Arizona Outlaw Erg Marathon

After a 3 hour nap, I finally mustered the energy to upload pictures (CLICK HERE to view) and blog about my first Erg marathon. For friends and family members that don't know--the erg is a piece of exercise equipment that most rowers use to train. Nonetheless, it doesn't move like my boat does and it's painfully honest in projecting your split time, projected finish time etc.

42,195 meters (26 miles) of rowing and everyone finished. Most everyone did it in 3-4 hours with a few exceptions to that rule. Ted Paxton was closer to the 2:30 mark (Can't quite remember--I just know it was way fast!) My goal was to finish within 4 hours and I'm happy to say that I accomplished that by finishing in 3:42.04. The last 5000 meters my legs were burning and mentally I had to fight through to the end. Now that I've had time to rest and reflect, I think it was a personal challenge and I'm already making notes on how to improve upon my time in preparation for my November rowing marathon. That one will be on water, which will certainly be a plus.

Tom and Kim Wilmer (family friends) were nice enough to let us use their super garage for the event. I think everyone agreed it was the perfect place. Lots of space, cool and easy access.

I'm sure the results will be on the Arizona Outlaws website soon. You can get to that from my links section.

Rest In Peace Lovable Leo

It's a sad day in our neighborhood as our friend and neighbor Leo "Bud" Ryan passed away at 11:00 a.m. This past year he fought off cancer as long as he could. He was affectionately known to many as "Loveable Leo" as he was always smiling, happy and joking around with his neighbors, friends and family. My neighbor, Tom and good friend to Bud, called him the "Mayor of Rancho Caliente" (our street). A fitting office for him as he always was helping out and supervising our home improvement endeavors, meeting us with his side kick "Lucky" to chat at the end of his driveway during nightly dog walks and sharing his great love for cooking by dropping off lemon merigue pies and goodies every so often. His green thumb made his plants always grow greener and many of my starter plants came from his yard. We truly loved him and will miss his Irish eyes and good humor.

Bud didn't want any of us to see him on the decline --so I wrote him a note to make sure he knew that his job was to make sure we all had a place to move into when we move into his new neighborhood. Whenever I talk about my neighbors to others--they've always told me that having such a nice neighborhood is a rarity. So many people only see their neighbors as their garage doors close behind them. Bud certainly didn't shut us out and as a result we became good friends and our neighborhood became a nicer place.

Above are a few pictures from his 80th birthday party last December. I still have those pictures posted. Just click on the December 2005 archive link.

Much love and support to his wife Barbara, and daughter Joan. He was so proud of his family, loved his loyal dog Lucky and for 80 years he lived the good life and brought sunshine into all of those lucky enough to know him. Those memories will certainly be cherished.

Helicopter Flys

Yesterday, Dan and Matt Sr. got to witness their helicopter take a test flight. See the video by CLICKING HERE.There is also a page of pictures for the pre-flight prep. You can click the link "Helicopter Flys" from the movie page and the movie from the picture page as well. If you just want to view pictures CLICK HERE.

Sin City Bad Ass Dudes

Perhaps I'm playing in PhotoShop a little to much... Ok, this one is my feeble attempts to get the "Sin City" graphic look. I had to search for some mean looking people. Apparently, I don't know many mean people. However I cropped a picture of friend, Gary, in Idaho and Matt from one of his snowboard trips. Do they look mean? Or just Cool? Maybe a little of both.

Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm...

I've always wondered what I might look like if I were just a little taller...
After playing around in PhotoShop today you can see the result. Oh, and of course I had to make the sky a little more interesting and the green more green...

Just goes to show--things are always more beautiful with a few PhotoShop tricks.