Some of my favorite worship songs

Here's a few of my other favorite worship songs we do at our church:

• Delirious' Rain Down (the 1st 10 seconds is just a title slide -- not part of the real song)
• Delirious' Majesty / Here I Am (chorus is very powerful)
• Chris Tomlin's Let God Arise
• Chris Tomlin's How Can I Keep from Singing (nice buildup at the bridge that begins at about 2:40 mark)
• Chris Tomlin's Amazing Grace / My Chains Are Gone (song written for the 2006 movie about the early American slave trade called "Amazing Grace" ... Tomlin adds his own chorus that's very nice).
• Chris Tomlin's Not To Us

Great new song we just did this Sunday

OK, maybe we should change the name of our church from "Cathedral of Praise" to "Cathedral of Tomlin", since we do so many of his songs. I just can't help it -- he tends to write so many clear, beautiful songs that really capture what's in my heart that I want to sing out ... kind of like Rush Limbaugh does for political stuff, Chris Tomlin does for worship songs.

Anyway, we did a great new song this Sunday morning called "Glorious" ... see below for a really cool performance of this at some conference called "Passion" in 2006 ... I really like the lady Christy Nockels' voice -- I have not heard of her before. I'm not familiar with the Passion conferences -- maybe I should look into them more and try to attend one -- they look awesome!

Bitter clingers, my next "original" bumper sticker idea

Since my "original" idea for a NOBAMA bumper sticker turned out to be not-so-original, maybe I can follow that up with my next great idea for a bumper sticker:

Bitter Clingers for McCain / Palin

Happy Labor Day weekend ... The tequila isn't working!

So my wife is off for her big birthday weekend with her girlfriends while I'm with my kids all weekend. Hmmm, was that a bad sign that Natasha, Corey, and Jennifer didn't have their wedding rings on when they left to go out last night?

Anyway, the tequila I gave the kids really hasn't kept them as calm as I'd hoped. They're still bickering with each other over toys, etc. I guess they're kind of "angry drunks" when they have tequila!

(I'm just kidding, by the way --I've loaded them up on Benadryl, not tequila).

(Kidding again)

We're off in a few minutes to drive around ... maybe go to a park or restaurant for lunch. Happy Labor Day weekend!

On years of "experience" for public office

There's this line of political stories going on about whether Obama or Palin is "experienced" enough to be President or VP. I don't really buy into that whole theory that much.

While I don't think someone should be President who's never really held any kind of public office (there's kind of a minimum needed), both Obama and Palin have pretty high level office experience.

No, to me, the issue is, "where does the candidate stand on the issues I care about?" If they support the issues I care about and support my views, to me that significantly trumps number of years of experience being WRONG (in my opinion) on an issue. Biden has many years of being in the Senate / foreign relations committee / etc. But I don't support his positions on issues, so why would the experience of many years of being WRONG on an issue be a positive?

I'm sure many of my friends (and extended family) who are more liberal don't feel that McCain's years of experience matter -- they care about that McCain doesn't support the issues in the way that they think Obama does.

McCain picks Alaska governor Sarah Palin for VP

This is pretty cool. While I would rather the actual nominee for President (not just VP) be a real conservative (and not someone, say, who's been duped by the gore-bull warming crap), this VP choice is great from my standpoint. One of the things libs always wrongly accuse conservatives of is being racist and sexist -- by just assigning labels and calling names they don't have to address the actual issues and arguments with intellectual debate. So it's pretty ironic that the GOP could end up with the first woman in the White House that's not a First Lady. She supports drilling in ANWR (which, unfortunately, McCain does not). See link here: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080830/D92SIC400.html

It's funny how the media / libs wanted McCain to pick Leiberman and be a "maverick". But if the libs are who we're trying to defeat in the election, why should McCain pick a VP candidate that said libs would PREFER?

Personally, I wouldn't mind if Palin and McCain switched spots on the ticket...

Sept 2008 postscript / final thoughts / reflections from 1998 Grand Canyon / California Trip

Postscript, September 2008
Well, since this trip memoir was written, I have married Natasha (May 2001) and had two beautiful kids, Daniel (2003) and Lauren (2004). I would definitely love to take my family on a Grand Canyon hike someday. With us having kids very soon after getting married, we have not yet traveled as much as I would like. However, we will definitely do more of that as the kids get older. I don’t want my kids to have to wait until their mid 20s to be able to see some of the great stuff I’ve seen.

It was an interesting experience taking Natasha to the Grand Canyon for the first time. When we were dating (about 9 months before we got married), we took a 2-week vacation to Arizona and Colorado in the summer of 2000. We went first to Durango and the Ouray area, then went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Because my first experience in the Canyon was so moving for me personally, and because I’d seen other folks have such emotional reactions to seeing the Canyon for the first time, I had really hyped up the Grand Canyon to Natasha, and sort of expected her to have a similar emotional experience. One thing I hadn’t considered, though, was that we were coming to the Canyon after already seeing the spectacular mountains of Ouray and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, two places which in some ways are more impressive than the Grand Canyon. Maybe if you want someone to be blown away by the Grand Canyon, you shouldn’t show them Ouray first – Ouray is just freakishly beautiful.

OK, so, no, she didn’t freak out, say “oh my god”, or start crying. I think I over-hyped it a bit and expected it to be as powerful to her as it was to me the first time. But she does agree that the view from that North Rim lodge balcony is one of the best places on Earth to have a margarita! (Also in the running might be the view from the Princeville hotel bar and restaurant in Kauai where we had our honeymoon).

The only really bad part of this trip was ruining those 3-4 rolls of film by double-exposing it at the Grand Canyon and at Emigrant Wilderness. I really think there were several professional quality shots on there. I really have not had much opportunity to travel to places that beautiful to do some photography since then, and it may be a while before I get a chance to photograph places that awesome again. I’d really like a do-over on those rolls.

A few other lessons learned from this trip. If I do go back and do the rim-to-rim hike with my family, I probably would not go along with the philosophy of getting up at 4-5am so that your main hiking is complete by, say 10am. I understand the point of beating the heat, but getting up that early--especially when sleeping in a tent on the ground--is brutal. Getting enough sleep and having a relaxing breakfast to fuel up for the tough hiking might be worth trading off for hiking in a little hotter weather (finishing by, say, noon or 1pm instead of by 1030 or 11am). I know Natasha and my daughter Lauren are NOT morning persons, so I think they’d probably agree with me there. Probably the best bet is to plan the hike in the Spring or Fall when temperatures are cooler.

A headlamp would have really come in handy to be able to find things in the dark yet have both hands free. And I should definitely try to pack lighter. I love the pictures I took, but that tripod was HEAVY. Maybe I can afford some ultra light carbon fiber tripod for the next trip!

Since writing this memoir, Steve and Kim have adopted two kids, Taylor ( a girl) and Ryan (boy). Also, Robert and Linda had their first child a couple of years ago, Katherine Giles Canaan (it could be debated that Katie was their 2nd child – with their first child being their golden retriever, Trooper!) Now that we all have kids, I really look forward to maybe going on a great hiking trip sometime with both of their families, along with mine.

The adventure continues…

1998 Grand Canyon, California Trip, part 10

Parting Thoughts / Lessons Learned
Photographically speaking, there may be more good landscape/nature pictures to be had at the Emigrant Wilderness than at the Grand Canyon. However, just being able to say that you hiked rim-to-rim has a nice, manly sound to it. It’s just very hard to capture the majesty of the Grand Canyon photographically. Human eyes can see far more contrast and depth than you can get from a picture. I have seen great pictures of the Canyon but was only moderately impressed. You definitely need to go see it in person. Maybe you’ll even cry and say “oh my god” like some folks I saw. OK, maybe you won’t cry, but you’ll definitely be impressed.

If you don’t like crowds, go to the North Rim. It’s closed in winter and it takes 3-4 hours longer to get to from Phoenix or Flagstaff than the South Rim. This extra travel time required really thins the herds. Plus, it’s 1000 feet higher than the South Rim, which makes it cooler in the summer. Also, the view from the North Rim Lodge bar while you’re having a beer or margarita is one of the best in the world. But, you also need to see Plateau Point, which is much easier to hike to from the South Rim.

You can hike down the Bright Angel Trail to the Indian Garden campground, then out to Plateau Point and back out in a long day hike (12 miles round trip, 3000+ feet of elevation change), but it’s tough, and it takes twice as long to hike out as it does to hike in. Allow 10-12 hours, and bring plenty of water and food. If you’re doing a long hike, Gatorade / drink mix powders to mix in your water bottle can help prevent “water intoxication”. Heed all heat precautions...it gets very hot in the Canyon interior, even though it may be cool on the Rim. The advantage of backpack camping or staying down at Phantom Ranch is that you can hike at a much more leisurely pace, knowing you have a place to stay in the Canyon. But you have to plan and get reservations for Phantom Ranch and campgrounds pretty far in advance. If you stay at Phantom Ranch, be sure to pick up a Phantom Ranch t-shirt, which they only sell down there (can’t get ‘em in the rim gift shops).

