Danny, Mindy & Brooklyn

SGT. Damien Ficek

2009-05-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

On this Memorial Day, I wish to honor my best friend from college. SGT. Damien Ficek was a great man and a great friend. He was an inspiraton to me and everyone he came in contact with. He stood out in a crowd for all the right reasons. It is because of GREAT Men like Damien that our Country is FREE and I solute him and all other who have gone before to secure my Freedom and Liberties. Thank You Damien, you are a true Hero!!!

Marley and Me

2009-01-25T00:31:00.001-08:00

All I can say is that this is the second saddest movie of all time, the first, of course, being "My Life." Maybe it is because we have a wonderful dog that is literally part of our family and so it made the movie more real to us, however, I personally beilieve that if you have ever owned/loved a dog, than this will shred your heart into pieces.

It all started when we went to the theater expecting a kid type of movie, since that is what all of the previews portray this movie as. It started out all great and fun, "Oh they have such a cute and adorable dog." Then the movie takes a turn for reality. I won't give away anything more so if you do want to see it than you won't have the entire movie laid out before you on a blog that doesn't really exist. But I will warn you, BE PREPARED!!!

Back from the Dead!!!

2008-12-17T17:00:00.000-08:00

I haven't written on this crazy thing in a long time. I don't know if I got tired of it or just don't have anything to say. Maybe a little of both. Not much has changed since the last time I posted, just the same old same old, day in and day out.
Some basic updates: Bothell Football lost in the quarterfinals this year to a team we should have beat by 20 points. It is now basketball, wrestling, and gymnastics season. All of the basketball games have been away thus far which just means that january and febuary will be very busy with all of the home games. There are several more home wrestling meets this year than in years past. We usually have like 3, I think there are 5 or 6 this year. We have 3 or 4 gymnastics meets, which are always fun. We have a level 10 gymnist on our team. I didn't know what that meant, so for those of you that are like me, those that are eligable to participate in the olympics are all level 10 gymnists, so she is really good.
Work is going pretty good for Mindy, just the usual struggles with her clients getting arrested or running away or her clients parents being complete morons. She does enjoy her job though and she is an amazing therapist. There are countless times when her clients won't talk to anybody (their parents, the court system, or anything like that) but they will totally talk to her about everyday life and things that are troubling them. They will call her when they are in times of complete distress or are just sad and need somebody.
Now for the greatest thing: EGGNOG!!!!
what a great invention. I love this time of year because there is plenty of eggnog to drink. It really should be a year round drink. Maybe I will start to make my own so I can have some whenever I want. I could probably even use my Magic Bullett that I am still using faithfully.
Done for now. Hopefully I will write back again sooner than multiple months.

United States of America

2008-11-03T21:04:00.000-08:00

We live in such a great country and are blessed with the opportunity to participate in the election of our government representatives. What a great chance that is to be a part of choosing who will lead this great nation, to help keep it strong and in line with that great document, the Declaration of Independince. I hope that everyone is prepared to vote tomorrow, whether you are voting for Democrat, Republican or other, make sure that it is in line with your beliefs and your morals. May God continue to bless this great nation.

The Magic Bullet

2008-10-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

You always see the infomercial.... "It's like magic, anything you could ever want to eat in less than ten minutes!," or "It's as easy as 1-2-3 and it is all done." Well, I have always thought that it was just a big waste of money until an experience I had last week. One of my co-workers offered me a fruit smoothy that he made with his Magic Bullet. I viewed this as a great opportunity to see what the hype was all about. He pulls out that little blender about the size of a round of ammunition that you would see on a battleship. He then plops some frozen mixed berries from costco with some water a little bit of whey protein pouder. He then presses down the little container blending the mixture together and literally in less than 10 seconds the smooothy was complete. I took a drink and I was sold. So this last weekend, we were off to find a Magic Bullet for my very own. There was one at Target....$75, are you kidding me, there is no way I could rationalize spending that mutch on a blender, there has got to be a lower price. After finishing our erronds, we stopped in bed, bath, and beyond for one last thing and there it was, $45 worth of magic, in the form of a little bullet. We snatched it up, stopped by Safeway on the way home and we have been drinking smoothies constantly, ok, I have been drinking smoothies constantly. Mindy liked it, but I am pretty sure I am instantly addicted. My new favorite is mixing our Costco chocolate meal shakes with raspberries. Wow that is good. Well, I will let you all make your own desicions, but if you don't have a magic bullet you are missing out on smoothie greatness.

