Happy 2008!

Happy New Year, 27 days late. Adventures of Mitch has been a neglected tale of late, and many of my avid readers (approx. 1-4 people) have begun to get restless in the absence of the riveting tales of Adventures of Mitch. So I will start with an update, and hopefully by the time I finish typing that I will have come up with something else to ponder.

Here's what's happening: UNI lost in the playoffs, it snowed this winter, my dog is still alive (at 12 years old she's mostly blind and 90% deaf), and I have stopped drinking coffee that was once part of a marsupial's excrement. Quick update, year in review, now onto the new story.

This has been the winter of skiing. Nordic skiing. Skate skiing. I got into it last year and have become obsessed. How obsessed? I usually consider myself obsessed with ice climbing. I haven't even gotten my gear out of the closet this winter. I haven't taken one swing at the ice. Instead, I hover over a bench in my garage waxing my skis for the next days weather and dream of Norwegian men in lycra suits. I'm not racing or anything, but just seem to be addicted to being out there. It's a great workout and a great way to cruise around the parks in the winter. I have been slowly building up the endurance with hopes of doing a race at some point this year, which brings me to the story of the day. Given this story, a race should be entertaining.

I went out on Friday morning with my friend Sean for about a 10k ski. ('skiers' measure their distance in kilometers because it's European, and therefore worldly and cool) It was somewhere new and hilly and fun. So, I decide at some point Friday night that this was going to be the "Weekend of Skiing." I was going to push my limit......go farther than I've gone before and basically totally dominate. So I head out to a state park about 40 minutes from my house for a long ski. I have never skied here before so don't really know what I'm getting into. The trail description is "wooded with some decent hills." Well apparently if these hills are "decent" they must normally ski in the Himalaya. I feel good after leaving the house full from no breakfast and 3 cups of strong coffee. After all, I find there is nothing better than a false confidence to get you through something difficult. I hit the trails cruising and feeling great. The trails are super hilly and the loop is about 12k in length, but I am skiing hard and fast. My goal was to ski 20-25k. After one lap, I feel pretty good and head out again into the woods. After about 3k into the second loop I start hurting. My water is almost gone, I really wish I would have eaten breakfast (or supper the night before), and my legs are screaming. Basically, I skied way too hard the first lap and now I am paying the price (See 'The Tortoise and the Hare' for further clarification). As I look at a map I decide I can trim about 5k off the loop, which puts me about 5k from the car. Not too bad except I felt like I was pulling log behind me and all the muscles had been surgically removed from my legs. I was shot.....wasted......dead. So the rest of the ski pretty much went like this: ski about 1-200 meters, rest for five minutes and drink imaginary water from my empty bottle, and repeat. I did make to the car eventually and can't remember the last time I was that exhausted. Once I got to the car I drove to a small general store about 5 miles away to 'refuel.' Here I purchased 32 ounces of Gatorade, a Kit Kat Bar, bag of potato chips, some peanut M & Ms and a root beer. I proceeded to consume all items in approximately 5 minutes, while driving, and drove home with a well deserved gut ache. Good times. Went out and skied 15k today and my legs reminded me of how they were treated yesterday. The good news is I didn't do the convenience store binge at the end and I lived to tell the story.

I Bleed Purple and Gold

As a graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, and having grown up in Cedar Falls, I am a die hard Panther football fan. I started attending Panther football games when I was born in 1976 when the UNI Dome opened. I've seen a lot of games and there is nothing better than the FCS, or I-AA playoffs. I won't get into the details of why the games are exciting and how insane it is that Division I can't see how rational the system is. For those of you not keeping track off the #1 rated Panthers, they have had a record breaking season.


After a 12-0 season the playoffs started this weekend. I, of course, made the drive down to the dome to watch the big game.......I don't miss playoff games. We fans have been waiting for this day, as the last playoff game ended in a loss in 2005 when the panthers were defeated in the national championship game in Chattanooga, TN by Appalachian State.

