A Method to the Madness

Commencement of VeloDirt Bikepacking

2011-05-02T20:57:00.019-05:00

"Wilderness and motors are incompatible and the former can best be experienced, understood and enjoyed when the machines are left behind where they belong -- on the superhighways and in the parking lots, on the reservoirs and in the marinas." -Edward Abbey

If my Revelate Designs bags could talk, they would have been very vocal about their time spent stored away, not being used for their intended purpose. School, weather, lack of riding partners and life has created many delays-but the stars finally aligned for Donnie, Nick and I to head out into the Oregon wilderness for some good old fashioned adventure.

Being my first bike-packing expedition outside of some trips around Decorah, the process of assembling my kit was both exciting and stressful. (I will dedicate a different post to what I carried in the future when I solidify some more items) The weather reports indicated that we had little chance of being rained on, but the temperatures were expected to be below freezing. My mind raced between what to pack or not, and I ended up carrying more than I needed, which was fine as this trip was intended to figure our kits out.

It felt nice to be out in the back country. Rolling through farmland on hard packed dirt always reminds me of home. If only Iowa had those mountains in the distance....

Nick in the middle of our ascent up to Barney Reservoir.

Nick and Donnie handled the maps-I was just along for the ride.

Less intimidating than a black bear....

Extra time at camp allowed us to experiment with cooking setups

Prime campsite above the valley

Enjoying the warmth of a fire before settling in for the night. If only I had the ability to capture a photo of the magnificent stargazing experience we had......

We awoke to partially frozen water bottles and sun creeping over the treeline

Following the Trask River back down to sea level

Donnie and Nick getting more road information

This trip was a good indication of what gear worked for us and what didn't. Although we moved at a very conservative pace and took lots of pictures, my body felt great both days on the bike and I had no pain while riding my loaded Fargo. Two days spent outside of the city relishing the scenery and beauty of the Oregon coast range provided me with much of what I needed to balance out life with school and my desire for adventure.

For the official VeloDirt recap see Donnie's post here.

Locked and loaded

2011-04-29T22:33:00.000-05:00

Easter Weekend

2011-04-24T20:10:00.006-05:00

I've had a few fairly quiet weeks with school and the crappy Oregon winter weather lingering, but this weekend the clouds parted for some well-timed sunshine. A friend from school and I planned a bike ride on Friday after class in the Colombia River Gorge. It felt nice to finally be riding in bike shorts, short sleeve shirt, and sunglasses for the first time since October. A nice 40 mile ride in those conditions with a few thousand feet of climbing was a fitting way to spend the afternoon.
Luckily, this was one of those weekends that just kept getting better. On Saturday morning Aj, Margie and I headed out for a bike ride up Council Crest under some perfectly clear blue skies and views of four peaks greeted us at the top of the hill.

Next on tap for the day was a trip out to Ozone, a place to rock climb across the river in Washington. Learning how to boulder (a style of rock climbing) has been a fun activity to do indoors this winter and I never thought I would get into actual rock climbing outdoors. On Saturday, with chalk barely keeping my palms dry from the constant sweating, I completed my first ascent up a rock face. I struggled with fully trusting myself and the equipment, which is hard when this sport is totally dependent on yourself to get to the top, but like anything in life it requires more technique, practice, and experience .

Climbing has many similarities to mountain biking, where you're getting a killer workout and don't seem to be noticing because you're so focused on what your doing-totally present in the moment. On both a bike and rock, each requires a combination of strength, balance and creativity, being fully aware of where your body is and learning how to quickly adapt to what varying terrain has to offer. Personally, it's also about being committed to the experience and discovering the natural world around you. It can bring you lots of different places and provide you with a unique perspective of the world below you, except that world is a lot closer on a bike!

Hopefully there will be more biking and climbing weekend trips in store sooner than later!

How to Live to be 100

2011-04-10T19:09:00.000-05:00

Spring Break

2011-04-06T00:17:00.004-05:00

For most of the past two weeks, I spent surprisingly little time "relaxing" during my two week break from school. Since it was my first school break spent in Oregon, I decided that I better make the best of my time and spend it outdoors with people whose company I enjoy. My Dad and Ally were able to make the trip out West and I figured regardless of rain, we better explore as much of the Portland area as possible. Aj and I tried our best to plan an active two weeks of hiking, biking, rock-climbing, skiing and of course, eating (which deserves its own blog post)! Some of my time (not enough) during all of this was to capture some memories by photograph but I quickly realized my need to develop some photography skills, so bear with me as I play around with my photos. I uploaded some pictures from our adventures around Oregon including hikes in Forest Park, McKenzie River Trail and Silver Falls State Park. After our hike along the McKenzie river trail we were able to relax at the Terwilliger Hot Springs and after the others we were able to enjoy soaking at the Kennedy School in Portland a few blocks from our house.

It was a fantastic way to spend break and is much better served by pictures than words......I am already planning for my next break back home in Iowa during June! Until then, I am going to enjoy the lingering bliss from an awesome break to carry me though the next quarter of classes.......

PWC

2011-02-13T19:34:00.001-06:00

Wish I could be back to attend this! Looks awesome!

PWC CHAMPIONSHIP PROMOTIONAL VIDEO from Trevor Rockwell on Vimeo.

Awesome.

2011-01-27T20:45:00.002-06:00

IditaTour: Part one. from lacemine29 on Vimeo.

Timbuktu

2011-01-24T22:21:00.002-06:00

Since I am to lazy to blog myself, here is a much better recap of a bike adventure Aj and I had this past weekend with some awesome people we have become friends with in Portland. Hopefully there will be many, many rides with them to come.

Life has been relatively routine since Christmas break. Lots of school followed by free time spent at the bouldering gym learning some new skillz. I set a goal of commuting over 3,000 miles this year to school despite what my attitude has been on rainy mornings. Doing pretty well so far having logged nearly 300 miles in 16 days. Hopefully I can keep it up!

Crater Lake

2010-10-30T20:30:00.006-05:00

Before school started I took off on a road trip with Zach and his housemate to Crater Lake, OR. In short, it was an awesome way to spend the weekend laying by the lake, hiking in the park, and spending time by the campfire. We arrived after the main tourist season, and just before the snow (they recieve 500 inches annually) came, to awesome weather.

The lake was formed from the collapse of Mount Mazama approximately 150 years ago. It is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,943 feet deep and averages 6 miles in length. It was the most vivid blue water I have seen (or ever see) and was fun to take a polar-plunge into. Here are some pictures to recap the trip.

A weekend trip isn't complete without the necessities.

Our first view of Crate Lake.

Pentacles.

Sunset.

Atop Mount Scott, the highest point in the park.

View from the shores.

Road Trip

2010-09-23T19:17:00.002-05:00

Aj and I took off for Northern CA this past week. We got back Wednesday night and I am leaving for Crater Lake in about an hour with Zach. All play and no work for me until school starts next Friday. Till I have some time to give more details about our trip, here are some pictures. In short, it was incredible to see (what's left) of the Redwood forest. It's a shame that their used to be 2 million acres of forest and now only 100,000 remains due to logging....

The Oregon Stampede

2010-09-15T17:48:00.009-05:00

On Friday night Aj and I headed East of The Dalles, OR to Deschutes State Park to camp and partake in a unique gravel/road race Saturday morning. I signed us both up back in March when I first heard about the event. Having participated in many gravel races back home in the Midwest, I was very excited to find something similar out West. Donnie Kolb, the race director, invested a considerable amount of time and effort putting the course together while trying to form a gravel niche here in Oregon. I am still trying to process the whole day and feel very lucky to have been a part of it.

It was the same game out West as it is back home, a free, local grassroots event with a wide range of participants looking to challenge themselves individually. It was very convenient for me to participate in these types of events back home because it is where gravel endurance cycling events started. The races I have participated in have been both physically and logistically challenging and vary greatly in terrain and environment. The Oregon Stampede varied more in terrain and environment that I had expected and made for a much longer day on the bike. Back in Iowa, obviously, we don’t have any six-mile climbs, or even the possibility of finding a course route that proceeds to take you uphill for the first 20 miles. So it goes….

The start was unrushed and easy going as we rolled out of the park area and hit the gravel quickly. Steep sections of gravel seemingly came out of nowhere and quickly separated the group of 50 riders. Climbing out of the Colombia River Gorge area was beautiful and made it hard to look at where my front wheel was headed. My lungs quickly began to gasp and rear wheel began to slip as I got out of the saddle. My bike gearing for this course was not ideal, quickly finding myself cranking up the hills in my lowest gear ratio. As the road grades leveled to a more manageable bike environment, Aj and I were able to settle in for the day. Everything about the day was going perfectly. Weather was awesome, views even better, and chatting with Aj about random thoughts helped pass the time quickly. After climbing for about two and a half hours we were treated with an epic panorama of various mountain peaks. Visible to us were Mt. Adams, Mt. Ranier, Mt. Hood. and Mt. Jefferson. Not a bad view to earn. An exceptional five-mile gravel decent took us back into the valley before finishing it out on pavement. Aj had some trouble keeping the water bottles in their cages and I had to retrieve one, but otherwise we kept on flying down the hill.

As we approached Dufur, the first of three towns on the route, I mistakenly miss-read the cue sheet and took us on a six-mile detour. We got back on course and made our way into town to fill up on water and grab myself some food. Aj’s dietary decisions required him to carry all of his food for the day, making his race even more true to the un-supported ethos of gravel racing. Besides some water re-filling, he hauled everything he needed for 130 miles on a bike.

From Durfur to our next checkpoint, was for me, the best part of the ride. We were on some awesome minimum maintenance roads and had a four-mile stretch of some pure gravel lunacy. Dusty gravel quickly turned into full on mountain biking, which helped take my mind off of my tiring legs. I would try to explain more of this awesome backroad but it wouldn’t give it much justice.

The rest of the ride was more of the same, including a mix of road and gravel roads. Aj and I rode with a few others, which was a pleasure and makes these events more memorable, until the long and steady six-mile climb out of the valley. One more pit stop and it was relatively downhill from there. A few short climbs and we summated the last leg of the course. We began our descent back into The Gorge just before sunset and had an awesome ride down. I was too busy looking around to take pictures and took in much more enjoyment celebrating the moment flying downhill for well over 10 minutes. We came into the campground just as darkness set in with our lights on…..right at 12 hours and 30 minutes for the day. Considerably slower than I expected to complete the course in, but I couldn’t have asked for a better day on the bike with my brother riding beside me. It was a day I will not forget.

It was a great feeling to finish and hang out with some cool people around the campsite afterwards. It would have been awesome to stay for another night but Aj had finals starting Monday and needed most of the day on Sunday to study.

Many thanks to Donnie for organizing the Oregon Stampede and providing those who participated with an awesome opportunity to experience all of the natural beauty surrounding the course. I love these events and the people who attend them. I would much rather go and support local people who put on these events for the love of cycling and being in the presence of others than those with outrageous entry fees. Go ride, give it your best, have a blast and share your experience. That is why these events are growing in popularity in the Midwest and it will certainly follow suit here out West with awesome people putting these events on and participating in them.

For some pictures much better than mine, check out Matt Haugheys photos.

Mount Defiance

2010-09-07T20:40:00.005-05:00

Aj, Casey, Zach and I headed for Mount Defiance on Labor Day for some suffering by hiking to the highest peak in the Colombia River Gorge. 12 mile round trip which included approximately 5,000 feet of climbing. I think the pictures will explain most of the hike....

View from the parking lot.

Working our way up...it was STEEP!

Mount St. Helens

Warren Lake 3/4 of the way up. Lots of huckleberry bushes, but we may have been a few weeks early.

Mt. Hood

Colombia River Gorge...we started at the very bottom!

Aj taking in the view and some food.

Back down was just as steep as the way up....legs are paying for it today.

Three waterfalls welcomed us back to the car.

Good way to refresh yourself after a strenuous hike. It was cold!!!

Another awesome Oregon adventure in the books.

For those wondering, yes, this entire state is pretty much a playground.

Kayaking

2010-09-05T23:09:00.003-05:00

Aj and I were fortunate enough to be loaned some kayaks from the Steinberg's (a family Aj met through various Luther friends) who have been very giving to Aj during his time in Portland. Mary dropped us off for a three hour kayak adventure on the Clackamas River just south of Portland on Friday afternoon.

As we were loading our kayaks into the river when Aj spotted yet another one of the thousands of blackberry bushes I have seen in a week (the bushes are also great if you are close to bonking on a bike ride because you can find blackberries almost everywhere to refuel). We loaded up our hats for a snack during the ride and departed.

I couldn't have imagined a better day to spend on the river. A rare clear sky gave some great views of Mt. Hood and the crisp, clear water felt refreshing while relaxing in the 85 degree heat. To top things off, the Steinberg's prepared an awesome supper for us when we returned before Rich proceeded to walk his way through the cribbage tournament.

Yeah, life is pretty good.

Ronde PDX

2010-09-03T00:41:00.003-05:00

Aj and I had another opportunity to get out and ride on Thursday afternoon after he was finished with class. We decided to give part of the Ronde PDX route a try before we got lost and ended up finding some pretty good climbs. The climbs here are long and grueling compared to the short and steep climbs back home. However, today we found something both short (about 1/2 mile long) and steeper than any road I have ever been on featuring a 23% grade.

The route started off by taking us up Saltzman Rd., a climb that took us approximately 25 minutes before we reached the top. Lungs and legs were feeling good until we found our first "lion." It's one thing to be sitting in granny gear and making your way up a hill, but standing, cranking and grueling through granny gear is another. It was one of those hills where your lungs feel like they are going to pop right out of your mouth and every one of your leg muscles are going to burn from the inside out. The ride up Byrnside Rd. started with a lady driving down the road from her house and stopping to ask us if we were planning on riding our bikes up the drive. She advised us that she won't even walk up the hill, let alone give thought about biking up it, and wished us well. Not exactly motivation before a big climb! So it goes...

Admittedly, Aj and I didn't make it to the top without walking the first time. I stopped and walked to the top, which was hard enough. Aj turned back around and took another run at it before meeting me at the top. I decided I couldn't let my pride suffer without conquering this beast, even if I was still gasping for air after walking up it. I rode the bike back down, put my head down and tired not to think about the terrible burning in my legs. Conquering that epic of a hill was a good feeling. We continued on with our ride, adding another 25 miles or so, and Aj put it best by saying that, "we defeated the lion, but it left some scars on its slayers."

New Pad

2010-08-30T17:06:00.009-05:00

I've been busy. Summer brought about a strenuous schedule consisting of working, riding, eating and sleeping. I apologize for those (if any) that check this blog periodically, who have came up with many page views to find no updates. My purpose is to update my blog with material I can look back on. I am blessed to be able to experience so many great things in life because of my family and I hope I keep those interested in the loop--whenever I get around to it.

Last Thursday I moved in with my brother at his place in Portland, OR. I start school on October 1st, but until then I have lots of time to play. After only having two full days off from work all summer until our family vacation, I am going to take every opportunity to explore Portland and the surrounding area. I should have some good things to share over the next few weeks.

