Monday Morning Weekend Wrap.

TOUR DE FRANCE NEWS

What a great weekend...the Tour wrapped up, Discovery team won the overall, the youngster Contador won the tour and Leipheimer ended up in 3rd only :31 second behind his Discovery Teammate.

The picture says it all, with Levi just watching Alberto kiss the cup...maybe next year Levi!

LAKE LIVING NEWS

My wife is super cool...every Sunday we plan a quiet afternoon with a couple people invited to the lake for the afternoon and supper or something...but then I get my party-mode on and I can't stop.

By noon I had invited half of Beadle county to the house. It was a great day! We have some friends that have 3 beautiful girls...I think Maxim is a bit smitten with the one that is his age. Yesterday I busted he and his "girlfriend" throwing rocks in the dog kennel together...Maxim knows he is not to throw rocks in the kennel...it's funny what kind of trouble girls can get you into...even at 5 years old! (His chores today include feeding the dogs, cleaning the kennel and picking up all the rocks they had thrown inside)

I pulled a few people on the wakeboard, which was humbling to say the least. I rode for almost a half a summer before I really tried any decent "tricks", but last night the 3 girls that rode (all of them with less than 10 rides combined) were pulling tricks that usually you can't do for about a year!

Granted 2 of those girls come from the Marc K. School of Watersports! I think he had both of them skiing before they were in school...we do miss the daughter that is in Africa...she is handy as well...do they wakeboard in Africa?

We capped the night with Marc K. barefooting...in jeans, with his signature baseball cap on, when I'm 50 I could only hope to still be as athletic as him! I only rode one time yesterday, but I discovered something new...I now ride at 24mph...3 more than I used to. We had a loaded boat and the wake was big and fun at that speed!

More riding tonight...I pay our babysitters in boat gas...and they ride better than I do. It's a good exchange, and Krissy leaves for K-State on Wednesday, so we have a lot of riding to do in the next 2 days!

Levi is now in 3rd.

Michael Rasmussen, the current Tour de France yellow-jerseyed leader did not start today's stage. He was removed by his Rabobank team. ESPN story here...Yahoo story here.

So currently Leipheimer is only 2:49 behind race leader and teammate Alberto Contador the 25 year old standout of the Discovery Channel Team.

I guess with all of the doping scandal aside, this has been a very interesting Tour, however, overshadowed by all of the off-bike news.

I guess you can put Vino and Rasmussen right up their with the other sports criminals of the week...Mike Vick, Tim Donaghy (NBA Ref), Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield...it gives ESPN something to talk about since football hasen't started yet.

Tour De Dope

I'm a casual fan of cycling, meaning I pay attention to the sport when it is convenient and when the Tour de France is in session. I have followed a little bit more since I have frequented Levi Leipheimer's family bike shop in Butte, MT on almost every trip I make to MT. I feel a sort of loyalty to him since I saw him one day and I have met his brother and mom...and since Lance is riding with 70 year olds in RAGBRI in Iowa now, Levi is the only real American hope!

Levi is 4th overall in the tour through Stage 15...he's some 5 minutes behind yellow jersey wearing Michael Rasmussen, who by the way was booed by fans at today's start of Stage 16.

It seems Rasmussen decided to pull a Barry Bonds and forgot to show up for a drug test, may be he didn't study for it, but still that is no reason to skip...FYI Mr. Rasmussen, if you skip a drug test it makes you look real guilty!

So the 2007 Tour has been your typical race, doping allegations, protests by cyclist before the start...etc. Only one team has been sent home for failing the drug test...as Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive.

At least he has a sense of humor...even though his career is facing ruin, Vinokourov managed to joke about his situation. "I heard that I made a transfusion with my father's blood," Vinokourov said. "That's absurd, I can tell you that with his blood, I would have tested positive for vodka."

Ty.

We have some friends from Lake Preston, and to say they are a remarkable family would be a gross understatement.

I can not even begin to type the words that would describe the love, respect, work ethic, care, understanding, humility, and sacrifice that this family has for each other, their family, community and friends.

The ranch/farm family made up of Jeff, Jody and 4 life-loving boys has gone through a lot since Ty was diagnosed with leukemia 4 or so years ago. Ty and the family fought through the treatment, he graduated with honors and is now a sophomore at SDSU.

We had a party at our house yesterday, with Ty and his family, and a bunch from our family. God took care of the weather and we had a great day with the boys on the water.

