I wanted to clarify on the Spinning class I am taking. It is serious stationary biking--not the process of creating yarn from various raw fiber materials. In class you are on the bike the whole time (for ~1 hr) with the incandescent lights off and the black lights on and music. The instructor decides what you will do for each song, whether you do sprints, climbs, hoovering, stabilizing, etc. So for an entire song you may do sprints on and off for 10-15 second intervals, or you may do a climb where you increase your resistance every 20-30 seconds as if you were climbing a hill until your legs cannot go anymore. Hoovering/jumps are where you are standing up as if you were running on the bike (jumps), then you push you butt back and lower your chest and keep going--almost as if you were sitting down, but not quite (hoovering), then stand up, then hoover, etc. It is a very intense class and when I am done I feel like I have been sprinting non-stop for an hour. Your legs feels like jello and you get pretty saddle-sore! Below is a picture of a spinning bike that closest resembles the ones we use here at ISU.

School is starting to wear on me a little so far this semester. My classes this semester are Anantomy & Physiology (with Lab), Microbiology (with Lab), History of American Culture (Boring!), Sr. Seminar, Spinning, and Volleyball. It's a pretty good load of 14 credits. I am doing okay in all my classes except Anat. & Phys. My first test was a bomber, but hopefully I will be able to study hard and pull my grade up in the end. I got a 98.5% on my first Microbiology test, and I did well on my presentation in Sr. Seminar (I was the first to do presentations, so I had to set the bar for everyone else). Spinning is kicking my butt (literally--I think my butt is getting smaller!), but you learn to like it after a few weeks. I have lost 5lbs so far this semester (if my scale is telling me correctly), so I am excited! Volleyball is, as always, fun, but I do have a lot of show-off, ball hog boys in my class which gets annoying. Kenny is doing well in school this semester. He is ahead in his lab, and he hasn't gotten less than a B on any of his tests so far. He doesn't even have to study that punk! He can just look over a few things, go into a test, and then ace it. I have to start preparing 2 weeks in advance for tests to get a decent grade. I like my classes for the most part though, so that's good.

On a hunting/camping trip we made last summer to the Mount Borah mountain range area we decided to take a hike up to Lake Merriam. There were Kenny, myself, and our friends Cade, Willy and Cameron and their son Ephraim, and Joey and Maggie (our dogs). Kenny was the only one who had hiked to this lake and said it was only a couple of miles . . . . sure. This was bear country (Cade had shot a bear earlier that day), so we suited up and were prepared with guns and bear spray. As you can see, somewhat, Kenny has to pack everything (including the kitchen sink), but as long as he is the one packing it and not me, that's okay. He takes the Boy Scout motto to the extreme. He was packing 2 (maybe 3) guns, a fly rod, two regular fishing poles, and heaven knows what else in his pack. I couldn't even pick it up! Anyway, we started on our "little" hike in the early afternoon and let me tell you--this was no "little hike"! From left to right: Cameron, Cade, and Willy (this was one of our many breaks).
Cade was carrying Ephraim for Cameron and Willy.
Another break . . . .
. . . . and another break--even Joey passed out!
Well, we made it after, I think, four hours. The whole time Kenny was saying, "Just a little farther." About 3/4 of the way up we were all contemplating going back down, but Kenny was insistent that we make it. So we pushed on. The last 100 yards or so was, seemingly, straight up and shale. That was fun. But once we made it over the last hill it was beautiful!

So this was the view when we finally made it over the hill--Lake Merriam
The dogs were exhausted from the hike and were freezing from swimming in the glacier lake, so we built a fire for them to warm up by and I put my sweater on Maggie to warm her a little more--they were shivering pretty bad.
Kenny fishing. There were beautiful brook trout in this lake and a few tiger muskies (a hybrid between a muskie and I think a gar--they look like eels and they are viscous things! You can only keep them if they are 24 inches or bigger). The lake was so clear that you watched the trout as they followed your spinner and bit the hook. It was cool. We cooked them up on the fire and they were yummy!

The Space Needle--taken from the deck of the ferry heading to Bremington. There we decided to eat at a very authentic Indian buffet. The food was . . . interesting. An experience I'm sure we're all glad we had, but not something I plan on doing again soon . . . or at all.


Ethan had a good time dancing on the table. :-) Julie took me, Peyton, and Ethan to the Seattle Aquarium which was really cool! I think my favorite part was watching the sea otters play around--they are so cute!

An octopus--it wasn't too active

Dori
If you look real close you can see a Puffin--the swimmin bird.

Me and the boys at the top of Columbia Tower Ethan and me
Julie had to have me try the "best hot chocolate in the world"--Starbucks. It was really good, but I think it has competition with the cocoa at Mocha Madness. :-)
The Original Starbucks
Pike's Market

Here are the pictures from my accident. I was coming back from a delivery from Blackfoot for work (hence the Sherwin-Williams vehicle) and hit a patch of ice, fish-tailed, lost control, hit the median, went airborne, and rolled five times. I was conscious the whole time, so I remember it well--it plays in my head when I close my eyes. I don't fell so invincible on icy roads anymore. This was my first car accident and I guess it was a pretty good first--rolled five times, but could walk to the ambulence.