If you want to go to Plateau Point and Phantom Ranch but don’t want to hike, you can take a mule ride. However, this really doesn’t appeal to me personally. I don’t like being stuck with a large tour group. Also, there are some pretty hairy spots along some points of the trail where there are some steep cliffs and drop-offs. I think I’d rather be standing on my own two feet rather than sitting 6 feet up on a swaying mule next to a cliff edge. Remember, the mules walk CLOSER to the edge of the cliff when passing other hikers.

So go there. Hike. You can definitely get away from quite a bit of the crowds by hiking, esp. at the South Rim. Be blown away by the view. Take some awesome photographs, but don’t put your film back in the camera after you’ve already exposed it once. Take water (and drink mix). Don’t feed the animals ... they’ll find your food and take it from your pack without your help. A headlamp is useful. A walking stick is useful. Earn the T-shirt. Get out of the mules’ way. Don’t fall in. The Grand Canyon most certainly does not suck.

Grand Canyon, California Trip, part 9

Sat/Sun 9/5-9/6—California, 60 HR, Emigrant Wilderness
After finding out that Mark McGwire had hit HR #60 to tie Babe Ruth (we later found out it may have been with the help of some steroids in addition to the andro) while I was hiking in the Canyon, I called my friend Robert Canaan Friday night to check in and discuss our hiking plans in California. We had originally planned a car camping / day hike, but he and Linda instead arranged an overnight hike in a place that proved to be well worth the extra effort to hike in a few miles. Since I was very tired from the Canyon hike, I was a little skeptical of doing an overnight hike instead of just an easier day hike, but it turned out to be well worth the effort.

My friends planned a hike in the Emigrant Wilderness, which is on the northern border of Yosemite National Park. I still was pretty tired, stiff, and sore from the Canyon hike, so putting on the heavy backpack again was a struggle. Of course, that was mostly my own doing, because I stubbornly insisted on carrying the 8-lb tripod with me on this hike as well. But that proved to be a good idea, because I would not have gotten some good, long-exposure photos without it. And on this hike, we ended up having some of the best light for landscape pictures I have ever seen.

Emigrant Wilderness is in the Sierra Nevada range, and features small, cool-looking mountains, lots of exposed granite formations (it looks a lot like Enchanted Rock in places, but with more trees and greenery), pretty lakes, very green alpine meadows, and big pine trees. And, fortunately, no bears. There weren’t even that many people there on this Labor Day Weekend. We got rained on for awhile in the afternoon, but it cleared up about 6pm. At one point, the sunset looked like the glow from an ethereal volcano just over the horizon. My friend Steve, after later looking at the pictures I took of it, proclaimed the sunset to be “fake” and that I had “made it up using computer graphics.” This was Steve’s way of saying that it looked pretty cool. We had a good dinner, drank a bottle of Livermore Valley Cabernet, then smoked a Cuban Montecristo, complements of Dr. Klein and of Steve for giving it to us. It was perfectly clear and crisp (about 50 degrees), which is perfect “cigar weather.”

Then the moon came out. Man, I have never seen anything like this moon that night. It seemed much brighter than normal because there were no other city lights to compete with, and it was a very clear evening. Even before the moon rose over the horizon, there was a glow from it that seemed like the sun was about to come up. When it did finally rise, you could see everything clearly. There were distinct shadows, and you probably could have read a book by the moonlight (I should have brought one – didn’t think of that). I took an entire roll of film just of the moon that night, and Steve later mistook one of these moon shots for a sunset!

I slept for awhile in the 4-man tent with Robert and Linda, but because of my bad snoring, I kept waking them up. Then they kept elbowing me to get me to stop snoring, waking me up. I decided that I would volunteer to “break the cycle” before we got too irritated with each other, and I moved my sleeping bag / pad outside on the rocks sometime around 1 or 2am. That actually worked out really well because it was such a nice, clear, cool night. The stars and moon were still really beautiful. We all slept better after that!

I woke up with a bit of dew on me. It felt like it was about mid 40s F, and the moon was getting close to the other horizon. I snapped about 18-20 more pictures of the moon, then Linda and I had a good breakfast of oatmeal and coffee. Robert slept in until about 830am, then he got up and made his breakfast. While he ate and packed up, I climbed up this really cool rock formation that towered 200-300 feet over our campsite. I took lots of pictures of this, but unfortunately, I double-exposed a roll for the SECOND time, so I lost many of these pictures, too. (At least now that I have a digital camera I don’t have to worry about that).

We then packed up camp and headed over to Chewing Gum Lake (so named for its small, 1-3 foot diameter boulders that dot the shore of the lake that appear to be small wads of gum). There we ate trail mix and beef stick (now a staple on all my hikes). I threw a roll of black-and-white film in the camera for the hike out, and was very pleased with several shots, especially of the lake and some large dead trees. If you’re into fishing (which I’m not), this small lake looks to be a great fishing spot, and you would probably be there alone if you went there on a non-holiday weekday.

We drove back to Livermore about 5pm and had a great Mexican dinner. Robert and Linda had to work the next day, but I didn’t, so I had a couple of really good margaritas. When I got home from the trip, Mark McGwire just hit home run #62 and Sammy Sosa matched him shortly thereafter. It was very cool at the time. Of course, we now know that they were on steroids when they did … sigh.

1998 Grand Canyon, California Trip, part 8

Friday 9/4--uphill 3000', rest houses, mules, people, a shower!
Our final day in the Canyon, I started hiking about 615am. This was the most aerobic of my hikes. Although the pack was lighter from having eaten most of the food, it was still quite heavy because of my camera stuff, and the fact that I’d over-packed. As I trudged along, I was thinking of the line from Princess Bride where the Spaniard asks Wesley, “slow going?” while he climbs up the cliff.

Being the “cheerful” morning person that I am, I got a bit irritated at Maria for being able to bounce up the trail and say cheerful “good morning” to the equally cheerful people passing us as they went downhill into the canyon. Those folks hiking downhill are always so freaking cheerful! Most folks are more grumpy like me when they’re going uphill. In Maria’s defense, she had packed much lighter and more efficiently in her pack, and so got to enjoy the results.

As we got closer to the South Rim, the trail got more and more crowded, especially compared to the North Rim trail. I passed many groups of tourists (more foreign than domestic), and at least 4 mule trains heading down. I suppose I was a tourist, too, but since I smelled bad and looked scruffy, that places me in the category of backpacker, not tourist.

At one point I forgot the rule of thumb to move to the inside of the trail when a mule team approaches. I went to the outside and found a huge mule coming right at me. I had to half-dive out of the way to avoid being trampled. Whew. I almost had to do the same thing with many day-hikers, most of whom were ignorant of the “please yield to uphill hikers” rule of etiquette. I tried to be gentle when I shoved them out of the way!

The two rest houses along Bright Angel trail were nice...good places to hit the restroom, take the pack off, and eat a bit. The North Kaibab trail had no such comforts along the way. One negative about the hike out was that I kept running into this one backpacker with a very sour disposition who kept complaining about the ”%@^# tourists” who always get in trouble hiking. While it’s true that each year lots of people do get in trouble hiking in the Canyon each year because they’re not adequately prepared , but geez, this guy seemed to really be letting it ruin his day! We’re on vacation, right? It wasn’t like he was having to personally rescue anyone along the trail that day. I also got some good pictures along this trail of my compadres and of the Indian Garden campground, Plateau Point, and the lower portions of the Bright Angel trail far below.

Then, about noon, it was time for the victory dance after successfully making it out to the South Rim. I had never jogged more than 5-6 miles before that trip, so I don’t know how finishing a marathon feels, but exiting the Canyon was elating. It felt like the day that I turned in my master’s thesis. There were high-fives all around, then it was off to the showers! Because each campsite during our hike had a spigot of running water, I was able to keep a bit cleaner than if it were a true 5 day wilderness hike; however, there was still a lot of stink to remove. We cleaned up, then went to the gift shop to get a few more souvenirs. The drive back was a blast...lots of laughter, finishing off in Flagstaff with some heavy food at an Italian restaurant. I think I spilled some red wine on my “Rim-to-Rim” shirt.

We got back to Phoenix and said our goodbuys, although we did see each other 5-6 weeks later to have a short reunion in October 1998 for a trip review/picture party. Thanks to Cathy and Jim for helping to arrange one of the best hikes of my life, and to Alfonso for putting me up for 3 days!

1998 Grand Canyon, California Trip, part 7

Thurs. 9/3/98--Devil's Corkscrew, Plateau Point--twice!
This was my hardest-working day of the hike, since I actually hiked over 10 miles this day, including lots of uphill hiking. We arose about 4 am, and it this morning that I learned that a headlamp (which leaves two hands free) is really much more handy than a flashlight when you have to break camp in darkness. I was forced to make due by trying to hold a flashlight in my mouth!

We then headed out over the Silver Bridge and started going along the Bright Angel trail. I knew that a very tough 1400-vertical-feet uphill section (the Devil’s Corkscrew) was coming up, but there was a longer distance of rather flat hiking than I thought. I was a little frustrated at having to wait to get the hard part over with. After making it most of the way up the Corkscrew, I stopped and had a delightful 10-minute break in the shade by this cool stream...this was the high life!

