My Third 14er

That's Grays Peak right there. I'm pretty sure it is, anyways. I didn't really know where the trail was leading on the way up.

I wish I had a ton more pictures to share of this trek, but unfortunately despite my best efforts to be totally prepared, one of the things I forgot was to charge my camera battery. So it died shortly after I took this picture.

I did this hike August 31 with a bunch of Boy Scouts and dads. And I'm just now getting around to memorializing it midway through October.

I didn't want to go. Mainly because I spent last Labor Day weekend also doing a 14er - Mount Elbert - and it was mostly a hateful experience. I was sucking wind all the way to the top and my feet got so trashed that every single step on the way down was painful. I was surprised at how difficult it had been - a far cry from the 14er I'd done when I was about 17. I was pretty sure that I was going to retire from doing any more 14ers, especially after learning that Elbert is rated among the easiest of 14ers.

Until this one came up. The Scoutmaster had laid down the law that every scout under the age of 14 had to be accompanied by a parent, so that the scout would have someone to descend with him in case he became ill from the altitude. As luck would have it, my boy does not turn 14 until November.

I determined that I was going to approach this one differently. I didn't know if it would help, but I knew I had to take precautions to hopefully minimize the pain. I knew that I wanted some hiking poles this time around, so I went and acquired an inexpensive pair for about $25. I also splurged on some bamboo socks. And I wore hiking boots instead of my other shoes which are supposedly for hiking but didn't do me any favors last time. The hiking boots were nothing fancy, I've had them for about 10 years and rarely use them for anything other than shoveling snow.

My experience was so much better this time. It was a workout, to be sure, but with breathers and snacks I maintained a good pace, and before I knew it, I was only a couple of switchbacks from the peak! It snuck up on me a little bit - I think psychology plays a big role in 14ers. Mount Elbert was also treacherous because of the endless false peaks.

Here's a picture at the summit. I had to lean on a friend to take a picture of us on top with the Which Wich bag so that we can bring it in for a free sandwich. I'm not including that one here so that you don't try to impersonate me and claim my free sandwich. The weather was nice on top and it was good to just hang out and eat for awhile, unlike on top of Elbert where it was borderline snowing.

Some others of our group also did Torreys Peak. I let my son choose if we did it or not - he chose no. So I'll blame him for our failure to bag both 14ers on the same day! It did look pretty daunting from where we sat, and I believe those who did climb it had to come down right away because the weather was turning.

Coming back down was far less painful than last year. The poles helped immensely, but also my feet and legs didn't hurt nearly as much. I think the whole hike lasted a total of about 8 hours. And when I finished, I was thinking about doing a 14er again rather than cursing the whole experience.

I'll give equal credit to my new poles, my bamboo socks, and my boots. The mental preparedness helped too. Another factor could have been that I spent about 3 of the 10 days beforehand painting the outside of our house, so I was up and down a ladder constantly. Unintentional conditioning? Maybe.

So I've spent a little time thinking about doing it again next year - maybe a family trip next time? We'll see.

Who in the Sam Hill is Sam Hill?

A phrase that I often heard growing up, usually from my dad, was "What in the Sam Hill is going on?" and I've always wondered where it came from.

Well, wonder no more, because I looked it up.

"Sam Hill" is a euphemism or minced oath for "devil" or "hell". (Obviously)

But one might ask, "What in the Sam Hill is a minced oath?"

A minced oath is apparently a type of euphemism, unique to profanities. Gosh, darn, heck, dang, dadgummit, crap, and jeez louise would all be examples of minced oaths.

There are many theories on exactly where the "Sam Hill" comes from. One that seems plausible refers to a store owner named Sam Hill who offered an unusual array of items. It became commonplace to ask, "What in the Sam Hill is that?" upon finding something out of the ordinary. Apparently Sam Hill's building is still standing in Prescott, Arizona. It's ranked #2 of 21 attractions in Prescott, according to TripAdvisor, so if you're ever there. . .

There's another story about the adjutant general of Kentucky, Samuel Ewing Hill. He was sent by the governor to investigate the feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys in 1887. Because the situation had attracted so much media attention, the entire country waited with bated breath to hear "What in the Sam Hill was going on."

So, cute stories, but who knows if either of them are true. There are other ideas out there too if you want to look at the Wikipedia entry for Sam Hill, which is exactly what I did.

Thank goodness for the internet. I only have been waiting for this information for 30 years.

