It's a special kind of pain

This is a picture of my shoulder during surgery two years ago. It's not supposed to look like that. I dislocated my shoulder eight times before the surgery, but I was always able to put it back in within one minute. Today I dislocated my other shoulder during sparring, and it was out for about 35-40 minutes. We tried to put it back in, but I could tell it was much worse than the other eight times on the other shoulder. As I drove to see Master Pierce, my Karate instructor and chiropractor, my arm became paralyzed and I wasn't able to move my fingers. Then my other arm started to go numb. It's hard to drive a standard transmission car with half an arm. Master Pierce was able to put it back in place, and I immediately regained the use of my hand. I've been putting ice on it all afternoon. There really is no other pain like a dislocation. It's hard to explain if you haven't had the pleasure. Hopefully the damage is minimal. That makes 18 stitches, three broken toes and nine dislocated shoulders. Bring on the resurrection.

Anza knives

I took my oldest daughter and her friend to the Crossroads of the West gun show yesterday. I just passed my insurance exam so I figured I deserved to buy an inexpensive knife. I found an Anza knife for $40. The top knife is the one I bought yesterday. The bottom knife is one I bought over a year ago. These knives are made out of files and each is made by hand. You can see minor imperfections in the handle or grind, and it is just a cool knife. It's nice to get a customer knife without paying $300. You can learn more about Anza knives at www.anzaknives.com.

Juniper playground

Mike Both and I went for a ride on the improved Juniper trail today. This is a new jump that Cougar built during the winter. It's a great practice jump.This is a new wood structure that Cougar built recently. Mike Both with a flawless execution.
The same wood structure from a different angle.

81%

I passed my dreaded Insurance Exam today. I took the practice final exam yesterday with a 77%. That made me mad since I thought I was doing much better on the test. My wife and daughters helped me study last night and this morning and we wiped it out. I'm glad that's over. Step 2 in process.

Steve vs. The Really Big Teeter Totter

Bruise on my arm. Stitches in my leg.

The End of An Era & My New Suit

It's very interesting how things happen. I lost my job at E*Trade on Thursday after working there for almost 10 years. In a way I didn't see it coming, but I've also known a change was coming since July 2009. I just didn't know what it was. On Tuesday I felt like there was something just outside my field of vision that I couldn't identify. Now I know what it was. It shocked a lot of people I worked with and I was amazed at how many people reached out to me. I really liked my job, but I loved the people I worked with. I have great friends at E*Trade, and I hope to be able to keep in touch with all of them. E*Trade gave me a great severance package based on my time served, so we have time to figure things out.

I bought a blue suit with my E*Trade bonus, because I only had a brown suit. I felt like I needed a good suit for weddings, funerals and job interviews. A few weeks ago I went to Neldon Walters' funeral in American Fork. Wednesday I wore it to Logan's sealing. That's pretty much the same as a wedding. And soon I will wear it to a job interview. Maybe I shouldn't have bought the suit? Yeah right. Things happen for a reason, and this is no different. I believe that my next job will be one that I wouldn't be able to find while at E*Trade. I haven't actively looked for a job in over three years, and I had no reason to look now. One thing I know for sure is that I'm not driving this car. I see more clearly now why recent events have happened the way they did. We just paid off most of our debt and bought the Mazda Protege'. I wanted to hold on to that money, but now we have a reliable commuter car. It's exciting to see how things are being revealed. This doesn't always happen for me, so I think there are important things that I am supposed to learn. I wrote things on my 2K10 card that I wanted to focus on, like slowing down, listening and breathing. I think now I will learn to do that. Everything is going to be fine.

Chuck Norris

Today is the 70th birthday of the man that can roundhouse a black hole. Happy birthday Chuck Norris.

Maunaleo

I hate it when people have playlists on their blogs because I usually don't like their music and it interferes with me listening to Pandora and checking out their blog at the same time. Tonight I make an exception. I had a few minutes so I checked out Shawn and Jill's blog to see the pictures of their babies. This was the only song on Jill's playlist, so I went to YouTube to see what I could find.
This is one of the most peaceful and beautiful songs I have ever heard. Part of it may have been the fact that I was seeing pictures of Sam and Charlotte at the same time, but it really touched my heart. It made me realize how much I miss Shawn and Jill, and how I hate missing out on seeing their kids grow up. We love and miss you guys. And I really want to go to Hawaii.

Proof

285,000 vs. 103,000

I hate it when I don't achieve my goals. I had a goal to drive my Toyota Camry to 300,000 miles before I had to replace it. This week I took it in for the safety and emissions test and it failed safety. In a big way. Brakes, strut, power steering pump, driver side window. It would cost a considerable amount to fix, so we started looking for another car. Lame. I bought the Camry nine years and 150,000 miles ago when it had 135,000 miles. That was a fantastic choice. That car served me well. Today was my last day of driving the Camry to work. I had to drive up and down the street a few times, but it landed on 285,000 miles when I got home.

Yesterday we bought a 2000 Mazda Protege' with 103,000 miles. It was the newest car with the fewest miles in our price range, so we were able to pay cash and avoid a car payment. It even came with a Yakima bike rack. That worked out well since I can't get my bike rack off the Camry. I'm not sure if the locks are frozen or rusted from being on the car in bad weather for several years, but I win. And it's a manual transmission. That rules.