Until then, here are some pictures of my new current residence:

2010-02-16T17:24:00.003-06:00

Michael Pollan speaks at Luther a week from today (Feb 23) at 7:30 in the CFL. If you have not read "Omnivores Dilemia" or "In Defense of Food" pick them up and give them a try.

Here is a preview of what may come next Tuesday.

Skiing

2010-02-13T12:03:00.003-06:00

Made it up to LaCrosse for some skiing with a few buddies this Thursday. LaCrosse has some awesome deals for lift tickets throughout the week. Only $10 on Mondays for college students and $13 for all on Thursday nights. Can't pass up those deals! We had roughly five inches of new snow from the beginning of the week to play with and it made for an awesome night!

. . .

2010-02-10T17:32:00.001-06:00

Mason Jennings

2010-02-08T16:30:00.003-06:00

Mason Jennings, a pop-folk artist from Minneapolis is playing here at Luther on Wednesday night as a part of Luther's Center Stage Series. I have never listened to any of his stuff until this weekend, but he is a very talented artist. Folk music (excluding Bob Dylan) is very new to me and up until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of many artists. The Monsters of Folk is an awesome album that Aj sent to me and now, what perfect timing for an up-coming folk artist to play at Luther!

I will try and get together some photos from the concert but until then, here is a song that I have found online that I enjoy.

. . .

2010-02-05T11:33:00.001-06:00

Second Semester...

2010-02-03T11:16:00.002-06:00

Of my senior year is finally here and the cliche still holds that it's pretty amazing how fast time actually passes. J-term went by in a flash and hopefully a month or so of winter is left before springtime is finally here! As far as classes being a bit easier my final semester--that is not the case. I am taking my second semester of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, which will be my two hardest classes. Then, I am taking two classes that I am really looking forward to, which is Adaptive Physical Education and Pottery. It will be a great way to cap off my "career" at Luther.

Last night we had our DHPT meeting followed by our Tuesday night group ride. Well, the group aspect failed last night but Spinner and I kept the ride alive. We grabbed a few oil cans for the ride as we left T-Bocks and decided to give the mountain bike trails a go. Rain and warm temperatures last week followed by below freezing temps have made the snowmobile trails and even single track now very rideable. We rode up the Van Peenan service road and both pines before stopping to look over the street lights of Decorah through the bare trees. A sketchy decent down Rocky Road made things interesting and only a few crashes later, we found ourselves back at T-Bocks. It was tough work riding through the snow but we were able to ride about 75% of everything....either way, it was much better than sitting inside on a Tuesday night!

By the way, if you want to listen to some really cool people give some awesome speeches, check out this website. I killed a whole night sitting in my room listening to about 10 different presenters--they have some really great stuff archived.

Try and not smile

2010-01-21T17:39:00.001-06:00

Tuesday Night Ride

2010-01-20T12:25:00.002-06:00

Hands down, the craziest group ride I have ever participated in. Left T-Bock's around 8:30 for a short gravel adventure to local jam session. Tucked in the woods with around ten people, inside a small wood-fired shed with intentions of nothing but having a great time. Aside from the good music and beers shared, bobsledding down a hill at speeds that would make Clark Griswold jealous provided many entertaining moments--not to mention the ride home.

Tuesdays have officially become my favorite night of the week.

Pranks

2010-01-13T18:56:00.002-06:00

Here are some hilarious video's to make you laugh. College Humor is a website online targeting college kids with hilarious articles and video's. Two guys that work there for the past few years have been having prank wars versus each-other and the ideas these guys come up with are epic. A friend showed me these video's and I have not laughed this hard in a while. Below are the links in order.

Proposal

Halftime

Skydiving

Enjoy.

Taking a leap...

2010-01-12T12:11:00.004-06:00

Turns out, somebody is a lot crazier than I am.

Dirty Kanza

2010-01-10T11:24:00.002-06:00

May or may not get into this race, so I signed up for the Dirty Kanza last night.

200 miles of gravel goodness in Kansas should be interesting.

Amazing Soup

2010-01-06T19:05:00.008-06:00

Only three days back at school and I am already missing the pleasures of being home. Few things make the holidays as special when spent with family, but great food always helps make it memorable as well. The smell of a certain meal can take you back to the very place you ate it and revive many memories of the people you ate it with. Certain dishes like my Mom's delicious holiday bread during December and Amy's pickle roll particularly stand out when thinking about the holidays. When thinking back on my travel experiences, along with the sights seen, my mind always comes back to the meals ate at night with the people I shared the day with are the memories that stand out the most.

This holiday was no different. Aj made some awesome meals, Mom made me two awesome breads that came out fresh at night and were gone by the lunch the next day, and Dad whipped up the best soup I have ever had.

School is fun, but home cooked meals will always be something cherished.

Pottery

2010-01-05T18:42:00.008-06:00

May as well get a few posts submitted on the blog during January term. This past fall I took a pottery course at Luther and I have found an art form that I really enjoy. I am still working on a lot of skills on the wheel and I have learned some hand building techniques that I enjoy as well. It has been a great way to relax and relieve some of the stress created during the rigors of studying.

Here are some of the pieces I completed this past fall and a link of more on my flickr account.

Enjoy.

Look on the bright side

2009-11-17T18:27:00.001-06:00

I love the fall!

2009-10-14T17:06:00.004-05:00

Fall is my favorite time of the year. Cool temperatures make the air fresh and sharp. Leaves turning all sorts of colors make it a great time of year to be outside.

I was out over the weekend trying to do my part in trail maintenance. Raked about 3/4 of the pines before my rake broke. Turned out to come in handy that I was able to get out and clean Saturday afternoon, as we used the pines for part of the monthly time trial last night. Our time trial was the first "night ride" I have had in a long time. I forget how incredible it is to ride in the woods at night. Our trails provide excellent scenery while riding along the ridge above town. Coming up the hill from complete darkness besides your headlight providing you with 20 feet of visibility to viewing Decorah lit up through the trees is pretty awesome.

I am going to visit Aj in Portland on Friday. School has been terribly busy which is a bummer because I thought my senior year should be a little more relaxed. We start fall break on Friday until Wednesday so I will be spending my time out west. Aj has some awesome things planned while I am there. I am hoping for a bike tour of Portland over the weekend and on Tuesday we are climbing Mount St. Helens. It's going to be an awesome break!

Heck of the North

2009-09-27T20:07:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was the first annual Heck of the North gravel race in Duluth, MN. 102 miles of some of the most scenic, remote, and beautiful countryside I have ever seen. Total time on the day was 8 hours exactly. 7 hours 30 minutes on the bike. Very happy to get my first gravel/endurance race and gravel century out of the way. Heading into the race I was nervous because of my lack of training, but the legs held up well. Nutrition went as smooth as it could have (Thanks, Aj) and still had more gas than expected at the end of the race. I feel as though I could have pushed harder, but with it being my first race I did not know exactly what to expect. Looking forward to the next event I can participate in and work on improving.

Here is a link to the few photos I took during the race. The race itself was approximately 75% gravel (washboard), 10% pavement and 5% "singletrack." Check make sure to check out the "singletrack" pictures. That stuff was nuts and not ridable by my standards....kudos to anybody who attempted.

Go Easy.

Pictures

2009-08-16T21:19:00.006-05:00

Spent the last week near Elkhorn, WI with family and friends at a cabin that Anne and Sandy rented. Had an incredible time and words and pictures cannot describe how awesome it was to be surrounded by family simply enjoying each others company.

Pics of the lake will follow, but for now here are some of the pictures of my attempt to bike all the way to the cabin. Made it to Dodgeville, WI the first day of riding (115 miles total) and rain detoured me from riding until later in the afternoon Friday and only rode an additional 35 miles before the rally car picked me up....oh well. Did not make my goal of riding all the way to the lake but accomplished my first century and then some while enjoying my time on the bike.

This Irritates Me

2009-07-30T22:09:00.003-05:00

Word is spreading quickly about a new petition started online by a group of Iowans for the Iowa Legislature to place a ban on the farm-to-market roads. For those unsure what a "farm-to-market" road is, it's basically any highway that connects agricultural and rural areas to towns and cities. To see the petition (do NOT comment on it as they count it as a signature), click here. Some of the comments did make me laugh out loud, some made me furious, and towards the end it left me sick to my stomach. These people are definitely on my short list and are probably sitting with their laptops on the beer guts, sporting a confederate flag on their wall.

I do see where some of their concern stems from. Many cyclists do not obey traffic laws, ride with a helmet, and bike lights/reflectors. Cyclists need to ride together with traffic as we are considered (by Iowa law) to obey by the same laws of traffic. Common bike ettiquite should be taught at an early age and obeyed by all. The same should be taught to drivers, give at least 5 feet of space when passing a biker, slow down, and pass safely.

One comment I read (which was a common complaint) is that cyclist do not pay fuel or license taxes for using the road. Do they really think that all cyclists only drive bikes to get around? Almost every biker I know owns a car and pays taxes. Very few use a bicycle as their only means of transportation.

While I don't see any reason that this ban would ever be considered, it just goes to show how ignorant people can be. We might as well sign a petition preventing people from exercising or leaving their homes for the potential of inconveniencing others. So, to show how obnoxious the petition to ban bikes has been, another has been started to ban cars from the roads. So, now that you have read my rant, I encourage anyone who rides a bike to sign the petition here.

Nordic Mess

2009-07-22T22:20:00.003-05:00

Hard to believe Nordic Fest is already here. Back in high school, this time of year essentially meant that summer was over. Fall sports begin practice shortly after and school before you knew it. It's nice that I have a little more of summer to enjoy before classes start again.

I have came to really enjoy watching my sister (Catherine) preform as a Nordic Dancer. In the past Mom had to pull some teeth at times for me to come watch, but Cat does an awesome job. It's hard to find another dancer who seems to smile and enjoy her time out in front of the Norwegian crowd as she does.

The performance times for the dances are as follows:

Thursday night at 6:30
Friday at 11 and 7
Saturday 10:30 and 7

As for my activities, you can find me at the rock throw sometime Saturday morning as well as on the river enjoying some choice beverages if the weather holds.

Pictures to follow....

Adventures on my La Cruz

2009-07-19T10:17:00.005-05:00

I have been riding my La Cruz everywhere lately. There has been a steady balance between pavement and gravel thus far. The usual route has been out towards Bluffton and beyond, but I am excited to start heading out in different directions.

The two pictures below I took on the river trail where I set up my hammock to read and take a nap before biking to work.

Below is a picture from my most recent ride through Bluffton, Burr Oak to Middle Hesper Road and back to my house. It was a chilly, fall like ride in mid-July, which is extremely rare in Iowa, but it was beautiful regardless.

New Whips

2009-07-01T20:36:00.007-05:00

Been to busy to blog and honestly, it has not been high on the priority list. Weather has been a little chilly but not enough to keep me inside. Between school, work and logging miles on the bike free time has been scarce. Last weekend we were in Madison for my cousins wedding. Aj and I took off early Saturday morning and biked to Prairie DuChien before the car caught up with us. It was a beautiful ceremony but I don't have any of the pictures to post yet. Melissa and Sean are off to Australia and New Zealand for the next month which makes me really jealous....I know they will be having an awesome time. The wedding was held on the Monona Terrace overlooking the lake and was a beautiful ceremony. The reception was a lot of fun as well. I figured out where I get my dance moves from....thanks, Dad.

Here is a montage of pictures of the new bike/pre-ride. This bike is my new favorite toy. It will be seeing lots of miles on pavement and gravel for years to come. I have logged close to 80 miles in two rides thus far on it. I am still working on getting the fit dialed in but it rolls so nicely.

I am also borrowing Ally's cousins unicycle for the time being to see if I can learn how to ride it. I feel like I am getting close but not quite there yet. I'll keep anybody interested on how it is going.

Damn Weather

2009-06-19T10:51:00.002-05:00

Rain has been hovering over Decorah for what seems like a week. There have been periods of sunshine, but as usual, it has been rainy for the better part of the week whenever a bike event is planned. The Dirt Burger starts tonight and was to be kicked off with a night ride but will now be turned into an urban ride of some sort. The weather seems promising for the weekend so hopefully it holds up.

I have recently heard about the Tour Divide mountain bike race. Holy cow! This thing is the most epic mountain bike race I can imagine! 2745 miles of riding self supported from Canada to the Mexican border. It takes most riders (if they finish) three weeks to complete. I have been following the leader board erratically this week and what these guys are doing is incredible. Definitely something way out there for me to think about doing when I go insane....

Gearing up.....literally.

2009-06-16T18:28:00.003-05:00

Travis has placed the order on all of my parts for the La Cruz build up. I'm stoked for this bike. It will be the first one that can actually be "my own" because I have laid out the spec to the way I want it. It should be done in perfect time for the "Dirt Burger" this weekend. If you are around and want to bike, be sure to show up. The flyer is below and more information can be found at Bike Decorah.

Life Back Home

2009-06-10T21:49:00.003-05:00

After coming back to reality in Decorah after a week in Colorado it has been a busy few days. I am taking Physics as a summer class at NICC for the month of June from 7:30-12:30 and then working between the bike shop, Pepsi and for Karl when finished each day. I am in the process of building up my new toy for the summer, a Salsa La Cruz! I have been putting quite a bit of thought into how I am going to build it up (opposed to the stock version they have displayed). It is going to be a pretty versatile bike for me allowing for miles and miles on gravel and I will so be able to throw some "slicks" on it for some road excursions. The plan is to ride it to class and back if time allows in order to get back for work in the afternoon to get my base built for longer rides.

Tuesday night was the local time trials. It was a nice, short race that I needed to have for some motivation to get back on the local trails. Even though I biked in Colorado it seems like it has been forever since I have rode in Decorah. Colorado was a blast, but nothing seems to compare to the stuff we have in Decorah. I am pretty lucky that I can roll my bike out of the garage and be on the trails in less than a mile. Not to mention we have some of the best stuff around!

Derek and I went for a ride tonight. The trails are in great shape and have been getting maintained well. Everything about the ride went well except for some obnoxious driver who got under my skin. There has been a lot of vandalism on the road signs that state to "Share The Road" on the way to Bluffton which has stirred some hostility. Apparently, people think it asks too much of them to give 5 seconds of their day to slow down, give a few feet for the biker, pass and carry on with their day. Instead, as Derek and I are biking to the trail head on Ice Cave Road, some punk in a '96 Saturn had the desire to rev up his engine to pass us, just missing while passing and yelling that "biker's (explicit) suck!" We're sorry that our presence is enough to ruin your day and your ignorant driving is more important than our lives. Some people need to get a clue and it's a shame that a few can potentially give Decorah a bad rap for cyclists. In all my years I have never had a problem riding through town without nearly every driving being a courteous, aware driver. What these people have against bikers, I have no idea.

Well, enough of my ranting. Hope everybody is having a great summer.

