Mountain Biking in Fruita

Rode two trails on Saturday in Fruita: Horse Thief and Troy Built. I rate all the trails I ride on a scale of 1 - 10. Horse Thief demoted all my previous 10s to 6s. It was awesome. First Picture shows one of my riding budies. Then I walked over to the little rock sticking up on the right side and took the next picture to give you a sense of the size of the cliffs. Shortly after taking these pictures, I took the movie below. Shortly after I took the movie (like 2 seconds after taking the movie) I dropped the camera onto a rock and smashed the front end to pieces. Shortly after realizing I destroyed our family camera, I remembered I was in Fruita and forgot about the casualty and rode merrily down the same trail. Fun times. Sorry camera.

Art Wednesday - Tibetan Monk

I actually took this picture with my scanner since I dropped and destroyed our camera on the last mountain bike trip. This is a statue of a Tibetan Monk holding a baby that my brother-in-law brought back from Afghanistan. It is the statue of prosperity and it glows in the dark. I keep it in my office to help me remember that in order to be prosperous I will need to ... grow a fu-man-chu mustache and wear a Mickey Mouse hat upside down.

Music Tuesday - Pink

I can't get Pink's "So What" song out of my head. I heard it twice yesterday on the radio and that is all it took to infest my brains. Listen on Seeqpod if you dare.

Here is a quick sketch of Pink:

Nanowrimo Update - Finishing In November?

If I have an hour to sit and type, I can knock out at least 1,000 words in an hour. The problem with Nanowrimo (national novel writing month) is that it puts all my attention on how fast I can type crud. The idea isn't quality, it is quantity (50,000 words). I just can't devote that much time, pride and hopefully passion into something that is too embarrasing for anyone else to read. If I was doing this purely for myself, then I'd just leave it up in my nogin.

I re-read what I have already written in the Canafantine Story and now re-written most of it so that it sucks less. Despite the depressing reality that writing a novel is harder than I originally thought, I'm having a really fun time. Here is a list of the other novels I already started or outlined:

• Rob and the King (Squirrel Story)
• Rob and the Queen (Squirrel Story II)
• Quantum Cowboy (Space Cowboy)
• Communiphrenia ('crazy' adventure of Charlie Conway)
• Transporphrenia (more 'crazy' adventures of Charlie Conway)
• Canafantines part I (I'm writing part II first)

Nanowrimo Update

I'm at 8,000 words. I don't think I'll hit 50K by the end of the month, but I'm having a blast.

Here is an odd site someone sent to me. It lets you make your own little sound widgets. Here is mine:

Nanowrimo - Updated

I'm up to 5000 words. I'm supposed to be around 25,000 words by now. I hope to make up some of that ground this weekend.

Quick research question: out of our 5 senses, pain is obviously felt the most with our sense of touch. But what does pain look like? Or what do your eyes see when you are feeling intense pain and your eyes are closed? Does pain have a smell or taste? Does it have a sound? Are there any other sensations or feelings associated with pain?

I wrote one section about a Canafantine Warrior who learns to deal with pain. I'll have to post it sometime, but I don't want it to influence anyone's response to my questions above.

I did see these pictures on the net and I thought they were good representations of what I think pain looks like.

Nanowrimo update

1,435 words down. 48,565 words to go.

There are no such thing as "absolute" magic in the Canafantine universe. So if someone makes magical armor that will resist all other weapons, and then a magical weapon is made that will cut through anything, what happens when the unstoppable weapon hits the impenetrable armor? Since the armor was first, I think the weapon would go through the armor. If the weapon was first, it wouldn’t go through the armor. Does that make sense? Does that still follow the rule of no absolutes? Does it matter?

The only reason it would matter is if two warriors were dueling and you wanted to place bets on who would win. You'd have a good chance at winning the bet if you knew what infallible tool was created last.

Scripture Studay Monday - Helmets

D&C 27:15-18 discusses the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-20). Verse 18 mentions the helmet of salvation (see also Isaiah 59:17). I feel like the scriptures discussing the helmet of salvation are referring to clarity of thought related to an understanding of the plan of salvation. If I study and understand the gospel, that understanding will act as a protection to me.

In a letter to the Corinthians, Paul said (2 Corinthians 10:3-6) we don’t fight flesh wars. We fight to cast down “imagination”, everything that exalts itself above the “knowledge” of God, and bring into captivity every “thought” to the obedience of Christ.

Our daily spiritual battle includes living in a physical world, acting, serving, and doing, but these scriptures point out that a large part of the battle is in the mind.