We didn't put the boats away until the sun went down and then we all gathered around the TV to cap the night off with a story on KELO-tv about Ty's journey to China to an alternative medicine clinic to help him deal with the pain he has now from AVN, basically his major joints are deteriorating, kind of like severe arthritis I guess. Click HERE to watch and read the story.

Ty and his brothers love the water, and they are all good skiers and fun to be around.

Right before Ty was diagnosed the first time around, he had bought a brand new wakeboard...that board has never been wet...the battle against cancer has taken it's toll on his young body. I pray, and I believe one day I will get to pull Ty behind my boat on his new wakeboard.

That will be the most fun I will ever have burning a tank of gas on one person in my life.

The whole family is an inspiration to be around...my life is better for knowing the Eschenbaum's....and the world is better because of Ty.

I'm blogging about Harry Potter.

(Disclaimer: I have not read any of the Harry Potter books, and have only watched one of the movies, on a computer owned by a 40ish year old businesswoman who sat next to me during a flight from Denver to Houston.)

"The Harry Potter franchise is going to be one of the downfalls of modern Christianity." That quote was taken from a self-proclaimed "spiritual and visionary leader in American Christianity"...(Note: The Christ I strive to follow is Jewish, and never lived in America while he was on Earth, so I'm not quite sure what American Christianity is.)

I am sorry, but I disagree strongly with the "religious right" on this issue, sorry Dr. Dobson.

If you don't know anything about the J.K. Rowling book series Harry Potter, watch the news or read the paper today. The final book in the series that as a group has sold over 325 million copies will go on sale tonight at 12:01 a.m.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows" will be devoured by millions of young and old Potterheads, with the main plot lines of every writing class I ever took being followed to the hilt. Hook or Subject, characters, conflict, sub-plots, climax and resolution. It is pretty simple when you think about it.

So what's the big deal??? I guess it's because Harry Potter is a spell-casting wizard, and there is a lot of young kids reading about his life in a fiction book. (Fiction means not true, for the record.)

The thought that reading the Harry Potter series, or another fiction best seller like The Da Vinci Code, is going to send millions of Christian or non-Christian children and adults out to the store to buy all of Anton LaVey's satanic works is absurd.

Will the books challenge people's beliefs, thoughts and faith? Maybe not, but I hope so.

Will it cause people to face the reality of darkness in the world, ie...in magic, wizards, demons and the occult? Maybe, and that's a good thing in my eyes...when is the last time any church had a 4 week session on demon possession? Never, but it still happens, and we sweep it under the rug.

Maybe because it is a powerful thing, and most of us are ill-equipped to deal with it's depth, mentally and spiritually. It's much like faith healing or speaking in tongues...oooooh, I stepped on some Mennonite toes there, yes I believe that God still preforms miracle healings, and I also believe Christians still speak in tongues.

I have a friend who is a youth pastor and during a church camp in the Black Hills he, the camp staff and every kid attending that camp witnessed a demon possessed person and an exorcism, first hand. You want to be scared into demon possession belief...watch "The Exorcist" on Saturday it's a horror movie based on a true story, your butt will be in church on Sunday.

Back to Harry, reading the Harry Potter books will no more make you a Wiccan Priest, than reading the Bible will make you a Christian. With that said, there does need to be leadership and direction to those that don't comprehend reality vs. make believe...children and some teenagers.

Although Rowling's novels never explicitly mention religion, they do seem to follow in the tradition of C. S. Lewis in the Chronicles of Narnia and J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings. The books espouse a moral message and certainly contain hints of Christian allegory as they set up battles between good and evil.

Throw Star Wars in there as well, it is no different. Growing up, and still, I am a Star Wars fan, I tried to hone my Jedi powers by using mind control on my mom to give me ice cream, and pick up cars using "The Force". I loved good vs. evil, the mystical and wizardry powers of Yoda and Darth Vader...and I grew up fine...in fact, I let Maxim watch the movies, and love the fact that we enjoy them together.

The so called "Christian books" Narnia and Lord of the Rings (LOTR) are at times right on par or worse than Potter's dabbling. Read LOTR or watch the movies, then decide if you would show that or allow your child to read it without some guidance. Those 2 literary works are for sure in "Christian Librarys" where Potter was banned. But all over parents let their children read those great "Christian" classics of wizards and warlocks, but they ban Harry from the house??? I don't get it.

Rob Bell said it best in his book Velvet Elvis, "the only book that is "Christian" is the Bible, everything else is just commentary." Fiction or non-fiction.

