Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Less Than Jake

Monday was the "Less Than Jake" concert! Some of you (anybody with a Facebook account who I'm friends with) were invited to "John Maxim Loves Less Than Jake Day!" For those friends who did come along, a day of raging excitement was enjoyed.

The concert was at a new venue, "The Murray Theatre" which was pretty cool, well the set up was cool, the temperature was horrible. Apparently the air conditioner was broken, it was easily 110 degrees in the arena, and the dancing hadn't even started.

Four bands were playing, the first two were notable, I had heard a couple of their songs, and they did a pretty good show, but I was conserving my energy to avoid an incident like I had at the MXPX concert. So I stood near the back middle and did the "two step" during their shows.

Goldfinger came on, and I had managed to push my way into the third row of smashed fans by their second song. They put on a really good show, an outstanding show. Strictly as showmen, I'd dare say Goldfinger was the best band of the night. The lead singer said "I'm 41, and if you're younger than me and aren't rocking as hard as I am I am going to come down there and..." It set a precedence for some pretty hard rocking. Then on the very next song he said, "I'd like to thank the venue for not having a barricade here so that you guys can be right up to the stage and we can have a real punk show. My stage is your stage, come on up!" A flood of about 30 people jumped up on stage!

Once on stage there we were standing around and moshing right there with the band. In this photo you can see the side of my head directly behind the lead singer, you can Identify me because of my sideburn. There we were having a good time singing along and dancing. With about 30 seconds of the song left, I see a bunch of guys doing stage dives into the audience. They would stand on the edge of the stage and then kind of fall forward onto a sea of hands. Some thought went through my head like "what a bunch of pansy's", clearly I wasn't thinking very, er - uh... clearly. I saw a speaker box on the front of the stage that stood about three feet higher. I just ran strait at it, jumped off of it and did a swan dive right into the audience. Perhaps it was the fact that I had run, or jumped as high as I could. Possibly it was the fact that I am a 200 pound 30 year old with a larger than average butt, whatever the reason with the bulk of the hard core fans on the stage there was room to move on the floor. As I floated gracefully through the air, I witnessed a similar thing to what Moses must have seen when God parted the Red Sea for him. The people below me moved out of the way. All except for this one guy, who I'll call "Dude." Dude faithfully attempted to catch me all on his own. The fear on his face was very entertaining! He reached his hands out and moved them side to side to make sure he got me, then he noticed everyone else was gone. He grit his teeth, closed his eyes, turned his head half to the side, and stood his ground. He caught me mid-torso, and my head butted against another guys head behind Dude that was still in the process of moving out of the way. The inertia of my fall was way too much and Dude fell on his back breaking my fall. Dude, the guy whose headed I butted, and I all picked our selves up off the floor and high fived each other, while screaming things like "Rock on!" and "Oh yeah!" and just continued to mosh.

I had no Idea anything was wrong until someone grabbed my arms from behind so I couldn't turn around, and started pulling me out of the crowd, really forcefully against my will. I fought it, and looked back noticing it was one of the very large Tongan bouncers. We got into the lobby and I said "Whats the problem!?" He said, "Yourour bleeding pretty badly brother." My head was a little sore from the headbutt. I reached my hand up to the pain and sure enough it came down into my vision covered in blood. I walked into the bathroom, and thought - I should probably take a picture of this for my blog.

I cleaned up the wound, and it really wasn't that terrible, I thought, but everyone else said that it needed stitch's and that I should go to the emergency room. If I did that I would miss the very band I came to see, I would miss my favorite band of all time who I hadn't seen in 9 years!!! I finished the Goldfinger show in the back, frustrated that I couldn't go out into the mosh pit, because it was a really good crowd and looked like a lot of fun. I was just worried about getting elbowed above the eye again thereby making it worse.


The show got over and I decided there was no way I was going to sit back during "Less Than Jake." So, I ran across the street and bought myself some Krazy Glue. I went back to the concert (for those of you who don't go to concerts there is usually 15-20 minutes between bands) and had some of my friends try to glue my wound closed. Who was the crack team of professionals who undertook this endeavor you ask? My Lawyer, Mike Bringhurst, took lead, and he was assisted by Jane Gardiner, who is an infant ICU nurse. I stood three steps below them in the arena. and looked up, they proceeded to glue the gash. A crowd of people gathered to witness the surgery. All was going well until Jane accidentally glued her finger to my lower eyebrow! She must have been distracted because she was talking about how the glue and blood was mixing into a reddish goo. She quickly ripped her finger back which pulled my ow-ee open more, and took about 23 hairs with it. After a couple more applications and a little more care I had a red lump of glue above my eye. I tapped on it a couple of times and it seemed to be an outstanding seal. Moments later, Less Than Jake took the stage, and the fun really began.