The summer wear down

2008-10-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

When you go Mountain Biking often, your bike begins to take a beating, no matter how good of care you give to it. I am always careful about washing it and applying a wax based lube to the chain and oil to the drivetrain etc. Well, at the mid way point of my last ride, I realized that my brakes were not working equally. (This is where I am glad for the upgrade of disc brakes rather than v-brakes or cantalever brakes.) My front brake was really soft, so I had to pull extra hard to get any braking power out of it and my rear break was really stiff so if I barely touched it I was skidding down the trail. I have to be grateful that it wasn't the other way around, as you can imagine what it would be like if the front brake was really stiff and didn't take much to engage it.....yep, I would end up on my face, not a good place to be when you are mountain biking. So what I am getting at is that I needed to take my bike in for it end of summer "check up" so to speak. I would get the brakes checked, the cables and drive train re-greased and lubed up, my wheels trued (tightening or loosening the spokes so the wheel spins correctly and not all wobbelly), and to look for anything that may cause problems down the road. Well I dropped it off on Saturday morning and they told me that it would be done before 5 pm on Monday. Well, due to my work schedule I had late nights on Monday and Tuesday, so on Wednesday morning when I wasn't in the office I decided to go and pick it up. This is where being a nice guy pays off a little or made it so I was jacked by the bike shop. I went in and said that I was here to pick up my bike. The worker went to the back to retrieve it, only to return without it. He asked what kind of bike it was so I was sure to give details to make sure there was no confusion..."It is a Kona Kikapu, all silver, soft tail." He then proceeded back to find it, fortunately returning to the store front with my bike, only to say that it hadn't been looked at yet. Did I mention it is WEDNESDAY!!!!! I said to him that it was supposed to be done on Monday, trying to use my nice Danny voice. He then just proceeded to get working on it along with the 2 other bike mechanics that were working there with him. Was this because I didn't yell and scream and cuss? I dont know, but they did get my bike done in about 25 minutes. He appologized as I was getting ready to pay and I told him not to worry about it, it's no problem. He then dropped $15 off my bill. Thats great I thought, only selfishly wondering if I could have gotten more out if the situation, like a free upgrade on shifters, or new grips since mine are torn from my new pedal incident, or even just a t-shirt or something.....I will never know. I did feel good about getting some sort of discount though. I figure I will still continue with the nice routine since, well for those of you that know me, I'm not very capable of being mean and unrulely to people, even if I act like I would or could be, it is all a big fat bluff. So summer is officially over and all I want is for it to restart so I can continue my biking escapades. I will probably go out a few times this fall/winter just for the experience of mud in my "grill". Whoohooo!!!

Tiger Part III

2008-09-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Now that I have learned how to put pictures on this blasted thing, I feel a need to do it all the time. Well, I've gone and done it again. I went up Tiger Mountain for the third time. I think this is becoming it's own natural high; practically kill myself riding up the hill and then try and kill myself riding down the hill. The downhill trail was particularly rough this time around. It is always rough but this was an exception. Rather than non stop roots, rocks, jumps, trees, logs, streams and hairpin turns, there were more roots that seemed so much larger, just waiting for you to go by so they can reach out and grab you like a nasty troll; there were easily three times as many rocks just waiting for you to not be able to get your foot unhooked from the peddle so they can gouge and bruise you as you fall helplessly to the ground; there were the same amount of jumps, but they just seemed a little taller; the trees, logs, streams and hairpin turns were all the same. I thought that the more you do something the easier it gets. Well, this time around it was false. I think there has been some significant erosion that has taken place up there....Ooooh I love it. I was hoping to go to "Devils Gulch" on this trip, but that fell through, potentially another day.
Do you ever feel like you need to say something on these blogs that is always interesting and or funny to those that potentially read it? I guess that is pretty errogant of me to actually think that people are reading this little blog of mine. So I guess I will continue to blab and blab about mountain biking and stuff like that. I am trying really really hard not to make this into a "sports" blog, where I talk of nothing but sports. We'll see how long that lasts.
I'll be back another day.........

NEVER FORGET!!!

