Alec Eiffel

Friday around lunchtime, I get a call from Emily that my dad is trying to get ahold of me. A few minutes later, my dad calls. His produce guy at the Camarillo store has left suddenly for medical reasons and my dad needs a replacement. I ask him how soon he needs me. He answers, "Yesterday." So I call Emily and we decide how fast we can get to Camarillo, moved out of our Provo apartment. Tuesday? But the Ventura Stake's Beecroft Run 5k (named after my grandpa) is on Monday, so is the Beach and Barbecue with all the family. So I sadly leave work, giving my boss 3 hours notice -Thanks Shane- and we start packing. We got to see most of our friends before we left. Some of them helped us move our stuff into a storage unit. Within 24 hours of starting, our apartment was empty and we're just cleaning it before we leave. We had dinner with Trine, Larry, Deleah, and Anthony at Joe Bandito's for one last hurrah, met Jake and Shevaun at Yoasis, ran a few errands and drove to the Robbins's to spend the night. Next morning we repack Elvira (our 1986 white Camry), temporarily renamed "Sherpa" for the weekend, and we're on our way. 11 1/2 hours later, we're in Camarillo greeting friends and family.

For the run, I came in 4th in the 19-29 yr-old mens category at about 25 min. Then Em and I rode our bikes the 12 miles to Faria Beach, where we got lots of sun, sand, and surf. I finally got to try out the paddleboard in the ocean. Caught a few waves. I regretted not having a leash as I chased the board in several times. Also caught several on bro-in-law's giant green board. It was great. Now, I'm really sore and stiff, and fairly sunburned on the shoulders. It was a great day.

To anyone in Provo, we'll miss you! We had a lot of fun the past several months. Now we're in the 'Rillo enjoying friends and family until the end of June.

Stormy Weather

We've gotten some rain the past couple days and the mountains are finally turning green (it's only May 22, they sure seemed to be in a hurry to get pretty). Emily's at a surgery, watching "Mrs. Robbins" get her tonsils out. The surgeon is a friend of the Robbins, but the center it's being done at does let nursing students watch, but not family. Emily couldn't wait. She's been so excited about this. Kitye might be in some pain for a while. Emily had the same surgery done when she was 19 and she finally talked Kitye into it because she's had the same problems that Emily had as a teenager: sick a lot, lots of throat problems, etc.

On Saturday, Emily went to the Provo Library to study for her finals, so Grace and I went on an adventure. We drove up Provo Canyon and decided spur of the moment to go up to the Squaw Peak lookout. There's a trail that leaves from the parking lot and I was hoping it would go out to the peak itself. It doesn't, but it's a nice hike anyways. I carried Grace for about 20 minutes or so up this trail until it was obvious the trail wasn't going the way I wanted. So we climbed up to the top of the nearest peak and spent about 10 minutes there, way up above everyone else. Cascade mountain behind us, Provo/Orem below, and grasshoppers, butterflies, and flowers all around us. The peak was just large enough to pitch a tent on and then it went down on all sides. Here's a map of our little hike.

That evening, the three of us went on another hike. There's a cool looking canyon above Orem we've always talked about checking out, but never did. Exploring the foothills of Orem, we found the trailhead and went for it. Sorry, no pictures, but here's another map. There's some neat cliffs and gorge you hike through. The trail goes on and up Mt. Timpanogos, but we just went up and around the gorge section and on top to get a great view of Orem from the top of the cliffs.

Now we're both done with school and are just getting ready to leave for San Francisco. We signed a lease for a 3-bedroom apartment in the Presidio. We didn't get it through the school, but through the Presidio itself. It's even cheaper than the 2-bedrooms through the school, but we're responsible for utilities this way. We're working out the details of moving out. As of now, Emily will probably move out with Mike and Kitye and most of our stuff around June 10. This will let Emily scout out garage sales and stuff while Mike is there with the big car to get furniture set up. Mike and Kitye will get to see Nathan before his school starts and he'll get to spend a couple days with them in San Francisco. I'll keep working here at school until around the 20th or so, and then drive Elvira out there with the last of our stuff.

