Geocaching

Posted on by Jordan

Heather and I made this past weekend into a long weekend, and headed west to McCook.

I don’t think we could have gotten luckier when it came to the weather… absolutely perfect the entire time we were there. We tried to get outside to take advantage of that, and my parents provided a number of great opportunities for us to do that.

The first was geocaching. I was familiar with the basic idea, but hadn’t really thought much about it before the weekend. So first off, what is geocaching? Somebody leaves a cache somewhere, and then posts the GPS location of the hidden container on a website. Then we go to the website, take the coordinates and go look for the cache. The trick is that GPS will only get you with 10-20 feet at best, and the containers can be tiny! They seem to often only have room for some paper so you can sign the log before moving on to the next find.

Better description here: Geocaching

I should mention, we were well equipped for this in part because I got a new phone! (More on that later, back to geocaching for a minute)

So we loaded some points into our phones, and headed out to do some geocaching, or “treasure hunting” as my brother calls it.

Our first find!

They are holding the cache container in that picture… and I am going to guess you didn’t notice it before I said anything. We ended up finding quite a few points/caches… I don’t know the proper terminology. Heather and I really had fun with it, and hope to try doing more of it around Des Moines as the weather continues to improve.

Oddly related to geocaching and to my new phone… if you were to download the larger version of that picture I posted, and then use any sort of tool that will report to you the detailed information about the image you would find a few things:

  • The brand, model, and operating system version on my phone
  • A ton of information regarding the camera’s abilities and settings at the time the picture was taken
  • and…
  • The exact GPS coordinates of the phone when it was taking the picture.

Mind you, I didn’t add any of that… my phone just decided it would be fun to tack that all on. I didn’t realize the GPS coords were being added until I loaded the picture up in Picasa, and it offered to show me on the map where the picture was taken…. Lets just say you could find our first geocache using that picture if you were sufficiently determined.

I don’t want to sound too outraged, I don’t really think this is a terrible thing… I was just a little shocked.

Going back to the phone, I will talk about in more in a few weeks… maybe a miro-review or something, but I am still figuring it out!

-Jordan

Dave Ramsey Live!

Posted on by Jordan

I seem to be falling behind… lucky for me March ended up being kind of uneventful, so the fact that I am just getting this posted doesn’t mean you missed much.

Heather and I went to see Dave Ramsey in Kansas City. We bought the tickets months in advance, and Heather suffered a small amount of ridicule at work for her excitement over having the tickets. The fact that the event later sold out was somewhat vindicating I suppose.

It did mean that the friends who we talked into going to the event with us were unable to purchase tickets, so we had to go by ourselves.

To be completely honest, I was doing a little bit of foot-dragging in the weeks leading up to the event. I mean, how exciting can it be to see a five-hour recap of the class we took three years ago? Well, the answer to that is, a lot more exciting than you ever would have guessed!

Dave is a gifted speaker, and his team puts on a great event. We really enjoyed it.

Reflecting on the event, I think part of the reason it’s worth doing is that culturally, it’s hard to talk about money and budgets with your peers. It was refreshing to be in an environment where people could say “I am debt free!” Granted, a person could go into the office on Monday and say that, but I don’t know how many friends that would make you… or maybe I am taking too dim a view of humanity… at any rate, it got Heather and I excited to buckle down and focus on our financial goals again, and that alone makes it worth the price of admission.

-Jordan

Programmable Thermostats

Posted on by Jordan

Ok, this isn’t really about our lives, but it happens to be a subject I am kind of interested in.

The article: Do Programmable Thermostats Really Save Money?

I don’t have much to add to this article, other than to say I was really interested to see some of the numbers actually worked out.

From my personal experience, the key to saving money on utility costs is to move into a place with minimal exposure to external walls, but I don’t suppose that will be an option forever.

-Jordan

Colorado 2011 Part Three

Posted on by Jordan

Our last day at Copper Mountain began much like every other day we had spent there; Heather got up far too early and headed to another meeting. Unlike prior days though, instead of skiing, I packed the car and did some reading.