As advertised Less Than Jake put on a great show... if it were possible to measure I'm pretty sure I would have been in the top 3 people having the most fun. My eye was unharmed, though there was one close call. While meandering through the mosh pit one time. I saw an elbow coming strait for my injury... the "slow-mo sensation" kicked in and I was able to turn my head, whilst groaning, just enough to block the elbow with my nose. It hurt pretty bad, and I couldn't see for a few seconds due to all the water in my eyes, however, it was a welcome sensation to the alternative. I only got a tiny bruise on my nose from that.


It was so hot, I never sweat so much in my life. Near the end of the concert I even took my shirt off. I learned that people don't like sweaty body's, because with my shirt off my glistening bod seemed to repel people to within six inch's of me. Instead of shoulder to shoulder like usual. It easily ranks as the "best concert ever" I look forward to seeing them again!


John Maxim

PS - I also look forward to more concerts at the Murray Theatre, if they fix the A/C.

PPS - The day I spent 2 hours swabbing my wound with rubbing alcohol to get all the glue out, and the excruciating pain which ensued is a story for another day.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The Bee

As evedenced by the comments to my my last post, my spelling isn’t something I ever brag about. I generally embrace my poor spelling, which as of late has been harder to spot seeing as technology has made it diffacult for me to miss spell anything with spell checker and predictive text and stuff like that. My poor spelling has never really gone well with my large vocabulary and even more imppresive vernacular. Usually those who chance to use large uncommon words are thought to be very good spellers. I am not, even though a lot of people think I am.

The “route” versus “root” in my last post could be argued as not being misspelled, as the word “route” is actually a word, a spelled correctly word hence spell checker not catching the error. However, it was not the word I intended, and therefore was misspelled. Seriously, had some one come up to me and asked me “how do you spell root, like the root of a tooth?” I guaruntee I would have goten it right, but just typing it out, and thinking of whole sentences at a time, and often contemplating the entire next paragraph while typing I just never even thought about seeing route in the text. Even when I proof read it three times before sending it to my dentist.

Alas, I would like to blame some popular desease or learning disability, and even though I probabley have a few, there is a pretty good reason why I can’t spell.

When I was in fifth grade, I discovered cheating. I started to spend all of my coginitive energy on detirmining the easyest and best way to cheat on all of my tests and assignments. I really did work hard at it, and so I don’t know if it could be attributed simply to laziness or going the easy way out. The skills I learned in 5th grade stuck with me for the rest of my life, despite a very powerful lesson that should have taught me better.

My fifth grade teacher really liked me. I would score very high on my tests, I was very outgoing, and I think even at the age of 9 I was very charming. I never got caught cheating because I was so clever. Kids were always geting caughtcheating, writing answers between their fingers, puting slips of paper tucked inside their pants, writing on their chest upside down, or wearing shorts and writing on their leg, all of the old stand-by’s required to much movement and work. My method was, I thought, (and still think) geniuos. I would write answers to things in the botom hem of my shirt. When you sit down it is completely natural for the hem to fold up. The half inch bit of cloth could hold parragraphs worth of information. If I wore a white shirt I could even write it in pencil so I could smear it away before it made the wash. My one big fear was my Mom noticeing while doing my laundry. I learned at a young age that my Mom was very smart, and had she seen it she would have known exactley what was going on. I remember being very careful to make sure my shirts weren’t inside out when I put them in the laundry so that my Mom wouldn’t have to handle them anymore than she had to. As far as I was concerned, fifth grade was a breeze.

