Christmas came and went way too quickly. The highlight for me was making my wife cry (in a good way). We've been married 15 years, but in our second year, she lost the diamond out of her engagement ring. So, for 13 years, she hasn't had a diamond on her finger. For her Christmas gift this year, I replaced the ring, and she had no idea it was coming. She says she feels like she got engaged again. Pretty awesome!

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving, and it's crazy to think Christmas is right around the corner. Where did the year go?

I woke up in bed last night at 4am with a full blown anxiety attack. Haven't had one of those in a very long time. I think the stress level at work has been getting the best of me lately. Less than a week to Interbike in Vegas, though, and two weeks till vacation. Hopefully the stress will melt away.

On a brighter note, my vehicle passed inspection this morning. At least that's one less thing to worry about!

Just adopted this guy from the local shelter. He was found as a stray. So far, he's been a fantastic dog.

"Chimmie"

I just realized that I never post anything on this blog. My last post was over a year ago... how lame!

Yesterday, I went to get a new cell phone. I'm a big Mac user, and my wife has an iPhone, but I wasn't completely sold on all the hype. After much research, and a little haggling with the sales person, I got myself a Blackberry Bold 9700. All I can say about the first 24 hours of ownership is I can see why they call them "crackberrys".

In other news, I was in Solitude, Utah last week for a snowboarding trip which was incredible! Being my first trip out west to the mountains, I wasn't sure what to expect. Lots of fun was had, and I came away with only minor injuries.

My wife recently had to have emergency eye surgery for a detached retina, and my two year old has been puking for the past two days. I've been busy taking care of everyone, and haven't had much sleep. These are times I'm reminded that life is sometimes challenging in ways I never imagined.

I've decided two things about time. First of all, there's just not enough of it. There's enough of it to do the things I need to do, and free time slips away much too quickly. Secondly, when apply that theory to the bigger picture, life's too short to be angry. I waste a lot of time being angry about things or at people, and I'm just not going to do it anymore.

I'm driving the other day, and I saw something powerful. As I was pulling out of a side street on to a main road, there was a woman who looked to be about my age driving a green Jeep Cherokee turning off the main road. She put her emergency flashers on, and came to a stop right near my car. At that moment, she broke down behind the wheel crying with her head in her hands... the kind of cry you only see in movies. It occurred to me that she may have just gotten the worst news in her life, whatever that may have been. As a stranger looking in, it was interesting to see a person break down at that point, and feel totally helpless to do anything about it.

Well... it was bound to happen sooner or later. I was riding my bike home from work today, and got hit by a car. The guy turned in to a parking spot abruptly without using a turn signal. He wasn't even paying attention. He was paying so little attention, in fact, that he didn't even know he hit me. I was o.k. and so was my bike. The car, however, had a big dent from the gas tank to the tail light. I wonder if he'll even realize what made that dent when he finally discovers it. Anyhow, after shouting several obscenities in his direction, I continued riding with raw adrenaline flowing through my body. The rest of the ride, I was feeling very vulnerable and defensive. I'm really thankful that I was not hurt.