Do what you like. Like what you do!

Boulder, CO

2009-06-07T12:48:00.018-05:00

Ally and I just got back from spending incredible week Boulder, Colorado with Ally's cousin, Andrew. Andrew is going to be a sophomore at Luther next year and is living in Boulder for the summer while working and training for cross country. He was kind enough to let us crash on his floor for the week while we explored what Boulder and the surrounding area had to offer.

We spent the majority of our time hiking and biking the trails around Boulder and walking downtown around Pearl Street. There are endless miles of trails for outdoor use in Colorado for people of all levels of fitness.

Here are some pictures that highlight some of our outdoor adventures:

Our first hike just north of Boulder

We spent an afternoon painting pottery.....my artistic skills need work, I figured out.

I went on a 12 mile ride by myself at White Ranch near Golden, CO. Nearly 2,000 feet of straight climbing is not fun on a single speed.

A picture during my descent.

Ally, Andrew and I played disc golf in Boulder with some awesome views of the flatirons in the background.

Another picture during frolf (frisbee-golf)

The start of our Twin Sisters hike.

A picture of us on the way up. Pictures do not do any justice for the view we witnessed.

Estes Park at the bottom of the picture.

We made it!

Not a bad place to eat lunch!

Ally and I with the Twin Sisters in the background.

To top off the whole week we were (somehow) able to scalp tickets to O.A.R. playing at Red Rocks Amphitheater. This is the most incredible place to see a concert. It is a "natural" outdoor amphitheater built between two huge rock slabs. OAR is my favorite band and played a wicked concert that I will never forget, along with our struggles to get tickets. It was an awesome way to end the week. I do not have any good pictures from the venue because of the poor lighting but you can google some pictures and see what it was about. The show was sold out and played with clear skies, allowing everybody to see Denver and the surrounding area lit up at night.

Finals!!

2009-05-14T21:09:00.005-05:00

Well, I have successfully made it through the last week of classes for my junior year. Finals begin on Saturday and end on Wednesday. I have a good schedule, one final each day. Chemistry is the final I am most worried about mostly because the final is comprehensive throughout the whole year, not just one semester. Not to mention the fact that motivation always seems to fade when you look outside and the weather is awesome. This weekend I will really have to buckle down....

It always seems cliche but this semester (year) has really flown by. Hard to believe that in one more year and I will have graduated (that's scary!)

I am spending tonight packing some of my belongings at my apartment to take home this weekend. It is amazing how much stuff one can have in such a small place. One of my goals this summer is to really start downsizing which is easier said than done. If anybody has any tips (or wants anything) let me know.

On the bright side, you know what always helps pass the time while packing......a cold Peroni!

I saw them advertised at JD's the other day and had to stop in to bring back some memories from Roma. Below is a picture of Sandy and I resting after our first day of visiting the Coliseum and Palatine Hill.

Mothers Rock!

2009-05-10T09:36:00.001-05:00

Happy mothers day to all Mom's. I cannot say enough about how awesome of a Mom that I have. I hope everybody has a great day!

Happy Mothers Day Mom!

Time Trials

2009-04-28T09:33:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, the Decorah Park and Recreation held their annual time trials. The flier stated that trails would be held rain or shine.....and they were despite 48 hours of rain prior to the race.

Saturday night was filled with thunderstorms and a heavy downpour on Sunday morning. I had to work at 6:30 before the race and on my drive to Waukon it was coming down hard. I began wondering if the race would still be on and how it would be handled. The race directors decided to cut out the Palisades section of the course and keep it limited to the Van Peenan and Dunning's trails. The course was just over 7 miles and over 2400 feet of climbing if I remembered correctly.

I was the 52nd rider on the course and to say that the trails were "greasy" would be a tremendous understatement. Like many others, I took a pretty cautious approach to the race. Picking up a lot of speed could prove to be very painful with your tires covered in mud. The race was fun, I crossed the finish line in 1 hr and 12 minutes while covered from head to toe in mud. It was a stressful experience because of many bike and riding problems, but nothing to complain about. It was my first time riding in such conditions and my second competitive race, so I will accept my results. I finished around 45th(?) overall, good enough for second in my age division (19-23) and a plaque. It was an accomplishment for anybody to compete in this race because the conditions were miserable. Three other Luther students that I know of competed and congrats to Ben for putting up an impressive time of around 47 minutes. A huge thanks goes out to all of the volunteers for running the race and getting everything in order beforehand.

After the race an awards ceremony/party was held at T-Bocks. I was only able to stay for about 45 minutes of the presentation, and with my luck, my name was drawn for the door prize about 5 minutes after I left.

The reason I had to leave early was because it was my final weekend of coaching the Coyote Freestyle Club in Caledonia, MN. I have been coaching a group of kids for the past seven Sunday's from 4-6. It has been a great experience and I am glad I had the opportunity to give back to the wrestling community. Coach Friedhof better make sure the Decorah boys are prepared when they dual them next year :)

GET OUTSIDE!

2009-04-24T13:52:00.003-05:00

What an awesome day!

83 degrees, sunny, clear skies....what a great day to be able to get outside and enjoy life!

I had a great ride yesterday. Rode the unofficial time trials course that has been laid out. Finished in just over 1 hour and 7 minutes at a pace less than race speed. Trails are pretty dry and rain is expected this weekend but hopefully it holds off enough for the time trails to be raced. My goal is to get my time below one hour in optimal conditions and have a fun ride. Race report will be given as soon as I can.

After my ride I went right to Perry's for an adjustment. He was willing enough to let me come in besides the fact I was a little sweaty. Going into the office is an awesome part of my week for many reasons. I always seem to come out of there with a different attitude on life, whether it is from something he said or how my body reacts after an adjustment.

His office is set up in an open environment where you are able to pick up on the advise that he gives to his patients. Yesterday he asked someone advise that I thought was very practical, "How awesome would you feel if you worked with your body instead of against it?" How many times do you make things more difficult than they should be? Are you getting the proper amounts of rest? Eating the right foods? Allowing enough time for yourself? Getting stressed out about things that are not that important? Are you getting enough exercise? Are you getting adjusted?

Things pile up quick. Take care of yourself.

Have a great day! Get outside!

New Seat!!

2009-04-21T20:49:00.005-05:00

Check out my new saddle I will be putting on my fixie tonight!

I think this comic explains my current problem/rationalization with bike purchases.

Lovely Weather

2009-04-21T20:33:00.007-05:00

.....means lots of time spent outside.

On Friday, a group of friends from school and I went up to Van Peenan to hang out and build a campfire.

Before we started our nightly activities, Derek, Aaron and I had a good ride before we parking ourselves beside the fire. There are days when we have really laid back rides and just screw around trying to accomplish some new technical stuff on the trails. Derek, after many hilarious attempts, finally made his way completely across the log ride on Little Big Horn. Check out the video below...

Here are a few pictures of us hanging out. We had some intense games of ladder golf followed by a few diet pepsi's while hanging out and debating about stuff that nobody could agree on. It was a good night.

Local Time Trials

2009-04-15T11:28:00.004-05:00

Last night a local time trial was held atop Van Peenan Park. Last fall I participated in a few of the races and this was the first race of the spring. The great thing about these races is that it is more of an event to get outside, be on a bike, drink some beer and talk with others whose company you enjoy. It is pretty laid back and although time is kept, I view it as more of a personal gauge for improvement than as a competition (although, I certainly don't want to lose).

The course for last night was short: start at the fire pit, through West Pines, down Fred's, up Rocky Road then ride the top half of Little Big Horn back to the finish. My course was a tad longer because I assumed there was a longer loop than mentioned at the bottom of Fred's and avoided the local rule of finding any loophole you can to ride a shorter route. Nonetheless, I finished in 14 min 50 seconds which was good enough for fourth. The winning time was 12 min 30 seconds which I thought was insanely fast.

After the race was over most everybody stuck around the campfire to talk. Heard some great rock climbing stories from Deke. O'gara talked about his first Canoe Derby experience and I was able to catch up with Freidhof for a while. (On a side note people should start haggling him about getting a blog going for Decorah Wrestling....) Around 10 we put out the campfire and I followed those with lights out of the park. It was a neat experience riding in the dark, not knowing the ground you are riding on, just following a red taillight ahead of me.

I apologize for not having any pictures to share. Bringing along a camera always seems to be the last thing on my mind when going out to ride. Check out the Bike Decorah Blog for some pictures and a short recap.

Next time...

Easter Ride

2009-04-12T20:45:00.006-05:00

After a day of slipping in and out of consciousness while watching the Master's, I took off on a ride with Derek once Tiger and Phil reached the clubhouse. I decided it was too nice of a day to stay inside and I needed to work off our Easter brunch meal from the morning. I am throwing in some older pictures on this post because I have no current ones to upload....fast forward 15 years and not much has changed from my actions today.

The trails have been awesome this spring, thanks to a lot of work from a lot of people, and some good weather. Derek and I rode all of Palisades, up Rollercoaster and Rocky Road to Little Big Horn, Dust Bowl, Back 40, Gunnar and Julia. We then weaved through both pines before going down Fred's and climbing up New Randy's. We rode around up top of Dunning's for a while before riding Mother's Day and Lower Mothers Day and back home.

This past week has been the most I have ridden in a week, ever. I want to be able to compete this summer in some time trials and the long term goal is to complete a 24 hour race with a team, preferably, but if I have to, by myself. There are two races I am currently looking at: one is Salsa's 24 hour race in Bloomington and the other is 24 hours of 9 mile in Wausau. The race in Wausau conflicts with Nordic Fest and the race in Bloomingtom may conflict with school but I will be able to work my way around that. Both events are a long ways away and right now I am just concerned about getting into better shape.

I have not been able to get out and take any pictures on the bike yet so I will bring back some old memories from when I was little.

Mom and Dad definitely had me riding my bike early. I have so many memories from our trips to Lanesboro as a family and they are times I will never forget.

Hope everybody had a great Easter!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T12:39:00.002-05:00

Hope everybody's day is filled with sunshine, family, friends and happiness.

Easter break has been great for me. Friday I was able to get out and work on some trails with Jeff, Jim, Derek and Captain. Derek and I nipped a new connector for Mothers Day and Lower Mother Day. I know a large group of guys got out to work on the trails again on Saturday afternoon so hopefully the lower trail will be ready to ride soon. All the trails are in great shape and are getting pretty dry now. I am just happy to be outside!

After working on the trails Brandon, Derek, Mitch and I played disc golf. I had never played before but Luther has a great course that was set up last year. First nine holes were rough, but I began to figure out how to play the second nine and shot only two over. I plan on purchasing a disc golf set in the near future for this spring/summer.

After disc golf I went back to the room to catch a quick glance at the Masters before heading back to the trails. Derek and I got a nice ride in the Captain and Kirk Johnson, who we met at the start of our ride. We rode trails we built in the morning and we now have a great way to get atop Dunnings without having to walk up that steep washout on Ice Cave. It was really fun to be able to ride on a trail that you just built. I have never done any trail building, just maintenance, and it was a rewarding experience.

Saturday, Dad and I got out for a ride in the afternoon after cleaning the garage out in the morning. It was good to get back on the trails with him and I am looking forward to whipping him into shape again this summer. Many rides to Bluffton along the gravels of Iowa will be in store.

For today I plan on sitting back and watching the Masters before I get out and ride again.

Get outside and enjoy this great day!

Catching Up-Aspen

2009-04-08T14:08:00.008-05:00

Sorry for the delayed post. Blogging as taken a back seat to school, work and other activities.

Starting with Aspen:

I have created a Flickr account and created an album to share all of our pictures that can be viewed here.

My trip to Aspen was arranged through the Backyard Wilderness Pursuits group here at Luther along with 15 students. It was an incredible opportunity and decided I had to go….and for the price, it was a no brainier. We took off early Saturday morning on March 21, the beginning of Luther’s spring break. I completed my share of driving from Decorah to Des Moines right way so I had the rest of the drive to relax, read and sleep. We got to our hotel about 11 p.m. mountain time that night and went right to bed...apparently the excitement from driving through Nebraska was not enough to keep us up.

The next morning we woke up early to get to the hill before most of the crowd. Our passes allowed us to ski on four mountains; Snowmass, Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk. As a group we decided that the first two days we would ski at Snowmass and the last day we would ski at Aspen Highlands. Snowmass is the largest mountain and had the most variety for different skill levels which made for some great skiing. I had never skied outside of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa and I was really pumped to see what it was like in Colorado. To say the least, I was not let down.....

Our first day was relatively warm, up around 50-60 degrees at the base but very windy at the top. Being able to stay on runs for over 30 minutes took some getting used to but throughout the trip my legs held up extremely well. I started out with some of the easier runs and worked my way up to blues right away once I got my legs under me. One of my favorite runs that we did was called “Longshot.” We took the lift to the top of the mountain and then had to hike up even further to start the trail. My roommate, Aaron, who was on the trip as well has a Blackberry and we decided to e-mail our parents the sign posted before the trail that read, “Back country skiing: Risks include death.” Needless to say, I received a text from my Mom moments after she received the picture.

It was an awesome run where we were all by ourselves surrounded by nothing but snow and trees. Longhorn is the longest run on the mountain at 5.3 miles from top to bottom with no way out but the trail itself.

After a long day of skiing we went to Glenwood Springs for dinner at a microbrewery and came back to the hotel to relax in the much needed hot tub.

Monday was much of the same, skiing at Snowmass again. Only Monday had something even

better for us at the mountain, 5 inches of fresh powder. I had never skied in fresh powder and as my Dad said, “You will never want to ski in the Midwest again.” He was right. It was awesome! We did one run first before heading right back to Longshot. Only 2 or 3 people had been on the run before us and we were able to carve our own trail the whole way down. It was a little more work with more powder and it took a toll on the legs but it was worth it. The rest of the day was much of the same, trying to figure out the runs we had not been on yet and attempting some runs that were above my skill level. It was a great day and to my surprise the hill was pretty empty. We went over an hour of skiing without seeing more than 2-3 people on the same run as us.

That night a few of us decided to eat in downtown Aspen and get the full experience. We ate at a really nice Italian restaurant to fuel up for our final day of skiing.

For our last day of skiing we went to Aspen Highlands to ski. It is known to be the locals favorite as well as the most difficult of the four mountains. On Monday, we didn’t think we could top skiing in 5 inches of fresh powder but apparently, skiing in 14 inches is much better. We were getting way to spoiled. Highlands had some really awesome runs that were a lot of fun. We decided to attempt a long double black diamond with moguls and I paid the price. I made my way through the first ½-3/4 of the hill without much problem but the last part of the hill became extremely steep with some lager moguls. I took a pretty good crash and lost my skis.

My problem was not so much maneuvering through the moguls, but just getting my skis back on was the biggest problem. Once I thought I had my ski in and took off, only to be surprised when I took a turn that my ski was not completed locked in. It was frustrating but I finally made it down and decided not to attempt that demanding of a run again.

