The Touchet's - 'Bout Time...

I really can't believe I haven't been up about this yet, but our friends Paul and Amy finally got sealed a few weeks ago in the Oakland Temple.

The Touchet's are awesome - Paul was there with me when I first went snowboarding - it was his radios that we used to communicate with each other after the other guys ditched me and I was laying in the pow laughing and eating frozen fruit snacks. They would radio me and laugh as they passed over me on the chairlift, and laugh as I would get lost run after run, and laugh when I complained that my mustache was too cold. (BTW - it was totally fine with them laughing, as I was doing pretty much the same thing at myself...) Oh man - that was the day that I over-extended my knee and learned that I wasn't 22 anymore - and since I played hooky from work I had to tell me co-workers and boss that I injued it getting out of the bathtub. Yikes... memories...

Amy is equally awesome. My first experience with her was when she and Paul came up from San Jose to visit Matt - Paul played football with us and Amy went running. In the freezing cold and rainy weather. They both board like demons, they both play in multiple soccer leagues (well, Amy is damned near ready to burst preggers, so she is taking a break right now) and they play "Celebrities" with a touch that only they can bring to the game. "Politically correct term for a homosexual?" anyone?

I'm kind of obligated to say the sealing was great - I mean, they're going to be together forever, their kid is going to be born in the covenent and they have completed one of the essential requirements for Celestial glory (wow - that doesn't sound weird AT ALL written out like that) but I gotta say this - the ceremony was LONG. And to be honest, there were at least three people who didn't know what in the world the sealer was talking about. Me, Matt, and I am pretty sure the Sealer as well had no idea... he just rambled on... and on... and on...

But it was great seeing them kneeling there promising to each other and the Lord that they would always be together. Even if Paul sees more of himself in the mirror than he's supposed to...

After the sealing we drove to Claimjumper (my first time) where we had great FREE food (free because Paul and Amy's bishop was an original investing partner in Costco - LOADED). They ordered us appetizers, entrees and then dessert, which we didn't really finish off but had a fun time eating anyway.

Sad But True (Part II)

So, this is going to be sad but true for all the ladies out there...

On Sunday I am sitting in Church contemplating life, hating my job and just generally trying to figure out how to rid myself of stress. And then it dawns on me like a light from above. The "conversation" went something like this:

ANDY!

Yo Yo - what it is?

YOU ARE IN NO POSITION TO MAKE A LIFE-ALTERING DECISION ABOUT YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE STRESSED, WORK CRAZY HOURS, AND THERE'S NO WAY YOU HAVE ROOM FOR ANYTHING ELSE.

Well, that's true I guess - but I have to finish what I started, and I only have six weeks left to do it.

HMMMM. IS THERE ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE THAT NEEDS TO BE CORRECTED? ANYTHING THAT YOU NEED TO DO THAT YOU DON'T CURRENTLY, OR VICE VERSA?

Actually yeah - I could keep my car and my room tidier I suppose. And I really wanna get out of the room I'm in, get into the trailer. I wanna get in the habit of brushing my teeth at the house instead of when I get to the office in the morning.

OK, WELL I AM ABOUT TO LOWER YOUR STRESS LEVEL BY PROHIBITING YOU FROM DATING FOR THE NEXT SIX WEEKS.

Come again...

THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID... BUT SERIOUSLY, IF YOU DON'T WORRY ABOUT GIRLS, THAT WILL TAKE ANOTHER LEVEL OF STRESS OUT OF YOUR LIFE.

But you know since J and I broke up, I've been on like two and a half dates.

YES OF COURSE I KNOW YOU IDIOT! BUT THERE'S ALWAYS THE THOUGHT IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND, AND IF YOU TAKE AWAY THAT THOUGHT - POOF! - NO MORE THOUGHT, AND YOU CAN CONCENTRATE ON BETTERING YOURSELF AND NOT WORRY ABOUT THE HOURS OR THE STRESS HAVING AN ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOUR RELATIONSHIPS (OR IN YOUR CASE, LACK THEREOF)

Ha ha ha - you are so funny. But okay, unless something amazing happens, I'll be date-free for six weeks.

