Day 69 - April 7th - General Conference & My Mom

I was able to attend the LDS 183rd Annual General Conference in Salt Lake City today.  Again it was with Maria and Adam.  She and my daughter-in-law Kim Dance are two people that inspired me to set a goal to run a triathlon this year. I watched Kim run the Hayden Tri and Maria run the CDA tri last year. I decided that it was time I did one and participated with them.

My son Jeff Dance just called me and reported that while I was in SLC many family members gathered in Bellevue, WA to be with my ailing mother who could die any day now. My brother John Dance gave my Mom a blessing and in the blessing released her from this earth life to go on to the next when she is ready. 

Here is a picture of my Mom about a year ago when things first started to get serious.

That is one of the many teachings of Jesus that gives me peace and comfort, that there is an afterlife and that as Terryl and Fiona Givens says in the book The God Who Weeps "God has the desire and the power to unite and elevate the entire human family in the kingdom of heaven, and, except for the most stubbornly unwilling, that will be our destiny." 

I have a firm and abiding believe that my mother is going to a good place and I expect to see her again with both her legs, without MS, in a healthy vibrant state. I would love to see her again before she passes away, but I look forward even more to being reunited with her in a family relationship in heaven.

Day 68 - April 6th - Run & Spin

This morning I went running with my daughter Maria and Adam to a spin class a few miles away at a Gold Gym in Salt Lake City.

She said we were really hauling, maybe 7:30 per minute miles or less running there. I couldn't keep it up for long though at Salt Lake's altitude. It is much higher than Hayden.

I thought I knew something about spinning. At the Kroc Center I got up to level 10 for 45 minutes, but at a spin class they work you so much harder.

Out of the saddle climbs were the toughest for me, but I didn't let up. I knew that I had worked hard, because I could feel it the next day.

Day 67 - April 5th - Truck Fix Up

Today I took the truck into a Toyota dealership for elk repair and left it for four hours. I was in my running gear so I could run the 3-4 miles back to the hotel in the gusty wind and rain.  With the trip I hadn't been able to exercise the past two days so it felt good.

That night I attended a Ballet West production of "Jewels" with Adam and my daughter Maria who played in the orchestra pit.

I found an unexpected side benefit to training for a triathlon. I enjoyed the ballet. I saw the balance and finesse with which they moved. Having had Melissa (fitness coach at the Kroc Center) give me a few fitness balance exercises I knew first hand something about how difficult they were. I think I was able to appreciate this form of art more than I had in the past.

Day 66 - April 4th - Snow College special offer

I had driven through the night as I was speaking to the business club of Snow College in Ephraim UT. My wife and I had met the President Scott Wyatt when the Snow College basketball team came to Coeur d'Alene and beat NIC before losing the championship the next night to SLC. We were intrigued that Snow (normally a 2 year community college) had a 4 year music degree in concert with the Julliard music school in New York. We were fascinated at how Snow College arranged this and that they were offering high school students in Northern Idaho a fantastic price of in-state tuition, around $2,900 per semester rather than out-of-state tuition about $10,000 per semester.  See www.snow.edu

Julienne and I wanted to spread the word about this special offer to Northern Idaho high school students. We even wrote an article for the CDA Press, but they were not interested as it might divert some students from NIC.

After the speech I met with the President and CFO and found out that it was true. Any high school student from Northern Idaho that wants to attend Snow College can get in this year for in-state tuition prices. You just need to email the President and tell him you are from northern Idaho. His email address is scott.wyatt@snow.edu. If you are in music and like Julliard I would check into it.

Day 65 - Wed April 3 - Hit Elk

Today I took off for my consulting and speaking appointments. It took a long time to leave as I was busy answering tax questions for clients. I don't do tax returns, but do a fair amount of tax consulting on failed TICS, real estate deals, conservation easements etc. It became later and later when I was ready and leave and finally left at 6:30pm.

I was in the mountains of Montana about 10pm when I hit an Elk in the middle of Interstate 90. Fortunately she was not standing or I would have most likely been crushed when the body came through the windshield.

The elk was perpendicular to the right lane and I hit the neck and hindquarters becoming airborn but not going off the road.  I immediately heard strange noises from the Toyota Tacoma truck and stopped at the next exit near DeBois Montana (just before St Regis) and called a tow truck and mechanic. We didn't see damage to the body of the truck other than a lot of long elk hair, blood, and guts. He seemed to think that the damage was mostly to the undercarriage but the truck seemed to be running and I would be late to speak if I delayed too long, so I continued on driving through the night and called in the insurance claim as I was driving on.

I believe that the technical name for it is WVC Wildlife Vehicle Collisions. Apparently there are 1-2 million per year in the United States and the frequency is increasing. See the Reduction study made for Congress in October of 2008 at http://environment.fhwa.dot.gov/ecosystems/wvc/index.asp

Day 64 - Tues Apr 2 - No Workout

It seems like some days just conspire against you for working out. I had it all planned in to stop work at 4pm and go to do some Alter G running, but it was booked up. So I was going to the Kroc center but didn't have time. So I was going to run/bike around the 4-10 mile loop but it was too close to dinner, and then started to run while fertilizing the lawn but had to help with dinner and dinner guests, so when I went to bed I still had on my running biking clothes but no run in. My legs finally stopped burning from Sat all day fast skiing at Schweitzer. I think the squeeze machine at Physio One would have helped a lot had I used it Sat night or even Monday.

Day 63 - Mon Apr 1 - Tax Calls

No workout today. It seemed like everyone called non stop regarding real estate tax questions. One of the things I do for work is handle thorny real estate tax questions especially involving foreclosures and involuntary conversions. It seems like the phone rang non stop from 6:30am to 6:30pm and then I had evening obligations. I felt like this was one day that I gained weight and lost momentum.