Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Red Bull: Ride The Sky 2.

A buddy of mine who owns Spoke - n - Sport in Sioux Falls, was lucky enough to be one of 50 participants to race in the Red Bull: Ride The Sky 2. It is a mile long mountain bike race through the sky walks of downtown St. Paul, Minnesota.

The race started on the north end of downtown in the Lowry Building and ended in the Union Depot at the south end of downtown. In between the two points were over a mile of twists, turns and obstacles.

The footage below is off of Chad's helmet cam.



The footage below is of some guy hucking himself off some stairs into a wall.



Midwesterners will find anything to break the boredom of winter!

Friday, February 23, 2007

Cabin Fever...

The boys (aka. Arctic Monkeys) will do anything and just about everything to keep themselves entertained and into mischief during this long winter.

The latest is Brecken bobsledding in one of Maxim's toy totes.

Brecken dumps out the toys and climbs in, and then waits for his "sled dog" Maxim to push him around on the wood floor.

Most moms would go insane seeing their precious wood floor being used as a psudo-Antartic playground, but in the picture you can see Steph is laughing right along with me.

It must be time for Spring, because we are all getting a little Cabin Fever, but with the big STORM OF THE YEAR on it's way, we will have a few more weeks before winter starts it's placid fading.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

I'm glad I'm not the Spokesperson for Weatherford Electric.

Printing mistake -- blamed for billion dollar electric bills

WEATHERFORD, Texas — Some people in Weatherford got (B) billion-dollar scares this week when they opened their electric bills.
Richard Redden's bill said he owed more than 24 (B) billion dollars.
Pam Pearson with Weatherford Electric says the Reddens and nearly 14-hundred other customers this week received erroneous late notices.
Pearson told the Weatherford Democrat that a printing company made a mistake.
Pearson says customers who received the inaccurate bills will get the correct ones later this month -- and won't face any late fees.
Meanwhile, Redden says he guesses his family shouldn't have run the heater quite so much.
Weatherford is about 20 miles west of Fort Worth.


February 21, 2007 - 3:19 p.m. CSTCopyright 2007, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

My Home In Montana

I spend quite a few days in Montana and the numbers will go up this year, because of a new project I am working on. When I am in Butte I stay at the Hampton Inn, and it is one of the reasons I almost always stay at Hampton Inn Hotels when I travel for business or pleasure.

Last night when I checked in, I got this feeling like...ohhhh yeah I'm home for the night. After a good workout, a buddy and I grabbed some food at a local pizza spot, was given some fresh baked cookies and milk at the front desk, and I laid down at around 9:30 pm MST, I woke up at 5:30 MST and had no idea where I was. Then I was worried that Brecken hadn't woke me up last night with his crying for "ba-ba...ma-ma, ba-ba". Then there was this noise that I was trying to figure out, which turned out to be the blower fan for the heater in my room.

Honestly, it took me a good 30 seconds to figure out I was in Butte, Montana in the Hampton!

Then I felt sorry for Steph, she most likely didn't sleep through the night and Maxim probably didn't go to bed until 11:30 pm. I felt so awake and rested this morning I didn't even go back to bed.

I promise you, Steph...when I get home I will get up with Brecken all night on Thursday night. That way you can enjoy one night of full sleep, a mommy deserves that.

Last night I ran 3 miles before I lifted...I forget how much the altitude affects your ability to process oxygen! The 65+ year old guy next to me must have thought I was going to die...right there on the treadmill. I was begging for more air...and actually had to walk for about 2 minutes to get my legs back under me.

Hopefully tonight I will have acclimated a little bit.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

The Lego Translation

What would life be like if little boys didn't have Legos to play with?

I'm quite sure that every mom in America has vacuumed up a few Lego pieces. I loved and still do love playing with Legos. The little bricks might be the best toy of the modern era. I have yet to hear of any negative report that playing with Legos has some crazy side effect.

We have several sets of the blocks at our house...one is a set of "big" blocks, and surprisingly enough, Brecken can put a few together and then tear them apart quite well. Our other sets are of the Star Wars variety.

At least once a week Maxim grabs his tote that is full to the brim with Star Wars Legos and we build "awesome ships" and "super big forts". He hasn't quite figured out the whole direction following concept, so I am the one he looks to to build the things that he sees on the directions. He is a great "free builder" and on occasion he builds some super cool stuff.

He has worn out and lost several direction booklets, and a buddy of mine told me you could download the directions from the Lego Website. So I googled something like "Lego directions" and The Brick Testament was one of the things that came up.

Amazing is one of the words that would describe what Brendan Smith has put together on his website. Smith is the son of a minister and an atheist. He said he wanted to let people know about all of the violence and sex in the Bible that is left out of most pictorial versions of the Bible.

