Punkin' Chunkin' 2012

Saturday I went to Punkin' Chunkin', the annual contest to find out who can toss a pumpkin the furthest.  It had been on my list of things to do for awhile, and yesterday I finally got to go.

Woke up early, drove out with some friends, and had breakfast at this great diner named Jimmy's.  Then we made it to the punkin' chunkin', where we got stuck in the mud (I wasn't driving, nor were we in my T-ruck), got pulled out by some cool dudes using a bobcat, then pushed some other guy out of the mud when he was driving too close to a pond.

The contest itself was cool, but we arrived too late for the catapults and trebuchets.  Instead, we got to see the big air cannons, which can propel the pumpkins close to a mile away.  It was cool watching them fly.

The weather, however, was not particularly cooperative.  It was cold, and the wind was blowing right in our faces.  I'd guess the windchill was mid-twenties, so after about 2 hours we were done.  I got a nice pumpkin funnel cake, then we drove back.  By the time we got home I was quite beat.  All in all a pretty sweet experience, and I hope to go back.

Back to Utah

My buddy Dave and I decided to head back to Provo, UT, for the BYU homecoming game a week ago.  I had been back to Utah since leaving 5 years ago - once for a quick family reunion in Park City, once to run the St. George marathon - but hadn't had much time for just hanging out, wandering around, doing fun things that I used to do.  Certainly not time for a BYU game at the Lavell Edwards Stadium.

So I flew in Thursday morning, drove around SLC for a bit, and went to lunch with some friends from L-3 I hadn't seen in forever.  Then I went hiking over by Lone Peak, but kept getting lost in the foothills before the true ascension began.  Someday... maybe.  But it did provide great views of the Draper temple.

I hung around with my sister Staci, taking her out for hot cocoa, dinner, and some groceries.  I also met up with Shanno Smith.  We drove up Mill Creek canyon in SLC.  I had been worried I wouldn't see any pretty leaves in Utah, but Shanno delivered, and Mill Creek was gorgeous.

Then I drove up Parley's to Park City, and past Kamas into the Uintas a bit, but some heavy rain made me say "Why am I doing this?" and turn around to go back to Provo.  Heber looked like it hadn't changed a bit since I last saw it 4 years ago.

I went to the BYU alumni center thinking they'd give me the inside scoop on Homecoming alumni activities - completely unhelpful.  They might get an email/letter sometime soon about the level of disappointment I feel.  Then I went and said "Hi" to Professor (Megan) Oka, who I hometaught at BYU a long time ago, and who was with me in Lubbock getting her PhD.

Saturday was the game, and I spent the day wandering around BYU with Dave and his family.  We had amazing seats, and BYU played well through 3 quarters and a bit.  Being back there was a blast.  I went to dinner with Dave's family (Staci was on a date at the same restaurant - it was pretty funny), made a quick run over to Diego's Tacos, saw Josh and Erica Redding, and Saturday was over.

Sunday I woke up, checked outta my hotel, met Staci for church, said hi to my friend Kirtley, then went up the Alpine loop until the witching time, and I had to head back.  Dropped my sister off, told her not to be too promiscuous, and took off for the airport.

All told, a great trip.  Got to see friends, had time to bum around in Utah, breath the clear mountain air, see beautiful fall leaves, and realize how much I still love Utah.

Adventure of the Day: Mountain Biking near Strasburg, VA

Last Saturday T-Rav* and I took off and went mountain biking near Strasburg, VA. It was pretty amazing.

First of all, where is Strasburg?  Here it is:

It was about an hour drive from our homes here in Arlington.  We got out there with this idea, "Hey, lets go mountain biking..." and we were kinda thinking of going to West Virginia, but Trav had gone hiking in this area before so we decided to give it a shot.

First we stopped in at the nearby Front Royal visitor's center and asked where some good mountain biking could be had.  They gave us some directions, and we took off for the nearby National Forest.

So we're driving through this wooded area, see a couple parking lots/turnoffs, and finally pick this one.  We get out, get changed into our biking gear, say hi to this dude and his family in the parking lot, then start riding.  Basically we rode straight uphill on a fire road for 2-3 miles, then we hit this cool little trail that crossed some creeks.  Eventually, made it to the far side of the ridge, rode uphill a little more, then hit the Strasburg Reservoir.