My world-view and parenting style may differ from yours, and I may regret it later in life, but I believe you need to prepare a child to make their own decisions in faith.

Give them a base of Biblical truths and gentle nudging towards a personal relationship with Christ, in stead of requiring your beliefs on to them...which I think is a popular, but unspoke of parenting style of Christian parents. In the end that style will force your faith onto them. And then is it really their faith? And how deeply rooted is something like that.

Believe me, if you force and require Christianity on today's children, as soon as they walk out of your door they will search everywhere for truth, hopefully one day returning to Christian roots.

You might disagree, but this is my blog and this is how Steph and I roll. In our view there is no better way to talk about faith, hope, Christ-like living and moral ethics than over a good book or movie or better yet, out in the mountains, in the water or just camping in the backyard.

By the way, I have asked a co-worker to bring in the 1st Harry Potter book, so I can read it. Then, when my son is old enough, I will know what to expect when he reads the book or watches the movie. Makes me wonder how many people that "banned" their children or others from the book actually read the book.

Who knows, someday JK, JRR, and CS might all be looked at as great "Christan" authors.

It all comes down to the battle of Good vs. Evil...it sells Bibles, Western movies and Harry Potter books.

The Dakota Outdoor Radio Show

Sometimes things just fall in your lap.

The other day I was minding my own business at the electricity factory, and an old friend Mike Henriksen called me to tell me of a new venture he was setting out to do, and wondered if I wanted to help out.

Henriksen is a Sioux Falls sports radio celeb, and a year ago he purchased the franchised SportsMax show from the late Tom Maxwell's widow. The SportsMax is an hour long sports talk show syndicated on several different radio stations through out S.D.

Back to the "fall in your lap" thing. Mike calls and wonders if I would be interested in being the host of The Dakota Outdoor Radio Show. I emphatically say YES...if my current company will let me have another job...that makes 4 if you count Hockey Ref, Construction Worker (on my own home), Utility Communications Dude (which pays the bills), and now a wannabe Tony Dean.

So I checked with my boss and got the green light. The show will start this fall and it won't be your average hunt and fish show. That has been done already. The format will follow a "anything goes" as long as it involves the outdoors. I might even do a RC Airplane show, who knows. Kayaking, hunting, trap shooting, rock climbing, downhill skiing, fishing, archery, hiking, mountain biking, star gazing, 4 wheeling...whatever. I think you get the picture.

The only thing that worries me is that when I was on TV I used to help Mike and his co-hort with their radio show, he always introduced me as one of those "pretty boy TV guys". I guess I'm not pretty anymore and I have a "radio face."

Minnesotans For Global Warming.

I guess I haven't thought of the positive effects that global warming might have on our neck of the woods. Then maybe my fellow Earth-hugger Minus Car Project wouldn't have to bundle up so much when he rides his bike to work in February.

These Minnesotans 4 Global Warming guys have a good sense of humor, and they pirated a Bare Naked Ladies song to create this so they can't be that bad.

Fastest Gun...at this particular event.

I have blogged a couple times about my father's latest escapade into the world of Cowboy Quickdraw Competitions, and we have an announcement.

Last Sunday he went to a shooting event in Mitchell. It was the usual Sunday, we ate dinner at mom and dad's, he inhaled his food so he could get on the road, mom told him not to shoot himself, and he went out the door.

But it must have been mom's tasty ham, because he won the 15' event and got 2nd at the 21' event. He beat guys that travel all over the place doing this, and he was pretty pumped about the big win.

I am pretty sure he will be sponsored by Cabela's, Toyota, Colt and Wrangler by the end of the week.

He hasn't received any calls yet, but that's probably because they can't find Huron on a map...or they are calling the other B. Glanzer in the phone book.

I also received some good news from an old friend of mine, Mark O. from South Dakota television news fame, he is now a Grandpa!

Mark taught me how to golf, and how to work in the TV industry...he gave me my first break, and I am forever grateful. Congrats Grandpa O.

Papas and fishing.

I've tried...honestly, I have tried to be a fisherman, but the instant the line gets tangled or after the first 10 minutes the fish don't bite...I ask myself, "Why am I doing this?", I can buy fish at the market or at Red Lobster.

For the record, I don't mind fishing out of a boat, for a few hours, with the right people, and if it is not super windy...boat fishing feels like you are doing something and the view changes, but fishing off of our dock, just doesn't suit me or my active lifestyle.

