Went to the Skiiing World Cup Freestyle competition last night

Alene, Caiden, and I met up with April and Bill (Alene's sister) and a couple of their friends. We specifically watched the Mens freestyle jumping. These are the dudes that come barreling down the mountain, hit a huge vertical ramp, do about 50 twists and flips 50' - 60' in the air, then attempt to land. The 2nd guy we saw attempt was from Russia. He by far got the highest out of anyone during the day, but he landed flat on his back, slid down the hill, then laid there un-conscious. It was almost sick-looking. They had to get him on a stretcher and haul him off. I have no idea how he is doing now.

I wish there was as site like photobucket that would allow me to up-load video so I could show some clips of some of the jumps these dudes stuck. They were absolutely amazing.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the days events:

Me and Caiden walking up the mountain to the event



Alene and I walking up the mountain (photo taken by Caiden)



Here is a random dude jumping



This is the view from where we were at, looking down on Deer Valley (which is in Park City)



I was actually entered in the competition, but I broke one of my bangs, so I couldn't compete. I got interviewed by the press though, so that was cool. (yeah, my eyes are red, I swear I didn't make a deal with the devil....I swear!)



More airtime. This is me describing my trajectory when I broke my bangs



This is the view of the area on the way up later that night. The moguls are straight ahead and the freestyle jumping is to the right (that is the hill they land on)



Alene and I standing in front of the area where the jumpers land. It was cool because they had a HUGE TV (you can see it on the top left hand side) for everyone to see the jumpers up on the mountain before they came down. It followed them all the way to the ramp, then you could see them come flipping over it






Alene and I in front of the moguls area

Spinal Tap fans should appreciate this one

School has started, life goes by fast

Man, it's crazy. I'm only taking one class this semester though, because I couldn't get into any of the other classes I was hoping to. I'm pretty bumed about it because I was hoping to get most of the classwork done while life outside is dull and gray. Oh well. I'll have to take two classes this summer to complete my associates degree.

I've been thinking about my career situation lately and talked with Alene about it last night. I'm thinking of just getting my associates degree and then waiting for another 10 years or so before I finish up my bachelors. My reasoning goes like this: It is completely impossible for me to be able to support a family with a mortgage, etc. on a teachers starting salary. $27k a year just won't do it.

My plan is to stick with my current line of work for another 15 years or so. By that time I'll be making some decent coin and hopefully will have moved up the ranks a bit. Toward the end of my time in this line of work, I'll go out and finish my bachelors degree. I could probably get it done in 1.5 years if I go full time for 5 semesters. By then, Alene and I will have produced our lovely family (expected number of children unknown at this time) of the which they will be in school during the day, allowing me to teach and alene to work p/t to suppliment the teachers salary.

In the mean time, I want to enjoy my life. I want to be able to afford the basics for my family (go on vacations, do recreational things, provide music lessons, etc.) and be involved with their lives in more detail. I've still got the option to coach little league football if I wanted to, or if my boss will allow, get off work earlier and assist at the high school level during the fall.

I'd love to be a head coach of a team somewhere, but even being an assistant is something that would satisfy my need to be involved with coaching. I love working with the young men. My only reason for wanting to be a HC is my need to ensure that things are done my way. I need to stop thinking like that anyway.

So.....that is a tentative plan. I want to be able to enjoy my early married years with my wife. I don't like working and going to school and being so worn out from all the stress that it starts taking chunks out of your relationship with your wife. I want to spend a couple of years together before we add to our family.

I know some people will think I'm nuts and just encourage "getting it over with", but I say why? I'll have an associates, which I can use to get me into a school to finish my bachelors. When I get my degree, I won't be using it for another 15 years anyway, so what is the rush? Why not just enjoy my time with my family and such, then buck down later on in life when I actually need it?

If I had been able to figure it all out when I was younger, I would have started at the JC in California when I was wasting my time doing nothing. I could have saved SO MUCH money becuase back then credits were only $12-$15 per hour. Here in Utah I pay about $90 an hour (a 3-hour class costs $270, where in CA it would have cost me about $60). I would have then xfered to a university, gotten my teaching credential and started teaching while I was young. There are only two ways I could see a person in my situation become a teacher in his early 30's: 1, his wife works f/t too and that contributes to the income; 2, his family is loaded and they suppliment his income; 3, he's on government assistance all the time.

I think my best bet is to become a teacher when I turn 45 and enjoy my life until retirement. I will have saved up a good nest-egg in 401k retirement and if I stick with teaching for another 20 years, I'll be set.

Do I sound crazy?

Beard update January third, twothousand six

I'm happy to report to my wife that this is the last of my beard. As you will see below, my beard will have been gone by the time I type this. Now, here is the history behind the beard.

One day, I decided to stop shaving. Not sure why, but I just wanted to see how long I could go with out shaving. I kind of compare it to Forrest Gump, when Jenny left him (for like the ump-teenth time), he got up one day and started to run. He runs to the end of his road, and figures he'd keep running. Then he runs to his town, and keeps running, then the end of the county, then the state, then to each of the nations boarders. OK, so I didn't grow my beard out for a year, but it's kind of like tha for me. No real reason, just wanted to grow it.

Well, about the same time my buddy at work, Jared, started growing a beard too. It was fun and made for a great conversation piece.

Jared: "Hey, how's the beard doin'?"
Me: "Great, yours is looking good"
Jared: "Thanks, yours looks good too. My wife hates mine though and won't give me any lovin' until I shave it"
Tyler: "That sucks. I think my wife hates mine, but won't say anything about it"

Anyway, so we've both been getting a little tired of our beards now. Last week Jared comes up to me and says, "OK Tyler, this is what we're doing. When we come back to work from the new year, (which would be today Tuesday, the 3rd), we are going to shave just the chin area, from our bottom lip-down". My immediate thought was "Lemmy, lead singer of Motorhead", he and said, "exactly". I said I was in.

Well, as last night came and I went into the bathroom to do the deed (no, not "the deed", just shave the chin). I found after I was done, that I looked more like a seventeenth century sailor, than I did Lemmy. Plus, I didn't want to embarass Alene, so I decided to NOT show up in Lemmy appearance. You do the comparison:





So upon finding that I looked even more ridiculous than I thought I would, I decided to just go with the cowboy look for a day (which I've done before, but this one is a little different).



Here is a picture of me with some of my hair clippings.