We met this couple there, who told us that if we went up the fireroad it would eventually get us back to our car.  Well, it didn't.  We just kept going up, and up, and up.  Eventually I called uncle and we started pushing, at which point it got even steeper.  We finally got to 'the top' of the road at this old tower, and met a Philmont Scout Ranch t-shirt wearing BoyScout leader who told us which way to go. 

So we take off, and its a rough rough trail.  We basically carried our bikes for ~ 2 miles over boulders.  As we kept going uphill.  Oh, and it started to rain.  Finally, we started going downhill.

I don't, however, have Travis' balance, and fell several times.  I got ripped out of my seat by a root that grabbed by pedal.  My front tire locked up once on a rock and I went over the handle bars, resulting in the very first time ever that I've dented a bike helmet (I'm still debating if its bad enough to justify buying a new one).  Then, as we're creeping down the mountain, finally able to ride, we meet this hardcore mountain bike girl, who cruises by us like its just another day.  We'd been biking/hiking about 3 1/2 hours (12 miles ish) at this point, and were exhausted.  Still, she said we were almost there, and the trail got way better just ahead. She was right, although she sailed past us even when we were moving at a decent pace.

Back to the car, we downed some gatorade, got changed, and headed to Front Royal for some Roy Rodger's (a fast food chain we'd never heard of) and back to DC.

All told it was a pretty great trip, but it tore Travis and I up plenty.  I passed out for a couple hours when we got back, and found all sorts of cuts, bruises, etc. I hadn't known about.

A little competition

So on Saturday I participated in my first in-person Crossfit competition.  Back in February I had done a competition, but that was over the Internet kinda sorta.  This was in person against other guys that were physically present.

These kinda competitions are pretty frequent these days in Crossfit, but most of them are 2 day (Saturday-Sunday) events, and most of them are at least geared toward the 'best of the best'.  This was not.  It was supposed to be kinda an intro style event, and it was only on Saturday, so I was game to try it out.

It was up in Baltimore, and consisted of 3 events.  The first event was a 2000 meter row on a rowing machine.  The second was a maximum deadlift in 10 minutes.  The third event was as many rounds as you could do in 10 minutes of (10 burpees, 20 pullups, 30 situps, 40 kettlebell swings using a 53# kettlebell, 50 air squats, and 100 double unders on a jump rope).

My brother Matt, my sister-in-law Raquel, and my nephews drove up to Baltimore to watch me compete in the first 2 events, which was pretty cool.  Matt snagged some pretty cool photos/video of me competing.  Although I was nowhere near the top guys in the Row/Deadlift events, I hit personal bests in both, so I was pretty happy.

Here's a video my brother made of me on my final deadlift, setting a personal best of 365 pounds.  You'll see me give the 'I'm done' wave at the end right before the fist pump.  I figure, I set a PR, I'm calling it quits rather than going further and failing a lift.  Failing is where you can get hurt, and I think (especially in a competition) can be hard psychologically because it sets up a wall instead of a stepping stone later on.

The third event, I did the 20 pullups unbroken, slowed down a little on the KB swings, but then I couldn't get my jump rope going, and wasn't super happy about how I finished.

All told, it was a fun day.  I don't think I'll be doing too many of these in the future, mainly because they seem to focus on Saturday-Sunday competitions.  Also, I enjoy exercising to better myself, not necessarily to beat other people.  While sometimes its good to know where you are, and see what possibilities exist, I'm not sure I need it that often.

Car Detailing

Saturday I decided that my car was due for a deep cleaning.  So rather than just vacuum it, wipe it down, etc., I removed the bucket seats.  I felt truly redneck (and I liked it)

Just as I was removing the 2nd seat, Travis came zipping by on his Vespa.  I called him over and we took a photo.  I'd say it was pretty classic.

 

Thanks SCOTUS!

I kinda just lost (some) hope for America.  New plan: Help America spend as much as we can on people that don't work, find a way to siphon a portion of it to me, amass land/guns/resources while taking advantage of loopholes, and wait for the system to crash.  Wait ~ 20 years, reform America to be what it could be.