I arrived at that day’s campsite (Indian Gardens campground) a bit before noon to find covered campsites once again. Very cool. I pitched the tent and discovered that peanut butter goes better with beef stick and bagel than I originally thought it would. We met an interesting 70-something year old park ranger named “Maverick”. A bit later, while Irene rested, Gail, Mary, Ralph, Jim and Maria, and Sharon set off to hike the approx 1.5 miles from Indian Gardens out to Plateau Point. Cathy had seen Plateau Point a bunch of times and wanted to see something different, so she went down the Tonto West trail to try to find some old uranium mine shaft that are supposedly visible along that trail. I left for Plateau Point about 30-45 minutes after the other folks did, eagerly anticipating seeing again one of my favorite places in the world.

Plateau Point. What can you say about this place? The Grand Canyon drops down from its main rims about 3000-4000 feet, then kind of levels off again to an inner canyon plateau before again dropping sharply down to the Colorado River about 1300-1500 feet below. Plateau Point is at a sharp corner of this inner plateau, below which the Colorado River makes a bend. Because of this, you can see quite a bit of the Colorado River in a couple of directions. You can also clearly see many portions of the lower Bright Angel trail that we had hiked up earlier that morning.

At this point I did something really stupid here that my friend David Crowley had done when we hiked here in our 1997 hike. I climbed past the guardrails, then up onto this 15 foot high rock pillar that extends out from the Point and has a flat area on top about 5x6 feet in area. From this rock area, there is nothing but 1300+ foot drop all around you. Great views, but really pretty damn dangerous. The ranger’s scolding was actually warranted, as it was a little more difficult for me to climb back down than to climb up. My legs were shaking a little bit when I climbed down.

While at the Point (safely back behind the guardrail), I talked to this guy from that was visiting several places in the US from Hungary. I can’t recall if he was a grad student or just in the US for work. One distinct thing I recall about him was his “Praktica” brand of camera – not your usual Canon or Nikon. He was in the US for awhile, but he was missing his 3-year old daughter who he’d been away from for a couple of months (now that I have a 3 year old daughter, I can relate). Because he was going to drive across other parts of the US before returning to Hungary, I recommended that he go across by way of Colorado and see Durango and Ouray.

I took in the views for a few more minutes, then returned to camp to have a big lunch and chill out from the 100 degree heat. After I finished lunch, Cathy came jogging up the trail, looking a bit panicked and red-faced. She explained that she had run into an injured (sprained knee/ankle) hiker that was alone on the Tonto West trail and she was running back to our camp site to try to get a ranger to help her. Gail, who’s a nurse, had to tend to Cathy’s feet after her jog back to get help. I think we later learned that the hiker needed to be helivac-ed out.

I had a big dinner, then I went again back out to Plateau Point alone to take more pictures near sunset (I have one picture from that evening framed in my cube today). As it turns out, I somehow double-exposed a roll of film (72 shots onto one 36-exp roll) during this time, but I got a bit bailed out because I also shot 1 roll of print film that was fine.

There were a few folks at the point when I first got there (probably around 530 or 6pm), but after a while everyone left, and I got to enjoy Plateau Point by myself for probably 45 minutes to an hour. That was probably the highlight of the entire trip, relaxing in solitude, taking in all of the awesome views, and hearing the roar of the Colorado River below. All was right with the world.

I stayed at the Point until after the sun set, and I needed the flashlight to get back into camp. In fact, some folks in our group had already gone to bed when I got back. I again slept on the picnic table, and heard the roar of the winds and saw the brilliance of the stars. What an awesome day.

1998 Grand Canyon / California Trip, part 6

Wednesday, September 2, 1998--Clear Creek Trail, River Trail, wind locomotives
We got to sleep in this morning, because we arranged to stay two nights at Bright Angel campground to give us time to relax and explore around the bottom of the Canyon for a day. We made a huge breakfast (more dried apricots, anyone?), and left for our morning hikes. Our whole group was headed toward the 1.5 mile River Loop between the Black and Silver bridges (two different foot bridges that cross the Colorado), but Cathy and I decided we could do that River Loop trail later that day, and we headed up the more difficult Clear Creek trail hike, which ascends several hundred to perhaps 1000 feet up out of the Canyon bottom. This way, we did a more challenging hike in early morning temperatures, then saved the easier hike for later in the day. So it was back to just me and Cathy hiking together, which was very “things-coming-full-circle” for me. After all, it was meeting Cathy on the Weaver’s Needle day hike in 1997 that allowed me to even be on this trip.

The Clear Creek trail was fairly tough and uphill, and also featured a few narrow passages that got us close to some long drop-offs, but we were rewarded with the best views of the trip so far. There were many views that overlook the Colorado river from angles / viewpoints that I had never seen before. I shot two rolls of film (remember film?) and had a well-deserved beer back at Phantom Ranch after this hike.

Later, after a huge late lunch, I took off on the River Trail loop, a hike that I had done before on my 1995 trip into the Canyon. I took lots of “journalistic” type photos that showed many of the signs down by the Colorado River. I also got a few good shots of the River and the two suspension bridges, although—as with most of the trip—the light could’ve been better. I got back to camp and had dinner and hot chocolate, then stayed up a bit late talking to Cathy and Ralph. I had been very hot the previous night in the tent, so I pulled the pad out onto the Picnic table and slept under the phenomenal stars.

While sleeping on the table, I heard an interesting wind phenomenon that occurs in the inner canyon. You actually hear the wind coming through the canyon several seconds before it gets to you. The sounds builds up for a while until the wind finally hits you, and it’s usually pretty strong. But it wasn’t enough to blow tents over – just provided a nice cool breeze. I had the best sleep of the trip that night. Jim Martin, who I was sharing a tent with, probably slept better as well, since he could avoid my snoring.

1998 Grand Canyon / California Trip, part 5

Tuesday, September 1, 1998—Not a morning person, Ribbon Falls, Phantom Ranch, 109F?!
I awoke at about 330 AM to the sound of rain on the tent. Boy, two things that I really do not like are: a) waking up at 330am and b) having to pack up camp in the rain at that 330am! The traditional / local wisdom about hiking in the Canyon is that you should get up really early and complete the majority of your hiking that day before the hottest part of the day hits. The obvious disadvantage to this well-thought-out strategy is the part where you have to get up really early, something I don’t like to do when I’m on vacation!

I’m often get a little queasy / nauseous if I have to wake up too early in the morning and if I’m still tired, and I was not feeling great this morning at all. I grumpily ate some bagel and beefstick, forced down some Gatorade, tried not to throw up, and started hiking about 6am.

I started feeling better later, and our morning’s reward for our early effort was a pleasant side hike (about ½ mile each way) off of the main Kaibab Trail out to Ribbon Falls, a gorgeous green waterfall coming right out of the Canyon wall. We all dropped our main packs and enjoyed walking with no weight on our backs. I was so tired that morning that I didn’t bother to take my camera or tripod out there. I sort of regret this now because I don’t have any pictures from that part of the hike, but it sure was nice to walk without the pack or anything on for awhile.

Mary, who really did want to get some pictures of Ribbon Falls, did an extra mile of hiking to go get her camera when she discovered she had left her camera back where we’d dropped our packs. At the Falls, we all soaked our bandannas and shirts in the water, put them back on, and headed for Phantom Ranch and the Bright Angel campground. I would like to someday return to Ribbon Falls (with a lighter pack!) and shoot lots of pictures there.

The Tuesday morning rain and cloudiness had two effects. First, it kept temperatures mercifully cool during the day. The rain also washed a lot of silt and rock from the upper Canyon down into the usually-clear Bright Angel Creek that runs along the North Kaibab Trail. The runoff made the Colorado river and Bright Angel Creek look like Willy Wonka’s chocolate river. The photos I took for the next couple of days all show the water with that brown look to it. I have a couple of brown-water framed pictures in my cube at work from this trip. They’re not hanging up at home today because my wife doesn’t think the brown river water in the photos goes well with our décor.

We got into our group campsite at the Bright Angel Campground to find that ours was the only site that had covered shelters. Good thing, too, because it rained on us in the afternoon. I don’t mind getting rained on a bit when it’s very hot and I’m out on a long hike, but it’s much more annoying when you’re just trying to relax and don’t really want to be wet. After we set up camp and ate some more of Cathy’s apricots, we went to Phantom Ranch (about 1/3 mile from our campsite) and had a couple of well-deserved beers. Given how tired and hot we were, I didn’t mind that all they had was Coors and Bud – it tasted perfect that day.

Phantom Ranch is just a cool place. It’s a lodge built at the junction of the Bright Angel Creek and the Colorado River, 5000 feet below the Canyon rim. All of the food, supplies, mail, etc. comes in each day by pack mule, and all trash, etc. goes out by mule later in the day. There’s a pay phone down there, and with no cell phone reception (although I didn’t have a cell phone anyway – fewer folks did back in 1998), you see lots of people lining up to call friends / relatives on the pay phone and say, “Guess where I’m at!?”

Inside the Ranch, there’s a little weather information bulletin board that showed the high temperatures that week, both at the Canyon rim and Canyon interior. We saw that the rain that morning came at a fortuitous time, keeping the temperatures in the low 90s. Had we been hiking down into Phantom Ranch the previous day, we’d have been dying in 109 deg F heat! I didn’t appreciate the rain when I had to pack up my tent in it at 4am that day, but it ended up being a blessing.

