Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my dad's birthday, so last weekend Terry and I headed up to Ferndale for the weekend. On Saturday, my mom and I went into Fairhaven while my dad and Terry stayed home and worked. We had a great trip, but as we were walking in town, I could feel my throat starting to get sore. Luckily, the sun was out so the day was quite enjoyable.

Grandma and Ed came over for dinner where we barbecued some HUGE T-bone steaks and chicken for dinner. The beef came from Butcher Boys and the two steaks weighed 3.5 lbs total. The meat was so tender and melted in your mouth as you ate.

On Sunday, we took a drive into Blaine and checked out some future camping sites at Birch Bay State Park. We had a relaxing day and headed home after having an early dinner of hamburgers.

On a bad note, I am still quite sick. For the last two days, I have had a sore throat, cough and runny nose. I feel slightly better today and pray that tomorrow is even better.

Weight Loss Tip

I had a scheduled workout with Heather today at the gym. She is great and definitely pushes me beyond what I think my body is capable of. Luckily, she is right most of the time and is able to help me get past the mental block to achieve the daily workout. Today's workout seemed easy enough: 1000 meter row followed by 400 meter walking lunges.

The row went great. I did it in under five minutes and even pushed myself for the last 200 meters to go faster than the pace I was keeping for the first 800 meters. Then came the walking lunges. Walking lunges aren't fun. I didn't realize how far 400 meters was until I was 50 meters into it. Imagine a football field, to do 400 meters would be to cross the football field 4 times. It was definitely hard, but I know it will be worth it and as Heather said, "It's great for the butt."

Okay, here is what I wanted to share. We do the lunges outside on the sidewalk of the strip mall where the gym is located. There are a few restaurants, a couple nail salons and some other generic stores. About 125 meters into it, we passed a salon where two ladies getting out of their car asked if we were stylist at the salon. By this time, I am sweating and Heather, who decided to do the lunges with me, was also breathing hard and wearing her Graham Fitness Trainer T-shirt. We replied me saying, "No" and kept on with the lunges. One of the ladies then responded with, "You know Green Tea helps you lose weight."

Heather and I both thanked her for the information and then had a chuckle between us. We found it quite interesting that this lady felt compelled to tell us this as we were both doing lunges. It's like, ya, we know, working out also helps lose weight. We both know the benefits of green tea and do drink it regularly, but it's not some miracle weight loss solution. It's not like you can say, you know I want to lose weight, maybe I will just drink green tea. Working out and eating healthy the key to being a healthier person. I still think it was a little funny and almost as bad as the guy that asked me on Wednesday as I was jogging around the buildings if I had a cigarette.

Geek Squad to the Rescue

The Geek Squad came today and set up a wireless network in our house so now Terry and I can use my laptop more often. After the chaos of loosing all our personal documents when my work system got a virus, we figured having the personal computer set-up would be a good idea. I also splurged and got an external hard drive. So, if I stay current on backing up our system every month or so, we won't have the issue of lost data in the future.

I Hate Computers

Most people that know me, know that I strongly dislike computers. I don't really understand them and what I don't understand I chose to also dislike. Anyways, last week, I had a virus on my work computer, which was also the computer that Terry and I have been using as our primary system for the last 2 years (well, since we moved and I started working remotely). So, I was forced to send my system to Austin to get it fixed. I was excited when I got it back on Saturday since being without Internet for 4 days was weird.

I didn't get it hooked up until Sunday evening and was having issues. I got up early today and have been on the phone for the last five hours trying to get it booted up and back to normal. I have talked to my phone company, my Internet company and 3 IT guys from my work to try and get my log in and network connections up and running again. And guess what?! It still isn't working. I can at least get online now, but am still unable to connect to my work network which is what is really important.

Oh, and to top it off, I lost my hard drive in the process. So, all of my work documents, personal documents and pictures that I had saved on my trustworthy computer are all gone. Right now, I am pretty much emotionally spent and once I get back from the gym, I will be physically spent as well. I hope this afternoon goes better than this morning has. Please pray for me.

Hangover Run 2009

On Jan 1, our 4-wheel drive club goes an its annual Hangover Run. This year they chose to run the Tonga Ridge which is a little east of Skykomish off of Hwy 2. Terry, Jake and I got there with the first group to hit the trail. I wanted to have a little adventure for the day so jumped into the front seat of Tom's CJ5 so Jake could ride shotgun in the Cherokee.

Let me tell you a little about Tom's Jeep. It's a 1963 CJ5 with 36 inch tires. We were running with no doors and a bikini top. Oh, and on my side of the Jeep, there was no windshield. We were in the lead the majority of the day and as we broke trail, the snow would come through the windshield hole and up over the door jams. It got a little cold by the end of the day. He also got stuck a couple times, so I would have to jump out into waist deep snow to fetch a winch cable from the Jeep behind him so he could get a little tug.

Terry had fun in the XJ and was able to try out the new ARB. He even passed us and was in the lead breaking trail for a while. It was a ton of fun. Overall, about 11 rigs were with the group. After the run, we stopped in Sultan at Bubba's so Jake could order a beer at the bar. It was his 21st birthday. He ordered a pitcher of beer before Karl had to recommend to the bar tender to card him. With that, the day was complete. With a full belly and wet clothes, we headed home.

The group getting ready to hit the trail (Penny, Terry, Chad & Tom)

The tree that fell across the trail as we were about to leave

Looking back at Chad, yea, it was a little deep

Terry

Chad got a little too close to the culvert

Chad & Tom (I was in the Jeep on the right)

Me just a little cold

My XJ

Terry breaking trail

Gary making his way to the front

The view from my seat

Zeus had a long day so took a nap while we were loading up to head home

Jake and Terry at Bubba's

Jake's first legal shot in a bar since turning 21!

On a side note, Jake thought it was bullshit that this was called the Hangover Run, yet he was the only one hung over. At least he is feeling better now.