YOU MEAN SIX MORE WEEKS! NO... I KID, I KID...

Jackass...

Sad But True (Part I)

In the first part of our sad but true entry...

1. Kumquats Lose??

Yes folks, we knew it had to happen sometime, and it was one hell of a way to go out last night. We lost our league championship in penalty kicks after a 2-2 tie ended the game. I was, needless to say, not happy with my performance, especially since the team played their hearts out with two of our best players missing. Stupid wedding in Boston, New Hampshire. Stupid elders' quorum meetings.

I got two goals scored on me - the first was a phenomenal shot from about 25 yards out that no one saw coming, right into the upper 90 on my right side... I did my best to get there, but I just ain't 22 no more. But that could be a whole other episode of SBT. The second goal got passed a defender to dribble about five yards from the goal, where I did my best to cut his angle, but he was able to sneak a ball past to the far side. What stinks about that is that I got my hand on the ball, and EVERY ball I get my hand on should be a save.

On the plus side, Matt had a supremely awesome goal that no one knew was going in until in actually went it. I couldn't tell if he was trying to cross the ball and got a lucky touch or if he was actually shooting, but I'll tell you this... his eyes were closed the whole time when he let that thing fly... right into the side netting from an impossible angle about 30 yards from the goal almost on the endline from what I could see.

Remember that high school playoff game where I stopped three PKs and we won? Oh you don't? Right - I didn't know any of you in high school... well, there was this playoff game, where I stopped three PKs to win it.

That didn't happen last night. I got my hand on one (AGAIN? SERIOUSLY?) that ended up scoring anyway and didn't really come close to any of the others, and they ended up winning the PK battle 5-4.

Ugh - not only do I hate losing, but I hate it when another keeper looks better than me. He saved one PK. I really hate that... Almost to the point where I am going to start working out every day to get the form back. Almost... I haven't decided yet...

The one saving grace out of the whole game was afterward when a member of the DB white team started talking trash to us about poaching one of their players (ie - asking her to play for us not him.) Now, while we did ask her to play for us you have to understand a few things:

1. She was not on his roster and only filled in playing for his team for one game
2. She goes to the singles ward with Tyson and me
3. She has a HUGE crush on Tyson and would play with him in the Naked Arctic League
4. She's good (and from Tennessee, but that's neither here nor there)

So this guy was talking trash basically saying "Hi, I'm a huge tool - would you like to take some of your aggression from the loss you just had and direct that to me?" And Matt and I took him up on his kind offer. We stood there verbally abusing this little prick, while he could come up with nothing. It got to be so fun that Danielle, another girl on our team, got into it while knowing nothing of what was going on. I won't repeat here what was said for our more fragile feminine readers, but it was awesome. And fun, and we got to relieve that tension and put me in a somewhat better mood.

Part II. (Coming Tomorrow...)

Avast Ye Mateys!

In honor of "International Talk Like A Pirate Day" (that's today, btw...) I've decided to catch you all up on the happenings in my life since I've been incommunicado over the last week or so - or, at least some interesting little anectodes... Work's making me walk the plank, so if I start to drag, give me a kick in the pants and I'll get it back up...

1. Kumquats sans Andy, with Andy - Arrrrgh... So I had t' travel t' Washin'ton, D.C. last week (more on that later) and that port me buckos t' Kumquats land-lubbin' high and dry without a goalkeeper. Luckily, we called Matt's brother Andy t' come and play. Despite havin' an auspicious start, he played well and t' Kumquats won 5-2. I really wish I could have seen it - he played in gardenin' gloves and I can only say it must have been a sight! BTW - that brought t' Kumquats' record t' 6-1 overall...

2. Trip t' DC - So from time t' time I have t' travel t' D.C. for work - well, let me tell you - its a swamp. Always has been, always will be. I won't bore you with t' details, but let me just tell you about t' trip thar, and that will give you an accurate picture o' what I had t' deal with t' whole time I was thar.