Today

Whew! Writing a post everyday might get tough. I'm working on getting some stuff queued up. The sports stuff comes out easily - but I'm trying to avoid writing too much about sports.

Meanwhile, snow on the ground this morning in Denver. It didn't stick around, but having to brush snow off your car to go to work on October 4th may not be a good sign for the upcoming months. I really don't want to ever complain about receiving moisture, with water the precious resource it is, but I fear all the snow shoveling and tedious morning commutes in my future.

I remember the first winter after moving back to Colorado seven years ago - it snowed about every weekend for two months straight. Are we headed for another one of those winters?

Elway & Kosar

Bernie Kosar is in the news, and it's not good. I saw Bernie on an ESPN documentary called "Broke" a few months ago discussing his bankruptcy. You could say post-football life has not been good to him.

Meanwhile, the last time I saw John Elway was this past Sunday, standing on the sideline at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, watching the Denver Broncos close out a 52-20 thrashing of the Philadelphia Eagles. He's in his third year as an executive with the Broncos, having helped rebuild them into a Super Bowl contender.

When I was a boy, I had a book about John Elway and Bernie Kosar - I believe I acquired it from a school book fair. It gave details of their lives and athletic careers - one half was devoted to Elway, the other to Kosar. I'm pretty sure I still have it somewhere at my parents' house. Although it would be unfair to consider them equal in athletic skill, the two were at the very least contemporaries, rivals forever linked by two football games in the late 1980s.

On January 11, 1987, Bernie Kosar had his Cleveland Browns five minutes away from the Super Bowl. The Browns were leading the Denver Broncos 20-13, and the Broncos were backed up against their own goal line, surrounded by an exultant Cleveland crowd. But then, John Elway executed what became known simply as "The Drive", directing his team 98 yards for the tying touchdown. The Broncos went on to win the game in overtime, 23-20, and advanced to Super Bowl XXI in Pasadena, California.

The Broncos lost that Super Bowl, but both the Browns and Broncos were back the next year, and this time the AFC Championship was being decided in Denver. This time the Broncos were leading by a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, but the Browns were in position to tie the score. Browns running back Earnest Byner took a handoff from Kosar, but lost the ball inside the Broncos' five-yard line. His fumble was recovered by the Broncos, who held on for a 38-33 victory and earned a second consecutive Super Bowl trip. The play went down in history as "The Fumble".

The Browns and the Broncos met once again in the AFC championship, two years later. This time the Broncos won easily and headed to the Super Bowl for the third time in four seasons.

Although the Broncos did not win any of those three Super Bowls, Elway played another nine seasons in Denver and finally won two Super Bowls following the 1997 and 1998 seasons. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XXXIII and retired a few months later. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004 and was hired as the executive vice president of football operations for the Broncos following the 2010 season, and persuaded Peyton Manning to sign with the Broncos in 2012. The Broncos have a 17-4 record with Elway and Manning on the payroll, and have won 15 consecutive regular season games.

Kosar was released by the Browns midway through the 1993 season. He went to Dallas, and earned a Super Bowl ring as a backup quarterback. He then finished his career with three seasons as a backup on the Miami Dolphins. Cleveland temporarily lost football when Art Modell moved his team to Baltimore following the 1995 season and renamed them the Ravens. Although the Browns returned to the NFL a few years later, they still have yet to play in a Super Bowl. And they haven't even advanced as far as the AFC championship game since the loss to the Broncos in January of 1990.

I've done all this setup to ask one question:

What if "The Drive" had never happened?

What if Elway's 3rd-and-18 pass to Mark Jackson had fallen incomplete? What if Elway's famous touchdown pass to Mark Jackson had been batted down at the line of scrimmage, bringing up a 4th-and-1? What if the Cleveland defense had managed a goal-line stand to stave off the Broncos threat? Would we instead be talking about "The Stand"?

The Browns may not have fared any better than the Broncos against the New York Giants in the Super Bowl that year, but what kind of momentum would the franchise have gained from the victory? Would they, like the Broncos, have repeated as AFC Champions the following year? Would Kosar have finished his career in Cleveland, like Elway did? Would he have won a Super Bowl at some point? Would Art Modell still have needed to leave town in order to get a stadium built? Would Kosar still be experiencing the same post-career problems?

And what about the Broncos? It's hard to imagine, given the remarkable ability of John Elway, that he wouldn't have found success anyways. But could have been him, instead of Kosar, who was forced out of town in the early 1990s? Would the Broncos have Peyton Manning as their quarterback today?

It's impossible to know the answers, of course.

