Happy Thanksgiving

We were happy to host Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year and thankful our aunt and uncle x 2 made it to enjoy the meal. My mom made it over from Spokane as well. The bird was a pre-cooked, hickory smoked turkey and was praised by all. The low maintenance of thawing and re-heating was a bonus too. The next best thing is left over meals and cold turkey sandwiches. Yum! In addition to turkey we had all the side dishes too: mashed potato's, green bean casserole, two types of dressing, cranberries, roles, salad... and the list goes on. 

Jasmine, Aunt Judith, Susan and Bek posing with the Aspic Judith made for dinner. 

Susan, Uncle Mike, Aunt Janet, Judith, Uncle David, Mom and the rest of the family sitting around the table enjoying each others company while dining.

Golf

Yesterday morning I braved the freezing temperatures to play a round of golf with my buddies Mike, Bill and Matt. It was a farewell round  for Mike because he has resigned his Government position to start his own recovery business with the San Diego County Mortuary Affairs office in California. He's a young 40, intelligent and very business savvy and I can't wait to hear of his success. It's sad to see him go, but I know there are bigger and better things out there for him. I hope to find the time and money in the future to fly down and chase the ball around with him in the sun after he gets settled. Best of luck bro.

Me, Mike, Bill and Matt getting ready to play off the tundra. 

 

CX Sprinker

The race at Sprinker was very similar to last years in several ways. The course was changed for the better with more technical areas and a short run up that was ride able for us animals, the weather cooperated by raining off and on all day making the track conditions a bit muddy and slippery. For some reason I didn't bring a camera or video device, but Susan captured some good pictures of our teammate Mike V after the race. I don't know if I jinxed him or not when I showed him the spot where my brother Hank went down last year. Turns out, Mike went down in the very same one and received some of the same injuries. We were having a good laugh while he was showing us the damage, but I'm sure he wasn't laughing later that night.

Hank,

Mike,

Hank,

Mike, 

Hank, 

Mike. 

They could be twins. : )

Steilacoom is next on the list and then Enumclaw which always seems to play out like a tough mudder instead of a bike race. 

CX Woodland Park

Sundays race at Woodland Park is one of the best races to attend every year. The numbers of riders in each category is always high and the speed of the course is a plus too. Slippery corners, fast technical areas and high traffic forced you to pay attention at all times and I'm happy to report I kept the wheels vertical the entire time. I was pretty winded after the second lap and I decided to pick a rider who was holding a decent pace and hang onto his wheel for three more laps. The Blue Rooster rider ahead of me pulled away occasionally, but I reeled him in each time and on the second to the last corner of the last lap he made a slight error and allowed me to sneak by to finish in 32nd place out of 80'ish riders. No podium, but lots of good racing. You can check out the video here: http://youtu.be/P1D6HB5U-r4

Haven't seen the reindeer for quite some time. 

A sign we all like to see. 

   

Selfless Service

Steilacoom High School was hosting a Veterans Day Assembly with a theme of Selfless Service. Several veterans spoke to all the history class students at various times of the day to explain what we thought service before self meant. Each one of us told our own version, but it all came down to the same thing: Putting the military job ahead of anything and everything because that's what we swore to do when we raised our arm in front of our flag many years ago. We had lunch with a select few and it was easier to talk them about what we did and where we did it because they were more at ease and not afraid to ask questions in a smaller group. It was fun strolling down memory lane and putting on my uniform one more time. And yes, it still fits. 

 

Bek also performed several songs with the choir while a power point presentation  showed pictures of numerous veterans living in our community. 

New Tires

In November of 2011 we bought new tires for the Pilot and in July of 2012 I finally got around to bringing it in to Discount Tire for a rotate/balance. We were experiencing some unusual road noise and steering wheel shimmy and I was hoping the visit would eliminate all issues. I brought the car back a few weeks later with the same issues. Another balance was performed and off I went. I went back yesterday and watched the process and while the tire was spinning both the tech and I noticed the tire was slightly out of round. The next tire was even worse. Needless to say, I was given four new (better) tires and only had to pay the lifetime warranty costs. 65 bucks out the door.  I wrote a letter to the company and told them of my experience. Not to complain, but to suggest looking for this condition during the balancing process. Maybe they'll reward me for my suggestion and send me a check for the warranty amount? I won't be holding my breath on this one.

Training Day

Today's weather was cool, rain free and very windy. Perfect for riding the trails at Fort Steilacoom. I didn't ride like I was racing because there wasn't anyone around to pick me up if I went down, but I did power up the hills and crank out the rpms on the flats until my back started to act up. Riding by yourself isn't the worst thing in the world, but training alone can be if your not in the right frame of mind. So you do what you can, when you can. Three and a half (modified) laps is better than nothing and later in the day when I'm kicking back on the couch, I reflect on my day and decide I'm glad I went out. A little pain can go a long way and I hope to get out again tomorrow.