So we were s'posed t' get on a plane in Sacramento, fly t' Phoenix and be in D.C. that night by 10:00 PM t' get a good night's rest before t' fundraisin' breaksmartly t' next mornin'. Well, we were delayed gettin' out o' Sacramento... first because they brought up t' wrong jetway t' t' plane, and it didn't fit, then because thar was a broken seat and they had t' kick people off a full flight and aftrage people's seatin'. Ugh - seriously... what's so hard about this? Get t' damn plane ready so we can leave. We end up missin' out connection, and t' only thin' t' airline can do (after MUCH bandyin' 'bout) be put us in Dulles at 7:30 (had t' be on Capitol Hill by 8:00) after takin' a red-eye t' Philadelphia. Not goin' t' happen. So they finally re-route us through NEWARK, NJ (seriously... Newark?) so we can catch a freakin' train that leaves thar at 3:20 be t' get into Union Station at 7:25.

This all happens, o' course, without a hitch and we end up in Washin'ton havin' gotten NO SLEEP, and then had t' have two full days o' meetin's... as wrong as that trip went, t' whole D.C. trip followd suit...

3. Date in D.C. - t' one shinin' moment from t' whole voyage t' D.C. was me date with Stacy. She be a bucko o' Kim and Jereme, two o' me closest buckos who I've known and adored for forever, but who live in D.C. so I don't get t' see them that much. Unfortnately Jereme had a death in t' family, so I missed them again -they had t' go t' Iowa for t' funeral. But that meant I got t' out with Stacy, which I've wanted t' do for a while."

T' date was great - t' whole time we really had a great conversation (she really be most interestin', havin' just finished her dissertation on hip-hop as a peace-buildin' tool) - we ate at this great street cafe, then went aft t' her place t' check out t' mural that's painted on t' side o' her house in Columbia Heights, and it turns out her neighbors were randomly showin' a Buster Keaton silent movie on t' side o' their house! So we watched that sittin' on her porch sofa and I got t' show off a little o' me knowledge o' Mr. Keaton (see me Yankees post if you don't remember). We went t' eat gelatto after and we had a really great time.

I would say that we'll be seein' more and more o' each other, but she lives 3,000 miles away and if her grant comes through will be spendin' up t' six months out o' t' year in Uganda. Such be me luck...

Here be a lil' Buster for ya'll:

4. Red Bullsh*t - So t' other night I was watchin' 106 and Park on BET on t' TV in me office, and I was in t' mood for a good beat by t' time I port. I work in an area o' town with a lot o' bars, so it was't really a surprise, but was pleasant, that I walked out and heard someone spittin' lyrics and workin' t' 1's and 2's.

I figger'd where it was comin' from and stepped into t' bar, and doubled t' size o' t' crowd that was thar. It wasn't great music, but I was in t' mood t' dig it, in a good mood as I always be LEAVING t' office, and sat down at t' bar t' listen.

Well, I don't like sittin' at t' bar and not orderin' anythin', so I asked t' bartender for a Red Bull, me first in a LONG time. She gave it t' me... still in t' can, so you know this be a classy join', and I sat bobbin' me head t' t' beat.

Halfway through me "drink" it stopped. T' guys stopped playin', stopped rappin', just stopped. And went over t' t' bar and sat down. Er? Turns out it was a one-song soundcheck, and they weren't goin' on for another hour or so.

Screw that - so I port... leavin' a half-finished, $4.50 Red Bull on t' bar... Stupid, misleadin' soundchecks..."

5. Kumquats Last Night - so we won again! Whoo! But this one was not-so-great, as we won with a forfeight. I mean, we played t' team anyway and beat t' pants off 'em, but still, winnin' like that doesn't mean as much. We won 5-1, and t' wussies on t' other team kept cryin' foul (we were playin' without refs) and they called offsides on almost every sin'le goal we scored (t' scorin' tally: Danielle, Matt, Kelly Law, Conrad and TJ, a replacement) and they were all really nice goals.

We posessed t' ball at LEAST 97% o' t' time, and I got so bored at one point that I let a ball get starboard in fore o' me so t' opposin' player had a chance t' score and I could make a save. Turns out he DID score and I DIDN'T make a save, but what can you do?

That brin's us 7-1 on t' season, and next week we face t' tie-dye team in t' CHAMPIONSHIP! That's starboard folks - we be defendin' out title next week, so get those good luck wishes in now! WOOT!