At the lodge, I bought a Phantom Ranch t-shirt (which they only sell at Phantom Ranch … you can’t get one in the Rim gift shops) and some Gatorade powder packs and relaxed out for an hour or so. Then I walked back to the campsite to play poker and eat a huge lunch (anyone want some more apricots?). It rained on us for awhile mid-afternoon, then after the rain stopped I walked out to the Silver Bridge that crosses the Colorado River and took some photos.

The Colorado River is about 150 yards wide at this point, and flows big (about 15000 cubic ft/sec, I learned at the lodge). I only took note of the water flow rate at the time because my friends Steve and Robert used to be big into kayaking and would often discuss flow rates of rivers. Robert would describe the Colorado River at that flow rate as something that would “munch you”. Most people that run the Colorado river through the Canyon don’t do it in little kayaks, but rather on guided boat tours that use big inflatable rafts that are somewhat less subject to little eddies and unexpected hydrodynamics that can really get kayaks in trouble. I did see a few brave kayakers down there, though.

Later that evening, I went with Irene to hear a lady park ranger talk for about 30-45 minutes on the geology of the Canyon. Beyond the standard educational benefit, the ranger’s talk was interesting for two reasons. One, she seemed overly demonstrative with her arms / hands to illustrate geologic timelines and the layers of different rock in the Canyon. Second, she described a geologic feature that sounded like the word “erotica” or something. It seems really stupid now, but I recall giggling like Beavis and Butthead. Dude, you’re 27 years old, stop giggling like a 13-year old! I must have been pretty tired that night. I slept fairly well and did not get rained on that night, although it was very hot in the tent and I didn’t sleep very comfortably. Since I tend to snore a lot, it probably wasn’t that great for Jim Martin, my tent-mate, either.

1998 Grand Canyon / California Trip, part 4

Monday, August 30, 1998--Initial descent, Roaring Springs, Cottonwood
It finally came time to hoist the pack that would be my home and with which I would have a love/hate relationship over the next 5 days. Damn, was it heavy! We took some “starting out” pictures by the van, then started down the North Kaibab Trail. Once Jim’s daughter, Jeannie, drove off in the van, we were committed. Plus, we had already bought our “Rim-to-Rim” t-shirts the day before at the North Rim gift shop, so we had to now earn the right to wear the shirts.

It rained a bit on us on the initial part of the way down, but the rain lessened as we descended in elevation. One interesting thing about the Canyon is that it can be raining HARD on the rim, but it can actually evaporate before it falls the 5000-6000 feet down to the river. The rain was nice, because it kept the temperature down during the day. The walking stick I had also bought at the gift shop turned out to be a stellar purchase...I really needed it on the downhill hiking. You figure you’ll need strong legs when hiking uphill OUT of the Canyon, but you work other leg muscles going downhill, especially when carrying a heavy pack. I had done some training for this hike, but apparently not enough. After our leg muscles started to get weak and wobbly, most of us began shuffling awkwardly after a couple of thousand vertical feet downhill. This “I-have-no-leg-muscles-left” walking motion is called the “Kaibab Shuffle” by the locals.

It was this day that I also discovered a phenomenon called “water intoxication” that can happen to folks doing longer hikes down into the Canyon interior. Because you sweat so much in the hot, dry air of the Canyon interior (typically less than 10% humidity), you should actually drink not just water but Gatorade or the like. Water is fine if you’re hiking for an hour or so, but hiking with a heavy pack all day with thousands of feet of elevation change makes you lose electrolytes / minerals that need to be replaced. Anyway, I started feeling nauseous, and someone in our group figured this was what I was experiencing. I didn’t have any Gatorade or drink mix powder packs with me, but someone in our group shared with me and I started feeling better soon.

Heading down in, our group started singing little songs as if we were kids on a road trip (which, come to think of it, we were essentially doing the day before). We hit such standards as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” and “Lean on Me”. With the weight of my pack souring my mood and leg muscles, my song contribution was AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”.

We stopped and soaked our feet and had lunch at Roaring Springs, about 3000’ below the North Rim. It was here that I got my first and only injury of the trip—a small cut—when I used my thigh as a cutting board for a beef stick / summer sausage. I don’t think this mistake was from “water intoxication”—I think I was just being a dumb ass! After lunch we had some pretty hot hiking (about 95F) from Roaring Springs into Cottonwood Camp, about 4000’ below the North Rim. We soaked our whole bodies in Bright Angel Creek and set up camp. Check the feet … good, no blisters so far. Time for dinner.

Cathy had packed along about a 6-pound bag of dried apricots, which she realized was probably too much. So she began immediately offering them to everyone else to help lighten her pack ... it would be the first of about 50 such offers over the next 4 days. At least these were much better than a Dookie Bar!

Irene got a bit of a scare that evening when the picnic table she was eating dinner at shifted when someone stood up, startling her, causing her to flinch/clench her tender arm and aggravate the pain. We were a little worried she might not be able to continue, but she applied some portable one-time-use cool packs (pretty clever little packs that use a chemical reaction to get cold and don’t need refrigeration) and was good to go after that. If I had been her, doing a 5-day strenuous hiking trip with a broken arm, I think I would have taken about 50 Vicodin pills in my pack with me!

1998 Grand Canyon / California Trip, part 3

Sunday, August 30, 1998--Going to the North Rim
Jim Martin and Cathy Schuyler picked me up the next morning with a van full of people that I did not know, but got to know quickly. There was Mary Murphy, her daughter Irene, (who did the entire 5-day backpack with a broken arm resulting from a horse-related incident...impressive), Ralph and Maria Bustamente, Gail LeClere—a nurse from Tuscon who only needs about 4 hrs sleep a night, Sharon Boukisch, and Joyce Lytle, a first-time backpacker. So that’s 7 women and only 3 guys. I was a little worried initially that most of the conversation might be about shoes or Oprah. Fortunately, Jim, Ralph, and I were intelligent enough to keep our mouths shut on the 8-hour drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, particularly during the male-bashing portions of the conversation. One of the girls assigned me a nickname “stressed Eric” after a character in some cartoon-network TV show I’d never seen, so I didn’t get the joke. Funny, though, I do tend to stress about things more than I should – hmm, maybe she was simply a good judge of character. There were the usual “are we there yet’s,” and “I gotta go to the bathroom’s” and “Jim, Ralph’s on MY side again” along the way, but we managed to make it without incident.

Although the Canyon is only like 10-12 miles across in a straight line, it takes about 8 hours to drive from Phoenix to the North Rim versus only 4 hours to the South Rim. Along the way to the North Rim, we stopped at this cool bridge over the Colorado River and snapped our first photos of the trip. As we got closer to the North Rim at 8000+ ft elevation, we began leaving the desert behind and going uphill through pine trees, meadows, and seeing more wildlife. I think someone in our crew with bad glasses thought they saw a mule deer – I’m pretty sure it was a standard cow. Ah, yes, the exotic wildlife of the Grand Canyon.

When we arrived, we set up tents at the main North Rim campground, then headed for dinner at the North Rim Lodge restaurant. Some people ate light. I, of course, had steak and wine. I’m on vacation. Then again, come to think of it, I never eat light.

Gail had never seen the Grand Canyon before, so Mary—who had seen the Canyon before—made Gail close her eyes while she guided her out to a good lookout point at the North Rim Lodge balcony. Then when Mary had Gail open her eyes, it was a cool reaction...she said “Oh my God” with this Yankee accent, and even cried a bit. This continued the pattern I had observed of people getting emotional when seeing the Canyon for the first time. I was pretty blown away as well. I had seen the Canyon’s South Rim before, but this view from the North Rim Lodge was new, different, and also very cool. The North Rim lodge has this cool stone balcony like you’d want in your dream house, but probably with a much better view than your dream house will likely have, unless you’re on Forbes’ billionaire’s list. The moment was only slightly spoiled by this redneck guy near us talking on a cell phone much too loudly to his mother (or wife, or both?), saying, “Hey man, guess where I’m at...” He kind of sounded like the character “Mater” from the movie “Cars”.

We had to wait over 2 hrs for a seat at the restaurant, which isn’t uncommon there (it’s the only restaurant for probably a hundred miles, so you’re kind of stuck), so we sat down at the lookout and had a few adult beverages. Cathy had a tequila sunrise, while I stuck to beer. Smoke from a controlled-burn in a nearby section of forest obscured some of the Canyon views that night, but not before we all had a chance to walk out on a lookout point and be more in awe. The redneck followed us down to the lookout point to call a different relative/spouse and say, “guess where I am!”

We camped that night in a campground near the North Rim, and got rained on throughout the early morning hours. Irene’s arm was really hurting the night before, so she had contemplated not doing the hike, but she felt better in the morning and said “it’s a go.” I had lifted my pack on a couple of occasions and was quite certain that I was going to die from its weight. I probably could have carried a fellow hiker on my back and it would have felt about the same!

