December Events

December was a month full of activities. I attended the Nutcracker ballet with some friends which was an awesome performance. Seattle also received record amounts of snow during the month of December causing me to stay home from work for a couple days. However, one of the greatest events that took place this month was LP's baptism. LP lived with me about 2 years ago and has been attending church for quite some time. It was an awesome long awaited event. Here are some great pics from the month of December. http://picasaweb.google.com/adamwlarson/DecemberEvents#

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

This year for Thanksgiving I decided to go to Utah and spend time at my sister Julie's home. Since fuel prices have dropped and also because Mike was going to his home for Thanksgiving we decided to make a road trip out of it. Some of the activities included a 5K on Thanksgiving morning which me and my nephews ran, tons of food, lots of games, listening to my sister's singing talent on Rock Band (ha), spending time with the Marilyns and holding my "great" nephew, Hudson. It was a great time and it was fun to see the family. Here's a link for some great pictures and entertaining music videos. http://picasaweb.google.com/adamwlarson/Thanksgiving2008#

Pumpkin Push 5K

On Saturday I ran a 5K at Seward Park with many of my friends. Even my bishop and his wife ran....and did an amazing job. There were over 1300 runners so it was quite the event. For more pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/adamwlarson/PumpkinPush5K#

Feeling Incredibly Old

Some of the events over the past month have caused me to feel like I'm getting very old. My nephew and his wife just gave birth to a baby boy (Hudson) making my oldest sister (Julie) a grandma. I also had a nephew (Tyler) get back from a mission and one (Dallas) leaving in a week on a mission, a niece (Becca) got engaged and another niece (Kate) just left to Amsterdam to study and work. Actually maybe all of this means that everyone is getting older and growing up except for me. Anyway, it has been an exciting month and will only get more exciting in the future.

BYU vs UW

A couple of weeks ago a few friends and I went to the BYU vs UW football game. We won by one point with BYU blocking a kick on the last play.

Seattle Mariners

Today I went to a Mariners game for a Boeing Finance appreciation day. Before the game we stopped off at Pyramid, the bar behind the stadium. My co-workers thought it would be funny if I held all of the cups. The best part about the day was that I didn't have to go to work!

Mt. Rainier

This past weekend I went camping and hiking at Mt. Ranier. It was an awesome place and hopefully I will be able to go back one more time before winter. Here are some pics of the amazing view. http://picasaweb.google.com/adamwlarson/MtRainier

Lake Chelan

This past weekend me and a few friends went to Lake Chelan. We had an amazing time out on the boat soaking in the warm sun. Some of the adventures included riding on the 2 man float device, Mike jumping off of a 70 ft. cliff and myself swimming (still alive thanks to my great swimming coaches). Yes, you will see me in a pink life jacket in the pics but don't let the color fool you of my manliness. For more pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/adamwlarson/Chelan08/photo#5231240449442740418

Sea Fair 5K

Mike G., my sister and I ran the Torch Light 5K. It was my sister's first 5K and she did an amazing job coming in at 31:43. Mike had a goal of under 22 minutes which he smashed with a time of 20:49. I was right on his heels with a time of 20:51. Mike and I came in 2nd and 3rd in our age group. It was definitely a lot of fun and we all did an awesome job.

Peru

Mike, Marilyn and I spent two weeks traveling across Peru which was my first time in South America. It was one of my best vacations yet. We flew into Lima and spent two nights there and then slept on a bus throughout the night to head into Nasca. Here we met an awesome guy named Jorge who was our tour guide. We went to see the Nasca lines and also got a tour of a pottery shop. I think Jorge enjoyed our company because he even went to a Karaoke bar with us that night. We then got on a bus and went to Arequipa where we went to Colca Canyon and also did a little dancing at a restaurant. Arequipa was a fun place and was incredibly clean. Mike and I went out exploring the town at night and came upon a street comedian that had about 50 people listening. The comedian used us as part of his show (probably a good thing we couldn't understand). Once again we got on a bus and then headed to Puno where we visited the floating islands of Lake Titicaca. Every island has a president and the first island that we came to had a 17 yr old president who was married and had a child. He was obviously much more mature than I and ended up taking us on a taxi boat to the next island. Puno was nice but it was sure nice to take our last bus ride into Cusco where we spent the remaining portion of our vacation. We had some great experiences here including the celebration called Inti Raymi, going to villages to hand out bread to the children, eating Llama and hiking around Machu Pichu. On our flight home we had a short layover in Mexico so we jumped in a taxi and went to see Teotihuacan, a city with many ruins. The vacation was incredible and opened my eyes a little more to the rest of the world around me. Here are 3 links to most of the pictures taken in Peru.
http://picasaweb.google.com/adamwlarson/Peru
http://picasaweb.google.com/adamwlarson/Peru2
http://picasaweb.google.com/adamwlarson/Peru3