Andy Gets Rejected, Racial Profiling and Charoodles

Man - I can't believe I've been so caught up in work that I haven't blogged about our weekend activities - that's most likely cause this weekend, while fun, wasn't anything near as fun as the last two... Oh well...
Friday night was interesting - I was dog tired after Gen. Clark was here for two days and took up all my time - I ended up working like a dog for about 35 hours those two days, so once Friday night rolled around, not only was I tired as could be, I was looking BEAT. And no, that's not an exageration.

So the Mag 7 got together and we were hanging out at Ryan and Ashley's place (well, Ryan was hanging out, Ashley was doing homework) and I got a call from a girl who a few friends had been trying to set me up with. For her sake I will keep her anonymous... We had been sending text messages back and forth and it seemed to be going well, but we had been unable to meet for this reason or that - there was a close encounter at a YSA fireside but she thought I was one of the doofy-looking performers and so when I told her I bounced early, she didn't think twice. (After I told her I was not one of the doofy-looking performers, we started texting again...)

So I got a call and she told me was coming over to see me, along with her friend, after they were out playing glow-in-the-dark disco minigolf. No, that's not made up...

She comes over and I see her for the first time - cute girl, taller, athletic, etc. So we decide to go to Big Spoon, a fantastic yogurt place that I'll describe in full detail when I have more time. I get in the car with her and her friend and we head off. There isn't much conversation in the car on the way there - mostly because my feeble attempts were off because of the exhaustion, and everytime I made a comment she and her friend would go off on an inside joke of some kind. Moving on...

The yogurt was great, we were with the Mag 7 so it wasn't all bad, but I could tell that she wasn't feeling it when I brought a chair over for her and she tried to get her friend to sit in it. HA! There's your sign...

We got back to the house after and she told me she was going to bounce - okay... Even after that I thought there might be more to it and I sent her a text message, to which she replied:

"I think you are looking for something more serious that I am right now. I just got out of a serious relationship (Editor's Note - 4 months). I've had fun talking to you, but I'm really not interested."

Go figure...

So I replied:

"I think it's funny that you think I'm interested in something serious - you're the first person to ever tell me that. I can respect that you just got out of something serious - if you want to keep the channels of communication open, feel free - but I guess I'll just catch you on the flip side."

Her loss - and that's the last you'll hear me talk about it...

Saturday was alright - Matt (along with our Kumquats teammate Chad, who buzzed his head because David Beckham buzzed his head) coaches a 12-year-old soccer team that Marcus and Thomas play on, so Mom and Dad Bragg, Tani, Kellie, Andy and I went to watch. They tied 1-1, but it was really fun watching the game and got me all nostalgic for when I played in a similar league in Alexandria - I remember the first time they put me in goal with an oversized t-shirt and no gloves. It was so cold that during halftime we all crowded in my Dad's brown Buick station wagon drinking hot chocolate out of a thermos to stay warm...

After that I had to go back to work, but then it was time for water games at Matt's parents house (Matt, Joe and I beat the crap out of Thomas, Marcus and their little friend - go figure) and then it was off to Mongolian BBQ.

Oh my...

So naturally all the people who work at the MBBQ are Asian. Let me say that first, and they all wear white t-shirts of some kind and jeans, and black aprons... that's very important...

We all went through the line and I was HUNGRY and I like my food SPICY so I heaped the red pepper oil into my bowl like it was going out of style. Poor Tiff went right after me and got a douse of red pepper in her bowl as well. Tiff does NOT like spicy food - she likes food plain tomato seasoned vs. ketchup seasoned because ketchup is too spicy...

So she was sad and I felt bad and I wanted to rectify it, so I stopped one of the Asian waitresses and asked her if Tiff could go through again because of the spice fiasco. Of course they will let her, right?

Well, I don't know... the particular Asian who I decided to stop, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, was NOT a waitress at the MBBQ. Repeat - she was a customer and smiled and simply told me that she didn't work there.

WHAT!? I mean, you hear of things like this happening, but come on! Not to me! I mean, was this racial profiling? Was it her fault for being dressed that same as the help (minus, of course, the all-important black apron) or was it simply entertainment for Kellie and Tiff who had to cover their faces to keep people from seeing how much they were laughing.