My experience in Aspen was awesome. The views were spectacular along with the skiing. Ally and I are heading to Boulder this summer to stay with her cousin and I cannot wait to go back.

Spring!!!

2009-03-17T17:28:00.003-05:00

I always complain about winter and the cold the final few weeks/month of winter. It gets old, I enjoy being outside enjoying the day. Winter begins to wear on me and I feel like I am less productive. Thinking this way obviously gets me nowhere and I have begun to let those negative thoughts go. Now that spring is here (I hope), it is a lot easier to do this and I have finally been able to wear some shorts and work out comfortably.

I took a longer route to work today on my Pugoet and took the Trout Run Trail back home. Being on a bike gives me a lot of time to think about things and I realized today that if it were not for winter, would I appreciate this beautiful weather we have had the last few days. They always say, "you don't know what you have until it's gone." If I lived in a place where it is sunny and hot everyday would I get sick of that in the same way that I get sick of winter?

Enough of my ranting.

Get outside and enjoy the day, wherever you are.

Which wolf are you feeding?

2009-03-12T23:07:00.001-05:00

A older story with a great message....thought I would share.

One evening an Old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said “My son, the battle is between ‘two wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, self-doubt, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. "

"The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, patience, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, gratitude, compassion, and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Creating Change

2009-02-22T22:39:00.003-06:00

Imagine what your life would be like if you always did what you wanted to do?

What I have concluded is that too many times people base their decisions on two types of reasoning; they make decisions based on what they think other people perceive them as and they do it for the benefit of somebody else. So theoretically, few times do people ever act in their own interest.

Social conditioning proves to be a very strong influence over people and their decisions. Why people act the way they do and why we have acted in such ways for such a long time has become interesting to me. Like any problem, you figure out whats wrong with it and do your best to fix it. So how to you fix the problem if the problem is you?

In my opinion, authenticity is an admirable trait. Somebody's truthfulness to themselves has allowed them to live every moment as the full expression of themselves. Imagine how much happier you’d be if you stopped doing things that other people thought were cool, and started living every moment as the full expression of who you are.

It is uncomfortable and I'm not saying I'm original because I have been shaped by culture in so many ways. I am for from original, but I do feel some sense of freedom acknowledging that I am not. It can be a step from freeing myself from something that "I" am not. In the past there have been many things that I congenitally didn't feel was myself but did them anyway. Dressed a certain way, acted a certain way, ate a certain way, ect in an attempt to fit in and these things have shaped me into what people perceive me as today. It is now to the point of, "who gives a shit."

These actions (or lack of) were governed in large part from social conditioning. Not caring what other people think may be the biggest factor to making your own decisions. Accept that it is a problem in your life and that you act the way people perceive you to act, dress, speak, ect. Once you realize how you are perceived, it is easier to see what you are not. These presumptions of what others think of you is what is holding you back from your greatest potential. Placing a label on yourself and others only limits who you actually are. Labels are preventing you from doing the things you really want to do because you're to busy worrying about what other people will perceive you as and will look down on you because of your efforts.

It is a hard truth to accept but the only person you need acceptance from is yourself. You are the one who validates your thoughts and who has to live with those thoughts. You chose to read my blog because you want to (hopefully) not because you want to feel acceptance from me. Hopefully it can add some value to your day. For whatever reason, you should do it because it pleases you. If not, stop reading. You’re here for a reason because you choose to have a reason to be here.

I am still trying to figure out who "I" am, what I believe in and why I believe it. It is hard to justify whether or not I am just listening to another source or actually thinking for myself. One argument can be that instead of listening to a medical doctor's opinion I am listening to a Chiropractors opinion. Either way they are not thoughts of my own. In some ways this argument is true, we are all fooled by propaganda. One difference is that some expose themselves to multiple sides of the story while others are limited to one side. More exposure leads to more thoughts and more opportunities to create your own opinion. I have seen and experienced both sides and chosen what is best for me.

Above knowledge is feeling. Its not about what you say (you can hide the truth from people) but how you feel. You cannot hide this from yourself. Listen to your emotions. Does positive reinforcement from yourself feel good or are you constantly waiting for the approval of others? Are you approval dependent? Do you wish you had somebody else's life? What feelings do you get when you say what you feel?

The most adrenaline-pumping risk you can take in life is to be yourself. Caring what other people think will ensure you live a small life. The biggest risk we can take is to not risk being who we really are. You owe it to yourself to be authentic.

Winter Biking

2009-02-06T10:38:00.003-06:00

Last night I had an incredible night ride with Jeff, Spinner, and Shockey. We left from the bike shop and ventured towards old highway 52. Our plan, to ride the snow packed snow mobile trails on a beautiful winter evening. Temperatures were around 25 when we left and not a cloud in the sky.

Trying to live up to my new attitude of having no expectations, I came into the ride expecting just that. To be on a bicycle.

Everything else surprised the hell out of me. Riding the snow mobile trails had a lot to offer. We had some killer climbs, some of which required walking. Some extremely fun (sometimes shaky) long downhills alongside spectacular views of the city on a crisp night.

It was definitely one of my more favorite rides in Decorah. I had some trouble staying on the trail at times and was getting sucked in by some loose snow. I left the rest of the group once we reached Whitetail road in order to get back home and finish up some school work and get my freezing toes warm. It sounds like they had quite and experience afterwards but I have not heard from them directly yet. Check out Shockey's blog to hear an another account of his ride here.

Get out and do something new today.

Making A Great Day

2009-02-04T15:26:00.007-06:00

One of my favorite sayings that Aj has coined brilliantly on his blog. I am still searching for something that sticks and people can think of during the day, but I do not feel as if I have found one.

I use create, inspire and be inspired because I think that it is something that is essential in life. I enjoy helping others reach their goals because I receive some personal satisfaction from it knowing I have made a difference (at least I tell myself I have). It is equally important that I have people who inspire me. There are many people I turn to for advise, motivation or things as simple as a smile. I am grateful for having such a great "panel" for support and advice starting with my immediate family.

Above all, this group of people are the ones who I trust will appreciate my views, opinions and life decisions. They are there to question my beliefs and help me develop a better understanding for life. There is a quote that goes "Say what you think and act how you feel because those who matter don't care and those who care don't matter." I find this true right now (it may change) because everybody has their own view on subjects.

Linked to these beliefs we build in our own suffering that prevents us from making our own great day.Aj talked about in his blog how it is in us to create the world we live in and how we wish to see the world is how we see it. I am finding this to be more and more true.

Stress does not come from the environment, it comes from the mind of the individual under stress. We make assumptions about the world we live in, the way people should act, what we think should happen and how it should happen. These expectations only lead to disappointment because they rarely work out that way. Every time before a wrestling match I would run through how I expected it to go. Start out with high intensity, get the first takedown, finish strong, ect. Everything I had previously envisioned before my match rarely ever happened as I had planed. If I had gotten upset about things not going as planned, it would have snowballed and led to an incredibly disappointing career. It is like a poker player who throws all in hoping to get a good card.

We try to hard to get the world to match our thinking and complain about how difficult things are.

"This movie wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be"
"That was so much harder that I expected"
"Who knew it would take that long"

I am working towards letting go of presumptions I have before I get into things. Be it having a more open opinion towards people opinions or events that occur in my life. If we don't free ourselves from these assumptions they can devour us and create a stressful world that many live in.

In the book I just finished titled Radical Honesty, Brad Blanton explains that people cling to these assumptions because we think the decisions we have made in the past are the truths that should occur in the future. To quote him, "Yesterdays truth is today's bullshit." Evidence from the past does not prove anything about current experience. For example, I told my Mother I loved her yesterday so it should be assumed from now on that I love her and have no need to state my feelings again. Most would agree that that theory of logic is absurd so why do we follow this patter in other ways of life?

Life goes on.

Truth changes.

The way we are living today will not be the same as tomorrow.

So how will my life change if I bike home with neutral emotions and don't expect to be welcomed with a hug and a smile? I think it will be that much more of a memorable experience. An experience that is not lined with the fantasy I create in my mind only to be let down if I receive another welcome besides a hug.

The same is true with our environment. Our past "truths" are bullshit. Create the world you want to live in.

Help yourself. Its free. Pass it on.

Why I Love The Internet

2009-01-27T14:02:00.002-06:00

I spend a lot of time on my computer and some would say that it is not necessary. For me, it is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, get information and learn about new things that interest me. It is much better than having to deal with television, advertisements and corporate media. I can cut through the pages I want to see and moderate to an extent that I am reading.

After we met with Jeremiah at Forrester Research, he wrote a blog about my generation being the "Obama Generation" and how his Presidency along with social media will affect my (our) lives. At the end he asked the question about what are some other characteristics of the Internet that may link us to our government.

To me, the Internet is one big "web" of communication. It can be used to strengthen our relationships with others in an open-access community (such as I am doing with my blog) by forms of direct communication with our friends and family. Free applications such as Blogger have enabled me to do this and have given me the opportunity for a much larger voice than before the Internet. The idea of Blogging particularly interests me because it gives people the opportunity to get their voice out over media censoring (not that any of my content would be censored....yet). More than ever in Silicon Valley did I hear of stories that had yet to be published online because of people who were at the event were able to submit a post on twitter to their followers and the word was out. I wonder what will happen as the concentration of independent media increases and democratizes media control over the content we are presented?

Looking at this from a non-cynical point of view, I feel that the Internet can help lead our country to the core source of democracy, where the people lead and the leaders follow. Internet has opened up a new door for more people to be heard. Stories can be told in many way from uploading your video on YouTube, podcasting, blogging, journalism, and other forms of independent media that is sprouting up. These forms of media (as long as they stay open access and less regulated) allow citizens to break the barriers of censorship and expose their own opinions free of political bias. This can only lead to more forms of debate with our President online at places such as WhiteHouse.gov. The biggest problem is getting people to voice their opinions and making sure their voices be heard online. As more voices are gained, it can lead to more serious and thought provoking debates along with more viewer attention.

In all, the possibilities for where the Internet can take democracy is endless. The ideas we heard about on our trip were things that I never had imagined possible. Who knows what will be invented next and how it will change our lives? When I graduated high school I never expected to see my President on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube but this is the way it is unfolding. How we interact with Him and our community members is in our control.

Create, Inspire and be Inspired.

Final Valley Visits

2009-01-25T22:27:00.003-06:00

Thursday was our final day in the Valley. Our day included visits to Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Facebook and a happy hour with Robert Scoble.

PARC

At PARC we meet with Ed Chi who is an area manager and research scientist who helps people in understanding how the Internet and social computing systems help groups of people to remember, think and reason. We had a great talk about how systems are developed and the innovations that have occurred at PARC. Ed helped us realize that many inventions are great, but do not serve all people. For instance, most would assume that the iPhone is a great product and would sell all over the world....right? Well in Japan, they would sell close to none because for their culture everything must be accessed with one hand because the other is generally occupied by grabbing onto something (rails on subways for instance). Something as small as that can lead to the success or failure of a product and at PARC they look for ways to eliminate these blunders.

Another interesting part of our talk was about how with the Internet, a small number of people can make a huge difference. When Wikipedia first started, it was 10 people who had raised 1 million dollars to start their website. Their user content generated site has grown to become the fourth most trafficked website in the world. As a college student I can say that my life would be much more difficult without their website. The amount of information on their site is incomprehensible and their site has grown because people can contribute to it whenever they want. How can so few people make such an impact on the world? What is something that you could do to affect so many people? They started with something small, an idea and believed in it. More than their idea though, they believed in the people to make it great and that is was gets me.

Facebook

For those who don't know what Facebook is, it is a social networking site with over 150 million users online and are currently getting 450,000 new users each day! It was started in 2001 at Harvard University, initially for Harvard students only, by college dropout Mark Zucherberg. Our conversation took place in the conference room that was filled with couches (wish our classrooms were like this). We talked about entrepreneurship, innovation and why we use Facebook.

It was cool to see the work environment at Facebook because it was different from anything we had seen on our trip. There are no cubicles at their offices, just open desks places next to each other and people wandering around the office on skateboards. People show up to work in jeans and t-shirts and nerds are normal in their offices. It was somewhat of an eyeopener even after being at Google.

Robert Scoble

Scoble is a tech geek, blogger and tech evangelist. He gets to go around to all of the tech companies in the valley, see their products months before they are introduced, and writes powerful reviews online. He talked with us about creating an image online along with why he believes certain products are more successful than others. He was an interesting guy to talk with for the short time we had with him.

Thanks to all those who have been following my trip to the valley! I plan on continuing my blog with writeups about all of my interests from technology, health, biking and anything else that crosses my mind. I have some great ideas for my blog from this trip so be aware that there may be some changes happening on my blog. Stay tuned!

Final Meetings in Silicon Valley

2009-01-24T14:14:00.002-06:00

Wednesday consisted of a lunch meeting with two young entrepreneurs in Redwood City and a meeting with Jeremiah at Forrester research.

Ani Vallabhaneni is a current entrepreneur who is working with a current Luther grad on a project where the goal of their business is to establish a system where moderate loans between friends can be used without the high interest rates of banks. Him and his partner both worked at Epic Systems when they came up with their idea and moved to California without any connections. They provided us with some great insight on building a networking base here and the benefits of having a startup in the Valley.

After lunch we headed to Forrester Research which is a company that focuses in technology and market research and uses their informaiton to provide advice to many national companies. We met with Jeremiah Owyang, who's focus is on social media, has an interesting blog that you can check out here. He gives a breif overview about what we talked about in his post, "The Obama Generation." Our talk with Jeremiah was one of the more valuable Q&A's we had because many of the things we talked about was software the I use everyday such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blogspot. We talked about creating our image online and ways to secure our identity. One valuable piece of information he gave us was that anything we say or publish online should be written in a form that you could present to you Mom, future wife, and future boss. The internet does have a memory and anything linked to you can be found in the future.

Hummer-Winblad and Rev3

2009-01-22T19:35:00.002-06:00

Tuesday was an exciting day. Not only we were able to watch President Obama's inauguration but we were also able to visit two very different, but exciting companies.

Our first stop was at a venture capitalist firm, one of the best in San Francisco, Hummer-Winblad. This VC firm specializes in investing in software and technology firms. We had a direct tie to them because our professor, Brad Miller, was one of the starters of NetPerceptions which Hummer-Winblad invested in the late 90's.

We learned a lot about pitching to VC firms, what they are looking for and how to present yourself and your product to them. So as some advise I will pass down the six factors that Ann presented to us can be found below:

1) Start with a 60 second briefing about yourself and your product
2) Your mission
3) What market are you trying to conquer
4) Quantify your opportunity
5) Your businesses timetable
6) Foldout Plan

The VC world is a crazy world and many people say that to be a VC you only have to be right 5% of the time. These firms invest millions of dollars in start-ups in hopes of a high return. They are in essence risk reduction engineers trying to find unclaimed market opportunities. Coming into this trip I had little information about what VC's did besides loan money for start-ups but I now have a much better idea about the thought process behind their decisions.

