Cycle Oregon 2 - The Revenge of the Bike Seat

My second Cycle Oregon weekend was a minor success! I reached a level of physical preparedness on par with John Kruk reporting to spring training. Amy and I logged somewhere around 75 miles over the weekend. Not bad considering the serious lack of "saddle time" we had before the weekend. When I was younger, I struggled to understand when people said things like "I would love to, but I don't have the time". Now, I get it. With all the things I would like to do more of (or at all), it seems this statement defines reality. This is not a bad thing, but a fact with which we must live.

To say I was physically unprepared is actually not entirely correct. I was thankful for the workout schedule Amy and I have been pretty religious about. The problem, as any bike rider will sympathize with, was that I simply hadn't sat on my bike for that long in many months;meaning I lacked a certain type of preparation. [DISTURBING TERM AHEAD] My friends and I refer to the type of preparation as the "A$$ Callous". For the first few rides of the year your rear end will cause you to question your interest in the sport of bicycle ridery. After that, it gets better. Sometimes it stops ailing you all-together (every time I say that I think of "Airplane!" and a group of people repeating my sentence). There is no explainable reason for the pain going away, but the phenomena has been dubbed the "A$$ Callous".

Recap of day 1:

• Wow, this is beautiful
• Cool, a hill
• Nice, a pit stop
• Wow, this is beautiful
• Man, my wife is looking good
• Great, another pit stop
• Ouch, my rear
• Wow, this is pretty, but Ouch, my rear
• Alright!, all finished, lets drink a beer

Recap of Day 2:

• Ouch, my rear
• Optimism, this will probably go away soon
• OK, I can tough this out
• Calculating distance back to camp
• Yahoo, A$$ Callous achieved!
• Armstrong-ing this hill
• Amy is an animal, going over steep grades like speed-bumps
• Wow, this is beautiful country
• Success!, lets drink a beer and toast the trip!

The area around Monmouth is spectacular and the roads are so smooth. We will be back for more next year, hopefully somewhere new to us in Oregon!

Worky Worky

As I sat here in my office last night at 6:30pm, putting the cap on another 12 hour day, I was thankful that I enjoy engineering. I often talk to people who not only dislike their JOB, but also their WORK. This is what I was born to do: Build... From Lego bricks to structural steel, I have always loved creating things. Cheers to liking your work! (even for those who don't love their job)

Welcome Nephew

My nephew, Ty, was born July 3^rd in Klamath Falls! He was 8lbs 8oz and mom and baby are perfectly healthy! I am so thankful that he came on a weekend and I was able to drive down with Amy and see everyone, especially Ty! It was so hard to leave on Monday, but we will be back as often as possible…

When a new human comes along, it is a display of great potential and promise. It is a reminder of how beautiful it is to be truly objective, notion-less. Adults are called to think about what he could be. Me, I have one hope for him: That he will always be passionate.

Love will come to Ty easily, being surrounded as he will with caring people. He will be strong, courageous, compassionate, and courteous; a true man, as he will have in his company many true men. He will work, when the time comes, with great diligence as his family always has. All of these things and more will be passed on to him to supplement his built-in character by his parents and family. There is one thing, however, which he must learn on his own: passion!

The only constant element of greatness carried on from past generations is passion. The person’s personality deems their passion compass or rudder. Regardless, it is clear that from passion comes direction. The application of passion varies WILDLY. I am, for instance, passionate about family, engineering, music, and playing ball (to name a few). All are part of my greater passion for learning and living. Whatever his passion turns out to be, I know he will do great things and I am thankful to be a part of his life, wherever it goes!