I can't stop thinking about the Chicken Biryani

One of my most favoritest nieces got engaged this weekend. Shazia and Taylor met sometime last fall. Most notably they were part of a youth group that went to Nevada in October to rally the troops for Romney. From the day we met Taylor we liked him and they have been pretty much inseparable since the start.

Their engagement wasn't any huge surprise. They have been planning and talking about it for a couple of weeks. They really just needed the right time for Rashid to come out from Petaluma to meet Taylor and to make it all official.

Saturday night we met at the Aroma of India restaurant for the engagement announcement. Now, I'm not big on spicy food, especially Middle Eastern spicy. But, the food was VERY good. It was especially fun for Rashid, I think, because our waiter was from Lahore (Rashid is from Sialkot) and he spoke Punjabi with Rashid. Right at the start the waiter asked me who was in charge. I told him Darrell was paying the bill, but perhaps Rashid should be in charge. I didn't know they would essentially be countrymen.

Rashid said he had some trouble with the Punjabi (maybe it has been awhile.) But, they seemed to get along just fine and not involving Darrell in the ordering process was probably a good idea.

I think our party of 17 overwhelmed them a little. It took awhile for the food to start coming in adequate quantities. But, once again it was very tasty, especially the Chicken Biryani. The bill came to $500. So, thank you! Darrell.

Right as we were gathering to leave our waiter asked me what ward I was from. I wasn't sure I understood him correctly. We chatted for a bit. He told me his name was Ashraf Pius. He was a convert to the Church and he had been the translator for the Book of Mormon into Urdu. I explained to him about our wedding party and that Shazia is 3rd great grand daughter of Hyrum Smith while Taylor is 3rd great grand son of John Taylor.

Showshoeing

For a long time I've wondered what snowshoeing was like. We got a chance to try it out recently with the Kimber school. On 15 Feb I took of work around noon and we went up to Midway to try it out. The weather was sunny (had been for a while) with no new snow on the ground. So, we didn't get the full benefit of the experience. But, we had fun and a good workout and the weather was about as good as we could have asked for. I took one of my layers off and carried it with me. Probably only walked about two miles at the most.

We got home and hurried to get ready and meet the Youngs at MichelAngelo's restaurant. We hadn't been to their new location (just slightly north of and across the street from the old Villa theater.) The food was quite good, although I like my Carbonara better. And they have really good house bread that comes in huge loaves they sell for $6 each.

We wanted to get a movie at Redbox. We were looking for “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.” The boxes at our Fresh market were all checked out of it. Turns out that was a good thing because we saw it later with Jensen and Ailsa and it was pretty raunchy and not that entertaining. We got Flight instead. It was also a little raunchy. But, much more entertaining.

Paper Faces on Parade

This production was VERY well done. Jensen was working behind the scenes (as part of one of her theater classes.) We went to the very last performance and Jensen gave us a tour backstage before we went to dinner. We couldn't resist taking some pictures.

Vocally the students were very good, especially Carlotta and Piangi and Phantom and Christine and Raoul, probably in that order. Carlotta showed off a couple of times by throwing out some notes that you normally just don't sing, more like in the auditory range of canines. There were occasions when I wanted more power from the singing of the principles (and let's face it also from the organ and the orchestra.) But, these are college students who haven't fully matured in their performance abilities.

They actually hanged Buquet (not a dummy.) Jensen says it was a first. And I must say it did add to the anxiety.

They did a number of staging and emoting additions/changes that REALLY helped the exposition and helped with understanding the motivation of the characters. Lenore said it put the story on the same level as the music. Whereas in the past the music was always the star.

Here I am doing my best ailing Vicomte de Chagny impression, getting ready to bid on lot 665.

Cycling 2012

For the last couple of years I haven't done as well at my cycling. Oh nine, 2010 and 2011 are my worst years in a long time. Mostly, I have attributed this to being older than Bob Hope. I decided to redouble my efforts this year and I am very pleased with how things went.

Just reviewing my stats, I realized I did MUCH better than the recent past and on par or perhaps even better than my best years of 06-07-08.

Some numbers: highest year mileage total (4409.38, I did this mostly with just consistently getting miles in as often as possible, no one week was more than 184 miles, and most were in the 130-140 range); second highest MPH average (but only .07 MPH behind my best, and if not for a relatively disastrous two weeks at San Clemente, I would have bested it by about .05 MPH); more miles in each month from April to October (except July, didn't want to try for another 1000 mile month) than in any other corresponding month previously; fastest “solo” ride ever (I'm giving myself the benefit of the doubt because I ran into Craig Buchi and rode with him for the last 9 miles of the ride); three other rides in my top ten fastest solo rides; and fastest avg speed for the month 20.91 mph in September. Just to mention a few.