We were on the road heading west by mid morning, and hoping we wouldn’t have any weather surprises as we climbed the remaining miles to the top of the pass. I know the natives get used to it, but I don’t think the steep up and down while going 70 MPH will ever seem normal to me.

After a few more hours of uneventful drive, we made it to Grand Junction, home of our friends DJ and Vanessa. It was getting hard to remember what day it was at this point, so for my reference and yours, it was Saturday. We spent the remaining day on a little hike, and then went to Saturday evening church.

Before I go much farther, I should mention one of the many highlights of our trip: Ingrid! DJ and Vanessa, are parents now! We enjoyed getting to see our friends exploring parenthood, and seeing that they were really enjoying it.

I sort of wish I had pictures from Sunday, as we had a really great time hanging out that afternoon around the house with a few people from church. Given that all we did was talk and play boardgames maybe the pictures wouldn’t be that interesting… all the same it was a great time. For the record, both “Settlers of Catan” and “Ticket to Ride” are great games. If you have the opportunity to play with someone who can help you learn the rules, you should!

Monday was a special treat of sorts, as DJ and Vanessa were both able to be off work, and were willing to spend a day of vacation with us! As appears to be the custom in Colorado, we used our free time to head into the Mountains again!

What you can’t quite see in the snow around their feet, are the snowshoes they are wearing. There was well over five feet of snow on the ground where that picture was taken, and without the snow shoes it would have been an entirely different picture. As you may recall Heather and I had the chance to play with some snow shoes back in Iowa a few months ago, but there were only an inch of snow. The experience is entirely different with meaningful amounts of snow.

Our plan was to hike straight out into the fresh snow, eventually crossing the trail to a lookout, allowing us to really experience the serenity of the fresh snow in the woods. It was beautiful, it was peaceful, it was also a LOT of work. Even with the snow shoes, the lead person in our group had a big job breaking a trail for us. We rotated the job around quite a bit, and were making pretty good time. Ingrid however, thought it was time for a break.

After a short break, we found a blazed trail. Walking on it felt a little like cheating, but I was ready to have an easier time walking. I should mention that Heather was doing great! Snow shoes may be more her speed, and hikes through the mountains seem to be more interesting to her than flying down the mountain on some fiberglass slats. On the road, we took a more leisurely pace than our guides:

Heather and I were mostly content to just enjoy the atmosphere, although I have to admit we did disagree somewhat as to the proper pace when walking on the road. Ingrid again asserted herself, announcing that the hike needed to end. We reverted back to traveling cross country, although it only ended up being a few hundred yards over to the main road, and from there we were practically in the parking lot where we began the trip.

We stopped through a small coffee shop on the way back to Junction, getting some coffee and enjoying the views. It really is amazing how much more pleasant winter can seem when you drape it over a giant pile of rocks!

After that, home, bed, getting up waaay too early, driving half-way across the state, a plane ride to KC, driving half-way across two other states, and we were back in Des Moines refreshed and ready for a new day at work! 🙂

-Jordan

Tragic

Posted on by Jordan

So, I know there are 1000 other sources you can, and probably are looking at for information about Japan.

All the same, these pictures, and their presentation are… awe inspiring.

New York Times — Japan Before And After Pictures

Awe and terror I suppose… the scale of the destruction all but prevents me from looking at it like a real event instead of something in a movie. I mean, Tokyo is doing rolling-blackouts to ration power! That can’t actually happen.

We will resume our regularly scheduled trip-debrief posting again shortly.

-Jordan

Colorado 2011 Part Two

Posted on by Jordan

Hey look! An actual picture! Part two actually starts a little before that picture was taken, but it’s a fun place to start.

We made it to the Copper mountain ski area with a few hours of sunlight left, and time to explore before the kick-off dinner for the conference. It was sunny and clear, making the day one of those amazing winter days you seem to only get in the mountains. It should have felt cold, but it wasn’t bad walking around with a coat on. Sunshine is an amazing thing, I know we technically get sunny days during February in Des Moines, but they just don’t have the same kick.

