Happenings

Mandy Is Awesome :: Wednesday, July 11th 2007
This story begins one year ago tomorrow, when we we were flying back from Puerto Vallarta Mexico. On our layover in Phoenix we were asked by a very nice U.S. Airways representative to give up our seats in exchange for round trip tickets anywhere in the continental United States. "WOW" I thought, 9 hours of sitting and the major cost of our next vacation would be taken care of. Boy was I mistaken. U.S. Airways didnt tell us that these vouchers were actually worthless.

Our first try at redeeming these things was a total failure, we were trying to fly to Boston next year so that Mandy can once again run the Boston Marathon, and so that I could finally see some of the east coast and the Atlantic Ocean (Im kind of an ocean nut). We at first got the reservation for the flight we wanted and received the confirmation number, but when we repeated (they missed it the first time) that we were redeeming a voucher, all of the sudden our confirmation went *poof* and there were no flights to Boston that were available (next April mind you... like they are already booked up).

This sort of made both Mandy and I mad, but we were determined to use these things. We decided that we would fly JetBlue to Boston (they have a $90 dollar special for marathoners) and that we would use these vouchers for:

Any week in Miami, FL in the month of February
Any week in New York, NY in the months of May or June
Any week in Washington, DC in the months of May or June
Any week in San Antonio, TX in the months of May or June
Any week in Austin, TX in the months of May or June
Over the Christmas holiday to Omaha, NE

You would think with options like these and more than daily flights (especially since we gave them the option of both SFO (San Francisco) AND SJC (San Jose) as starting airports) we would easily find something to suit us. I mean who, but us, would want to go to Omaha??? (Sorry if I offended anyone... I really do like Omaha, but it is not your typical vacation destination).

No, they couldnt. They wouldnt even budge. But, Mandy was a trooper and kept on complaining and after talking to 5 people (2 supervisors) we were able to get a confirmation on a flight to our original destination of Boston, at the time we wanted, and from the airport we wanted (SJC). She is even quoted as saying, "I dont know why you dont just get your supervisor for me to talk to, I mean why would you put yourself through this?"

So, after 2 phone calls and a total of 5 hours on the phone we got our confirmation number and yesterday we picked up our tickets. My only worry is that they didnt give us a seat assignment and we are flying standby... but, I guess we will worry about that next April.

Troy

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Surfing on the Sunday :: Tuesday, July 3rd 2007
So, it had been a couple weeks since my surfing mishap and Mandy and I thought it about time to go back out there. Sunday was gorgeous. It was upper 70s at the coast with no fog (a nice change of pace for Pacifica). The water was choppy and the waves were minuscule, but the people were MUCH more laid back than the last time I was here. There was really only one guy who was surfing for himself instead of surfing for the fun of surfing, and I only had to bear him for about 10 minutes.

I knew it was going to be a good day when after catching my first wave, a little gray seal pup popped out of the water and scared the living daylights out of me. Dang, he was cute!

All in all, I was very glad to be back in the water... and to guess what Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap would say if he traded in his guitar for a surfboard, "The stoke went up to eleven".

Troy

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kittens, trouble??? :: Thursday, June 7th 2007
Yep, we got two little kittens to chase around. One is great, pretty calm and litter boxed trained. Look for their pictures.

mandy

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Biking and Painting :: Tuesday, May 29th 2007
So, after my ordeal the day before we decided it was best to do something different. Mandy received some paint from our landlord yesterday and decided she wanted to paint. She was a pro, working all day long painting and scrubbing (I will put up some photos later) and it looks great! We now have some accent walls and it now looks more like a "home" than "the place we live". Now if only I could get the back yard in order (it still looks like there was a grass fire).

I on the other hand decided to head north on my bike to try to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. I miss judged the distance by 20 miles, and should have bought some Gatorade. The route itself was awesome (mostly through the Santa Cruz Mountains) until I hit South San Francisco, then it became way to "citified".

Then I decided to make a wrong turn. And, this is a bad thing because I made SURE that my route would go around the world famous San Francisco hills. Well, the only way to get back to my route was to go right over one (ouch).

I tailed a bike messenger down Market (lots of fun), biked through the HORDES of people at Fishermans Wharf, was hit with a 30 mile an hour headwind at Crissy Field, and finally biked across the Golden Gate Bridge.

After that was done I biked to 4th and King to the San Francisco Caltrain Station.

It took 67 miles of biking, 2 granola bars, and lots of water.

Things I learned
1. Gatorade for 5 hour bike rides is a MUST!
2. When you have not eaten all day and biked 5 hours, and you have the choice of a) get on the train, or b) catch the next one in an hour and eat something. EAT! You will start feeling sick swinging back and forth on the train.

Troy

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Surfing On Sunday :: Tuesday, May 29th 2007
So, Mandy and I decided that we should go surfing at Pacifica on Sunday after church. It was a pretty nice day until we showed up at the coast where it was cloudy and windy, but that was not going to keep me from going out into the water. I donned my wetsuit and waxed my board and jumped into the water. The waves were pretty hit and miss but when they hit they were pretty good. In fact the best wave of the day was coming in and I was in the "curl". So I took off right and the guy next to me on my right decided to go against the wave left. Earlier I had let the guy have two waves so I was about due for mine anyway. Well, as we both took off we were both getting up and he called out "THIS ONE IS MINE!" I being a nice guy (who actually was in the better spot, meaning the wave "should" have been mine), decided to bail. So, I dropped down and took my hand and tried to pull myself out of the wave when all of the sudden BAM! The guy decided to go high and hit me on the side of the head, right smack in my ear. After this I swam back up to grab my board and noticed my head hurt.

So, I was going to grab a wave in and then noticed the entire world was spinning. When I finally made it to shore I ran up the beach and Mandy gave me my towel. After cleaning up and getting into the car and generally not being in a good mood, I caught sight of the guy... he looked as though he knew he was wrong.

Well, my ear hurt, but I figured I was going to be fine... so Mandy drove home and we started painting the house. Steadily my head hurt more and more, I received some calls and finally, the pain went away. It must have been the pressure releasing, because then my ear started bleeding.

We then decided to go to the hospital. The doctor recommended a CT scan, so we had to go to the ER. It was packed. Three and a half hours of waiting later I was finally moved INTO the ER from the waiting room. One hour later I was finally looked at. One and a half hours after that I finally had my scan. And one hour after that I was told I probably punctured my ear drum, my head is otherwise fine and he "never saw an eardrum that red and inflamed".

I now have to take antibiotics just in case the seawater caused an infection, and cannot get my ear wet for seven days. But, I have learned two things:

1. There is no such thing as a lineup at Pacifica.
2. Going to the ER sucks, bring a book.

Troy

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