When got out of our tents to prepare to head down Monday morning, it was nice clear, 50F morning – great weather to begin hiking. If only it would had stayed 50F!

1998 Grand Canyon / California Trip, part 2

Friday, August 28, 1998
I flew into Phoenix in the afternoon with my golf clubs and a very heavy duffel bag with all my camera gear and backpacking gear, where I was greeted by a 109 degree afternoon complete with an approaching thunderstorm and dust storm. It was pretty cool-looking, and I took a few pictures. I spent the night with Alfonso Marquis, a former Motorola employee that had moved to Chandler with his wife Rebecca. They had a very cute 7-month old daughter named Anna that I spent a bit of time playing with. I also recall knocking over a beer Alfonso gave me, getting it on his drapes – bad houseguest!

Saturday, August 29, 1998
The next morning, I met up with Duane Nagata, salesman for a Motorola supplier (SMI substrates), who graciously took me out to play golf at the hardest golf course I’ve ever been on, Troon North (I think it was the Pinnacles Course). This course looks like someone made a golf course out at Enchanted Rock, then added saguaros, other thorny plants, jackrabbits, and rattlesnakes. The fairways and greens were beautiful, not that I spent much time there, though! I was spending time out in the cacti with the reptiles. I shot a 57 on the front nine, probably my worst nine-hole score ever. I think I lost 4 balls on the first two holes. Well, it was still one of the prettiest courses I’ve ever seen, and someone else paid for the round, so it was all good. I’m discovering, though, that I tend to enjoy playing well on a mediocre course versus playing very poorly on a very nice course.

I went back to Alfonso’s place to pack my gear for the hike. When I was finished, I think I had about a 65 pound pack. This was my first multi-day hiking trip, and I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed. But there’s a price to pay for that over-preparedness, and that’s WEIGHT. A good 7-8 lbs of the weight was a sturdy tripod, necessary to take sharp landscape photos. I was regretting that amount of gear later, although the steady / sharp pictures I took helped make up for massive weight and pain in my back and legs!

10th Anniversary of my Grand Canyon Rim to Rim Hike, Part 1 / Intro

One of my favorite memories from my mid 20s was a 9-10 day trip I took in September of 1998 to hike across the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim, along with a short overnight hike in the Emigrant Wilderness in northern California. In recognition of the 10th anniversary of that great trip, I thought I’d post an updated / edited account of that trip, along with some background / history. Sorry no photos, as I took all the pictures in either print film or slide film and have not yet begun the enormous project of getting those all scanned to digital yet. I’m splitting it into several pieces due to the length.

Prelude / Trip Background
Let's go back to 1995 for some background of this 1998 trip. While working on my Masters degree in mechanical engineering at UT Austin, I got an internship for the fall 1995 semester at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, NM. That fall, I spent almost every weekend exploring and/or hiking in the areas surrounding Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and up into Southwestern Colorado. This internship really sparked in me a love of mountains / canyons / outdoors that I had not experienced much earlier in life. Growing up in Memphis, TN and Austin, TX, there’s plenty of rather nice outdoor stuff to do and see (e.g. Texas Hill Country and lakes, Enchanted Rock, etc.), but nothing that you’d really call stunning / unbelievable scenery.

This internship was my first time in my life living in an area with much closer access to mountains, and I loved it. I got hooked on hiking, travel, and seeing new places in the outdoors. One highlight of that internship was a 4-day weekend trip I took into Colorado in October, where I first saw Ouray, CO, in the southwestern part of the state – one of the prettiest places I’ve ever seen, even including the Grand Canyon. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison River was pretty impressive, too.

When this internship ended in December, I took a couple of days to visit the Grand Canyon for the first time (South Rim) before heading home to Austin. It was a very impactful and awesome experience for me. I was really unprepared for how vivid and “3D” the Canyon was, compared to photos I’d seen. Even professional photos of the Canyon really cannot do it justice. I literally found myself saying “Oh, my God” several times. I have several photos in my album from that trip, and in many of them I was probably WAY too close to the edge. I sometimes climbed around / over railings to get a better view. I was, frankly, pretty lucky to have not fallen in! It snowed at the South Rim on that trip, and it was not very crowded, so it made for kind of a magical overall first experience at the Canyon. I really wanted to hike down into the canyon on that trip but really did not have time then.

In Dec 1996, I finished my master’s degree from UT and got a job offer from Motorola in Austin that would start in Feb 1997. So I had a month off before I had to go be a “real adult”, and I did not want to waste it just hanging around Austin. About this time, Texas had just beaten heavily-favored Nebraska in the 1st-ever Big 12 championship game 31-21. (I recall Steve and I jumping around his living room after James Brown hit the tight end for an improbable 60-yard gain on a 4th and 7 to seal the game).

So, as the Big12 champion, Texas got invited to play in the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State in Tempe, AZ. I decided that I wanted to go see the game in person, and I also figured that it would be a good opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon again, and maybe do some hiking this time. I didn’t mind traveling alone … since I was an only child growing up, I was always comfortable doing things by myself. While planning the trip, I discovered that there’s a lodge down inside the Canyon right by the Colorado River called Phantom Ranch.

I rented a car in Austin, made a reservation for two nights down at Phantom Ranch (planning for a 3-day hiking trip), bought a ticket to the Fiesta Bowl, and hit the road, stopping in El Paso for a night of breathing the, um, clean air from Juarez, Mexico. Before the Fiesta Bowl, I did a few fun things in the Phoenix area. I went to a Suns NBA game, played golf at the TPC of Scottsdale, and did a day hike up to Weaver’s Needle in the Superstition mountains just outside of Phoenix. A strange side note from that golf outing was that someone in my foursome offered me a drag of weed – this guy had some disguised in a regular-looking cigarette. That’s something you much more expect to happen on a disc golf course in Austin than on a PGA Tour course in Scottsdale!

While on the day hike at Weaver’s Needle, I stopped at a point in the trail where it was a bit unclear which way to go (I’ve heard it’s probably not good to get lost alone in the desert!). A lady named Cathy Schuyler happened by and, seeing I was alone and looking a little confused, offered to hike with me. We had a nice hike and visit, and I thanked her for her company. When I told her I was going up in a couple of days to do a hike into the Grand Canyon, she told me that she was planning a rim-to-rim hike (hiking across the entire Canyon from North to South Rim) with several friends for fall of the following year (1998). We exchanged email addresses and she said she’d keep in touch with me if I wanted to join their group. On a random meeting like this, I wasn’t sure I’d hear from her again.

After that day hike, I went to the Fiesta Bowl, where Penn State pummeled Texas. I ran into a few friends from UT at the game (guys from a Christian group called BYX that I was a part of for about a year), and enjoyed visiting with them. Then I headed north for the Canyon, which is about 4 hours north of Phoenix. I didn’t think I’d see anyone I knew after the Fiesta Bowl. What I didn’t know at the time was that a couple of my friends from BYX had also planned to go up to the Grand Canyon and hike down into the Canyon after the Fiesta Bowl. Imagine my surprise when I parked at the South Kaibab trailhead and start putting on my hiking boots and backpack to hike down in, when I look over and see a couple of guys I know! The guys were Darius Sitzman and David Crowley, guys from BYX. There also were a couple of other people with them that I hadn’t met, one of which was Darius’ girlfriend. It was a very strange, random, yet welcome surprise to have company for this hike.

This was my second time at the Canyon, but it was pretty cool to watch other folks see the Canyon for the first time. When we first started hiking in, the trailhead was shrouded in fog, so you really couldn’t see much. But as we descended the first 50-100 feet down, the fog broke and you could see the Canyon clearly. I seem to recall that Darius’ girlfriend, who was seeing the Canyon for the first time, cried upon seeing the full expansive view from the South Kaibab trail.

Another memory I have of that hike was this Pemmican dried energy / nutrition bar Darius was carrying with him that looked like a block of dirt and gravel. He kept offering us a chance to taste it, which I politely declined … we starting referring to it as the “Dookie Bar”.

Other than the Dookie Bar, that whole hike was just wonderful, and it was during this hike that I discovered Plateau Point for the first time. I think Plateau Point is one of the coolest lookout points on Earth – more on this later. I also have a fond memory of calling my mom from the pay phone down in Phantom Ranch, saying “guess where I am?” After this cool trip, I had officially fallen in love with the Canyon and definitely wanted to come back.

Well, Cathy Schuyler kept her word, kept in touch with me, and (along with her friends) arranged the trip. So, on Friday, Aug 28, 1998, I flew to Phoenix to hike across the Canyon from North Rim to South. I also arranged to meet up with my friends from grad school Robert and Linda Canaan in California for a short hiking trip after that.

My son, the competitive eater

Unless my son gets really good at golf and makes the PGA Tour someday, it's pretty unlikely that he'll be able to fund a rich retirement for me and my wife by earning millions in professional sports. However, I am holding out hope that perhaps my son has a bright future in competitive eating (such as the 4th of July Nathan's hot dog eating contest on Coney Island, NY). Check out his form on a cupcake at a friend's recent 4th birthday party!

Compare his form to my daughter the princess, who is using a spoon to eat off just the icing on her cupcake.