My highest ranking on BikeJournal came in September when I was at position 714 out of 49,397 riders.

I did quite a bit of tandem riding with Ameer mostly and we finally started turning in some good speeds. Even made it over 21 MPH average for one ride.

I had a couple of days in the middle of July within a week of each other where I did two separate rides (each day) for day totals in 54-59 mile range where I also had very good speed, comparable to my epic 60 time trial I did in Parker, AZ in 2006.

I was introduced to Strava.com by Craig and Teal Buchi and really enjoyed tracking my rides on that site. I am still listed in 7th place out of 471 on my favorite segment.

I did three organized rides: the ULCER ride (metric distance) with Ameer on the tandem; the Fall Tour de Saint George with Stuart; and the Salt to Saint Relay.

This last was quite fun. But, also kinda grueling since I didn't sleep for 36 hours and drove and rode 700 miles and was a little ill. We did well for a novice team and averaged 19.8 MPH.

One thing I did learn is that miles do count. (If you want to ride fast, ride more.)

One last item: I finally moved on from my old steel Bianchi frame that I have had for 15+ years. More than a year ago Teal Buchi tried to interest me in buying a Time carbon frame that he had. It took a while to get him and Craig to be desperate enough to come down to my price. There weren't too many other people out there who would want an extra large frame. So, I figured if I just bided my time, it would work to my advantage. I am very happy with the new bike. I didn't have to change out any of my components. Everything transferred over just fine. While the old frame was very light for a steel frame, the new frame is about 1.75 pounds lighter, quite amazing. After selling the old frame and fork, I was only out of pocket about $400. So pretty good deal.

Let's see what happens in 2013.

Christmas 2012

We had the usual fun Christmas/New Year vacation/fun time this year. I was out of work from 21 Dec to 2 Jan. I like that.

Our ARB work party was Friday evening 21 Dec. We ate dinner at the Maverik Center in the “Golden Corridor.” we had some festivities and awards and such and then watched the Grizzlies and the Las Vegas Wranglers in a Hockey game. The kids had their Kung Fu Christmas party scheduled at the same time. We thought we might leave early so they could catch the end of it. But we were enjoying ourselves and no one wanted to leave so we stayed to the bitter end at the Maverik Center. The Grizzlies lost to the Wranglers on the last shot of a shoot-out.

One day, I think it was maybe the Saturday before Christmas, we went to see The Hobbit at the theater. I can't recommend it. Stretching out too much story to make even one film, let alone three.

I cooked a Turkey the Sunday before Christmas and it turned out very good, 23 lbs. Then for Christmas Lenore made Turkey Wild Rice soup and it was VERY good. I also cooked an Italian Crostata and it turned out very good as well. Here are some pictures from Christmas day. The kids have been all wrapped up lately in watching Doctor Who. So Jensen painted the wrapping paper on Laney's gift to look like a TARDIS.

The day after Christmas we went to visit my parents in Saint George for a couple of days. I didn't take my bike or plan to ride because the weather didn't look too great. We watched a lot of NCIS, ate some good food, went shooting one day, and ate at the Bear Paw cafe which didn't live up to its hype. We must be kharmically challenged when it comes to eating out in Saint George with my parents. Often things don't go right.

Lenore and I saw the Life of Pi one day. We were both a little disappointed. We wanted/expected a life affirming story. Instead it struck us as a man who underwent a very unfortunate experience and made up a fanciful story to deal with it.

I did some work on Jensen's car to clean up the battery and its connections and that seemed to help. Unfortunately, now that we have taken it to Tunex to have them do the emissions test, it appears we may not be holding on to this car too much longer.

I put together an old book that Lenore wrote/drew years ago and kept saying she was going to do something with it. The badge/link to it on Blurb is up on the left of the page. It turned out pretty well. I had to scan in her drawings and run them through Photo Shop to darken them. Her sketches were soooo light.

I fixed Lenore's bathroom faucet which has been extremely hard to operate. We cleaned the shower in the master bath and I cleaned and fixed some guns.

Lenore's sister Natalie came to visit for a week or so and stayed with the Smiths. So we did a lot of visiting over there after we returned from Saint George.

Aliens

Jensen has been interning with the Aquabats! Super Show this semester. They are shooting some of their latest season here in Salt Lake. Shanna and Christian were very nice to give her the opportunity. She has really enjoyed herself. We went to the studio recently to see some of the filming and Christian gave us a tour, we think there was some drama going on amongst the production team and he wanted no part of it. We took some fun pictures including this one with Ailsa in a heating duct.