There came an opportunity for the State Spelling Bee and I was one of two students selected from my grade. We were Mrs. Stroms favorites, Rebekah, the other girl, was really smart. Like she didn’t cheat, and I was still having a hard time competeing with her. We were boyfreind girlfreind in the third grade, but we couldn’t overcome our physical niavity, and the furthest I ever got was holding hands, and giggleing by the tether ball court. So needless to say it didn’t work out. At some point I must have thought, “I don’t know how to spell, I always cheat, when they ask me words what am I going to do.” Instead I thought only about the fact that my Mom was driving, and that we would be picking Rebekah up, and Rebekahs adopted sister, she was a grade older, and I had the hugest crush on her. I’m pretty sure the only thing I thought about for three weeks from the day I found out my Mom was driving, to the moment we arrived at her house the day of the “Bee”, was the hope of seeing even for a brief moment, Jennifer the Chinese beauty. I must have not realized she’d be at school because I distinctively remember my dissapointment when Rebekah got into the car and told me Jennifer was at school… a few minutes after that I started to think about what I had gotten myself into. My whole class was going to be sitting in their classroom listening to this on the radio. I’m sure my Dad and Grandma and lots of people who loved and supported me were going to be listening. I got a little nervous, but my Mom mentioned to my Rebekah and I that we were going to McDonalds afterwards, I was pretty excited for that and forgot all about the spelling bee.

We arrived at this city building, I think. I had no concept of geography or architecture and have no clue where we actually were. They debreifed us and explained all the rules. I was wondering what my first word was going to be. I really hoped it would be ‘business” I remembered how to spell that, it is “busy” with and “I” plus “ness”. I still use that little trick today when I spell the word “business.” Any way, a bunch of kids there, and out of Rebekah and I, I went first. They shuffled me into this room which was dark, and there was a microphone hanging from the ceiling. I bright light shone on me, and there were people everywhere, I’m not sure if I was on a stage or what, it is all very blurry because I was incredibly nervous. A voice came out and said “your word is EDUCATION” then it used that word in a sentance (which I can’t remember.) I thought for a moment, I remember thinking I don’t want to rush through this and say the wrong letter cause you couldn’t change a letter once it came out of your mouth. After thinking for a while, (it seems now like an hour but surely it was only a minute or two) I had it! I ran the spelling through my head one more time, and thought “I am lucky this was my first word cause I know how to spell this one. I opened my mouth and said “Education E – D – J – U – C – A – T – I – O – N education.” I remember smiling a bit, so pleased with my perfect delivery. Then the voice said “That is incorrect.” I went outside and thought, “What did I get wrong?” My Mom had that kind of dissapointed but still loves me and is trying to hide it look on her face, she told me about the “J” and I’m sure I cried at some point, even though I have no memory of crying. I do however remember sitting in a lobby for an hour and a half waiting for smarty farty Rebekah to get out. She made it all the way to the final three, I don’t remember the word she got out on, but I had never heard it, and probably couldn’t spell it today. We still got to go to McDonalds, and I soon forgot how bad the whole experiance was. My classmates mocked me for getting out on my first word for months, but we were all too young to catch the irony that the word happened to be “education.” Besides I was still the tether ball and dodge ball champion in my grade (until Shawn Murray moved to my school, but that’s another story) and everyone loved me for it… kind of like how now athleates are paid millions of dollars and teachers are only paid thousands – and not even that many thousands. Society knows whats up right? So the fact that I can’t spell isn’t really whats important.

I never got caught for cheating, and I am pretty sure my Mom just found out (while reading this post) My shirt hem trick served me well all the way to college, but as the answers got bigger the older I got the practicallity of it’s use became less potent. So I actualley did learn a thing or two in school. I just never learned to spell. So laugh it up, mock away, I am used to it. I have purposley not used spell check while writing this post just so you can further take the mick out of me. Being a public embarassement over the radio didn’t bother me 20 years ago, and your high minded mockery of my spelling doesn’t bother me now either. You can spell, and I bet you never went to the state spelling bee, so, so there.


John Maxim

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Dentist Shmentist

I had a little problem with my dentist and insurance. After making a few phone calls and getting no where I chose to send a written correspondence. It is below:

Hi, I’m sure you remember me, I hadn’t seen a dentist in 7 years and needed $5000 in dental work done, $2500 of which could be covered by my insurance, but my insurance wasn’t going to kick in and pay for major for another month, despite your warnings I chose to wait to get my work done. So I came in on the 6th of June and had a route canal done. I paid for full price for the procedure, and then the plan was to wait for my insurance check to come in and then come in and get the second route canal done.