New York City

The month of May made for an exciting one with a NEW YORK CITY trip included. Me and three friends spent 4 days in the Big Apple. The trip inlcuded:

-Meeting Elder Holland in the Seattle airport
-Riding the ferry past the statue of Liberty
-Broadway shows (Mama Mia and Phantom of the Opera)
-Empire State Building tour
-Top of the Rock tour
-Late Night with Conan O'Brien
-Run in Central Park
-Native New York delicassies
-Wall Street
-Brooklyn Bridge
-Art museums

For more pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/adamwlarson/NewYorkCity

Cirque Du Soleil

Last night I attended one of the best theatrical performances I have ever seen. I had always heard of Cirque Du Soleil and finally experienced it for myself. Corteo, which means "cortege" in Italian, is a joyous procession, a festive parade imagined by a clown. The clown pictures his own funeral taking place in a carnival atmosphere. There was so much to look at and listen to that my senses were overloaded. Drums, costumes, girls dressed in tights and bustiers flying from chandeliers and being tosses through the air. However, I did fear one of the characters who, to be politically correct, happened to be a little person. Yes, even with my height I fear them but who wouldn't fear an older woman with a child's voice that stands 2 feet tall. I especially got a little frightened when she began to float from these huge balloons throughout the audience. Just my luck, she started falling right down on top of me but luckily everyone around me gave her a little push on the feet to get her back into the air. The whole night was a surreal experience almost like a dream that took me back to childhood.

Kites and Canoes

The day started off with Mike, Jessica and I going to the kite store in Seattle and choosing our kites. I'll be honest, I had never heard of a kite store until then because my family always bought kites from the dollar store. This place had many types and colors but I finally settled on a very colorful, manly, muscular octopus. We headed over to Gas Works park and began the adventure. My kite flew like a champion, of course. The next adventure of the day was to go canoeing where Josh, Mike S. and Kham joined the fun. We paddled our way around the 520 bridge and had a great view of the sunset. Let's just hope the whole summer can be this adventurous. http://picasaweb.google.com/adamwlarson/KitesAndCanoes

Pre-mish Activity

Last Sunday we had a premissionary activity at my house. Adam Sweet cooked an awesome dinner for all 15 people that came. All of the young guys that came are in different stages, some have their mission calls and some are still trying to decide whether or not they should go. We played some guitar hero, ate dinner and then shared some mission stories. It brought back a lot of memories from my own mission. The bishop showed up and shared a few stories of his own. He even shared a story about the word bra in french which was a pretty funny one. The purpose of the activity was not to force anyone into committing to serve but get the guys to rally around each other. It was very successful and I think everyone had a good time. Here is a link for a few other pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/mikeshin/MissionaryNight

Occipital Neuralgia

Since Thursday I have been having incredible sharp, shooting pains pass through my head. When they would come on then it would make me flinch and sometimes even make me sick to my stomach. The backside of my head has been very sensitive to the touch. Yesterday I went to the doctor since the pain had been happening for 6 days. The doctor asked me many questions and felt around on my head. On the back of my head, he found a lipoma which is a soft fatty lump(must be diet time). The doctor diagnosed the pain as Occipital Neuralgia. He gave me three options if this was the true problem. They included removing the lump, which could cause damage to the nerve, I could also take medication which has major side effects or I could just deal with the pain and hope that it goes away. The doctor assumed that the lump was irritated possibly from a fall while snowboarding a couple of days before. I was pretty nervous when he found the lump since my eight year old nephew just finish treatment for his brain tumor which was removed a year ago. The doctor said that it was definitely not cancerous and is hopeful that the pain will go away on it's own. My head is still very tender, however, the sharp pains have occurred much less.

