Its been a longer time since I've updated my blog. I feel like I've let down the blogging community. I hope all my readers (ha ha the 3 who maybe read this) haven't completely given up checking my blog. Now for a little update....

I returned to the land of my birth(Corvallis, OR) for Christmas. It was a quite Christmas as I was the only one home for Christmas. My mom and I spent most of the day at my sister's place playing with her kids and their new toys. While I was home I got to see a bunch of old friends. I got together with some of my best high school friends at American Dream Pizza. Also someone from my high school had a great idea of organizing a CV alumni get together. At around 8pm people started trickling into the peacock in downtown Corvallis. Some of the faces I instantly recognized and some I had to do double takes before it hit me. I was fun seeing old friends which brought back wonderful memories of the 4 years I walked the halls of CV.

The three bones are re-united once again.

Rachel, Michelle, Dom, Marc and I

Marc is the first of the crew to get married and have a Kid!

Dinner at American Dream Pizza

Northwestern Prosthetic School

My time here is Chicago is about up. Its been a fun experience living in Chicago and going through the prosthetic program at Northwestern. Our class of 22 will graduate this Friday and then branch off on our separate ways. I feel like we had a special class in that everyone really bonded and helped each other out. School has consisted of assessing patients and casting them for a prosthesis. I'd then build it and try fitting it to the patient. We all completed 7 prosthesis projects in 8 weeks so it has been busy and time has flown by. Our class laughed a lot together making being in "school" enjoyable and when we'd get together to party and danced everyone had fun. Some memorable moments included dissecting the human body (new experience for me), Elvis singing happy birthday to Tom(our prosthetic instructor), Team Uniforms, Mullets, kidney stone hospital run (luckily it wasn't mine), Critiques, foot braking, Shannigans, Mcfadden's, O'tooles, and getting free stuff at AOPA. Chicago has been pretty fun too, but I'm ready to get back an area that has mountains, lakes, canyons and grass.

Tom gets serenaded by Elvis Tom and Mark rockin' it proudly
Class picture with 'The King' James and Scott pulling plastic on a socket
Modifying Dustin drape forming
Nice seam Ryan
Trans humeral prosthesis (none of our projects were completely finished all the way but just enough for trial fittings)

Trans tibial Prosthesis

Papa smurf

Thousands of people flocked to watch Flugtag put on by RedBull. I think I saw something like this on TV once but it's an unusual competition where a team of individuals build a contraption that supposedly glides when they run it off a platform 30 feet in the air, after performing a short skit. Basically what happens is the contraption crashes into the water and everyone cheers. It seemed like something off MTV or those Chinese game shows.It was pretty entertaining.

Tour de donut: The Conclusion

Who attends a Donut Race?? I thought it would draw a larger crowd (pun intended) because of the love for donuts. So I thought a race against a bunch of overweight people would be a cinch. Right?? Well my high hopes of first prize quickly dissipated as soon as I got to the race and saw everyone with their thousand dollar bikes and spandex outfits. You have to be pretty serious about biking to take the time to stretch into spandex. I instantly realized I wasn't up against the fellow that had eaten one too many donuts for this pant size but I was going head to head with Lance Armstrong. This didn't completely crush my spirits though. Like Martin Luther I had a dream and it was 21 miles away with about 300 bikes in my way and I was determined to come out on top. The excitement in the air was electrifying and everyone was anxious to start the race. The gun sounded catching me off guard as I was still trying to pump up the tires of my dilapidated mountain bike. I quickly stopped pumping and mounted my 2 wheel stead to start the first lap. During the first lap I raced with the fury of Seabiscuit and had enough mustard to stay up with the pack and found myself in 16th place. However keeping that pace took everything I had and so when I got to the first donut round the mere sight of them almost had me blowing chunks. After racing as hard as I could for 7 miles a donut is not the first thing I wanted to see. It was then that I sadly realized that I wasn't in this race to win but to somehow finish. But even sadder was the thought that maybe I didn't enjoy donuts as much as I thought. I began to seriously doubt I'd ever finish the race but instead be found lying on the side of the road in a pile of donut crumbs. All these thoughts swam in my head as I struggled to eat one donut that would deduct 3 mintues off my time. "Trav, your wasting more time eating. Just get going", Devin's logical resoning broke the conversation in my head. I guess he could see I wasn't getting anywhere fast by staring at the glazed goodness in my hand. I got back on my bike and made decision to take it easy and enjoy the race.