After a beautifully scenic walk around the little resort area, we headed into the ski shop to pickup our rental equipment. About two minutes into that process, Heather had what she continues to describe as the most shocking revelation of the entire trip. I had frequently said things like “Heather and I are going skiing next week.”  Internally I knew I meant “although I will be using a snowboard” but apparently I didn’t communicate that with Heather. To say she was surprised would be an understatement! She quickly adapted to the news, but did insist that I add a helmet to my rental load-out. As a side note, the helmet was a good option, and I would recommend it to everyone.

The next morning, Heather had to be at meetings really early, although she did get a great breakfast out of the deal. I slept in as best I could (this trip was rough for me… as you can no doubt tell) and then wandered over to a little coffee shop for a “waffle” and some coffee. I put quotes around waffle, because they were running some sort of pastry dough through a waffle iron, and selling it as a waffle. Not that I am complaining really, I just don’t know if that counts as a waffle. Anyway, the coffee was good and the pastry thing was good too once I accepted it’s true nature. It was kind of strange to just be hanging out waiting for things to start around the base camp area. Every other skiing experience I have had had started a long ways from the actual ski area, so mornings were rushing to get everyone and 50 cubic yards of winter-sport related junk loaded into a car and over to the mountain. I don’t know if it’s worth it really, but if you have to stay at the base of the mountain expect a much more peaceful morning.

Eventually Heather got out of her meetings and the lifts opened up. We started to gear up to get in line, and found that Heather was having issues with her boots snapping into her skis. She graciously encouraged me to make a run without her while she went back into the ski shop to figure out what the issue was.

I know it wasn’t her intention to make me look awesome by the time we skied together, but it was the end result. I hadn’t been on a snowboard for… about five years, so I was a little bit rusty. On the bright side, Copper Mountain is huge. By the time I made it back down to the base-camp area, all those old reflexes were starting to work again. You might think this would make it harder for us to stay together if I was starting to ramp up to competency, and Heather still needed to warm up, but really I find it harder to take it slow than run at a moderately fast speed, so the warm-up run was beneficial in a number of ways.

After our initial run, we figured out a system for skiing “together.” We would ride the lift up, then split up at the first fork in the trail. We would each continue at a comfortable pace, I would ride the lift up, ski down again, and then Heather would be ready to ride the lift up with me again.

Beyond that, there are only a few other skiing related notes left to mention. First that Heather really did enjoy it after a little practice, a fact that made me glad. Before our first run, I think we both were a little concerned that she would hate it, and it would just take a lot of fun out of the trip. I don’t know if Heather liked it enough to put it on top of her ideal vacation destinations for next year, but she at least enjoyed it. The second note is that I had one truly bad crash (and only one) the end result of that is a rib that still hurts when I laugh two weeks later.

Off the mountain, we just enjoyed getting to spend more time together than we would during a normal week. Our room ceased to be a quiet little hangout on the second day, when our neighbors arrived. We quickly learned that the walls were paper-thin, and that our neighbors consisted of a “guys trip” intent on cutting loose for the weekend. Ideas like “inside-voices” were not something they brought with them for this trip. Lucky for us, skiing wore them out as much as it did us, so everybody spend most of the time indoors sleeping.

That covers most of what is noteworthy about the second portion of our trip.

-Jordan

Colorado 2011, Part One

Posted on by Jordan

Heather and I seem to be on a trend of going cold places in winter.

I don’t quite know how that happened, except to say that we aren’t rally devoted to the idea… it just happens.

Our trip to Colorado at the end of February was initiated by a work conference Heather had been asked to attend.

So, let me back up for a second… You remember the speeds we each used when cross-country skiing? I know it’s a single data point, but it stands as a clue that Heather might not be as interested in high-speed winter sports as I am. That being said, when there was a trip to a ski resort in the middle of winter, I was kind of excited. Heather thought it would be fun… in her defense though, she had to work part of the time, so I had a lot of reasons to be more excited than she was.

Anyway, exceptions aside, we were both ready for a few days away from work.

