Pictures I Will Show At Emmett's Wedding and Stuff

Climbing to the Top of the Principal Building

Our Team : Veni Ascendi Vici "We came, we climbed, we conquered"

One small stairwell, and 1,000 steps 41 floors up and you're done - simple. One thing that is lacking in a stairwell where 800 people are scurrying to the top - oxygen. So, after about 6 floors, you start to suck air and think this might be a bad idea. You think, how am I going to drink this when a water-lady gives you a bottle of water at floor 10. When the folks on twenty shout "Way to go! You're half way there!!" You think, "Can I stop, and do I have enough in my tank to punch these cheerleaders in the face?" Then at floors 36 thru 40, the joe-photos are gathered to document you dragging yourself the final floors. When you get to the top they hand you a medal, a towel, and take an extra second to look in your eyes. Once they realize you're okay, they let you have donuts.

I came, I climbed, I conquered.

Peace out.

Father-Daughter Dance - An Annual Affair

I like the part when we walk into the restaurant and they both get quiet like they are leading a somber procession, and then all of the men and women a few feet taller round their cheeks and tilt their heads down and look at my girls. Some of them say, "Oh, you are so pretty," and others just smile then look up at one another then back at my girls again. Sometimes they look at me and smile, and it makes me want to cry, because I know this is a night to remember, some series of images that will press a little deeper into my heart than others. Tonight will leave a scar, and I know when I'm an old man, I'll be standing there when some dad ushers his girls into the restaurant, and I'll bow my head too, and grab my chest and smile while I remember that day..one day.

You're Next

Rookie has decided to stake his territory by taking cheap shots at the dogs Chance and Murray. They are good old dogs, and don't do anything but sleep. Nevertheless, Rookie likes to walk up to Chance, give a hiss, and slap his sweaty dog nose with his de-clawed little pads. Rookie gets no satisfaction out of the interaction because Chance just lifts his head as if to say "well, excuse me." Then he goes back to sleep.

Rookie, we're keeping the dogs. Deal with it!

It's Been Too Cold

We came home last weekend to a thunderous sound emmitting from our basement; yep, our pipes burst. The bad thing was that we had to get our plumber to come quick and patch the pipe while we unloaded our miscellaneous stores from the basement and moved it all to our garage...what a nightmare. The pipe was fixed - our carpet wasn't damaged beyond repair - and the best part was, our little worker-man on staff got to spend the day with his toolbelt on.

It's A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock And Roll -AC/DC

Noah is officially a member of The Little Rockers climbing club at our local Climb Iowa event center. He loves it, and it shows. They have learned how to not only belay with ropes, auto-belay, but also bouldering.



I was amazed to see the class racing side by side while carrying a nerf ball with them to the top of the wall. Serious fun!

Black Belt

Sometimes it's best to just go with the flow and not try and upset the natural order of things.

I have a favorite black belt that I wear.  It is, in fact, the only one I wear these days.  Danielle told me the old fashion standard of matching the color of the shoes with the belt was long gone, and it didn't really matter anymore.  Anyway, after I picked myself up off the floor after that one, I decided to wear the heck out of my favorite black belt, so I did, and I have -- whatever.  I put that baby on in the morning, and take it off at night, setting it majestically atop the mound of thirty or so lesser belts from by-gone days, old ropy looking things, fancy buckles that I bought during my "cowboy phase" and never had the guts to wear even once, a couple I bought too large just out of shear laziness, a cottony-knitted thing that jumped into my hand like a flying lemur before I could get out of the damn Active Endeavors store (I don't climb, don't even camp, really, I have no business in that store -- other than the seductive allure of the belts, or course).  

The next morning I think to myself, "what belt should I wear?", and I look down at my old black leather friend and think, "Yes, you'll do quite nicely with my suede bucks, blue genes, and turtle neck sweater." -- and so it goes.  So it's my favorite belt, you get that.  Now something else has been happening...it's a shocker...it's getting curvy.  I don't consider myself a fat man by any means, but apparently this belt has, after repeated use, contoured to my belly-age and has formed quite a distinct "wow" in it.  I always put my belt on feeding it from the right to the left, wrapping around the torso, and pulling the excess through with my right hand and grabbing the buckle with my left, and snugging that sucker down.  Now, if I held the belt up by the buckle it doesn't hang straight down, no.  Instead, it corkscrews, and curves boldly to one side.

I noticed it this morning and was a bit horrified.  It's my favorite belt, so I decided to take action.  But what to do?  I thought I could just hang it from a hanger at night when I put it to bed and gravity would straighten it out, but that wouldn't work -- not enough mass for gravity to get the job done.  I ruled out brute force and just pulling it straight...it's made of leather...it's a ridiculous option.  Finally I decided just to reverse the action by reversing the belt.  Instead of right to left I decided to go left to right.  Now, maybe you think it's silly, but try it sometime.  I equate it to eating cereal with your opposite hand, or putting your dress shirt on with the buttons on the back.  It's a seemingly simple task, but completely locks your mind in a pretzel for a few seconds.  Once it's on it feels no different, but getting it there is a trick.  But that's not the worst part.

I met Danielle for lunch.  I was excited to meet her, we don't get to do that very often.  We went to a local bar and grill for a nice lunch.  We had a lot of fun little things to talk about, and I got caught up in the conversation.  I had to go to the bathroom before we even got to the restaurant and found myself 40 seconds into a 30 second fuse.  I excused myself and found my way to the restroom, got into the squirrel cage, got my bearings, and then the Lucy skit started.  Knees locked, tribal rhythm, beads of sweat forming, and my fingers clawing at my good old - never let me down - black belt.  I was an astronaut on Apollo 13 trying to get the right sequence for starting up the re-entry vehicle, "why can't I figure this thing out!!!"  I was into the launch sequence, the engines were firing, and I hadn't untethered the craft!  I took a moment, let my mind relax, and solved the problem in the nick of time.

I don't know if I'll reverse the belt again tomorrow.  I might just go back to my old comfortable habits.  But if you want to live on the edge, if you want to test yourself, if you want to walk on the wild side, try walking backwards all day, or hanging upside down for a few hours, or if you really want a thrill, wear your belt backwards.