A very funny memory of my friend Kevin Aymat

I still really miss my friend Kevin Aymat greatly. Just yesterday at church, I had gone to the restroom after the music service and was returning to my seat on the 2nd row to listen to the sermon. As I passed the chairs on the 4th/5th rows, I recalled how I used to say hi to Kevin and pat him on the shoulder, since he'd often sit in that spot that I pass on the way to my usual seat. I miss you, buddy.

Anyway, this funny memory comes from "The 20th Hole" party I threw for the guys back in late June. Our wives were having a "book club" party while the guys watched our kids, so the guys got together for "beer club".

Off of my rather extensive menu for that party, Kevin chose a snifter of Remy Martin VSOP cognac. He liked it really well, and he did the whole thing where you warm up the brandy glass with your hand, smell the aroma, sip, enjoy. Since he liked that, I thought he'd enjoy some Don Julio anejo tequila. So I poured him a couple ounces into his snifter.

Good anejo tequilas aren't realy meant for margaritas / doing shots / etc. They're aged more than 1 year in oak and have similar characteristics to good cognac or scotch, and designed to be sipped neat. Anyway, he holds up the snifter to look at the color, then downs the entire glass in a single shot! My friend Wes and I were standing next to him and our mouths dropped (and we busted up laughing, too). We were like, "dude, what are you doing?" He said, "what? that's the way I always drink tequila!" We had a really good laugh about that one.

Kevin was gone only a couple of weeks later. The day of Kevin's funeral (Saturday July 12), I had a few friends over to raise, and quickly down, a glass in Kevin's honor. Salud, my friend!

Best tequila for kids?

My wife has a big birthday coming up this weekend. I won't get specific on which year it is, but suffice it to say it's one of those milestone ones that's kind of a round number.

To celebrate, I'm going to stay home with the kids so she can go have a good time with some girlfriends for the weekend. She's going to go out to eat, relax, and stay at her grandparent's house Friday and Saturday night, which is currently vacant while the grandparents are living in Rochester for the summer. (They live half the year in NY when it's hot down in Austin, then live in Austin October to May when it's nicer down here. I could definitely see doing something like that myself when I retire -- very cool.)

By the way, this would be a good place to note that my wife threw me a REALLY awesome surprise party for my 37th b-day earlier this month ... she actually surprised me, too! It was great (thanks, sweetie! I love you...)

Since I have the kids myself this weekend, I wonder what tequila the kids (ages 3, 5) would prefer? Ah, I'll probably just give em Hornitos -- don't wanna waste the Don Julio anejo with kids who can't appreciate it yet!

What Would Jesus Drink? (Patron and Chimay, I think...)

OK, so I want to address the Christian / drinking thing, just in case anyone from my church that isn't one of my inner circle of friends is reading this. For the folks that are already my closer friends, well, they've already been to my house and had several good cocktails I've made for them, so I'm not so worried about them!

The church where I attend and play keyboards in the worship band is a non-denominational church, where people sing, clap, raise, their hands, etc. However, our Pastor has a Baptist background (he was originally ordained Baptist), and they're not really supportive of drinking. Also, before he got saved, he used to be a pretty hard partier / drinker in his younger days. So for him, eliminating drinking (along, presumably, with the other rabble-rousing / pillaging) was kind of a big part of his conversion experience.

As for me, I grew up as a Christian from age 5, and never really had any kind of "wild" past. Probably the worst thing I ever did in high school was drink a few Budweisers at our Pastor's house at a party thrown by the Pastor's kids while the parents were out of town. And I was the one that ended up getting punished the most when all was said and done. (Hello? How about the folks that THREW the party??)

I probably should have gotten in more trouble for drinking an inferior beer like Bud instead of something like Shiner Bock ...

So I don't have any kind of sordid past with alchoholic drinks. I didn't really sit down and have a decent beer until my good friend Steve ordered me a cold pitcher of Shiner Bock at the Crown and Anchor on my 21st birthday. (Oh, so THAT'S what beer is supposed to taste like!...)

Anyway, the Bible talks about "not being drunk with wine (emphasis mine), but being filled with the Spirit". I don't think it's an unreasonable interpretation to conclude that the Bible here is not saying that total abstinance is required, just not getting tanked.

Then, of course, there's Jesus' first miracle at the wedding in Cana, where Jesus made wine from water for the wedding guests after they had run out. I should point out that Jesus did not make junk, either. He made Chateau Mouton-Rothschild (or Harlan Estates Cab if you prefer a California wine to a French one). I should also point out that Jesus knew that they had already consumed the first / existing batch of wine, so he knew that he was providing wine for people to have additional servings! In other words, he knew it was a party.

So, I think if Jesus came over to my house, he'd enjoy one of my margaritas with Patron and Cointreau (after probably first pointing out several things He'd like me to change about my character). Maybe he could even do that thing like when he fed the 5000 with a few loaves and fishes, and keep multiplying the Patron until all had drunk and were satisfied ... and there were 12 bottles of Patron remaining!

New Mexico Hatch green chili season margarita

When I was in grad school at UT Austin, I did an internship in the fall of 1995 in Albuquerque, New Mexico at Sandia Labs. I really fell in love with the high desert -- the stark landscape, the mountains, the high-altitude air. But more importantly, the food ... chiles, to be specific. New Mexican cuisine differs from Tex Mex or other regional Mexican food, mainly in the use of green and red chiles. They impart a unique flavor to dishes like enchiladas, carne adovada (pork stewed in red chile), etc. A common question in New Mexico that waiters ask restaurant patrons is, "red or green?" referring to which type of chiles they want on their food. The best green chile comes from Hatch, NM.

This flavor used to be very hard to find outside of New Mexico, and I was a little out of luck trying to find that flavor in Austin up until a few years ago. Now, the great flavor of these chiles has caught on and you can find them in a few places. The best time to get them in Austin is right after they're harvested in New Mexico, when a few groceries and restaurants have a "Hatch Green Chile Festival". Our local "Central Market" roasts green chiles for a couple of weeks, and a local Tex Mex restaurant, Chuy's, also features lots of Hatch green chile items.

Last year, my wife's uncle Stephen told me he had tried infusing tequila with a jalapeno he smoked (making his own chipotle). That had come out really well, so I thought I'd try it with green chile. So a few days ago I got some roasted chilis from Central Market and tried it out myself on a bottle of Hornitos. Man, it is really good!

Hatch Green Chili Margarita

1 roasted Hatch green chile, peeled and de-seeded
1 bottle Sauza Hornitos tequila (or other 100% agave tequila that you like for margaritas)
Put one peeled and de-seeded roasted Hatch green chile in the bottle of tequila and let sit overnight ... maybe give it a couple of periodic shakes to agitate the chile.

In a shaker with lots of fresh ice, combine:
2 oz infused tequila
1 oz Cointreau
Juice of 1/2 to 1 fresh lime
1-2 tsp simple syrup (more or less as desired to taste)

Shake and strain into chilled martini glass (if desired straight) or over margarita glass with frsh ice in it (on the rocks).

Simple syrup is 1 part sugar to 1 part water in a saucepan, heat to boiling, stir to dissolve, cool then store in container in refrigerator.

Aussie diver has Mary Lou Retton moment

I have to admit, after watching Usain Bolt's awesome, world-record performance in the 200m, I really didn't have too much else that I was interested in during these Olympics. However, Saturday night I happened to watch for a few minutes and saw something really cool.

China had won 7 out of 7 possible diving gold medals in these Olympics, with only the men's 10m platform remaining to try to sweep all 8 events. In the final of this event, China's Zhou Luxin had a commanding lead after 5 dives with only 1 dive remaining. But on his last dive, he messed up a bit and only was received 7s (out of 10s), leaving room for someone else.

Aussie Matthew Mitcham had a high (3.8) degree of difficulty final dive, but had to basically score almost all 10s from multiple judges to win. And he nailed it. His back 2-1/2 twist, 2-1/2 flip dive just ripped his entry, scoring 112 points and taking the gold by about 5 points. The Chinese crowd was stunned. Very cool moment ... link here: http://www.nbcolympics.com/diving/news/newsid=251126.html

Tiger Woods walks on water!

This is great ... EA Sports has produced a web-only commercial that makes light of a glitch in a version of their golf game where Tiger's player/avatar can hit a shot from the water. One of the best Tiger commercials I've seen in a while! See here:



A good article on the ad's background: http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1834957,00.html

French gin? Gin and tonic, martini recipes

French gin? Oui! Several years ago, my friend Steve made my wife and I a drink with gin in it (I don't recall exactly what it was or what brand of gin it was). I had not really tried gin before, and I didn't care for it too much at the time. My wife's feelings were a little stronger -- I seem to recall her thinking it tasted like hairspray.

Several years passed before I gave gin a try again (in a gin and tonic, see below), and now I really like it. I don't know if it was a different brand of gin that I'd tried before, or just that maybe my tastes have changed as I've gotten older and now I like the taste of hairspray!