Heather actually managed a few more days away than I did, heading down to KC two days early to visit some friends and then spend an entire day babysitting our one and most favorite nephew ! By all accounts it was fun, but more work than she expected! Who knew an 11-month-old could be so much work?

We boarded a plane from KC to Denver bright and early Wednesday morning. Thanks to the time-zone weirdness, we landed almost the same time we took off. Then off to the rental place. Apparently rental cars are in high demand leaving from the Denver airport on a Wednesday, not a problem though, we have a reservation! Only, the lady at the desk told us our reservation didn’t exist.

This is the point where you would expect the customer service person, the closest thing to a rental car expert we can find in the moment, to spring into action, providing us options and ultimately a car.

We got a blank stare. With some prompting we were assured that there “aren’t any cars left… at any of the companies here” when asked “you mean there isn’t a single car left to rent in Denver?” she said yes. The next question was just “so… what do we do now?” She pointed us to the shuttle-bus stop, and said that we could get back to the airport on the next bus, “maybe one of the other companies has a car I don’t know about”

Back at the airport, we power-walked our way to the only rental-car booth with a huge “cars available” sign sill showing. (it really felt like we should run… but one doesn’t want to stand out in the airport, who knows what they might mistake you for.) Let me tell you about the booth, unlike the other booths, this one lacked a few key items: name we had ever heard of before, a computer, a phone, any furnishings beyond the counter and a chair for the solitary staff member working the booth. The guy assured us “don’t worry, I hadn’t heard of ‘us’ ether, before I got this job… but I guess ‘we’ are big out west” He then assured us they had cars left, talked from memory about the price and options we would have, then wrote our desired car on a scrap of paper. Scrap of paper in hand, we headed out to yet another bus stop. After watching every other rental-car bus pass about three times, our bus finally arrived. The ride was normal, until we got to the ‘T’ intersection leading where you would turn to go into the rental car row. Our bus turned left instead of right. About a mile in the wrong direction and we were in the parking lot for a mostly vacant industrial strip. There were rental cars though! Dirty rental cars, but rental cars. Inside we learned that they were having problems with the car wash, but not to worry the car would be fine. A few sheets of paperwork later, and we had some keys! The instructions were to: “just wander around pushing the panic button on the remote, you will find it eventually”

Low and behold, that tactic worked perfectly, despite it’s lack of professionalism. Once in our car, we found that it had less than 300 miles on it, and was wonderfully clean– on the inside. After that, we stopped for a quick and uneventful lunch and headed up to check into the place we were staying.

hmm sorry I didn’t make it to a part where we have a picture, but the wall-of-text is sufficient to make me think I should close part 1.

-Jordan

Home!

Posted on by Jordan

Hey there!

So, Heather and I have been out of town for about a week now. We got back last night, and are still trying to unpack.

I always regret posting anything implying I have a better post coming soon… but that is what I have to do tonight.

We had a lot of fun, and took a few pictures, I really want to bring some of that into the blog, but I don’t think it is going to happen tonight.

So… ah, stay tuned I guess 🙂

-Jordan

A Welcome Reprieve

Posted on by Jordan

I know this won’t last, but the last few days have been amazing!

Not only did the temperatures make it into the low 40s, but it was a weekend! I mean… I saw someone wearing shorts yesterday! The snow is melting, the sun is shining… it makes you feel like maybe there will be an end to the winter.

I can’t complain too much, as cold as it has been, this year has nothing on last year when it comes to painful winters.

So, talking about the weather is perhaps a boring blog topic. What else have Heather and I been doing?

We started taking a more proactive approach to keeping the apartment clean It may not sound like much, but trying to keep things clean instead of waiting for the weekend to clean up has made our apartment feel a lot bigger, nicer, and just easier to hang out in.

Our big observance of Valentines day consisted of a marriage conference put on by our church over the weekend. I have to admit I did a lot of foot-dragging beforehand, kind of expecting it to be a really long day. It wound up being rather pleasant, Heather and I got to spend a lot of time talking about “us” something that is apparently waaaaay to easy to forget to do.