Noelle's Olympic run

Noelle had her third and fourth Skeleton runs tonight. She missed the podium by .10 second after the four runs were tallied. She didn't get a medal, but she is fourth place in the world. How awesome is that? I really wanted to see her get a medal, but I am so proud of what she has done. She overcame adversity to make it on the Olympic team, and she put it all on the line. It has been really cool to go to Park City and see her race in the last two years, and we will always remember that. More important that how she finished is how she got there and the person she is. Noelle and Janson are great people that are grounded in the important things in life, and we are glad to call them our friends. We can't wait for them to get back home.

Noelle's first runs

This is a link to Noelle's races last night:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=98e394ce-68bc-4502-87e2-1351e8da0312.html#day+pikus+pace+leads+u+s+fifth

Olympics

Our friend Noelle Pickus-Pace is competing in skeleton in the Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia. This is a picture of her during one of her runs tonight. After two runs she is ranked 5th, putting her .16 of a second behind a Bronze medal and .55 seconds behind a Gold medal. Tomorrow night will be the third and fourth runs, which should be televised live. She is going to tear it up. Below is a link to the standings after the first two runs: http://www.nbcolympics.com/skeleton/resultsandschedules/event=SNW001000/phase=SNW001102/index.html

Here is a link to her profile: http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=2329/index.html

This link is to the story behind the road to the Olympics:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/ksl/news/newsid=429412.html?aff=ksl

And finally, this is a link to Noelle's hat business, which is also included on my links:
http://www.snowfirehats.com

Energy drink

I had my last energy drink on August 13, 2008. I believe it was a Monster Lo-Carb. I had to stop because I was drinking 1-2 a day. It was expensive, and that's a lot of poison. Today I tried a Bios Life Smart Energy that my neighbor gave me. I only drank half the can because Clint Hansen knocked it over with the basketball. It kind of tastes like a fruity Von Dutch, but without the aftertaste. I am not going back to energy drinks as a practice, and I am back off most soda and caffeine. I am master of my domain.

And bronchitis sucks.

Michael Stuy Photography

I added a new link to my blog- Michael Stuy Photography. Mike is our HR Business Partner at work, and I just recently discovered his interest in photography. He showed me his web site today, and I really liked his pictures. I decided to dust off my camera and get back in to photography, so I thought his web site would be a nice addition.

2009 Goal Trifecta

My 2K9 List:

Purity
Read New Testament- finished on 5/3/09
Splits
250 push ups- 10/8/09
2000 squats- 5/7/09
Ab bridge- 5 minutes- 12/31/09

I'm not pure, and I still can't do the splits, but I read the New Testament, did a set of 2000 body weight squats, a set of 250 push ups, and held an ab bridge for five minutes.

I didn't start working on the ab bridge until December, and the longest I could hold it was 3:30. I tried several times yesterday, but I couldn't get close to five minutes. I usually listen to Indifference by Pearl Jam, and I tried listening to movie soundbites to see if that would help. It didn't. Today I went without music, setting a repeating 60 second countdown timer to see if that would help. I only got to two minutes. I was upset with myself, so I grabbed Pearl Jam and set the countdown timer for 30 seconds. I wanted to hit four minutes and fail, telling myself that I didn't allow enough time to build up to my goal, but the 30 second timer helped to gauge where I was, and I was able to hold on for five minutes.

My plan was to hit the five minute ab bridge yesterday or today, then do 2000 squats and 250 push ups to prove I could still do it. My son helped me keep track of the squats and push ups. I don't think I could have gotten the push ups without his help. So I completed a 2009 goal trifecta this morning- ab bridge, squats and push ups. I rule.

Awesome Christmas gift

DeLana had one of our neighbors edit my mountain bike videos and make this compilation. I think Kristy did a great job.

Shelves

Day 1. Add sheetrock, move an outlet and secure the back support boards.














Day 2. Frame the two bottom north shelves.














Day 3. Frame the top three north shelves.














Day 4. Frame the south wall and secure the back support boards.














Day 5. Frame the west wall and cut the middle support boards.














Day 6. Frame the west and south shelves.














Day 7. Secured the plywood on the bottom three north shelves.














Day 8. Secured the plywood on the top two north shelves and the bottom west and south shelves.














Day 9. Secured the plywood on two south and west shelves.














Day 10. Secured the remaining plywood, added backstraps on the south and west shelves, and added the west vertical support.

Shelves- Day 6

Today we finished framing the shelves on the south and west sides. It was the most gratifying day because we saw the most progress. The only thing left to do is lay the plywood. And put the food back in.

Shelves

On Monday I started to build food storage shelves in our basement. All the wood came from local dumpsters on construction sites. On Day 1 I had to lay some sheetrock, move an outlet, and lay out the back support boards.














Day 2 was spent building out the two longer bottom shelves on the north end.













Day 3 was adding the three shorter shelves on the north end.














Day 4 was spent framing the south wall and adding the back supports.














Day 5 was framing the west wall and preparing the middle brace supports for the south end. I took today off to ride the Bobsled in SLC. Back at it on Monday.