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7:23 PM Max 3 comments

Last August I took a hike up Squaw Peak with a friend only to find out I was too out of shape to walk up hill! In fact the only memories I have of the first hike involves dizziness, strong desire to vomit, signs of heat stroke and extreme hypoventilation to name a few. In the end it took 1 hour and 30 minutes to reach the summit.

Luckily, I survived and was able to crawl back indoors and turn on the air conditioning. After regaining consciousness I started to ask around for other people's times and read a few blogs - all suggested 30 minutes as the benchmark of achievement. Thus began my campaign to conquer squaw peak in under 30 minutes, not to mention the chance to see amazing views of Phoenix:



I'm also happy to announce that as of April 2010, I have a new record of 29 minutes, and 44 seconds. I would like to be at 25 minutes by the end of the year, thus I will continue to keep track of each hike and strive for personal improvement (as if anyone could improve perfection). To help this process I have been timing myself with the help of a time/distance measuring iPhone app, which keeps track of each hike. I recently downloaded the data into an Excel file to see the past 10 months in a visual representation:

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Since Phoenix is reaching 100 degree days here in the valley, we hike later in the day from 5 to 7 pm and if anyone wants to join in on the fun just let me know!

Politicking, Part II

2:16 PM Max 0 comments

The fridge-of-fame; the most coveted and prestigious honor a political candidate can receive from this seasoned blog writer. This year I have had a chance to meet a few local candidates, see some old faces, and this time around add Governor Sarah Palin and former First Lady Laura Bush to the fridge-of-fame.

The Governor and her family were in Mesa for a McCain rally in late March, she came out strong against obama's out of control spending, unprecedented government growth, and unconstitutional healthcare takeover. At one point telling the teleprompter-in-chief that "we are not the party of NO, we are the party of Hell No". She was energetic, enthusiastic, and best of all right - explaining the role of a limited Government as the path to freedom and prosperity.

Despite Palin's strong message, the nightly news revolved around two failed hecklers who briefly interrupted the speech, but were quickly removed by the patriots in the crowd. As the second heckler was being removed, Palin turned to him and said "Stick around young man, you might learn something". And we all know that good advice is...good advice!

The next event included the former first lady visit through Mesa on her book tour. The hour and a half wait was well worth seeing Laura Bush up close. Although the meeting was brief and no picture was possible, there is always next time!

Politicking

9:44 PM Max 3 comments

Over the last several years, I have neglected my "fridge of fame" - adding an occasional picture here and there, alas with the changing times and democrat's unconstitutional takeover of health care I've decided to do some politicking (yes that's a word, Google it if you don't believe me...I did).

Thus far I've met with Jim Ward and his wife and support them to take down Harry Mitchell from District 5.

Threw my colossal political weight behind JD Hayworth for Senate (Standby readers while I go take my ego-reducing pills), and finally had the opportunity to meet Sheriff Joe Arpaio this weekend.

Although the Sheriff doesn't match my enthused look in the picture, he was by far one of the most friendly people I've met at these events. He even suggested I print out the picture and send to him for an autograph which is an added bonus! Keep checking the blog for the autographed picture.

Well I'm off to make my own Nixon-style revenge list of all who vote for this massive government take-over healthcare bill to make sure they get voted out this cycle, then maybe a haircut.

Just another extremist

6:49 PM Max 5 comments

Heard Rush Limbaugh talk about this during his three hours of excellence on Friday regarding the killer whale spotted at the latest Tea Party Protest and had to find the picture for myself.

However, Mr. Limbaugh was quick to point out the image is not of Tillikum, but rather a thinner Rosie O'Donnel. Rosie is lookin' better than I remember.

Hitler Hates Scott Brown

2:17 PM Max 2 comments

Bucket List

1:26 PM Max 1 comments

What do you want to do before you 'kick the bucket'?



I've decided to keep an ongoing list, make additions, and keep track here through two versions - short term and lifetime.

Short term in 2010:

Take a 2 week vacation to see Japan
Hike Squaw Peak under 30 minutes
Hike Camelback Mountain (tough trail, not that tourist crap)
See Conan O'Brien's new show as an audience member
Plan WWII EuroTrip, part 2 (Italy, Sicily, Switzerland, Austria, Germany)
Add muscle mass
See meteor crater (yea I've yet to do that in all this time)

Bucket List:

Go sky diving
Run for public office
More Travel!
-Road trip around the Southwest
-Flight to Northeast and Southeast
Complete an MBA program
Meet Rush Limbaugh
Expand the "fridge of fame" with more pictures and actually frame them one day

Hospital Stay

12:07 PM Max 0 comments

Although the requests for more information and more blogs came unexpected, I do like the attention - so I wanted to give a quick recount of post surgery hospital stay.
Instead of going through each day, I think it would be easier to summarize the week into a single, long-day.

Each morning came with extra pain pills and morphine shots, followed by a walk around the halls. Walking was slow, hunched over manner with one hand on the IV machine and the other trying my best to cover the damn patient gown, but at least I didn't put it on backwards.....

After the walk I would refuse breakfast/lunch (resulting in a 10 pound weight lose at the end of the week). Every three hours a tech would come in to check blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature. This happened every three hours, which was less cubersome during the day but became annoying during the night, not counting the 4:00 am blood sample visits. Not all memories are unpleasant, however, as I recall a morphine-induced ralization that my bed transformed and expanded wings, becoming a WWII P-51 mustang plane, as I was shooting down Japanese zeros over the pacific.

In conclusion? The hospital isnt as fun as it appears, plus I've yet to see a bill for this unexpected vacation. Next time I'm going to see Dr. Nick Riviera...the B is for Bargain!



The total recovery week for a ruptured appendix is 6-7 weeks, and Im happy to say I only have one more week left of slow movement and can return to hiking and winning at tennis as early as next weekend! To recovery!
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