Thanksgiving 2012

We had another very nice time this past Thanksgiving down at the Hoke's river house. We are ever indebted to Kim and Ed and their generosity.

I will attempt to break with tradition and tackle this out topically.

Bike: So we could drive the Avalon (and spend less on gas, and probably be more comfortable) I bought a trunk lid bike rack from some guy on KSL Classifieds for $20. Pretty good deal. I rode twice, on Thanksgiving day with Stuart and Landon and Clayton (I think that was all) and then on Friday with Stuart. I did okay. I was left behind a couple of times because of climbing. But, it was all good. I had been having trouble with my knee (IT band) since the Tour de Saint George). But, after a couple of weeks of stretching and rolling, it was much better. Friday's ride with Stuart was just more work. I didn't feel great, possibly because my body isn't used to replenishing its glycogen stores on a 24 hour cycle.

Shooting: We went shooting two times. The first time with a pretty big group. We convinced almost everyone to try the Mosin. Even Brenna did. It was fun. Jeremy made some pretty impressive shots with it. I had a little bit of a time keeping track of everything and helping everyone. But, it worked out. The second time we had a smaller group and it was a little more relaxed. Lenore was having some trouble with the Buckmark (we have some after-market magazines that are a little difficult to get in all the way. I fixed it and then turned, took aim and squeezed off a round, hitting a soda can about 35 yards away. She said, “hey that's what I was shooting at!” Ooops.

Weather: Was just beautiful. About 80 and clear with no wind. The water temp in the river was QUITE cold though. Thanksgiving afternoon Lenore and I spent about an hour sitting on the dock occasionally dipping our feet in the water. From time to time grand nieces or nephews (some of them quite young) came to visit us. I had to tell them to be careful and not fall into the river. I wouldn't want Lenore to have to go in to rescue them in the freezing water. It really was a very transcendent hour, very nice. We are so blessed.

Thanksgiving dinner: Everything was good. Even the deep-fried turkey. Not always my favorite, was very good. Kristin made Mississppi Mud pie, ham was good. We all ate too much. But, kept going back for more.

The drive: mostly uneventful. We stayed in Saint George both coming and going and spent Saturday evening and Sunday morning with Grandma and Grandpa. Always grateful for their hospitality.

For a while I've been wanting one of these low-cost Russian surplus rifles, the mosin nagant 91/30 that shoots a 7.63x54r round. I finally broke down and bought one. Our specimen was made in 1938. It is in pretty good shape I think. The kids are excited. Jensen especially thinks the bayonet is cool.

Shivwits! What did you say?

 

Stuart was looking for someone to do the Fall Tour de Saint George again this year. I wasn't really excited to do it. But, mainly only because it's the third trip down to Saint George in four weeks. I decided to do it anyway. Stuart says he probably would have bagged it if I hadn't gone.

We drove down Friday evening and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa again. It turned out to be a very nice day. Weather was supposed to be a little warmer. As it was I had to wear a vest and arm warmers and was still borderline too cold at the start. But, all that stuff came off by the end of the ride.

The climbing is worse than my glossed over memory told me. I did okay though. Got a flat right at the summit before dropping into Veyo. It took me 11 minutes to change the tube. So, at the feed station in Veyo I didn't stop and the one near the Shivwits Indian Resevation I decided to stop only very briefly to pick up a couple of snacks.

Right at the start I saw a couple of guys on a carbon Calfee tandem. They made a joke to everyone in general about their being dropped now. But, we would be fighting for their wheel later on. I didn't see them again until the steep downhill at the 18 mile mark just outside of Veyo. They went screaming past me. I made a goal to catch them.

About 17 miles later, just after the second feed station I finally got on their wheel. I stayed with them until the feed station at mile 52. Riding behind them helped a lot I think. I left them behind after the feed station because they were taking the 100 mile route and our paths were splitting soon. As it was they didn't catch up to me before the routes split.

They had the metric distance riders move onto the river bike path for about 5 miles which was interesting. My knee started to hurt me and ached for about the last 10 miles or so. Stuart says it's the IT band. It's probably because I haven't been stretching.

I finished in a decent time considering my flat. Came in 2nd out of 18 in my age group and 13th out of 100 overall with no one older coming in ahead of me. I averaged 12.4 MPH for the first 1:10 (the climbing), then 22.24 MPH for the rest of the ride.

Stuart got off course again. I'm not sure he will be doing this ride next year.