Guess what? The insurance didn’t pay my claim. Why? Because you are not one of their providers. Let’s go back a bit. I got the number to your office off of my service provider list for a Doctor S… who apparently you took the business over for. When I called in originally I spoke to a woman (whose name I do not know). She asked me who my insurance carrier was when I called, I told her, and she said that you guys used them all the time. So I made an appointment. Within an hour after making my appointment I was reviewing some information and noticed that you, Doctor D, were not the Doctor named on my insurance. It was, as previously mentioned, Doctor S. I called back that same day and mentioned this to the same woman I spoke to initially. I told her that I didn’t want to end up getting work done and then not have my insurance cover it. She assured me that your office dealt with this all the time, and that the Dental Select Gold plan paid out for all of your clients that had it. I spent a few minutes talking to her and she did a terrific job assuring me all would be well. So I kept my appointment.


I came in and we found out that the insurance wouldn’t pay on “major work” until June 1st. So I came back in on June 6th and you preformed my route canal. After the work was done the matter of payment came up. Upon conferring with Sensi (spelling?) I chose to pay for the procedure upfront to receive a small discount and then wait for my insurance check. I paid with my debit card, and, at the time, due to your office move your card reader was malfunctioning for some reason. So Sensi took down my payment information. I assumed that the payment would be taken out shortly… I assumed wrong. On June 12th, my debit card was stolen, as a result, when you finally did run my card for the payment it did not go through. No phone call was placed to inform me of this fact, time just simply continued to pass.

Then a while later I received word from Dental Select that they would not pay my claim because “I was not using a covered provider.” I was baffled especially because of the long conversation I had with the woman I spoke to the first time I called. So of course I called in to speak with your office about what I thought could only be an error. I spoke to Mary, I explained to her my situation, and she had no answers for me. She gave me some sort of, “Well they pay on other clients that are Gold Members with Dental Select, but I guess they didn’t pay on yours.” I informed her of my exchange with the first girl I spoke to months ago, and how she assured me that this wouldn’t happen. Mary simply had nothing to tell me but that my procedure wasn’t covered, and there was nothing she could do. Trying to be helpful she offered that I could use “care credit” to pay since it wasn’t covered… though she didn’t seem to understand that this would still mean I was paying $400 more then I was planning. In lieu of yelling and cursing at Mary, because it seemed clear that she didn’t know what she was talking about, I sat down and wrote the first two paragraphs of this email. I was interrupted when Sensi from your office called me back not a half hour after I had gotten off the phone with Mary.

Sensi, explained to me that there was some signature or some part of the claim process that she didn’t do because “She usually doesn’t have to” but that they must require it now. She told me that she had resubmitted the claim and was certain that upon receipt of the corrected request that I would be covered. I felt validated and thought “oh good.” This is when Sensi informed me (a full month after authorizing the payment) that my card had never been run. I guess some blame could be placed on me for not knowing whether or not the charge had gone through, but I seldom watch my bank account if I think I know what has been paid or not already. In any case, I mentioned to Sensi how interesting it was that here 30 minutes ago I thought that you had stolen from me, and at the same time you must have been thinking what a deadbeat I was. I pointed out to her that maybe I should wait to reauthorize the payment until she delivers on her whole “getting me covered by the insurance” promise. She seemed uncomfortable at the idea, and frankly I didn’t feel right about doing that, so after she again reassured me that my work would be covered and that I should expect a check in the next few days, I agreed to have my card run, which this time went through without a hitch.

Well, today I got word from the insurance company. They still are not going to pay my claim! The paperwork says that it is a “duplicate claim”. Now I feel like a tool and wish badly that I had not allowed you to charge my card for the work. Because it seems rather malicious that I would be promised so much only to find out that none of it were true. You have stolen approximately $400 dollars from me as far as I am concerned. Whether maliciously or accidentally, I have been wronged here. Had someone simply told me that my work would not have been covered because you are not a provider with my insurance I would have gone somewhere else… but instead I have been told over and over again by people in your employ that it was no problem, and would be all taken care of. I really find it difficult to believe that you would train people to lie about my insurance coverage to get me (a customer) in the door to make a little bit more money then you would have made had you turned me away like you should have in the beginning, but maybe I am wrong to think that… right now it looks to me like that is exactly what is happening.

Clearly I am upset and possibly being a little over dramatic, which is why I have chosen to write you this email detailing my plight rather then coming in or calling right away. I have a bit of a temper and do not want to lose it and jeopardize actually communicating. It has now been nearly two months since my first route canal and I still need another. I want my money back, either you made a mistake or you lied, either way I have been victimized.

