Fight MS

No blog posts lately! Where did the time go?

I have replaced my blogging with cycling and training for the MS 150. (although I hope to make some time for more blogging soon)

What is MS?

Do you want to know more about the MS 150? Go Here.

How about sponsoring me? To make a contribution to a great cause, Go Here. This site is secure, and a great way sponsor my ride. Click on the "Sponsor Me" link near the top right of the page.

Coming up on thirty has made me take a look at my life, in so doing I have decided that I have a few changes to make. I need to finish school, I need to write more, and I need to help people out who are less fortunate than me. So I've set (a rather lofty) goal to raise $3,800 to fight MS. I am asking that you sponsor me in the MS150, your contribution can do much to help someone that could really use it. For those of you that know me and were planning on giving me a present for my birthday coming up, (I know I'm being presumptuous, sorry) how about a pledge for a gift? No shopping involved and I promise that I will really like it.


Speaking of biking, it has been great. Its kind of addicting in a way. Today I am staring out the window wishing I could take more vacation and got outside and ride in this beautiful weather. Its about a 5 mile ride to get to work, but I have adopted a new route so I can ride 8 miles. Its nice to be out longer, and I will need the mileage if I am going to live through the MS 150, which will have me biking 75 miles a day for 2 consecutive days. Thanx for following all the way through my rambling post today! I hope you'll come back, I won't make habit out of hitting you up for donations I promise.

Musical Taste

Just a quick post of something I found on another blog. I took the test and this here are the results.

Your Taste in Music:

Progressive Rock: Highest Influence

80's Pop: High Influence

90's Alternative: High Influence

90's Pop: High Influence

Classic Rock: High Influence

Dance: High Influence

80's Alternative: Medium Influence

80's Rock: Medium Influence

Adult Alternative: Medium Influence

Alternative Rock: Low Influence

Old School Hip Hop: Low Influence

How's Your Taste in Music?

No surprises there. Too bad this didn't have a bigger cross section for classical music and all the sub genres of techno, but nothings perfect. :)

Its been a while

Ok, so its been a while since my last post.

What has been going on?

• Read a few books
• Went to a hockey game
• Took part in an Iron Chef competition
• Decided to go back and finish my degree no-matter-what
• Was rejected at BYU
• Still going to finish my degree no-matter-what (now I just don't know where)
• Participated in my first ARES event: "Scouting for Food"
• And MORE

Each event has been "blogworthy" I've just not had the time or inclination (sometimes I've had one, but not the other) to record it all, or any of it for that matter. So I'll be trying to catch up over the next week or so.

Carcassonne

If you like board games such as "Settlers of Catan" check out Carcassonne. This game was introduced to Superwoman and myself, by some friends of ours. We had an absolute hoot playing it. I highly recommend it.

There are a few reasons why I like this game. First, its a fun strategy board game. Second, it has competitive elements, but to win, players should work together. (I suppose it could be played cutthroat, but I don't think it would be nearly as fun) Third, this game is fun to play casually, it appeals to a wider audience than your average hardcore Strategy Board Game, there are elements of gameplay that just about any player can enjoy.

UCARES

I'm a member, albeit a new one, of UCARES. Utah County Amateur Radio Emergency Service. On Tuesday we had a meeting and built 'hombrew' Yagi Antennas. We built the antenna out of an arrow shaft and piano wire. The Transmission line was 3 feet of Coaxial cable connected to the driven elements of the antenna by alligator clips and to an HT (Handy Talky, a hand held amateur radio) with an SMA (or BNC) connector. The antenna is intended for use on the 2 meter band, and is light and small enough to carry into remote locations. (Remote locations are ideal spots to have a good antenna. I went expecting to spend about 2 hours on it, 4 hours and a burnt thumb later it was done. I now have a love hate relationship with SMA connectors, getting that little blighter on there was the hardest part. I love the small size of the connector, but it was a pain connecting it to a loose bit of Coax.

Sushi Dinner: Happy Sumo

Last Saturday we went with our friends Marc and Danielle to the Happy Sumo, Danielle had just delivered a baby (2 months ago now) and this was her "Return to Sushi" dinner. I have had a few pieces of sushi from Happy Sumo before (left overs that one of the gals at my job couldn't finish) and it was really good. But the sushi wasn't the greatest on the night we went, it may have been an off night for them.


I had four maki rolls. Spicy Yellow Tail, Spicy Salmon, Spicy Tuna, and Unagi (eel). The spicy rolls came together at a discount. I'm not one to complain about things being spicy, but the spicy sauce completely overpowered the dish. Yellow Tail and Salmon have a subtle flavor, the Spicy sauce didn't. As a result the fish didn't come through. The Tuna has a stronger flavor and barely came through the sauce. I'm not quite sure what to think about these rolls, I don't think they would have been good on a good night, the wrong match of sauce and fish. The Unagi was good but the rice was too old making it a bit sour. Superwoman had a bento box (Japanese style lunch box) dinner with grilled salmon (cooked really well), Tempura Veggies (also cooked well), potstickers (overcooked), and a california roll (not fresh). Marc had Tonkatsu and a tuna maki roll and shared a Rainbow roll with Danielle, who had the same spicy platter that I did. Danielle didn't really care for her spicy rolls so I got to finish them off. (No sense letting them go to waste).

The ambiance of the restaurant was very swank and trendy, with dark paint, interesting booths, layout and architecture. (there was even a tastefully inserted lava lamp or two planted around the dining area). The booths had some sheer curtains that could be closed and good view of the rest of the restaurant. So I think we ended up paying more for the ambiance rather than food quality. The specialty rolls looked good but were very expensive, (and with the rice the way it was Saturday probably wasn't the night to try them) so I'll have to give those a shot after I make my first million.

After we had sushi we went back to our place and Marc and Danielle introduced us to a game called carcassone, I plan on devoting a whole post to Carcossone later... Stay tuned its a cool game.

Good Weekend

We had a busy, but fun, weekend around here.

Friday Night Superwoman went out with the girls and I watched the kids. That night I joined a Guildpact release league on Magic online(the digital cards are released about a month after the paper ones). I played 4 matches with a record of 2-2, I have one more game to play by next Friday.

Saturday I ordered my sushi knife, took Cookie Monster Roller Skating, and that night we went to Happy Sumo (sushi joint) with Marc and Danielle (names have been changed of course). We even had a sitter for the kids. That made things extra fun. For parents having food prepared for us and no kids to look after is bliss. After that we played a cool game that I had never played before, Carcassone.

Sunday the kids were sick, so I missed church to keep an eye on them. When Superwoman go home from church she took Cakes to the doctor, Cakes has an ear infection and maybe some pink eye. That evening we had my Sis and BroInLaw over for dinner and games. I played Magic with BroInLaw while Superwoman and Sis gave themselves pedicures, then we all played some Dominoes ,the "Mexican Train" variant. Superwoman won every game, she is a dominoe master.

The weekend was jam packed, a lot of fun, and will probably give me stuff to blog about all week. What more could I ask for?