This weekend, it was New Hampshire. A solid team, with a great quarterback to match up with our ace, Eric Sanders. I won't bore you with play by play, as you can find that on the panthers website (see link in right column). The dome is a crazy place to play. It's loud, it's the playoffs and anything can happen. This game was totally nuts. I've seen good games, I've seen crazy games, but this was one of the best. The panthers led, or were tied, the entire game as the offenses traded scores. New Hampshire found a way to score with just 1:16 left in the game to go ahead for the first time 35-31. Sitting at the game with my panther comrades........we'll call them Rooster,Martini, and my cousin Vinny (for the sake of anonymity), we were devastated, crushed like a small child after realizing their pet hamster can't swim in the toilet. Emotionally shattered like a 7th grader peeing his pants at school.........this was not good.

But wait, it's a bird, it's a plane...........it's the UNI Dome. Eric Sanders, our senior quarterback led the team down the field and threw a 25 yard touchdown pass with just 7 seconds remaining to win the game. We cheered, we cried, we forgot to notice that Rooster left at the half with his daughter........and couldn't remember where Martini's wife and small child were. Luckily, they were home safe, away from the pandemonium and chaos. We lived to play another day, namely, this Saturday, 1pm against.......the Delaware Fighting Blue Hens. Go Panthers!

For a video clip of the winning touchdown:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=VIDEO02

Thanksgiving in St. Paul

I have spent a lot of my Thanksgiving holidays, as an adult, in the Grand Canyon backpacking with groups. I find myself torn between how much I enjoy the Grand Canyon and how much I enjoy the gluttonous beginning of the holidays season marked by Thanksgiving. Having spent quite a few weekends traveling this Fall, we decided to spend our first major holiday at our home in St. Paul. We have both had some busy days at work lately and it has been incredibly relaxing to have several days of nothing. We enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving morning with a cup of coffee, snow flurries and a paper filled with ads. I decided to try to cook a meal worthy of holiday status and it actually worked out fairly well.

I prepared grilled spinach and feta stuffed turkey tenderloins, mashed potato casserole and some stuffing. We killed a bottle of wine and enjoyed a late afternoon meal on a wintry day. Since I was in the cities this Thanksgiving, I decided to experience 'Black Friday.' After all, I hate shopping, but the people watching has to be entertaining. Brandi wanted to go to the mall, but I was afraid some would trample or eat me........these types of things happen at the Mall of America. We set the alarm for 5am and headed for the stores. After almost getting hit by 473 SUVs in the parking lot we watched several hundred people lining up outside Circuit City in 19 degree temperatures in their individual quests for discounted electronics. In the end, we hit a few stores, bought some stuff on sale, accomplished zero holiday shopping and found ourselves ready for a nap by 10am.

What would a weekend be without some driving? I am off to Cedar Falls tomorrow morning to watch my beloved UNI Panthers start their quest for the 2007 FCS college football championship after completing an 11-0 regular season last week. Go Panthers!

Minnesota's North Shore

Fall is by far my favorite season of the year, however, it's also the busiest season as well. With Brandi and I both working at the University, Fall is a crazy time of year. We decided we REALLY needed to get away for a few days. We headed to the North Shore of Lake Superior for some R&R and to take in the peak fall colors before the weekend crowds showed up. We were not disappointed. We spent some time in the quaint northwoods town of Grand Marais, hiked to the highest point in Minnesota and spent a night camped on a 'secret' beach on the shore of Lake Superior.

We hit the road on Thursday morning and stopped in the harbor town of Duluth for a burger at Fitgers Brew Pub before making our way along the shor on highway 61 (see 'Bob Dylan song'). While the leaves in the twin cities are changing some, it quickly became evident that they were near peak color in the northwoods. The drought of this year has left the woods glowing with yellow contrasting against the lakes, conifers and dark tones of the North Shore rock. After taking in the view from Palisade Head we left the shore and drove inland hoping to hike up to Mystical Mountain and the views above the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center. We got a shortened hike in as a passing thunderstorm prevented us from accomplishing the tricky scramble required to get up to the top. Wolf Ridge had great color and it never gets old hiking through the woods with fall colors lighting the way carpeting the trail underfoot.

Friday morning we enjoyed a cup of coffee and strolled through the streets of Grand Marais. A raised sugar donut from "Worlds Best Donuts" proved they did well in naming their establishment. The galleries and shops of Grand Marais made quick work of a lazy morning enjoying a sunny fall day and some great art.

