Week #10

Food is a funny thing, isn't it? It varies greatly from culture to culture. Things on Fear Factor here in the States are a delicacy to people in other countries. It's amazing all the things God has given us to eat and the creativity of humans has ran wild with it.
I had a chance to eat at a Moroccan restaurant. I decided it was something new and wanted to try it out. I ordered a Shawarma Platter with Lamb. This is a delicious meal. Let's start with fillets of lamb covered in some kind of sauce. The meat was so juicy and tender, and had a smooth gravy-like flavor. Next the Hummus was pretty much like any store bought Hummus, not anything special. The Tangierine CousCous Salad was interesting enough. It was like lettuce and tomatoes in some kind of odd tasting, tangy dressing, complementing the meat very well. The Tabouleh was the thing that caught me off guard the most. It looks like itty-bitty rice and I expected it to be warm. However, it was cold and had almost a shortbread taste with it as well as some kind of fruit that I couldn't make out what the heck it was. Then the bread was just bread.
Overall, it was not too shabby. To say the least I enjoyed it, however it is not something I would eat on a regular basis.

Week #9

AH. Vacation. We all look forward to that relaxing time to just enjoy life in a way that rivals fantasy. Don't get me wrong, I've been on vacations before, but not like this one. I did and done this one alone.
Yup, just me flying myself down to Florida to spend a nice plan-free vacation. It's nice, but you soon realize that happiness is only true when shared. I did however have a good time and got to experience quite a bit of Florida and Disney World.

Week #8

Flying. Trillions of birds do it daily. Millions of humans do it daily. Yet, after 22 years of being a land mammal, I finally learn to flap my wings and take off into the limitless sky. I used to be afraid to fly when I was little, but over the past 5 years or so, I've grown out of it and have wanted to fly. Although I've made quick observation: It is not cheap.
So I went on a trip (see Week #9) and had to fly, and boy, I LOVED IT!! It was so cool yet I never felt like I was very high. I got to experience quite a bit on the flying adventure. I got to see on top of clouds, in clouds, turbulence, space-rocket toilet contraptions, flying over land, flying over sea, and even seeing cities all lit up at night. Too cool. God is amazing, isn't he? You experience a whole other realm of beauty at 30,000 ft.

Week #7

We haven't had much of a winter lately. Luckily, God hath provided a place such as Pando to still enjoy winter activities during drought periods of winter.
Here's the deal: You take an overinflated tube and you slide it down an ice hill. And the hike up the hill? No existent. No, you still and relax on the darn tube while a cable gently sleighs your way up the hill. There aren't too many rules on how you can go down the hill. You can spin (check), go luge style (check), superman style (check), or latch your whole together in a cluster (check) or catapillar style (check). Now the tow-cable rules are different. They seemed a little pissy about staying in your tube during the ascension.
Overall, it was more of a kids activity than an adult one. I'm sure you could make it more fun by edging some of the rules and getting thrown out. But it is exactly how it sounds. You take a 15 sec slide at not too dangerous speeds while snow flies up in your face.

Week #6

New iPhone. Sorry this is lame, but I got to say I've never had a fancy phone such as this. I think it's awesome. There is some much this thing can do. Also, for new things, I now have a messaging plan and data plan so I have internet right at my fingertips. I feel so connected to the world and other people.

Week #5

Sometimes these new things just kind of fall into your lap. This week's new thing was a piece of cake and I didn't have a choice. I am now a proud Uncle of a wonderfully beautiful baby boy. My sister gave birth to Kaden Daniel Charlton, 6lbs 6oz , 19'' in length on Tuesday, Feb 3. I had the chance to go down to where they live and see the newly formed family in all their glory.

The trip took about 8 hours on the way down due to several stops I had to make to try to pick up a charger for my new iPhone. So that really dampered the trip down. But I arrived safely and wasted no time getting to know the little fella. It just really makes you appreciate the formation of a life. I was so scared because I didn't want to break him. But by the second day, I became a little more confident of my infant handling skills. I even took some spit up and changed a dirty diper. I always wondered how I would react to a nephew, but I'm more excited than I had anticipated.

Week #4

Conditions were just right, it just couldn't be avoided. I thought it was one of the girliest things ever. However, I still went cross-country skiing today. Never has "skiing" and "cool" ever collided in a single thought, although I'm a little softer with the issue now. It was in fact, dare I say, FUN!!

One of my friends sent out a facebook invite to do some cross country skiing on Saturday. "When in Rome...," I thought, and I figured it was new, and I'd give it a shot. We discussed back and forth about when and where to rent and ski.

Soon Saturday morning was here and I was on my way to rent a pair of skis. The cost was $17 bucks for the day, which I figured it was kind of steep given how nice the rental place was. I'm still not really sure. The employee was nice enough to size me up with some boots that were too small, skis that looked brand new, and pollsthat looked like they were from the disco era. Peach polls, now that's a ladies magnet.

We then drove to Seidmen Park in Ada or Cascade or something. It was a small county park that had trails available for X-country skiing. At least the park was FREE. After putting on our mismatched gear and learned to move ourselves in the parking lot, we were ready for the trails.

Any sort of vertical variation in the trail helped me to display my amateur abilities. Turning was quite difficult too, especially since the trails were pretty packed down. Don't be concerned though, the rest of the group also consisted of mostly rookies too. As the day wore on, we began to get the hang of this thing. I was getting a little more brave in taking hills and climbs. The scenery though was breath-taking. The sun came out about an hour into the escapades and it just was the most magnificent display of natural beauty I had seen in quite some time.

About 2 hours into the excursion, we decided to call it quits. Only there was a problem. We had only gone in the direction away from the parking lot, which meant we still needed to go back. We didn't really know where we were since they're maps sucked and they were far and few between. About an hour and a half afterwards, we finally made it back.... exhasted. Sure, I would go again anyday.