BLOGS FOR DECEMBER 2009

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Week ending Dec 27th, 2009
Aaaaahhhh, life is good :)

Finally relaxed after a very fun and MUCH NEEDED vacation to Mammoth this week. I had a really good time. Packed my stuff after checking out the Living Nativity on Sat night and then drove the 6.5 hours to Bishop on Sunday where I was staying. It was much less expensive to stay in Bishop. Just to give you an idea, the cheapest hotel was $150.00 a night in Mammoth and they were really bad rooms. I got a much nicer room in Bishop for much less than that.

The drive up was nice. Hardly any traffic and the Tacoma actually got some decent mileage going up (18MPG up, 20MPG down). I didn't stop the entire way and I actually made it there on a tank of gas from San Diego. Not bad, eh? I could have never done that with the Tundra. It was a serious gas hog. By the way, though I had chains, I did not need them as the truck's 4WD performed so good. I love having that switch to 4WD on the fly option. Best handling 4WD truck I've owned to date!

Woke up on Monday AM after a good nights sleep and got to the slopes early. Definitely was out of boarding shape as it took me a few runs to get everything working right again, haha. I spent most of the morning just enjoying the sights (there's so much to see and appreciate on the Mountain). It wasn't snowing in the morning and the slopes were pretty fast as it had been packed pretty well by machines and riders.

After lunch it started to get cloudy and before you know it, it started snowing. It snowed the rest of the day and all night. That was really good as it made the runs down a little more manageable and not quite so fast. The next morning it started snowing again. I think we had about 2 feet of snow while I was there. I decided that it would be good to try skiing, which as it turns out was pretty fun. I still have some work to do but I think I will buy a new board and skis so that I can snowboard and ski the next time I go up.

On Wednesday I was starting to get a little overly confident. On one of the moguls as I was trying a few jumps I made too much speed at the bottom. When I tried to make a turn my ski pole got caught under one of my skis and I ended up doing the "Superman" and landed on the same shoulder that I broke my collar bone on a few years ago racing. When I say I hit hard, I mean I hit REALLY hard. I think I sprained my shoulder or separated it. I'm ok, just have to take it easy and not hit the gym for a week or two (much needed break anyway since skiing and snowboarding is good cardio work).

Wednesday my friends Tim and Missy showed up. We did a little boarding and then after we went to their place and made dinner and hung out for a while. It was good to see them. Tim and I go way back to my "Creeping Death" days. Tim was our "enforcer" who really helped us out the day Metallica showed up to one of our gigs. We're going to try and snowboard more together and already made plans to do some dirt biking.

I drove back up on Thursday and got settled back at home before heading back to Church for the Midnight Christmas candlelight service, which was EXCELLENT by the way. I also went back last night for my regular Saturday services, also excellent. Pastor Bob did a great job so I just wanted to say THANKS for that!

The rest of the week is going towards some of my own "Honey-Dos" (just no honey to make the list, haha!).

Oh, I don't think I mentioned this but I got my annual review just before I left on vacation. I got a REALLY good review and a small bonus so I have put a little more $$ into my savings (for house hunting) and I am thinking about buying a big screen TV since mine is only 19". I have an idea of the TV I am getting. It will be good to watch the NFL, MotoGP races and cool movies when I get the TV and the entertainment package as well (surround sound speakers, etc). That will be my Christmas present to myself, haha.

Speaking of Christmas, I did spend it with the "Springer" family. They are so good to me and I am very glad to have them in my life. Jack said that I was like another son in his family so that was about the best compliment I've gotten in a long time. He and his wife Jane are like family to me. We had the best Christmas dinner and I had a great time. Hanging out with them was better than any Christmas present in a box one could ever get. So thank you Jack and Jane! And Jack, heal up that hand so we can get some games of golf in!

Well since I am on vacation until after the New Year I think I might get a few games of golf in while I am getting my chores done and having a blast. I might still mix in a few runs and cardio until my shoulder feels better.

Well that is it for now. I am going to spark up the grill and watch a few more NFL games. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours.

May God bless you even more than He has blessed me this year!!!

Week ending Dec 20th, 2009
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hope you had a fantastic week and that your Christmas is going to be as good as mine. Why? Because tomorrow morning (it's Saturday as I write this) I am on my way to MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN! I'm really excited though the weather report says that it's only going to snow lightly on Monday. That's ok, I know the base is as high as 6 foot so there should be something to snowboard on. Probably not a lot of soft white fluffy snow (for my inevitable CRASH landings) so I'll have to take it easy on the mountain.

It'll be a good test for the truck's 4WD since, to this point, the only time I've used it is during the rain. And that's only happened twice since I bought it. Can you tell it never rains in San Diego? haha.

Yesterday started my vacation with a good round of Golf at Encinitas Ranch. I'll have to get out and play more often because I think I've figured out why I keep hooking the ball. HAHA. Tuesday I had a nice dinner at Island Prime right on the bay. If you haven't been there I highly suggest it. It has one of the nicest views in San Diego county!

I'm going to head out to Church early tonight due to the opening of the Living Nativity set that is going on. I am sure it's going to be crowded. After that I need to gather the rest of my stuff for tomorrow, get everything packed and hit the sack early for the long (8 hour) drive tomorrow.

