Neutrino Carabiner

Last Friday I picked up two more carabiners from Climb Kalamazoo on my bike ride to Plainwell Ice Cream (French Silk = Amazing).  The two old ones are the silver Black Diamond carabiners in the picture below.  The new ones, Black Diamond Neutrino, are absolutely fabulous.  They are lighter, support more force, and easier to attach to the rappel rings.  I have been playing around with a new way to hang my hammock using one carabiner and one rap ring on each side (versus one carabiner and two rap rings).  In terms of knots, the bottom carabiner in the picture shows a clove hitch + a half hitch.  The top carabiner shows a double figure of eight knot, however it's not fully pulled through allowing for a quick release of the knot and inability of the knot coming undone.



The next couple days I will spend my evenings getting some final biking in before the Mackinaw adventure (3 days, 300 miles) with my friend Kevin L.  Three words to sum up my thoughts of this trip: I am excited.  Time with family, fellowship with Kevin, biking, sleeping in a hammock, and a bit of a break from work is the basic idea :) 

Road Trip America: Disc Golf Perspective

The PDGA course directory has always been a go-to site for me when visiting a new city because the site contains a fairly comprehensive list courses.  Disc golf is always a fun, cheap, and non-touristy way to experience the new city.  Take a look at the current snapshot of courses:

One of my ambitions for this trip is to share God's truth.  This ambition gives a new perspective to the course directory.  No longer is the directory a list of places to play disc golf, they are new mission fields: a course of locals enjoying God's creation but who may not know the creator.  The track I plan on using for the trip (and just ordered 100 of) is: http://knowhimpersonally.com/

From my experience from around Kalamazoo, two specific requests to pray for are:
-Extremely busy courses
-Groups of three

In general, start praying for the people I will be interacting with while playing disc golf.

The Spark of an Idea

Ideas are a dangerous deciduate disease. One continually mulls over the idea until the slow undertaking unfolds into actuality.  On the other hand, ideas can be the spark of innovation and inspiration.  Be cautious in the ideas you share. In one word, discernment.

Speaking of ideas, my crazy idea of road-tripping America is fast approaching and plans are starting in motion.  My 30 day notice has been submitted for my lease.  Two Men and a Truck have sent me their quote.  Lastly, I have schedule my wireless data plan to increase for next month.  These were the primary items I had set in place for moving this road tripping America forward to reality.

This will be an adventure when reality turns into actuality.  In the meantime, I have an exciting 300 miles/3 day bike tour coming up at the end of this month with a friend!

Cali the 2012 Edition

It has been another year and another enjoyable week in California.  To keep this post less than the length of a novel, I have put a summary of activities in a list for your enjoyment (if that's what this is to you):

Mountain biking
-2 rattlesnakes! (One in the bushes, about 1.5 inches in diameter and a baby with two rattles later on in the ride)
Bouldering
Hiking in Dana Point
-yellow lambo
Biked from San Diego to Oceanside (still want to bike through camp pendleton), oh the smell of biking through strawberry fields.
-Saw moving tank
-two ferraris
-two f18s
1000 steps challenge
-7 times, (218 steps)
Stand up paddleboarding
Hiking in Laguna Coast Wilderness park.
Run through an amazing park
Driving range

Ate at some amazing restaurants:
-Molly's (Breakfast on Sunday)
-In'n'Out (double double animal style of course)
-Lucilles BBQ (oh my that was good)
-Sharky's (mix between Wahoo's, Qdoba, and Chipotle)
-Riptide Sushi

Visited:
-The Microsoft store
-Lego store!

Surprisingly enough, the solcal weather was not great due to the marine layer.  And by not great, I mean 60s and low 70s.  Knowing that I would arrive home to low 40s made the no so great weather delightful!