Yeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaw!

Howdy and greetings dear reader. It has been an interesting couple weeks since I last wrote my harrowing tale of battling the elements and myself for domination of…myself. Work has been work, as it usually is, but I’ve survived to fight another day.

Yesterday, some of my friends from work and I went to the Last Chance Stampede Rodeo and Fair (my first rodeo and second fair that I can remember, not including those held at various schools, etc). I didn’t really know what to expect going into it…honestly, the only thing I knew about rodeos were that they involved cows, cowboys, cowgirls and horses. Oh, and lots and lots of dust.

I picked up Ms. Far Side around 6:30 and we met up with Ellie at the fairgrounds around 6:45. We walked around for a bit and got a ginormous corndog (they said it was a footlong, I’m not so sure), were joined by another one of our co-workers (Mrs. Vegas) and then made our way to the grandstands surrounding the pavilion.

I said this while I as still pulling into the parking area, but I swear I’ve never seen a congregation of that many cowboy hats in one place ever in my entire life. They were everywhere. Anyway, we sat down and watched Mutton Busters (small children all duded out with chaps and helmets and belt buckles riding sheep). It was pretty funny and thankfully, none of them got hurt.

Next came the steer portion of the event (I don’t know what to call it…these older kids were riding these steer (small bulls) and trying not to break every bone in their collective bodies). Was still pretty cool. The kid who won just rode his like a horse and never got bucked off. The luck of the draw, I guess.

Then came the Bareback Bucking Horse part…or Bareback Horse Bucking…or Bucking Bareback Horse…anyway, you get the idea. I’ve never seen horses do something like this before…and the guys that were trying to “ride” them…they must have a couple screws loose or something, or are the gutsiest folks ever born. Either way, you won’t catch me on one trying to do that. I may be crazy…but not that crazy.

We also saw what I’ll call Team Steer Chiropractor (I’m sure there is a name for this, but it’s more fun to make up stuff). The object of this is you and a buddy are riding horses after this steer that is trying to get away. One of you ropes him around the horns, and the other ropes him around the back legs…and the team that does this the fastest wins!

Another fun event to watch was the Steer Wrestling event (again, I don’t know what it’s called) where the steer runs away from you and you jump off your perfectly good horse (because, clearly, you forgot to bring a rope to a rodeo) and wrestle the thing to the ground…all the while trying not to loose your cowboy hat or get too dirty. How they don’t get stabbed by the horns, I don’t know…but it was still pretty cool.

There was also the Hold Onto the Bull for Dear Life competition…which is pretty much self explanatory. You hold on to the bull…or you die. Thankfully, nobody died (even though not all of them held on so well)…and I can honestly say I’ve never seen a future hamburger jump that high in the air (we’re talking a ton of beef at least a foot off the ground).

There were other events that were cool…but I can’t remember them all. Anyway, one of my goals was to get a picture with a genuine cowgirl (I figured…why not?). I had decided to get a picture with the Rodeo Queen, but by the time Tk, Soccer Chick and I made it over there, she was gone. So, instead I saw this very cute cowgirl standing next to her horse and I said, “Tk…come with me.” She agreed to be photographed (thank you…even though you’ll never read this!)…so mission accomplished. She ended up winning the Barrel Racing portion of the rodeo and I joked that I needed to travel around with her as a good luck charm (if anyone knows who she is…I can go any time!).

After everything was over, a band started playing and everyone (but me) started dancing. Well, all of our group, I mean. It was fun to watch them have fun (I’m strange, I know). They danced for a while (Ellie ended up “forcing” me to dance with her for a bit…sorry)…and fun was had by all. Ellie and I had talked about riding The Zipper while at work, so we got Ms. Far Side and Soccer Chick to come with us…and after some bribing and pleading, the 4 of us rode it.

I can honestly say…I have NEVER been on anything like that before. It’s like a 20 minute long rollercoaster ride that has loops and everything…that only takes about 2 minutes. Ellie and I rode in the same cage thing and she was laughing the whole time. I don’t know if she was laughing because of the fun, or if she was laughing at me. She later said I all but cried on the thing (yeah right!)…but I can say now that, given the chance, I would do it again. Ellie…you let me know when, ok?

We all (minus Mrs. Vegas and Tk) ended up leaving around 11:40 and, this is to all that went, I had a freakin blast. Thanks for suggesting I go. You guys rock!

