Pain and Pride

First off, it's been awhile. I realize that it has been a long time since I last posted here, but I warned of that on my first post. I have quite a difficult time actually being able to put stuff - thoughts - into words, so I confess that I have to actually feel a bit of inspiration to write... and it has to be the right timing, because if I can't write it down when it's spilling out of my mind, I'll never get it back out later.

With that said, I do have some stuff to talk about. (Sorry Julie and Wendy. You know all this already so this won't be so interesting for you)

Pain and Pride: I'm in a lot of pain. A lot of pain. I messed up my ribs last Friday (the 23rd) on a snowboard in Lake Tahoe. You see, I haven't snowboarded in 12 years (I haven't ski'd in 10 years... since Jan 29th 1999 to be exact).

Anyway, all the guys kept telling me that it would be like riding a bike. "You'll be fine", they'd say. "Once you get up there, you'll remember everything." Well, I wanted to believe them. After all, I'm 29, not 50. I'm still young, and while perhaps a bit out of shape (ok a lot out of shape), I'm still young enough to rebound well.

There was something else going on, of course. See, Wendy is an incredibly loving wife. She's super protective, and like some others I know, she also assumes the worst will happen. I, on the other hand, always assume everything will go as planned. Anyway, she's never seen me in my "prime", back when I was very athletic. Just because I was in drama and the choir, doesn't mean I wasn't good at sports, Wendy! As a result, I often hear, "Are you sure you wanna do that? I'm just worried you'll hurt yourself."

To her credit, I didn't hear a peep out of her for this occassion... but you can bet that I believed it was going on in her head.

So anyway, I had something to prove.

We get up on the mountain, and for my first run, we go straight to the top. I get off the lift, and it was smooth and uneventful. "Horray, this will be easier than I thought." Then I started down the mountain.

Bam! first fall. No biggie. 30 yards later... Slip! Second fall. And so on and so on. I can tell you, I wasn't wasting much time getting back on my feet and bombing down the mountain again. Over and Over and Over. It wasn't pretty. Still, it didn't hurt too much, so I kept on. The guys were right! It was like riding a bike. I could remember all the moves...


...I couldn't however get my body to DO them. I had failed to think about the fact that these were muscles that had been unused in 12 years. As a result, I had 0 control. At one point, I managed to pick up quite a bit of speed, and turning to slow on my heel edge, caught the edge, sending my *cough* 203lbs. *cough* sailing through the air, face-down, head downhill.

Unfortunately, I landed with my elbow wedged between the ground and my chest. I'm not sure I've EVER had the air knocked out of me as severly as this experience. Let's just say that for 30-40 sec. I was vocally in distress, unable to breathe inward... even a tiny bit.

So that's it. First run of the day, 1/3rd down the slopes, and I'm done. I can't go on (oh, I DID... but it was pure hell). The adventure down is a long storry all on its own, and I own a great deal of gratitude to Kirk for hangin in there with me.

Anyway, I spent the rest of the day in the lodge. $60 lift ticket to sit in a lodge all day. Phooey!

So I'm in pain. My ribs, one week later, still hurt... and for whatever reason I've been sneezing and coughing FAR more this week than normal. God does have a good sense of humor.

I'm free of broken bones, but it sure feels like it.

So I learned 3 things on the mountain.

1) Pride really DOES come before the fall.
2) I'm not as young as I think I am.
3) I'm -surprisingly, as anyone who's a snowboarder will agree- MUCH better on my toe edge than heel edge. Strange.

Oh Foggy Day

Just a quick word to say, "Yikes!"

My car is in the shop (I t got side-swiped while parked before Christmas), and so I've been riding my Vespa every day. Boy, has it been cold! The daytime "highs" aren't that bad, but unfortunately I ride in the morning, and at night, which means the "lows" have set in. Yes, it's been very cold.

I wear my jeans, a pair of windbreaker-type exercise pants, and then a pair of thick snap-up warm-ups. I wear 8" leather boots, a shirt followed by a hooded sweatshirt, followed by my riding jacket. My riding gloves "breathe" too much, so I've been wearing my ski gloves. Still, it is cold... very cold at 50+ mph.