I guess it was really all three. I was pretty mortified at first, but then I got to thinking, "I'm not used to having Asians around. In SC there aren't that many, and when you go into an Oriental restaurant, chances are the Asian person there works there." Not so in California, where there are more Asians than black people. I guess it would be like someone from lilly white Roseville going to a BBQ place in the South and assuming the black dude worked there?

No, probably not... Probably not at all...

Anyway, I finally got a REAL waitress who told Tiff she could go through again. But man... damn me and my wanting to put everything right when I feel like I've wronged someone...

We ended the night playing charadles, charoodles, or something along those lines and the boys beat up on the girls pretty badly - during the which we ate home-made cinammon rolls from Ashley, and they were devine!

Unfortunately, though - nothing could top the entertainment that comes from racial profiling...

Who You Gonna Call...

YES!

I don't really post much news on my blog - mainly, as you know, it's a way for me and my friends to re-live our adventures, and to make the people who couldn't come on those adventures rethink their priorities and want to come next time. That and to keep my family abreast of what's going down in AndyLand...

But this was too good to pass up...

It's official - they are making a Ghostbusters 3!! Hell Yeah!

Reports are that Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis and Sigourney Weaver have all signed on, and the original GB3 script, which was written by Dan Akroyd (who wrote the first two) is being re-written by Gene Stupinsky and Lee Eisenberg, who are series prodcers and writers for the funniest show on TV, The Office!

STOKED! It's gonna be great - no line as to when shooting starts or when it's going to be out, but I can't wait and I wanted to share the info with you all - all seven people who read my blog...

I guess my question is what happened to Ernie Hudson?? The article I read didn't mention him at all - it went out of it's way to mention that Rick Moranis was retired and would not be in the movie, but seriously, what's a guy gotta do to be in the third sequel when he's already been in the first two? I hope he's in it...

And another thing - what's up with the segregationalist that took that Ghostbusters original promo piece? Can't no one be seen standing with the black guy?

Sheesh... I'll still see GB3, though -

One Last Hurrah... Part Two

I can't believe the week has gotten away from me and I haven't posted this yet, but here goes, for all of you who have been waiting on pins and needles... (BTW - Kumquats had a bye this week, so no report on the greatest coed Thursday night soccer team in Roseville history...)

So last Monday, Labor Day, I played hookey a little from work and went rafting with eight of us - let's see if we can review the math: The usual seven minus Joe and Tiff, plus Tani and Cameron and Cameron's fiance (no, I don't remember her name.) Cameron's a real, professional river guide so he took Ryan and Ashley in his boat, and the rest of us got in the rented boat where Matt was nominated guide.

WAIT!

I can't believe I almost got into the rafting part without talking about the trip there. We had a great breakfast of eggs and ham ala Kellie, milk and juice ala Tani and croissants ala La Bou (both regular AND chocolate-filled.) We got ourselves situated, got directions to the put-in from Cameron and headed out.

Or, at least we thought we got directions from Cameron - they called about halfway there and gave us new directions, which of course we took the wrong way and ended up waiting 45 minutes at the North Fork of the American River. For those curious, the put-in was at the South Fork. We kept trying to call Cameron to see where he was, but he was out of cell range so basically we just paced and wondered what was going on. The Spirit guided us, however, and after an hour or so, we were on the river... Special thanks to Cameron's unnamed fiancee (LuLu from here on out) for standing on the road at the turnoff waiting for us...

So now we're on the river - Ryan, Ashley, Cameron and LuLu in one boat, and Kellie, Tani, Matt and I in the other. "Wait" you might say, "wouldn't that throw off the manpower on one side of the boat, having three rowers and one guide?" And the answer is "YES..."

We went over a few small rapids at first, played "throw water at the other boat with your oar" in which Kellie would try to splash the other boat, yes mostly got me... and then the other boat would retaliate against Kellie... and get me again...

We got to a small cliff that we were able to climb and jump off - about 30 feet high or so, which was great - except that I had to get guided by Matt on how to get up the rock... and you know how that made me feel... We jumped, but my being so long I hit the bottom with my lower back and got a little scratch. Nothing serious, though...