I look forward to your response, and hope that this is all a misunderstanding that can easily be remedied. If so, I would be happy to continue the remaining $4000 in dental work that I require through your office. If you refuse to sort this situation out… well like a jackass all I can do is eat the $400 and dish out scathing reviews to all of my friends, family, and colleagues in hopes that they never step foot through your door. Maybe you don’t care about that, laughing all the way to the bank at the sucker who’s Four Hundy you just stole.



The next day I received this response:


John,

Thank you for your email. I can understand how upset you must be. I would be also. I am personally looking into what the heck is going on. I was unaware of it. As I find out the details, I will let you know what's what. Thanks for your patience. Please don't think we are out to "sucker" you. We want to do what's right.



One week later I received a check from my insurance company and all was well. It's a good thing I watched "Summer School" as a kid and those crazy teens got a bunch of sunglasses in response to their letter so I could know how to do this.


John Maxim

Friday, July 11, 2008

Nothing personal...

When I started this blog, I was hoping that it would act like a journal. I'm sad to report it has become only a shadow of what my journal should contain. In my church there is a large emphasis place on journal writing, I'm not sure why, but I am sure that those we spawn will benefit or at least be mildly entertained by the menial happenings in our lives. I am discovering that this blog could never act as an actual journal and it is kind of bugging me. First of all, I don't see the point in keeping a blog if people don't want to read it. That puts an entertainment requirement on each blog post. The closest thing to actual journal keeping on this blog was my "Gas tank in the life..." series which I have heard almost nothing but complaints about. In fact last night over a month after posting them someone said, "I sure am glad that gas tank business is over." Anyway, it was proof to me that entertainment value is paramount in blogging. When I was married, I think I could get as personal as I wanted and still be funny. I used to send out my "on the john" letters which people always seemed to love.

Here's the problem, now that I am single again I am starting to have many single adventures with attractive members of the opposite sex which I guarantee you would be very entertaining material for blog posts...

I could tell you the story of HELGA who I met through a friend (who reads my blog) we went out a few times. I tried to kiss her on the third date and she shot me down, only to call me while I was driving home feeling rejected and tell me that I needed to come back to see her. She met me at the curb and kissed me the minute I got out of the car. Three weeks later after hanging a few times I lost interest in her because all she was into was the thrill of the chase. She continued to call me and I haven't answered the phone since...

Or I could write about BARBARELLA who I met through a a friend (who reads this blog) the friend warned me not to go out with her because "friend" thought "she was shallow" and because she wasn't a member of the church. I had a hard time seeing anything because I was blinded by her blazing hotness. I went out with her a few time. She was trying to get very physical very fast... which usually isn't a problem so long as the line isn't crossed. Once I started hanging out with her I discovered she was shallow - seriously I've stepped in deeper puddles. I didn't have anyone else to date at the time though, and kept her around because she was hot. I know, who's the shallow one here?

I was set up with SHRAWANDRIA she was smokin' but boring. Really really boring. I ran out of material to keep the conversation going on the first date... which never happens to me. She didn't ask me one question about myself. I tried going out with her again because she was good looking, but in effect I was just wasting my money.

I met BERTHA at the grocery store. She is awesome and beautiful. I had went out with her 5 times and I was continually amazed by her. I hadn't even tried to kiss her because I was afraid of messing things up. There were some extremely large obstacles to overcome between us, but I didn't care just because I liked spending time with her so much... I decided to fall back on the old stand by, and not hang out with her for 3 weeks. Thinking that if I couldn't live with out her that I would ignore the large obstacles and make a concerted effort. Over the three weeks I realized sge was awsome and I wanted to give it a shot, but by then she got a boyfriend... I'm still waiting for that to fizzle so I can make my move.

There are constantly situations where I over think and over analyse things done and said by the girls in my life. I could write novels about them. The vague tellings above are true, funny, tragic and exciting. The problem is they involve other people. Other people have feelings, (yeah I said it) if I write that "so and so" is shallow or is boring, or I don't think she's the cutest girl in the world but she's hella cool. What happens if SHE or her friend reads it. Gossip is already rampant without me writing it in a blog. Just the thought of giving more detail than I have above and having someone find out I wrote about it, and then them possibly confronting me with or about it makes my stomach turn.

Conclusion: I can't let you my friends and family in on some of the more personal things that go on in my life through this blog. How can I call this a journal if I don't write about the love or lack there of in my life, not to mention my job which is also very stressful and exciting and I can't write about it either. It's just not my place to write about everyone else around me. The whole public factor kind of destroys the ability of my blog to be truly personal.