Well needless to say the next two laps were much easier but I saw my Lutherian dream pass as I watched kids and those individuals who really did love deep fried foods whiz by on their bikes. About an hour and thirty minutes after the race began I crossed the finish line with 5 donuts in the tank and happy to have completed the race. I was nowhere near the first biker who finished in 38 minutes or beat the record of eating 25 donuts but it was a fun experience.

Air and Water Show

Chicago had it's 50th anniversary of the air and water show the other weekend. It was pretty exciting to see and hear the jets as they would go by. The sound from them would literally shake the buildings. The jets were way louder then I imagined. The planes were pretty impressive as they would do loop to loops, and hammerheads and other stunts. The big performance was from the blue angles. They fly so close together its amazing! Supposedly they pack in 18inches apart. Do you remember those old pictures of those girls in matching funny outfits waving as they skied by or formed a pyramid? I always thought that was funny and I actually got to see some of that. It was more funny to actually see it because of the old pictures then it was impressive. I didn't think people actually did that anymore. Here are some pics from that weekend.

I was hoping for something more impressive... and where are the flags and crowns??

There were hundreds of boats out on the lake watching the show

Phew! that was close
Blue angles
ahh, touching. The crowd liked this one.

Every day on my way back from school I walk down Rush street which often has me gawking at some of the most amazing cars I've ever seen in my life. At this stretch of the road Mercedes and BMW's are common and look like our families 1983 VW Rabbit when compared to these high-end luxury sports cars. I started taking pictures of the cars I see and the following is a sample of the mechanical beauty I've seen so far...

Aston Martin V8 Vantage

$113,400-$126,400

Porche 911
$73,500-$136,500
1939 ish Buick Special convertible

$55,000
Bentley Continental GTC
$193,990

Maserati GranTurismo
$110,000

Lamborghini Gallardo
$190,600 - $228,040

Ferrari F430
$173,079 - $201,213
Porsche Carrera GT
$328,700 - $341,500

Lamborghini Murcielago LP640

$339,400-$372,200

Meet Melvin

I would like to introduce my third roommate. I got Melvin from a neighbor who's wife didn't like reptiles so I took him thinking he would make a good summer pet. I think he would qualify as my first pet. He was fun to have for a short time but I don't think I would want to keep a reptile for a long period of time. Since moving to Chicago I had to pass Melvin along to a co-worker.

This picture is almost disturbing like that close up picture of

the horse in the movie The man from Snowy river.

It was my second night living in Chicago and a very exciting one at that. I've seen some storms but nothing quite like what I experienced on Monday night. About 6 or 7 pm the winds picked up and merciless lightening crashing down on the city and tremendous thunder shook the buildings. The people on the streets were in as much as a frenzy as the night sky. People were running back and forth taking cover as the rain pounded down. Everywhere I walked I heard sirens from police and firetrucks. The city turned on its tornado warning, debris littered the ground, tree branches snapped as the sky continued to unleash its anger on the city all night long. The thunder was so loud that it would actually startle me and the lightening was so intense that the thought of actually being struck crossed my mind several times. To add to the mayhem of the night another bizarre thing happened to me as I left a grocery store about 10:30pm I notice some people gawking at something and a fire truck on an adjacent street. Chicago is full of bars so I thought that some poor fool had drunken himself to a stupor. As I got closer I saw orange flames flickering from inside a store. That was enough to peak my interest and I joined the gawking crowd, watching the fireman break the glass windows of the store and drench the inside with water. About 3 other fire trucks pulled up to help and they quickly extinguished the fire that was supposedly started by a neon sign in the window. A news reporter saw me taking pictures and asked me to send him the pictures because it was so unexpected he didn't have his camera on him. Anyways it was a wild night in the windy city.