Tight Cut

About a week ago I was over at Mike Shin's house and saw that there was a coupon in the mail for a haircut. The coupon was for $19 and it not only came with a haircut but a complimentary drink, head and neck massage, a hot towel for the face, shampoo and display TV playing sports. Sounded like a pretty good deal so yesterday I decided that I would go try out the new place. I love finding coupons in the mail for haircuts, although they are usually $7.99 Super Cuts, but this one to Tight Cuts came with a massage which was much needed. Upon entering I was greeted by a girl that looked about my age wearing a short tight skirt (maybe this is why they call it tight cuts, not sure). She was very friendly and asked if I would like a drink. A minute later another gal came from the back saying that she was Nicole and asked me if I was ready. I went and sat in the chair and she began to cut my hair and chat with me. There were a couple of other employees sitting right next to me that were waxing each others arms and even offered me a wax job for my trip to Hawaii. I pleasantly declined their offer. After the cut was finished the shampoo and scalp massage began. Then the soothing steamed towel was placed on my face. Wow, this was almost as great as Satin Hands. Then the "neck" massage began. It was a little awkward at this point because her hands got a little further down my neck then what I considered my "neck". I will admit I was relaxed at this point until I remembered that I had left my coupon out in the car. Crap, how was I going to politely tell them that I needed to go to my car and get the coupon, especially after all that had gone on with this haircut. The haircut was still fairly inexpensive, however, I will probably stick with the usual Super Cuts or Great Clips next time.

"I can feeeeeeeel it"

Tonight I met up with Mike Shin at the Pro Club and usually if I work out with him then we run or play squash. However, tonight was a much different story. It all started when we ran into Marilyn Gavancho, a girl from the ward, who mentioned that she was going to Step Pop and told us that we should come. So we decided to go because we figured there were girls and it was free. When we entered the room there were approximately 20 people and we were 2 of 4 guys. The class started ok with quite simple steps on and off of the step block but soon became much more technical. Mike and I couldn't keep up very well at all. We were on opposite sides of the class though and every once in a while I would look over and see sweat dripping from his brow. Then all of a sudden the teacher yells in her microphone "Are you yawning over there?" speaking directly to Mike. I believe that he was actually in pain and had his mouth open barely able to breathe. At the grueling end of the hour there was a sculpting and abs portion. We had to lift our legs and hold them there for what seemed like forever. The instructor then yelled out "Can you feel it?" and Mike yellled back "I can feeeeel it". Then she said it again "Can you feeel it?"and I yelled back"I can feeeel it". And then she said with a loud yell "Only 2 of you in here can feel it?"and we yelled "We can feeel it". There were times throughout the class that I think I got more of an ab workout from laughing then excercising. All in all it was a great class and the instructor complimented us on her way out. For a list of free classes at the Pro Club visit http://www.proclub.com/Home/AthleticsFitness/GroupFitness/FreeClasses/tabid/950/Default.aspx

Andiamo a mangiare!

Last night there were a few of us that went to dinner with the Bishop and his wife. The dinner was purchased by Lisa through the December auction that we had. It was some of the best Italian food that I've had in a while. As human beings we all have thoughts about other people running through our heads. After last night, and for that matter all the times that Bishop hangs out with us, it sure would be interesting to know what the Bishop and his wife truly think about us. For pics and video from the dinner..... http://mikeshin.blogspot.com/2008/01/dinner-with-bish.html
You'll find plenty of mocking of my amazing/photogenic smile there too.

SNOWBOARD PRO -At least on "Discovery"

Today Lisa Low, Mike Grass and I went snowboarding at Crystal. We didn't get there until pretty late which was ok with me because that meant less time for me to get hurt. I was a bit nervous because I haven't been in a while (5 years) and have only gone 3 total times. Apologies to Lisa and Mike about my whining in the car about being nervous. It had been so long that I forgot many things including warm socks but Lisa let me borrow her gingerbread boy socks that I put over my pair of socks. I just bought a Discovery lift ticket since I was wanting to slowly get back into it. We definitely made some discoveries, one of which was that I figured out that there are people that are less talented than me. It was actually going great until one time when I went to get off the lift and I curved to the left rather than straight and the chair came around and pushed me right over causing me do to a complete front flip. That was just one of my many performed tricks. It was definitely a confidence builder to be able to speed down the hill with the wind beneath my wings. I definitely rode that bunny hill for 8 strong seconds.

FHE....Commandment as a single to attend???

Tonight I went to FHE, at least part of it. I showed up late which was fine because it never starts on time anyway. I found out that we would be watching a Charlie Chaplin movie and drinking soda from what I assume was left over from a summer activity. I noticed that as the movie began some of my friends snuck out the back. Hmmm.....great, a movie that I don't want to see and nobody around to make fun of others. I decided that I could make myself much more useful by visiting someone in the quorum that was not in attendance. That was an interesting experience. The question is.......Is FHE a commandment as a single or is it just as beneficial to go to Red Robin and hang out with friends or go to work and finish projects that haven't been completed?

My first post

I've often set goals to write in a journal but have never succeeded so I took the advice of a friend to start a blog. I think I have a pretty exciting/interesting life so maybe, just maybe somebody else will think so. If nothing else it will be interesting to my posterity.
Anyways, look out for future posts from me and my exciting life.