Watching people sing is painfull

Nobody came to my door this year caroling, come to think of it nobody came last year either. Has this tradition jumped the shark or just in my neighborhood? I have to admit I am kind of glad, think back to the last time carolers came to your door. You were enjoying a quiet evening at home with your family when this shows up at your door.




So to be nice you stand there letting all the cold air in watching people try to revive a tired tradition from the days before we had radio, CD's or Ipod's. I have to admit I have always felt uncomfortable watching people sing up close like that. Especially when they don't sing well but I am pretty sure you could put me in a room with Pavarotti and I would feel the same way.

So I googled caroling and apparently it is still a viable Christmas tradition in many parts of the world. In fact I found a website that teaches you how to put on your own Caroling Party.

Here are the high points;

Invite friends who really enjoy singing ' on key, that is. Members of a church choir or other singing group would be perfect.

Step2

Invite other friends who can't hold a tune. Tell them they can help decorate your tree, so they won't feel they have to sing. Chances are they'll join in the caroling anyway.

Step3

Ask guests to bring their favorite scarves, hats and mittens to get the right look.

Step4

Buy books of Christmas carols for your guests. Make sure everyone will have a copy since many people do not know every verse to every carol.

Step5

Make candle holders by poking holes into paper plates if you plan to carol outside. Slide the candles through the paper plate. These candles will provide light so people can read the lyrics.

I would like to add my own step 6; Be sure to make eye contact with the people to whom you are singing to ensuring true and total discomfort.

The very mediocre band Blink 182 came out with a Christmas song a few years ago that has been a staple in our house since I found it. If you are already offended by this post and believe that caroling is fun and enjoyed by all, feel free to navigate away from this page and go no further.

04 BLINK 182 - I Won't be Home for Christmas from http://menotyou.vox.com/


I hope you all had a Merry Christmas with or without the carolers.

Memory Lane

I was thinking this week about a trip that I took to Moab back in 96' with Johnson and Dustin. Dust had his Landcruiser and Johnson was driving his Toyota truck that was loaded with who knows what until the springs where resting on the stops. He had his bike on top of the load and as we headed up Mapleton Canyon his bike fell of and proceeded to bounce down the hiway. Lucky for him the only casualty was his seat. The rest of the bike came out relatively unscathed, a minor miracle.

Here is Johnson with his new seat right at the top of the single track on Porcupine Rim.



It was early spring and still a little cold. We finished Porcupine rim and realized that he had forgot the keys to his Land Cruiser back at the trail head in Johnson's truck. We proceeded to break into and hot wire the vehicle with a Topeak Alien Multitool. We were congratulating ourselves on our cunning until we ran out of gas three miles down the road and had to hitch a ride back to town.



You can tell it was the mid 90's because of the facial hair and the retro green gloves and fork. That was the Sean Palmer specail edition Manitou, oh how I lusted after that fork.





This is the Alien tool we used for our breaking and entering. Dusty and I are both Eagle Scouts which I am sure helped us in our McGyverness. Which is probably the only thing I ever got out of being a scout. Which brings up a point completely off subject, why did all the scout leaders tell us that we could put it on a resume and get a job? I am glad that I don't have a son because I would never have to lie to him to get him to go to scouts.

Back to the story; we drove around the rest of the trip having to start the vehicle with the screwdriver option.
This is the kind of stuff that happens more often than you think, you can't get those experiences on a golf course.

The problem with a tool that can do everything is that is does nothing really well but it's easy to carry and when your in a bind you take what you can get.

I have a million Moab stories, maybe next time I will tell you how we got stuck. Destroyed a truck, a washing machine, a car wash and bailed on a tow truck service call that saved us $300, all in the space of about 5 hrs.

Good times in Moab..........good times.

Recent goings on

A week or so ago Mike Curiak was back in town and we got together out at Gooseberry.

This is myself and if memory serves a guy named Fred who resides in Moab. You meet all kinds of characters through cycling. Mike is also a great photog and caught us with the peaks of Zion in the background.


This is a video shot by Curiak that I ripped from his blog. He has a helmet camera that really gives some good perspective of what it's like to ride. I defy you to watch this and tell me that it doesn't look like fun.

Untitled from lacemine29 on Vimeo.