Why do I do it?

Today marked my first off-road mountain-bike ride of the summer. I rode with a friend from the ward up to the mouth of Slate Canyon, then along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail north to Rock Canyon. I now understand why most people who ride that segment do so going south. We found some pretty darn steep hills, so steep in some places that even I, a certified crazy fool, would be a little scared going down hill. As Mr. Murphy is a close friend of mine, during one struggle up a ridiculously steep grade I hit a patch of trail covered in loose rocks, my front tire stuck and turned, and I started to tip over. No worries, I thought, I've done this thousands of times. But the problem was, I'm riding on new pedals this summer and the degree of ankle twist to unclip is a little more than it used to be. So down I went. It was a little bit comical, as all instances of inability to unclip in time are, and I picked up the following treasure (not nearly as much of an inconvenience as the one pictured above, so small it barely bled at all, even in the remaining 45 minutes of the ride). I had a good little laugh, brushed the dirt off, and we went on about our merry way. We climbed some more hills, bombed down a couple (not nearly as long as the uphill sides) and then finished our ride with a brisk trip through the eastern bench streets home.

Nicole (and possibly some of you) wonders why I enjoy and have always enjoyed, any hobby, sport, or recreational activity that can cause bloodshed. Partly, it's because I grew up that way and a little blood was never much more than a reason for some of my "favorite" sayings, such as "Scars are proof," or "If you ain't bleedin', you ain't tryin'," or maybe "Chicks dig scars." Since past action is only partially responsible for my enjoyment of activities that are likely to cost me some skin, and since I've been trying to figure out what draws me to things like mountain biking and rock climbing and other "extreme" or "action" sports, I think I finally figured it out (with the help of Nicole's blog post tonight). I sit at a desk and fix computers all day, except for the days (which I enjoy) when I get to crawl around in ceiling tiles and on ladders pulling new network cable. Now seriously don't get me wrong here, I LOVE my job. I am a computer geek and my job is a computer geek's dream. However, my job doesn't really allow for much of the adrenaline rush that I got regularly when I was growing up. So, despite (and partially because of) the fact that I fairly frequently leave bits and pieces of hide along the trail, I love riding off-road because it makes me feel alive. As much as I love computers and fixing/tinkering with them, there's no wind blowing past my ears at my desk. There's no up-and-down, think fast or crash, rattling along the trail as fast as I dare (or maybe almost as fast) when I'm working. Even on my training rides, which take place on "safe" paved surfaces, the wind doesn't feel as fresh, and the hills feel more like exercise than adventure.

So yes, I am admittedly, certifiably crazy. I can sit at a desk in front of a computing problem for 9 hours without getting tired of it. But, every now and then, I need more. I need fresh air blowing in my face, sweat soaking the liner of my helmet, my bike rattling beneath me, grind my slow way up the hills and fly down the other side, through the river and through the woods good times. I've lost plenty of blood and skin in my life, and a little bit more every now and then is nowhere near too high a price to really feel alive. So stay tuned this summer for some more mountain bike posts.

Cars Part Two: A new little friend.

Yes, I'm finally getting around to it. We have had a new member of our family for the last couple weeks, so here goes:

Things I love about Yeti:
1. Despite the fact that he has an automatic transmission (which technically should be in the "don't love" column) he has cool paddle shifters that control the automatic transmission and provide almost as much control over the transmission as I would like.
2. Despite the fact that he has an automatic transmission and a fairly small engine, he is surprisingly responsive and peppy. He's not going to beat much of anything off the line, but he gets going much more quickly than Merlin did.
3. He has a startlingly large amount of room inside for such a small car. I have a good 6 or 8 inches of head room, and more knee room than I did in Merlin. Nicole's dad, while skeptical at first, said "I could ride comfortably in the back seat of this car, even all the way to St. George." My boss got in the passenger seat, looked up, and said, "Whoah!"
4. He has really bright headlights and good bright fog-lights. This (the headlights) was a feature I loved about my Civic (I did really wish my Civic had fog-lights), and growled about with Merlin. This was one of the few things that Consumer Reports hadn't given stellar ratings on, but given that they bombed the headlights on the 2001 Civic and I liked them anyway, I thought I'd take a chance. I'm vindicated.
5. He gets very good mileage. Our worst tank (actually the only full tank we've bought so far) was lots of city driving and lots of high-ish revs (traffic is a little crazy in Orem these days due to insane construction). and was a grand total of $26, totalling between 30 and 31 mpg. Big smiles when we're used to spending $40 to fill up, and getting around 20 mpg in city driving.
6. He has a 200 watt stereo with an MP3-capable CD player. This means my 16+ hour classic rock playlist fits on 2 CD's. The volume control goes to 40, and even I can't handle much more than 20 unless we're on the freeway going fast with the windows down.
7. He has real cup-holders. While Merlin's cup-holders barely held the bottom of a pop-can by less than an inch, these things take care of business, dwarfing a pop can and having no problem at all with the bucket-like large drink from Subway. They are even lit from above so you don't knock over your drink when you go reaching down there in the dark.
8. He sounds great. Honda Fits are in a unique position that most of them are sold before they even get to the States. Therefore, most dealers mark them up $1,000 over MSRP as soon as they hit the lot. Ken Garff Downtown in Salt Lake was good enough to add actual features for this, including aftermarket black rims (we didn't keep those--to much $$$), all season rubber floormats (we like), a sport grill insert (cheap so we kept it) and a Honda Racing sport muffler which we kept because we liked the white car better than the black one they had and taking off the muffler would have taken a day or so. The result is that you get this nice low-frequency growl at the lower rpm range (from 1000 to about 2300 rpm) and a very pleasant (to me) hum in the upper rpm range. I like it.
9. He's quite a sporty looking car. The Sport model, which we bought for the cruise control and aluminum rims) also has an underbody kit which adds greatly to the visual effect of the car, making the Sport model not look like a little granny grocery getter.
10. He places Nicole and I a little closer to each other. In Merlin it was a bit of a reach to hold hands across the way, but Yeti makes it nice and close.
11. And last but not least, he leaves lots of room around him in a parking space. At school, where they only paint the lines about half as long as "real" parking spaces, he only sticks out about 2 feet, and he leaves plenty of room for getting out the doors, even when people are parked close to the line in adjoining spaces. He also parallel parks like a dream.



Things I don't like (as much) about Yeti:
1. I would really have preferred a manual transmission. Due to the small size of the engine, it would be nice to be able to launch at a higher rpm if you were in a hurry to get across an intersection or something. This turned into a real deal-breaker with Merlin due to the fact that he had no guts until the turbo started making boost.
2. Yeah, that's pretty much it. What can I say, he's a definite keeper.

It's Mother's Day...

So it's time for a little tribute to some of the mother's I've come to appreciate in my life.

1. First and foremost, my own little mother. Nobody could have been as much help in some of the down times in my younger life as someone who had been picked on perhaps even more ruthlessly than I was when we first moved home to Orderville. What did I learn from my mother? To cook, clean, sew (enough to get by), to read, to "rise above", "this too shall pass", that people who are mean to you have problems of their own, that someone who doesn't really like to drive in the bad weather can drive halfway across the state to watch her son play basketball, or wrestle, or run around a track; that mothers pray for and worry about their children because it's part of the job description, and so many more things that I could never write them all. Happy Mother's Day Mom, I could never thank you enough for all you've done for me.

2. My Grandma Esplin. A large chunk of my life has included regular trips to grandma Esplin's house, where we kids were always welcome. Grandma's house always smelled like cookies, or cake, or brownies, or bread. There was always raisins to eat, a room to play in if it was cold outside, and someone to worry about how we were going to get hurt. Grandma was always interested in what we were doing (even if she didn't approve of my choice in music) and always came running from the back of the house with a smile and a hug whenever we showed up. Not much has really changed over the years. There's still a happy hug when I stop by, and a good visit because I don't need a room to play in anymore. Happy Mother's Day Grandma, and we'll see you guys soon.

3. My Grandma Sorensen. Another large chunk of my life included stopping in a Grandma Sorensen's house for lunch when we'd been out squirrel hunting with Grandpa Doc all morning. There's nothing like a good hot bowl of macaroni soup, a few slices of cucumber, a tomato sandwich, and some cottage cheese, followed by helping Grandpa watch a movie with our eyes closed, when you've been out in the dust all morning (especially when you've been walking in the dust because Grandpa Doc got stuck and stranded again). I always appreciated that whenever I had a pair of pants that was beyond mom's time frame or ability to repair, I could take them to Grandma and get them fixed while I chopped some firewood, then eat some home-made pop-sickles on that rickety old rusty front porch swinging couch thing. I always appreciated how much Grandma enjoyed going to the Temple in St. George with mom, and how she was looking forward to going with me for the first time. I remember how sad I was that it was only a week before I went that she died. Happy Mother's Day Grandma, I miss you.