We are also averaging slightly over two dinner with guests events a week at our little apartment.  I don’t know if we can keep that pace up forever, but it has been fun to get to interact with friends in the evenings so often.

Having just double-checked Picasa, I can confirm that we do not have any new pictures… not real surprising considering how un-photo-worthy the past few weeks have been.

Maybe we will break out the camera and get some pictures of the muddy puddles where the snow used to be… it seems like a pretty beautiful thing right now! 🙂

-Jordan

Do More Outdoors, PT 2

Posted on by Jordan

Hey there, as you may have noticed… I haven’t posted much.

Well, it has been cold and snowy… and we really haven’t been up to much.

Our apartment is cleaner than it has been, perhaps ever! I have played a fair amount of Warcraft although nothing like I used to.

I have been meaning to post the other half of our day outdoors, I just didn’t want to bring the mood down.

Given the lack of topics to write about… I guess that is my next post!

After an enjoyable time doing various outdoor winter activities, Heather and I walked back to the car. The abundance of people attending the event had overwhelmed the small parking lot at the lodge, so we were partially off the road a few hundred yards down the way. Given that setting, I offered to pull the car out, so Heather wouldn’t have to climb through several feet of snow in the ditch.

When she got into the car, she said “the front tire looked kind of low when you were pulling out.” I took a quick peek at it: Flat, not kind of flat… FLAT.

Ok so, pull off the road so other people can get around us at least… and hmmm…. Well when we were waiting to get our cross country ski boots, I was looking around the shed we were in. It wasn’t really a shed, it was the park maintenance building. I remembered seeing lines for compressed air running down a few beams throughout the room. I hadn’t seen a portable air tank, but figured it was worth a shot.

Walked back to the shop, asked the DRN person there if they had an air tank, and if I could barrow it. She didn’t normally work at the park hosting the event, and had no idea what tools they had on hand. She did say if I could find what I needed it I could barrow it! After a little looking I found the air tank, and ancillary items needed to re-inflate a flat tire.

Walked back to the car, filled the tire. I figured if it was holding pressure by the time we drove the tank back to the shop we might be able to at least make the five miles back to the small town we passed on the way in, before making some phone calls.

At the shop, I returned the air tank, and helped the staff person load some ski equipment into her truck. I must have been a little flustered, because without realizing it, I left my brand-new mittens laying in the shop.

We pulled into a parking lot in Bondurant, and I checked the pressure in the front tire again. Things were looking good, it hadn’t lost any pressure so far! I figured we could probably make it the remaining 20 minutes home before it started to loose much more, and didn’t really relish the idea of finishing off a long day by sitting in a cold car waiting for a tow truck on Sunday evening.

Pulled off one more time, about half way home to take another look, and we were down 2-3lbs, but still above normal operating pressure (I had over-filled the tire about 8lbs). I decided we should push the rest of the way home. I should say that, while ultimately supportive Heather had some reservations about this whole plan, but I don’t think she wanted to sit a few hours in the car any more than I did 🙂

once home, we realized we probably only had a few more hours before the tire was un-drive-ably low again, so we headed back out onto the road, with two vehicles this time, bound for our mechanics lot. The trip there was uneventful, but once there it’s hard to feel 100% comfortable dropping your key, and a note through the drop-slot and walking away. We didn’t have much of a choice though, so that’s what we did.

Once home I checked, and re-checked for my mittens, and well… it was kind of demoralizing. I really considered myself to be more responsible than to loose my stuff like that. I even bought the really nice stuff, because I “knew” I could take care of it for a long time. At this point, Heather jumped in and started making phone calls. It wasn’t a good time of the day or week to catch anyone, but she left messages at a few different DNR offices. She then continued to call over the next few days, until she located the mittens, and then used her lunch break to drive out to an office on the northern extremes of Des Moines to pick them up!

During that same time, our mechanic was able to extract a nail from the front tire of the car, leaving us as good as new!

All in all, it wasn’t the greatest end to what started out as a really fun day… but things worked out in the end.

-Jordan