But I believe the events of January 11, 1987 most certainly had an impact in determining the trajectory of these two franchises. However, the degree of the effect remains up for debate.

I will submit that up to that date, Cleveland and Denver were both good-but-not-great NFL franchises. But once we experienced "The Drive" it put the Broncos on a course to become one of the truly dominant franchises in modern NFL history. The Browns have regressed over the last two decades, their recent history littered with failure and busted draft picks. So you decide.

As for the two men, that's even harder to determine. They had different upbringings, different skills sets, and their success was somewhat tied to the quality of the team around them and the ability and willingness of team ownership to invest money in winning. Kosar had the game won for Cleveland, and then had to stand by and watch his defense allow the opponent to march 98 yards for a touchdown. For Elway, "The Drive"  became the foundation of his legendary professional career.

What about us? Can one singular event change the course of our lives? Sure it can, either through our own good or bad choices or through the intersection of our lives with the lives of others (right place at the right time, or wrong place at the wrong time). Sometimes we realize these divergent paths, and other times it may not even occur to us. What we never know is what was really behind Door #2.

Oh, Brother!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is known for having its own unique terminology and customs. New members might be perplexed to find that a "stake center" is not a "steak center" and even more seasoned members may not be able to tell you the difference between PEC and BYC. And MTC is not the acronym for Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

In the church, it is customary to use titles when addressing other members, i.e. Brother Black and Sister Snow rather than using first names only. Missionaries use the titles "Elder" or "Sister" and local priesthood leaders go by "Bishop" or "President". It's a way of showing respect for the office they hold, not unlike the way "Pastor" or "Father" are used in other churches. When we use "Brother" or "Sister" it is used both as a show of respect but also as a reminder to us that we are all spiritual brothers and sisters, children of one Heavenly Father.

And I'm okay with all of that.

Except for one little part.

I don't like it to be used on me. I don't hold any position in the church that would necessitate a special title, but I don't like being addressed as "Brother". And I've found that I'm quite casual about bypassing the convention myself, which makes me wonder how other members feel about me using their first names.

Image Courtesy of David Castillo Dominici/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In some situations, I still find it entirely appropriate. Children should speak to adult members using "Brother" or "Sister". And if you are approaching someone much older than yourself, who you don't know well, it's also probably a good idea. And of course, using titles for church leaders is always the way to go.

But if someone who is approximately my own age uses "Brother" it kind of bothers me. It doesn't imply a brother/sister type closeness at all. Instead, it feels like they are establishing that our relationship is church-only. They aren't comfortable with me. They don't want to know me on a more personal level. It's almost like they are putting up a barrier. For me, using the first name feels welcoming.   "Church or no church, we're friends".

I'm not saying that I'm right and everyone should agree. I talked to my wife about this and she doesn't agree with me at all. And we typically agree on stuff. I'm sure that I am overthinking the matter and that not everyone perceives it the same way that I do.

October!

Today begins the best month of the year. I might be a little biased because my birthday is this month. But I wonder if October would still be my favorite month if my birthday was in December or May. Because there are many other things to love about this month.

For one, the weather is perfect. A little crispness in the air, but it's still nice enough for outdoors activities. You don't really have to run fans or a/c to keep it cool in your car or your house, but it's not really time to turn on the heater yet, so it keeps utility bills down for a bit.

It's a pretty decent sports month. Football season is in full swing, and it's still early enough that your team still has hope! Baseball, which loses relevance for a lot of people about mid-summer, means something again as the drama of the playoffs returns. The World Series is at the end of the month - one of the major sporting events of the entire year.

Halloween falls at the end of the month - it's not really a necessary "holiday" - but isn't it great to have a day that's not about commemorating or memorializing? I like Halloween, but I'm just not very good at Halloween, if that makes any sense. . . perhaps I will expound on that thought for a future post.

For me, the fall represents a time of renewal more than the new year or the spring. I work in public accounting, and I've taken to referring to October 16th as Accountant's New Year. October 15th is generally the extended due date for Form 1040, so by that date we will have completed all of our 2012 returns. (At least for those clients who are choosing to stay on the right side of the law.) I can get every file out of my office, throw most of the extra paper away, and start working on 2013. It's so great!

So it's my goal to do a blog post every day this month - I think about writing something for the blog frequently and sometimes even start a post, but struggle to get the words down, and eventually give up and never finish. So I'm going to attempt to get back in the groove, because there is a lot going on that I want to share. . . although if I ever had any readers they've probably forgotten all about me.