Blue Water Sailor

This past week and a half (June 8th - June 15th) I sailed from Annapolis Maryland to Bermuda as part of the Bermuda Ocean Race, out in the Atlantic Ocean. Being a land lubber, this was a bit outside my comfort zone.  I had done some prep work, taking a sailing class, getting familiar with the boat, etc., but had never been that far out in the ocean.  I wasn't sure how I would feel being that isolated, and having nothing on the horizon for days and days.  That turned out to be of relatively little concern.  Instead, we didn't have enough wind!

The Route

We made it about 500 miles into our 750 mile journey, and then were becalmed for 2 days.  We literally were only making about 20 miles a day, which was going to mean missed flights, lost hotel rooms, and angry wives (not mine).  So we dropped out of the race and turned on the motor, arriving in Bermuda Thursday morning. 

Dawn, 2nd to last day

Bermuda was beautiful, and I'm glad I got to send a day on the island, most of which was spent on the beach, then having dinner with the remainder of the crew that hadn't already departed for home.

Land Ho!

I'm excited that I had this opportunity.  Sailing the high seas, and becoming a Blue Water Sailor, was cool.  One of those things you dream about, but don't know how such a possibility could come about in your life.  Some of the highlights were hauling down the Chesapeake Bay in the middle of the night at a 45 degree angle, passing other sail boats at dawn, seeing dolphin tails off the starboard bow, throwing up the spinnaker sail, and seeing the deepest, clearest, darkest blue I've ever seen in my life.  I wasn't expecting the moon to rise up red every night, the cold nights (although I was prepared), and the amazing peacefulness being out in the middle of the ocean brought.

The Dingy Club, Bermuda, where we docked

I don't know if I'd consider myself to be much of a sailor, but I'm thankful that in my quest for adventures sailing is now part of my adventure repertoire. 

Docked in Bermuda

Time for some adventurin'

I'm taking off sailing to Bermuda from Annapolis here in a few hours.  I'm both excited and nervous, and I think that's a good sign that there's some good adventurin' to be had.  The report should be epic!

As I've done in the past, a final shot before I leave.

Yo Soy Marinero

Of the past 4 days, I've spent at least a few hours each day on a sailboat.  My head, here on land, doesn't quite feel stable...  As I sit here writing, I kinda feel like I'm still moving.

Thursday night/Friday morning we sailed from Soloman's Island up the Chesapeake Bay to Annapolis.  Sailing in the middle of the night on the bay was cool.  It was also my first real experience sailing, and was cool.  After we got to Annapolis, I went to work all day.

Then, Saturday and Sunday I went to sailing school on the Potomac.  I went to the Belle Haven marina, and had a great time.  I actually feel pretty comfortable with sailing on the little 14' boat we were practicing on, and came away feeling good.  At the end they gave me a certificate and a card showing that I took a class and know the basics...

NYC thoughts

Several years ago, when I was deciding where to go to law school, I had 3 choices.  Santa Clara California, New York City, and Lubbock Texas.  I'm grateful I chose the third.

The reason I bring this up right now is because I just, this past Tuesday, went up to New York City.  This was actually my first time going up to NYC since moving to the east coast almost 2 years ago.  I've been up there a few times, but I gotta say, I'll take the empty, wind-blowing nothingness of West Texas over that place anyday.

Lots of people seem to dislike NYC because of the crowds.  I've never had that problem.  While I've heard stories of people being slammed into overcrowded subway cars, that's never happened to me.  Most of the time I'm walking around and, unless I'm in a crowded, touristy area (like Time's Square), its pretty empty.  Walk a couple blocks away from 5th and 7th Avenues and its just a quiet street, with some tall buildings.  Other people dislike NYC because of the smell, or because of the people (I've never had a problem), or because its expensive. 

Lots of people seem to like NYC because of the food options.  I don't care about fancy food one bit.  If you want to spend money on fancy food, cool.  I don't.  I've had it, and while on occasion its nice, I certainly don't crave it one bit.  Lots of people seem to like NYC because of theater options.  OK, that could be fun if I had a girl on my arm, but without one, forget it.

Honestly, pretty much everytime I go to NYC, with or without friends who "know the city" or live there, I end up walking around most of the time from one restaurant to another.  I end up tired, and frankly bored, because its just a city, and I don't need to eat that much.

