Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto!

The Blogger.com site is having problems. What is going on? Was it something I did?

Motivations:

"It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not." ~unknown

Diary:

D: egg omelette with sausage and cheese and veggies, hamburger patty later
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B: eggs and sausages: protien bar
L: chicken, tomato, peas, xs, vitamins, mixed greens
S: turkey slices and swiss cheese
G: elliptical 1.91 miles, 378+ calories, walk 1 mile, sauna

Notes:

I am going to be changing the name of the blog from "Tackling the Beast" to something new. I think I will have a contest. Readers - send your suggestions by adding a comment to the blog. The best title for the next phase of the 2006 Challenge, which will go from April - June. The submissions will be taken for the next couple weeks and unvieled on April 1.

I was looking back at a previous post, the day after Ash Wednesday, and reallized that I promised to talk about my friend Darren and the Zambezi Zinger. The Zinger was a steel - sit down style roller coaster at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri. While Worlds of Fun still is in operation, the Zambezi is no longer there, the ride was relocated in 1997.

The thing about the Zambezi that it started with a slow slow slow spiral to the apex of the ride, then it went racing down and finally through a scary underground tunnel, until the end. The top speed was only about 40 mph, and no loop-d-loops, so nothing horribly scary, but the ride did feel like you were so close to the trees and tunnels that you were going to hit them. (The best roller-coaster I have ever been on was at the Six Flags Over Texas. It is a complete wood coaster that shakes during the ride. Very scary and very tall. I want to ride this one again. http://www.rcdb.com/ig2.htm?picture=2) Back to the Zambezi now.

High School. Band Trip, I think. My friend Darren asks me to ride the Zambezi Zinger with him. During the incredibly slow, winding spiral upward he starts to whisper "We are going to die." "We are going to die." in my ear. I am a little taken back by this, and try to ignore his comments. We continue up the spiral and he says louder "We are going to die" "We are going to die. This is the longest spiral I have ever experienced in my life. Darren won't stop saying that, and it is making me very concerned. As we get to the top of this spiral, which is normally boring and the relaxing part of the ride for most, Darren starts screaming in my ear "We are going to die!" "We are going to die!" I am now shaking in my shoes, and feel like I am going to either vomit or pee my pants. I respond "Get me off this thing!", just as we hit the top of the spiral and make a huge descent. WOW! What a thrill. The timing was perfect, that I was scared to hell even before we got to the exciting part of the ride. It was like an orgasm, which was quite frightning at that age, becuase I had absolutely no clue what an orgasm was. Here is a picture of the ride. http://www.rcdb.com/ig23.htm?picture=2 If you look carefully at the picture, you will see they are right at the first drop point, with the slow spiral behind them. This is one of my favorite stories about Darren, but there are others... oh there are others. He was one of my good friends from school. I miss spending time with him and Cory and Scott and others. I hope to see them again sometime. Maybe we can swap stories.

WHY DID THIS STORY ENTER MY MIND on Ash Wednesday? About that time, I was driving to work on my daily commute, which is usually 52 north to I-94 West to 394 west too 100 south. This trip takes me directly by/through the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and if I look, I can see the Metrodome, the Minneapolis skyline, and other buildings. For some reason, the thought occured about the first time I was in Minneapolis. Another High-School event, I went with my mother and father to Minneapolis to visit my sister. She and a friend went to an Amy Grant concert, and my folks took me to see "Cats" at the Orpheum, and I remember the drive up I-35. Being from a town with no traffic and roads wider than a mile, I was shaking like a tree in a strong wind. I really was uncomfortable with the big city and even sitting in the back seat was very nervous about all the traffic, and thinking that we were going to be lost in the shuffle, down and out. I expected some "Adventures in Babysitting" type event where we had to sing our way out of a blues club. I was messed up, obviously.

So, on my commute I was thinking about how much has changed. I don't think twice about driving in the heart of the city, and even had a flat tire for part of the trip without blinking. Changed the tire, and kept going. It just occured to me at that moment that I have grown quite a bit since the Zambezi Zinger days. What a world.

Telling this story reminds me of a BUNCH of stories from my youth. I could spend years telling stories of growing up in a town of 100 people in central Nebraska. Wow, the stories would be boring to many, but are interesting to me.

more later

Chazz