After scarfing a great portabello sandwich for lunch, we headed to Revison3 studio's just outside downtown San Francisco. Revision3 is a Internet television broadcast studio producing their own shows that can be see online at any time. It was started by Kevin Rose who is huge out here in the valley for his first Internet site Digg.

We had a tour of their studios and talked with Ron who gave us some insight into how they use Internet to leverage their product and collaborate to form their shows. I have never really used digg or Rev3 very much but both are sites worth checking out. Digg is a sight where if there is a popular video, article, blog, ect that is somebody likes they can click the "digg" icon and the ones with the most "diggs" get pushed to the top for everybody to check out.

We had another special guest, Dave Mathews, who is a friend of Steph's and known in the valley as the gadget guy. He was a great guy to talk with an was full of energy about his products. He is the inventor of many cool products including SlingBox (Anne I think Nil's has this for his "cable") and his current project that is still in beta form is Boxee. Boxee is an awesome idea that eliminates the cable companies power to control the television we watch and when we watch it. In essence, it is all shows stored online free for you to watch at your own convenience with only 15 second commercials between cuts. I can explain it more to anybody who is interested and it is something that I find totally awesome.

Until next time,

Creat, inspire and be inspired.

Yes We Did

2009-01-20T22:46:00.002-06:00

Today was a day that I will forever remember where I was when Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America. This was an incredible moment in history and as a young American I am proud of our country today and pray the movement continues.

Monday in the Valley

2009-01-20T18:56:00.003-06:00

On Monday we only had one meeting that took place at 5 PM so we figured we would use the day to relax some and do some hiking. Brad, Jake, Daniel and I went back to the area where Brad and I had biked on Sunday and decided to hike in the National Park.

It was a beautiful day with clear skies and we could see for miles. An ocean view accompanied us to our right and a view of the San Francisco Valley to our left. It was even more beautiful than on Sunday because there was less fog coming in from the bay.

When we got back I went down to the pool and read some of my current book along with getting a little sun. Apparently, 70 degrees and sunny is terrible weather here in San Francisco because we received many weird looks while laying out trying to get some sun in our swimsuits. Must be the thick blood from the Midwest.

Afterward, we were able to pick current CEO of Krugle's brilliant mind for about two hours. Steve Larsen is a proven CEO for multiple companies with a particular skill for leading venture-backed technology companies. Having hired over 500 people himself, he gave us some great tips for preparing for interviews and questions to ask when being interviewed. His communication skills impressed me a lot and told many stories about how he was able to get people on his side in the business world.

We talked about many of the core differences between business in the Midwest compared to that on either coast. I thought in many ways he was right on in his comparisons. Out here is it not unusual for people to work for companies for a few years, leave and find another job and follow this trend their whole life. It creates different goals and makes you be more known and versitile. In the Midwest many people stick with the same job for most of their life even if they don't like it. I found this interesting and he had a good analogy to job decisions in that making them is like a distributary on a river. You have many options to choose from but once you choose one, it makes it more difficult to go back and choose another. Some other differences we also talked about related to family life, friends and values.

The best piece of advice I took from his talk with us was when I asked him who he looks to for advice. He excalimed that no matter how much of an expert you think you are at something, you are not. Why does Tiger Woods have a golf coach? Why do professional football players have trainers? Everybody has something else they can always improve on and everybody has their own special talents they can share with others. Above anything else, you can always read to attain new knowledge. That is one of the biggest things you can do to stay ahead in this world by never ceasing to harness new knowledge because so many times it is just that extra %5 that makes the most crucial difference in this world.

It was a great start out to our last week here in the Valley and we will continue it tomorrow with a trip to Hummer-Winblad which is the top venture capitalist firms here and a trip to Revision 3.

What extra %5 can you give today?

Create, inspire and be inspired.

Sunday Funday!

2009-01-19T00:00:00.004-06:00

Sunday, Brad and I went to the local bike shop to rent bikes and go for a road ride. It is always fun to get out of the city when traveling and see the beautiful scenery that is not made up of cement. It was awesome to see hundreds of people outside enjoying the weather and biking. Bike lanes are plentiful and all drivers expect one were great with sharing the road.

We completed an epic ride that I have mapped out here.

While some ventured into the city here is what Brad and I accomplished/saw.

Rented a hot pink Trek Pilot 5.2 women's bike for my ride because the bike shop had no other men's bikes.

Saw 27 miles of beautiful scenery under the power of our own legs.

Saw some California Redwood trees.

Completed a climb reaching 2,500 feet.

Passed people in a hot pink bike.

Rode with an ocean view to our right and the valley of San Francisco to our left.

Biked in 70+ weather.

The views that we saw today is what make life great and biking up that extremely long and steep road so rewarding. I am blessed to have been presented such great opportunities in life.

Make the best of your day.

Pier 39

2009-01-18T23:41:00.004-06:00

On Saturday we were able to take some time for the usual tourist activities. We started our day at Pier 39 and immediately Jake, Brad and I found a bike rental to see the area. Two of my favorite things combined in one is a no brainier: bikes and sightseeing.

We were given directions to the Golden Gate Bridge and took off accordingly. It was about a 4.5 mile ride to the bridge and an additional 1.5 miles to get across it. Biking was definitely the way to see the area because we were able to cover a lot of ground and make it back in time to grab some grub before our Alcatraz tour. I was not planning on eating until I spotted a store selling crepes and decided I was getting one regardless. Brad and Jake followed cue and afterwards we walked around a bustling Pier 39 area before meeting the rest of our group.

At 4:20 our boat left for our night tour of Alcatraz, home of many past criminals including Al Capone. The tour was very interesting and had lots of escape stories. The nightime provided us with a great opportunity to see San Francisco lit up at night and people in our group got some awesome pictures. Check out our flickr account here. I have been trying to upload photos but for whatever reason blogger is not letting me.

When we arrived on shore we found a seafood restaurant where I ordered some Mussels which are one of my favorite seafood's (thanks to Anne for getting me hooked!). We then headed back to our hotel for some 500 and bed.

Until next time,

Create, inspire and be inspired.

Friday in the Valley

2009-01-18T22:46:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the delay in postings, activities that run well into the evening along with 500 games back at our room have detoured me from my blog.

On Friday we headed into San Francisco for a morning visit with Citizen Space. This business is a co-working facility where entrepreneurs can rent out a workspace for $425 dollars per month. One of the coolest aspects of this business is that anybody can come in for a day and use their facilities when vising San Francisco and need to keep their business activities afloat. The people who "rent" here are a very close knit group. Many times their businesses are unrelated but everyone is open to suggestions and shares their experiences openly. Definitely a cool approach to business.

We quickly rushed off across the Bay Bridge towards Pixar, where we were told we had an 11:30 showing and could not be late. Pixar, of course, is a digital animation company that makes movies and has collaborated with Disney on many pictures. Their movies are appropriate for all ages and are awesome for adults. Some movies they have produced are Toy Story, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles and their most recent film was Wall-E. It was a stroke of luck that we were even allowed into Pixar. Our Prof was talking about our trip on a cruise over Christmas break and somebody knew somebody who works for Pixar and got us in! As such with companies such as Google and Apple, you must have some pretty good connections to get into any of these companies.

Aside with touring their campus and seeing all of the artwork with impeccable attention to detail that goes along with creating their characters, their ingenuity impressed me the most. Thousands of ideas are generated each year and everyone is told that their ideas are good, the question is how can they make it great. Thousands of storyboards are written before the movie goes into production. Finding Nemo had over 40,000 slides sketched before it was produced.

Before our tour had ended we saw a short for an upcoming movie that I cannot remember (or probably say because of the NDA anyways) that was very funny and will see when it comes out in four years. Afterwards we ate at the Pixar caf where I took way to much food from the salad bar that was about as extravagant as a salad bar can be.

Our last stop for the day was at MobiTV. This company simply streams live TV to your phone. For instance if you were on the subway this coming Tuesday during Barrack's inauguration you could watch it live on your phone. Pretty awesome huh?! One of the six founders of Tivo who is now with MobiTV gave us a great presentation about life as an entrepreneur, life in the Valley and lots of background about the company. It was one of the most productive meetings we have had on this trip and the view was just as awesome. Located on the top floor of the building, our meeting room was wide open with an awesome view of the Bay.

I will keep the night short because this post is getting lengthy....we basically hung around Union Square. Stephanie held an event at the Clift Hotel which we attended for a while and then checked out more of the square before eating dinner and heading back to the hotel.

Until my next post in about a half hour.

Big Businesses and Big Hits

2009-01-17T02:21:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the delay in postings. Our days have been full (as expected) and has led to my slacking in the blogger area.

On Thursday we visited some companies named Google and Apple. I previously thought that Google was just some extremely large number and that Apple was a fruit company.....I was way off-base.

We arrived at Google with much anticipation. Rick Klau (Feedburner developer) and former Luther grad Craig Cornelius gave us a quick tour. We were able to see many things although there is not much I can discuss because we signed an NDA. Google's campus is amazing, filled with energy and friendly people along with beauty. The courtyard consists of a company garden, volleyball courts, swimming pool, outdoor dining areas and bicycles scattered everywhere to accompany its many buildings. You would think with all the extra curricular within the work environment that not much would get done, this is far from the truth. Google has such a commitment to their employees it only builds more confidence within their work environment. There is so much I could talk about from how the company has shuttles for people up to 60 miles from work to the free cafeteria to their green initiatives and their interesting work environment.

Google's main purpose is to engage people online and organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Everything in this company is data driven. There is no such thing as a "hunch." Bring data to the table and present it. Did you know that every minute 13 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube? Or that every four hours enough information is uploaded to the Internet by Google to fill the Library of Congress? This philosophy is heavily rooted in the fact that they believe the world will be a better place if people are knowledgeable; which will lead to people making better decisions.

As if visiting Google wasn't cool enough, we were privileged enough to visit Apple headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop in Palo Alto, Ca. Jeremy and Joe gave us the opportunity for some Q and A before a walk inside the courtyard and provided us with a meal at the Apple caf. This was an extreme benefit because it is extremely rare that anybody who is not an Apple employee to be allowed inside their buildings, let alone the courtyard.

It was neat to hear from Apple employees describing their work environment and how they handle their work. A lot of projects are done on teams and it appears to be somewhat secretive among workers and then people up the ladder link them together. Where with Google people are working on side projects with workers in completely different departments with their 20% of work time to explore other company interests. Apple seemed to be a much more secretive company that was less transparent. Either way, both strategies seem to be working fine.

We then headed south to San Jose for the Sharks game. It was my first hockey game and we were hooked up with tickets thanks to Stephanie's friend and Luther Alum, Jen. The Sharks lost 3-2 to Calvary but the game was exciting to watch....a lot better than on TV.

For now, it is nearly 1 in the morning and I am tired after a day filled with more travel. We are heading back into San Francisco tomorrow for a day of tourist events including a trip to Alcatraz.

Until next time,

Create, inspire and be inspired.

Day Two

2009-01-15T00:07:00.004-06:00

Guy Kawasaki

Our first thing on the agenda for today was to meet with Guy Kawasaki. Guy was Apple's evangelist (he told everybody about a little brand named Macintosh) when they were first getting off the ground and is a very important, influential person here in the valley. He is a true veteran and we were able to harness a lot of his knowledge during our meeting with him this morning. His career has ranged from an evangelist, venture capitalist and speaker at over 95 events a year.

Stephanie has let me borrow one of his books to read and it has lots of information about being an entrepreneur. It contains information on how to sell, speak publicly and present yourself, raise money and how to build a team. Aside from my reading, there were many pieces from listening to him talk that have stuck with me. He encouraged us that if we feel we have something important to say, say it and say it often. There is so much information out there and what you don't know, you don't know. It can be your job to empower people and help make this world a better place by sharing your talents with the world. It is the ideas of great men and the reality that they let everybody know about them that have established the world we see it as today.

After our talk with Guy we had an hour to kill around Palo Alto so we visited the local Apple store and then walked around downtown.

We then had lunch with Charlene Li, an analyst at Forrester Research and author of the book Groundswell. The book is also written with another analyst and incorporates "practical, data-based strategies for companies that want to harness the power of social technologies like blogs, social networks, and YouTube." There are many opportunities for companies to grow if they properly used these applicatoins. We also talked about how her career started and the difficulties of balancing home life along with work.

After lunch, we walked from downtown to Stanford University and checked out the campus and its bookstore. It was a beautiful day today and I felt a little guilty knowing that everybody back in the midwest is stuck in miserable below zero temperatures. Stanford has a beautiful campus and I am sure pictures are being posted as I am writing now.

Tesla Motors

After leaving campus we headed to Tesla motors which is a company who first envisioned a car where people could have the look of a sports car along with the economy of a hybrid. What they came up with is a totally electric vehicle that can go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds. These cars are incredibly sleek in their design and cost pennies per mile to run. With a price tag around $110,000 I do not forsee myself owning one anytime soon, but they are really cool. In a sence they consider themselves a tech company because the batteries they use to run the cars are litium ion batteries much like the ones we use to run our computers and iPods. Unfortunatly the cars exterior is made of carbon fiber which can also contribute to why bicycles are so damn expensive as well.

The cars themselves are assembled here in the US but with products shipped from all over the world. We were able to see the shop and drivetrain instiliation plants here in Palo Alto.

We then headed to a neat Indian restaurant for dinner with current Google employee and former Luther professor, Craig Cornelius. Dinner was excellent and we will see Craig again tomorrow when we visit the Googleplex and then we are off to Apple in the afternoon and the Sharks game to cap of another awesome day.

Until next time,

Create, inspire and be inspired.

Updates

2009-01-13T23:34:00.002-06:00

Check out everybody's photos taken on our trip (I did not pack my camera):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lutherlive

Also, check out Jake's blog from the trip as well here.

Day One

2009-01-13T18:51:00.004-06:00

LS9

We started out our tour of "The Valley" with a trip to LS9, a biotechnology firm which specializes in producing a renewable petroleum fuel as diesel. LS9 is based in the South San Francisco area, about a 45 minute drive from our hotel.

At the office/laboratory we learned a lot about the companies vision and the process of acquiring funds to get your ideas further off the ground. Similar to many other great companies, their idea started with two guys in a garage (which I think is where I should start my business, there appears to be a trend). It is not currently a profitable business but has millions of dollars in funding from venture capitalists. Above all, we learned about the process many entrepreneurs in the valley go through to turn their visions into reality through funding, raising capital and branding. We talked about the risks you must take and how you have to be able to look past the risk, but know when it is too much. We also talked about being able to present your ideas and keeping your focus on your purpose.

I found all of the topics we covered very interesting and it was helpful to have a scientific background because I was actually able to understand how the process of turning sugar cane into bio fuel works. Aside from my feelings about "green" alternative fuels, the presentation was extremely informative. John was very knowledgeable and had excellent answers for any questions we had for him.