After lunch we headed up the Gunflint Trail into the BWCA (boundary waters canoe area). The BWCA is the largest roadless piece of land east of the rockies, and definitely one of my favorite places on earth. The hike up Eagle Mountain to the highest point of Minnesota is a rugged rocky trail that winds through woods of the Sawtooth mountains and enters the BWCA boundary while winding through the northwoods and along remote lakes before reaching the amazing views at the top that overlook BWCA. The overlook on top gave us a birds eye view of the quilt of colors and some of the lakes we had paddled on a trip a few years ago. The colors from up on the cliff were awesome and it never hurts to have near perfect weather as well.

We spent Friday night at an absolutely perfect campsite listening to the waves of Superior crashing onto the pebble covered shore with a bright moon making it easy to walk around without using a headlamp. A bottle of red wine and a fire in the moonlight made it hard to go to bed, knowing tomorrow I had to drive home. In the morning, we enjoyed an amazing sunrise over the lake with a cup of chai before heading back to the city. (we did repeat offend at the donut shop)

Water Closet Upgrade

First of all, my apologies to the Adventures of Mitch fans for the delay in my blogging. I hope I can provide some writing worthy of entertaining. The "adventures" have been a little slow lately. I have spent some time climbing outside at the local rocks, but those don't really warrant posting. So, I have spent my time pondering what I could do or concoct to post to the blog. This weekend, it finally happened!

I am a fix it up guy. I spend a lot of time and energy working on our home. Some days the results are little more than a lot of sawdust, a few crumpled beer cans and the cars stuck in the driveway because the garage is a workshop. Other days, the results are better and something actually gets accomplished. This weekend, something was definitely accomplished.

There are items in our daily lives we use everyday and a quality product can make their daily use very enjoyable. I am a big fan of this concept of quality everyday items. Good socks are one of my vices. I wear socks most days, and picking out a fine pair of socks for work or running and pulling them on my hooves is very enjoyable and starts the day our right. Other items I put in this category: Underwear (tho going without is heavenly), gloves, a good bed, showerheads and ........the throne.

Many of us enjoy the moments of porcelain solitude and bowel movement bliss. These moments are not about the destination, but the journey. Purchasing a new toilet can be overwhelming, exciting and sometimes eye opening. So when I decided to replace the throne I had a lot of research to do. Some nice features are the new chair height throne. The 16 inch high bowl makes sitting on the standard toilet feel like a pre school chair, and vomiting will be much easier on the neck. I do think the dog is having trouble drinking from the higher bowl, but that may be for the best. A person will need to choose between the round or elongated bowl. I went with elongated bowl for both comfort and contemporary fashion (I feel the total package). Then one must decide on the most important part....the engine. While many women are concerned with the color and style, men would prefer that florescent green toilet that sounds like a 747 when you pull the trigger. They actually have a toilet that claims to flush 1000 feet of toilet paper and another that can flush 24 golf balls! So, I am thinking:
A) If you use 1000 feet of toilet paper, you should probably think about sitting there a little longer
B) I hope those golf balls are not Titleist, as that would come out to between 40-100 dollars per flush. I will personally crawl into the sewer for that many balls.
C) If you are crapping golf balls, especially 24 at a time you should really reconsider your diet.

I did not go with GT 7000 or Powerflush ZX100 model, but rather a Kohler Cimarron, 1.6 gallons per flush, elongated, comfort height, white toilet with quick release and soft closing seat and lid. A fine product from the folks from Wisconsin. I will say the high seat, soft closing lid, and adequately powerful flushing sound and power has made the daily duty very enjoyable. I don't feel like I need a tattoo and wristbands when it's time for business, but I anxiously await any challenges I can send forth to the new rig.

I have chosen not to enclose an "action photo" to this post.

Conner William Martin

I just returned from a quick tour de Iowa to visit the new nephew, as well as all the rest of the family. He has been named Conner William. A fine looking little man and his brother seems very excited to have him around. As we can see from this photo, he was not entertained reading "Adventures of Mitch."

A New Nephew

The great news of the weekend was that my sister and her husband had their second baby boy on Sunday. He was a healthy 9 lbs, 4oz and 21 inches and change from tip to tail (if my short sporadic memory is serving me well today.) The photo is of nephew #1, holding nephew #3.......nephew #2 is on the other side of the family. I will keep you posted on the name, as that is still under lock and key. I am heading to Iowa to visit the new family member on Tuesday and can't wait to meet the new little dude. What an exciting way bring in the spring.