As for bikes, I feel pretty confident in going with the Motobecane Fantom CX. I've read a number of good reviews of it on bikeforums.net. I can add fenders and racks to it if I want to, and set it up like I want it for commuting and riding through the city. Part of me wishes it had mechanical disc brakes, but not too big a deal. Now I gotta decide what color: Yellow, blue, or gray. I'm taking recommendations, before I order this thing and start having more fun riding around.

(A guilty pleasure Emily and I like to enjoy is keeping up with or passing professional-looking cyclists on their couple-thousand-dollar bikes and gear, while we pull the kiddie-trailer)

Palace of the Brine

This is just an update on me being Mr. Mom and such (no attacks by the vacuum cleaner, yet. Which is such a relief seeing we don't own a vacuum except for our glorified dust buster).

A common sight in our home now is a pile of oats in front of the kitchen sink. Our emergency food storage consists of a couple bulk bags of oats, rice, and beans we bought and use for regular eating too. Grace has figured out that she can get to the oats anytime there under the sink, and she'll just open the door, reach in, and start eating tiny handfuls of raw oats. We're turning her into a health nut, like her mom.

I actually haven't minded being the stay-at-home dad this semester while Emily's in school. I'm sure it helps that I still go to go to school myself, and I still go to work for about 20 hours a week once she gets home. Mike and Kitye help a lot and occasionally let Grace spend the night at their place so I can work a whole day once in a while.

Life is pretty busy actually. How do you get bored doing this? Aside from household chores I spend a lot of my time working on the car (getting it all tuned up and ready to last another 50,000 miles in S.F.). I took Grace to a junkyard the other day and let her play around on the seats while I had at it and picked some pieces off of another 1986 Camry up in American Fork. Good times. I even replaced the brake light plastic piece (which wasn't really meant to be replaced by itself. I am THAT good). Ordered a new distributor cap and wires from NAPA to pick up later. I've got rubbing compound, wax, a new seatbelt, and the few parts to work on the car with. Also need to rent a shampooer and clean our car and rugs one day.

In the mornings Grace and I eat breakfast together, watch a couple shows while I excercise using some resistance bands that were given to us and doing situps/pushups etc. The PBS kids shows are actually pretty good. "Superwhy" with Wyatt and the Super-readers is one favorite, so is "Word World." I have fun watching them. I made a joke about Dragon Tales at work, and realized noone else would get it. So I sheepishly admitted to watching the show religiously.

We also do puzzles, read books, and go for bikes rides together. We went to Borders this morning and had a great time chasing each other around and laughing and making faces. Then we usually eat lunch together before picking Emily up or playing the guitar or going down for a nap.

Plus, when she's playing with her toys, I read and research whatever piques my curiosity on the internet. The new Wikipedia article on the church is excellently done. Even the article on Blacks and the church is thoroughly well done too, but it doesn't seem written by a member of the church (although I don't know who else would've written it). Quite lengthy.

I've worn myself out reading about bicycles. I couldn't find any local bike shops (LBS) who had a fixie in anything close to my size, so to determine my readiness, I kept my bike in higher gears (even harder than most fixies) and rode up to the entrance of Rock Canyon a couple times in the last few days. Sometimes, it wasn't too bad, other times I must've been too out of it or something, cuz I couldn't do it without the lower gears. Anywhere else, anywhere flatter, and I'd totally go for it (since I stay in the same gear nearly all the time anyway). So, I'm thinking I'll save the fixies for a fun toy for later on. Maybe when I can ride around San Francisco in the top gears all the time.

I did find a website with less known Motobecane factory-direct bikes, Bikesdirect.com The bikes are pretty comparable to popular name brand bikes component-wise, but MUCH MUCH cheaper. Unless you live near a Cycle Spectrum (Arizona, Texas, and Florida only), you can't test one out until you get it in the mail. They get very fair reviews and are considered great value bikes.

