Tuesdays with Muerte

Last night, I played in a giant tournament of a modified version of tug-o-war. The venue was a backwoods junior high school gym. The two teams consisted of 110 players each, ages ranging from 4-26. Each team cued up in a single file so that one player on a team would face only one opponent across a line. One player wears handcuffs and the other player grabs onto them in the middle with only one hand. If you lost the previous round and your opponent won, you get to decide who wears the cuffs. If you both won or both lost in the previous round, you toss a coin to see wears the cuffs. If there is a toss, the winner of toss decides who wears the cuffs. The game was simple. When the referee says, "go", both try to pull the other over the line. If you lose your individual battle, you're out. The game continues until there is one one player left. I won; despite having to go to the bathroom very badly. To celebrate my victory, I ran to the lieu. There was only one urina...

What an amazing piece of cookware! I was introduced to this particular WOK a couple of weeks ago when Christina Johnson Duke invited me over for a couples date. I know I've already blogged about that but I didn't get to show you the EVIDENCE. Christina and Matt cooked the Panda Express Chicken in the Wok while my date and I made the sauces. Matt was especially excited to show me how the bater magically enveloped the chicken when it cooked in the hot oil. Honestly, it was pretty astonishing--he just rolled the chicken in the bater a little and then let the WOK do its work. While we cooked, Christina told me about how the WOK was a gift from my parents when they visited our house up in Redmond when they were married last year. She also shared with us the story of how they were nervous about carrying on such a large, metal item to the plane. They were sure that some metal detector somewhere would be tripped and they would have to leave it behind in WA. Fortunately for them,...

We flew kites in the park across from Provo Hospital with Faith last week. It was super fun! I had forgotten how entertaining kites can be. Faith had to continually remind me not to fly mine too high because she was afraid that it would get away. Later, we walked to the nearby McDonalds and enjoyed a treat. Faith played for 20 minutes, by herself, in the indoor playground. She just crawled around and wouldn't come out. Even after we called to her, she hunkered down in the deepest corner like she was getting ready for a winter-long siege. Rose and I were both baffled. We didn't know how to coax her down. We told her mom we'd have her back home by 6:30pm and we only had a couple of minutes left. I felt frustrated for the first time as a mentor. I couldn't use any physical force since I was only a "big brother" and not a real parent. After an extra 10 minutes, Faith finally gave in after we wore her down--or rather, she wore us down by repetitively ask...

I completed a Triathlon today. I use the term "Triathlon" loosely. A Triathlon, according to Wikipedia , is "an endurance sports event consisting of swimming, cycling and running over various distances." Therefore, different types of triathlons have developed over the years ranging from super, super short ones for kids called,"Kid of Steel" or "Ironkid", to the granddaddy of the triathlon family, "The Ironman Triathlon" Yep. 2.4 mi swim, 112 bike, and 26.2 mi run. Insane! I did a medium-short version called a Sprint Triathlon. This includes a 750m (0.5 mi) swim at 24-Hour-Fitness, then a 20km (12.4 mi) bike ride to Utah Lake and back up the Provo River Trail, and finally a 5km (3.1 mi) run up and around Campus. The crazy thing was that I barely even sweat at all. And I know what you're thinking--no, I wasn't dehydrated. I feel fine. The weather helped a lot. It was hazy/overcast and really windy--good for air drying my...

Here is a list of the three things that I would like to buy using the Christmas money that I was given almost 5 months ago. 1. Down Comforter/Duvet. Last time I lived in Carriage Cove, my roommate, Soren Farmer, used a Duvet for his bedding. It was ingenius. Ever since then, I've sort of wanted one of my own. Now that my sheets are finally wearing thin, it is time to invest. (I hope that they will turn out to be my lucky bedding and that I won't have to use them for long before I have to upgrade again, wink, wink.) 2. New Pair of Running Shoes. My sneakers are almost 4 years old. I've done a great job taking care of them. They took me to school everyday for many years. I ran a 1/2 marathon in then. Since then they've become pretty torn up. However, now that I'm getting blisters from the total obliteration of the arch support, it's time to invest in a new pair. 3. Swimming Jammers. If you haven't heard about these before, they are like long Speedos....

Now that radio and television have recently adopted the internet as mediums of distribution, it is only befitting that Waldo (Wally, as he is known in the UK) join the World-Wide, digital party. I recently came across a website dedicated to finding WALDO around the world. The picture example, above, was just recently created. I'll give you a hint where it is; it is in Vancouver, BC. Remember, Google only updates their maps every 3 years or so, so I'm not sure if this 55-foot tall likeness of Waldo has been captured yet. Here are some other GOOGLE EARTH gems that I recently found while searching for Waldo: What is a Bunny doing out in the middle of no where? Is that car parked on the SIDE of the building? Awe! For cute! ---------------- Listening to: Michael Jackson - Bad

As most of you already know, I'm am moving to Carriage Cove in two weeks. Now that I know which apt. I'll be in (#224), I thought it would be a good idea to start attended the new ward so that the ward members who are staying will have a chance to get to know me before the rush of new people come. It was Fast and Testimony meeting today--and we all know that there's no better way for people to get to know me that to bear your testimony! BTW, I thought up a new "testimony opener" on the spot: I walked up to the pulpit. I wasn't very nervous until the moment I opened my mouth. Suddenly, my heart began to pound so furiously I thought it would penetrate my intercostals. I was so startled by this burst of emotion that I began to speak my mind. I reflected, aloud, on the last time my heart throbbed like that and it was earlier last week at 24-Hour Fitness. "It took me a whole 15 minutes to get my blood pumping this fast. Maybe if I share my testimony wi...