This trip, I rode the train up, ate, took the subway to the battery, went to a meeting at the Ritz, walked around a bit, rode home.  It was about as short as you could plan, and I was still bored.  How do people stay there for days?!?

The next time I go to NYC for any reason, I'm going to see if I can't get an underground tour to see the mole people.  That sounds fun.  I'll leave the rubbish up top to everyone else.

Life and Stuff

So what have I been doing with my life?

Well... Last weekend I went to the Crossfit Level 1 trainer seminar, and after 2 days passed the test, so I am now a level 1 Crossfit Trainer.  Essentially that means that I can... tell people I'm a Crossfit Trainer, coach friends, etc.  I can also teach/coach at an affiliate gym (box) if I want to, though I really just did it for personal knowledge, not so much because I want to coach.

Other than that, I've been working hard, trying to get a little ahead on my work assignments.  That's not happening, but I have been working hard.  Its strange to think its been almost 2 years since I graduated law school.  Time is flying by.

Yesterday I had to pay for a bunch of work on my truck.  She's been a good truck, but if she keeps having trouble she won't stick around too much longer.  I plan on doing some stuff to help her out (swapping out the distribution cap/wires, spark plugs, filters, etc.) but if it gets too expensive, adios.  While I was waiting I went to the bowling alley next door and played 3 games.  The first 2 games were pretty bad, but the third was a little better.

Oh, last weekend I went to a dinner with Condoleezza Rice for the BYU management society.  That was cool.  And I'm getting ready to sail to Bermuda, which is exciting although a little daunting.  Anyway, those are the quick updates.

The 2012 Open

As anyone who regularly speaks with me knows, I kinda talk about exercising, and specifically Crossfit, a lot.  I like what it preaches, specifically being ready for any situation at any time, whether it be strength, endurance, speed, flexibility, agility, accuracy, etc... And I like it because I'm decent at it.  I'm certainly not the best at any of those things, but I'm decent when you look at all of those things together.

I entered the 2012 Crossfit Open a couple weeks ago.  This is the start of a competition Crossfit puts on once a year to find the fittest man and woman on earth.  Here's a video that explains it...

My goal was simply to be able to do everything in the Open.  Last year I didn't have time, and certainly didn't have the skills/strength to do it.

So how did I do?  I finished (as of this writing) # 13,725 in the world, out of 22,421 men.  In my region (mid-atlantic) I finished 1146 out of 1836.  Of course, that's 13,725 and 1146 out of people who A) did the workouts and B) reported their scores.  Here's my link...

They only take the top 60 athletes in each region on to the next level of competition, so I'll start prepping for next year.  On the whole it was a great experience, and I look forward to getting faster, stronger, and more efficient.  While it would be awesome to qualify for regionals, I have to keep in mind that most of the top athletes are former professional, or division 1 athletes, and certainly not 33 year old patent attorneys.  That said, I think I can do better, and I want to.

Dirty Snake

Yesterday I stepped on a snake.  It was a little baby garden snake, nothing too big, and certainly not a rattler (I live in DC, not the west, so the thought of a dangerous snake seems almost laughable...).  It happened while T-Rav* and I were hiking on the Appalachian trail just outside of Harper's Ferry.  We had hiked out to a nice cabin that Trav had heard about, made some raman noodles and ate lunch,

met some weirdos, and were headed back to the car when I saw the snake about a 1/4 second before my foot landed on it.  I said "snake" just then, followed by "SNAKE!" as the little fella coiled up and tried to bite my leg.  Luckily I had jeans on, so no biting occurred, but both Trav and I were jumping down the trail for a second.  Plenty of laughs followed.

 

We got back to the car, went in to Harper's Ferry, explored a little bit, got some funnel cake, and came back into town by about 3PM.   

It was a little chilly, especially before the sun really came out and we were hiking up the backside of the hill (mountain? seems a little small for a mountain...), but it felt good to be out in the crisp clean air and hiking uphill for a ways.