There were two sets of rapids that had my number - the first, which I don't know the name of, was a 30-yard run or so and I fell out of the boat. Now a little explanation... I was rowing my A$# off because I had Tani and Kellie rowing on the other side, and that caused me to try to get MORE leverege and MORE into the water, which of course caused me to go overboard.

Now, they'll all tell you that you shouldn't hold onto the boat - but let me tell you something - it's FUN holding onto the boat - kinda like an Indy adventure where you're going stealth and hitching a ride but you don't want THEM to see. We went that way for a while and it was fine - I was bouncing off rocks and keeping my knees bent and feet up like I was supposed to... and then there was a monolith and a 17-foot drop in front of us (okay - it was a just a big rock and a small drop, but that sounds more dramatic) and I was headed right toward Sandwichville with a one-way ticket until Matt started digging in and turned us just in time to avoid splattering me all over the side of the rock. Phew...

The other length where I fell out is affectionately reffered to as "Satan's Cesspool" - cute, I know... (what is it with rivers and naming their rapids after the Underlord? I mean, it's always something like "Devil's Gate" or "Hell's Falls" or "Lucifer's Hellfire Hole" or "Satan's Backdoor" - you never hear something like "Happy Eddy" or "Rainbow-time Through" or "Cutie-Pie Rapid"... Seriously...)

I fell out of the boat, once again, and this time the run was about 200 yards long, and I didn't hang on to the oat, but I was floating down the river, trying to keep my head up and bobbing up and down thinking "I wish I would have tightened my life preserver" - that, and "Feet up - watch that rock, don't hit into the rock directly, BREATH" etc...

We finally got through the run and I was able to get back in the boat, but sheesh... that was tough, but SO FUN! Matt was pissed that he didn't get to do a run outside of the raft - it was fun, but I was glad when I got back in the boat.

All-in-all it was a great day, it's just too bad that I had to head to work afterward... BOOO!!!

Here are some great shots of us that a professional photographer took - I'll post other pics and vids when I download the shots from Kellie and Matt's camera...

One Last Hurrah... Part One

This is going to be a pretty long posting, so make like T.O. and grab some popcorn...

Let me start by saying between Labor Day and Election Day I will effctively have no life. That's 63 days of working 16-18-20-22 hours per day and sleeping the rest of the time. It's a day bookended between 6:30 am conference calls and 11:30 pm financial status reports. And that started today... it's a sprint from here on out to the end, which can't come soon enough. I've been through enough of these goat rodeos to know this, which is what made this past weekend all the better...

On Friday we took a trip up to Emigrant Gap, a wonderful place only an hour away but in terms of contrast to the city, it could have been light years away. Peaceful, quiet, isolated, sappy - all of things that make it so different from life in the burbs. Matt and Joe blew off work and headed up there on Friday morning to secure us a good spot, and had an adventure of thier own that I won't get into suffice it to say that it involved dehydration, disorientation, sore knees, chaffing and a near run-in with Giardia. Tani rented a tank for the rest of us to go up in, so she, Kellie, Tiff and I piled in and hit the road after work. And we stopped and ate at Popeye's on the way up...

When we got to the campsight, Matt and Joe, recently having returned from their adventure, were dead to the world. Literally... they were completely exhasted and couldn't even move. We brought them Gatorade and brought them back to life... eventually.

We spent that night around the campfire, talking about Jackson and Brie, mysteries of the gospel, etc, and whittling. It should be noted here that Kellie thinks "whittling" is when she laughs really hard and a little pee comes out. We know that whittling is carving up sticks... one of my all-time favorite things to do. We whittled, talked, and Joe and Tiff made peach cobbler in the dutch oven. YUM! It was delicious, and cooked just right.

I don't have a picture of this, but I'd have to say the highlight of the night was when the girls asked Matt to break a stick in two so they could each whittle - he went to a tree prepared to hit the stick against it to break it into two pieces. A simple task, but just after I warned him to watch out that the broken piece of stick wouldn't fly in our direction, he hits the tree and WHOOSH a piece comes our way. "OUCH" yells Kellie as Matt rushes over to see where he hit her. Well he didn't. He hit Tani and Kellie was the one who yelled becuase the piece breezed past her. Now, you breath on Kellie the wrong way and she'll bruise, but come on... really? The standing joke from that point onward was to check and see if Tani was ookay every time Kellie made an "ouch" sound...