Sarah Lacy

Sarah is the author of the book, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good. Although I have yet to read the book, our discussion with her was very informative. She had some great insight into life in Silicon Valley. She gave us great information based on her experiences on what to do and how to do handle situations in the entrepreneurial world. I was clearly able to see the passion she has for what she does and as she told us, don't follow the money. If you have passion and love what you are doing, the money will follow you.

From what I could gather from our meeting, she was a very genuine, friendly person and it has translated to her success into journalism and PR. She was one of the first journalists to interview people such as Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg and Digg creator Kevin Rose. It was not because she was the best journalist or because had the most connections, it was because she believed in these people before they were successful and gave them the time of day when nobody else would. She put in the time to get to know them in a sincere way before anybody knew who they were, not because she knew it would help her in the future, but because she was interested in their ideas. The idea of being above somebody was something that crossed her mind and has now led to her being able to catapulte somebody into wider fame through her reporting. In media's terms, she was the first one on the scene. Everybody else was a few months too late.

Sarah seemed to be the person who is able to look past the craziness in peoples ideas and see that they can be useful and that is what Silicon Valley is based upon. Negativity is contagious and I hate it. For instance, it started with a crazy idea such as a computer, which I am sure was shut down my many cynics, and now has completely changed the way we live. People should try their ideas and see how they work out, regardless of who says it cannot work. It is the ideas of many entrepreneurs that have formed an entire community and has attracted people from all walks of life to take part in its development here in Silicon Valley.

We still have the night free, but thus far I have already attained a lot of knowledge from just two meetings. I have been presented with a great opportunity to learn from a lot of very intellegent people. Their stories of success and failure are something I can really use to better prepare myself in a ever changing world.

Until next time,

Create, inspire and be inspired.

Silicon Valley

2009-01-12T20:50:00.002-06:00

Arrived in San Jose this afternoon at about noon local time. Checked into the hotel and grabbed a bite to eat before vising the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose.

Weather is awesome! 70 and sunny while I hear the Midwest is getting pounded by snow.

Tomorrow we are heading into San Francisco to meet with LS9 in the morning and two authors in the afternoon, Sarah Lacy and Brian Solis. Check out the link to our schedule here.

Stay tuned for more updates on our travels in Silicon Valley.

Create, inspire and be inspired.

New Years Resolutions

2009-01-05T07:44:00.003-06:00

I never have been a huge fan of New Years Resolutions. I think that if you have to wait to a New Year to create new goals, then you are probably five months behind on what you should be accomplishing anyways. In the past, I have never written down any resolutions or even considered thinking about them because I (like most people) never hold true to them.

The problem is that we all are procrastinators. I am guilty as chagred, it's January 5th and I planned on writing this New Years day. The reason it because we get stuck in the dreaming phase about how things could/would be. We all know what we want, but we have trouble committing to the needs to get there. People fear commitment because they fear what may they may become, they could be embarrassed, they could be rejected. People actually fear becoming healthy because they won't receive the same amount of attention as when they are ill. Thoughts like this are absurd!

Too many times we shine all of the light on the negative aspects of our goals. When you focus on the negative it zaps all of your motivation right out of you. People continually talk their goals down, justifying to themselves that their goals are unattainable or unrealistic. The truth about goals is you are either working to get them accomplished or are making excuses to why they are not getting accomplished.

Accept the fact that you may fail. You might fail and people may laugh at you, but who really cares? The only person who you have to satisfy is yourself, because as much as you (and I) think people are paying attention to all of our actions, they are NOT.

As bad as it sounds, have low expectations for yourself. Once you exceeded those expectations, it will become easier to establish new goals and accomplish those. You can't just expect to lose 25 pounds this year without having the simple goal of getting one workout in a day.

Right now is the only moment you ever have.

Start your dreams and goals now.

Create, inspire and be inspired.

"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." -Howard Thurman

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T10:38:00.001-06:00

May 2009 bring you peace and prosperity.

Have a great start to your new year!

Create, inspire and be inspired!

Winter Hike

2008-12-28T12:52:00.007-06:00

Aj and I went down to the bike shop and rented some snow shoes. These things work great and we were able to cover close to four miles in a little over an hour in a half in over 2 feet of snow. It is really cool "paving" you own trail and cutting through the woods in the snow.

Check out some pics:

Stay warm!

Finals

2008-12-17T11:00:00.002-06:00

Nothing beats a week full of final tests along with below zero temperatures....as if getting out the door to go take a comprehensive could be any more motivating when you have to wear three layers.

Finals are officially half over for me, I had my Marketing test on Monday and my Chemistry final last night. In the past I have never been to rattled by finals week but this year I have let Chemistry get to me. I do not enjoy the class very much and have a hard time putting the time into the class that I should. Nonetheless, I crammed on Monday night and all day on Tuesday and I feel alright about how the exam went.

Up next I have my Kinesiology final on Thursday morning at 8 and my Entrepreneurship exam at 10:15 then my brain will shut down for break. I am looking forward to spending some quality time with my family and seeing AJ for the first time since September. It will be a nice way to close down the year and start a new one.

Take care and stay warm!

ITS COLD!!!

2008-12-04T21:32:00.002-06:00

Man, it seems every year I forget how fricking cold it gets here!

It is currently 5 degrees outside (-13 Celsius for those crazy Brits) and that's not including the wind chill. It is beginning to become a bit embarrassing walking into class and it appears as if I am crying because my eyes water while biking in the cold.....maybe I can convince my professors that they are tears of joy for being in their class (yeah, right!).

The winter is always a hard time to try and accomplish things that require more energy than cuddling up under a blanket and watching Christmas movies. The days are cold, daylight is limited, and we are more apt to staying indoors. What happened to the days when it was sunny outside and it's easy to be upbeat and motivated to get out and take on the day, workout, ect. Nothing seemed harder than those 6 am lift and run practices in January for wrestling only to have another punishing practice at 4 later that afternoon. I dreaded waking up to that alarm, sleepwalking outside only to be met by the below zero temperatures and the upcoming hell I was about to go through. But somehow it got done.

I didn't feel as if I had anything to say before I started writing this blog so I talked about the weather and it has now led to motivation and getting something accomplished. Pretty ironic that I feel negative about the cold and I am now talking about motivation. So maybe the lesson is that although you may feel lousy and down because of the weather, but don't let it affect your outputs. Feel lousy and do it anyway (fittingly the motto for all wrestlers, right AJ?). Just know that with time "this too shall pass," tomorrow is a better day, and now is a better now.

Until next time,

Create, inspire, and be inspired.

San Francisco

2008-11-22T09:59:00.002-06:00

I just received conformation yesterday about a trip to San Francisco I applied for this January. I will be traveling there with 8 other Luther students for 10 days exploring Internet technology and how it has changed marketing, communications and the operations of every business in our society. The trip takes place from January 12-23 and I will be able to visit companies and key people in the valley including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, engineers and marketing professionals. Some of the companies we will be visiting include Google, Apple, Facebook, TechCrunch, and more recent startups.

The majority of our trip will be spent in Silicon Valley, which is is home to the people, places and power sources that drive the technological world. This trip will help me gain both theoretical and tactical training in the diverse field of online marketing and social media optimization, as well get the opportunity to speak with leaders in this industry and explore the companies they represent.

Along with the opportunity to visit and speak with these technological leaders, I will be able to explore the city of San Francisco which I am very excited about. I have never been West of Arizona and have always wanted to visit California. I will be posting about my travels while I am there so stay tuned.

Otherwise, enjoy the snow!

The hampster wheel.....

2008-11-20T22:57:00.004-06:00

This time of the school year is where I really find my days flying by. Classes are busy as ever and it seems as if everything get piled up at once. Classes become more tedious and it is harder to find the motivation to study. Sometimes it feels as if I don't know where the time goes. I wake up and my day is full keeping busy doing so much that I am to tired or don't have the time to do more of the things I truly enjoy.

Over the past few days I have come to the conclusion that I need to rid myself from the blinders of repetitiveness by constantly asking myself: How do I feel? How's my life? What do I want? Am I getting what I want? If not, why not?

As it turns our for me, thinking can be suffocating. I over think to many things and let my mind talk me out of the things I am actually capable of. This was true for me with wrestling in about any big stage or match I can think of and took my focus off the things I believed in. It is the same now for me in school and life.

Creating our thoughts is based on what we want from life and is a necessary part for devising the means necessary to achieve it. For me and everybody else, our thoughts are intimately connected to achieving the realization of our desires. I am a believer in the power of the mind and I realize the need to break the simple routines of my life and create the environment I seek in life.

The problem is that I have gone through this routine many times and it routinely ends up with me micro-analyzing my life. So my new goal is to not become trapped by this dogma and have the courage to follow my heart and intuition. Everything else is secondary from here on out. I need to trust the fact that if I pursue my passion, results will follow. It boils down to just believing.

It not the fact that I don't believe I can do anything, it's just the thoughts of failure and what if's that trap me. This is why I am excited for Thanksgiving break. It will be nice to unwind, spend time with my family and hopefully get some of the things done that get put off during the labors of school. My family is the best when it comes into believing you can achieve anything. They are always supportive of whatever it is I am interested in and are always willing to help, regardless of how impossible it may seem.

So if anybody else ever doubts themselves, although it may seem lame, rent the movie Kung Fu Panda. It came recommended to me and turned out to be a lesson I needed and inspired me to write this blog. There is no secret formula to success and happiness, you just need to believe.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

16 Things I Wish They Had Taught Me in School

2008-11-03T22:21:00.002-06:00

Here is an article my friend stumbled upon. Some very interesting thought provoking ideas.

1. The 80/20 rule.

This is one of the best ways to make better use of your time. The 80/20 rule – also known as The Pareto Principle – basically says that 80 percent of the value you will receive will come from 20 percent of your activities.

So a lot of what you do is probably not as useful or even necessary to do as you may think.

You can just drop – or vastly decrease the time you spend on – a whole bunch of things.

And if you do that you will have more time and energy to spend on those things that really brings your value, happiness, fulfilment and so on.

2. Parkinson’s Law.

You can do things quicker than you think. This law says that a task will expand in time and seeming complexity depending on the time you set aside for it. For instance, if you say to yourself that you’ll come up with a solution within a week then the problem will seem to grow more difficult and you’ll spend more and more time trying to come up with a solution.

So focus your time on finding solutions. Then just give yourself an hour (instead of the whole day) or the day (instead of the whole week) to solve the problem. This will force your mind to focus on solutions and action.

The result may not be exactly as perfect as if you had spent a week on the task, but as mentioned in the previous point, 80 percent of the value will come from 20 percent of the activities anyway. Or you may wind up with a better result because you haven’t overcomplicated or overpolished things. This will help you to get things done faster, to improve your ability to focus and give you more free time where you can totally focus on what’s in front of you instead of having some looming task creating stress in the back of your mind.

3. Batching.

Boring or routine tasks can create a lot of procrastination and low-level anxiety. One good way to get these things done quickly is to batch them. This means that you do them all in row. You will be able to do them quicker because there is less “start-up time” compared to if you spread them out. And when you are batching you become fully engaged in the tasks and more focused.

A batch of things to do in an hour today may look like this: Clean your desk / answer today’s emails / do the dishes / make three calls / write a grocery shopping list for tomorrow.

4. First, give value. Then, get value. Not the other way around.

This is a bit of a counter-intuitive thing. There is often an idea that someone should give us something or do something for us before we give back. The problem is just that a lot of people think that way. And so far less than possible is given either way.

If you want to increase the value you receive (money, love, kindness, opportunities etc.) you have to increase the value you give. Because over time you pretty much get what you give. It would perhaps be nice to get something for nothing. But that seldom happens.

5. Be proactive. Not reactive.

This one ties into the last point. If everyone is reactive then very little will get done. You could sit and wait and hope for someone else to do something. And that happens pretty often, but it can take a lot of time before it happens.

A more useful and beneficial way is to be proactive, to simply be the one to take the first practical action and get the ball rolling. This not only saves you a lot of waiting, but is also more pleasurable since you feel like you have the power over your life. Instead of feeling like you are run by a bunch of random outside forces.

6. Mistakes and failures are good.

When you are young you just try things and fail until you learn. As you grow a bit older, you learn from - for example - school to not make mistakes. And you try less and less things.

This may cause you to stop being proactive and to fall into a habit of being reactive, of waiting for someone else to do something. I mean, what if you actually tried something and failed? Perhaps people would laugh at you?

Perhaps they would. But when you experience that you soon realize that it is seldom the end of the world. And a lot of the time people don’t care that much. They have their own challenges and lives to worry about.

And success in life often comes from not giving up despite mistakes and failure. It comes from being persistent.

When you first learn to ride your bike you may fall over and over. Bruise a knee and cry a bit. But you get up, brush yourself off and get on the saddle again. And eventually you learn how to ride a bike. If you can just reconnect to your 5 year old self and do things that way - instead of giving up after a try/failure or two as grown-ups often do – you would probably experience a lot more interesting things, learn valuable lessons and have quite a bit more success.

7. Don’t beat yourself up.

Why do people give up after just few mistakes or failures? Well, I think one big reason is because they beat themselves up way too much. But it’s a kinda pointless habit. It only creates additional and unnecessary pain inside you and wastes your precious time. It’s best to try to drop this habit as much as you can.

8. Assume rapport.

Meeting new people is fun. But it can also induce nervousness. We all want to make a good first impression and not get stuck in an awkward conversation.

The best way to do this that I have found so far is to assume rapport. This means that you simply pretend that you are meeting one of your best friends. Then you start the interaction in that frame of mind instead of the nervous one.

This works surprisingly well. You can read more about it in How to Have Less Awkward Conversations: Assuming Rapport.

9. Use your reticular activation system to your advantage.

I learned about the organs and the inner workings of the body in class but nobody told me about the reticular activation system. And that’s a shame, because this is one of the most powerful things you can learn about. What this focus system, this R.A.S, in your mind does is to allow you to see in your surroundings what you focus your thoughts on. It pretty much always helps you to find what you are looking for.

So you really need to focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. And keep that focus steady.

Setting goals and reviewing them frequently is one way to keep your focus on what’s important and to help you take action that will move your closer to toward where you want to go. Another way is just to use external reminders such as pieces of paper where you can, for instance, write down a few things from this post like “Give value” or “Assume rapport”. And then you can put those pieces of paper on your fridge, bathroom mirror etc.

10. Your attitude changes your reality.

We have all heard that you should keep a positive attitude or perhaps that “you need to change your attitude!”. That is a nice piece of advice I suppose, but without any more reasons to do it is very easy to just brush such suggestions off and continue using your old attitude.

But the thing that I’ve discovered the last few years is that if you change your attitude, you actually change your reality. When you for instance use a positive attitude instead of a negative one you start to see things and viewpoints that were invisible to you before. You may think to yourself “why haven’t I thought about things this way before?”.

When you change you attitude you change what you focus on. And all things in your world can now be seen in a different light.