That's is for now. Short update but I am sure that I will have lots to talk about next week when I get back. In the meantime, SIGN THE GUESTBOOK! LOL. I know a lot of you are visiting so let people know you where here!

Be safe you guys!

Week ending Dec 13th, 2009
GREAT WEEK!

Why was this a great week?! Well let me tell ya! I put in for the first vacation I've asked for in over a year, two weeks worth! Well, most people will be out anyway during the Holidays but I've got plans to spend the week before Christmas up at Mammoth doing some snowboarding. I will probably check out other things to do since I'll be meeting some friends up there.

Looks like I'll be heading out early next Sunday morning so I'll be updating the blog on Saturday sometime. I'll be sure to post pics as I'll be taking the new digital camera with me. With all this rain that we've been having the mountains are looking great. They had over 3 feet of snow the past couple days. If it's anything like it was when I went in January 2008, I guess I can wake up expecting to see my truck buried in snow. Kind of like this, haha. Definitely looking forward to lots of snow, lots of snowboarding and enjoying the serenity that I find when I head to the mountains :)

Work is fine. A few of my friends have been asking about the economy and how it's effected me personally. So far I've been blessed to still have a job. We laid a lot of people off a year ago and I am very thankful for what I have (even if I don't get along as well as I should with a few people). We'll see what 2010 brings. Like I said, I would love to and work in Europe or Australia (not Asia) if for anything, something different.

Church again was awesome. You know, you guys are welcome to come with me sometime. I also have some very cool research on the validity of the Bible if you want something to help you along. There's a lot of compelling evidence to prove that what the Bible says is absolutely true. I know a lot of people are doubting Thomas' and such but if you read the research you can definitely see that a lot of concrete evidence exists. As my friend once said to me "If you're right and I'm wrong, no big deal. But if I am right and you are wrong -- VERY BIG DEAL!" He's right!

This weekend was very relaxed. I was hoping that Charles would do another bootcamp this weekend but that didn't happen so I was a lazy bum most of the weekend. I did hang out with friends a bit on Friday night. I had to bail early though for reasons I'll explain some other time (haha).

Christmas is coming up soon. What are your plans? I definitely plan on attending the Christmas Eve service at Horizon. I went to something similar about 5 years ago where they had stringed instruments playing Christmas songs. I really enjoyed it a lot.

Can't think of anything else to add at the moment. Life is great, I'm having fun and taking it one day at a time. I'll leave you with a quote that I love from Albert Einstein:

"Two things are infinite, space and human stupidity...and I'm not sure about the former..."

AMEN! Makes a crack up every time. Have a great rest of your week!

B.

Week ending Dec 6th, 2009
HOWDY!

EGG-SELENT week, I must say!!! I am pooped beyond belief because after all of my workouts that I normally do, my personal trainer said "Hey, come to my bootcamp workouts on Saturday in PB"... so I said "Umm ok, I'll go". I wasn't prepared as well as I thought I was going to be, that's for sure.

Now, during my weekday workouts I do 10 minutes of straight cardio (40 second mild pace, 20 seconds of sprints per minute) so I thought that I would be fine for the bootcamp. NOT! When he said bootcamp, he meant it because we spent the entire hour doing some pretty high intensity cardio workouts. Gotta say, I was dying for breath out there but I felt good on the drive home. Sure, I've been sore all week but at least that's proof that I worked my tail off.

I'm going to continue going to the bootcamps because to be frank I am embarrassed at how easily I run out of breath. I was thinking of maybe finding some pickup basketball games or something of the like so that I can do something I like. Then at least it won't feel like the WORK part of working out :) haha. Whatever works, right?! haha.

It's supposed to rain this week and they are anticipating around 9 feet of snow at Mammoth so I am heading up there the 20th-24th for some much needed boarding and fun! Just need to find a place to stay for the week. Shouldn't be too bad since I'll be there DURING the week and can probably find a reasonable hotel rate. In fact, after I finish writing this blog I should probably start looking for hotel rooms. Anyone else want to go?! Speak now or forever hold your peace!

Work is going well and nothing new to report there except I got a couple big "doozies" off my plate this week so I have some more free time and feel OK with being able to take a week or two (I think I'll take 2) off.

Church was also great this weekend and I have to say, there was a personal message for me, of that I am sure. I always listen decently well but this weekend I was leaning forward, at the edge of my seat so obviously I felt the message was an important one for me. What was it about? Well, what vices do most of us have? Anger, Bitterness, Jealousy, Sexual Immorality (and I don't just mean cheating on your spouse), Gossip, etc. You name it. I am guilty of most (if not all) of them. It was a good "check yourself" weekend -- and one that I definitely needed.

Also this weekend I broke my bass out of the case (hey, that rhymes!). I had been listening to Muse's "Hysteria" and thought that would be a good bass line to learn. Well, I think I have the basics down and just need to work on the tempo. If I can nail this down maybe I'll cover the song since I like it so much. If you want to know which song I am talking about, click HERE for the song on YouTube. Make sure to turn your speakers down so you don't alarm your cube-mates (haha). And yes, that IS a bass that starts the song off. It is distorted though a bass amp. Tell me, don't'cha think that is one cool bass line?! It makes the song, IMHO.

Well that's it for this week. Welcome to DECEMBER and I hope you have a great rest of your weekend. Your Christmas cards are in the mail, by the way!

Cheers, mates!

B.