Exploring Utah

Sadly it was time to leave Utah and move on to the next chapter in life. When I first started school I was rather disgusted with Utah in more ways then one. However, as I've spent more time in Utah I've been able to see its natural beauty as I traveled the state in search of new adventures. In the 4 years I've lived here I feel as though I've really gotten to experience Utah and have seen a lot of the state. The following is a list of places I've been or things I've done in Utah:


Bridal Vail falls


The abandoned restaurant


Stewart falls


Provo Canyon


American Fork Canyon


Wake boarded at Deer Creek Reservoir


Wake boarded on Utah Lake


Sailed on Utah Lake


Sailed at Sand Hollow


Sundance


Snowboarding at Brighton


Snowboarding at The Canyons


Climbing in Rock Canyon


Climbing in Maple Canyon


General Conference


MOTAB Christmas concert


Lights on Temple square


Energy Solutions Center (Formally known as Delta Center)


Fort Douglas


Gobblin Valley


Zion National Park


Mystery Canyon


Narrows


Misery Canyon


Emerald Pools


Pine Creek


Arches National Park


Canyon Lands National Park


Dead Horse Point State Park


Climbing in St. George


Float the Colorado River


Climbing In Moab


Kolob Canyon


Climbing in Kolob


Kanara Creek


Strawberry Days Rodeo (Pleasant Grove)


Fiesta Days Rodeo (Spanish Fork)


Scottish Festival


Diamond Fork Canyon Hot Pots


Camping at Payson lakes


Snowshoeing/camping/snowcaves at Strawberry reservoir


Bear Lake


Escalante


Peek-a-boo canyon


Spooky canyon


Freedom Festival (Provo)


Summerfest (Orem)


Bear Lake


Lake Powell


Nutty Putty Caves


Fished the Provo River


Park City


Upper Calf Creek Falls


Mona rope swing



Yuba lake



Silver Lake



American Fork Canyon

Bonneville Salt Flats

Hiked the Y

Ringling Brothers Circus

Disney On ice

Grizzlies Hockey Game

Real Salt Lake Soccer Game

Squaw Peak

I'll miss little happy valley and the beautiful mountains that guard it. Even more though I'll miss the friends I left behind. Utah's found a niche in my heart to stay. I'll be back again to conquer the next adventure, walk the nostalgic roads and visit the friends who made it all worth it.

American Fork Camping

A bunch of us went up to American Fork to camp and do some hiking. We drove up to Silver lake flatts and looked for a campsite. We couldn't find any without a considerable hike to regardless of the signs telling us that we can't camp within a half mile of the lake we pitched our tents in a little clearing nearby the lake. I discovered a few natural poles and decided to make myself a teepee to sleep in. I've always wanted to make and sleep in a teepee so I was really excited to do it. The teepee wasn't quite big enough enough but I managed to sleep the night. The next morning we were greeted by a disgruntled ranger saying, "didn't you know you couldn't camp here," in his stern ranger voice. Unfortantely that slapped us with a fine that taught us to get up and pack up before the rangers come :) . After Breakfest we hiked to silver lake which was beautiful. I was shocked when we got there and there was still snow at the banks of the river. I had brought tubes to play in the water with but they quickly became our down hill sledding machines. Who would have thought we would be going sledding in the middle of june when it was 80 plus degrees?? The whole trip was fun despite the ranger.

Tour de Donut Training

I entered to race in the Tour de Donut coming up this weekend. It is a bike race held in American Fork. Here's the skinny on the race....

"It's simple. Race 21 miles and see who is the king donut! In circuit style, ride 7 miles, then eat as many donuts as you would like. No limit. Then, ride 7 more miles, eat more donuts, then ride the last 7 mile lap. Glory and adulation are waiting for you at the Finish Line. Proceeds benefit the Utah Amber Alert ID project."

I've always loved donuts and i think this is my time to shine. Practicing for it has been hard work...

to be continued......

My attempt to be a Photographer

Here are a few pictures from my latest adventure (in American Fork Canyon at Silver Lake) that I took with my new camera. I'm still trying to play around with the different features and settings so that the pictures turn out good. Most of the pictures I took were duds but I got a few that I was pleased with. I apologize to the rest of the people with me if they got annoyed with me stopping at every bend to take a dozen pictures. I'm sorry I'm sure this will wear off in time but I'm a little obsessed right now. I'll do a posting on the adventure later. Enjoy.

My camera has a cool macro setting that I like to use.

Playing with the ISO

This is the moon coming up captured by having the shutter open for a longer time

The credit for this picture actually goes to Liz. I really like the symmetry in it.