2008-09-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

I cant help but tell of the feelings I have had all day. September 11, 2001: a day of humility and sorrow, yet a day of unity and pride.
When I set my alarm, I have to set it so it makes this aweful beeping noise in order for me to wake up, for those that know me, you know just how true this can be. Well, on this particular day, for whatever reason, my alarm was set on the radio, AM radio for that matter. I awoke to terror on the radion. The news announcer was in hysterics talking about some tragic accident and some plane crashing into the World Trade Center in New York. I woke Mindy up for her to here, and just as I did, plane #2 crashed into the other building. We were shocked, not really knowing what to do or say. We hurredly went out to watch the t.v. to see pictures and get more of an explination. WOW!!! That is all I can say. I went to work, reluctantly. All we did was watch the t.v. in the luch room, a bunch of construction workers almost in tears. As Darrel Whorley sings, "Have You Forgotten?" I will never forget that day, especially the feelings that I had. I felt a need to be of service to my country and was honored, though scared, that my brother, SGT Garth Newell, was willing and able to protect and fight for those of us that couldn't. He, along with the thousands of others are TRUE HEROES!!! although they will never admit to that, or want to be called that, because they are humble and know way more than any one of us will ever want to know. Oh, how I am gratefull. We are so blessed to live in a Country that is built on the foundation of God and that we have Men and Women who are willing to fight for that cause.
I have the honor of working with a friend who is a football coach and who is also a Firefighter. Also TRUE HEROES!!! Those men and women of the many fire departments and police departments who put their lives on the line, which many of them lost, to save thousands of people in those towers. My friend showed me a commemoritive coin that was given to him on that day. Wow, to be able to hold that and look at that coin brought back every feeling and emotion that I felt on the late summer day in 2001. It was a coin that had been weathered because he carries it around with him every year on the 11th of September. On one side, there is the national firefighter symbol and on the other is the commemoration of the Sept 11 attacks. That was a real neat experience to see that and to see his emotion towards his fellow men and women who risked and lost their lives.
I hope all of you have not forgotten and have taken time this day to remember those that lost their lives in those terrible attacks, and for those that have fought to regain our safety and security and our freedom. May God continue to bless us all.

Tiger Mountain Part II

2008-09-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

What is it about this desire we have to physically abuse ourselves? This last weekend I decided to make a second attempt at riding up Tiger Mountain on my mountain bike just so I can enjoy the great descent. The entire time I am riding up this three mile road, where elevation changes by over 2000 feet, all I can ask myself is what the heck am I doing? I am so stupid, I hate riding bikes, I hate hills, my legs hurt, my lungs feel like an unquenchable fire, and my butt feels like I was dropped out of a 10 story building and landed right on those bony ishial tuberosities (butt bones). I am complaining like this the entire way up the mountain. Good gracious, I made it to the top and after a sufficient rest I begin my descent down the mountain. Now my attitude has changed 180 degrees. All I can say now is how much I love mountain biking, I love the reward from climbing up the big hill, I love the jumps and big corners that I uncaringly ride over and around; what a thrill. I am already thinking about when I can go again and send myself through this "awsome" torture!!!
To top all of that, I am planning a trip to a mountain bike trail in Cashmere, WA called "Devils Gulch." Really, anything with that name has got to be trouble. Well, everybody that I have talked to has said that it is just about the best trail you can ride in Washington. Well, mistakingly, I decided to look up the trail and all of the details with it, yeah, it is a little more than the three mile up hill ride that Tiger Mtn. is. The trail is a total of 24 miles, the first 12 miles of that 24 are all up hill. Yes, you read it correctly, 12 miles up hill. Once again, I ask the question, why do we physically abuse ourselves?

2008-08-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn's all time favorite hobby...SLEEP!!!

2008-08-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn is a proud supporter of Bothell Football

The good life

2008-08-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I am a week into Football....I mean Fall Sports already. I really do spend the majority of my time on Football and everything else kind of falls by the wayside a little bit. At times I need help with remembering that there is girls soccer and volleyball and cross country and tennis. I haven't had to "work" too much as of yet, which is a great thing because that means there are few injuries. Mostly muscle pulls and such, nothing major. At the school, I have 4 high school girls that work as my Student Athletic Trainers. They don't do much when it pertains to injuries other than apply a bandaid here and there. I am an instructor for First Aid and CPR and so I helped them get certified in First Aid so they have somewhat of a clue if somebody comes to them covered in blood, but for the most part they give out ice bags and keep the water bottles filled up.
So yesterday, Mindy and I had a great experience. One of my really good friends, who happens to be one of the football coaches at Bothell, and his wife were able to go through the temple. She had never been and he hadn't been for many many years. It was so neat to be there for them as they made a great step in becoming sealed. Afterwards we all went to Denny's for a little late night dinner, ok it was only 8 but it seemed late. Maybe because Denny's just has that aura of being a late night diner. I stuffed my face with the never failing Lumberjack Slam, a meal that consists of three types of pork: ham, bacon, and Sausage, ahhhhhh, is there any better way to go? Of course being a lumberjack this wasn't all; there was a nice big helping of scrambled eggs, hashbrowns and two pancakes, well four for me since Mindy didn't want hers. What a great way to end the day; nice, greasy, fattening semi-fast food to stuff in my gut.
I am done blogging for now.....

