Well I Am the Warrior!

Or at least, I'm a fan of the Warriors (Golden State that is)! I went to my first Golden State Warriors basketball game last night. It was a pretty fun time. They play at Oracle Arena in Oakland, about an hour and fifteen minutes from Santa Rosa. They played the Seattle Supersonics who have Kevin Durante, the number 2 draft pick last year.

I went with my coworkers. Gary, the sales rep, bought us all tickets! We sat in the 24th row on the baseline. And my boss got us a limo to take us to the game! Pretty sweet! We stopped at In-n-Out Burger on the way to the game, and enjoyed a Double-Double animal style. (Refer to a previous blog to learn more about In-n-Out Burger. I'd tell you again, but Zach tends to remember everything I've ever blogged about and make fun of me if I say it twice!) And it was pretty cool to be dropped off in a limo in front of the arena. Overall, it was a fun-filled night of brewskies and laughs. And I must admit, I had the entire limo rolling when I described Rocky Mountain Oysters as an "explosion in your mouth" (pause for laughter). I'll leave you with that word picture!

24 in 24

As we speak, I am just about 5/6 the way through season 4 of 24. I started it last night, took an 8 hour sleeping break, and am going strong since 10 A.M this morning. (I did take a brief break last night when I sliced my finger pretty bad cutting bread. Worst cut I've ever had, but no stitches). I don't think I'll be able to do it in 24 hours, but it'll be close! I knew I was playing with fire when I started this season, but I didn't think it'd be this bad....

To my credit, I did have a somewhat productive day today, and I planned on going out this afternoon. I got my taxes pretty much finished. And I was planning on going bowling and having a Mexican dinner with friends from church. I made guacamole (while watching 24), and was getting ready to go, when I noticed that the date on the bowling occasion was next Saturday - not today! So I have quite a bit of guac in my fridge to munch on during the rest of my 24 marathon! If you'll excuse me now, I'm going to refocus my attention on the episode playing in front of me!

Sad, sad, sad...

I want to give you a glimpse into the sad life of this one Tanner Augustin. I've been watching American Idol this season (I haven't missed one yet). Yesterday, they eliminated everyone except the top 25. I'm not sure if any of you have been watching, but I was a fan of Josiah, the 18 year-old who lives in his car. He reminded me of my bud, Aaron. I think it was his aptitude for being able to come up with his own renditions of songs on the spot, and he was seemingly into the same kind of music. Well, he had a horrible final audition in Hollywood and got the ax. I was so down last night after the episode that I had trouble falling asleep. Sad, I know, that a reality show can affect me like that!

Another sad aspect of my life is how ridiculously out of shape I am! I went to a kickboxing class this evening with a friend, and WOW, it about killed me! An hour long class of punching and kicking air, doing jumping jacks, and jumping an air rope, and I seriously just about collapsed. I hadn't felt that light-headed from working out since high school basketball! We did the whole exercise where you're in an athletic stance and chopping your feet in place. Ya, I could definitely feel my obese jiggle on my waste, and I don't think I felt that during basketball camp! And the saddest part is that the instructor was a flaming gay guy, and there were definitely some ladies in there with more cellulite than me having a much easier time. A bit of a humbling experience overall, I must say!

Fairy Tale Week

This last week has been simply the things dreams are made of! As noted in my previous blog, my week started with skiing in the most amazing ski conditions of my life. Now, the week ended with nothing fancy...just your average day of SUMMER stuff! It was 70 yesterday and today. My goal today was to spend the entire day outside, and I did! I listened to a Piper sermon sitting poolside (had to even out my raccoon face tan my goggles game me skiing earlier this week!), went for a jog, did some chipping with my sand wedge in this big grass space next to my condo, hit the driving range, and played 2-on-2 basketball outside. It feels like May in Nebraska, except that it still gets down to mid-thirties at night. I topped off the night by grilling a 1 lb Sirloin and asparagus on my new grill (or BBQ as they call them out here). Nor Cal is definitely an amazing area....a simple four hour drive separates 5 ft of snow and 70 degree weather!

Well, I don't think I mentioned anything in this blog that will stimulate another comment war, but we'll see...I didn't think I did last time either!

Super Tuesday at the Slopes!

Super Tuesday took on a different look than I had anticipated (and I don't mean that I voted for Obama!). Yesterday, I was told that I could take the day off (I work with awesome people!) today and head to Lake Tahoe to enjoy the 5 feet of snow that was just dumped there last week (yes, another 5 feet of snow since the last time I went!). So I left yesterday evening and spent the night in Auburn with Dick and Barb (my sister-in-law's aunt and uncle). It was great seeing them since I hadn't seen them since October.

Today was possibly the best day of skiing I've ever experienced. It was 30 degrees and sunny with no wind, and the powder was amazing! Even though I could shove my poles all the way into the snow past the handles and not even hit the ground (pictured below), my skies didn't sink into it too much (b/c of the wetness) which made skiing easier than Colorado powder. I went to Squaw Valley which is where they had the winter Olympics (not sure which year). It was WAY better than Heavenly which is where I went last time. It was probably the steepest terrain I've skied on...pretty intimidating. You know that tingling sensation you get when you're standing at the edge of a cliff? Ya, that's what I was feeling quite a bit today. And I think it was magnified since I was skiing by myself and somewhat paranoid that I would lose a ski at the top and fall all the way down to the bottom! It didn't have the close-up view of the Lake that Heavenly did, but you could still see it. Once again, by the end of the day, my legs were about ready to give out. And the 4 hr drive home could have been enough to kill me, but I had Michael Savage on the radio keeping me informed on the outcomes of Super Tuesday and why I should vote for Mitt Romney and not Hucksterbee or Moonlighting McCain (as he calls them). Fortunately, I already voted via absentee ballet so I didn't miss my opportunity to make my conservative voice heard in liberal Cali!

This is what 5 feet of snow looks like on the side of the road.
Check out how it's taller than the car!

My poles weren't even hitting the ground yet!