mail today...

Our Alaska Photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2140100&id=42103467&l=a4dbcd138e

click for public facebook pictures.

Ash, Me, Gerhard Knapp, Hans-Peter Weis

On the South Platte

Swine Flu

I read an interesting opinion in the newspaper the other day that suggested cigarettes are much more to be concerned about than H1N1 flu. They stated that 1000 people die a day from cigarettes (which is less than the actual 1,205 according to the CDC), and that while they might walk away from someone who is sneezing, it would be good to run from smokers. 50 Americans die every hour from smoking, totaling four hundred forty thousand a year. According to the American Cancer Society Website, one in five deaths in the United States is caused by smoking, and one in five adults are current smokers. (Seems to me that would indicate a 100% mortality rate for smokers...)

Compare those numbers to the WORLD TOTAL of 615 cases and only 17 deaths so far because of H1N1. I think people just love to panic. People need to calm down, and to try not to use a cigarette to help them calm down.

More Magic

Today was a great day, with a magic show as a finale. I left my Email with the Master of Ceremonies for the show so that he could get in contact with me about going to a magic store in Denver with his S.A.M. chapter. I am definitely thinking about joining, despite my reservations due to knowing so little magic anymore. I'm not sure I would feel like I was being fair with so little to offer. It has been stressed that anyone with any interest and of any skill level is welcome, but I still think that way.
Earlier today, Ashley, Peter and I went to Horsetooth Reservoir for a hike, and to check out what kind of activities there are to do there. The trail was a bit muddy for us to go very far, but it was still enjoyable and beautiful. Knowing that I won't post any pictures of the hike if I say I will do it later, I will just mention that I did take some.
After our hike, we went to a hibachi restaurant. It was delicious and the performance was very impressive. Ashley and I both caught food in our mouths. I took some video of some of the action, which again I won't promise to post anytime soon.

Magic

I recently rediscovered an interest in magic and have been learning a few tricks to amuse myself. If you are interested in seeing my attempt at a levitation illusion, you can click on to my podcast for a video of it. On Sunday, there will be a live magic show and magic-related movie at my favorite theater so I am really excited for that. It all started when I just happened to see a sign for a magic/juggling store that was tucked behind some other stores in Albuquerque. The guy running the store was performing back to back tricks and chatting us up, eventually asking me what type of magic I perform. I told him about the magic set I had when I was younger with multiple tricks in it. I don't know what ever happened to that thing, but it would be cool to find again. Anyways, I think it might be cool to pursue an old interest. Let me know what you think if you have an opinion.

Tumbling (flip and branny)

Here is video of me doing a flip over a block on the floor, then doing a branny on the trampoline. Both are filmed at 420 frames per second. They are played back at 30 FPS, so this is 14 times slower than reality.

Igloo Pictures

Alaska List: Get A Picture!!!

Please comment to suggest any other things that we should try and get a picture of.

Bears
Moose
Elk
Whales
Mt. McKinley
Sarah Palin
Cool Beards
Sea Lions
Milk Prices
Glaciers

Alaska List: Buy It There

Please comment to suggest anything else that might be better to buy there than to pack with us. I have no intention of bringing any fluids on the plane just to make going through security faster.

Basics
toothbrush
toothpaste
shampoo
body wash
mustache wax
extra batteries?
Food
snacks
easy meals
NOT milk, but take a picture of the high prices

Alaska List: Bring It With

Please comment on this post and suggest anything else you can think of to pack with us. There is another post for things to buy at Target while we are there.

warm clothes
long underwear
hat
boots
thick socks
gloves
sweaters
undershirts
camera
battery charger (compatible with power inverter)
phone
charger (compatible with power inverter)
written list of numbers and addresses
miscellaneous
power inverter to charge things in the rental car
wallet (ID, cards,etc)
sunglasses

Playing with the Beard

Yasmine being cute

volume two

Engagement party pictures Volume one

New carpet

Installed and awesome

Getting Ready For New Carpet

My dad paid for new carpet for my house as an engagement gift, and now I am preparing for the installation by moving all of my stuff out of the areas being carpeted and pulling up the old stuff. I could have paid extra to have someone else do all that, but I never feel right paying someone to do something I am qualified to do. I keep debating about how much time it will take me, because I don't want to have it all torn up a day and a half before I even need to. I do have plenty of help available if I need, though.

Ashley's Birthday

Today is Ashley's birthday, and we had a fun time out and about today. We went to a Thai place in Fort Collins that we found while looking for a Turkish place that seems to no longer exist. I'm sure there is a French word for things you find while looking for something else that end up being awesome. I might try to find that word.... Anyways, after that we went and saw Coraline in 3D, which was pretty amazing. Besides taking her out, I got Ashley some Gyokuro tea, and some salami from Salumi in Seattle. We had Gyokuro in Seattle, so I had a theme going. Apart from the theme, I got us a video game featuring pirates, one of my old favorites and one I knew she would at least check out because of the pirates. Now we are listening to music and chilling after the yummy yak-burgers I made us for dinner. Happy birthday, Ashley!

A Moment To Myself

I went up on the roof for breakfast this morning. Here are some pictures of the sunrise.

You can't interrupt a moment to blog about it.

I asked Ashley to marry me last night and she said yes. This was my earliest chance to post about it, and I wanted to post it here first so that everyone had a chance to find out at the same time. Also, if I forget anyone, they won't miss out.