This is of course very similar to the previous tip but I wanted to give this one some space. Because changing your attitude can create an insane change in your world. It might not look like it if you just think about it though. Pessimism might seem like realism. But that is mostly because your R.A.S is tuned into seeing all the negative things you want to see. And that makes you “right” a lot of the time. And perhaps that is what you want. On the other hand, there are more fun things than being right all the time.

If you try changing your attitude for real – instead of analysing such a concept in your mind - you’ll be surprised.

You may want to read more about this topic in Take the Positivity Challenge!

11. Gratitude is a simple way to make yourself feel happy.

Sure, I was probably told that I should be grateful. Perhaps because it was the right thing to do or just something I should do. But if someone had said that feeling grateful about things for minute or two is a great way to turn a negative mood into a happy one I would probably have practised gratitude more. It is also a good tool for keeping your attitude up and focusing on the right things. And to make other people happy. Which tends to make you even happier, since emotions are contagious.

12. Don’t compare yourself to others.

The ego wants to compare. It wants to find reasons for you to feel good about yourself (“I’ve got a new bike!”). But by doing that it also becomes very hard to not compare yourself to others who have more than you (“Oh no, Bill has bought an even nicer bike!”). And so you don’t feel so good about yourself once again. If you compare yourself to others you let the world around control how you feel about yourself. It always becomes a rollercoaster of emotions.

A more useful way is to compare yourself to yourself. To look at how far you have come, what you have accomplished and how you have grown. It may not sound like that much fun but in the long run it brings a lot more inner stillness, personal power and positive feelings.

13. 80-90% of what you fear will happen never really come into reality.

This is a big one. Most things you fear will happen never happen. They are just monsters in your own mind. And if they happen then they will most often not be as painful or bad as you expected. Worrying is most often just a waste of time.

This is of course easy to say. But if you remind yourself of how little of what you feared throughout your life that has actually happened you can start to release more and more of that worry from your thoughts.

14. Don’t take things too seriously.

It’s very easy to get wrapped up in things. But most of the things you worry about never come into reality. And what may seem like a big problem right now you may not even remember in three years.

Taking yourself, your thoughts and your emotions too seriously often just seems to lead to more unnecessary suffering. So relax a little more and lighten up a bit. It can do wonders for your mood and as an extension of that; your life.

15. Write everything down.

If your memory is anything like mine then it’s like a leaking bucket. Many of your good or great ideas may be lost forever if you don’t make a habit of writing things down. This is also a good way to keep your focus on what you want. Read more about it in Why You Should Write Things Down.

16. There are opportunities in just about every experience.

In pretty much any experience there are always things that you can learn from it and things within the experience that can help you to grow. Negative experiences, mistakes and failure can sometimes be even better than a success because it teaches you something totally new, something that another success could never teach you.

Whenever you have a “negative experience” ask yourself: where is the opportunity in this? What is good about this situation? One negative experience can – with time – help you create many very positive experiences.

What do you wish someone had told you in school or you had just learned earlier in life?

Halloween

2008-11-01T11:59:00.001-05:00

the strong hand of the law....

Night Shift Bike Race

2008-10-27T10:29:00.002-05:00

On Saturday night I participated in my first actual mountain bike race. Since the race was a night race, I was finally motivated to spend the money on a much needed light. Bought the light on Friday afternoon, charged it and put it on the first time for the race....not a very good idea.

The race stated at the bottom of Quarry Hill Road with a mass start. Once we reached the top I was with the front pack up the service road to Fred's for the start of the single track. Probably sitting around 15-20th and then I realized my light was mounted in the worst possible place for riding. My light pointed directly in front of my tire allowing me to only see about 3 feet ahead of my bike. This made my ride more or less reaction riding than mountain biking. I pushed my helmet to the back of my head and rode the race with my neck cocked back as long and often as I could. I ended up fishing the race in 54 minutes and 36 seconds and placing 30th overall out of 53 riders. Not quite what I wanted but for my first race I will take it. Next year I will have a better idea of where to place my light, the pace I need to push and the better condition I need to be in.

The race itself was a great experience. It was described as a competitive, yet friendly ride and that was a perfect description. Trails were in great shape, race organizers and volunteers put the race together perfectly, and the weather was pretty ideal. The after party/awards at T-Bocks was also a great way to cap it off as well.

Fall Break

2008-10-23T21:48:00.004-05:00

From last Friday until today Luther had our fall break. Although it was only 3 days off of school, it was a much needed break. I was able to get a lot accomplished during my time off as well as get caught up on some rest.

I went riding with my Dad on Saturday night and the weather was absolutely perfect. We ran into around 5-10 deer roaming the woods and rode until dusk. The times when my Dad I and are able to get out and ride is always fun and memorable.

Later on Saturday, Jeff asked me to urban ride with him, Travis and some other guys from out of town. I had never urban rode before and did not have the optimal bike for riding but thankfully Travis was able to lend me one of the bike shops. For those who don't know urban riding is similar to bmx, only the bike is more comparable to a mountain bike with full suspension. At first I wasn't sure how much it pertained to mountain biking but many of the skills were complementary such as creating your own line and negating obstacles.

I learned a lot by watching the guys urban ride and realized I need to improve in a lot of different areas to become a better rider. Looking back I wish I would have been more fearless but instead I was timid and held back more than I should have. Regardless, I had a great time and hope next time will be different.

Besides riding, the other plan for my fall break was to travel to Racine, WI with Ally to visit her roommate, Kathleen. The 5 hour drive was broken up by a quick (2 hr) stop at Blue Mounds State Park. I rode while Ally slept and was presumably bored. We then spent two nights in Racine and Kathleen's house and had a great time with her and her family. We checked out the lakefront, pumpkin farm, a favorite local restaurant, and did some shopping.

Now reality checks back and classes have resumed. My focus now turns towards the night race this Saturday night for my first night ride ever.

Adventure Race

2008-10-14T20:57:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, I competed in Luther's Second Annual Adventure Race. The race consisted of a 5 mile canoe, 12 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. My roommate, Aaron, and I competed as a team in the event by canoeing together and biking and runing alone and then averaging our times. Over 70 people competed on a day featuring 80 degree weather, gusts as high as 30 mph, and beautiful fall leaves covering the ground.

The race started with those who were kayaking alone in groups of four with two minute intervals between the next group. Aaron and I started in the middle of the pack and were able to catch up and pass a lot of kayakers. Fortunately we never tipped and stayed dry throughout. The unfortunate part was the wind. We would be paddling as hard as we could and it would seem as if we were not moving. People were literally getting their kayak's turned around from the wind alone.

After the canoe we started the bike. Knowing what the route was beforehand, we knew it was going to consist of 2 long gradual climbs and short, fast downhills. Since my mountain bike is a single speed, it would have not been efficient to ride on the flat surface through town and I would have lost a lot of ground. Aaron and I decided to ride my geard bikes at home. The initial plan was for me to ride my Dad's and he would ride the "Green Machine." After a broken chain link and some other work on my Dad's bike I deemed it unridable for the race and turned to Anne's old Trek 720. Problem was the gear shifter on the right was broke so my only gear options were 1x7, 2x7, and 3x7.....cowboy up! Aaron was the pace setter for the ride and I was suprisingly able to keep up givin my bike specs. The ride ran through town, Palisades Park, onto the gravel portion up Quarry Hill, and down to Luther.

The run was the part that got me. I don't know how Aj was able to move his legs after biking for 112 miles. For the first 1.5 miles it was hard to just keep a steady pace and maintain decent form. It felt like I had never run before (the fact that the run started out on a trail that was incredibly uneven, filled with logs, dips, and crazy turns didn't help). Once I got to the top of college farm things finally got better and I was able to maintain a steady pace on the downhill and back to campus.

My total time was 2:04:04 and Aaron's final time was 2:08:11. I finished 10th overall and Aaron placed 13th. Overall I was pretty satisfied with my results. My only goal was to push myself as hard as I could and finish. Next year we will win the race.

Special thanks to my Mom, Judy and Cat for being great support. I know they made Quarry Hill seem a lot shorter for Ally. Pics are not uploading for whatever reason and I will continue to try until they are uploaded.

Bring on the weekend!

2008-10-10T08:19:00.004-05:00

Talk about a full week.

I had 11 classes, 2 tests, and a quiz along with 16 hours of work. Who is ready for the weekend?

Weather has been nice enough to be able to continue my bike commute to work logging over 50 miles alone from my dorm room to Wal-Mart and back.

Wrecked my mountain bike rim last weekend attempting to conquer the log ride. Went head over the bike while my tire became lodged between the log and the ground. Luckily my shoulder broke my fall. After I got that fixed I went out on a great ride last night before work with Aaron, Derek, and Joe. Only lasted around an hour but we were able to cover some ground.

This weekend is the Adventure Race that Luther is putting on. Still need to make some adjustments to my Dad's bike so I don't have to spin on my single speed on the flats. He broke his chain this past weekend when we rent riding so I took it into Deke's to get it fixed. I am excited to compete this weekend and ready to go. I will either run or bike again today and do something light on Saturday to stay loose.

I will give a race report either Sunday night or Monday.

On a side note I found an article that in New Zeland they are placing bicycle assembly stations in the international termial...how cool is that! New Zealand is widely regarded as one of the ultimate destinations for bicycle tourists — good climate, friendly people, stunning vistas. I hope to visit there some day. If only the US was as supportive and bike friendly as other places in the world.....

While AJ supports his "Save Gas, Burn Carbs" stickers I plan on sporting one of these patches onto my bag.

(Insert catch phrase here)

Cub Rant

2008-10-07T22:04:00.003-05:00

Never would I have thought it would end like this. Not so quick, not like this.

One day, the top team in the National League and a favorite to win the World Series for the first time in 100 years. Four days later, gone.

Worse than last year, and worse than '03 for me. I still remember Brant Brown dropping Rod Becks fly ball in '98 at Milwaukee with my Mom. It seems as if every great Cubs memory is becoming replaced with total letdown. Six months of great baseball and 97 wins this year have all went to squat.

It is almost as if my belief has turned from a "It's Gonna Happen" attitude at the beginning of the year to a "Who gives a shit, It's Never Gonna Happen."

Every Cubs fan starts the year with that belief that this is the year! THIS is the team that can do it! Eventually over the course of the year the losses build up and the belief slowly fades away. But not this year....

We had the losses, which were followed by 8+ game win streaks. We had no apparent weaknesses. Solid starting pitching to start and then we added another ace in Harden to give more hope. Great bullpen and great hitting. Every time our bats were down, somebody stepped up. This was the way our year went for 162 games. We were the best team in the National League. Everything was in place. This was the year to break our 100 year curse.

An ESPN writer explained that this was no choke, that happened in 2003. It wasn't a collapse either, that would be too nice of a way to explain it. They simply failed to even show up. Now labeled a playoff irrelevant team after nine straight playoff losses.

But will I quit on the Cubs? Hell no, I'm a Cubs fan. Albeit a very pissed off one....

I'll recover of course and the anger will fade as well as the "It's never going to happen" attitude.

Because of course....there is always next year.

TFTD (Thought for the day)

2008-09-29T22:21:00.003-05:00

A friend of ours was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along, he began to see another man in the distance. As he grew nearer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things out into the ocean.

As our friend approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at time, he was throwing them back into the water.

Our friend was puzzled. He approached the man and said, "Good evening, friend. I was wondering what you are doing."

"I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide right now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don't throw them back into the sea, they'll die up here from lack of oxygen."

"I understand," my friend replied, "but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can't possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don't you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can't you see that you can't possibly make a difference?"

The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied, "made a difference to that one!"

-Jack Canfield

Biking

2008-09-26T11:26:00.003-05:00

For whatever reason I am unable to upload the pictures I took from last nights bike ride so the one above is somebody else until I can upload mine. I moved out of my comfort zone and tackled the log ride on the Back 40 (trail). This log ride sits ten feet above the ground and is about 1.5-2 feet wide. While it is just as wide as any trail we ride on, it is hard to think that when you are 10 feet up on your bike in the same amount of space.

On my first attempt I made it across until the 2x6 you see at the bottom right on the picture when my front tire went off the edge and I went flying. The experience of crashing is always fun but I think the majority of that feeling is because I have never been seriously hurt. Hopefully that day never comes. We have video footage of the crash and I will try to upload it when I have more time. When you are mountain biking, if you aren't crashing you are not having fun. Or when we ride with my Dad, if there is no blood it wasn't a good ride. My next attempt I crossed it cleanly and I am now hooked on riding them at least twice every time we ride.

Mountain biking is an awesome way for me to get a workout while still having a good time. I have started a group at Luther where a bunch of guys get together and bike 1-2 times a week. Numbers fluctuate quite a bit because of schedules but we always try to get some quality rides in. Also, on the second Wednesday of every month there is a local time trail at 6:30. If there is anybody reading this who wants to join, please come. Any questions just ask.

Also on the calendar is the Adventure Race here at Luther on October 12. It is a five mile canoe/kayak, 15-mile bike and 3 mile running race through the greater Decorah/Luther area. Race begins at 2:00pm. I will be participating and canoeing with my roommate Aaron. Although it is just shy of an Ironman by about 120 miles, I will still consider it as an accomplishment. Also, if anybody has a road bike they would like to lend me it would certainly be more fun than riding my fixie.

A thought to think about today from Alice in Wonderland (lame I know):

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.

Risk

2008-09-23T19:01:00.003-05:00

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, you dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing.

He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by his own fears, he is a slave;
He has forfeited freedom.

Source Unknown

The place that 99.9% of people spend 99.9% of their time is within their comfort zone. It is an area where everything in life is relatively easy and exertion is minimal. Not necessarily an area of complacency or carelessness, but that zone where life is set on cruise control. If things get too difficult people back off. If things get too easy they step up a little bit. Some challenges are faced, but the risk is minimal and people are rarely over-extending themselves in any direction. This includes simple everyday tasks, but can be applied to life in general. The "comfort zone" is where most people spend most of their time.

I'm not saying this is a bad area. Everyone, myself included, spends time in this "comfort zone" and if I didn't have a comfort zone I would go insane. The key is baby steps, push yourself a littler further with each challenge you meet. It may be something as simple as smiling when you are having a day and don't feel like it or lending a hand to those in need.

One of the best examples for risking it all and stepping outside of his comfort zone is my brother, AJ. For somebody who once HATED to run, he has found a new passion by pushing his limits and discovering another part of pain/life that he has never experienced and few ever will. His mentality to risk it all has changed his life-imagine what it could do to yours.

Only a person who risks is free! Reach out and leave your comfort zone and live each day as a new opportunity to make your dreams come true.

Is it October yet?!

2008-09-21T12:37:00.003-05:00

It never gets old.

For the first time in my life the Cubs have made back to back postseason appearances. Watching, listening and following the Cubs has been a large part of my life and I cannot wait to see how far they can make it this postseason.

Now if only the Twins can make it as well so all of my friends can have something to cheer about in October and won't have to listen to me rant about the Cubs all the time.....

Carpe Diem!

2008-09-15T11:52:00.004-05:00

This is the beginning of a new day.

