Poinsettia Bowl

The trip to Cali for the Poinsettia bowl now makes it 2 bowl game attendances in a row. The crew rolled down, that being Steve, Sam, me, and Ben. We stayed the first night in St. George, then lived the Vegas life for a night, then spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in San Diego. We cooped up at the BayFront Hilton. Nice place, good price. We spent some time talking with coach on the elevator one night on our way to the hot tub. The game was dope. The Utes put the hurt on Cal. We win bowl games. That's just what the Utes do. Then we hit the road and made it to St. George by 4:00 a.m. The trip was made up of hot tub hoppin at Hooters, an imaginary person, horrible chinese food, some crazy guys trying to sell us a speaker system, massages in Tijuana and having trouble getting back over the boarder, hitting up 2 Ross stores and 1 TJ max, and something like 1600 miles. Quality times. Can't wait till next year!

Sugar Bowl

I never blogged about the Sugar Bowl. So since we are coming up on this year's Sugar Bowl, I think that it is time. New Orleans is a pretty sick city. I loved the warm temperatures, the cool old buildings, the attitude of the people, the amazing food, the madness of Bourbon Street, and then the best Utah football game of my life. I loved being with my parents(the roommates), Daws, and my bros. Great memories. Next post: Poinsettia Bowl.

wings

My mind is like the park carousel. Never stopping long enough to allow the children of my life to climb aboard. Too much school. Too much work. Too much thinking. Too much? When the vocab needs to run across my marathon mind, I close my eyes to the music. The pain and healing are wrapped up in the same parcel, the bright red bow and golden wrappings. Should it be kept, till Christmas morning? Where will I go? Do I catch this polar express to the middle of my new beginnings? When do I search? A poem, a verse, a prose? Three eggs, so carefully cared for, they hatched into swans. Does the story so, by necessity, include an ugly duckling? Will the lagging one, fluff up it's wings? It was born with wings. I found the ground, so hard before, now soft and avoided. Not to continue, this carpet needs these knees like these knees need His wings. So lift off, pilot of the parable, you've controlled these aluminum wings before. This time, you've seen the airstrip, you've seen the war. The altitude calls. A bell rings. An angel gets its wings.

Hands down Best Ride

Won't

Won’t

I’m not going to stop till I get there

Not sweat till my body is worked

I won’t cry till the pain pulls me apart

Won’t choke until my throat is blocked

Unbreakable until you shatter me

Not going to eat until I’m emaciated

Can’t bleed until my heart becomes impaled

I’m not going to breathe till the air is gone

This body won’t drown until it’s sunk

Won’t take prescriptions till I’m terminal

Not going to crack until I’m hollowed through

Never done until you’ve robbed me dead

Death: A Double Connotation?

Sometimes, I decide to journal for fun or because something exciting has happened. Unfortunately, I’m driven to journal, many times, due to unfortunate events that occur. I feel alone inside this morning as I write this entry. God has been good to our family, both intimate and extended, in, for the most part, not allowing death to rear its ugly head upon us. In my lifetime a few grandparents, acquaintances, and a rare friend has passed away. Death is something that many people in the world have great experience with. Most gratefully I can say that I don’t and I hope to elude such experiences with it. But what hurts the most about death in the small element that I have felt and seen in other’s experience comes from the pain of absence from the one who has moved on. Their smile, the hugs they gave, the jokes they cracked, the service they volunteered, the listening ear they had ready, the love they showed, etc, etc. They are a part of one’s life and then they are not. I think that death could be defined as just that, a removal from, an absence, the cutting off of one from another. Maybe the word death is always used in the literal sense: Of one's passing from this life to the next or the physical change from functioning to ceasing. But could it not also be used in the more figurative meaning mentioned above: the removal of? If death can signify the removal of, then I would say that this week I have felt that “death” in my life.

Road Biking

A new era has begun. Road biking. I just got my first road bike, a Roubaix Elite. The maiden voyage was yesterday, 9/11/09. I followed that up with another ride today. I recorded the second half of the ride and I'm now going to attempt an upload of the map showing my return route.

So long Philadelphia!

6 years. 72 months. 312 weeks. 2,190 days. This is how long the Spence and Kathy Lake family lived in Philadelphia. Or at least pretty close to that. If you want the exact numbers, I feel quite confident that they can be obtained from the Philly Folk themselves. So Spence originally went back to try out for the Philadelphia Eagles but when the team maxed out their salary limit, they were forced to let him go. He decided to do some sort of schooling thing of sorts and after a few tests and lab results, he finished with this thing they call a PHD. Since, I just realized that this is getting cheasier by the minute, I'm going to switch to a more serious tone. Congratulations to Spence and Kathy! We all know how much work these last 6 years have been. I was lucky enough to go back one last time to The City of Brotherly Love to hear Spence's thesis and spend time with such a great little family. I love all you guys. I'll see you soon in Minneapolis!