Another attempt

2008-08-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

Well, my life as Mindy knows it all ends on Wednesday. This is becasue wednesday is the first day of football practice at the High School. We go away for 3 days into the woods where there are no tv's, video games, phones with their text messaging, comfy beds, good food, AC, or blogs and basically beat the newest class of Bothell Football into the dirt. That is good and bad. Good because it helps the kids excell in the upcoming season (proof: back to back State Championship appearances). Bad because I am the one who has to make sure the guys are healthy enough to stay on the field and if they aren't, then able to give the coach a good explination as to why they are sitting under the shade during conditioning drills.....I don't actually allow them to do that unless they are experiencing a life threatening condition, i.e. heat exhaustion, shock, etc. This is actually an exciting time because I love football season, on the other hand, I do really enjoy having time with Mindy whether it be hanging out, narrowing down our 3 meals that we cook for dinner, or taking the pug out for a walk. This week was great. We both took the week off and basically did very little. We went and watched the Mariners get blown away, which isn't unusual this year and is still quite fun sitting there in that beautiful baseball stadium with the sun partially poking through the clouds and enduring brief rain showers now and again. We also went fishing, ha ha. I guess you could call it fishing. We spent two days on the river and all we caught was 2 minnows, ok not really but might as well been. They were 2 growing rainbow trout no bigger than 5 inches long. Fun right? Well the minimum length to take a fish home in these parts is 14" so we were oh so close. We also went to the Woodland Park Zoo. I love the zoo. There is nothing like wondering around in the heat ( ok 75 degrees isn't really heat) watching all of these exotic animals, that aren't from these parts, sleep. I think there were only a few animals that weren't sleeping in the entire park: the giraffe, which we couldn't even get close to because it was way out in the middle of a field; the elephant, which also was on the backside of the pen and very well could have been sleeping while standing; and then some screaming monkey couple who makes noices that could only be compared to noices that would possibly come from a pornographic show: quite unnerving. We actually had a great time at the zoo. On thursday morning, I experienced what if feels like to go on a bike ride where you are going uphill both ways and start & stop at the same point. Me and my friend from work started out up this hill at Tiger Mountain near Issaquah. It was a 3 mile ride up this service road, basically a logging road. We arrived at the main trail, the upper trail and proceeded to ride down the rocky terrain with a million and a half tree roots all over the place. On a side note, I just got new pedals and shoes for my bike, the ones that clip on (they are called clipless pedals and cleats). Well, if you are not used to them and sometimes when you are used to them, it is easy to have a brief malfunction, this happened to me. I came to a point on the trail where I needed to stop and alter something on my bike. Well, in order to take your foot off the pedals, it is required that you twist and pull with your foot. I proceed to attempt my twisting and pulling motion to no avail and fell over onto multiple jagged rocks and sticks still attached to my bike. I still had to unhook myself from the bike even though I was lying in the dirt and rocks and sticks. So anyways, back to the original story. After completing the upper trail, my friend informed me that the lower trail was closed due to some rebuilding projects so there was a detour. This detour went all the way around the mountain and then for the final 2 1/2 to 3 miles it was all up hill to the car. Not just lttle hills, each of the hills was at least 500-600 yards long and were significantly steeper that the hills we started on to get to the original trail. Now how does that work? Well needless to say, I was about dead by the time we got to the car. I had experience delightful leg cramps in my thighs and calves, was very dehydrated, even though I was drinking plenty of water and gatorade - yes I am an athletic trainer and went prepared. So I have vowed to myself that I will not go back to this trail until the lower trail has opened, to avoid the unevitable death that would occur. For the reamainder of my time during this week I have been watching the Olympics. Not just a few moments here and there, not just one or two races or games, it is non stop, full on Olympic watching, it only happens once every 4 years for summer and then every 2 for the Olympics in general, so I feel obligated to support our country in their athletic endeavors. Normally a person that is asleep on the couch by 10 o'clock, I have been staying up past midnight almost every night just so I can see the next event, the next winning medal. It is quite fun actually. But that all ends for me beginning on wednesday, so I must soak it up while I can. So this is quite fun actually, but good grief, I didn't think I would actually have this much to say. I will try and keep it shorter int he future. I will try and coax the better half to sit and express her fun thoughts, actions and deeds and join in the blogging experience as well. Chow for now.

Due to numerous requests

2008-08-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Well, since we are on the top of everybodies list as far as seeking updates to our blog, I guess it is time to make an attempt at a post. There is just one problem, I don't have a clue what to say.