You have been given this day to use as you will.

You can waste it or use it for good.

What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.

When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind

...let it be something good.

Are we wasting each day waiting for it to be over with or are we getting the most out of the day and ourselves? Laying around each day will not give you results. Sure, everybody needs a day to lie around once and a while but how often are you doing it? Boring people have boring days.

Seize the day! Make more time for yourself to enjoy YOUR life. Do the things that you want to do. You will quickly see how it effects your life as well as others.

A change of pace....

2008-09-12T18:22:00.003-05:00

I got a laugh out of this and thought I would pass it along.

"My Next Life" by Woody Allen

In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people's home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch and a party on your first day. You work for 40 years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous, then you are ready for high school. You then go to primary school, you become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities, you become a baby until you are born. And then you spend your last 9 months floating in luxurious spa-like conditions with central heating and room service on tap, larger quarters every day and then voila! You finish off as an orgasm!

Where from here?

2008-09-11T13:41:00.004-05:00

It has been a while since my last post and I have debated keeping my blog going. At first, my blog was intended to cover my travels in Europe and keep everybody informed about the incredible opportunity that was laid before me. I would have never been able to travel and live in Europe as I did without Anne and Sandy especially, but the rest of my family and friends helped make it all possible as well. The experience I had was something that I can never repay back.

So what am I getting at? Each day we are presented with the opportunity to be a part of something great. Be it work, school, cooking, or simply making it through the day. Some days it is easier to find motivation for what we are doing and other days we have to dig deeper. However, there are always two constants, we make up our minds and if we can't, there is always family and friends to help make things we do possible. I know that if I am ever having a bad day I can go to my Mom, or if I need help with school or am struggling with making a decision I go to Dad, and if I need somebody to tell me exactly how it is I go to Aj.

My network of family to go for help is unmatched.

So instead of dedicating my blog to Europe, I am going to dedicate it to all of my family and friends who I have learned so much from. They have helped shape (change) me into who I am today and are an even bigger part in helping me figure out where I am going. Hopefully with me sharing more of my thoughts and experiences with everybody, you can learn something from me as well.

At first I thought my blog should carry a constant theme (Europe) but instead I am going to do exactly what a blog should be about--whatever I am feeling. Some posts will be about my life, my family, motivation and the things I enjoy.

In Aj's blog he talks about attitude a lot and how it can change your day. If you can change one day, you can change your life. So how do you make a change in you life? In the end it's all about being able to change....

When you change your thinking, You change your beliefs;

When you change your beliefs, You change your expectations;

When you change your expectations, You change your attitude;

When you change your attitude, You change your behavior;

When you change your behavior, You change your performance;

When you change your performance, You change your life!

Anybody still reading? Let me know if you are, leave a comment!

2008-08-26T20:09:00.006-05:00

While Aj has been wearing out his tires on the road, I prefer to ride off-road. To me, it offers everything a bike ride needs from dirt, logs and gravel to the climbs and my favorite downhills. Besides, if you have not been outside the past five days, you are not living. The weather has been absolutely perfect. Mid to upper 70's, low humidity and sunlight. It already feels like fall and I am enjoying every minute of it.

Jake and I have been riding the past few days together and we decided to take a camera out tonight and fool around. We biked the Twins Springs area that we rarely ever ride because it is away from most of the trails. There is a pretty good climb to the top on the trail, but most of our fun came on the spring.

Aside from biking, I have been working most every day at Pepsi. Reality has checked me back in and I move back to school on Sunday. I am looking forward to seeing everybody again and having a room again.

Killing Two Birds With One Stone

2008-08-04T12:22:00.003-05:00

I am now a proud new owner of another bicycle after a week or so of using my mountain bike to trek across town, I decided the need for a commuter bike was necessary. A lighter frame and skinnier tiers have made my rides to work and friends houses much more efficient and less time consuming. If you are thinking about riding your bicycle to work, grocery store, class, and for your around town errands here are some of the reasons that helped make my decision.

#1: Saving Money

People are always complaining about the rising price of gas and food. My bicycle gets about a million miles to the gallon and is the most efficient way to get around town.

#2: Better for You

Your time is valuable and what a better way to fit in exercise during your daily routines.

#3: Better for the Environment

This can be your gift to share with others. No pollution, no noise, no congestion=no-brainer.

#4; It's Fun

"Driving a car versus riding a bike is on par with watching television rather than living your own life."

Nordic Mess

2008-07-27T23:17:00.002-05:00

My past few days have been filled, along with the rest of Decorah, with lots of Norwegians and craziness around town. Sarah came up for two days to watch Catherine dance and hang out. Along with her, lot of my friends from Luther and high school who I don't see very often were in town. It was good to see everybody and spend time together but it was hard at times to find time for everything along with work thrown into my days.

I was able to get out on the trails to mountain bike in the beautiful weather and watch my sister dance at night. She is a Nordic Dancer and this is her final year of being in the "younger" group of dancers. Watching the dances has become more enjoyable over the years and she does an awesome job.

Life has been pretty crazy since my arrival home. It is hard to imagine I will have been home two weeks on Tuesday. I had wrestling camp for 4 days which I always find enjoyable. The team I coached was from Big Lake, MN. My team exceeded their coaches expectations for the camp, most of which I credit to my coaching abilities. But seriously, it was fun to show kids new moves and to turn around and see them pin a kid with what I had just shown them in their next match. For the first time in my three years of being a counselor at camps the kids and coaches have already asked to have me as their counselor again next year. Looks like I must have been doing something right.

Now that the town is finally back to normal hopefully things will settle down this week. I plan on getting some reading done along with lots of mountain biking. Cubs have a big series with the Brewers I plan on watching as well. Hopefully they can keep things together the second half and make it to the post-season....but I've learned not to get my hopes up to high.

Go Cubs!

Home

2008-07-16T16:39:00.003-05:00

After a long day of traveling yesterday, I have finally made it home safely. My flight left London at noon, which meant I had to leave Anne and Sandy's flat around nine. My Mom was wondering if I was sad to leave Anne, Sandy and London. After some thought, I don't think sad was an emotion I had during these moments. My outlook is more of a, "see-you-later" than the dreadful, "goodbye." All of the experiences, laughter and memories are something that will stick with me forever and help shape me into who I am, so the way I see it, there are no goodbye's. As much as I will miss spending time in London and Europe, the time spent bonding with Anne and Sandy will be more missed.

After making my way through security I had some time to do some airport shopping and grab a bit to eat. My flight seemed to go by as fast as a seven and a half hour flight can go. I avoided the airplane food and stuck to the unlimited free drinks to help pass time. The real experience of flying home was my connection to Minneapolis. My flight was behind schedule and I was off the plane around 3:15 in the afternoon....my flight to Minneapolis departed at 4:15. I had to make it through customs, pick up my bags, and back through security again before I could get to my gate. It was a rush and very stressful, but I made it.

After my two hour flight to Minneapolis, my Mom and Ally met me by the baggage claim. We stopped at REI and grabbed some things for home and then I drove back. Somehow, I was up until eleven o'clock central time. Change that over to the time difference in London, and I was up for 22 hours. My body has adjusted pretty easily to the difference thus far and I am hoping it stays that way. It feels good to be home and see my family and friends again.

Now, I have to let reality set back in and get back to work. Stay tuned for a list of some of the interesting things I learned while across the pond in my next post.

Cheers!

Ireland

2008-07-14T18:17:00.005-05:00

During the middle of last week Anne and I flew to Dublin for a short, two day trip. We found out that two days is about the maximum you should spend in Dublin. It has a fair amount of places to sightsee but otherwise, Anne recommends viewing Ireland by touring through by car and visiting the small town atmosphere. Regardless, I really enjoyed Dublin and what it had to offer. The people were very friendly and we had some interesting conversations with a few locals at dinner. Anne pointed out to me that although the Irish are very friendly, they may also just be noisy. They were all very interested in our political thoughts and who we were voting for. The elections play a very large part in how things work over here, more notably, the housing market.

Aside from mixing in with the locals at the pubs and restaurants, we did the tourist part as well. Naturally, we had tours of the Guinness Brewery and the Jameson Distillery. Both were very entertaining and educational for those wondering. We both learned a lot about the process for both liquids and why they are so great....and yes, the Guinness is much better in Dublin than elsewhere in the world.

When we weren't partying while sightseeing we were able to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College along with Kilmainham Goal (Jail) and Dublin Castle. For the abbreviated stories of these treasures: the Book of Kells (circa 800 AD) contains the Four Gospels of the New Testament inscribed into calf hide in very intricate detail. Very impressive to see. Kilmainham Goal was a prison built in the late 1700's which held many leaders of the Irish rebellion. The jail provided us with a lot of Irish history along with many stories of escape attempts. We were also lucky enough to view the beautiful St. Patricks cathedral, the largest church in Ireland.

Sorry the blog is a pretty quick run-down. It is around 12:30 am in London and I will be in the air in less than twelve hours....time for some sleep!

As always, never stop exploring.

Cheers!

Back from Dublin

2008-07-11T08:06:00.003-05:00

Anne and I are back from our few day trip to Dublin, Ireland. We are still in the process of detoxing all of the Guinness and Jameson from our system.....updates coming up shortly.

Efficiency is intelligent laziness

2008-07-06T17:28:00.003-05:00

A rainy day in London can provide you with the perfect opportunity to relax. Anne, Sandy and I woke up this morning with intentions of playing a round of golf which was only to be spoiled by a forecast of rain and wind. Although my opportunity to golf in England may have been spoiled, it saved me from lots of disappointment and faulty math and provided us with the opportunity to watch the greatest match ever at Wimbledon.

If you were unable to watch Roger Federer and Raphael Nadal's match today, find some time and watch it somewhere. Their five sets, which we watched every minute of, offered an exhilarating performance of power, grit and perseverance. The weather here changes so quickly, which caused two rain delays during their play. At times it looked like a normal summer day and then almost instantly the skies would turn gray again and rain would appear. If I were back in Iowa, the weather would almost certainly mean a tornado watch would be in place.

After the match ended, Anne and I decided to try and recreate the infamous Happy Joe's taco pizza. Nothing tops Happy Joe's for Anne, so we figured if we got anywhere close it would be a success. The pizza wasn't nearly anything like the original taco pizza, but it was more than enough to satisfy.

On Tuesday, Anne and I take off for Dublin, Ireland. I am very excited to see the shades of green and get my hands on a real Guinness.

The Tourists Have Arrived!

2008-07-06T04:57:00.004-05:00

July and August is peak season for tourists in Europe and it was easy to tell a difference on the first day of July. In July, the weather is supposed to be better and the days are longer, along with the queues. A piece of advice for if you visit Europe, there are better deals, less lines and less crowds if you travel opposite of these two months. On the other side you may be forfeiting some great weather. Either way in London, you still need to be prepared for the weather because it can change instantly. To the right is a great view of Big Ben, the Eye and part of Parliament along with a mass of tourists.

With the tourists arriving, they are also helping me feel more like a local. I have figured out London pretty quickly (with a lot of help from Anne), and I have had several people ask where something is or a certain street and I am able to explain where it is. A simple feeling that makes me feel more like a "temporary local." Below is a picture of "Buck House" or Buckingham Palace that I took while walking back to Anne's.

On Friday, Anne and I headed to the south bank to visit Shakespeare's Globe and the Borough Market. This replica of the original Globe Theater is built as it was in Shakespeare's time. It serves both as a museum and a working theater featuring many authentic Shakespeare plays and modern plays. During our tour, a play was in rehersal which allowed us to watch their practice.

After our tour we walked to London's oldest food market, Borough market. This place has it all from flowers to organic fruits and vegetables to some mouthwatering fudge. It has hundreds of stands featuring their freshest goods to sell that took a lot of will power to turn down. I ended up getting some excellent seafood paella before we walked back to Anne and Sandy's.

On Saturday, I went to Westminster Abbey to view the greatest church in the English-speaking world. This is the place where all England's kings and queens have been crowned and buried. It seemed very much like an indoor cemetery with over 3,000 tombs, but its architecture was beautiful. I wish I were able to take pictures, but you are not permitted to inside. Inside the cathedral also sits the Coronation Chair. The gold-painted wooden chair has been carved with some graffiti, but its significance is unprecedented. It has been in use since the early 1100's.

By the time my tour ended, I was lucky enough to grab a seat and hear the evensong performed by the Westminster boys choir. Hearing this musical meditation is one of the most pleasant ways to view the church in the way it was intended to serve.

Until next time, cheers and God save the Queen!

Hastings to Rye

2008-07-03T04:30:00.005-05:00

Anne and I "conquered" a beautiful hike yesterday with her hiking group from the AWC. We took the train from London to Hastings where our hike began. There was a lot of low cloud, rain and mist for portions of the trip but that did not detour us from having a great hike and marveling at the wonderful scenery.

There were seven women and me so I figured I was in trouble. I always knew the experience of having two sisters would pay off somehow. But seriously, I had a great time. Everybody on the hike was very welcoming and lots of fun. It was my first actual group hike and is something I would like to do more of when back home.

Our hike took us out through the town of Hastings (below) between some vegetated bluffs along the southern coastline. Once we were through many of the up and down climbs we had a pretty flat hike through some quaint retirement villages on the coast. We hiked through many pastures filled with sheep and cows, along with their droppings, which we tried to avoid like land mines.

Our ending point was the town of Rye where we caught a train back to London. In all, our hike was around 20 km or approximately 12 miles.

Feeling Cultured

2008-07-01T18:17:00.003-05:00

Last night Anne took me to experience my first musical, Les Miserable. Memories of listening to the musical cassette came flashing back and it was nice to be able to understand what was actually going on. The play was very well done and was more enjoyable than I imagined. I will definitely try to get to more plays when I have the opportunity.

Today, Anne and I went down to Canary Wharf to visit the Docklands. We went to the Docklands Museum and went through their Jack The Ripper tour that was very interesting. It took us more than an hour to go through some of the stories, police reports, pictures and evidence that had been retrieved from his victims. I learned that "Jack" is to this day still an unidentified cereal killer. He targeted the "unfortunate," otherwise known as prostitutes in the Whitechapel area. Because his identity has never been confirmed, there are many myths surrounding the murders which we had to sort through. I have came to the conclusion that there was more than one killer, but who really knows?

Afterwards, we walked across Tower Bridge, which is often mistaken for London Bridge. From there we took a city boat to Westminster and walked back to the flat, about 3.5 miles. It was a beautiful day and was the hottest of the year, a scorching 82 degrees with no humidity. The weather here is perfectly suitable for my taste and I will have a tough time adjusting to the hotter, more humid temperatures in Decorah.

Tomorrow Anne and I are heading to the southern part of England for a hike with her hiking group. The hike will total 12 miles and should be lots of fun. Our train leaves around 9:30 and we wont arrive home until later in the evening. It will be nice to get out of the city and enjoy some beautiful England countryside.

As always, take care.

Cheers, bye!