I Went to Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi at Pepsi Center 4/16/13

I'm 37 years old and just went to my first "rock concert" a couple of weeks ago - Bon Jovi. I don't really have anything against going to concerts, I've just never really had occasion to go. I grew up in a rural area where the nearest concerts going on would have been the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo, which we never ever went to. And then I've been married and poor for pretty much the last 15 years. So this was, as they say, a "special treat", actually a Christmas gift from my parents.

Bon Jovi has always kind of been my favorite band. I'm not sure exactly why - I just liked their music. I first started listening around '91 or '92, which admittedly was three to five years past their peak. The album that got me hooked was New Jersey. They released Keep the Faith when I was in high school, and it was certainly more mature music at that point, Jon had cut his hair, the signature song was "Bed of Roses", and I kind of sensed that Bon Jovi was sort of "uncool" at that point but I kept listening anyway probably because I too was uncool.

Wib came along to the concert and as usual is so nice to like most of the things I like. She did a retelling of the story of the girl from her school who went to a Bon Jovi concert back in the eighties and then came to school and gave an in-depth recap of everything that happened. She was also wondering as we people- watched before the concert started how many of the ladies had been flashers back in the 80's. We went in this crappy place called Brooklyn's across the street before they opened the arena and I'm pretty sure we saw several women in there who fit that bill.


There was a pretty good helping of the newer (which for me, is everything post-1995) stuff. I freely admit that I haven't really kept up with much of their new stuff and so a lot of it I was hearing for the first time.

Of course, there's no way they were leaving the Pepsi Center that night without treating us to the old classics: "Livin' on a Prayer", "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Wanted Dead or Alive", "Bad Medicine", and "I'll Be There for You".  And they didn't disappoint. They also included other well-known songs such as "Runaway", "Born to Be My Baby", "Keep the Faith", and "Bed of Roses".

There were a few notable omissions. They didn't do "Blaze of Glory", "Always", or "Lay Your Hands on Me". I was thinking during the concert that it must be nice to be an established band with a 30-year catalog of records to pull from. They can totally be like, 'yeah, that was a huge hit, but we don't need it tonight' and it's okay. If you're a newer band you probably don't have that luxury. Of course, this was my first concert so what do I know?

They pulled out a few lesser-known numbers from the earlier albums such as "Blood on Blood" and "Dry County" and it kind of made me feel like a true fan that I was familiar with them. Of course, if I knew that they were going to be pulling from the second tier on those early albums, I might have preferred to hear, "Wild is the Wind" or "Never Say Goodbye".

Bon Jovi was sufficiently loud, although maybe a bit much at some points. Not that it was too loud for me, but it seemed to be affecting the sound quality during a few songs. I guess you can buy earplugs at the concert, so maybe that helps soften it up a bit. I don't know.

The absence of Richie Sambora was noticed but not explained. I had to look up online afterwards to find out that he had left the tour for unexplained reasons a few months ago. Jon mentioned his replacement a time or two, and it sounded like he was saying "Felix" and I thought that was an interesting name for a lead guitarist. But I also found out by looking online that his actual name is "Phil X". Kind of the same thing, I guess.

Of course we bought concert t-shirts, for a cool $45 each. Because who knows when you'll ever be at another Bon Jovi concert? I passed on the $30 program, though.

The crowd, at least where we were sitting, definitely seemed to skew towards the middle-aged. This might be a little aggressive of an estimate, but I'd guess that 90% of the crowd was born between 1960 and 1979. A lady sitting in front of us was totally on her feet rocking for the first two songs. And then she was pretty much done for the remaining 2 1/2 hours, kicking back with nachos to enjoy the rest.

Like his fans, Jon Bon Jovi is definitely showing some age. He looked a little Mick Jagger-ish at times, but then he would flash the trademark smile and you'd know it was okay. He's not actually Mick Jagger. Although they did do a brief cover of "Start Me Up."

Jon was a good sport to come out for the second encore wearing a Broncos t-shirt. It must be exhausting to be a rock star - singing your heart out and dancing around for three hours, being congenial to the fans. I'd be tired after 40 minutes and I'm not sure I'd be able to put on a shirt of some team I hate and feel good about it. Of course, I guess Jon Bon Jovi and John Elway are buddies from their Arena League days, so maybe he doesn't do that everywhere.

Anyways, it was a good time. I kind of wish it had been a couple of weeks later. It fell the day after tax season ended, so I was a little low on energy. Oh, well, I guess they don't plan their tour around the needs of accountants.