Because Joe and Matt were so done, we decided to call it a night relatively early. It was at this point that I discovered sap on my brand new North Face Cat's Meow sleeping bag. Besides Joe and Tiff, we all sleep in the open air, and there was sap dripping down from the trees onto our sleeping bags. Not life-threatening, but definately annoying. We woke up the next morning with more sap, and Tani had been hit in the face a couple times.

We had a lazy morning on Saturday - got up lazily; Joe cooked breakfast (brunch I guess at this point) lazily; we collected materials at Tiffany's direction for nature art lazily; Kellie and Matt made seperate nature art lazily; we read and gossipped about Brad and Jen and Angelina lazily; Kellie and Tani did forest gymnastics lazily (see Tani's cut leg) and we headed down to the water to have our aquatic fun.

I really can't describe what a good time it was down in the water. It was chilly this weekend, only about 85 degrees maybe, which made the water seem all that colder. I'm going to let the pictures do the majority of the talking - there will be videos on the next posting (probably tomorrow) so check back. This is Tiff's beautiful shot of the big waterfall - all photo credits go to Tiff, who was good enough to not swim and instead just document the trip :) She's quite the artist...

Matt, Joe and I under the waterfall... it was quite the doozey getting there - Matt made is climbing on the rocks all the way across... Joe and I swam there, and it took me a few tries to actually GET on the rocks...

This is me making my Mighty Morphin Porpoise Dive out of the waterfall...

Matt with his Holy Robes of Waterfall Water just before he dove in...

I absolutely love this sequence from Joe - it really gives you a feel for how he is so graceful in the air...

Another great sequence - this time of Matt backflipping from a lower cliff...

Our photographer Tiff with her wet husband and the waterfall (I took this picture... how arty am I?!) I really wanted to say something about the Gollum there in the background, but couldn't come up with anything... thoughts?

I'm really not sure what Kellie is trying to climb here... but it sure is entertaining!

Some people just enjoyed the view and read the whole time...

Matt found some young'uns on which to bestow his cliff-jumping wisdom...

After the water we took our leave of Emigrant Gap and started home. Joe and Tiff didn't have any petrol, so they had to pay $4.74 for gas up the mountain (Joe... you seem a little clenched...) and they had a birthday party to get to, so after a quick nap, Matt, Kellie, Tani and I went to Chevy's and then to see The Rocker. A whole other entry could be written about that experience, but I'll refrain because I am already way long and there's lots more...

Sleeping on Saturday was great - nice and relaxing and peaceful. Then Sunday hit - RACEDAY! Many of you may not know, but I entered a cool race that I was supposed to run down in L.A. called the Nike Human Race 10K - I would have done it there, but none of my L.A. friends were in town to shephard me around - Nike, though, in their infinite wisdom, has devised a way for me to run the race here in Roseville. A chip in my shoe sends a signal to a wrist-worn receiver that clocks through GPS, time, distance, splits, avg mile, etc. I ran a 10K, with my race bib on, through the streets of Granite Bay, in 51.34, a PR. I can't tell you how good it felt, but after that I was ti-ti-tired, so I went to church and slept.

HA! Just kidding...

Church was fine, we talked about Prop 8 (AGAIN) and that's all I'll say on that... After church was fun, too though - we went to Robbie and Amanda Gant's future trailer and started demolition on it - tearing up the floors, tearing wallpaper off the walls, breaking down cabinets, etc. FUN! Except for the wallpaper part. And the cabinets part. And the floor part. But other than that it was a blast. Afterward Matt and I (and Kellie, now that we've got her hooked even though she won't admit it) got a few episodes of The Wire Season Five in... a slow start, but building up nicely...

You may say to yourself that this is more than enough fun packed into a single weekend. But oh no! I don't want to shoot the load too soon, but stay tuned tomorrow as part B reveals RAFTING DAY! Woot!