Well, it's been steadily getting warmer, and today I went outside to a beautiful sunny morning, with decent temperatures. I decided to just wear my normal riding gloves (though I still wore the rest of my ensemble). It was a great ride...

... that is until I hit Bake Ave. No joke, I hit a WALL of fog... so thick I could hardly see. With my sunglasses and my helmet face shield, I couldn't see at all, so I lifted the face shield and went sunglasses only. Brrrrrr. I finally ditched the sunglasses, and used the face shield, though this required that I wipe the moisture from the shield repeatedly while I rode.

The pic above is from my office window. It doesn't look as bad as it was on the ride in. From Bake to Redhill, it was super dense. From Redhill to my office was foggy like above, but not as dense... just really wet.

This wasn't working out so well. I couldn't really even see the stoplights until I was almost underneath them. I was really quite freaked out, because I was so worried that a car would either not see me and hit me from behind, or not see the stoplight, and run an intersection while I was crossing it. I seriously considered just stopping at a Starbucks, and calling in to work "stranded until further notice". I'm glad I didn't because it's now 10:30, and it's still super thick.

Anyway, all this to say... I made it safely, but I'm not a fan of the fog on my scooter. Not fun at all. Not to mention, I arrived at my office wet, and frozen. A really bad day to choose to not wear the ski gloves.

Thank you Jesus for protecting me on my way to work.

Band of Brothers

This is it! It's going to happen. I am going to grow up.

It is time to be a man. An extraordinary man.

I'm going to be a man of Character; a man of integrity; a Leader; a man of Influence; a man of God. To do this, I am going to hone my leadership skills. I'm going to invest in people. Most of all, I'm going to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.

You hear that God? Like it or not (I know you do), You and I are going to be close!

I want this, I really really do. I do easily become distracted, and I often let it feel like work. It shouldn't be that way though. In my head and heart I know it to be true, but I'm easily swayed by what this world has to offer.

Thanks Josh, and Mark, for your excitement, and encouragement. I hope you're both in this with me. You see, I need Brothers. I need those men who desire the same exact thing. I need those men who I can look foolish in front of, and be vulnerable with. Those to whom I can expose my weaknesses, and those who will sharpen me. It's time to get real, and I'm seeking those men.

Here's a calling to my Band of Brothers!

This is REAL and this is happening. It's time to get off my rear and live life the way God intended for me to.

Ah Breakfast. Now it actually IS the most important meal of the day.

New research has found that teens who skip breakfast as middle school students tend to have sex at an earlier age than those who start the day with a proper meal.

You may want to read that sentence again. I don’t blame you.

Exactly how some scientist even THOUGHT to look into this is way beyond me, and I’m not sure what to make of it.

Is it that these students skip breakfast and have sex instead? Despite what advertisers tell us, is the “Breakfast of Champions” really something other than Wheaties?

One thing is certain from these findings. Parents, if you want GOOD kids, you need to ensure they eat breakfast, no matter what.

And don’t just take their word for it. You sit them in front of the TV and WATCH them stuff that Egg McMuffin into their cake hole! It’s just good parenting!

Teens who skip breakfast as middle school students tend to have sex at an earlier age than those who start the day with a proper meal, a government-backed Japanese medical researcher said on Friday.

The link between breakfast and sex probably lies in the teens' family life, said Kunio Kitamura, executive director of the Japan Family Planning Association, who conducted the survey.

The survey examined sexual experiences as well as family relationships and lifestyle habits of Japanese females and males aged 16 to 49. It was carried out in September and was based on about 1,500 people.

The average age of first-time sex for those who said they ate breakfast every day as a middle school student was 19.4, while for those who skipped breakfast, the average age was 17.5.

"The fact that people can't eat breakfast may show something about their family environment," said Kitamura. "Before blaming individuals for having sex at an early age, it may be necessary to look into the sort of homes they are from."

The survey, intended to study how to reduce unwanted pregnancies, also showed the average age of first-time sex was lower for those who found their mother annoying.

People who said they disliked their mother had sex for the first time at the average age of 16, while the average age for those who appreciated their mother was 19, Kitamura said.