I also discovered a new category of bikes. I always wanted a road bike for lightness and efficiency, but felt I would break one with the way I ride (curbs do not stop me like it would to anyone on a roadbike). Turns out, there's Cyclocross bikes built just for the same reasoning. They fit wider tires, and allow for fenders. I am wondering if I would like riding on a "less comfortable" road bike style frame, though. Won't know until I test one out.
So here's the new list:
Motobecane Fantom CX $499 - Cyclocross. I like the road bike style with beefier tires (ones I won't likely break)
Windsor Cliff 29 $569 - More mountain bike style but with big 29" wheels. I like the lockable front fork and the mechanical disc brakes.
Fisher Kaitai $659 - Same as the Windsor, but with skinny wheels and buyable from a store (and most stores offer a year of tune-ups, service, or something for buying the bike through them). Fisher is a better known brand and always a favorite.

They all have solid components and am not worried about any of them being lame. Feeling more confident about all these than the last list.

All Over the World

I'm just hanging out at work and there's not much going on. A coworker brought in his Wii and my boss brought in Super Smash Brothers: Brawl. There's only one controller and I already beat the one player mode story game. So now what?

I've been reading a lot about bikes lately. Trying to figure out which kind of bike I should get for San Francisco. I've got a 2005 Trek 3700 right now and am frustrated with trying to keep it tuned up and it's also a little small for me, but it is fun to ride, just not so much fun to commute on.

Here's what I've decided:
-Max Price around $700 (this, believe it or not, puts a big limit on bike choice, new and used)
-Mid range derailers (dérailleurs) like the Shimano Deore (none of the "A" components like Acera or Alivio, but an Altus:maybe)
-If I think I can handle it, a fixie (fixed-gear bike) would be fun to try, but might not be the most practical for me. Fixies are single speed bikes that don't allow for coasting. No freewheel. If the wheel is turning, the pedals are turning too. This does two things, give the rider FULL control over speed (slow your legs down to slow the bike down. Many fixies don't even have brakes, not suggested, but a common practice) and make the bike amazingly simple, light, and efficient. Skid stopping is a trick all fixie riders need to learn. They've got a very strong cult following and most who've ridden them won't ride anything else. Makes me want to try it. Usually they're old vintage ten-speeds converted into fixed-gears. This has made old vintage bikes very desirable. The truest of the fixies are ghetto old bikes that've been spray-painted 5 times over, and look like they were made in the 60's. Even these are going for $4-500 on craigslist. Very trendy in large cities right now. Newly made fixies often have a back wheel that can be flipped to be either a singlespeed or a fixie.
-700c or 29er wheels. The standard consensus is bigger wheels are better.
-Avoid Diamondback, Raleigh, and Giant (not universally, just for general consideration) For lower end bikes (<$1000) they charge the same prices as other companies while having lower quality parts. -Less upright position. I kinda like being a bit aggressive on my bike. No "comfort" bikes, no cruisers (you wanna see cruisers? hang out at USC in between classes, never seen so many cruisers. Uber trendy there.) -If a front suspension, needs to have lock-out to make it solid when wanted -Fenders and maybe a cargo rack over back wheel (it does rain in SF) -Drop handlebars preferred. Don't want to be scraping cars with wide flat handle bars. It's also a little uncomfortable for the wrists for long times straight out on the bars I got now.
-Need 19-22" frame size (depends on bike as to how big I'll want it. On my current bike, I've got a 19.5" and feel hunched over/squished, after a few minutes. It's probably partly the design of my model, it is a very low-end mountain bike).