John Maxim

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Instead of blogging

There have been some major complaints that I need to post more often. I will make a valiant effort in the future, but sometimes blogging doesn't fit into my daily list of priorities, and as of late that has been happening more often. I'm not saying that I am busier or cooler than you my faithful readers, lately everyone seems to take things I say a little too personal. I think most of you should blog more often too - we all should... I noticed my friend Adam has been trying a little harder (two posts in one week) since I put his blog in the bottom of my link lists under "Blog pals who don't post often enough to be linked further up on this page!" In any case I am doing my best and will attempt to make my best better.

I was listening to that song "If" by the band "Bread" this morning as I drove into work, and the first line is "If a picture paints a thousand words then why can't I paint you?" It made me think it may be a good idea to just post a few pictures of the things that have been going on rather than writing about them... then the song went on to say "
And when my love for life is running dry, You come and pour yourself on me." It made me think, what is that supposed to mean, maybe bread doesn't know what they're talking about... then I started thinking about something else - and when I sat down to write my post I couldn't come up with a better idea so here are some pics.


So, I started a new diet of sorts (I will post about it in greater detail later on), which excludes several of the foods I used to eat. When I decided to do it, I thought I would simply eat everything in my cupboards. Which consisted of a lot tomato soup and corn and stuff. It took me about a week, and the last thing which... I don't even know what it is, was this condensed milk. Yes I ate it, and though it was disgusting I didn't get too sick, just some runny poo the following day.One of the many benefits of living downtown is that there are many things to do during the summer that are very close to home. Including the Utah Art Festival. I went with a bunch of friends because a band that I like was playing there. I was surprised at all of the cool stuff they had there like poetry readings, hot girls to look at, and creative garden gnomes, not to mention the 5 stages which had different kinds of music playing, at nearly all times. It was pretty cool, while at the Passafire concert this is a picture of me dancing... it looks worse if you see it in real life.While mowing the lawn, barefoot, I sustained this injury. I think when my Dad continued to verbally frown on this practice growing up, he was worried that my foot might slip under the mower and be chopped into pieces. I always thought this was preposterous and when I became my own man I have mowed barefoot for the last 8 years without event - until now. When I was moving the mower from the backyard to the front. I had to hold open my gate and push the mower through with one hand. The mower was too close to the gate to open it so with out consciously deciding I just proceeded to push the mower back a few inches with the side of my bare foot. After running for only 5 to 10 minutes the exhaust was hot enough to melt my flesh... I could see the steam coming off the exhaust as I inspected the mower. I decided to finish the front yard right away so my injury didn't hurt too bad to mow it later... that choice may have gotten it infected cause it looks really bad and hurts more than most of my past wounds.I went to the 311 & Snoop Dogg concert. It was pretty awesome, and I was awesome too. I know its an odd combo, it was called the "Unity Tour" and as you can see from the decoration was all about smoking the herb. The biggest "white" pot smoking band with the biggest "black" pot smoking band definitely makes a statement. I had a lot of fun and despite what many of my friends thought, I decided that Snoop really outdid 311. I may have gotten my burn more infected at this activity because the girl behind, and then the girl next to me spilled their beer on my wound on two seperate occasions... but who knows, it's not like I'm a doctor.I went to Lake Powell for the 4th of July and pretty much had the most fun ever. In addition to hanging with some very hot girls - one of which was my sister. I got to do a lot of firsts. I have never towed a boat, I did this entire trip, and backed it into the lake between two other boats with nearly expert precision. I also have never driven a boat before, but ended up being the main driver and puller of wake boarders. We had fun did some cliff jumping got some rays and took in the night life (or lack thereof) of Page, AZ. I might have been a little reckless, because we jumped a huge 20 ft wave/wake at full speed in the boat which got everyone mad at me (even though I bet we got like 15 feet of air - it was sweet!), and one of the trailer tires exploded on the way home because I was driving a little too fast too. It was fun and I can't wait to go again. If my foot wound wasn't infected before this trip it definitely was after soaking in the super clean lake for 3 days.

The number one reason I haven't been blogging as often is because of work. I have been doing a lot more of it then ever before. As you can see by my desk (this was after I spent an hour cleaning it) the work is piling up.

Interesting that even though a picture tells a thousand words I still feel compelled to add another 100 or so... What does "Bread" know anyway.

John Maxim