For pictures of said events: http://latech.googlepages.com/rodeo2008

Scott vs (the elements, the pain, the others?...no) Scott

Good morning everyone. It's me...the geekiest of geeks. Ok, so I realize that isn't really true as I've met some really geek people in the last couple months that make me almost look normal (gasp!). No...I may be geeky, but I realize that there are others that are far geekier than I. Anyway, that doesn't really matter as it has no bearing on today's blog post. "What does?" you may ask? Well...how about this: "Scott, the Token Geek, officially started AND FINISHED a Sprint Distance Triathlon"!!! Here's the story:

I didn't sleep well the night before (actually only getting right around 3 hours of sleep which is no where near enough for me to function normally...but hey, we aren't looking for "normal" when we talk about people crazy enough to do a triathlon anyway, are we? I got up at 6 and donned my swimming trunks and a t-shirt and then gathered all my supplies for the morning (camel pack, goggles, swim cap, change of clothes, shoes and socks, bike and helmet) and loaded up the truck. I made it to Spring Meadow Lake around 7.

The morning was a nice and crisp 72, and I heard that the water was a balmy 67. Not a cloud was in the sky and there was no breeze at the start. They made a couple announcements over the PA system and then, at 8, the Olympic distance people started their race. It was mayhem. Pandemonium. Insanity. 80+ people all starting to swim at all the same time. I watched them swim for a bit and had to walk away...it was crazy. I walked around for a bit and stretched the muscle groups I was worried about (arms and legs) and talked with a couple people (while crazy, the people that generally do triathlons are REALLY friendly and encouraging).

A little before 9, I walked over to the starting area for the swim and walked out into the water. 67 degrees isn't that bad, but you have to realize that 67 degrees is the temperature of the water that is in the sun...so other parts were noticeably cooler. We all started bunching up at the starting line and then we were off promptly at 9. Wow...that first jolt of cold water was enough to make me want to turn around and go home, and add to that the fact that I (stupidly) had lined myself up too far away from the channel and had to swim OVER to it to go through it...and it wasn't that good of a start. My arms, which I used to consider quite strong, started getting tired. My back was hurting. I was trying not to hyperventilate and failing miserably...and I had only gone about 50 meters (in a 1000 meter swim, mind you). Consider the swim portion as looking like a capital "B" with the top portion being really small and the channel being where the two parts come together. The longest leg of the swim was probably about 500 meters total (and that is a LONG way when you haven't swam in years!).

I made the first corner and wouldn't you know it...my right leg's shin cramps exactly at the same time that my left leg's calf cramps. I'm 15 meters from shore and roll over on my back and just pull myself along with my arms...for the rest of the swim portion (yeah...500 meters of just arms...ouch). I had to stop and stand up at one point so that I could try and stretch out my legs...but it didn't help much. I just kept breathing and moving my arms and hoping that this would all be over soon.

I finally emerge from the water, cramped legs and all, in very last place. No worries...this was a triathlon where I was competing solely against myself anyway...nobody else existed. I walked over to my bike and put on my shoes for the bike portion of the race (a 12.4 mile, although I heard later it was 14 miles trek up a gradual incline with a murderous hill at the end that you turn around on and come all the way back). I was really hoping that my legs wouldn't give out because of the cramping, and they seemed fine. I took off at a good pace as the land was flat (and hey, who can't ride fast on flat ground!?). About 1/4 the distance (bear in mind that a nice breeze had started at this point...coming head on), you run into this hill that nobody mentioned before (that I remember) and it's bad. I actually had to get off my bike for a bit because I wanted to quit and throw up and break my bike into a million pieces all at the same time...but I didn't. I ended up getting back on the bike and kept peddling. After a slight downhill, it was all back uphill till the turnaround. I wanted to die. My legs were screaming at me (something along the lines of "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?"), my back was killing me (slowly, of course...why make it quick when you can draw out the pain and agony forever?) and I was getting dehydrated.

I ended up stopping at the top of the hill and the guy there asked if I was ok. I assured him I was, but that I needed to take a break so I didn't throw up. He offered me water and we talked for a little bit till I looked back at where I had come from and noticed that it was, indeed, almost all down hill. I smiled and, with the breeze at my back, turned my bike around and cruised down the hill. I was going faster down the hill and on the way back than I've ever ridden a bike in my life. The tires of my mountain bike (yes, I know...a road bike would have been easier) were humming a great tune by an artist whose name I can't remember right now. I turned the final corner to get back to the park and to begin the last leg of my journey...the run.