Some models that have captured my attention more than others:
Gary Fisher Kaitai - $660 - "dual sport" - the kaitai was popular in the 90's but cancelled and brought back a few years ago. The old ones got excellent reviews all around. Can't find many reviews on the new kaitais, but it seems like a nice bike. Some people think that by trying to do road and mountain in one bike makes for the worst of both.
Gary Fisher Triton - $660 -fixie/singlespeed switchable if I decide a fixie is worth trying. Kinda on the pricey side for a fixie. Can pick fixies up on craigslist for $400.
Trek Soho 1.0 - $699 - Simple commuter bike, slick tires, rubber lining the frame so you can "lean it up against stuff without scratching the paint" according to the employee. Kinda gimmicky, but a nice bike anyways.
Trek Soho S - $550 - Singlespeed/fixie. Nice bike. Cheaper than the fisher, cooler looking.
Kona Paddy Wagon - $650 - Singlespeed/fixie - read lots of great reviews for it
Kona Smoke 2-9 - $350 - Cheap, lower components, already decked out with fenders. Would want to change the handlebars which would require buying new shifters too. Reviewers love it and say it can take a beating. I'm really frustrated with my low end deraillers now, and not sure if I would just get a repeat with these (Shimano -Altus).

What's funny is how many of the bikes I want that come with the drop handle bars, that are just out of the price range I'm trying to stick to. It's as if anything that's pre-made with the drops and deraillers instantly costs $900 and up.

I've turned myself around in circles three times trying to decide, and what'll probably happen is I'll just have to wait until we get there and test a bunch of different bikes and see how the ride to school from our place will be each day, and see what comes up on craigslist. I also gotta find someone who'll let me take a fixie for a test ride. For the rest of you dreaming of how you can be like me and ride your bike everyday, take a look at this. Good tips.

For those of you who aren't dreaming of becoming like me and just want some laughs or were inspired by locals met in third world countries (the kind that can fit whole familes and 20 caged chickens on a bike), this thing is awesome. Who needs a pickup when you got that? You could put a couch on the back of this sucker. There's also the Surly Big Dummy (just comes as a frame) and the Xtracycle accesories and parts for creating similar bikes. Xtracycle actually came first, Surly and Kona tagged onto the idea.

About the above picture, it's floated around the internets a bunch, along with the popular spin-off:

The Navajo Know

It feels like forever since I've written. It's not for having nothing to write about, just not feeling up to actually putting it in words on here. Tonight was enough of an adventure that I'll spit it out for you to enjoy at my expense.

My mom and sisters are up here for the BYU Women's Conference. I visited with them for some time after I got off work and went to go pick up Emily and Grace. We were going to come back to eat on campus with the Lassen women, but Grace is pretty picky and probably wouldn't eat anything, so when I got home I started some spaghetti boiling (she'll eat tons of it, plain). Emily felt like she needed some excercise after sitting in class and at home all day, so she opted to go to the gym for spin class. She dropped Grace and I off at campus where we snuck into the "service project" and enjoyed some good company (among several hundred or so other women). During dinner at the Legends Grille, Emily calls me up. Our upstairs neighbors said our fire alarm had been going off for some time. THE SPAGHETTI!!!! So she races home where our neighbor meets her and helps her get it under control. No fire, but TONS and TONS of smoke. Emily used a towel to throw the pot into the sink and turn off the burner. She thought the burner had melted all the way through the pot. Our neighbor agrees to watch the place while she leaves the doors and windows open so she can pick Grace and I up.

We decided we'd go survey the damage, buy an air filter, and pack up some stuff to spend the night at Emily's parent's house. Our apartment was rank. Like a barbecue had taken place indoors. When we came back with the air filter it smelled like nasty bar/pizzeria/trailerhome smoke smell. Emily was pretty ripe with smokey flavor just from going in to put out the mess. All of our stuff is hickory smoked too. Me, I escaped unscathed, so while Emily is taking a shower, I'm stench free.

As for the Kirkland brand kitchen pot: turns out it didn't completely melt. I would have been surprised for stainless steel and copper to form puddles on the stove like it did. But my suspicions were correct and according to the website, there's a couple layers of aluminum in the mix, and those are what turned into shiny messes on the stove. Some pictures will follow. Hopefully, we can get the apartment smelling less carcinogenic soon.

This is the copper core from the bottom of the pot. Below is the pot itself. Looks totally usable still! except for the inside...

I'm just a little bummed I didn't get to see the metal all drippy and liquid.