Last Tuesday, Grandpa Roger had just got back from a 2 day fishing trip to the river with some of his buddies and when he got to our house, he wanted to fish some more?!?! He and Maxim were throwing crank baits off the dock and within 5 minutes Roger caught a fish...so being the great Grandpa that he is, he let out some slack and let Maxim reel the super nice Walleye on to the dock.

The picture says it all...Roger's pride, and Maxim's "holy cow...that fish is big, and slimy, and a little scary."

He still talks about the big fish he caught.

We actually released that one back into Byron for someone else to catch. Maxim is a big nature lover. I was actually thinking about getting it mounted, then I was reminded that Maxim once told Steph and I, "Animals belong in the wild, not dead on your walls"...that is another story.

I have no idea if my Grandpa or Great Grandpa fished, I assume they didn't since neither my dad or his brother fish...so it seems a few generations of non-fishermen were the legacy of that. Now that we live on a lake, I guess that might change. Who knows instead of watching our boys compete in the World Wakeboard Association, we might be watching them on Bass Masters Tournaments!

Whatever they want to do...

I'm quoted in USA Today...today.

I got a call on Sunday from a reporter...I'm on call 24-7 for my job, anyway it's a reporter from the national paper USA Today. He is inquiring about electricity usage and other things of the sort that surround utilities during a heat wave.

Then we start small talking and he asks what we are doing to beat the heat, and I told him that we live on a lake, and spending a small fortune in boat gas...real environmentally friendly answer, I know.

He got all excited about that and asked what lake...yada, yada, yada, and as a reporter I knew that he now cared less about the great utility quotes I gave him, and he was going to use the personal quotes...here is the story...USA TODAY.

By the way, to stay hip with all the "green" folks out there...to keep my family's carbon footprint down, I am keeping my house at 78 degrees, the shades are drawn, not using the stove and I changed my filter yesterday, among other things. We also plan on going to the state park that the SD GF&P doesn't take very good care of and will pick up garbage.

Until they make a hybrid boat motor, I guess that is my one vice with wasteful fossil fuels.

Also another way you can save the earth...buy a Nalgene, I have used one for years. Also after a report I watched last night on ABC, I will use mine even more. Bottled water like Evian, Clearly H2O, Ice Mountain and any other plastic bottled watter is killing the earth. Nalgene actually has a program called Refill Not Landfill to address concerns about plastic bottle waste.

7-7-07

My little once in a lifetime holiday of 7-7-07 was a day to remember, if for nothing at all except a laid-back uber-chill day at the lake house.

After seeing over 100 guests come through our door over the last 7 days, 7-7-07 was a day to just kick it. I did get up at 7:07 a.m. Steph made coffee and we drank it on the deck watching the waves trickle in while listening to Jack Johnson sing about "Times Like These".

The boys rolled out of bed around 8:30 a.m. and the rest of the day was dedicated to our boys and taking naps (Steph took 3, Brecken and I took 2 and Maxim...Zero). We grilled BBQ Chicken for lunch, took the boys to the north side of the lake to the beach area, they played hard, we came home and had fresh walleye from the river for dinner.

Around 7:00 we took the boat off the lift and had a great wakeboard session. 4 of Steph's cousins jumped in the boat to give some added weight, to make the wake bigger. I landed 2 tricks I have never even tried before. We taught one of her cousins how to wakeboard and pulled them on the tube for a little bit.

My cousin and 2 of our friends were out in his Malibu and after their session they stopped by the house to cap off the day at 10:30 with some jalapeno poppers and some great conversation.

7-7-07 felt like the real first day we actually LIVED at a lake house...no work, no deadlines of home projects, just family, friends, water and wake.

EPIC.

The title of this post is the only way I can describe the first ever 4th of July party at the Living On Liquid headquarters (like there is any other locations).

Temps in the 90's not much wind. I estimate that in the last 6 days over 100 guests (some were return customers) spent time at our lake home.

I will post some pictures from the Glanzer Reunion as soon as AJ sends me some...but here is a little Happy 4th of July from my sister and my families.

By the way tomorrow is 7-7-07...and is kind of a quasi-holy day for me as I am obsessed with the number, as you know from previous posts. To celebrate I plan on setting the alarm for 7:07, biking around the lake in such a fashion that it will turn into 2 different 7 mile rides, I will wakeboard 7 times, complete 7 different tricks (I might have to learn a new one), I will drink 7 cups of coffee, and hanging with my kids and wife for 7 hours.

Happy 7-7-07.