The Next Armstrong?

Too much good stuff happened in Cape Cod during my vacation to write about. So I will pick one good thing which happened to me: I bought my bike. Not just any bike. This was a Specialized allez elite, with double front chainwheels and all the trimmings. After waiting weeks to pick it up, I had driven myself into a frenzy of excitement over it. I would think: "the possibilities. I could become the next Armstrong. The next Eddy Merckx." Of course I could, just as easily as Jon Brower could lose 700 pounds. It amuses me that these thoughts of becoming the worlds greatest cyclest went through my mind before I had even done a fifty mile ride.

(Written 6/05)

Seven Years Later

When in the course of a man's life he is given a glimpse into his past he will often see staring back at him an entirely different man, at once familiar and foreign. In some ways he is the same but he has changed. His choices follow him. Experience molds him. Hardships break and re-form him.

We are all being changed in some profound way. We are all moving closer or further from the One who has made us. The spectator can judge the fruit of a man's choices, experiences, and hardships in light of the changes observed in him, for submission to God forges something lovely in him who yields but rebellion corrodes the Imagio Deo in every life.

I will not delete this blog though I may be the only one to revisit it. It provides a point of reference for me. It serves as a kind of humorous and meaningful sign post for my life. It gives an insightful glimpse into my not too distant yet substantially different past. 

I trust that I will look back upon this post in several years and know that the work has continued which makes a man increasingly foreign to himself as He becomes the friend of God.  

tagged

1. I like ketchup on my scrambled eggs
2. I make a mean omollete.
3. Sometimes I don't trust my friends
4. I think Stephen is funny
5. Some people think I'm obnoxious sometimes
6. You can tell when I'm full of myself by my eyebrows. I'm not sure how but you can ask Katherine.
7. I once was a blogger
8. Once I was punched by one of my bestest friends for commenting that my mom made better pancakes than his mom.
9. Once when I was tagged I wrote EIGHT random things instead of SEVEN!!!!!!

"My life flashed before me eyes"

Finally after a month I'm back home.

Now to address the real issue. Last Wednesday My Dad and I helped my Grandpa to put his new five hundred and fifty pound boiler down to his basement. Thankfully he had an outside entrance otherwise it would have been impossible to get this beast down there. We put it-the boiler- on a dolly and started wheeling it down the ten dangerously steep steps. Like the brilliant guy everyone knows I am, I got in front of the boiler so that it was above me on the narrow stairway. Five seconds later I realized the folly of this move. I think I was in one of the most precarious positions of my life (my Dad denies this, but I was under it, not him). As it began to be lowered, gravity started to pull this monster down the steps. I was trying to keep it from falling down on top of my by pushing up with all of my awesome strength. This didn't work. Slowly it was bearing down on me, inch by agonizing inch. I realized in these few moments that I would not be able to get out of the way because of the walls on both sides of me. In these moments I pictured myself in several different scenarios. Slowly the boiler lowered down on me until I was smooshed on the stairs in a slow crinkled frenchfry style death. No. I bolted and the monster fell down after me before I could get away, ending my life in a flash. No. I shoved it aside as it fell but it still smeared me on the wall. I decided this last option was my best with a survival rate of about 40%. I realized it would be difficult to get the Beast off of me once I was crushed beneath it, and wondered if the fire department would have to help.
As I thought these thoughts, the boiler had slowly pushed me backwards until I was leaning with it over me. Then it stopped. Grandpa had attached a rope with a pulley to the dolly and with my father's massive strength I was saved from having a closed casket funeral. My Dad tells me they had it all under control. But I was the one under the supposed control, not him.

So, because of my brush with death, my Dad let me have the rest of the week off to recuperate.
HAHAHA.

countdown to Cape Cod

My last week was full of stuff involving Joel and school. On Saturday Mom had her baby and after I visited her in the hospital I went to this youth day thing with people from my gym group. We drove way up on this mountain and played capture the flag with like thirty people over like ten acres of woody terrain. It was awesome. My team won and it was all because of me. Just kidding. I was part of the three man special forces team which penetrated enemy quarters and found the flag; which is the point to the game for those who don't know. You're stupid if you don't (just trying to help you find yourself).

I caught up with three people that I haven't seen for like a year. Ethan, Rachel and Zach(none of you will know them). It was good to see them.

Joel is cool. His squeaking is awesome. I forgot what it was like to have a baby in the house.

In less than a week I'll be enjoying Cape Cod.

For now...

air time

This week I have set up three jumps for my dirt bike going over our stone wall. One is a four footer, another is a six and the last is an eight. Its cool, except that I land a little hard over the eight because I'm getting too big for my bike. While I want a bigger one, I think it wise to save my money for awhile.
Mom just left for the hospital to probably have her baby. Joel.
Elizabeths bday is tomorrow and I have some stuff to do (fun stuff) so I'm going to bed.

A new beginning