Trip to Northern CA

The Golden Gate yo

Yup

Half Moon Bay

I went out to San Francisco and Palo Alto/Stanford for the JRCLS conference.  It was great - and Northern California is beautiful.  I visited out SF office, which was downtown and very high up, and very cool.  I saw the Fisherman's Wharf, the Golden Gate bridge, the Pacific Ocean, and drove down the beach to Half Moon Bay. 

The conference itself was nice, made friends with lots of really good people, saw old friends, and ate too much food.

Injured Shoulder

So a week ago yesterday, I hurt myself doing Crossfit for the first time in 2 1/2 years of doing it.  Oh sure, there have been times where I was sore, where I could tell my form sucked and I needed to stop, or I wasn't sure what I was doing and I backed off.  But I haven't actually been injured.

I think the last time I was actually injured was about 2 1/2 years ago when I ran the St. George Marathon.  I developed plantar fascias in my right foot, which took a long time to cure (thanks Merrell running shoes!). 

I hurt my shoulder, somehow, doing a workout called Helen.  3 rounds of a 400m run, 21 kettlebell swings w/ a 53# weight, and 12 pullups.   I think it was the KB swings that did it, and now I have rotator cuff issues...


This comes at a bad time.  I've been prepping to participate in the CrossFit Open, which starts in 3 weeks.  But today I read this article about training through injury, and I'm going to continue to get ready as best I can in the next 3 weeks.  My goal with the Open is to compete and finish as strong as I can... I know I'm not at a point where I can realistically compete, but compared to where I was a year ago I've come a long way.  And maybe in a year I won't injure my shoulder right before the competition.

Math

I've been thinking lately about the how we see the world, and how so much of how we see the world is affected by our knowledge and experiences.

For example, the other day I was having a conversation with someone, and they mentioned that they saw absolutely no need for Calculus in the world, to which I replied, "I use calculus everyday.  Not the actual equations, but how I look at the world."  Knowledge of how rates and changes occur based on other factors plays in everything and everywhere I go. 

Similarly, people who have studied foreign languages sufficiently that they can think in that language gain a different way of viewing the world and forming their thoughts.  People who study music, architecture, politics, or any other subject area all have nuanced views.

Of course, the danger of those nuanced views is that they diminish the ability to know, appreciate, and often even understand the importance of the other views.  For example, engineers and scientists generally lack social aptitude, whereas getting lawyers and politicians to solve an algebraic equation, must less an incredibly difficult equation like the national budget, can be insanely difficult.  Both lack the skills to do the job of the other, but in both cases a wider education would, I believe, aid the situation.

This all got brought up because I was mentioning to a friend that here in DC I have to be particularly careful not to mock people for the inability to do basic math, because chances are most of the people around are similarly lacking in math skills.  I certainly found that to be the case in law school.  It simply doesn't attract people with math based skills. 

So, just like my obsession with Crossfit, I'm trying to be as well-rounded as I can in my education.  And hopefully enough other people will become similarly well-rounded that we can have a more comprehensive view of the various issues and problems in our lives...

Yuk!

So as I battle my 3rd or 4th bout of illness in about 6 weeks, I broke down today and drank a coke.  This new law suit makes me question my decision.  Apparently Mountain Dew will actually dissolve mice should one be canned on accident.

Do the Dew!

Bring it Mayans

So... its 2012!? Weird, huh?

So I was reading something somewhere... I don't remember where, about the difference between goals and resolutions, and how at this time of year lots of people state resolutions as goals and goals as resolutions. So this thing I was reading stated that goals are definable objectives - "I want to run a marathon" "I want to lose 30 pounds" "I want to go to Egypt", whereas resolutions are less quantifiable - "I want to be nicer" "I want to eat more candy" "I want to watch less TV".

While I have some goals posted for this next year of life posted next to the light switch in my room, one of my resolutions is to be more adventurous this next year.  I want to get back in the habit of seeing America, of going unique places, and getting outside the DC beltway.  This (hopefully) will similarly result in increased blog postings about the fun things I'm doing here, and the things happening in my life.

On that note, I updated the blog for the first time in about 3 years.  I wanted to take advantage of the new Blogger posting options, and since I had heavily modified customizing my previous template (which was based on the original template from 7 years ago) I was afraid I might break something without switching.  Hopefully it looks and feels like something I would be posting to, but I imagine further modifications will come about soon.