After going through hell and high water (haha...that's great!)already, I wasn't worried about the run. If nothing else, I could walk the darn thing. I took off, after dropping off my bike, and ran for about 10 feet and had to walk. I know what you're thinking (or what I was thinking at that point), "Hey...at least you ran some of it!" No, that wasn't good enough for me. The run was a 3.1 mile track through a wooded area on a path, on a road, then back on a path to the finish with 3 water stations along the way. I eventually made it to the first water station and got a drink of water. The guy there was REALLY nice and was telling me that I had already done more today than 90% of the population of the US did all of last month and that I should be proud, but not to give up. I knew I had this thing...last place and all. I took off running again (well, a jog, to be honest) and alternated walking and jogging for a while. The same guy was pulling up the road markers as I ran and he joked to me "At my first triathlon, I threw up a couple times and wanted to quit...but I finished." I said, "Well, I've wanted to quit, but haven't yet actually thrown up!" I finally made it back to the finish line.

To say that I'm happy...to say that I'm proud of my accomplishment...is an understatement. I don't know that I've ever done anything that physically demanding...where the option to quit was there the WHOLE TIME...where I could have died at any moment...where it seemed everything that existed (including myself) was against me completing that race...and yet I still...I STILL...finished it. To me...that's all that matters.

Thanks to everyone at work (BB, AA, JT, KK, LE, TL, LL, CG, MR) other people (RW, SW, DB, JS, BS, TS, MF) and everyone else that was at the race that I don't remember the names of...for the encouragement.

My Big Scare...

Greetings readers. It’s been a little while since I wrote last, so I figured I would fill you all in on the happenings here in Scott-land.

Work has been really crazy lately. Just to give you an idea: over the next 5 months, we are going to move office buildings to the other side of town in two phases while at the same time opening up 2 (two!!) new offices in different places in the state (one in Bozeman, the other “somewhere else”), so that necessitates a lot of planning, organization and other exciting $5 words that basically mean “lots of work” on top of the stuff I need to do on a daily basis. Whew. We ARE looking for an assistant for me (all applicants need to send me their resume), but it’s slow going.

I started building a TV stand to replace the one that I’m borrowing from the person I used to date’s cousin. I saw one that I liked at a local furniture store for around $860 and I thought to myself, “Self, you can build that stand for less than that.” So, I went home, drew up the plans and bought some oak to build it with. So far, things are going well…I’m learning how to mess up some things, but at the same time, I’m learning how to do other things that I had no clue how to do before. So…it’s win/win!

On to the scary bit…

For about a week and a half now, I’ve had a strange pain in my neck to the right of my Adam’s apple. It only hurts when I talk, swallow or turn my head (read: “Pretty much all the time, but some times worse than others”). Over last weekend, it was bad enough that I decided I needed to go to the doctor. I went on Tuesday and explained what was going on. After answering a bunch of questions and stuff, it was basically boiled down to an infected lymph node, problems with my thyroid, or cancer. Blood was drawn to check my thyroid and I was scheduled for a CAT scan on Wednesday morning.

If you’ve never had a CAT scan, it’s really not that bad. The worst part is the needle for the IV in which they inject you with glow-in-the-dark stuff that makes all your veins kinda warm and gives you a metallic taste and smell (you don’t actually taste like metal, but you taste metal in your mouth…hehe). So, I got my head shoved in a gigantic donut with a bunch of cool looking moving parts, and then went back to work. That afternoon, I got a call from the doctor saying that my blood test came back fine…so there was no problem with the thyroid. That narrowed it down to 1) an infection or 2) cancer. The one thing I WANTED to be removed as a possibility wasn’t.

I didn’t sleep too well that night and went to work and didn’t really get much accomplished during the day. By 2pm, nobody had called me, so I called them. The doctor called right back and said, “Well, you have non-pathological lymph nodes (which I checked and that’s a good thing), and it’s not cancer. We do see that the cartilage on your Adam’s apple has shifted and may be aggravating a lymph node or something.” So…I’m now scheduled to go to an ENT at the end of the month who is going to send a National Geographic camera crew down my throat to try and see what is wrong. The worst thing that can happen at this point (other than using NBA stars for the camera crew) would be a surgery to remove whatever it is that is causing the cartilage shift issue. If nothing else, I’ll come out of that with a cool scar that I can make up a great story about (“Yeah…this kid was trapped under a car and I lifted it out of the way and just at the top of the lift, the bumper cut me. The kid was fine…so that’s all that matters”).

Oh, and I’m still on for the triathlon on Sunday. YAY!! Here’s to not drowning!