Mountain Biking - October 2, 2010

Saturday in the P90X workout schedule is supposed to be Kenpo X (kickboxing?) but we chose to go mountain biking instead - Diana's ankle is getting better and the weather is so nice!  Check out the bushes - the leaves are turning colors!  Diana rode her bike up to the park from her house.  I drove all the way and parked there.  7 a.m. felt so early and the uphill feels so hard.  I pushed the bike a bit and especially up the really steep hill.  Nice view and a huge accomplishment for a girl who only rode the long straight FLAT route to and from work this summer.

It was a fun ride down.  I'm a wimp, but this was not as scary as Tuesday's ride down the steep neighborhood streets.  Diana was pooped - she got in twice the workout.  Good girl!

Now pop in the shower before General Conference begins...

backcountry.com updates - September 30, 2010

A couple months ago, James' immediate supervisor got a new position in Backcountry's Park City office.  James applied for (and was interviewed for) the supervisor position.  They hired an 'outside' guy named Kendal - who has been very well trained by James and the rest of the inbound receiving crew. 

At the time, James and the crew were a bit disappointed that they'd hired from 'outside'.  But since have come to like Kendal and his style.  Now Kendal has just applied for and been hired to do the evening shift manager position.  So they're looking for another in-bound-receiving-supervisor. 

This time, James has decided not to apply.  We're going to focus on school.  If we work hard this summer (summer job for James in AK?) and save up enough, maybe James can go to school full-time during the fall and spring semesters next year.... and the year after that? Maybe he'll be a flight instructor.... (These sweet glasses were out of the SCHWAG pile - one of the lenses has a tendancy to pop loose, hooray for super glue.)

The SCHWAG pile is basically a random selection of items that were shipped to Backcountry by mistake, returned to Backcountry by customers for whatever reason and can't be resold.  On seemingly random occasions, employee's are given SCHWAG privledges and can choose out an item from this pile of stuff.  The above sunglasses come from the SCHWAG pile and James' ski poles came from the pile.  On his last pick, James brought home a pair of barely used, twice drilled, pair of skis.  Then sold them to Jed.  And now....

James told me he picked out a one-peice that looked like a 'clown suit'.  Brand new, perfect size, nothing wrong with it.  Backcountry had ordered some different one-piece suits from this company and this one was sent by mistake.  Instead of dealing with the return shipping (the company is out of Norway), they let Backcountry keep it.  Backcountry put it in the SCHWAG pile and James brought it home.  I tried it on, it is a bit too big for me.  The sleeves are too long and the legs, but it fits James perfect!

Every month, Backcountry has employees of the month - the warehouse employee is called the "DC Steezie".  James was nominated one month last year and was the NOVEMBER 2009 DC STEEZIE.  He got nominated again for September 2010 - didn't get the grand prize with the designated parking space and indoor scooter use, but he did get this lovely certificate.  Oh, and the crazy one-piece 'clown suit' from the SCHWAG pile.

We're very grateful for our jobs and grateful for SCHWAG and hoping that it will snow soon!  I want to take pictures of James and that suit in action!  He says it will DEFINITELY keep out the snow...

Working out with Diana - September 28, 2010

Yesterday, I started working out with a friend from church - Diana.  We've done fun things together as couples, but this is work.  6:30 a.m. in exercise clothes to do P90X workouts with a little bit of weight lifting and a lot of sweating. 

Tuesday is supposed to be the P90X plyometrics workout.  Lots of jumping and lunges and stuff.  But Diana hurt her ankle last weekend and doesn't think it is strong enough for plyometrics.  So she suggested riding bikes instead.  We rode from her house up the hill and up the hill and up and up and up and up the hill to a little park.  The plan was to ride the trail from the park into the hills (more up), but we'd run out of time just getting to the park.  Whooops.  Still a huge, huge, huge workout.  I always breathe so hard!  And my shoulders are sore from yesterday.  Nice morning though - hope the weather stays nice for a while.