While in our local Kyle Twin Liquors, Michael recommended I try a French gin called Citadelle. It has an even stronger flavor of the botanicals and spices that make gin what it is than Bombay Sapphire. I used to think that gin was exclusively an English drink, but the French have done something magnifique with this gin. I tend to make either gin and tonics or classic martinis. The recipes I have been enjoying lately are as follows:

Gin and tonic
These are really refreshing in hot weather, which we occasionally get in Austin. The first time I had one of these was when my wife's uncle Si made some for us on a vacation in upstate NY in 2005, where we stayed in a lodge without A/C. An unexpected heat wave hit and it was 90+F all week, rather than the mid 70s more typical of that area. This drink came in handy (Si used Bombay Sapphire). Be careful, though ... it's very easy to down 3 of these drinks before you know it!

2-3 (depending on how rough your day was) ounces of Citadelle or Bombay Sapphire gin
tumbler / highball glass full of ice
Juice of 1/2 fresh lime
Tonic water/soda

Squeeze lime over ice, add gin, top off with tonic water, give a little stir

Martini
I don't tend to prefer the super-dry martinis which have almost no vermouth ... I tend to like a ratio of about 5-7 parts gin to 1 part vermouth. I also like it a little bit dirty (with a touch of the olive juice) -- you can leave this out if you want.
Shaker with plenty of ice
2-3 oz Bombay Sapphire or Citadelle gin
1/4-1/2 oz dry vermouth
little bit of juice (maybe 1/2 tsp) from a jar of olives
2-3 olives from same jar
chilled martini glass

Add gin, vermouth, and olive juice (may leave this out if desired) to shaker. Add 2-3 olives to a chilled martini glass. Stir or shake (that's a whole other debate), pouring over the olives.

For martini snobs that insist a super-dry martini is the only way it should be made, it's interesting to note that the original martini, The Martinez, which appeared in the 1860s-1870s, was mostly sweet vermouth and sweet gin. The current martini evolved over time (source, The Idiots Guide to Mixing Drinks).

Usain Bolt is a Freak, part 2

See Usain Bolt's world record-breaking gold medal performance in the 200m here: http://www.nbcolympics.com/drivetothefinish/

I think that breaking this world record was more impressive than the 100m WR, because Michael Johnson's record set in Atlanta in 1996 was a really impressive performance that many thought would last much longer in the record books. Bolt even broke this WR running into a slight headwind! It was great to see him push to the end hard to get the record. Good for him!

Since Bolt is only 21, and most sprinters reach their peak in their mid 20s, it will be cool to see how many more WRs Bolt can put up before his career ends.

This was as cool to watch as Phelps' performances ... I don't think you can really say which one is greater (I perhaps give a slight edge to Phelps for having to keep it up over 8 different races), I'm just enjoying both.

Horse riding

Based on my observations, perhaps if I want my kids to perform in the Olympics, it should be in equestrian events.

The bed my daughter USED to sleep in

Here's a couple of cute shots of my 3-yr old daughter, sleeping in her pink-blanketed bed which I have now been occupying the last couple of weeks.

Half naked volleyball

The US women's beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh has been a regular on the NBC primetime Olympic broadcast. See pictures of what they look like in this NBC Sports slide show: http://www.nbcolympics.com/beachvolleyball/photos/galleryid=233588.html

Compare that with what the men are wearing: http://www.nbcolympics.com/beachvolleyball/photos/galleryid=237752.html
(although typically the men's beach v-ball players to go shirtless in normal events -- they're wearing the sleeveless tees just for the Olympics)

My wife walks by while I'm watching it (I've really just been watching it waiting for the swimming or track events to start) and comments, "watching the half-naked volleyball, again, huh?"

Right after she says this, a promo for The Office (my favorite show) comes on with Michael Scott saying, "I'm not just watching the women's beach volleyball for the bikinis -- it's not about the bikinis, it's about what's underneath."

Bolt breaks 200m record

I just read on NBC's web site that Usain Bolt broke Michael Johnson's world record in the 200m. Links here: http://www.nbcolympics.com/trackandfield/news/newsid=239399.html#bolt+strikes+twice (NBC)
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/trackandfield/news/story?id=3544110 (ESPN)

I'll comment on it more after I actually watch it (have to wait until tonight thanks to the time difference in Beijing and the tape delay). NBC Sports hasn't put it up on their web site yet.

I've think seen my son somewhere before

My friend Carla from our church commented that my son looks a lot like the minor cartoon character Egghead Jr. from the old Foghorn Leghorn cartoons. What do you think?

iPhone 3G

I bought my 4-wheel-drive pickup truck in 2000, when gas cost about $1.25 a gallon. My wife and I bought our first house out in Kyle (a suburb south of Austin) when gas was still cheap. But now with gas being much higher (about $3.60 in Austin today), the choices of where we live and having larger vehicles really eat into the monthly budget.

Given this, I was recently wondering if there would be a cool way for me to pay about $80 MORE per month on my wireless phone bill. Heck why pay $100 for a family plan when I could pay $180 instead? My wife had the solution to this dilemna ... we should get iPhones!

To be fair to her, she had been using a phone for the last 6 months held together with a rubber band (which she did not feel was very hip), so perhaps I see her point about wanting a new phone.

We got our new phones a couple of weeks ago, and love them. The touchscreen interface is very cool, and web browsing is beautiful. I was able to sync up at get my work email on my phone, and even a 1Mb pdf file downloaded easily and was viewable pretty clearly on the small screen. Since we have no landline at home, we were fortunate that the phone and 3G reception is fine at home.

Our pastor was talking at a recent service about God being a refiner's fire, one who applies heat to us to get the gold / purity to emerge. He said, "I don't know how hot it has to get to melt gold, but it's pretty hot". I was able to pull up my phone, do a quick Google search, and figure out it was about 1950 deg F (1947.52F to be exact).

One word of caution, though. If you use your iPhone in church to pull up Olympic results, your wife may elbow you pretty hard!

Should I root for or against the Chinese girls?

If I let myself, I can get pretty upset watching the Chinese girls gymnastics team. It's not about wanting the USA to win or a typical sports rivalry kind of thing. It's the whole thing about how the Chinese team gets formed. By force.

I have a 3 year old daughter that is very beautiful, graceful, and strong (not just her will and temper, either!). She can climb about 3-4 feet off of the ground just using the handles on the front of the fridge. She was supporting herself between a chair and a bookcase swinging back and forth after dinner last night. Because we're watching the Olympics this week, my wife and I commented about how, "maybe she'd be good at gymnastics".

Well, in China, if a little girl appears to show promise / potential in gymnastics, she can be TAKEN from her parents and basically put into servitude to perform for the State gymnastics team. An NBC report said that they get to see their parents once a year. Having a daughter this age, I know how devastating it would be for the government to just take away my child, much less for a sport.

Knowing this, it really makes me despise the totalitarian Chinese regime and also pray/hope that the Chinese people can one day experience the true freedoms we have in America. But I can't help but feel sorry for the little girls (who I am SURE are 16 years old despite being about the same size as my daughter) forced into such a situation and want them to do well.

Google your "Next Great Idea" before spending money!

I am a conservative. A proud, Reagan, Limbaugh, America-is-great, rugged-individualist conservative. So, needless to say, I'm not voting for Obama this year. As a side note, I really think it would be cool if a great conservative black, female, or other minority candidate would run for President so I could strongly support them and stick it to all the libs that say conservatives are racists and sexist and that we don't like Obama because he's black or Hillary because she's a woman. (No, it's because they want to turn the US into a liberal / socialistic European country!)

Anyway, I was reading something political and thinking about how I did not want Obama to win, and the phrase "NOBAMA" (like "No + Obama) just sort of popped into my head. This seemed like a great idea that would make a great bumper sticker. So I found an online company that made custom bumper stickers, and ordered about 50. I think I spent about $65. I had thoughts of selling them and starting this movement, etc. I was really proud of myself for this idea, and told my friend Ken at work that I thought it was "brilliant". He actually agreed with me that it was pretty good.

Hey kids, if you ever get a great idea that you think could go somewhere big, you might want to Google it first. Um, yeah, someone else already thought of it. Complete with their own web site, www.nobama.com , and everything. Maybe next I can go invent a phone with a cool touchscreen that also plays digital music files!

New Twist on a Cosmopolitan, the Izze-politan

My wife and I discovered a great new drink a couple of months ago. We'd always like Cosmopolitans, but we tried something new and it was a hit. She had just opened one of these "Izze" blackberry sodas, which are really great by themselves. But I wanted a drink after work, so we came up with this variation on the Cosmo. Adding the Izze at the end to the glass instead of mixing it in the shaker helps keep the carbonation in the drink that gives it a little "sparkle" on the tongue.

2 oz Stolichnaya Citro vodka
1 oz Cointreau
1 tbs simple syrup (adjust to your sweetness preference)
Juice of 1/2-1 fresh lime
1-2 oz Izze blackberry soda (chilled in fridge)

Mix vodka, Cointreau, syrup, and lime juice in shaker with lots of ice. Shake and strain into chilled martini / cocktail glass. Add Izze at end.

Another variation that tastes great is to use a good tequila (like you'd use for a margarita) in place of the vodka. Would that be an "Izze-garita"?

I'll never let MY kids get away with THAT!

I had many pre-conceived notions about parenting that were shattered when my own, real kids came along. For example, I often would catch myself thinking (or even occasionally saying out loud), "why can't those parents CONTROL their children?" in reference to a kid crying in a restaurant, running around, etc. Well now, I know why. It's because we CAN'T!