4. My mother-in-law, Hen. You hear so many mother-in-law stories that I feel truly blessed to have such a good one. Hen appreciates and encourages my geek-ness, even when Nicole is ready to whack me. Hen always has a plan, and unlike some other plan-oriented people I've known, doesn't freak out when the plan needs to be altered. Happy Mother's Day Hen, and thank you for making me feel so welcome in your family.

5. My sister, Miranda. Miranda has always been such a great sister, and I've looked up to her achievements. She's always known what she wanted and not been afraid to do it (except a ferret? Really?). She graduated from high school already with an Associates Degree (while I, at 27, have 2 more years left of undergrad), and is a very good mother to her children. Good enough to let me and Peter have our "alone" time together even though he was crying his little head off and was not at all happy with his Uncle Alex for trying to get him to sleep. Even though we don't talk or see each other as much as we'd like to, it's fun to see them when we can. Happy Mother's Day Miranda, you've always been a good sister, and now a great mother.

6. My sister-in-law, Natalie. I have a hard enough time just surviving each semester with passing grades, and I have no clue how she accomplishes everything she does with her two crazy, lovable kids. Even if much of her accomplishing involves Target and other such chick-stores, it's a considerable accomplishment. Happy Mother's Day Mari, and thanks for letting me be the Favorite Uncle for Jayden and Chelsea.

7. Last, but definitely not least, my dear wife, Nicole. Even though we don't have children of our own, she is already a mother. To Natalie's kids (until it's time to be the bad guy, which is my job), and to all of the "named entities" in our life, she already has it down. She tells me to be safe when I go biking, and greets me with a big smile when I get home (from a distance because I'm stinky and icky). Happy Pre-Mother's Day babe, I love you.

Cars Part 1: A fond, but sad farewell.

As Nicole mentioned the other day, we just bought a new car. I would have blogged about it that very night, but apparently Nicole didn't want to interrupt her "flow" and made me wait for her. So now that she's all done, here we go.

Things I miss about Merlin (our old Passat):
1. He was paid for.
2. We went on our honeymoon in Merlin, and despite what Nicole says, even I develop some sentimental attachment sometimes.
3. He was a tank. I could have done with a much lighter car when he rolled over a pipe on my foot a couple of years ago, but hey, how much less smashed could 500 or 1000 pounds lighter of a car have made my foot when that would still leave 2000 pounds on it?
4. He was paid for.
5. Nicole loved him. Lots.
6. On cool-ish (between 45 and 70 degrees) days the turbo made a nice little whistle. Turbo whistle is one of my favorite sounds in the whole world.
7. Dark-tinted windows made it hard for people to see inside... ;)

Things I won't miss about Merlin:
1. Although he was pretty fast once he got going, he was a _very_ sluggish starter. He didn't go much of anywhere anytime soon when you stepped on the gas until about 3000 RPM when the turbo started making boost.
2. Sweaty can leather seat syndrome.
3. Cost of parts and repairs. Being that he was the first Volkswagen that I've even touched in more than 20 years, I didn't dare tinker on/try to fix him. German engineering is spelled p-a-r-t-$
4. Flimsy cup-holders that wouldn't hold a bottle of Mountain Dew (a road trip essential).
5. Less-than-stellar gas mileage. You would have thought that a 4-cylinder engine with a turbo would have gotten decent mileage. Think again. 20 was a usual average around town, and sometimes we got almost 30 on the freeway.
6. Dim headlights.

All in all, Merlin was a great car except when paying for parts/repairs. We went on our honeymoon in him, went to Newport Beach and Disneyland in him, and numerous other road trips. He had a very comfortable ride, handled very well, and once he got going he was pretty darn fast for a 4 cylinder in that heavy of a car. Although I'm not much for tears (Nicole shed my share when we traded him in) I will honestly look back on our time with Merlin as a good time. I'm glad that he'll get fixed back up nice and shiny with some new parts. He deserves it.