Fun Night with the Fitz Kids

Tent #1

So, Ben, Addie, and I played last night. It was super fun, and they were great kids all evening. We started the night by building a very large tent. The kids helped, though admittedly they tore down more than they built, but we finally got it finished, and we played for awhile, with Ben chasing "bad guys" in it with his "laser ring".

 

Tent #2

After we finished with that tent, we tore it down, and built another massive tent. The 2nd one was crazy huge. We played in it again. At one point I got my big hips stuck in the door, and was subsequently tackled, attacked, and jumped on while trying to free myself. Ah, good times.

Fear not though... I did finally make it through the door, and I must say, it was a damn fine tent. I didn't get it on video, but Ben did tell me I'm the "bestest tent builder, EVER!". Just take my word for it. It did happen.

 

Reading is Good

We finally settled down in the tent, (it was a 3 room, multi-path tent, and each room was big enough for me to fully lay down and stretch out in with the kids), and I asked the kids if they wanted to read books in the tent. It turned out to be a major hit, with both of them jumping up and running out of the tent to get books (it was now a 2 room tent, but still perfect and awesome).

They returned with quite a handful of books, and for the next 45min. we sat in the tent reading with Addie either laying on my arm with "Stinky-D", or crawling all over me trying to get comfortable (at least that's what I think she was trying to do). Ben listened while intermittently finding "new cool spots" in the tent to sit in while I read.

After reading I put Addie to bed, and Ben helped me clean up so Sarah would be happy when she came home. Once we had cleaned, Ben and I sat on the couch and watched a DVD together on the laptop, and then played games on PBS and Bob-the-Builder websites.

All in all, it was a fun evening.

Pink David - The Wall

My wall is done. Sure, it took me 7 months to complete, and sure, I still need to do "touch-ups", and yeah, I still want to put a wrought-iron fence on it... but it is basically finished! The structure is done, and it is a completed "phase 1".


I have a lot of shout-outs to do.

First and fore-most, thanks to Kirk. It was a lot of fun doing this project with you. I've learn a lot, and enjoyed it along the way. Thanks for suggesting that we take this project on; motivating me when I wasn't feeling like working on it; and being an easy individual to work along-side.

Thanks to my dad for helping with the veneer, and for doing all the electrical stuff. You saved us a bunch of time, and it turned out great! Plus, your travertine tile idea for use as the background for the lighting fixtures was a perfect idea.

Thanks to David Arellano, Tyler Collier and Mark Fitzpatrick for lending your hands (and your wheel-barrow, Mark) to speed things along, and keep me company when I was working on my own.

Thanks to Tony for the use of your tools (and your dad's), and for spending your vacation weekend working on the wall. The block wall looked flawless, and good enough to leave uncovered!

Thanks to Kirk's coworker/boss, Josh, for the use of his tools. They saved me a ton of money from having to rent the tools.

Finally, thanks to Wendy and Julie. Your encouragement was needed, the water and meals appreciated, and Julie... giving up your husband weekend after weekend was awesome.

I'm totally impressed with myself and Kirk. The work was long, and tedious, but I have to pat myself on the back and acknowledge that it looks awesome and professional. The 7 months are worth it given that I don't regret any of our decisions.

Now, to enjoy it!!!!!! :-)

More about a Man...

As I feared, yesterday's post didn't come out totally the way I have it all in my head. Maybe it's a good thing I never became a writer. Wendy tried to get me to explain more what I felt was lacking, and I am just unable to do so... so I'll settle for what I was able to say yesterday.

Anyway, I'm posting more, not because of the above, but because I did want to comment about the way I ended the diatribe. It came out as if I had come to a resolution on the topic, and was moving forward... that actually wasn't the original intent of the topic, and thus I want to throw it back out there to you, should you care to participate.

Yesterday was about my thoughts on what being a man means. (Well, it's a small portion of my thoughts...) However, I'm interested to know if you have any thoughts on the matter, or words of wisdom, or scripture, etc. Now, with that last one -- Don't go reading through the concordance (sp?) of your Bible just to be able to participate... even I can do that. However, if you have a passage in mind that you feel is poignant, please offer it up.