Before I had kids, I would sometimes hear about how parents would let their babies or kids sleep with them in their parents bed. I would think, "Well, I'll never let my kids do THAT!" They have to suck it up and learn to sleep in their own beds.

I was pondering this former stance of mine as I grabbed a book and tucked myself into my daughter's twin bed last night, complete with pink floral quilt on top. Why am I sleeping alone in my daughter's pink-blanketed twin bed instead of next to my wife in our plush king-sized bed? Because my 3 year old daughter has decreed it to be so.

My son, our first child, was born in 2003. He was nearly a perfect kid ... quiet, slept through the night after only about 2-3 months, never threw tantrums, etc. But he was just tricking us into having a second child. When my daughter came along, she was a different animal entirely. Physically, she is just a beautiful, if not more so, than my son. But this one has a temper and a scream to match. My friend Wes once described her scream as similar to a Jurassic Park velociraptor.

But she doesn't always resort to tantrums or screaming to get her way. Sometimes, she turns on the charm instead. It's amazing to me how a 3-yr old already knows that she is really cute and uses it against me. Anyway, one night a few weeks ago, my daughter walked out of her bedroom and into ours and crawled into bed with us. We were tired because we were already asleep or half-asleep, so we let her stay.

We could force her to go to sleep in her own bed, but she looks really cute all balled up in our big bed. Plus, if we force her to go to her bed, we get the "cry of the velociraptor". Sometimes it's just not worth fighting.

On the plus side, my wife and I are probably actually sleeping a little better ... my wife because I'm not in the room waking her up with my snoring (apparently inherited from my grandfather), and me because I'm not getting kicked in the night by my daughter, who, we've discovered, moves around a lot in her sleep.

Somewhere out there, there may be someone reading this that thinks, "I'll never let my kids do that!" Well, you might if you walk a mile in their, er, pink floral blanket.

Reflections on Tiger Woods' US Open win

I grew up being a Texas Longhorn football fan from a young age (probably about age 9-10 when I moved to Austin). One of my first memories of Texas football was attending a freezing Cotton Bowl in Dallas (1982, I think) where Texas beat Alabama, using some sort of draw play to get the winning TD. I recall crying because my grandfather, who has since passed away, was talking some smack with me while Alabama was ahead because he was a Crimson Tide fan. There would be many more seasons of crying left to come!

However, I think it is possible that I have become an even bigger fan of Tiger Woods than of the Longhorns. Maybe it's just because the number of astonishing, jaw-dropping, jump-off-of-my-couch moments that Tiger has produced greatly outnumbers the number of moments Texas football has produced in my approximately 28 years of being a sports fan. But I think it's more than that. With Texas football, one of the only times I really had that transcendent moment was when Vince Young scored the game-winning TD on 4th and 7 in the Jan '06 Rose Bowl. But Tiger creates moments like that for me seemingly 1-2 times a year.

In 2005, I recall yelling (scaring my wife who was working in our office) when Tiger chipped in on 16 at Augusta at the Masters, probably the greatest single golf shot I have ever seen. It has been a while since Tiger had done anything quite that dramatic, but this season the excitement ramped back up significantly.

Before the US Open, my favorite moment of the season was Tiger’s 25-ft birdie putt to beat Bart Bryant by 1 at Bay Hill. Tiger just hit 3 perfect shots on that difficult par 4, finishing with this very difficult, huge-breaking putt that no one had made all day. (Side note: I really want to know how Tiger / Stevie often READ those putts better than anyone else in those pressure situations, much less execute the putting stroke). He slammed his hat to the ground and did a two-arm / chest flexing yell.

But that was nothing compared to the US Open. Most of the tournament, I had been frustrated because Tiger wasn’t playing that well. We didn’t know that he had a torn ACL and stress fractures at the time. But I was watching the 3rd round on Saturday upstairs in my bedroom (because my kids were hogging the big high-def TV in the living room to watch Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Veggie Tales, or something like that). On the 13th hole, a par 5, Tiger hit a long drive but right into the rough. He got lucky and caught a good lie, and had a shot (albeit a difficult one) at the green in 2.

As a side note, I really like Johnny Miller’s commentary, and he has occasionally been prophetic when it comes to Tiger. Back in his second US Amateur win, Tiger was tied (in match play) with Buddy Marucci on the last hole. Buddy hit a decent shot to the green, and it was Tiger’s turn to hit. Johnny said, “I bet he knocks it a foot from the hole”. Tiger hit an 8 iron right over the flag that spun back to 18 inches. When Buddy missed his birdie putt, Tiger had his 2nd US Amateur in a row.

Johnny had another prophetic moment here. He said right before Tiger hit, “You know, if Tiger makes eagle here, it could totally change the whole complexion of this tournament”. Well, Tiger hit a beautiful long iron to the back of the green, then drained an impossibly long 60-ft bomb for eagle. There were many more awesome moments after that (the chip-in on 17, another eagle on 18, the must-have birdie to tie Rocco on 18 Sunday and resultant primal scream, another must-have birdie to tie on 18 on the Monday playoff), but that first eagle that really got him back in the tournament was probably my favorite moment this year.

The British Open was great this year, with Norman turning back the clock and Harrington hitting that clutch 5 wood Sunday on the 17th, but it’s just another level when it’s Tiger doing his thing. Get well soon, Tiger!

Margarita recipe I am enjoying lately

I used to make more of a diluted margarita with several ounces of a limeade-type mixture, but the stronger / straighter version seems to be truer to the taste of the tequila, and tastes more like the margaritas I really like at Guero's Taco Bar on South Congress. I also really like the margaritas at Z-Tejas but I have not figured out how to get that exact flavor yet.

2 oz 100% agave tequila
1 oz Cointreau
Juice of 1/2 to 1 lime freshly sqeezed (depending on how big and juicy the lime is)
Approx 1 Tbs simple syrup to taste

Put martini / margarita glass in freezer for a few minutes. Combine ingredients in shaker with lots of ice. Shake, strain into cold glass. You could also strain it into a more traditional highball / margarita glass with ice (use fresh ice, not the ice from the shaker).

Simple syrup is made by bringing to a boil in a saucepan 1 part water and 1 part sugar until sugar dissolves. Cool and save in the fridge. (I like to infuse simple syrup with fresh mint for making mint juleps or mojitos).

Tequilas I really like to use:
Sauza Hornitos, Tezon silver, Patron silver, or Gran Centenario plata (or try an anejo tequila like Sauza Commemoritivo or Don Julio anejo for a darker / oakier flavor)

Usain Bolt is a Freak!

Were you as blown away as I was by Usain Bolt's performance in the men's 100m Olympic final? That performance reminded me of when Tiger Woods blasted on to the scene winning his first Masters in 1997 by 12 shots, or his 15-shot trouncing of the field in the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach. He seemed to easily and smoothly accelerate away from the rest of the field at the halfway point, making them look like high-school runners ... and the field included Asafa Powell, a former world record holder who had run 9.74! See video at: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0816_hd_atm_hl_l0686 (I had to install the Microsoft Silverlight player to get it to work).

I am as fired up about Michael Phelps winning 8 golds as anyone, and it gave me many awesome moments to remember from these Olympics ... but Bolt's performance was a little different. It had a somewhat shocking feeling to it. This 6'-5" 21-yr old kid who only took up this event a year ago just broke the WR in 9.69 while SLOWING DOWN TO CELEBRATE during the race!

I disagree with ESPN's Jim Caple, who posted a column ( http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=3538723&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos2 ) sort of sarcastically chiding Bolt for showing up his opponents. But I thought it was a really fun, spontaneous celebration reminiscent of the best Tiger Woods celebrations (think of the 13th hole 2008 US Open 3rd round eagle, or the 72nd hole birdie putt).

I can't wait to see the 200m final -- that's supposedly Bolt's specialty! Could he break Michael Johnson's record if he tries hard? For that matter, could he break 19 seconds? Or will he be content to just win and perhaps (as Caple suggests) moonwalk the last 20m, or pull a Sharpie out of his golden shoes, autograph one, and give it to a friend in the stands, a la TO?

First Post -- Why "20th Hole"?

My name is Eric, and I'm an engineer in a large semiconductor company living in Austin, TX. I'm 37 and a married father of two young kids (ages 3 and 5). I'm a big sports fan, and I like to write / comment about sports and other things in my life.

I like making mixed drinks at home, and I recently hosted a party at my home for a few close friends. I printed up a little drink menu of options I was offering and titled it, "The 20th Hole," in an homage to Tiger Woods winning the US Open at Torrey Pines in a 19-hole playoff over Rocco Mediate (thus the trip to the bar post-round would be the "20th" hole instead of the typical "19th hole" after an 18-hole round). Also, this party was one of the last parties I attended with my good friend Kevin, who was killed in July in a freak auto accident. Thus the blog's title also reminds me of him and his friendship. I'll miss you always, Kevin!

So this blog will be your usual personal blog type of thing, but probably with a focus on sports topics, with sprinkles of music, news, stuff about my family, politics, etc., thrown in.