Smith didn't cut any corners on his verse for verse pictorial translation...Goliath's severed head, a nice puddle of blood when a Sabbath breaker got stoned, and a couple of bedroom scenes, one involving an animal.

One forgets how raw the Bible is in parts...even by today's standards, and even when told by a still camera, Lego people and an atheist Lego free-styler with tons of time on his hands.

Friday, February 09, 2007

The Gong Show.

Remember the Gong Show?

I was sick again yesterday afternoon, but I was stuck in a hotel in Pierre, SD. Nothing sucks more than being sick away from your own bed, except for the fact that you get the remote control and cable TV.

Anyway I start watching AMC and there is this movie about Chuck Barris who invented some game shows like The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and The Gong Show. The movie is called Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind.

The movie is based on Barris' autobiography of the same name. He claims that during the time of the Gong Show he was also a secret CIA agent...basically a hit man. Who knew? Even if it was true or not it made a great double life.

I remember watching the Gong Show as a kid and thinking he was soooo cool, with his hats and jokes, how he joked with the Unknown Comic and thinking that he was super funny as well.

Good movie, made you think about that time in American culture, and what was going on in my life...I was like 7 or so. Also made me think of TV today...I think American Idol should be cutting Mr. Barris a check every time their show airs, because that is exactly what their show is with a little different twist.

Crazy the amount of time we spend watching TV and how it shapes our lives. I'm kind of glad we got rid of cable when we moved to the lake...if it wasn't for yesterday's "all day TV bender" I wouldn't know anything of Anna Nicole Smith's death...I'm glad that I am starting to lose touch with what's on TV.

For the record, I did watch Conan The Barbarian as well...forgot how good of a movie that was.

Cable was nice to waste the day, even if I had to be sick to watch a full day of nothing.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Lake Sanford???

T. Denny Sanford dropped $400 million over the weekend to Sioux Valley Hospital....I mean Sanford Health Systems. While in Sioux Falls, Steph worked for the bank TDS owns, it is a great company and there is no wonder why he is successful.

But anyway, since Sioux Valley "requested" the gift, I thought I would give it a shot as well...

T. Denny if you can drop $4 million to me (in our First Premier Bank account) I can see about getting Lake Byron renamed Sanford Lake or Lake Sanford....After all, if Sioux Falls can try to rename Skunk Creek, I'm $ure I could influence $ome local politician$ and county government folk$ to con$ider the change.

We could even somehow incorporate Sanford Health Systems into the mix, like, by claiming that the murky, algae filled waters of the formerly known Lake Byron have some sort of healing powers that fight the evil Herpes Gladiatorum.

We could put your logo in lights in the lake East of Hogsback (which would be renamed to Sanford Ridge), and would make the logo big enough to see from any Google Earth satellite picture.

Let me know what you think Mr. T. Denny...if you aren't interested, that's o.k. I've got a rich uncle in Garden City, Kansas who should be starting his philanthropic efforts in the near future.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Mom...60??? No Way!


My mom turns 60 today. The groundhog shares a special day with my mom!

I'm not feeling very typish today, so I'll keep it short.

My mom is the most incredible person, and if I am half the person she is, I'll be happy.

She raised Sally and I with love, honesty, hard work and a strong faith.

She prays for her children and grandchildren without ceasing.

She beat cancer.

She makes the best O'Henry bars.

She let me and my sister keep our dog in the house...and she doesn't charge for babysitting!

60 seemed old when I was 20...now it's the age of young, beautiful and fun grandmas.

I completely love this picture by the way.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

The Sickness.

I am sick. Nothing Earth shattering, little fever, achy, cough and sore throat. I missed my first day of work due to me being sick in over 2 years.

In fact, we were looking for some cough syrup and found some penicillin from Jan. 2004 that was prescribed to me. I had Influenza A&B and Strep Throat that time...only out for 2 days...a lesser man would have died.

Speaking of sicknesses, today a tight friend of mine is enjoying his first day of "health" after deciding to resign from his post as a youth pastor. Don't get me wrong, the position he left behind itself wasn't bad, it was the office situation surrounding him. A bad virus of non-communication, and from my view, poor choices by people in leadership positions.

.....................I just deleted like 4 paragraphs of typing...............................not sure if I wanted to publish my exact feelings on the matter, even though only about 4 people will read this, but I am reminded that as a human we all make mistakes...even humans who are in leadership positions of "regional impact churches".
Some lyrics from Roper's "Brace Yourself for the Mediocre" album come to my mind.

This wooden soul is old
It's lies are growing cold
Its knotted trunk is straightening
Its roots are loosening their hold
So cluttered with debris this inefficient melody
I'll keep waiting patiently
If this world will ever release me
You love me even though I am untrue
If I was perfect, I wouldn't need you
I'm the object of your affection
You loved me still in my imperfection

Gloria, in excelsis Deo
Not so far, not so far to go







PS-Nothing but love for you Decker...ride on.